...Comparison of Odysseus and Athena as liars Deception, or the act of deceiving or defrauding, is a prominent theme in the Odyssey. Though inherently dishonest, deception can be used to gain information and knowledge. Different characters (and people) use it different ways. This essay will establish that, whereas Odysseus uses deception to help him progress from Nobody back to Odysseus, king of Ithaca, Athena does so to keep her identity secret when she disguises herself. Odysseus ensures his security and protects his identity while deceiving Polyphemus, thus displaying his true cleverness. Odysseus tells Polyphemus that “Nobody is his name,” (9,365) he uses this clever deception so the other Cyclopes do not go after him after he escapes. Also, if Polyphemos knew who Odysseus really was then Polyphemos would've treated him differently. Odysseus wouldn't had received the hospitality that he did. By being his witty self, Polyphemos stated “I will eat you last” because he liked his cleverness which was actually his decievence. Odysseus is in sense a nobody, no one cared if he was king of Ithaca. This was his lowest point as he started to lie more in order to reconstruct his identity. In order to restore his identity, he had to continue with his lies, with that he began his Cretan lies. These Cretan lies deceived Athena, Eumaois, and Penelope. Odysseus used his first Cretan lie to Athena, who was disguised as a Shepard boy, ........ He takes pains to establish a sound character:...
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...Since the early age, we have taught that lying is wrong and hurts people including ourselves. Moreover, we also have educated that it is better to accept the consequences of any actions than to lie. However, the more they grow up, the more they know about using of lying because telling the truth cannot always solve the problem. From the point of view, some lying is acceptable, some is not. It depends upon what purposes that make people tell lies. The first point to note is that although telling lie is easy to get things in the short period of time, it will create a bad impression on the next generation as well as it does not give any benefit on long way. For example, if you tell some lies to the children such as smoking doesn't effect on everyone around, what will they learn in their future? It is dangerous for everyone too aware of wrong way because of adult. Another point they would like to mention is that if they always cheat others many times, one day lie will befall upon anyone and will lose prestige in relationships. The story telling about a shepherd rearing the sheep is typical example. It cheats villagers many times that there was wolf on the hill. When they run to save it but found no wolf, they became angry with it. And then when the wolf really came, no one bothered it. Finally, the wolf attacked it sheep and also killed the boy. It was due to the own sin that the boy got the kill. On the other hand, in some situations, telling the truth leads to more bad than...
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...In the excerpt “What’s Wrong with Adultery?” by Bonnie Steinbock (“Adultery” 1886), Steinbock explains valid arguments for why we morally disapprove of adultery, but questions if adultery is wrong. Although adultery is not comparable to theft or murder it's illegal in some states, but rarely prosecuted because it is a private matter. Our view of adultery is shaped through our thoughts about love, marriage, and fidelity. Steinbock claims adultery breaks trust and creates deception, but also argues that open marriages have no deception since sexual fidelity is not promised. Steinbock agrees in some cases adultery can be morally acceptable. Essay 1 “What’s wrong with adultery?” by Bonnie Steinbock explores the immorality of adultery in a changing modern world. Steinbock agrees adultery violates trust and creates deception, but also validates open marriages as being an exception. Steinbock concludes you may accept or deny adultery and decide what is moral to you in your life. Morals are a set of...
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...Summary of the Essay Bonnie Steinbock wrote a controversial essay justifying adultery under some circumstances. The essay begins by giving statistical data on a Case study of infidelity that found out that forty percent of wives had been infidels in their marriage. The study suggests that just like men in a marriage institution, women are also catching up with adultery. She claims that the rise in female adultery can be attributed to the recent changes in their attitude towards sex as well as sexuality because the guilt of enjoying sex in our conscience no longer exists and if often regarded as mental health. The author argues that if sex is not shameful anymore then condemning infidelity is giving lip service and does not hold water to the ancient taboo. The author argues that adultery is not globally forbidden and gives an example of the traditional culture Eskimo where sharing your wife with a guest, or a visitor is an act of courtesy. She says that expectation of exclusivity of sex in marriage is what brings up bad emotions such as possessiveness and jealousy. In an institution of marriage, every partner can enjoy several activities such as traveling apart, and having separate friend hence the partners should also avoid drawing lines when it comes to sexual activity. The author says that the couples should separate sex from love and consider it as an activity for pleasure. She argues that during the time of marriage, many couples find new lovers and fall out of love in...
