Art upsets, science reassures Essay Example

to people in general, the most prominent art form will be discussed - Theater. Unlike movies, which are often created primarily for commercial gain, Theater is used in a range of ways to communicate an array of sentiments and ideas.

The given claim will be analyzed with two plays: Blood Wedding by Garcia Lorca and The Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais. First, Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding tells the story of two lovers who hold onto each other despite the woman's upcoming wedding to another man. The play often confuses the audience, which can be seen as unsettling. This confusion can cause frustration, leading to negative emotions such as upset and unappreciation. Blood Wedding contains no positive themes, only tragedy to evoke sadness in the viewers.

The play depicts a tragic ending where the lovers are not reunited due to the bride's flight from the wedding and the subsequent death of both her lover and intended groom. The absence of a positive message in the play leads to an uneasy and unsettling feeling among the audience. It is important to note that this play is based on true events, as art often aims to reflect reality. The disturbing nature of the play may be because it portrays a negative reality. Conversely, the final play, Beaumarchais' The Wedding of Figaro, stands in stark contrast to the preceding plays.

The play portrays the 18th century aristocracy comically, telling the tale of a male servant (Figaro) who desires to wed his female colleague (Suzanne) but is denied approval until the Count can "deflower" Suzanne. It chronicles Figaro's struggle as a low-class man who is well-educated, fighting to acquire

his right to wed Suzanne while preserving her virginity, against his superior. To achieve this, he turns the Count into the play's laughingstock, thus demoting his social standing.

This particular uprising provided a source of hope, strength, and joy to the majority of common people who primarily consisted of third-class citizens. Additionally, the comedic nature of the play brought about a sense of happiness and elation, making it impossible to deem the play as distressing. However, despite this sentiment, it was perceived in a negative light by the aristocracy and monarchy, leading Louis XVI to ban its performance due to the potential of it inciting revolution. Nevertheless, Beaumarchais strongly advocated for the play's production, and ultimately, a revolution occurred which altered the course of France's trajectory henceforth. As such, these two instances highlight extremes that are representative of various plays that evoke an array of emotions, ranging from reassuring to distressing, and sometimes even both. Of course, it is important to note that these emotions are generalized and subject to variation depending on individual perspectives.

While The Marriage of Figaro may have caused discontent among the upper echelons, Blood Wedding is likely to elicit similar emotions from any viewer. Nonetheless, there may be a degree of admiration and acknowledgement for its theatrical presentation that can offer solace. In examining this stance, we will explore the function of psychology as a social science and medicine as a natural science.

Exploring the complexities of the human brain is a difficult undertaking, despite its categorization as a social science. Each new revelation brings us closer to comprehending ourselves scientifically, though theories are frequently created and debunked in this field. Psychology provides

therapeutic remedies for inner anguish that may be deemed abnormal or unacceptable by society. Freud initially observed the groundbreaking free association technique, which allowed patients to express themselves and achieve healing. However, disclosing confidential thoughts to another person can be disconcerting and distressing.

Although psychology has many different perspectives and theories, psychologists can apply each other's ideas to provide a wide variety of therapy options. This is reassuring because there is likely a perspective that can help someone with their mental health problems. However, the unsettling aspect of psychology is that if someone were to fully comprehend the mind, they could potentially control others at will. This thought is deeply disturbing. Unlike medicine, which generally aims to save lives and improve health, certain treatments such as amputation for gangrene can leave permanent scars.

Although the idea may be unsettling to some, it is still less distressing than succumbing to gangrene. Science has vastly advanced our way of life by providing more advanced technology, resulting in various conveniences that were nonexistent before, mainly in communication. This instills positive emotions such as pleasure, relaxation, and aid, which makes science reassuring. Nevertheless, we cannot disregard the terrible effects that weapons of destruction such as the Atom bomb or biotechnological arms can cause, which inevitably incite chaos and death- unwanted elements of life. Therefore, an ethical individual must concede that such tools are troublesome and disturbing despite their presumed role in maintaining peace, which they often fail to accomplish.

Although Japan surrendered during World War II to avoid further death, leading to a forced peace similar to that seen in Hiroshima, I believe that art and science have the capability of

both upsetting and reassuring individuals. Thus, the statement "art and science have the power to both upset and reassure" is more accurate, but requires this nuanced perspective.