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Character analysis of Dexter Morgan
Character analysis of Dexter Morgan
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There are many heroic characters that audiences can relate to such as Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins and Katniss Everdeen. But how about Dexter Morgan? Is he a character that audiences should understand and relate? In the fantasy fiction novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter Morgan is a notorious serial killer urging only to kill evil predators. At the same time, he works for the Miami police department with a regular life with his sister Deborah, and his girlfriend Rita. Throughout the novel, a series of murders occur with clues imitating Dexter’s killing strategies. He is intrigued and wants to find more about the killer. In Dreaming Darkly Dexter, Dexter may be a sick serial killer, but by closer analysis of the text, …show more content…
Throughout the novel, the author shows Dexter’s need for killing others. For example, after he kills the priest, he declares, “Killing makes me feel good. I enjoy my work”(14). The author uses this example to make audiences question Dexter amusement to murder others. Because murdering others is inhuman, most people may look down upon Dexter because of the influences of religion and education. This may suggest that Lindsay wants to stress how people in today’s society gives assumptions too quickly when people value certain matters differently. It indicates that people do have different opinions throughout society, but people may feel conflicted when it is against their morals and ethics. Also, another reason why Lindsay categorizes Dexter as the protagonist to show how having good intentions and being loyal toward loved ones is most important. At the end of the novel, when Dexter has the option to kill Deborah, he is conflicted of the Code of Harry. The Code of Harry makes Dexter kill only the notorious people in his point of view. Afterwards, he is loyal to Harry’s code of law and does not choose to kill his sister (278). When Dexter follows the code, it proves how Dexter is loyal to only killing the “bad guys” and has good intention. Lindsay’s purpose could show how being loyal toward family members is an important value that modern society should follow. Therefore, the author’s purpose is to show how people in society have different values and intentions toward different matters. Also, people’s loyalty toward loved ones can determine their actions in
A tragic hero is an individual who possesses a fatal flaw in their character that will bring about their own destruction or suffering. Aristotle believed that “A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall. (Aristotle #1)” This Ancient Greek philosopher also believed that each tragic hero has four characteristics. The first of these characteristics is that a tragic hero is born with either wisdom or high integrity, and in some cases both. Aristotle’s second characteristic is that they contain a fatal flaw in their character that may cause them to behave irrationally. The penultimate characteristic is that each hero will suffer a turnabout of fortune brought about by their own flaw in character. Finally, the last characteristic is that the tragic hero will find out that their own turnabout of fortune was brought about by their own actions. McCandless in into the wild is the ideal tragic hero mentioned by Aristotle. McCandless had everything in the world but he gave it up to live in the wilderness and through his own actions he paid the ultimate price. McCandless is seen by the world as a young man who left the corrupted society to embrace a journey only a few would dare. “That's what was great about him. He tried. Not many do. (Krakauer 96)” This journey ended up being the best time of his life and the fact that he attempted this wildlife adventure makes him look more like a daring hero than an idiotic teen.
Dexter denies his background as coming from the middle class and wanting to have more in life. He started as a fourteen year old golf caddie and was the best one around. Dexter one day while working thought to himself that he could have so much more than just being a golf caddie. Then and there he decided to quit his job and move on with his life. As Dexter grows up and moves out west to fulfill his dream, there is a duality inside of him that ultimately is his own downfall.
The mold of the heroic template is evident throughout various types of media. Within movies, novels, and poems the hero’s journey is present. Of course, not every piece of literature or movie follows the cycle. However, the idea of the monomyth arose from Joseph Campbell. He wrote his own book, The Hero of a Thousand Faces, within his writing he describes that heroes’ follow the same basic procedure throughout their quest(s). This is where the idea of the hero monomyth arose. In Michael Lewis’s novel, The Blind Side, he portrays “The heroic monomyth.” The Blind Side consists of the basic characters and archetypes that accurately reflect the heroic template.
