Man is usually a gregarious animate being, and so he is influenced by his friends and people around him. Hence their behavior tendencies are picked up and adopted by him. Since history Tells us that force has been a changeless factor throughout world ‘s being, it is possibly inevitable that it should hold continued to be perpetrated by many persons which in bend has encouraged others to follow similar attitudes and life styles. In A Clockwork Orange the violent ‘droogs ‘ are already established under the leading of Alex and it is sensible to presume that his ain violent aspirations are fostered by the society in which he lived.
It is apparent in both A Clockwork Orange and Lear that the violent episodes that take topographic point are the consequence of societies that manipulate the human mind into perpetrating atrocious workss. For illustration, in Lear, the Fourth Prisoner blinds Lear because it is “ a opportunity to convey myself to detect ” , to delight and so curry favor with the new swayers in Act 2, Scene 6. This barbarian act of force demonstrates how far people are prepared spells in order to foster their ain personal aspirations in society. The anguish of Warrington is for a different ground, sheer sadism, albeit under the pretense of penalty for his treachery. However, it still shows how society can turn people to evil. In this instance both Cordelia and Fontanelle had a troubled upbringing with an detached male parent. Evidence of this being when Lear sharply tells Bodice to take off her female parents frock and Bodice retorts “ she ‘s dead, she gave it to me ” , but Lear is unfeelingly insists that she should “ take it off ” .
An of import and controversial intent of A Clockwork Orange is repeatedly referred to by the characters F. Alexander and the Prison Chaplain: without pick and free will, adult male loses his humanity and becomes a “ clockwork orange, ” a machine borne of something natural. Free will, the broad characters of the book argue, is necessary to keep the really kernel of our humanity, both on an single footing and on a wider graduated table in the community. The Prison Chaplain asks: “ What does God desire? Does God desire goodness or the pick of goodness? ” [ 1 ] and sides with the position that the most of import portion of morality is holding the freedom to take.
The importance of free will is demonstrated in other ways, get downing with Alex inquiring his ‘droogs ‘ : “ What ‘s it traveling to be so, eh? ” . This same inquiry is later repeated often throughout the book by a scope of characters. The phrase stresses free will and the ability to take how “ it ” will turn out “ to be ” . As events move on, by the clip Alex is imprisoned and therefore no longer has free will he is asked this same inquiry by the Prison Chaplain. [ 2 ] This thought of free will nevertheless contrasts with Edward Bond ‘s thought that “ morality is socially indexed ” where people ‘s character and attitude, both good and bad are to a great extent influenced by the environment in which they live and the people with whom they mix.
Edward Bond tells us that: “ Violence forms and obsesses our society ” . A factor which has encouraged the credence of force as portion of mundane life, to the extent that it is viewed by many as beginning of amusement, is the proliferation of violent movies and telecasting programmes which attract monolithic audiences and immense screening figures, corroborating they are undoubtedly popular among all subdivisions of society. Because many such movies and programmes contain a degree of force which is wholly acceptable within the narrative line, it is possibly inevitable that people tend to accept that this is so in mundane life. For case in A Clockwork Orange ( Part 1 chapter 2 ) , Alex describes: ‘One immature malchick with his crisp, lubbilubbing under a tree, so we stopped and cheered at them, so we bashed into them both with a twosome of halfhearted tolchocks, doing them call, and on we went. What we were after now was the old surprise visit. That was a existent boot and good for smecks and tonss of the ultra-violent. ‘ This demonstrates the insouciant easiness with which force blends into their day-to-day routine to such an extent that the old adult female in Part 1, Chapter 6 of A Clockwork Orange is instantly leery and aggressive when Alex and his pack go to her door inquiring for aid, seemingly moderately claiming that: “ my friend ‘s really sick ” stating them to “ travel off I know your dirty fast ones. ”
Man ‘s compulsion with and credence of force so leads on to Bond ‘s fright that “ if we do non halt being violent we have no hereafter ” , and such frights are frequently dealt with in many dystopian plants of fiction set in the hereafter. This is chiefly because they frequently reflect the societal tendencies and frights of the present twenty-four hours and how society may germinate in the hereafter. They normally enhance elements of modern-day society and are read by many as political warnings that humanity demands to alter its class in order to debar a dystopian hereafter in existent life. In the 1960s the great fright of the clip was the possibility of atomic war between USSR and USA because for the first clip in human history, world ‘s force could ensue in its entire devastation. Such frights are reflected in both Bond ‘s statement and in dystopian novels such as The Penultimate Truth. [ 3 ] This futuristic novel about political subjugation after a Third World War was written by Philip K. Dick in 1964, the same epoch as Bond ‘s Lear. In the same mode as depicted in Lear, this work reflects how humanity suffers when oppressed by dictatorial leading utilizing absolute force.
