The literature summaries

Name of student

25th February 2019

Oedipus the King Summary

At the beginning of the play, Thebes suffers from a plaque which is leaving the society barren.

Oedipus who is the King of Thebes sends his brother to Apollo’s house to ask the oracle to bring

the plaques to an end. He brings back good news that they will be cured. When Tiresias comes,

he seems to be reluctant with questions response and he warns Oedipus of questioning him much

as he did not know the answers. The king response by threatening him with death and at the end

of it all Tiresias tells him that the king himself is the killer. Oedipus dismisses the narratives he is

given that the union was illegal but Tiresias continues with his belief and insists that the killer is

there with them (Summaries, 2016, p. 209).

As Creon enters he asks the people around whether what was said was true about him being

accused. As this unfolds Oedipus appears and charges on Creon with accusation of treason.

Jocasta and the chorus are begging Oedipus to be a person of an open mind but he seems to be

unwilling and is resentful and gives a chance to Creon. Long time ago the oracle had told Laius

that his son would kill him resulting to the giving away of their son as a shepherd in the hardship

areas so that he probably die with hunger. Laius was killed by a robber and not his own son and

this became a proof that the oracle was wrong. The story behind this deaths makes them troubled

and Oedipus is forced to summon meetings.

When they were waiting for the witnesses to arrive, Jokasta asked Oedipus the reasons why

seemed to be troubled and the king tells her about the things that happened in the past. He says

that someone he met when he was young told him that he was not his father’s son and he went on

to ask his parents but they denied it. This still troubled him and he was yet to determine the truth

about his lineage. To add on that the oracle had told him that he was going to kill his father and
take his own mother as a wife. This are the types of prophesies that let Oedipus left his

hometown never to go back again.

The king is afraid that the stranger he had killed could be Laius. If this is true it means that

Oedipus will be banished from Thebes as a punishment to his actions. It was his wish that the

eye witnesses could say that robbers had killed him and not the king as it is. He is in prayers that

the witnesses could be his saviors and prevent him from being banished. Before long Jocasta is

heading to the palace and goes to the temple to pray. Before long there are news from Corinth

that Oedipus father was dead (Summaries, 2016, p. 228). This gave Jocasta a reason why he

didn’t believe in the oracle. Oedipus is happy about the news although he remains worried of the

rest of the prophecies that have been made by the oracle and the worst of it is that he would

marry his own mother. He is however advised to go back home and in any case the mother he

calls by the name is not his real mother and the dead man was not his real father anyway.

At the end of it the truth comes out and devastating. Oedipus is seen exiting into the palace after

messenger reveals that he had grabbed the sword and started searching for Jocasta with an aim to

kill him. When he enters her chamber she is found having hangered herself. He picks the gold

from her pockets and removes her eyes and blood oozes out from her blind eyes. Oedipus seeks

permission to leave the city but Creon is not willing to give the go ahead alone and seeks advice

from Apollo. The only punishment for Oedipus was to be banished and before he leaves he asked

to see his daughters and asked Creon to take care of them.

2) Everyman

In Everyman, it is a recount of life and death of everyman which is figure that represents all the

humans. When the play begins God is ordering death to get to everyman’s house and to warn

them that they will face judgment from God. Because they were terrified, the men turns to

fellowship and everyone else leaves them except the cousins but after sometime they too left

leaving the man to face the wrath of death alone. Everyman is full of hopes that God will be his

comforter but one after the other his possessions are falling away and because he is desperate

Everyman calls for the good deed stop follow him. Good deeds however have been weakened by

Everyman’s sin and cannot rise from the dirt. Seeing the everyman calls from wisdom to be of

help and he is advised to confess this sins in order to give strength to the Good deeds. Beauty

strength and five wits helps Everyman to approach the heaven gates and he realizes that it is only

through the help of good deeds that he can receive a better judgment (Jacob, 2018, p. 89).

