Daniel Plainview's Legacy

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Individuals efforts to create a lasting legacy with significance Individuals often want to create a legacy that they can be remembered for. The desire to leave a mark helps us come to terms with death. However, as we tend to create a lasting legacy, it is easy to lose sight of our morals when driven by materialistic desires. In the hope of having a lasting contribution, the allure of wealth and greed can stray individuals away from a meaningful life. The film “There Will Be Blood,” a commentary on the nature of capitalism and religion, serves as a cautionary tale of the consequences of being entangled in moral ambiguity and leaving a meaningful footprint. It does so through the protagonist, Daniel Plainview’s journey of creating an oil empire. …show more content…

Driven by his ambition, drilling occupies his sole attention. It is apparent that Daniel is an opportunist and exploits people to get further in his career as he tells the families whose lots he’s infringing upon to “settle for less”. While the families unleash their wrath at each other about how their lots should be divided, Daniel sneaks away with his son. His early leave is indicative of how his interest relies on himself. Willing to exploit others and their resources to get ahead, he pays no attention to how he’s building his own legacy from taking bits of others’. As he explores further prospects, he continues to lie about his wife that “died at childbirth. It's just me and my boy.” Willing to lie about a son who is not his own and his unknown mother to assert himself as a family man just to gain sympathy from prospects reveals his manipulative self. It is further shown during his interaction with the Sunday family, an opportunity presented by a young man promising an oil deposit near their ranch. After exploring their land and finding an abundance of oil, Daniel claims to be interested in buying their ranch to “hunt for quail” hoping to buy it for a far lower price. Abel, the ranch owner, a frail, worn man, who he decided to take advantage of reveals Daniel as a dishonest man, whose greed and ambition outweigh his morals by far in his pursuit of creating an empire. In hopes of leaving a legacy of significance, Daniel’s unchecked greed not only strips him of his morals, but also the prospects of their

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