Essays on Hypocrisy

- Thesis statement
In the measure, life is two-faced, and those who live it are inevitably so. The play tries to imply that ambivalence is an unavoidable part of being human.
- Plot
Disturbed by the behavior of his people, Duke Vincentio thinks that enough is enough and puts deputy Angelo in charge of enforcing the laws at Vienna while he is away “on business”. While Angelo is in charge, he sentences Claudio for fornicating with his girlfriend whom he intends to marry and wants to behead Claudio to make an example of him. The plot climaxes where Angelo Continue reading...

Religion is strict with its limitations; a matter often destroying the specific constructive liberal structures of the society. Although it is not considered detrimental, the extensive rules that religion often imposes create more harm than good to its members. With such strict commandments, the response of the people were rather common; to hide secrets, to deal with matters in a hypocritical manner, presenting themselves clean when they actually are doing something else behind the back of the church’s knowing. Among the primary characters who could be noted for such consideration of the church’s laws include John Proctor Continue reading...

Introduction

'The Lottery' published in 1948 is one of the most controversial stories of its time. Centered on the theme of tradition, this short story was written by Shirley Jacksons, a notable American author. The story begins with a date mentioned as 27th June of an unspecified year with 300 residents of a small rural town gathering to take part in an annual tradition called 'the lottery'.The opening of the story also mentions about the village boys stuffing their pockets with stones but its connection with the lottery is revealed in the later part of the story. Meanwhile, each household Continue reading...

Hypocrisy is defined as a practice whereby an individual claims to have moral beliefs and standards; however, the behavior of the said individual does not conform to the suggested morals and standards. Some may term it as pretense while others may term it as dishonesty and empty talk. Hypocrisy through all these definitions is a major theme presented by Chopin`s in Lilacs. An individual may speak of certain morals and standards to present a good image about themselves, but in actual sense they do not practice what they speak.
The thought and idea of returning home should be Continue reading...

English

The story is a critique of the hypocrisy of the Puritan society and focused on the materialist nature of the people. The incarnation of the Devil and the gloomy setting made the story a classic of the romantic era. Irvin used mythological touch and satire to denounce materialist and greedy trends of the society.
The place of the story was set a few miles away from the city of Boston in the State of Massachusetts. The setting of the main story is a forest, a dark and gloomy place. The woods were abundant in swamps, to quote from the Continue reading...

Oscar Wilde's 1894 play, The Importance of Being Earnest, explores Victorian era morals with satire and humor as the main character, Jack Worthing, creates an alter-ego in order to relax from his day-to-day duties as a guardian to his friend's daughter, a land-owner and a judge. The themes of morality, the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behavior, as well as hypocrisy, the disconnect between what Jack believes and how he acts, are central to the development of the play.
The theme of morality is introduced immediately. Jack is introduced as a highly organized and proper man who is a Continue reading...

Tartuffe is the most famous play written by Moliere. In the view of many contemporary literary critics, Moliere qualifies as one of the world’s greatest comic playwright (Kasparek, 1977). The other famous play by Moliere is called The Misathrope. The two comprise of Moliere’s greatest pieces. Tartuffe’s plot revolves around wealthy bourgeois Orgon religious piety that almost destroys him but luckily, the pretender Tartuffe is discovered before he completely takes advantage of Orgon. Moliere’s Tartuffe has been a subject of controversy since its writing. The play generated a great deal of discussion owing to its Continue reading...

Joseph Conrad’s novella, The Heart of Darkness, which centers on the life and times of Marlow, expresses some ideas conveyed in one of D.H Lawrence’s essays: Why the Novel Matters. D.H Lawrence expresses some perturbing views on humanity and life in his essay Why the Novel Matters, and it is the same views that Conrad brings out in his novella. In the essay, Why the Novel Matters, Lawrence comes out against the hypocrisy expressed by scientists, philosophers and even religious people, who focus on some elements of life, without appreciating every bit of it. Despite the fact Continue reading...

Tartuffe is the most famous play written by Moliere. In the view of many contemporary literary critics, Moliere qualifies as one of the world’s greatest comic playwright (Kasparek, 1977). The other famous play by Moliere is called The Misathrope. The two comprise of Moliere’s greatest pieces. Tartuffe’s plot revolves around wealthy bourgeois Orgon religious piety that almost destroys him but luckily, the pretender Tartuffe is discovered before he completely takes advantage of Orgon. Moliere’s Tartuffe has been a subject of controversy since its writing. The play generated a great deal of discussion owing to its Continue reading...

