The synonyms for madness are insanity or lunacy. This word madness can be defined by the Oxford Dictionary as a state of being mentally ill, especially severely. It can also be defined as acting extremely foolish or being in a state of frenzied or chaotic activity. It is important to explain what madness is and what the word in a modern voice emcompasses. By using Diogenes attempt to live an honest life I plan on writing about how the Joker from DC comics holds similar traits in his life. Both deny authority because the way they see it there is no true authority there is only an illusion of authority. This courage to be face value is important to these men and they both show this with effortless role reversals. There is also a transparency …show more content…
“The school of Euclides he called bilious, and Plato’s lectures waste of time, the performances at the Dionysia great peep-shows for fools…(Diogenes 27).” Diogenes continues on saying that he respects individuals who work hard for the sake of learning and bettering themselves but he disregards wealth and believes that it puffs up a person 's ego. By working in society our reward is money therefore is it not always the aim that individuals are working toward? This cannot always be the case. Starting out working in a Chemical plant as an Engineer, the Joker wanted to become a comedian (“The Back Story…”). This can be viewed as a unmasking of this true self and striping himself down from this ego into a form of himself that is so vulnerable. This vulnerability is seen after he gets hurt that he wasn’t able to make it as a comedian. This hurt is his fuel that eventually brings him to become the Joker by breaking into the Chemical Plan and disrespecting the rules set in place. This character break is something that could have possibly happened to Diogenes as well. Diogenes was a bankers son who “Adulterated the coinage (Diogenes 23).” Diogenes was given the chance to become a working facet in society but he chose to be an outcast. The life that Diogenes and the Joker place before them in some sense is madness …show more content…
He is known for being tragic, a beggar, wanderer, and a homeless exile. All of these words is how society or those who are sane described him as. There is a sense of freedom that encases how he lives. He does what he wants wherever he wants and enjoys himself without the anxiety or shame that is incorporated with his private activities. You can see this when he, “...Behaves indecently in the market place (Diogenes 47).” This sort of acting out is his way of speaking the truth and being an honest person. When there is a need you have why do you wait? There is a sense of urgency to his life that he makes sure to act on. This life is fleeting and he lives every second of it making sure it does not pass by. He describes that living a life you have two things to always keep in mind, mental well being and physical (Diogenes 71). He makes sure to do things like eat raw meat (Diogenes 37), and to put himself through unbearable situations so that even the most boring things will bring him pleasure. This sort of thinking of total chaos this something that the Joker abides by. He lets his emotions rule and doesn’t worry about the past or his future. He focuses on what would pleasure him in each moment. The difference between the Joker and Diogenes is that the Joker attempts to make everyone else like him when he tries to bomb the city with laughing gas (Peaslee). Diogenes is content living and doing as he
“The ones who are insane enough to think that they can rule the world are always the ones who do.”- Stefan Molyneux. Insanity is an inherently foreign but ancient concept, it can be defined as when the mental processes of a person functions out of the social norm. An example of a person with such a mental state is Crake from Margaret Atwood’s book, “Oryx and Crake”. Crake is a mature and brilliant but unhinged person, who is responsible for the destruction of mankind, who believes that the root of all problems in the world is man himself. This could define Crake as a psychopath, with an askewed moral compass, as he knows what his actions are wrong but he continues with them. In the tale, the main character, Jimmy/Snowman, recounts his past
In the play, Sophocles examines the nature of Antigone and Creon who have two different views about life, and use those views against one another. Antigone who is depicted as the hero represents the value of family. According to Richard Braun, translator of Sophocles Antigone, Antigone’s public heroism is domestically motivated: “never does [Antigone] give a political explanation of her deed; on the contrary, from the start [Antigone] assumes it is her hereditary duty to bury Polynices, and it is from inherited courage that [Antigone] expects to gain the strength required for the task” (8). Essentially, it is Antigone’s strong perception of family values that drive the instinct to disobey Creon’s orders and to willingly challenge the King’s authority to dictate her role in society.
A consideration of the madness of the hero Hamlet within the Shakespearean drama of the same name, shows that his feigned madness sometimes borders on real madness, but probably only coincidentally.
Throughout the Greek play, “Antigone”, we see one of the main character’s, Creon, who recently was named King of Thebes due to his Nephews battling to the death for the throne. Creon by the end of the play would eventually develop a theme known as a “Tragic Hero.” His character's emotion and motivations conflict with another main character, his Niece who the play is named after, Antigone. The characteristics of Creon have conflicting motives such as his hierarchy, greed, and vengefulness are highlighted by Antigone’s opposing ethics. Ultimately these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by making him regret his Decree and rash decisions once he has learned of his fate.
Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.
SSociety has a set view of who is mad and who is sane, but are these people really mad? Sophocles’ play, The Oedipus Cycle, and Emily Dickinson’s poem, Much madness is divinest sense show their readers who the true madman is. Both of these literary works illustrate the phenomenon of a discerning eye in a society. In the Oedipus Cycle, Oedipus’ daughter Antigone stayed true to herself and did what was right, even if she was perceived to be a madman.
