Susan Marino
eNotes Educator
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8
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281
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About
My background is in English literature, with a concentration in writing theory and medieval lit.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Harrison Bergeron
What is more important, the rights of the individual or the rights of society? "Harrison Bergeron" is a dark story about the potential for the well meaning advocates of equality to destroy the... -
Answered a Question in The Hobbit
This is a large question. You will have to decide what side you are on. Basically, it deals with both "nature" versus "nurture" and "free will" versus " determinism." How much control or power does... -
Answered a Question in As You Like It
There is an excellent summary and study guide for this play on the enotes site. There are a couple of different things going on in this Act, both involving brothers. Act 1 Scene 1 opens with the... -
Answered a Question in Harrison Bergeron
Harrison calls himself an emperor because he is saying he is the natural ruler of the people. The reason he claims this title is that he is physically and intellectually superior to most of the... -
Answered a Question in Theodore Roethke
Perhaps it is a poem about finding one's true self. The poet watches a young snake and feels a connection and a longing. He recognizes something in the snake that he wants to nuture in himself: I... -
Answered a Question in Theodore Roethke
The idea that someone can meld with nature is something that comes up often in Roethke's poetry. What the persona (the speaker in the poem) seems most attracted to is the snake's "pure, sensuous... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
The scene, Act 1 Scene 2, is where we first learn about how brave and fierce Macbeth is. We first learn of him as a loyal subject, tireless in battle, courageous, and vicious (he does, after all,... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Caliban in the Tempest is treated as a savage by Prospero and Miranda. His upbringing, more than his appearance, is what causes this, as his mother is a witch and he is considered untamed,... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus is courageous because he goes against the norms of his society in choosing to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. He is a man who confronts the prejudice in his society. Tom... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 18
The poet says that everything in nature becomes less beautiful, if not by chance (accidents of fate) then by time. But the person he writes of will be beautiful forever: "But thy eternal summer... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Justice...that's huge. If this is an essay, you're going to have to narrow your thesis. The novel deals with justice and prejudice throughout. The title basically captures the whole theme of the... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and his friends are on their way to the party at the Capulet's house. His friends have just said that they are going to be late. There is a word for word translation of this on enotes:... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
It is a convention within Shakespeare's plays for characters to build the tension the audience feels by speaking in word play that is true from the audience's perspective but confusing from the... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
This scene shows a couple of things about Polonius' nature and his view of people. The fact that he deems it necessary to send someone out to spy on his son suggests that he does not think people... -
Answered a Question in The Leap
You didn't say how you are going to focus your analysis. I'm guessing that it is probably connected to either theme or character. First of all, I would check out the enotes section on "The... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Macbeth is at the banquet and he has just seen the ghost of Banquo. He is perturbed because, he says, it used to be that when you killed a man, he would just die, and that would be the end of it.... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
If you check the enotes section on Macbeth, this entire scene is translated. As this scene is happening, everything is coming to a climax. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have changed completely from... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Juliet feels thwarted initially. When she says "wherefore art thou Romeo," it is as if she is railing against fate for making her fall for an enemy. After that, she feels the way most of... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Iago first mentions his suspicion that Othello has had sex with Emilia in Act 1 Scene 3, ln 368 (in the Cambridge School Othello--might be different line numbers in your text), when he says, "I... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Iago uses whatever is within people to manipulate them. What is in Roderigo is lust and a desire to have Desdemona at all costs. Iago works him by convincing him that his money (along with Iago's... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Polonius tells him (lines 20-35 in my Arden) to slander Laertes to people who know him so that the truth will come out. He says that if Laertes is actually good, people who know him will protest... -
Answered a Question in Animal Farm
I'm not positive, but this seems like a non-sequitur in that it does not follow from the evidence at hand that Snowball sabotaged the windmill. Just because there are footprints there, there... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
I wouldn't apply a plot diagram to this play, which (I think) is what this question is asking. If so, the building action would be all of the events leading up to the climax (the two deaths), the... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Duncan also says he can't find the mind's construction in the face, meaning he can't tell what people are truly like from what he sees on the outside. In contrast to their father's inability to see... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Because the witches offer Macbeth the hope of getting something that he didn't think was within his reach, they are often considered the force that manipulates Macbeth into killing Duncan, but I... -
