The thesis systematically explicates Dostoevsky's portrayal of the origin of human evil on earth through the novel The Brothers Karamazov. Drawing from the novel and from Augustine, Pelagius, and Luther, the explication compares and contrasts Dostoevsky's doctrine of original conflict against the three theologians' views of original sin. Following a brief summary of the three earlier theories of original sin, the thesis describes Dostoevsky's peculiar doctrine of Karamazovism and his unique account of how human evil originated. Finally, the thesis shows how suffering, love, and guilt grow out of the original conflict and how the image of Christ serves as an icon of the special kind of social unity projected by Zosima the Elder in The Brothers Karamazov.

This thesis examines Dickens's presentation of evil women. In the course of my reading I discovered that most of the evil women in his novels are mothers, or mother-figures, a finding which altered the nature of my interpretation and led to closer examination of these characters, rather than the prostitutes and criminals who may have been viewed negatively by Nineteenth century society and thereby condemned as evil. Among the many unsympathetically portrayed mothers and mother-figures in Dickens's works, the three that are most interesting are Lady Dedlock, Miss Havisham, and Mrs Skewton. Madame Defarge initiates the discussion, however, as a seminal figure among the many evil women in the novels. Psychoanalytical and socio-historic readings grounded in Nineteenth century conceptions of womanhood provide background material for this thesis. Though useful and informative, however, these areas of study are not sufficient in themselves. The theory that shapes the arguments of this thesis is defined by Steven Cohan, who argues strongly that the demand for psychological coherence as a requisite of character obscures the imaginative power of character as textual construct, and who both refutes and develops character theory as it is argued by Baruch Hochman. Cohan's theory is also finally closer to that outlined by Thomas Docherty, who provides a complex reading of character as ultimately "unknowable".

