The Challenge of Recognizing and Eliminating Unconscious Evil In life, it is crucial for individuals to challenge themselves for the exhilaration of victory and to form proud milestones that they can look back on. The individual must overcome this challenge in a successful manner in order to not only benefit themselves, but to also improve the lives of those who surround them. Hernando Tellez’s “Lather and Nothing Else” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe both illustrate a challenging situation that the protagonists are forced to overcome. In both of these stories, the barber and the murderer demonstrate that evil existing in the world must be acknowledged. It is then the responsibility of the individual who recognizes this evil to take on the challenge of eliminating it in order to benefit themselves and others. Through many situations a character may be forced to encounter, the individual must be able to recognize evil. In “Lather and Nothing Else”, the barber acknowledges the evil in the captain as an executioner and immediately forms a strong hatred for him. While shaving the captain’s beard, the barber thinks to himself, “And an enemy under one’s roof imposes certain conditions” (Tellez). He already sees the captain through the perspective of an enemy even though he has done nothing to wrong him personally. The barber is forced into a situation in which he receives an executioner as a customer. He is able to recognize evil in an individual who often punishes and puts people to death, despite the fact that it is his duty. By receiving this man as a customer, the barber is forced into a challenging situation that he must overcome. It is crucial for him to acknowledge this evil in order to protect himself and others fr... ... middle of paper ... ... to kill the old man both demonstrate an individual who takes on the challenge of eliminating evil in their situation. The two stories clearly demonstrate an individual who acknowledges the evil in their lives and challenges themselves to banish it. If one does not eliminate the evil after becoming conscious of it, they and others will consistently live under danger and vulnerability. Society will be moulded into a place of inequality and prejudice. This is the world we live in today, because unlike the murderer, many people do not take responsibility for their own evil actions and unlike the barber, people often choose not to benefit society by eliminating evil that is not associated with themselves. If more individuals took the opportunity to overcome these types of challenging situations successfully, the world would inhabit a peace that resonates within itself.
Clearly, these two stories say some very profound things about the human condition. Given the right conditions, there is evil in all of us that is just waiting to surface. And we were all innocent once, but some event made us lose it. Finally, people are all manipulative given the opportunity. These conclusions aren’t just drawn about the characters in the novels. These are things that are true for each and every human who ever lived, and everyone who will live. We are flawed creatures, and through the aid of great writers like these, we begin to realize it. Really, we shouldn’t need them to tell us about ourselves though. Just look at the world around you, and you will know.
By, using “Young Goodman Brown”, and “The Masque of Red Death”, Hawthorne and Poe develop the common theme that denial of societal imperfection leads to isolation from society. Both authors use their short stories to illustrate that one must accept imperfections, as a normality of life. They teach this lesson in order to present to the reader that the avoidance of the problems one faces in life, will not make life easier, one only loses the chance to gain knowledge from overcoming the obstacle. The knowledge an individual gains from overcoming a problem can then be used to the conquering of future obstacles.
end. This essay will further show how both stories shared similar endings, while at the same time
story as the corruption of evil takes a prominent role in the story of the two children. The
Poe is one of the most famous American authors, and his works are known for their mysterious and dark style. The story analyzed on the essay, The Tell-Tale Heart, is about a guy who decides to murder an old man to get rid of his pale blue eye. It is narrated by the killer, who tells why he decided to do this, how he proceeded and why he ended
I believe there are two kinds of people in life; the kind that let things happen and the kind that make things happen. I prefer to think of myself as a person who writes her destiny not awaits it. So I ask myself, is it such a crime to want the best for you and your better half? Was it such a terrible deed, to lust after power and status like a young girl after a dashing beau. The victory, our status, my position, my power has fast become a reality, a reality which was being threatened by the growing suspicion of Banquo. It had to be done, his cut throat, seemed the only way, his murder the saviour of my triumph. But now see the error in my ways, the corruption in my thought. The guilt of one man’s blood was almost unbearable, the guilt of another is inescapable, growing, it is becoming vicious like a savage dog locked up waiting to be released. I am forced to bear it, alone I must I endu...
