The Last Judgement
By Karel Capek
Study
A. Origin
Czechoslovakia is a country with a very a high death rate. In this short fiction parody, the author Karel Capek, presented situations of taking away life.
B. Form and Structure
Description was used by the author in writing the story.
C. Theory
Hermeneutic theory is a member of the social subjectivist paradigm where meaning is inter-subjectively created, in contrast to the empirical universe of assumed scientific realism.
Analyze
It was in the year 1929 when Carel Capek wrote this story. It is straight-forward, with a clever humor and sophisticated message. It used flashback to recall the previous events on the main character's life.
The character of Ferdinand Kugler represented the marginalized group of people in the society. Capek created Kugler using the bad boy image. He use of heaven as the setting and made use of the external omniscient point-of-view.
The plot discussed the experiences of Ferdinand Kugler when he was still alive. The most notable of it were the stolen rose and the lost marble. The stolen rose can be related to Eve's deed of getting the forbidden fruit and giving it to Adam. In the case of Kugler, he gave the rose to Irma. The lost marble can be related to the Parable of the Lost Sheep i the Bible. The message God tried to convey to Kugler was also the same to the message of the parable of the sheep that when something is lost, you never stop searching for it.
It was a contrast when God was made the witness rather than to e the judge in heaven. The religious idea that "God has an eye on everything" was the reason why He was made the witness to Kugler's case.
Interpret
Judgement is the most dominant theme in the story. It was emphasized that human justice is still observed in heaven. In reality, we can never tel if it is true or not. In the teaching found in the Bible, it will be God who will be giving the last judgement to all.
Capek's work was a product of his inventiveness.
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