How Should You Live Essay Research Paper

How Should You Live Essay, Research Paper

HOW SHOULD WE LIVE.

For years Philosophers all over the world have pondered over the idea of evil. This brings up another extremely essential question, how should we live. Because we know that evil is existent in our world, does that mean we must live with the knowledge, accept it and conform to society s ideal that only the cunning survive. Or do we keep our original identity of purity and goodness at heart in our everyday lives. The three pieces of literature that we read all deal with this dilemma in different ways. And like in all good stories, good prevails over evil.

The first play that we will discuss was my favorite. It is entitled The Good Woman of Setzuan written by the German author Brecht. This story is about a woman that was too kind for her own good. Her name is Shen Te. In the beginning of the story she is a prostitute but at the end she becomes a successful tobacco shop owner, fianc and mother-to-be. Shen Te also creates another character that displays her deceitful and greedy side, or the side of her that could survive in her society, Shui Ta. He is a brash and brutal young man who drives spongers away.1 Yang Sun is an unemployed airman that Shen Te saves from committing suicide. He is a big creep that later admits that he has no intention of marrying her and is after Shen Te s money.

The story starts off when three gods come to earth in search of a good human being. Unless they discover at least one, the world would cease to exist. After traveling from town to town they arrive in Setzuan. No one in the town would let them stay the night except Shen Te, who was then the town prostitute. The gods realize that they have found their one good human and repay her kindness and hospitality with a large sum of money. After the gods depart, the townspeople all flock to Shen Te in hopes of receiving some of her money. This is when she is forced to disguise herself as Shui Ta, her crude male cousin. She then falls in love with Yang Sun who she saves from suicide. After they plan to get married, Yang admits to Shui Ta that he is after Shen Te s money and does not plan to marry. Soon after she realizes that she is with child and that she needs to restore her fortune. When Shen Te is allegedly away, Shui Ta reappears. The two become business partners. Wang, the water-seller, becomes concerned with Shen Te s long absence and suspects Shui Ta has murdered her. The gods then return to judge Shui s trial. At this point She reveals her true identity. She explains that only under the mask of ruthlessness and greed could the good woman of Setzuan ever hope to provide for herself and her unborn child. For the good cannot live in our world and stay good. 2

The gods are relieved that their one good mortal is still alive, preoccupied with this they float away into the heavens ignoring Shen s pleas for help. They simply say that she will manage. The epilogue points out the incompleteness of the story. We see the curtain closed, the plot unended. In your opinion, then, what s to be done. Change human nature or-the world. Well which. 3 This is an extremely intelligent question because a world that the good can not live comfortably in is in desperate need of change.

But is this the answer to the infamous question. Should we live as someone we are not in order to survive. Do only the good and generous prosper. Should we live in fear of greed. Do we trust no one. With all of this play s incredible insight we still do not have our question answered.

The second play is called The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giradaux, a French playwright. This is yet another story about the battle between good and evil, but in a different setting and situation. The setting is mainly in a little Parisian caf in the district of Chaillot. The madwoman that the title refers to is Aurelia. She is called the “madwoman” because of the eccentricity. This play has many odd characters such as a ragpicker, a flower girl, a sewerman and a shoelace peddler. Two other rather main characters are Irma, a sweet and innocent dishwasher, and Pierre, a similarly characterized young man. And of course we can t forget the villains, the prospector, the president, and the baron.

The play begins in the coffee shop with the villains discussing ways to scam the public when the prospector announces that he tastes oil in the water. This is when the trouble starts. In realization that oil pumps and derricks would destroy Paris beauty, they plan to carry through with it anyway in seeing the huge profit that they would make. Aurelia and the rest of the bizarre group at the caf are appalled at the idea of destroying the city. They get together to form a plan to crush the greedy men. It is at this point that they run into a dilemma. Pierre bounced a check and is now being blackmailed by the businessmen by forcing him to participate in their oil rigging plans. Pierre, wanting rather to die than participate in this, attempts suicide but is rescued just in time. Aurelia convinces him that life is worth living, instilling in him a new inner strength. It is at this point that Aurelia calls upon the help of some of her friends. The first is Constance, the madwoman of Passy and Gabrielle, the madwoman of St.Sulpice.4 These three women adorned in their extravagant clothes think of a plan to rid the world of all evil men. They think on an ingenious