Essays on Melancholy

Thesis

Charles Baudelaire’s poem, The Swan (1860), is a clash of emotions, from nostalgia to despondency, brought about by the destruction of the City of Paris and the memory creation on the events of the war.

The feelings of loss and nostalgia keep on bugging the persona’s mind, and he remembers Andromache, the widow of Hector, a Troy great warrior. When Greece defeated Trojan, the son of Achilles took Andromache as a trophy of war, taking her away from the familiarities of her entire life and surroundings to a new civilization and establishment where she became a wife ...

The character of Hamlet, Danish prince in a Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, is one of the most analyzed characters in a literature. Important part of his personality are his conflicts, inner and outer. The time passes by while he is occupied by his conflicts; that is one of the reasons for delaying the main task he gave to himself – the vengeance for his father’s death. Here we will talk about Hamlet’s introversion and alleged madness which are the parts of his inward conflict and about his attitude towards women and experience of a world ...

Ludwig van Beethoven is a musical genius who was widely known for his countless musical compositions. The social life of Beethoven was an indication of both the mental and physical disorders that he endured throughout his adulthood life before he passed on at the age of 57. The most evident disorder which was known by everybody was Beethoven’s deafness. Many believe that this was as a result of parent abuse during his childhood. However, there are other behaviors that, for a long time, were not properly addressed and were most likely to be attributed to some psychological disorders. ...

As notions of “self-care,” (that is, of prioritizing one’s personal health) become increasingly common, the challenge of mental illness remains stigmatized if not least because it is generally invisible. Both in life and in literature, we can often glean understanding not only from what can be observed in narrative, but also through its gaps and disjunctions. In the case of Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist,” the protagonist’s extended fasting is not a direct concern of mental illness, but one of spectacle with his audience “marveling at him as he sat there pallid in black tights, with his ...

Manic-depressive psychosis (manic depression) nowadays is one of the most studied affective disorders (mood disorders). It takes the form of manic phases and depressive phases, between which there is a so-called intermission period (at this time, the symptoms of manic-depressive psychosis disappear, and there is a complete integrity of the characteristics of the patient’s personality). In this paper I would like to consider in detail how a manic-depressive disorder is formed, which forms it may have and how the phases of the disease are alternated (Saritha Pujari).

Preconditions of the Formation of the Disease

Manic-depressive psychosis has two peaks of occurrence. The first happens at ...

Edgar Allen Poe: few names such as this one can strike both fear and adoration in hearts of literature students everywhere. As a writer, Poe was known for his macabre stories that often ended with characters becoming ill, being buried alive, or dying other gruesome, torturous deaths. The tone of his works is fairly consistent, with most of Poe’s work having a dark, moody, and an overall melancholy tone. With his stories being favored as a topic of research for many English students, I began to wonder about his personal life. What struggles was he grappling with that ...

Picasso lived in Barcelona and Paris in his adolescent period after being born in Malaga in 1881. He was recognized as a great talent and a genius at the Academy in Madrid and in 1904 he moved to Paris temporarily. His talent was fostered by his father who was also a painter of not much ability. Pablo Picasso became a painter because he was encouraged by his family to explore his artistic abilities. Picasso’s early life was unsettled as he moved through Europe. “His gradual transformation from adolescence to adult was manifested in change in his personal and ...

The film “Lost in Translation” is really about the difficulties in translation, but not so much in the linguistic sense, as in the human, - translation of others’ feelings ("Lost In Translation (2003)"). The film is not so much the words as the information, the mood and emotions are not concluded just in words. This is perhaps one of the few movies, where the characters’ silence can be comfortable and talk about many things. A slow, as it might seem, dragged action is not the lack of pictures – that's the essence of the whole atmosphere of loneliness – the characters ...

