How does Dürrenmatt present Claire Zachanassian in Act 1 of “The Visit”? How do you think he intends the audience to react to her?
From the very entrance Claire Zachanassian makes she is presented as a very powerful character, for whom “[pulling] the Emergency Brake” to stop an express train, even though “no one ever pulls the Emergency Brake”, is nothing out of ordinary. “Clara loved justice” and moreover, is depicted as a vindictive&menacing individual. Dürrenmatt intends to present Claire Zachanassian as a demonic, evil creature, arbuably causing the audience to have a negative disposition towards her. However, despite that he also tries to explain to the audience why exactly Claire has become herself and intending her also to be perceived
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Her views on justice are affected by the power she has due to her wealth, as she feels she could “[buy herself] justice”. Moreover, over the course of her lifetime she has turned into a vengeful person, as she has been planning to come back to Güllen for a long time simply to avenge Ill. Her own wealth and her life experience has led her to believe that “everything can be bought” to the extent of altering the legal system, so that she can get the justice she feels she deserves, even if it will involve killing Ill. Because of Ill’s crime against her, she has turned into a menacing person. Her “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”-kind-of justice is deep seethed in vengeance and anger, as she was “forced” into her own life, arguably had the freedom of choice stolen from her. She therefore feels that she can have “accounts between [Ill and her] settled” by a similarly unfair way, just as Ill had unfairly bribed the witnesses. The fact that she wants “the accounts… settled” shows how for clire it all resembles a business transaction, something that isn’t out of ordinary, despite the horrific deal she offers to the people of Güllen. The world for he became the trading zone, in which she pursuits her selfish interests despite the consequences they might have on others. In this instance, her pursuit is her vision of justice and as a vindictive and powerful person she will not
...ution to his dissatisfaction. Clarisse helped Montag get to this point he has finally realized the value that lies in these illegal books he reads.
All in all, with Susana and Daniel’s life changing situations. It shows how one’s “moment of clarity” (Chacon 199) and faith for God can help find justice without using violence, as it happened with Daniel. Therefore indicating that with having the right set of mind will help out towards harsh decisions. Not using power in society to buy yourself out of the mistakes you put yourself into. In this case the two old men who used their power in society, by using money as a solution. Thus Chacón implying that to find justice, buying your way out of anything will never fix any mistake you’ve made.
When society has individuality there is a say in what they feel about certain aspects of life, whether it is good or bad. Clarisse McClellan is a great example of individuality she shows in the novel. She “liked to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking and watching the sun rise” (Bradbury 5). Her curiosity and questioning made her different than the others, thinking was her specialty and Montag saw her as strange. While she talks to Montag she tells him “You're not like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me”, she saw something in Montag that showed how he was willing to be like her, different (Bradbury 21). Her character is peaceful; she doesn’t like violence or TV like the others. She’s able to ask questions to Montag about his job, “How long’ve you worked at being a fireman?” (Bradbury 5). Montag then develops a sense of individuality and curiosity of what she has to say. She does not try to convince Montag to think the way she thinks, instead Clarisse shows him that thinking out side the box can be an option for him to chose, not knowing that she has pushed him towards a new decision. Clarisse is a great influence towards Montag’s
Tragic mulatto characters such as Clare transport unforeseen horrors when they make the selfish decision to reinsert themselves back into the world they so desperately desired to flee. Larsen makes this point clear through the diction she uses when describing the self-esteem destruction Irene undergoes once Clare has reinserted herself into Irene's life, and the situations Irene finds herself as a direct result of Clare. Prior to Clare’s reentrance into her life Irene is a self-assured, independent, and confident woman; however, she soon turns self-conscious, dependent, and hesitant. Upon viewing Clare at the hotel Irene is struck by Clare’s ...
In ?A Municipal Report? O. Henry tells the story in a first person perspective through a man who thinks he is detached from the world. In O. Henry?s story we see that certain characters stand out among the rest by the details that he gives us. The author?s tone in, ?I stepped off the train at 8 P.M.,? is meant to appear nonchalant to give a feel that the narrator is merely an observer in the story. The characterization in the story is also unrealistically portrayed. Azalea Adair is a poor woman who, despite how needy she is, tells the narrator, ?You must have a cup of tea.? She is depicted as a good character without a single bad bone in her body. That would only be meant for the story since O. Henry could have set her up more realistically than a helpless princess needing to be rescued. Another character that defies human reality is Ceasar. He is shown to be a good character as well, giving Azalea his money and helping her out when she needs him. There is nothing bad about Ceasar that would make the reader dislike him. He is the classic knight in shining armor that could only be set up in a fantasy world. Next is the evil man Caswell. The narrator, who says, ?I have seen few men whom I have so instantaneous...
Throughout the story Chopin uses many ironic instances and symbols to illustrate the meaning of several major aspects of the story, we learn a lot more of the main character Mrs. Mallard and we come to an understanding that she did not recognize a world outside of herself.
The lost of connections with people, and when people don’t think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society. Thats why in the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag learns that when thinking for your own self you can achieve your goals. Having connections with other people like Clarisse and Montag is a good thing and not bad. They both learn that thinking different and have a real connection with other people can help society and not turn it into a corrupt and violent society.
