Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, John Green’s, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paulo Coelho’s, Veronika Decides to Die

1331 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of death in english literary poems

“Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.” Are undoubtedly the infamous last words from Julius Caesar in the Shakespearean tragedy titled, Julius Caesar, where upon betrayal from long time friend, Brutus, Caesar submissively accepts his fate and finds that with death approaching he can only be at peace, therefore resigning himself. Conversely in John Green’s, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paulo Coelho’s, Veronika Decides to Die, the individuals share the same faith as Caesar. Their certain death becomes the result of eventual enlightenment and acceptance. The ideology behind this concept will be discussed on three separate accounts from both novels, these ideas are: pain, realization, and effect.
Pain is multidimensional; it can bring joy as well as fear. However if the pain is passed onto an individual facing death, it will bring relief. Pain is a step towards death. Throughout Paulo Coelho’s, Veronika Decides to Die, pain is experienced heavily by the protagonist, Veronika. Whether it would be mental or physical this pain made Veronika realize her only certainty, death. Veronika after learning of her suicide attempt being moderately successful, lulls around the mental hospital, Villete, in a constant daze. She only understands the effect of her demise when pain is introduced, “…she noticed a sharp pain in her chest, and her arm went numb. Veronika felt her head spinning. A heart attack.” (Coelho 73) She enters a euphoric state and replies to it submissively, “…as if death had freed her from the fear of dying” (Coelho 73) the reasoning behind the thought was decided through the pain, very much like Caesar after learning of Brutus’ betrayal and the pain that quickly followed. John Green also excellently illustrates pain as a tactic for e...

... middle of paper ...

... drachmas (Currency) to each roman, his gardens and summer-houses, and the place on this of the river Tiber.
Although the story of Julius Caesar was tragic because of his certain death, there was a great amount of enlightenment met. Caesar demonstrated through pain, realization, and effect that he was enlightened. Similarly in both The Fault in our Stars and Veronika decides to Die, the individuals share the same faith with Caesar. They are individuals that because of their definite death find enlightenment and peace through the factors death brings: pain, realization, and effect. In conclusion humans are afraid of many things, and to truly appreciate life we need to let go. This can be summed by a quote from the movie, Fight Club, “And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.”

Show More
Related

  • Death Constant Beyond Love

    2031 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is inevitable that we will all die it is a fact that everyone must come to terms with. There comes a time in everyone’s life that they must face death; a friend’s tragic accident, a family member’s passing or their own battles with diseases. When faced with the idea of death people will act in different ways some may find it therapeutic to apologize for the negative they have done, some may want to spend time with loved ones to ease the future pain, and others may decide that their life was not what they believed. The story Death Constant Beyond Love tells us about a man named Senator Sanchez who is living a happy life with his wife and five kids. That is until he is told by doctors that he only has a short time to live. Death is unknown much like love, we do not know or understand when love will find us, and it is the same with death. In Death Constant Beyond Love is not your typical love or death story. After told about his pending doom Senator Sanchez wants to keep his life as constant as normal, until his desires for a young woman change his plans, and then he dies.

    Read More

  • Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych has proven to be a profoundly important work in the understanding of mortality. By adding to this understanding, Tolstoy implores readers to accept the ultimate reality that death is inevitable. If there is one thing Tolstoy makes quite clear, it is that nobody lives forever and death can be a horrifying, painful, and sobering experience. Ivan Illych, a successful man of the law, ends up fatally injuring himself whilst putting up curtains. With his health in decline, the reader gets to experience death through Ivan’s eyes. Tolstoy attempts to have the reader feel the same anxiety that Ivan feels and in some sense the same pain. And indeed, Tolstoy brilliantly conveys this agony to the reader. Specifically, Tolstoy decides to focus on two very important threads of the cloth that makes up death. From Ivan Illych’s perspective, Tolstoy focuses on regret with one’s life and the utterly different mindset the dying adopt versus the living.

    Read More

  • Death as a Central Theme in Literature

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the contract of life, there are numerous requirements. Every living being must be able to reproduce, practice homeostasis, consume energy, and adapt. However, there is one component of life that facilitators don’t include in their lesson plans: death. While all living organisms must have the ability to perform certain tasks in order to be considered living, all life must come to an end. Death is not a matter of if, but when. Many humans share a common fear of losing a loved one, yet authors utilize death to convey a profound meaning within their novel. In the first paragraph Bill Barich’s novel, Laughing in the Hills, he uses the inevitability of death to supply the reader with insight on the theme of his writing.

    Read More

  • Tricolon Steve Jobs Rhetorical Analysis

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story of Jobs struggle with death invokes the feeling of helplessness and sadness within the audience. When Jobs finds out that most types of pancreatic cancer are incurable he had to live with the fact that he would die. When he finds out that it is curable, he realizes that nobody wants to die, a sentiment that everyone shares. While facing death, he realizes that time is limited and says “don’t waste it living someone else’s life…. have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition” (26). By telling this story, he brings up the circumstance of death. It can happen at any time to anyone. This invokes a feeling of helplessness and sadness within the audience. Death is unequivocal, so he urges his audience to follow their dreams while they can because they might not be able to the next

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Western Attitudes Towards Death And Dying

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Western philosophical tradition has developed numerous viewpoints on, and fostered various attitudes toward, our mortal nature. There was once a situation where people regarded death as a theme and we shall die. In Western Attitudes Toward Death and Dying (1974) Aries proposes that death itself has, from the early medieval period onward, undergone a series of gradual yet discernible changes, which he titles “tame death,” “one 's own death,” “thy death,” and “forbidden or wild death.” This fourfold division centers directly on how people experience and understand death. As such, it stands as a peculiar history, one that often eschews more visible changes (e.g., the Reformation) in favor of less discernible shifts present in literature, art (including funerary art), liturgy, burial practices, and wills. It is characterized by the use or assumption

