Main Characters in Gem of the Ocean
Set in 1904 at 1839 Avenue (Pittsburgh), Aunt Ester's home, Gem of the Ocean follows African Americans on their journey to learn their history and make peace with it before accepting new changes in their modern lives. Aunt Ester, a revered soul cleaner of 285 years, works as a bridge between the modern and the past, demonstrating that true peace can only be obtained by facing previous obstacles and accepting the present. Citizen and Caesar, the law's keeper, are among the other individuals who visit Aunt Ester's house. Citizen while working at the local mill steals a bucket of nails as a way of silently protesting against ill treatment. His action leads to the death of a person who is accused wrongly of stealing the nails. Caesar, on the other hand, shoots a person on mere allegations of committing a crime and the person ends up dying. The two characters are guilty of murder, but the circumstances leading to the death of their victims differs significantly thereby elucidating the concept of the concept of guilt. In the play Citizen and Caesar are responsible for the crimes resulting in the death of their victims. However, Citizen proves guiltier than Caesar as he constantly seeks absolution.<\/p>
The Motives Behind the Murders<\/h2>
To comprehend the concept of guilty as presented in the play it is important to explore the circumstances surrounding the occurrences of the events. This requires a deep understanding of the characters involved and their role in the text in progressing the theme of the play. Additionally, through investigating the motivates of the actions of the characters it will be possible to take a side or refute the concept of \u201cguiltier than\u201d as presented in the case. Therefore, what will inform the decision in supporting the urgent will be factors regarding the motives behind the murder and the actions leading to the death of the victim.<\/p>
Citizen<\/h2>
Citizen is one the lead character in the play whose major role is to present a cultural conflict as a young African-American who recently arrived in Pittsburgh from Alabama (Barringhaus 75). His move to Pittsburg is in search for consolation after his action resulted in the death of a person. He believes that though Aunt Ester he will get cleansed or at least he will get some hope after being involved in the unwarranted and indirect death of another man. He is full of guilt, and his hope is that through moving to a new place his conscious will be cleared. Or rather he will explain his situation to a person who will not wrongly judge him as having taken an action that led to the death of a person. Through Aunt Ester Mr. Citizen sees hope and consolation despite the hardship that he experiences as high fights he internal forces of guilt.<\/p>
From onset when citizen arrives at Alabama seeking understanding and redemption from Aunt Ester, it becomes clear that although he unknowingly caused a death of a person, he is guilty of murder. His role in the death of a person is not something to ignore just because he committed the crime unknowingly. Thus, even though no one saw him commit the crime, his guilty conscious betrays him forcing him to seek redemption from Aunt Ester.<\/p>
An incident at the local mill ignited the African-American community when a black man is accused of stealing a bucket of nails. The accused man, rather than confessing to a crime he did not commit decides to jump into a river and drowns (Pittman 34). To his co-workers, he is seen as a martyr who goes on strike and starts rioting. The events leading to this death are associated to Citizen who stole the nails in protest. In his action, Citizen thought through stealing the nails the employer would realize that the workers are ill treated forcing them to take actions on their hands. However, instead of the employer taking a positive action to improve condition of the workers, a black person is accused of stealing the nails.<\/p>
Citizen takes full responsibility for the death of the man who committed suicide after being accused of stealing. The man saw it wise to end his life rather than face the shame of accusation of something he never committed. This evokes emotions of guilt to Citizen who understands that the man died because of his actions yet he cannot confess his action because of the fears of the repercussions of his action.<\/p>
The actions of Citizen establishes the grounds for his crime of killing a person. Although he did actually commit the crime through an active role of drowning the person, he indirectly caused his death through his action of stealing the nails. The stream of guilt conscious that is inside him confirms his actions as being a passive murderer of the worker.<\/p>
Caesar<\/h2>
He is the Black Mary\u2019s brother and a police constable who rules the district ruthlessly. He is the custodian of order, and he does not hesitate to use his powers to bring order to the community of people who in his views cannot think for themselves. As Caesar puts it \u201cPeople think the law is supposed to serve them\u2026nothing is above the law\u201d (Wilson 48). The character representation of Caesar is that dictatorship in authority and coming from an American society that has experienced a high level of discrimination he seems to support the failed leadership that cannot protect people as his greed pushes him to do things that will see him move above other \u201ccommon blacks.\u201d In the play, he is another person who causes a death of a person through his reckless shooting at Solly just because he struck him with a walking stick.<\/p>
During Citizen Barlow's journey, it is discovered that the local mill is on fire. It is then that Caesar returns to the house and accuses Solly of arson before Solly strikes him with a walking stick and flees. From this case scenario, it becomes clear that Caesar killed Solly willingly and intended to continue his legacy. Ruling the people without caring what happens as long as he achieves his ambitions and city is \u201cpeaceful.\u201d Caesar shows his ambitions to the extent of questioning Aunt Ester who in the whole story seems to reconcile the conflicts. He believed that Aunt Ester and Citizen Burlow had a hand in helping Solly escape. His actions cause his sister to denounce him as there is no love between them.<\/p>
