Post by Harley Scarow on Jun 7, 2007 18:30:59 GMT -5
Peter Dang
5 – 25 – 07
English Essay
Critical Lens
Have you ever wondered why good intentions can lead to bad end results? An anonymous person once said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I agree with this statement because there are many people out there that try to make the world a better place, but end up marring faces and feelings even worse than before these people even tried. Many people in the world try to make a difference for others, like people they care about and those that they see suffering in their daily lives—but a good start can end with negative consequences. The concept of this quote comes into action as seen in Romeo and Juliet, a tragic play written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers dying for each other, and The Good Earth, a novel written by Pearl S. Buck about a poor farmer and his family who eventually strikes it rich. Both of these works show attempts of good leading to bad fortune, even though the characters don’t realize it.
In The Good Earth, many of the characters cause trouble for themselves by simply trying to save others from suffering, follow tradition, or calm others down. First of all, one of the main characters, O-lan, tries to save her newborn daughter from a life of suffering with a malicious act—by killing her. Although this was made with good intention, by preventing the daughter from suffering and eventually dying from a long journey, it was still murder. From Wang Lung’s point of view, he was confused because the baby was crying before he came into the room, and the baby had strangle marks after he went inside—but O-lan knew she was trying to limit the amount of mouths Wang Lung and herself had to feed. Secondly, O-lan did foot binding to one of her later daughters so that the daughter would never have to experience the ugliness of having unbound feet like she did. O-lan was binding the daughter’s feet to symbolize the family’s wealth in the Chinese society, and additionally, to please Wang Lung. However, from the daughter’s point of view, the foot binding hurt her physically and emotionally—and even for good intention, O-lan doesn’t see the negative consequences of her actions. Finally, Wang Lung’s eldest son, Nung En, persuaded Wang Lung to purchase opium for the lazy and obnoxious uncle and aunt, because Wang Lung was having an external conflict between the uncle and the aunt for some time already. This persuasion worked, and Wang Lung did purchase the opium for the uncle and the aunt. However, the uncle and aunt eventually became obsessed with it—even though Nung En wanted his father to be at peace, the uncle and aunt’s obsession would eventually backfire on Wang Lung. Overall, notions that may have appeared to work better than others at first in The Good Earth eventually backfired for the worse in the end.
Good intentions with bad side effects were shown in the battle raging with love and death were also seen in Romeo and Juliet. First of all, the two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, fell in love with each other and continuously showed affection throughout the entire play. However, even though the two were simply trying to make their loving relationship be a success, Romeo having the name Montague and Juliet having the name Capulet meant their love would have many harsh troubles in the way, since there was a long-lasting external conflict between the Montagues and Capulets. This harmed those around them, such as Tybalt and Mercutio. While Romeo and Juliet were not conscious that their relationship played a role in causing these deaths, these deaths happened from their love for each other—their intention of making each other happy. Secondly, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, is characterized as loving and controlling over Juliet because of how he wanted to control her future love—which was for her to marry Paris, a man that Lord Capulet had known for a time already. Even though this was Lord Capulet’s good intention to get Juliet to marry a man that was rich and handsome, there was dramatic irony—the readers knew that Juliet was already married to Romeo, but Lord Capulet did not. Giving Juliet no other option—even if it might have been for the better, would lead to horrific consequences. Finally, the idea of helping leading to harm was seen when Friar Lawrence gave Juliet a potion that would put her to sleep for two days with the intention of helping Juliet not to marry Paris. The potion foreshadowed Romeo and Juliet’s impending death, because when Romeo thought Juliet was dead, he killed himself with a poison of his own, which eventually leads Juliet to stabbing herself. Good intentions led to negative consequences in Romeo and Juliet—even death.
There are many times when people have good intentions to put into action—even when it appeared their good intentions turned to malicious consequences because of how horrible the effects of their actions turned out. In The Good Earth, acts that were legal, beautiful, or healing back in early China are morally wrong today—and even in the novel, some of these acts were proven to be borderline morally wrong even at that early time, even if the characters were simply trying to help. In Romeo and Juliet, the battle between love eventually ended with the deaths of many, especially when decisions and potions tried to help and made matters worst—even when love between the two protagonists were simply for the goal of happiness. Even if negative outcomes can rarely ever be foreseen from acts of good fortune, they still occur, and consequences must be paid by someone—whether it is the one that tried to make matters better—or the receiving end. With every action, there is a result—and it will affect another.