    Read More

  • Redemption In A Lesson Before Dying

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Redemption is the act of being saved by from sin, error, or evil. Redemption is a major theme in all writings, short-stories, novels, poems, plays, etc. Many people in their lives look to achieve redemption by the time they kick the bucket, however sometimes redemption is achieved with death. In Christianity I am reminded of the significance of the death of Christ on the cross to relate to the theme of redemption in death. In this paper I hope to accomplish a contrast of the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines and the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, by using the theme of redemption in death, and also ultimately explaining

    Read More

  • Hamlet Death Essay

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is an eternal mystery and the most controversial subject stemming from human inexperience. Its inescapability and uncertainty can give insights on the core principles and vulnerability of human nature. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet he skilfully makes use of death as a lashing force to explore the depths of his characters along the way illustrating man’s continual dilemma “To be or not to be”?

    Read More

  • death and adolescents

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death has a way of changing people, whether it is the passing of someone close to you or coming to terms with your own mortality, no one remains the same after dealing with death. Some people mourn in the face or death, while others are re-born and enlightened. In the novel The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, we are introduced to two adolescents that have faced death and gained different perspectives on life after doing so. When facing death, whether you’re own or someone you love, there are two types of reactions, two types of people, the “Augustus’s” and the “Hazel Grace’s”. After losing his leg, Augustus Waters decided that he wanted to make his mark on the world before he died, he was terrified of dying and feared oblivion more than anything but it was that very fear that compelled him to live the most fulfilling life possible, “I decided long ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence”(Green 11). Instead of wallowing in misery over having cancer, Gus wanted to enjoy life; he found beauty in everything, especially Hazel Grace. He lived his life through metaphors; he revolved many of his beliefs and actions around metaphors, one of his favorites was, “you put the killing thing in your mouth, but you don’t give it the power to kill you”(Green 13). I think he liked this metaphor and having a cigarette dangle between his lips so much, because unlike his cancer, which he had no control over, he could control whether or not he lit the cigarette. It made him feel like his destiny was in his own hands and under his control. Gus’s experience with death made him a more positive person, a “better” and inspirational person; he wanted to “drink stars” and live his life questioning everything. “While...

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.

    Read More

  • Kubler-Ross on Gregor Samsa and Meursault

    1598 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novels The Metamorphosis and The Stranger by Franz Kafka and Albert Camus, Kubler-Ross’s five stages of death are incorporated to emphasize the themes of individualism and isolation. While denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are common emotions when dealing with death, denial, anger, and acceptance are essential in connecting to Kafka and Camus’s ideas regarding individualism. Through their experiences relating to those three stages of death, the protagonists, Gregor Samsa and Meursault, are isolated from greater society and forced to acknowledge their individuality.

    Read More

  • Human Suffering in Inferno and King Lear

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    Both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Dante’s Inferno explore the reasons for, and results of, human suffering. Each work postulates that human suffering comes as a result of choices that are made: A statement that is not only applicable to the characters in each of the works, but also to the readers. The Inferno and King Lear speak universal truths about the human condition: that suffering is inevitable and unavoidable. While both King Lear and the Inferno concentrate on admonitions and lamentations of human suffering, one of the key differences between the works is that Inferno conveys an aspect of hope that is not nearly as prevalent in King Lear.

    Read More

  • Death Anxiety And Self Esteem Essay

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Confrontation of death and the anxiety created by its inevitability can be considered as notable dilemma for humans (Letho, 200...

    Read More

  • Emperor Hadrian in Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian and E.L. Doctorow's Everyman figure of Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in Ragtime

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    As Marguerite Yourcenar states in Memoirs of Hadrian, “. . . there is always a day where Atlas ceases to support the weight of the heavens, and his revolt shakes the earth.” (114) When Coalhouse Walker strides knowingly, even willingly, into his death, he is more powerful at that moment than he has been at any other point in his crusade. Because he has no regard for death or for the effect of his decision upon the rest of the world, his chosen fate sends a resounding reaction through all who witness his end. And what might drive a man to abandon his life so freely? Love and death. Inextricably meshed in both Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar and E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, these timeless states profoundly change the outlooks of Emperor Hadrian and Coalhouse Walker Jr. Despite being separated by centuries, both men go to extreme lengths for their perception of love, but when death intervenes they have curiously opposite reactions.

    Read More

  • Homer’s Iliad – Searching for Meaning in Tragedy

    1807 Words  | 4 Pages

    Death is a great wave whose shadow falls upon the lives of all beings below Olympus. Amidst this shadow and its immediacy in war, humans must struggle to combat and metaphysically transcend their transitory natures. If they fail to forge a sense of meaning for themselves and their people in what often seems an inexorably barren world, they are lef...

    Read More

  • The Death of a Red Rose

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    We assemble in a cesspool of death waiting on our ultimate judgment. Everyone has their own belief or idea about the hypothesis for the hereafter, yet no one knows the legitimacy of these theories. This is why the majority of people are petrified about dying because the horror of the unknown is frightening to everyone. Yet, with this in mind numerous authors precede to inscribe works of literature about the death of man throughout history. Although these two writings share a common theme their representation and other symbolic references show their differences throughout their writings.

    Read More

More about Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, John Green’s, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paulo Coelho’s, Veronika Decides to Die

Open Document