TEXT OF VIOLENCE
2.1 SCENARIO
In what follows is the text version of the scenario that you can look in the form of the animated video. It concerns the emotions or feelings of shame, guilt, pride, and what role they play in our lives. Feelings and emotions often impact both how we act as well as how we perceive the world around us.
You can choose to read the scenario by yourself or watch the animated
video. (If the teacher agrees and other pupils are ready to do so, you can
also read it out loud with your classmates or even decide to (re)enact the
scenario as a school- or class-play. You can also change aspects of how it
develops or write different endings of the story).
The scenario features students at a school and also invokes two stories,
one about Oedipus and the other about a famous warrior Ajax. After the
script, you can find both stories briefly explained.
2.2 The story of Oedipus
The story of Oedipus comes from ancient Greece and its mythology. It is
dramatically described in several plays by Sophocles, the famous writer
of tragedy plays (born c. 496 BCE, Colonus, near Athens, Greece; died 406
BCE, Athens). His play Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) is perhaps the most
well-known depiction of his story.
As said, there are several different variants of the story. According to one
of them, Laius, the king of Thebes (a city in central Greece, northwest of
Athens), was cautioned by an oracle that his son would kill him. Thus, after
his wife Jocasta (also Iocaste or Epicaste) gave birth to their son, Laius
has ordered that the baby-boy should be exposed in the wilderness in the
mountains near the city and left to die there. But a shepherd found the
baby, took pity, and saved him. Oedipus survived and was adopted by King
Polybus of Corinth (an ancient city and a state in south-central Greece, in
modern times, known for The Corinth Canal, i.e., a passage for voyages of
ships between the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea) and his wife
that took care of him as their own son. When growing up, Oedipus visited
Delphi (a famous place that issues prophecies) and has learned that he is
destined to kill his father and marry his mother.
Fearing this fate, Oedipus never returned to Corinth as he saw would be the
best means to avoid this dreadful fate (mistakenly thinking that Polybus
is his father).1 On his way to Thebes, he met Laius, his actual father, who
provoked a quarrel, and Oedipus killed him (unknowing that he is his father)
in the struggle between them. Arriving at Thebes later, he found out that
the city is in need. Thebes were terrorized by Sphinx (a creature with the
head of a woman, a body of a lion and wings of a bird; see image above)
that posed riddles to people and those who could not answer them ended
up killed by it.
Oedipus successfully solved the riddle, and as a reward, he received the
throne of Thebes and the hand of the widowed queen, his actual mother,
Jocasta. His fate was now completed, but he still did not know this. After
learning the truth, Jocasta committed suicide, and Oedipus blinded himself
and went into exile.
2.3 The world of the story
The story of Ajax also comes from Greek mythology and is depicted in by Sophocles in a play titled Ajax. According to the legend, Ajax (also “Ajax the Great” or “Enormous Ajax”) was a hero, a brave Greek warrior of great stature that fought with Hector (the chief warrior of Troy, a kingdom in western Anatolia that fought with the Greeks in the so-called Trojan wars) and he rescued the body of another hero, Achilles that was killed in battle. There was a dispute between him and Odysseus for the armor previously worn by Achilles, but Ajax lost the fight. He nonetheless believed that he has earned to have it and wear this armor, and this flamed another dispute.
According to the story, as described by Sophocles, Ajax attempted to
assassinate Odysseus and the judges (Agamemnon and Menelaus) that
were judging the fight between Odysseus and him. He set himself for this
planned attack but was made confused by the goddess Athena. Due to
this “blindness” caused by Athena, Ajax mistakenly slew the animals that
his army has seized as the spoils of war and their keepers. Once realizing
what he has done Ajax, feels shame. He feels humiliated and he fears that others will laugh at him for making such a foolish mistake (even though the
mistake itself was not his fault but the working of Athena). After struggling
with this, he decides to take his own life. Agamemnon and Menelaus order
that Ajax’s corpse is left unburied as punishment. But the wise Odysseus
persuades the commanders to relent and grant Ajax an honorable burial.
In the end, Odysseus is the only person who seems truly aware of the
changeability of humans.
Again, this story reveals that we react to actions that we have done and
that it is important to us how others perceive us. In relation to shame, we
talk about shaming and stigmatization.
Shaming occurs when we publicly expose somebody for their flaws, wrong actions or characteristics, direct attention to them and invite them to feel shame for these flaws. Beware, that we can also be wrong to see something as a flaw.
Stigmatization can be understood as marking somebody out for something that he or she is or has done, excluding the person from the others.
