The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for." (20) The irony of Lord Henry saying this, is that he will eventually corrupt Dorian. He tells him this, but Dorian does not pay attention to the warning, and wants to hear more of Lord Henry's addicting sayings. Harry's theories act like a slow poison: They get into you, start reacting, and slowly but surely, they destroy you.
Although his actions are very insane, they can be seen as rational to reader considering hedonism. Devotion to pleasure, hedonism, makes Dorian be deceitful about his true self by deflecting the attention of the public from the mad man to the beautiful and intelligent gentlemen. Dorian is, young, sensitive, and emotional, meaning that he is susceptible to manipulation. Lord Henry takes advantage of that opportunity and gives Dorian the yellow book; this book opens up the world of hedonism and aestheticism which eventually turns his young life into an eternal oblivion of misery. Dorian develops a fear of aging so he tries to live his life as if it was his last day on earth.
Since Lady Macbeth set him up to this by insulting his manhood, Macbeth took a turn for the worst when he started experiencing fear and guilt. You’d think he’d put an end to all of this negativity by this point, yet it actually drags out and he continues with doing malicious, unlawful acts. Eventually this leads to more trouble for Macbeth; He begins to struggle with hallucinations and sleeplessness, causing him to become extremely paranoid. He began to lose his human qualities during this process of regaining his ‘so-called’ manhood, as his killing spree was pretty much a joke on his actual manliness. Macbeth’s decadence then led to his marriage to slowly fall apart.
“To be or not to be, that is the question; whether’ tis nobler in the mind to suffer...” (Shakespeare Act 3, Scene 1). This quotation proves Hamlet becomes inferior to others and the environment through his madness, causing him to express himself explicitly towards others. Hamlet’s madness not only causes his loved ones lives but it allows his “end” to come because he accepts every challenge from his opponent. Hamlet’s madness not only affects him but Ophelia, who is mentally torn apart by Hamlet. Ophelia was once flawless, but since her encounter with Hamlet she has fallen into the same madness and wants to kill herself.
It’s obvious he wants to punish his brother and co-conspirators for what they did to himself and Miranda, yet he is a just man, and as his plan unravels, an unforeseeable event takes place, prompting Prospero to change his game plan a little. Miranda and Ferdinand fall rapidly in love and wish to marry. This certainly seems to throw everything off kilter for Prospero, who thought he had everything in control up until that point (III.i.92-96):
There may seem to be many motivations for villains throughout the times but as we study these scoundrels we find that generally they are motivated by pure jealousy, or a need of superiority. They utilize manipulation, both physically and mentally in order to achieve their goals and show a lack of remorse. Stephan King’s “Misery”, provides us with a very graphical depiction in Annie Wilkes a sadistic, mentally unstable retired nurse, who has a desire for power and control. Annie goes to tortuous extremes on her captive Paul Sheldon to realize this. Iago from Shakespeare’s play Othello is also a power hungry villain who enjoys having people under his control, he is driven by extreme jealousy and the motivation, revenge.
Lord Henry’s obsession with Dorian leads Dorian to a life full of immoral activities such as drugs, meaningless sex, and the murder of famed artist and friend, Basil Hallward. Dorian explores these sensations as he looks to feel something real, but his entire life now revolves around his appearance and his state of self-denial. “Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself,” (Wilde Chapter II) throughout the novel, Lord Henry influences Dorian’s decisions to be a pleasure seeker, to date only the elite, and to act in an high class manner.
Many led to the downfall of Dorian Gray; however, the main reasons are Lord Henry’s influence, the idea of Hedonism, and Dorian’s conscience. Lord Henry’s intentions to influence Dorian are evident in chapter 1 when Basil says, “Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad.” Basil knows that Lord Henry’s influence is going to be primarily negative and knows that Dorian is going to become infatuated by him. This ignites Dorian’s flame for Lord Henry; he sees this as a challenge. Later in their friendship, we start to see that Lord Henry is merely stirring thoughts that Dorian already had inside of himself and was just afraid to let them be known.
If Hamlet were to have seen his father’s ghost by himself, there would be a greater argument for him being insane from the outset of the play. Hamlet also exerts control over his actions, which is the main reason why it could be argued that he is sane. He actively tries to convince Polonius that he has gone mad - mocking him when he would usually be respectful, acting cruelly towards Ophelia whom he was clearly affectionate to earlier in the play. He does this in the hope that Polonius will tell the court of his madness. Hamlet is often hesitant to do things, for example where he had the chance to kill Claudius in the chapel but couldn’t bring himself to do it, not because he would be killing another human but because he wanted Claudius to suffer and not go straight to Heaven.
No one wants me here. Why am I here? What is my purpose here? Could you tell me? Can you tell me the answer?