Antigone, a tragic drama written by Sophocles explores the different ranges of characters: static and dynamic or flat and round. Creon, King of Thebes in the dramatic play Antigone takes on the role that of a static character. Throughout the whole play Creon believed the idea that he was above the law of the Gods and his decrees cannot be disputed. Unknowingly, who would think that Creon’s sense of pride would cause him the life of his wife, son, and niece? However, at the very end of the play Creon returns to the palace, holding his son’s lifeless body, where he finds out that his wife has killed herself as well. Overwhelmed with grief about the death of his loved ones, Creon turns to the Chorus and says, “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to thought of dust” (1833). Creon takes responsibility of the death of his son and wife by calling himself a “rash” man and this is where Creon undergoes the changes of a dynamic character by admitting that he was wrong.
The plot revolves around a story of Antigone’s struggle to give Polynices, her brother, his final rights by giving him a proper burial, despite the fact that Creon has forbid for anyone to do so as Polynices was a traitor to Thebes and its people. One major struggle throughout the play is the apparent conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon and Antigone have temperaments that clash with each other. Antigone values passion while Creon values the state. Although they have very different values, Antigone and Creon have very similar personalities. They are both stubborn, independent people who are so similar that they can never see eye to eye on issues. Both Antigone and Creon are filled with pride and passion in their beliefs. These traits can be considered both very advantageous and moral as well as being a negative trait that represents the stubbornness in human beings. Antigone and Creon are incredibly proud, making it impossible for either one to concede defeat once they have taken a stand for what they believe in. As stated by Tiresias “stubbornness brand...
Madness is a key theme in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Throughout the play Shakespeare displays madness in many different forms. It is also shown in a variety of characters in the play. Some of the main characters that display madness include Hamlet and Ophelia. These characters displays their madness in different ways, and in different amounts. Shakespeare shows Hamlet’s madness as a more debatable form, making audiences question if he really does end up going mad or not. This differs from Ophelia’s madness, as she actually appears to have gone insane. There are also many different interactions with the other characters caused by the character’s madness. This make those other characters do things they may not have otherwise done.Madness
Madness is a condition that is difficult to distinguish between true and false. As in the encounter of the ghost of Hamlet 's father with Hamlet, Hamlet is asked to avenge his father 's death. To accomplish this task in a less apparent manner, Hamlet decides to feign madness. In the long run, Hamlet truly does go insane. Consequently, his behavior thereafter is frequently unfathomable. William Shakespeare, the writer of the tragic play, Hamlet, leaves Hamlet 's sanity up to interpretation. Throughout Shakespeare 's Hamlet, Hamlet 's questionable madness is explored through his real madness, feigned actions, and the reactions of others towards his madness.
The noble characters, Oedipus and Willy rely on things of substantial value in their lives, but then unfortunately fail, further deepening their harmatia. In Arthur Millers’ essay “Tragedy and the Common Man,” he does not believe that just nobility and power over others is inadequate to just judge a select few:
...ing madness to sanity are reminiscent of a bi-polar disorder such as manic depression. It is possible that Hamlet put on his antic disposition to allow himself freedom from the usual constraints and etiquette of the court so that he could use different means to discover Claudius' guilt without being discovered himself. Or his feigned madness may have been a reaction to the stress of his predicament, because in doing so he frees himself from having to make decisions on courses of action and he effectively becomes a spectator in the running of his own life.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the most evident and important themes is the theme of madness. The theme is apparent throughout the play, mainly through the actions and thoughts of Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes. Madness is defined as the quality or condition of mental illness or derangement (being insane). Madness is at the center of the conflicts and problems of the play and is conveyed through Shakespeare’s elaborate use of manipulation and parallels between Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes to contribute to Hamlet’s tragic character.
The decision to pretend madness is a decision by the avenger to adopt the machiavellian nature of the villains. It is this decision above that irredeemably compromises the revenger. The compromisation of interacting with the vile and corrupt world is a necessary part of the revenge tragedy, as without it, there could be no dilemma about the legality and morality of revenge. In addition, the decision on the part of the avenger to take up the tools of the machiavel, to become mad, represents the dilemma faced by the renaissance that not all things can be solved solely through the application of reason
One second The Joker will be doing good deeds passing out balloons and in the blink of an eye he will have a mass murder on his mind. The Joker is so unpredictable that it makes other villains actually scared of him because they never know when he could just turn on them and they would be dead. His emotion may be sick jokes,him being angry, and occasional sadness when one of his plans doesn’t go right, but he does feel genuine emotion. But even with his absolute craziness, the fact is that he has a special mindset as he can plan schemes and adjust them quickly when something is not going right.It is crazy how The Joker can go from joking around with people to a killer in a minute.