Doctor Faustus (7) The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly

referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories
about the title character Faust, that was first performed sometime between 1588 and Marlowe's death in 1593. Two
different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later.
The powerful effect of early productions of the play is indicated by the legends that quickly accrued around
themthat actual devils once appeared on the stage during a performance, "to the great amazement of both the actors
and spectators", a sight that was said to have driven some spectators mad.
Doctor Faustus is based on an older tale; it is believed to be the first dramatization of the Faust legend. The
play is in blank verse and prose in thirteen scenes (1604) or twenty scenes (1616). Blank verse is largely reserved for
the main scenes while prose is used in the comic scenes. Modern texts divide the play into five acts; act 5 being the
shortest. As in many Elizabethan plays, there is a chorus (which functions as a narrator), that does not interact with
the other characters but rather provides an introduction and conclusion to the play and, at the beginning of some Acts,
introduces events that have unfolded.
Doctor Faustus has raised much controversy due to its alleged interaction with the demonic realm. Before
Marlowe, there were few authors who ventured into this kind of writing. After his play, other authors began to expand
on their views of the spiritual world.
King Lear (9) King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual
descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three
daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. Derived from the legend of Leir of
Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures,
with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors.
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among
his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves
him. Goneril and Regan, Lears older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lears youngest
and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear
flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry
her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her fathers blessing.
Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little
authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane.
He flees his daughters houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by
Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise.
Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate
son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that
his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself Poor Tom. Like Lear, he
heads out onto the heath.
When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lears daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help
Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind
him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of
Dover, where Lear has also been brought. In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an
effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril, whose
husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lears cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.
The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading
him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the
Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we
learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her
treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmunds betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear
finally dies out of grief at Cordelias passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country
under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
Hamlet (9) The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet (/hmlt/),
is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play
dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's
father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased
brother's widow. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential
works of world literature, with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".
Prince Hamlet is depressed. Having been summoned home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his
father's funeral, he is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried. The Queen has wed Hamlet's
Uncle Claudius, the dead king's brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is "foul incest." Worse still, Claudius has had himself
crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father's heir to the throne. Hamlet suspects foul play.
 When his father's ghost visits the castle, Hamlet's suspicions are confirmed. The Ghost complains that he is
unable to rest in peace because he was murdered. Claudius, says the Ghost, poured poison in King Hamlet's ear while
the old king napped. Unable to confess and find salvation, King Hamlet is now consigned, for a time, to spend his
days in Purgatory and walk the earth by night. He entreats Hamlet to avenge his death, but to spare Gertrude, to let
Heaven decide her fate.
Hamlet vows to affect madness puts "an antic disposition on" to wear a mask that will enable him to
observe the interactions in the castle, but finds himself more confused than ever. In his persistent confusion, he
questions the Ghost's trustworthiness. What if the Ghost is not a true spirit, but rather an agent of the devil sent to
tempt him? What if killing Claudius results in Hamlet's having to relive his memories for all eternity? Hamlet agonizes
over what he perceives as his cowardice because he cannot stop himself from thinking. Words immobilize Hamlet,
but the world he lives in prizes action.
In order to test the Ghost's sincerity, Hamlet enlists the help of a troupe of players who perform a play
called The Murder of Gonzago to which Hamlet has added scenes that recreate the murder the Ghost described.
Hamlet calls the revised play The Mousetrap, and the ploy proves a success. As Hamlet had hoped, Claudius' reaction
to the staged murder reveals the King to be conscience-stricken. Claudius leaves the room because he cannot breathe,
and his vision is dimmed for want of light. Convinced now that Claudius is a villain, Hamlet resolves to kill him. But,
as Hamlet observes, "conscience doth make cowards of us all."
