Literature

Iliad
In the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, Chryses, a priest of Apollo, attempts to
ransom his daughter from Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Achaeans, who
has taken her captive while on a raid. When Agamemnon treats him roughly and
refuses the ransom, Apollo is angered and brings plague on the Achaeans. The
Achaean prophet Calchas correctly identifies the cause of the problem, and he
suggests giving the girl back with gifts to Apollo. Agamemnon demands that he be
compensated for the loss of the girl, and Achilles, the greatest Achaean warrior,
objects. The two men quarrel viciously. Agamemnon says he will take back Briseis, a
captive woman who was given to Achilles as a prize for valor. Horribly dishonored,
Achilles returns to his ships and refuses to fight. Agamemnon has Briseis taken from
Achilles, and he returns Chryses' daughter to him. Achilles asks his mother, the
goddess Thetis, to prevail on Zeus, king of the gods, to bring ruin on the Achaeans
as long as Achilles does not fight for them. Zeus is indebted to Thetis, and he grants
her request.
With Achilles out of the way, Hector, champion of the Trojans, drives the Achaeans
back to their beached ships. The Achaeans build fortifications, but at the urging of
the chieftains Agamemnon sends and embassy to ask Achilles to return to battle.
Agamemnon offers rich prizes, but Achilles refuses the offer and remains withdrawn
from battle.
The Achaean fortifications are breached, and many of the the greatest remaining
Achaean warriors are wounded. Achilles beloved companion, Patroclus, begs Achilles
to do something to help their fellow soldiers. He asks that he be allowed to put on
Achilles' armor, so that the Trojans will think that Achilles has returned. Achilles
grants the request, but warns Patroclus to return once he has driven the Trojans
back from the ships. Patroclus drives the Trojans back all the way to their own city
walls, but there Hector kills him with the help of Apollo. Hector strips his armor and
puts it on himself, and the Achaeans barely manage to save Patroclus' body from
desecration.
Achilles goes berserk with grief and rage. Thetis warns him that if he kills Hector, he
will die soon afterward. Achilles accepts his own life as the price for revenge. He
reconciles himself to Agamemnon, receives new armor, via his mother, forged by
the smith of the gods, Hephaestus. He charges into battle, slaughtering Trojans left
and right, routing the Trojan army almost single-handedly. He meets Hector, chases
him around the city, and kills him easily. He then drags the body from the back of
his chariot, running laps around the city of Troy so that the Trojans can watch as
their champion's body is horribly desecrated.
Achilles returns to the Achaean camp, where he holds magnificent funeral games for
Patroclus. He continues to abuse Hector's corpse. Zeus sends Thetis to tell Achilles
that he must accept the ransom that Priam, king of Troy and father of Hector, will
offer in exchange for Hector's body. Priam himself comes to see Achilles, the man
who has slaughtered so many of his sons, and Achilles suddenly is reminded of his

own fatherwho, as Priam has, will outlive his most beloved son. He understands
what he has done, and his rage and grief give way to compassion. He returns the
body and offers a cease-fire so that the Trojans can bury Hector. With the word of
Achilles as their guarantee, the Trojans take eleven days to give Hector a proper
mourning and funeral. As the epic ends, the future is clear: Achilles will not live to
see the fall of Troy, but the city is doomed nonetheless. All but a handful of her
people will be slaughtered, and the city will be wiped off the face of the earth.

The Aenid
On the Mediterranean Sea, Aeneas and his fellow Trojans flee from their home city
of Troy, which has been destroyed by the Greeks. They sail for Italy, where Aeneas is
destined to found Rome. As they near their destination, a fierce storm throws them
off course and lands them in Carthage. Dido, Carthages founder and queen,
welcomes them. Aeneas relates to Dido the long and painful story of his groups
travels thus far.
Aeneas tells of the sack of Troy that ended the Trojan War after ten years of Greek
siege. In the final campaign, the Trojans were tricked when they accepted into their
city walls a wooden horse that, unbeknownst to them, harbored several Greek
soldiers in its hollow belly. He tells how he escaped the burning city with his father,
Anchises; his son, Ascanius; and the hearth gods that represent their fallen city.
Assured by the gods that a glorious future awaited him in Italy, he set sail with a
fleet containing the surviving citizens of Troy. Aeneas relates the ordeals they faced
on their journey. Twice they attempted to build a new city, only to be driven away by
bad omens and plagues. Harpies, creatures that are part woman and part bird,
cursed them, but they also encountered friendly countrymen unexpectedly. Finally,
after the loss of Anchises and a bout of terrible weather, they made their way to
Carthage.
Impressed by Aeneass exploits and sympathetic to his suffering, Dido, a Phoenician
princess who fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother murdered her
husband, falls in love with Aeneas. They live together as lovers for a period, until
the gods remind Aeneas of his duty to found a new city. He determines to set sail
once again. Dido is devastated by his departure, and kills herself by ordering a huge
pyre to be built with Aeneass castaway possessions, climbing upon it, and stabbing
herself with the sword Aeneas leaves behind.
As the Trojans make for Italy, bad weather blows them to Sicily, where they hold
funeral games for the dead Anchises. The women, tired of the voyage, begin to burn
the ships, but a downpour puts the fires out. Some of the travel-weary stay behind,
while Aeneas, reinvigorated after his father visits him in a dream, takes the rest on
toward Italy. Once there, Aeneas descends into the underworld, guided by the Sibyl
of Cumae, to visit his father. He is shown a pageant of the future history and heroes
of Rome, which helps him to understand the importance of his mission. Aeneas
returns from the underworld, and the Trojans continue up the coast to the region of
Latium.

The arrival of the Trojans in Italy begins peacefully. King Latinus, the Italian ruler,
extends his hospitality, hoping that Aeneas will prove to be the foreigner whom,
according to a prophecy, his daughter Lavinia is supposed to marry. But Latinuss
wife, Amata, has other ideas. She means for Lavinia to marry Turnus, a local suitor.
Amata and Turnus cultivate enmity toward the newly arrived Trojans. Meanwhile,
Ascanius hunts a stag that was a pet of the local herdsmen. A fight breaks out, and
several people are killed. Turnus, riding this current of anger, begins a war.
Aeneas, at the suggestion of the river god Tiberinus, sails north up the Tiber to seek
military support among the neighboring tribes. During this voyage, his mother,
Venus, descends to give him a new set of weapons, wrought by Vulcan. While the
Trojan leader is away, Turnus attacks. Aeneas returns to find his countrymen
embroiled in battle. Pallas, the son of Aeneass new ally Evander, is killed by Turnus.
Aeneas flies into a violent fury, and many more are slain by the days end.
The two sides agree to a truce so that they can bury the dead, and the Latin leaders
discuss whether to continue the battle. They decide to spare any further
unnecessary carnage by proposing a hand-to-hand duel between Aeneas and
Turnus. When the two leaders face off, however, the other men begin to quarrel, and
full-scale battle resumes. Aeneas is wounded in the thigh, but eventually the Trojans
threaten the enemy city. Turnus rushes out to meet Aeneas, who wounds Turnus
badly. Aeneas nearly spares Turnus but, remembering the slain Pallas, slays him
instead.

Ulysses
Stephen Dedalus spends the early morning hours of June 16, 1904, remaining aloof
from his mocking friend, Buck Mulligan, and Bucks English acquaintance, Haines.
As Stephen leaves for work, Buck orders him to leave the house key and meet them
at the pub at 12:30.Stephen resents Buck.
Around 10:00 A.M., Stephen teaches a history lesson to his class at Garrett Deasys
boys school. After class, Stephen meets with Deasy to receive his wages. The
narrow-minded and prejudiced Deasy lectures Stephen on life. Stephen agrees to
take Deasys editorial letter about cattle disease to acquaintances at the
newspaper.
Stephen spends the remainder of his morning walking alone on Sandymount Strand,
thinking critically about his younger self and about perception. He composes a
poem in his head and writes it down on a scrap torn from Deasys letter.
At 8:00 A.M. the same morning, Leopold Bloom fixes breakfast and brings his wife
her mail and breakfast in bed. One of her letters is from Mollys concert tour
manager, Blazes Boylan (Bloom suspects he is also Mollys lover)Boylan will visit
at 4:00 this afternoon. Bloom returns downstairs, reads a letter from their daughter,
Milly, then goes to the outhouse.

