1.

Marile sperane (n englez: Great Expectations) este un

roman din 1860 - 1861 scris de Charles Dickens, scriitor englez.
Aciunea romanului urmrete evenimentele ce i se ntmpl unui biat n
timpul maturizrii sale.
n ajunul Crciunului din 1812, Pip, un orfan de 6 ani, se ntlnete cu nite
evadai n curtea Bisericii din sat, n timp ce vizita mormintele prinilor i
rudelor. Unul dintre evadai l oblig pe Pip s fure mncare i s-l duc
undeva, la adpost. Pip l aduce n casa n care locuia i el, mpreun cu
sora lui mai mare, o persoan rea, i cu soul acesteia, Joe Gargery, un
fierar, dar care era mai bun la inim dect consoarta lui. A doua zi, soldaii
i recaptureaz pe evadai i sunt napoiai vaselor cu prizonieri, de unde
scpaser cu o zi n urm.

Dna. Havisham, o celibatar bogat, care poart o rochie veche de

mireas i triete n Satis House, o cldire drpnat, l ntreab pe
unchiul lui Pip, Pumblechook (care este, defapt, unchiul lui Joe), s
gseasc un biat care s se joace cu Estella, fiica ei adoptiv. Pip ncepe
s vin din ce n ce mai des la dna. Havisham i la Estella, de care se
ndrgostete, la ndemnul dnei. Havisham. n timpul unei vizite de-a lui
Pip, acesta l aduce i pe Joe, care veni i cu sora lui Pip. n timpul absenei
celor doi, aceasta este atacat de nite oameni misterioi i este nevoit
s-i petreac restul zilelor pe patul de spital.

Civa ani mai trziu, pe cnd Pip este nvcel la fierria lui Joe, dl.
Jaggers, un avocat, i spune c a primit o avere destul de mare de la un
anonim binefctor i c trebuie s plece ct mai repede la Londra, unde
va trebui s devin un gentleman. Presupunnd c dna. Havisham este
anonimul binefctor, Pip o viziteaz pe ea i pe Estella, cea din urm
tocmai ntorcndu-se de la studiile de pe continent.

Muli ani mai trziu, Pip, adult fiind, este nglodat n datorii. Abel Magwitch,
evadatul pe care Pip l-a ajutat, i se prezint acestuia ca binefctorul
anonim. Exista un mandat pentru arestarea lui Magwitch n Anglia, de
aceea, dac va fi prins, urma s fie spnzurat. Pip, mpreun cu prietenii
lui, Herbert Pocket i Startop, pregtesc un plan pentru a-l face disprut pe
Magwitch, cu ajutorul unei brci. Pip descoper c Estella este fiica lui
Magwitch i a menajerei lui Jaggers, Molly, cea pe care acesta a aprat-o
ntr-un proces de crim i care a renunat la fiica ei pentru a fi adoptat de
dna. Havisham.
Pip descoper c dna. Havisham a fost prsit chiar n ziua nunii ei, de
unde i comportamentul ei ciudat i dorina de a se rzbuna pe toi
brbaii. De aceea, dna. Havisham a folosit-o pe Estella pentru a-i frnge
inima lui Pip. Acesta o chestioneaz pe dna. Havisham n legtur cu
trecutul Estellei. n urma unui accident, rochia dnei. Havisham ia foc. Pip o
salveaz, dar aceasta moare, n cele din urm, din cauza arsurilor.

Cu cteva zile nainte ca planul s aib loc, fostul ucenic al lui Joe, Orlick,
cel care a fost vinovat pentru atacul asupra soiei lui Joe, l rpete pe Pip.
Herbert Pocket i prietenii lui l salveaz pe Pip i se pregtesc pentru
evadare.

n timpul evadrii, Magwitch l omoar pe inamicul lui, Compeyson, omul

care a prsit-o pe dna. Havisham n ziua nunii. Poliia l captureaz pe
Magwitch i l pune n nchisoare. Pip l viziteaz pe Magwitch, acum acesta
fiind un om foarte bolnav, i i spune c Estella, fiica lui, triete. Cu ultima
suflare, Magwitch i rspunde lui Pip cu o strngere de mn, dup care
moare, nainte de a fi executat. Pip se mbolnvete i este tras la
rspundere pentru nite datorii nepltite. Joe vine n ajutorul acestuia.
Acesta are grij de Pip i i pltete datoria. Pip realizeaz c, orbit de
frumuseea Estellei, l-a ignorat complet pe Joe. Pentru a-i repara greeala,
Pip se duce n satul natal pentru a o cere n cstorie pe Biddy, o prieten
din copilrie, dar aceasta era deja mritat cu Joe.

Pip i cere scuze lui Joe, iar acesta le accept. Cum Pip i-a pierdut averea
odat cu moartea lui Magwitch, acesta nu mai poate fi un gentleman. Pip i
promite lui Joe c i va napoia banii i se duce n Egipt, unde mparte o
cmru cu Herbert i Clara, i muncete ca funcionar.

