In this assignment I will discuss how fate and superstition contribute
to the final Tragedy. I will also consider other elements in the play,
such as social class, education, poverty, and coincidence, which are
highly significant to the story.
In the play there are many references to the devil and the bogeyman,
both figures representing evil and control.
Most of the characters are strongly influenced by these; the "kids,"
who believe in the bogey man, and incorporate him into their games,
"will he get me mummy?" and their mothers, who are influenced by the
devil.
The Narrator, who plays an integral part in the play, can be
interpreted as the devil or bogeyman, following Mickey Eddie and Linda
around and taunting their mothers,
"Now you know the devils got your number" in this manner controlling
the main characters and making the events (stated in the prologue)
come to pass. The Narrator adapts the roles of many minor characters
reinforcing the idea that the narrator is in control, because he is
featured in all the significant turning points of the story, taking
the parts of the milkman, gynaecologist, bus driver and the police
man.
The narrator is an ambiguous character, so he can also be portrayed as
neutral, just telling and observing the story, or someone
understanding and sympathetic, watching the events unfold.
The prologue introduces the play, making the audience feel like the
story is already written and Mickey and Eddie are destined to die.
"An' did you never hear how the Johnstones died?"
This is yet another reason to believe that fate is in control.
However, there are powerful arguments to suggest that it is more
coincidence and class that causes the deaths of the twins, for
example, when Mrs Jhonstone has twins when she might have been able to
cope with just one baby, and when Mr Lyons fires Mickey.
As small children, Mickey and Eddies friendship isn't greatly affected
by the difference in class, they are both envious of the other,
showing that neither really has a better childhood, although one has
more money, so has a higher chance of being successful in life. But
inevitably, as they get older, Mickey is more directly affected by the
poverty he lives with, and when Eddie moves on to university, a
barrier develops between them, illustrating the contrasts between
their lives and making their futures seem even more decided.
Some characters are also affected by superstition, especially Mrs
Jhonstone, who, although she denies, it is very superstitious
"The shoes".
This explains partly why she gives one of the twins away, because it
is Mrs Lyon's manipulation that forces her, rather than fate or
Witchcraft started in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Superstition started when women were accused of acting strangely. These superstitions turned into trials, and later lead to mounds of hanged people. Most of the people accused were innocent, but the harsh judge rulings left them with nothing to live for. The only options for the tried, no matter if guilty or not, were to claim guilty, living the rest of their life in prison, or to plead not guilty and hang. Due to both consequences being equally as punishable, many people isolated themselves from society. Unfortunately, some people caused the uprising of the salem witch trials more than others did. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams single handedly attributed to the
control can be up to us. However, something that is up to us must be
In “Gender and Moral Luck,” Claudia Card argues that men and women have very different mindsets that set the two apart from one another. Her argument is that women are caring and inclusive with a weak sense of justice. Women are encouraged to assimilate and because of this, they become extensions in their relationships (206). That is what causes men to hold all the power in society. Men hold the power in the political sense because the majority of the leaders in office are male, but they also hold power in the house holds. Women are also masochistic in the sense that they can’t seem to say “no” in most cases because they are too caring. They tend to stay in bad relationships due to their need to satisfy everyone and their failure to accept
The nature vs. nurture controversy has been one of the oldest and most incessant debates throughout history. The disputation of this debate has generated numerous hypotheses, and explorations by various researchers, however, it has not been clearly determined as to whether a person is biologically determined or whether they are shaped by the environment. Nature’s theory holds that a person’s mental ability is sustained by what he or she is born with genetically. Conversely, the argument that a person’s environment plays a large role in his or her mental aptitude is nurture. Despite the numerous and overwhelming experiments that have been fulfilled by theorists who support the nature theory, I strongly believe that the environment around a person, on the other hand, is ever-changing and offers more opportunities for growth and variation.
