People are raised to obey. They are taught to follow orders; they are punished if they don’t. They are shown the rewarding benefits, such as success, a well-paying job and happiness that come along with being loyal, almost sheeplike followers of the law-like structure that their parents, teachers and other superiors set for them. But people aren’t usually shown the consequences that can arise when obedience is taken too far. I mean, look at the character Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” She tried to be as obedient as possible and that just drove her insane. But like long-bodied dogs trying to catch their short tails, people who know nothing other than the obedient ways of which they were raised by are often driven into the same state of madness that Ophelia entered. And like those poor dogs, overly obedient people usually aren’t capable of understanding why they are in such a state, so they can never leave it, or even realize that they are in it.
Most people view obedience as a positive thing. Some say that being obedient can instill the proper values into a person. “It builds character,” others might say, “It helps a person grow, you know, in the ‘right’ sort of way.” Now, surely, one must wonder if that’s necessarily true.
It’s said that obedience can be both a sin and a virtue, but it would make sense to think that obedience can only be a sin when it’s inspired and carried on by sinful people. Likewise, obedience should bring forth virtues, only when there are virtuous people to follow. But can the two become intertwined? Can obedience result in sin if the intentions are holy? Can sinful obedience sometimes have good outcomes?
The answer really depends on what the circumstances are, and what peopl...
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...-for tidal wave / Of justice can rise up / And hope and history rhyme” (10-12), just as being obedient can sometimes result in rewarding outcomes, and hope and history can indeed rhyme— hopefully, however, one’s hope in obedience won’t rhyme with someone like George Gearson’s history, but it might.
Works Cited
Heaney, Seamus. “ A Chorus.” Handout. 7-12.
Howells, William D. “Editha.” Connections: Literature for Composition. Ed. Carrie Brandon. Boston, MA:
Patricia Coryell, 2008. 217-218. Print
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Connections: Literature for Composition. Ed. Carrie Brandon. Boston,
MA: Patricia Coryell, 2008. 225-226. Print.
Updike, John. “A&P.” Connections: Literature for Composition. Ed. Carrie Brandon. Boston, MA: Patricia
Coryell, 2008. 249. Print
As depicted in A Few Good Men, authors Fromm, Dalrymple, and Szegedy-Maszak provide evidence as to why blind obedience influences individuals’ motives, such as fear and trust, to examine how unjust authority pollutes a person’s ability to
...’s obedience level is affected by the location and surroundings of the experiment; they also hold a mutual understanding on the question of ethics. Yet, there is a larger question. Could these points indicate that humans are not fully in control of their actions?
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
Obedience to authority and willingness to obey an authority against one’s morals has been a topic of debate for decades. Stanley Milgrim, a Yale psychologist, conducted a study in which his subjects were commanded by a person in authority to initiate lethal shocks to a learner; his experiment is discussed in detail in the article “The Perils of Obedience” (Milgrim 77). Milgrim’s studies are said to be the most “influential and controversial studies of modern psychology” (Levine).While the leaner did not actually receive fatal shocks, an actor pretended to be in extreme pain, and 60 percent of the subjects were fully obedient, despite evidence displaying they believed what they were doing was harming another human being (Milgrim 80). Likewise, in Dr. Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, conducted an experiment, explained in his article “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” in which ten guards were required to keep the prisoners from
Conclusion: It is often difficult for individuals to disobey authority figures and groups based on these primary reasons; individuals will obey malevolent authority as from legitimate figure, decision making are often influenced by groups and unceasing quest for achievement causes humanity to have a hard time disobeying any legitimate authorities or groups given the fact that we are acting on self-deception in order to satisfy our inner ego, groups and with structural laws given to us as the correct way to obey.
Another reason people obey is that they have a sense of obligation to their duty. This is just the whole idea of completing the job that’s given to you. Some people have a fear of being perceived as brash, or rude. In general, people want to present themselves in the best way possible.
Are you too quick to make important decisions? Do you act before you think? These quick decisions are common in the play Hamlet. Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare in 1589. The play takes place in Denmark. The protagonist is a prince named Hamlet. Hamlet’s father suddenly dies, and Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, decides to marry Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet slowly goes insane, and he wants revenge on the murderer of his father. Laertes, the son of the king’s associate, makes a bad decision in the play. When Laertes’ father, Polonius, is killed, Laertes is outraged and seeks vengeance. Laertes made a bad decision in the play, but he could have tried using the decision-making process, weighing possible alternatives, and he could have changed the outcome of the play if he had made careful decisions.
