So the play ends with a ton of self inflicted "stage exits". How might this "way out" effect our view of courage, i.e., can someone commit suicide courageously? or is it always the coward's way out? Be sure to keep focus and examine the three cases of Portia, Cassius and Brutus.
Also for Foucault, what is free speech?
Have a great Halloween guys,
Dr. Layne
Regarding the topic of suicide, I do not believe that choosing to escape one's issues by ending one's own life is courageous. I have a fundamental belief in hope, and that leads me to believe that no matter what, it gets better. Circumstances change, situations improve, and relationships can be restored. So, no, I don't think suicide can be courageous in these terms, because I think that for the most part, it is simply giving in to the lie that hope does not exist or that life will not improve. However, the exception of self-sacrifice arises. While I do not agree with their reasons, a suicide bomber shows some sense of courage as he makes a martyr of himself for what he believes to be the right cause.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Foucault, it seems that free speech is when a speaker risks something to speak the truth to someone above the speaker. It requires not only the speaker be below who he/she is addressing, but must also be risking something, whether it is health, a relationship, etc. Furthermore, it must be the truth. Free Speech, in Foucault's mind, is about being open and sharing the whole truth, and having the courage to be honest when it may cost someone. According to Foucault, being courageous is an integral part of free speech.
I personally do not like suicide and consider it cowardly. Certain cultures like to portray suicide as a brave escape from a disgraceful death, but I disagree strongly. People are not remembered for their deaths but for their lives. I would also like to point out the difference between martyrdom and suicide: martyrdom is not self-inflicted. People are martyred because they stand up for their beliefs and others oppose those beliefs to such a great degree that the person is killed. Suicide is the taking of one's own life, and is done because a person does not want to face the opposition. Portia, Cassius, and Brutus all commit suicide because they are running from their opposition.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Foucault, free speech is the stating of what is true while facing the opposition of the majority in a way that the speaker is facing some kind of danger. If someone states a fact that is not being opposed, the speaker is not truly using free speech.
I don’t believe that the kind of suicide committed in the play can be considered courageous. It all comes from a sense of desperation. Suicide is a complete indulgence of fear-- in essence the OPPOSITE of courage. Portia’s decision to kill herself is fueled by fear of what her life has become without Brutus and with Antony’s rising power. Cassius kills himself because he’s ashamed of the coward he’s become. This doesn’t mean his suicide s courageous. The real courageous thing to do would be to continue living and alter his patterns, but instead he indulges the cowardice he despises. Brutus, in a kind of pitiable way, is lost from beginning to end. He does not know who he is and is trying desperately to define his life by actions he thinks are noble, but he is so tortured. He kills himself to escape the guilt and visions of Caesar that now plague him. He is the most cowardly of all three, literally running from something scary.
ReplyDeleteAt risk of going off topic, there are some arguable cases of courageous suicide. I think that death at the end of long suffering like illness can be courageous, finally reaching a point of peace where one must move past any fear of death perhaps for the sake of their family. This doesn’t relate at all, I just wanted to put it out there.
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According to Foucault, free speech is something that puts the speaker in danger and creates an element of risk. A parrhesiastes’ courage is proof of their sincerity. A differing opinion is often an indicator of a parrhesiastes, which ties into Foucault’s three defining points:
RISK
One must be at some risk when they speak or else there is no true courage in their actions
CRITICISM
A mark of an act of parrhesia is that it is criticizing a belief. It is addressing a problem and asserting an opinion on it/solution.
DUTY
The speaker is moved by a sense of duty to moral culture and truth.
Suicide refers to the killing of one's self and in the Christian faith this is not virtuous and by my definition of courage virtue and courage must co-exist. However I believe it is also important to analyze the underlying reasons behind an action and only then can you make an informed jugement on whether the act was courageous or not. Brutus says in the play "Think not, thou noble Roman, that even Brutus will go bound to Rome." This makes me think that Brutus only takes his life and chooses death to avoid the shame of defeat. This is not courageous at all. Whereas Caasiuis takes his life when he realizes that he sends his Titinius to go and find out whether troops are friends or enemies and thinks that they kill him. He then realizes his cowardly actions and is ashamed. So in Cassiuis' case when he takes his life it may be an attempt to compensate for his cowardly actions. Here we see where the same act (suicide) can be both courageous and cowardly. Therefore true courage is subjective and requires an examination of underlying reasons.
ReplyDeleteAs for Focault, he discusses the main characteristic of free speech and what it takes for a person to be a parrhesiastes. The person muct be in a situation of inferiority so that there is a risk or danger in speaking the truth It does not necessarily have to be the risk of life but the person must prefer to speak the truth and risk dying as opposing to living and being false. The action must also be voluntary, where the person risks his privelege to speak freely. All these characteristics are the mark of a courageous man.
First of all, "self-inflicted stage exit" will now forever be my euphemism for suicide (or at least until I get tired of it), so thank you for that. Second, somewhere around 95% of the time, suicide is not courageous. Often it is much more logical to live than to die, yet one may be afraid of living (or, more specifically, the conditions under which he or she would have to live), and so he or she kills himself or herself instead.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is technically possible to commit suicide courageously. If one does not wish to die, but it is most logical to do so - perhaps to save another's life - then they can commit suicide courageously. Along these lines is the suicide bomber, but because much of the time they do wish to die either to avoid punishment or to seek reward (e.g., 72 virgins), their suicide is rarely courageous.
