Immortality

Why would someone want to live forever? Bernard Williams, a philosopher and an author wrote the essay titled “The Makropulos Case: Reflection on the Tedium of Immortality”. In his essay he discusses how death is not necessarily evil, like some people think. In order to structure his argument, he includes both Epicurus’ and Lucretuis point of view that humans overthink the state of being dead. He agrees with both philosophers that being dead isn’t bad, but Williams believes that Lucretuis is…

The meaning of immortality is to live forever, to have eternal life. Kevin Brockmeier, the author of The Brief History of the Dead, uses the city and the many people within the city to express the theme of both mortality and immortality. The city is the afterlife of the dead and the theme uses memory to keep the people alive in the after world. The lives of the dead is irony within itself. The dead live in a city where people from the living world come after death. Immortality is present…

Longing for Immortality The Odyssey is a Greek tale originating circa 700 BC. Although the author is speculated amongst people, Homer is generally attributed for it. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story originating around 3000 BC. Both stories have been around for centuries, being passed down through generation and generation. Despite the large time gap, these two stories share many distinct similarities, more specifically the theme: a man’s mortality. In both stories, the Gods are a major element…

best friend, Enkidu, dies.The demigod goes mad with fear towards dying. After several days of weeping over his beloved friend, Gilgamesh ventures through the wilderness and underworld to search for immortality because of his extreme fear of death. Gilgamesh ultimately goes on his quest for immortality because he fears death, not because of his best friend. He says, “What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best as I can to find…

In “Why Immortality Is Not So Bad,” Fisher argues that immortality need not to be as bad as William says it would be and is inadequate. He argues that if an immortal life would be characterized by different experiences, there is no reason one to become bored with life. Although william argues that immortality would be as bad, he uses an example to prove it of a woman named EM who is immortal, for drinking a certain potion, and gets bored with life. In the end, she refuses to continue drinking…

Immortality and Original Sin The concept of original sin evidenced in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can also be located in other major works, such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus; this idea of seeking human infallibility is a result of a human fear of death and craving for knowledge. The innate awareness that humans are not immortal creates the idea of original sin that can attempt to justify our impermanence. Doctor Faustus makes his infamous Faustian…

points. Gilgamesh goes to the underworld in search of immortality. After his friend and brother Enkidu died, Gilgamesh begins to question his own mortality. He becomes afraid of death and wants to be granted eternal life. He then hears of Utnapishtim, a man who is immortal, and seeks him out to ask him about how he became immortal. He is clearly desperate to avoid death and will risk dying in the underworld for a slim chance at immortality. This…

of it. Genetic immortality, also known as biological immortality, is the decrease death rate of growing old. How it would work is that scientists would be able to “unlock” a gene in the human body and, from that, humans would be free from the consequences of old age. This is an important issue because with the arguments presented, the human race can either immensely benefit from it by preventing death or cause widespread chaos from overpopulation. The pursuit of genetic immortality can be…

In the short story ‘’The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality’’ by Andrew Lang, written in 1903 explains how selfishness can destroy an individual. The protagonist in this story is the Prince, who is scared of death and wants to be immortal. His father wants him to rule the kingdom, but he refuses. The Prince says, ‘’Never shall I be happy till I find a kingdom where death is unknown’’ (Lang 74). He is selfish because he wants to live forever and not let his father rest during his old age. He…

The author of Ode: Intimidations of Immortality William Wordsworth’s conversation with his sister had recalled the emotional experience in his childhood. Wordsworth began to question why, as a child, he once has the ability to witness the divinity of nature but as an adult that was disappearing. The speaker of the poem is an older man who is thinking back about his childhood’s glory and connection to the heaven. With frequent shift of rhyme scheme in the poem, Wordsworth makes this poem songlike…