He subtly creates a climatic and dramatic play with details that may be overlooked if not examined closely enough. While changing Abigail's age may appear to be an insignificant change in The Crucible, Arthur Miller's reasons for making this change shed light on both history and the play. According to William J. McGill Jr., Arthur Miller changed Abigail's age to make a more dramatic story possible. McGill states that "Abigail Williams, the prime mover of the Salem hysteria had been the house servant of the Proctors, developed an adulterous relationship with John Proctor to avoid an 'inartistic danger' of making an entirely innocent character suffer" (259). If John Proctor had an affair with a different person, it would not have been as impactful to the story.
You’re the one with the wretched heart.’” (Hosseini 27) After her mother’s death, Mariam faces a father who refuses to acknowledge her due to her harami status, and she is sent off to be married to a strange man in a different city just so her father doesn’t have to see her. Her husband, Rasheed, abuses her for their twenty-seven year marriage because she is unable to carry a child to term. Later, when Rasheed is determined to kill Laila, Mariam must rely on her inner strength to save her friend. Through all of her hardships, Mariam faces life with the grace and acceptance of what God hands her because of her strength. Laila, additionally, had to face the death of the man she loved and her parents in an explosion during the war.
Elena firstly trades her father’s pocket watch to bribe the NKVD officer to not take her son. She also trades wedding gifts for mail and other sundries in hope to help her and her family survive one more day. Finally, Andrius abuses his close relationship with the NKVD in order to obtain food to help himself and others to survive. He also helps Lina survive by returning her file which could have gotten her killed. As these characters survive they are constantly being broken by the NKVD, the environment, and the lack of nutrition.
These supposed bedtime stories do not just exist to put children to sleep and at ease. Instead, as Bettelheim suggests, fairy tales also lend themselves to a dark, yet important narrative. Using Bettelheim’s discussion of a fairy tale, this essay will compare and contrast the ways that the horror film Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992) and the Disney film Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991) though different in appearance, are fairy tales based on their endings, their tone of optimism amidst terror, their ability to render “truthful” pictures of life, and their presentation of a common universal problem. As Bettelheim writes, “An even more significant difference between these two kinds of story is the ending, which in myths is nearly always tragic. For this reason, some of the best known stories found in collections of fairy tales don’t really belong in this category” (Bettelheim 37).
Hecate clearly should not have been included in Macbeth because her lines don’t correlate with Shakespearean form, iambic pentameter. Shakespeare purposely makes all the witches very mysterious, but Hecate is very clear and detailed in her monologue. The witches are meant to mystical characters in the play, often speaking in riddles to confuse Macbeth: “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. / Not so happy, yes much happier./ Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” (Act III, 3, 72-75). Although the witches allude to the fate of Banquo and Macbeth, they are not clear and leave much to interpretation.
Richard Rodriguez’s passage reveals his attitude towards his family and himself. He uses figurative language to describe his Christmas. He uses selection of detail and tone to express his view. While growing, the living conditions were poor, yet his mother never doubted that her children would become successful and wealthy. Rodriguez remembers hearing her predict the future and the presents they would one day purchase for their old parents.
The Grimm Brother’s were none less but accidental entertainers who were often cruel in their fairy tale writings. The Grimm Brothers never fantasized about being known for their famous fairy-tale writings, but in the end it ended up happening like that. Tales gradually change to a sweeter and more for a child’s eye after other authors began to re-tweak the versions of the Grimm’s tales. Of course fairy tales are supposed to be sweet and sincere, but does the moral of the Disney version of Cinderella get away from what the Grimm Brothers were trying to convey? The Grimm Brothers tell the story of Cinderella in a more drastic and bloodier way than Disney presents.
(Foster 16) Although in many cases evil does have to do with sex such as rape, I don’t believe it has everything to do with sex. During the Victorian era when all of these vampire stories were emerging in literature, Foster writes that since they couldn’t directly write about sex and sexuality, they found ways of transforming those taboo subjects and issues into other forms. (Foster 17) This may be true however he goes on to say that even today people write about vampires, ghosts, and werewolves to symbolize something that will imply something sexual. Since I was an avid reader of Twilight, I will have to defend my beloved novel and say it wasn’t all just about sex. There was evil in it but it wasn’t about some creepy old guy that wanted to take a young girl’s virginity.
Lawrence makes it clear that the lack of love from Paul’s parents causes the warning whispers, a symbol of greed, in the house through the explanation of their spending habits. The beginning of the story portrays Paul’s mother as having “started with all the advantages” (276). Nonetheless, she appears not able to show compassion towards her children. Since Paul’s mother “could not love [her children]” (276) as she wants, Paul’s parents try to compensate by buying the children many material Although the family receives a very limited amount of money, both the mother and father, nevertheless, strive to keep up their “social position” (277). In order to maintain this status in the neighborhood, Paul’s parents must continue their “expensive tastes” (277) as well.
The whole play is about how “nothing is but what is not” (1.3.145). The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the rest of the play by establishing a sense of confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations where evil is depicted as good, while good is rendered evil. The witches contribute a colossal amount to the collapse of Macbeth’s character. If they had not aroused Macbeth’s curiosity with the prophecies of glory, he would not have been tarnished with evil deeds.