Unsprezece ani mai trziu, Pip viziteaz ruinele de la Satis House i o

ntlnete pe Estella, cea de care Bentley Drummle, rposatul ei so, a
abuzat. Ea i cere lui Pip s o ierte, asigurndu-l c acum a deschis ochii i
c l va iubi numai pe el. n timp ce Pip i Estella pleac mpreun, acesta
nu vede nicio urm a ceea ce a fost odat Satis House.
2.The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 work of fiction in a historical
setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be
his "masterwork".[1] Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, during the years 1642 to
1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and
struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne
explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

Plot
In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester
Prynne, a young woman found guilty of adultery. She is required to wear a scarlet "A" ("A"
standing for adulteress) on her dress to shame her. She must stand on the scaffold for three
hours, to be exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the
women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to
name the father of her child, Hester refuses.
As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as
her long-lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's
shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He
angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished
and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name Roger Chillingworth to aid him in his plan.
The Reverend John Wilson and the minister of Hester's church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question the
woman, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in
Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. He and
Hester have an open conversation regarding their marriage and the fact that they were both in
the wrong. Her lover, however, is another matter and he demands to know who it is; Hester
refuses to divulge such information. He accepts this, stating that he will find out anyway, and
forces her to hide that he is her husband. If she ever reveals him, he warns her, he will destroy
the child's father. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms although she suspects she will regret it.
Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a
meager living with her needlework. She lives a quiet, sombre life with her daughter, Pearl. She is
troubled by her daughter's unusual fascination by Hester's scarlet "A". As she grows older, Pearl
becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumours, and, not surprisingly, the church
members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him
are ministers Wilson and Dimmesdale. Hester appeals to Dimmesdale in desperation, and the
minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.
Because Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have
Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. Being in
such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is
the result of some unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because
he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's
vestment aside, Chillingworth sees a symbol that represents his shame on the minister's pale
chest.
Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished
years earlier. Climbing the scaffold, he admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do
so publicly. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her
vow of silence to her husband.
Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest and tells him of her husband and his
desire for revenge. She convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe
where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. On
Election Day, Dimmesdale gives what is declared to be one of his most inspired sermons. But as
the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale climbs upon the scaffold and confesses his sin,
dying in Hester's arms. Later, most witnesses swear that they saw a stigma in the form of a
scarlet "A" upon his chest, although some deny this statement. Chillingworth, losing his will for
revenge, dies shortly thereafter and leaves Pearl a substantial inheritance.
After several years, Hester returns to her cottage and resumes wearing the scarlet letter. When
she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone
engraved with an escutcheon described as: "On a field, sable, the letter A, gules" ("On a field,
black, the letter A, red").

3.Tess of the d'Urbervilles

3.Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a
novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version,
published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891[1] and in book form in 1892.
Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's fictional
masterpiece,[2] Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part
because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.

Phase the First: The Maiden (111)[edit]

The novel is set in impoverished rural England, Thomas Hardy's fictional Wessex, during
the Long Depression of the 1870s. Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield,
uneducated peasants. However, John is given the impression by Parson Tringham that he may
have noble blood, as "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", the surname of an extinct
noble Norman family. Knowledge of this immediately goes to John's head.
That same day, Tess participates in the village May Dance, where she meets Angel Clare,
youngest son of Reverend James Clare, who is on a walking tour with his two brothers. He stops
to join the dance and partners several other girls. Angel notices Tess too late to dance with her,
as he is already late for a promised meeting with his brothers. Tess feels slighted.
Tess's father gets too drunk to drive to the market that night, so Tess undertakes the journey
herself. However, she falls asleep at the reins, and the family's only horse encounters a speeding
wagon and is fatally wounded. Tess feels so guilty over the horse's death and the economic
consequences for the family that she agrees, against her better judgement, to visit Mrs
d'Urberville, a rich widow who lives in a rural mansion near the town of Trantridge, and "claim
kin". She is unaware that, in reality, Mrs d'Urberville's husband Simon Stoke adopted the surname
even though he was unrelated to the real d'Urbervilles.
Tess does not succeed in meeting Mrs d'Urberville, but chances to meet her libertine son, Alec,
who takes a fancy to Tess and secures her a position as poultry keeper on the estate. Although
Tess tells them about her fear that he might try to seduce her, her parents encourage her to
accept the job, secretly hoping that Alec might marry her. Tess dislikes Alec but endures his
persistent unwanted attention to earn enough to replace her family's horse. Despite his often
cruel and manipulative behaviour, the threat that Alec presents to Tess's virtue is sometimes
obscured for Tess by her inexperience and almost daily commonplace interactions with him. Late
one night, walking home from town with some other Trantridge villagers, Tess inadvertently
antagonizes Car Darch, Alec's most recently discarded favourite, and finds herself in physical
danger. When Alec rides up and offers to "rescue" her from the situation, she accepts. Instead of
taking her home, however, he rides through the fog until they reach an ancient grove in a forest
called "The Chase", where he informs her that he is lost and leaves on foot to get his bearings.
Alec returns to find Tess asleep, and it is implied that he rapes her, although there remains a
degree of ambiguity.[3]
Mary Jacobus, a commentator on Hardy's works, speculates that the ambiguity may have been
forced on the author to meet the requirements of his publisher and the "Grundyist" readership of
his time.[4]

