| Theme (literature) |
Article Index for Theme |
Website Links For Theme |
Information AboutTheme (literature) |
|
A theme is not the same as the subject of a work. For example, the ''subject'' of '' Green Eggs And Ham '' is "green eggs and ham are well worth eating, no matter the location". The ''theme'' might be "have an open mind". Additionally, themes are not the same as topics. A topic discussed in Mark Twain 's '' The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn '' might be 'racism and slavery', but a possible theme of the book might be that 'racism distorts the oppressors as much as it does those who are oppressed.' Themes differ from Motifs in that themes are ideas conveyed by a text, while motifs are repeated symbols that represent those ideas. Simply having repeated symbolism related to chess, does not make the story's theme the similarity of life to chess. Themes arise from the interplay of the plot, the characters, and the attitude the author takes to them, and the same story can be given very different themes in the hands of different authors. For instance, the source for Shakespeare's '' Romeo And Juliet '', Matteo Bandello 's The Tragical History Of Romeus And Juliet gave the story the theme of "marrying without parental consent is wickedness and folly",
but in Shakespeare's hands the same story acquires the theme of "feuds and parental heavy-handedness in preventing young love from marrying are wicked." While thematic analysis is a primary concern of literary critics, a minority viewpoint holds that explicitly stating the theme of a work universalizes it in an inappropriate way. For example, many love stories end happily when the hero and heroine marry, thus the theme "Marriage equals happiness." Critics would point out that marriage rarely does simply equate to happiness and that marriage and happiness are individual and cultural intangibles that may or may not relate. The term theme may be used in the same way to refer to works of Theatre and Film . ELEMENTS OF FICTION Theme is one of the five elements of fiction, along with '''character''', '''plot''', '''setting''', and '''style'''. Of these five elements, character is the ''who'', plot is the ''what'', setting is the ''where'' and ''when'', theme is the ''why'', and style is the ''how'' of a story. {Link without Title} REFERENCES
SEE ALSO |
|
|