The Lagoon Literary Essay

The Lagoon Literary Essay


The Lagoon is a story about a man who visits an old friend; they had been fighting
in a war and became good friends since then. Nevertheless, a long time had passedwithout knowing much about each other, and these friends have a lot to talk about. The
consequences of a selfish decision seem to doom the life of a man who suffers pangs of
conscience. A storywritten by Joseph Conrad, who is considered one of the greatest
novelists of the English Literature, shows how vulnerable and unstable the human
morality can be.

What sort of desire would make aman betray his own brother? The selfish desire
of a man who pursued love, happiness and peace with her beloved woman would be one
of the answers. “There is a time when a man should forget loyaltyand respect. Might and
authority are given to rulers, but to all men is given love and strength and courage”.
(Page 8) The strong love he felt for her, made him to go beyond the limits. Hisbeloved
brother supported him; he bravely became selflessly involved in his brother´s love venture
for they had always been very loyal to each other since they were children. Therefore,selfishness and cowardice were stronger than brotherhood.
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Arsat was so focused on escaping with his woman that he seemed to forgot how
much he loved his brother, he did not noticed it, he wasrisking his life and also the
others´. “There is half a man in you now - the other half is in that woman. I can wait.
When you are a whole man again, you will come back with me here to shout defiance.We
are sons of the same mother”. (Page 9) But these words seemed to have been ignored by
him, because what he seemed to have had in his mind was not love really, but obsession.
“I longed to bewith her in a safe place beyond the reach of men's anger and of women's
spite. My love was so great, that I thought it could guide me to a country where death was
unknown, if I could only escape...