The Theme of Alcestis
Alcestis by Euripides is distinct from other Greek Tragedy, due to its fairy tale origins. It was the fourth play in a set and would therefore have taken the place of a satyr-play. Satyr-plays were usually a light, comic play used as a form of relief from the previous heavy tragedies. The play has its comic elements, Heracles and Death playing the main comic figures but is there a more serious meaning hidden within the comedy? Philip Vellacott in his introduction to a collection of Euripides' plays, states that the main theme of the play is the "unequal relationship of man to woman." He believes this theme to be a reading of the play that would not be accessible to spectators who watched the play purely for enjoyment, but would be found by those capable of serious reflection. Did Euripides foresee such a reading of the play and is there enough evidence to support such a view?
In the play, the experience of man and woman do appear to be set up against each other. On the one hand there is Admetus and the chorus of the citizens of Pherae and on the other, there is Alcestis aligned with other second-class citizens, the servants. The chorus sympathise almost exclusively with Admetus and the servants with Alcestis. The servants and Alcestis are associated with each other from line 192:
"She took each one by the hand, and spoke to each...even the humblest."
Alcestis shows how she cared for the servants by being so thoughtful during her suffering. Later in the play another servant hails Alcestis as a mother figure. With such a bond between them, the servants see things from Alcestis' point of view. In telling the chorus the events of the day, the servant speaks entirely with sympathy for Alcestis, recalls what she has said and done and how she is becoming weaker and weaker. The servant does not mention Admetus until the chorus pointedly ask about him. In her reply the servant shows how Admetus is coping with the situation. Line 200:
"Oh, yes, he weeps...Beseeching her not to desert him."
Here the irony of the situation is recognised by the servant.
Another pattern that the author shows as being important is fear. Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield were walking together and saw Dr. Jekyll in his house. They were talking to him when all of a sudden he started to change into Mr. Hyde. Seeing this they glared at each other, both were pale and had an answering of horror in their eyes. "I am afraid, I think there has been foul play." Poole says this when he goes and talks to Mr. Utterson about Dr. Jekyll. Also, when Mr. Utterson and Poole go talk to Dr. Jekyll, ask for him, but find out that Mr. Hyde is inside- they swing an axe at his door. They hear a "dismal screech, as of mere animal terror." A different way fear is shown is when Lanyon saw Mr. Hyde turn into Dr. Jekyll. "O God and O God again and again." Lanyon said this after what he saw.
Jekyll started taking the substance frequently declaring that he has it under control of Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll kept insisting to Mr. Utterson by claiming that he barely uses Mr.Hyde. Late night Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde had fun and falls asleep in a small room in Soho as Edward Hyde. The passage states, “Now the hand of Henry jekyll (as you have often remarked) was a professional in shape and size: it was large, firm, white and comely”(54) After his night sleeping he wakes up as Dr. Jekyll, but to notice that one of his hand looked different and recognize that it wasnt his hand but it was Mr. Hyde hand. Dr. Jekyll realizes that he taken advantage of the substance. The passage states, “All things therefore seemed to point to this: that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second worse.”(55) In the quote proves how Dr.Jekyll felt so liberated when he is Mr.Hyde that he doesnt realize that it wasn’t going to last long. Time goes whne he started noticing that he is slowly turning into something that he doesn 't want to be that will lead into his tragic
Jekyll. Hyde commits acts of murder and assault yet can be seen as Dr. Jekyll’s id or deep desires. By trying to separate good and bad . Dr. Jekyll passed scientific and social borders to isolate his personality. In doing so, he lost control of who he wanted to be. As a last resort he created a poisonous potion that Hyde drank and died through act of suicide. Dr. Jekyll although not working with anyone took matters in his own hands which makes him seem like an outlaw hero. He did not turn himself into the police when he had control. However, Dr. Jekyll seems to have qualities of a official hero in his maturity in handling the situation. He knows how evil his alter ego is, so he isolates himself from others as a safety precaution. Jekyll tries to live a normal life, but is unable to. His status as a well distinguished doctor and sociability skills with his
In conclusion Ruby Turpin's encounter with Mary Grace helped her to see a "Revelation". Mary Grace could clearly see these flaws of Ruby: being judgmental, controlling, and blind to reality as a downfall and a hindrance to her eternal home. The very thought of her being called "a wart hog from hell" pricked her heart, thus changing her view on life.
Hyde is Jekyll without restraint, and the man Jekyll wants to be in the light of day. Jekyll's close friend and attorney Utterson regards Hyde with "disgust, loathing and fear," and yet cannot put a name on the precise reason for the...
