Often in literature a character's success in achieving goals depends on keeping a secret and divulging it only at the right moment, if at all. Choose a novel or play of literary merit that requires a character to keep a secret. In a well-organized essay, briefly explain the necessity for secrecy and how the character's choice to reveal or keep the secret affects the plot and contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Please identify the work of literature you'd choose in addressing the prompt and briefly sketch out an abstract for your argument. (Obviously, you're not writing an essay here, but rather conveying your thoughts on how you'd approach the essay question.)
14 comments:
First of all, you spelled "keep" wrong. just throwing it out there :)
Okay, I'd choose Frankenstein...i think. Dr. Frankenstein keeps his secret because he is scared of what people might do to stop him. He wants the credit himself, but yet also understands that what he is doing may not be seen as "ok" by many people. By choosing to keep this secret, Dr. Frankenstein allows almost all of the characters in the story whom he loves to perish. I'd focus on that aspect first.
Then, I'd talk about the fact that he refuses to portray his real feelings, as the monster he created desparately wants to but cannot communicate with others. It is what drives him to kill (the secrecy of his existence).
This work is mainly about the fact that overambition and hubris (as is seen by the keeping of the secret) destroy life. Also, if we want to look at it in an anti-mike way, the monster is the feminist woman, trying to speak but not being heard. By Frankenstein keeping the secret, he is refusing to acknowledge or accept the idea of the new woman. Men are trying to keep off the identities of woman, and keep girls like Justine and Elizabeth who only repeat what the men tell him. The secret more deeply represents this oppression.
In “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, Edna goes on vacation with her husband and family, where she falls in love with Robert. She keeps this a secret from those that know her because her position in society would suffer if she didn’t conform to “proper woman conduct.” When Robert goes away Edna is devastated. Edna does not explain the reason for her despair to anyone, but eventually Mademoiselle Reisz finds out and takes Edna under her wing. The fact that Reisz finds out is essential to the plot because she lures Edna into her apartment with letters from Robert, all the while pushing Edna to become an independent woman. I believe that it is mainly due to Reisz’s influence on Edna that Edna has an affair and moves out of her house. Some could debate that because Edna kept her love for Robert bottled up inside her that she committed suicide when he did not wait for her to come home.
Thanks, Kristen ...
and you spelled "desperately" wrong. Just throwing it back at you! :)
Both good responses so far!
okay, okay, mr. cianflone.
touche.
Mama Mia, a comical musical play, features a HUGE secret: it is days before Sophie Sheridan's marriage and her mother Donna has yet to tell her who her biological father is! Donna was involved with three men, Sam, Harry, and Bill around the same time that she became pregnant. Since Donna herself does not know whose child Sophie is, her daughter's father is never revealed. Donna's embarrassment and perhaps fear that she will encourage Sophie to adopt a wild lifestyle may contribute to her decision to guard the knowledge of her love affairs. It is also possible that Donna is afraid that Sophie will look down upon her if she brings to light her questionable behavior.
Sophie ultimately learns of her mom's relationships from reading her diary. The secret's exposure signifies Sophie's attempt to fulfill a gnomon within her soul as well as paves the way for the play's incorporation of parallel secrets. As Donna continues to think that Sophie has no clue about the men, Sophie invites all three of them to her wedding without telling her mom. Eventually, both women discover what the other was harboring, and their love for one another simply augments, communicating that no secret is large enough to destroy the bond between mother and daughter. Revealing their secrets makes each a stronger person individually as well, displaying that putting one's cards on the table is a liberating, rather than an inhibiting experience.
In the actual essay, I would expand on the previous points by including specific scenes that relate to the reasons for keeping the secrets and how they shaped the central messages of Mama Mia.
Well since we just finished "Hamlet", I’d say Hamlet. He had to keep the secret of what the ghost told him in order to revenge his father's death. He couldn't tell anyone instead he had to act mad. Claudius couldn’t know at first because he had to take him by surprise. But then he lets Claudius know he knows in the play scene which leads them to battle and leads claudius to feel guilty and choose not to repent, damning his soul. So Hamlet keeps the secret and releases subtly in the play at exactly the right moment to reveal Claudius's involvement and it puts him on the offensive, which makes him only dig himself a deeper hole in hell(trying to have Hamlet killed in London, putting Laertes up to killing Hamlet and poisoning the wine). I think this essay could go very in-depth analyzing how the plot would have changed if he had revealed it at a different time or a different way, what would Claudius have done if he wasn’t paranoid? What if he had never told but had just killed Claudius in the night in secret, would he have become king? Would he be tormented by guilt or embrace the revenge excuse? The play could have gone in many different and distinct directions had Hamlet made slightly different choices involving the secret behind his madness.
Good ones so far ... I'm surprised someone hasn't tackled "The Dead" yet! Any takers?
