2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Symbols are found everywhere, in real life as well as in literature. They represent an idea, or something much larger than just the outward appearance of the symbol. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Scarlet A upon Esther’s bosom is an obvious symbol in the novel but it also acts as a symbol beyond its literal meaning, giving great meaning to one little letter.
The scarlet letter is initially placed on Hester’s bosom as a symbol of shame for her sin of adultery. She is forever cursed to wear the letter as a symbol of her sin and yet she takes on this punishment confidently, and bravely. This courage causes the meaning of the letter to change throughout time. Hester wears the letter confidently making it part of her identity. As time passes and people forget about the meaning of the letter they begin to start up rumors on what it may mean. Instead of it being a sign of her sin and her shame, it becomes a sign of her being able and kind and hardworking. The letter loses its old meaning and gains it’s new opposite meaning.
This shift in meaning of the letter emphasizes a major theme in the story that criticizes the society present in this novel. The society feels the need to come up with a symbol of her adultery as if the child that was perceived from the adultery was not symbol enough. In addition, the symbol that initially was supposed to make Hester feel guilty, becomes a good symbol that gives her a reputation of a handworker in the village. This just additionally shows how ineffective the society was at this time period. This also touches on another theme of this novel of how tackling adversity head on with courage helps you get through it and maybe even turn a bad thing into a good thing. This is shown with Hester’s confident attitude throughout her life. No matter how badly the village treats Hester, she remains kind and hard working thus changing her image from an adulteress into a great woman to look up to.
This also shows how the meaning of a symbol is up to interpretation. As Hester proudly showed everyone, she changed the meaning of her letter from what others saw it as to what she wanted it to stand for. This shows another great theme of this novel, which is that you can make up for any mistake if you work hard enough to repent.
Therefore, symbols tend to stand for many things. In the case of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the letter A stands for the adultery committed by Hester as well as eventually becoming a symbol of Hester’s hard work and overcoming adversity.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Open Prompt Revision
2007, Form B. Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values. Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Betrayal occurs for many reasons, but often there is no legitimate reason at all. That is exactly the case in Shakespeare’s famous play Much Ado About Nothing. The betrayal in this play occurs due to a man’s unreasonable hatred towards his brother that causes chaos and shapes the conflict in the play as well as creating the central theme.
Don Jon, the antagonist in this play holds bitter feelings towards his brother, Don Pedro. As a result, he looks to hurt his brother in any way possible. This occurs when Don Pedro’s closest friend, Claudio falls in love. Don Jon immediately sees this as an opportunity to conflict pain on his brother. He cleverly gains the close trust of Don Pedro and Claudio just to have them fall for his scheme that ultimately breaks young Claudio’s heart and makes Don Pedro, look like the villain. The whole play is built around this betrayal and the central idea of misconceptions. This betrayal acts as the conflict as well as the climax giving the play most of its meaning.
The central repeating motif is the harm of misconceptions and being too quick to believe things without proper evidence. This betrayal continues this motif, giving the play its central meaning. The play is given meaning because of this betrayal. Without this betrayal, this play would just be a series of small misconceptions that do not have any deeper meaning but because this betrayal occurs, the conflict is brought to life and also the idea of true love is brought to light giving the play its true meaning that Shakespeare intended for it to have.
Therefore, the central meaning of Much Ado About Nothing, would not exist without this main betrayal occurring. Although many other slight misconceptions do occur throughout the play, without this main betrayal occurring, the theme of being too quick to believe the wrong people without proper evidence would not be brought to light to the reader.
Betrayal occurs for many reasons, but often there is no legitimate reason at all. That is exactly the case in Shakespeare’s famous play Much Ado About Nothing. The betrayal in this play occurs due to a man’s unreasonable hatred towards his brother that causes chaos and shapes the conflict in the play as well as creating the central theme.
