2016: Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. 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, …show more content…
When Torvald finds her hairpin stuck in the keyhole of the letter box, Nora tells him it must have been their children trying to get into it, not willing to admit that she had tried to break into his things. Although the truth about her is about to be discovered, Nora wants to preserve the last bits of dignity that she has left, finally worrying about herself before anyone else. This last lie however, leads up to her finally speaking the truth and expressing that she no longer feels that she loves Torvald. Her husband is furious at her, insulting her, and fails to see that every lie that she told was for his sake. Realizing that Torvald can’t see her side of things and will only find fault in what she did, she comes to her decision to leave her family. Nora states that she is not happy and never really was, her marriage to Torvald was as fakes as a doll house according to her. Rather than lie, she is completely honest now and states that she wants to become her own person and learn that which she doesn’t know despite what society might think. In A Doll’s House, Nora lies to Torvald in order to save his life. This one deception that took place in the past leads to many more and helps her realize that she is unhappy in her
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.
Shakespeare explores the idea of anybody can be deceptive and no one, no matter how close they
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.
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
Throughout A Doll’s House, Torvald views Nora’s actions as being deceiving not only towards him but also towards her family. However, Nora gain her perspective on her own actions and begins observing it differently than Torvald’s. The play states, “ It was me they told that his life was in danger...well, well, I thought, you’ve got to be saved somehow. And then I thought of a way-,” (Ibsen 35-36). Within Nora’s and Mrs. Linde’s private conversation, Nora conveys that her manipulation of money revealed how she deceives her husband even though it was in good intent to save his life. In addition, this demonstrates Nora’s willingness to think about others, such as her husband, before realizing for herself that there were going to be consequences for her later on. Within the play, Nora states, “ You have never understood me. A
. .] I said I was busy,” (1-4). She then goes on to show how those lies not only did not incur immediate negative effects, but also proved somewhat beneficial to her and her family. By illustrating such a situation for the audience, Ericsson emphasizes the irrevocable role that lying plays in society while also initiating contemplation regarding the possible pros and cons of seemingly innocuous lying. Further on, as she deconstructs lying into specific categories, Ericsson provides contrast to her first anecdote with a narrative regarding a charlatan-esque friend who “seduced others into an illusion” that he was intelligent and trustworthy (11). In doing so, she introduces the audience to the position that lies have larger and more dangerous implications than they may have originally believed. Ericsson unseats her audience in order to make them question any preconceived concepts about lying they
While Mrs. Wright lashes out against her perceived cage, her gender role, by killing Mr. Wright, Nora’s character ultimately decides to trip the latch, to fly free from the bars. Nora’s complex personality proves to be difficult to predict to the very end, when she decides to shirk her duties to her husband and children to focus on herself, to serve her own needs for individuality, a decision that was not entirely popular with readers and audiences alike. Indeed, Nora quite easily refuses to be the “doll” in Torvald’s house, and abandons her loving, though misguided husband, and her children. She feels driven to do this once she realizes that she and Torvald had never exchanged a serious word in
William Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy, Much Ado about Nothing and tragic history, Macbeth revolve around the theme of deception, trickery, and concealment. There are portrayals within these two plays that depict deception and trickery as merely harmless and even beneficial. In some cases the characters are thoroughly masked in their lies; for ill or well, they are hiding who they truly are. In other cases, the person they attempt to hide is merely obscured, the masks being only a slight deterrent from their real personalities. Sometimes they are harmless diversions; sometimes they are even beneficial tools to be utilized for one's
Though the witches are the first to bring about this distortion of reality but it is followed by many characters in the play. The Tragedy of Macbeth explores deception through both honorable and corrupt ventures, whether it be Malcolm testing Macduff’s veracity, the witches telling Macbeth half-truths, and Lady
In life, some form of deception is always lurking and waiting for the right moment to pounce. Whether it be a friend disclosing secret information about yourself to others, or fake news in the media, deception is always meant to mislead or double-cross others in a certain way. More often than not, deception also exists in the literary world, where a character plays the role similar to Judas, one who betrays another for their own benefit. However, there does exist, such a character who purposefully misleads others in order to protect them from harm of any kind. A prime example of a character who betrays others is Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Although, this particular deceiver does not perform his actions in order to help others, instead he does so in order to hurt them and help himself in return. Nevertheless, Macbeth’s character was not always plotting against the others, but rather fell victim to the meaning of the story as a whole, that ambition brings out the evil in individuals.
Deceit is a method often used to control others, to gain power over people in an unlawful manner. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, deceit is commonly used by characters for their own gains, whether they be good or bad. Characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are keen on keeping their position in power through murderous and deceitful ways, such as hiding the fact that they murdered King Duncan, while other characters such as Malcolm are using any ways possible to get rid of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Many characters prove to be able to expertly conceal their true identities by creating false personas, prime examples being Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Malcolm. With Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hiding their power-hungry nature, and Malcolm lying about his true identity, they prove that deceit can truly influence others.
Over the past two weeks we have been reading the play Macbeth. In this play there are multiple ways deception is used and by multiple people. Deception means that you are being mislead by false information, something that didn't actually happen. One person in this play is exceptionally good at deception and she will be the person most discussed in this essay. Although, the play Macbeth is filled with deception there are multiple different ways in which it is shown.
In conclusion, in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora assembles the accurate solution to vacate her place of home. Towards the beginning, her conversation with Dr. Rank impacts her leaving because Torvald is not the only one, throughout the play Torvald is controlling and tends treat Nora like a child, and lastly Kristine Linde helps finalize Nora’s decision making process with her advice and assistance to collect Nora’s belongings. Imagine being enclosed in a place feeling unwanted, mistreated, and misplaced; escape and live the life that is meant to be, not an unhappy
Deceit and lies are rampant in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet. It can be seen in the characters’ actions and words, as well as what they fail to say and do. It comes in various types of relationships -- between husband and wife, parent and child, siblings, and between lovers. Nearly every character in the play either deliberately spins a web of their own lies, uses another person for their trickery, or is used in another person’s deceitful plot. Each has different motives for their deceit -- to maintain power, to achieve their goals, to attain vengeance, or simply because it is necessary to function in this twisted society -- but all of them face a tragic ending no matter their initial intentions. In this play, deceit is so uncontrolled, intertwined, and multidimensional that it becomes impossible for either the characters or audience to ascertain what is true.
Nora, the innocent little housewife, starts off as a harmless little doll but soon changes. She is Torvald’s perfect wife in the beginning of the play, but little does he know that she has a mind of her own and isn’t really his little doll. The opening of Nora’s ulterior personality starts when she opens up to Mrs. Linde (Act 1). Nora bleeds to Mrs. Linde her financial problems with the trip that she spent two hundred and fifty pounds on, on her husband. Being the reader, I was shocked to hear so knowing how harmless and perfect Nora appeared to be. Then later on, the plot unfolds and reveals the incriminating fact that Nora had been owing Krogstad this money the whole time and had been paying him back in increments with the allowance given to her by Torvald. It is crazy that Nora had been so sneaky all along and had been keeping it away from Torvald all along. Nora is then stuck in a dilemma when Krogstad blackmailed her by telling her that she has to get his job back or he’ll reveal the whole thing to