preview

Anne Stewart Corruption

Decent Essays

This paper will explore Anne Stewart’s character and how the character signifies that innocence and corruption can be synchronized within the same person.

Throughout the plot of The Others, Anne is constantly portrayed as the sinister one of Grace Stewart’s children and marks her as a symbol of evil. Her mother, Grace, treats her like she is sinister and untrustworthy because she was the only person that could truly see Victor in their house. She tells Grace “No, it was that boy. Victor. The boy that was here a moment ago. I told him to let me study but he wouldn’t stop crying.” (The Others). Her character proves that the narrator is unreliable because, in fact, Anne is the closest one to revealing the truth. The mother though, regards this …show more content…

The light symbolizes good and the inversion of life. The children are allergic to light when they’re alive and because of that, the light “must be contained” (The Others). One major concept regarding the light, as well the contrast between characters, is that Nicholas dreads being without it. Anne, on the other hand, does not experience fear of being away from the source of light. This further displays that evil is personified as Anne and good is personified as Nicholas. The relationship of Nicholas and Anne is also an example of the unstableness Amenábar intentionally displays. There are many scenes in The Others that focuses on the bantering between the children, which demonstrates the differences between good and evil. This is displayed in the scene: “Anne: Nicholas, don’t speak to them. Nicholas: Why? They’re dead. Anne: WHAT? They’re ghosts. Come over here. Nicholas: But you said ‘Ghosts wear sheets and carry chains.’ Anne: I don’t care what I said. Get away from them. Nicholas: You’re always teasing me, and telling lies. I’m sick of it. Anne: Nicholas, I’m telling the truth. COME HERE!” (The Others). Their relationship not only signifies the complication of their individualities colliding but also the complications between good and evil. It also raises the idea of good and evil coexisting. Another symbol is that the children always wore white throughout the movie. Like …show more content…

With that being said, it all links back to perspective. Grace is an unreliable narrator. As said above, the only reason that Grace doesn’t view Anne as trustworthy or innocent is because she can see Victor. However, eventually the audience finds out that Anne is the one closest to showing the truth about the family actually being the evil ones. The intricacy of this volatile moral concept helps exhibit the falsification of good versus evil. Amenábar does this with intention though, as the big twist — linking back to this concept — of the movie remains hidden in plain sight. The family is finally revealed as being ‘the others’ and they are all recognized as corrupted, instead of

Get Access