1. Read Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “William Wilson,” and compose a dialogue between Poe’s narrator and the Captain that discusses what they have learned from their “doubles.” 2. Consult reference sources on Sigmund Freud’s ideas about the conscious mind, specifically his ideas about the id, ego, and superego. Consider how […]
Read more Study Help Practice ProjectsStudy Help Essay Questions
1. Trace how the Captain’s character changes by concealing Leggatt. 2. Discuss Conrad’s use of the doppelganger theme in “The Secret Sharer.” 3. Describe the allegorical meaning of the story. 4. Explain how “The Secret Sharer” treats the theme of knowledge. What, for example, are some of the different kinds […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsStudy Help Full Glossary for The Secret Sharer””
a bark of the dead floating in slowly under the very gate of Erebus a boat leading departed souls to Erebus, the dark place under the earth where the dead pass before entering Hades, according to Greek mythology. beyond my ken beyond my range of knowledge. Binnacle the upright, cylindrical […]
Read more Study Help Full Glossary for The Secret Sharer””Critical Essay The Secret Sharer” as Allegory”
An allegory is a work of art in which characters and events take on metaphorical or symbolic meanings that are deliberately cultivated by the artist. The most famous literary allegory in English is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), where symbolic characters (with names such as Christian, Evangelist, and Faithful) move […]
Read more Critical Essay The Secret Sharer” as Allegory”Joseph Conrad Biography
Personal Background Joseph Conrad, one of the English language’s greatest stylists, was born Teodor Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzenikowski in Podolia, a province of the Polish Ukraine. Poland had been a Roman Catholic kingdom since 1024, but was invaded, partitioned, and repartitioned throughout the late eighteenth-century by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. […]
Read more Joseph Conrad BiographyCharacter Analysis The Chief Mate
Like the second mate, the Captain’s chief mate is another minor character on board the ship who doubts the Captain’s ability to command. Although not a “sneering” man such as the second mate, the chief mate does express great doubt and fear about the Captain’s actions at Koh-ring, causing the […]
Read more Character Analysis The Chief MateCharacter Analysis The Second Mate
Although he is a minor character, the Captain’s second mate serves to illustrate the lack of respect the crew feels toward the Captain. When the Captain first sights the Sephora and asks his crew if they know anything about it, the second mate looks down and smirks, as if in […]
Read more Character Analysis The Second MateCharacter Analysis The Skipper of the Sephora
While Leggatt is resolute and self-determined, the Skipper of the Sephora is a weak, doddering man who hides behind the law to appease his conscience. After Leggatt’s murder of the insolent sailor, the Skipper pronounces, “Mr., Leggatt, you have killed a man. You can no longer act as chief mate […]
Read more Character Analysis The Skipper of the SephoraCharacter Analysis Leggatt
The ex-Chief Mate of the Sephora, Leggatt is an impulsive man who acts according to his own sense of justice rather than any formalized regulations that attempt to draw a line between right and wrong. While he did kill a man aboard the Sephora, he did so unintentionally after the […]
Read more Character Analysis LeggattCharacter Analysis The Captain
Appointed to the command of his ship only a fortnight before the story begins, the Captain is a young and inexperienced, sincere yet uninspiring commander who eventually learns to call upon his previously hidden reserves of strength and cunning. In the beginning of the story, his authority is undermined slightly […]
Read more Character Analysis The Captain