Friendship has always been part of the human experience, it offers support and companionship throughout life's journey. But while there are many benefits of companionship, this thesis plans on examining the potential drawbacks of reliance within friendship. From Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, we see narratives full of betrayals, hate, jealousy, and toxic relationships that bring out how fragile a human can be. In Julius Caesar and The Epic of Gilgamesh, betrayal is one of the central themes that drives the plot forward and shapes the character's identity and motivation. In Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, Decius, a close friend of Caesar, talks to Cassius. “If he be so resolved. I can o’ersway him.but when I tell …show more content…
Ultimately, both novels offer descriptions of betrayal that connect with the complexities of human relationships. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, betrayal is mostly motivated by personal vendettas which lead to a tragic cycle of revenge and death, while in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, betrayal arises from rejection which ultimately results in the destruction of both the creator and the creation. In Hamlet, the play begins with the betrayal of King Hamlet by his brother Claudius. “The serpent that did sting thy fathers life now wears his crown” (Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 5). Claudius betrays his brother King Hamlet by pouring poison down his ear, which kills him in his sleep. After his death, Claudius rushes off to marry Queen Gertrude and takes over the throne. Hamlet is hurt by his mom’s lack of loyalty to his father and perceives Queen Gertrude’s allegiance to Claudius as a betrayal to his father’s memory. In Frankenstein, the central theme of betrayal is highlighted with other themes such as abandonment and moral responsibility. The “Begone” is a snare! I will not hear from you. There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies”(Shelley, pg.69). The greatest betrayal in Frankenstein occurs when
Marion Winik’s “What Are Friends For?” expresses the characteristics of friendships and their importance in her existence. Winik begins by stating her theory of how some people can’t contribute as much to a friendship with their characteristic traits, while others can fulfill the friendship. She illustrates the eight friendships she has experienced, categorized as Buddies, Relative Friends, Work Friends, Faraway Friends, Former Friends, Friends You Love to Hate, Hero Friends, and New Friends. In like manner, the friendships that I have experienced agree and contradict with Winik’s categorizations.
Friendship can be debated as both a blessing and a curse; as a necessary part of life to be happy or an unnecessary use of time. Friends can be a source of joy and support, they can be a constant stress and something that brings us down, or anywhere in between. In Book 9 of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses to great lengths what friendship is and how we should go about these relationships. In the short story “Melvin in the Sixth Grade” by Dana Johnson, we see the main character Avery’s struggle to find herself and also find friendship, as well as Melvin’s rejection of the notion that one must have friends.
In examining Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, and Emerson’s views on friendship, one can see how the meaning of friendship has evolved through time and see the respective perceptions of friendship exemplify the cultural values of the writers. Aristotle took on a somewhat elitist viewpoint on friendship due to Athenian society’s social hierarchy; Cicero takes on a more realistic one because the politics of Roman friendships; Montaigne adopts a more modern interpretation of friendship as time has progressed and finally Emerson’s transcendental beliefs are shown in his writings about friendship. However, it is uncanny that despite the span of time and cultures, all agree on the profound importance of friendship for individuals.
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, one must read the text closely to track the shifting motivations and loyalties of each character as the play progresses. An important factor that must be kept in mind while reading is the degree of loyalty, in other words, the degree to which characters act out of a motivation to help others. Throughout the play, each character's current degree of loyalty to others is clearly exhibited by words or behavior – this holds true for the characters of Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Portia, and Calpurnia. The focus on loyalty is critical because before the play ends an even-handed justice is meted out to a number of people who fail to live up to an expected standard of loyalty to others.
Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar and Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, loyalty is strongly presented as a major motif. In both texts, loyalty is highly valued as one of the most important traits to a person’s character. Not only do the loyal characters receive better fates, but those who are not loyal are punished for the actions, usually through revenge. In Julius Caesar, the characters that remained loyal to Caesar are the few who wind up alive at the end of the play, and in The Odyssey, those who remained loyal to Odysseus were rewarded by Odysseus, and those who weren’t were killed.
Since men act in ways that bring their lives happiness, it is generally found that friendship brings happiness; however different kinds of friendship bring different types of happiness. Regardless of the type of friendship, what can be agreed and accepted is that the best type of friendship will be virtuous. “[G]oodwill, when it is reciprocal being friendship… To be friends, then, they must be mutually recognized as bearing goodwill and wishing well to each other” (Nicomachean Ethics, 8.2, 1155b-1156a 34- 5). Friendship requires reciprocal well-wishing, and mutual awareness based on lovable qualities, such as the good, the pleasant and the useful. By analyzing these three kinds of friendship, it will be proven that the friendship is a virtue or rather a good action.
