Literature: A Mirror Into Society and Future - Essay Sample

Introduction

The writings of literature books, novels, dramas, and other professions have had an impact on the culture of different countries. Literature has been seen as the mirror of society; they are a representation of the diverse aspects of the life of a man. Traditional fictional works act as a portion of food for thought and inspire fancy and creativity.

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Literature is not only a doorway to the past, but also gives suggestions for our present and the future. With the changes that happen in our daily lives, literature seeks to be advanced in the happenings and thus providing guidance and a mirror in the society. The literature will address social evils and crimes in the community, and it will talk about themes of love, compassion, greed, violence, among others. It will feature the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak. Today, a nation such as Britain has seen significant improvements in literature works. Most of the literature works will address the same themes and sometimes share a similar setting. The genres of Misery, horror, love, business, and science are among the most addressed topics in literature. This paper will provide a discussion on the signs of contagion, which will be setting, genre, and stylistic devices employed in the works of Thomas Hardy, Far from the madding crowd, Dracula by Bram Stoker as well as Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Genre

Genre refers to the class or category of an artistic work that has a specific technique, content, or form. Heart of Darkness is a novella that was written by Joseph Conrad and was initially published in 1902, reflecting the physical and psychological shock which the author went through while working in Belgian Congo. A novella is usually shorter than a novel but longer than a short story. It is colonial literature like an exploration tale, almost a romance in its persistence of boldness. This novel prefers the use of symbols than being realistic.

Dracula by Stoker is a Gothic novel of horror. This novel falls under several genres of literature such as gothic fiction, invasion literature, vampire literature as well as fiction of horror. Far from the madding crowd is a fiction novel; it is a tale that was make-believe by the playwright. It is a form of gothic literature. All these works Dracula, the Heart of darkness as well as far from the madding crowd, demonstrate a sign of contagion whereby they fall under gothic literature, that is, they have certain similar aspects of intense emotions, supernatural beings such as vampires, heroes as well as romance.

Settings

"Far from the Madding Crowd" is a book written by Thomas Hardy. It is a novel which was set in Wessex, which is rural southwest England. Hardy creates the creative world of Wessex as the setting of this book for the drama of his characters. Far from the madding crowd is set against the landscape around the village of Weatherbury and Norcombe hill. The setting environment is pastoral, where the emphasis is placed by rustic occupations as sheep shearing, buying and selling of the Annual Fair at Greenhill also sheep washing (Babb, 160). The book is set in the late 1860s to earlier 1870s. Hardy makes the invention of new names for the places his novel is featured, which the majority of them can be identified as actual local places; the significance of the setting is in the local areas. Still, some events take place in the town.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a novel that is set in different places, it starts in Transylvania in southern Eastern Europe, then moves to the castle Dracula which is close to the Black sea that is the eastern part of Romania. Later the events take place in Whitby, which is a town in Yorkshire, and lastly, moves to London, which is the great city of Britain. The setting of the story starts in the 19th century in Europe in Transylvania country. Jonathan Harker is a solicitor from England who is sent by a business person to meet with Dracula, who is an old count at his castle. People of Transylvania who recognize his destination start crossing themselves and even giving him blessings as well as garlic. Mr. Harker develops uneasy feeling from the gestures from the residents while visiting the mysterious Count.

He arrives at Castle Dracula and makes associates with Dracula. Mr. Harker makes a realization that the Count is not an average human but an evil vampire that sucks blood and makes commands to elements as well as animals with the wave of his arm. Count plans to go to London to practice his evil power on innocent individuals. Conversely, a cohort of allies Jonathan Harker and his wife mina realizes Count's destructive plan, and they plan how to destroy him before he succeeds in the creation of un-dead predators. They thrive in destroying Count and intend to destroy also Dracula.

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novella. It was set in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The book opens on the Thames River located outside London, where Marlow is telling the story which makes up Heart of darkness. The events of the story took place in Brussels, later in Congo, and finally in a territory in Belgian.

Basing on the three books that are Heart of Darkness, Far from the madding crowd, and Dracula, it is evident that these books have a typical setting that is they are set during the 18 Th century. The setting years are the 1890s, 1860s, and 1897 respectively. The primary concern of these works during this Victorian period was politics.

Stylistic Devices

Stylistic devices refer to the elements of the style of writing which different authors employ in their works for the development of thematic concerns. These three literary works share some conventional stylistic devices, which include the first use of allusions; Hardy makes use of several allusions through his novel Far from the madding crowd, certain to classical mythology and biblical tales. The allusions that he uses were readily understood by Christian readers who were educated. For instance, when Bathsheba bursts into tears after Troy kisses her for the initial time, Hardy posits that it had led her to a stroke similar to that of Moses in Horeb. Hardy alludes to the story in the bible where Moses was giving direction to Israelites who were exhausted and tired in the wilderness. God of striking a rock instructs Moses, and when he follows the command, the rock pours water which people drunk.

