When he heard Apollo’s prophecy, he could have calmly investigated the murder of King Laius, but in his hastiness, he cursed the murder, and in so, cursing himself. “I pray that that man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness. And as for me, this curse applies no less” (Sophocles 13). Oedipus’ desire to know the truth about Laius’ murder and the mystery surrounding his birth, led Oedipus to his realization of his doings. Although multiple people tried to stop him from pursuing the truth, he is unable to.
Proctor knows that the only way to stop the witch hysteria and mob mentality in the town from destroying him is to confess to witchcraft. Despite that, he would rather die than see his name and reputation blackened by Danforth and the whole town knowing he signed a pact with Satan. From his decision to withdraw his confession, we see that Proctor is a man who sticks firmly to his beliefs and religion. Proctor isn’t as religious as the rest of the town, in that he doesn’t attend church every Sunday. This creates a suspicion about Hale and the town that he is somewhat anti-religious, which is increased when Mary gives in to the mass hysteria of the town and finally accused John Proctor of witchcraft.
Miss Watson even tries frightened Finn into religion by telling him he will go to hell if he sins. Throughout the book, Huck displays his lack of faith in religion, amplified whenever he debates the “right” vs. the “wrong” set by society and religion. Huck struggle with sinning and letting Jim go free, or betraying
Hence, Friar Lawrence is partially to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as his negligence resulted in the tragedy. Due to Juliet’s marriage with Paris being moved to a closer date, Friar Lawrence devised a dangerous and drastic plan, to avoid the marriage. Juliet, drowning in desperation, willingly accepts. Her desperation is evident when she states “If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help … with this knife I’ll help it presently”. Friar Lawrence is partly to blame for the death of the “ill-fated lovers”, as this plan is too dangerous to undergo, and he also does not fulfil his duty.
Ophelia was in love with Hamlet but she further reveals that due to Polonius’s orders, she has cut off all contact with Hamlet and has refused his letters. As a result, it is quite evident that Ophelia is hiding her true inner feelings for Hamlet due to her respect and fear of Polonius. In addition, Polonius is a wise old man with high moral values. But in this act the audience is introduced to his true intentions .Polonius tells Gertrude and Claudius of Hamlet's strange behaviour and they agree to watch him secretly. Previously in Act 1 Polonius was providing his son, Laertes with advice , ``And guarantee yourself against being false ``(I,iii,101).
Alienation among many throughout Nathaniel Hawthone’s The Scarlet Letter, the main characters suffer psychological damage as a result of different forms of alienation. The character traits they posses make them more susceptible to certain types of alienation. Since Dimmesdale cannot reveal his secret to anyone, he can not share his pain. All the pent up guilt he has stored with in eats away at him, slowly deteriorating his body and soul. Dimmesdale’s masochistic and pious attributes greatly contribute to the extent of his alienation.
“I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him. He begins to feel so remorseful, that he starts hallucinating and realizing that he has done such treacherous deeds. Even though he can still see how his actions are terrible, as the play develops, he begins to inch deeper and deeper into his own destruction of innocence. Macbeth had always felt threatened by Macduff because Macduff knew what a traitor he really was. Therefore, he had wanted to plot to end Macduff’s life as to not pose a threat on his reign any longer.
They are confused and don’t know whether to take action and find out why he has donned this dark drape, or to accept it and move about with their lives. The people grew distant from him, and eventually wrote him off as a good preacher, but slightly mad. Children, who normally loved his presence, ran from him and were utterly disturbed at the sight of him. When asked if Mr. Hooper would remove the veil , and given an answer that they didn’t want to hear, they isolated themselves from him. And even though the townspeople disliked his choice, they respected it.
Literary Analysis In this passage of The Minister’s black veil we see how the veil, a symbol of hidden sin, isolates and alienates the once loved Minister. In this excerpt, his once fiancé, is trying to understand the purpose of the veil. She, like the other towns people, inherent nature to speculate the horrific sins that he may be confessing through this veil fails to realize her own sin. The sin of her and the town’s people is that they shun him, because of a simple veil, and in doing so demonstrate how shallow and unappreciative their faith is. Hawthorne uses characterization to victimize the minister and point out the flaws of the wife.
He councils convicted witches to confess, so that they won't be hanged. Hale is knowingly counseling people to lie. He's lost all faith in the law, and there's a good chance his faith in God is a bit shaky as well. Hale's last effort to wash some of the blood of his hands fails. He's not able to convince anyone to confess.