Influenced to Death The sun was shining brilliantly when Dylan saw her for the first time. There wasn’t another soul to be found in the park, and her hand was outstretched invitingly when she asked him to follow her. He didn’t know what it was that possessed him to accept this mysterious offer, but despite his apprehension, he did. The next morning, he was found dead. This story highlights the fact that humans are often influenced to do that which they would not normally do, especially when they are alone. This idea of persuasion is present in many works of literature, such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In both, the protagonists tend to isolate themselves, as they fear who they have become through their greedy actions. Their isolation makes them more prone to be negatively influenced, which ultimately leads to their destruction. This is proven through the men’s internal struggles over whether to rebel, to be opportunistic, or to surrender to despair. Furthermore, it is shown through the themes of fear, transformation, and glorification. Finally, it is presented through the central metaphors of the Congo River and the painting of Dorian Gray. First, the men’s deaths in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray are caused by their vulnerability to negativity when they are alone. This is evident through the men’s experience with whether to revolt, to be strategic, or to submit to
This obsession then results in the loss of one’s own identity and humanity. Conrad shows this in a very dramatic way. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad writes that “the word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it.” (Conrad, 26)
Plato once said that “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Outsiders, members of illegitimate societies, are shunned because of limitations and restrictions in society. They tend to gravitate towards the light, but very few complete their journey. In Othello, The Great Gatsby, and The Death of a Salesman, heroic ambitions for acceptance and escape from the darkness are combated by societal expectations, shown through the light, which acts as a lure, towards societal norms and goals. Ironically, however, the tragedies that face all the protagonists are because of the darkness, or secret desires that each character makes to overcome their expectations.
The protagonist Macbeth, by the famous William Shakespeare, has different phases of respectability, all molded by his inevitability of fate. As an audience we interpret and form an opinion through Shakespeare’s use of psychological audience manipulation (Source C) to observe how one can fall prey to their own desire to create a perfect life; thus, it leads one to abandon their morals and commit horrible acts. When individuals begin to weigh ideology above humanity, they become bitter and accusing, they begin to lose their grip on reality and they create chaos and war. And at the end, Macbeth, the tragic hero stands up in front of us undeserving of the fate that was brought to him.
This cruel world is full of influence and ideas sparked by the creative thoughts of other people whispering in their ears. Extreme obsession with these influenced declarations will change lives, and most likely, not for the best. An inflated ego built as a result of other’s opinions leads to an addictive self pride that often conceals true character. Macbeth
“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). The protagonist in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde suffers from bad company. The sway of people and objects causes impressionable Dorian to descend into corruption. Little by little, he makes choices influenced by the thoughts put in his head.
Morality and The Picture of Dorian Gray “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” C.G. Jung The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, was first published in 1890, right in the middle of the Victorian Era, an era that was characterized by its conservatism. Ever since, and due to the content of the book, it has been condemned as immoral. Furthermore, on 1891, Wilde published a preface protecting his book from public punishment in which he said “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.
In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the imperialism of Africa is described. Conrad tells the story of the cruel treatment of the natives and of the imperialism of the Congo region through the perspective through the main character, Marlow. Through the lens of New Criticism, it is evident that Conrad incorporates numerous literary devices in Heart of Darkness, including similes, imagery, personification, and antitheses to describe and exemplify the main idea of cruel imperialism in Africa discussed throughout the novella. Throughout Heart of Darkness, Kurtz and other men that are known as strong, greedy, European leaders of the movement to imperialize Africa, are mentioned multiple times.
Influence in The Picture of Dorian Gray And The Book of Job The Picture of Dorian gray is a book written by Oscar Wilde and it was published in 1880. The book was later revised by addition of more chapters and reprinted in April 1891. Dorian Gray is the main character in this book that is described as a beautiful and unspoiled male who changes his life completely by sinning and pleasure after meeting Lord Henry. Basil Hallward who is a painter develops obsession for Dorian because of his beauty whereas Lord Henry Wotton Basil’s friend influences Dorian with his theories about life, pleasure and women even though he had no intention of changing Dorian’s personality. Lord Henry’s influence in Dorian leads to his downfall.
The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray shocked the moral judgments of British book critics. Some of them said Oscar Wilde deserved to be pursuance for breaking the laws guarding the common morality because the uses of homosexuality were in that time banned. This book was for that time unusual because it had a pretty serious criticism on the society from that time. The novel is about a young and extraordinarily beautiful youngster, named Dorian Gray that have promised to his soul in order to live a life of eternal youth, he must try to adapt himself to the bodily decay and dissipation that are shown in his portrait.
Psychotic Darkness A gun gives you the opportunity, but a thought pulls the trigger. In this world, there are many life changing situations that can test one's sanity. Such situations can capture one's mind leading the mind to be on the verge of psychotic. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, grants the characters with a series of insane scenes that can generate question of psychotic characters.
The lights from the city reflected the Thames River because London is described as being light, the light symbolizes Conrad’s view of civilization. According to Conrad civilization is where evil is present but ignored. The light is the knowledge that is gained through exploring. Conrad uses Africa and the Congo River to represent the evil that waits in the unknown. The darkness is said to be full of savages and cannibals it is further emphasized as being the uncivilized part of the world where people eat people and the savages wait in the trees and in the darkness.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, portrays one of the most important values and principles for him: aestheticism. As a criticism to the life lived during the Victorian era in England, Wilde exposed a world of beauty a freedom in contradiction to the lack of tolerance a limitation of that era; of course inspired due to Wilde’s personal life. All the restrictions of the Victorian England lead him to a sort of anarchism against what he found to be incoherent rules, and he expressed all this to his art. His literature is a strong, political and social criticism. He gave a different point of view to controversial topics such as life, morality, values, art, sexuality, marriage, and many others, and epigrams, for what he is very well known, where the main source to the exposure of his interpretations of this topic.
BRIEF ANALYSIS The use of various literary devices in Joseph Conrad’s novel helps to bring his story to life, which ultimately is to his advantage. Conrad brings the reader into the darkness, displayed the corruptibility of humankind and left them pondering the absurdity of evil and imperialism. One of the strongest literary devices that Conrad uses to engage the reader in his novella is the use of imagery. However other important literary devices that are used throughout the novel as well as in the extract above is: similes, metaphors, personification, foreshadowing, and symbolism and narrative techniques.
‘Heart of Darkness’ was written in 1899 by a Polish novelist Joseph Conrad, about the expedition up the Congo River in the Heart of Africa. This essay will mainly deal with the reference of the ‘darkness’ in the novel and it even deals with the theme which will further support the statement. The idea of ‘darkness’ in ‘Heart of Darkness’ represents evil or dark side of Humanity. It is also related to the idea of colonization, especially when it comes to the idea of mistreatments of people and misuse of natural resources.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story that centers around Marlow, an introverted sailor, and his treacherous journey up the Congo River in search of a man name Kurtz. Unfamiliar with the terrain and natives, Marlow faced many different obstacles that made his journey even more tough. Obstacles like the Congo River and the dense jungles that surround it not only limited the crew progress, but also aroused confusion as well. Joseph Conrad amazing use of descriptive wording and imagery help the readers understand why their surrounding was giving them uneasiness throughout their expedition to meet up with Kurtz. The readers can understand why nature was truly an adversary to Marlow and his crew.