: Re: What makes the death of a character satisfying? My wife and I were watching a movie where one of the main characters died shortly after being reunited with his long lost love. His death was

@Ogunnowo420

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I think that the answer may have a subjective side to it. However, in the general schema of the plot if a death is an impetus it may be relevant and that in itself can be satisfying. See, there is a death that could be pertinent to the character arc or to make the character have some weight in the overall narrative. Like in Hamlet Ophelia's death is a crucial scene because it shows to many levels that Hamlet's actions have led to much harm. We also know that there was no reason for Hamlet to be cruel to Ophelia so we now can feel ambiguous about Hamlet (not that Hamlet's prior actions have been A grade). Ophelia's death is not satisfying in the usual sense but it does satisfy a certain part of the play. So, satisfaction can have various wavelengths and junctures.

Now, an individual death being subjective would be probably the death of Gregor Samsa from the novella "Metamorphosis" because there is no other way for poor Gregor to do anything but die as his transformation has made him weak and this has been, as I read somewhere, the reverse of enlightenment. So, there is that side to this question too. I do think that death as a satisfying medium in literature works in many complex levels. Sometimes, death is a way the story's point is giving some meaning other times it's a tyrant being killed in battle so we know it's the trial of the hero completed so in both cases we are satisfied in two various different ways.

Sometimes, as Ophelia's death, we are not happy individually at her death but it helped shed light on the disturbing plot and personality elements in Hamlet so we would be satisfied via that. I guess there is also the other meaningful thing as death for natural causes and I think Jose Saramago even wrote a novel "Death at Intervals" to highlight the importance of death on cultural, religious, biological, philosphical and many other levels. Sometimes, death of a character is natural and that can be in itself satisfying as we know that as we live we will also die.

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