Don Jon, the antagonist in this play holds bitter feelings towards his brother, Don Pedro. As a result, he looks to hurt his brother in any way possible. This occurs when Don Pedro’s closest friend, Claudio falls in love. Don Jon immediately sees this as an opportunity to conflict pain on his brother. He cleverly gains the close trust of Don Pedro and Claudio just to have them fall for his scheme that ultimately breaks young Claudio’s heart and makes Don Pedro, look like the villain. The whole play is built around this betrayal and the central idea of misconceptions. This betrayal acts as the conflict as well as the climax giving the play most of its meaning.
The central repeating motif is the harm of misconceptions and being too quick to believe things without proper evidence. This betrayal continues this motif, giving the play its central meaning. The play is given meaning because of this betrayal. Without this betrayal, this play would just be a series of small misconceptions that do not have any deeper meaning but because this betrayal occurs, the conflict is brought to life and also the idea of true love is brought to light giving the play its true meaning that Shakespeare intended for it to have.
Therefore, the central meaning of Much Ado About Nothing, would not exist without this main betrayal occurring. Although many other slight misconceptions do occur throughout the play, without this main betrayal occurring, the theme of being too quick to believe the wrong people without proper evidence would not be brought to light to the reader.
Open Prompt Revision
Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
In literature, there are often characters that cannot be categorized as purely good, or purely evil because their actions make it impossible to pin them into one of these groups. Often these ambiguous characters can prove to be the most important. In the case of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, one of these ambiguous characters exists by the name of Mr. Darcy. Although many are quick to think of him as evil at many points in the novel, when you closely observe Mr. Darcy’s actions and behaviors you cannot pin him into one of these categories and yet he is the most crucial player in this story because his actions make up the majority of the plot in this novel as well as causes the conflict.
Mr. Darcy is described right from the beginning as a very difficult person to like. It also did not help that he was always around his best friend Mr. Bingley, who in contrast was the most pleasant person to be around making Mr. Darcy look that much worse in comparison. The whole town admires, Mr. Darcy for being wealthy and of high social status but at the same time, they talk behind his back a lot, simply because of his terrible manners. Then after he meets Elizabeth, we really get the details of Mr. Darcy and of what kind of person he truly is. Shortly after this we receive crucial (although false), information about Mr. Darcy from the wicked Mr. Wickham. We learn that Mr. Darcy actually took a lot of money from Mr. Wickham that was rightfully his and essentially screwed Mr. Wickham over. This adds to the build up of Mr. Darcy’s character officially putting him over into the evil category. Elizabeth, confused at her feelings for Mr. Darcy, grows to despise him because of this lie that was planted into her mind by Mr. Wickham.
However, after the Mr. Wickham incident, we learn about an entirely different side of Mr. Darcy. This side seems to be completely the opposite of what we have been told up to this point making the reader question the morals of Mr. Darcy, and therefore causing him to seem morally ambiguous. We soon learn that Mr. Wickham’s story is in fact not true, and that the true bad guy of the story was Mr. Wickham and not Mr. Darcy. We also learn about the loving side of Mr. Darcy. We learn from his maid that he actually is incredibly charming and loving, especially towards his sister and his family. This causes the reader as well as Elizabeth to question everything about Mr. Darcy. On one hand, Mr. Darcy was incredibly haughty and rude at the balls, but on the other hand, we see that Mr. Darcy is actually very caring and generous. The major event that causes the most confusion is when Mr. Darcy pays Mr. Wickham a tremendous sum of money so that the Bennett’s can keep their house, and have a happily married daughter. This shows us a selfless side of him that has not been even hinted at prior in the novel. Elizabeth at this point becomes incredibly confused at what to believe and whether she is in love with Mr. Darcy or not.
This ambiguity is crucial to the plot development of the novel. If you really think about this classic Jane Austen novel, without this ambiguity and confusion as to what kind of person Mr. Darcy really is, the plot loses much of its meaning and meat. A lot of the novel consists of the Bennett daughters, more specifically Elizabeth, and their pursuit of a husband, in Elizabeth’s case Mr. Darcy, and without this ambiguity causing the conflict in the novel; there would be no novel.