Peter G. Beidler informs us that there have been “hundreds” of analyses of Henry James’ spine-tingling novella, The Turn of the Screw (189). Norman Macleod suggests that James himself seems to be “an author intent on establishing a text that cannot be interpreted in a definite way” (Qtd in Beidler 198). Yet, the vast majority of analyses of The Turn of the Screw seem to revolve around two sub-themes: the reality of the ghosts and the death of Miles both of which are used to answer the question of the governess’s mental stability: is she a hero or a deranged lunatic? As Beidler points out, “It is an amazingly fine creepy, scary, soul-shuddering ghost story or, alternatively, it is an amazingly fine psychological case study of a neurotic young woman” (189). These two views of the governess seem to dominate the analytical world in terms of readings, typically being one view or the other and seldom being anything else. Unfortunately, most of the myriad readings focus only on the visible events as related by the governess. However, there is much that we are not told but that is pertinent to an accurate reading. Bruce Fleming argues that what we are not told in The Turn of the Screw is as important as what we are told (135). Wolfgang Iser suggests that there are “gaps” or holes within the sequence of the text. He further suggests that it is the reader’s responsibility to fill-in those gaps (Qtd in Beidler 226). The facts “not in evidence” are equal in importance to the information laid out before us. What happens “off-screen” or “off-stage” is just as important as what happens in front of the audience. Much of what we do not see and are not told impacts what we do see and are told so g...
The philosophers Williams and Nagel have recognized a problem wherein moral assessment is based on forces outside human agency: called the problem of moral luck. As I find both philosopher’s solutions unsatisfactory, I will propose a superior settlement to the problem of moral luck by defining what is meant by moral luck, as well as by analyzing William’s control principle alongside Nagel’s ‘solution’. I argue that there must be acceptance of luck as a force of the universe, with individual’s moral accountability being determined on the risks that they take, and their understanding of the dangers of these risks.
main cause of all the supernatural that has occurred in the play. It gives a good perspective of
The play is relevant to any society destroyed by fear, suspicion, paranoia and accusation - other societies where something similar has happened include East Germany under communism after World War 2, Afghanistan under the Taliban and China under the Cultural Revolution when the Red Guards would decry people for being bourgeois reactionaries. In conclusion I think that the ideas of fear and suspicion appear throughout the play. Initially the suspicion starts on a small scale but gradually develops and destroys the community. The fear of the devil at the beginning extends and includes fear of others and neighbours
2. What does Shanley reveal about the historical context for the play? What in going on in the neighborhood, the Catholic Church, society in general?
The witches, who are associated with the supernatural, mysterious world, which was established in the first scene, now reappear. When we perform the play, the stage will be black, and you ‘three weird sisters’ will dress in black, so that the audience will immediately link you to evil. As you tell Macbeth that he will be “Thane of Glamis”, “Thane of Cawdor” and even “king hereafter”, your movements, when kneeling before Macbeth and pointing your long fingers at him, should create an eerie atmosphere. Your predictions to Macbeth will
As a Shakespearean tragedy represents a conflict which terminates in a catastrophe, any such tragedy may roughly be divided into three parts. The first of these sets forth or expounds the situation, or state of affairs, out of which the conflict arises; and it may, therefore, be called the Exposition. The second deals with the definite beginning, the growth and the vicissitudes of the conflict. It forms accordingly the bulk of the play, comprising the Second, Third and Fourth Acts, and usually a part of the First and a part of the Fifth. The final section of the tragedy shows the issue of the conflict in a catastrophe. (52)
Choices: we all make them daily. Every decision that we make and every action we take has a consequence. At times, our expected consequences and the actual outcome of our decision can differ, from minimal to the extreme. Thomas Nagel wrote on the moral aspects of assigning blame or praise on the actions or consequence of an agent, even if the agent was not in full control over the action or consequence. This theory is known as moral luck. Nagel attempts to assign luck into some objects in determining the outcomes of actions. I disagree with his interjection of luck into the discussion, as I do not believe in chance.
Have you ever wondered why we do the things we do? Why might we get
An extensive use of Goldratt's thinking process is applied in the various businesses as part of the problem solving. "It's not luck" emphasizes the importance of using the thinking processes in business and in your personal life. The thinking processes refer to a logical, graphical, general and practical method of problem solving methodology and basically comprised of 3 steps. These steps as described by Goldratt are:
Within this dark and dreary world where we so happen to find things that stand in our way and throw a wrench into all of the plans that we have made to appease ourselves. These simple, seemingly ordinary things can turn a whole world into nothing but rubble. The worst thing about these irritating interlopers is the very fact that almost every time, without fail, they turn out to have some sinister and humorous irony about themselves. That irony can sometimes make life far too hard for some people to bear. But some people don’t have to for long. Many authors have written tremendous novels based on dark irony and those malicious things in this world. So very many of them have succeeded in portraying this irony perfectly, and that tells you how very horrible that irony truly is. The famous short story author, Saki, told a very grim and ominous story called, The Interlopers. In this gloomy story of his, he uses irony to the very greatest of its potential and in the very last moments, he used dark imagery to show two men seemingly being served justice, but one can be lead to think otherwise.