At 10:00 A.M., Bloom picks up an amorous letter from the post officehe is
corresponding with a woman named Martha Clifford under the pseudonym Henry
Flower. He reads the tepid letter, ducks briefly into a church, then orders Mollys
lotion from the pharmacist. He runs into Bantam Lyons, who mistakenly gets the
impression that Bloom is giving him a tip on the horse Throwaway in the afternoons
Gold Cup race.
Around 11:00 A.M., Bloom rides with Simon Dedalus (Stephens father), Martin
Cunningham, and Jack Power to the funeral of Paddy Dignam. The men treat Bloom
as somewhat of an outsider. At the funeral, Bloom thinks about the deaths of his son
and his father.
At noon, we find Bloom at the offices of the Freemannewspaper, negotiating an
advertisement for Keyes, a liquor merchant. Several idle men, including editor Myles
Crawford, are hanging around in the office, discussing political speeches. Bloom
leaves to secure the ad. Stephen arrives at the newspaper with Deasys letter.
Stephen and the other men leave for the pub just as Bloom is returning. Blooms ad
negotiation is rejected by Crawford on his way out.
At 1:00 P.M., Bloom runs into Josie Breen, an old flame, and they discuss Mina
Purefoy, who is in labor at the maternity hospital. Bloom stops in Burtons
restaurant, but he decides to move on to Davy Byrnes for a light lunch. Bloom
reminisces about an intimate afternoon with Molly on Howth. Bloom leaves and is
walking toward the National Library when he spots Boylan on the street and ducks
into the National Museum.
At 2:00 P.M., Stephen is informally presenting his Hamlet theory in the National
Library to the poet A.E. and the librarians John Eglinton, Best, and Lyster. A.E. is
dismissive of Stephens theory and leaves. Buck enters and jokingly scolds Stephen
for failing to meet him and Haines at the pub. On the way out, Buck and Stephen
pass Bloom, who has come to obtain a copy of Keyes ad.
At 4:00 P.M., Simon Dedalus, Ben Dollard, Lenehan, and Blazes Boylan converge at
the Ormond Hotel bar. Bloom notices Boylans car outside and decides to watch
him. Boylan soon leaves for his appointment with Molly, and Bloom sits morosely in
the Ormond restauranthe is briefly mollified by Dedaluss and Dollards singing.
Bloom writes back to Martha, then leaves to post the letter.
At 5:00 P.M., Bloom arrives at Barney Kiernans pub to meet Martin Cunningham
about the Dignam family finances, but Cunningham has not yet arrived. The citizen,
a belligerent Irish nationalist, becomes increasingly drunk and begins attacking
Blooms Jewishness. Bloom stands up to the citizen, speaking in favor of peace and
love over xenophobic violence. Bloom and the citizen have an altercation on the
street before Cunninghams carriage carries Bloom away.
Bloom relaxes on Sandymount Strand around sunset, after his visit to Mrs. Dignams
house nearby. A young woman, Gerty MacDowell, notices Bloom watching her from
across the beach. Gerty subtly reveals more and more of her legs while Bloom
surreptitiously masturbates. Gerty leaves, and Bloom dozes.

At 10:00 P.M., Bloom wanders to the maternity hospital to check on Mina Purefoy.
Also at the hospital are Stephen and several of his medi-c-al student friends,
drinking and talking boisterously about subjects related to birth. Bloom agrees to
join them, though he privately disapproves of their revelry in light of Mrs. Purefoys
struggles upstairs. Buck arrives, and the men proceed to Burkes pub. At closing
time, Stephen convinces his friend Lynch to go to the brothel section of town and
Bloom follows, feeling protective.
Bloom finally locates Stephen and Lynch at Bella Cohens brothel. Stephen is drunk
and imagines that he sees the ghost of his motherfull of rage, he shatters a lamp
with his walking stick. Bloom runs after Stephen and finds him in an argument with
a British soldier who knocks him out.
Bloom revives Stephen and takes him for coffee at a cabmans shelter to sober up.
Bloom invites Stephen back to his house.
Well after midnight, Stephen and Bloom arrive back at Blooms house. They drink
cocoa and talk about their respective backgrounds. Bloom asks Stephen to stay the
night. Stephen politely refuses. Bloom sees him out and comes back in to find
evidence of Boylans visit. Still, Bloom is at peace with the world and he climbs into
bed, tells Molly of his day and requests breakfast in bed.
After Bloom falls asleep, Molly remains awake, surprised by Blooms request for
breakfast in bed. Her mind wanders to her childhood in Gibraltar, her afternoon of
sex with Boylan, her singing career, Stephen Dedalus. Her thoughts of Bloom vary
wildly over the course of the monologue, but it ends with a reminiscence of their
intimate moment at Howth and a positive affirmation.

Divine Comedy
Inferno opens on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300. Traveling through a
dark wood, Dante Alighieri has lost his path and now wanders fearfully through the
forest. The sun shines down on a mountain above him, and he attempts to climb up
to it but finds his way blocked by three beastsa leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf.
Frightened and helpless, Dante returns to the dark wood. Here he encounters the
ghost of Virgil, the great Roman poet, who has come to guide Dante back to his
path, to the top of the mountain. Virgil says that their path will take them through
Hell and that they will eventually reach Heaven, where Dantes beloved Beatrice
awaits. He adds that it was Beatrice, along with two other holy women, who, seeing
Dante lost in the wood, sent Virgil to guide him.
Virgil leads Dante through the gates of Hell, marked by the haunting inscription
ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE (III.7). They enter the outlying region
of Hell, the Ante-Inferno, where the souls who in life could not commit to either good
or evil now must run in a futile chase after a blank banner, day after day, while
hornets bite them and worms lap their blood. Dante witnesses their suffering with
repugnance and pity. The ferryman Charon then takes him and his guide across the
river Acheron, the real border of Hell. The First Circle of Hell, Limbo, houses pagans,

including Virgil and many of the other great writers and poets of antiquity, who died
without knowing of Christ. After meeting Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, Dante continues
into the Second Circle of Hell, reserved for the sin of Lust. At the border of the
Second Circle, the monster Minos lurks, assigning condemned souls to their
punishments. He curls his tail around himself a certain number of times, indicating
the number of the circle to which the soul must go. Inside the Second Circle, Dante
watches as the souls of the Lustful swirl about in a terrible storm; Dante meets
Francesca, who tells him the story of her doomed love affair with Paolo da Rimini,
her husbands brother; the relationship has landed both in Hell.
In the Third Circle of Hell, the Gluttonous must lie in mud and endure a rain of filth
and excrement. In the Fourth Circle, the Avaricious and the Prodigal are made to
charge at one another with giant boulders. The Fifth Circle of Hell contains the river
Styx, a swampy, fetid cesspool in which the Wrathful spend eternity struggling with
one another; the Sullen lie bound beneath the Styxs waters, choking on the mud.
Dante glimpses Filippo Argenti, a former political enemy of his, and watches in
delight as other souls tear the man to pieces.
Virgil and Dante next proceed to the walls of the city of Dis, a city contained within
the larger region of Hell. The demons who guard the gates refuse to open them for
Virgil, and an angelic messenger arrives from Heaven to force the gates open before
Dante. The Sixth Circle of Hell houses the Heretics, and there Dante encounters a
rival political leader named Farinata. A deep valley leads into the First Ring of the
Seventh Circle of Hell, where those who were violent toward others spend eternity in
a river of boiling blood. Virgil and Dante meet a group of Centaurs, creatures who
are half man, half horse. One of them, Nessus, takes them into the Second Ring of
the Seventh Circle of Hell, where they encounter those who were violent toward
themselves (the Suicides). These souls must endure eternity in the form of trees.
Dante there speaks with Pier della Vigna. Going deeper into the Seventh Circle of
Hell, the travelers find those who were violent toward God (the Blasphemers); Dante
meets his old patron, Brunetto Latini, walking among the souls of those who were
violent toward Nature (the Sodomites) on a desert of burning sand. They also
encounter the Usurers, those who were violent toward Art.
The monster Geryon transports Virgil and Dante across a great abyss to the Eighth
Circle of Hell, known as Malebolge, or evil pockets (or pouches); the term refers
to the circles division into various pockets separated by great folds of earth. In the
First Pouch, the Panderers and the Seducers receive lashings from whips; in the
second, the Flatterers must lie in a river of human feces. The Simoniacs in the Third
Pouch hang upside down in baptismal fonts while their feet burn with fire. In the
Fourth Pouch are the Astrologists or Diviners, forced to walk with their heads on
backward, a sight that moves Dante to great pity. In the Fifth Pouch, the Barrators
(those who accepted bribes) steep in pitch while demons tear them apart. The
Hypocrites in the Sixth Pouch must forever walk in circles, wearing heavy robes
made of lead. Caiphas, the priest who confirmed Jesus death sentence, lies
crucified on the ground; the other sinners tread on him as they walk. In the
horrifying Seventh Pouch, the Thieves sit trapped in a pit of vipers, becoming vipers
themselves when bitten; to regain their form, they must bite another thief in turn.

