It explores the idea of the choice between the lesser of two evils. An idealistic Marlow is forced to align himself with either the hypocritical and malicious colonial bureaucracy or the openly malevolent and rule defying Kurtz. This brings up the question of is there such a thing as insanity in a world that has already gone insane? The phrase ‘heart of darkness’ is not only the title to the novella, but has a deeper meaning that can be analyzed in three different ways. It is however difficult to discern what the ‘darkness’ could actually mean, as everything in the book is covered in darkness.
It could be that he has damaged himself so that he is unable to feel empathy for others - or that the evil is innate. Macbeth displays some very evil characteristics - selfishness, coldness, obsession and cold-blooded murder. Shakespeare explores the degree to which he alone is responsible, and how far others contribute to Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare's greatest exploration of the problem of evil. Evil is positioned both within and without. The witches are objective figures but Macbeth's first utterance in act 1, scene 3 suggests that he shares a similar thought with the witches.
The idea that she consciously recognises the need for “murdering ministers” to provide her with the support to assist Macbeth in regicide certainly falls in favour of arguing that she willingly has the desire for help from the darker realms, making her more evil for actually wanting to be tainted by the poisonous associations of “darkness” in the play. In addition, concealment is a significant device employed into the plot of Macbeth. In Act 3 scene 2, Macbeth hides his dark plans away from Lady Macbeth. Through concealment, Shakespeare allows readers to gain an insight to the ever-changing relationship between the couple. Macbeth tells his wife to “be
While the contrast of light and dark, white and black, and good and evil is a common theme in his novella, Conrad essentially reverses the meanings of the two. Conrad’s story is about the penetration of a corrupt light into darkness, and the consequences that result when the purity of darkness is tainted. In his story often the light is viewed as more menacing and evil than the darkness, and the
Analysis of Chausser's the Summoner This essay will analyze the Summoner character from the General Prologue and the Summoner's Prologue in The Canterbury Tales. This is a character that Chaucer finds despicable. This essay will illustrate that the Summoner is an ugly, corrupt, shameless sexual fiend who has authority over people and abuses his power for sexual and monetary figures. First of all, Chaucer describes him as being extremely ugly. The Summoner is described as: That hadde a fyr-reed cherubynnes face, For saucefleem he was, with eyen narwe.
The hunt symbolizes the maximum level of chaos because they will be trying to kill the creator of order. All hope of order could be completely lost. Chaos, to the point of taking a human life, shows how far its grasp has reached. Chaos now filled most of the island, order seemed completely lost. William in his classic novel Lord of the Flies successfully used symbols to create a powerful theme of order versus chaos.
In today’s society conformity and deliberation have taken over the lives of many as the concept of individuality goes astray. Throughout Soren Kierkegaard’s text, The Present Age: On the Death of Rebellion, he explains his thoughts on his beliefs that this age has lost a sense of inwardness and has become more and more ambiguous with the self. In addition to this, he also stresses the dangers that are associated with these loses. Furthermore, he argues that “the most dangerous, if also the most respectable of all diseases” is “to admire in public what is considered unimportant in private – since everything is made into a joke” (Kierkegaard 9). In this essay I am in agreement with Kierkegaard that in the present age, we as a society lose character in the process of reflecting upon what we are ought to, and expected to do.
There's a word I really hate. It's a phony." He displays his disgust through hyperboles, stating that he would "puke" at phony things. In this portion of the novel, he uses metaphores, stating that Spencer seemed as sharp as a "tack." His attitude of revulsion causes him to alienate himself from the adult world.
where thou couldst have escaped me, - save on this very scaffold!” Chillingworth reveals his hypocrisy in this instance because he shows that he would rather chase Dimmesdale to the ends of the earth than allow the truth to come out. Certainly another evidence of Chillingworth’s hypocrisy can be seen through his appearances. Directly after Dimmesdale’s death, Hawthorne speaks of Chillingworth as having “positively withered up, shriveled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight.” Kirk says that “Chillingworth has become such a fiend that his very existence depends on Dimmesdale,” this explains the devastating effect the death of Dimmesdale has on
In contrast to their widely known belief, Voltaire paints the pictures and events of an imperfect world to satirically mock those philosophers’ thinking. Pangloss and Candide are described to experience many close deaths, a flood, an earthquake, raping, torturing, beatings, diseases, and even disloyalty. Although Pangloss seems to use the idea of optimism to justify these unbearable and horrific events, it almost seems like nonsense after several misfortunate