Free Comparative Literature Essay Examples & Topics

Free Comparative Literature Essay Examples & Topics

Comparative literature explores the relationship between works of fiction of different cultures and times. Its purpose is to establish the connection between specific genres, styles, and literary devices and the historical period. At the same time, it provides an insight into the meaning hidden between the lines of a given text.

What is a literary comparison essay? This academic paper requires a specific methodology but follows the typical rules. A student is expected to perform comparative textual analysis of a short story, novel, or any other piece of narrative writing. However, it is vital to remember that only the pieces with something in common are comparable.

This is where all the challenges start. Without an in-depth literature review, it is not always clear which works can and should be compared. Which aspects should be considered, and which could be left out? The structure of a comparative essay is another stumbling rock.

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For this reason, our team has prepared a brief guide. Here, you will learn how to write a successful comparative literature essay and, more importantly, what to write in it. And that is not all! Underneath the article, we have prepared some comparative literary analysis essay examples written by students like you.

How to Write a Comparative Essay

Comparative literary analysis requires you to know how to correlate two different things in general. So let us start from the basics. This section explains how to write a comparative paper.

A good comparison essay structure relies on two techniques:

  1. Alternating or point-by-point method.

Using this technique, you dedicate two paragraphs for each new comparison aspect, one for each subject. It is the best way to establish similar and different features in the two novels. Such comparative analysis works best for research, providing a detailed and well-structured text.

1st Body Paragraph: Social problems in Steinback’s works.

2nd Body Paragraph: Social problems in Hemingway’s works.

3rd Body Paragraph: Psychological problems in Steinback’s works.

4th Body Paragraph: Psychological problems in Hemingway’s works.

5th Body Paragraph: Interpersonal problems in Steinback’s works.

  1. Block or subject-by-subject method.

This approach means that you divide your essay in two. The first part discusses one text or author, and the second part analyzes the other. The challenge here is to avoid writing two disconnected papers under one title.

For this purpose, constantly refer the second part to the first one to show the differences and similarities. You should use the technique if you have more than two comparison subjects (add another paragraph for each next one). It also works well when there is little in common between the subjects.

1-3 Body Paragraphs: Description of rural labor in Steinback’s works.

4-6 Body Paragraphs: Description of rural labor in Hemingway’s works.

You will formulate a thesis and distribute the arguments and supporting evidence depending on the chosen structure. You can consult the possible options in our comparative literature essay examples.

How to Conduct Literary Comparison: Essay Tips

Let us move to the main point of this article: the comparison of literature. In this section, we will discuss how to write an ideal essay in this format.

We suggest you stick to the following action plan:

  1. Choose literary works to compare. They should have some features in common. For example, the protagonist faces the same type of conflict, or the setting is the same. You should know the works well enough to find the necessary passages. Check the comparative literature examples below if you struggle with the step.
  2. Select the topic, thinking of similarities. The broader the matter, the more challenging the writing. A comparative study of the protagonists in two books is harder than analyzing the same theme that appears in them. Characters may have little in common, making the analysis more complicated.
  3. Find both differences and similarities. Once you’ve formulated the topic, make a list of features to compare. If the subjects are too different, choose the block method of contrasting them. Otherwise, the alternating technique will do.
  4. Formulate a thesis statement that has a comparative nature. It should convey the gist of the essay’s argument. Highlight the relationship between the books. Do they contradict, supplement, develop, or correct each other? You can start the thesis statement with “whereas.” For example, “Whereas Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice are full of pride, this trait leads them to different troubles.”
  5. Outline and list key elements. Select three to six comparable aspects depending on your essay’s expected length. Then, plan in what order you’ll present them and according to which technique.
  6. Link elements and write. Distribute the features among the comparative paragraphs. If you wish to prove that the books are more different than alike, start with the most diverging factors and move to the most similar ones.

That’s it! Thank you for reading this article. For more examples of comparative literature essays, check the links below.

743 Best Essay Examples on Comparative Literature

Blindness in Oedipus Rex & Hamlet

4.7
Therefore, in this play, the sighted like Oedipus and Jocasta are 'blind' to the truth whilst the blind like Teiresias can see the truth.
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2788

Gilgamesh and Odysseus: A Comparison

4
After offering prayers to the dead, the people of the river offered the sheep to them and put the remaining parts in a pit that had been dug with shadows of the dead gathering around.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1373
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Concept of Representation of Marriage

5
According to Louise, her marriage is fulfilling, yet emotionally, she is in a cage of inherent oppression. Moreover, Bertha alludes to the fact that she has never loved her husband in the romantic way except [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1113

Compare and contrast Wordsworth and Keats

4.4
He has the gift of imagination in the highest and strictest sense of the word. In the Romanticism of Wordsworth there is the consciousness and will of a return to natural sources.
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2298
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Imagery and Theme in William Blake’s Poems

Through the years the author got the new vision of his poems what was expressed by the difference between the imagery of Introductions and the Song's of Nurse in the Songs of Innocence and Songs [...]
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  • Words: 648

The Concept of True Love

Such an effect is suggestive of the fact that in essence people only consider love as love when there is a thought that tries to explain it.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1369
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Lamb to the Slaughter: Movie vs. Book

2.3
In this analysis, it is clear that mood in the two pieces of literature is enhanced by the characters and how they act and speak, the manner in which the author advances the plot and [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1384
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Racism in the “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka

5
Generally, one is to keep in mind that Baraka is recognized to be one of the most important representatives of the black community, and the theme of racism in The Dutchman has, therefore, some historical [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1401

