Morality Essay

Emotion and Morality

Morality is the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong and good and bad behavior. Morality leads to laws and rules, which often leads to stability in the society. Morality is known to shape social interactions. It is the foundation of which people choose their actions and it is the backbone of which people decide to establish relationships with. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe, Home Burial by Robert Frost, and Hamlet by William Shakespeare form a central subject: relationships. The theme of love, marriage, and family is discussed in their writings. The authors of the Black Cat, Home Burial, and Hamlet use imagery, symbolism, and irony to convey that loved ones can extend human actions and emotions beyond the limits of morality.

The Black Cat is dark, surreal, and tragic. The vivid imagery in the story creates a suspenseful mood. In the very beginning, the main character mentioned that he is going to die the next day and that he wants to write his story which will be very unpleasant. The main focus of the plot is to describe his horrid actions as a “series of mere household events.” The events “have terrified—have tortured—have destroyed” the main character. “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (DiYanni, 137). The main character described himself as kind, sensitive, and compassionate while growing up. He goes on to say that he “was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets” (DiYanni, 137).

The main character is also married to a wife that he loves so much. He and his wife had “birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbi...

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...nd Hamlet use irony, imagery, and symbolism to convey that loved ones can extend human actions and emotions beyond the limits of morality. In the Black Cat, the main character was an alcoholic. He loved his wife and pets so much that he ended up growing irritated with them as his alcoholism got worse which led to the cause of their deaths. In Home Burial, the husband and wife lost a child and they both had different ways of grieving. They did not acknowledge, accept, or have patience with each other’s grief which led to the collapse of their marriage, breaking a lifelong promise between husband and wife. In Hamlet, he was torn over his father’s death and wanted to get revenge on the person who caused his great suffering. All in all, strong emotions of annoyance, sadness, and hate can definitely make one fail to acknowledge the difference between right and wrong.