Phase the Second: Maiden No More (1215)[edit]

Tess goes home to her father's cottage, where she keeps almost entirely to her room, apparently
feeling both traumatized and ashamed of having lost her virginity. The following summer, she
gives birth to a sickly boy who lives only a few weeks. On his last night alive, Tess baptises him
herself, because her father would not allow the parson to visit, stating that he did not want the
parson to "pry into their affairs". The child is given the name 'Sorrow', but despite the baptism
Tess can only arrange his burial in the "shabby corner" of the churchyard reserved for unbaptised
infants. Tess adds a homemade cross to the grave with flowers in an empty marmalade jar.

Phase the Third: The Rally (1624)[edit]

More than two years after the Trantridge debacle, Tess, now twenty, has found employment
outside the village, where her past is not known. She works for Mr. and Mrs. Crick as
a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy. There, she befriends three of her fellow milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and
Marian, and meets again Angel Clare, now an apprentice farmer who has come to Talbothays to
learn dairy management. Although the other milkmaids are in love with him, Angel singles out
Tess, and the two fall in love.

Phase the Fourth: The Consequence (2534)

Angel spends a few days away from the dairy, visiting his family at Emminster. His brothers Felix
and Cuthbert, both ordained Church of England ministers, note Angel's coarsened manners,
while Angel considers them staid and narrow-minded. The Clares have long hoped that Angel
would marry Mercy Chant, a pious schoolmistress, but Angel argues that a wife who knows farm
life would be a more practical choice. He tells his parents about Tess, and they agree to meet her.
His father, the Reverend James Clare, tells Angel about his efforts to convert the local populace,
mentioning his failure to tame a young miscreant named Alec d'Urberville.
Angel returns to Talbothays Dairy and asks Tess to marry him. This puts Tess in a painful
dilemma: Angel obviously thinks her a virgin, and she shrinks from confessing her past. Such is
her love for him, though, that she finally agrees to the marriage, pretending that she only
hesitated because she had heard he hated old families and thought he would not approve of her
d'Urberville ancestry. However, he is pleased by this news because he thinks it will make their
match more suitable in the eyes of his family.
As the marriage approaches, Tess grows increasingly troubled. She writes to her mother for
advice; Joan tells her to keep silent about her past. Her anxiety increases when a man from
Trantridge, named Groby, recognises her and crudely alludes to her history. Angel overhears and
flies into an uncharacteristic rage. Tess, deciding to tell Angel the truth, writes a letter describing
her dealings with d'Urberville and slips it under his door. When Angel greets her with the usual
affection the next morning, she thinks he has forgiven her; later she discovers the letter under his
carpet and realises that he has not seen it. She destroys it.
The wedding ceremony goes smoothly, apart from the omen of a cock crowing in the afternoon.
Tess and Angel spend their wedding night at an old d'Urberville family mansion, where Angel
presents his bride with diamonds that belonged to his godmother. When he confesses that he
once had a brief affair with an older woman in London, Tess finally feels able to tell Angel about
Alec, thinking he will understand and forgive.

Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays (3544)[edit]

However, Angel is appalled by the revelation, and makes it clear that Tess is reduced in his eyes.
Although he admits that Tess was "more sinned against" than she has sinned herself, he feels
that her "want of firmness" confronting Alec may indicate a flaw in her character and that she is
no longer the woman he thought she was. He spends the wedding night on a sofa. After a few
awkward days, a devastated Tess suggests they separate, saying that she will return to her
parents. Angel gives her some money and promises to try to reconcile himself to her past, but
warns her not to try to join him until he sends for her. After a brief visit to his parents, Angel takes
a ship to Brazil to see if he can start a new life there. Before he leaves, he encounters Tess's
milkmaid friend Izz and impulsively asks her to come with him as his mistress. She accepts, but
when he asks her how much she loves him, she admits "Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess
did! She would have laid down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!" Hearing this, he abandons the
whim, and Izz goes home weeping bitterly.
Tess returns home for a time. However, she soon runs out of money, having to help out her
parents more than once. Finding her life with them unbearable, she decides to join Marian at
a starve-acre farm called Flintcomb-Ash; they are later joined by Izz. On the road, she is again
recognised and insulted by Groby, who later turns out to be her new employer. At the farm, the
three former milkmaids perform hard physical labour.
One winter day, Tess attempts to visit Angel's family at the parsonage in Emminster, hoping for
practical assistance. As she nears her destination, she encounters Angel's older brothers, with
Mercy Chant. They do not recognise her, but she overhears them discussing Angel's unwise
marriage, and dares not approach them. On the way back home, she overhears a wandering
preacher and is shocked to discover that it is Alec d'Urberville, who has been converted
to Methodism under the Reverend James Clare's influence.