The above quote is representative of Dexter’s trials and tribulations on a daily basis and in a way, of every individual’s too. The quote suggests that each one of us have an alternate true self which may come out to surprise us any day. Where does this alternate self dwell? It dwells deep inside our unconscious mind. The question that arises then is why do we hide our alternate true self even from ourselves? It’s because reality is too terrible and traumatic for us to be able to handle it. It provokes too much anxiety for our conscious mind. In order to prevent our unconscious mind take over, we twist and distort reality and keep pretending that everything is just fine. The unconscious mind plays these neat tricks every moment on us, so that we can blend into the crowd and avoid numbing pressure of reality and go sleep at night.
People do not have to fly to be hero, it takes much more. Many heroes of today are shown to have supernatural powers that makes them acquire amazing abilities, flying, super strength, skills to manifest anything, the list goes on. Our heroes in the present time are perceived by the audiences' mindset to have special powers but there are times where being a hero does not need to have all the extra tricks. Thomas, a character in The Maze Runner is thrown unconsciously with no memory into a place of the unknown called the Glades, consisting of only teenagers inhabiting the area. He would soon find out the whole place is bordered by a big wall that closes by night and day to protect them from the maze that are filled with demonic machines that will kill on sight. This begins his adventure, eager to learn what is out there and willing to become a maze runner which is equivalent to being a tribute for the greater good in their little homemade society. Having powers might help to become a hero, but in the dystopian novel The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, his protagonist Thomas demonstrates the hero journey in a more natural way by crossing the threshold, meeting a mentor, and lastly having tests, allies and enemies.
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us…The hero journey is a symbol that binds …. (Phil Cousineau).” Mattie Ross learns this in True Grit, by Charles Portis, when she experiences the death of her father. She says, ”…Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas and robbed him of his life and his horses and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band(11)”. Frank Ross, Matties’ father, who was shot to death, by a man named, Tom Chaney. Mattie Ross is just 14 years old in the 1870’s, she states, “Nothing is free in this world except the grace of god, you must pay for everything.(pg?)” Personal growth often comes at a great expense. She is in beginning of the separation stage in a hero’s journey, which consists of the call and threshold. Harris and Thompson define the call as, “…invites the initiate into the adventure, offers her the opportunity to face the unknown, an imbalance or injustice in her life”(50). Her father getting killed and Mattie getting vengeance, is her invite. This is followed by, the threshold, known as the jumping off point. She states, “We hit the river running…we came out some little ways down the river.”(107) She has now made it into the Choctaw Nation to assist in the pursuit, in the unknown world, “a different world full of dangers and challenges (Harris and Thompson 50)”. Next, is the initiation and transformation then, the return to the known world. You can see, Mattie encounters her call when her father was killed.
Dexter and Judy could have had a fairytale ending, but in the end both of their lives were lonely and depressing. Judy wanted Dexter, but not to fall in love with her. She wanted him because she knew she could have him and wanted to prove to herself that her beauty could get a man to do anything. She convinced a man to break off an engagement with a girl he could have been happy with. She didn’t even stick around Dexter long enough for him to even propose.
In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, moral ambiguity is often present in order to distort the reader’s judgement on whether the characters are purely good or purely evil. The contrast between the two characteristics depend on the situation the narrator is in. At a time of war, morality is not questioned or thought of because of the surroundings and nature of war. Tim O’Brien uses his experience in which his moral ambiguity is present and shares his story with readers of this book. The moral ambiguity relates to the plot by revealing the effects of war and the experiences soldiers endured during their combat.
In ‘Winter Dreams’, the ending is unexpected. Throughout the story, we are under the impression that this is the story of Dexter Green's love for Judy Jones. But at the end of the story, once Dexter finds out that Judy has lost her charms and settled into a bad marriage, we begin to wonder if this story is about something else entirely. Dexter does not weep for Judy. He weeps for himself, for the young man he once was and for the illusions he once held.
