Orestes Vs. Marlow or Destiny Essay

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Joseph Conrad, through his main character, does not stray too much from this perception, despite the occasional observations by Marlowe according to which the natives receive meaningless chores and are sometimes badly treated. For Marlowe, the African experience translates itself in a knowledge journey, one in which he not only discovers the particularities of an existence far from the civilized world, but also the characteristics of his own personality and approaches to the challenges he receives on his journey.

It is worth pointing out and emphasizing the large difference between the ways in which the two main characters of the literary works, Marlowe and Orestes, are exposed to the unknown and to the challenges that derive from that. Orestes is exposed to the unknown of no individual choice. Certainly, according to the ancient norms, it is destiny that he needs to fulfill and for which he needs to avenge his father. The idea of destiny is strongly emphasized by the way in which the unknown is revealed: through the oracle intermediary, an instrument often encountered in the Ancient World to communicate either wishes of gods or the ways in which characters have to act.

On the other way, Marlowe chooses to face the unknown, to travel into a new and unknown region and to diversify his life experience by the presence in Africa, by meeting new people and identifying individual approaches to challenges offered in life. It is not only the natives who make this experience worthwhile, but people like Kurtz, interesting characters, despite their significant morale demise. Again, here it is a matter of choice and Marlowe chooses to embark on his knowledge quest rather than getting sent there.

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At the same time, it is also a different approach to the challenges that arise. In Marlowe's case, one cannot but see this as a window of opportunity in his lifetime. There is no destiny that needs to be followed, but just the decision of taking advantage of this window of opportunity and, then, going back to the usual lifestyle.

For Orestes, however, the unknown, as part of his destiny, will most likely affect his life in the future as well. At a conscience level, he will need to be able to handle not only the murder of his father, but, now, the murder of his mother as well in an act to avenge his mother. One cannot consider that his acts in the play are actions with limited impact or something that is taken out of the context of his normal life. His life objective will be to accomplish his destiny, as the oracle set it out for him, and then manage to live with the consequences of his act, including at an individual level.

The final conclusion is that the modern approach towards the unknown is different than the one in the Ancient World. In the modern world, as reflected by Joseph Conrad, the unknown adds extra experience to the character's life and is an individual act of will, to which he fully adheres. There is no such thing in the Ancient World: the unknown is an act of destiny, not necessarily wanted by the main character, but to which he must abide......

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