Mocking Petrarchan Tradition: Shakespeare on Originality

This explication of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 85" is an example of Shakespeare's thoughts on the poets of his time. Through this sonnet, Shakespeare illustrated how rival poets never tested their limits or broke any rules. While following the Petrarchan traditions of the time, Shakespeare points out that the Petrarchan traditions were keeping poets from creating original...

Creative Expression and Rationalization in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

This essay, written for my Shakespeare seminar, details my interpretation of Macbeth's demise as he tries to make sense of the world around him using potential space. Though this method may be useful for children, it ultimately makes Macbeth paranoid and leads to an unhealthy mental state resulting in his death. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth...

Coding a Website

I created a basic résumé website to introduce myself, list my skills, and highlight some projects I have completed and classes I have taken at Bloomsburg University. Not only did I have to make the creative decisions for the look of the entire website, but I had to hand code the HTML and CSS. I...

Male vs. Female Leaders in The Aeneid

This essay compares the difference in leadership between males and females in Virgil's Aeneid. In Book 4, we are shown an example of poor leadership through Queen Dido. She neglects her public duty for her private desires and seems less fit to lead than Aeneas, who is able to abandon his desires for his duty...

Archetypes in The Iliad

This essay discusses necessary archetypes in Homer's The Iliad. These archetypes move the plot along and help the hero of the story complete his quest. Aphrodite, Thetis, and Hecuba are the three elemental mother archetypes of this story. They ultimately show that Achilles needs to become an independent man instead of acting like a child...

The Faces in the Looking Glass: Identity in Wonderland

This essay covers identity in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and Cameron Jace's "Insanity." It discusses how these Alices view themselves throughout the course of the book, even when they are traveling through a world that is unfamiliar to them. When Wonderland's creatures try to tell Alice who she is, she can either accept...