Thursday, April 21, 2011

Duty

"He loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a Christian; but he feared the resentment of Felix if he should appear lukewarm; for he knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer if he should choose to betray him to the Italian state which they inhabited." (page 88)

To me, this little excerpt displays a sense of duty between two different characters. Felix felt a sense of honor and integrity in helping Safie's father escape from prison because he knew that he had been unjustly imprisoned. Convinced of his innocence, Felix could not stand by and allow him to be punished for no reason. Also, this shows that Safie's father wanted to at least pretend to be honorable and fair; as he was worried about appearing grateful. Originally he agreed that Felix could marry Safie, but later he changed his mind and tried to hide this fact from him. In fact, Safie finds out that her father has different plans for her when he tries to get her to move away after school. As anything else, the moment that the hapless teenagers are forbidden to love one another, they grow to understand each other and wish to be more than friends. Safie eventually escapes from her father's controlling grasp and marries Felix.

No comments:

Post a Comment