Abstract Michael Bratman, in his book Faces of Intention" offers a theory of identification with desires that states that "To identify with a certain desire, one needs to decide to treat it as reason-giving in some relevant practical reasoning and to be satisfied with that decision." After explaining Bratman's view in depth and the related views of Harry Frankfurt and J. David Vellemon, this paper presents an entire class of desires that by Bratman's definition should be desires that one identifies with but which in reality are not. This involves presenting examples of desires that one identifies with but that one would not treat as reason-giving in terms of his actions; that is, desires that one identifies with but would never reasonably act on. Some objections to the counterexamples are made by the author (some of which Bratman makes in his book and some of which he actually made to the author personally in the class this paper was writer for) and provides responses to them.
From the Paper "As demonstrated by the writings of Michael Bratman, Harry Frankfurt, and J. David Velleman, explicitly defining what it means to identify with a desire has been no easy task for even the most prominent names in philosophy of action. The difficulties encountered in characterizing how we identify with certain desires and distance ourselves from others are not surprising when one considers how vague our intuitions are about the subject. There does not seem to be any simple, commonsense notion of what it means to identify with a desire nor is there an easy way to formally characterize classes, or even instances, of desires that we do or do not hold as really being "ours." In the end, "our intuitions seem to be able to tell us for sure only that there are desires we have that we do not identify with. And when one considers how little sense it seems to make that we should have such desires to begin with, it easy to see that one trying to offer a definition for identifying with a desire has an uphill battle in front of him. In this paper, I will consider one such definition offered by Bratman and show that it does not quite win this battle. After explaining Bratman's view, I will give a counterexample to his theory that highlights an entire class of desires that are not captured by his definition of identification. I will then respond to possible objections to this class of counterexamples and conclude by considering a shortcoming in Bratman's view that I believe leads to the problematic examples that I present."
Abstract This paper discusses two of the main characters in the Tennessee William's drama "A Streetcar Named Desire". This paper also discusses some of the sources available reviewing this play. The sources used provide excellent insight into the study of "Streetcar Named Desire" and into the playwright himself. The paper also reviews some of William's other works.
From the Paper "'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennessee Williams has an interesting title that first attracted me to his play. After reading the first few lines, I found myself interested because the description of the setting had details that captured my attention further. Williams uses words such as "raffish charm" (Williams 1797) and "quaintly ornamented gables" (Williams 1797) that paint a picture of the section of New Orleans where the action starts. The action of the characters led to questions in my mind after I finished reading the play. This play raised many questions about the human spirit and the ways that people deal with situations that they face. The two sisters in the play, Blanche and Stella, were raised in similar circumstances. Why did these two sisters deal with life in ways that are so different? The relationship between Stella and her husband also presents important questions."
Abstract The paper analyzes how both religions teach to relinquish desires, attachments and wishful expectations. These traditions also emphasize the principle of compassion. The paper argues that these dual emphases are compatible, since there must be a harmony between action and inner beliefs.
Abstract Williams's play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," is the story of the final decay of Blanche DuBois, a woman who fell from grace until finally losing her mind. This paper focuses on Blanche's lies and how Williams symbolized them in several different ways, including the use of light. It shows how, throughout the entire play, Tennessee Williams uses light to symbolize Blanche's deceptions as they differentiate from the actual truth that is slowly revealed.
From the Paper "A Streetcar Named Desire is a great play, where Tennessee Williams uses many different types of symbols and metaphors for other things in the play, and his usage of light to show Blanche DuBois' artificial realism was incredible. The way that each event in the story where Blanche was involved directly with lighting led up to a later important event in the story keeps the reader interested. Blanche's lies were eventually her undoing, if she had gone to visit her sister and been able to stand in the open light and face the truth about her life, she may have been married to Mitch. However she was scared of what she would see if stayed in the light, and more scared of what other people would see in her, so she hid in the metaphorical shadows created by Tennessee Williams and tried, unsuccessfully, to live in her false reality."
Tags: american, desire, light, literature, named, streetcar, sybolism, tennesse, williams
Abstract This paper is a critical analysis of Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire", focusing on the character Blanche and what she symbolizes.
From the Paper "In A Street Car Named Desire, Tennessee Williams displays the character Blanche having many issues. She tells fibs to protect herself from being looked upon disapprovingly. But her secrets are unveiled when Stanley, Blanche's brother-in-law, bumps into a couple of Blanche's acquaintances. Blanche symbolizes all beautiful women who are insecure because they have something they cannot let go or hide from."
Abstract This paper deals with the role of material desires in the novel "Tess of the D"urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy. The writer focuses on the individual characters, starting with Tess's parents, Alec D"urberville, Angel Clare, and Tess Durbeyfield. The paper reveals the material desires of the characters which lead to tragedy of the heroine in despair. Moreover, this study presents Hardy's world of desires through the eyes of Hardy's critics. The paper concludes with Hardy's understanding of love, sex, and material desires and effects of those elements on human life.
