...describing what Roger Chillingworth is because of sin in The Scarlet Letter. From the beginning, we see Roger as an enigmatic character, knowledgeable in medicine from his time in captivity, as well as - unbeknownst to others except the audience - the wife of Hester Prynne. As the story progresses, - and when Roger finds about Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin, - Roger becomes a more sinister character, whose darker complexion is only matched by the devil himself, with his only goal being to pursue Dimmesdale for his (and Hester’s) act of sin. For seven long years he stays, soon becoming dependent and obsessed about Dimmesdale’s suffering and pain, like a leech on a decayed animal. His...
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...Christ and Buddha. Naturally, Buddhism and Christianity have their similarities and differences. Each religion has a specific set of morals, which are considered and affect the religion’s follower’s actions, thoughts, and character. Life after Death Buddhism teaches that humans are bound to a perpetual cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth called samsara. Depending on a person’s karma, the good and bad deeds of their present and former lives, each rebirth could bring a better, a worse, or a similar life. In each life, one is subjected to sufferings, brought on by their own infatuations and urges. The existence of suffering is the First Noble Truth taught by the Buddha, and the causes of suffering are the second. Through self-enlightenment, one has the ability to reach the ultimate goal of nirvana; immunity, liberation, and a life free from suffering. Christianity teaches that each human has only a single life on earth, but faces an eternal life in Heaven or Hell. Where a person will spend eternity is determined by Jesus Christ, who administers the Final Judgment based a person’s actions and beliefs while on Earth. If deemed worthy of Heaven, one lives a life of eternal happiness free of suffering. Otherwise, one is subjected to eternal suffering in Hell. To differing degrees, society will always subject a person to suffering. Siddhartha and Jesus both recognized this at an early age, and both offered means for one to reduce suffering; prayer, meditation...
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...absence of such values, however, is the inevitable downfall of such a system. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has always intrigued scholars and critics by its contentious discourse, and it continues to do so. In Hamlet, Shakespeare dramatizes the crisis of moral corruption and the subsequent dysfunction of state by creating a world much like contemporary ones. Thus, providing critics and scholars with an akin basis to analyze the unfathomable nature of the play. As a result, The Tragedy of Hamlet is considered by many, the most mature and complex...
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...x2?: The Beowulf poet aims to use the monsters as puppets in order to demonstrate the problematic pride of the Germanic society, thus making the good and bad more similar than initially believed. (Perhaps more like “than given by first impression”) Grendel is one of the representations of the problematic pride within the Anglo-Saxons’ heroic society. As known of the society, one’s glory arises from their accomplishments for their lord or king. The Germanic culture believed heavily on the sharing of prizes, thus making them (nonselfish) people. Their honor was seen to be eternal, considering how their names were known throughout history. In this sense, the natural (happening?) of these accomplishments is for the holder to go higher in...
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...“[I] Shall Sleep No More”: How Self Respect Affects One’s Response to Justice in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” William Shakespeare’s psychological drama “The Tragedy of Macbeth” follows a highly respected soldier caught between his morality and his passion for power. As a result of Macbeth’s overconfidence and fatuitous expectations, he goes down a tragic path ultimately isolating himself from others and leading to his downfall. It is obvious that Macbeth’s mind starts degenerating after murdering King Duncan for his selfish interests. When Macbeth overtakes the throne he uses the crown as an impenetrable shield which eradicates all justice that blocks his path. As Macbeth gets comfortable on his blood covered throne, he does not realize...
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...In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Cash claims that “it aint so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it”(Faulkner 233). Through his character, Faulkner argues that whether or not one man’s actions are abnormal, it is society that has the power to deem them as rational or insane. For example, Martin Luther King was regarded as simply another advocate for black rights during his time as a young leader because he lacked the power to actually create significant change in communities. However, when he gained enough of a following, he had the power to negatively impact the hold whites had on restricting blacks’ rights. This led radical whites to attempt to shut him down, many calling him...
