In the movie “Manhattan”, Woody Allen bases most of the film’s plot off of the meaning behind the term Sublimation. It’s about a man, Issac, whom is unhappy with where his life has lead, him. Recently divorced, his wife left him for another woman comes to a point in his life where he realizes he’s not truly doing what he wants or what he needs in life. This leads him to both knowingly, and unknowingly practice Sublimation, the deflection, re-direction and re-channeling of undesirable appetitive and emotional desires, urges and instincts into more beneficial acts, up to and including repression. One of the things that Issac exclaims in the film is “ I can’t express anger. That’s one of the problems I have. I grow a tumor instead.”, this one line sums up the practice of sublimation perfectly. When one truly sits back and thinks on what Sublimation truly is, and if and when they participate in it and reach the end; it brings about a type of Catharsis. Most people in society never give a thought about Sublimation. They just go on with their life and don’t even realize that they are performing it until it reaches a tipping point. Much like what happened Issac in the film “Manhattan”. However, this isn’t the first instance in which the idea of Sublimation was let out into the public for a broad audience. In the work “Beyond Good and Evil” by Friedrich Nietzsche, he goes into great detail in regards to Sublimation and how it effects ones lifestyle and choices. He states, “For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing” (BGE 23). He believed that to be able to sublimate your own failures, that instead of harping on them, you are able to learn from them, to draw insight and to grow from them. When you sit and t... ... middle of paper ... ...ert Digital LLC, January 1979. 23 January 2014. Brown, Eric. “Plato’s Ethics and Politics in The Republic.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 31 August 2009. 23 January 2014. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. New Yok: Penguin Classics, 1990. Print Harper, Douglas. “Sublimation.” Collins English Dictionary. Dictionary.com LLC, 2009. 23 January 2014 Gemes, Ken. “Freud and Nietzsche on Sublimation. Project Muse. 38. (2009): 38-59. Web. 23 January. 2014 Rieff, Philip. “My Life Among the Deathworks: Illustrations on the Aethetics of Authority.” The Mind of the Moralist. The New Republic, 2014. 23 January 2014. < http://www.newrepublic.com/article/the-mind-the-moralist >
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube and C.D.C. Reeve. Plato Complete Works. Ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
In “A Hunger”, “The Penal Colony”, and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka succeeded in showing his individuals as obsessed with their profession; however their obsession caused their doom because society asks so much from an individual, only so much can be done. However, regardless of that, these individuals choose their work over themselves, and not even bad health or death can stop them. Because society places immures pressure on Kafka’s work obsessed character, they neglect their well-being and cause their own downfall.
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
The metamorphosis very possibly was written by Kafka as an outlet for his feelings of isolation and helplessness. In it, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, awakens one morning to find himself spontaneously "transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin." The story continues from there in a most realistic fashion: his family rejects him, and he stays cooped up in his room until he dies. Although interpretations of the story differ, my opinion is that Kafka wrote this story as a protestation, whether consciously or unconsciously, of his own inner needs not being met. Franz Kafka suffered from severe mental disorientation. This man suffered severe tragedies as a child: as the first child of Hermann and Julie Kafka, he lived to see two brothers born and die before he was six years old. Although they were eventually replaced by three new sisters, Kafka began his life with tragedies which most people do not experience until they are much older. Kafka lacked parental guidance, as he and his sisters were brought up mostly by governess. He was a Jew, and lived in Czechoslovakia, but he went to German schools. Therefore Kafka masked himself twice, at the bidding of his father. His father had made himself into a successful businessman, and expected Kafka to do the same. Most of Kafka's stories contain or center around an over-domineering, almost frightening father figure. Kafka obeyed his father. He remembered his high school education as being meaningless and dull, but, out of obedience to his father, he completed it, and passed with flying colors. This switching to a less offending option in order to offend no one characterizes Kafka very well. He possessed a wonderful mind but rarely, ...
“Deprived of the right word or the appropriate phrasing, Freud’s thoughts become not merely coarse or oversimplified but seriously distorted” (9). The English translations fail to capture Freud’s true meaning of his writings. F...
