Shakespeare's Richard III presents the ideas of conscience and morality in an aristocratic society that thirsts for power. By presenting conscience as a central theme, Shakespeare portrays conscience through the eyes of different characters. In doing so, his audience is given differing interpretations of the importance of conscience. In his essay "Conscience and Complicity in Richard III," Harry Berger Jr. interprets conscience as a vital part of self-preservation. Berger notes the ineffectiveness of conscience, which leads to the characters' ignorance of the misdeeds around them (Berger 410).…
Dimmesdale’s decision to leave Boston changed him internally and externally. His newfound freedom allowed him to become in charge of his own identity by telling Chillingworth to leave, but by dismissing him, he lies again. When Chillingworth lies to him too, it shows that Chillingworth continues to walk the path he started, lying more and more. Dimmesdale, who had a reborn freedom and found his identity chose the same path as he did before, continuing to lie. Even though his action of burning his important speech papers represent him being renewed, but unconsciously he may still be the person who he was because of his habit of lying and hiding.…
The destruction of a guilty conscience In a separate peace by John Knowles, the authors uses internal and external conflict, irony, and tragic flaw, to show Gene’s struggle with conscience and guilt and how these feelings influenced his decisions. Gene made several bad decisions in the novel including spending the night on the beach with Finny instead of preparing for a trigonometry test, letting his feeling of jealousy take over and causing Finny to fall from the tree and break his leg and coming clean with the truth to Finny that he purposely bounced the limb so Finny would fall. Knowles provides an example of internal conflict when Gene states, “ I looked at the sky and the ocean and knew that it was around six thirty.…
In all societies today, it is easy to view revenge and greed as a cause for great wrongdoings. As a matter of fact, most actions taken by people are due to one ’s want for a certain situation to occur. Many actions of the people in todays world are driven by revenge and lust, in the same way that Roger Chillingworth’s sins were driven in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel. Because of his demanding and vengeful ways, Roger Chillingworth is one of the greatest sinners in The Scarlet Letter.…
With Hester, Dimmesdale can finally be true and live a real life. Dimmesdale describes his time with Hester with “‘Do I feel joy again?’ cried he, wondering at himself” (167). Joy, the greatest feeling in a human’s life. Without joy, life is meaningless.…
Imagery-visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. Ex: "So she drew her mother away, skipping, dancing, and frisking fantastically, among hillocks of the dead people, like a creature that had nothing in common with a bygone and buried generation, nor owned herself akin to it." (Ch. 10) This is describing Pearl being full of energy skipping and doing other things in a cemetery.…
Romans 6:6-7 says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (NASB). A good quote from Bridges is that “We need to ‘stop trying and start trusting,’ or to ‘let go and let God” (Bridges 66). Chapter 6 Bridges begins to prepare us for the battle of holiness. God vs. Satan. Christians vs. temptations etc.…
The Name Game Hidden behind their physical names, certain character’s names have a deeper, more intelligent meaning. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, he uses symbolism to tell a story of a woman named Hester Prynne who is married to Roger Chillingworth and then later commits adultery with a man by the name of Arthur Dimmesdale. The symbols Hawthorne uses sometimes jump right out the reader, while others might stay hidden. Whether hidden or not, most of the symbols change in meaning as the novel progresses. Specifically, Hawthorne chooses character names that develop new meanings throughout the novel.…
In Shakespeare's, Macbeth, he depicts a villainous iconic duo consisting of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As the play progresses the couple displays many acts of violence which I believe to be from the influence of Lady Macbeth. Her lack of conscience after the bloodshed and brutality direct me to believe she is the more maleficent. Firstly, Macbeth instantaneously has the sensation of guilt and anguish as shown, “Is this a dagger which I see before me…...…
The Scarlett Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, gives the reader a limitless number of differences between Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale. However, Hawthorne also shows similarities between the two main men characters. The two characters show us the evil in the novel, the unfolding sin, and add a special romance to the novel. They are extremely important in the story, and to give two examples of evil and love, evil being Chillingworth, and love being Dimmesdale.…
6. Chillingworth does not want Dimmesdale to confess to his sin for a very simple reason – it ruins his opprtunity for revenge. This is because he knew that if Dimmesdale confessed, his guilt would be free (although he would still remember his past), and thus the townspeople wouldn’t be living with a man whom is hiding something from them. Chillingworth wanted his own opportunity for revenge on Dimmesdale. He wanted the man to suffer, because he would always know someone is ‘on his back’ and could strike revenge at any time.…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a tale rife with morally ambiguous characters. While each with their own faults and merits, Hester is generally portrayed in a better light than Chillingworth is by the narrator. Arthur Dimmesdale’s position on the morality scale, however, is much more disputed. He is truly an ambiguous character for acting both in ways people perceive as good and evil before and after Hester is convicted.…
In the book The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman named Hester Prynne commits adultery and has an affair with the the priest of the Boston community named, Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth, seems unaware of his wife’s undoing, until he arrived back from being a captive of the Indians and sees what others can’t in the community. Knowing that his wife cheated on him and had a child, he decides find the man involved and take matters into his own hands. Secrets are kept throughout the story between Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale , who decides to conceal his sinfulness in order to keep his Holy persona and priesthood alive in the community. Dimmesdale conforms to the community while questioning his moral values throughout the Scarlet Letter.…
Roger Chillingworth commits perhaps the worst sin in “The Scarlet Letter”. From the moment Chillingworth found Hester standing in public ignominy on the scaffold, he sought revenge on the man who betrayed him. He devoted the rest of his decaying life to enact malevolent vengeance on Hester’s fellow adulterer. After suspecting Dimmesdale to be the father, Chillingworth became the pastor’s personal physician.…
The character Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter helps to construct the novel through his pursuit of evil. His name, physical appearance, and his actions show his negative intentions for Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. His character is portrayed as an entity of the devil, who works toward the main goal of exposing Dimmesdale.…