Also, the name of the Protagonist, Bathsheba, is an allusion that relates to the story of David and Bathsheba in the bible. On the other hand, Dracula by Bram Stoker employs the use of reference in the development of thematic concerns. The name of the protagonist is an allusion to an event that is historical. Count Dracula, according to the novel, was named after Vlaid III, who was the child of Knighted Dracula by the king of Hungary.

Bram Stoker, in his work, makes use of several stylistic devices for the development of characters as well as thematic concerns. He makes use of suspense where the reader is left in suspense, curious to know what transpired next. Also, the author makes use of his historical understanding of Europe, specifically Transylvania and Hungary, in delivering the themes in the book. For example, Count Dracula was labeled as an honorable of people of Magyar of Eastern Europe who struggled heroically against attackers in the 15th century.

Additionally, the Heart of Darkness has certain instances of illusion. There is a biblical allusion in Heart of darkness is when Marlow gets to France; he refers to it as a white sepulcher, this is a relic holder or a form of a tomb which is beatified from outside while inside it is just a hollow. This is an allusion from the book of Mathew 23:27 -2, which says 'Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but the inside is full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside, you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.' Joseph Conrad makes use of this allusion as a form of calling to the European civilization; it shows hypocrisy. The culture of Europe is hiding under the whitewash of advancement, while in Congo, they are subjected to full of cruelty.

Conrad also makes use of direct allusions where he makes direct reference in passing. For example, this allusion happens when Kurtz is being brought out of his house on a stretcher. The people following him bring a lot of his guns, and Marlow regards the firearms as the "thunderbolts of the pitiful Jupiter." According to the mythology of Greek, Jupiter is the major god, while his weapon of choice is thunderbolts. In other words, Kurtz has positioned himself as a god in the station, but due to sickness, he has fallen and is no longer strong like before.

The snake had charmed me is another statement in Herat of Darkness, which has been used as an illusion. This quote is seen as an illusion since the snake is evident in the bible when the first creation, who is Adam and Eve, came across the evil which was in the form of a snake, which was considered not harmful until it lured Eve to eating the forbidden fruit with Adam. Conrad makes use of this illusion since religion played a significant role during the Victorian period in literature.

The use of symbolism is another conventional stylistic device that has been employed by the three authors. Hardy makes use of symbolism in his novel, for instance, the looking glass which Bathsheba took out and admired her reflection as she was onboard traveling to stay with her aunt symbolizes her vanity as well as pride. Bathsheba knows that she is impressive, and this gives her a specific type of authority. The gold watch which Troy gave to Bathsheba, which belonged to his father, has been used symbolically to show the impulsive and reckless characters of Troy. Gabriel wounding the sheep is another symbol that has been used in the novel, which represents Gabriel's suffering after realizing that Bathsheba, who is the woman he has feeling for, is going to be marred by another person.

Hardy also makes use of name symbolism. The names in this novel suggest the personality and meanings of the traits of characters. For instance, Gabriel Oak is a character whose second name oak is a tree which is linked with prosperity, constancy as well as strength. Oak perseveres the storms of life, and though they seem to be harsh, he overcomes them, unlike Bathsheba and Boldwood, who are defeated by life storms. Secondly, Bathsheba is a biblical name, which is a woman who was lovely who was seen by king David taking a shower. Her beauty inflamed the king, and he demanded that she be brought to his room, and later she becomes pregnant. Readers who have a pre-knowledge when reading this work would understand the destruction that can be caused by this beautiful and attractive woman. Boldwood is brought to desolation by his desire to get Bathsheba.

Stoker in his work, Dracula, makes use of symbolism, most commonly the blood. For instance, when Mina is forced to take Dracula's blood, the blood could symbolize evil since Dracula is evil. In other words, he is a vampire. Also, blood is used symbolically when Arthur transfuses his blood to Lucy; he believes through blood transfusion, Lucy is united to him. Blood here could be a sign of death and life (Stoker ). Bats in the novel have been used symbolically; there is an increased disturbance of Lucy's sleep when she looks there seems to be a big bat at her window while a bat was capable of calming Renfield while in an agitating condition. Bats, as used by Stoker, are a symbol of evil sliding into the subconscious during the dark.

Conrad, in his Heart of Darkness, makes use of symbolism; for instance, ivory was the primary concern of the Europeans in Congo, this sym...