To what extent do you think that Faustus’ greatest sin is the misuse of supernatural powers given to him by Mephostophilis? Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus presents a protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in order to obtain all knowledge and power. His constant state of pondering whether to repent and is given many opportunities to do so. Faustus’ damnation during the play is dependent on many things which we see how ‘the misuse of supernatural powers’ is clearly significant. Possibly Faustus’ greatest sin is his hubris and linked to that -its constant greed, before selling his soul Faustus already had everything that any person in his time could possibly need, however because of his avoidable desire for a power greater than he was meant to have, he sacrificed his soul to the devil.
The media, politicians, advocacy groups as well as the FBI are steadfast in claiming that the only rational explanation is that of the individuals falling prey to the aggression inciting video game. In short, the violent video game made them do it. One might be reminded of the Salem Witch Trials, where no educated explanation can be derived, those which cannot defend themselves, no matter how far-fetched the reasoning, is the obvious answer. Religious and political dogma has run rampant. The media have created unnecessary fear and moral panic to legitimize their personal agendas under the guise of “protecting children”.
The Tower of Babel: A Symbol of Hubris I. Introduction What hubris to defy the omnipotent authority of God – the Creator of all things from time immemorial. Humanity’s existence has long been mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of its pride. However, this did not come to past until God punished man for their excessive arrogance and pride. Mankind became fearful of God and challenged His almighty authority by creating a tower believed by many to reach Heaven.
Mankind was led astray by Satan who is ultimately the cause for evil. We choose to commit to evil doings. People choose to kill, steal, rape and this does not take away from God’s all powerfulness. We do not have all the knowledge yet to fully understand, but one day we will I truly believe
Everyone in the world agrees that the action of Adolf Hitler in the Holocaust was an abomination and inexcusable. Many people see Adolf Hitler himself as a devil, so why would anyone except religious inspired violence. The Holocaust is the most known incident but there are numerous religious inspired acts of torture and execution. All of which are just as wrong, evil and inexcusable as the Holocaust. Issue #2-War is always a last resort; the lives of many people are lost in wars.
“It is pride, not covetousness, which is the Pardoner’s greatest sin.” How far do you agree? Pride has been traditionally considered the chief of sins due to it incorporating all aspects of the others as it involves false beliefs in a person’s own importance, is the sin through which Lucifer fell and became Satan and is the was the downfall of Adam and Eve due to them believing they could be gods themselves. In The Pardoner’s Tale the Pardoner is presented as ‘a ful vicious man’ implying that he has no morals and is engulfed by the sins that he preaches. Using the word ‘vicious’ is intriguing because of the sibilance and the snake-like onomatopoeic nature to the word. It represents him as almost inhuman as he has more serpent-like qualities.
“God must be Evil” The question “is God evil?” is asked very often with both sides of the question offering different answers to this question with no definitive answer coming about but in both cases people coming out with very convincing arguments for both sides of the story. Some people argue that God is indeed evil because he is omniscient and because of his omniscience he knows that from the moment he decided to create us maybe even before then he knew which of us would reject him thus securing a place in hell for them or would sin again securing them a place in hell and yet does nothing about this. This is a major contradiction to his supposedly being omnibenevolent and some people even go so far as to use examples of murder and rape which are horrific events which they then use to say “how can a loving God allow such a thing to happen?” They then go further into it saying how as God is omnipresent and can see everything that has happened, will happen and is happening he must take some sort of sick pleasure in watching these events occur and so is evil. Or at the very least by allowing such a horrific event to happen without some form of justice or stopping them then he has to be evil as only an evil person would let evil acts go unpunished. Sam Harris uses this idea in one of his quotes saying that “Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes or he doesn’t care to or he doesn’t exist.
He killed people of all types and yet still is unknown to us. We have evidence in the murders in the tail but nothing that gives us and answer of why? Or Who? Nothing that leaves our hunger for justice satisfied. The Zodiac is a man that must be crazy a psychopath, but at the same times a genius.
After all, Satan stands for all that corrupts the human world, he is humanity’s adversary, the manifestation of evil. However, the portrayal of Satan’s actions and demeanour in the text makes comparison with the traditional epic heroes viable, at least from a technical perspective. What defines an epic hero? An epic hero could be a distinguished warrior or a leader but more importantly an eloquent speaker who can influence greatly by the means of his address. He undertakes a quest, embarks on a perilous journey which tests his endurance, courage and cunning.
These two elements are crucial to our understanding of the play. The audiences were English men and women, people who were highly religious and had a firm idea of God. They believed that the invisible world of angel and demons was all around them and the forces of evil would destroy the happiness of a man by tempting individuals to evil and spiritual destruction. This is presented in the character Iago who Shakespeare contrasted to the devil by Othello referring to Iago as ‘demi-devil’. Shakespeare portrays this through symbolism.