On the topic of death, a question had been made on whether immortality is preferable to dying. In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates’ death scene, Socrates has one last philosophical conversation with his friends about what happens to the soul when it leaves the body after death. Socrates believes that the soul is immortal, meaning that it will live on even when the body does not. The themes in Phaedo are similar to those in Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” which tells the story of a man named Ivan who suffers from an illness and eventually dies. At first, Ivan believes that he is living a pleasurable life; he is married with children and works as a judge, however, his illness consumes everything he thought to be good and continually suffers …show more content…
From this, it must mean that people’s souls are still alive after the body has died. Along with the majority, I am scared of what it will be like to die. It’s not that I fear what comes after death, because I believe that there is something waiting for us when we leave this life, but it’s the possibility of a painful death that makes dying seem bad. Yet, I would still choose death over being immortal because I would only have to experience certain pain once, and then my soul would be free and move on. But if I were immortal, there would be the potential of continually suffering and not being able to escape it. An important reason for why I would reject immortality is that I would out live my loved ones; I would out live any future children or spouses, and when they die, I will be stuck on Earth. Yes, I would meet new people and come to cherish them as well, but it is only a matter of time before we are separated again, forever. And with no one to be by my side in times of pain and suffering, whether it be physical or psychological, I will have to experience it by myself. Tolstoy writes “he had to live thus all alone on the brink of an abyss, with no one who understood him or pitied him” (146). Tolstoy is saying that Ivan believes he is alone because no one seems to care or understand the pain that he is going through. With immortality, it is inevitable that one will suffer, but that suffering will only increase and cause distress because no one wants to
They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they 'd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn 't cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn 't quite dying, because in a curious way, it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. "
In his paper “The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality” Bernard Williams asserts his central claim that when immortality is feasible it is intolerable; further, it is reasonable to regard death as an evil. He argues his position by utilization of The Makropulos case, or the case of E.M. This character and circumstance is derived from a play by Karel Capek. E.M. is a woman of three hundred and forty two years. She has survived so long due to an immortality draught concocted by her father, a physician, long before the play’s action. E.M. explains her problem with immortality is that her unending life has become incredibly dull, her emotions have become cold and indifferent. She feels that in the end, everything
“Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Death of Ivan Ilych” both portray a character who is dealing with a serious terminal illness and advance knowledge of their deaths. One story is based on the realistic life of an American professor with the story’s characteristics tone from the 1990’s while the other is set during nineteenth century Russia. Even though Morrie Schwartz and Ivan Ilych both suffered from the illness, their dissimilar lifestyles and beliefs led to different perspective on facing death. One views the knowledge as a blessing and an opportunity to share his life experiences before making his final good-byes, the other agonizes in pain and begs for an
Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With
In The Death of Ivan Ilych Leo Tolstoy conveys the psychological importance of the last, pivotal scene through the use of diction, symbolism, irony. As Ivan Ilych suffers through his last moments on earth, Tolstoy narrates this man's struggle to evolve and to ultimately realize his life was not perfect. Using symbols Tolstoy creates a vivid image pertaining to a topic few people can even start to comprehend- the reexamination of one's life while on the brink of death. In using symbols and irony Tolstoy vividly conveys the manner in which Ilych views death as darkness unto his last moments of life when he finally admits imperfection.