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...sheet for essay Student name: _________________________________________________ Student number: _________________________________________________ Course name: _________________________________________________ Course number: __________________________________________________ Due date: _________________________________________________ Lecturer: _________________________________________________ Number of words required: _________________________________________________ Number of words written: _________________________________________________ DECLARATION: I declare that: ● No part of this assignment has been copied from any other person’s work except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. ● No part of this assignment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer concerned. ● I hold a copy of this assignment which I can produce if the original is lost or damaged. Signature: _________________________________ Date: ___________________ ● NB: A lecturer or tutor has, and may exercise, the right not to mark this assignment if the above declaration has not been signed. ● If the above declaration is found to be false, appropriate action will be taken. . Little White Lies – Honesty or Dishonesty? Or just an easy way to avoid the painful truth? Lukas Cavalcante Baier Zhejiang University of Science and Technology Abstract Everyone lies. But why do...
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...In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, a woman named Nora is facing a life altering situation that stands to both ruin her social and private life. In dealing with the potential outcomes of the scenario, Nora comes to find that she has been living a convenient mistruth. Nora’s greatest and most damaging lies are lies she tells to herself. As is seen numerous times throughout the play, Nora hides, withholds, and distorts the truth in order to please everyone around her, including herself. Nora is presented almost immediately as a person of questionable character, wherein the first scene she conceals from Torvald having eaten macaroons. Torvald says to Nora “Not even a bite at a macaroon?” after suggesting she had been to the confectionaries’ (I.11). Nora replies by saying “No, Torvald, I assure you really” (I.11). Forward points out in her critical essay “It becomes clear that she is humouring Torvald, and we soon gather that she is capable of deceitful behavior when she eats macaroons surreptitiously, despite knowing that he would disapprove.” (2009) Nora further compounds this same lie by telling Dr. Rank that she was given macaroons by Ms. Linde. Dr. Rank states “what, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here” (I.35). Nora replies “yes, but these are some Christine gave me” (I.35). Again, when presented with the opportunity to be a genuine person, Nora chooses the opposite. When she initially greets Ms. Linde and is catching up on old times, Ms. Linde asks Nora “You spent...
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...When Lying is Justifiable Lying is an inevitable behavior, although we may all agree lying is not right, we fall into this behavior many times in our lives. Everyone lies; whether it is to protect, obscure, place blame, or manipulate. As children, most individuals were taught that lying was wrong. From hearing parents say common quotes like, “the truth shall set you free”, or from the many consequences received for lying, people were meant to be have honesty enforced their minds. There is no doubt truth actually is enforced in our minds, according to a study by expert of Developmental Science, Dr. Fu Genyue, Ph.D, “Children of all ages categorize lies as lies and truth as truth” (499). Research in the medical field shows that “deception is judged as justified in some contexts involving the prevention of harm” (Freeman 2274). Of course lying is not acceptable when speaking under oath or at confessions with a priest, but lying is definitely justifiable in certain situations were it can be used as a protection factor to protect the feelings, securities, and lives of others. We are all put into very awkward situations at some points of our lives where we may feel lying to spare one's feelings was the best option. One common situation is being asked, “Do I look fine in this outfit?”. If the person does look fine it is okay to say so, but it is when that person may not that we produce what is called a “white lie”. While many people may recognize the words “white lie”, there...
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...ENGL 112 Essay 1 June 17, 2013 'The Jewelry' by Guy De Maupassant The story of 'The Jewelry' is set in 1833 in Paris. M. Lantin is the protagonist and the story is told in the third person narrative. The author Guy de Maupassant is a well-known French author having published over 300 short stories, several novels and travel books. His writings are of everyday life situations that reveal hidden sides to people. A wife's deception and a husband's realization to it are what this passage focus' on. Within this essay I will attempt to explore whether being happy by dishonest values is worth the financial gain or is the unhappiness from honest values worth the pain. M. Lantin is the chief clerk in the office of the Minister of the Interior who makes a middle class living. He meets his wife who is young, beautiful and the ideal woman for him to marry. M. Lantin is completely in love with his wife from the beginning. She maintains their home in a manner that makes him feel as though he is living a luxurious life on a middle class salary. She obviously loved her husband always showing him attention and playful caresses which made M. Lantin fall more in love with his wife every day. There are only two things in which he sees fault in his lovely wife and those are "her love for the opera and her passion for 'fake jewelry'". (69) At his wife's insistence M. Lantin would accompany her to the opera even after a long day of work. Finally he begged for her to go to the opera with some...
