Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the characters in two plays, "Pygmalion" and "Death of a Salesman." Through this comparison, the reader gleans insights into the character development in each play and the resolved and unresolved issues in each play. The paper gives a brief plot summary of each play and describes the traits of the major characters. Also cited are the unresolved conflicts. The author concludes that both Eliza and Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," and Biff and Willy in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" consistently reveal only half-truths about themselves to each other, and to other characters in the play

From the Paper
" If "Drama is the art of significant juxtaposition" (H.D.F.Kitto), that is to say that dramatic conflict springs from a dialectical opposition of ideas; e.g., a half-truth in debate with another half-truth, in analyzing two pairs of dramatic "opponent" characters, then, first Eliza and Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and second, Biff and Willy in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman one may define the nature of the respective "half-truths" of these characters according to how their confrontations are dramatized and resolved (or not). I will explore the issue of whether the dialectic between either of these two pairs of characters, Higgins and Eliza and Willy and Biff, is ever resolved."

Tags:Death of a Salesman, Pygmalion, George, Bernard, Shaw, Arthur, Miller

Abstract
A look at the structure and use of writing style in "The Mask of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe uses contrasting descriptions that work in conjunction with the literary elements to produce a dramatic impact. His use of contrasts helps tie the elements together and produces a powerful effect.

From the Paper
"The Mask of the Red Death" is a fiction story with a structure strongly supported by literary elements, including tone, plot, symbols, characterization, and setting. The detailed description of the setting plays a key role in the structural development and helps the reader picture the sequence of events vividly. The plot is critical to the structure, as it unravels gradually, and the symbols and the tone complement it with strong detailed contrasts.

Tags:death, prince, contrast, plot

Abstract
In this article, the writer notes that the famous painting 'The Death of Marat' by Jacques-Louis David is considered to be a masterpiece of neoclassical art. It is also probably one of the most iconic images of the French Revolution. The writer describes that in the center of the painting, the torso of a bleeding, dying man emerges. In his left hand, resting on a table, is a piece of paper with writing on it, while in his right hand, falling down to the ground, is a quill. The writer discusses that David's 'Death of Marat' is meant to dramatize the moment when Jean-Paul Marat, who published the radical newspaper 'The Friend of the People', was murdered. The event occurred dramatically when Marat was writing in his bathtub. The writer maintains that it is largely thanks to the 'Death of Marat' that David is now regarded as one of the great painters of the French Revolution. The writer concludes that the 'Death of Marat' can be found in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, although copies of the painting, created in the revolutionary fervor that followed its unveiling, are on display in museums throughout France.

From the Paper
"It is also not coincidental that David, of all people, would choose to depict Marat's death via painting. Like Marat, David had close ties to the Jacobins. A strong supporter of Robespierre, David became close friends with Marat during his lifetime. Marat and Robespierre both had the charisma and talent of overwhelming large masses of people through their speeches and actions. David would take on the responsibility of organizing Marat's funeral, as well as painting this beautiful, moving homage to the fallen hero. It is in many ways reminiscent of one of his earlier paintings, The Death of Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau.
"David completed The Death of Marat in a very short time span. It would go on to become one of the most famous paintings of Neoclassicism, and is frequently evoked as David's best painting. Many critics have also evoked David as a precursor of Modernism, thanks to The Death of Marat."

Tags:masterpiece, bathtub, murder, death

Abstract
This paper analyzes the play "Death and the King's Horseman," by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka. The writer describes how the dramatic style of the play reinforces its ritual qualities instead of realistically exploring the interior psyche of the characters or even the specifics of the rite on an anthropological level. Some of the major themes of the play are discussed, such as the theme of fatalism, which is seen in the play as an imposition by the West on the Yoruba culture. By deliberately selecting and emphasizing certain aspects of Yoruba culture, Solinka suggests that adopting the Western dramatic concept of character and drama is no solution, even while the old cosmic order of the tribe may have been disturbed.

From the Paper
They are archetypes, rather than psychologically nuanced individuals or even reflections of real-life events or a specific, real-life ritual. Thus the colonial authorities Simon and Jane Pilkings "typify, those who have no conception of culture and tradition," and lack a three-dimensional existence--the reality of a 'real' incident as a fleshed-out drama with real characters is continually subverted (McLuckie 2004, p.1). Many of the characters are typified by title like "The Praise-Singer," "The Resident," "H.R.H. The Prince" and lack real names (McLuckie 2004, p.1). It is their role that is important, not their characters as individuals, just as it is the role of the King's Horseman that is important, not the specifics of who fulfills that role--just like what the ritual created by the playwright means metaphorically, not its literal accuracy.

Tags:mythic, typological, un-Western, suicide, tyranny, colonial, individual

Abstract
This paper examines how, in Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway", death is a driving force for the development of the characters and the novel's dramatic action. The paper looks at how, originally titled "The Hours", the novel delves into the thoughts, memories, and experiences of Clarissa Dalloway, a wealthy middle-aged woman as she goes about a single, normal day in her life, with Big Ben marking each passing hour. The paper also discusses how, although the theme of death pervades the novel to its core, Mrs. Dalloway is not the ominous foreshadowing of its authors eventual suicide, or a reflection of Virginia Woolf's obsession with death, but a reconciliation of the fear and mystery of death, a celebration of life, and ultimately one character's triumphant ability to find purpose and comfort in the passing of life.