The article ‘The Fatalism of Gun Worship’ by Colin Dickey tries to highlight how centuries of permissiveness towards guns and their possession and use by civilians has led not only to a lax mind-set about the dangers of guns but has also altered public psyche in a negative way. Dickey quotes Manseau and states that the way that gun-related deaths are reported has caused the public to accept such incidents with a certain kind of fatalistic melancholy. This analysis of the article will assert that even if one grants the apparent pessimism of the American public, there is no ...

When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope.' Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. (McNeese, 2006, p.105) Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881-1973) is one of the main representatives of the 20th century art, and the co-founder along with Georges Braque of Cubism. With significant contribution to the formation and development of modern and contemporary art, Picasso is one of the most prominent artists of the previous century, an artistic mastermind who managed to ...

Esoteric:

Designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone: “Anime fans have some of the most esoteric interests I know.” (Said by friend in conversation). (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). SYNONYMS: abstruse, deep, profound, recondite. ANTONYM: easy. (Roget’s Interactive Thesaurus).

Verisimilitude:

The quality or state of being verisimilar: “The dense language lends the film verisimilitude, and even lay audiences will be engrossed by the thrill of discovery” (Film review). (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). SYNONYMS: believability, color, credibility, credibleness, creditability, creditableness, plausibility, plausibleness. ANTONYM: falseness, impossibility. (Thesaurus.com).

Evulsion:

A forcible separation or detachment: “I got an evulsion cut on my finger when I tried to open a ...

Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud is a psychic form of literary criticism that has found its way to literature. Research attempts to link the psychoanalysis to the author or an interesting character in a piece of literature. The aims and objectives of the criticism revolve around therapeutic nuances that are very similar to the work of Sigmund Freud, Interpretation of Dreams. The major aspects that emerge as critical in the analysis dwells on thoughts and behaviors that fictional characters exhibit. In poetry, the analysis attempts an outlook of a poem’s structure. According to Jacques Lacan, the language structure and the unconscious stream ...

1 and 2. Preface

Against depression is the title of the book written by Peter Kramer a renowned psychiatrist, the title of the book suggests more of a political inclination of some sort but the book narrates a different story all together. The book is majorly focused on the idea that most people are in support of depression as an aid to artistic expression. Its incorporation of latest research in the psychiatric field is also very crucial as it facilitates the comprehensive and explicit explanation as well as illustration of physical damages of the brain and its major causes.

It further explains in an easy to ...

A young Prince is haunted by the spirit of his murdered father. The son has hardly slept or eaten since he heard the news. Stunned with grief he will not be counseled by his lover, family, friends or ministers of the military or the court. He prowls the castle nightly, a somnambulant lost in the coma of his will’s paralysis. At last the smoldering embers of revenge burst into flame and he wakes to restore justice and order to his world. His decision is swift and unequivocal: War on Denmark! This, of course, is Prince Fortinbras whose quest ...

Lama Saleem is a master degree student in Education Technology. She is hails from Saudi Arabia and is . However, she is married with one kid. She is a devoted wife and cares immensely for She is so much in love with her husband and loves hher family. too. Despite, shouldering her family beingresponsibilities, a loving motheshe is ar and a hardworking and dedicated committed master degree student. She gave a birth the to herfirst child about a month ago, and is suffering from but she is in deep depression owing to the sudden change in her life. She is hesitant to assume responsibility of the ...

Exploring he theme of Isolation in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories; “The Minister’s Black Veil”, “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of many short stories in which he portrays his characters with some dilemma where they must make up their minds about what is wrong from what is right. His stories end with morals that can be learned through his characters’ actions. Most of the stories he wrote are filled with themes of guilt and there are many themes of loneliness and sadness. His main characters are reclusive and lived sheltered lives. ...

"A Tale of Two Cities" is the second and last historical novel by Dickens, which consists of three books. The first tells a story of the return to life of Dr. Manette, who spent many years in solitary confinement in the Bastille. Bank employee, Mr. Lorry and Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr., take him away from Paris to London. The second book begins with a story about the trial of Charles Darnay and his deliverance from death. Soon Lucy marries him, and the family has a quiet and spiritual life. In France, meanwhile, revolutionary storm is brewing. Father and uncle of ...