The series starts up inviting its viewer to dark scenery through the downtown Miami night life with the main character’s chilling narrative, when the main character (Micheal C Hall) exposes some of its back-story and certain first person views on how he sees and compares the world around him as a playground where he could choose the next victim that can satisfy his thirst for blood hence demonstrating its character complexity and multifaceted components. Dexter Morgan, the principal protagonist, lives a double life were on day time he is a forensics blood spatter analysis expert for the Miami P.D while on night he leads he’s life as a “good” serial killer, who kills by being fateful to a set of vigilante like principles implanted by his father, were he should only kill people that deserve it, for the sake of controlling his unnatural violent need to kill (“Dexter: Season 1: Episode 1:’Dexter’ Review”). Taking in mind, that Dexter contains such a disturbing concept and presence, it is impressive how well did the main cast executed through its first episode, especially Micheal C. Hall case, since he does a magnificent act as Dexter, due to he’s ability to flesh out such a well written yet biased character.
It shows the need for people to conform to societal expectations to survive and thrive in society. It also shows the consequences of going against those expectations to purse matters of the heart, whether that is helping a condemned man or trying to keep your family from being taken away. Fighting these societal expectations puts a target on these people’s backs, which is why so many people decide to just succumb to these expectations, which is much easier on these
At first, the idea of quitting job was frightened him, but the blind infatuation and devotion to Judy’s beauty won. The young boy later even neglected his “scanty fund” to attend a famous and expensive university in the East mainly because of its prestige (Fitzgerald 2151). It can be said, getting wealthy was the only key to open the door to Judy’s beauty in the young Dexter’s mind, and he would scarified anything and everything in order to archive this
Morality is something that everyone has but no one has a clear understanding of. In the Television Series Dexter, you are constantly put in a moral dilemma. The anti-hero Dexter Morgan will make you question everything; he is a serial killer that you fall in love with because he is killing other killers who slipped through the cracks in the justice system. Throughout the series there is always one reoccurring question of morality, is Dexter Morgan, the psychopathic killer, a hero or a villain
America’s attraction to crime and drama can be credited to the viewers desire to see good defeating evil: “In popular media, law enforcement is oftentimes presented being insufficient in upholding justice, calling for the intervention of a hero; a figure capable of recognizing and punishing evil without the restrictions of the law”(Dexter). “Dexter” is an hour-long American physiological thriller on Showtime TV. Created by Jeff Lindsay and James Manos, “Dexter” first aired in 2009 and has been the spotlight of Showtime since then. The show depicts Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for the local Miami Metro Police Department. If Dexter isn’t at a crime scene, he is cleaning his own one up. In his spare time he is a cautious serial killer who kills other murderers who have escaped the judicial system. Dexter’s layers of personality, ability to problem solve and his ability to balance both sides of himself are what makes him an enthralling character. Although most people aren’t serial killers the general viewing audience can relate to Dexter: Everyone has different layers of personality and everyone to a certain degree has a dark side.
Lindsay wrote of a character who showed great compassion towards kids. A character who passed each day with a front as a human would blossom with true emotion while around kids. Dexter benefited from his superficial relationship with Rita by enjoying the company of her two kids. Dexter experienced trauma very young, losing his mother to a drug deal that ended in a blood bath. Rita’s kids had been left with a scared mom after losing their dad to “First alcohol, then heroin, believe it or not, and finally crack” (Lindsay 55). Dexter had a sense of protectiveness over her kids as they had lost parents to drug related issues like Dexter. His compassion and protectiveness over children is the only vigilante characteristics that is purely motivated by selfless causes. “And best of all were her two children. Astor was eight and Cody was five and they were much too quiet. They would be, of course. Childeren whose parents frequently attempt to kill eachother with the furniture tend to be slightly withdrawn. Any child brought up in a horror zone is. But they can be brought out of it eventually- look at me. I had endured nameless and unknown horrors as a child, and yet here I was: a useful citizen, a pillar of the community.” (Lindsay 57). Dexter recalled Astor and Cody with hopefulness that he can play a role in bringing the two scarred kids out