Tartuffe is the story of a noble French family playing host to a charlatan, the titular Tartuffe. The play follows the conflicts within the family that arise over the father's devotion to Tartuffe, the priest's lust for the family's youngest daughter, and other facets of wealthy life and religious belief. The play toys with conventional ideas about religious morality, showing Tartuffe's false piety and the family's belief in his chicanery as stand-ins for corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and for the credulity of its members.
The Birthday Party is a 1957 play by Harold Pinter about an unsuccessful pianist named Stanley Webber, who is living in a boarding house run by Petey and Meg Boles. Two villainous visitors, McCann and Goldberg, arrive on Stanley's supposed birthday and the ensuing encounter is filled with absurdity, confusion and misfortune. The play portrays human oppression and the breakdown of communication and objectivity. Numerous elements of the play, from characters' names to their past and the play's setting is debated and unstable throughout.
A Southern Gothic novel, the Heart is a Lonely Hunter focuses on four characters who confide in one man, John Singer, a deaf-mute. The characters include Mick, a teenage girl whose parents own the boarding house where Singer lives, Biff, the owner of the local cafe, Jake Blount, a union organizer, and Dr. Copeland, a black man who wants to build up his community. The novel explores the deep isolation felt by all of the characters, including Singer himself, who has been left alone by his sick friend.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1843. It is told in first person from an unnamed narrator who murders an old man and hides him underneath his floorboards. When the police come to his home, the narrator hears the old man's beating heart underneath the floor, which ultimately causes him to confess. This short story explores the theme of paranoia, guilt, and the interchangeable nature of love and hate.
Things Fall Apart, a novel, follows the life of African man Okonkwo, who lives in the village of Umuofia. As a young man, Okonkwo seeks to distinguish himself, and through hard work becomes a leader in his village. When white men invade his village, Okonkwo wants to fight and drive them out. He soon realizes that the old values and customs he has lived by are disappearing, driving him to despair in this classic exploration of masculinity and the conflict between tradition and change.