Essay Example on Adam's Wish To Live Forever: An Analysis of Shaw's Play

Introduction

In the introduction, of Hoping to live forever, Meilaender draws an example from the play by George Benard Shaw, which has a setting in the Garden of Eden where Eve tells Adam about her interaction with the serpent and continues to suggest to Adam that they don't need to leave forever. Adam goes ahead to tell Eve about how he wishes that the many years the follow after death could lead to eternal rest. Adam does not desire to die sooner and chooses to live for many years. He also does not wish the human life to stop, but only as of the species but not the individual. Meilaender connects death and reproduction as a cycle of life.

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Just like in the current society, people wish to reproduce before they die to create other generations. Shaw goes ahead to state that immorality is natural and that death is an artifice to make it bearable as the flesh wears out (Meilaender). Different philosophers such as Christine and Bernard Williams view immortality as a boring and tedious thing. In a play by Williams, Elina Makropulos gets a chance to leave for as many years as she would like to but decides not to renew her contract since she views her life as dull and cold. Having to live doing the same thing for many years without room for learning and doing new things gets tedious and boring, which could have contributed to the decision made by Elina Makropulos.

Meilaender agrees with Williams when a person learns new experiences and finds them tedious. It then is the person missing out on the lessons and activities they could get from the unique experience. Meilaender uses the example of the movie Groundhog Day, to express that human beings have the chance to learn new things every day, but having the ability to enjoy every unique experience is determined by the character of an individual (Meilaender). The aspect of retirement should be considered as an opportunity for more growth, to help one learn and acquire new skills and experiences they didn't learn in the past.

Christine explains the axiological double bind, which is a problem that arises where other people are attracted to the idea of endless growth.

In contrast, others prefer the infinite repetition of the things they enjoy. People tend to have different preferences when it comes to something they enjoy. Therefore the idea of living forever could be annoying to other people while others could find it a great adventure. But even when there is death, people have the chance to experience as much as they would wish when alive.

The Lure of Beauty and knowledge

Ruiz begins by introducing the different means put in place in writing the introduction written by Huxley. He explains the symbolism and humor and irony used in the novel were giving the example of the statement "Four at my notes. Extraordinary pleasure," ironically putting the four hours Huxley put on his notes as a pleasure, while in the real sense, it was not. The statement reflects on the day to day life, expressing the anxiety pressure and stress that goes into the process of achieving success (Teofilo). With every individual having a specific role to play in life, the society expects once to perform to their maximum ability at all times.

Ruiz explains the importance of identifying the details that go into art that include expression of horror, beauty, and the intensity that every piece of art holds. Great art is always accompanied by the significant meaning behind it, which at times, other people may not identify, but only the artist can identify. Different academic disciplines may not manage to identify the detailed characteristics that are found in art since they do not specifically concentrate on the details of the art.

Ruiz explains the upsides that people face when trying to pursue knowledge and beauty, which is not only in the context of art but in general life. It is usual for every person to seek understanding in what they intend to do, with a high intention and desire to achieve success. The knowledge acquired before starting to work on any project highly determines the outcome. Ruiz includes a discussion of utopia in the chapter, intending to explain how history is continuously affected, utopian writers (Teofilo). The beauty identified through art concerning history is mostly lost. He recognizes that most of the utopia is a way to escape past. Most utopias emerge from universal principles which state that the world is full of inequality and injustices. Utopia premises also indicate that the historical process has not attained any social conditions. His book gives light to the connection between beauty and knowledge.

The Classical Tradition in the middle Ages

Panofsky opens the first paragraph by addressing the renaissance that started in Italy during the fourteenth century, which continued to the fifteenth century, which in turn impacted the cultural activities in Europe. Panofsky concludes the paragraph by asking a rhetorical question that asked how structural and qualitative methods and the case of the renaissance, which was barely qualitative, could affect the history for such a long time (Erwin). In this context, rapprochement explains various activities that contribute to changes in classical art and classical culture through Christianization, mentalization, and barbarization. Using the example of the fall of Byzantium, loss of learning is evident in which was highly contributed by the migration and fleeing of people from one place to another. Movement of people from one place to another has been the highest contributor of culture loss both in the past and in the current era. Migrants tend to adapt to the new culture to fit it and interact with people and activities they find in the areas they move to. Other factors that majorly contribute to loss of culture are urbanization, just like in the case of Europe, a new way of life highly contribute to loss of culture.

Panofsky draws interest to the Charlemagne's palace chapel, comparing its identity with the San Vitale in Ravenna and the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. He is interested in the standard features that are in the palace, which are common in the other buildings, to illustrate the uniformity in culture. Following the fall of the Carolingian, the Ottonian period gave a chance to recreate and develop a new and different way of life. Some activities that were, however, maintained that came into being during the Carolingian period, such as Christianity (Erwin). Panofsky defines the Ottonian period as a moment of recreation instead of a period of returning to darkness. In current societies, the way of life keeps changing with new inventions coming up every day. People tend to adapt to the original means of life, while the cultural forms are either maintained while others have been forgotten isano as based on the ability to make new art seeking inspiration from his previous art. Nicola Pisano has been used to express the ability to grow from one culture to another, creating better and improved versions of our day to day life.

Works cited

Meilaender. "Hoping to Live Forever." Page 1-10

Teofilo Ruiz. "The Terror of History." Page1-17

Erwin Panofsky. "The Classical Tradition in The Middle Ages." Page 1-9