Collins, Robert A.

The collapse of a viable world concept of order leaves John Ford's
characters with a modern problem--how to behave without demonstrable
and reliable principles upon which to base their actions. The
individualists among them try to establish order by mere affirmation
of opinion. Other personae cling to the sacred, conservative value
of the vow or contract, and are either the agents or the victims of
the gulf between their avowed principles and the pragmatic demands
of a "corrupt" world. Many characters also attempt to find
reassurance in the predictable patterns of ritual behavior, only
to discover the inefficacy of such ritual to protect them from or
console them for a personal loss of meaning in their world. Ford's
characters become "existential" figures, even though the models they
adopt are often relics of the past (vows, rituals) which they must
simply affirm, by their performances, bereft of the metaphysical
support they might once have had.

While the text of Tamburlaine I and II contains the classic
pattern of act and scene divisions, the organic structure
of the play is governed by the twelve signs and houses of
the zodiac. The play's metaphorical patterns are consciously
formulated to correspond to the zodiacal year, and consequently
represent a circular pattern. The play's well-known
rising and falling movement (Parts I and II) is analogous to
both solar day and solar year. As hero, Tamburlaine's role
is that of Sol, the central planet in the Ptolemaic system,
ascending with the vernal equinox in Part I and descending
with the autumnal equinox in Part II. The imagery traverses,
in sequential fashion, the signs and houses, with one
radical adjustment: Pisces is removed from the end of the
cycle and placed at the beginning of Act I, an alteration
which probably has concealed the metaphorical pattern heretofore.

This thesis examines several aspects of Thomas Lodge's Rosalind,
including the structure of the work, its style, and the parodies of
courtly love and petrarchism which it contains. Analysis reveals
a triadic structure which develops patterns of three similar and
related events, actions, relationships , character types, and
situations. Within this structure, Lodge has created a parody of
courtly love role play, and a parody of petrarchan literary
conventions. Each parody supports and promotes the other. Lodge
accomplishes this in a style which exaggerates some of the elements
of John Lyly's style while disregarding others. The consequence of
Lodge's mimicry has been a persistent mislabeling of his style as
"euphuistic," and a misleading suggestion that the complex and unique
style of Rosalind is mere imitation.

In preparation for developing the original thesis problem,
the relationship between Plautus's clever slave and Ben Jonson's
Face and Plautus's braggart soldier and Ben Jonson's Sir Epicure
Mammon, this study reviews previous criticism based on the relationship
of Jonson to classical sources.
Chapter I establishes that a firm belief in the necessity
and efficacy of right reason is basic to the satiric comedy and
hence the characterization of both Plautus and Ben Jonson, and it
defines the roles of the servus and the miles and indicates the
form the thesis will take by comparing and contrasting Pyrgopolynices
and Bobadil. Chapter II concentrates on the Latin sources,
examining the prototype servus and miles in the Mostellaria and
Miles Gloriosus of Plautus in order to establish types and definitions.
Chapter III studies Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, indicating that Sir Epicure Mammon is actually in the miles tradition, that
Face is a successful servus callidus and that Doll Common is a
development of the Roman meretrix. The thesis concludes that the
recognition of these prototypes and the apprehension of increased
character development in Jonson enhances an appreciation of The
Alchemist.

The close association between Crane's journalistic and fictional
account of the Greco-Turkish war makes "Death and the Child" one
of the most forthright works in the Crane canon. From both a
philosophical and technical standpoint, this short fiction work
reveals Crane's maturity and sophistication at the end of 1897.
A tension-release-shift structure directs the major flow of action,
while at the same time suggesting the process of psychological
change which the protagonist undergoes. The interpretation of the
final scenes of the work, a subject of some controversy, is aided
by an examination of the corresponding and contrasting elements found in The Red Badge of Courage.

This thesis examines the major dramatic characters, in three plays by
Tennessee Williams, as representative of the astrological signs of
the "earth'' triplicity. With a basic understanding of astrological
properties, the characters in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose
Tattoo, and The Kingdom of Earth can be categorized in triangular
relationships symbolized by the astral triplicity. Astrology is
explicit in Streetcar and, by inference and association, implicit in
the other plays. The astrological grouping explicates the characters'
motivations and illuminates the plays' resolutions.

This thesis shows satire as the literary genre one American author,
Philip Roth, seems to have chosen as his way of writing about the
often illogical and amoral contemporary world. It examines the
characteristics of satire and analyzes Roth's more recent novels
in terms of psychological, political and mock epic satire.

In A Wizard of Earthsea and The Farthest Shore, Ursula K. Le Guin presents the theme of selfhood, of maturity, and of identity through the character heroes of Ged and Arren. Of these two, Ged experiences the quest for selfhood on two levels: first, from boy to manhood, and then from manhood to the awareness of death. Both novels deal with the struggle to create, which is primarily a struggle with self, with one's own powers, and with the need to control these powers and their consequences. I have examined WOE through the perspective of Ged's coming of age, his initiation and apprenticeship, and his relationship with the "shadow." I have discussed the shadow as a metaphor for darkness in relation to modern man's age of despair and loss of hope. In this area I have referenced ideas by Carl G. Jung. In TFS I have explored Ged's second cycle of selfhood through his encounter with death and how this encounter is seen as an abyss providing the ultimate confrontation which can guide the spirit toward creation, regeneration, and redemption. From this perspective I have explored the abyss through some discussion by Martin Heidegger. Arren's quest for selfhood is also examined, on a secondary level, through his relationship with Ged and his destiny for kingship.