From the Paper "Tragedy is formed in a number of forms and influences people's life in different ways. Most of them suffer the tragedies with a lot of pain ; but people also contribute to the tragedy unconsciously , as well as consciously. Ignorant of the consequences that would subsequently follow , lustful characters play crucial roles in the life of the scapegoat.As Goethe says in his masterpiece Faust ; "While man's desires stir, He can not choose but err." In the novel of Thomas Hardy , Tess of the D'urbervilles , tragedy be falls on the protagonist ,Tess Durbeyfield. Despite her innocency and poor decisions which lead to her destruction; Tess's parents, Angel Clare, and Alec D'urberville contribute to the tragedy."
Tags:desires, material, urbervilles, literature, english
Abstract In this article the writer analyzes the play 'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennessee Williams and notes that bathing and drunkenness are two common threads exposing sexual tension in the play. The writer points out that even the title of the play suggests the sexual tension between the characters. Further, the writer looks at the connections between desire and death as portrayed in the play. The writer maintains that it is as if Williams is telling us that from too much desire only death can come. The writer notes that Stanley, the most dead of all three characters becomes numb to his reactive behavior. The writer concludes that Stanley is trapped in his uncontrollable animalistic sexual desire destined to live like an animal surviving purely by instinct.
From the Paper "Stanley is a man's man--full of animal instinct and desire. He cannot control himself in any regard. Stanley cannot control his temper so he beats his pregnant wife. He can't sequester his passion for Blanche so he rapes her. He can't bare losing Stella so he screams for her at the top of his lungs proclaiming his need and love for her. Stanley is all about sexual desire--it rules and runs his life.
"Drunkenness and bathing are the soothsayers for Blanche and Stanley when their desires become overwhelming. Blanche uses a bath to soothe her nerves and to try and wash away her sexually promiscuous path."
Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the play in terms of the theme of desire. The characters are probed and shown to demonstrate, each in their own way, the main desire of the play, lust and greed for material wealth. The desire for love in the play is also explored.
From the Paper "All the characters of the play desire to own the farm. They plot and scheme against each other for its ownership. But then love envelopes them and their desires take them to other emotional and dangerous extremes.
"Eugene O'Neil's "Desire Under The Elm" revolves around the concept of desire. There are several states of desire that are revealed by the characters of the play. The three main characters portray their desire and passion in different categories and stages of emotional expressions. The main desire in the play however is the lust and greed for material wealth. All the characters namely Eben, Abbie and Ephraim display the desire for owning the farm eminently and it is the emotional desire and want for the ownership of the property that turns them into evil-minded characters. In the backdrop of the play is the desire and passion of love which ultimately forces the two characters Eben and Abbie to realize that there is a more powerful desire in love than the desire for property, love which takes them into a totally different direction altogether."
This paper explores desire, bad decisions and society in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus".
Abstract The paper examines "The Importance of Being Earnest", by Oscar Wilde and "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus", by Christopher Marlowe and shows how both of the main characters in the works, Jack and Dr. Faustus, are men that are driven by needs and desires. The paper illustrates how each author brings out the danger of seeking something that does not belong to us, the poor choices desire causes us to make, and the influence society has on the human psyche's desire.
From the Paper "Both plays explore the dangers of seeking something that does not belong to you and should not belong to you. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack desperately wants a life that is different from his own. He goes to great extremes to make this double life as real as possible. He secretly detests the Victorian values that he outwardly respects and honors. Jack is clearly a hypocrite but he likes it that way. As Earnest, he can live the life he desires without tarnishing the reputation of good Jack. His explanation for his double life is, that a "high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one's health or one's happiness" (Wilde 670)."
Abstract This paper looks at Eugene O?Neil's classic drama, "Desire Under the Elms" and allusions that are made to the Bible. The author pays close attention to the significance of Ephraim Cabot's name and his connection to the land, the similarities between Jacob and Eben in their attempt to secure their birthright, and a perversion of the Adam/Eve account in the relationship between Eben and Abbie.
From the Paper "While most critics will attribute O"Neil"s? styling to that of Greek tragedy, I feel that in many cases we can see that it goes back much further. Although he never professed a need for a "god" within his life, it is quite obvious that he often times chose to draw upon many of the tragedies found within the pages of the Bible for his inspiration. His repeated consideration of godlike figureheads was perhaps a means by which he attempted to come to a better understanding of the plague of the human condition. O?Neil once said, ?Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.? Since his life was for the most part devoid of peace, much of his writing ended up being somewhat cathartic in nature. It is no surprise then that the Bible, which has always addressed the age old questions and concerns of man, figures so highly in much of his work."
Tags: 20th, bedford, century, drama, eugene, o'neil, eben, abbie, ephraim, eden
Abstract This paper examines the issue of desire and how man approaches the struggle when individual desires come into conflict with what society judges to be appropriate. The works of Swift, More, and Chaucer are explored.
