Vice Incognito
An Exploration of Disguise
Throughout much of the literary works we have covered thus far, there have been a plethora of instances where disguise has been used as a method of deception. What do these examples of disguise show the reader about the nature of the characters represented? In many cases we are able to find out a great deal from the way that players act within the confines of their masks, their own inner dialogue, and their motivations. The circumstances that come about from these cases of disguise are sometimes tragic, often funny, but always revealing.
Daniel Defoe uses disguise as a method of developing character several times in his novel Roxana. The title protagonist is a skilled performer, and thus is able to manipulate those around her for her own means with ease. Examples of her trickery can be found many times in the text, but the first we will address takes place while Roxana is holding a masquerade ball in her apartments in London's West End. We enter on Roxana's first dance in a Turkish dress she purchased with a slave girl in Italy. Having only used the dress for private entertaining before (i.e. her gentlemanly providers), the lady Roxana decides to take the gown out of hiding to dazzle her guests: "The Company were under the greatest Surprize imaginable; the very Musick stopp'd a-while to gaze; for the Dress was indeed, exceedingly surprizing, perfectly new, very agreeable, and wonderful rich"(216). The dress extracts the adoration Roxana desires, every person in the room stopping to give her their attention. It is in this need that we are able to relate to Roxana, her deep desire to be admired. Having spent a large part of her life as a housewife, then in ...
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... your care to extend to the summer-house, and her dressing-room."(XXIV/104-105) Referring to two other incidents in which he tried to take advantage of her virtue, Pamela is able to thoroughly outwit her master (and then goes into a rage). It speaks volumes to the intelligence of the girl: although she is quite self-righteous, she still manages to play the game at hand well by anyone's standards.
Roxana and Pamela are both terribly different characters, with greatly differing circumstances. The thing that unifies them is their ability to make the most of their situations, and with a great dear of acuity and wit. Through their experiences in disguise, we are able to understand this ability that much more clearly. Weather the character is running from an unwanted past, or from unwanted advances- a great deal can be gleaned when we look just beyond the mask.
faults. She was brought low for other reasons -- in this case, she died because she was obedient to the will of the gods. That isn't a fault, it's a virtue. Throughout the play she shows herself to be kind, generous, and giving. Again, those are hardly vices. This leaves Creon as the only possible tragic figure in Antigone. And he does make an ideal tragic figure in the classical sense! His flaw that brings him low is a sense of narrow-minded pride. Although in some sense he may be justified in
Christian perspective, which can be verified by comparing his poem with New Testament teachings. In his attempt to vindicate God in the face of suffering, he does not, like the pantheist, rule out the existence of evil. Pope knows that men are capable of vice and that suffering is real. Pope does not argue that evil does not exist; rather he argues that its existence does not preclude the justice of God. Like the writers of the New Testament, particularly the apostle Paul, Pope claims that pride and envy
humanity does not seek knowledge or improvement. It is not a fault that curiosity drives society's scientists to explain and improve the world beyond the realm of the philosophers. The fault lies in how easily this motive can be manipulated by the vices of greed, the propaganda of the mass media, the centuries-old, unwavering human thirst for power. It is this desire for power and profit, not the journey in creating new technologies and deducing the mechanisms of life and the universe, which becomes
Rene Descartes once said, “The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.” This idea rings true in Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game”. First published in 1924, this short story follows Sanger Rainsford, a hunter from New York City, on a ship from America to Rio de Janeiro. In the middle of the Caribbean Sea, Rainsford falls overboard and hastily swims to a nearby island. He comes upon another hunter’s mansion on the island, and soon discovers that
Nonetheless it is possible to retrace the reason for his perversion. It is explained at the very beginning of the text. Ovid writes that the women around Pygmalion spent their time in wickedness, and that he (Pygmalion), was disgusted by their very many vices, which nature gave to women's minds: "quas quia Pygmalion aevum per crimen agentes viderat, offensus vitiis, quae plurima menti feminae natura dedit." It was from this fact that Pygmalion's troubles started. Ever since Aphrodite had turned the
