Free Essays - English Essays

We have now opened up part of our essays database to give you, the user, access to our free English essays, please remember to use these as research material and reference them if you use any quotes. We also have specialist sections for English Language Essays and English Literature Essays.

• English Essays: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, was first published in 1937. At the time, America was still suffering the grim aftermath of the depression and the itinerant workers who form the basis of the novel were very much within the consciousness of a nation separated by wealth yet driven by the idea of ‘the American dream’. Steinbeck’s novel is, however, essentially a tale of loneliness, of men struggling alone against a cold, uncaring and faceless destiny. The central protagonists, George and Lennie are, as they are proud to proclaim, different from the others because they have each other. They are an odd couple, George the shrewd, wiry yet ultimately caring protector of the ironically named Lennie Small, who is, in fact, a huge man who doesn’t know his own strength and is mentally incapable of making the smallest of decisions for himself; he relies on George completely but equally, George needs Lennie as he gives him a reason to keep going. Read more...

• English Essays: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - The story is told mostly from the perspective of a third party, the lawyer Mr Utterson, and concerns his friend the scientist Dr Jekyll and Jekyll’s associate, the misanthropic and widely loathed Mr Hyde. Utterson suspects Hyde of using Jekyll due to a change of will; however when Hyde disappears following a brutal murder Utterson is temporarily satisfied. However Utterson grows increasingly concerned about Jekyll’s erratic behaviour, and after Jekyll becomes a recluse in his room making strange demands in an unfamiliar voice Utterson, along with Jekyll’s butler, break down the doctor’s door, only to find Mr Hyde who is dead from apparent suicide. Read more...

• English Essays: To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee’s only novel to date is To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960 but set in the 1930s in America’s deep-south. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and was quickly made into a successful film starring Gregory Peck. The popularity that the novel immediately attracted endures to modern times. The semi-autobiographical story concerns the trial of an innocent black man, Tom Robinson for the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell and around this central drama the novelist has woven a tale which reveals the appalling nature of prejudice in many forms, not just that of colour, as her ‘mocking birds’ which must not be harmed because they do none, suffer from the cruelty and ignorance of those around them. Read more...

• English Essays: Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë’s novel of passion and cruelty, published in 1847, was the only novel she ever wrote and one of which many, including her sister Charlotte, disapproved, regarding it as fundamentally immoral, especially in the creation of the central character, the brutal Heathcliff. However, viewed at a distance of some 150 years, the novel can be seen for what it truly is, a work of flawed genius which continues to attract strongly despite its age. Emily set what was to be her sole novel in and around her beloved moors creating, in Cathy, a character as wilful as herself. However the reader acquainted but not familiar with the narrative, is often surprised by how little actual description of the natural environment is extant within its pages though ‘metaphors drawn from nature provide much of the book's descriptive language’. Read more...

• English Essays: Oliver Twist - Given the reputation and gravity of Oliver Twist, it is sometimes difficult to recall that this was only Dickens’ second novel, written and serialised in 1838. Moreover, it was a risky project because Dickens had won massive popular acclaim on the basis of his preceding novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836), which could not have been more different in its comic recording of the adventures of the ‘Pickwick Club’. Nevertheless, Dickens’ novel of the pauper child’s struggles in the wickedness of London’s thieves’ kitchens was to become one of his most enduring, popular successes, adapted for stage and screen multiple times since its inception and as popular today as when it was first published. Read more...

• English Essays: Great Expectations - Charles Dickens wrote his enduringly popular novel, Great Expectations, between December 1860 and September 1861. As was usual for this most prolific of novelists, the book was first published in serial form, and the instalments would be as eagerly awaited as the ‘soap operas’ of today. This novel, however, contains an interesting and informative retrospective by the author on aspects of his life, hidden from even those closest to him, which he had first addressed in the painfully autobiographical David Copperfield some ten years earlier (a difficult decade for Dickens in his personal life) and to some extent alters the perception of himself which Dickens had there vicariously presented. Read more...

• English Essays: Lord Of The Flies - Lord of the Flies by William Goldman is one of the most popular and endearing books of the twentieth century.  In part a morality tale, in part an analysis of the human psyche, it is also a supremely interesting and exciting adventure story.  All of these combined elements make the book a true classic and a perennial audience favourite.  The book also demonstrates its significance to today’s audiences via the many references made of it in popular culture.  Artists as divergent as U2, who named a song after one of the book’s chapters, through to the creators of cult TV drama ‘Lost’ pay testament to the value and resonance of William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’. Read more...

