ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Lies and Deceit Videos
Play All
How do you insult the Soviet Union and get away with it? Make them animals. (No one will ever know.) That was George Orwell's plan, and it worked....
What is the American Dream? Is it popularity? Or is it being content with what you have? In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, the American...
No HBO? Well then, how does a horror short story writing contest sound? And the winner is...drum roll, please...Mary Shelley. You go, girl. And tha...
The Grapes of Wrath is one of the longest—ahem, most important books in American literary history. But what's with the title?
In the world of Shakespeare, pretty much everyone either dies or gets married. Hamlet and co. got the short end of that stick.
If you suddenly came into a bunch of money, you'd give it all away, right? Yeah, we figured.
On his ten-year journey home from the Trojan War, Odysseus runs into everything from sirens to sea monsters to seductresses. Such is life when you...
We may not always agree with the government, but at least they aren't pigs. We mean that literally. Whether or not you think they're pigs in a figu...
This story goes as you might expect—a sprinkling of science, endless amounts of death and despair, and a whole lot of ugly monster. Oh joyous day!
In this memoir, Eliezer struggles with his relationship with his father during the Holocaust.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is about a young blacksmith boy (Pip) and his two dreams: becoming a gentleman and marrying the beautiful Est...
Gulliver's Travels is a classic tale of adventure with a dash of what-the-heck-is-happening thrown in for good measure.
You’re one in a million, buddy. Er...actually, more like one meaningless speck in a sea of billions. Makes you feel kind of insignificant, right?...
We bet you didn't realize Shakespeare was such a rebel. Seriously. If he were around today, he'd be riding a motorcycle, TIVOing Sons of Anarchy, a...
The Great Gatsby is set in and around New York City and Long Island. On the big L.I., there are two areas known as "West Egg" and "East Egg." East...
Trying to live up to expectations can be stressful. Watching someone else struggle with it, though? That's just fine.
Under what circumstances should people be allowed to lie? Is Annemarie's situation dire enough? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Elizabeth thinks Darcy's a callous jerk; he thinks she’s a gold-digger. You know these two are just MFEO.
Thought that English society was all about hosting balls and finding husbands back in the day? Well, you thought… right. But that doesn't make this love story any less exciting to read.
This video summarizes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby goes from a rich party guy in love with a married woman to dead. What happens in between? Well, decadence, bootlegging, a lot of girl drama for a start. But hey, that’s the Roaring Twenties.
River raft. A good friend. Adventures. Tricks. Lots and lots of surprise feelings. Basically, our boy Huck has 'em all.
The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of Holden Caulfield’s Worst Weekend Ever, and this video tells the story of that story. From losing the fencing team’s equipment on the subway to breaking the record he bought for his sister Phoebe, nothing seems to be going right for Holden this weekend. But that doesn’t stop him from dreaming of being the savior of innocence—the catcher in the rye. Plus, he’s pretty angsty—hey, he’s a teenager.
The Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century. The Red Scare in the 1950s. Little to no evidence that witches/communists were anywhere close to taking over the world. Arthur Miller, who lived through the McCarthy era and wrote The Crucible about the witch trials, saw that both were driven by the intense fear of change and the unknown. Can you think of anything similar that's happened in the 21st century?
Why was Jay Gatsby so great? Was it his ability to get away with bootlegging, his enduring love for Daisy, or his ability to throw epic parties that attracted hundreds of people? Or, was it something else—something deeper?
Oscar Wilde was a beast when it came to wordplay. Oh, maybe that's why Shmoop loves him so much—we're pretty wilde, too.
Odysseus should have checked out How to Return Home from War for Dummies. Step One: Do not mess with the son of a god. Actually, no need to read on—this act will come back to haunt you for...oh, say, 10 years.
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we want? Not so much.
The broken-hearted Abigail takes her revenge. You might never want to break-up with someone again after this video, so make sure the next person is the right one!
Monster isn't about the kind of monsters that hide under your bed. These ones are way worse.
If you associate "night" with darkness and depression and danger…then maybe you're not the happiest person to be around when the sun goes down. But you are on the right track when it comes to Elie Wiesel's autobiography. Prepare for some serious darkness, Shmoopers.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s 1603 soap opera of unfortunate circumstances. Hamlet’s ghost dad tells him that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who is now Hamlet’s step dad. That’s family for you. Hamlet then vows to kill Claudius. Time to bring on the drama. Hamlet can’t just kill his uncle/step-dad. Nope. First he has to pretend to be insane, set up a dummy play, kill his girlfriend's dad, drive said girlfriend crazy, have a duel, be poisoned, then take his revenge. Yup, lots to do, and only five acts to do it.
The adventures of Lemuel (yes, that is actually his name) will put your childhood "quests" to shame. But at least your sleepovers in the tree house didn't lead you to insanity. Or so we hope...
So... if grapes of wrath sat out too long, would they become raisins of wrath? If so, this could seriously affect the entire mood of our bran flake cereal. Hmmm... maybe it means something else? We can only hope.
No, not the sour grapes of questionable freshness that gave you weird stomach rumblings before your last soccer game; we're talking about Steinbeck's classic novel about the Depression. So...not actually a happier topic. Sorry!
A salesman dies—sorry to ruin it for you. But in addition to giving away key plot points in the title, Arthur Miller also liked to make some pretty weighty points about the American Dream. What is it, and who gets a shot at it? Only your hairdresser knows for sure.
Imagine Frankenstein characters as zombie/werewolf hybrids: one side wants brains, the other hearts. How to choose? Also, what to name them? Zomwolves? Werebies? Discuss amongst yourselves, Shmoopers.
We’ll preface this video about Frankenstein’s preface by saying that Mary Shelley is an awesome woman, and she wants everybody to be aware. Check out the video to find out more about what Mary Shelley wrote in Frankenstein's preface.