In the "Scarlet Letter" Dimmesdale is forced to keep the fact that he is Pearl's father a secret. As Dimmesdale-once a young and moving minister-begins to waste away and experiences a heart attack due to psychological distress, the audience, and characters in the novel become more and more suspicious of Dimmesdale's innocence. When Chillingworth discovers a mark on Dimmesdale's chest, all the suspicions are confirmed and it is assumed that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father. By keeping this secret inside, Dimmesdale is killing himself and depriving his daughter of her father. I would focus on the effects the secret had on Dimmesdale physically and emotionally, and how his refusal to acknowledge his sin contributed to the shame and embarassment associated with his actions.
I would choose The Great Gatsby, since almost all the characters' lifestyles are created because of the secrets they keep. Gatsby, though, probably has the most to lose or gain depending on whether or not he keeps his secrets. If anyone knew he was not the man he appeared to be, his hopes of being with Daisy would vanish. He also would not have the lavish lifestyle of the upperclass society. He ultimately causes his own death by not revealing that Daisy was the one who was driving the car that killed Myrtle. No one but Nick ever really discovers all of what Gatsby had hidden. I would probably focus on how Gatsby kept secrets to alleviate his status in society, gain the woman he loved, and overall find the American Dream. But, his dishonesty destroys him as he is left without Daisy's affection and the people he spent so long trying to impress had no care for him. He took his secrets to the grave, but nothing else.
Is the "anti-mike" thing a shot at me?
Alright Cianflone, I'm gonna take you up on "The Dead." It's not gonna be that good but what the hey.
The major secret kept in Joyce's "The Dead" is the death of Gretta's dear lover Michael Furey. Gretta's overbearing control-freak husband Gabriel is not made aware of the fact that she had another love until a certain song reminds Gretta of Michael. Gabriel who marries and loves Gretta for no other reason than to be able to control her can not fathom how she could love another. He is truly not her "master" in any sense because he can not control her feelings. The revealing of Gretta's secret causes Gabriel to have an epiphany. He compares the lack of passion shared between himself and his wife Gretta to that of the infinite passion Gretta still holds for a long dead lover. He concludes that he is not much of husband, as a man before him gave his life on Gretta's behalf. Gabriel tries to make sense of what "real love" is. He feels a need to embrace a new "attitude" toward his wife Gretta.
In the big scheme of things, the secret is a real blow to Gabriel's character. In his dinner speech, he claims it is necessary not to linger in the past. The story of Michael Furey shows that of all people his own wife is living in the past, for a man other than himself. Gabriel is also forced to realize that ironically the dead Michael Furey is more alive than he ever has been. Universally, this plays into one of the major themes of Dubliners: paralysis. The living and dead are essentially inseparable and indistinguishable because they are blanketed by the same paralysis. All of Ireland is struck by the same blanket of falling snow--both Gabriel and the grave of Michael Furey.
all of you talking about required books do anyof you read good books for fun?
I'd have to say Pride & Prejudice and the character would be Mr. Dacy he is a man of many secrets all of which he does not reveal untill the perfect moment to make Elizabeth feel so guilty she falls in love with him ( i know aweful)
first he does not let her in on the fact that he is shy and was in fact rather nervous at the ball untill after she has been rude
and later on his big seacret of all he has done for her is not revealed untill he ives her the letter, and i'm a little foggy but i don't think he even tells her he loves her untill later which is in fact a huge secret of his!
Iago employed secrecy in the play "Othello"--which obviously was the premise of the play and has a huge impact of the overcome at the end. He fools Othello, Desdemona, and Emilia, and almost everyone else in the play as he plotted to gain power. He keeps his hatred for Othello to himself and gains his full trust. Iago's plot eventually leads to the deaths of three of the main characters. To address the prompt, I would first address the fact that how Iago's secrets lead to the deaths and probably how they eventually lead to Cassio's (I think) gain of power.
I wish it didn't have to be about a well known/classic book. I just read an awesome novel while I was being sick and it would apply to this so well but it's not renowned and printed in 19 languages so...I'll talk about the ever-cliche' Romeo & Juliet.
Obviously the big secret in this tragedy is love between Romeo & Juliet. Their starcrossed fate is the impetus for the dangerous events that develop throughout the show. Their love, when discovered, pits the two families against eachother even more. Romeo strains the relationship by murdering Tybalt, and the Capulets hit him hard with the slaying of Mercutio. The nurse and priest get tangled up in the mess simply by being the closest to each of the characters. All the secrets that are kept by R&J and eventually the nurse & priest as well are what unfortunately end up killing them. If they didn't have to hide their love, pretend to die and escape they would'nt have actually ended up killing themselves.
By keeping the secrets and making everything such a big deal they set themselves up for what happened.
If I was truly writing about this for an AP Essay I'd probably have written about Hamlet but I thought it'd be loser-ish to say on here considering Brenda already did...
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