Charles Baxter’s What Happens in Hell essay is effectively a progression of sadness and occurrence of an existential crisis for the narrator after being driven from the airport to his hotel, the discussions about hell, and finally the near death experience in a car accident. Alice Munro’s Train short story revolves around the relationship between Jackson, a man who jumped out of a moving train on the Ontario countryside after serving in World War II, and Belle, a woman around 15 years his senior, whom he meets in a small farm just off the tracks. In Train, the personal family life of Belle ...

The live music piece I attended took place in a music hall. It was brightly lit, and of ample size, with a stage that allotted for more than what was necessary for the small amount of players, ranging from brass to woodwind instruments. The audience was quiet and respectful, though it appeared that they shared the same responses as I did, ranging from contemplative to irritated, throughout the piece. The audience, as well as myself, were dressed in casually formal attire, as if we were attending a school recital or a semi-fancy restaurant. They did not seem generally enthused by the piece of ...

Dover Beach” is a poem of a dramatic monologue nature written by Matthew Arnold. The poem seems to be set near Dover which is along the south eastern English Coast. Arnold uses some natural phenomena including the sea calmness and the rising and falling of waves to describe some aspects of human nature. The poem starts with a description of a relatively quiet scene. There is a couple (most likely Arnold and his wife) looking out into the waters of the English Channel and listening to the sounds of the rising and falling of waves. The sound made by the waves make Arnold ...

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INTRODUCTION “He [that is, Antonio] hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million—laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?” (Merchant of Venice, 3.1.42-46) The above lines were borrowed from the famous speech made by Shylock in William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. This speech by Shylock was his attempt at demonstrating his humanity and to encourage the audience to sympathize with his condition as a person ...

English 1101

Lars von Trier, a Danish director and screenwriter, is one of the most visually distinctive filmmakers. Lars Trier, which is his real name, started making his own films at the age of 11 when he got his first Super 8 camera. Later on, in the National Film School of Denmark, he shot the films “Nocturne” and “The Last Detail” which became the winners of the Munich International Festival of Film Schools. It was in 1995, when von Trier originated the new cinematic movement, which was called Dogme 95. At the heart of this movement were the rules of creating films ...

The Review of the Melancholy Play

Recently, I experienced a humorous play by Sarah Ruhl namely Melancholy Play. The set was played in Erie, PA with cast member culturally-oriented attires. The play represents societal perceptions and outlooks along the line of personal identification. The inner-being of the actors is outwardly reflected trough emotions, which introduces societal-labelling and understanding of one’s behaviour. The Melancholy play is a creation of two major parts with fourteen break-up scenes. The play revolves around presenting the humorous inner-emotions of actors, which dictates their behaviour. The paper reviews the play in relation to character presentation, style and overall communication to the audience. ...

Introduction

This essay examines and discusses aspects of the belief system of the Akan people, who represent the largest ethnic grouping in the African country of Ghana, comprising in total just under half of Ghana’s entire population. Aspects of the Akan culture and beliefs covered within the paragraphs of this essay include their concepts of God and of Evil, their philosophy of the Person, and the links between the symbolic significance of their heritage art and their culture and beliefs. The aim is to gain some insight into the Akan belief system.

The Akan Concept of God

According to Wiredu (1998), the Akan religion ...

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" Hamlet is a coarse and barbarous play.One might think the product is a work of a drunken savage's imagination."—Voltaire <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-quotes-about.htm> After being considered to be Shakespeare's well-known, most popular and most loved play for some time, many persons would tend to disagree with Voltaire's quote. It can be assumed that Hamlet has retained its popularity for a decent period of time because it deals with very topical and interesting issues. As it relates specifically to Act 1, Scene 2, many critics dispute the significance of this scene to the overall development of the ...

