Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis Essay Example for Free (#40)

Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis Essay Death (671) , Sylvia Plath (42) , Ariel (31) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints The following forty lines from Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden (1990), take place in scene 1 of Act 3, after Roberto has been tied up by Paulina and threatened with being tortured the same way as she had been, and then shot. In response to Paulinaà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s threats, Roberto begins confessing the brutality of his actions and his motives. This confession may be true; however, Gerardo has advised Roberto to indulge Paulina, to confess as this would save his life. Whatever the case, the extract is important because it portrays how a man can slide into brutality, without initially meaning to. Second, the extract is important because it helps expose the iniquities of dictatorial military governments. Finally, it is also important because it gives us an idea of Roberto’s character and personality. In this extract we clearly see the stages by which a respectable doctor became a brutal sadistic torturer. Though Roberto’s brother told him that helping the torturers could be a way to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they did to [his] dad,† Roberto stresses that he accepted the job for â€Å"humanitarian reasons.† Firstly, he wanted to help the prisoners who â€Å"were dying† from the tortures as â€Å"someone to help care for them, someone they could trust.† Later on, however, Roberto became involved in more â€Å"delicate operations† and was asked to â€Å"sit in on sessions where [his] role was to determine if the prisoners could take that much torture.† This indicates that he was there while the prisoners were tortured, watching these brutal scenes. Roberto thought this † was a way of saving people’s lives,† as he â€Å"ordered them to stop or the prisoner would die;† however, watching brutalized him, and slowly the â€Å"virtue [he] was feeling turned into excitement.† Soon, â€Å"brutalization took over [his] life† and he began â€Å"to truly like what [he] was doing,† so much so that, from an observer, he became a participant. Torture became a â€Å"game† for him, a game that was â€Å"partly morbid, partly scientific,† as he tortured women to find out things like â€Å"How much can this woman take? More than the other one? How’s her sex? Does her sex dry up when you put the current through her? Can she have an orgasm under those circumstances?† By the end, Roberto had become a sadist totally obsessed with â€Å"carry[ing] out all [his] fantasies† of sexually torturing women who were â€Å"entirely in his power,† women with whom he could do â€Å"whatever [he] want[ed].† So, stage by stage, we see in the example of Roberto how men can slide from positions of respectability and motives of kindness and compassion to becoming human monsters, men who delight in the sufferings of others. The tragedy of Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s slide from being a humanitarian to being a torturer is emphasized by the style of his speech, which reveals that he is an intelligent, educated, insightful man. Firstly we see how Roberto’s diction indicates his intelligence and level of education. Words such as â€Å"brutalization† and â€Å"morbid,† and phrases such as â€Å"he lost his capacity for speech,† â€Å"humanitarian reasons† and â€Å"install a totalitarian dictatorship† clearly manifest his ability to speak articulately and in a high register. We also see how analytically capable Roberto is, as he does not just describe his own actions but explains why they occurred, carefully dissecting his his motives for working with the torturers, not to â€Å"pay the communists back† but â€Å"for humanitarian reasons.† He can organize his account in clear, logical stages, with phrases like â€Å"It was slowly, almost without realizing how,† â€Å"At first,† â€Å"But afterwards,† â€Å"By the time,† â€Å"I began to,† and â€Å"It became.† Additionally, even in the circumstances in which he is giving this confession, in fear of his life, Roberto uses figurative language, suggesting that he has good rhetorical abilities. He uses euphemism, for example, in calling torture sessions â€Å"delicate operations,† and he uses metaphors when he refers to his brutalization as â€Å"the mask of virtue fell off,† and to his descent into sadistic torture as â€Å"the swamp.† So, we see how Roberto’s use of language clearly reveals his high level of education and intelligence, and this makes us even more horrified at how such a sophisticated man could have become a brutal torturer of women. More than exposing the degeneration of individual men, exemplified in Roberto, however, this extract also exposes the iniquities of military dictatorships, like the Pinochet regime in Chile, which Dorfman himself had to flee from. We see how military governments divided families: though Roberto became a doctor devoted to saving lives, his brother, determined to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they did to [their] father,† took another path, joining the military dictatorship and becoming a â€Å"member of the secret services.à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬  We also are given the impression of how military dictatorships can convince people to support them by manipulating their sufferings under previous governments, promising some kind of compensation, as Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s brother joined the dictatorship to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they didà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to his father à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½the day the peasants took over his land at Las Toltecas.† Such governments also persuade people to support them, as Roberto did, by deceit and lies, getting Roberto involved in torture by saying the prisoners needed â€Å"someone they could help care for them,† but actually slowing criminalizing Roberto as a torturer. The fact that â€Å"they† have had such an enormous influence on Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s personality shows just how psychologically manipulative such regimes can be. Finally, the fact that, throughout his speech, Roberto refers to the government only as â€Å"they† evokes the way in which such governments work in the shadows, secretly and anonymously, to torture and terrorize. Thus this extract does not only show how Roberto and men like him deteriorate when they become involved in torture; it also shows how dictatorial regimes can manipulate such men, facilitating and enabling this deterioration to occur. In conclusion, this extract is very important as, whether Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s confession is true or feigned, it reveals how even the best of men may slide into such brutality and how military governments can create vile monsters out of exemplary human beings. Through the details of Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s confession, Dorfman is inviting his audience to consider how a man becomes sub-human. If a respectable doctor, a benefactor to the community, could turn into such a monster because of the effects of such a regime, then what would happen to the rest of society? Dorfman tries to make the reader consider that this incident that has turned Roberto’s life into a monster might happen to anybody in our society; especially in a switch of regime. Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis. (2017, Nov 13). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Credit card frauds Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Credit card frauds - Literature review Example Gomez (2008) observes in this regard that a rich businessman of United States Frank X. McNamara helped to enhance the concept of credit in regards to making purchases of consumer products and other utilities. McNamara worked to bring about the Diners Club cards which helped many people to avail meals on credit (Gomez, 2008, p.461). Definition and Type of Credit Cards Credit cards emerge as a better substitution for cash through which the consumers can go for purchasing different categories of commodities. Sander (2003) observes in this respect that credit card companies relate different types of products and services with the credit cards. However these companies are largely complained for charging high amount of interests and large amount of fees from the customers. Further, Sander (2003) observes that there are essentially three main different types of credit cards viz. ... In this regard, Bailyn (2007) states that use of credit cards helps in generation of protection to the consumers in regards to purchase of commodities. The consumers can easily return such purchases if availed through credit cards rather than cash. Again the use of credit cards also helps the financial organisations to gain easy access to potential information pertaining to the credit position of the individuals before rendering credit cards (Bailyn, 2007, p.30). Definition and History of Credit Card Frauds Fraud activities have earned a new dimension through the manipulative measures taken with the help of credit cards. Joshi (2006) states in this respect that fraudulent activities concerning misappropriation of financial resources through the use of credit cards constructs the basic premises of credit card fraud. Unauthorized access to accounts through the use of credit card or activities to gain possession of large number of goods and services through adulterated use of credit car ds are examples of credit card fraud (Joshi, 2006, p.40). Enhancement of fraudulent activities pertaining to credit card came into emergence with the development of internet. Montague (2004) observes in this respect that after the period of 1990s the development of internet technology has helped in the progress of electronic commerce. The use of credit cards to conduct such transactions online has led to the growth of hackers to retrieve potential information relating to such cards (Montague, 2004, p.43). Types of Credit Card Frauds With the growth of sophistication in consumerism the use of credit cards has gained huge momentum. Consumers around the world are found to increasingly gain hold of large number of consumer products through the extensive use of plastic

