Lesson 9: Justice/Mercy Argumentative Essay Mercy is a part of every society from the beginning of time. Mercy is compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lear realizes the importance of mercy in civilization through his daughter Cordelia. Compassion and forgiveness are the two key components to mercy, which in most cases works out better than justice does. Sometimes justice is not the right option as it could end up being the wrong decision to do in that situation.
Lastly, Edgar’s crucial act of mercy led to his father Gloucester reaching an epiphany, that he was wrong by trusting Edmund. All three topics are relevant within Act IV and show how mercy is a critical aspect to life. I believe that mercy highly outweighs justice; mercy is the single most important quality to humankind which brings out peace. Whereas justice leads to an ongoing cycle of violence where nothing can get solved First, the mercy that King Lear willingly shows to Cordelia restores relationships. He openly states mercy towards Cordelia and says: “You do me wrong to take me out o’th’ grave: Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears Do scald like molten lead” (IV vii 45-47) This statement portrays how Lear admits that he was wrong in the past.
He doesn’t treat justice the same as revenge, like some other characters do (for example how Lear wanted to hang Regan and Goneril for how they treated him). Instead, he sees justice as the truth coming out, everyone knowing he did nothing wrong, and everyone knowing what Edmund did. He also wants the same type of justice for his father; which, shows that he is selfless and has respect for his father. Instead of hurting Gloucester worse, and getting revenge for Gloucester’s mistake, when he sees that Gloucester cannot see, he helps him. This is how he serves as the foil for Edmund.
Gwen is also in a very irrational nation as she came from a poor and always is stressed. Her bad temper has led her to her own distinctive world. In the play, Away, Gwen is very stereotyping against Tom and had called him ‘Motorbikes, Tattoos, Drinks. A sad dirty life’ .She calls him this because he is from a very country family but Meg only thinks of Tom as a friend and due to Gwen’s negative opinion towards Tom creates a barrier between the mother and daughter. During Act I, Scene 2, Gwen asks for a ‘Bex’ which is a medicine like panadol and the Bex symbolises her domestic world by only more wealthy people are able to use Bex.
The Madness that is Abigail Williams: Her Intentions in The Crucible “How hard it is when pretense falls! But it falls, it falls!” With these chilling and ominous words, Abigail’s twisted sense of revenge rings hollow in Arthur Miller’s terrifying play, The Crucible. A masterpiece of its time, The Crucible brings forth the true horrors man is capable of: deception and vengefulness. No character presents these values as well as Abigail, whose lust and heartbreak for John Proctor results in a homicidal goose chase. Because of her hate towards Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, Abigail creates demented tales, directed at abolishing the “problem.” Though Abigail’s wild canards seem quite obtuse in civilization today, at the time her acts fell to justification.
Stella is the wife of Stanley and also the main character in my opinion. She’s a huge dope, who’s fallen in love with the wrong guy. Even after Stanley hits her she still comes back to him “There is the sound of a blow [and] Stella cries out”. She’s blinded by how things used to be between them when they first started dating. Stella is willing to look past everything Stanley does because she loves him and that makes her the fool of the play.
Ender’s excellence brings a lot of torture for him when Stilson wants to overrule him, Bernard frustrates him and Graff uses his sister to break Ender down emotionally. To begin with, Stilson wants to hurt Ender because he thinks he was excellent if his monitor and which is taken off. “Oh, gonna fight me huh? Gonna fight me, Thirde?” (Card 7). In this quote, Stilson shows anger toward Ender who deliberately creates a situation to hurt Ender.
Hamlet portrays falsity when using rage against Ophelia after discovering she has been apart of a plot of revenge. He uses this as an opportunity to deny his love for her and degrade her until she felt horrible about her self. “I did love you once but you should have not belived me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.”(3.1.114-119). It becomes clear that Hamlet did truly love Ophelia, yet hid it because he was a coward.
Loneliness puts The Monster in a mentally unstable position. He believes that he is a monster for the reason being he was created by one. In comparison, Othello’s betrayal is demonstrated throughout the play, but especially through Iago when he confesses to the audience his plan to manipulate and destroy Othello’s love life with Desdemona. Although Othello trusts Iago with anything, Iago hates the “Moor” and is willing to do anything to destroy him. Iago feels that the best way to do so is by manipulating Othello telling him that his wife is cheating on him with Cassio, who Iago coincidently hates as well.
Romeo and Juliet are devastated that they love the enemy: “Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy” (1.5.142-144). Romeo and Juliet are supposed to be enemies and are not allowed to see each other. Capulet threatens Juliet to rush her into marrying Paris: “And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the street, / For, by my soul, I’ll never acknowledge thee” (3.5.194-195). Capulet is harsh on Juliet to marry Paris but Juliet is already married so she feels like she needs to take drastic measures. The Prince tells the families his opinion when Romeo and Juliet are found dead: “Where be these enemies?