Subtext Essays

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream - The Feminist Subtext

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Feminist Subtext of A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare's works have persistently influenced humanity for the past four hundred years. Quotations from his plays are used in many other works of literature and some common phrases have even become integrated into the English language. Most high schoolers have been unsuccessful in avoidance of him and college students are rarely afforded the luxury of choice when it comes to studying the bard. Many aspects of Shakespeare's works have been

  • Translating Cultural Subtext in Modern Korean Fiction

    4674 Words  | 10 Pages

    Translating Cultural Subtext in Modern Korean Fiction Translation as an Act of Bridging Two Cultures Literary translation can be described in many ways. In the first place we can think of it as retelling, in that we take a Korean story and tell it in English. In retelling the story we make it public. This means we have an audience, either readers of our translation or listeners of a public reading of that translation. Public readings are an important way of disseminating a translation.

  • On the Road Essay: The Motif of Inadequacy of the Language

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    a penitentiary in Indiana who takes a bus to Denver with Sal Paradise, tells him about his brush with the Bible in jail, and then explains the dangers of the phenomenon of signification (I firmly believe that Kerouac intended no deconstructionist subtext in the passage; nor is it likely to be an neo-Marxist attempt to explicate the class conflict between the signifiers and the signified): Anybody that's leaving jail soon and starts talking about his release date is 'signifying' to the other fellas

  • Song of Solomon Essay: Theme of Maturing

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    Theme of Maturing in Song of Solomon While Song of Solomon is generally seen as a myth of the male maturation, it also contains the subtext of Pilate's rite de passage and the ritual of cultural immersion. In her history is the process by which she acquires the values that will sustain Milkman and by extension, the black community. Pilate's initiation occurs much earlier than Milkman's. Having been raised in relative isolation in the edenic Lincoln's Heaven, Pilate is abruptly and cruelly cast

  • Free Grendel Essays: Social Commentary

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    consideration.   Grendel's exploits provide the reader with a clear understanding of the strong opinions the author carries and can be seen clearly as a narrative supporting nihilism in its many forms. The reader easily perceives the blatant religious subtext in the guise of corrupt priests and the foolish faithful. The notion of the old being wise is unacceptable to Gardener along with any notion of hero idolization. Within his novel, Gardner expresses his views concerning religion, wisdom and nature

  • Iago and Honesty in Shakespeare's Othello

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    in the context to mean truthful, as in, he has told Othello the truth.  However, Shakespeare has created tremendous dramatic irony, for we know that Iago is being anything except truthful.  The three uses of the word honest are used largely in the subtext of the act, they are used by Iago to force Othello to question his wife's integrity, and honesty.  Shakespeare uses the word by Iago to plant tremendous doubt in Othello's mind.  The word is also used by Iago in the action line.  His objective is

  • Gender Opression

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    ring, the man may be seen as manifesting deep love; but he is also making an investment, expressing it in the form of commitment. In a sense, this is also a form of tenure and possession; he is expecting her to completely give herself to him. The subtext to the slogan “Platinum. For a lifetime of love” also suggests a lifetime of ensured financial security and protection for the woman. It reduces the expression of love to a brand of jewelry, selling it not just as a product, but as a standardized

  • Maxims and Masks: The Epigram in The Importance of Being Earnest

    1794 Words  | 4 Pages

    Epigram in "The Importance of Being Earnest" Oscar Wilde frames "The Importance of Being Earnest" around the paradoxical epigram, a skewering metaphor for the play's central theme of division of truth and identity that hints at a homosexual subtext. Other targets of Wilde's absurd yet grounded wit are the social conventions of his stuffy Victorian society, which are exposed as a "shallow mask of manners" (1655). Aided by clever wordplay, frantic misunderstanding, and dissonance of knowledge

  • Great Gatsby

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    glamorous, in Chapter 3 Fitzgerald subtly undercuts the apparent allure and glamour of both through specific words and images he uses to describe the party scene and the behavior of the partygoers. The scene appears alluring and glamorous, yet there is a subtext, an undercurrent of negative images and commentary running through much of Fitzgerald’s description which undercuts the apparent allure and glamour, suggesting the destructive side of wealth. Both, the positive and the negative images are represented

