In the novel, The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown, there is a contrast between the opposing ideas of sentiment and reason. Characters in the text play to this underlying contrast and are affected by the polar ideas, ultimately resulting in the taking of their own lives. These acts of suicide results from a detachment, or ignorance, of reason. When overcome by emotional misery of sentiment, reason may, for however long a period, become lost or inferior to overbearing ideas of sentimental thoughts directed toward one's death. Bearing the pain of one's own reason leads one to direct their actions by means of sentimental reasoning.
The story of Ophelia, as told by Harriot, depicts the reasonable daughter of Shepard becoming lost to the sentimental thoughts of suicide. While rationally stating her argument to her father, she claims to be speaking with the intention to “demonstrate the sincerity of her repentance” (39) and regain the peace that was once within her home. She recognized that she was wrong in her action, claiming that “All...are not blest with the like happiness of resisting temptation” (39) and she wished to display her sincerity with this confession. The transition from reasonable to melancholy occurs when her father rejects the notion of Ophelia's confession, her “sensibility became more exquisite” (39) indicating that her sensibility came from the attempt to make things right with her family; however, the attempt failed and she lost her rational thought. The emotional part of Ophelia became stronger as her repentance was rejected; reason had failed her, her family was not influenced by her words. There is a drastic leap to conduct that “bordered upon insanity” (40), a lack of sane and rational thought th...
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... reason. When the character remains reasonable, they face an inner pain, whether it be guilt, passion or confusion. Rather than suffer with this pain, the characters abandon reason and succumb to the overbearing strength of emotion. Ophelia, reasonable despite being unforgiven, loses her sanity to emotional melancholy and ends her life with poison. Harriot, who was just before owner her virtue, gave her life away to passion thinking that reason is unable to aid suffering in patience. And Harrington, who makes no attempt to reclaim his clear mind, is driven to death because he fails to direct his thoughts elsewhere, even when urged to. The sentimental forces in this novel initiate a thought of suicide. The characters develop the thoughts individually, yet all give in to the powers of passion due to their lost sense of reason and overbearing sentimental thoughts.
Ophelia’s mental strength quickly dissipates due to multiple happenings in the play. The man that she once thought she was in love with kills her father, driving her into the dark abyss of grief. She begins to fall into madness, “...speaks things in doubt /That carry but half sense /Her speech is nothing” (3.3.7-8). She begins to jabber on about nonsense. She loses her ability to think, “...poor Ophelia /Divided from herself and her fair judgment” (4.5.91-92). Others see her as an emotional wreck, falling farther and farther into insanity. She finally can’t take it anymore, so she ends her own life, “As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful” (5.1.234). Others saw Ophelia in a dark light, saying that she took her own life, and that she did not deserve a nobel burial. Ophelia was driven into mania by a combination of negative things, that in the end, lead to her taking her own
Maki states, “Women of Ophelia’s time had little autonomy and their lives were reduced to the will of their father or husband.”, which applies directly to Ophelia’s state of mind. Maki also goes on to say that some symptoms of hysteria include, “choking and muteness”. For these symptoms to apply to Ophelia’s symptoms, they can be interpreted as muteness of her own opinions and and choking as in being smothered by all the men in her life. Her father and brother are pulling her in one direction and Hamlet is pulling her in another. Ophelia struggles with her instinct to remain as a respectable “good daughter” or to follow her sexul desires and chose to remain with
People’s decisions can be majorly influenced by love and insanity. In “Prophyria’s Lover”, the speaker has to face his inner emotions of love towards his wife, which in the end lead to the murder of his own wife. The struggles of facing inner self has been a cause of the deaths of many people in the world. It can be the struggles of a single person alone, or can be struggles a person may have in which they take another persons life because of the relationship they have between one another.
In Romeo and Juliet, the tragic love story, emotion is also surrounded with both the protagonists and brought themselves a tragic ending. Early in the story, Romeo and Juliet made an unacceptable forbidden decision which created a path towards their graves. After knowing themselves as the enemy of their household, the two teenagers yet fall in love with each other. Their idiotic actions of love have brought themselves a road to death at the end. Is unworthy to cost your life by your foolish decision. Furthermore, Romeo made another decision out of momentary anger and caused himself a disastrous problem. After Mercutio's death, out of anger Romeo duel with Tybalt and demands to slay him. After his revenge, he brought a death sentence on himself if he is ever found within the city again.
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” –Meryl Streep Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This particular skill requires one to walk around in someone else’s shoes. It is a very valuable emotional skill that develops in many characters during the course of the novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is consistently present whether it’s Atticus being empathetic, Atticus teaching the kids to empathize or them empathizing themselves in certain situations.
The rapper has appeared as himself in several projects since 2005, and he has also starred in two short films that he has written and directed himself. The rapper has expressed an interest in breaking into the industry and is rumored to be making an apperance in the upcoming Zoolander sequel. Chiraq could present the musician with an opportunity to truly break into the film world with a more serious effort. Currently West is working on releasing his seventh solo studio album So Help Me God, which is scheduled for release sometime in
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
Today, Ophelia would be referred to as your typical confused and stressed pregnant teenager. However, because of the circumstances in her life, her teen pregnancy ultimately drives her to suicide. In order to prove this is Ophelia’s primary reason for suicide, it must first be proven that Ophelia and Hamlet have the opportunity to have sexual intercourse and take advantage of this opportunity. It must further be proven that Hamlet knows about Ophelia’s pregnancy and abandons her. Only then can it be stated that Ophelia’s suicide was attributable to her conceiving Hamlet’s child.
from sympathy to fear within the readers. However, out of all the notions and events that
Ophelia to think of him as a wise, moral, and respectable father as shown in the following lines:
Ophelia is conditioned to obey Polonius and Laertes’ commands, thinly veiled as guidance for her “own good.” She is never trusted to have a mind of her own, often having her intelligence openly insulted, causing her to be dependent on the men in her life. These men exercise authority over her, patronize, and degrade her, lowering her self-esteem to a non-existent level, and leaving her a...
Human nature is a conglomerate perception which is the dominant liable expressed in the short story of “A Tell-Tale Heart”. Directly related, Edgar Allan Poe displays the ramifications of guilt and how it can consume oneself, as well as disclosing the nature of human defense mechanisms, all the while continuing on with displaying the labyrinth of passion and fears of humans which make a blind appearance throughout the story. A guilty conscience of one’s self is a pertinent facet of human nature that Edgar Allan Poe continually stresses throughout the story. The emotion that causes a person to choose right from wrong, good over bad is guilt, which consequently is one of the most ethically moral and methodically powerful emotion known to human nature. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe displays the narrator to be rather complacent and pompous, however, the narrator establishes what one could define as apprehension and remorse after committing murder of an innocent man. It is to believe that the narrator will never confess but as his heightened senses blur the lines between real and ...
Ophelia loves Hamlet; her emotions drive her to perform her actions. Some would say that Ophelia’s emotions could have actually been what ended her young
In Hamlet, Ophelia is unaware of the evil is spreading around her. She is an obedient woman, and is naive in that she takes what people say at face value, which makes her an innocent lady. "You should not have believed me, for virtue/ cannot so inculate our old stock but we shall relish of/ it. I loved you not." (III.ii. 117-119). Hamlet says these lines as a mask of his madness, but Ophelia does not understand his true motives and takes Hamlet's words very seriously to heart. The words that Hamlet says to Ophelia both confuse and hurt her greatly. Hamlet's lines are what eventually lead Ophelia to insanity, and Ophelia's insanity is what causes her death by drowning.