What Makes a Literary Masterpiece?

A literary masterpiece is one that can withstand a test of time. Time is not only the simple passage of years, but also, with the changing times comes a change of ideals, mindsets, practices, structures of government, also changes in laws and thought patterns of people as a whole.

Classic literature must have a theme, which remains thought provoking beyond and despite any differences in the structure of the daily world. There are certain topics that hold true and fast to humans as a race that are not affected by these daily differences.

The ancient Mesopotamian tale of Gilgamesh for example, includes themes of power, friendship, love, devotion, honor, grief, loss, and many more can be identified as well as understood even today. Although this tale was written centuries ago in ancient Mesopotamia in a society that structured their daily lives far differently from modern day society, there are still themes that run parallel with core beliefs of modern Americans. When Gilgamesh loses Enkidu and he bitterly laments the loss of his friend. “How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead,” Any member of modern America voice an example of a person whom they have lost to death and they have felt the same pain, the same resentment, and the same angry need for justice that is exemplified by the King Gilgamesh.

A literary masterpiece is one which speaks not only of specific events that occurred to a single character, but instead masterpieces create characters who are resounding, characters who are dimensional and who hold traits that remain true of people of modern society. Characters in a masterpiece are memorable and clearly defined in their personalities so that their distinct nature can be used as a sort of template of qualities that can be compared and contrasted to anyone of any time period in history.

Characters of a masterpiece are not created and fueled solely by their particular circumstances; instead, their behaviors are directed by the core of their beliefs and can be discussed apart from the situation itself. Arjuna, a character present in the Bhagavad-Gita questions his own moral judgment against that of his god. The questioning nature of his character and the strong moral guidance that directs his actions are housed in the core of his nature that would guide him any period, or situation this character is placed. The careful, calculating and conscience driven personality of this and other masterpiece characters is one that can be discussed in light of any other situation in any culture.

“What defines a man deep in contemplation whose insight and thought are sure? How would he speak? How would he sit? How would he move?” The questions, which are put forth in this classic work of literature by this classic character Arjuna, are ones that have been discussed throughout the centuries following the tale and are still redefined and revisited daily in modern day America. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Confucius debated issues comparable to this one. Modern psychologists and philosophers continue to recalculate these moral debates on a variety of different scales and in reference to each new and modern change in society.

As long as humans survive on this earth, they will continue to question, define and ponder the world they in which they live and continue to crave the texts of the past which prove to them that all societies and men throughout history, spanning all religions and all cultures similarly wonder at the same types of issues. Masterpieces are those that weave a thread of commonality that links together people from any society and any time period due to the presence of topics common to all humanity.