In his continued reluctance to dispatch Claudius, Hamlet actually causes six ancillary deaths. The first death
belongs to Polonius, whom Hamlet stabs through a wallhanging as the old man spies on Hamlet and Gertrude in the
Queen's private chamber. Claudius punishes Hamlet for Polonius' death by exiling him to England. He has brought
Hamlet's school chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Denmark from Germany to spy on his nephew, and now he
instructs them to deliver Hamlet into the English king's hands for execution. Hamlet discovers the plot and arranges
for the hanging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead. Ophelia, distraught over her father's death and Hamlet's
behavior, drowns while singing sad love songs bemoaning the fate of a spurned lover. Her brother, Laertes, falls next.
Laertes, returned to Denmark from France to avenge his father's death, witnesses Ophelia's descent into
madness. After her funeral, where he and Hamlet come to blows over which of them loved Ophelia best, Laertes vows
to punish Hamlet for her death as well. Unencumbered by words, Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet. In the
midst of the sword fight, however, Laertes drops his poisoned sword. Hamlet retrieves the sword and cuts Laertes.
The lethal poison kills Laertes. Before he dies, Laertes tells Hamlet that because Hamlet has already been cut with the
same sword, he too will shortly die. Horatio diverts Hamlet's attention from Laertes for a moment by pointing out that
"The Queen falls."
Gertrude, believing that Hamlet's hitting Laertes means her son is winning the fencing match, has drunk a toast
to her son from the poisoned cup Claudius had intended for Hamlet. The Queen dies. As Laertes lies dying, he
confesses to Hamlet his part in the plot and explains that Gertrude's death lies on Claudius' head. Finally enraged,
Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and then pours the last of the poisoned wine down the King's throat.
Before he dies, Hamlet declares that the throne should now pass to Prince Fortinbras of Norway, and he implores his
true friend Horatio to accurately explain the events that have led to the bloodbath at Elsinore. With his last breath, he
releases himself from the prison of his words: "The rest is silence." The play ends as Prince Fortinbras, in his first act
as King of Denmark, orders a funeral with full military honors for slain Prince Hamlet.
William Wordsworth (17) William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 23 April 1850) was a major
English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English
literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798). The second of five children born to John Wordsworth
and Ann Cookson, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Wordsworth House in Cockermouth,
Cumberland, part of the scenic region in northwestern England known as the Lake District. Wordsworth was taught
to read by his mother and attended, first, a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth, then a school in Penrith for the
children of upper-class families. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The
European Magazine. That same year he began attending St John's College, Cambridge. In 1795 he received a legacy
of 900 pounds from Raisley Calvert and became able to pursue a career as a poet. It was also in 1795 that he
met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset. The two poets quickly developed a close friendship.
Child Harolds Pilgrimage (19) Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem in four
parts written by Lord Byron. It was published between 1812 and 1818 and is dedicated to "Ianthe". The poem describes
the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man who, disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry, looks
for distraction in foreign lands. In a wider sense, it is an expression of the melancholy and disillusionment felt by a
generation weary of the wars of the post-Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. The title comes from the term childe,
a medieval title for a young man who was a candidate for knighthood.
The poem contains elements thought to be autobiographical, as Byron generated some of the storyline from
experience gained during his travels through Portugal, the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea between 1809 and
1811.[1] The "Ianthe" of the dedication was the term of endearment he used for Lady Charlotte Harley, about 11 years
old when Childe Harold was first published.
Walter Scott (20) Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE (15 August 1771 21 September 1832)
was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language
literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the
Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. Although primarily remembered for his
extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scott was an advocate, judge and legal administrator by
profession, and throughout his career combined his writing and editing work with his daily occupation as Clerk of
Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire.

As a boy, youth and young man, Scott was fascinated by the oral traditions of the Scottish Borders. He was an
obsessive collector of stories, and developed an innovative method of recording what he heard at the feet of local
story-tellers using carvings on twigs, to avoid the disapproval of those who believed that such stories were neither for
writing down nor for printing.[9] At the age of 25 he began to write professionally, translating works from
German,[10] his first publication being rhymed versions of ballads by Gottfried August Brger in 1796. He then
published an idiosyncratic three-volume set of collected ballads of his adopted home region, The Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border. This was the first sign from a literary standpoint of his interest in Scottish history.