In the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell, Dante speaks to Ulysses, the great
hero of Homers epics, now doomed to an eternity among those guilty of Spiritual
Theft (the False Counselors) for his role in executing the ruse of the Trojan Horse. In
the Ninth Pouch, the souls of Sowers of Scandal and Schism walk in a circle,
constantly afflicted by wounds that open and close repeatedly. In the Tenth Pouch,
the Falsifiers suffer from horrible plagues and diseases.
Virgil and Dante proceed to the Ninth Circle of Hell through the Giants Well, which
leads to a massive drop to Cocytus, a great frozen lake. The giant Antaeus picks
Virgil and Dante up and sets them down at the bottom of the well, in the lowest
region of Hell. In Caina, the First Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, those who betrayed
their kin stand frozen up to their necks in the lakes ice. In Antenora, the Second
Ring, those who betrayed their country and party stand frozen up to their heads;
here Dante meets Count Ugolino, who spends eternity gnawing on the head of the
man who imprisoned him in life. In Ptolomea, the Third Ring, those who betrayed
their guests spend eternity lying on their backs in the frozen lake, their tears
making blocks of ice over their eyes. Dante next follows Virgil into Judecca, the
Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell and the lowest depth. Here, those who
betrayed their benefactors spend eternity in complete icy submersion.
A huge, mist-shrouded form lurks ahead, and Dante approaches it. It is the threeheaded giant Lucifer, plunged waist-deep into the ice. His body pierces the center of
the Earth, where he fell when God hurled him down from Heaven. Each of Lucifers
mouths chews one of historys three greatest sinners: Judas, the betrayer of Christ,
and Cassius and Brutus, the betrayers of Julius Caesar. Virgil leads Dante on a climb
down Lucifers massive form, holding on to his frozen tufts of hair. Eventually, the
poets reach the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, and travel from there out of Hell
and back onto Earth. They emerge from Hell on Easter morning, just before sunrise.

Purgatorio
Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom
to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world. The Mountain is on an
island, the only land in the Southern Hemisphere, created by the displacement of
rock which resulted when Satan's fall created Hell(which Dante portrays as existing
underneath Jerusalem). The mountain has seven terraces, corresponding to the
seven deadly sins or "seven roots of sinfulness. The classification of sin here is
more psychological than that of the Inferno, being based on motives, rather than
actions. It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical
sources. However, Dante's illustrative examples of sin and virtue draw on classical
sources as well as on the Bible and on contemporary events.
Love, a theme throughout the Divine Comedy, is particularly important for the
framing of sin on the Mountain of Purgatory. While the love that flows from God is
pure, it can become sinful as it flows through humanity. Humans can sin by using
love towards improper or malicious ends (Wrath, Envy, Pride), or using it to proper
ends but with love that is either not strong enough (Sloth) or love that is too strong

(Lust, Gluttony, Greed). Below the seven purges of the soul is the Ante-Purgatory,
containing the Excommunicated from the church and the Late repentant who died,
often violently, before receiving rites. Thus the total comes to nine, with the
addition of the Garden of Eden at the summit, equaling ten.
Allegorically, the Purgatorio represents the Christian life. Christian souls arrive
escorted by an angel, singing In exitu Israel de Aegypto. In his Letter to Cangrande,
Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the
redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery
of sin to the state of grace. Appropriately, therefore, it is Easter Sunday when
Dante and Virgil arrive.
The Purgatorio is notable for demonstrating the medieval knowledge of a spherical
Earth. During the poem, Dante discusses the different stars visible in the southern
hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth.
At this stage it is, Dante says, sunset at Jerusalem, midnight on the River Ganges,
and sunrise in Purgatory.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres
of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic
cosmology. While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based on
different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four
cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.

The first seven spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues of Prudence,
Fortitude, Justice and Temperance. The first three describe a deficiency of one of the
cardinal virtues the Moon, containing the inconstant, whose vows to God waned as
the moon and thus lack fortitude; Mercury, containing the ambitious, who were
virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice; and Venus, containing the lovers, whose
love was directed towards another than God and thus lacked Temperance. The final
four incidentally are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the Sun,
containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues, to
which the others are bound (constituting a category on its own). Mars contains the
men of fortitude who died in the cause of Christianity; Jupiter contains the kings of
Justice; and Saturn contains the temperate, the monks who abided by the
contemplative lifestyle. The seven subdivided into three are raised further by two
more categories: the eighth sphere of the fixed stars that contain those who
achieved the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and represent the Church
Triumphant the total perfection of humanity, cleansed of all the sins and carrying
all the virtues of heaven; and the ninth circle, or Primum Mobile (corresponding to
the Geocentricism of Medieval astronomy), which contains the angels, creatures
never poisoned by original sin. Topping them all is the Empyrean, which contains
the essence of God, completing the 9-fold division to 10.

Dante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including
Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Saint Peter, and St. John. The Paradiso is
consequently more theological in nature than the Inferno and the Purgatorio.
However, Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is merely the one his
human eyes permit him to see, and thus the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is
Dante's personal vision.

The Divine Comedy finishes with Dante seeing the Triune God. In a flash of
understanding that he cannot express, Dante finally understands the mystery of
Christ's divinity and humanity, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:

But already my desire and my will

were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.

Great Expectation
Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent,
sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents tombstones. Suddenly, an
escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to
bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is
soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items
himself.
One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of
the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old
wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped
at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella,
who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her
and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He
even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to
Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis
House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his familys
business.
With Miss Havishams guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is
the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his
education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joes malicious
day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pips sister, known as
Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip
suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack.

One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor
has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin
his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have
come truethat Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman
intends for him to marry Estella.
In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggerss
law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones,
especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by
studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herberts father. Herbert himself helps Pip
learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive
an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the
business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly
undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick
reappears in Pips life, employed as Miss Havishams porter, but is promptly fired by
Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlicks unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for
the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one
night a familiar figure barges into Pips roomthe convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip
by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pips fortune. He tells
Pip that he was so moved by Pips boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to
making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose.
Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the
convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in
crime. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that
Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that
Estella is Magwitchs daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break mens hearts,
as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for
the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estellas ability to toy
with his affections.
As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply.
Before Magwitchs escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named
Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his
forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later
that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes
up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will
continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pips forgiveness.
The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just
before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes,
where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip
when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pips life. Pip and Herbert
hurry back to effect Magwitchs escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river
on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off.
Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch
is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is
Gods forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for

him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after
robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her
fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves,
Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he
discovers that she and Joe have already married.
Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning
many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House.
Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that
Estellas coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two
leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.
(NOTE: Dickenss original ending to Great Expectations differed from the one
described in this summary. The final Summary and Analysis section of this
SparkNote provides a description of the first ending and explains why Dickens
rewrote it.)

