Poetry - Essay Example Despite his mother’s protestations and desire to spend their insurance cheque on a house which would greatly benefit the family as a whole, Walter is adamant that he invest the money, and does so despite these familial objections. His sister wants to spend money on tuition for medical school as it is her dream to become a doctor, but he even mocks this as she is a woman and he cannot see the merits of spending the money in this way. Walter reflects the view in the 1950s that women should stay at home and only men should be educated, an obstacle his sister must constantly fight against. Though he does dream of his son going to college, this is still a selfish dream as he appears to think that this will reflect favourably on himself. The conflict the family experience due to their different dreams, is a major theme. The character of Walter as the protagonist of the play is also the most interesting in my opinion as he also serves as a form of antagonist. Many of the plays themes and plot developments centre on Walter while it is also as a result of Walters weaknesses and actions which cause the family further adversity and problems. Walters character goes through a significant transformation through the play. At the beginning he is portrayed as weak, selfish, materialistic and belligerent, while by the end of the play his selfishness seems to have waned as he puts the needs of his family ahead of his own. In doing so, he gives the play its structure and reflects the conflict and tensions which were relevant at the time. The character of Walter is introduced to the audience as a man of weakness and selfishness and several of the social and economic obstacles faced by the Younger family are manifested in Walters attitude. Though Walter admits that he wants the best for his family, his version of having the best is utterly materialistic and
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12/19/2019 0 Comments The Theories of Thomas Hobbes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 wordsThe Theories of Thomas Hobbes - Essay Example Talking about Hobbes’s state of equality, he strongly believed that we as human tend to be very watchful of the differences that lie between all individuals: differences that distinguish the diverse individuals from each other. For example he said that some of us tend to perceive others as smarter or wiser than ourselves, however, what we fail to take into account is that the bulk of the people around us are more or less the same as ourselves, particularly in thought. Such was the way in which Hobbes defined equality of human nature, that given a particular situation many of the individuals would react to it much in the same way. Moreover, Hobbes felt that all human beings were materialistic beings, motivated by nothing so much as they are motivated by self-interest, thus the term egoism (Clarke, 1995). This self-interest which dominates human nature in Hobbes’s point of view is the root cause of all chaos and anarchy that has ever prevailed throughout human history. Hobbes believed that if ever in a dilemma, an individual will always choose the alternative which benefits him the most, irrespective the extent of damage that it may cause to anyone else. This egoism of man never allows him to be content with what he has. Rather it requires him to constantly desire more and more power than he already has. Consequently, Hobbes described his “State of Nature,†which was from the nature made by God as one would normally expect it to be. The Hobbes's State of Nature is one which any known State can undergo at a time of absolute chaos and anarchy.
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