The first chapter, “Prologue,” shows the hopeful side of the incredibly sad tale that is Five Little Indians. The circle imagery, the reference to birch trees, and the warmth of the setting all work together to strengthen the theme of resilience.
The existence of Lady Macbeth enriches the play by provoking a discussion about the truths pertaining to gender constructs, drawing connections between the mortal world and the supernatural, and controlling the transformation of the Macbeths’ marriage on a micro as well as a macrocosmic level.
Ultimately, Plath’s confession transcends personal means, and its purpose is vested in positing a social critique.
Aligned with postmodernism, Spiegelman asserts that a quest for objective “truth” is as fraught as the human condition itself.
The two-thirds divine Gilgamesh offers the opportunity to the human network to reflect on their brutal attempts and malpractices to dominate the Nature network.
In both texts, the two paradoxically glamorize and deglamorize eternal youth and eternal life respectively, presenting them simultaneously as a gift and a cruelty that both causes and prevents danger.
About Hannah Dane: I am in the Literature Profile of the ALC program. I wrote this essay for my Confessional Literature class, which centred on nonfiction works of personal revelation. Amongst the pieces we read, “Howl,” a poem published in 1956, written by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, intrigued me the most. A strenuously long and controversial piece, the length of the lines in “Howl” inspired me to analyze how a specific form choice could play with the central theme of…