Life has infinite meaning. As long as humans have existed, there is no one definite answer as to how one should live their lives. In various plays, novels, and passages, the meaning of life has been pondered upon by numerous authors, in a variety of different ways. In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Book 4 of Genesis, and John Milton’s Book 9 of Paradise Lost, each of the principal characters undergo a pattern of seeking truth, entrapment, and dissention into personal hell with some achieving a final release. Although we like to believe that we have all the answers to how we are going to live our lives, there is much uncertainty as to what the future holds. Each of the principal characters spend
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Additionally, several characters who had already believed to have found truth in their existence experienced a sense of entrapment. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Tess is trapped by her society and social condition. Tess’s naïve nature led to her entrapment when she interpreted Alec’s complements as a desire to be in a relationship. Also, Tess became caught between different time periods, as the traditional values she was raised to believe conflicted with the modern values she discovered as a young woman. For instance, while Tess valued her independence as a woman, many of her elders believed it was more important that she quickly find an honorable man to marry. Angel experiences entrapment when his decision to not study religion, leads to him grappling what to do with his life, as his father denied paying for his education at Cambridge University. Additionally, similar to Tess, Angel is caught in a transitional time period where his family’s traditional beliefs conflicted with his modern beliefs. For example, while Angel’s family strongly believed that he should marry a Christian woman, Angel did not understand why that was necessary. Finally, both of Tess’s parents experience entrapment as Mr. Durbeyfield is consumed by the idea that he was “Sir John D’Urberville,” while Mrs. Durbeyfield relies on her compleat fortune-teller for her questions, such as who …show more content…
What all the texts have in common in this particular section is that the principal characters all experience a loss of innocence. Tess experiences a loss of innocence when she is raped by Alec and has a child out of wedlock. Since Tess’s society stressed the importance of marrying the person you have a child with, Tess felt as if she may never find someone to love her. Angel is seen spiraling into his own personal hell when deciding whether to pursue his relationship with Tess after finding this secret out. For instance, in the scene where Angel sleepwalks, he shows how he still wants to be with Tess, but believes society’s ideas of purity which say that he should not be with her. Additionally, Tess experiences her own version of hell after she murders Alec since although she no longer has to worry about him, she must now live the rest of her life on the run. Finally both Tess’s parents experience their own versions of hell such as when Mrs. Durbeyfield realizes that Alec may not be the man Tess was destined to be with and when Mr. Durbeyfield’s mind becomes tainted by the fact that he was a D’Urberville, which led to his excessive drinking. In King Lear, King Lear’s loss of innocence and emergence into his own personal hell is when he becomes reckless and mad at the fact that he was wrong about Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia’s love for him. This is best depicted
Additionally, several characters who had already believed to have found truth in their existence experienced a sense of entrapment. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Tess is trapped by her society and social condition. Tess’s naïve nature led to her entrapment when she interpreted Alec’s complements as a desire to be in a relationship. Also, Tess became caught between different time periods, as the traditional values she was raised to believe conflicted with the modern values she discovered as a young woman. For instance, while Tess valued her independence as a woman, many of her elders believed it was more important that she quickly find an honorable man to marry. Angel experiences entrapment when his decision to not study religion, leads to him grappling what to do with his life, as his father denied paying for his education at Cambridge University. Additionally, similar to Tess, Angel is caught in a transitional time period where his family’s traditional beliefs conflicted with his modern beliefs. For example, while Angel’s family strongly believed that he should marry a Christian woman, Angel did not understand why that was necessary. Finally, both of Tess’s parents experience entrapment as Mr. Durbeyfield is consumed by the idea that he was “Sir John D’Urberville,” while Mrs. Durbeyfield relies on her compleat fortune-teller for her questions, such as who …show more content…
What all the texts have in common in this particular section is that the principal characters all experience a loss of innocence. Tess experiences a loss of innocence when she is raped by Alec and has a child out of wedlock. Since Tess’s society stressed the importance of marrying the person you have a child with, Tess felt as if she may never find someone to love her. Angel is seen spiraling into his own personal hell when deciding whether to pursue his relationship with Tess after finding this secret out. For instance, in the scene where Angel sleepwalks, he shows how he still wants to be with Tess, but believes society’s ideas of purity which say that he should not be with her. Additionally, Tess experiences her own version of hell after she murders Alec since although she no longer has to worry about him, she must now live the rest of her life on the run. Finally both Tess’s parents experience their own versions of hell such as when Mrs. Durbeyfield realizes that Alec may not be the man Tess was destined to be with and when Mr. Durbeyfield’s mind becomes tainted by the fact that he was a D’Urberville, which led to his excessive drinking. In King Lear, King Lear’s loss of innocence and emergence into his own personal hell is when he becomes reckless and mad at the fact that he was wrong about Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia’s love for him. This is best depicted