Oedipus Rex
When Thebes is struck by a plague, the people ask King Oedipus to deliver them
from its horrors. Creon, the brother of Jocasta, Oedipuss queen, returns from the
oracle of Apollo and discloses that the plague is punishment for the murder of King
Laius, Oedipuss immediate predecessor, to whom Jocasta was married. Creon
further discloses that the citizens of Thebes need to discover and punish the
murderer before the plague can be lifted. The people mourn their dead, and
Oedipus advises them, in their own interest, to search out and apprehend the
murderer of Laius.
Asked to help find the murderer, Teiresias, the ancient, blind seer of Thebes, tells
Oedipus that it would be better for all if he does not tell what he knows. He says
that coming events will reveal themselves. Oedipus rages at the seers reluctance
to tell the secret until he goads the old man to reveal that Oedipus is the one
responsible for Thebess afflictions because he is the murderer, and that he is living
in intimacy with his nearest kin. Oedipus accuses the old man of being in league
with Creon, whom he suspects of plotting against his throne, but Teiresias answers
that Oedipus will be ashamed and horrified when he learns the truth about his true
parentage. Oedipus defies the seer, saying he will welcome the truth as long as it
frees his kingdom from the plague. Oedipus threatens Creon with death, but Jocasta
and the people advise him against doing violence on the strength of rumor or
momentary passion. Oedipus yields, but he banishes Creon.
Jocasta, grieved by the enmity between her brother and Oedipus, tells her husband
that an oracle informed King Laius that he would be killed by his own child, the
offspring of Laius and Jocasta. Jocasta assures Oedipus that this could not happen
because the child was abandoned on a deserted mountainside soon after birth.
When Oedipus hears further that Laius was killed by robbers at the meeting place of
three roads and that the three roads met in Phocis, he is deeply disturbed and

begins to suspect that he is, after all, the murderer. He hesitates to reveal his
suspicion, but he becomes more and more convinced of his own guilt.
Oedipus tells Jocasta that he believed himself to be the son of Polybus of Corinth
and Merope until a drunken man on one occasion announced that the young
Oedipus was not really Polybuss son. Disturbed, Oedipus consulted the oracle of
Apollo, who told him he would sire children by his own mother and that he would kill
his own father. After he left Corinth, at a meeting place of three roads, Oedipus was
offended by a man in a chariot. He killed the man and all of his servants but one.
From there he went on to Thebes, where he became the new king by answering the
riddle of the Sphinx. The riddle asked what went on all fours before noon, on two
legs at noon, and on three legs after noon. Oedipus answered, correctly, that human
beings walk on all fours as an infant, on two legs in their prime, and with the aid of a
stick in their old age. With the kingship, he also won the hand of Jocasta, King
Laiuss queen.
Oedipus summons the servant who reported King Laiuss death, but he awaits his
arrival fearfully. Jocasta assures her husband that the entire matter is of no great
consequence, that surely the prophecies of the oracles will not come true.
A messenger from Corinth announces that King Polybus is dead and that Oedipus is
his successor. Polybus died of natural causes, so Oedipus and Jocasta are relieved
for the time being. Oedipus tells the messenger he will not go to Corinth for fear of
siring children by his mother, Merope.
The messenger goes on to reveal that Oedipus is not the son of Polybus and Merope
but a foundling whom the messenger, at that time a shepherd, took to Polybus. The
messenger relates how he received the baby from another shepherd, who was a
servant of the house of King Laius. At that point Jocasta realizes the dreadful truth.
She does not wish to see the old servant who was summoned, but Oedipus desires
clarity regardless of the cost. He again calls for the servant. When the servant
appears, the messenger recognizes him as the herdsman from whom he received
the child years earlier. The old servant confesses that King Laius ordered him to
destroy the boy but that out of pity he gave the infant to the Corinthian to raise as
his foster son.
Oedipus, now all but mad from the realization of what he did, enters the palace and
discovers that Jocasta hanged herself by her hair. He removes her golden brooches
and with them puts out his eyes so that he will not be able to see the results of the
horrible prophecy. Then, blind and bloody and miserable, he displays himself to the
Thebans and announces himself as the murderer of their king and the defiler of his
own mothers bed. He curses the herdsman who saved him from death years
before.
Creon, returning, orders the attendants to lead Oedipus back into the palace.
Oedipus asks Creon to have him conducted out of Thebes where no man will ever
see him again. He also asks Creon to give Jocasta a proper burial and to see that the
sons and daughters of the unnatural marriage should be cared for and not be
allowed to live poor and unmarried because of the shame attached to their

parentage. Creon leads the wretched Oedipus away to his exile of blindness and
torment.

1984
Winston Smith is a member of the Outer Party. He works in the Records Department
in the Ministry of Truth, rewriting and distorting history. To escape Big Brother's
tyranny, at least inside his own mind, Winston begins a diary an act punishable
by death. Winston is determined to remain human under inhuman circumstances.
Yet telescreens are placed everywhere in his home, in his cubicle at work, in the
cafeteria where he eats, even in the bathroom stalls. His every move is watched. No
place is safe.
One day, while at the mandatory Two Minutes Hate, Winston catches the eye of an
Inner Party Member, O'Brien, whom he believes to be an ally. He also catches the
eye of a dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department, whom he believes is his
enemy and wants him destroyed. A few days later, Julia, the dark-haired girl whom
Winston believes to be against him, secretly hands him a note that reads, "I love
you." Winston takes pains to meet her, and when they finally do, Julia draws up a
complicated plan whereby they can be alone.
Alone in the countryside, Winston and Julia make love and begin their allegiance
against the Party and Big Brother. Winston is able to secure a room above a shop
where he and Julia can go for their romantic trysts. Winston and Julia fall in love,
and, while they know that they will someday be caught, they believe that the love
and loyalty they feel for each other can never be taken from them, even under the
worst circumstances.
Eventually, Winston and Julia confess to O'Brien, whom they believe to be a member
of the Brotherhood (an underground organization aimed at bringing down the Party),
their hatred of the Party. O'Brien welcomes them into the Brotherhood with an array
of questions and arranges for Winston to be given a copy of "the book," the
underground's treasonous volume written by their leader, Emmanuel Goldstein,
former ally of Big Brother turned enemy.
Winston gets the book at a war rally and takes it to the secure room where he reads
it with Julia napping by his side. The two are disturbed by a noise behind a painting
in the room and discover a telescreen. They are dragged away and separated.
Winston finds himself deep inside the Ministry of Love, a kind of prison with no
windows, where he sits for days alone. Finally, O'Brien comes. Initially Winston
believes that O'Brien has also been caught, but he soon realizes that O'Brien is
there to torture him and break his spirit. The Party had been aware of Winston's
"crimes" all along; in fact, O'Brien has been watching Winston for the past seven
years.
O'Brien spends the next few months torturing Winston in order to change his way of
thinking to employ the concept of doublethink, or the ability to simultaneously
hold two opposing ideas in one's mind and believe in them both. Winston believes

that the human mind must be free, and to remain free, one must be allowed to
believe in an objective truth, such as 2 + 2 = 4. O'Brien wants Winston to believe
that 2 + 2 = 5, but Winston is resistant.
Finally, O'Brien takes Winston to Room 101, the most dreaded room of all in the
Ministry of Love, the place where prisoners meet their greatest fear. Winston's
greatest fear is rats. O'Brien places over Winston's head a mask made of wire mesh
and threatens to open the door to release rats on Winston's face. When Winston
screams, "Do it to Julia!" he relinquishes his last vestige of humanity.
Winston is a changed man. He sits in the Chestnut Tree Caf, watching the
telescreens and agonizing over the results of daily battles on the front lines. He has
seen Julia again. She, too, is changed, seeming older and less attractive. She admits
that she also betrayed him. In the end, there is no doubt, Winston loves Big Brother.

