Illusion and Reality in Ryunoske Akutagawa´s In a Grove

Deception is defined as “the act of tricking someone by telling them something that is not true”. In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, deception is always present and things are not always what they appear to be. In this great work of literature, the three witches; the Thane of Cawdor; and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the very embodiments of trickery and show us the true effects deception can have on man.

In all of these instances illusion plays a key role in a way for the characters to do away with the lives they do not want to be living.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a selfish Scottish thane becomes over-ambitious and commits several murders in order to gain and stay in power. After the murders, Macbeth evades suspicion by hiding his guilt and intentions, therefore deceiving others into thinking that he is innocent. Other characters including Lady Macbeth, the witches and the Scottish thanes also use their appearances to hide the truth and deceive others. With these examples, Shakespeare shows that appearances can be deceiving.

Lying is a common habit that everyone has had experiences with. I have lied and have been lied to numerous times. Everyone has. However, not everyone exposed to a certain lie is aware of it’s true power. In her essay “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson criticizes our bad habit of lying. She explains many different types of lies and even gives examples to show how harmful they can be as “our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes invisible to us as water is to a fish” (128).

Deceiving others is not always done with ill intentions. Saving your life or someone else’s is enough for some to lie, and continue to lie, to those that are close to them. Such is seen in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. In Ibsen’s drama,

Deception is the act of deceiving; it takes the shape of an underlying theme in each of the texts. It is a common occurrence in literature such as Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘On Chesil beach’ but in almost every incident, the degree of deception is different. Deception is performed by all characters to different extents and purposes, depending on the context of the situation. Othello displays deception between colleagues, whereby Iago uses deceit to cause carnage in the lives of his associates. Tennessee Williams illustrates deception within a family in his play A Streetcar Named Desire, as the main protagonist Blanche, lies to her own family about her sinful past. Finally, Deception is conveyed in Ian McEwan’s

One must always be weary of the truth because it is quite often manipulated to serve the needs of any person who requires that the truth be on their side. Quite often, the only way to discern the truth from the fiction is by way of a deceptive act, because an act of deception always exposes both its self and the truth to be two quite different things. Nowhere is this more true than in William Shakespeare's, Hamlet. One of the major themes in the play is in fact, deception. This central theme is expressed throughout the play in three major forms: the fear of being deceived, the act of deception, and the ultimate result of the deceptive act. The first facet of the deceptive

Secrets fill the garden. In Gail Tsukiyama’s novel “The Samurai’s Garden”, she uses metaphors to show the audience the garden and its’ curator in a mysterious light. Tsukiyama’s character Stephen gazes upon Matsu’s garden with wonder and amazement. He compares it to another world, “The garden is a world filled with secrets… Matsu’s garden whispers at you, never shouts; it leads you down a path hoping for more, as if everything is seen, yet hidden” (Samurai 31). Tsukiyama creates another world within the fences of the garden. She integrates the secrets of its’ caretaker into the aura of the garden. The metaphor to another world impacts the reader by allowing the reader to see the mystery and beauty that shrouds it. The cloak of beauty shows

In an excerpt from Empire of Illusion, Christopher Hedges argues that “the most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice...Those who are best at deception succeed. Those who have not mastered the art of entertainment, who fail to create a narrative or do not have one fashioned for them by their handlers, are ignored. They become “unreal”” (Empire of Illusion). Today, the ideology of “the most essential skill [being] artifice” to reveal the truth or reach the favored outcome is prevalent and portrayed across various media. For instance, in Hamlet written in the early 17th century, William Shakespeare portrays Polonius as a nobleman who advocates for techniques of deception to achieve his goal. In addition, detectives implement this method of misleading in interrogation rooms to evoke a true confession. Similarly, politicians, like Donald Trump, delude the public by creating distractions that sway their attention from the more pressing topic. Examples from literature to modern government demonstrate that many hold the belief that “the most essential skill...is artifice” to achieve the desired outcome (Empire of Illusion).

The Ways We Lie addresses the main topic of avoiding the truth promptly. Factions of lying, especially those not ordinarily considered deceit, are presented, and personal anecdotes as well as historical precedents magnify personal appeal along with logic. The purpose of this essay is to encourage people to abstain from dishonesty. For illustration, the author states,”I cannot seem to escape the voice deep inside

The illusions she constructs focus on how they are percieved. In one peice she created a structure that never looks repeated and in another she takes a ‘cube’ and makes a form that looks competely different from what the oberserver would percieve as

Reality is the state of being real or actual, whereas an illusion is a mental misinterpretation of what is believed to be true. Illusions often prevent people from perceiving reality and objective truths, which consequently results in delusions, and in some cases, tragedies. In Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, the theme of illusion versus reality is overtly evident in the main character, Macbeth. Macbeth frequently misinterprets illusions as the actual reality due to possessing such an untamed ambition, which ultimately ends up resulting in a series of tragic and horrific events, for Macbeth and his victims. Macbeth’s ambition first leads him into believing that he is destined to become King of Scotland, which results in

When it comes to murder cases, most people would agree that they can’t be left unsolved. In the short story “In a Bamboo Grove” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the murder of Takehiro takes place in a grove of bamboo. Three people have confessed, including the victim himself. The author than decided to leave the story of by leaving it unsolved. I believe that Masago, the wife of Takehiro, killed him. I believe this because Masago’s confession was the only one that took place away from the courtroom. Also, all the confessions consisted of Masago wanting Takehiro dead. Although, the bandit Tajomaru and Takehiro played a convincing act of killing Takehiro, but they both have reason to cover for Masago.

It may be satisfying to know that someone had already confessed to the crime. But the story became more puzzling as it went on to the last two testimonies. The next one was the confession of Masago. She began with, “After the man in the dark blue robe had his way with me…” This only confirmed the previous testimonies – Tajomaru was definitely the one who was with the couple. Masago said that when she looked up to see his husband’s reaction after what the bandit did to her, she saw the contempt in his eyes. She went to her husband saying, “…, I am prepared to die here and now. But you – yes, I want you to die as well…” She was saying that they both should die since they both lost their dignity. She believed that this was what her husband wanted

Compare how the authors of Death of a salesman and “street car named desire explore the conflict between truth and illusion