• English Essays: Shakespeare's King Lear - Here Shakespeare layers image upon image of baseness and animality to suggest not only how far the King has been reduced but also how true and loyal Cordelia is. In the two speeches we have looked at here, we have seen many of the themes of King Lear and also some the play's complexity. The play is, at once we could assert, concerned with both pride and constancy, anger and gentleness, wrath and restoration and the two speeches I have selected show this in microcosm. Each one also represents important points in the character development of Lear himself; his initial rebuke of his daughter evoking the false pride of the all too powerful monarch and Cordelia's speech prompting his character reversal. A close analysis of these two speeches reveals just how Shakespeare weaves grand themes and narratives into the very fabric, the very minutiae of his text, evoking in an audience an almost subconscious appreciation of philosophical and thematic intents. Read more...

• English Essays: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing - Claudio and Hero provide us with an example of a swiftly progressing love which culminates in marriage little more than a few weeks after they have first met. For an Elizabethan audience the concept of love at first sight would have been widely regarded as a valid possibility in life. The speed with which the two young characters move from strangers to husband and wife allows Shakespeare to present the courting process within the society of nobility. Such a rapid progression is commented on by Claudio as he explains his newfound love - 'I would have salv'd it with a longer treatise' (I.i.289). However, it seems that once the first pangs of love occur, the action moves onto the next stage in the process. There are many rules and regulations when it comes to expressing love for another. This can be seen in Claudio's consequent actions; rather than approach Hero himself, it is preferable for his friend to woo her on his behalf, in the words of Don Pedro, 'I will break with her and with her father' (I.i.283). In today's society the procedure of asking permission from the father of a prospective wife is often seen as old-fashioned and is nowhere near as common a practice as in Shakespeare's day. Read more...

• English Essays: Common Racial Themes - In spite of obvious racial and gender differences between William Faulkner (1897-1962) and Toni Morrison (1931-present), both authors approach race as a means of social separation. American society throughout history has focused on such separations to establish a defined hierarchy, based both on race and gender. In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, race is used to demean black Americans; standards of beauty were based on what appeared to be the closest in resemblance to white Americans. Traditionally African features such as broad noses and full lips were deemed unattractive and therefore socially inferior, as evidenced by The Bluest Eye's protagonists with the fair-skinned Maureen Peal. William Faulkner's Light in August approaches race as a means of gendered power. Faulkner's works showcase the ambiguity in gender lines, and Light in August is no different. Miscegenation, a central topic, melds with gender differences in empowering white characters as masculine and black characters as neutered. Joe Christmas, a character whose racial background is shrouded throughout most of the novel, is constantly berated and indirectly belittled by powerful white figures such as his stepfather and a later lover. Read more...

• English Essays: Gerard Manley Hopkins - Gerard Manley Hopkins was always fascinated by the unique nature of personal thought and experience. As W. H. Gardner explained, Hopkins' ideal was a poem, a work of art, which was 'beautiful to inviduation.' He used language as a way of dipping as deeply as he could into his bank of feelings; of awe, of wonder, of disappointment, of confusion, of alienation, of certainty and of doubt. While some of the greatest works of literature have thrived on a detached, elsewhere and sometimes even a deliberately anaemic narrative voice, Hopkins delivered his poetry through his entire being, displaying the purest of desires and the most expressive of convictions. His sensualism is revealed in original metaphors such as 'mealed-with-yellow sallows', 'piece-bright paling', and while he is widely classed as a 'nature poet' perhaps 'mood poet' would prove a more expansive and accurate term. Therefore, coupling a ravenous appetite for describing the distinctive and individual, and a noticeably present mood and feeling, Hopkins' poetry have qualities that set him aside from his contemporaries - something that Hopkins sought and indeed cultivated. Read more...

• English Essays: Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth and Darcy share common interests that help reflect their love and marriage. During Elizabeth's stay in Pemberly while Jane is ill, Austen reveals to the readers, that Elizabeth and Darcy share a common interest. For example, Miss Bingley states that 'Miss Eliza Bennet is a great reader' p34. While in a conversation between Darcy and Miss Bingley, it is stated, 'What a delightful library you have at Pemberly,' p34. This illustrates to the readers that the two share the same interest of reading. Having the interest reading portrayed to the readers as an interest, reveals that Elizabeth and Darcy may be suitable match for one another. It clearly shows how common interests can increase the chance of marriage as it makes the bond for one another stronger. Thereby demonstrating that the love between Elizabeth and Darcy reflects on their interest shared by each other. Read more...