Phase the Sixth: The Convert (4552)[edit]

Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter. Alec claims that she has put a spell on him
and makes Tess swear never to tempt him again as they stand beside an ill-omened stone
monument called the Cross-in-Hand. However, Alec continues to pursue her and soon comes to
Flintcomb-Ash to ask Tess to marry him, although she tells him she is already married. He begins
stalking her, despite repeated rebuffs, returning at Candlemas and again in early spring, when
Tess is hard at work feeding a threshing machine. He tells her he is no longer a preacher and
wants her to be with him. When he insults Angel, she slaps him, drawing blood. Tess then learns
from her sister, Liza-Lu, that her father, John, is ill and that her mother is dying. Tess rushes home
to look after them. Her mother soon recovers, but her father unexpectedly dies from a heart
condition.
The impoverished family is now evicted from their home, as Durbeyfield held only a life lease on
their cottage. Alec, having followed her to her home village, tries to persuade Tess that her
husband is never coming back and offers to house the Durbeyfields on his estate. Tess refuses
his assistance several times. She had earlier written Angel a psalm-like letter, full of love, self-
abasement, and pleas for mercy, in which she begs him to help her fight the temptation she is
facing. Now, however, she finally begins to realize that Angel has wronged her and scribbles a
hasty note saying that she will do all she can to forget him, since he has treated her so unjustly.
The Durbeyfields plan to rent some rooms in the town of Kingsbere, ancestral home of the
d'Urbervilles, but arrive to find that the rooms have already been rented to another family. All but
destitute, they are forced to take shelter in the churchyard, under the D'Urberville window. Tess
enters the church and in the d'Urberville Aisle, Alec reappears and importunes Tess again. The
scene ends with her desperately looking at the entrance to the d'Urberville vault and wishing
herself dead.
In the meantime, Angel has been very ill in Brazil and, his farming venture having failed, heads
home to England. On the way, he confides his troubles to a stranger, who tells him that he was
wrong to leave his wife; what she was in the past should matter less than what she might
become. Angel begins to repent his treatment of Tess.

Phase the Seventh: Fulfilment (5359)[edit]

Upon his return to his family home, Angel has two letters waiting for him: Tess's angry note and a
few cryptic lines from "two well-wishers" (Izz and Marian), warning him to protect his wife from "an
enemy in the shape of a friend". He sets out to find Tess and eventually locates Joan, now well-
dressed and living in a pleasant cottage. After responding evasively to his enquiries, she tells him
Tess has gone to live in Sandbourne, a fashionable seaside resort. There, he finds Tess living in
an expensive boarding house under the name "Mrs. d'Urberville." When he asks for her, she
appears in startlingly elegant attire and stands aloof. He tenderly asks her forgiveness, but Tess,
in anguish, tells him he has come too late. Thinking he would never return, she has yielded at last
to Alec d'Urberville's persuasion and has become his mistress. She gently asks Angel to leave
and never come back. He departs, and Tess returns to her bedroom, where she falls to her knees
and begins a lamentation. She blames Alec for causing her to lose Angel's love a second time,
accusing Alec of having lied when he said that Angel would never return to her.
The following events are narrated from the perspective of the landlady, Mrs. Brooks. The latter
tries to listen in at the keyhole, but withdraws hastily when the argument between Tess and Alec
becomes heated. She later sees Tess leave the house, then notices a spreading red spot a
bloodstain on the ceiling. She summons help, and Alec is found stabbed to death in his bed.
Angel, totally disheartened, is leaving Sandbourne; Tess hurries after him and tells him that she
has killed Alec, saying that she hopes she has won his forgiveness by murdering the man who
ruined both their lives. Angel does not believe her at first, but grants her his forgiveness and tells
her that he loves her. Rather than heading for the coast, they walk inland, vaguely planning to
hide somewhere until the search for Tess is ended and they can escape abroad from a port. They
find an empty mansion and stay there for five days in blissful happiness, until their presence is
discovered one day by the cleaning woman.
They continue walking and, in the middle of the night, stumble upon Stonehenge, where Tess lies
down to rest on an ancient altar. Before she falls asleep, she asks Angel to look after her younger
sister, Liza-Lu, saying that she hopes Angel will marry her after she is dead. At dawn, Angel sees
that they are surrounded by police. He finally realises that Tess really has committed murder and
asks the men in a whisper to let her awaken naturally before they arrest her. When she opens her
eyes and sees the police, she tells Angel she is "almost glad" because "now I shall not live for
you to despise me". Her parting words are, "I am ready."
Tess is escorted to Wintoncester (Winchester) prison. The novel closes with Angel and Liza-Lu
watching from a nearby hill as the black flag signalling Tess's execution is raised over the prison.
Angel and Liza-Lu then join hands and go on their way.