Epic of Gilgamesh
The epics prelude offers a general introduction to Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who was
two-thirds god and one-third man. He built magnificent ziggurats, or temple towers,
surrounded his city with high walls, and laid out its orchards and fields. He was
physically beautiful, immensely strong, and very wise. Although Gilgamesh was
godlike in body and mind, he began his kingship as a cruel despot. He lorded over
his subjects, raping any woman who struck his fancy, whether she was the wife of
one of his warriors or the daughter of a nobleman. He accomplished his building
projects with forced labor, and his exhausted subjects groaned under his
oppression. The gods heard his subjects pleas and decided to keep Gilgamesh in
check by creating a wild man named Enkidu, who was as magnificent as Gilgamesh.
Enkidu became Gilgameshs great friend, and Gilgameshs heart was shattered
when Enkidu died of an illness inflicted by the gods. Gilgamesh then traveled to the
edge of the world and learned about the days before the deluge and other secrets
of the gods, and he recorded them on stone tablets.
The epic begins with Enkidu. He lives with the animals, suckling at their breasts,
grazing in the meadows, and drinking at their watering places. A hunter discovers
him and sends a temple prostitute into the wilderness to tame him. In that time,
people considered women and sex calming forces that could domesticate wild men
like Enkidu and bring them into the civilized world. When Enkidu sleeps with the
woman, the animals reject him since he is no longer one of them. Now, he is part of
the human world. Then the harlot teaches him everything he needs to know to be a
man. Enkidu is outraged by what he hears about Gilgameshs excesses, so he
travels to Uruk to challenge him. When he arrives, Gilgamesh is about to force his
way into a brides wedding chamber. Enkidu steps into the doorway and blocks his
passage. The two men wrestle fiercely for a long time, and Gilgamesh finally
prevails. After that, they become friends and set about looking for an adventure to
share.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to steal trees from a distant cedar forest forbidden to
mortals. A terrifying demon named Humbaba, the devoted servant of Enlil, the god
of earth, wind, and air, guards it. The two heroes make the perilous journey to the
forest, and, standing side by side, fight with the monster. With assistance from
Shamash the sun god, they kill him. Then they cut down the forbidden trees, fashion
the tallest into an enormous gate, make the rest into a raft, and float on it back to
Uruk. Upon their return, Ishtar, the goddess of love, is overcome with lust for
Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh spurns her. Enraged, the goddess asks her father, Anu, the
god of the sky, to send the Bull of Heaven to punish him. The bull comes down from
the sky, bringing with him seven years of famine. Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle
with the bull and kill it. The gods meet in council and agree that one of the two
friends must be punished for their transgression, and they decide Enkidu is going to
die. He takes ill, suffers immensely, and shares his visions of the underworld with
Gilgamesh. When he finally dies, Gilgamesh is heartbroken.
Gilgamesh cant stop grieving for Enkidu, and he cant stop brooding about the
prospect of his own death. Exchanging his kingly garments for animal skins as a
way of mourning Enkidu, he sets off into the wilderness, determined to find
Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. After the flood, the gods had granted
Utnapishtim eternal life, and Gilgamesh hopes that Utnapishtim can tell him how he
might avoid death too. Gilgameshs journey takes him to the twin-peaked mountain
called Mashu, where the sun sets into one side of the mountain at night and rises
out of the other side in the morning. Utnapishtim lives beyond the mountain, but
the two scorpion monsters that guard its entrance refuse to allow Gilgamesh into
the tunnel that passes through it. Gilgamesh pleads with them, and they relent.
After a harrowing passage through total darkness, Gilgamesh emerges into a
beautiful garden by the sea. There he meets Siduri, a veiled tavern keeper, and tells
her about his quest. She warns him that seeking immortality is futile and that he
should be satisfied with the pleasures of this world. However, when she cant turn
him away from his purpose, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman. Urshanabi
takes Gilgamesh on the boat journey across the sea and through the Waters of
Death to Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of the floodhow the
gods met in council and decided to destroy humankind. Ea, the god of wisdom,
warned Utnapishtim about the gods plans and told him how to fashion a gigantic
boat in which his family and the seed of every living creature might escape. When
the waters finally receded, the gods regretted what theyd done and agreed that
they would never try to destroy humankind again. Utnapishtim was rewarded with
eternal life. Men would die, but humankind would continue.
When Gilgamesh insists that he be allowed to live forever, Utnapishtim gives him a
test. If you think you can stay alive for eternity, he says, surely you can stay awake
for a week. Gilgamesh tries and immediately fails. So Utnapishtim orders him to
clean himself up, put on his royal garments again, and return to Uruk where he
belongs. Just as Gilgamesh is departing, however, Utnapishtims wife convinces him
to tell Gilgamesh about a miraculous plant that restores youth. Gilgamesh finds the
plant and takes it with him, planning to share it with the elders of Uruk. But a snake

steals the plant one night while they are camping. As the serpent slithers away, it
sheds its skin and becomes young again.
When Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, he is empty-handed but reconciled at last to his
mortality. He knows that he cant live forever but that humankind will. Now he sees
that the city he had repudiated in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring
achievementthe closest thing to immortality to which a mortal can aspire.

Achilles
The greatest warrior in the Achaian army. The Iliad is about the Trojan War, but it is
primarily about the war as it is affected by Achilles' wrath, or anger. Achilles is the
main character, and his inaction, or withdrawal from the fighting, is crucial to the
plot. He is a complex warrior who sometimes ignores the cultural norms of his
society because he sees through some of its fallacies in particular, he sees many
of the faults in the often narrow and contradictory heroic code. Achilles is also the
greatest warrior and fighter among the Achaians. He is invulnerable (except on the
heel) because his mother dipped him in the River Styx as a baby. Furthermore, no
warrior comes close to being his equal as a fighter.
Achilles has a strong sense of social order that in the beginning, manifests itself in
his concern for the disorder in the Achaian camp; a deadly plague is destroying the
soldiers, and Achilles wants to know the reason why. His king, Agamemnon, will not
act, so Achilles decides to act: He calls for an assembly of the entire army. In doing
this, Achilles upsets the order of protocol; only Agamemnon can decide to call an
assembly, but Achilles does so to try to return order to the Achaian camp. He
succeeds, partially. He finds out why the plague is killing hundreds of Achaian
soldiers, but in the process, he creates disorder when it is revealed that
Agamemnon is responsible for the deadly plague. Thus, Achilles' attempt to return
order to the Achaian camp does little, ultimately, to establish order. Apollo lifts the
plague, but after Achilles withdraws himself and his troops from the Achaian army,
disorder still remains among the Achaians.
Agamemnon, of course, is as guilty of creating the ensuing disorder as Achilles is,
but Achilles seems petulant and argumentative. He is undermining the little
harmony that does exist. In his argument that Agamemnon receives all the best war
prizes and does nothing to earn them, Achilles forgets the valuable prizes that he
has received. His rage even causes him to almost attempt to kill Agamemnon, but
the goddess Athena saves him from this deed.

It should be noted that Achilles does not leave the Achaian army without sufficient
reason: Agamemnon demanded to have the maiden Briseis, Achilles' war prize, and
Achilles saw this act as a parallel to Paris' kidnapping of Helen he sees himself in
the same position as Menelaos. Consequently, the quarrel between himself and
Agamemnon is as righteous to him as is the war against the Trojans. But even after
Agamemnon offers to return Briseis, along with numerous other gifts, Achilles
remains angry, indicating that one of Achilles' major character flaws is his excessive
pride. The gifts that Agamemnon offers do not compensate for the public affront,
the public insult Achilles believes he has suffered. A concern for gifts, the reader
realizes, is far less important to Achilles than his concern for a proper, honored
place in the world. After all, Agamemnon had previously given gifts and then taken
them back. He could do so again, so the promise of more gifts is possibly an empty
promise.
This idea of social status is in keeping with the heroic code by which Achilles has
lived, but in his isolation, he comes to question the idea of fighting for glory alone
because "A man dies still if he has done nothing." The idea developing in Achilles'
mind is that the concept of home (or family) and the individual are both important
to society and to a heroic warrior. (Hektor is the embodiment of this view.) Some
critics see these ideas slowly developing through Achilles' ability to relate to others
on a personal basis, as he does with Patroklos, and as he does in his guest-host
relationship with the ambassadors from Agamemnon.
However, it is only after Patroklos' death that these relationships and broader
concepts of love begin to become significant for Achilles. Ironically, with the death
of Patroklos, Achilles begins to see life and relationships with other people from
a mortal point of view, and at the same time, he is drawing ever closer to
the divine aspects of love. He has an obligation to avenge Patroklos' death, and he
realizes his own shortcomings as Patroklos' protector. He also sees that his sitting by
his ships is "a useless weight on the good land," something that is causing the
deaths of many Achaian warriors. Unfortunately, however, Achilles is unable to see
that the Achaians feel his withdrawal as keenly as he now feels the loss of Patroklos.
It is Achilles' anger, whether he is sulking or whether he is violent, that is
paramount throughout most of the epic. In fact, his battle with the river is probably
one of the most savage scenes in the Iliad. It shows us Achilles' insane wrath at its
height. On first reading, the scene may seem confusing, but it is important to the
reader's view of Achilles and to the mutilation theme. Mutilation of bodies and
Achilles' excesses prompt the river god to charge him with excessive evil. He
charges Achilles with not merely killing, but "outraging the corpse."
Homer so vividly personifies the river god that he describes the battle between
them as being a battle between two beings, even though, at the same time, it is a
vivid description of a man caught in a flood, literally fighting for his life. If the reader
can visualize this scene, seeing a thick debris of trees, powerful rocks, and strong
waves lashing against Achilles, the scene becomes more powerful and meaningful.
Achilles has over-reached himself, and as he attempts to punish all the Trojans for
Patroklos' death and to deny them burial rites for Hektor, so the river god now

attempts to drown Achilles, bury him in the mud, and deny him glory and proper
burial rites. It is also significant that the river god is the only god to confront Achilles
with excessive cruelty and lack of pity. Later, however, the other gods come to view
Achilles as the river god does.
Achilles' violence closes with the death of Hektor and with Achilles' mutilation of
Hektor's corpse. By now, under Zeus' firm hand, the gods have moved from their
own state of disorder to order. When the gods see Achilles act without any sense of
pity for Hektor or his family, they come back into Zeus' all-wise fold of authority.
And eventually, through his mother, Thetis, even Achilles is finally persuaded to
accede to Zeus' will. In the end, Achilles is exhausted. His passions are spent, and
he consents to give up Hektor's corpse.