Chemical bond clearly believes that adult male is capable of discontinuing to be violent and this is made evident by his belief that Man is non inherently unreasonably aggressive. He uses Shakespeare as an illustration to back up his statement that adult male is non inherently evil by stating “ Shakespeare trades with a metaphysical or theological history of immorality — that people are byA nature good or bad. ” However, he contradicts this when, unlike Shakespeare who portrays Cordelia as a morally good individual in King Lear, the projection of Cordelia in Lear is assorted, neither corroborating her as moral or immoral. For illustration she justifies the edifice of the wall by stating without it: “ we ‘d be attacked by our enemies ” . She would look to believe in the demands and virtuousnesss of the wall since she continues to construct it despite the fact it causes enduring for the citizens working on it and whose land has been taken off to do manner for it. Her dictatorial actions are ferociously aggressive, but it may be that she intended them to be for the good of the people concerned, a point which is ne’er clearly determined.
There have been incidents when irresponsible, self helping and patronizing political leading has misled people to the extent that finally encouraged force, such as when the Stalinist Cordelia resumes building of the Wall. When I spoke to Edward Bond he told me that Lear “ was written as a unfavorable judgment of the undue political optimism — truly, naivete — of the 1960ss ” . A celebrated illustration of this “ naivete ” is characterised by the Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who boldly told the British public that: “ most of our people have ne’er had it so good ” . Subsequent hard recessive conditions, including the ill-famed 3 twenty-four hours hebdomad, caused many to go violent mostly as a consequence of their letdown and disenchantment.
The linguistic communication used in A Clockwork Orange is normally affair of fact and non diagrammatically violent but the aggressive clime prevailing at the clip and the already aggressive nature of the characters concerned makes even the most simplistic statement easy to construe as encouragement to force. An case of this is when Alex says “ Oh, merely to maintain walking and viddy what turns up ” . In itself this is superficially a harmless suggestion but in world, because the characters to who it was spoken are already physically and psychologically programmed to indulge in violent activity the words are efficaciously a green visible radiation and ferocious encouragement to travel in front. Similarly in Lear the conversation between Fontanelle, Bodice and Soldier A is superficially insouciant and wholly well-meaning when the soldier says “ Yer wide area network ‘ ‘im done in a fancy manner? Thass sometimes arst for. I one time ‘ad Ts ‘ cut a pharynx for some ladies t ‘ see one time ” . And Fontanelle replies “ It ‘s hard to take ” . Because of their aggressive mentality, this apparently innocuous conversation instantly leads to violence when they jump on Warrington ‘s caput with calls of “ Kill his custodies! Kill his pess! Jump on it – all of it! ”
The veracity of Edward Bond ‘s statement is supported by the considerable sum of widely read and respected written work themed around force. Violence plays a big portion in society, so it would be, as Edward Bond says, unrealistic and immoral non to compose about it. Whilst Lear advocates the demand to halt force, A Clockwork Orange demonstrates the necessity of free will to the human status, even if it means the continuance of force, for “ A adult male who can non take ceases to be a adult male ” even if that pick consequences in the force warned against by Bond.
Word count: 1754 words
