Albert Camus's The Stranger, Meursault is a morally ambiguous character, and this ethical indistinctness plays a major part in the novel as a whole and the theme that Camus is trying to portray. Meursault resists being typecast into an archetypal moral category in many of his deeds and actions. Many of his actions in Part One of the novel help contribute to the fuzzy picture of the character. For example, at his mother's funeral, Meursault does not cry or weep in the typical mourning fashion, but
Moral Ambiguity of Charlie in The Little Drummer Girl In George J. Lennard’s, “John le Carre” critical assessment of the ending of Little Drummer Girl, he claims that “Charlie can not continue to act in the theater of the real...she can no longer return to the romantic fluff of Western middle class society.” Charlie’s last line in the novel, the theater of the real, are “I am dead” (pp.659), which confirms Lennard’s statement. Charlie, an actress, by nature and craft is a coerced into a scheme
Moral Ambiguity in Heart of Darkness In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness we see various attitudes toward morality. It is extremely difficult, maybe impossible, to deduce the exact endorsement of morality that Conrad intended. Conrad provides his readers with several instances where the interpretation of morality is circumstantial, relative, and even "indeterminable." One finds many situations in the novel that lie somewhere between morality, immorality, and amorality. A few examples from the
publication of Beloved, Toni Morrison commented in an interview that Sethe's murder of Beloved "was the right thing to do, but she had no right to do it.... It was the only thing to do, but it was the wrong thing to do."1[1] Does this remark prove the moral ambiguity of the infanticide, as Terry Otten argues?2[2] Yes, it was right but wrong, and wrong but right. However, the most important thing is that "It was the only thing to do." Sethe had no choice. If there is anything wrong, it must be either, in
Setsuko. The film provides an insight into Japanese culture, by showing the battle between those who subvert traditional roles in families and community, and those who fight to maintain them, such as Seitas aunty. There is also the question of moral ambiguity. In the film, family is viewed as the most crucial relationship people could have, as it provided necessities such as love, support and survival in body and spirit in a time of crisis. One could not survive during the war without the support
The Earth Centered Theme of Shakespeare's King Lear King Lear is a complicated, apocalyptic play with parallel plots, moral ambiguity, and a messy ending. The play's events were politically charged and historically informed when they were performed in seventeenth century England, as they continue to be to today. Whatever his intentions, Shakespeare has given us several universal truths to consider. One I like to consider is how beneath all the sinister and bold machinations of man lies the gentle
use to help better our world, or do our vast technological skills and post-modern philosophies provide a sufficient means for us to find joy, happiness and meaning in our lives? The post-modern world is full of complexity, skepticism, and moral ambiguity. Jean-Francois Lyotard, in “Defining the Postmodern,” explains that post-modernism arose from a rejection of modernism and its failed ideologies, ideologies that gave us such memorial events as Auschwitz, and have left us with deeply engrained
sympathetic character. Ishmael represents the character with the most good out of the crew, though his survival is unclear because he never had a direct adversary to overcome. He has his moments when evil thoughts pervade his mind. The unclearness of morals in the universe is prevalent throughout Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The outcome of choosing good or evil can not be seen as favorable or just. Ahab, is the main human character of the novel. He is also the captain of the vessel and is seen
the novel. The morally ambiguous character in Frankenstein is Victor Frankenstein, which is displayed through the way he treats his creation, his arrogant personality, and his obsession with natural philosophy. Moral ambiguity allows a character to escape responsibility. Victor’s moral ambiguousness is first shown when he decides to create the monster, due to his obsession with the science of natural philosophy. Victor decides that he’s going to try to cheat life and create a man, but he becomes
ethics are unclear; he or she are not wholly good or bad but, rather, morally ambiguous. William Shakespeare, an English playwrite, heavily presses the topic moral ambiguity in his play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. The titular character, Julius Caesar, is a morally equivocal character who serves a major purpose in the play. Julius Caesar is a moral, ethical man. He is a selfless man who puts others before himself. When Artemidorus gets word of the conspirator’s plans, he writes a letter to Caesar to
There is a difference between right and wrong. This essay will explain moral ambiguity and the difference between right and wrong, describe how the characters from Animal Farm can be viewed as morally ambiguous, and share a personal experience where I had to choose to do the right thing. To begin, I will explain moral ambiguity and the difference between right and wrong. There are many differences between right and wrong so I will be explaining what those are. First, the definition of right is “in
English/ 4th Period Jane Eyre Essay 3/14/2014 St. John’s Moral Ambiguity and Jane’s Understanding of Self-Respect Every great story includes a morally ambiguous character, often either a Byronic hero whom everyone loves despite his utterly depressing nature and moral flaws (such as Hamlet in Hamlet and Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities) or a strict, principled character who unfortunately earns the readers’ hostility as his moral ambiguity is somewhat deeply offensive to many. The example of the
Moral Ambiguity in Lord of the Flies In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the character Ralph serves as the protagonist, but he is far from morally just. Ralph’s initial innocence, role as leader of the boys, and selfless actions seem to present him as a good person at heart. His participation in the savage murder of Simon and his loss of sanity, though, show a much darker side that leads the reader to be skeptical about his true nature. This moral ambiguity further perpetuates Golding’s lesson
Moral ambiguity is confusing to say the least, it is a conflict in which when deciding if something stands for good or bad morals you cannot decide because it has sided with both at one point in time. The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini introduces moral ambiguity and uses it throughout a good portion of the characters in the novel. His reasoning for deciding to put moral ambiguity in the novel could have been to show the reader that some people's actions cannot be understood sometimes and judging
Moral ambiguity is sometimes found to be undefinable. Ambiguity means uncertainty or inexactness, and for something to be ambiguous there must be more than one way to interpret it giving it an unclear definition. If ambiguity is unclear then moral ambiguity must mean unclear morals. Unclear morals is the uncertainty of an ethical decision given a certain situation, if an issue or situation has different moral capacities then it will be unclear what decision would be the moral or ethical
detachment from from the events that she describes to the audience. The act of molestation is itself dramatized in such a way that it takes on the appearance of fantasy, losing with its reality its moral weight, and the molester, Uncle Peck, is not only a character of great irony but also of great ambiguity. He is never condemned for his actions; rather he is sympathized with, and he is unwittingly supported by his family. To truly understand How I Learned to Drive, one must not look to the text itself
Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Young Goodman Brown In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of
A story that uses a decent amount of ambiguity is like reading half of a story, in the sense that the reader can "fill in the blanks". The author leaves several details out in order for the reader to make his or her own interpretations. Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, expresses ambiguity in a variety of ways. These include several details throughout the story, themes such as dark and light, and in characters including both Marlow and Kurtz. Conrad was one of the first writers to use
the time period that the film was made. The picturesque stereotype of small town life in the 40’s is brutally torn apart by Hitchcock wit and creative ingénue, putting the viewer in an uncomfortable mind stretch of reality. The first instance of ambiguity between comedy/drama begins directly at the beginning credits of the film, with the brilliant shot of a uniform waltzing party, in carousel motion, or a perfect circle. From my perspective, I was unable to recognize w...
Marlow and the Mariner both portray similar facets of human nature. They embark on similar journeys, and share a like fate in the end. Each of them shares a complex moral ambiguity. It is this quality that drives many key events of both Heart of Darkness and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. And it is also their moral ambiguity that allows for the development of the intricate revelations which make these works great.