The Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Government Inspector

1383 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of insanity in literature

Identity and Insanity in The Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Government Inspector In the plays "The Accidental Death of an Anarchist" written by Dario Fo, and "The Government Inspector", written by Nikolai Gogol, ‘identity' and ‘insanity' play vital roles. The Maniac, who is the protagonist of "The Accidental Death of An Anarchist", is seen changing his identity throughout the play, pretending to be various other people. Khlestakov, the protagonist of "The Government Inspector" lands in the position of being an inspector by chance, and throughout the play he thoroughly exploits this opportunity by making the most of this particular identity. It is this characteristic of both protagonists that drives the audience to a point where they may start doubting the sanity of these two characters. These two ‘ingredients' of insanity and identity have been blended with perfection and the audiences appreciate both plays, their motives and the impeccable characterization.

Identity is also the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life. The protagonist of "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" is the Maniac. As the name suggests, his character is most often considered to be "insane" by the audience.

Show More
Related

  • The Invisible Man's Identity

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...ver a true definition of identity and his own real identity, he is still as naïve and as gullible as he was at the beginning. He is the “same human individual, [seen] [differently] only in appearance” (Griffon 161). Every person who he had encountered had held a unique perception of him and even if that is not how he had desired to be perceived it is his own actions that originally driven them to that belief. Yes, he still has a unique identity of his being held in his core, but it is just as real as the identity that others hold around him but only relevant by the existence of belief. Identity is a tool only relevant to those who use it, if man functioned away from society then identity becomes pointless, illogical. Yet as the Narrator chooses to live as a part of society, he is still solely responsible for creating the path that serves to define him negatively.

    Read More

  • The Myth of the Latin Woman

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity is a group of characteristics, data or information that belongs exactly to one person or a group of people and that make it possible to establish differences between them. The consciousness that people have about themselves is part of their identity as well as what makes them unique. According to psychologists, identity is a consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of role, attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. Identity tries to define who people are, what they are, where they go or what they want to be or to do. Identity could depend on self-knowledge, self-esteem, or the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. Through self-analysis people can define who they are and who the people around them are. The most interesting point about identity is that some people know what they want and who they are, while it takes forever for others to figure out the factors mentioned before. Many of the individuals analyzed in this essay are confused about the different possible roles or positions they can adopt, and that’s exactly the reason they look for some professional help.

    Read More

  • Hamlet: In Search of His Own Identity

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    In life, one goes through different experiences which makes and shapes us into the person who we become. Whether something as little as a "hello" by a crush or a death in a family, they contribute to the difference, as they are all equal in importance. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet struggles throughout his life as he is in search of his true identity. The Webster's dictionary, under the second definition, defines identity as "The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group." As life only moves forward for Hamlet, he struggles to find his place in life, nonetheless to revenge the murder of his father.

    Read More

  • Impetous Actions And Their Tragic Consequences

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Impetuous actions can dramatically alter the life of anybody in many ways. The lack of thinking things through and acting solely on one particular emotion can lead to unanticipated results. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows how impetuous actions combined with the need for lust can lead to a tragic end. It wasn't fate but rather Romeo and Juliet's hasty actions that brought their untimely deaths.

    Read More

  • Dualist Approach To Personal Identity

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    If this is the case, then we can also bring to mind the idea that if having a body is not necessary for personal identity then perhaps multiple identities could produce effects from the same body, in a sense that is supported by functionalism. We will continue this train of though momentarily. It is also noted in the dualist point of view that in the absence of bodily and brain continuity, such as having no memory of an event the individual was a part of, personal identity is not held. This contributes to the explanation of multiple identities as it provides an argument as to why the different personalities can be considered distinct from the host and from each other. As reported, in many cases of dissociative identity disorder the host experiences lost time, when one of the alternates may be in control. Thus, without this continuity the host cannot be considered identical with the alternate and so they are two, or more, distinct

    Read More

  • Morally Ambiguous Characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often times in literature, we are presented with quintessential characters that are all placed into the conventional categories of either good or bad. In these pieces, we are usually able to differentiate the characters and discover their true intentions from reading only a few chapters. However, in some remarkable pieces of work, authors create characters that are so realistic and so complex that we are unable to distinguish them as purely good or evil. In the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky develops the morally ambiguous characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov to provide us with an interesting read and to give us a chance to evaluate each character.

