The play “J.B.” by MacLeish is almost like the story of Job in the bible. The keyword is almost. He changes the story in a lot of ways, but still keeps the same basic storyline. The problem of Job is that he is a man who is very religious and moral, but God takes everything away for seemingly no reason. The sinful people have seemed to escape God’s wraith, while Job is punished. Job says that he doesn’t deserve God’s grace more then anyone else.
In both the bible and the play, Job wonders why such a bad thing has happened to him. He wants to know why God has treated him so badly. The three comforters tell him that it is because we are human. No matter how hard we try to stay sinless, we cannot help it. But this argument is not satisfying for either Jobs. They want to feel that punishment should only come to those deserving of it.
The Bible version of Job's story suggests a different answer. A young man speaks up after Job has convinced the three older men of his innocence, and he speaks of the magnificence and omnipotence of God. It implies that God has a system of justice, and that if a man finds himself in difficulties it must be through his own actions. But Job was good all of his life. The point of the Bible's Job seems to be to learn to accept our circumstances, without turning against God because external conditions are the result of complex processes, most of which we do not understand, but we cannot let the external be the basis.
MacLeish makes a similar point. In...
Second, the story line. Although Archibald MacLeish wrote the play based on the story of Job in The Bible, there are many differences in the story line. In The Bible, Job’s misfortune was spawned by Satan trying to show God that Job was not as holy as God had thought. God gave Satan the power to destroy everything Job had, including his health. Job’s children all died together when the roof of the house collapsed on them while they were all dining at the house of the oldest brother. His wife died also, and all of his possessions was taken from him. Furthermore, he contracted painful sores all over his body. As for J.B., his children died separately, one after the other. The oldest had died in the army. Two were involved in a car accident. One daughter was killed by an explosion that also took out J.B.’s millions. And the youngest was raped. However, J.B.’s wife, Sarah, was not killed, but instead she left him. In The Bible, Job is confronted by his three friends. His friends encourages him to turn against God and to curse him, but he refused to do so. On the other hand, J.B. was confronted with four friends, the first three encouraging him to turn against God but the fourth telling him to pray to God and to praise Him.
...ade to choose him for the spiritual task. Job realized he had to experience loss and suffering in the name of God to pass the test God bestowed upon him. God stated “Who is that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me... Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth” (p.667) God notified Job he was in no position to question the loss he must undertake in order to complete his mission. Job realized the meaning of his life, when he realized the magnitude God went to convince him of his calling. Job forgave himself for his sacrifices, because he realized it was instructed by God.
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism several times in the book, The Scarlet Letter. Some examples of this are when they talk of the scaffold, the brook, the forest, and the sunshine. The one that I will discuss is the sunshine. Hawthorne uses sunshine in the novel to symbolize purity and hope several times throughout the book. In one scene of the book, Pearl requests that Hester grab some sunshine and give it to her to play with. Hester then replies, "No, my little Pearl! Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee." (p.104) Hester has no sunshine to give Pearl because she has committed adultery and is not pure. Another example is when Hester and Pearl are taking a walk through the forest when a dark cloud came over the sky and Pearl said, "Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom." Pearl says this just innocently playing around, not having a clue of exactly how right she is. She says that the sun fears the "A" and avoids the impurity of it at all costs, even disappearing from the sky. Later in that walk, Hawthorne again shows how the sun refuses to be around Hester and her sin. Hester tells Pearl to run off and catch the sun and so she sets off at a great pace and, in her innocence, she seemingly catches it and stands right in the midst of it. Hester comes over and attempts to come over bask in the sunshine and Pearl says, while shaking her head, "It will go now." Hester replies, "See! Now I can stretch out my hand and grasp some of it," but "As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished." This shows how the sun, being pure, adorned the Pearl in her innocence, while it shunned Hester for her impurity. Hawthorne shows the symbol of sunshine best in the chapter appropriately titled, "A Flood of Sunshine." In this particular scene, Dimmesdale and Hester are discussing what Dimmesdale will do about the current situation with their relationship. Dimmesdale announces that he will leave the community, and he must do it alone. In the heat of the moment Hester declares that he will not have to go alone, and she takes off her bonnet and throws down the
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very important and symbolic role. Hawthorne uses nature to convey the mood of a scene, to describe characters, and to link the natural elements with human nature. Many of the passages that have to do with nature accomplish more than one of these ideas. All throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. The deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel.
