Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
theme of insanity in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: theme of insanity in literature
Bug: Insanity Comes from the Insects or the Mind? Insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill (Dictionary.com). In the play Bug, there are two insane characters, Agnes and Peter, the reason behind their insanity are the “bugs” coursing through their veins. One big question people ask when reading Bug, is if the main characters are just crazy/insane or if there is some truth behind their insanity? Though the likely answer is that they are just insane, there probably is a way one can find evidence for the latter question. The play starts off one day when Agnes’ friend R.C. brings Peter to Agnes’ motel in a secluded part of Oklahoma. Agnes becomes intrigued with Peter and allows him to stay the night. Through the course of the play, the two main characters sleep with each other and afterward Peter begins to act strangely. He starts finding bugs, which he can only see and begins testing his blood to see if they are coming from him. At first, Agnes thinks his behavior is weird because she cannot see the so-called bugs, but later on in the play, she begins to see them too. The two characters begin to cut into their skin to find the bugs, yet, they had trouble getting them out. Closer to the end of the play, Peter’s doctor from …show more content…
If Peter was not so crazy, it would mean that the military actually experimented on him and put bugs inside of his body, thus making everything that he said, have some sort of truth to it. Peter, murdering his doctor, would not have been so bad because the doctor would have been some kind of robot-like he said he was. “Munitions, R and D, nice work… That’s how it’s programmed… I’ll cut it up and show you…Machine” (pg. 47). And, if the couple was telling the truth, Agnes was kidnapped along with her son, so that they government could put the queen bug inside of her. Though that theory could in some way be true, the other theory sounds more
Sweet comes to find Peter and persuades Agnes. However, Peter, who appears then, proclaims him a spy robot and kills him with a knife. After that, they order a whole pizza, and they already do not believe anyone. Thus, they do not open the door when they get pizza. Agnes is not as severe, but like Peter, she has paranoia. She shows the audience that her eyes have seen worms, so I think that the bug also entered the body of Agnes who had a relationship with Peter. Before they die, Agnes and Peter say, “I love you…” (Act 2, Scene 3, 1244). To get rid of the worms, they put oil on their bodies and burn
The play is set in the present time during the month of September. It is about the midday and the sun is out. A house is located between Trenton and Princeton New Jersey, pretty much where the corn fields meet the highway. The play itself takes place in the living room of an old farmhouse. A lady by the name of Marjorie is at home by herself going though her everyday actions when she approached by a strange man that enters her kitchen. The man appears to act as if he is confused and at the wrong house and enters deeper into Marjorie's home. She tries to be safe and acts like she has a husband upstairs, but the man is well educated and knows better than that. He knows that it is a lie and travels deeper into Marjorie's personal space. When Marjorie finally realizes that her trickery isn't going to work she tries to escape out the door, but the strange man blocks her way. This man is Raul and his main goal is to rape and possible kill Marjorie. A struggle of power breaks out between the two and in the end Marjorie's using the strongest muscle she has against Raul. She tricks him into thinking that she really does like him, when all that time she is trying to reach for a can of wasp spray to use in defense. Raul is fooled and as his weakness of pleasure shines though Marjorie blocks it out by spraying Raul in the eyes with the wasp spray. She then locks him up into the fireplace and that is the end of act one. As act to progresses Raul brings up the point that the cops would arrest Marjorie before him, because he is the victim of the fight. As the day progresses Marjorie's roommates Terry and Patricia come home from work. By this time Marjorie wants to kill Raul and bury him in the back yard, the obstacle to made when her two roommates don't think that is the right thing to do.