As a dramaturge in seventeenth-century France, Molière effectively uses a number of literary techniques to criticize religious hypocrites. Under the strict regime of absolutist Louis XIV, Molière wrote plays primarily for the king. However, being a natural dissident, he disguised critique through satire. The play, Le Tartuffe, has become a household name, and the word “tartuffe” has become a common word in French, meaning “hypocrite”. In this play, Orgon, the head of a noble household, is blinded and swindled by a religious hypocrite, named Tartuffe. Tartuffe manages to treat Orgon’s family with disdain, and disrespect, even Continue reading...

Authored by Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a fascinating play revolving round the story of a neurotic, dysfunctional family steeped in hidden deceptions and hypocrisy. The play was adapted into a film in 1958 under the direction of Richard Brooks. Released by MGM studio with starlets like Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in central roles of Brick and Maggie, the film won a superb commercial success. Though Richard Brooks retained much of Tennessee Williams' original prose and conversation intact, he made few alterations in the story. He added some new dialogues, curtailed the parts of Continue reading...

“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” is a memoir of Frederick Douglas. Douglas was an African American who born as a slave and spent his early life in slavery. Douglas, in his memoir, describes his own life, experiences, sufferings and life of other slaves in a very realistic manner. This narrative was published in 1845 and has been revised several times due to its popularity. This paper proposes to discuss Frederick Douglass and analyses his memoir and several other related aspects.
Frederick Douglas talks about his date of birth and about his parents in First Continue reading...

Many writers have found themselves writing about society in an indirect way through the features and attributes they reflect in their writings. The same can be said about The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay which was a representation of class boundaries and therefore had an impact on the consciousness of the public. The conventions that Gay uses continue to influence society today as it satirizes and mocks what society creates as societal stereotypes. Class boundaries in London at the time had caused major disintegration that became inevitable because of the nature of the problems that the disintegration caused. Continue reading...

Question: Carol Kaske states that Book I of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene ‘presents a mutually enriching amalgam of discourses’. Explain what these discourses are and critically explore the manner in which they relate to one another.

..if [a poet] wished to be counted respectable, and to separate himself from the crowd of foolish or licentious rimers, he must intend distinctly, not merely to interest, but to instruct, by his new and deep conceits. It was under the influence of this persuasion that Spenser laid down the plan of Faerie Queene. It was, so he proposed to himself, to Continue reading...

Langston Hughes in his poem “Let America Be America Again” paints a picture of an America that is a deprivation of the ideal people have about it. He mentions that America has never lived up to this ideal, but that he is dedicated to it becoming that ideal. He writes, “America never was America to me, /And yet I swear this oath— /America will be!” The poem is as much a wish of how Hughes wants America to be but sees that it is currently not. He writes, “Let it be that great strong land of love /Where never Continue reading...

The aim of this essay is to present you with an analysis and detailed description of Daisy Miller’s character. Who is Daisy Miller? She is a young girl, holding the leading character in the short story ‘Daisy Miller’ written by Henry James. Henry James, though born in America, has been considered more of an English rather than an American writer who has gained wide credibility within the borders of the literary community. He is a writer prominent for his writing style which depicts details of his era, criticizes indirectly the faults of the society and social structure of Continue reading...

Introduction The analysis of Candide in the perspective of the wider scope of Western movements and thought reveals that his work was highly essential in the historical social institutions. As Voltaire criticized various societal aspects, candide gives insight of unenlightened view that was the basis of the revolutionary movement inn France. Candide was also written in retribution against the opinions of historical eminent philosopher from Germany, who argued that humankind lives in the best of promising world.Voltaire writing is an attempt to dismantle this conception. This historical paper therefore, gives a deep analysis of how Voltaire conveys the vital Continue reading...

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the many general similarities between Alice Walker’s "The Welcome Table" and Nadine Gordimer’s "Country Lovers", and the ways in which racism is presented by both writers. Both stories condemn the hypocrisy and attack the injustices of racist societies. Both stories have a symbolic element which is examined and discussed and the fact that both stories are set in very different societies and, therefore, have very different contexts and settings is always at the heart of the paper’s argument. Each story is also discussed and explored separately in order to focus on its individual Continue reading...

Abstract

The works of Oscar Wilde are both entertaining and humanizing. The stories are usually critiques of the rich or wealthy in society. They also seem to a reflection of Wilde’s own life and circle.
A prevalent theme in Oscar Wilde’s works is the hypocrisy of the rich which result in the abuse of themselves and others, especially the poor or less privileged. This theme is particularly apparent in many of works. Analyzed in this paper are Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; short stories, The Devoted Friend and The Model Millionnaire; and the poem, Continue reading...

A short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson elicited controversy when it was first published in 1948. The short story is based on irony, satire, and humor in driving the theme of the story to the reader. It is foreshadowed in a way that the reader does not know the real motive of the word lottery until the end of the story. The real meaning of the story is based on the motive of the writer to portray hypocrisy, evil, denial, and weaknesses of human beings in the society.

