Category Archives: Footnotes

Paige Sommerer Professor Chang February 17, 2011 Response Paper #4 In Wilkie Collins’s, “A Terribly Strange Bed,” Mr. Faulkner describes the portrait in the bedroom to resemble Guido Fawkes. Furthermore, he describes the hat in the portrait to be in … Continue reading →

In “Lispeth” by Rudyard Kipling, I found the imperialistic attitude of the British throughout the story very alarming for a group of Christian missionaries trying to God’s work in India.  In the text, Lispeth’s parents are from the Sutlej Valley, … Continue reading →

In Charles Dickens’s The Bloomsbury Christening, when Dumps is frantically looking for the mug that he bought and lost for his nephew, there is an allusion to Shakespeare’s Othello. Dumps was “speaking in a voice like Desdemona with the pillow … Continue reading →

One of Arthur Conan Doyle’s more famous Sherlock Holmes’ stories centers around what modern day readers might view as a fictional land: Bohemia. References are continuously made to the culture and lifestyle that is more commonly known as Bohemian. But … Continue reading →

In  “Green Tea,” Sheridan Le Fanu uses the word genii.  A genius is a described as a type of demon or a spirit.  There can be both good and bad genius, depending on the person.  What a genius does is, … Continue reading →

The “Inquisition” referred to in Wilkie Collins’ story “A Terribly Strange Bed,” refers to the Medieval Inquisition that occurred in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Inquisition is referenced to explain the uses of the death-bed device, and to equate … Continue reading →

In “The Mortal Immortal”, Shelley references Cornelius Agrippa as the alchemist that the protagonist of the story is working for.  The footnote to Agrippa’s name describes him as a “scholar of alchemy, theology, and the occult sciences”, yet the description … Continue reading →

Swinburne’s “Dead Love” (1862) takes place during “the time of the great troubles in France, that fell out between parties of Armagnac and of Burgundy” (215). Although some contemporary readers may have understood this historical reference, others may require greater … Continue reading →

In Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal,” Cornelius Agrippa’s connections with magic and occult practices seem to possibly hold some Christian-esque connection or purpose for his works. Whereas he may have been seen by those of his time as evil or … Continue reading →

Alchemy is one term that most likely needs more explanation. In the past, the meaning of alchemy would have been common knowledge, but now it’s fairly obscure.  Alchemy is considered by many to be the “father of chemistry”, although many … Continue reading →