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...Hawthorne’s Judgment of Sin and Punishment Based on the Puritan Belief As Seen in “Scarlet Letter” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan background and his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts strongly influenced his stories and writing style. Many of Hawthorne’s stories hold ties to the past and characterize the Puritan society, including Scarlet Letter. Puritans followed “their own rigorous moral and religious strictures…” , which led many Puritans to believe most people are inherently evil and deserve punishment (Hunt 26). Puritans believed sin’s “penalty thereof is death” (Hawthorne 59). In Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne characterized the Puritan view of sin, the punishment of sin, and how the punishment of sin revealed Hester’s courage, but led to Dimmesdale’s demise. Hester and Dimmesdale committed the same sin and “while Hester’s sin is noticeable to all, Dimmesdale’s sin is hidden”(Londhe 2). The sin itself does not alter Hester and Dimmesdale as much as it altered how the individual copes with sin and the punishment that follows the sin. The Puritan belief system influenced Hawthorne’s writing even though he “took Puritan doctrine and psychologized it”(Barna 3). Hawthorne felt the Puritan belief lacked a tolerance for sin, and “he dwelt on the cruelty of Puritans in his works” (Barna 2). Puritan’s believed everyone sinned and Hawthorne’s Puritan background led him to address sin in his writing. The common belief of the time states that “man is born into his world basically...
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...Introduction In recent years, there is an increasing rate of cohabitation in the society. Cohabitation by definition is two unmarried people living together. In moral values, this does not seem an appropriate situation because there is no marriage between the couples. However, cohabitation is a chance and requirement to establish strong bonds at the relationship. I became interested in the topic because of my own situation. I am a Christian, so according to the Bible, it is considered a sin to live together outside of marriage. However, I stand in grace. As a grace believer, I know that if I was going to live under law, breaking one “rule” means you break them all. What a frightening thought considering everyone falls short in some area or another. My thought on the subject is that I have seen both sides of the story, and having married young and watching the marriage fall apart, I am very content just living with my significant other. Marriage is a commitment, and before God we have said our vows to each other, but according to man we have not. I feel as though we are married, but I also do not feel as though signing legal documents will change anything accept gain the approval of the world. It is not my intentions to live in sin, but I also do not feel as though it is necessary to sign a bunch of papers just to gain the approval of man. I suppose I feel so strongly because I have seen how devastating marriage can be, and although any relationship can end, the repercussions...
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...having a modern mindset of a modern person in a medieval time period. The vengeful “eye for an eye” mentality does not comply with Hamlet’s own ideals. Nevertheless, despite his intentions of goodwill, his failure to uphold the medieval doctrine of revenge results not only in his downfall, but the downfall of those around him as well. The modern mentality that he cannot kill the King simply because he killed his father was the error affects many parts of his life and those who surround him. Hamlet’s interaction with the ghost does not compel him to revenge, but causes him to question the necessity of murder. In the play, it is the ghost of King Hamlet that first introduces the medieval concept of vengeance. The ghost reveals to Hamlet that, “A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown” (1.5.44) Essentially telling him that the way Hamlet had believe he died is false. At the start of his problem the ghost of his father tells him that he didn’t die in his garden, but actually was poisoned by the metaphoric snake, his uncle. This revelation compounded with his mother’s, Gertrude, swift marriage to his uncle only serves to further anger Hamlet. The ghost also added in order for him to go to heaven or hell he must fix all of his sins, to do that he must kill the current King, his uncle. The ghost also adds that, “Revenge his foul and most...
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...However, during his address he abstained from pointing fingers at the south or at plantation owners. Instead, he chose to portray a heart full of forgiveness and welcome, encouraging his northern brothers and sisters to welcome the south back into the family of America. He recognized that humanity and morality were higher than the sins that had been committed against the slaves and his countrymen. Differently, Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” a short story about a woman with only one leg who tries her hardest to always be different from society, highlights what it looks like to not receive the compassion and kindness that Abraham Lincoln extended. The main character, a woman named Joy-Hulga, appears to hate everything about the civilization she lives in. While being considered ugly, disabled, and an agnostic by her family and peers, she considers herself to be one of the highest in the social hierarchy. Joy Hulga has a Ph.D. which she thinks makes her smarter and more important than everyone else. However, she gets her world shaken when a “Bible salesman”, Manley Pointer, comes through...
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...been dreaming of becoming one of these entrepreneurs, you should find out the disadvantages and advantages of taking on this role. Mission: Leaders know what their mission is. They know why the organization exists. A superior leader has a well thought out (often written) mission describing the purpose of the organization. That purpose need not be esoteric or abstract, but rather descriptive, clear and understandable. Every employee should be able to identify with the mission and strive to achieve it. Vision: Where do you want your organization to go? A vision needs to be abstract enough to encourage people to imagine it but concrete enough for followers to see it, understand it and be willing to climb onboard to fulfil it. Goal: How is the organization...