• English Essays: Frankenstein - Great Expectations and Frankenstein provide us with examples of the nineteenth century English novel frequently labeled 'realist' and 'gothic' respectively. This essay aims to discuss the characteristics that contribute to these labels and how far this sets the two novels apart. The realist novel is classified as such by its attempt to represent social types of the time and symbolize the community of a historical era by portraying particular individuals. Consequently, characters within the novel serve as examples of their particular social type. One of the aims of the realist novel was to bring life to history, to add a human viewpoint to a real historical situation. This means that the realist narrative focuses on the everyday concerns, thoughts and feelings of society's people. Read more...

• English Essays: William Shakespeare - In his book Will in the World, Stephen Greenblatt describes Shakespeare as “the greatest playwright not of his age alone but of all time”. This echoes the fact that ‘the Bard’ is often considered to be one of England’s greatest authors. Even today his work is read by thousands of schoolchildren, his plays are performed in many theatres (including the replica Globe in London which is named after him), his plays have been repeatedly filmed and turned into parts of popular culture, and his language is often quoted in various forms. In addition, his home town of Stratford has become one of England’s premier tourist attractions. Read more...

• English Essays: Language Used In Speeches - The language required to motivate and persuade in political speeches is a prepared mode of linguistic usage very different from others in that its imperative is inherently connected with its construction and delivery. Although recognised and frequently employed linguistic devices, such as rhetoric, are necessarily an intrinsic part of this kind of syntax, the overall purpose governs the style far more directly and bears the weighty implication of both negative and positive influence: in other words, when do ‘motivation’ and ‘persuasion’ become ‘propaganda’? In order to demonstrate the power of speech to motivate and persuade, it is therefore necessary to look closely at some speeches which have attempted to accomplish this with varying degrees of success in relation to the circumstances in which they were made. Read more...

• English Essays: Hitchcock Movie Of Rebecca - The film Rebecca (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is an adaptation of a book by the same title published in 1938 by author Daphne Demurer. To analyse the differences between these two pieces of work it is perhaps necessary to first point out the obvious; film adaptations of novels are never completely true to the original book. It is often a criticism that when novels are turned into screenplays that the author of the screening play has left chunks of the book out. This usually because their just is not time to cover every single detail on screen - could you have sat through more than three hours of Peter Jackson's epic Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, for instance? (I don't think any cinemagoer's bladder could have coped with more!) Or there are elements of the original story that would distract the viewer from the crux of the plot for too long, hence Fran Walsh cut out the character Tom Bombadil out of The Fellowship's script, much to the dismay of some Tolkien purists. Read more...

• English Essays: Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy dominated the London literary marketplace during its serial publication from 1759-1767.  Like his contemporary writers, Sterne engages in debates concerning what we would now regard as the disciplinary boundary between literature and philosophy which has established its canonical status as a work of postmodern fiction.  It is difficult to ascribe, as many scholars have, to Tristram Shandy the title of ‘postmodern’.  To characterize this novel through a future literary movement which defines itself through the rejection of the principles of the previous movement is incongruous.  How can a novel which precedes postmodernism by over a century and a half reflect the cultural and political formations which sparked the movement itself?  However, Tristram Shandy does contain fictional and narrative elements which clearly invite comparison with the fiction of the postmodern movement. Read more...

• English Essays: House of Mirth - Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth is unique among its British counterparts. Wharton’s American “novel of manners” presents a distorted protagonist when compared to contemporaries such as Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility; unlike British novels of the age, House of Mirth unfolds in an American setting, where issues such as class have a substantially weaker hold over society than in Europe. Wharton’s protagonist falls victim to a grim, realist destiny so common to American literature. Unlike Sense and Sensibility where the bourgeois lifestyle is overcome, House of Mirth concludes with Lily Bart taking her own life, her dream of marrying into wealth unfulfilled. Lily is a tragic character, one whose condescendence and adoration of the bourgeois lifestyle overpower her sense of happiness as she turns away from her true love, a man named Lawrence Selden whose meager holdings cannot satisfy Lily’s need to marry into New York’s elite circles. Read more...

• English Essays: Great American Dream - There is no strict definition of the 'American Dream' though early in the twentieth century and in many ways still today it has become the term which describes an inherent faith in the promise of the new world. As a country, America has no far stretching history to forge and enrich its culture. Instead a nation's character was flavoured with hopes and anticipation of the future, of a better life of more opportunity and purpose. People fledged to the Americas to start afresh, to experience modern luxuries and new technology. To become a part of the rat race and exploit the age of capitalism and materialism - overall to become rich through one's own means. To realise the great American Dream therefore was an extension of Benjamin Franklin's maxim of the 'perfectibility of man'. Franklin was a great emblem of American ideology and a founder of much of its deepest held attitudes and beliefs. Read more...

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