Critics have declined to acknowledge the influence of Platonism on Keats' poetry except in its most rudimentary form. Close analysis of a contemporary translation of Plato's Timaeus, however, reveals many connections between Keats' thought and the mythology of the dialogue. This thesis contends that Thomas Taylor's translation of and commentaries on the Timaeus underlie much of the mythological structure of Keats' Hyperion and the system of salvation which Keats later develops in his vale of soul-making letter. It is true that the poet before 1818 decries the importance of "philosophy," but when the problem of evil comes to haunt him, he is forced to confess his need to understand the world within a philosophical framework. The mythology of the Timaeus provides him with such a framework. It cannot be proven absolutely perhaps that Keats was dependent upon the Timaeus in his own myth-making, but there appears to be a number of very direct influences of the dialogue on his letters and on Hyperion -- these are outlined in Chapters Two and Three. What is of most importance in the study of Keats' mythology is the way in which the poet eventually reshapes and moves beyond Platonism to answer the problem of evil and to establish a mythology of his own, a mythology which finds embodiment in the vale of soul-making and in the odes of 181°. Chapter One traces the growth of Keats from a poet who prefers to delight in sensations to one who seeks philosophic truth. It establishes his religious and philosophic beliefs before and after the problem of evil (recorded in March 1818) is brought home to him, and indicates how he modifies on ^'builds upon those beliefs. In the Mansion of Many Apartments and the March of Intellect letter, Keats introduces the allegories which later become the basis of the mythology of Hyperion. Chapter Two explores the process of Keats' myth-making in Hyperion and reveals to what extent the poet depends upon the Timaeus to answer the problem of evil. Keats is determined to show how the Principle of Beauty is inherent in the world, and he adopts the Platonic world-view to explain that mortality and mutability are really calculated towards a greater good, are not to be considered evils. The philosophic argument, sustained in the structure of the poem, falls apart on the emotional level, however: Keats' tragic vision as exemplified in the Titans is not compensated by the philosophic argument. The failure of Hyperion to build a mythology induces the poet to reassess the problem of evil, to rework its parameters, and the effort leads finally to the resolution of the problem and to Keats' own mythology. The final chapter establishes how, from the Pythagorean concept of soul found in the Timaeus, Keats develops his theology of soul-making. His- system of spirit-creation moves far beyond Platonism and becomes the basis of the poet's own, independent mythology. But although Platonism is abandoned, its contribution to the thought of Keats should not be underestimated: in measuring his own ideas against it, Keats is able finally to define his own philosophy, to answer the problem of evil. The odes of 1819 are a series of myths which develop and sustain Keats' vision. In each one Keats illustrates the weaknesses of traditional Greek theology, offering in its stead one more appropriate to modern England, one which explains the role of evil in man's personal salvation. If we are to know Keats' mythology, it is to the odes that we must turn. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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Orientador: Karin Volobuef / Banca: Helmut Paul Erich Galle / Banca: Juliana Pasquarelli Perez / Banca: Luís Fernandes dos Santos Nascimento / Banca: Márcio Suzuki / Resumo: Recentes pesquisas sobre a obra literária de Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) retomaram a famosa "crise-kantiana" do autor como fator de grande relevância no estudo de seu universo literário. Tim Mehigan, por exemplo, em seu livro Heinrich von Kleist: writing after Kant (2011) nos apresenta uma nova faceta de interpretação desta crise ao considerá-la como o ponto de partida para o desenvolvimento de Kleist como um grande colaborador da filosofia pós-kantiana, pois suas cartas (a partir de 1800), ensaios e obras literárias refletem o embate entre a teoria do conhecimento de Kant e os limites a que a autoconsciência pode chegar na apreensão dos dados da realidade empírica. O trabalho de Kleist, neste ponto de vista, pode ser entendido como "pós-kantiano" na medida em que vai além da escola kantiana e discute novas questões culturais, estéticas e filosóficas abertas pelo próprio Kant. Essas conclusões nos permitem avançar a discussão empreendida por estes pesquisadores para a abordagem de uma temática frequente nas obras de Kleist: a quebra de limites entre os conceitos de maldade (Das Böse) e bondade (Das Gute) desenvolvidos durante a Aufklärung. Essa quebra nos parece estar fortemente associada a uma subversão do conceito de realidade extraído por Kleist da noção kantiana de apreensão da realidade pela razão e ao ceticismo muito característico da filosofia de Hume. Assim, nesta pesquisa, procuraremos demonstrar em que consiste essa quebra de limites do bem e do mal e como a com... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Recent researches on the Heinrich von Kleist's literary works (1777-1811) recovered the author's famous "Kant crisis" as a factor of great relevance in the study of his literary universe. Tim Mehigan, for example, in his book Heinrich von Kleist: writing after Kant (2011) presents a new facet of interpretation of this crisis by considering it as the starting point for Kleist's development as a great contributor to post- Kantian philosophy, because his letters (from 1800), essays and literary works reflect the clash between Kant's theory of knowledge and the limits to which self-consciousness can arrive at the apprehension of the data of empirical reality. Kleist's work, from this point of view, can be understood as "post-Kantian" in that as long as it goes beyond the Kantian school and discusses new cultural, aesthetic and philosophical issues opened by Kant himself. These conclusions allow us to advance the discussion undertaken by these researchers towards an approach of a frequent theme in Kleist's works: a break in the boundaries between the concepts of badness (Das Böse) and goodness (Das Gute) developed during the Aufklärung. This break seems to us to be strongly associated with a subversion of the concept of reality drawn out by Kleist from the Kantian notion of apprehension of reality by reason and the very characteristic skepticism of Hume's philosophy. Therefore, in this research, we will attempt to demonstrate what this break of the limits between good and evil con... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

This thesis examines the positive role of evil in select Old English Poetry, namely The Junius Book, "Guthlac", "Vainglory", "The Whale", "Juliana", "Judith" and "Beowulf". Using a background of Augustan and Boethian thought, each adversarial character is discussed with regard to role and imagery, but specifically in relationship to the protagonist. Evil plays a surprisingly positive role when it offers the protagonist the opportunity to defeat it. The protagonists' honour at the poem's conclusion is necessarily defined by the extent of resisting the antagonists. The hero must fight evil on two levels: the temporal in humans and the metaphysical in Satan. The thesis examines the various levels of victory and indeed failure they achieve, and concludes that of all the heroes only Juliana is completely successful. Although evil itself cannot be defined as "good", this thesis discovers that in its relationship with the human hero, it can indeed give rise to goodness.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Ian C. Fletcher, committee chair; Jared Poley, committee member. Electronic text (136 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Nov. 5, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-136).

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