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Social Background of The Awakening by Kate Chopin Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century, The Awakening has been described as a case study of 19th-century feminism. The central theme of the novel is self-ownership. Self-ownership signified a woman’s right to have control over her own body and identity. The heroine of The Awakening longs for this kind of bodily autonomy. The Significance of 1899 The Awakening takes place during a time when a woman was still considered her husband's property. Louisiana, where the novel takes place, was a largely Catholic state and governed by Napoleonic law. And the Napoleonic law robbed women of all their rights. Napoleonic Code The Code stated, “A husband owes protection to his wife, a wife obedience to her husband,” An adulterous wife got two years in prison while an adulterous husband got a modest fine. A wife could only sue for divorce if the husband attempted to include his mistress in the family hous

A feminist reading of the play "Medea" by Euripides Source: Google Images This Greek tragedy, known for its protagonist's astounding actions, is considered to be a proto-feminist play. Medea plans out a calculated murder plan to kill Glauce and her own children. The reason for such an act of cold-hearted revenge is due to her passionate love for Jason. Though her actions are not something a person with genuine love would do, Medea, a woman with a savage temper does not shy away from giving justice to her thwarted heart. What Jason did is ethically and morally wrong, but what Medea did is still a debated topic. Medea is a headstrong woman. Her words and fierce temper stands out throughout the play. And the play provides a sophisticated treatment of the female gender. The relationship between the chorus and Medea is one to be noted. The women of the chorus are horrified and enthralled by Medea’s words and deeds. They have pity for her, but they do not interfere or stop Mede

                                    The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold Summary "Poetry attaches its emotion to the idea; the idea is the fact" - Arnold In his seminal work, the “Study of Poetry” Matthew Arnold opines that one should evaluate poetry by comparing and contrasting it with a piece from a high classic. According to Arnold, poetry is worthy of high destinies. We can notice in our society that many of the religions, principles, rules, creeds, and dogmas are all becoming questionable and broken over time. In the case of poetry too, many find it difficult to evaluate the true essence of good poetry. Arnold wanted to treat poetry as something worth higher value-capable of higher uses and called to higher destinies. He quotes lines from Wordsworth to define poetry, it is“the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all science”; poetry is “the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge”. All our beliefs like religion and philosophy are but the shadows an

With these simple steps, I managed to ease my exam stress and was able to cover 90% of my syllabus. 1. Collect the materials required for the subject you want to study 2. Before you sit down to study, make sure that your desk is neat and organized. 3. Look at your syllabus. Analyse the texts which you find easy and comfortable to study 4. Pro tip: "Intelligently" cross off 2-3 texts that are either hard or not important from the examination point of view (this step works well if you have options in your question paper) 5. Now you have a self revised syllabus. Happy... 6. Make a list of topic/texts that you will cover in day 1 7. Next step is to set a timer for 50 minutes and start studying. Take breaks of 15 minutes or as you want.                                                  8. If you get bored or feel sleepy watch a study vlog on Youtube  9. Finally when you are famished with your studying and cramming...do some breathing exercises. 10. Penultimate step : As you lie on

The Need for Literary Criticism Literature is the essence of life and nature. And a piece of text has a wide range of aspects giving it its prominence and aesthetic value. Literature presents before us more than one possible interpretation and meaning. In order to appreciate a piece of work one has to look at its merits and demerits and has to cover every aspect of the work; the history behind, socio-political aspects, time period, tone, purpose, use of words, content and context etc. Most often when analysing a text we arrive at open ended questions that have multiple answers. While critiquing a work work one should also see to it that he or she must point out their personal views and opinions on it, apart from an objective analysis of the text. An ultimate right or wrong is quite impossible to arrive at due to the existence of multiple perspectives. Every time you re-read a work it is like looking through a kaleidoscope. The goal and outcome of literary criticism is to fully apprecia