Although Scott had attained worldwide celebrity through his poetry, he soon tried his hand at documenting his
researches into the oral tradition of the Scottish Borders in prose fictionstories and novelsat the time still
considered aesthetically inferior to poetry. There followed a succession of novels over the next five years, each with
a Scottish historical setting. Mindful of his reputation as a poet, Scott maintained the anonymity he had begun
with Waverley, publishing the novels under the name "Author of Waverley" or as "Tales of..." with no author.
Ivanhoe (21) Ivanhoe (1819), set in 12th-century England, marked a move away from Scott's
focus on the local history of Scotland. Based partly on Hume's History of England and the ballad cycle of Robin
Hood, Ivanhoe was quickly translated into many languages and inspired countless imitations and theatrical
adaptations. Ivanhoe depicts the cruel tyranny of the Norman overlords (Norman Yoke) over the impoverished Saxon
populace of England, with two of the main characters, Rowena and Locksley (Robin Hood), representing the
dispossessed Saxon aristocracy.
Ivanhoe is set in 12th-century England, with colourful descriptions of a tournament, outlaws, a witch trial and
divisions between Jews and Christian. Summary: It is a dark time for England. Four generations after the Norman
conquest of the island, the tensions between Saxons and Normans are at a peak; the two peoples even refuse to speak
one another's languages. King Richard is in an Austrian prison after having been captured on his way home from the
Crusades; his avaricious brother, Prince John, sits on the throne, and under his reign the Norman nobles have begun
routinely abusing their power. Saxon lands are capriciously repossessed, and many Saxon landowners are made into
serfs. These practices have enraged the Saxon nobility, particularly the fiery Cedric of Rotherwood. Cedric is so loyal
to the Saxon cause that he has disinherited his son Ivanhoe for following King Richard to war. Additionally, Ivanhoe
fell in love with Cedric's high-born ward Rowena, whom Cedric intends to marry to Athelstane, a descendent of a
long-dead Saxon king. Cedric hopes that the union will reawaken the Saxon royal line.
Unbeknownst to his father, Ivanhoe has recently returned to England disguised as a religious pilgrim. Assuming
a new disguise as the Disinherited Knight, he fights in the great tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche. Here, with the
help of a mysterious Black Knight, he vanquishes his great enemy, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, and wins the
tournament. He names Rowena the Queen of Love and Beauty, and reveals his identity to the crowd. But he is badly
wounded and collapses on the field. In the meantime, the wicked Prince John has heard a rumor that Richard is free
from his Austrian prison. He and his advisors, Waldemar Fitzurse, Maurice de Bracy, and Reginald Front-de-Boeuf,
begin plotting how to stop Richard from returning to power in England.
John has a scheme to marry Rowena to de Bracy; unable to wait, de Bracy kidnaps Cedric's party on its way
home from the tournament, imprisoning the Saxons in Front-de-Boeuf's castle of Torquilstone. With the party are
Cedric, Rowena, and Athelstane, as well as Isaac and Rebecca, a Jewish father and daughter who have been tending
to Ivanhoe after his injury, and Ivanhoe himself. De Bracy attempts to convince Rowena to marry him, while de Bois-
Guilbert attempts to seduce Rebecca, who has fallen in love with Ivanhoe. Both men fail, and the castle is attacked by
a force led by the Black Knight who helped Ivanhoe at the tournament. Fighting with the Black Knight are the
legendary outlaws of the forest, Robin Hood and his merry men. The villains are defeated and the prisoners are freed,
but de Bois-Guilbert succeeds in kidnapping Rebecca. As the battle winds down, Ulrica, a Saxon crone, lights the
castle on fire, and it burns to the ground, engulfing both Ulrica and Front-de-Boeuf.
