Social Class Hierarchy And Reputation In William Godwin's Tale

Rainsford was justified for killing General Zaroff because what General Zaroff did to Rainsford and the previous sailors wasn't right. When Rainsford and General Zaroff were talking Rainsford told General Zaroff “civilized? And you shoot down men”(connell 3) this quote means that General Zaroff has hunted other sailors before.

The protagonist in the story, Rainsford is a hypocrite. First of all, in the beginning Rainsford says to his colleague that there are “two people in the world, the hunters, and the huntees, and luckily for us, we are the hunters.” He believes that he has authority over the animals and he may kill them for game as he pleases. However, when he arrives on Ship Trap Island and meets General Zaroff, his perspective changes. General Zaroff reveals that he hunts humans in “the most dangerous game” and Rainsford believes that it’s brutal and savage as he believes that all humans are equal. However, he still feels no guilt killing animals, as he believes that he is superior to them. Secondly, he believes that humans are very different from

Agnis Hamm, Quoyle’s aunt, successfully navigates and responds to the changing global world in the novel, through the useful cohesion of the global and local. We discover this information and her story in various fragments throughout the book. Agnis retreats, or more accurately withdraws, from her local birthplace of Newfoundland. This is due to various factors of the community that were affecting her adversely. It is revealed that her father raped when she was a young child. Alongside this is the depiction of the past Quoyle’s as inbreds, pirates and primitives, occupants of a parochial, limited and isolated community. This quote relating to Agnis’s move from the local shows this ‘…away from isolation, illiteracy, trousers made of worn upholstery fabric , no teeth, away from contorted thoughts and rough hands, from desperation’. Proulx’s depiction of this local community disregards the notion that the local is always good, replacing it with an anything but positive view. In this case the lack of global values and influence within the local is what leads it to being so defective.

There are many ways to decide what makes a man guilty. In an ethical sense, there is more to guilt than just committing the crime. In Charles Brockden Browns’ Wieland, the reader is presented with a moral dilemma: is Theodore Wieland guilty of murdering his wife and children, even though he claims that the command came from God, or is Carwin guilty because of his history of using persuasive voices, even though his role in the Wieland family’s murder is questionable? To answer these questions, one must consider what determines guilt, such as responsibility, motives, consequences, and the act itself. No matter which view is taken on what determines a man’s guilt, it can be concluded that

L.R. Wright starts the novel The Suspect, by talking about how the main character George Wilcox killed his ex-brother-in-law Carlyle Burke in the isolated little community of Sechelt, British Columbia. Wright described the scene of how George killed Carlyle. As George was trying to leave, Carlyle did not like the idea that George was leaving, and was telling him he needed to respect him. When Carlyle started to talk about George’s family by saying

…The question that needs to be answered was whether Hislop would be held accountable for his amoral activities? This question is what I am on the point of answering, and as Hislop wielded his power to subvert the circumstances in his favor, I too am preparing the path he must take and where that will lead I am only now on the point of realizing… And as I unpicked the thread of time, the events of which I am about to relate were on the point of coalescing into the solid realization that whatever was about to happen, they were, in a word, well intended. Regardless of my opinion concerning Carlton Hislop, he would be censured by history, whereupon he and people like him would have their reputations forever tainted with the tar of having lived

“Lady Catherine will not think the worst of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved” (Austen 127). Distinction of social classes has been slowly fading away in today’s modern society, but contributed to create a society dominated by a ironclad hierarchy prior to the twentieth century. Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813, which revolves around the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have to overcome various issues of the Regency era, and learn to accept each other towards the end of novel. Jane Austen showcases the nineteenth century turmoil between the upper class and the working class through the strict social hierarchy and conflicts between the characters in Pride and Prejudice and ultimately proposes a solution towards the end of the novel.

The accusations against him, brought by Briony Tallis, held him responsible for the violation of her cousin Lola. Robbie reflects on this, as Briony plans to refute her statement to the police, “The intricacies were lost to him, the urgency had died. Briony would change her evidence, she would rewrite the past so that the guilty became the innocent. But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren’t enough people… to…gather in the facts.” (188) Robbie’s loss of security and his future took away the childlike carefreeness he displayed before the accusation. Briony’s conscience weighs heavily on her as she moves from a naïve implication to the realization of the consequences.

The famous poet James Russell Lowell once said, “Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit” . Reality stresses the importance to be more concerned with personal character than self reputation, because character beholds who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others perceive. The epic of Beowulf, written in Old English, describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. Having an outstanding reputation was an important aspect of life, and in the world of Beowulf it was no different.

Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows is a satirical reflection of the English social structure of the late nineteenth century, during a time of rapid industrialization throughout Europe. Also considered a children’s story, this novel conveys Grahame’s belief in the ability of one to live an unrestrained and leisurely life, free of the obligations of the working class, and entitled to this life through high social status and wealth. The River Bank characters, especially Toad, represent those who live this idle life of the upper class. In contrast, the stoats and weasels of the Wild Wood resemble the proletariat, and an animosity between these two classes existed. The lower classes of the

Now I understand that the General killed for sport, but, Rainford oversteps his bounds as a person to kill. He is forced to play this “game” of hunting. Rainford tries to get out of killing by asking, ‘"Suppose he refuses to be hunted?" "Oh," said the general, "I give him his option, of course. He need not play that game if he doesn't wish to. If he does not wish to hunt, I turn him over to Ivan…”’ (Connell 9) Later on page eleven, he directly tells Zaroff what he is doing is wrong and he will stop it. ‘“Of course you, in turn, must agree to say nothing of your visit here." "I'll agree to nothing of the kind," said Rainsford.’ (Connell 11) Though Rainford is saving innocent lives by killing the General, what Rainford is doing is wrong. The General even said, "Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth: sailors from tramp ships--lassars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels..." (Connell 8) Is doing something wrong for the right reasons does not mean that it is not wrong? Rainford murders Zaroff without any attack from the general. ‘“The

The journey back through the streets of Poole, across the moors and away home to Weymouth, proved uneventful – the only moment of serenity, the one and only pause given to Nathaniel so that he may analyse the facts without the bombardment of threats. The only brake from the frustration, the small-minded people and the knowing that they didn't desire anything to do with the death of the very thing that scares them stiff. Why? He kept begging the question as he rode. Why were they willing to accept such a presence to run amok?

What I noticed at first while reading the story is that, the story is focused mainly only on Gawain’s point of view. Another thing that comes out of the story is that there is some sort of conflict between a civilized world and a natural world. The civilized world is the one ruled by codes of love. On the other side, the natural world is a more chaotic one, where the “animal instinct” dominates. The major conflict that we see, besides the one between Gawain and The Green Knight, is the one that Gawain has with itself, which is the struggle to decide whether his virtues are more important than his life. We also see, another huge theme treated in the story, which is the one that talks about “reputation”; reputation has a big impact in Gawain

The murder was immoral in every sense and those causing the murder should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. We further stipulate that it is unacceptable for a coverup of the murder. Colonel Nathan Jessup defends the practice of lying under an area of lying covered by Plato.

When Wilfred thought he was in the clear for not being blamed as the criminal, he “was almost trembling with the excitement of his own glimpse of the truth” (Chesterton 9). He believed that people would be evinced by his disguised sins for blaming others for actions they did not part-take in. While Wilfred isolated himself from others, he was participating in a crime on one he should love. In Chesterton’s “Hammer of God,” foreshadowing, setting, and character development create the theme that selfishness hides truth.