📖 Literature Questions & Answers

The word Kafkaesque is not new in the contemporary world. Not everyone understands what it means. It appears when we discuss Franz Kafka’s works, opinions, and ideas he portrays in the...

In the book, the meaning behind the fur-dressed woman's picture in Gregor's room is sexual or romantic desire. It symbolizes the lack of fulfilling love in Gregor's life. Detailed...

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was written in 1912. It served as a depiction of his negative life experiences. It was published in 1915, Kafka read a section of this short story to...

The Metamorphosis is a symbolic story with several layers of meaning. It can be analyzed from social, religious, and psychological points of view. It can focus on different...

Kafka's novella is great for exploring existentialist themes. In it, Kafka invites the readers to ponder the essence of existence. Self-sacrifice, estrangement, and duty constitute the...

The primary literary devices used by Kafka include metaphor, allegory, irony, and imagery. Detailed answer: Metaphor. It is a word or expression used in a figurative sense. It...

One of the major symbols in The Metamorphosis is the door. There are multiple ways to interpret it in the book. It symbolizes a portal that separates Gregor from the beetle from his...

After turning into a bug, most of the obstacles that Gregor from The Metamorphosis encounters are physical. The newly-attained insect body is foreign and hard to control. It...

A novella is a short story, compared to more detailed narrative forms. There are not many characters, and it includes one storyline. It depicts an unexpected plot twist or ending. The...

The Metamorphosis, among many of Kafka's works, includes elements of existentialism. This literary movement was popular among the 19th European philosophers. It started to gain...

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka takes place in an unnamed European city. The primary setting is an apartment of the Samsa family. An entire story develops in Samsa's house; its...

The chief clerk is Gregor’s strict supervisor at his job. He visits the Samsas because his subordinate missed the morning train to work. The unfair boss is unhappy with Gregor’s...

The novella ends with Gregor Samsa's death and the family's trip to the countryside. Gregor's death has a symbolic meaning, as it freed from suffering. The family feels a sense of...

Tiresias is a character from Homer's Odyssey. He is also well-known for Sophocles' Antigone and Oedipus the King, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. In Homer's epic poem, the protagonist meets...

The suitors in the Odyssey are men who want to marry the "widowed" Penelope. They never succeed. In the end, they are killed by Odysseus for squandering his wealth and harassing...

Conflicts in The Odyssey can be divided into three main categories — man vs. gods/nature, man vs. society, and man vs. self. There are a few instances of each type of conflict in the...

In Homer's poem, Calypso is a nymph. She kept Odysseus imprisoned on the island of Ogygia for seven years. The goddess symbolizes temptation. Calypso offers Odysseus immortality if he...

When Odysseus returns home, he massacres the suitors trying to marry his wife in his absence. He sees the murder as the only possible way to regain control over Ithaka. The slaughter...

Odysseus has been away from home for twenty years. A man spent ten years fighting in the Trojan war, helping the Greeks. After the fall of Troy, it took him ten years to come back home...

In contrast to the Iliad, the second work of Homer, the Odyssey, contains many allusions. They are mostly related to ancient methodology. Allusions help evaluate characters’ trials and...

Calypso is a nymph that captures Odysseus for seven years. They live on a magical island of Ogygia before Odysseus manages to escape. When Odysseus lands on Ogygia during his travels,...

Theoclymenus tells Penelope that Odysseus is back on the island. He states that the king is busy gaining information about suitors’ evil deeds. The king is preparing his revenge....

Melantho is not a well-known character in the poem. She is Penelope's maid and the sister of Melanthius in Odyssey. In the poem, Melantho betrays Penelope. She appears to be more loyal...

Tiresias is a famous blind seer of Apollo. He gives a prophecy to Odysseus about his further journey and its end. The seer says that Odysseus' voyage home will be full of difficulties...

Irus or Arnaeus is a character from the Odyssey. One of his primary functions in the text is transmitting messages for Penelope's suitors. Odysseus returns home from his twenty years...

Telemachus' murder of the maids and the goatherd Melanthius can be explained. These people showed a scornful attitude and betrayed Odysseus. His son mocked the victims just as ironicall

In the Odyssey, a hundred and eight suitors assured that Odysseus would not return home. The suitors were captivated by the charm and intellect of Odysseus' wife, Penelope. Therefore,...

Homer's Odyssey is a unique creation of literary art. The poem canonizes the image of Odysseus. Nowadays, there are countless plays based on the story of The Iliad and The Odyssey....

Zeus tells Athena the story of Aegisthus. He wants to show her that the gods do not always have control over humans' actions, and that justified revenge is acceptable. Detailed...

The Cyclops is a one-eyed mythological creature in Homer's Odyssey. He is an uncivilized, brutal, and rude giant living in a cave. The Cyclops does not adhere to any rules or...

Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad, has many strengths and weaknesses. During his journey home, he shows himself as a courageous, smart, and confident...

While working as a nurse, Eurycleia finds herself talking to a beggar. He claims to be a former soldier who fought in the Trojan War with Odysseus. Eurycleia, yet, does not recognize...

Odysseus looks for his way back home from the Trojan War. Circe, the daughter of Apollo, advises the hero to find the soothsayer Tiresias to get the directions from her. However, Homer...

The story of Gawain Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes place in King Arthur’s Britain during the middle ages. Britain at that time is described as a land of wonders and...

The medieval romance has the following distinctive features: The main character demonstrates chivalrous behavior throughout the entire romance. The protagonist is brave and...

Gawain comes back to Camelot after a battle with the Green Knight. He wears a green belt on his neck like a scarf. The entire court is happy to see him safe and hear his remarkable...

The Green Knight sets the Green Chapel as a place where the challenger should find him in a year to receive the ax blow in return. The Green Chapel looks like an old crack in the...

The protagonist of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight does not die. The knight’s trial at the Green Chapel turns out to be a ruse made by the mysterious Green Knight. He wants to make...

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain revealed extraordinary character integrity without yielding to Lady Bertilak’s seductions. Moreover, his personality demonstrated unswerving...

As no other knight accepts the Green Knight’s challenge, King Arthur has to do it to honor the code of chivalry. Gawain steps forward, thus relieving Arthur of this duty. He does it to 

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the author utilized the stanza pattern called Bob and...

Beowulf is a brave Anglo-Saxon prince, and Sir Gawain is a typical Medieval knight. They adhere to different values because the world's picture was not the same at their times. Beowulf...

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric poem written in Arthurian tradition. The story is considered a classic of English literature. However, the story might appear confusing...

The author of a poem pays particular attention to the Pentangle or "the endless knot." The Pentangle has several meanings in the verse. It provides the main character with physical and...

The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has several different plot points and symbols. Some of them can be explained through Christianity. There is a conflict between pagan faith and...

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the fox appears as a symbol of cunning. Like a fox, Gawain uses all the possible trickery to escape the Green Knight's ax and save his life. Lady...

As an honorable knight, Sir Gawain has to step in when the King faces risk. He accepts the challenge for King Arthur. It proves his loyalty and dedication to the chivalry code. ...

The main character of the Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a worthy knight. He lives by the code of Chivalry. He made a mistake on his path; he managed to admit it and...

The Green Knight set out to test Sir Gawain’s virtue and the ability to rely on his faith. Instead of putting his trust in an inanimate object that may be expected to give him...

Part three of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight starts with a deer hunt. Lord Bertilak goes hunting in the forest. Meanwhile, his wife makes sexual advances towards sir Gawain at the...