4.The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first

published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The magazine's
[1]

editor feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde's knowledge, deleted roughly five
hundred words before publication. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended
the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited
prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively
defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally
made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the
story for book publication the following year.
he Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian era England, where Lord
Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the
portrait of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil's ultimate muse. While sitting for the
painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry espousing his hedonistic world view, and begins to think
that beauty is the only aspect of life worth pursuing. This prompts Dorian to wish that the painted
image of himself would age instead of himself.
Under the hedonist influence of Lord Henry, Dorian fully explores his sensuality. He discovers the
actress Sibyl Vane, who performs Shakespeare plays in a dingy, working-class theatre. Dorian
approaches and courts her, and soon proposes marriage. The enamoured Sibyl calls him "Prince
Charming", and swoons with the happiness of being loved, but her protective brother, James
warns that if "Prince Charming" harms her, he will murder Dorian Gray.
Dorian invites Basil and Lord Henry to see Sibyl perform in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl, too
enamoured with Dorian to act, performs poorly, which makes both Basil and Lord Henry think
Dorian has fallen in love with Sibyl because of her beauty instead of her acting talent.
Embarrassed, Dorian rejects Sibyl, telling her that acting was her beauty; without that, she no
longer interests him. On returning home, Dorian notices that the portrait has changed; his wish
has come true, and the man in the portrait bears a subtle sneer of cruelty.

Conscience-stricken and lonely, Dorian decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but he is too late, as Lord
Henry informs him that Sibyl killed herself by swallowing prussic acid. Dorian then understands
that, where his life is headed, lust and good looks shall suffice. Dorian locks the portrait up, and
over the following eighteen years, he experiments with every vice, influenced by a morally
poisonous French novel that Lord Henry Wotton gave him.
[The narrative does not reveal the title of the French novel, but, at trial, Wilde said that the novel
Dorian Gray read was Rebours ('Against Nature', 1884), by Joris-Karl Huysmans.[6]]
One night, before leaving for Paris, Basil goes to Dorian's house to ask him about rumours of his
self-indulgent sensualism. Dorian does not deny his debauchery, and takes Basil to see the
portrait. The portrait has become so hideous that Basil is only able to identify it as his work by the
signature he affixes to all his portraits. Basil is horrified, and beseeches Dorian to pray for
salvation. In anger, Dorian blames his fate on Basil, and stabs him to death. Dorian then calmly
blackmails an old friend, the scientist Alan Campbell, into using his knowledge of chemistry to
destroy the body of Basil Hallward. Alan later kills himself over the deed.

To escape the guilt of his crime, Dorian goes to an opium den, where James Vane is unknowingly
present. James had been seeking vengeance upon Dorian ever since Sibyl killed herself, but had
no leads to pursue: the only thing he knew about Dorian was the name Sibyl called him, "Prince
Charming". In the opium den however he hears someone refer to Dorian as "Prince Charming",
and he accosts Dorian. Dorian deceives James into believing that he is too young to have known
Sibyl, who killed herself 18 years earlier, as his face is still that of a young man. James relents
and releases Dorian, but is then approached by a woman from the opium den who reproaches
James for not killing Dorian. She confirms that the man was Dorian Gray and explains that he has
not aged in 18 years. James runs after Dorian, but he has gone.
James then begins to stalk Dorian, causing Dorian to fear for his life. However during a shooting
party, one of the hunters accidentally kills James Vane who was lurking in a thicket. On returning
to London, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he will be good from then on; his new probity begins with
not breaking the heart of the nave Hetty Merton, his current romantic interest. Dorian wonders if
his new-found goodness has reverted the corruption in the picture, but when he looks he sees
only an even uglier image of himself. From that, Dorian understands that his true motives for the
self-sacrifice of moral reformation were the vanity and curiosity of his quest for new experiences.
Deciding that only full confession will absolve him of wrongdoing, Dorian decides to destroy the
last vestige of his conscience, and the only piece of evidence remaining of his crimes the
picture. In a rage, he takes the knife with which he murdered Basil Hallward, and stabs the
picture. The servants of the house awaken on hearing a cry from the locked room; on the street,
passers-by who also heard the cry call the police. On entering the locked room, the servants find
an unknown old man, stabbed in the heart, his face and figure withered and decrepit. The
servants identify the disfigured corpse by the rings on its fingers which belonged to their master;
beside him is the picture of Dorian Gray, restored to its original beauty.

5.Wuthering Heights is Emily Bront's only novel. Written between

October 1845 and June 1846,[1] Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym
"Ellis Bell"; Bront died the following year, aged 30.

