To Act or Not to Act
In literature, there are so many genres. These genres are relevant to learn about. The two main categories that separate the different genres are fiction and non fiction. The different genres may be differentiated by literary technique, content and tone or to some extent the length of the genre. A literally genre is different from a classification of age category where the age of the audience like adults, children, or young-adults matters. In addition, the genre is also different from the formats like the graphic novel, or a picture book. The most general genres in literature have distinctions but at the same time, flexible.
The most common types are the non fiction which includes drama, poetry, speech, essays and narratives just to mention a few and fiction which is a narrative whose content is created from imagination and is not necessarily based upon any existing fact. In this semesters class work, the main genres of literature covered are poetry, drama, and fiction. In all these three genres, it is important to note that, when writing, the authors have all resulted to a moment of difficulty in decision making. This means that, at any moment in our lives, being human is characterized by decision making. This paper is intended to demonstrate how a moment of decision making is reached in all the three genres by the discussion of the topic called To Act or not to Act.
In the poem by Theodore Roethke, though the boy maybe used to his father’s drinking, he actually doesn’t know how to deal with it. Probably the persona loves his father and he doesn’t seem to let go, at 14, when his father dies. There are many subgenres of tragedy and comedy in drama. All these are broken down into character, themes, and plot. In Antigone by Sophocles, there is tragedy as the two brothers die fighting for the throne of Thebes with each leading the opposite sides of the civil war (1480).
The author tries to obtain responses from the readers on how to help Antigone who is concern for her brother, Polyneices’ body to be buried but this is against the king’s order and much still her sister is unwilling to assist her in fear of the king’s punishment. This is a difficult situation for Antigone, soon to marry Creon’s son (1520), who against all odds, never backs down her decision. In the story in Hamlet, the author writes about a difficult situation where all the members of a loyal family die and there is no one to inherit the throne. The sequence of these deaths is brought about by the greed for the throne by king Claudius who first kills king Hamlet just top have his throne. After the appearance of the Ghost, (1592) the king is found guilty by Prince Hamlet who in the cause of revenge makes Claudius poison them all to die (1609).
In all the three, there is a common theme of tragedy, the small boy’s father dies, Antigone’s brothers die, and finally, King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius and Ophelia die (1622) and no one is left to inherit the throne. In this case, there is a common critical decision where the gap left behind is hard to fill because no replacement is found for it. In the poem, despite the roughness of the father, the persona still can’t let go for the death of the father, Antigone despite the king’s decision wants last respect for her dead brother and finally, Prince Hamlet wants justice for his dead father. The responses of how to address the situations are similar, in the poem, one wonders why the boy grieves yet his father was so rough and violent with him. As of Hamlet, one is left wondering why he refuses to kill his uncle because of baseless traditions when he finds him praying, and lastly, in Antigone (1481) I love the way Antigone stands firm for his brother, but I wonder why her sister should fear the king over her brother’s life.
In the poetry, the personas mother takes a position of non-action. Maybe she has nothing to say or she is afraid of her husband or fails to understand him. The persona also remains silent and doesn’t tell his father of his wrongs during waltzing. In Antigone, the opposite is revealed as Antigone decides to express her interest despite the fact that, as one against the king, his brother was worth the punishment. Her sister though, decides to avoid being of the same thought as her sister Antigone and takes no action. In Hamlet, her mother avoids taking action, and is against his sons’ behavior of need for revenge and convinces him that every living thing is worth to die at one point or the other. Prince Hamlet on the other hand decides to take action by investigating his uncle and finally plotting his death which kills both of them.
In the three, it seems women have little room for decision making. In the poem and Hamlet, women remain silent (personas mother) (119) or try to avoid a decision that express what they feel (Gertrude and Ophelia) (1599) as they are covered with lots of fear and so is the case for Iseme, Antigone’s sister. The only difference comes with Antigone who openly reveals her intentions against even the king’s decision.
In our lives, social status matters when it comes to decision making as one is afraid of decision that will cost them more than they have or those that will expose their worth. In most cases therefore, the people in the lower level in the society avoid or literarily run away from such decisions. They end up settling for lower decision as they feel condemned for such. At one point in life this affects them and their end up in regrets or in frustrations. I would identify with the boys life in the poem, most of the time, life is controlled by the quantity of what I have but like Antigone, am always willing to express my interest for correction, acceptance or rejection.
References
Provided syllabus.To act or not to act quote the book’s name
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