The motive behind the killing of Solly is fundamentally based on greed for power and authority (Bigsby 89). Caesar does not kill Solly just because he is trying to maintain peace but because he wants to show people that no one is above the law. Furthermore, Caesar wants more than to rise above the lower level status given to blacks at the time (shsjhsjs). He believed that using iron first would earn him a position as a leader in the society and therefore earn a higher status as compared to other blacks. In his bid to become a \u201cbetter\u201d person he ends up destroying the lives of other people. Therefore, ironically instead of earning a higher status, he becomes an enemy of the people including his own sister who disowns him for his actions leading to a death of a person.<\/p>
Caesar as he tries to achieve his ambitions he has learned, followed, and enforces the white laws. In his mind, he has created an illusion of him being a big man just because he is in a position of power. That is why he does not depict any remorse when he kills Solly who is just an ordinary person who collects dog excrement and sells it for fuel. But Caesar forgets that in the past Solly has been involved in helping other people as each passage is dutifully notched on his walking stick. From this perspective, it is clear that Caesar wants to be a big person but fails to understand the essence of being big. It is not through harassing people or working to enforce laws blindly, but through helping others achieve their freedom or at least improve their lives.<\/p>
Comparison Between the Motives and Circumstances<\/h2>
Before taking a position on who is guiltier first the concept of motif behind the killing comes out. In the case of Citizen Burlow, there was no ill intention or any motif to kill his victim. He did not intend to cause any death through his action. In fact, his action was a mere act of rebellion against a regime that was frustrating them. But even without having intended to kill a person he ends up guilty of murder for his indirect action that leads to a death of a person.<\/p>
On the other hand, Caesar kills a person by shooting him in the act of enforcing the law. The act of Solly striking Caesar with his walking stick is an act of direct rebellion against the law that Caesar has been mandated to uphold. From this point of view it is clear that despite Caesar killing Solly and having no regrets or whatsoever, he did as a way of reminding people that no one is above the law. Thus, despite the sharp contradictions between the motives behind the deaths of the two people, Citizen appears guiltier than Caesar.<\/p>
Moreover, if a person executes justice according to laws of the land, the judge is not held liable for the action taken. The law and crime bear the consequences of the action taken in upholding the laws. Therefore, as much as Caesar might appear as having killed a person deliberately his action was fueled by the open rebellion of Solly. In fact, Caesar was trying to quell an open rebellion that had caused a mass action and protest that was engulfing the bones town.<\/p>
Additionally, as citizens keep seeking absolution, it becomes eminent that he is guiltier than Caesar. His act of stealing caused another innocent person to die (Noggle 74). Unlike Caesar, he understands that the other person did not deserve to die for no reason. This leads his guilty conscious to haunt him in almost everywhere he goes. On his part, Caesar caused the death of another person because the person violated the laws. This shows that he does not regret taking the action he took and neither does believe that his actions are in any way making him liable to killing a person.<\/p>
Moreover, besides the motives, the circumstances leading to the deaths of the victims make Citizen more liable to his action (Wilson 729). If citizen admitted having stolen the nails perhaps, he would have saved the victim, but he decided to keep quite thereby leading to the death of the person. Again citizen should have used a different method or protest since stealing makes him liable to commit a crime which by itself is wrong. On the hand, the circumstance leading to the killing of the second victim by Caesar is quite different from that of Citizen. Solly openly disobeyed the officer carrying out his mandate and struck him with his walking stick. Even in the modern world getting involved in an open rebellion that involves assaulting the officer of the law can lead to a death of a person. Thus, from these circumstances, it is evident that although Caesar might have used excessive force in handling Solly, he is less guilty as compared to Citizen whose direct action lead to the death of an innocent person.<\/p>
Conclusion<\/h2>
Conclusively, the plays bring out the concept of guilt juxtaposing two characters whose actions lead to the death of other characters. However, the circumstances differ significantly imploring that Citizen is guiltier as compared to Caesar. Caesar as an officer of the law has a right to deal with those rebelling against the law. But Citizens does not have a right to steal as away protesting. Thus, from this point of view Citizen is more liable to the death of his victim as opposed to Caesar thereby making him guiltier than Caesar.<\/p>
Works Cited
Barringhaus, Rebecca. "August Wilson's Gem Of The Ocean A Dramaturgical Case Study." (2013).
Bigsby, Christopher. The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Noggle, Richard. ""… if you live long enough the boat will turn around": The Birth and Death of Community in Three Plays by August Wilson." College Literature 36.2 (2009): 58-73.
Pittman, Elizabeth. "Voicing the ‘Law of the Sea’: Commemoration and Cultural Nationalism in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean." Culture, Theory and Critique 54.1 (2013): 19-36.
Wilson, A. (2007). Gem of the ocean: 1904. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Wilson, Melinda D. "Gem of the Ocean." Theatre Journal 55.4 (2003): 728-729.