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...Nicholas Hamilton Rhetoric 20 Amy J. February 17, 2015 The Irony in Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche writes in his essay “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” about the understandings of knowledge, truth, and morality. Interestingly the translation of the original title for Nietzsche’s work might have been “On Truth and Lie in the Extramoral Sense.” This is interesting because the translated version that is given for readers is “Nonmoral”; however another possible translation could have been “Extramoral” which shows that his writing may either be something not consistent with morality, but it may also be overly moral as well. Kenneth Burke writes in his work “Four Master Tropes”, about the tropes of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. He provides numerous definitions of irony as well as the three temptations of irony. Nietzsche’s writing and ideas about “truth and lies” are “ironic” based on the definition and examples Burke uses as well as the standard dictionary definition of irony. This irony accomplishes incongruity with what appears to be truth and lies and what it actually is; since there is no concrete truth, this is ironic in itself. Individuals often confuse and misuse the term ironic, but Kenneth Burke gives his opinion of what irony is. He says, “Irony arises when one tries, by the interaction of terms upon one another, to produce a development which uses all the terms…they are all voices, personalities, or positions, integrally affecting one another” (432)....
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...Stephanie Ericsson analyzes various types of lying in “The Ways We Lie” and believes we would be less tolerant of these lies if we stop telling them ourselves. Ericsson includes several ways that we lie in our everyday lives such as Facades, Deflecting, Groupthink, Delusion, and many others. These forms of deception are found heavily scattered throughout pop culture, specifically literature. In the short essay “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell depicts a man burdened with the lies he gives because of his job in Burma as a British soldier. According to Stephanie Ericsson, one way that we lie to ourselves and others is through a technique called Facades. George Orwell lies to himself using Facades because he feels he must kill the elephant to refrain from looking like an imbecile to the Burmese as he is an officer of the empire. He feels obligated to shoot the elephant “solely to avoid looking a fool” (309). He continues to call for “a rifle and five cartridges” although he knows it is wrong (305). He even admits “[he] did not in the least want to...
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...Tray Watkins A Dolls House Essay English 2 A Dolls House Essay In A Doll's House, very little is as it first seems. Nora at first appears to be a silly, selfish girl, but then we learn that she has made great sacrifices to save her husband's life and pay back her secret loan. By the end of the play, she has realized her true strength and strikes out as an independent woman. Torvald, for all his faults, appears to be a loving, devoted and generous husband. But it later transpires that he is a shallow, vain man, concerned mainly with his public reputation, and too weak to deliver on his promise to shoulder any burden that would fall upon Nora. The Helmer marriage appears loving, but turns out to be based on lies, play-acting and an unequal relationship. The reason why there is such a gap between appearance and reality is that the characters are engaged in various sorts of deception. Often, this is to enable them to enjoy acceptance or approval by others and society in general. Nora deceives Torvald about the loan and hides her own strength, even lying to him about trivial matters such as eating sweets, because she intuits that he cannot tolerate the truth about their marriage. Torvald in return deceives Nora and himself when he claims, with apparent sincerity, that if he would take upon himself any burden that fell upon Nora. His claim appears to arise from his poor self-knowledge and tendency to fantasize about his and Nora's life together. Dr Rank pretends to Torvald...
