The Elizabethan and dramatist view of Machiavelli, at least as a political thinker, is that of a man inspired by the Devil to lead good men to their doom (Berlin, 1979). The most extreme interpretations castigate him as a “teacher of evil,” in the famous words of Leo Strauss (1957: 9-10, cited in Nederman, 2009), on the grounds that he counsels leaders to avoid the common values of justice, mercy, temperance, wisdom, and love of their people in preference to the use of cruelty, violence, fear, and deception (Nederman, 2009). Such interpretations fail to understand the underlying motivations and assertions behind The Prince. In a state of disorder and corruption, it is the duty of the government to implement order to combat this instability. Machiavelli had legitimate reason
It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame” (Wilde 180). The fall one sees in the character Dorian in the book is attributed to his need to create a moral out of art. Through Lord Henry’s reaction to Dorian thinking he is poisoned, one can see that it is not the art itself that is doing this poisoning. Dorian lets other
The story of this episode suggests that when people have obsessions, they may unconsciously embody the traits of the objects of their fascination and may not realize this problem in time. Indeed, Martin’s sinister behaviors and actions, the statues’ symbolism of Martin’s admiration and his final realization of his embodiment of the evil side of human nature all showcase that the protagonist unconsciously manifested malevolent characteristics and only realized it once it was too late. Martin’s sinister behaviors and actions show that he has evolved to resemble the object of his obsession; he personifies human’s evil nature. In addition to moving the statues in his house without his wife’s consent, Martin locks his wife from the basement, dupes her by saying that they will only stay for a couple of days, and does not listen to her when she complains about the fact that he has “been paying more attention to these murderers than [he] ever did to [her]” (The New Exhibit 15:34). By prioritizing the statues over his real human relationships, Martin shows that his obsessions have caused him to mistreat his relatives.
The point in the novel which this critic focuses on is the moment before intercourse between Victor and Elizabeth when Victor states ' this night is dreadful, very dreadful'. One the one hand it could be interpreted as the foreshadowing of the monster's arrival however another interpretation is the homosexual nature of Victor. In Victorian society this was considered as a crime and
The critics tore both into the story and Oscar Wilde. The book was called immoral and Wilde originally responded in a letter to Arthur Conan Doyle, "I cannot understand how they can treat Dorian Gray as immoral; my difficulty was to keep the inherent moral subordinate to the artistic and dramatic effect" (Buma).
Theirs is essentially an anti-biological reading of the tale in which the Poe hero tries in self-love “to turn the soul of the heroine into something like a physical object which can be known in direct cognition” (fate, p. 115). But if “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a drama of cognition, its cognitive impact is not circumscribed by “metaphysical speculation on the identity of matter and spirit”. (2) In this connection, Patrick F. Quinn’s suggestion that Usher is a criminal merits attention. (3) He is, in a biological reading of the story, a sexual criminal, and a critic like Richard Wilbur, who suggests that the poetic soul is out to “shake off this temporal, rational, physical world and escape . .
How far do you agree that ‘The play King Lear presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers us no comfort at the end?’ Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ falls under Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, with the fact that the characters are royal, and therefore have an enormous amount to lose. Moreover, the destructive downfall of not only King Lear but most of the characters in the play is due to the fatal flaw of pride in the king. The embellished language in the play is mainly in verse, and coupled with the unusual language forms of The Fool and Edgar as ‘Poor Tom’, this further links the play with the traditional definition of tragedy. ‘This fellow has banished two on’s daughters and did the third a blessing against his will.’ Untangling the meaning on The Fool’s words can be difficult, but it is clear he is the voice of reason and wisdom whispering in Lear’s ear throughout the play. Despite all this negativity, it would be a great over-simplification to assume that the overall play ‘presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers no comfort at the end’, though this is an easy assumption to make given the obvious bleakness that infects the play throughout.
The scarlet letter which stands for the ignominious Puritan punishment for Adultery is skilfully used by Hawthorne to denounce their rigidity. It is used as if it were a magical mirror, it magnifies the protagonists’ stances on the Puritans’ creed and judgement and has a deep impact on the characters’ development and how Hawthorne has lead them on different paths. First and foremost, the scarlet letter, as the symbol of the Puritan rigid conception of life, enables the narrator to depict the Puritans’ punishment as overreacting to a so-called sinful behaviour. As far as Hester Prynne is concerned, the scarlet letter, which first symbolises her sin, enables her to become, in the end, the embodiment of virtue and freedom of thought and to lie in sharp contrast with the Puritans. On the contrary, imprisoned in the Puritan way of thinking, the scarlet letter leads Arthur Dimmesdale to his fall.
Introduction: Post the Lippincott version - Wilde tried to defend novel with preface of English version. Supports the comment made as in the preface, Wilde directly states that "Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming" Victorian society is very hypocritical and felt that Dorian was a presentation of Wilde; they thought he was corrupt and he was facing trials. Paragraph - Dorian: Sells soul metaphorically upon seeing painting, realising his own beauty and Lord Henry's influence - "I would give my soul for that" Shows that Lord Henry's influence has made Dorian worship aesthetic items. "Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity". Dorian is no longer attracted by inner beauty but instead is excited and intrigued by exterior forms.
By not allowing same sex marriage it can cause psychological distress with those who are homosexual, and those who support it. Denying somebody a chance to be happy takes a toll. Imagine this; You and your fiancé want to get married right away but the hotel won’t marry you simply because of your origin or how you look. You feel alienated and the stress not only takes a toll on your body but also your mind. “The Stigma and harm caused by denying committed lesbian and gay couples the choice to marry fuels a vicious cycle.” (U.S. Study) Herdt primarily wants to inform us that denying people something they want causes not only anger, sadness and or misery, but also changes the way people think about the world that we as Americans live in today.