...ave brings them out of their protective and secluded shells. In both stories the theme of oppression, one mental the other physical, resulting in a victory, one internal the other external, prove that with determination and a belief in a higher power you can survive any situation.
In Harper Lee’s immortal novel To Kill A Mockingbird, one person’s initial wrongdoing released a torrent of evil in the sleepy Alabama town of Macomb.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a recognized classic tragedy portraying the victory of good over evil. This paper will explore the various expressions of evil within the play.
His client is Captain Torres, who is an evil man. The barber has been given the job of shaving his beard, and with the Captain sitting before him and a razor in his hand, the barber realizes how easy it would be to kill him. “I could cut his throat just so, zip! zip! I wouldn’t give him time to complain” (Tellez, 3). This develops the barber’s inner conflict as he is silently contemplating whether to simply shave him like a professional barber should, or kill him on the spot. The Captain’s fate is literally in the barber’s hands. This inner conflict is a result of his image, how he wants to be portrayed, because he is both a barber and a secret rebel. “My destiny depends on the edge of this razor” (3). Therefore, whatever he chooses ultimately results in how his future will unfold. If he kills the Captain, he could be seen as either a “murderer or hero” (3). If he doesn’t kill the Captain, he is letting the man go who is responsible for so many terrible things. After contemplating his choices and considering the consequences, he eventually solves his conflict by simply giving him a shave and letting Torres go. As a result, the barber indeed proves how one’s identity will result in how one’s future will
In the story “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez it shows you to make the choice you can best live with. By considering the character; the barber from “Lather and Nothing Else” it becomes clear that conflicts adversity can reveal who we truly really are.
Let us begin at the end. A foreshadow, a flashback, they are the creative tools that Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) uses as we journey through the madness that is “The Tell Tale Heart (1843)”. We have no names to go by only ones perspective, a story narrated by a man who claims sanity in an insane situation. Here masked by denial; we are told an anecdote that is driven by love and hate, the most irrational emotions that we all know and feel. Poe demonstrates to us how these sensations can become twisted and malign. He uses these passions and the choices they drive us to, to show the extreme possibilities of human nature and its delicate equilibrium.
In the area of achieving goals, sometimes even the most confident people have to reevaluate what it is they are seeking. Along the way, one may realize what they sought out to find does not even truly matter in the grand scheme of life. Arthur Ashe once said, “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” In life, sometimes one must have help seeing the true beauty of the journey may be greater than the end result. The theme of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eldorado” is presented through the knight, who changes from a character yearning for materialistic treasure to the realization that the seeking is more valuable than the riches.
Throughout history, there have been many human beings whom have been seen as either a hero or a villain. In their childhood, these people must had obstacles that were in their way, causing each individual to either work harder or give up. People, however; must understand that each individual has a potential in achieving their goals, but if one is mistreated or deceived due to jealousy, resentment, hatred, or ambition, it can lead to many catastrophic events. People who have pride and arrogance do not want to have equals, rather they want to see their victims suffer. These people have no difficulty in achieving their goals due to the fact that their victims have too innocent a nature to suspect the nefarious motives of their enemies. In this tragedy, Othello, Shakespeare has created a villain who behaves in this manner. Iago’s hatred, method of revenge, and vengeful hatred are the reasons of the lives lost in this play and the reasons that lead to Iago’s downfall.
Shakespeare draws an amazing psychological portrait of a man who became a villain by means of ambition, desire and an imbalance of good and evil. “Macbeth” is a play composed of the disintegration of a noble man’s world. The play begins by offering the audience Macbeth, a war hero, with a high regard from Duncan, the king of Scotland. By the end of the play Macbeth transforms into a universally despised man without a place in the social community. Shakespeare draws an amazing face of a man made to be a villain by ambition, desire and an imbalance of good and evil.