From the Paper
"The first few pages of Mrs. Dalloway establish the themes of death and life that are prevalent throughout the novel. Clarissa experiences life with fervor and vivacity, and it is her strong and intense love of life that makes her fear death. She feels that the morning of her dinner party is, "fresh as if issued to children on a beach" (Mrs. Dalloway, p 3), and though she is middle-aged, Mrs. Dalloway's passion for the beauty and nuances of everyday life is strong. While her love of life is unremitting, it mixes with the sorrowful knowledge that her youth is over, and almost immediately her memories return to the time of her greatest happiness and her youth at Bourton. While Clarissa takes great joy out of the memories of her youth, she is more concerned with the present moment, observing that, "everyone remembered. "

Tags:Clarissa, hours, suicide

Abstract
This paper looks at Arthur Miller's American masterpiece, "Death of a Salesman", which was first presented on the stage in New York City in 1949. The writer shows how the play is a successful literary attempt at blending the themes of social and personal tragedy within the same dramatic framework. By contrast, the writer focuses on the character of Willy Loman, which shows false values sustained by almost every publicity agency in the national life of the U.S.

From the Paper
"The character of Willy Loman, the themes of social and personal tragedy, and the overall commonality found within Miller's play are prime territories for further exploration through the use of psychological criticism and literary deconstruction. In the realm of psychology, Willy Loman's accomplishments and sources of pleasure appear to be simple and straight-forward, yet they do provide an excellent psychological foundation on his life, due to leading a very average existence as a traveling salesman which he believes will enable himself and his family to attain wealth and comfort."

Tags:america, jewish, business, tragedy, literature, willy, loman

Abstract
The paper discusses the rapid spread of the black death that was one of the most significant factors in its dramatic effects in Europe in the 14th century. The paper explains how the relatively quick long-distance trade networks that had been established throughout Europe and into Asia were the primary factor that increased the success of the disease in infecting such a large body of people in such a short amount of time.

From the Paper
"The Black Death was quite simply the most devastating natural disaster in European history. Though we don't necessarily think of plagues as natural disasters, they are. This makes them somewhat unpredictable and difficult to control. Compounded by the general lack of knowledge of pestilence and the spread of disease in the Middle Ages, Europe was poised to take significant human losses when the Black Death first entered Europe in 1347. Interestingly, though, the most important contributing factor in the spread of the Black Death throughout Europe was actually a function of the prosperity and general economic growth that had occurred on the continent at the end of the 13th century."

Tags:disease, mortality, infection

Abstract
This paper shows how Ariel Dorfman's play and Roman Polanski's movie, "Death and the Maiden", strongly indicate that Paulina's accusations that the man in her house is the same man who tortured and raped her twenty years earlier. The writer points out that the use of sound and isolation create an atmosphere where the audience must use its imagination, thus encouraging audience members to accept the man as Paulina's accuser. While there clearly is some room for the audience to consider Paulina's actions as invalid, both the clearly sympathetic portrayal of Paulina and the dramatic movement of the play and movie ultimately lead the audience to believe her accusations.

From the Paper
"Dorfman's play and Roman Polanski's movie share a common plot. They are set in a South American country as a democratic regime takes over from a brutal dictatorship. Paulina is a woman who was repeatedly raped and tortured during the regime, who comes to believe that a man who stumbles onto her home is the man who tortured her in the past. While the general details of the plot remain true between the play and movie, there are important differences as well."

Tags:chilean, paulina, accusations

Abstract
This paper discusses how there are likely as many similarities between these two plays as there are dramatic differences. It explains that both are extremely well-written, both allow the audience to peek into the living rooms and lives of interesting people, and both also put a microscope on society and allow the audience to examine the real characters that make America what it is. This paper compares and contrasts these two plays.

From the Paper
"Fences, which depicts the African-American family experience of the late 1950s, just prior to the social and civil rights explosions of the 1960s, is in a way the balancing act on the other side of the American teeter-totter from Salesman, a story of the middle class American Caucasian experience of the late 1940s. Characters in both fictional families are seen in their realistic settings, and are believable. Death of a Salesman of course is a far more well-known play, indeed an internationally renowned play, having initially run on Broadway for 742 performances, opening in February, 1949, and winning the Pulitzer Prize, plus the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play of the season. Miller's play (directed by the playwright himself) has also been presented in France, Germany, Australia, Russia, England, China and 17 million viewers tuned in to its TV production by CBS in 1966 (starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy); topping that were the 25 million in the TV audience in CBS's 1985 production starring Dustin Hoffman (as Willy), Kate Reid, and John Malkovich."

Tags:society

Abstract
This paper discusses the ways in which both the Black Death, or the plague, and the Renaissance have impacted Western civilization. It is argued that the Renaissance change civilization more dramatically, in a positive and productive manner, than did the plague and its aftermath, in particular because of the invention of the printing press and the ability to circulate knowledge farther and to a greater number of people than ever before.

From the Paper
Changes Wrought by the Black Death and the Renaissance in Western Civilization The plague, or Black Death as it has also been called, spread from Asia to Europe starting in 1347. Within three years almost one third of the population of Europe had died from the quickly-spreading disease. This number only hints at the hugely ruinous impact that the Black Death had on European civilization. This drop in population changed the entire constitution of Europe: its economy, its art production, its political warfare, and its religious practices. Eventually, however, the population of Europe returned to its pre-plague numbers and Europe flourished once

Tags:renaissance, plague, civilization