Essay about Compulsive Heroes

Submitted By quequek
Words: 546
Pages: 3
Open Document
Compulsive Heroes “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may preform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them” (Bonaparte). Many of those who strive to better themselves often turn towards the unthinkable approach to achieve what they desire. For one to be considered a hero, one must go down the more difficult path, following the statutes and ethics that are imposed on all. Many find inspiration in the accomplishments of those renowned for their great acts and idolize the legend of the individual. This is true of the modern-day celebrity, Lance Armstrong; whose fraudulent victories once gave inspiration to many, is now shunned due to his hubris regarding the doping scandal. Likewise, the celebrated Roman leader, Julius Caesar, became so intoxicated with his pursuit of equity that he himself became the source of corruption, which in the end, led to his assassination. Once heroes and adorned by many, both Lance Armstrong’s and Julius Caesar’s hubris led to the public contempt. Julius Caesar’s desire for greatness was what ultimately brought him down. Although his rise to power had a noble purpose, which was to establish fairness for all classes, his means of coercing himself into authority involved numerous acts of self-indulgence. One can observe his vanity, which is one of his fatal flaws during the conversation with The conspirators charge Caesar with ambition, and his behavior substantiates this judgment: he does vie for absolute power over Rome, reveling in the homage he receives from others and in his conception of himself as a figure who will live on forever in men’s minds. However, his faith in his own permanence in the sense of both his loyalty to principles and his fixture as a public institution eventually proves his undoing. Lance Armstrong was truly a legend; he conquered the Tour de France seven consecutive times, won a bout with cancer during his cycling career, and established a campaign for cancer research and awareness. However, these great feats were aided with the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs and his Tour de France
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about Compulsive Heroes

Reason Vs Emotion In Hamlet

work, is the sample of this polarization. The emphasis in Hamlet on the control or moderation of emotion by reason is so insistent that many critics have addressed it. A seminal study is undertaken by Lily Bess Campbell in Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes, Slaves of Passion. John S. Wilks, in a masterful of examination of conscience, explores "the subsidence in Hamlet of virulent passion," and notes "his accession to a renewed temperance" achieved through "chastened self-control" (The Discourse of…

Words 475 - Pages 2

The Iliad Essay

out selfishly and steals the beautiful wife of Menelaus, Helen. This instigates the fighting again. Throughout The Iliad, Homer tells of two heroes, both similar, but also very different in their character; the great and powerful Greek, Achilles, and the strong, loving father, Prince Hector of Troy. In Homer’s The Iliad, Hector and Achilles differ as heroes in regards to pride, duty, and family love, the latter being self-centered and prideful, while the…

Words 1156 - Pages 5

Sherman Alexie's Short Story 'A Drug Called Tradition'

[Title] The three stories “A Drug Called Tradition,” “What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, and “The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire” in a book of short story collection called: “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” published in 1993 and reissued in 2005, by Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/ Coeur D’Alene Indian. Those three short stories introduce us readers to Thomas Builds-The-Fire, a character who tells too much stories. By having a closer look at Thomas Builds-The-Fire’s stories, it is…

Words 1028 - Pages 5

Never too Buff Essay

“Should I take steroids? Am I too skinny? It was annoying. If you don’t believe that my personal experience is credible than take a peek at the statistics presented in the article. For example Cloud states that 40 percent of Americans who go on compulsive eating sprees are men, 38 percent want bigger pecs, and more boys fret about teenage acne than girls. According to the article men spent over $2 billion for gym memberships, and another $2 billion for home exercise equipment. Money doesn’t lie…

Words 734 - Pages 3

Fritz Lang's M Film Techniques

Modern Appeal and Relevancy of M As Fritz Lang’s first film using sound, the silent screen’s influence on M is obvious. The horror of the faces- an integral part to the film- and what the audience sees within the frame weighs significantly more in the story than what is heard. Lang was already a successful director with silent films including Metropolis, that I have a framed poster of in my room, bringing him worldwide recognition. Addressing, most obviously, themes of anonymity within crowds and…

Words 1183 - Pages 5

Existential Therapy: Does Death Help One Live A Better Life

Why or how does talking about death help one live a better life? Existential therapy is about helping people to overcome obstacles and reclaim their lives, to set themselves free, to help their clients attain this control over their own lives. Many therapists will tell the clients to confront death, to talk about it extensively. One of the most influential therapists of existential therapy who believed in this concept of talking about death was Irving Yalom. Existential therapy and talking about…

Words 1251 - Pages 6

Othello and Different Senses of Abnorma Essay

protagonist is unusual and physically abnormal. But the more serious abnormalities in the play are psychological. Iago is generally recognized as the one character possessing and operating by abnormal psychology. But Lily B. Campbell in Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes tells of the time when the hero himself approached “madness”: Othello himself cries: thou hast set me on the rack. I swear ‘t is better to be much abus’d Than but to know a little. And then we find him torturing himself with…

Words 2129 - Pages 9