Therefore, the ambiguity of Mr. Darcy as seen throughout the novel is crucial to the plot of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This ambiguity causes the conflict in the novel as well as makes up most of the plot and therefore, serves to be of great importance.
In literature, there are often characters that cannot be categorized as purely good, or purely evil because their actions make it impossible to pin them into one of these groups. Often these ambiguous characters can prove to be the most important. In the case of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, one of these ambiguous characters exists by the name of Mr. Darcy. Although many are quick to think of him as evil at many points in the novel, when you closely observe Mr. Darcy’s actions and behaviors you cannot pin him into one of these categories and yet he is the most crucial player in this story because his actions make up the majority of the plot in this novel as well as causes the conflict.
Mr. Darcy is described right from the beginning as a very difficult person to like. It also did not help that he was always around his best friend Mr. Bingley, who in contrast was the most pleasant person to be around making Mr. Darcy look that much worse in comparison. The whole town admires, Mr. Darcy for being wealthy and of high social status but at the same time, they talk behind his back a lot, simply because of his terrible manners. Then after he meets Elizabeth, we really get the details of Mr. Darcy and of what kind of person he truly is. Shortly after this we receive crucial (although false), information about Mr. Darcy from the wicked Mr. Wickham. We learn that Mr. Darcy actually took a lot of money from Mr. Wickham that was rightfully his and essentially screwed Mr. Wickham over. This adds to the build up of Mr. Darcy’s character officially putting him over into the evil category. Elizabeth, confused at her feelings for Mr. Darcy, grows to despise him because of this lie that was planted into her mind by Mr. Wickham.
However, after the Mr. Wickham incident, we learn about an entirely different side of Mr. Darcy. This side seems to be completely the opposite of what we have been told up to this point making the reader question the morals of Mr. Darcy, and therefore causing him to seem morally ambiguous. We soon learn that Mr. Wickham’s story is in fact not true, and that the true bad guy of the story was Mr. Wickham and not Mr. Darcy. We also learn about the loving side of Mr. Darcy. We learn from his maid that he actually is incredibly charming and loving, especially towards his sister and his family. This causes the reader as well as Elizabeth to question everything about Mr. Darcy. On one hand, Mr. Darcy was incredibly haughty and rude at the balls, but on the other hand, we see that Mr. Darcy is actually very caring and generous. The major event that causes the most confusion is when Mr. Darcy pays Mr. Wickham a tremendous sum of money so that the Bennett’s can keep their house, and have a happily married daughter. This shows us a selfless side of him that has not been even hinted at prior in the novel. Elizabeth at this point becomes incredibly confused at what to believe and whether she is in love with Mr. Darcy or not.
This ambiguity is crucial to the plot development of the novel. If you really think about this classic Jane Austen novel, without this ambiguity and confusion as to what kind of person Mr. Darcy really is, the plot loses much of its meaning and meat. A lot of the novel consists of the Bennett daughters, more specifically Elizabeth, and their pursuit of a husband, in Elizabeth’s case Mr. Darcy, and without this ambiguity causing the conflict in the novel; there would be no novel.
Therefore, the ambiguity of Mr. Darcy as seen throughout the novel is crucial to the plot of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This ambiguity causes the conflict in the novel as well as makes up most of the plot and therefore, serves to be of great importance.
Open Prompt Revision
In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Some people enjoy looking back at the past and smiling at joyous moments that have come and gone, but others think of the past as distressing and would prefer to forget about it completely. This is a common theme in much of literature. In the case of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past is a painful subject that seems unavoidable. The past plays such a major role in the lives of the main characters in the form of regrets, that without understanding the past, the play loses much of its meaning.
Willy is unable to let go of his past and this causes his present, and future life to be ruined. Willy wants to live in the past, which he does in his head through hallucinations and flashbacks. He lives in his head in a time when everything was great and there were no problems or mistakes made. Willy is so caught up in the past that he is unable to think of the present and fix the many problems that are going on the most evident being his ruined relationship with Biff. This creates the central conflict in this play. The conflict between a man and his son about a past mistake that is buried away but never forgotten.
