Discoveries have the opportunity to cause a domino effect, where that one event sets off a chain of similar events and effects each individual that it impacts and eventually a broader society. This notion of a domino effect is evident in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest which is a magical play about people being lost and found and what they find is who they were all along and Bernhard Schlink’s semi-autobiographical novel The Reader a poignant meditation on love, loss, guilt, human frailty and making peace with the past. Through texts authors can project an idea that can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and others. Through discovery individuals can achieve metamorphosis which can impact those around them.
Authors can make discoveries and through their texts present these ideas to an audience who then come out with new understandings and renewed perceptions of their world. Shakespeare had a great understanding of humanism and through the tempest passed on his ideas. He created an island that was a microcosm for society, which amplified all the characters flaws. Through the character of Prospero Shakespeare can illuminate his ideas. This is done through the dramatic action focusing on different characters being on different parts of the island. This dramatic structure of the play is an important vehicle for discovery. The contrived effect of all these characters being on the island together and being effectively unable to escape takes the audience to a position of uncertainty and ambiguity, inviting us to question humanity, ourselves and the world so that we arrive at a deeper understanding of the human condition. Through the discoveries and understandings that Shakespeare had on humanism, by portraying them in a play he invites his audience to make discoveries and thus represents a domino effect.
Similarly Bernard Schlink portrays his ideas of being a ‘second generation’ German in his novel The Reader. Schlink paints