    Read More

  • Essay On Punk Culture

    410 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this essay we are going to analyze identities, but if we want to go in depth about identities first of all we need to have the knowledge about the meanings of companies and the architecture skeleton which all of this are going to express what punk sulcubture is. Firstly we have to start to point out to the architecture skeleton because as humans we exist in a social structure that effect the way we think and perform so because of this effect we dont have our total freedom, the world limit us. On the other hand we have to analyze the agency. the quantity of the solitary to act with self - determination and to make their own decisions. To synopsize we are saying that we construct our identity, your personality it could be the same to the identity of other human being but never it is going to be the same, you construct it and you want to

    Read More

  • Personal Identity And Personality

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the purposes of this paper I will be defining personality and psychological continuity and personal identity. Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. It means that personality is what we can use to help define a person as him or herself. Another term that will be vastly used is psychological continuity. Psychological continuity is when one person’s psychological states are continuous such as their memories, experience, and personality. Finally personal identity is how a person thinks or defines him or herself in this world.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Identity

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never spent hours upon hours making collages and scrap books for his future children. My uncle never hid in the back of a pick-up-truck and traveled four hours to New York and my grandmother has never walked hours in the rain looking for the Queen of England. My identity is something only I can define.

    Read More

  • Sports Performance P1

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity in games can be characterized in a various courses, for case, Personality is the way the individual or competitor acts towards the game. I trust that the individual's identity can affect the competitors brandishing execution. The explanation behind this is on the grounds that if the competitor's identity is negative, then he/she won't be resolved to buckle down in preparing and rivalries. Mario Balotelli Is a case of an expert footballer that has a poor state of mind and identity and this is the reason he experienced a phase and a stage where he was not executing and in addition he ought to have. This lead to him getting left on the seat and

    Read More

  • Philosophy Paper #1: Personal Identity

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind. One more perspective on personal identity and the one I will attempt to explain and defend in this paper is that personal identity requires both physical and psychological continuity; my argument is as follows:

    Read More

  • Identity

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.

    Read More

  • Shaping Identity

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Identity. What is identity? One will say that it is the distinct personality of an individual. Others will say that identity is the behavior of a person in response to their surrounding environment. At certain points of time, some people search for their identity in order to understand their existence in life. In regards, identity is shaped into an individual through the social trials of life that involve family and peers, the religious beliefs by the practice of certain faiths, and cultural awareness through family history and traditions. These are what shape the identity of an individual.

    Read More

  • Defining Identity

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are millions of words across the globe that are used to describe people and uncover their identity, but what is identity? How can you begin to describe something that varies so greatly from one human being to another? Can you create a universal meaning for a word describing human concepts that people often fail to define for themselves? Of course there isn't one definition to define such a word. It is an intricate aspect of human nature, and it has a definition just as complex.

    Read More

  • Raskolnikov’s Theory of Extraordinary Men

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Raskolnikov’s theory in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”,there are two types of people that coexist in the world; the “Extraordinary” and the “Ordinary”. The ordinary men can be defined as “Men that have to live in submission, have no right to transgress the law, because they are ordinary.”(248). To the contrary “extraordinary” men are “Men that have a right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way , just because they are extraordinary”(248).  Dostoevsky’s theory is evident through the characters of his novel. The main character, Raskolnikov, uses his theory of extraordinary men to justify contemplated murder.  There is a sense of empowerment his character experiences with the ability to step over social boundaries. He is led to believe the killing of the pawnbroker is done for the perseverance of the greater good. It is ironic that character who is shown to be powerful in the early stages of the novel subsequently go on to show many weaknesses.

    Read More

More about The Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Government Inspector

Open Document