1. Human Strengths and Weaknesses Dylan Williams June 19, 2011 DEFINITIONS Virtue – Being especially kind and fair to others. Vice – A certain bad trait or action. Ambition – Strongly wanting to get better or reach a goal. Duty – Feeling like you must do something because it is your responsibility. Virtue “Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference. “ Voltaire (author) “Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it. “ David Starr Jordan (biologist, teacher) Vice “Vices are their own punishment” Aesop (author) “The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it.” Dudley Moore (actor, musician) Ambition “Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. “ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (poet) “It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheats, to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will. “ Sallust (historian, politician) Duty “Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort” Humphrey Davy (chemist) “Where duty is plain, delay is both foolish and hazardous; where it is not, delay may provide both wisdom and safety. “ Tryon Edwards (theologian)
2. Virtue Here, we see the man in a university setting, standing up for a fellow student who is under threat. The two assailants, large and bulky, block escape on either side of the frame, towering around him. The man stands between them and the student with a defensive, negotiating posture. His arm extends over the student as though he is ‘under his wing.’ Basked in a warm morning glow, the man is beginning his cycle through the fundamental human qualities.
3. Ambition Later in life at his career, the man brings a proposal before his boss. He is cutting in front of his coworker (marginalized in the doorway) to get ahead. Despite this betrayal, he does it with a smile on his face. In the center, the man dominates the frame and likewise his boss’ attention, again using the reaching out posture, but in a less selfless way. The lighting is far more even and lacks the emotional vibrance of virtue.
4. Duty Here, the man is coming into work despite a frigid winter morning. It is a simple ‘duty,’ but it is the kind that regular people adhere to day in and day out. His arm is raised in a halfhearted attempt to shelter him from the precipitations and he makes his way down the stairs, barely visible beneath the snow. The unbalanced framing and clashing colour palette help convey that this is not a peaceful start to the day.
5. Vice Finally, complacent in his position, the man comes full circle to taste vice. He skims a few bills off the top of the revenue he is responsible for. Finally, the striking, higher contrast lighting of virtue has returned- but in a much more dim manner. The man is hunched over in the subtle shame of what he is doing. The cash is significantly more prevalent and visible than the man himself.
