The speaker of Gray’s “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” starts the poem by reminiscing of his college days. He looks back on the innocence, happiness and nostalgia throughout the years while observing students that are in college just like he was. While observing the innocent, and ignorant students, he decides it’s best not to warn them about the pain and struggles of adulthood. Gray’s speaker declares: “Where ignorance is bliss / ’Tis folly to be wise.” He ultimately decides that if ignorance is creating happiness, then it is better than being wise and miserable. The two novels Paradise Lost and Frankenstein both show this theme throughout their stories. The movie Lone Star also has a similar theme of knowledge bringing pain rather than happiness. Although knowledge can …show more content…
The request from god was that they should never eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. When Satan enters God’s new creation he is persistent on corrupting earth. He observes God warning man about the Tree of Knowledge and questions: “Do they only stand by ignorance, is that their happy state, the proof of their obedience and their faith?” (518-520). Satan is angry when realizing that they are being rewarded for ignorance and obedience with happiness and immortality. Satan eventually succeeds in his mission by corrupting Eve and convincing her to eat the fruit off of the Tree of Knowledge. “Greedily she engorged without restraint, and knew not eating death” (791-792). Adam, afraid of Eve’s death, eats the fruit too. Adam and Eve are now knowledgeable and wise about the world around them. They now know about good and evil, they know about wars, and sins. They feel misery and sadness that they never knew existed. Ignorance was greatly preferred to knowledge at this point. Before they had eaten the fruit off of the tree, they were in complete paradise. This text supported that Adam and Eve were happier while ignorant of the world, but also made a point to express how
I can compare Frankenstein to the movie I saw by Tim Burton, Frankenweenie. They are similar but instead of a human body, it was a dog and the mad scientist was a young boy named Victor Frankenstein. The young Victor Frankenstein brings his dog back to life after being hit by a car for a science fair project while the real Victor Frankenstein wanted to create a real life human. Just like the real Frankenstein monster, the dog brings trouble. In the book, the mad scientist, denies the monster but in Frankenweenie, the young boy convinces his family and friends to like his creation. Some of his classmates had known the young Victor Frankenstein creation and was intrigued to do the same experiment like his but it went out of the standards of
“PLIGHT.” GOD FORMED MAN FROM DIRT GAVE HIM THE “BREATH OF LIFE” MADE MAN IN GODS’ OWN IMAGE THEN, GAVE HIM A WIFE. NEXT, THE GARDEN OF EDEN WAS PUT IN THEIR CARE FREE TO EAT FROM ANY TREE EXCEPT THE “TREE OF KNOWLEDGE,” THERE. FROM THE “TREE OF KNOWLEDGE” GOD WARNED THEM NOT TO EAT THAT THEY WOULD SURELY DIE THEIR DEMISE TO MEET.
Most Americans have some idea of who Frankenstein is, as a result of the many Frankenstein movies. Contrary to popular belief Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a scientist, not a monster. The "monster" is not the inarticulate, rage-driven criminal depicted in the 1994 film version of the novel. Shelley’s original Frankenstein was misrepresented by this Kenneth branagh film, most likely to send a different message to the movie audience than Shelley’s novel shows to its readers. The conflicting messages of technologies deserve being dependent on its creator (address by Shelley) and poetic justice, or triumph over evil (showed by the movie) is best represented by the
“There is no way to be completely happy without being oblivious to the world around you” (Maredith Close). Everybody is oblivious, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not, though it tends to be beneficial. As said by Maredith Close, true happiness can not be achieved without oblivion, but in extreme cases, too much happiness for someone can cause less for someone else. Being oblivious can cause calm thoughts, but when conceived in extreme, can cause confusion and lack of comprehension, perhaps leading to irrational actions.
Displaying a parallelism between God and Satan in the poem, and Frankenstein and the creature in the novel, the allusion to Paradise Lost is used to not only reveal similarities between the creature and the fallen angel, displaying their shared neglect, but also accentuate their differences; which, reveals the creature’s innate desire to have human connection and the burden of isolation. Having no human connection, the creature confides in the poem as he begins to associate himself with Lucifer to assuage his alienation from others. Lucifer and the creature were abandoned by their creator, denied any affection and appraisal, and viewed as an outcast; which, catalyzed their vendetta against their creators and need for revenge. The creature also
The convincing arguments Satan and Morpheus provides makes the pathway for ignorance nonexistent. When Morpheus holds out the red pill and blue pill, he tells Neo, “[y]ou take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe what you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes” (The Matrix). Morpheus alludes to the story of Alice in Wonderland to convince Neo of all the great possibilities that come with taking the red pill. He also repeats the word “believe” while discouraging Neo from taking the blue pill which shows the uncertainty Neo will have to live with for the rest of life. Neo is basically forced to take the red pill at this point because it will lead him to the path of greatest pleasure. Additionally, Satan recounts his own experience of eating from the tree of knowledge: “do not believe / Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die: / [...] Look on me, / Me who have touched and tasted, yet both lived / And life more perfect have attained than fate” (Milton 684-689). Satan uses logos to further attract Eve into eating the apple since he has firsthand knowledge of the effects of the apple. He then uses the word “life more perfect” which sparks Eve’s motive into eating the apple. Even though Eve is basically forced to eat the apple, she is still thoughtful with her decision. With the help of persuasive language, Eve and Neo are compelled into choosing the happiest option in their
The use of Paradise Lost, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, allows for a complex development of the Creation’s understanding of his place in the unknown world. The Creation identifies, originally, with Adam as the view of himself as his master’s beloved creation, which alludes to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Through Paradise Lost, the Creation identifies more with Satan in the sense that he was cast away from his creator.