In the scenario in the animated video, Pieter-Jan is in danger of being excluded from his classmates since he is forced to wear special badges. People also often react violently to shaming and stigmatization in actions that can be additionally fueled by their feeling of powerlessness.
2.4 Assignments related to the stories
2.5 Quizzes and assignments related to them
The assignments that follow are optional and can be completed if you are
willing to discover more on these topics.
There are three quizzes with overall six questions related to the animated
video and also to what was said above. Your assignment here is to answer
these questions and briefly explain why you answered as you did. Please
write down your thoughts below each question.
2.6 Additional assignments
Bob Dylan: Hurricane
Read and/or listen to the song Hurricane by a famous folk singer Bob
Dylan. Did you hear it before? Do you know the story that it contains about
a boxer named Rubin Carter?
Here is a brief version of the story. Rubin Carter, a boxer with the nickname “Hurricane” because of his swift boxing moves, was falsely accused of a triple murder that happened on June 17, 1966, in a town called Paterson in New Jersey (US). Two men entered a bar, started shooting, and three people ended up dead. Ten minutes after this shooting took place, the police stopped the car in which Rubin was traveling with two of his friends. The witnesses at the scene of murder reported that they saw two black men entering the bar and described a car that was similar to the one that Carter was stopped in. However, none of these reports were particularly reliable. There was no evidence that Rubin was guilty of the murder, and it turned out that some of the evidence was framed and that the witnesses were forced or solicited to accuse Carter falsely. Later that night, Carter’s car was stopped again by the police, which ended up in the arrest. The charge for Carter was triple murder. There was no evidence that Rubin was guilty of the murder. It also turned out that some of the evidence was framed and that the witnesses were forced or solicited to incriminate and accuse Carter falsely. After several trials, the court and the jury found Rubin guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. It was only in 1985 that after several appeals, Rubin Carter was released from prison, and the initial indictment was dismissed. After being released, Rubin Carter was, among other things, executive director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and motivational speaker. His story was portrayed several times in books and movies. It shows how quickly one can be judged by the colour of their skin and how certain groups are highly stigmatized. Back to Dylan’s song “Hurricane.” In the song, Bon Dylan sings “Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land … Where justice is a game”.
Images and expressions of shame
There are numerous depictions and other artistic expressions of the feelings of shame and guilt. One of the most famous ones is the statue of Cain by Henri Vidal (1864 - 1918), the French sculptor. It depicts Cain after murdering its brother in rivalry as described in the Bible and in the Quran. The statue is in Paris.
Another depiction used here is the one by Alison Skagss, a picture titled
“Shame” (2009).
Take a few moments to look at the statue of Cain and to the painting Shame
and complete the assignments below.
What emotions does the statue of Cain express? How are these
emotions expressed in the posture of the body? Try to point out as many
details as possible.
Looking at the picture “Shame”, how would you describe it to
somebody who cannot see it? Write this description down.
The final assignment for this section is for you to take a piece of blank
paper or use the blank space below and draw the emotion of shame. You
are free to do this in any way you like.
GLOSSARY
In this glossary, you will find more information and an explanation of certain terms.
Common Humanity:
An ethical ideal according to which we are all equal in our moral status as
human beings and which requires treatment of all others, regardless of their race, color, social
status, religion, gender, age, language etc., as equals.
Guilt:
A painful feeling that we have when we realize that we have done something wrong, for
example, harm someone.
Humiliation:
Pointing out someone’s mistakes in front of everyone else, reducing one’s status and
causing embarrassment.
Prejudice(s):
Preconceived and unfounded beliefs and attitudes towards individuals, groups,
activities or ideas. They often include evaluation or classification of another person based for
example, on gender, values, social class, religion, race, etc.
Reactive Attitudes:
Attitudes that we form in our relationships with others and in response to the
actions of others, for example, resentment, gratitude, forgiveness, anger, spite, love, contempt.
Shame:
Our sense of excessive exposure, of not being covered, or being powerless in relation to
the other(s). Moral shame is a sense of weakness and powerlessness that we feel about our moral
wrongdoings or not living up to the ideals we have set for ourselves.
Shaming:
Enticing people to feel shame while publicly exposing their flaws, wrong actions,
characteristics, etc.
Stigmatization:
Calling notice to a characteristic, trait or misdeed of someone or some group
with the intention of excluding them. It is often connected with negative attitudes, prejudices and
ignorance.
REFERENCES
Carter, Rubin, 1975. The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472, New York:
Warner Books, 1975.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Http://www.britannica.com (Accessed: June 10, 2020).
Wikipedia. Http://en.wikipedia.org (Accessed: June 10, 2020).