At Templestowe, the stronghold of the Knights-Templars, de Bois-Guilbert comes under fire from his
commanders for bringing a Jew into their sacred fortress. It is speculated among the Templars that perhaps Rebecca
is a sorceress who has enchanted de Bois-Guilbert against his will; the Grand Master of the Templars concurs and
orders a trial for Rebecca. On the advice of de Bois-Guilbert, who has fallen in love with her, Rebecca demands a
trial-by-combat, and can do nothing but await a hero to defend her. To his dismay, de Bois-Guilbert is appointed to
fight for the Templars: if he wins, Rebecca will be killed, and if he loses, he himself will die. At the last moment,
Ivanhoe appears to defend Rebecca, but he is so exhausted from the journey that de Bois-Guilbert unseats him in the
first pass. But Ivanhoe wins a strange victory when de Bois-Guilbert falls dead from his horse, killed by his own
conflicting passions.
In the meantime, the Black Knight has defeated an ambush carried out by Waldemar Fitzurse and announced himself
as King Richard, returned to England at last. When Athelstane steps out of the way, Ivanhoe and Rowena are married;
Rebecca visits Rowena one last time to thank her for Ivanhoe's role in saving her life. Rebecca and Isaac are sailing
for their new home in Granada; Ivanhoe goes on to have a heroic career under King Richard, until the king's untimely
death puts an end to all his worldly projects.
The Black Arrow (29) The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses is an 1888 novel by Robert
Louis Stevenson. It is both an historical adventure novel and a romance novel. Summary: The Black Arrow: A Tale
of Two Roses is set during the Wars of the Roses (1453-1487). These were a series of civil wars between the houses
of Lancaster and York who were fighting for the English throne. In the novel, Richard Shelton (Dick) lives as Sir
Daniel Brackleys ward at Tunstall Moat House.
A group of outlaws known as The Black Arrow, strike, killing Nicholas Appleyard. They leave a message
warning that they will also kill Brackley, and his men Bennet Hatch and Oliver Oates. Their note implies that Dicks
father, Harry Shelton, died under suspicious circumstances. Dick, who doesnt know how his father died, wonders if
Brackley was responsible. Dick now goes to Kettley to tell Brackley what has been happening. While there, he meets
a young man, John Matcham. Matcham is actually Joanna Sedley, an heiress, that Brackley has captured and disguised
as a boy. He plans to marry her to Dick.
Brackley tells Dick to return to Tunstall with a letter. On the way, Dick meets Matcham, who has escaped from
Brackley and is being pursued by his men. Dick agrees to help Matcham get to safety. Dick and Matcham spot a
gathering of The Black Arrows. They overhear the leader, Ellis Duckworth, making plans to attack Brackley and his
men. They also accuse Brackley of murdering Dicks father. Dick and Matcham now hide, but are discovered by
Brackley who is disguised as a blind leper. He takes them to Tunstall Moat House, where Dick learns Brackley did
murder his father. Dick also learns Matcham is really Joanna and the two confess their love. Realizing his life is in
danger, Dick escapes and joins The Black Arrows.
Months pass and Dick learns that Brackley plans to marry Joanna to Lord Shoreby. In an effort to rescue her,
he and The Black Arrows fight by land and sea. They steal a ship, The Good Hope, from Captain Arblaster, but their
attack is unsuccessful. Dick also befriends Lord Foxham, Joannas guardian. When Foxham learns Brackley planned
to marry her to Shoreby, he is enraged he had planned to marry her to Hamley. Foxham, now wounded, asks Dick
to rendezvous with Hamley in his place. He also gives him a letter saying that he, Dick, will marry Joanna. Dick, who
supports York, will also give papers about the Lancastrian forces to Richard of Gloucester (later Richard III).
Dick and Lawless (one of The Black Arrows) now disguise themselves as Friars to try and rescue Joanna.