The Pursuit Of Happiness Summary

Movie is a form of art just like literature, music and paintings but movie is much beyond that. Movie is a pictorial representation of a story one reads in a book. Movie is an expression of life in motion as one sees in paintings. Movie is a medley of colors and sound which provide a gateway to its audience from all the worries of life for a short while. Movie is a means of escape from the reality of life to find solace in something more cheerful. During Great Depression when people were bogged down with the distressing economic condition of the country, many Americans find something ...

In the graphic novel, the art work is black and white with green shades acting as go between. While the mixture of green, black and white seem a little out of the ordinary, one realizes that adding the green to black and white creates a sense of depth thus heightening his gothic experiment. Perhaps one of the biggest strengths of the book is its fascinating exploration of the minds of young people in the post modern world. Some of the challenges that young people go through demonstrated in the book include anxiety, pursuit of independence and freedom, insecurity, friendship and love ...

Isaac Beshavis Singer’s short story “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy” tells the tale of a young woman in 19th-century Poland who, in her desire to study the Torah, dresses up as a man and calls herself Anshel when she moves to a yeshiva. While there, Yentl wrestles both with her feelings for a fellow student, Avigdor, and the morally gray nature of what she is doing. Singer’s tale shows the complexities of gender politics in the typically-conservative Hasidic Jewish society, the nature of religion, and interesting questions of identity through Yentl’s journey. The evolution of Yentl as a character is very fascinating, ...

Suicide note is a poem written by Janice Mirikitani. This poem reflects on the life of a young Asian American college student who later committed suicide by jumping through the dormitory window to end her suffering. The teenager left a suicide note written in poem form with her last words, thoughts and feelings at the time she committed suicide. The poem explains to the reader what triggered the girl to end her life and all the sufferings she had been through with her parents. The college girl was so desperate and tired of her parents’ criticizing her and she could no longer ...

Released in 2004, Troy is an epic war movie written by David Benioff, produced and directed by Wolfgang Peterson. The plot of the movie is loosely based on Homer’s Iliad. Music was composed initially by Gabriel Yared who worked on it for approximately a year before being replaced by James Horner. Vocals have been provided by Tanja Carovska while American singer and song writer Josh Groban and lyricist Cynthia Weil are responsible for the original composition of song for the movies end credits. Music composition of Troy is engulfed by dramatic sequences in their real form. Composer Gabriel ...

Introduction

Stereotypes may be a part of daily life, but unrealistic expectations are causing damage to today’s young adults. The use of positive and negative stereotyping has been a continuous and ever growing trend in mass media production and marketing. Impressionable teens are often negatively swayed by the portrayal of people shown on the evening news, music artist’s exciting and profitable lives in music videos, and a nearly unobtainable “perfect” models shape and figure. Media effects the all-around opinions of everyone. The effect of media portrayal on the youth’s consciousness in the school and home may be both negative ...

This is gentle and eccentric piece taking in account the use of a deliberate, dissonance against the existing harmony but at the same time trying to be mild. It produces a piquant and more of a melancholy effect which go in hand with a peacefully, gravely and sadly instruction in the performance. This paper aims to take an in-depth look at the musical piece. The main details under consideration are its characteristics, structure and other major and minute musical details. With this understanding, one can be able to familiarize with the key elements expressed. The performance normally starts with an alternation ...

Dickinson’s “Crumbling is not an instant's act”and Shakespeare’s “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”

Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Crumbling is not an instant's act,” is a fascinating description of how a person’s life or self disintegrates. Reading this text by Dickenson gives the feeling of seeing a deeper truth about a common concept, which in this case is personal “crumbling,” “dilapidation,” or “slipping” (1, 3, 12). Emotions that are depicted in the poem include wonder, detachment, and resignation. The wonder felt about “crumbling” comes from the visual descriptions that Dickinson gives to the process, calling it “a Cobweb on the soul” and “Devil’s work” among other things (5, 9). Dickinson describes the process of “crumbling” as ...

