With their gruesome violence and intriguing characters Game of Thrones and Gladiator take readers and viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions. Aside from the obvious incest showcased in their storylines, they both share a common theme of “power prevails over sanity” through the elaborate use of setting, characters, and vengeance. Both pieces of work convey the theme, however they both utilize different types of perspectives and ideas to do so.
The setting of a book or movie provides and establishes the initial impression for the reader or viewer, in this case, both director and author chose a setting in which the hunger for power is eminent. Game of Thrones takes place in the fictitious world of Westeros, created by the author, George R.R. …show more content…
A notable example of this idea is, Viserys Targaryen. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.” (Martin 223) Viserys arranges his sister Daenerys’s marriage to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki, essentially selling her for an army and a chance to dethrone the current king, Robert Baratheon, who himself had slaughtered his way into power. “ I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne or so dead as now that I’ve won it.” (221) Game of Thrones provides readers with several more scenarios in which the border to insanity is crossed by utilizing aspects of the time era it takes place in but on the other hand, Gladiator has a more obvious approach to the idea by using a setting that is the definition of power. The movie visits the German Frontier, Spain, and North Africa and then eventually ends up in the City of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. What is now Italy was then …show more content…
In the movie Gladiator, Commodus attempted to have Maximus killed, but the general is able to save himself from death, however, he ends up in the hands of a slave owner battling and killing for his freedom until he rises in the infamous coliseum as a gladiator. He savagely slaughters and loses pieces of his sanity and conscious to obtain the power and title of a gladiator, solely to avenge the death of his family by murdering Commodus. The viewer is made aware of this during a powerful scene where Maximus confronts Commodus in the coliseum. “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” However, Game of Thrones is a story derived entirely off of the idea of revenge, therefore, it overshadows Gladiator in expressing the theme of power prevails over sanity regarding vengeance. The most significant example is the uprising of The North when King Joffrey, the successor of the deceased King Robert Baratheon, brutally executes Lord Eddard Stark. A civil war, otherwise known as the War of the Five Kings, erupts as a result and is lead by Eddard’s oldest son, Robb, who is victorious in his efforts.
Game of Thrones and Gladiator both do an exceptional job at portraying the theme
The setting of a book or movie provides and establishes the initial impression for the reader or viewer, in this case, both director and author chose a setting in which the hunger for power is eminent. Game of Thrones takes place in the fictitious world of Westeros, created by the author, George R.R. …show more content…
A notable example of this idea is, Viserys Targaryen. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.” (Martin 223) Viserys arranges his sister Daenerys’s marriage to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki, essentially selling her for an army and a chance to dethrone the current king, Robert Baratheon, who himself had slaughtered his way into power. “ I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne or so dead as now that I’ve won it.” (221) Game of Thrones provides readers with several more scenarios in which the border to insanity is crossed by utilizing aspects of the time era it takes place in but on the other hand, Gladiator has a more obvious approach to the idea by using a setting that is the definition of power. The movie visits the German Frontier, Spain, and North Africa and then eventually ends up in the City of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. What is now Italy was then …show more content…
In the movie Gladiator, Commodus attempted to have Maximus killed, but the general is able to save himself from death, however, he ends up in the hands of a slave owner battling and killing for his freedom until he rises in the infamous coliseum as a gladiator. He savagely slaughters and loses pieces of his sanity and conscious to obtain the power and title of a gladiator, solely to avenge the death of his family by murdering Commodus. The viewer is made aware of this during a powerful scene where Maximus confronts Commodus in the coliseum. “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” However, Game of Thrones is a story derived entirely off of the idea of revenge, therefore, it overshadows Gladiator in expressing the theme of power prevails over sanity regarding vengeance. The most significant example is the uprising of The North when King Joffrey, the successor of the deceased King Robert Baratheon, brutally executes Lord Eddard Stark. A civil war, otherwise known as the War of the Five Kings, erupts as a result and is lead by Eddard’s oldest son, Robb, who is victorious in his efforts.
Game of Thrones and Gladiator both do an exceptional job at portraying the theme