Joannas friend Alicia Risingham sees through the disguise, and takes Dick to Joanna. A spy enters the room and Dick
kills him. He finds a letter on the body which says that Shoreby has been treacherously corresponding with the House
of York. The house is now in uproar while men search for the spys murderer. Dick pretends to be a monk who will
pray over the spys body in the church. Lawless now tells Dick that Ellis Duckworth and The Black Arrows plan to
stop the marriage. The marriage ceremony begins when black arrows fly through the air, killing Shoreby and wounding
Brackley. Ellis and The Black Arrows then make their escape. Dick is blamed, but Earl Risingham (Alicias uncle)
steps forward he wants to hear Dicks side of the story.
Dick gives Risingham (who supports Lancaster) the letter he found with the spy. Although Dick confesses he
too supports York, he is opposed to traitors. He also shows Risingham the letter Brackley had asked him to deliver to
Tunstall Moat. The letters says that Brackley offered Risinghams estate to Wensleydale. Enraged, Risingham frees
Dick and Lawless. Dick now retrieves the papers about the Lancastrian forces Foxham had given him. When he meets
with Richard of Gloucester, this information helps them to win for York in the Battle of Shoreby. Richard knights
Dick and gives him fifty men to find Brackley. He also offers him any service he wishes. Dick asks that he release
Captain Arblaster (he feels guilty about tricking the man earlier and taking his ship).
Dick now pursues Brackley. He finds Alicia Risingham along the way, who is angry that Dick fought against
her uncles forces. At last, they come across Brackleys camp. Dick fights and kills Bennet Hatch. His men falter,
however, and Dick retreats. He finds Joanna and she, Alicia and Dick head to Holywood. Brackley comes to Holywood
seeking sanctuary. Dick challenges him to a duel, but as Brackley turns he is shot with a black arrow. He dies in Dicks
arms. Ellis, the shooter, is ashamed that he killed Brackley in such a cowardly manner and disbands The Black Arrows.
At the end of the story, Alicia plans to marry Hamley, and Dick and Joanna marry. Lawless joins an Abbey as Brother
Honestus, ending his days in piety.
The Invisible Man (33) The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells.
Originally serialized in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the
title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a
body's refractive index to that of air so that it neither absorbs nor reflects light and thus becomes invisible. He
successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse it. While its predecessors, The
Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first-person narrators, Wells adopts a third-
person objective point of view in The Invisible Man.
A mysterious man, Griffin, arrives at the local inn of the English village of Iping, West Sussex, during a
snowstorm. The stranger wears a long-sleeved, thick coat and gloves; his face is hidden entirely by bandages except
for a fake pink nose; and he wears a wide-brimmed hat. He is excessively reclusive, irascible, and unfriendly. He
demands to be left alone and spends most of his time in his rooms working with a set of chemicals and laboratory
apparatus, only venturing out at night. While Griffin is staying at the inn, hundreds of strange glass bottles (that he
calls his luggage) arrive. Many local townspeople believe this to be very strange. He becomes the talk of the village
with many theorizing as to his origins.
Meanwhile, a mysterious burglary occurs in the village. Griffin is running out of money and is trying to find a
way to pay for his board and lodging. When his landlady demands that he pay his bill and quit the premises, he reveals
part of his invisibility to her in a fit of pique. An attempt to apprehend the stranger is frustrated when he undresses to
take advantage of his invisibility, fights off his would-be captors, and flees to the downs.
There Griffin coerces a tramp, Thomas Marvel, into becoming his assistant. With Marvel, he returns to the
village to recover three notebooks that contain records of his experiments. When Marvel attempts to betray the
Invisible Man to the police, Griffin chases him to the seaside town of Port Burdock, threatening to kill him. Marvel
escapes to a local inn and is saved by the people at the inn, but Griffin escapes. Marvel later goes to the police and
tells them of this "invisible man," then requests to be locked up in a high-security jail. Griffin's furious attempt to
avenge his betrayal leads to his being shot. He takes shelter in a nearby house that turns out to belong to Dr. Kemp, a
former acquaintance from medical school. To Kemp, he reveals his true identity: the Invisible Man is Griffin, a former
medical student who left medicine to devote himself to optics. Griffin recounts how he invented chemicals capable of
rendering bodies invisible, and, on impulse, performed the procedure on himself.