The most important quote in the play that wraps up all the questions is “What happened in Boston Willy?” (Miller 94). The key to the play is what exactly happened in the Boston. In Boston, Biff ends up walking in on his dad cheating on his mom with another woman. This causes Biff to skip summer school and throw away his future. Biff never forgives his father and throws away his life and all his potential as a result of the grudge that he holds against his father. This causes Willy to spiral into a state of insanity. This memory stays with both characters and remains unavoidable making the characters who they are in the play today. His inability to own up to his mistake causes him to silently grieve and regret his mistake, which leads him into an insane state. Willy cannot get over the past and cannot get over the fact that he ruined his son’s life and its drives him to depression. This not only creates the central conflict, but it also give the play it’s central theme that you cannot live in the past but must live in the present to make up for all past mistakes. Willy is unable to do this and this ultimately takes his life.
In addition to the adultery that is committed, Willy is filled with regret about past decisions that he could’ve made to make him more successful than he is today. He finds himself in a state of failure, failure with his job, his son, and his life in general. This causes him to look back into the past, more specifically towards an opportunity that he was given by his brother Ben to go to Alaska. He feels as if he has made a mistake by not going and therefore regrets it entirely. This once again adds to the central theme. Although we cannot know for sure if Willy would have ended up in a better situation if he had gone to Alaska, Willy ends up failing because he cannot move on from is regret and work as hard as possible to improve his life in the present.
Therefore, the past is evident in much of today’s literature and in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past leads the main characters down a downward spiral that they are not able to recover from until the final death of Willy Loman, the salesman who dwelt on the past and couldn’t deal with the future.
Some people enjoy looking back at the past and smiling at joyous moments that have come and gone, but others think of the past as distressing and would prefer to forget about it completely. This is a common theme in much of literature. In the case of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past is a painful subject that seems unavoidable. The past plays such a major role in the lives of the main characters in the form of regrets, that without understanding the past, the play loses much of its meaning.
Willy is unable to let go of his past and this causes his present, and future life to be ruined. Willy wants to live in the past, which he does in his head through hallucinations and flashbacks. He lives in his head in a time when everything was great and there were no problems or mistakes made. Willy is so caught up in the past that he is unable to think of the present and fix the many problems that are going on the most evident being his ruined relationship with Biff. This creates the central conflict in this play. The conflict between a man and his son about a past mistake that is buried away but never forgotten.
The most important quote in the play that wraps up all the questions is “What happened in Boston Willy?” (Miller 94). The key to the play is what exactly happened in the Boston. In Boston, Biff ends up walking in on his dad cheating on his mom with another woman. This causes Biff to skip summer school and throw away his future. Biff never forgives his father and throws away his life and all his potential as a result of the grudge that he holds against his father. This causes Willy to spiral into a state of insanity. This memory stays with both characters and remains unavoidable making the characters who they are in the play today. His inability to own up to his mistake causes him to silently grieve and regret his mistake, which leads him into an insane state. Willy cannot get over the past and cannot get over the fact that he ruined his son’s life and its drives him to depression. This not only creates the central conflict, but it also give the play it’s central theme that you cannot live in the past but must live in the present to make up for all past mistakes. Willy is unable to do this and this ultimately takes his life.
In addition to the adultery that is committed, Willy is filled with regret about past decisions that he could’ve made to make him more successful than he is today. He finds himself in a state of failure, failure with his job, his son, and his life in general. This causes him to look back into the past, more specifically towards an opportunity that he was given by his brother Ben to go to Alaska. He feels as if he has made a mistake by not going and therefore regrets it entirely. This once again adds to the central theme. Although we cannot know for sure if Willy would have ended up in a better situation if he had gone to Alaska, Willy ends up failing because he cannot move on from is regret and work as hard as possible to improve his life in the present.
Therefore, the past is evident in much of today’s literature and in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past leads the main characters down a downward spiral that they are not able to recover from until the final death of Willy Loman, the salesman who dwelt on the past and couldn’t deal with the future.
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