http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/authors/245/ellen-t-goodson Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:35:30 -0400 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:35:30 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/274/and-i-of-ladies-most-deject-and-wretched-diagnosing-shakespeares-ophelia-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder By Ellen T. Goodson - If William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is “the most famous play in English literature,” his Ophelia is arguably the field’s most tragic female figure (Meyer 1588). Torn from her lover and bereft of her father, the young woman falls into grief-stricken madness that ends, in many literary and theatrical interpretations, in suicide. Critics and directors have characterized her as an innocent child, a passive daughter, compassion-inducing soul, and an undeserving victim. Yet her clichéd portrayal as “helpless, crazy wretch” gains a humanizing dimension when seen... Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/274/and-i-of-ladies-most-deject-and-wretched-diagnosing-shakespeares-ophelia-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/270/mysticism-and-christianity-in-early-english-literature-comparing-beowulf-and-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight By Ellen T. Goodson - The introduction of Christianity to England in 597 established a structured, uniform faith among a people accustomed to different branches and pockets of polytheistic paganism. Over the next seventy-five years, the burgeoning country quickly grew unified under the tenets of Catholicism, transforming many of the practices of their ancestors into Christian traditions. However, the fusion of the two religions reshaped more than the Britain’s spiritual beliefs. Remnants of pagan mysticism and magic blurred and interwove with themes from the Bible to create proselytizing legends. An Old English... Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/270/mysticism-and-christianity-in-early-english-literature-comparing-beowulf-and-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1695/aphra-behns-the-rover-evaluating-womens-social-and-sexual-options By Ellen T. Goodson - Following the collapse of the Puritan Protectorate in 1660, the halls of court seemed to buzz with a festive attitude: “Out with the old and in with the… older.” Cavalier revelries under Charles II regained the notoriety of their pre-Cromwellian counterparts.  Britain’s king led his noblemen by example with a hedonistic lifestyle of parties, sex, and extravagant spending.  The social and sexual freedom of this “libertinism,” however, did not extend to ladies.  Although women might crave higher degrees of autonomy and sexual expression, their... Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1695/aphra-behns-the-rover-evaluating-womens-social-and-sexual-options