Third, free speech, according to Foucault, is a voicing of criticism that is (to be rather trite for a moment) the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth by an inferior to a superior, at the risk of something dear to the speaker, out of a sense of duty. Whew! Is that a run-on sentence or what?
It is very hard for me to decide whether or not the "stage exits" are courageous, because I can make arguments for both sides, and I can't decide which side I agree with more. I can call the suicides cowardly because they can easily be seen as a quick way out of a guilt problem. If they kill themselves, they won't feel bad about Caesar any more.
ReplyDeleteIf I imagine their motives as being noble, I can see how their actions are courageous. They still kill themselves out of guilt, but also to pay respect for Caesar; to avenge him. This is a tricky question. Personally, I see suicide as a cowardly action in most cases. If I had to come to an ultimatum I would call Portia's, Brutus', and Cassius' suicides cowardly. Instead of dealing with their problems, they thought it would be easier to forget all their problems and die. The main reason I think this is because it is very difficult to imagine a situation severe enough that I would consider suicide. It is possible that I'm taking such a strong stance against suicide to protect myself from ever considering it as a solution.
For Foucault, free speech is talking without restraint; without a filter. Saying the first things that come to your head without deciding if it's tactful or not. (This is what I thought he meant, at least. I had trouble paying attention while reading it)
Suicide, in my opinion, can never be courageous. People commit suicide out of desperation, and I view suicide as giving up. I don't say that to be mean; I am greatly saddened by those who attempt, consider, or commit suicide. I think however, that suicide is never the answer and that no matter how hopeless or lost someone feels, their life can always improve. Suicide is also usually a very selfish act because it leaves the deceased person's loved ones in anguish and despair. I feel that being alive is always better than not. Of course, I am very privledged with and good family, education, home, food, freedom etc., so it is difficult for me to view suicide from the perspective of someone who is truly miserable and sees no point in living. But, I think it is certainly better to try and improve one's situation than to simply end it. And since I do not believe in any sort of afterlife, I see no point in dying to reach "eternal salvation" becuase this life is all we get and we should make the most of it while we're here. Brutus, Cassius, and Portia all commit suicide because of fear, not courage. They fear having to face another day and feel that they can only avoid doing so by killing themselves.
ReplyDeleteCommitting suicide is always the coward’s way out. In committing suicide one hides and avoids the realities of life and the consequences of one’s actions by escaping through death. To be courageous one must face his fears; one must risk something and suicide is giving up. Cassius’s suicide proves to be in vain as he killed himself because he thought his friend, who was still living, was dead. Because of this, his suicide seems foolish. Brutus has the classic case of committing suicide because all of his intentions have gone completely wrong—the murder of Caesar, the attempt to reestablish a more just ruler, and his intent to be true to his wife and to himself. His suicide is Brutus’s way is the cowardly way, avoiding the consequences for his actions.
ReplyDeleteTurning to Foucault, he defines parrhesia as through 5 categories—frankness, truth, danger, criticism, duty. Though I do not see this as encompassing all of free speech, I see this as an apt definition of courageous speech. I have always held free speech as a right, a right to say what you want, to speak against the government, against society. In many cases this is parrhesia but not always. If the majority is against the government, speaking out is not parrehesia because there is no danger, less risk of criticism. However, it is still free speech because it is still speaking against, and without that right of free speech the government would not allow it.
Portia's suicide seemed to be out of grief. This would not make it a "courageous" death because she is fearing what others would think of her if she stayed alive thus acting cowardly. Cassius and Brutus feared losing their battle and honor, so they also killed themselves out of cowardice. Suicide is not necessarily always a coward's way out however. In ancient Japan, seppuku, the act of impaling themselves in the gut, was seen as an honorable death. They would kill themselves because they held very high standards for everything they did, but they did not meet their standards. In another example, a prisoner (often a samurai) would be captured in battle. Instead of conform to the enemy's orders, he would commit seppuku instead.
ReplyDeleteI think Foucault is saying that free speech is speaking what is believed to be true by the speaker. It sounds almost as if he is describing people who do not think before they speak. Most of the time when people speak before they think, they say what is true to them. This can somewhat be called true honesty, to say what you feel without regard for its consequences.
A human's primal instinct is to survive, so I see suicide (that is, the taking of one's life of one's own accord--no sacrificing one's self for someone else, etc.) as the result of something drastic, something that causes a person to go against her first and most basic instinct, almost a mental illness.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I cannot think of an instance in which suicide would be courageous, because the intent behind suicide, the extent to which it causes one to go against survival instincts, requires a warped sense of reality. Either one acts as a result of escapism, which is not courageous, or a state of mental disarray, and since one isn't truly willing anything, I don't see that as courageous.
According to Foucault, free speech requires one to voice a personal truth that criticizes an outside party. The voicing must require a risk on one's part, a sense of duty, and a free act by the individual. And, if I'm not mistaken, it requires one to piss the other party off.
