Guilt essay topics

You are welcome to search the collection of free essays and research papers. Thousands of coursework topics are available. Buy unique, original custom papers from our essay writing service.

16 results found, view free essays on page:

  • One Character Feeling Guilt
    811 words
    There is one human emotion that can paralyze us, lead us to lie both to ourselves and others, to take action that we don't like, and to cripple any rational thought processes. It is self perpetuating if allowed to get out of control. Its side effects are either anger, aggressiveness or fear and reclusiveness. Its symptoms are irrational behaviour, lying, anguish, lack of self-esteem, and in extreme cases, thoughts of suicide. It is guilt. In The Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies, guilt is a re...
  • Rubashov's Confession
    977 words
    Darkness At Noon In the novel, Darkness at Noon, by Koestler, Rubashov learns about himself, and makes an effort to cross the hazy lines between his conscience and his beliefs. Rubashov's realization of the individual aspect of morality is a gradual process, satisfying his internal arguments and questions of guilt. His confession to Gletkin reflects the logic that Rubashov had used (both by himself and his political regime), as well as his internal conflicts. He questioned the inferior value of ...
  • Play Macbeth Fear
    631 words
    No Fear Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one's life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall. In the play Macbeth fear was a major motivating factor in character's actions. Macbeth was ...
  • Power Of Shame And Guilt Within Phaedra
    552 words
    Phaedra: The Power of Guilt and Shame In neo-classical works of literature, the themes are often based on reason and passion. The two factors of influence collide in a struggle that an individual character or group of characters must overcome and decide which to follow, and this conflict usually leads to suffering, guilt, and shame. In Racine's classic, Phaedra, the title character is influenced by her overwhelming passion, which leads to her commit her crimes by the power of guilt and shame. As...
  • J.B. S Faith In God
    1,141 words
    A Commentary on Man's Faith and his Guilt Archibald MacLeish raised many thought provoking questions in the play J.B... The Book of Job had already asked some of these questions, while others were very original and insightful. MacLeish offers many powerful thoughts on the relationship between man and God, some of which are disturbing to consider. Nickels lost his faith in both God and man. He believes that the purpose of life is merely to survive and not to live. Nickles says, There must be thou...
  • Christianity In Dostoyevsky's Crime And Punishment
    2,357 words
    Christianity in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment: An Overview Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote", If someone succeed in proving to me that Christ was outside the truth, and if, indeed, the truth was outside Christ, the nI would sooner remain with Christ than with the truth" (Frank 68). It was by no means easy for Dostoyevsky to reach this conclusion. In Dostoyevsky's life, one sees that of an intellectual Prodigal Son, returning to the Father In Heaven only after all other available systems of belief h...
  • Used As A Primary Source Of Guilt
    1,037 words
    Scarlet Letter / Crucible Essay The presence of guilt has been felt by all human beings. As guilt grows in a person's life it eventually begins to have a deteriorating effect on the individual. In both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible more than one of the characters are experiencing some form of guilt and the effects of the public's opinion on their own personal sins. Each character's guilt originates from a different personal problem and with each character's guilt comes a different reaction...
  • Raskalnikov's Confession To Sonya
    532 words
    Sonya's affect on Raskolnikov Sonya, throughout the story had a great affect on Raskolnikov's changes. In the novel, Crime and Punishment by F yoder Dostoevsky, this can be seen from all the things Sonya had done for Raskolnikov and what affect the cold person turned loving. Sonya is the daughter of Rodia's friend that was forced into prostitution to provide for the family, but all is done willingly out of love. In Sonya, one can see a great sinner as Raskalnikov at peace with her and with God. ...
  • Southern Slaveholders As A Whole Felt Guilt
    3,328 words
    Guilt is an inevitable effect of slavery. For no matter how much rhetoric and racism is poured into such a system, the simple fact remains that men and women are enslaving men and women. Regardless of how much inferior a slaveholder may perceive his salves, it is obvious that his "property" looks similar, has similar needs, and has similar feelings. There is thus the necessary comparison of situations; the slaveholder is free, the slave is in bondage-certainly a position that the slaveholder wou...
  • Fear Of Guilt
    582 words
    Abstract: Guilt has physiological and psychological effects. The psychological effects can include something bad, such as feelings of worthlessness or inferiority. Guilt can also serve in a positive way as a motivator. A person may suffer physiological effects such as insomnia and physical pain. Discussion: Guilt is feelings of culpability, especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy. There are negative physiological effects caused by guilt. Guilt can make someone over respons...
  • Captain Vere And Billy Budd
    1,965 words
    Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor is evidently an extremely divisive text when one considers the amount of dissension and disagreement it has generated critically. The criticism has essentially focused around what could be called the dichotomy of acceptance vs. resistance. On the one hand we can read the story as accepting the slaughter of Billy Budd as the necessary ends of justice. We can read Vere's condemnation as a necessary military action performed in the name of preserving the politic...
  • Phaedra's Second Confession To Hippolytus
    1,154 words
    K. Watson Paper Prof. Molinari 15 November 96 Phaedra's anguish is first experienced by her in her own mind. Her sense of morality is so highly developed that, even before the drama begins, before she has acted, prior to her committing symbolic incest with her step-son Hippolytus, she is guilty. In her desire to absolve herself, she clings to the notion that as long as the crime lies buried within her, as long as her love for Hippolytus remains an abstract notion, no one will be aware of it and ...
  • Guilt Of Paul Dempster
    1,488 words
    In many Canadian novels, there are a variety of factors that he author can incorporate to affect character lives. One factor that enrages the characters consciences the most, is guilt. In Robertson Davie's Fifth Business, guilt is the main theme in which affects three main characters dramatically. Because of their guilt, the rest of their lives are forever changed. In the novel Fifth Business, the idea of guild is a constant factor and extensively affects the lives of Boy Staunton, Paul Dempster...
  • Dreams Of Stavrogin
    1,819 words
    In "On Dreams", Freud asserted that feelings of guilt, if repressed from consciousness, inevitably surface in unconscious symptoms, such as nightmares or madness. Although a person may repress his conscience, the guilt is merely displaced to another part of the mind, and eventually, this repressed matter must return. In the works of Dostoevsky, acharacter's guilt often manifests itself in dreams by presenting the character's purely devilish self or his worst fears. Not only does the character hi...
  • Antony Dead And Cleopatra As His Prize
    983 words
    O, is thou Death Noble? To die a noble death would be to die righteously and dignified. In Antony and Cleopatra, neither Antony nor Cleopatra died noble deaths. Though their deaths are different, their reasons for choosing to die are still very similar. Both committed suicide for "love", guilt, and not to suffer at the hand of Cesar. Their reasons for committing suicide prove both of their deaths were not virtuous. Antony's death was in some ways expected. He was doing poorly in war and Cesar wa...
  • Appearance Of The Second Black Cat
    726 words
    Guilt and remorse are emotions that are often experienced by humans in general, and the emotional and physical response to these emotions can be very powerful and misleading. In "the Black Cat", Edgar Allen Poe spins a wondrously horrific plot that consists of a quilt deranged man driven to persecute the object of his offense. The man's ruthless compulsion to ease his guilt through destructive means leads ultimately to his own demise. The murder of Pluto, the appearance of the second black cat, ...

16 results found, view free essays on page: