Show how issues of social class are important in at least two of the works studied - Essay Example

In all work, low social position of the main characters prevents them to achieve appreciation and recognition they deserve. The novel Heart of Darkness (1900) is one of the most unique and outstanding works based on philosophical and psychological interpretations, historical and sociological issues. Until the actual military conquest of most of Africa by Europeans, the continents populations, except in regions significantly influenced by intruders from Asia, were largely left free to shape their own individual paths of development.

This novel describes the controls the means of production and hence the sale and distribution of products, the capitalist returns less to the workers than what the worker actually produces. This is called exploitation, and the rate at which the capitalists extract surplus from the labor of their workers is called the rate of exploitation. Marx expressed this as the rate of exploitation: surplus/variable capital. This means getting more out of the productive process for the same or lower costs.

It means workers will have to produce more without receiving a commensurate increase in wages, that is, an increase in the rate of exploitation. “The vision seemed to enter the house with me - the stretcher, the phantom-bearers, the wild crowd of obedient worshippers, the gloom of the forests,… the beat of the drum, regular and muffled like the beating of a heart - the heart of a conquering darkness” (Conrad). In the play, Amadeus P. Shaffer describes the impact of social class on a genuine and inability to resists social principles and values.

The play concentrates on personal relations between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri and their rivalry. This play portrays that a unique talent of a person and his genius means nothing fo society which values high social position and wealth. First, this play helps legitimate prevailing class and status