  • Communication in Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary

    1746 Words  | 4 Pages

    value of the simplistic novels containing "noble characters, pure affections, and pictures of happiness," she misses his further conclusion that "since these works fail to touch the heart, they miss, it seems to me, the true end of art" (59). The subtext implies that she is incapable of distinguishing differences in the quality of expressions and understandi... ... middle of paper ... ...ility for the interpretation of the text. Works Cited and Consulted Berg, William J. and Laurey

  • Clue and the Crisis of the American White Male

    2701 Words  | 6 Pages

    Clue and the Crisis of the American White Male Nothing is more American than the crossover appeal of products in the mass media; this appeal is what propelled the idea for the 1985 release of the film Clue, based on the Parker Brothers board game. Furthermore, in keeping with the game's theme, the film appeared in theaters across the country with different endings. With an ensemble cast of talented but little known actors—Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren, Martin Mull, Madeline

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream: Hidden Subtexts

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    drugs, sexist behavior, and even slavery. It is important to recognize the hidden subtexts in our entertainment because many of them have very dark hidden meanings that may be subliminally sneaking into your conscious if you are not aware of it. For example Scooby Doo, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and even Shakespeare's classic play A Midsummer Night's Dream are all examples of media with hidden subtexts. The classic cartoon show Scooby Doo is filled to the brim with subliminal drug usage

  • How effective is Dahl's use of subtext in his short stories?

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    How effective is Dahl's use of subtext in his short stories? Subtext is anything that is indirectly communicated to the reader. It can be conveyed in many ways, such as sounds, objects, jokes, colours and temperatures. Subtext expresses a meaning in a subliminal manner. In Roald Dahl's short stories he uses subtext to display the meanings and feelings that are hidden. In 'The Landlady' Dahl uses subtext to convey the true evil behind the landlady's homely exterior. The animals in the boarding

  • The Biblical Subtext in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Samuel Beckett may have renounced the use of Christian motifs in Waiting for Godot, but looking at the character of Lucky proves otherwise. We can see Lucky as a representative figure of Christ as his actions in the play carry a sort of criticism of Christianity. His role suggests that the advantages of Christianity have declined to the point where they no longer help humanity at all. If you analyze the poem Waiting for Godot you can see the huge parallels between the character of Lucky and Jesus

  • How Does Oscar Wilde Create Tension In The Importance Of Being Earnest

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    say what they are thinking, however, what is lost through verbal language is made up through, body language and emotion. Subtext play a major role in making the characters in the play believable to the audience, and in turn develops a fuller, more realistic character. Subtext is present in all lines of the play but, usually do not appear obvious; one of the few times the subtext is stated in the dialogue is when a character is thinking out loud. When Algernon discovers that Cecily will not marry him

  • Oedipus Rex Context Essay

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    mourning. In just the opening scene itself I was able to see a lot of subtext among the people of Thebes. The priest had stated that the people were mourning because they were starving, famished, and had been faced with deaths. Oedipus had helped the people of Thebe previously and said he would help them once again. During this scene Oedipus uses dialogue among the people of Thebe to show how powerful and strong of leader he is. His subtext also portrays his belief in his leadership just

  • Isolation In Casablanca

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    help them, he denies that he played any part in Jan winning. This is because Rick still believes his text, that he is a man alone, even though he just displayed his subtext, that he

  • An Analysis Of The Kuleshov Effect

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    mixing, etc.” (Mediacollege.com, 2017). With this quote in mind, I believe that a film is born in the edit, as editing allows filmmakers to incorporate, take out, and manipulate footage seamlessly (if done correctly), to divulge a narrative. Subtext is the underlining connotations of a story. This can be utilized to add tension, legitimacy, or to uncover

  • Superhero Phenomenon Research Paper

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    society. In relation to this, if there were no supervillain, there would be no need for a superhero. Each individual protagonist and antagonist fuel the need for the others placement in the film. The conflict sets up the precedent for the plot and subtext that ties the movie into its specified

  • Victim Of Living Editing Essay

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    I will use close-ups to bring out the emotions behind each action. Camera movement and pace (created through editing) can emotionalize the action. By using these techniques, I can create subtext. The subtext is what will drive our film forward because of the reliance on the underlying emotions of our main character that is prominent throughout the narrative. Every action and word of our main character conveys her emotional state. How she reacts