In the beginning of the novel, Montag thinks he cares about everyone and their feelings. Once Clarisse steps into his life, this changes right away. She shows him that the world he lives in ignores people's feelings .They make games out of kill...
Through out the story Claire acts very irrational, especially towards men. These irrational acts are caused by the fact that she believes that men are the reason for this girl's death and the murder of women in general, and she shows this by the way she reacts to what Stuart says and towards the men in the story.
... perfect exemplars of how an ideal innocent women, can face undoubtedly tragic fates. Despite much strength in their characters, both Daisy and Desdemona exhibit the vulnerability of their innocence, the ability for others to take advantage of them, and glaring weaknesses. They are unaware of their surroundings, which lead to questionable actions. Their inevitable tragedies occur because of how each character dealt with these situations placed in front of them. All in all, Daisy and Desdemona are responsible for their tragedies because they are women placed in unfamiliar positions and are unable to deal with situations placed in front of them.
The play is about a young woman, Catherine who had been taking care of her father during his last years of life. Anne Heche plays Catherine. Prior to this play, I have never seen Anne Heche in any acting performance. I have to say she did an outstanding job in her portrayal of Catherine. She did a fantastic job of immediately drawing you into Catherine’s world. She aptly portrays the characteristics of a girl who never got a chance to grow up and the slight madness of the genius she inherited from her father. One can easily feel sad for her because after all she gave up all her dreams to take care of her ailing father. Anne Heche plays Catherine so well that it easy for you to fall in love with Catherine and desire only good things for her.
.... As a woman who wants what these women wanted, I find this hard to grapple with. I appreciate the fact that this story was written in a time when feminism was unheard of, but I wish that Chopin, who had been liberated enough to conceive of a character who would think like Mrs. Mallard, could also have imagined a situation in which she could have survived.
The trial portrays the absurdist ideal that absolute truth does not exist. This ideal destroys the very purpose of the trial, which seeks to place a rational explanation on Meursault’s senseless killing of the Arab. However, because there is no rational explanation for Meursault’s murder, the defense and prosecution merely end up constructing their own explanations. They each declare their statements to be the truth, but are all based on false assumptions. The prosecution itself is viewed as absurd. The prosecutor tries to persuade the jury that Meursault has no feelings or morals by asking Perez if “he had at least seen [Meursault] cry” (91). The prosecutor then continues to turn the crowd against Meursault when he asks him about his “liaison” with Marie right after his mother’s death. Though Meursault’s relationship with Marie and his lack of emotions at his mother’s funeral may seem unrelated to his murder, the prosecutor still manages to convince the crowd that they are connected to one another. The jury ends up convicting Meursault not because he killed a man, but because he didn't show the proper emotions after his mother ...
She takes advantage of that power to get around the law. Claire does a lot of things that if an ordinary person made them would be punished under the law. For example, The Gum chewers Toby and Roby were two gangsters who were sentenced to death by electric chair but Claire was able to release them and have them work for her which is not allowed to anybody. Claire also did something very extreme to get her justice which is blind and castrate Koby and Loby for lying to the judge and they could testify the truth ,Claire should have been arrested for doing that but wasn't. Claire's money gets her out of a lot of trouble and is able to create her own form of law. The town also goes against the law especially the authoritarian figures. When Ill goes to the police to demand the arrest of Claire for incitement to murder because it’s exactly what it is but the police defend Claire saying it was just a suggestion and she did nothing wrong because he wants her money. The town also has a public meeting for the ruling of Ills death but they are supposed to take that type of decision to a higher court but they didn't because they know they wouldn't get the money if they didn't do what Claire wants them to do, so they are now a part of Ills
Mallard supposed to be with her husband by his side and giving him advice she was not. This also lead to the news that they gave her husband had died and she was happy , she felt free. Her sister thought Mrs Mallard was crying in her room or very sad but she was not. “She said it over and over under her breath: Free, Free, Free!”(Kate Chopin 's View on Death And Freedom in the story Of An Hour,1).This was unexpected and weird in many ways . It was expected that Mrs Mallard was going to react differently as she really did. This means that maybe the years she was with her husband she was going to get attached to him but she was not . “Her sister Josephine,reminded us of her conventional thought that women should attach themselves to their husbands”(Kate Chopin 's View on Death and Freedom in the story Of An Hour,1). After that Mrs Mallard wanted her time alone in the room nobody actually knew how she felt in reality. She had a conflict in her life. Mrs. Mallard had her own experiences and thoughts. Love , freedom, and marriage were her things. Maybe she was suffering and she stuck in her mind those ideas and felty all the peace she wanted. She was not really conscious it was between her world and the actual real world she had to face. This leads to her feelings sometimes she wouldn 't love her husband , and sometimes she would and it was all mixed up into different feelings and emotions. When she saw her husband in the door she cried , but it was of happiness not sadness and it was a rare death. We as readers consider that seeing her husband shocked her and anguish when she sees her husband. The doctor eventually said a different thing that the joy killed Mrs. Mallard .” The conflict between Mrs. Mallard’s life and death becomes so irreconcilable that she finally dies of heart disease when she is told that she will see her husband come home alive instead of death in the railroad disaster.”(Kate