Lenny vs. Macbeth

     In "Of Mice & Men" Lenny, a special needs man, has a terrible habit of harming things, like animals. In an attempt to admire how smal and cute mice are he accidentally crushes their heads using his thumbs. He never quite understands how harmful he is until he reaches his level of hamartia, his point of no return. He's one of those people who doesn't realize how strong they are. His story is a little different than Macbeth and Walter White's because his murders were not intentional. Lenny was actually a gentle, kind-hearted man, even though he was extremely large and often very intimidating to other people.

     One of Lenny's friends gave him a puppy, which he also accidentally killed, causing him to go on a small unintentional killing spree that he soon couldn't ignore or erase. Later, he was hugging a beautiful woman and petting her hair so forcefully that he accidentally smothered her and broke her neck. I think at that point is when he went into hamartia. He reached the point of no return where he could no longer undo what he had done.

        He was afraid of anyone finding out that he was the one who commited the murder and decided to flee town and hide. It is significant to the story because it is a huge climax. The climax is usually when a story gets so intense that you're at the edge of your seat. I think that there could also be an unintentional hamartia like in Lenny's case. Sure, he should take full responsibility of his actions, but when is too much? Is there a point that you could commit a crime so foul that it could be completely unneceptable to society? We discussed this in class recently and I think that in Lenny's cause people would have pitied him, but he would still face some major consequences. I find this very sad. There's been all sort of things silimar to Lenny's story on the news and people argument are usually "But he isn't as mentally stable as other people! He doesn't deserve to go to jail!" But how can that be fair? If that was the case that could be everyone's argument; therefore, there has to be consequences.

      Macbeth coming to terms with the reality of death was his consequence. Something's just are not and will never be socially acceptable. So for that, there is definitely a level of hamartia in any situation.