Essay on "Amendments 14, 15, and 19"
Essay 4 pages (1453 words) Sources: 1+
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Amendments 14, 15, and 19 of the U.S. Constitution take so long to be fully realised?There are definite parallels between the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes form the Underground, and that of Oscar Wilde, the Portrait of Dorian Gray. One of the most salient is each author's respective use of a female character to evoke strong emotion from the protagonist and to resign those protagonists to their fate. Ultimately, the female characters in each of these works reveal the vanity of the protagonist, the unnamed narrator in Dostoevsky's piece and Gray in Wilde's work. Such vanity is indicative of the general debauched state of society that each protagonist tries to escape, which is a motif that runs concurrent through both works.
The author's use of a female character to demonstrate the vanity of the narrator in Notes from the Underground is abundantly clear. After spending the duration of the book disparaging the ills of society, the narrator suddenly meets a prostitute, beds her, and then begins shamelessly moralizing with her about family values and love and decency. Ironically, he is not in a position to offer any of these things to her, and only succeeds in shaming her about her occupation and relationship with her parents. Perhaps even worse, he and gives her a false sense of hope that he will provide a better life for her. When she takes him up on his offer and comes to visit him ostensibly to work on such a life together, he insults her and reveals that he is powerless to help her. The narrator only uses her to feel good about himself, since she is one of the few people in the novel that is in a position worse than him. His vanity, and dismay at being found that all of h
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Sibyl Vane, a young actress whom Gray falls in love with in very little time and proposes to marry, also provides a centerpiece for the vanity of Wilde's protagonist. Although he declares his love for her and hers for him, Gray was actually only in love with Vane's prowess as an actress. Once she became devoted to him her acting talent swiftly fled -- as did Gray's interest with her. It would be hard to argue that Gray's intentions ever resembled anything noble -- he merely wants to open a theater of his own and have his wife star in it so he could capitalize off of her, which the following quotation proves.
…we must get her out of the manager's hands. She is bound to him for three years… I shall have to pay him something, of course. When all that is settled, I shall take a West End theater and bring her out properly. She will make the world as mad as she has made me (Wilde 58).
This passage indicates that Gray's declared love for Vane was merely a love of her art -- which by extension was a love of himself since, after Basil Hallward paints a mystic portrait of the protagonist, Gray's life becomes a work of art displayed in the soon-to-be repulsive painting. Thus, Gray only truly loves himself, which is just as much a display of vanity as the narrator in Dostoevsky's tale moralizing to Liza because it makes him feel powerful, in control, and better than someone else.
This revelation of vanity in each work contributes to the broader theme by establishing a turning point in the lives of the characters. In Dostoevsky's story, the narrator's fleeting experience with Liza, when all he had to do was act as though he were half as much of the thinking, feeling, rational man… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Amendments 14, 15, and 19" Assignment:
Write an essay (1,000 words, double-spaced) in which you respond to one of the following prompts. Do not use outside sources for this assignment. Each essay should be organized around your answers to the questions posed in the prompt. You will be evaluated based on your understanding of the novels as well as the depth of your thinking about the issues raised in the texts.
1. In both Notes from the Underground and The Picture of Dorian Gray a female character deeply affects the protagonist. Compare Doystoyevski*****s use of Liza and Wilde*****s use of Sibyl Vane in both texts. In each case, what does the female character reveal about the protagonist? How does this revelation connect to the broader themes in the novels?
2. Compare the formal elements (i.e., how the story is told, how it is framed, etc.) in Notes from the Underground and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Is one method more effective than the other at telling the story or conveying a theme?
3. Compare the main philosophical themes from Notes from the Underground and The Picture of Dorian Gray. What does each text tell us about contemporary (meaning modern or postmodern) culture?
Some tips:
Use a title: it helps to focus your paper.
Number your pages in the upper right-hand corner.
Make sure address each section of the prompt.
Underline or italicize the titles of books or plays.
Use quotations from the texts to support your claims.
If you use a long, block quotation, make sure there is a reason for drawing your reader*****s attention to that passage. Pay adequate attention to explaining the significance of the quotation to your argument.
Proofread your work.
*****
How to Reference "Amendments 14, 15, and 19" Essay in a Bibliography
“Amendments 14, 15, and 19.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2013, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/amendments-14-15-19/2483258. Accessed 5 Oct 2024.
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