Question
Literature Trope: Ideal Creation
The stories and myths we’ve been considering over the semester have yielded up a number of different recurring scenarios, thematic tropes, which feature the wizard’s special knowledge or skills in different ways and raise different questions about them. You may see more than one of these different tropes operating in the same work. For this essay, choose ONE of the tropes listed below, Discuss the application in at least FOUR different works covered in class (at least one should be a film) THEN, apply it to a story that we have NOT covered in this class. The story can be personal or public, fictional or real, in any medium, but you must be able to a] summarize it clearly and accurately, and b] to analyze it effectively in terms of your chosen trope - and of course cite it appropriately if it’s based on a source like a news article or a movie or a comic or any other text. If it’s a story your grandmother told you when you were a child, saying so is enough - but if you go find other versions of it online you should say so and cite accordingly. Tropes - Choose ONE: Perfect Creatures Wizard unsatisfied with reality uses powers (art, science, magic) to create an ideal person- Questions raised by this situation: Is the result life or death? Is art more real than life? Is the resulting creation a truly autonomous being? Discuss the application in at least FOUR different works covered in class, PLUS ONE outside of class. Outcast+Mentor -An outcast and a high grade wizard are irresistibly drawn to each other. One isolated from and/or ignorant of society, the other expert at manipulating what others desire, what they see or don’t see. Questions raised by this situation: What is the overall effect of their collaboration? How does each serve the other’s needs?How do they make use of each other? What is the difference between education and exploitation? Discuss the application in at least FOUR different works covered in class, PLUS ONE outside of class. Magic Duality- a single being split between beauty and brutality, kindness and abuse, creation and violence, joy and fear, Questions raised by this situation: Does it make sense to split human experience this way? What kind of truth does this kind of polarity reveal about human beings? What does it conceal? Are dichotomies like this misleading? Discuss the application in at least THREE different texts covered in class, PLUS ONE outside of class. Works - Choose FOUR The Tempest The Birthmark The Picture of Dorian Gray Der Golem [film] Frankenstein The Unknown Masterpiece The Horse’s Mouth [film] Metropolis [film] Young Frankenstein [film] Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Gods and Monsters [film]
Expert Solution
Since the middle
ages and the renaissance period, literature has adopted various thematic
developments such as the gothic and horror themes presented by authors such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horacle Walpole, and Mary Shelley. Such themes have been
sourced from the science-fiction genre that heavily uses magic and science to
create mythical figures that may reflect real-life circumstances and lessons.
Consequently, these themes have been used repeatedly in films and literature.
An example of such recurring tropes includes the creation of ideal and perfect
beings by wizard-like or scientific characters. In addition, the theme is often
used to identify and measure the significance of particular real-life events
and morals, with significant lessons to learn from. Thus, examples of such
literature are necessary to illustrate the thematic trope and its lessons and
morals.
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