Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 30 pages of analysis & critique of Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams.

Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 30 pages of analysis & critique of Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams.
This section contains 8,199 words
(approx. 28 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Andrew M. Stauffer

SOURCE: Stauffer, Andrew M. “Godwin, Provocation, and the Plot of Anger.” Studies in Romanticism 39, no. 4 (winter 2000): 579-97.

In the following essay, Stauffer explores the concept of anger and its role in determining culpability in 1790s England, maintaining that Caleb Williams is an “anti-anger” novel.

I was angry with my friend I told my wrath my wrath did end I was angry with my foe I told it not my wrath did grow 

—Blake, “A Poison Tree”

William Blake's “A Poison Tree” suggests that acting upon anger puts an end to plot; whether we tell or wreak our wrath, its expression is antithetical to calculated narratives. As Philip Fisher says, anger is a fundamentally rash emotion precisely at odds with the “world of plots.”1 On the other hand, the same poem presents the cultivation of angry passions as dependent upon the secret plotting of the speaker, whose hunger for...

(read more)

This section contains 8,199 words
(approx. 28 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Andrew M. Stauffer
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Essay by Andrew M. Stauffer from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.