Rama and Odysseus as Eastern and Western Heroes

Similarly to Rama, Odysseus belongs to the descendants of Zeus, the king of all gods, and uses a special bow as his favorite weapon. Another difference between Odysseus and Rama is their attitudes to family [...]
  • Pages: 4
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Confessional Poetry

5
While it is often times criticized as being akin to a form of self loathing what must be understood is that this form of poetry uses the pain of the writer in order to capture [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1137

Power and Corruption in Shakespeare’s Plays

Macbeth ascends to the throne, he is determined to hold on to the throne, and so he must get rid of Banquo and his family because the witches had predicted that the throne would go [...]
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2918
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British Literature: Beowulf vs. Macbeth

3.3
They are as follows: the presentation of the heroes, the consideration of the ethical themes, and the final stages of the plays the latter help to draw some ethical conclusions based on the peculiarity of [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1155
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“The Hobbit”: Book vs. Movie

5
The names of places, characters, and events are the same in both the book and the movie. In contrast, in the movie, the story revolves around Bilbo and the dwarves.
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2495

Robert Frost and Walt Whitman: Poems Comparison

Walk Whitman was born in the first half of the 1800s and Robert Frost in the second. The use of figurative speech in poetry gives the poems a capacity to reach out to the hearts [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 600
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Tim Burton Interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland”

For example, in his article Dodgson's Dark Conceit: Evoking the Allegorical Lineage of Alice, Andrew Wheat suggest that in Carroll's novel, the character of Alice is being presented as the challenger of 'undeniable truths', as [...]
  • Pages: 13
  • Words: 3660
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The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis

As he comes to understand the difference between his servant's and his family's views on life, Ivan begins to realize that he has lived a life of moral death, a life empty of everything save [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 3084

Characterization’s Importance in Literature

This statement by the narrator is a significant tool of characterization because it reveals that the main character is insane. The narrator is also important in revealing the character of the old man.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1135

“Raisin in the Sun” and “Harlem”

3
Hansberry and Hughes introduce the same idea of a dream compared to a raisin dried up in the sun, but explain it in different ways in order to show how the interpretation of a thought [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 826
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Hindu Creation Myth

The story of Hindu creation myths differs from Ancient Greek creation myths in a number of facts, including the beginning of the world, and some elements of the creation of the living creatures.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

Achilles, Odysseus and Aeneas Comparison

Much ado in the Illiad tells of the dishonor he suffered from Agamemnon, his decision to quit the field because of it, and the futile efforts of the Greeks to appease him and draw him [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1623

Homage to My Hips

5
She is used her hips to symbolize womanhood, freedom, and the need for women to be empowered. The author wanted to express her womanhood and her belief that she is free.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 799

Animals as Symbols of the Human Behaviour

The brutality and cruelty of humans to the god and the puppy is laid bare when the puppy dies out of the experiments that are carried on her by the master.
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2856
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The Road as the Cave: Concept in Literature

This progression toward enlightenment can be most clearly seen by making a comparison between Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the situation in which the man and boy find themselves within McCarthy's novel, particularly in [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 2450

Satan’s Comparison in Dante and Milton’s Poems

Finally, as Dante and Virgil reach the most bitter, tormented place in the universe, the ninth circle of hell, they immediately depart after seeing Satan and the final circle of the underworld.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2684
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Overview of World Literature

In Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Sign of the Four" and Anne McClintock's "The Lay of the Land: Genealogies of Imperialism" imperialism is defined in terms of femininity.
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Relationship Between Parents and Children

The book is based on the story of a farmer and his family, who, due to the problematic nature of the head of the family, are forced to change their place of residence: "None of [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 704
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Novels by Conrad and Forster Comparison

The current paper is aimed at comparison of the works through three perspectives: the symbolism of the titles of the two novels, the way colonialism and racism are represented by the authors, and the way [...]
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Don Quixote and Hamlet: Comparative Analysis

It cannot escape our attention that Don Quixote's illusions are strongly associated with his commitment to "protect justice", therefore they cannot be discussed as "thing in itself", as it is the case with Hamlet's illusions, [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1554
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The Epic of Gilgamesh Poem Analysis

1
Whence, the lamentation of his subjects and the appearance of Enkidu form the basis of the transformation of Gilgamesh especially his character.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1108

William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor: Comparison

The fact that both Faulkner and O'Connor were from the South and that they wrote during almost the same period led to many similarities in their style of writing like the religious themes and foreshadowed [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 2094

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut is a science fiction writer who tells about Cold War fears and the threat of the Bomb, the lurking dangers of overpopulation and food shortage on the one hand, and on the other government's [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2060

Divine Comedy and The Odyssey as Epics

It is a poem about the supernatural more than about a hero, which is the first difference between the current poem and 'The Odyssey'.'Divine Comedy' has 14, 233 lines, the number that is almost equal [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1378
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A Shared Theme between Two Works

As the paper unfolds, the theme plays a vital role across the two novels since the authors successfully point out the conflicts that arise because of people's failure to recognize the dignity of others and [...]
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  • Words: 1693

The Analysis of Two Literary Works

In this paper I would like to analyze the novel The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros and the short story The Gift of the Magi by O.
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  • Words: 550
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Macbeth and Hamlet Characters Comparison

The queens in Hamlet and Macbeth play a pivotal role in the life of the heroes of the play. She is portrayed as a mother who, in her awareness of Hamlet's crisis, feels guilty and [...]
  • Pages: 6
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