The Fall of the house of Usher

Summoned to the House of Usher by a wildly importunate letter, which gave
evidence of nervous agitation, the first-person narrator goes to reside for a time
with the writer of this letter, Roderick Usher. Although Roderick had been one of his
boon companions in boyhood, the narrator confesses early in the story that I
really knew little of my friend; yet, by the end of this gothic tale, he has learned
more about the occupants of the House of Usher than he is equipped to deal with.
Indeed, one of these occupants is Rodericks twin sister, Madeline Usher, who is
suffering from an unspecified but fatal illness. One of the symptoms of this illness is
catalepsy (muscular rigidity marked by a lack of response to external stimuli);
significantly, this symptom is crucial to understanding what happens in the course
of the story.
His sisters illness is only one reason for Rodericks agitation, one reason for his
desire to have the solace of the narrators companionship; it is not the onlyor
most significantreason. Usher himself is suffering from a mental disorder, which
is a constitutional and . . . family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a
remedy. Why evil? one wonders, until one recalls that, in the third paragraph of
this story, even before Roderick has been seen for the first time, the narrator
mentions that the ancient stem of the Usher family never put forth . . . any
enduring branch . . . the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had
always . . . so lain. In other words, Roderick and Madeline Usher are the products
and inheritors of an incestuous family lineageone that has remained
predominantly patrilineal, so that the name of the family always remained Usher.
Rodericks dilemma, therefore, is this: Madeline is the only relative he has left on
earth, and the dictates of the Usher tradition require that, to perpetuate the race of
Ushers and the family name, he marry his twin sister andthrough incestsire
future Ushers. (It should be noted that at no place in the story does Roderick say
any of this directly; while it is intimated throughout, his dilemma is made clearly
apparent only by careful reading of his and the narrators words on this matter.)
Thus, when Roderick refers to his family evil, the reader may better understand
why the narrator earlier mentions, in the second paragraph of the story, that of

late the family has received some recognition for repeated deeds of munificent
yet unobtrusive charity. Such alms, it should be understood, have been given
penitently, in the hope that they will absolve the evil of incest germane to the
Usher tradition. Nevertheless, absolution comes to the Ushers in no form other than
complete annihilation.
During the term of the narrators visit with Roderick, they read to each other
literature concerning classical myth, penitential rituals, theology, physiology,
supernaturalism, and demonismall of which are meant to indicate to the reader
Rodericks preoccupation with anything that might help him understand his and his
sisters dilemma. What he comes to feel certain about is that the house itself
because it was built and lived in by his forefathers, and because he believes there is
sentience [in] all vegetable things (and the house consists of such sentient things)
has a terrible influence on him and Madeline, and that it has made him.
The House of Usher becomes a living, feeling character in Poes story, and one that,
Roderick suggests, may be urging the two remaining Ushers to commit incest;
although the narrator attempts to convince the reader that he is too rational and
realistic to be taken in by Rodericks hypochondriacal theories, he gradually begins
to feel infected by his hosts condition: I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet
certain degrees, the wild influences of his . . . fantastic yet impressive
superstitions. Thus, the stage is set for the storys horrifying climax, beginning one
evening when Roderick informs his guest that Madeline is dead.
Rather than burying his sister in the family cemetery some distance from the house,
Roderick decides to keep her body for two weeks in one of the many vaults within
the housefor, after all, one suffering from catalepsy may seem dead but not, in
fact, be dead; it would be horrible to bury Madeline alive. In short, the narrator
assists his host in entombing the body temporarily in, first, a coffin with its lid
screwed down, and then in a vault behind a massive iron door of profound weight.
There she remains for a week, as Roderick roams through his house aimlessly, or
sits and stares vacantly at nothing for long hours.
One tempestuously stormy nighta mad hilarity in his eyesRoderick enters the
narrators bedroom, where they sit together, the narrator reading to him and both of
them trying to ignore the terrible grating sound they hear coming from below the
bedroom (the vault into which they placed Madelines body is directly below this
bedroom, and the heavy door to that vault always makes a loud grating sound when
it is being opened). As the sound continues more noticeably, Roderick suddenly
informs the narrator that he has been listening to noises downstairs for many days,
butapparently fearful that his sister was still living, and that he would again have
to face the evil prospect of perpetuating his familys tradition of incesthe says, I
dared not speak! Abruptly, the bedroom door swings open and Madeline, her white
robes bloodied by her struggle to escape the coffin and vault, falls into the room
and on Roderick, who, a victim to the terrors he had anticipated, hits the floor a
corpse.

The narrator flees the house, and from a short distance away he turns to look back
and sees the House of Usher split in two and crumble into the dark waters of the
tarn before it.

Macbeth
The play begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to a
military camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his generals,
Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armiesone from
Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following their pitched
battle with these enemy forces, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they
cross a moor. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of
Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also prophesy
that Macbeths companion, Banquo, will beget a line of Scottish kings, although
Banquo will never be king himself. The witches vanish, and Macbeth and Banquo
treat their prophecies skeptically until some of King Duncans men come to thank
the two generals for their victories in battle and to tell Macbeth that he has indeed
been named thane of Cawdor. The previous thane betrayed Scotland by fighting for
the Norwegians and Duncan has condemned him to death. Macbeth is intrigued by
the possibility that the remainder of the witches prophecythat he will be crowned
kingmight be true, but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with King Duncan,
and they plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeths castle, that night. Macbeth
writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened.
Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husbands uncertainty. She desires the kingship
for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When Macbeth
arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husbands objections and persuades
him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncans two
chamberlains drunk so they will black out; the next morning they will blame the
murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as they will remember
nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a
number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody dagger. When
Duncans death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the chamberlains
ostensibly out of rage at their crimeand easily assumes the kingship. Duncans
sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that
whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well.
Fearful of the witches prophecy that Banquos heirs will seize the throne, Macbeth
hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They ambush Banquo
on his way to a royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who escapes into the night.
Macbeth becomes furious: as long as Fleance is alive, he fears that his power
remains insecure. At the feast that night, Banquos ghost visits Macbeth. When he
sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, who include most of
the great Scottish nobility. Lady Macbeth tries to neutralize the damage, but
Macbeths kingship incites increasing resistance from his nobles and subjects.
Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their cavern. There, they show him
a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with further prophecies: he must

beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman who opposed Macbeths accession to the

throne; he is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman; and he will be
safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels
secure, because he knows that all men are born of women and that forests cannot
move. When he learns that Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth
orders that Macduffs castle be seized and, most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her
children be murdered.
When news of his familys execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with
grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncans son, has succeeded in raising an
army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge
Macbeths forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are
appalled and frightened by Macbeths tyrannical and murderous behavior. Lady
Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued with fits of sleepwalking in which she
bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her hands. Before Macbeths
opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself, causing him to
sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits the English and
fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in order to defend
himself, certain that the witches prophecies guarantee his invincibility. He is struck
numb with fear, however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on
Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed
coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of the witches prophecy.
In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually overwhelm
his army and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the vengeful Macduff,
who declares that he was not of woman born but was instead untimely ripped
from his mothers womb (what we now call birth by cesarean section). Though he
realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth continues to fight until Macduff kills and
beheads him. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions
for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

The Raven
The Raven is unquestionably Poes most famous poem. After its publication, it
became so well known that its refrain nevermore became a catchphrase repeated
by people on the street. Poe, who told one friend that he thought the poem was the
greatest poem ever written, was delighted one night at the theater when an actor
interpolated the word into his speech, and almost everyone in the audience seemed
to recognize the allusion.
The work remains Poes best-known poem today partly because, in his Philosophy
of Composition, Poe describes what he claims was the method by which he
composed the poem. Whether or not that description is an accurate account of how
the work was composed, it is surely a description of how Poe wished the poem to be
read. Thus, Poe himself was the first, and is perhaps still the best, critic and
interpreter of his own poem.

