There are many attractions to the
Dark Side. This was also a very
important concept to see throughout the movies because it brought a large
amount of underlying meanings to life. Many
of the Dark Side temptations foreshadowed events to come.
Luke is
attracted to the Dark Side when he is with Darth Vader and the emperor. The emperor is tempting him the opportunity
to join their forces. He then tempts him
to kill the emperor and even offers him the weapon to use. Luke is tempted to kill out of anger or
hatred. I feel that if he did choose to
kill the emperor or Darth Vader, he would be the same person as them. The emperor does things maliciously. He is also considered the enemy. Luke should only be tempted to do what is
right. Watching the rebels fight only
made Luke’s temptation worse, but he realized that he did not want to turn into
the Dark Side.
Darth Vader can also be one of the
ones considered to have been tempted by the Dark Side. The scene towards the end of the movie when
Luke was being shocked by the emperor showed Darth Vader’s temptation with the
Dark Side. Even though he is already on
the Dark Side, we saw a little bit of good come out of him. He was tempted by the Dark Side not to save
his son. This is an interesting
perspective to make this conclusion about Darth Vader being tempted by
something he is already a part of. He overcame
the temptation by continuing to watch his son almost get killed. The little bit of good left in him allowed
him to overcome his temptation with the Dark Side.
Han
Solo also gets tempted with leaving the
rebellion. Even though he is not trying
to fight for the Dark Side, it would still be considered a temptation of the
Dark Side because he is not helping to fight the cause. Han Solo wants to stop so he can just pay his
debts. This is a strong temptation
because he would be completely removed from his duties of helping the
rebels.
Overall,
the temptations from the Dark Side have a strong presence throughout the
series. They did everything from
foreshadowing events to come or making someone stronger in character. Luke got stronger after his encounters with
the Dark Side. The temptation caused him
to grow in patience and to gain an understanding of control. This was something that could only be taught
if he actually experienced it first-hand.
All of the characters grew in some type of way after encountering the
Dark Side. Overcoming the temptation was
the greatest achievement that any of these characters could overcome.
Smith – Dark Side Response
ReplyDeleteI agree with the three people you chose to demonstrate the courage to overcome the Dark Side and the temptation of the Dark Side, but your statement about the foreshadowing powers of the Dark Side is unsupported. Your analysis of the foreshadowing powers of the Dark Side struck me as a very interesting perspective of The Force. I would think that you could have talked about the Emperors’ use of foreshadowing to prepare for the rebels attack and how he knew that Luke would come to him.
You described the conflict that Darth Vader was facing when watching Luke be electrocuted by the emperor showing the struggle with the temptations of something he is already a part of. The sentence where you said, “He was tempted by the Dark Side not to save his son” explained why he continued to watch and decided to defy his master and save Luke anyway. There was still some good in him and this is my favorite example of the defeat of the evil in the Dark Side. The picture you chose clearly shows the destruction of the Dark Side and of the Emperor. Darth Vader foresaw what his future would be like if Luke were to die and he decided that he would rather free his son and die in the process.
Amazing observation in noticing the fact that Vader himself is also tempted by the dark side. I never thought about it that way. In essence, all of Vader's dark decisions are a representation of him giving into the dark side's temptation. Overall, this was a great read that I learned a lot from. I like what you put at the end about people learning from first hand experience through their dark side temptations. It makes me think about the times I’ve been tempted by dishonorable actions and what I’ve learned from it.
ReplyDeleteIt’s nice to think about how much each of the Star Wars characters grew over the three films. I feel like the films are good representations of the fact that we are the results of our decisions (“We don’t make history, history makes us” as Martin Luther Kind Jr. said) and the moving, heroic characters of Star Wars are the ones who we’ve seen make hard choices. I really love the way you illustrated this factor of the films in your final paragraph when you noted that it was Luke’s temptation with the dark side that drove his growth. This gets me asking, “does giving in to the dark side provide growth too?”