The story begins in “Catfish Row” a small coastal town based on the real town of Cabbage Row in Charleston, South Carolina during the 1920’s. The main protagonist of the story and leading man is Porgy, a disabled beggar man who is known for riding his goat cart around Charleston. Bess is the leading lady of the opera and is in an unhealthy relationship with Crown, a powerful, violent, alcoholic, short-tempered stevedore (dockworker). Act I starts with a lullaby being sang to a small baby by a young mother named Clara, as she sings the men of Catfish Row prepare for a crap game, prior to the game, Crown purchases whisky and Cocaine from the Sportin’ Life, the local drug dealer of the town, during the crap game, Crown who is very drunk kills a local man named Robbins, Crown flees Catfish Row and leaves Bess to fend for herself. Sportin’ Life who is attracted to Bess, he gives her cocaine and asks her to join him in New York, Bess refuses and is now alone, she has no where to go, she is rejected by all of the Catfish Row resident, all except for Porgy who takes her in. A funeral takes place for Robbins, Serena, Robbins’ wife acts very coldly towards Bess when she offers her donation to help pay for Robbins’s funeral cost until Bess explains that she is no longer with Crown, and now lives with Porgy. Soon after, a detective enters and tells Serena that if...
The play begins with a grand celebration, in which the characters toast to the New Year. Agnes admits that she feels relatively safe living at Berlin at this time, and the group decides to make up a story together. They story is of a cold night and a watchman who tries to beat nature by fighting back and arming himself with a warm coat and scarf. At first he succeeds, but later finds that even his coat and scarf are
“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
Through the use of insanity as a metaphor, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, William Blake, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, introduced us to characters and stories that illustrate the path to insanity from the creation of a weakened psychological state that renders the victim susceptible to bouts of madness, the internalization of stimuli that has permeated the human psyche resulting in the chasm between rational and irrational thought, and the consequences of the effects of the psychological stress of external stimuli demonstrated through the actions of their characters.
The play begins at Reverend Parris' home, whose daughter Betty is ill. Parris is living with his daughter and his seventeen-year old niece Abigail. Parris believes that is daughters illness is from supernatural causes, so he sends for Reverend Hale. Betty first start to look ill after her father discovered her dancing in the woods with Abigail and his Negro slave, Tituba along with several other local girls. There are rumors going around that Betty's sickness is due to witchcraft. Parris doesn't want to admit to seeing his daughter and niece dancing in the woods, but Abigail says that she will admit to dancing and accept the punishment.
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
The scenes, which cover thirty years of the characters’ lives from eight to thirty-eight, each revolve around an injury that Doug has acquired through his accident prone life. The play progresses in five year intervals, jumping backwards and forwards, in a nonlinear progression. As they travel and run into each other’s lives, the two characters face new injuries. As the play progresses every five years, a new injury is added to one or both characters. Their lives intersect through these injuries, leading them to compare their wounds, both physical (Doug) and emotional (Kayleen), and drawing them closer together. With each new scene, old injuries and problems may have gotten better or resolved, but some became permanent. Yet, through these experiences, they are bonded together through bloodstains, cuts, and bandages.
How is that even possible? The dictionary definition of the word insanity is the state of being seriously, mentally ill (“Definition of the Word Insanity”). Insanity is also classified as a medical diagnosis. Insanity came from the Latin word insanitatem (“History of the Word Insanity”). People started using this word in the 1580’s. The Latins interpreted insanity as unhealthy Modern day society uses the word insanity too loosely. Although the dictionary definition of insanity is not wrong, several cases that prove having “insanity” does not always mean “being seriously mentally ill” has came to surface.
Insanity is defined as a deranged state of mind or more commonly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The word quixotic, based on the name of Don Quixote, means optimistic or idealistic in a way that is not real-world. This word came to be due to the multiple instances throughout the parody that Don Quixote presents himself as someone who is out of touch with reality, but at times not without rational thought.
What is "insanity" and why is this subject of much controversy? Although I do not have a clear definition of insanity, most socially recognized authorities such as psychiatrists, medical doctors, and lawyers agree that it is a brain disease. However, in assuming it is a brain disease, should we link insanity with other brain diseases like strokes and Parkinsonism? Unlike the latter two, whose causes can be medically accounted for through a behavioral deficit such as paralysis, and weakness, how can one explain the behavior of crimes done by people like Hinckley? (2)
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.
of the true nature of the clown. This is a key element in the play as
Sanity is based on an individuals level of intelligence. The sane individual may envelop a substantial amount of "book smarts". The sane may also be quick learners, speedier typists, and fast workers. Does this make them better individuals?