Theme
Chaithra K - AP ENG LANG - Period 5
Defintions
- the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.
- a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly.
Major and Minor Themes
There are two types of theme that appear in literary works.
Minor Theme: refers to an idea that appears briefly in a work and gives way to another minor theme
For Example: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Major theme: Matrimony -- subject that the whole novel revolves around
Minor theme: love, friendship, affectation,etc.
Theme v. Subject
A subject is a topic that acts as a foundation for a literary work.
A theme is an opinion expressed on a subject.
Themes are presented through thoughts and conversations of different characters.
The main character's experiences gives us an idea about its theme.
Examples
Love and Friendship
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
War
- IIiad and Odyssey by Homer
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Crime and Mystery
- Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Sources
Google Images
"Theme - Examples and Definition of Theme." Literary Devices. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://literarydevices.net/theme/>.