A final thought...once, on CSI, one of the characters stated that suicide was the ultimate act of selfishness...something to think about.
There are few circumstances where suicide can be seen as a courageous act, most of the time it is used as a quick exit or solution. Individuals often choose to end their lives instead of working on changing them which is not a courageous path, but a path of weakness and cowardice. Brutus’s suicide, in particular, is worth noting as the least courageous one simply because it stems from his army losing a battle. Instead of facing the consequences of his deceit and betrayal, Brutus ends his life in a pitiful attempt to stop creating more problems.
ReplyDeleteFree speech for Foucault, generally, is the ability for one to say whatever is on his/her own mind. Foucault goes on to further consider implications regarding this free speech, like the validity or truth of one’s thoughts and the dangers created by saying such thoughts. Altogether though, to speak one’s own mind freely is the essence of free speech.
Suicide...an interesting question, one that requires a lot of though. I suppose that I'll start by saying that not all suicide is inherently evil, and can be courageous. Spies that are given suicide pills, for instance, can be courageous. If captured, it is more courageous to kill one's self and save the truth that you know, as a spy, rather than be tortured until you surrender that information to the enemy. Moving towards the practical, it seems that Portia's death was understandable, but cowardly, as she acted to hide from grief. However, Brutus is different. Had be been captured alive, he would have been paraded through the city. The citizens are fickle; they would all have turned against him and everything fro which he stood. By dying, he is remembered as a martyr, and, as such, everything for which he stood will be remembered as being defended by a martyr. Ceaser may live on, as Brutus says, but by his honorable death, so does Brutus, and Cassius.
ReplyDeleteAs for Foucault, he deems free speech as speaking the truth to someone who has authority of punishment over you, and who can punish you for your opinion. This means, however, that most speech in America is not free, because, given that we have "freedom of speech" we run no risk of being punished by our leaders for our opinions. We can be ignored and insulted, but that can happen from those above, equal to, and below us.
Suicide is not necessarily the best option, but it definitely is one. I don't think someone can say they don't believe in suicide unless they've examined it from every perspective. What if it is the only way out, I know this is extreme and impossible, but I always found it interesting in zombie movies, when the characters were faced with certain death and only one bullet left in the gun, some movies decided to have the person die by the hands of the zombies, whereas others (the more thought provoking of the two) had the character turn the gun on themselves at that point. Obviously this isn't a viable option, but it makes you consider what would be so horrible to go though that you would take your own life. As for it being the cowards way out, I saw yes, most of the time, but I truly believe it is sometimes necessary and in those situations it is much harder, and therefore courageous, to take your own life. Again, I'm not saying its a good option, but its interesting to consider the lengths by which we value our own lives.
ReplyDeleteAll situations are not the same, so judging suicide is tough. If the situation is remediable, then suicide is not a courageous option, but in some instances it can be. Kirby's point about the spies is spot on. Martyrs are also courageous in their acts, and we don't deny that, so how can we count all suicide as not courageous. In some situations, it may be necessary, and in these, suicide is, in fact, courageous.
I could consider suicide courageous as long as the taking of one’s life is for a greater cause and not simply selfish motives or fear. If a person chooses to die to save another, it would be courageous suicide. Though, we as a society do not usually call this suicide. Suicide has negative connotations so selfless and courageous acts like this must be called something more honorable like “self sacrifice.” I would also consider it courageous suicide to die for one’s cause or idea. And example of this would be the collage students who burned themselves alive to protest he Vietnam War. They did not do this to save themselves (the horror of burring alive may well have been worse than any death they could have faced at war) but to garner attention to protest and hopefully stop a war they though was unjust and save others from going to war.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think none of the three characters from Julius Caesar acted courageously in their suicides. Both Cassius and Brutus acted out of guilt for their actions and out of fear for the future created. The courageous act for them would have been to keep living and try to make their decision to kill Caesar worthwhile and create a future they could be proud of. Portia kills herself out of loneliness at Brutus’s distance (physical and emotional) and out of fear for the future. The courageous act for her also would have been to keep living despite her fears and sadness and to persevere though her personal anguish.
As for Foucault, it seems that his definition of free speech is speaking one’s mind and voicing truth. This action of speech must also be directed at someone in a position of greater authority or power, also making it risky.
In this case and most cases, suicide is not in the least bit courageous. The suicides seem to happen almost as a form of desperation. Portia, Cassius, and Brutus all commit suicide because they are trying to get away from their opposition.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Foucault, free speech is talking without restraint and all the while facing opposition from the majority, just like the speaker.
I am a firm believer that suicide is NEVER courageous, and that there is always another way out. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, so we have to assume that the situation WILL change and possibly improve if we just hold on to hope. One of my favorite quotations is "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem". No situation merits suicide because no one has the right to take a human life, even that person himself.
ReplyDeleteAs for Foucault, I believe that he is saying that free speech can only exist when opposition is present. If a person's statement is not contested, then it is not really considered free speech. I think this is similar to the arguement we have talked about many times in class that states that courage can only exist in the presence of fear.