From the Paper "The question of human desire, no matter how that desire may manifest itself, has long been an intellectual and emotional stumbling block for society, politics, culture, and religion. Throughout history, individuals have had to learn how to reconcile their personal desires inside larger social institutions' institutions that for their part have very often come to challenge or undermine the legitimacy of human desire. More often than not, individuals have had to find ways to suppress their desires given that they somehow come into conflict with more acceptable, social standards. Literature, though, in fact, this might be a common theme in most all forms of art, at one time or another has reflected this on-going, archetypal struggle."
Abstract This is an introduction to the topic that sexuality in advertisement causes sexual desirability of a person. The null hypothesis is that this experiment using sexual advertisement will not produce desirability. The paper shows how sexuality is a problem in the United States and examines whether the advertisements that portray sexuality may lead to sexual violence crimes. The writer asks that if this is true, then is it ethical to use "sexual" advertisements?
From the Paper "Does sexuality cause desire for sex? What is the difference between looking at sexual advertisements and regular advertisements without sexuality? Is there a difference? The class will show 15 sexual advertisements and 15 non-sexual advertisements. Will there be a difference? Many believe that the media has played a role in the increase of young people having sex early and with more partners. Is this true? Movies, television, music, and magazines are filled with sexual messages to the young person. Even at an early childhood age, children want to dress sexually. Teens rate the media as a second source of information about sex. Schools are the first source in giving information about sex. Does "sexual" advertisement lead to sexual crimes and aggression? Is it ethical to use sexually appealing advertisements if it can lead to violence in the home or other crimes? Does research show that advertisements bring the desire for sexuality? "
Abstract In "The Story of an Hour" and "Happy Endings" the demands of love and the demands of desire are aptly contrasted, even as they are compared. The writer shows that while these two stories have somewhat different takes on the situation of women (due in part, no doubt, to the difference in time periods which their writers inhabited), both deal extensively with the degree to which love can fulfill or fail to fulfill a woman's true desires.
From the Paper "One of the greatest challenges which feminist see facing women through-out history is that of fulfilling both their loves and their desires. The forces of history and even of linguistics create a sort of trap for women, in which "desire" is inextricably linked to romance, marriage, sexuality, and love. Even feminist writers seem to focus their critiques of the structures of marriage and society on the apparent divide between women's sexual and romantic needs and the traditional strictures of marriage. ?In these failed articulations of desire, the hunger for narrative, for growth and mobility, is overshadowed by the strictures of the marriage plot, stranded between a sense of the futility of romantic desire and an inability to give voice to any other kind of desire.? (Wallace, 8) Definitions of desire which focus entirely around the woman's relationship to sexuality, love, and marriage overlook a vast portion of her humanity. Just like their male counterparts, women's desires are capable of extending well beyond the boundaries of such reproductive/emotional functions."
Abstract The focal point of Epicurean philosophy is often defined as the pursuit of pleasure and how this common misconception has led some intellectuals to criticize Epicurean philosophy as a hopelessly hedonistic attempt to satisfy unending desires. It analyzes how Lucretius's answer to the problem of unending desires in his "De Rerum Natura" is the lack of satisfaction itself. It also examines how the same type of confusion and misconception is depicted in another ancient author's work, Plato's "Symposium". Instead of only being confused about what pleasure is, no one else in the dialogue except Socrates can explain what love and pleasure are.
From the Paper "Socrates use of myth becomes the perfect catalyst to introduce his radical idea of what love is. Every other speech before his only praised love and the need to love as beautiful and nothing but wonderful. In fact, Eryximachus and Aristophanes have defined love through only the good feelings of being in love. If I boiled down Aristophanes's speech boiled down in one sentence, it would read "How beautiful it is when the two halves of a lover unite." Socrates must convincingly show how wrong this popular concept of love as beautiful is since everybody else has mistaken the promise of love for love itself, just as Lucretius faces the daunting task of exposing Roman traditional pious values for what they truly are, burdens. "
Abstract The paper discusses how the greatest debate among critics of "A Streetcar Named Desire" may be about who the hero of the play is, Stanley or Blanche. The writer proposes that both are heroes and that the play is a classical tragedy. The paper explores how both Blanche and Stanley fit the pattern for a classical tragic hero. They both have goals, which they themselves compromise because of a tragic flaw. The writer argues that what is unique to "A Streetcar Named Desire" is that there are two heroes, rather than one. The paper examines how their two tragic flaws have to combine in order to create the downfall of each of the heroes.
From the Paper "Stanley conforms almost exactly to the idea of a tragic hero. Not only does he have a clearly defined goal, but that goal mirrors the goals of the heroes that have come before him. Stanley's goal is the preservation of his kingdom and protecting it from outside threats. Of course, Stanley's kingdom is somewhat smaller than other heroes in literature; rather than an empire, Stanley's kingdom is a two room walk-up apartment in New Orleans. In addition, rather than ruling over thousands of subjects, Stanley rules over Stella. Therefore, Blanche's threats to Stanley's kingdom take on an almost petty cast; she drinks his liquor and takes up too much space in his small apartment."