5 – 25 – 07
English Essay
Critical Lens
Have you ever wondered why good intentions can lead to bad end results? An anonymous person once said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I agree with this statement because there are many people out there that try to make the world a better place, but end up marring faces and feelings even worse than before these people even tried. Many people in the world try to make a difference for others, like people they care about and those that they see suffering in their daily lives—but a good start can end with negative consequences. The concept of this quote comes into action as seen in Romeo and Juliet, a tragic play written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers dying for each other, and The Good Earth, a novel written by Pearl S. Buck about a poor farmer and his family who eventually strikes it rich. Both of these works show attempts of good leading to bad fortune, even though the characters don’t realize it.
In The Good Earth, many of the characters cause trouble for themselves by simply trying to save others from suffering, follow tradition, or calm others down. First of all, one of the main characters, O-lan, tries to save her newborn daughter from a life of suffering with a malicious act—by killing her. Although this was made with good intention, by preventing the daughter from suffering and eventually dying from a long journey, it was still murder. From Wang Lung’s point of view, he was confused because the baby was crying before he came into the room, and the baby had strangle marks after he went inside—but O-lan knew she was trying to limit the amount of mouths Wang Lung and herself had to feed. Secondly, O-lan did foot binding to one of her later daughters so that the daughter would never have to experience the ugliness of having unbound feet like she did. O-lan was binding the daughter’s feet to symbolize the family’s wealth in the Chinese society, and additionally, to please Wang Lung. However, from the daughter’s point of view, the foot binding hurt her physically and emotionally—and even for good intention, O-lan doesn’t see the negative consequences of her actions. Finally, Wang Lung’s eldest son, Nung En, persuaded Wang Lung to purchase opium for the lazy and obnoxious uncle and aunt, because Wang Lung was having an external conflict between the uncle and the aunt for some time already. This persuasion worked, and Wang Lung did purchase the opium for the uncle and the aunt. However, the uncle and aunt eventually became obsessed with it—even though Nung En wanted his father to be at peace, the uncle and aunt’s obsession would eventually backfire on Wang Lung. Overall, notions that may have appeared to work better than others at first in The Good Earth eventually backfired for the worse in the end.
Good intentions with bad side effects were shown in the battle raging with love and death were also seen in Romeo and Juliet. First of all, the two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, fell in love with each other and continuously showed affection throughout the entire play. However, even though the two were simply trying to make their loving relationship be a success, Romeo having the name Montague and Juliet having the name Capulet meant their love would have many harsh troubles in the way, since there was a long-lasting external conflict between the Montagues and Capulets. This harmed those around them, such as Tybalt and Mercutio. While Romeo and Juliet were not conscious that their relationship played a role in causing these deaths, these deaths happened from their love for each other—their intention of making each other happy. Secondly, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, is characterized as loving and controlling over Juliet because of how he wanted to control her future love—which was for her to marry Paris, a man that Lord Capulet had known for a time already. Even though this was Lord Capulet’s good intention to get Juliet to marry a man that was rich and handsome, there was dramatic irony—the readers knew that Juliet was already married to Romeo, but Lord Capulet did not. Giving Juliet no other option—even if it might have been for the better, would lead to horrific consequences. Finally, the idea of helping leading to harm was seen when Friar Lawrence gave Juliet a potion that would put her to sleep for two days with the intention of helping Juliet not to marry Paris. The potion foreshadowed Romeo and Juliet’s impending death, because when Romeo thought Juliet was dead, he killed himself with a poison of his own, which eventually leads Juliet to stabbing herself. Good intentions led to negative consequences in Romeo and Juliet—even death.
There are many times when people have good intentions to put into action—even when it appeared their good intentions turned to malicious consequences because of how horrible the effects of their actions turned out. In The Good Earth, acts that were legal, beautiful, or healing back in early China are morally wrong today—and even in the novel, some of these acts were proven to be borderline morally wrong even at that early time, even if the characters were simply trying to help. In Romeo and Juliet, the battle between love eventually ended with the deaths of many, especially when decisions and potions tried to help and made matters worst—even when love between the two protagonists were simply for the goal of happiness. Even if negative outcomes can rarely ever be foreseen from acts of good fortune, they still occur, and consequences must be paid by someone—whether it is the one that tried to make matters better—or the receiving end. With every action, there is a result—and it will affect another.