As Poe makes clear in The Philosophy of Composition, he wished to create an

effect of beauty associated with melancholy in the poem; he decided that the
refrain nevermore, uttered to a young man whose mistress has recently died, was
perfectly calculated to achieve that effect. According to Poe, the basic situation, the
central character, and the plot of the poem were all created as a pretext or excuse
for setting up the nevermore refrain, to be repeated with a variation of meaning
and impact each time.
The plot is a simple one: A young student is reading one stormy night in his
chamber, half-dreaming about his beloved deceased mistress. He hears a tapping at
his window and opens it to admit a raven, obviously someones pet which has
escaped its master, seeking shelter from the storm. The raven can speak only one
word, nevermore. When the student, amused by this incident, asks the raven
questions, its reply of nevermore strikes a melancholic echo in his heart. Although
he knows that the raven can only speak this one word, he is compelled by what Poe
calls the universal human need for self-torture to ask the bird questions to which the
response nevermore will cause his suffering to be even more intense. When this
self-torture reaches its most extreme level, Poe says, the poem then naturally ends.
The sorrow of the young student and the stormy midnight hour contribute to the
overall effect of the poem, but the most important feature is the sound of the refrain
a sound that is established even before the raven appears by the dead mistresss
name Lenore. The echo of the word Lenore by nevermore is further
emphasized in stanza 5, when the student peers into the darkness and whispers
Lenore? only to have the word echoed back, Merely this and nothing more.
Once the lost Lenore is projected as the source of the students sorrow, the
appearance of the raven as a sort of objectification of this sorrow seems poetically
justified. When he asks the raven its name and hears the ominous word,
nevermore, the student marvels at the birds ability to utter the word but realizes
that the word has no inherent meaning or relevance. The relevance of the birds
answer depends solely on the nature of the questions or remarks the student puts
to it. For example, when he says that the bird will leave tomorrow, like all his hopes
have flown before, he is startled by the seemingly relevant reply, nevermore.
The student begins to wonder what the ominous bird means by repeating
nevermore. When he cries that perhaps his god has sent him respite from his
sorrow and memory of Lenore, the birds response of nevermore makes him call
the bird prophet and compels him to ask it if, after death, he will clasp the sainted
maiden whom the angels call Lenore; to this question he knows he will receive the
reply, nevermore. Obsessively pushing his need for self-torture to its ultimate
extreme, the young man calls for the bird to take its beak from its heart and its form
from his door, once again knowing what response he will receive. Although the
poem is often dismissed as a cold-blooded contrivance, it is actually a carefully
designed embodiment of the human need to torture the self and to find meaning in
meaninglessness.

Hercules
Hercules is considered the greatest Greek hero of all. Unlike Theseus, who was both
very strong and thoughtful, Hercules simply is strong. In fact, he is the strongest
man who has ever existed, and therefore he considers himself something of a god.
Indeed, he is half-god, a son of Zeus. Supremely confident, Hercules showed his
brute force from a very early age, when he wrestled a snake that had slithered into
his baby cradle.
The saddest incident of his life occurs after he has married Princess Megara and had
three children with her. Hera, Zeus's jealous wife, cannot forgive her husband for
having had Hercules as an illicit son, so she sends Hercules into insanity. One night
Hercules goes mad and unwittingly kills his three boys. When he realizes what he
has done, he almost kills himself, but Theseus persuades him to go on living; that is
the heroic option.
To cleanse himself, Hercules visits the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle tells him to go
to Eurystheus, who sends him on almost impossible challenges. Hercules completes
all of his twelve labors: killing the lion of Nemea, killing a creature with nine heads
called the Hydra, capturing a stag with horns of gold, killing a boar, cleaning the
thousands of Aegean stables in one day, exiling the Stymphalian birds, going to
Crete and retrieving the beautiful savage bull that Poseidon gave Minos, retrieving
the man-eating mares, bringing back the girdle of Hippolyta, returning the back of
the cattle of Geryon (a monster with three bodies), bringing back the Golden Apples
of Hesperidesand, finally, bringing Cerberus, the three-headed dog, up
from Hades.
When Atalanta's father sees that his child is a girl, not a boy, he leaves the poor
infant on a mountaintop to die. Luckily for her, a she-bear discovers her and raises
her to become a fast, daring young woman. She builds a reputation for being the
best huntress in the land and becomes famous for killing a ruthless boar. Of all her
adventures, the story of the golden apple is most famous. Atalanta decrees that she
will marry whichever suitor can outrun her in a race. Knowing that she is faster than
everyone, Atalanta smugly beats them all to the finish line.
But one man, named Hippomenes, gets three exquisite golden apples. Along the
race, the suitor drops one apple at a time. Atalanta cannot resist stopping to pick
them up, and to her surprise, the suitor wins the race. She makes good on the vow
and becomes his wife.

Prometheus

Kratus and Bia, two servants of Zeus, carry in Prometheus and hold him against a
rocky mountain in the Caucasus. Hephaestus, whose job is to chain Prometheus to
the rock, follows them. Kratus states that this is a punishment for giving fire to
human beings, and Prometheus must learn to like Zeus's rule. Hephaestus
expresses his pity for Prometheus, lamenting the fact that he must bind his friend to
the rock. Kratus urges him on, insisting that pity for Zeus's enemies is both useless
and dangerous. Hephaestus finishes his task and leaves with Kratus and Bia.
Prometheus calls on nature to witness the suffering of a god at the hands of other
gods, specifically the new ruler Zeus. He mentions that he has the gift of prophecy
and knows all that will happen. He must live with his suffering because no one can
fight fate. Prometheus hears the sound of wings and discovers that it is the Chorus
of Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, on winged chariots. The Oceanids express their
sympathy for Prometheus's suffering, explaining that the new ruler of Olympus
follows only his own laws. Prometheus prophecies that one days Zeus will be in
danger and will be forced to befriend him to avoid it.
Asked what crime he has committed to deserve this punishment, Prometheus
recounts the war between Zeus and the Titans. He had tried to help the Titans, but
they refused his guile and decided to use force. Prometheus then offered his guile to
Zeus, helping him win. Now Zeus punishes him because like all tyrants he distrusts
his friends. Zeus had planned to destroy humanity but Prometheus stood in his way.
Questioned further, Prometheus recounts that he gave humanity blind hope and
also the gift of fire. The Chorus responds to this last admission, saying that he has
sinned, but Prometheus replies that he did so willingly and will not now renounce his
action. He asks the Chorus to come down to earth so he can tell them the whole
story.
Oceanus flies in on a winged beast and says that Prometheus should stop provoking
Zeus while he himself goes to the god to have Prometheus freed. Prometheus
responds that talking to Zeus would be useless and Oceanus should not place
himself in danger by getting involved. Oceanus argues that words are needed for
healing, but Prometheus counters that the medicine must be applied at the proper
time. Convinced by Prometheus's categorical refusal of his help, Oceanus departs.
The Chorus sings that the entire old world mourns for Prometheus and his brothers
who also suffer at the hands of Zeus, especially Atlas who must hold the world.
Prometheus summarizes everything he has done for humanity. He taught human
beings agriculture, language, mathematics, harnessing of animals, and sailing. He
also taught medicine, divination, and mining. He insists that all human arts come
from him. Prometheus almost reveals his prophecy to the Chorus, but stops himself,
saying only that it will free him because Zeus is a slave to necessity like all others.
The Oceanids affirm their piety to Zeus, chide Prometheus for helping mortals who
cannot help him back, and remember his happy wedding to their sister.
Io enters wearing cow horns. Screaming that a gadfly is biting her and the ghost of
Argos pursues her, she calls on Zeus and asks why he tortures her like this. In
response to her questions, Prometheus reveals who he is and why he is being
punished. Io asks him to tell her about her future wanderings, but first the Chorus

asks to know of her past suffering. Io tells how Zeus became infatuated with her and
forced her father to drive her out of his house. Io was turned into a cow and guarded
by Argos, but he was killed and returned as a ghost along with a gadfly that drove
her around the world. Prometheus tells her of her future wanderings through
Europe, Asia, and Africa, where she must constantly avoid dangerous peoples and
monsters.
Prometheus reveals that Zeus, who makes Io suffer, will one day choose a mate
whose son will depose his father. Only Prometheus can help Zeus prevent this. He
reveals also that one day Io's descendant will free him. He then concludes the story
of Io's journey, telling how at the end of her suffering Zeus will cure and impregnate
her with a gentle touch of his hand. Prometheus talks about Io's descendants, who
will become kings of the city Argos. Io runs off again tortured by the gadfly, and the
Oceanids chant about the dangers of marrying above one's own rank, expressing
the hope that Zeus never takes an interest in them.
Angered by Io's suffering, Prometheus shouts out that Zeus's own son will topple
him. Zeus's messenger Hermes enters and orders Prometheus to reveal the identity
of this son's mother. Prometheus mocks Hermes and says that he will tell nothing.
Hermes accuses Prometheus of being overly obstinate, disobedient, and mad.
Prometheus deflects each accusation with direct insults or sarcasm. Hermes warns
that if Prometheus does not yield, a storm will send him to Tartarus. Then he will
emerge only to have an eagle eat his liver every day, and this will not end until a
god agrees to die for him. The Chorus advises Prometheus to yield, but he shows no
fear of his destiny. Hermes orders the Oceanids away, but they reply that to betray
a friend is the worst crime of all and vow to stay with Prometheus. As the earth
begins to shake and thunder gathers around him, Prometheus calls on the elements
to witness his suffering.

