Analysis Paper (first draft)

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Tara Link

English 1010

Instructor: Haley Stokes

14th February

Analysis Paper

There is such a thing as forgiveness. The act of Angel going back and killing the Thesulak demon when he realizes Judy is still alive, is an act of forgiveness, for himself, and for Judy. In that forgiveness, Judy is finally set free from the guilt she felt, and the prison she kept herself in. Angel is finally able to make peace with his past.

In this episode, Are you now or have you ever been, you hear Judy say she’s trapped, and when faced with the though of getting caught by the police she starts thinking of what could happen, and she says, “I can’t go to prison, just the thought of being confined, trapped, it’d be like death, no worse than death, it’d be like being buried alive.” At one point Judy asks Angel, “there such a thing as forgiveness, right?”.

You see a from of forgiveness in the episode when Angel acts as a christ figure, when he takes on the sins of others, (the Thesulak demons, and Judy’s) and dies for Judy. I believe Angel knows that he can’t die, and so just goes along with him. I believe he was also shocked, because he had befriended her, and she was, in a way just like him. I don’t believe Angel forgave Judy right away for doing what she did, I think he was angry with her, and for that reason he left the hotel telling the Thesulak demon to “take them all”

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Before Leaving the hotel the Thesulak demon appears to Angel, and says. “And you thought you'd made a friend. News flash! You had! That's what made her the yummiest morsel of all. You reached her, buddy! Restored her faith in people. Without you she would have been just another appetizer. But you plumped her up good! Now, she's a meal that's gonna last me a lifetime! Hey, you know what? There is an entire hotel here just full of tortured souls that could really use your help. - What do you say?” Angel replies, "Take them all."

Judy was left in the hotel, left with the Thesulak demon feeding off her. There is no evidence that the Thesulak demon physically forced her to stay at the hotel. The Thesulak demon tells Judy to stay away from the door, and she’ll be safe. At this point, Judy is a prisoner of the Thesulak demon, her guilt of “killing” Angel won’t let her move on.

When Angel realizes that Judy is still alive, and that the Thesulak demon is still feeding off her, he returns to kill the Thesulak demon, to set Judy free. I believe this is a form of forgiveness. If he didn’t forgive Judy for accusing him of being a “monster”, and a “murderer” than why would be return to kill the Thesulak demon. In a way Angel needs to do this in order to forgive himself, for leaving all those people to the Thesulak demon, and also to make peace with his past.

By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy. Forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. Angel does this when he decides to go back, and kill the Thesulak demon. Forgiveness can lead to feelings of understanding, empathy

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and compassion for the one who hurt you. I believe Angel feels compassion for Judy. I don’t think Angel knew the demon would really be able to feed off of her forever.

At this point both Angel, and Judy are both in need of forgiveness. You know that Judy especially is in need of forgiveness. She has spent her whole life at the hotel, in a prison basically. We know that Judy thinks of prisons, and being trapped like being buried alive. So for her to stay there all those years without being physically made to, the only explanation is that she can’t move on. She can’t forgive herself, and she probably feels she deserves what’s happened, and what happening to her.

After Angel kills the Thesulak demon, he enters Judy's old room and finds her (now an old woman) sitting in a chair. He calls her by name “Judy.” Judy then speaks saying “I don’t hear them anymore.- Are they gone?” Angel says “yeah” Judy smiles realizing its Angel, she says “It’s you, they killed you - because of me. I killed you.” Angel tells her “No.” She tells Angel she wants to go out now, she just needs a little rest. Judy tells Angel: “I’m sorry I killed you. Can you forgive me?” Angel says, “Of course” She tells Angel she just going to rest, and then she’s going to go out, she closes her eyes, and dies.

Angel was able to forgive Judy, and because of that I think he was able to forgive himself, for leaving her there and letting the Thesulak demon feed on her for 50 years. Forgiveness brought peace to both Judy, and Angel. Judy was finally able to let go, and die peacefully, she was finally free of her prison. Angel is able to let go of the past, and move on.