Existentialism Essay

Euripides’ The Cyclops is a work that involves two very different worlds coming together and influencing each other. Odysseus's world, full of commotion, order and action clashes with the land Mt.Etna which has no government, no people and life is very simplistic. When Odysseus and his men arrive on the island and meet Silenus, they are fascinated to hear Silenus tell them “The land is sullen. There is no dance” (Eur.Cycl. 124). Dance in this quote can relate to civilization and aspects…

Is Disobedience a Virtue and Obedience a Vice? Eric Fromm is the author of Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem. Fromm is a writer from the twentieth century who was a philosopher, historian, sociologist, and etc. Fromm is also an author of over thirty books. In the article Disobedience is a Psychological and Moral Problem Fromm argues that in the beginning of history the world began on the start of disobedience. Without disobedience their would be no freedom or humanity. This…

Much debate has been had over the topic of the Ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Throughout the play, the ghost appears only to a select group of people: Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the other guards. There is no evidence that the ghost has appeared to other people, namely Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius. In Act III scene IV, the Ghost appears to Hamlet, but Gertrude, who is in the same room cannot see it. It has been suggested that Gertrude cannot see the Ghost because of “ a lack of moral…

Each individual person has their own dungeon, a compartment in the mind where an individual’s perspective, morals, attitude and character is stored. In order to keep one’s dungeon unmarked and unchanged, negativity must be blocked. However such a thing is impossible and the only thing a person can do is reduce the amount of change and negativity they let in. In “My Dungeon Shook” by James Baldwin, Baldwin warns his nephew and black youth in general to not let poisonous words or ideas seep into…

Prospero’s speech is not finished. He concludes his metaphor for life as a play with the following words: “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on” (IV.i.173-174). By comparing the current events to a dream, he again recognizes his supposed reality as fiction, which stresses the unimportance of the play. How can he demean his supposed reality to a dream, and thus, fiction? The “how” is critical; it means Prospero must have a sense of something greater. To demean something is to, conversely,…

When Roland Barthes casts his bone into the Rue Servadoni, he is performing the symbolic act of act of letting go. When Boltanski builds shrines to his past self, he too is trying to cast something away from himself, in a process of mourning and of consolidating. Whether we feel the need to dispose of them or hold on to them, there is no denying the ceremony around these objects- the agency they hold and importance they play for us. Our urge to collect, forever juxtaposed with our urge to be…

Absurdism fiction is a type of fictional narrative where the characters are unable to find a purpose in life and the lack of purpose is usually shown in meaningless activities. Absurdism is also a philosophical school of thought where humans effort to find definite purpose in life will fail because of the vast amount of things unknown to them. Kevin Wilson is an American writer, and educator, he released a collection of short stories titled Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories in 2009…

Philosopher, Joseph P. Carter, in his opinion article, “The Universe Doesn’t Care About Your ‘Purpose’”, explains that our existence does not matter in the world.Carter’s purpose is to explain how people hold no importance at all to the universe, only towards each other. He adopts a thoughtful and sentimental tone in order to convince his studious readers. Carter argues that the universe sees no purpose in individuals. In page three of The Universe Doesn’t Care About Your ‘Purpose’, author…

Have you ever been pointed at with a flashlight in your eyes, and are immediately irritated and hope it would end. Well that’s how Albert Camus's main character Meursault feels in his novel the Stranger. Meursault, a detached and emotionless man living in french occupied Algeria, shows no care towards his mother's death, his “girlfriend”, and an Arab that he murders. While performing his careless everyday routines, the only emotion he shows is his feelings towards the sun. Even though he shows…

As a new life begins it also gradually starts to follow death. As distinguished in the novel, East of Eden, death is perceived in many ways, which often dictates one's approach to life because some individuals approach death with a practical view while others have an idealistic view on death. Death is a reality that occurs in every individual life and the perspective of that individual towards death determines how they decide to live life. In East of Eden Steinbeck often compared Liza and…