Brutality in Art and Literature
This paper deals with brutality in art and literature and how it was portrayed – both individual and militaristic brutality.
This paper basically argues that we all have evil in us and we all have the potential of being evil. In other words, we all have the capability of being the next Hitler, but due to our restraints and good will, we will not. This paper also analyzes through literature and artwork, what happens when those restraints fail and evil is unleashed.
“If I were to say that you could be the next Hitler, you would probably think I was crazy and didn’t know what I was talking about. Unfortunately this statement cannot be impossible, for everybody has the possibility of being the next Hitler. We all have that possibility because we all have our human nature and this nature covers a vast spectrum. There are people who strive to emerge on the loving side of the spectrum, like Mother Theresa, who gave the world an idea of the infinite beauty and love of the human spirit. She showed everyone how just one woman with love in her heart could affect the world in such a monumental way. Unfortunately the world was also affected in monumental ways by those who represent the other end of the spectrum, people like Pol Pot, who gave the world a grim awakening of just how low the human spirit could fall and how a human spirit absent of love can result in the deaths of millions. Though atrocities such as this may have occurred in the past, the capabilities of human nature have not changed. We are still able to act in same ways as Pol Pot, just as we are able to act in the same was of Mother Theresa. What seems to confuse us all is that even though we are all capable love, some still choose to hate. It is this breach in reason that intrigues a number of authors, poets, and artists and results in their exploration of human nature in such stories as A Modest Proposal and Ladies and Gentlemen, to the gas chambers and pieces of art like “Third of May” and “Massacre of Chois.””
Tags : possibility of evil