Speaking about death in any aspect is something that my family does not speak in conversation at all. We avoid this conversation because it is a sensitive subject that is not thought about as we focus more on living life instead. Living life, going through experiences, cherishing the moments and memories, are the things we focus on as a family; not wondering how death will come upon us. As much as we live life to the fullest potential, it is important to understand that death will happen one day and is practical with every human being in existence. My belief about death projects that it is a transformation to the kingdom of God and the beginning of a peaceful afterlife. Therefore, it is not a horrific thing to me, but my moral still exists
In his novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy offers his audience a glance into the life and death of an ambitious man, Ivan Ilych. Tolstoy uses the death of Ivan Ilyich to show his audience the negative consequences of living the way Ilych did. Ivan Ilych followed society and made decisions based on what others around him conformed to and not so much about what he genuinely wanted until he was on his deathbed. As death approaches Ilych he realizes that he wrecked everything that should be meaningful in his life in order to work and make money and in the end his friends did not really care much about him. Ilych’s desire to conform made him live a miserable life and led him to darkness. Ivan Ilych attained everything that society
The author describes medicalized mortality as the natural process of aging/dying that has been altered by medicine. People die in the hospital in the name of receiving treatment. Lives are prolonged using medicine & technology. By the use of medicine/technology to prolong life, we inflict more harm and suffering to people and deny them their comfort of dying naturally in their homes. The death of Ivan illustrates suffering. He described his situation as torture, only him will understands the kind of pain he goes through. The modern medicine failed him since his health professionals were unable to diagnose him, and was denied compassionate care. Ivan also described his situation as depressing; he continues to live in anguish and fear of death.
Furthermore, in Leo Tolstoy‘s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and analysis will demonstrate that the character Ivan Ilyich struggles throughout his life to achieve the ideals of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. It is through Ivan’s death and his friend’s narration of Ivan’s life that the reader comes to the realization the the middle-class Ivan has few strength’s besides his hard work to drive him towards his ideals for wealth and property. Ivan lived his whole life with the purpose of enjoying himself. He did this through winning power at work, spending money, buying things to impress his friends, throwing parties, and playing bridge. His pursuit of happiness in material things and pleasures is so great that his deliberately avoids anything unpleasant. This means that when he settled down with a family, which was expected of him, he never grows close to them.
Ivan Ilyich is a court of justice of official that thought that he was living his life the correct way. As his story progresses he becomes more reflective and emotional as he deliberates the reason for his agonizing illness and death. Ivan spends his life climbing the social ladder, focusing more on his work as his family becomes less tolerable. One his while hanging curtains he felled and hurt his side. The pain becomes so profound, he goes to the doctor that diagnose him with a terminal condition. In his final days he realized the mistakes he made and repent of living the life he did (Tolstoy, 1888). This paper will talk about how illness and disease can change our experience in life.
The mind, body and soul are connected therefore the soul must die with the body, therefore the soul must be mortal, therefore one will experience nothing after death, therefore one should not fear death. That is the Super Sparknotes version of Book III of Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things. It looks so tidy on the page laid out like that, but when broken down and considered with respect to human nature and existence, it becomes far more complex, as many things often do when taken out of the context of academic theory and applied to, for lack of a better term, real life.
The progress of modern society and the pressure to conform has not only hastened Ivan Ilych’s death but also made him a die a very miserable death. As soon Ivan realizes he has a physical problem, a problem that began with his obsession of having the perfect house, he consults one of the best doctors he
The book The Death of Ivan Ilych is a literary work by Count Leo Tolstoy published in 1886 and has been hailed as a masterpiece both by critics and readers. The author has been reputed as one of the people who changed how the subject of death is treated in society. In the novel, Leo Tolstoy presents the story of Ivan Ilych who lived a wasted life but who is not ready to imagine his own death. Through Gerasim, the peasant servant associated with Ivan, we are able to see the simple and gentle approach manner to which he serves his master. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the first major work of fiction completed by Leo Tolstoy after his existential crisis. “The death of Ivan Ilych can be seen as true reflection of and an elaboration of Tolstoy’s
Plato has roused many readers with the work of a great philosopher by the name of Socrates. Through Plato, Socrates lived on generations after his time. A topic of Socrates that many will continue to discuss is the idea of “an immortal soul”. Although there are various works and dialogues about this topic it is found to be best explained in The Phaedo. It is fair to say that the mind may wonder when one dies what exactly happens to the beloved soul, the giver of life often thought of as the very essence of life does it live on beyond the body, or does it die with it? Does the soul have knowledge of the past if it really does live on?