If pragmatism embodies the description of this absolution, than the prescription of conscience serves as the authoritative measures placed on our arbitrarily produced morality. Therefore, the nature of conscience can be deconstructed outside of an authorized narrative or a persuasive contextual description, such as pragmatism. However, our notions of morality and rationality are contextually decisive within this framework, which creates a divergent model of conscience. This sentiment is expressed through the Netflix series “House of Cards,” as seen with the apparent suicide of Peter Russo, orchestrated by Francis Underwood. Underwood chooses to divert from the status quo ante of conscience towards a decisive path in order to develop his political …show more content…
This touted approach encounters individuals, such as Peter Russo, who are deprived of moderation and conform to Underwood’s sense of morality. The prideful affirmation of Underwood’s alternative conscience is described as he mentions Russo’s death and breaks the fourth wall by affirming, “Do you think I'm a hypocrite? Well, you should. I wouldn't disagree with you. The road to power is paved with hypocrisy. And casualties. Never regret...I don't use people unless I can throw them away afterwards.” This hypocrisy is demonstrated as Underwood leverages Russo's dependency issues, making him a casualty of pragmatism and a veneer of Underwood's engineering. The absence of remorse for Russo's death, as well as the contriving positions enacted by Underwood support his motivations and the casualties of his conscience. This amnesty allows for the continued exertion of force over Russo’s image, even after death, which is reserved for a particular set of manufactured principles. This is expressed when Underwood enters Russo’s memorial and commands his spirit to “have the courage in death that you never had in life. Come out, look me in the eye and say what you need to say. There is no solace above or below. Only us- small, solitary, striving, battling one another. I pray to myself, for myself,” as if Underwood takes comfort in the framework …show more content…
Underwood presents his duplicitous nature and manipulative actions throughout the series, yet undergoes a transformative commitment to his alternative conscience with the murder of Russo. This engagement of action to Underwood's nature allows for his manipulative tendencies to enforce his own conscience. This notion is produced through the contradictions echoed in Underwood's patronization of Russo, as he states that "Maybe they were right about you. Maybe you are worthless. I’m the only person who believes in you Peter, but maybe that's one too many.” While Underwood allows power to control him, his love of power is a naive production, as he becomes unmindful to the destruction his addiction thrives on. Therefore, Underwood diverts Russo's conscience towards an unmanageable path, as Russo's dependency concerns isolate him from external support and positive reinforcement. In comparison, Underwood manages an expansive network of support through individuals who share his prescription of conscience, either by pretense or construction. Russo's death may also be represented through Underwood's manipulation of the narrative and historical context of Russo's death. This manipulation is reproduced through Underwood's involvement in Russo's death, as Underwood responds to a question from Thomas Hammerschmidt, former editor-in-chief of the
The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in
Suggesting that Willie’s ability to make intelligent political decisions results from this self knowledge, Warren implicitly states that Willie’s hospital project is his attempt to right all of his wrongs—to rectify all of his sins he has committed in the political arena. Warren suggests a major theme of the novel: man is “finite and corrupt” and is constantly striving to discover the “infinite and incorruptible” (Beebe 126). Through this religious concept of the pervasiveness of sin, Warren describes Willie as half genius, half demon: he plans schools, roads, straightforward tax plans and a hospital for the poor while also cruelly crushing his political opponents, and using bribes and manipulation for electoral gain.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. His view of the world does not change much through the novel. However as the novel continues, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change this.
In this story, Dubus invites the reader to mull over the disparity between people’s ethical responsibility to society and the primal urge to protect and avenge their loved ones. At the end of the story, Matt tells Ruth what happened, but it is clear that he feels deep remorse for the action he has taken. He, his wife and friend Trottier will be forever scarred by the responsibility of keeping the secret of murder. Nevertheless, Dubus does not judge Matt and label him either a hero or a sinner; he simply presents the ethical problem to the reader.
To the common man, conscience meant listening to their moral code to make day-by-day decisions that would not harm another person. To Harriet, conscience meant standing up against awful people to
‘Honesty is the best policy’; ‘Always be yourself”, are common phrases many parents tell their children and as common as they may be, being honest and being true yourself contributes to individual happiness and contentness. ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that dives deep into these key themes of honesty and integrity and the consequences of doing the opposite action. One of the main characters, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a minister in 17th century Puritan New England who has deteriorating health because of his lies and guilt. Dimmesdale commits adultery with a beautiful woman in the town, Hester Prynne, whose husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns from Europe later on. Pearl, who is a product of Hester and
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
Jackie plays a pivotal role in helping Thomas through this gruelling challenge by helping him understand that Charlie’s actions are not intentional and that he would always behave in ways that are considered abnormal. Jackie goes beyond providing simple moral support by taking care of Charlie and standing up against those who try to bully him. She
Prompt: How does Hawthorne develop his themes of sin, hypocrisy, and corruption in the Puritan society through the occurrences of the scarlet letter, the scaffold, the Puritans, the prison, and the forest in the story?
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46).
In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield views his surroundings with hypocrisy and contempt in an attempt to avoid the corruption of adulthood. Holden places himself above the crowd because he believes everyone acts phony. In the process, Caulfield reveals his true problem: his refusal to change.
Even if one feels they may have 'gotten away ' with a crime, the weight of a person’s conscience cannot be concealed. In someone’s life, too much power and control combined with a person’s conscience in a person’s life can and will lead to an imbalance and perhaps insanity as in the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates how the narrator in this story goes through the greed and need for control, leading to his insanity that results in extreme guilt.
I was ashamed of my conscience, ashamed to be doing the right thing.” (O’Brien pg 49)
Although there are situational and developmental variables at stake, ultimately, Beckett is dealing with an existential crisis. He is coming face to face with his own mortality, and in so doing, confronts moral and ethical issues related to his relationship with his law firm and colleagues.
"There are two kinds of pain: The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that 's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things”. This opening quote from the Netflix original series, House of Cards, sets the tone for the ultimate theme of power displayed over the course of the show. The main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, first speaks to the audience after mercilessly killing his neighbor’s dog after it was hit by a car. Because the dog was injured, it became a useless being and merely a nuisance to Underwood. This example seen in the first episode is a blunt introduction to a main character that is not only power-hungry but also shows no sympathy for the weak. Frank Underwood states that power lasts centuries while money causes people, and things, to fall apart. According to the article by Sivanathan, power is based on an individual’s intentional and effective capacity to control, modify, or influence others by “providing or withholding resources or administering punishments” (Sivanathan). Frank Underwood chooses power because it allows him to leave a legacy that will never be forgotten, while simultaneously granting him access to other types of power.