Willfulness is a wonderful word. And it is wonderful because in the topic about its meanings and synonyms, you can discuss deeper issues of human existence: about fate, freedom and lack of freedom, because without them it is difficult to interpret the term "willfulness".
Meaning
The reason we have is wonderful, but the word is not very good in its content. We did not invent this, the dictionary told us this. The concept of "self-will" has two meanings:
- A characteristic feature of a person is to act as passions and desires dictate to him, even if it contradicts the customs, laws and opinions of others. Probably the last one should come first. A textbook example of self-will can serve as the image of the Old Woman from "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" by A. S. Pushkin.
- Behavior that is dictated by this very trait. For example, the boss at work forces everyone to sing in chorus, even those who are deaf and voiceless.
Willfulness is an aspiration that is born from the power of desire. It's probably not bad to want something passionately, but the problem of a person blinded by desire isthat he is not aware of the existence of both external and internal reality. In other words, on the one hand, there is an objective social and physical reality, and on the other hand, the natural or developed abilities of a person. For example, if the old woman from the fairy tale realized that when she received the trough, she was already very lucky, then the final collapse would not have happened, and so … Needless to say, many of us are ruined by greed and also the belief that the source of we alth will be always. This is probably why the Old Woman from Pushkin's fairy tale is an archetype.
Before moving on to synonyms, you can fully answer the question of what self-will is, the definition will be as follows. Willfulness is a person's tendency to obey his passions and desires, to go against public opinion and common sense, sometimes even at the risk of life.
Synonyms
While there are no replacement words for "willfulness", the meaning is not very clear. Don't worry, language analogues will not keep you waiting. Here they are:
- tyranny;
- arbitrariness;
- autocracy;
- stubbornness;
The dictionary leaves no hope for our hero. If you look only at synonyms for the word "willfulness", there can be no doubt - this phenomenon is definitely bad. The verdict is not subject to appeal. Fortunately, reality is more complex than definitions. Let's move on to the interpretation of the term.
Purposefulness and willfulness
In fact, to distinguish a reasonable volitional act from an unreasonable act is extremelycomplicated. Imagine that people are climbing a mountain. One because he had a bet with his friends, and the other because he broke the world record for the fastest climb. The second society will praise, people will say: “Well done! Purposeful!" The first one will get only the rude word "tyrant" as a reward. Note that the action is the same. This means that self-will is, first of all, a question of motivation and the absence or presence of a certain social sanction, that is, for the sake of sporting achievements, you can climb a mountain, but just like that, out of a whim, you can’t. But a person looks pretty nice on top of a mountain, don't you believe it? Look at the photo. Why not conquer the summit for the sake of aesthetics? Society is against such a senseless risk of itself.
Underground Man F. M. Dostoevsky and the dispute about freedom and willfulness
There is a well-known point of view that freedom is something so kind, bright, suggesting the border and the framework of the reasonable. Self-will is, on the contrary, something dark, terrible, seething, coming from chaos. We get unconsciously almost Nietzschean confrontation between Appolonistic and Dionysian principles.
And then an underground man suddenly appears with his famous truth: above all, a person puts independent desire. This means that even if he is shown the right path and, moreover, he himself perfectly understands that it would be wiser to listen to advice, nevertheless, a person will reject all morality and ethical reasons for the sake of the sweetness of self-will. Whether Fyodor Mikhailovich wanted it or not, he gave a certain canon of freedom in Russian. Our man longs for freedom without any fetters; only a European realizes the need for restrictions for autocracy. The interpretation of the word "willfulness" cannot be simple, too much is connected with it in the fate of Russia.
Love breaks barriers. Romeo and Juliet
The irrationality of a person terrifies many, and love is its first representative. When people think about something so non-utilitarian, the madness of passion as an example immediately pops up associatively. Naturally, the meaning of the word "willfulness" cannot do without love. Why go off the beaten track, take Shakespeare, one of his most famous tragedies, Romeo and Juliet. Of course, both teenagers were self-willed. Yes, the lovers acted stupidly, but is the enmity of the families, which indirectly deprived the young man and the girl of life, not the same recklessness in itself? And only after so many deaths, the older generation realized how far the enmity had gone. Therefore, self-will can be considered a bad word as much as you like, but sometimes the phenomenon itself breaks barriers and boundaries that should have been archived long ago.
The Courageous Heart and another example of productive willfulness
A wonderful film by Mel Gibson, released back in 1995, is a symbol of freedom, and the battle for Scottish independence, according to the film, began with an act of defiance, willfulness of William Wallace. The hero did not want to share his wife with an English aristocrat. Although everyone obeyed, but Wallace decidedrebel. Then the rebellion transformed from personal to public and eventually led to the independence of Scotland.
What does the example say? The fact that the dictionary is not always right, and life is complex and diverse. Alone with this deep thought, we leave the reader. We completed our task: we examined the meaning, synonyms for the word “willfulness” and selected illustrations for it.