Career Development Plan Part III Performance and Career Management Essay

Career Development Plan Part III Performance and Career Management week 4 - Essay Example The reason this is a great assessment to use is that it takes into consideration feedback from customers, the individual and their manager. This gives them a well rounded evaluation and carries more than a one sided approach. According to Focal 360 the purpose of the 360 feedback is to give employees confidential and anonymous feedback from the people around them. This allows the individual to understand at every level what they are doing right and what can be improved. This assessment could give employees a baseline of information to work from and they could then develop their own specific goals because of it. From this type of feedback we can develop individual goals that fit the employees needs. This would also encourage managers to work with each individual employee in a way that is without prejudice or judgment to the employee. We will also have to help manage dual career families. According to Human Resource Chapter 1 the employer should add some sort of childcare to the process. At the current time we do not have a budget for this but it could be something that we put in the plans for another time. We will also have to take into consideration that the timing of an advancement for an employee may not be right for their family, so we would want to offer them the advance at another time if they are a duo-career family (Human Resources, Chapter 10, p. 380). This would help us become a more "family friendly" organization. We can have available an audio program online that new hires can listen to who have not had the benefit of the training that we have planned for the group. The consultant has agreed to help us with this situation as an addition piece of the training if we would like it. Another element of training should be the opportunity to go to conferences and tradeshows. Although the company does not have the money to send them perhaps we could look at a reimbursement program for college