Griffin tells Kemp of the story of how he became invisible. He explains how he tried the invisibility on a cat,
then himself. Griffin burned down the boarding house he was staying in, along with all the equipment he used to turn
invisible, to cover his tracks; but he soon realised that he was ill-equipped to survive in the open. He attempted to steal
food and clothes from a large department store, and eventually stole some clothing from a theatrical supply shop and
headed to Iping to attempt to reverse the invisibility. Now he imagines that he can make Kemp his secret confederate,
describing his plan to begin a "Reign of Terror" by using his invisibility to terrorise the nation.
Kemp has already denounced Griffin to the local authorities and is waiting for help to arrive as he listens to
this wild proposal. When the authorities arrive at Kemp's house, Griffin fights his way out and the next day leaves a
note announcing that Kemp himself will be the first man to be killed in the "Reign of Terror". Kemp, a cool-headed
character, tries to organise a plan to use himself as bait to trap the Invisible Man, but a note that he sends is stolen
from his servant by Griffin.
Griffin uses Kemp's gun to shoot and injure a local policeman who comes to Kemp's aid, then breaks into
Kemp's house. Kemp bolts for the town, where the local citizenry come to his aid. Griffin is seized, assaulted, and
killed by a mob. The Invisible Man's naked, battered body gradually becomes visible as he dies. A local policeman
shouts to have someone cover Griffin's face with a sheet. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Marvel has secretly kept
Griffin's notes but is completely incapable of understanding them.
The Forsyte Saga (35) The Forsyte Saga, first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three
novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by Nobel Prizewinning English author John
Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of a large commercial upper-middle-class English
family, similar to Galsworthy's own. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the family members
are keenly aware of their status as "new money". The main character, Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of
property" by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessionsbut this does not succeed in bringing him
pleasure.
In Victorian England, Soames Forsyte, a man from a wealthy and arrogant family, meets a falls in love with
Irene Herron, a poor woman. After taking her step-mother's advice, Irene marries Soames. After four years of
marriage, Irene is not happy because she does not love him. Soames tries to win her affections by giving her the things
he believes every woman wants, dresses and jewels. He can not give her the one thing her heart desires, freedom. Out
of desperation, he asks his cousin June's fianc, Phil Bosinny, to build him a house in the country. Irene sees the house
as a prison. During the construction of the house, Phil and Irene fall in love and have an affair.
The affair causes a scandal in the family. Years later, Irene comes in contact with Soames's uncle Jolyon who
leaves her money after he dies out of friendship. Jolyon's son, Young Jolyon, is her trustee. Soames falls for a young
French girl, Annette, whom he wants to marry. He goes in search for Irene for a divorce but has no current evidence
for the divorce. Instead, he decides to try to win her back so he can have an heir. She runs from him and finds friendship
and protection in Young Jolyon. Soames decides on a divorce after he finds Irene and Young Jolyon together and
Irene tells him she and Young Jolyon are in love. Irene and Jolyon marry and have a son, while Soames marries
Annette and has a daughter.
The Moon and Sixpence (39) The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham first
published in 1919. It is told in episodic form by a first-person narrator, in a series of glimpses into the mind and soul
of the central character Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker, who abandons his wife and children
abruptly to pursue his desire to become an artist. The story is in part based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin.
