This paper offers close readings of three distinct literary works: the embedded tale of Midhat Pasha in Boris Akunin's novel The Turkish Gambit, the character of Nathan the Scientist in Charlie Kaufman's screenplay Human Nature, and the poem "Then" from Spencer Reece's The Clerk's Tale. Across these works, the paper examines recurring themes of political corruption and reform, the gap between intellectual knowledge and emotional understanding, and the contrast between past vitality and present stagnation. Together, the three analyses illustrate how different genres — historical fiction, screenplay, and poetry — deploy irony, characterization, and setting to comment on human limitation and the possibility of change.
This study guide is drawn from PaperDue's library of 130,000+ paper examples across 47 subjects.
The paper demonstrates the technique of thematic close reading applied comparatively across genres. By moving from historical fiction to screenplay to lyric poetry, it shows how a single interpretive lens — the tension between reform or growth and entrenched limitation — can illuminate very different kinds of texts. This is a useful model for short comparative literary essays at the undergraduate level.
The paper is organized into three independent analytical sections, each devoted to one work, followed by an implicit comparative conclusion. Each section introduces the work, identifies a central irony or thematic tension, and supports the reading with textual evidence. The structure is parallel and consistent, making the comparative argument easy to follow even though the three works belong to very different genres and historical contexts.
The inserted tale of Midhat Pasha in Boris Akunin's novel The Turkish Gambit is used to symbolize both the corruption of the Ottoman Empire — the so-called "sick man of Europe" — and to show that not all aspects of the Islamic empire were repressive. The Pasha was a Turkish reformer who attempted to alleviate some of the archaic customs of the empire (39). However, he was despised for these very efforts. Allegedly, the Pasha's coffee was poisoned on at least one occasion, and he was the frequent target of assassins throughout his reign. Despite numerous attempts on his life, he survived thanks to his wily secretary Anwar.
Worse yet, the narrator notes with some irony, Midhat Pasha was incorruptible — which again made him an object of hatred among the empire's bureaucrats (40). The tale of the Pasha demonstrates the profound level of corruption and intrigue during this period, but also the possibility of genuine reform. His goodness is sharply contrasted with accounts of brutal customs, such as the practice of piercing the eardrums and cutting the tongues of servants who raised heirs to the throne.
However, the one thing the Pasha could not control was the traditional succession in the Ottoman Empire, whereby the reign passed from the oldest to the youngest brother. Unfortunately, his younger brother was mentally ill, so the Pasha had to allow another man to ascend to the throne, on the condition that this successor create a constitution (46). This episode crystallizes the central tension of the embedded tale: even a principled reformer ultimately cannot escape the structural constraints of the system he inhabits.
The designation "Nathan the Scientist" confers on its bearer a certain level of unquestioned authority, given that scientists are presumed to know the truth in a factual, objective, and logical manner. According to Nathan, all human beings are potentially teachable. Over the course of Human Nature, he attempts to civilize a supposedly wild man — raised by apes — in the ways of modern human life. This is deeply ironic, given that men of science are hardly thought to be the most socially adept individuals, and Nathan's ability to understand human nature is repeatedly revealed to be faulty.
Nathan does not understand the emotional truths of human nature and is not in touch with his own gut instincts, even though he sees himself as an expert. Understanding something on an intellectual level does not necessarily mean understanding it on an emotional level. In many ways, the man Nathan tries to civilize is more innately human than Nathan himself — even though Nathan considers himself the teacher. Kaufman uses this irony to suggest that the scientific framework, for all its claims to objectivity, may be one of the least reliable guides to understanding what it actually means to be human.
Across all three works, irony serves as the primary vehicle for exposing the distance between aspiration and reality. Midhat Pasha's integrity makes him a target in a corrupt empire; Nathan's scientific expertise blinds him to the very nature he claims to study; and Reece's speaker inhabits a house full of rich history while his own life remains empty of direction. In each case, the gap between what a figure represents or strives toward and what the surrounding world actually permits reveals something essential about the limits of human agency and the persistence of systemic constraint.
You’re 68% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.