...n Dr Lanyon did, he was surprised to see Mr. Hyde meeting him and Mr. Hyde performed his experiment. The result horrified Dr. Lanyon because he saw Mr. Hyde transforming into Dr. Jekyll before his own eyes and the next day, he was found dead. "And now, you who have been so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derived your superiors-behold!"(Stevenson 47) Dr. Jekyll was so into the benefits of proving his long-time friend wrong of the science he was studying that he went to such lengths in knowing that it would cause immeasurable amount of terror in him. The consequence was Dr. Lanyon's death which seems to shriveled under the desire to prove someone wrong for Dr Jekyll and defied the rules of society in which so many humans wish to slip away from.
As the tragedy concludes, the chorus issues its final words: "Pray for no more at all. For what is destined for us, men mortal, there is no escape," demonstrating how justice remains impartial to the prejudice of men; those who make imprudent judgments will ultimately suffer from the consequences of their actions. In Sophocles' Antigone, these prejudices notably surface in the form of paternalism as demonstrated through Creon's government, highlighting the importance of gender roles throughout the play. Therefore, analyzing the motif of gender roles and its effect on the definition of justice through the perspectives of Ismene, Antigone, and Creon enables the audience to understand how Sophocles' macroscopic analogy to humanity's prejudiced judgments as well (and ambiguity of justice)
Theodor Seuss Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss was an unyielding personality who witnessed World War I & II, the death of his first wife, and never became a biological Father; but all these cruel and unfortunate predicaments never did flutter his zeal to produce entertaining books for children. Although, he is a great illustrator and cartoonist, Dr. Seuss will forever be remembered for the dedication shown to write children’s favorites with a lot of social meaning and didactic content. The life of Theodor is quite fascinating and the following facts reveal a bit about his unknown side:
When I was little, I read many Dr. Seuss books. I remember always going for The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Hop on Pop, There’s a Wocket in my Pocket, and Are you my Mother. Dr. Seuss’s book illustrations were very simple and the rhythm moved from page to page. In addition, the books were written using rhythms and funny words, which I enjoyed reading when I was five. When I was younger, I found his books engaging, I enjoyed the illustrations, and I loved the unusual words.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll, in grave danger, writes a letter to his good friend Lanyon. With Jekyll’s fate in Lanyon’s hands, he requests the completion of a task, laying out specific directions for Lanyon to address the urgency of the matter. In desperation, Jekyll reveals the possible consequences of not completing this task through the use of emotional appeals, drawing from his longtime friendship with Lanyon, to the fear and guilt he might feel if he fails at succeeding at this task. Through Jekyll’s serious and urgent tone, it is revealed that his situation is a matter of life and death in which only Lanyon can determine the outcome.
Though very different in terms of tone and genre, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest are similar in that they provide meaningful commentary on the conflict between social identity and personal desires through their depictions of characters who experience great difficulty in conforming to the responsibilities and expectations of high class Victorian society. In their respective literary works, Robert Louis Stevenson and Oscar Wilde use Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, and Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff as vehicles to convey the trivial and or ever-changing nature of social identity when it is confronted with one’s inescapable personal desires.
Dr. Jekyll’s first evil side is shown through Mr. Hyde when he “trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” (Stevenson 8). When Hyde was walking home and ran into her around the corner, he did not even care that she was hurt on the ground. Mr. Utterson, the witness, said that “[Hyde] was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but
Symbolic frames are “terministic screens” (Burke, 1989) which PLWHA engage to make meaning of their lived experience of the HIV/AIDS-related stigma. Through these meaning making resources, PLWHA subliminally interrogate the systemic dismissal of (their) vernacular voices and, in so doing, “participate in social change” (Dutta-Bergman, 2005). The current study
Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them. This is evident in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the nurse. During the time period which Medea is set women have very limited social power and no political power at all, although a women’s maternal and domestic power was respected in the privacy of the home, “Our lives depend on how his lordship feels”. The limited power these women were given is different to modern society yet roles are still imposed on women to conform and be a dutiful wife.
... convey deeper themes of life and death, the struggles between power and class structure and also the societal differences between men and women. Aristophanes uses humor to hook his audience into his play, and then undermines the surface humor with much bigger thematic issues. If this play had simply been about women withholding sex for other reasons such as wanting more money for shopping or other frivolous ideas it would not then be considered a satiric comedy. Satire requires more than physical humor. An issue must be raised such as the life and death theme that is seen in the war in Lysistrata, and a solution must then be made. Aristophanes created the women in the beginning to be bickering, unintelligent, and self-centered people. But in the end it was their idea and compromise that ended the war.