The Duality of Man Exposed in Romeo and Juliet
To express his view of good and evil in every man, William Shakespeare
writes lines that Friar Laurence reveals in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
which compare man to plants, focusing on the common trait they hold of having
two contrasting components in their being. Throughout history, there has always
been a conflict with the view of goodness and evilness in man. The philosopher
Plato believed that man was born with a natural depravity and was basically an
untrained animal who needed society's help to structure, educate, and fulfill
his needs. On the other hand, Plato's pupil Aristotle believed that man is
initially born with goodness and virtue. The issue of man's two sides can be
thoroughly discussed over the gothic novel of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Some critics believe that the "creature" was prone to evil from the onset, that
it was innately in his being, while others argue that the treatment the "
creature" received from humans pitted him against mankind into an evil and
revengeful state. Shakespeare, however, in his extended metaphor comparing man
to plants, holds the opinion that there is both decency and infamy in man. His
opinion can be compared to the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson, where Dr. Jekyll is innately pure and kind but because he tries to
hide the malicious side of his being, it eventually overcomes him completely.
Shakespeare wishes to address the idea that evil can destroy a person and
overtake them if it is let in and uses his lines of Friar Laurence as an
aphorism and a warning to mankind.
The following lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet fully portray
the author's view of a split of innocence and corruption in man, and the thought
that evil is likely and able to destroy man from the inside out.
Within the infant rind of this small flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power.
In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
Translated, these lines can be interpreted as follows:
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
In the novel The Crucible, Arthur Miller paints an image in the reader’s mind of the brutality that ensued in the Salem, Massachucettes Witch Trials and ventures into the personal stories of both the victims and the people who initiated the entire catastrophe. History is constantly repeating itself, this becomes apparent by comparing the Salem Witch Trials, Nazi Germany, and the Communist scare in America. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he kept in mind what some thoughtlesslessly assumed to be an ever expanding Communist revolution and utilized some of the corrupt problems throughout those years in his play. Blind faith, ignorance, disloyalty, fighting for power, and human indecency are all contributing factors of the mass hysteria that ensued during the McCarthyist “witch- hunts” as well as the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible. Millers intention for writing this story was not only to prove a point about the appalling historic tragedies, but to express the dominance that betrayal, thirst for power, and ignorance have over a community through the characters John Proctor, Abigail, and Reverend Hale.
In my opinion, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes two of the worst moments in American history, and uses them to demonstrate the pressure on people from society, to conform. Miller takes the Salem Witch trials and uses them to reflect on the McCarthyism period. By using religion as a sort of substitute for politics, Miller was able to see the similarities between the McCarthy era and the actions of the Puritans in Salem. Each event was just as cruel and merciless as the other, and even though the Salem Witch trials had occurred over 200 years before The Crucible was written, by using it to mirror the McCarthy era, the spirit of persecution was re-awoken. Just as McCarthy considered everything “Un-American” to be Communist, the Puritans in The Crucible thought everything un-explainable to be the work of the devil, and in both cases, the authorities demanded conformity.
In Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” Oates employs motifs, symbolism, and allegories to convey her holistic tone of disapproval towards the actions and outlook of the main character, Connie. Motifs are seen primarily in the references to music that channel Connie’s escape out of reality. Symbolism is also evident in the piece through the setting of Connie’s home which represents her only source of protection. The overall allegorical nature of the piece accentuates the ominous relationship between Connie and Arnold and foreshadows the ending. Through analyzing the active usage of motifs, symbolism, and allegory throughout the work, one can gain a clearer understanding of how these elements
Of her hundreds of short stories, Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” continues to be widely discussed among literary critics. In his article “Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, David Gratz claims that Oates’s story can be read as a parable for a young girl’s fear of adulthood. He agrees there is much textual evidence that Connie dreams of her disturbing experience with Arnold Friend and that he is a “psychological projection” (Gratz 55) of her subconscious fears. Gratz notes how critics Joan Winslow and Larry Rubin point out that Connie appears to fall asleep before Arnold Friend arrives to her home and that her inability to control the situation toward the end is of a nightmarish quality (55). There is further evidence which supports the idea that Connie is in fact dreaming this scenario. Gratz notes that though the ending represents the “death of a part of her” (55), it is not only the destruction brought on by her sex drive she fears. Rather, it is her fear of the inevitability of growing older and having to endure hard changes that come with it that projects itself onto Connie’s daymare.