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...Honesty Essay Honesty is a very abstract word. It is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “adherence to the facts; refusal to lie, steal or deceive in any way.” But, what does ‘honesty’ exactly mean? Some would say that honesty means not telling lies, not committing crimes or living a life according to what law says. To be honest, it is a manifestation of the truth, and the facts behind are just a consequence of being honest. In a simple way, honesty is not only to tell the truth, but also to live the truth. Prior to taking this course I had the notion honesty was something that was done to keep one out of trouble. Growing up my parents would always tell me honesty is the policy and truth will set your free. I believe it is hard for any child to be completely honest due to fear of the repercussions of their actions. Honesty is a virtue that should be taught to all children to ensure that they will grow up and be honest productive members of society. According to (Dr. Robinson, 2015) It is wrong to take the property of others without their consent, or to get any advantage from them by deception to concealment, or any false contrivance (plan or scheme). He who does this, or attempts to do it, or even desires to do it, is not honest. This course has taught me that honesty and truth go hand in hand. I try and stay true to my morals and be honest and tell the truth in every aspect of my life. In a person relationship it is definitely important to be honest with each other...
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...Henrik Ibsen Abstract: In this essay, Ibsen’s plays, The Wild Duck, and Ghosts are considered in relation to themes of illusions and realities. In both plays, families are held together by illusions, yet torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children. Ibsen’s use of artistic realism is an ironic art form where illusions and realisms are contradicted to reveal the deeper conflicts of ordinary lives. Ibsen presents the complicated realities of ordinary lives and emphasizes the fact that there are always many realities -- just as there are many illusions. Title: Illusions and Realities in Ibsen’s Plays The Wild Duck and Ghosts Introduction In Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, illusions and reality are set into a conflict within the story of a son’s personal desire to confront idealism. Throughout much of the play, the son, Greger, argues the value of truth with the reluctant Dr. Relling. Relling insists on the importance of illusions, but fails to discourage Greger’s intentions and a play that begins as a comedy quickly turns into a tragedy because of these conflicts. At the heart of the illusions in this play are the ways that people assume many roles in a family, impersonating multiple ideals as ways for managing their relationships. This theme of impersonation is also developed in Ibsen’s Ghosts, where family relations are slowly undone as the illusions and deceptions are stripped away. In both plays, deceptions are strategic and designed to protect...
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...Henrik Ibsen Abstract: In this essay, Ibsen’s plays, The Wild Duck, and Ghosts are considered in relation to themes of illusions and realities. In both plays, families are held together by illusions, yet torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children. Ibsen’s use of artistic realism is an ironic art form where illusions and realisms are contradicted to reveal the deeper conflicts of ordinary lives. Ibsen presents the complicated realities of ordinary lives and emphasizes the fact that there are always many realities -- just as there are many illusions. Title: Illusions and Realities in Ibsen’s Plays The Wild Duck and Ghosts Introduction In Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, illusions and reality are set into a conflict within the story of a son’s personal desire to confront idealism. Throughout much of the play, the son, Greger, argues the value of truth with the reluctant Dr. Relling. Relling insists on the importance of illusions, but fails to discourage Greger’s intentions and a play that begins as a comedy quickly turns into a tragedy because of these conflicts. At the heart of the illusions in this play are the ways that people assume many roles in a family, impersonating multiple ideals as ways for managing their relationships. This theme of impersonation is also developed in Ibsen’s Ghosts, where family relations are slowly undone as the illusions and deceptions are stripped away. In both plays, deceptions are strategic and designed to protect...
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...Charles E. Scott tactfully accounts for the emergence of political subjects into the public “normative” strata and how those new subjects make possible new knowledge and personal and institutional transformations in his essay titled The Birth of Political Subjects: Individuals, Foucault, and the Boundary Experiences. Scott begins his essay by defining the word “facticity” and characterizing its importance in determining different inclinations and predispositions among individuals and institutions concerning those who belong among the “normal” political subjects as part of the “we”. However, one must tread cautiously when believing facticity itself and determining our own reasonable sense of who belongs and who are excluded. Scott states that “frequently conflictual situations can trespass our secure boundaries of sense” (Taking Facticity Seriously 21). While these potential encroachments can warp our sense of facticity, such as through Scott’s pool ownership example, they give us opportunities to think differently from the way we previously thought and potentially value things differently as well. Our senses of facticity stem from limits defined by the operations of our meanings, beliefs, economic conditions, social relations and identities, etcetera and our disposition towards familiarity linked to those limits. It is often through our outlooks produced by those familiarities that we see the world and who belongs in it with “us”. Scott then moves towards the methods of Foucault...
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