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Essay On The Complexity Of Life In Jonathan Larson's Rent

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The complexity of life
In Jonathan Larson’s Rent, the play is set in New York City around the year 1989. The play portrays the point of view of homeless people and it circles around 8 main characters squatting in Alphabet City. Larson’s drama includes the use of hyperbole and imagery. However, the most important characteristic of the play is its songs with great lyrics that delivers a deep message. It uses explicit language and discusses some controversial topics such as homosexuality and AIDS. Like Larson’s play, Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ has similar themes. However, instead of using the lens of homelessness, Plato demonstrates his literary genius by building a story in which Socrates starts setting a scenario for Glaucon—Plato’s brother. In this story there are prisoners who have been locked in a cave since birth. The prisoners cannot …show more content…

Plato uses a symbolism of the light and the sun as being a form of knowledge and it also use hyperbole, like when the prisoner is blinded many times and Plato emphasizes using the word dazzled a couple of times. The prisoner suffers to the light at the start because his eyes are not use to the light but that does not stop him to keep enquiring into it and eventually his sight accustom and changes his old perception and his ability of seeing the shadows with clarity as he used to be when he was locked in the cave. In Larson’s Rent the character Roger has to assimilate and help Mimi with her addiction so she does not end the same way as April, Roger was not able to help April but he learned from the past and starts handling the situation with Mimi a little bit better. Roger’s tragic experience changed him drastically,

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