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The possibility of evil character analysis
Effects of betrayal
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Betrayal is something people experience in everyday life whether it's major or minor, and sometimes we don't expect it to come from certain people in our lives. In the story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, by Roald Dahl explains different types of betrayal. Ms.Strangeworth in “The Possibility of Evil” showed betrayal to her community by pretending to care for them and acted as if she really wanted the best for them, but she really didn't. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Patrick showed betrayal to Mary, his pregnant wife, by leaving her at the worst time possible. Although Patrick betrayed her first Mary betrayed him the worst way possible by killing him. In these two stories both Mary and Ms.Strangeworth
Desperation is a state of despair,where someone will act in an extreme way. These extreme behaviours can lead to actions that cannot be taken back. In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary is a kind and loving person before she is in a state of desperation. Mary’s actions are an example of how desperation can transform people forever. Mary is kind and loves her husband very deeply. Mary’s love for her husband is displayed when “ Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work. Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by making it nearer the time that he would come.”(Dahl 10) Mary loves Patrick very much and
In some situations, people become violent because of their emotions. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior leaves his school on the reservation to go to an all white high school. His Indian friends feel betrayed. He joins the basketball team at his new school and the first game is against the reservation team. The Indian crowd throws things at him and he needs stitches on his forehead. During the game, as Junior jumped into the air, he “heard the curses of 200 Spokanes, and saw only a bright light as Rowdy smashed his elbow into my head and knocked me unconscious”. (pg 146) After Junior left the Reservation, Rowdy felt betrayed, and became violently angry. His emotion of betrayal caused him to turn on Junior and act more evil. This is especially hard on him because Junior was his best friend.
The way people act toward each other can cause betrayal to play a huge role in their actions toward one another, which is the first way in which betrayal is portrayed. For example, before they were born, “The twin argued inside of their mother’s stomach and fought about their birth.The right-handed twin wanted to be born the normal way, as most children are born, but the left-handed twin said no and said he saw light in another direction(Iroquois 41),” so the right-handed twin was born naturally while the left-handed twin ended up not being able to go the direction he saw light in was born through his mother’s armpit,
...heme of betrayal, although it does affect each plot, and it’s characters differently. Each protagonist deals with their situation differently, but in the end, death was the only escape from their problems. In “Stone Angel” Margaret Lawrence writes of a character, Hagar Shipley, who is stripped of her right to self-govern her life. She is forced into a home, and dies, still fighting the same battle for her independence. A similar story in that of “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, protagonist Willy Loman’s constant disloyalty towards his family destroys his relationships and in the end, leads him to suicide. Despite the major differences between the two pieces of literature, the similarities are what matter. Betrayal can do awful things to people. It can drive decision-making without critical thinking. It can ruin lives, just ask Willy Loman, or Hagar Shipley.
During World War II and the Holocaust, there was not only mistrust for the government but there was also plenty of mistrust for prior friends and neighbors. In the graphic novel, “Maus (Volume I and II) Vladek Spiegelman makes it very clear to his son, Artie, that one cannot count on their friends. He makes the point that in time of hardship, friends will abandon you quite quickly. Vladek says, “Friends? Your friends…if you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…then you could see what it is, friends! (Maus, VI. 5-6). Throughout the novel, we see examples of this gloomy point proven repeatedly.
My second example from The Salem Witch trials is Mary she tries to be a goody two shoe about almost everything but she to turns out to be a liar along with everyone else. Mary lies when she says “you 're the devil 's man Proctor” she to is actually lying after she realizes that everyone is starting to think that she is a culprit in the court and that she may be getting charged so she then decided to blame proctor to save herself and to ensure she gets away clean and clear. Mary also lies many other times throughout the crucible all in ways that she really didn 't need to lie up until the very end when everyone was being tried in court. My final example of dishonesty is Elizabeth proctor a woman famous for her honesty and absence of mistakes throughout her entire life in salem. Elizabeth has been notorious for being a good example lady in salem and a very kind person also. She also was looked up to by many but as the the trails unfold she to falls victim to dishonesty. “ My husband- is a goodly man, sir. ("Then he did not turn from you. Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John
Both Dahl and Glaspell convey themes of the domestic trap that society places women in through different literary devices, in the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" and the play Trifles.