Steinbeck’s text suggests that friendships are not always what they seem to be. When one thinks of a typical friendship, some things that generally come to mind include enjoyable encounters and happy memories through compassion, care, and kindness. However, in George’s and Lennie’s friendship, the two do share compassion, care, and kindness, just not along with pleasurable experiences and joyful memories. Instead, hard work and responsibility, for George, are what make their bond so strong. Slim notes, “ ‘I hardly ever seen two guys travel together’ ” (Steinbeck 37). Despite challenges, friendships are still the key to happy and enjoyable lives.
From a young age, most people have gone through many relationships with other people who were not their family. Thus, we often acknowledge these relationships as friendships. But the word friend is too broad, so people categorize their friends into several types. In her book “Necessary Losses: The Lovers, Illusions, Dependencies and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow”, Judith Viorst divided friendships into six types. Those are convenience friends, special interest friends, historical friends, crossroad friends, cross-generational friends and close friends.
Friendship. A feeling that is valued by almost everyone in the world. But friendship can be “deadly.” Not in the sense that it can kill a person – maybe it can – but in the sense that it is a very fragile piece of the lives of those who live on Earth. Friendship can be an amazing piece of one’s life, or it can be one the worst aspects of life. When one makes a friend, a true friend, it allows that friend to learn a lot about that person. This could be a good entity, only if that friend is a friend that is not going to betray that individual. However, the bad side of friendship comes with a brutal price to pay. If a friend were to “backstab” that person, and reveal all of their secrets. This is one of the worst things that could ever happen
First, the article introduces the audience to friendships described by Aristotle, and Todd May. In the text it states, “It is threatened when we are encouraged to look up on those
The worst feeling of pain anyone could feel is when you are betrayed by some who you though loved you. Betrayal is an act of disloyalty and it is violating someone's trust. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, betrayal is a reoccurring action between many characters. This play shows the audience different types of betrayal that are imaginable, from a husband betraying his wife, a boyfriend betraying his girlfriend and a mother betraying the son and father. These actions of betrayal hurt the people that are most loved and destroys them where it most hurts in the end. Betrayal is one of the strongest and most important themes in Hamlet. The entire play revolves around the murder of King Hamlet. Betrayal is expanded even further, there is not one character who does not commit betrayal through the course of the play. The actions of betrayal in the play lead to the hurtful destruction of the characters.
There are many examples of betrayal in the play Hamlet. In these examples betrayal leads to the destruction of relationships. Claudius is the king of Denmark and he will do anything to stay that way. His wife Gertrude loves her son Hamlet and Claudius knows that. In order to stay king he must please Getrude, therefore he pretends to love Hamlet in front of Gertrude but behind her back, he plots to murder Hamlet. “I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, under the which he shall not chose but fall. And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe”1. Gertrude’s trust is betrayed by Claudius at that moment because Gertrude believes that Claudius loves Hamlet, when in fact, he despises him and wishes death upon him. Claudius is not the only character that betrays in the play Hamlet. Hamlets makes Ophelia believe that he loves her for a long time, until one day he tells her things that break her heart. Because Hamlet suspects that someone is listening to his conversation with Ophelia, he acts like a mad man and says cruel things to Ophelia. “Virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.”(III, i, 118-120) All the promises he had made to her before that day are now broken; he has betrayed her trust. Hamlet and Claudius betrayed someone that they where supposed to love. Because of this betrayal the relationships they had ended in a sad tragedy.
A major theme in Julius Caesar is showing one's loyalty to a friend or to a country as important and how it can inflict the personal ambition within oneself. In the book, loyalty to a friend or a country was shown in Brutus and Cassius when they killed Caesar and when Brutus and Antony shared their speeches. Personal ambition was shown throughout the book when Brustus used Portia's death as momentum to go and fight Antony and Octavius, fought Mark Antony, and when Caesar paid a visit to Brutus in the tent the night before the Battle of Philippi. On the Ides of March, when Caesar was on his way to the senator building, he ran into Artemidorus and got a letter. Artemidorus says, “O Caesar, read mine first, for mine’s a suit that touches Caesar
Hermann Wilhelm Göring There are very few people who have the ability to skillfully and eloquently describe an event while using just a few words. The Epitome of Evil, which is also the masterful title of this course, is a fitting combination of small and descriptive words that paint a picture of what really happened during World War II while Germany was under the reign of the National Socialist German Workers Party. (Nazi Party) From 1922 to 1945, most of the 70 million Germans were convinced that only one race of people was worthy to conquer and rule the entire world. This message began and was continually delivered by the leader of the Nazi Party, Adolph Hitler.
We do not make friends because they are useful but the bond of friendship, once it grows stronger and stronger has a number of positive aspects. There are certain secrets that can only be shared with our friends only. When we are facing a difficult situation in our lives, only true friends come forward to help us overcome all the difficulties.