The suffering of Everyman, his honesty and pertinent confession helped by his good deeds

allows him to get a chance into the kingdom of heaven. As he is welcomed into the heaven’s gate

by the angels, a theologian representing the mediaeval times come son and gives moral to the

play. He warns Everyman that his family cannot accompany him in the final journey and that the

five wits, strength and discretion will end up leaving him. He is warned that his deeds are too

small and cannot be the only way he gets his acceptance in the heavens. It is only through his

honest confessions that he can become accepted. After that he is given the final rights by the

priest and is prepared to meet death. He is troubled because all his companions are leaving him.

All refuses to be beside him to the end and good deeds remains with him through. Everyman is

elected as a spouse of Jesus and is taken high by the Angels and takes his soul from his body
which after being taken looks crystal clear and this is how everyone will look like only if they

live well to the end.

In the chocolate factory a poor boy is seeking for the five golden tickets which will be a way he

will be send to the Willy Wonka chocolate factory. This is as a result of Willy’s announcement

that for years there would be five lucky people who will be given a tour to the factory and will be

shown all the secrets of the candy and will win a supply contract to the factory. Young Charlie is

the favorite and wants to talk the chance but the family he comes from is poor to a level that if he

gets the chance to buy one bar of chocolate that would be treated as a special occasion. The

movie land is full of surprise and the boy with other four receive the chance of their lifetime and

they visit the factory. As the go there were problems that met them and Charlie is forced to work

extra harder so that he could receive the brass rings.

Charlie is seen as a hardworking boy and his other supports him. The place that the live gives

him a lot of challenges and Charlie learns to develop bonds with those who can help him. Willy

have not been in the public domain because he close his industry from access by the public so

that his candy secrets could not be stolen. The five children after struggling through gets an

admission into the factory and they find wonderful candies as well as chocolate (Jacob, 2018,

p. 189). The factory owner tells them to have anything they want but he looked he was looking

for something in return. In the factory a lot of strange things occur and the four children

disappears and Charlie remains. Charlie is ignored by Willy and tells him that he is doing so

because of the actions of his parents who had drunk illegal products without seeking permission.
3. Hamlet

The prince is summoned to go back home in Denmark in order to attend to his father’s funeral.

He is in mourning state and because of the death and his mother was in despair due to marriage

between Queen Gertrude and Uncle Claudius the brother to the king. According to Hamlet this is

a form of incest and it makes him angry that his inheritance to the throne was being faced with

challenges. The late king’s ghost appears to him and tells him that he was murdered by pouring

of poison in his ears when he was taking a nap. The ghost tells him that he should not get to sleep

or rest and must therefore walk the earth at night and ensure that his death is avenged. Hamlets

plans to use presence that he is mad so that he could observe the behaviors of those around him

(Wilson, 2015, p. 132).

By doing so nobody will be able to tell that he was investigating on something. On the other

hand, he begins to question the reality of the ghost and has a thinking that maybe the ghost was a

demon that was out to trick him into committing of murder. He is therefore facing trap in his

own minds and argues that he does not want to go to hell with such kind of sin. This thoughts

and self-made conclusions e the ones that prevented him from acting according to the kings

wishes. With the quest to find out the truth, Hamlet employs the help of actors who staged the

killing of the king in front of Claudius and Gertrude. He gives the title of the paly as murder of

Gonzago which he makes to have a play within a play in order to enact the death of the king.

This scenes and the organization of the play makes Claudius to feel some guilt because it was

showing the length Hamlet was prepared to go in order to ensure that the king’s death was

avenged. As the two are watching the play unfold they are filled with guilt and Hamlet makes a

resolution that he was going to kill Claudius. He is not sure of his resolutions however and he

begins to make ramifications of his actions as to the conscience level of denial and cowardice.
AS he remains fearful to enact his actions according to the findings, he kills others (Wilson,

2015, p. 132). He kills Polonius when he stabs him through the walls curtains as he was spying

on him. Claudius instills a punishment to Hamlet by using two of his friends to spy on him and

deliver him to the king of England who would execute him.