Opening (Chapters 1 to 3)[edit]

In 1801, Lockwood, a wealthy young man from the South of England who is seeking peace and
recuperation, rents Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives
in a remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There Lockwood finds an odd assemblage:
Heathcliff seems to be a gentleman, but his manners are uncouth; the reserved mistress of the
house is in her mid-teens; and a young man who seems to be a member of the family, yet
dresses and speaks as if he is a servant.
Snowed in, Lockwood is grudgingly allowed to stay and is shown to a bedchamber where he
notices books and graffiti left by a former inhabitant named Catherine. He falls asleep and has a
nightmare in which he sees the ghostly Catherine trying to enter through the window. He cries out
in fear, rousing Heathcliff, who rushes into the room. Lockwood is convinced that what he saw
was real. Heathcliff, believing Lockwood to be right, examines the window and opens it, hoping to
allow Catherine's spirit to enter. When nothing happens, Heathcliff shows Lockwood to his own
bedroom and returns to keep watch at the window.
At sunrise, Heathcliff escorts Lockwood back to Thrushcross Grange. Lockwood asks the
housekeeper, Nelly Dean, about the family at Wuthering Heights, and she tells him the tale.

Heathcliff's childhood (Chapters 4 to 17)[edit]

Thirty years earlier, the owner of Wuthering Heights is Mr. Earnshaw, who lives with his teenage
son Hindley and younger daughter Catherine. On a trip to Liverpool, Earnshaw encounters a
homeless boy, described as a "dark-skinned gypsy in aspect". He adopts the boy and names him
Heathcliff. Hindley feels that Heathcliff has supplanted him in his father's affections and becomes
bitterly jealous. Catherine and Heathcliff become friends and spend hours each day playing on
the moors. They grow close.
Hindley is sent to college. Three years later Earnshaw dies and Hindley becomes the landowner;
he is now master of Wuthering Heights. He returns to live there with his new wife, Frances. He
allows Heathcliff to stay but only as a servant.
A few months after Hindley's return, Heathcliff and Catherine walk to Thrushcross Grange to spy
on the Lintons, who live there. After being discovered they try to run away but are caught.
Catherine is injured by the Lintons' dog and taken into the house to recuperate, while Heathcliff is
sent home. Catherine stays with the Lintons. The Lintons are landed gentry and Catherine is
influenced by their fine appearance and genteel manners. When she returns to Wuthering
Heights her appearance and manners are more ladylike, and she laughs at Heathcliff's unkempt
appearance. The next day, knowing that the Lintons are to visit, Heathcliff tries to dress up, in an
effort to impress Catherine, but he and Edgar Linton get into an argument and Hindley humiliates
Heathcliff by locking him in the attic. Catherine tries to comfort Heathcliff, but he vows revenge on
Hindley.
The following year, Frances Earnshaw gives birth to a son, named Hareton, but she dies a few
months later. Hindley descends into drunkenness. Two more years pass, and Catherine and
Edgar Linton become friends, while she becomes more distant from Heathcliff. Edgar visits
Catherine while Hindley is away and they declare themselves lovers soon afterwards.
Catherine confesses to Nelly that Edgar has proposed marriage and she has accepted, although
her love for Edgar is not comparable to her love for Heathcliff, whom she cannot marry because
of his low social status and lack of education. She hopes to use her position as Edgar's wife to
raise Heathcliff's standing. Heathcliff overhears her say that it would "degrade" her to marry him
(but not how much she loves him), and he runs away and disappears without a trace. Distraught
over Heathcliff's departure, Catherine makes herself ill. Nelly and Edgar begin to pander to her
every whim to prevent her from becoming ill again.
Three years pass. Edgar and Catherine marry and go to live together at Thrushcross Grange,
where Catherine enjoys being "lady of the manor". Six months later, Heathcliff returns, now a
wealthy gentleman. Catherine is delighted, but Edgar is not. Edgar's sister, Isabella, soon falls in
love with Heathcliff, who despises her, but encourages the infatuation as a means of revenge.
One day, he embraces Isabella, leading to an argument with Edgar. Upset, Catherine locks
herself in her room and begins to make herself ill again.
Heathcliff takes up residence at Wuthering Heights and spends his time gambling with Hindley
and teaching Hareton bad habits. Hindley dissipates his wealth and mortgages the farmhouse to
Heathcliff to pay his debts. Heathcliff elopes with Isabella Linton. Two months later, they return to
Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff hears that Catherine is ill and, with Nelly's help, visits her secretly.
However, Catherine is pregnant. The following day she gives birth to a daughter, Cathy, shortly
before dying.
After Catherine's funeral, Isabella leaves Heathcliff, takes refuge in the South of England and
gives birth to a son, Linton. Hindley dies six months after Catherine, and Heathcliff thus finds
himself master of Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff's maturity (Chapters 18 to 31)[edit]

