Heaven, Hell or Dexter?
THE LIGHT AND ILLUSIONS OF PARADISE
BECAUSE HEAVEN OFFERS ADVICE AND HELL OFFERS TEMPTATION
Where does one go and who does one become when one has no one else to turn to? Life can be portrayed as a thin line of gray matter known as Limbo, between the persuasive darkness of Hell and the glorified light of Heaven, that the afterlife has to offer. In “Downfall”, Vitaly S. Alexius allows us to speculate as to what each side would offer to tempt and coax a soul into their respective realm and how the specifically damned, who feel they are not worthy of salvation, would react. The poem’s theme strives to focus on damned choices offered to tempt those who permit themselves to be tempted for the highlight of a pretentious safety.
In the first stanza and so on, the problem is set in place. During this dark, harvesting season, the protagonist has lost his reason to live. He doesn’t know whether to accept or deny his decision of indecision. Ultimately he reaches the clear and distinct conclusion that his thoughts don’t matter in the wide spectrum of things because “all is lost in a savage, endless tide.” The limbo that he resides in allows him a peek at tomorrow; a way out, be it the path of righteousness or condemnation. At this point, it is reinforced that he doesn’t care about the outcome, but soon confides that he has an inkling for want of freedom.
Though a downward strike towards Hell’s propositional logic is occurring and as a pawn set between acting on Heaven or Hell’s whim, he can’t choose his option. Therefore, he’s seen as internalizing over a perpetual array of warring thoughts. He’s left questioning in the fourth stanza, “is it a choice forced by fate, or a choice to which I myself sway?”
Darkness wants to take over him. Light wants to set him free. Hell simply wishes to win and whispers to its pawn that he should not act on his own because it will give him an easy out like he wishes. Heaven wishes that he would act on his own wishes and yells at him to save himself because there would be more merit granted through his effort. Darkness retorts that the golden cage Light has to offer will only serve to hinder his movement toward his wishes. It promises that if he would listen to it, he’d achieve his metaphorical and physical paradise. Hell speaks of no tricks, no hardships, no pain. One must remember, that in the realm of Darkness, one can lie. Light expresses just this, saying that if he built his world on lies, he’d inevitably loath himself. It explains how this paradise will fall and he won’t see where to go in the darkness. It questions him as to when he faces the final trial, which can be seen as both a judgment and an obstacle in one, what will the judge say to him? Light rationalizes that the lies that Darkness speaks of are “dogma based on the fear of death.” Hell finally counter-measures that the protagonist can say no, or make a pact with it. Hell says it offers salvation and no fear, or deprivation because it has no personal soul, so no price of equivalent exchange will pass as a toll. “Sign here, over there. In the name of pleasure and hope. In the name of revolution, let your path be a gentle slope!” Clearly, Hell says, that all he has to do is sign the pact, for it will make his afterlife easier for him. As you can see it’s a coaxing debate where both sides lock horns as competing rams do, yet Darkness seems to hold the advantage.
He is already accepted by Heaven, thus an angel who has wings, but no soul. That’s why, in the ninth stanza, when Darkness refers to “we”, it is referring to him and Darkness. Because he was confused and lost, which led him to doubt himself, all he had to do was embrace Heaven’s conditions to reach inner peace, yet because Light doesn’t lie and couldn’t guarantee inner peace, he was won over by the darkness. Though Light pressed on to allude that at the moment he was a tree with grounded roots planted, and that Darkness would uproot him and take away everything about the person he was, he ultimately became his own judge and condemned himself. By ignoring the statement from both sides that what was offered was an illusion, he made his clouded decision and chose his own fate.
Darkness’s argument won him over and he signed, making Hell happy that they were going to merge into one. In stanza twelve, lines seventy-nine though eighty-three, we read:
“And so, I enter into the storm of shadows.
As pitch-black as the depths of sea.
Become a mere castaway, amidst the weary crowds.
Consumed by somber, ashen clouds,
With heavens frowning over me.”
The weak are lured in by the premise of the apparent salvation. And because the “Gods” pity these poor, unfortunate souls who feel they are too meagerly weak to go out and making something of themselves on their own, the “Gods” most often grant their wish for a price. One in their position could easily become enraptured by the simple prospect of a granted wish. One could easily bypass the cons that come along with the hypothetical contract. Either they find what they have to offer won’t hinder them for the greater good, (which is an unlikely case because the balancing act of Equivalent Exchange must enact itself), or they don’t realize until it is past the suspended period of limbo in making the decision to retract the offer and their newly exchanged ‘gift’ only serves to remind them of their possibly naïve stupidity. Such things cause one to mope about in their misery, so much so that the previous situation of despair is over-shadowed by the new situation. Of course the dealer to provide these possibilities would have done their best to advice the subscriber in taking a breath and writing their name on the supposed dotted line, to speed business transactioning matters up for a quicker means to salvation.