Answered a Question in Animal Farm
Also, this scene marks the total degradation of the original values the animals had when they first started the revolution. They did not start a new society after all. Instead, the pigs became just... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Although Boo's father "saved" him from juvenille detention, Boo's sentence was far greater than it would have been had he simply served his time. Boo did stab his father with the scissors. His... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Hamlet is conflicted. It is clear that they cared about each other prior to Gertrude's remarriage--she worries about his depression, and he worries about her lack of it. But though Hamlet wants her... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Hamlet is a good person, but he would not necessarily have been a good king. He is a thinker, not a ruler. He spends too much time considering questions of morality, and not enough time acting.... -
Answered a Question in 1984
I agree that Winston's conflicts are both external (man vs society--i.e. the Party) and internal (Winston vs his conscience). The most interesting thing about the internal conflict in this text is... -
Answered a Question in The Metamorphosis
Kafka suggests that societal values are distorted. We work in jobs that we hate that twist and deform us so much that we eventually become unrecognizable even to the people we love. Family tries to... -
Answered a Question in The Metamorphosis
The relationship between the father and the son is strange. It is certainly strained, but it is also complex. The son's metamorphosis begins while works in a job that he hates in order to pay... -
Answered a Question in Everyman
In many ways, the play seems irrelevant to a modern secular audience. We don't talk about "sin" and we don't spend much time worrying about the afterlife. More people don't go to church than... -
Answered a Question in Everyman
God comes across as somewhat arrogant, hurt and hostile. His main complaint seems to be that people are unkind because they live well and don't have enough dread in their hearts. He sees Everyman... -
Answered a Question in The Taming of the Shrew
One of the themes Shakespeare develops is whether love is something that can be arranged, or whether love is something that comes directly from attraction. Bianca's affairs arise out of her... -
Answered a Question in Everyman
By nature, humankind wants to avoid death's call, and everyman (we) spend most of our energy absorbed in activities that help us avoid thinking about what happens when we die. However, according to... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 18
Nature fades but art is immortal. Though beautiful at moments in time, everything in nature enjoys but a moment of perfection. In time every virtue will be destroyed, every potential beauty ravaged... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 18
The problem in sonnet 18 is that everything in nature dies. The poet wants to find some great metaphor to compare his love to, but none of the traditional metaphors work. Why? Because everything in... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 18
My colleagues have answered this very well. I'd like to add a few comments. Summer traditionally represents the time in life when we are fully blooming. Spring is the virtuous youth. The metaphor... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 19
I'm not sure I understand the question you've been asked, so I'm trying this but... My understanding of these terms is that with naturalism and realism the artists are attempting to accurately... -
Answered a Question in The Taming of the Shrew
The main problem is the conflict between Kate and Petruchio. Petruchio sets out to "tame" Kate who, prior to his arrival, flames every potential suitor to come near her. The question of how the... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
The two truths that are told are the ones where he is heralded as Thanes of Cawdor and Glamis...the "imperial theme" is the ultimate promise of the throne that Duncan currently holds. Macbeth has... -
Answered a Question in Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice and Benedick are attracted to one another, but have a difficult time expressing that attraction. They are intellectual equals who enjoy matching wits. Shakespeare was the... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Many people have questioned Iago's sexuality. More than any other character's, his comments are charged with homeoerotic suggestiveness. He has little affection for women (even for Emelia, his... -
Answered a Question in Shakespeare's Sonnets
Brendawn's line by line analysis is excellent. I'd add a slightly different interpretation. I find more hope and renewal than disappointment and bitterness here. My reading hinges on several... -
Answered a Question in Othello
I'd add to sagetreib's excellent answer.Cassio certainly has privilege and he gets what he wants without having to work hard to get it (Iago, in contrast, feels he has to scheme and work for... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
This is in response to sahabia's request for clarification on the first two lines: The chariest maid is prodigal enough If she unmask her beauty to the moon: The term "chariest" is the word that... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Thakkar's comment on the times is excellent. I'd add this reading: The chariest maid is prodigal enough If she unmask her beauty to the moon: Virtue itself scopes not calumnious strokes: The... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Neither Romeo nor Juliet have anyone solid they can confide in. The parents and friends in their lives try to reach out but are either too self absorbed or oblivious to see what is happening with... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
As far as contrast goes, I'm with janeyb here--the most noticable thing is not the contrasting details in most of the characters as much as how interchangable the main characters are. If there is...
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