Petronius and the poem “True Love” by Judith Viorst, the authors portray love through the use of satire and irony. They do this though a series of ironic twists, humorous accounts, and life experiences. A satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn. In The Widow of Ephesus, the narrator recalls a tale of love in which an apparently faithful woman discredits her vows of marriage after her husband's death. She is tempted into this by a handsome young man, who attempts
find out if it harms the human race. The testing that goes on is harmful to the animals and can cause serious side effects. The cosmetic companies hold down bunnies in vices and spray the cosmetics into their eyes to see if it cause them redness, stinging, or even blindness. They also have baboons strapped down with their heads in vices to do certain tests on them. Animals are also used by pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs and health supplements. They estimate that 17 to 22 million animals are
Harris M.D., explains in this book the vast amount of experiences that affect the way we live our life from the moment we are born to the second we die. He explains the different feelings a child experiences from being taken cared of and attended to and vice versa. These feelings are described as “I’m not ok-you’re not ok, I’m not ok-you’re ok, I’m ok-you’re ok, and I’m ok-you’re not ok.” The author explains how the interactions between a parent and a child help develop each of these feelings and tells
Seven Virtues versus Seven Sins Virtues are character strengths consistently applied to moral decision making. They show positive patterns of behavior. However, vices are negative patterns of behavior, often harmful to one’s self or others. The seven virtues are faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath, greed, and sloth. Practicing one virtue can protect one from the temptation to perform an act which is sinful
are willing to pay the big bucks to get their ads on the air. The same is true about the Superbowl, with 30 second advertising sports reaching astronomical highs networks are lining up to buy the rights fees for the event. As Bill Brown the senior vice president of Fox Sports stated, “ we want entertainment…we want to televise the teams that will deliver us the highest ratings”. That truly summarizes the essence of sport media today, and why rights fees are working. “Fox, paying MLB about $417 million
Analysis of South of the Slot by Jack London The slot is a metaphor of the “class cleavage of society”. There was a contrast between the North and South of the Slot in terms of building types: in the North were the higher-class centers of diversion, lodging, and business; and in the South were the lower-class centers of lodging, unskilled work/business. The buildings are figures of two contrasting classes that were segregated (?). In order to study the southern people (the working class) a sociology
himself to be man who condescends to those that he believes to be lower than him in any way, by acting on his own personal belief of superiority, and this later becomes a major player in his downfall. Initial impressions are supported by further vices in Malvolio’s general character and these lead to further aversion to him. He shows himself to be a strict puritan and this is also suggested by the opinion of Maria “The devil a puritan that he is”. He denies himself indulgences and pleasure whilst
of class time wandering up to the top of Colle di Papa or down to the river with my friend Fabrizio, sharing with him the cigarettes he filched from his father. La Maestra had paid a visit to my mother one afternoon, to advise her of my truancy and vices….’ (9). We find that Vitto is trying to turn around his poor school habits, and has been trying to read through a novel called Principi Matematici, but to no avail. As he sat stranded on page three of his mathematical conquest, he was overcome by a
Living Together Before Marriage There are many advantages and disadvantages in living together before marriage. Today there are many couples living together before marriage. Sometimes these kinds of relationships 'living together before marriage' end up with success and sometimes they are unsuccessful. Some of the advantages of living together before marriage are such as getting to know your partner, learning about one's abilities if he/she can satisfy your expectations and more. Also, there
to one is able to have the discipline necessary to create what Aquinas calls and operative habit, and just like Aristotle, these habits are seen as virtues(656). It is imperative that one continually avoid human desires because they are merely the vices that prevent one from learning about God, and the “good news”(Roth). For Aquinas, knowledge of God and the good is considered one of the highest forms of virtue, because this knowledge of God is wisdom, and wisdom is concerned with all things, and