Death
Death speaks: There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.
Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me
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Maugham writes of the merchant going to the marketplace to confront Death about the encounter with his servant. This gesture shows that not only did the merchant care for the life of his servant, but it also shows that he had a certain curiosity about Death and her intentions. The act of confronting Death also shows that the merchant did not fear Death since he believed that Death posed no threat to him because she was here explicitly for his servant. Death is the main character, as well as the narrator of this story, yet the author provides us with no real description of her other than calling her a woman. Death narrates this tale in a way that leads us to believe that she is almost an omniscient being in the way that she is able to describe the dialogue between the servant and his master, but an omniscient narrator is incapable of being surprised himself or herself and we find this not to be the case in this story. I believe the author intended to do this in order to make Death appear mysterious, yet also familiar to the reader. Once Death is given human elements, like the ability to be surprised, it gives the illusion that one can cheat death. I find it rather peculiar that in this tale we are led to believe that Death was very easily recognizable. The servant knew immediately that the woman that “jostled”(pg. 4) him was Death. We also read that the merchant went to the marketplace and could see Death standing in the crowd(pg. 4).
Commentary: Death is an omniscient narrator. He switches between many of the characters in the book. He describes many of the characters feelings, emotions, and thoughts throughout the story.
The tone of the narrator, Death, is intimate throughout the book. When he first sees Liesel, he becomes interesting in her as he takes away her brother’s soul. Events lead him into interacting with many people in Liesel’s life and the war allows him to see her often, this attraction is encompassed on the last few words of the book, “I am haunted by humans” ( Zusak 550). Death, who seems to haunt millions of people around the world, is haunted by humans. It is ironic but it shows the beauty that is humans. This desire to see Liesel, to be haunted by her, leads to a caring tone, but this does not mean that Death is basis in his telling of the story. Death tries to forget Liesel but periodically, he goes to check. His being haunted does not only apply to Liesel, he is able to recall the deaths of many other humans that had captured his eye or in someway is connected to Liesel. There is a fondness when Death thinks of humans and a slight dislike but he craves to see certain ones and to interact with them. Humans are so interesting, complex, and eye catching that Death wishes to watch over some of
The novel is narrated by Death, a guy who’s getting tired and bored of his job. He wants a vacation, but sadly no one can replace him. He tries to find ways to give meaning to his job. He is fascinated by humans and colours of the world, and he is curious of how humans are capable of so much ugliness and so much beauty. Death is some way more human than a lot of people.
To begin, the speaker of the poem “Thou famished grave” presents a resentful and aggressive attitude towards death. The poem, addressed to a “ famished grave” (1), personifies a grave as a starving beast that can “roar” (2), “gnaw” (3), and has “dismal jaws” (7). This represents death in a negative way because the description of the beast make it seem unpleasant and to be feared. Furthermore, the poem includes words and phrases when addressing the grave that follow the theme of starvation, such as, “famished grave” (1), “Gnaw thine own sides, fast on” (3), and “I cannot starve thee out: I am thy prey” which emphasizes that the beast of death is starving to take someone’s life. This animal-like aggressiveness adds to the already negative image of the beast. This imagery also shows how the speakers thinks of death since it comes from her words which shows that she sees death in a very negative way. Due to this, the speaker is angry and does not want to give death what it wants, which is to take someone’s life. Additionally, although death is something normally feared, the speaker shows that she is not fearful by saying “I have no fear / of thy dark project” (3-4) when speaking to the grave. She expresses that she does not want to die and her “heart is set / On living” (4-5), which explains her resentfulness towards death. She also understands that death is inevitable as she says, “I cannot starve thee out: I am thy prey / And thou shalt have me; but I dare defend / That I can stave thee off” (6-8). This shows that even though she knows that she will one day die, she still doesn’t want to give death what it wants and will fight as long as she can
It depicts death as a man who has the ability to make conscious decisions, as a human would. Death is not a person, but giving it human qualities creates an air of mystery and curiosity as to why death would simply walk away or why it would stay and take a life. There is no rhyme nor reason for why death comes at a specific time or to claim a specific person.
