Tuesday, June 16, 2009

'Desire is another story'

Desire is indeed another story for Professor David Lurie and his daughter Lucy. The professor Lurie according to 'Disgrace' by J.M. Coetzee, is a man filled with manly desires and do not see anything wrong in such mannish instincts manifesting when it is not appropriate. An example, is his sexual involvement with his student Melanie. She is younger than his own daughter Lucy and of course vulnerable. He shows no repentance because he thinks it is his God given right to show his manhood when ever he feels therefore, it is unjust to punished. In his own words, "One can punish a dog, it seems to me, for an offence like chewing a slipper. A dog will accept the justice of that: a beating for a chewing. But desire is another story. No animal will accept the justice of being punished for following its instinct."

What an irony! Lucy is raped by two total strangers who like David followed their instincts of uncontrolable desire and lust without passion. Will it be true to say, He brought his fate or ill luck on his daughter because of his belief?

1 comment:

  1. Em.. I do not know if I would agree with you in the sense that he brought this fate upon his daughter. His beliefs are that he should be able to have sexual relations whenever he wants but never has it been showned in the book that he has raped a women. Yes he is an agressive lover and seems to be a sexaholic however the women that he has slept with has never said no or refused him. Take Soraya for example she enjooyed him every thursday, Melanie did not state whether she enjoyed him however it does not indicate whether she hated it. What are his beliefs specially, he believes that before the body gets old and dies why not enjoy his sexual lifestyle before he looses it. He is a romantic person and yes in a way he did manipulate Melanie but he did not go about it in a nasty way. Yes he may have looked her address which is creepy but he go back to my first agrument that she never said no!

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