In this poem, one might envision crowds of the already suffering damned reach and hold onto him. He would shy away in fear and revolt because those restraining offers hold promise of pain. In reality, the crowds of damned may only be holding on to prevent him from moving forward and ending up like them. It is an interesting concept that provides a chance to look at the thought and meaning lying behind the veiled screens. One could be left pondering and criticizing as to how in the poem, one can visualize the uncertain soul leaping out of Hell’s vortex in the ground, yet at the same time looking up toward Heaven as the soul is being sucked down. “A storm of ice and fire, dancing all around with a glee. A ring chrono-storm encapsulating me. Just like a stove turned up to high degree. Tearing up roads, buildings, picking up debris. Into the air it takes me. My wings have turned to blackened ash. The pacifying, freezing fear taking over. My heart is covered in frost. And all I wished, is to be free…” In the visual or mental illustration provided, one could also see a torrential flood washing towards him as he strives towards the enlightened good Heaven provides. The flood perhaps symbolizes the effort the soul creates at the last second, as instructed by Heaven, is damaging itself. Maybe he did it because he made an ill-fated mistake, but he already signed the contract, so that was the oath he was bound to complete. The “storm of ice and fire” could perhaps symbolize Heaven and Hell’s battling torrent of prepositions, and the encapsulating storm that they provide, could easily be distinguished as a lyrical form that explains how he is overcome. The “stove” being “turned up to a high degree” expresses how much this pressures and weighs on him and his conscience. The act of the storm tearing up roads and generally destroying all around it, portrays how it is destroying his world and relieving everything that was already in his mind-set, thus alluding back to how Heaven warned him about how the very essence of what he is would be removed by Hell. His wings turning to blackened ash shows how his once saintly and nearly pure, white wings are crumbling under his decision, representing his fall from Heaven and transformation into a dweller of Hell. And throughout all this, he has enough sanity to focus on the fact that his choice scares him, for this path most certainly doesn’t seem to lead toward his path of freedom that he so desired. As it brings on a new change, he steels his heart and mind for what is to come, thus ending this passage. There is so much potential for contemplation, and suggestions could abound. Lines are clarified and blurred, and the middle ground takes on new meanings as readers follow along with how this person decides where he will serve and whom he will succumb to, as the temptation over-shadows the advice.
WORK CITATIONS AND WEB ADDRESSES:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/52264664/
I swear that was the shortest essay I have ever written. I liked the poem: very pretty and tragic, but oh so very much pretty. Sad thing is that I'm used to writing essays over a space of nine hours+, spread out over the space of three days. This one took me four hours. And this is also the first piece I've ever based my work upon after reading it once ... I believe I flitted across it a week ago. I had a damn hard time writing in the third point-of-view, and was afraid it would show. But, according to my Lit teacher, I did an adequate job because she gave me 300/300 points. I didn't add in enough quotes to do Alexius's poem justice, so the link is provided above. Go scope out alexiuss @ DevArt. You know she has more to offer and be ganked upon.
In other news, I am in love with the Cody x Astor shipping. I finally got around to picking up Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and found that the Showtime adaption T.V. show omitted many scenes, and casted a vague hint toward the Dexter wanting to guide Cody along the Harry Path. If you follow along with the books, you'd find Astor and Cody to be the new generation's Deborah and Dexter. Dex wishes to birth a new monster to keep him company. Fine by me .. I can't wait to see what they have in store in the next release sometime around August; Season 2 of Dexter on Showtime will also appear around that month and pick up very much at the point DDD left off.
Also, the whole Seargant-Doakes-practically-stalking-Dexter thing is clarified much more due to Dex happily explaining how Doakes has a Dark Passenger riding in the backseat of his mind just as surely as Dexter does. A panther to his tiger. It was hinted upon, but surely Showtime hopes to play up on that in the future. I'm glad I got fore-closure regarding that area.
Simply put, either I really miss my Dexter fix, or the book really was that good. I plan on buying the first book as well, because, yes, though T.V.-wise we get the majority of episodes played out through Dex's thoughts, having a whole book dipped into his logical madness is just to damn appealing to pass up. In fact, I prefer it that way because as most say, books are always better.