Powerful Character Essays

  • Manipulation leading to powerful characters

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    In present society, humans constantly use others for their own intentions. In the novel, Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card characters use people's naivety to their own advantage. The adults in this novel use the children's innocence for their own nefarious purposes and consequently, manipulating the children leads to having powerful individuals as the story progresses. Throughout the novel, the adults use the children's innocence in order to manipulate them. To begin, the adults cover their true

  • The Powerful Character of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Powerful Character of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter One of the most significant writers of the romantic period in American literature was Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Hawthorne wrote stories that opposed the ideas of Transcendentalism. Since he had ancestors of Puritan belief, Hawthorne wrote many stories about Puritan New England.  His most famous story is the Scarlet Letter.  This novel tells of the punishment of a woman, Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and

  • To Kill a Mockingbird - The Powerful Character of Atticus Finch

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird - The Powerful Character of Atticus Finch In the beginning epigraph of To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee quotes a statement made by Charles Lamb: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once." As told through the eyes of the rambunctious elementary school child, Scout Finch, we see not only how she and her brother's lives are affected by their community, also how they develop and mature under the watch of their father, lawyer Atticus Finch. As a wise role model to his

  • A Critique of The Taming of the Shrew

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    wanted to marry wealthily in Padua. It appeared, though, as if  Petruchio was the kind of man who needed an opposition in life.  The shrewish Kate, who was known to have a sharp tongue, very adequately filled his need for another powerful character in a relationship (Kahn 419).  When Petruchio began to woo Kate, everybody was rather surprised, but Signior Baptista agreed when Petruchio wanted marry her on Saturday of the week he met her.  Clearly, he was not opposed because

  • A Christmas Carol - Description Of Scrooge

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    references to his character. The description begins metaphorically as it features the words “ A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone”. Its metaphorical because it is trying to portray that Scrooge is literally as tight as the hand to the grindstone. Then soon after this seven adjectives follow, “ Squeezing, Wrenching, Grasping, Scraping, Clutching, Covetous, Old sinner”. They are used effectively as each one has an individual meaning describing seven trates of Scrooges character, which begins to give

  • The Deaths of Antigone and Creon

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Deaths of Antigone and Creon Antigone and Creon are the main characters of the play Antigone written by Sophocles. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, who was a major figure of ancient Greek myth. Oedipus accidentally killed his father and married his mother. Because of that act, Oedipus ended up cursing his family and died a horrible death. After his death, his sons inherited his kingdom and in a power struggle ended up killing each other. One of the sons, Polynices attacked the city to

  • Lord Of The Flies

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Simon is the most powerful character. Although he is peaceful and shy, Simon closely resembles the role of Christ in many of his ways. He tries to show the boys there is no monster on the island except the fears that the boys have created in their minds. During a meeting, Simon shares what he believes is the truth by saying the beast, "Is only us." When he makes this announcement, he is ridiculed by the boys, "The laughter beat him cruelly

  • The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra

    2463 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra In Euripides' 'Electra', there are a number of parts, speaking and non-speaking, that reveal the redeeming features of the otherwise pitiful characters. This essay will consider the roles of Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, the Peasant and Aegisthus (whose actions are only reported to us). It is arguable that the characters are not redeemable due simply to the plot of the play: a son returns, kills his father's unworthy successor, his

  • Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale in The Scarlet Letter

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hawthorne shows how characters in the Puritan time period have to live and deal with sins and the effects of sins and how people deal with them in there own personal ways. In the novel Hester Prynne moves to America awaiting her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who never came, so she started a relationship with Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale and had a child out of wedlock named Pearl. While all these characters are fascinating in their own way I believe the most fascinating character is the Reverend Arthur

  • The Character of Nastasya in Dostoyevsky's The Idiot

    3287 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Powerful Character of Nastasya in The Idiot Few of the principal characters in Dostoyevsky's novels are female. However, in his novel, The Idiot, we find one of his strongest female characters. Nastasya Filippovna, a proud, yet exploited woman, is by far one of Dostoyevsky's most intriguing characters. She has an instantaneous and dramatic affect on the characters surrounding her. Nastasya Filippovna has been systematically destroyed by her surroundings. She finds she is unable to survive

  • Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    2249 Words  | 5 Pages

    of the characters that Coleridge presents in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan" and the situations in which they find themselves reveals interesting aspects of Coleridge's own character that are both similar to and different from the characters named in the titles of these poems. In particular, an examination of these characters with an eye toward Coleridge's conception of poetic inspiration and success can be fruitful. In "Kubla Khan," Coleridge depicts a powerful character

  • Merchant of Venice Essay: The Character of Portia

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Character of Portia in Merchant of Venice In his Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare wants the reader to admire Portia, arguably the most powerful character in the play. However, it is easy to mistake the word ‘admiration’ to mean simply a liking of someone’s positive virtues. Rather, we should like Portia because of those things that make her a multi-faceted character. Though she can appear to be an “unlessoned girl,” she is also conniving, manipulative, and powerful. Three examples that effectively

  • Powerful Female Characters in Theater

    1843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Powerful Female Characters in Theater A craving for life and the pursuit of happiness are concepts everyone cherishes in one way or another. Everyone’s goals and ambitions for the future vary from one to the next, yet each person shares a common bond, each hope for their own personal happiness. The search of the truth and the power it produces cause internal conflict during one’s pursuit of this so-called happiness. The search for this is not made without obstacles along the way. One must

  • Character Analysis: Is Mayella Powerful?

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    Is Mayella Powerful? Mayella is not powerful, as the reader Mayella is going to be classified how much power she has by class, race, and gender. Class refers to a person’s income and education, but most of the time is how much money someone has or earns. Race refers to how people are categorized based on physical differences mostly people think of skin color. Gender in this case goes far more than the differences of male and female. Gender refers to roles and what society expects from men and women

  • Willy Loman is No Tragic Hero in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    he is a common man he fails to live up to the standards of being a tragic hero because he never accepts nor admits to his own errors. He, therefore, loses his dignity. One of his biggest errors is his failure of be a good father. Willy Loman’s character is capable of making errors. He believes he is a very successful salesman and well liked. He also thinks that the company likes what he is doing. He once said, “I’m the New England man. I am vital in New England” (Miller pg. 32) Because of his false

  • A Reflection on the Defeat of Power in Fathers and Sons by Turgenev

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    this human “goal” to become “great” and “powerful” symbolically in one character; Bazarov. He also characterizes the polar opposite of this goal in an ordinary, but respected individual; Arkady. In this tabloid society, it comes as no surprise that humans all want to have power, and that most anyone would go to nearly any heights to achieve such success. In the novel Fathers and Sons, Turgenev uses characterization to contrast fates between two characters to represent an idea; in life, the desire

  • The Loss of Power and the Loss of Purpose

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    matter how powerful they once were, it often leaves them feeling weak. This weakness has the potential to lead to the questioning of ones’ existence. Finding meaning in one’s existence, although temporarily helpful, unfortunately does not fill the void that occurs when the persons’ power is taken away from them. In both “Maus” and “I See You”, the idea of losing and regaining power through signification is shown through the characters of Vladek and Smith. Despite both of these characters going through

  • Female Stereotypes and Stereotyping in The Big Sleep

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vivian is "worth a stare" (17). Carmen has sharp predatory teeth while Vivian has, "hot black eyes" (17). Chandler characterizes Carmen as the petite, helpless female who needs protection. Vivian, on the other hand, is a physically impressive, powerful woman. The importance of the physical appearance of the women dwindles as the book progresses. It becomes clear that Chandler wrote a misogynistic novel as the mental abilities of the women become the focal point. Both women are cunning. Carmen

  • Tone and Imagery in The School Children

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    These three groups come to life through the descriptive poem that allows readers to form their own conclusions.  Though Gluck’s meaning is never clearly stated, her use of tone and imagery create an extremely visual work with three dynamic sets of characters. Gluck continuously presents the schoolchildren as simple, orderly creatures. She portrays them as heading to school with their book bags and later in the poem points out the orderly arrangement of their coats inside their classroom.  This orderliness

  • The Wife of Bath

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    painting of a man killing a lion. Her fifth husband always reads his book about wicked wives, and he amuses himself by telling her the stories; however, she doesn't like this. She is beautiful, powerful, energetic and relies on her experience, not on any writings or paintings. To highlight her strong and powerful appearance, she wears characteristic clothes. She puts strikingly big kerchiefs on her head, which seem to weigh about ten pounds, and she wears scarlet red stockings. She also wears a hat