A Comparison of "The Figure in the Carpet" and "The Beast in the Jungle" by Henry James (eBook)

Essay aus dem Jahr 2015 im Fachbereich Didaktik - Englisch - Literatur, Werke, Note: 1,3, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Institut für Englisch- und Amerikastudien), Veranstaltung: Hauptseminar, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Henry James’s short stories “The Figure in the Carpet“ (1896) and “The Beast in the Jungle“ (1903) are both narratives of his later years. Whereas “The Figure in the Carpet“ tells the story of a literary critic who fails to understand the work of a fictitious author named Hugh Vereker, “The Beast in the Jungle“ is about the protagonist John Marcher who is waiting for an unknown event in his life. Both stories deal with the subject of a hidden secret that remains unknown to the protagonists of James’s stories.
Due to the fact that these secrets remain unsolved throughout the narratives, this essay focuses on the design and effects of the leading metaphors. It compares these metaphors with each other and tries to outline their differences and similarities.

Starting with the definition of the term “metaphor“ and illustrating it’s importance for Henry James’s stories, it proceeds with a short overview of the stories’s issues. After illustrating the importance of literary meaning from the perspective of philosophers and literary scholars, this essay proceeds with the relevance of literary meaning for James’s stories. The essay’s last paragraph analyzes the leading metaphors of both narratives by comparing their design and effects for the stories’s meanings. Finally, this work concludes by saying that the metaphors are linked relating to their issues and contribute to the stories’ messages.