In “Ode to Autumn,” what is the State of Mind of the Poet?

The theme of the Romantic Period is nature; John Keats is one of the famous poets of this era. In his poem “Ode to Autumn” that has appeared in more anthology than any of his other poems; he uses imagery, word choice, and structure to express the speaker’s state of mind.

“Ode to Autumn” is Keats’ last ode. He wrote it after an autumn’s Sunday evening walk while he was staying in Winchester. “He was alone at Winchester, rejoicing in perfect September weather and in a mood more serene and contented than he had known for long or ...

Franz Kafka, a German novelist is regarded as one of the artists that made great contributions and impacts in literature. His book A Hunger Artists, is the last one that he wrote before his death. The book has varieties of thematic messages. Some of them are art, isolation, spiritual poverty, personal failure, and futility. Kafka’s main agenda when he compiled the book is still not well identified. The story has always proven difficult to interpret even by professional reviewers. It revolves around one character, the hunger artist who is also the protagonist. This paper will give an overview of ...

When Dreams Do Not Come True

In the world of creative writing and literature, there are various ways in which authors can express their thoughts and send message to the audience. Some might explain their message in a comprehensible prose and immediately express the main aim of the whole literary work; others might create a piece full of strong visual images which bring the audience to the theme and author’s message (Kennedy and Dana 250). In the last case, the language of the poem tends to be full of creative language devices and symbolism. The meaning of symbolism and literary devices are particularly important for the comprehension ...

Personal Reflection – Ophelia

And deliver’d onto us the lustful passions without a quiet sleep, With unfeigned heart, I ought have taken heed of father’s words “Or lose your heart, or chaste treasure open, Thy madness strives for conquest in my breast, For greatest are the torments our own hell provides. When thou took me by the wrist, in thy eye one thing, Dissuaded me from my vow, the black son of hell, With no apparent direction. Oh, why did I not know? Thou art fairer than darkness and more cunning, My damned ...

What do a Victorian poet laureate and an American poetess from the heart of conservative Massachusetts have in common? They both have written poems that obsess about death. In the case of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, it was the death of his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam that triggered a giant poetic eulogy that took nearly two decades to write. In the case of Emily Dickinson's, on the other hand, it was one of her many poetic works that brings out her rather morbid attraction towards death. Though the works of these two writers may seem different at first sight, they are ...

Satirical fiction has a proud tradition in American literature. Beginning with the winking cynicism of Mark Twain, this tradition was picked up by several American authors in the twentieth century, but none more bitingly than Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Growing up as the son of German-Americans during a time (the aftermath of World War I and then World War II) when many Americans harbored ill will toward them, and with his family suffering the privations of the Great Depression, Vonnegut saw in a matter of a couple of decades most of the very worst that humanity can inflict on one another. In 1969, he ...

An Analysis

Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888) was a highly influential English writer and thinker of the Victorian era. ‘Dover Beach’ (1867) remains one of his most famous and anthologized poems. According to Mazzeno (40) it is a poem “full of doubt and despair.” This paper will prove Mazzeno’s assertion, explain the reasons for it and also demonstrate how it affects Arnold’s choice of imagery and structure. ‘Dover Beach’ is a classic expression of the mid-Victorian crisis of faith. Firstly, the context should be noted. Dover is the English sea port closest to France and, if the weather is good enough, the ...

Psychoanalysis refers to Sigmund Freud’s work centring on the unconscious self. That is, our hidden, repressed desires and aggressions which are held in a part of the brain which cannot consciously be accessed. Flaubert’s A Simple Heart tells the tale of Félicité, a house maid who lives her life without worry, upset and with unguarded love. Psychoanalysing a text enables the reader to develop a deeper comprehension of its workings. An understanding of the author’s life and person can often lend itself to the cognitive process behind the plot or the characters’ personalities. Freud’s psychoanalysis work was best ...