The citizens of a society must both develop and obey...
Obedience is when you do something you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in authority. As little kids we are taught to follow the rules of authority, weather it is a positive or negative effect. Stanley Milgram, the author of “The perils of Obedience” writes his experiment about how people follow the direction of an authority figure, and how it could be a threat. On the other hand Diana Baumrind article “Review of Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience,” is about how Milgram’s experiment was inhumane and how it is not valid. While both authors address how people obey an authority figure, Milgram focuses more on how his experiment was successful while Baumrind seems more concerned more with how Milgram’s experiment was flawed and
Through my research and findings of obedience to authority this ancient dilemma is somewhat confusing but needs understanding. Problem with obedience to authority has raised a question to why people obey or disobey and if there are any right time to obey or not to obey. Through observation of many standpoints on obedience and disobedience to authority, and determined through detailed examination conducted by Milgram “The Perils Of Obedience,” Doris Lessing “Group Minds” and Shirley Jackson “The Lottery”. We have to examine this information in hopes of understanding or at least be able to draw our own theories that can be supported and proven on this subject.
Obedience may be a simple word, yet it has a powerful impact on the daily lives of millions. Obedience is simply when one follows the orders or directions of another figure, presumably in an authoritative position. This is something nearly everyone bows to everyday without even realizing it - and it can drastically change our lives as we know it. Obedience is, for example, how the holocaust happened. The Germans were ordinary people turned into murderers because they followed the orders of one man - their dictator, Adolf Hitler. Of course, obedience does not always result in horrid results such as the holocaust or result in such a large catastrophe. Obedience can have drastic effects on the lives of only a few men as well; this is showcased in the movie A Few Good Men.
One single moment or event during the course of an individual’s life can effectively alter their priorities and transform their identity drastically. In The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare introduces the readers to the protagonist Hamlet who is draped in anger and emotions and has a new-found mission in life. Initially, Hamlet is portrayed as an individual in mourning over his father's death and his mother's haste in remarrying to her brother-in-law and Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. However, Hamlet’s character and personality were drastically altered after meeting the Ghost and discovering the true nature of his Father’s death. Hamlet is now a man with a lust for revenge and a willingness to do anything that will enable him to accomplish this goal. When burdened with the task of killing Claudius, Hamlet chooses to sacrifice all he holds dear by transforming his identity in a noble effort to avenge his father’s death.
In the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet is in a persistent mental battle between his religious, moral values and his desire to take revenge on the one who murdered his innocent father. Throughout the play, the actions that are taken by characters in Hamlet 's life ultimately lead to the demise and dismissal of each person who not only get in the way of Hamlet but go against the actions he takes. As the ghost of the late dead king appears to Hamlet and informs him of the truth behind what occurred that night Denmark lost a king and Hamlet lost a father, you see him embark on a journey of devotion to the father who was murdered by his uncle and everyone who has been caught up in the uncle’s web of lies. The philosophy of commitment and beauty are shown throughout the play through Hamlets vengeful task of revenge and deceit, King Claudius’s task to keep his murder a secret, Laertes commitment to murdering Hamlet, and the failed preservation of God made beauty.
The concept of compliancy closely resembles the concept of conformity in the sense that individuals’ behaviors are adapted though the norms of their surrounding group. However, in comparison to obedience, compliancy is less as intense as obedience in which commands are given to an individual to perform behaviors and conform to beliefs by an authority figure. Compliance is more of
To come to understand why people act with deviant behavior, we must comprehend how society brings about the acceptance of basic norms. The “techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in a society” are called social control (Schaefer, 2009). As we respect and acknowledge these social norms we expect others to do so as well. Therefore, according to our behavior sanctions are carried out whether they are positive or negative. Conformity, which refers to “going along with peers, people of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior” (Schaefer, 2009), is one way social control occurs in a group level which influence the way we act. On the other hand, obedience is the compliance with a higher authority, resulting in social control at a societal level. The sanctions used to promote these factors can be informal and formal social control. Informal social control can be very casual in enforcing social norms by using body language or other forms of discipline, however formal social control is carried out by authorized agents when desired behavior is not obtained by informal sancti...