Twelve years pass. Catherine's daughter Cathy has become a beautiful, high-spirited girl. Edgar
learns that his sister Isabella is dying, so he leaves to retrieve her son Linton in order to adopt
and educate him. Cathy, who has rarely left home, takes advantage of her father's absence to
venture further afield. She rides over the moors to Wuthering Heights and discovers that she has
not one but two cousins: Hareton, in addition to Linton. She also lets it be known that her father
has gone to fetch Linton. When Edgar returns with Linton, a weak and sickly boy, Heathcliff
insists that he live at Wuthering Heights.
Three years pass. Walking on the moors, Nelly and Cathy encounter Heathcliff, who takes them
to Wuthering Heights to see Linton and Hareton. Heathcliff hopes that Linton and Cathy will
marry, so that Linton will become the heir to Thrushcross Grange. Linton and Cathy begin a
secret friendship, echoing the childhood friendship between their respective parents, Heathcliff
and Catherine.
The following year, Edgar becomes very ill and takes a turn for the worse while Nelly and Cathy
are out on the moors, where Heathcliff and Linton trick them into entering Wuthering Heights.
Heathcliff keeps them captive to enable the marriage of Cathy and Linton to take place. After five
days, Nelly is released and later, with Linton's help, Cathy escapes. She returns to the Grange to
see her father shortly before he dies.
Now master of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, Cathy's father-in-law, Heathcliff,
insists on her returning to live at Wuthering Heights. Soon after she arrives Linton dies. Hareton
tries to be kind to Cathy, but she withdraws from the world.
At this point, Nelly's tale catches up to the present day (1801). Time passes and, after being ill for
a period, Lockwood grows tired of the moors and informs Heathcliff that he will be leaving
Thrushcross Grange.

Ending (Chapters 32 to 34)[edit]

Eight months later, Lockwood returns to the area by chance. Given that his tenancy at
Thrushcross Grange is still valid, he decides to stay there again. He finds Nelly living at
Wuthering Heights and enquires what has happened since he left. She explains that she moved
to Wuthering Heights to replace the housekeeper, Zillah, who had left.
Hareton has an accident and is confined to the farmhouse. During his convalescence, he and
Cathy overcome their mutual antipathy and become close. While their friendship develops,
Heathcliff begins to act strangely and has visions of Catherine. He stops eating and, after four
days, is found dead in Catherine's old room. He is buried next to Catherine.
Lockwood learns that Hareton and Cathy plan to marry on New Year's Day. As he gets ready to
leave, he passes the graves of Catherine, Edgar and Heathcliff and pauses to contemplate the
quiet of the moors.

6.Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of
misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels,
Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian
Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters.

Emma Woodhouse has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her friend and
former governess, to Mr Weston. Having introduced them, Emma takes credit for their marriage,
and decides that she likes matchmaking. After she returns home to Hartfield with her father,
Emma forges ahead with her new interest against the advice of her brother-in-law Mr Knightley
and tries to match her new friend Harriet Smith to Mr Elton, the local vicar. First, Emma must
persuade Harriet to refuse the marriage proposal from Robert Martin, a respectable, educated,
and well-spoken young farmer, which Harriet does against her own wishes. However, Mr Elton, a
social climber, thinks Emma is in love with him and proposes to her. When Emma tells him that
she had thought him attached to Harriet, he is outraged. After Emma rejects him, Mr Elton leaves
for a stay at Bath and returns with a pretentious, nouveau-riche wife, as Mr Knightley expected.
Harriet is heartbroken and Emma feels ashamed about misleading her.
Frank Churchill, Mr Weston's son, arrives for a two-week visit to his father and makes many
friends. Frank was adopted by her wealthy and domineering aunt and he has had very few
opportunities to visit before. Mr Knightley suggests to Emma that, while Frank is clever and
engaging, he is also a shallow character. Jane Fairfax also comes home to see her aunt, Miss
Bates, and grandmother, Mrs Bates, for a few months, before she must go out on her own as a
governess due to her family's financial situation. She is the same age as Emma and has been
given an excellent education by her father's friend, Coronel Campbell. Emma has not been as
friendly with her as she might because she envies Jane's talent and is annoyed to find all,
including Mrs Weston and Mr Knightley, praising her. The patronising Mrs Elton takes Jane under
her wing and announces that she will find her the ideal governess post before it is wanted. Emma
begins to feel some sympathy for Jane's predicament.
Emma decides that Jane and Mr Dixon, Coronel Campbell's new son-in-law, are mutually
attracted, and that is why she has come home earlier than expected. She shares her suspicions
with Frank, who met Jane and the Campbells at a vacation spot a year earlier, and he apparently
agrees with her. Suspicions are further fueled when a piano, sent by an anonymous benefactor,
arrives for Jane. Emma feels herself falling in love with Frank, but it does not last to his second
visit. The Eltons treat Harriet badly, culminating with Mr Elton publicly snubbing Harriet at the ball
given by the Westons in May. Mr Knightley, who had long refrained from dancing, gallantly steps
in to dance with Harriet. The day after the ball, Frank brings Harriet to Hartfield, she having
fainted after a rough encounter with local gypsies. Harriet is grateful, and Emma thinks this is
love, not gratitude. Meanwhile, Mrs Weston wonders if Mr Knightley has taken a fancy to Jane but
Emma dismisses that idea. When Mr Knightley mentions the links he sees between Jane and
Frank, Emma denies them, while Frank appears to be courting her instead. He arrives late to the
gathering at Donwell in June, while Jane leaves early. Next day at Box Hill, a local beauty spot,
Frank and Emma continue to banter together and Emma, in jest, thoughtlessly insults Miss Bates.

