Eric Lampe

Theology/Faith 06

10/11/06

George’s Failed Quest for Happiness

George Castanza of Seinfeld is characterized by always being in a state of melancholy and having a cynical attitude about everything. These states are revealed by bouts of rage, obsessions with things, lust, and being in a deep depression. This characterization of George is important because it defines him as being a special case of one of “the many.” The many is Aristotle’s reference to the majority of the people on earth who are “ordinary people” who experiences the failures of falling for lust, rage, deep depressions, etc. just as George did. This contrasts the people who are called “the wise” who make these bad choices less often than the others because they are better at reasoning and thinking things through before acting. George however is a special case of “the many”, because he seems to be the epitome of a member of the many. He embodies all the deficiencies and failures of most normal people; where as a majority of people might just experience a few, George experiences a lot and then some.

           

            In the episode “The Opposites” where George realizes how he fails at everything he does and decides that his old ways have only led him to unfortunate circumstances so he decides to do the opposite of everything that he used to do. Things seem to work out for him for a while. However we can take from this a few things. First off, George is terrible at reasoning. Just because the way you’re living right now isn’t working out for you does not mean you should start doing the exact opposite of what you used to do. Maybe you should look into why you do what you do first.  Aristotle uses a term called “eudaimonia” that is what every man seeks for. Determining a good “eudaimonia” for your self is just as important as how you lead your life because it determines how you lead your life. If you seek for happiness in sex and drugs, you will probably become a cracked out junky. George has not determined a good plan for what he seeks for in life and instead of changing the plan that is based on not being bald, overweight and unconfident in front of women he just decides to try and change his actions. George also lets his emotions rule his life. He hates his life, body, personality, lack of confidence and pretty much himself on a whole. He lets this emotion get to him and take over his life.

 

            To lead the “good life” one must achieve harmony between reason and his desires. Courage is finding the middle ground between being a coward and completely foolhardy. This is called the “Golden Mean” because your actions fall between two extremes and you don’t let one rule. Achieving happiness is trying to make this balance. This is a life skill that George lacks. He lets his emotions and desires to be an attractive, fun man who lives an exciting life take over and rule him and thus making him act in accordance. One of the problems he has is when he doesn’t achieve these things he looks at it as bad luck and can’t take responsibility for his own actions. Aristotle encourages three ways to live virtuously. You should avoid going to extremes whether it be easy or hard. And also be weary of letting your pleasures control you. George failed at these and over the course of the 8 years of the show showed no sign of change and that is why he will probably always the be the pathetic loser with a lack of virtue that he is.