The novel is written largely from the point of view of the narrator, a young, aspiring writer and playwright in
London. Certain chapters entirely comprise accounts of events by other characters, which the narrator recalls from
memory (selectively editing or elaborating on certain aspects of dialogue, particularly Strickland's, as Strickland is
said by the narrator to have a very poor ability to express himself in words). The narrator first develops an acquaintance
with Strickland's wife at literary parties, and later meets Strickland himself, who appears to be an unremarkable
businessman with no interest in his wife's literary or artistic tastes.
Strickland is a well-off, middle-class stockbroker in London sometime in late 19th or early 20th century. Early
in the novel, he leaves his wife and children and goes to Paris. (The narrator enters directly into the story at this point,
when he is asked by Mrs Strickland to go to Paris and talk with her husband.) He lives a destitute but defiantly content
life there as an artist (specifically a painter), lodging in run-down hotels and falling prey to both illness and hunger.
Strickland, in his drive to express through his art what appears to continually possess and compel him on the inside,
cares nothing for physical discomfort and is indifferent to his surroundings. He is helped and supported by a
commercially successful but hackneyed Dutch painter, Dirk Stroeve (coincidentally, also an old friend of the
narrator's), who recognises Strickland's genius as a painter. After helping Strickland recover from a life-threatening
illness, Stroeve is repaid by having his wife, Blanche, abandon him for Strickland. Strickland later discards the wife;
all he really sought from Blanche was a model to paint, not serious companionship, and it is hinted in the novel's
dialogue that he indicated this to her and she took the risk anyway. Blanche then commits suicide yet another human
casualty in Strickland's single-minded pursuit of art and beauty; the first casualties being his own established life and
those of his wife and children.
After the Paris episode, the story continues in Tahiti. Strickland has already died, and the narrator attempts to
piece together his life there from recollections of others. He finds that Strickland had taken up a native woman, had
two children by her, one of whom dies, and started painting profusely. We learn that Strickland had settled for a short
while in the French port of Marseilles before traveling to Tahiti, where he lived for a few years before dying of leprosy.
Strickland left behind numerous paintings, but his magnum opus, which he painted on the walls of his hut before
losing his sight to leprosy, was burnt after his death by his wife per his dying orders.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (48) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a
collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It was
first published on 14 October 1892. The stories are not in chronological order, and the only characters common to all
twelve are Holmes and Dr. Watson. The stories are related in first-person narrative from Watson's point of view.
Sherlock Holmes has been adapted numerous times for both films and plays, and the character has been played by
over 70 different actors in more than 200 films.
In general the stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes identify, and try to correct, social injustices.
Holmes is portrayed as offering a new, fairer sense of justice. The stories were well received, and boosted the
subscriptions figures of The Strand Magazine, prompting Doyle to be able to demand more money for his next set of
stories. The first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia", includes the character of Irene Adler, who, despite being featured
only within this one story by Doyle, is a prominent character in modern Sherlock Holmes adaptations, generally as a
love interest for Holmes. Doyle included four of the twelve stories from this collection in his twelve favourite Sherlock
Holmes stories, picking "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" as his overall favourite.
Summary: All of the stories within The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are told in a first-person narrative from
the point of view of Dr. Watson, as is the case for all but four of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography entry for Doyle suggests that the short stories contained in The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes tend to point out social injustices, such as "a king's betrayal of an opera singer, a stepfather's deception of his
ward as a fictitious lover, an aristocratic crook's exploitation of a failing pawnbroker, a beggar's extensive estate in
Kent." It suggests that, in contrast, Holmes is portrayed as offering a fresh and fair approach in an unjust world of
"official incompetence and aristocratic privilege". The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes contains many of Doyle's
favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1927, he submitted a list of what he believed were his twelve best Sherlock
Holmes stories to The Strand Magazine. Among those he listed were "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" (as his
favourite), "The Red-Headed League" (second), "A Scandal in Bohemia" (fifth) and "The Five Orange Pips" (seventh).
The book was banned in the Soviet Union in 1929 because of its alleged "occultism", but the book gained popularity
in a black market of similarly banned books, and the restriction was lifted in 1940.