Jack's Guilty Conscience example essay topic

As opposed to focusing on different movies and connecting their similar themes, I instead am going to focus on the themes and funnel my ideas accordingly. The three themes that got my brain juices flowing the most were as follows; guilty consciences, narcissism to compassion, and symbolic wounds. The first theme I am going to focus on is guilty consciences. Before I make any connection to any of the movies that we saw in class, I am first going to give a general description of how I feel a guilty conscience tends to affect the psyche a character. A guilty conscience leads to self-punishment either in the form of physical or mental abuse. This can be the root of the characters struggle or journey, or it can be a sacrificing result for the betterment of someone or something else.

The first character I will link to this theme is Jack Lukas. Jack Lukas' guilty conscience is due to the killing and injuring of innocent people by one of his listeners. Jack's guilty conscience is the root of his struggle, and the whole storyline of the Fisher King is imbedded with Jack's attempt to make-up for what he feels somewhat responsible for. This is apparent when Parry is in a catatonic coma and Jack is confronting his own conscience by having a guided conversation with the inaudible Parry character.

It is here where it is apparent that Jack will go to any length to help Parry, which is synonymous to cleansing his own conscience. The next character that I will link to having a guilty conscience is Father LaForge. His guilty conscience is not the root of his journey, but is the consequence of his quest. Because of his beliefs he went on a quest to conform other peoples belief systems. His guilty conscience came at the end of his journey, when he baptized the Hurons. It was at this point that he realized that the Hurons were not accepting his faith out of choice, but out of desperation.

In Father LaForge's mind his guilty conscience was a sacrifice for his beliefs. The next theme I would like to analyze is narcissism to compassion. An example of this is a flower bud and a flower. The petals inside of a bud only can see themselves and nothing else, but when the bud blossoms into a flower the petals can see everything around them. This transformation can be seen easily in relationships.

The two relationships that I am going to look at are between Jack Lukas and Anne Napolitano in Fisher King and L.B. Jeffries and Lisa Fremont in Rear Window. Jack and Jeffries situations are almost identical. They are both at the bottom of their conceivable worlds. Jack because he has basically turned into a drunk, and Jeffries because he is confined to a room for weeks.

They both also have everything they can possibly want from a lover, but they are both too concerned about themselves they are unable to open up and be compassionate. The only part that these two male characters differ is in the conclusion of their respective movies. The audience is still ambiguous to whether or not Jeffries has opened up ("blossomed") toward Lisa. Jack on the other hand has a complete blossoming and he realizes what he has with Anne. The last theme I wanted to discuss is symbolic wounds.

The symbolism of a wound in the Fisher King I would like to discuss wasn't even on the character it symbolized. The wound is on the head of one of the hospital patients. The first time we see this wound it is open and bleeding profusely. At the time it appears in the movie is also the same time that Parry is confronting his inner demons. The second time we see this wound it is neatly bandaged symbolizing the healing process that Parry is also going through.

The other noticeable wound came in the movie Rear Window. This wound, more obvious to the viewer, came in the form of a broken leg. This wound was necessary to the plot with Jeffries being physically confined to his room, but is also symbolic to the emotional constrain of whether or not he should marry Lisa. Hitchcock uses this symbolism at the end of the movie when Jeffries now has two broken legs. This leaves ambiguity in the mind of the viewer to whether or not Jeffries will marry Lisa.