The story is based on a small and close knit Continue reading...

Abstract

The essay looks into the play "Fences"(1985) by August Wilson and does a comparative character analysis with one of the characters to someone in real life or from real experience. The character chosen from the play for comparison is Troy Maxson, who is the main character in the play.

Introduction

Troy Maxson is the character chosen from the play "Fences", who is also the main character in the play. He is an African American man who is the family breadwinner and works in the sanitation department. The other characters in the play gather around Troy, and the plot of Continue reading...

In the Apocalypse Now (movie 1979), Captain Willard played the role of the protagonist in this film. He was a passive character. The main target of was to kill Kurtz. He spent of most of his time in the film watching keenly and internalizing the activities taking place in the jungle. Captain helps to bring out the ironical perspectives of war while at the same time incorporating the theme of morality in the film. His observant nature enabled him to become alert on absurdities of the war and the darkness of the human nature. He clearly brought out how Continue reading...

The aim of this essay is to present you with a review of chapters 22-24 of the book ‘The Scarlet Letter’. Barlow (2000) refers to this book as ‘The magnum opus’ of Nathaneal. (Barlow, 2000). ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is a story of love, adultery, betrayal, faith, belief and social criticism which was published in 1850 and holds a little bit of all these elements which can attribute to it the characterization of being a romantic novel.
The historical context of the novel’s plot is the social environment of the society living and developing in the area of Puritan Continue reading...

“In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder, or with an order peculiar to themselves, amidst which the point of variety and arrangement was difficult or impossible to be discovered” (Hawthorne, Chapter 6 p. 98).
The quote above generalizes Pearl’s character. She was the daughter of Hester Prynne, a woman living in the standards of the Puritan society condemned by the people as ‘brazen hussy’ who bears the scarlet letter ‘A’ fantastically embroidered upon her bosom (Hawthorne, Chapter 2 Continue reading...

Saving Grace is a novel written by Lee Smith and first published in 1995. It is a fictional journal of a middle aged woman named Grace Shepherd who embarks on a meandering pilgrimage with her father. Florida Grace is the daughter of Rev. Virgil Shepherd, a travelling preacher who handles snakes and performs signs and wonders. His family is forced to follow Reverend Virgil around in his travels in order to support his preaching ministry. Grace believed in Jesus, but hated Him because she was forced to travel all over in many hardships in support of His ministry. The Continue reading...

The aim of this essay is to present you with the reflections drawn upon the readings of the novel ‘Passing’, the ‘Great Gatsby’, the ‘Invisible Man’ and ‘Kabnis’. All these literary pieces deal with the issue of their main leading figures hiding their true origin and personality as a way to manage to adopt to the social environment within which they are to live and be successful. This paper will present you with the reflections drawn on such a behavior, shedding light on the reasons why people are forced to adopt such behavior and exploring the real nature of Continue reading...

Introduction

"The Great Gatsby" is an Australian-American film released in 2013 based on the bestselling novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald written in 1925. Directed by Baz Luhmann, "The Great Gatsby" provides the source of this academic discourse. The analysis of the sociological issue of deviance portrayed in the 2013 movie "The Great Gatsby" connects to the immoral actions of the era about ill-gained riches, social snobbery, racism, sexism, and excess in a time of national economic depression, immorality and marital infidelity, and murder.

Ill-gained Riches

The underpinning deviant behavior of the key player in this movie is Jay Gatsby who gains his Continue reading...

Conrad's approach to his story of the rationalization and justification of racist Western imperialism presents a record of this despicable time that continues echoing the long-term evil in parts of former colonial holdings in 21st century Africa. Debate continues today about Conrad's intention writing this factual-based fiction (Bloom 6), and surely, exemplifies another literary offering of how racist ideas "were the basis of colonization" (Ginio 185). This academic exercise presents discourse about "Heart of Darkness" by Conrad with an analysis of the ideology of the justification of 19th century Western racism/imperialism connected to the distortion of Darwin's theory of Continue reading...

How Religion Was Affected with Slaves before the Civil War

Introduction
At the beginning of American slavery, before the Civil War, either Christianity was forced upon the African slaves or it was denied completely. The white man's religion gave purpose to American domestic religious missionaries in their intent to Christianize the earliest of slaves predominantly in the southern states.
Numbers of the white slave masters believed allowing slaves any type of religion gave them, unwanted ideas about autonomy and thus, made them troublesome, lazy, and therefore, the slave masters would beat any slave professing their Christian beliefs. Holding secret gatherings to practice their religion – Christian or the numerous types Continue reading...

