Guilt In Vera Claythorne

Guilt is one of the most powerful forces known to man. It can drive the average man into a paranoia struck fool, ravenous for stability. Guilt can cause people to cave in from under them, revealing an empty and hollow shell. As children, we are conditioned to feel guilty when we do something wrong. As we get older, we learn that we receive praise and acceptance when we behave properly, or as is expected of us. Because humans have a strong desire to be loved and accepted, we do things in order to receive approval. Vera Claythorne was one of the characters mostly affected by guilt. She would constantly get hysteria attacks because of the guilt she carried. She often imagined Hugo was near. General Macarthur had very strong guilt as well, so

much; he just gave in to it, and didn’t want to live anymore and awaited his death peacefully by the sea. “You’ll be glad too, when the end comes” he had told Vera (p.118). There were also those that were not affected by guilt. For example, Anthony Marston had complete callousness, and he did not feel any responsibility for the lives he had taken (p.265). In the case of Phillip Lombard, he felt it was justifiable to abandon everyone, and leave them to die, in order to save himself. Afterwards, he was devoid of any guilt. Lombard admits, “Story’s quite true! I left ‘em! Matter of self-preservation. We were lost in the bush. I and a couple of other fellows took what food there was and cleared out”, he told everyone (p.62). Guilt can have different effects on people depending on the person, and what they did. Guilt is extremely powerful tool which can be used to bend and twist our humanity.