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Kelsey Weber May 19, 2007Humanities 10XBHonors Final
The Concept of Being Human
Imagine submerging yourself into a completely different time period such as the1920’s or 1970’s. The environment of a country and the atmosphere existing differ fromdecade to decade. The 1920’s reeked of jazz and liquor while the 1970’s preached for  peace and anti-war. However, in any time period the intuition that humans act uponremains the same. Humans are fueled by a core desire or want and their actionssubconsciously relate back to this “want” since it is the core of all human actions. Theidea of “want” can be applied in a positive or negative way and this is how the concept of  being “human” is sometimes misinterpreted. The concept and the core values of beinghuman have not changed but the conditions to which they are applied to progress instead.William Shakespeare lived during an era where the desire to know and discover fueledthe progression of society. Shakespeare’s writing was influenced by the ideals discoveredin the Renaissance and that have become beginning skeletal outlines for principles insociety, such as his morals stated in “Romeo and Juliet”. The idea of a dominant male,Romeo, wooing a recessive female, Juliet, have defined the norm for gender roles insociety when speaking about the desire for love. However, some people question if thenorms in society are changing based on time and environment or because of the way inwhich humans have developed their ability to reason and progress. Fast forward to thetime of World War One where Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” details arelationship amidst the chaos of warfare. The bare reasoning for relationships is due tohuman characteristic’s to want something. Catherine and Henry’s unusual relationship
 
exhibits the want to not be alone during wartime and their seemingly forced emotionalrelationship begins to become genuine and emotionally real. The central relationshipsexpressed by Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet” and Hemingway in “Farewell to Arms”articulates the relative reasoning by which to define the core concept of being “human”.This idea of defining the origin for human behavior is determined by human’s universalability to want and desire. This ecumenical understanding is detailed throughShakespeare and Hemingway from their descriptions of different character interactionsand intentions behind their behavior that outline similar human principles that do not alter  but alternatively differ because of the conditions the axiom is applied to.Shakespeare outlines the concept of want in “Romeo and Juliet” by using thespecific situations created by social conflict. By exemplifying a conflict between twofamilies, Shakespeare creates a dilemma for the protagonists in the story, Romeo andJuliet. After recognizing their want and the obstacle of social conflict preventing theobtainment of satisfaction, Romeo and Juliet seek other ways to complete their desires.This want for satisfaction is shown to be answered by their want for love. Juliet’s desirefor love fuels her to disobey her families ideals but ensure her own emotions shown here,“My only love sprung from my only hate/Too early seen unknown, and known toolate!/Prodigious birth of love it is to me/That I must love a loathed enemy/ (1.5.153-5). Inthe first line, Juliet proclaims her love for Romeo, a personal emotion that deemssatisfaction in her eyes because she continues on to explain the denying consequencesthat are evidently preventing her achievement of love. By using the word “prodigious”,Shakespeare describes the intensity of Juliet’s emotions and by using “birth” it shows the beginning and origin of her emotions. Her emotions are fueled by the attractive idea of 
 
satisfaction found through love and by which her personal desires are condemned by her family’s desires and opinions of the Montague family. Her final line “That I must love aloathed enemy” proclaims her refusal to obey her family’s desire and to pursue her owninstead. By using the phrase “That I must” shows a strong desire to ensure her pursuit for love is achieved since “must” denotes a strong sense of passion. She describes her love asforced because she desires it so much that it’s immune to her recessive nature towards her family. Juliet’s counterpart, Romeo, also disobeys his families ideals in order to ensurehis want is achieved shown here, “And I’ll still stay, to have thee still forget/Forgettingany other home but this/ (2.3.188-7). While confessing love to one another, Romeo andJuliet exhibit a clear objective during the scene which is to obtain the others love despite both their family’s disapproval. Romeo states, “Forgetting any other home but this”which demonstrates his defying behavior towards his family due to his own desires andidea of satisfaction against his families judgment. By using the word “still” in describinghis future actions to cause a future reaction of Juliet’s shows Romeo’s logical approach toobtaining his desire, which is to love Juliet without prevention. Their families conflictingfeud prevents this achievement of love and this is how Shakespeare portray show humanscore concept of desire is evident in human behavior to seek and obtain satisfaction.Shakespeare details how the core concept to want is demonstrated during the Renaissance but how the conditions of social conflict create an obstacle for the achievement of acertain desire. Shakespeare’s message parallels Hemingway’s message is similar wherehe describes the core of human concept as want through relationships in another time era.Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” displays the concept of want bymanipulation of personal conflict. World War one introduced several new ideas,, like the
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