Portfolio
The Poetics of Power in Shakespeare’s “King Lear”
With King Lear, Shakespeare examines the ways in which humankind has manipulated its own stories in order to create arbitrary hierarchies that have no basis in nature; however, he is also coming to terms with the art of writing and theater by pondering how one can reconcile mankind’s rule over nature through a medium that exerts its own rule through its aim to represent it.
The Violence of Heteronormativity in Djuna Barnes’ "Nightwood"
Illustrating how Barnes shows heteronormativity as it aims to possess and stifle queerness, and can play out through a queer subject such as Nora.
Intersections of Race and Disability in Del and Sofia Samatar’s “Monster Portraits”
Engaging with concepts of identity, categorization, and hybridization that Samatar grapples with through her being mixed-race.
The Language of Memory in Aimé Césaire’s "Notebook of a Return to the Native Land"
In his work titled “Notebook of a Return to the Native Land,” Aimé Césaire uses language as a means of reclaiming the memories of Martinique and its people by shedding a light on its painful history and afterwards presenting a new way to move forward in light of this reality.
Metatheater in Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida”
Uncovering a model of performativity; without the constant performance of these heroic figures, a loss of audience interest will bring the one thing a story is powerless against—oblivion.
The Commercialization of Relationships in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Shipman’s Tale”
Chaucer utilizes the genre of the fabliau to showcase the transactional natures of the main relationships as a means of critiquing the institution of marriage by making visible its commercialized aspects.