In her short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?” Joyce Carol Oates is presenting a young teenage girl that does not have self-confidence or believes in herself. Connie daydreams and listens to popular music that feed her ideas of romance and love. She is a typical teenage girl that worries about her appearance and what others may think of her. Connie has little to no self-confidence, she allows men to take advantage of her, even the devil (Arnold Friend), and she tries to act more mature than other fifteen year old teens her age. Joyce Carol Oates gives these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax to connect with the theme that Arnold Friend is the demonic adversary who convinces Connie to cross the
An Analysis of Matt Ridley’s The Origins of Virtue. Inwardly examining his own nature, man would prefer to see himself as a virtuously courageous being designed in the image of a divine supernatural force. Not to say that the true nature of man is a complete beast, he does possess, like many other creatures, admirable traits. As author Matt Ridley examines the nature of man in his work The Origins of Virtue, both the selfish and altruistic sides of man are explored.
Different literature writers have many different views about mankind. Many American writers discuss these views. More out spoken American writers spend a great amount of time talking about this topic. In this paper we will look at Benjamin Franklin’s and Jonathan Edwards’ views of mankind by looking at personal background, religious views, and evidence in their writings.
The Crucible, a play set in the late 1600s, fired shots at the lot more recent Second-Red Scare in the 1950s. The play offers ideas about the religion in the judicial system, capital punishment, and moral values of those in authority. All of which were great issues to the Red Scare. In the story, Abigail, a young girl is faced to be held accountable for infidelity and her cross actions, yet she involves more people in her town, ultimately igniting the Salem Witch Trials. Miller’s story gives discomfort and suspicion to the readers of his time. Furthermore, Author Miller’s play allows readers to question and take notice how authority handles its power. In the play, the characters who had the most authority were also the ones who made the most reckless decisions, resulting in the death of many people. He also allows this story to make humans think about what it means to be humane.
Joyce Carol Oates short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” follows the story of a 15-year-old girl, in the summer of the late 1960’s named Connie; who loves to act older than she actually is. And by doing this, she attracts the wrong kind of attention, in other words, she succumbs to her own vanities and insecurities. It is clear that the portrayal of Arnold Friend represents an incarnation of evil or Satan himself, who tries to lure Connie into his world of sex, drugs, and false promises. And the harsh reality is, Oates connects the story to real life scenarios, in which young girls, or even grown women are lured and taken away, due to false promises and a good time. Arnold Friend represents an incarnation
Everyone in the literary world is familiar with Shakespeare's two “star-crossed lovers” Romeo and Juliet. Their love story, doomed by fate and feuding families has been an inspiration to many other literary works, movies and even music. Yet it is unknown what makes these couple’s story to popular and interesting across the globe. Is it their youth, their love of first sight quickly followed by their terrific death, the tragic events that lead to their demise, or a mixture of possibilities? One aspect of the play that causes an image in the reader' mind and has a profound impact is the exquisite language of Shakespeare. The language gives each character a distinct personality and character; each character has a different sense of humor, wit and love. Shakespeare’s words show society in Verona, different beliefs, values, and behaviors in both men and women are present in his play. The main characters of the play, Romeo and Juliet, are even affected by these beliefs and value, but mainly role of gender.
... Sexual harassment is a real problem but can also be used by disgruntled employees who wish to retaliate against an employer or fellow employee for a perceived wrong. Therefore, good investigation practices must be put in place. Because of the ambiguous nature of sexual harassment and hostile working environment harassment, employers need to take precautions even if this means tolerating no harassment of any kind to ensure compliance with the law.
Sexual Harassment is unwanted sexual harassment by someone at work, be it a boss or another employee, this is what I have always thought how sexual harassment in the workplace was defined. It is so much more. Sexual harassment is now defined as telling someone they look nice, yes that is sexual harassment today. Telling someone they smell good, yes that is sexual harassment today. There are so many issues that can be considered sexual harassment that there are too many to name them all in this one research paper. You cannot pick up a newspaper or turn on the news without hearing about the latest sexual harassment case. This happens everywhere, big companies, small companies, movie stars, schools, restaurants, warehouses, bus drivers, all industries, no place is immune. . Human resource departments have to stay current on all examples of sexual harassment; they must keep current with all the legalities involved in educating staff and pursuing sexual harassment cases in the workplace.
Recent studies has brought up that more masculine gender context results in increases of sexual harassment incidents. For exmple, according to an analysis of prevalance surveies from Australian Human Rights Comission sexual harassment, working women in male-dominated and hierarchical workplaces more than in female-dominated or balanced workplaces (Charlesworth, Mcdonald, & Cerise, 2011).
Sexual harassments- the issue of sexual harassment has been under controversies based on the fact that it can hardly be quantified or qualified. Some actions can be seen as sexual harassment by the employer to the employees but due to legal bureaucracies, where the plaintiffs are required to prove their cases beyond reasonable doubts, their cases may fail despite the fact that they were indeed sexually harassed (Aggarwal, & Gupta, 2000). This has made stakeholders to try and come up with comprehensive ways to prevent or deal with cases of sexual harassments.