However, in contrast to Emily’s poem, the speaker undervalues death’s supremacy as its power is actually not in its own control. It is a contradictory to Emily’s poem. In line 9 "Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men" indicates death as a slave as it does what has been ordered from the superior ones. Death takes human’s life not because he is willing to do so but because he is forced to do so. In line 10-11, “And dost with poison, war and sickness… can make us sleep as well” the speaker associates death with poison, war and sickness as death is not the only factor of human’s deceases which then the speaker posts rhetorical question for death to stop being proud. Also, the usage of rhetorical questions like in line 2 “For thou art not so” makes death fragile. Further, the last line in this poem “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” points out that at the end, the only one who dies is death itself which will be discussed in the element of Christian theology in this essay. The ending also eventually argues that death is weak and vulnerable, not in control and that is the reason why human should not fear death. All the arguments made by the speaker in this poem creates death less powerful and less control of itself which illustrates a condescending tone to elucidate death’s incapability to kill.
Firstly, Death’s ideal version of himself needs to be established, and this can be seen early on in the text. In the first page of the actual story, after describing the setting, Death immediately
The first person point of view gives the reader a perspective of why the author is mocking death. For example, the author says that, “canst thou kill me” but “our best men” will go with you even though “we (will) wake eternally.” When the author refers to we, he is speaking for all of the readers so they share his view. The author brings the universal mental vision of man into place. Furthermore, the author refers to death as a “slave” to “kings and desperate men” even though its job is shared with “war and sickness.” Here, the author shares his confidence with his readers. This final support of first person narration shows his conclusive point to the mockery of death.
Death is often displayed in literature, showing how would people react towards it . Whether its in "The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin, "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, or even "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield, death appears to be unavoidable. Although these are different short stories, death is applied, but the author's interpretations differentiate.
God then commands Death to show Everyman who is outside of the law of God what must come to him without escape or delay, the day of reckoning for all. Death encounters Everyman and has questioned him about why he has neglected God, “Everyman, stand still! Whither art thou going thus gaily? Hast thou thy Maker forget?” (Anonymous). Death dispenses the bad news that his day of reckoning for his sins has come and he must give account to God. Upon hearing that his time has come to an end he begins to fear his journey to go before God and give an answer to how he lived his life on earth. Everyman bribes Death to give him another day. Everyman’s argument is that Death did not give him a warning and now he wants to find a companion to accompany him on this journey of reckoning. As time nears Everyman struggles with his ignorance and therefore begins to seek and call upon his earthly friends such as Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, and Goods. Everyman discovers that one by one his acquaintances and possessions, whom he held dear to his heart and promised to be with him till the end, all abandon him in his time of need.
Death tells the wonderful story about a young girl who escapes death, more than once. The first time he sees her is on a train, then he sees her when he came for a pilot who had crashed, and the third time he saw her was after a bombing in her neighborhood. Liesel Meminger was a brave young girl. She lost her brother on the way to meet their foster family. After her brother was buried, Liesel stole the Gravediggers Handbook, thus receiving her nickname
Likewise, this journal discusses the mystery of death as depicted in the play Hamlet. In the repercussion of his dad 's death, Hamlet gets obsessed with the notion of demise. All through the play, he considers demise from awesome various perspectives. He supposes both the profound result of death, represented in the phantom and the substantial stays of the dead, like the decaying corpses in the cemetery. And since death in the play is the cause as well as the consequence of vengeance, then it is intimately tied to the subject of vengeance and justice.
For context, Poe is known to set up several instances to which a death of a beautiful woman is either inevitably played out, or said death is being lamented upon. Often times it is the narrator, unnamed, written to mourn, or speak on the behalf, of a dead woman, to which had significant value to them. Either a lover, signifiant other, what have you, the mourner has romantic ties to the deceased, thus creating the relationship between the living and the dead.
From the appearance of the Ghost at the start of the play to its bloody conclusion, Hamlet is pervaded with the notion of death. What better site for a comic interlude than a graveyard? However, this scene is not merely a bit of comic relief. Hamlet's encounter with the gravedigger serves as a forum for Shakespeare to elaborate on the nature of death and as a turning point in Hamlet's character. The structure and changing mood of the encounter serve to move Hamlet and the audience closer to the realization that death is inevitable and universal.
“Because I could not stop for Death-” is the more famous of Dickinson’s works. The poem is her attempt to visualize the process of actually being dead. As a narrative, the unknown Speaker of the poem describes how the literalized manifestation known as Death “kindly stopped of me-”. Death picks the Speaker up in a carriage and they ride away together – “The Carriage held but just Ourselves — And Immortality.” In this way, Death has been compared to both a suitor and a seducer for the speaker. After all, the Speaker did not actually choose to die and was not even contemplating the end of life. Rather, Death chose the Speaker. The suiter/seducer interpretation provides a double-meaning wherein can be viewed as both the natural progression of life and also the destructive violation of it. Immortality is the third person