Eve in Paradise Lost asks Satan as too how he gained the ability to speak because she "Didn't know animals could speak" and Satan then told her how he ate from
Since the beginning of Paradise Lost, a reader can witness the dramatizing power possessed by Satan, and how he takes advantage of this very power in order to satisfy his own causes. One such property of Satan's fantastic powers is his ability to manipulate any individual into a false belief of who he really is, and therefore prevent a habitant of paradise from discovering his true purpose that is hidden behind his actions. One such example of this, and one of the most major in the epic, are the events that occur in Book IX involving Satan and Eve around the forbidden tree. Here, Satan uses, what is to Eve, excellent reasoning to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit, thereby exploiting
Eve’s hunger to become independent from Adam and all she is commanded to do is similar to Satan’s situation in that their yearn for power and singular identity lead them to revolt against their creator. Her desire to separate from Adam is first seen when she is introduced to the audience in her state of narcissism. She sees a reflection of herself in a pond and is in awe of her beauty “of sympathy and love,” (IV, 465) which shows the parallelism to Satan’s own arrogant vanity. He catches on to this similarity they share and decides she will be an easy target of persuasion. He quickly takes charge and plans how he will lead her to eat the apple from the “Tree of Knowledge,” which is the only tree that God prohibited to pick fruit from. Satan first catches her attention by being a serpent who speaks; something she had never encountered before. He smooth talks her into really listening to him by focusing his words around her and how much better life could be if she just took a bite
Part of American culture dwells on sports. It’s hard not to think of America without considering of football or baseball. Athletics are a dominant aspect in high school, with a substantial amount of teens playing high school sports. They are a fundamental for countless youth around the nation. Team high school sports are valuable to growth, since they provide an opportunity to create friends, and encourage sportsmanship. Nevertheless, some would say they create an overemphasis on winning. However, this is only in the minds of coaches and parents. By winning, teens learn how to be a good sport and be humble in victory, and if they lose, how to cope with defeat.
Does knowledge really bring true happiness? In the story Flowers for Algernon Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old, mentally challenged man, who wants nothing more than to be smart. Well he got his chance to be smart and he took it; he was chosen for an operation that could change his life and make him much more intelligent than he actually was. Charlie thought being smart would make him “normal” but the operation ended up being unsuccessful. He went back to the way he was. In the story The Garden Of Eden, Adam and Eve were chosen to be the first humans. They chose to bite from the tree of knowledge and disobey God. They were punished to live life and then die. Both Charlie Gordon, and Adam and eve resemble each other in many ways.
Between the two novels, Paradise Lost and Frankenstein, there are many striking similarities. What makes these two books so wonderful to read is the author 's ability to write about the ultimate struggle; the struggle between God and Satan, or Good and Evil. The characters in Paradise Lost and in Frankenstein seem to be very similar to one another. God and Victor Frankenstein have many similarities. One of their similarities is that they are both creators of new life. The monster, Victor 's creation, also shows remarkable similarities, but not with God. The monster shows similarities with Satan and Adam. At first these characters seem very plain and tasteless, but as the stories go on and the characters become deeper beings, the interest
Capital punishment is the execution of a perpetrator for committing a heinous crime (homicide), and it is a hotly debated topic in our society. It has always been a belief for some that if another person wrongs them, they should have the right to take revenge against that person. In the present day, this view still remains, but has been toned down by laws that state the rights of the accused and have developed punishments for offenders. Many, me included, still believe that those punishments are not harsh enough and allow criminals to take advantage of them, knowing that if caught, the punishment is not near enough to make it wise to simply avoid the risk. I believe that capital punishment is an effective
The concept of revenge has prevailed as an integral component of literature, exemplified in Paradise Lost written by John Milton among other works. In Paradise Lost, Satan acts as the main proponent of revenge. The actions of his character create the basis for a Miltonic ideal of revenge, later modified by Emily Brontë and Mary Shelley. Wuthering Heights written by Brontë presents Heathcliff as a modernization of Satan. The characters share the experience of evolving from their lives as outcasts within their societies by means of revenge. The monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein romanticizes the Miltonic concept of revenge found in Paradise Lost. Although the creation and experiences of Satan and the monster differ, their premises for revenge become similar as the monster realizes his contempt toward his position within society and desires to retaliate. While the revenge exemplified in Paradise Lost shares similarities with both Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, the origins of the desire for revenge, as well as its function within each book, differ due to changing life and literary styles following the writing of Paradise Lost. While the roots of the revenge of Satan lay in a desire for power, Heathcliff and the creature use revenge as a means to chase love and companionship.