Which sentence in this excerpt from Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich shows the human tendency to contemplate one’s past li
fe? "But if that is so," he said to himself, "and I am leaving this life with the consciousness that I have lost all that was given me and it is impossible to rectify it—what then?"
He lay on his back and began to pass his life in review in quite a new way. In the morning when he saw first his footman, then his wife, then his daughter, and then the doctor, their every word and movement confirmed to him the awful truth that had been revealed to him during the night. In them he saw himself—all that for which he had lived—and saw clearly that it was not real at all, but a terrible and huge deception which had hidden both life and death. This consciousness intensified his physical suffering tenfold. He groaned and tossed about, and pulled at his clothing which choked and stifled him. And he hated them on that account.
He was given a large dose of opium and became unconscious, but at noon his sufferings began again. He drove everybody away and tossed from side to side.
His wife came to him and said:
"Jean, my dear, do this for me. It can't do any harm and often helps. Healthy people often do it."
He opened his eyes wide.
"What? Take communion? Why? It's unnecessary! However..."
She began to cry.
"Yes, do, my dear. I'll send for our priest. He is such a nice man."
"All right. Very well," he muttered.
When the priest came and heard his confession, Ivan Ilyich was softened and seemed to feel a relief from his doubts and consequently from his sufferings, and for a moment there came a ray of hope. He again began to think of the vermiform appendix and the possibility of correcting it. He received the sacrament with tears in his eyes.
"But if that is so," he said to himself, "and I am leaving this life with the consciousness that I have lost all that was given me and it is impossible to rectify it—what then?"
There are always two sides of a story, an antagonist who serves the purpose of harming of the society and has the ambitions that can some how damage the over all peace and prosperity of the region, as inside this story Grendel is the monster who imposes threat to the different individuals across the globe and has a very bad or negative image. While Beowulf serves a much greater ambition by being there for the people to fight against this monster and then leading them against many odds to the way of virtue and development.And as he adds more value to it by doing great deeds that would be remembered across the generations and many would recognize these acts as the deeds of great valor.
As, the two of them are still remembered in one of the greatest fiction and being there in a place that still we remember Beowulf as a warrior of greater strength and courage. While, Grendel is there as sign for those who wants to harm any being and his story is very good moral for them and to learn much from the evil and good inside the story.