“How old he had grown since the night before! His body was completely twisted, shriveled up into itself. His eyes were petrified, his lips withered, decayed.”(Wiesel 79) Chlomo -Wiesel’s father -changed emotionally and physically. He was put through incredible labor along with other prisoners and started to forget why it was important to survive. “‘I can’t go on.… This is the end…. I’m going to die here….’”(Wiesel
The Philosopher King stands far above others in ancient Athens. At his own peril, amidst constant political chaos and corruption, Plato takes a brave stand for justice, for freedom, and for equality. The Republic, written around 375 B.C., isn't just Plato's treatise on the ideal state, nor is it just a state-of-mind journey from ignorance to enlightenment. Plato also taught at his Academy, the first university in Europe, that political science is the science of the soul.
Metamorphosis is a story that is easily related to this ever so cruel world and the life each of us live today. Each of us experience alienation just as Gregor did in the story. We experience from friends and even worse family. When changes arrive that we can't cope with,
"Comparison of Plato's and Aristotle's Political Theories." Novel Guide. Novel Guide, n.d. Web. 4 May 2014. .
The Republic is the most important dialogue within Plato's teaching of politics. It deals with the soul, which, as we know from the beginning, at the level where one must make choices and decide what one wants to become in this life, and it describes justice as the ultimate form of human, and the ideal one should strive for both in life and in state. Justice as understood by Plato is not merely a social virtue, having only to do with relationship between people, but virtue that makes it possible for one to build their own regime and reach happiness.
Freud’s conception of the mind is characterized by primarily by dynamism, seen in the distribution of psychic energy, the interplay between the different levels of consciousness, and the interaction between the various functions of the mind. The single function of the mind, which brings together these various aspects, is repression, the maintenance of what is and what isn’t appropriately retained in the conscious mind.
Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis". The Metamorphosis. Trans. Donna Freed and Ed. George Stade. New York: Barnes and Nobles, 2003.
Both the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and the short story Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka signify and are about scratching beneath the surface. Scratching beneath the surface means to go beyond of what’s obvious and to look further in to search for a deeper meaning; and in this case, for these two stories and their purposes which conveys the authors message. Although these books were written by different authors and published several years apart, they share numerous similarities in the overall idea. The heart of darkness is about imperialism and it touches on the tales of different individuals that embarked on the imperialistic journey from Europe to Africa. The brief story Metamorphosis is about a man named Gregor who transforms into an insect. Both stories are dissimilar regarding the plot; yet, they are so similar in their overall message because in both books, both authors articulate by teaching a lesson without actually stating the purpose. They both leave the purpose and the message to their reader’s imagination to resolve.
Morality and politics have always been closely linked; even in present day politics, morality often has a part to play. Morality within politics has always been a controversial and highly debated topic by many leading political thinkers. There have been many key thinkers on the subject; however, Plato and Augustine have both an interesting and highly debated view on the argument of whether politics should be focused on morality. Both Plato and Augustine had differing views on the ideas of politics and the role that morality plays within this. These two political thinkers were around in very different times and this is reflected in their views of morality and politics. Plato was born in 429BC and came from a distinguished Athenian family, heavily involved in Athenian Politics. As a pupil of Socrates it was inevitable that Plato would be influenced by Socrates and inspired to go into politics. At the time that Plato wrote, Greece was beset by instability and Plato’s focus was to stabilise the “Polis”, meaning ‘city-state’ and mainly involving Athens and Sparta, which results in an interesting view on morality and politics. Augustine was born in 354AD, in a Rome dominated culture, and had strong Christian beliefs, which heavily influenced his views on morality and politics. This essay will examine both Plato’s and St. Augustine’s view of morality and politics, and whether or not politics should be focused on morality, before coming to a reasoned judgement. Both Plato and Augustine examine whether or not politics should be focused on morality, however, their approach to study and the outcome of their thought leads to very different results. The theory behind these two political thinkers is complex and will therefore need to be examin...