Satisfying redemption arc in literature
What are some good redemption arcs in literature? I’m considering of satisfying redemption arcs that present characters who’re morally gray or evil to start with after which flip themselves into good folks, due to their actions. I actually like such a manga and anime sequence Rurouni Kenshin and there the primary hero begins as a morally gray murderer and later turns into a optimistic hero who saves lives and on the finish even will get a contented ending. I actually prefer it, as a result of it’s actually uncommon to see a personality who’s actually constant of their atonement.
Alternatively, I just like the works by J. R. R. Tolkien who hardly ever wrote full redemption arcs. For instance, his character of Maedhros who’s a morally gray character and who retains atoning and never atoning for his actions. On the finish, his redemption is left fairly imprecise to the reader.
Comment ( 1 )
In many ways the emotional-ethical-political-familial journey that King Lear goes through is *the* redemption arc, as is that of Prince Hal in Henry IV; further, part of what makes Hamlet compelling is the subversion of the arc of redemption and our expectations and assumptions about forgiveness, redemption and moral improvement in stories, particularly in the Christian (and now post-Christian) world.
Putting aside Shakespeare, Crime and Punishment and a Tale of Two Cities are great, and Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and most of Jane Austen’s oeuvre in one way or another exemplify our own Western cultural assumptions about the redemptive power of romantic love, and it can be interesting to consider how those narratives can be used to uphold and perpetuate certain ideas about relationships, family and the role of women. Another that I’ve read recently which is a really interesting and complex take on redemption is Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, and although I wouldn’t go so far to say that it’s a deconstruction of the redemption arc, it definitely interrogates the assumptions which underlie our ideas about redemption.