When Mr Knightley scolds Emma for the insult to Miss Bates, she is ashamed and tries to atone
with a morning visit to Miss Bates, which impresses Mr Knightley. On the visit, Emma learns that
Jane had accepted the position of governess from one of Mrs Elton's friends after the outing.
Jane now becomes ill, and refuses to see Emma or accept her gifts. Meanwhile, Frank was
visiting his aunt, who dies soon after he arrives. Now he and Jane reveal to the Westons that they
have been secretly engaged since the autumn but Frank knew that his aunt would disapprove.
The strain of the secrecy on the conscientious Jane had caused the two to quarrel and Jane
ended the engagement. Frank's easygoing uncle readily gives his blessing to the match and the
engagement becomes public, leaving Emma chagrined to discover that she had been so wrong.
Emma is certain that Frank's engagement will devastate Harriet, but instead Harriet tells her that
she loves Mr Knightley, although she knows the match is too unequal, but Emma's
encouragement and Mr Knightley's kindness have given her hope. Emma is startled, and realizes
that she is the one who wants to marry Mr Knightley. Mr Knightley returns to console Emma from
Frank and Jane's engagement thinking her heartbroken. When she admits her own foolishness,
he proposes and she accepts. Now Harriet accepts Robert Martin's second proposal and they are
the first couple to marry. Jane and Emma reconcile, and Frank and Jane visit the Westons. Once
the period of deep mourning ends, they will marry. Before the end of November, Emma and Mr
Knightley are married with the prospect of "perfect happiness".

7.The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first

published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 188081 and then as a
book in 1881. It is one of James's most popular long novels and is regarded by critics as one of
his finest

Isabel Archer, originally from Albany, New York, is invited by her maternal aunt, Lydia Touchett, to
visit Lydia's rich husband, Daniel, at his estate near London, following the death of Isabel's father.
There, Isabel meets her cousin, Ralph Touchett, her friendly invalid uncle, and the Touchetts'
robust neighbor, Lord Warburton.

Isabel later declines Warburton's sudden proposal of marriage. She also rejects the hand of
Caspar Goodwood, the charismatic son and heir of a wealthy Boston mill owner. Although Isabel
is drawn to Caspar, her commitment to her independence precludes such a marriage, which she
feels would demand the sacrifice of her freedom.

The elder Touchett grows ill and, at the request of his son, leaves much of his estate to Isabel
upon his death. With her large legacy, Isabel travels the Continent and meets an American
expatriate, Gilbert Osmond, in Florence. Although Isabel had previously rejected both Warburton
and Goodwood, she accepts Osmond's proposal of marriage, unaware that it has been actively
promoted by the accomplished but untrustworthy Madame Merle, another American expatriate,
whom Isabel had met at the Touchetts' estate.

Isabel and Osmond settle in Rome, but their marriage rapidly sours due to Osmond's
overwhelming egotism and lack of genuine affection for his wife. Isabel grows fond of Pansy,
Osmond's presumed daughter by his first marriage, and wants to grant her wish to marry Edward
Rosier, a young art collector.

The snobbish Osmond would prefer that Pansy accept the proposal of Warburton, who had
previously proposed to Isabel. Isabel suspects, however, that Warburton may just be feigning
interest in Pansy to get close to Isabel again, and the conflict creates even more strain within the
unhappy marriage.

Isabel then learns that Ralph is dying at his estate in England and prepares to go to him for his
final hours, but Osmond selfishly opposes this plan. Meanwhile, Isabel learns from her sister-in-
law that Pansy is actually the daughter of Madame Merle, who had had an adulterous relationship
with Osmond for several years.

Isabel pays a final visit to Pansy, who desperately begs her to return someday, which Isabel
reluctantly promises to do. She then leaves, without telling her spiteful husband, to comfort the
dying Ralph in England, where she remains until his death.

Goodwood encounters her at Ralph's estate, and begs her to leave Osmond and come away with
him. He passionately embraces and kisses her, but Isabel flees. Goodwood seeks her out the
next day but is told she has set off again for Rome.

The ending is ambiguous, and the reader is left to imagine whether Isabel returned to Osmond to
suffer out her marriage in noble tragedy (perhaps for Pansy's sake), or she is going to rescue
Pansy and leave Osmond.