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...Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary are two novels written in two different languages, around the same time period (late 1800s). Though they belong to two separate countries and are separated in history by a margin of about twenty five years, their socio political setting, and situational complexities are quite similar. ‘Madam Bovary’ takes us on a journey through the life of the extremely complex character of Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Raised in a convent, a lover of sensuality, desirous of an expensive urban lifestyle yet not very smart about money, it is this dichotomy of traits that keeps Emma careening from one radically different situation to the next: first falling hard for her father's roving rural doctor Charles Bovary, thinking that their marriage will finally bring her the sophisticated Paris life full of passion and grandeur she's always dreamed of; but instead getting stuck in a provincial town where nothing ever happens and trying and failing at a domestic life. This leads to a hot-and-cold emotional affair with a young law student named Leon, followed by a much more serious affair with a major womanizer named Rodolphe. An unceremonial dumping by Rodolphe after she offers to leave her husband for him and bring her daughter along leads to a short period again in her life as a pious born-again Christian. A reacquaintance with Leon, the now successful young urban...
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...How has Milton’s Paradise Lost shaped modern depictions of Lucifer? John Milton’s Lucifer has become so prominent in modern discussion of hell and sin that it is often confused with the theological account of the devil. Luciferian characteristics or depictions of Lucifer himself can often be linked back to Milton’s Paradise Lost and I will discuss multiple ways that Lucifer has become integrated into modern popular culture. From DC Comics’ Lucifer Morningstar to Walter White in Breaking Bad, I will show how Milton’s Paradise Lost has shaped modern depictions of the devil. Milton’s Lucifer was seemingly created from the influence of the Italian Renaissance devils of Giambattista Marino and Torquato Tasso. Lucifer’s ‘prissy disdain for earth’ and hatred of man in Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberta helped form Milton’s depiction of the character. Philip Beitchman suggests that ‘Milton saw Satan’s contempt for man formed from dust’, drawn from such lines as ‘Man, man the vile, born of vile mud’. This hatred is exemplified by Milton in the words ‘Woe to the inhabitants on Earth!’ paraphrasing the New Testament verse of Revelations 12:12. Beitchman suggests that Lucifer’s hatred is fuelled by the purpose of man, claiming that ‘it was standard wisdom that man was created to supply the place of fallen angels’. If man was created to replace him, then we can perhaps understand Lucifer’s disdain towards them in Paradise Lost. We ought to look towards Marino’s La strage degli innocent, in...
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...Golding, a group of boys become stranded on a deserted paradise island after their plane is shot down out of the sky. On this island it would appear a higher power is controlling the order. They boys start out civil by creating a political democracy, and are as children without sin. Sin, like adulthood or corruption, then enters into the group and the group is destroyed. The political structure the boys establish when they first meet on the island is also destroyed in the process. The group descends into chaos, with Simon and Piggy as casualties. In the end, Jack, the primary exponent of sin, burns down the island while hunting Ralph, which allows for the boys’ rescue. Despite being rescued, it was clear the boys were changed forever. Likewise, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606), the country of Scotland is portrayed to be organized under the order of a higher being; a king. When Macbeth, a highly regarded thane, is tempted by a prophecy of being king, he acts on his temptation. Macbeth then becomes king but this damages the political structure because of how Macbeth rules. As Macbeth continues down his path of bloodshed, he disrupts and destroys Scotland’s moral centre but he also destroys the view of how an ideal king would be. In the end, Macbeth and his wife receive just punishments. Both of these texts are allegorical. An allegory is a work, typically art work, used to reveal a hidden...
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...superficial and flighty" (Heilbrun 10), while others see her as a stronger character, cool and calculating. The play presents many aspects of Gertrude’s character ambiguously. Janet Adelman writes, Given her centrality in the play, it is striking how little we know about Gertrude; even the extent of her involvement in the murder of her first husband is left unclear....The ghost accuses her at least indirectly of adultery and incest...but he never accuses her of nor exonerates her from the murder. For the ghost, as for Hamlet, her chief crime is her uncontrolled sexuality; that is the object of their moral revulsion, a revulsion as intense as anything directed toward the murderer Claudius. But the Gertrude we see is not quite the Gertrude they see. And when we see her in herself, apart from their characterizations of her, we tend to see a woman more muddled than actively wicked; even her famous sensuality is less apparent than her conflicted solicitude both for her new husband and for her son....Even her death is not quite her own to define. Is it a suicide designed to keep Hamlet from danger by dying in his place?...Muddled, fallible, fully human, she seems ultimately to make the choice that Hamlet would have her make. But even here she does not speak clearly; her character remains relatively closed to us (Adelman 15-16). In spite of the many ambiguities of Gertrude's...
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