When Hamlet realizes this he comes up with a plan to ensure that they were hanged. Ophelia is

in despair because of the death of her father and here is Hamlet who is tormenting her by his

actions and also accusing her of being a prostitute. This makes her insane and finally she drowns

herself and Hamlet kills his brother, Laertes. Before all this drama, Hamlet declares that “To be

or not to be” and this was a sign that the play was coming to a climax and that Hamlet was now

becoming obsessed by the mission he was engaging in. Towards the end, a poisonous cup is

intended for Hamlet by Claudius but the princes Gertrude drinks it and dies. Before the death of

Laertes he confesses that he was responsible for the death of his father and that the cup that had

just killed her mother was meant for him. Hamlet kills Claudius using poison. Hamlet dies and is

accorded an honorary funeral as fallen hero.

4. Tartuffe

The novel involves illegal immigrants who are injured crossing the borders near Los Angeles

California. Although the Mexican is injured, he takes twenty dollars from Delaney and the two

part ways. Delaney gets a lesson from the incident but is confident that the deal is over and gets

his car fixed and goes back to Blanco for normal duties. Every day he prepares meals for his

family and as soon as they are on their way he sits down and starts writing his columns pilgrim at

Topanga creek which was a column for the nature magazine. His normal day is interrupted by a

coyote who comes over the fence and steals from his backyard softer killing their pet dog. From

this incident he decides to make a statement about it in the next town hall meeting though the

meeting was meant to discuss building of the gate at the entrance of his community and because

of that there is nobody that pays attention to him ("Tartuffe," n.d., p. 42).

He became angry and he went back to his car only to find out that it was stolen. He is injured in

the incident and he recovers his wife goes to the labor exchange although he was against this.

This is because the two comes from a village that was poor. The couple are faced with another

problem when teenagers attacked their campsite and although it was ruined he manages to build

it another one upstream and after a while he is able to join the American labor exchange. Now

that the two of them were working there life was developing but there was a turn of events when

America was attacked and raped by a friend and another man. This makes Delaney’s moods to

switch into anger and a feeling of discontentment. When his car was stolen, his minds begun to

change he no matter how interesting he tried to make his life nothing was changing.

After a struggle his wife becomes pregnant and in his efforts to find a safe place for her to give

birth ,he finds a new build wall and cannot get over the wall but finds a shade where she can

stay. Candido is full of fear because he knows nothing about child bearing but America manages
to get through with the help of Edith the pet cat. A beautiful girl is born and is named Socorro.

When his family goes to sleep he is tempted to steal something’s which include tools and food

from backyards behind the walls and he uses this materials to build a new hide out for his family.

He is however faced with a challenge when his wife tells him that she wants to go to place that is

civilized so that she can be able to raise their child well in an improved environment.

His life becomes harder and it reaches a point where he stands by the road trying to find a job. It

is at this point that Delaney spots him. When Candido sees him he threatens to call 911 and turn

him to the Mexican authorities. The misunderstand causes Candido to run into traffic and this

causes an accident which leaves Delaney’s car wrecked. Delaney accuses the Mexican of causing

the problems which include stealing and causing of fires. When he traces him towards the Blanco

wall he realizes that the wall had been vandalized ("Tartuffe," n.d., p. 71). They engage in a fight

and as Delaney gets to them with a gun, they are all swept by a raging river. In the process

America and Candido loses their daughter and when candido notices that Delaney was almost

being swept away he reaches out to help him.

 References

Jacob, G. (2018). Every man his own lawyer: or, A summary of the laws of England, in a new

and instructive method ...

Summaries, B. (2016). Oedipus the King by Sophocles (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary,

Analysis and Reading Guide. BrightSummaries.com.

Tartuffe. (n.d.). Nachgelassene Schriften. doi:10.1515/9783110910216.355

Wilson, J. D. (2015). What Happens in Hamlet. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University

Press.