The Song of Roland

Charlemagne's army is fighting the Muslims in Spain. The last city standing is
Saragossa, held by the Muslim king Marsilla. Terrified of the might of Charlemagne's
army of Franks, Marsilla sends out messengers to Charlemagne, promising treasure
and Marsilla's conversion to Christianity if the Franks will go back to France.
Charlemagne and his men are tired of fighting and decide to accept this peace offer.
They need now to select a messenger to go back to Marsilla's court. The bold
warrior Roland nominates his stepfather Ganelon. Ganelon is enraged; he fears that
he'll die in the hands of the bloodthirsty pagans and suspects that this is just
Roland's intent. He has long hated and envied his stepson, and, riding back to
Saragossa with the Saracen messengers, he finds an opportunity for revenge. He
tells the Saracens how they could ambush the rear guard of Charlemagne's army,
which will surely be led by Roland as the Franks pick their way back to Spain
through the mountain passes, and helps the Saracens plan their attack.
Just as the traitor Ganelon predicted, Roland gallantly volunteers to lead the rear
guard. The wise and moderate Olivier and the fierce archbishop Turpin are among

the men Roland picks to join him. Pagans ambush them at Roncesvals, according to
plan; the Christians are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Seeing how badly
outnumbered they are, Olivier asks Roland to blow on his oliphant, his horn made
out of an elephant tusk, to call for help from the main body of the Frankish army.
Roland proudly refuses to do so, claiming that they need no help, that the rear
guard can easily take on the pagan hordes. While the Franks fight magnificently,
there's no way they can continue to hold off against the Saracens, and the battle
begins to turn clearly against them. Almost all his men are dead and Roland knows
that it's now too late for Charlemagne and his troops to save them, but he blows his
oliphant anyway, so that the emperor can see what happened to his men and
avenge them. Roland blows so hard that his temples burst. He dies a glorious
martyr's death, and saints take his soul straight to Paradise.
When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find only dead bodies.
The pagans have fled, but the Franks pursue them, chasing them into the river Ebro,
where they all drown. Meanwhile, the powerful emir of Babylon, Baligant, has
arrived in Spain to help his vassal Marsilla fend off the Frankish threat. Baligant and
his enormous Muslim army ride after Charlemagne and his Christian army, meeting
them on the battlefield at Roncesvals, where the Christians are burying and
mourning their dead. Both sides fight valiantly. But when Charlemagne kills
Baligant, all the pagan army scatter and flee. Now Saragossa has no defenders left;
the Franks take the city. With Marsilla's wife Bramimonde, Charlemagne and his men
ride back to Aix, their capital in sweet France.
The Franks discovered Ganelon's betrayal some time ago and keep him in chains
until it is time for his trial. Ganelon argues that his action was legitimate revenge,
openly proclaimed, not treason. While the council of barons, which Charlemagne
gathered to decide the traitor's fate is initially swayed by this claim, one man,
Thierry, argues that, because Roland was serving Charlemagne when Ganelon
delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a betrayal of the
emperor. Ganelon's friend Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat; the two will
fight a duel to see who's right. By divine intervention, Thierry, the weaker man,
wins, killing Pinabel. The Franks are convinced by this of Ganelon's villainy and
sentence him to a most painful death. The traitor is torn limb from limb by galloping
horses and thirty of his relatives are hung for good measure.

Animal Farm
Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers the animals of the Manor Farm for a
meeting in the big barn. He tells them of a dream he has had in which all animals
live together with no human beings to oppress or control them. He tells the animals
that they must work toward such a paradise and teaches them a song called
Beasts of England, in which his dream vision is lyrically described. The animals
greet Majors vision with great enthusiasm. When he dies only three nights after the
meeting, three younger pigsSnowball, Napoleon, and Squealerformulate his
main principles into a philosophy called Animalism. Late one night, the animals
manage to defeat the farmer Mr. Jones in a battle, running him off the land. They

rename the property Animal Farm and dedicate themselves to achieving Majors
dream. The cart-horse Boxer devotes himself to the cause with particular zeal,
committing his great strength to the prosperity of the farm and adopting as a
personal maxim the affirmation I will work harder.
At first, Animal Farm prospers. Snowball works at teaching the animals to read, and
Napoleon takes a group of young puppies to educate them in the principles of
Animalism. When Mr. Jones reappears to take back his farm, the animals defeat him
again, in what comes to be known as the Battle of the Cowshed, and take the
farmers abandoned gun as a token of their victory. As time passes, however,
Napoleon and Snowball increasingly quibble over the future of the farm, and they
begin to struggle with each other for power and influence among the other animals.
Snowball concocts a scheme to build an electricity-generating windmill, but
Napoleon solidly opposes the plan. At the meeting to vote on whether to take up the
project, Snowball gives a passionate speech. Although Napoleon gives only a brief
retort, he then makes a strange noise, and nine attack dogsthe puppies that
Napoleon had confiscated in order to educateburst into the barn and chase
Snowball from the farm. Napoleon assumes leadership of Animal Farm and declares
that there will be no more meetings. From that point on, he asserts, the pigs alone
will make all of the decisionsfor the good of every animal.
Napoleon now quickly changes his mind about the windmill, and the animals,
especially Boxer, devote their efforts to completing it. One day, after a storm, the
animals find the windmill toppled. The human farmers in the area declare smugly
that the animals made the walls too thin, but Napoleon claims that Snowball
returned to the farm to sabotage the windmill. He stages a great purge, during
which various animals who have allegedly participated in Snowballs great
conspiracymeaning any animal who opposes Napoleons uncontested leadership
meet instant death at the teeth of the attack dogs. With his leadership
unquestioned (Boxer has taken up a second maxim, Napoleon is always right),
Napoleon begins expanding his powers, rewriting history to make Snowball a villain.
Napoleon also begins to act more and more like a human beingsleeping in a bed,
drinking whisky, and engaging in trade with neighboring farmers. The original
Animalist principles strictly forbade such activities, but Squealer, Napoleons
propagandist, justifies every action to the other animals, convincing them that
Napoleon is a great leader and is making things better for everyonedespite the
fact that the common animals are cold, hungry, and overworked.
Mr. Frederick, a neighboring farmer, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of some
timber and then attacks the farm and dynamites the windmill, which had been
rebuilt at great expense. After the demolition of the windmill, a pitched battle
ensues, during which Boxer receives major wounds. The animals rout the farmers,
but Boxers injuries weaken him. When he later falls while working on the windmill,
he senses that his time has nearly come. One day, Boxer is nowhere to be found.
According to Squealer, Boxer has died in peace after having been taken to the
hospital, praising the Rebellion with his last breath. In actuality, Napoleon has sold
his most loyal and long-suffering worker to a glue maker in order to get money for
whisky.

Years pass on Animal Farm, and the pigs become more and more like human beings
walking upright, carrying whips, and wearing clothes. Eventually, the seven
principles of Animalism, known as the Seven Commandments and inscribed on the
side of the barn, become reduced to a single principle reading all animals are
equal, but some animals are more equal than others. Napoleon entertains a human
farmer named Mr. Pilkington at a dinner and declares his intent to ally himself with
the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human and animal
communities. He also changes the name of Animal Farm back to the Manor Farm,
claiming that this title is the correct one. Looking in at the party of elites through
the farmhouse window, the common animals can no longer tell which are the pigs
and which are the human beings.