In the case of Joseph where his brother sold him into slavery, what was meant to be evil, God planned everything out to bless Joseph and his family in the long term (Genesis 37-47 Holman Christian Study Bible). We as Christian need to lean on Gods understands and not our own, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Joni could live out her faith by trusting in God and by not jumping to thoughts that she is useless. She could bring the living word to people around her. As a voice calling out of the wilderness like John the Baptist, Joni’s wilderness would be her situation. Christians all around this world are using the pain they have known to spread the message of God. It is her story now that only she can share and show how God have not forsaken her, but has delivered from the rock bottom and now has renewed her
The differences between the movie doubt and the play have significant differences that would influence ones opinion about certain characters and situations in the story. Though the differences are few one would agree that at least one of these differences are game changers or at the very least they get you thinking and having doubts of your own.
Shah, Anup. "Rights of Indigenous People." Global Issues. N.p., 16 Oct. 2010. Web. 3 May 2014. .
Also, the claim that God is responsible for death and suffering of innocent people also can be argued, because it implies that God has a moral guilt when he takes away lives of his creatures. But there is no moral guilt for God. It is falsely assumed that because the creatures are not allowed to take someone else's life, then is not acceptable to do the same for God. God gives life and only he has the right to take it (Job 1:21), but people do not give life, and they have no right to take it away.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's work, The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very symbolic role. Throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. One example of this is with the character of Pearl. Pearl is very different than all the other characters due to her special relationship with Nature. Hawthorne personifies Nature as sympathetic towards sins against the puritan way of life. Hester's sin causes Nature to accept Pearl.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, nature and Pearl are depicted as innocence and evil. Hester brings her daughter, Pearl, to live in the forest because they are not accepted by society due to the Scarlet letter. The relationship between these two is Pearl creates a bond with nature mentally since society rejects her as a product of sin. Nature is viewed in the eyes of a Puritan as a place where witches live to perform witchcraft and where darkness inhabits. However, the relationship between nature and Pearl gives her freedom and growth.
...n the world. Job questions what god is really doing for him. Then god talks to job in question form about the creation of the earth. This shows that jobs is very small compared to god, so small that he cannot even being to understand some of the the things god is telling him. Chapter 38 proves to job that humans are far below the power of god then in chapter 42 job quickly shames himself for the previous things he said.
Plato’s cave had chained prisoners and that was the only life they ever knew. They couldn’t move their heads, and the only objects they could see from the outside world were the casted shadows created by the fire. They saw the truth from the shadows, but they were distorted. What they were seeing was only one side of the truth, not the whole thing. When one of the prisoners was free to go, he was forced to be dragged out of the cave. It
Job was a man of the purest faith. When the world shunned God, Job's faith never declined. Job was a wealthy, handsome man with a beautiful wife and a vast amount of property. At some point in time, Satan made a bet with God that if Job situation was changed, his faith would quickly falter. On this note, God took Job's wealth, his property, his family, and his wife. When times were at their worst, God gave Job pus welts on Job's face, taking his looks. Job's faith, however, did not falter, instead it becamestronger. Job passed the test. God then healed Job, gave him more land, greater wealth , and a better wife. Job was baffled, he wondered the purpose behind his fall and rise. When he asked God this, God replied: "...Because I'm God." That was answer enough.
Written in 1962-3, Play depicts three characters, a man (M), and two women (W1 and W2) trapped in urns with only their heads showing. These characters each present their own version of a love triangle, which once occurred between them. It becomes clear during the play that the characters, once tortured by each other, are now tortured by their situation. A spotlight acts as a "unique inquisitor," compelling each to speak when it shines on them, and to stop when it goes out. As this assault continues, the characters become increasingly maddened by the light, and increasingly desperate to make it stop. The play repeats itself, providing the audience with a sense that these characters have been saying the same words for an eternity, and will continue to do so until the light decides they can stop. Beckett demonstrates how "A style of living, theatrically communicable, is used to express a state of mind."
...id and Job, both of these things are not applied. In this manner, the stories very often violate the same commandments meant to bring not only justice, but also morality, and other such virtues to a society and its people. Further, it is often God himself, in whose image man was created, who violates his own commandments, and due to this, can man be expected to adhere to the same commandments broken by God if he has been created in God's image? God is explicitly unjust, vengeful, and jealous, particularly in the story of Job. If God is to be an example for the ideal being, then how is it that his nature can express the same things he denounces in his guide, The Bible? All of these questions ultimately lead into one main question, which is in regards to whether or not a people who are led by an unjust God truly have the capability of developing a "just society".