After seventeen years of the totalitarian regime of General Augusto Pinochet, Chile has re-established itself as a democratic country. After the regime, a commission was established to investigate human rights violations of the dictatorship. The play, Death and the Maiden, confronts the issues of justice and reconciliation. The main character Paulina’s silence has prevented her ability to heal and in order for her to move forward, she needs to know the full truth because the commission will not investigate her case because they will only investigate human rights violations that led to death or presumption of death. When her husband Geraldo Escobar gets a flat tire, he is helped by a Doctor name Roberto Miranda who takes him home. When he returns, Paulina recognizes his voice and gestures as that of the doctor who raped and torture her 15-years ago when she a political prisoner. Certain of her own suspicion, she holds the doctor …show more content…
Her madness is motivated by the need for the country to recognize the needs of their citizens. She does not want to forget because if no one is being held responsible for their actions and what is the possibility of another individual in power to abuse its citizens in the future. The old totalitarian regime may silence her, but they cannot silence her any longer she states: “I’m not dead, I thought I was but I am not and I can speak, damn it- so for god sake let me have my say…” (Dorfman, 37). Paulina believes that the dead should not get justice when she is alive and can speak up against those who violated her. Patricia Vieira’s article: Twists of the blindfold: torturer and Sociality in Ariel Dorman’s Death and the Maiden discusses this issue of Paulina’s actions to be recognized as a victim: “The madness attributed to Paulina is the underside of her desire for social recognition”
In Chopin’s The Awakening two opposing viewpoints tend to surface regarding the main character, Edna’s, suicide. Was it an artistic statement or did Edna’s selfish and childlike character lead to her demise. These two perspectives consistently battle one another, both providing sufficient evidence. However, Chopin intentionally wrote two equally supported interpretations of the character in order to leave the book without closure.
“As I Lay Dying, read as the dramatic confrontation of words and actions, presents Faulkner’s allegory of the limits of talent” (Jacobi). William Faulkner uses many different themes that make this novel a great book. Faulkner shows his talent by uses different scenarios, which makes the book not only comedic but informational on the human mind. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great book that illustrates great themes and examples. Faulkner illustrates different character and theme dynamics throughout the entire novel, which makes the book a humorous yet emotional roller coaster. Faulkner illustrates the sense of identity, alienation, and the results of physical and mental death to show what he thinks of the human mind.
In the Victorian Britain there was 88 minors were killed from the start of 1851 to the end of 1851 from many, many different things. I am talking about deaths in Victorian Britain and what I think the deaths mean is that the people who died, died cruelly. There may be some people who die of accidental deaths but most people die of a cruel death. The Victorians viewed death as a sad time because the deaths caused a great deal of sadness and pain to the person's family mates and friends.
In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez demonstrates the extent that people will go to be accepted by their community. Cultural acceptance is a common goal that people try to achieve, however, it can induce negative effects on a person’s quality of life. The author uses clear diction to expose how family and society force people to abandon their personal values and self honesty to conform to the values of their community.
While the old concept of “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger'; is present in both the play and the film (particularly in the characterisation of Paulina), it is much more prevalent in the movie. We can see Paulina’s strength from the start. As she strides confidently around the house and violently tears off a piece of chicken, the suggestion that she is unsuited to the domestic position which she has obviously been forced into by the side effects of her traumatic experience need not be made any clearer. Although possessing remarkable strength in both texts, the movie shows a much stronger, almost completely masculine Paulina. This Paulina has been almost entirely defeminized by her ordeal, physically, symbolised by the scarred breast and her desire to “adopt'; a child, which also serves as a glimpse of the vulnerable element of womanhood in her character that still remains. Throughout the bout of verbal jousting that goes on in the opening scene Paulina is able to hold her ground much more firmly than she appears to do in the play. In Polanski’s version of the scene she actually manages to use her domestic role to gain power in the argument, fiercely flinging the dinner in the bin. Weaver’s powerful acting conveys the unmistakable tension associated with an incredible amount of suppressed anger. I...
In Beloved and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez discuss how the events that go on in each book fall under the category of magical realism, which is when and the supernatural coexists with ordinary events throughout the day, leading to people accepting the strangest things are just something normal, and how it shapes the conflicts of each story and how the people react to these unique occurrences.
The natural tendency of life is towards death, thus death is not an uncommon thing. So it is in Willa Cather’s My Àntonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop, with several deaths spread throughout the novels: the violent deaths of Mr. Shimerda and the Cutters in My Àntonia, as well as the peaceful deaths of Father Joseph Vaillant and Father Jean Latour in Death Comes for the Archbishop.
While Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" overtly deals with the distinction between social class and the opportunity for greatness, the poem also contains a subtle yet strong message against the dominant role of men over women in society. Gray's tone throughout the poem is permeated with regret and a sense of something lost, voicing his opinions clearly against social class prejudice. This emotional tone, when applied to the stereotypical roles of differing sexes discussed throughout the poem, portrays the injustice of inequality between males and females.
Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death. Emily Dickinson became legendary for her preoccupation with death. All her poems contain stanzas focusing on loss or loneliness, but the most striking ones talk particularly about death, specifically her own death and her own afterlife. Her fascination with the morose gives her poems a rare quality, and gives us insight into a mind we know very little about. What we do know is that Dickinson’s father left her a small amount of money when she was young.
Emily Dickinson And the Theme of Death Emily Dickenson, an unconventional 19th century poet, used death as the theme for many of her poems. Dickenson's poems offer a creative and refreshingly different perspective on death and its effects on others. In Dickenson's poems, death is often personified, and is also assigned to personalities far different from the traditional "horror movie" roles. Dickenson also combines imaginative diction with vivid imagery to create astonishingly powerful poems.
The subject of death and dying can cause many controversies for health care providers. Not only can it cause legal issues for them, but it also brings about many ethical issues as well. Nearly every health care professional has experienced a situation dealing with death or dying. This tends to be a tough topic for many people, so health care professionals should take caution when handling these matters. Healthcare professionals not only deal with patient issues but also those of the family. Some of the controversies of death and dying many include; stages of death and dying, quality of life issues, use of medications and advanced directives.
In conclusion, control is seen as a power factor in Death in the Maiden and Punishment. Paulina and Chandara are considered inspirations for many women, because many may be in the same situations as they were and don’t know what to do, but Chandara and Paulina were able to do things their way and had control over their lives. Paulina and Chandara were outsiders in their country when it came to justice and laws, but that did not stop them from believing what was correct and getting justice from others actions.
The past lives within Paulina and serves as a guide in the way she acts. In order to kill the power the past holds over her, Paulina must confront it as her reality. During the opening moments of the exposition, the negative effects of Paulina’s past life is revealed to the audience as she begins to anticipate the worst. Paulina’s paranoia show the existing effects of her past.
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN Derived from the Danse Macabre, an artistic genre of Late Medieval allegory on the universality of death, the Death and the Maiden motif has been inspiration for works of Art from painting and sculpture to plays and musical compositions. Though this concept has been utilised many times over the centuries, little has been said concerning its allegorical meaning or its psychological impact. Death and the Maiden is a common motif in Renaissance art, especially in painting, and music.
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.