Canterbury Tales

Introduction
The Canterbury tales are a set of short stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in Middle English by the end of the 14th century. The Canterbury tales are a set of stories told in a pilgrimage to the pilgrims. This makes them very interesting as the analysis of each of the characters helps explore the culture and way of life in the 14th century. It also gives an insight into the feelings, emotions and social structure of the life of the English in the 14th century (Linne R. Mooney, 2006).

Character analysis

The four characters chosen for analysis include the knight, Continue reading...

Introduction

The “Courtly love” described by Andreas Capellanus is an “instructional” manual on love and romance between a man and a woman. It consists of three books that address the etymology of love, dialogues between a man and a woman of different social classes and instructions on how the romantic process should unfold between people of different social classes (Andreas). The love described in the story between Heloise and Abelard is of a different nature. The discussions between Heloise and Abelard are less about romance and courtship and more about exchanging ideas on the role of women in society, religion, Continue reading...

Honor, reputation, popularity, class, agreeability, are several values that really matter in the society portrayed by Jane Austin in her novel “Pride and Prejudice”. Caught between these two elements (pride and prejudice) that define their beliefs, their morals and their shallow personalities, most characters exposed in this novel are concerned about how other people see them and are doing everything in their power to maintain the social appearances, while following their selfish interests in acquiring wealth or finding profitable marriage settlements, meant to draw on a good social position in the same time. A very important aspect in pursuing Continue reading...

Jonathan Turley in the article ‘Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy’ outlines the controversy of polygamy laws in the United States. Although he also detests polygamy, he finds the laws covering the concept a bit contradictory to some religious beliefs as well as the initial statues like the first amendment which was passed to protect the American citizens. It is because of such reasons that the author thinks these laws only expose the hypocrisy of the American people. Most importantly, Turley makes a keen use of examples in his article to persuade the readers that his thoughts are in Continue reading...

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller in the year 1949. The play tells of man’s disillusionment and despair. The author narrates the story through the mindset of Willy – the main character in the play. Willy, an ordinary salesman residing together with his family in New York, is obsessed with the American dream and making as much money as possible. However, his big dreams fail to materialize and he ends up a depressed man. As a result, he starts to speak alone. He also rants at his sons for failing to follow his vision Continue reading...

The narration given by Joe Sacco is an eye opening narration. Joe has used his vast knowledge of narration to express the suffering Palestine undergoes in the hand of Israel. Joe has used fiction character to portray the political scene in Palestine. Joe has depicted how the political activities affect the Palestine people in their very day life. Joe is also an audience in the book. This mean he gives the first hand information about the Palestine life. In his participation part, he seems to take sides with the Palestine. For instance, there is a place he reported having Continue reading...

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

Blow, blow, thou winter wind Thou art not s o unkind as man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. High-ho! Sing, high-ho! Unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then high-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not.
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High-ho! Sing, high-ho! Unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere Continue reading...

Some people actually have multiple personalities as a result of a disorder, while others, for various reasons, create another personality. Bunbury, is an example of such a personality that Algernon Moncrieff, one of the main characters in Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of being Earnest, creates as a means of getting away from real life. Of course, Algernon is not the only one with another identity or personality, Jack Worthing, the protagonist of the play, actually living as the persona of ‘Earnest’ when he resides in London. Algernon actually comes up with a name for this act of Continue reading...

Literary Techniques in Tartuffe by Moliere

Moliere uses the comical play Tartuffe to show the hypocrisy of the religious people at that time. Tartuffe is a highly religious individual but he fails to impress certain people in the house such as Damis. These people feel that they must expose the hypocrisy of the man. The author through Orgon shows the way people can be gullible towards religious people. Orgon goes to the extent of even offering the daughter in marriage to Tartuffe. He even decides to leave his property as inheritance to Tartuffe.
The author uses several Continue reading...

Mathews 6:9-13 reveals a considerable Christian belief anchored on the foundation of prayers. This reinforces the grace of prayers as a sufficient framework of guiding the Christian way of life. It from this principle that Mathews 6:9-13 underscores the need for acknowledging the presence of God and the inherent connection and fellowship of Christians through prayers. The petitions envisioned in this passage focuses on the attention of worshipers on God as well as entrusting God with the provision of the needs of Christians. Evidently, prayer is the fundamental experience, practice and ritual in the Christian life. This is the Continue reading...

Voltaire’s Candide is one of the most famous works of literature that has won over the scythe of time remaining as popular as ever even in the modern day world. The work in context is the testimony of quintessential artistry on the part of the author, and it goes on to echo in the minds of the avid readers with the timelessness of the thematic content that are so very aesthetically portrayed by the stalwart literary artist. If one makes a close introspection regarding the thematic content of the literary work, it would become clear as crystal why Continue reading...