Martial betrayal forms a central basis for the relations between the main characters of Abigail, John Proctor, and Elizabeth Proctor. John betrayed his wife by cheating with Abigail, and throughout the course of the play, he attempts to redeem himself. This brings up an interesting topic of whether cheating can ever be justified. Elizabeth feels partially responsible because she was cold to him, and she believes that it was her coldness that led her husband to betray her. However is there ever an excuse for cheating? Can cheating on one’s spouse be justified if one’s spouse is not loving and well treating of their spouse? Martial betrayal still is relevant today, it is a human flaw that will not simply just disappear from our society. Even prominent figures such as Bill Clinton have been accused of such actions and society still contains several such cases of adultery.
In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney is shown to have a very sinister and manipulative character. In the beginning of the story, Mary Maloney was a normal, loving and caring pregnant housewife that loved and cared for her husband, Patrick Maloney, very much. Earlier at the start of the story we see Mary was waiting for her husband to come home from work. She had set up the house with two table lights lit and plates on the dining table so they can have a very romantic dinner when Patrick comes home. When Patrick came home, Mary was very excited to see him. She would try to offer him some drinks and insisted she would get things in the house he needed so he didn’t have to get up himself. The countless times that Patrick said no to her offers and helpful doings, she still tried to serve and tried to make him feel comfortable and relax after work.
Judas Iscariot, the disciple, hanged himself from a tree after betraying Jesus Christ and giving him a kiss. The tree in which Judas hanged himself is known as “Judas Tree,” mainly found in Southern Europe and Western Asia. In the short story “Flowering Judas” written by Katherine Anne Porter the title is related to this religious event of betrayal, murder, and denial. The two main characters in this short story are Braggioni and Laura. Braggioni is a cruel, powerful leader of Marxist revolutionaries in and around Mexico City. Laura is a beautiful American women, age 22, who took up residence in Mexico. Braggioni, Braggioni’s wife, and Eugenio also perform certain actions that make them betrayers, however Laura is Judas the betrayer in “Flowering Judas.”
Betrayal can hurt and it can hurt more if committed to the ones closest to you. Not only can it hurt the one it occurs to but it can hurt the one committing the act. Throughout the readings infidelity was strongly seen but it is more apparent in two novels: Vertigo and The Girl on The Train. Not only was everyone emotionally damaged but deathly consequences were seen and a couple of the characters actions came back with spiteful vengeance.
Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, instantly grabs a reader’s attention with its grotesque title, ensuing someone’s downfall or failure. The saying “lamb to the slaughter,” usually refers to an innocent person who is ignorantly led to his or her failure. This particular short story describes a betrayal in which how a woman brutally kills her husband after he tells her that he wants a divorce. She then persuades the policemen who rush to the scene to consume the evidence. This action and Patrick’s actions show the theme of betrayal throughout the story which Roald Dahl portrays through the use of point of view, symbolism and black humor.
Betrayal has been a problem for mankind for as long as mankind has existed, but what exactly is betrayal? Many authors, psychologists, and philosophers alike have tried to answer that very question with no success. Certain types of betrayal can be beneficial, but more often than not betrayal causes an unfortunate series of events to follow it. One of the greatest examples of this comes from Greek Mythology and the story of Jason and Medea. Jason and Medea lived together as a married couple and had children together, Jason then betrayed Medea by throwing her aside and claiming they were never married. As revenge Medea then killed their children and fled. There are several different types of betrayal. There is betrayal of/by society or the exectutives of the country, betrayal of/by those close to you, and betrayal of/by yourself.
"Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love." (John LeCarre) In William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear, characters are betrayed by the closest people to them. The parents betray their children, mostly unintentionally. The children deceive their parents because of their greed and power hunger. Their parents were eventually forgiven, but the greedy children were not. Parents and their children betray one and other, and are only able to do so because they are family, however, the children betray for greed while the parents betray through the credulity caused by their children's greed.
Many individual’s lacks the ability to struggle through the hardships of life; thus as a result, many are forced to overlook life’s problems and pretend everything is tolerable, or to escape into a fantasy in hopes of a better life. Within the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare it is argued that truth sets individuals free and along with this truth, people’s illusions are broken. This behavior of disillusionment is clearly evident in the plays main character Hamlet. As the play progresses, Hamlet is bombarded with truth about others that ultimately changes his point of view about life. This new found truth resonates within Hamlet and forces him to come to the conclusion that life is evil, painful and it’s subjected to “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Through this insight Hamlet’s life structure collapses, but he is able to, for the first time, judge the world for its true merits and adapt to make sense of the world.