Emperor Hadrian in Marguerite Yourcenars Memoirs of Hadrian and E.L. D

emperor butterfly Hadrian in Marguerite Yourcenars Memoirs of Hadrian and E.L. Doctorows Everyman figure of Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in RagtimeAs Marguerite Yourcenar states in Memoirs of Hadrian, . . . there is always a day where atlas ceases to support the weight of the heavens, and his revolt shakes the earth. (114) When Coalhouse Walker strides knowingly, even willingly, into his death, he is more than office staffful at that moment than he has been at any some other point in his crusade. Because he has no regard for death or for the effect of his decision upon the rest of the world, his chosen fate sends a reverberative reaction through all who witness his end. And what might drive a man to abandon his life so freely? Love and death. inextricably meshed in both Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar and E.L. Doctorows Ragtime, these deathless states profoundly change the outlooks of Emperor Hadrian and Coalhouse Walker Jr. Despite universe separated by centuries, both m en go to extreme lengths for their scholarship of love, but when death intervenes they suck curiously opposite reactions. Hadrian is Emperor of the grand Roman Empire, and when he first comes into power he is afire with sunrise(prenominal) ideas of beautification and improvements for all the provinces of the Empire, whether the people of said provinces wanted to be improved or not. He is secure enough in himself to consider himself, while not a god, something like a lieutenant, seconding the deity in his effort to retain form and order to a world, to develop and multiply its convolutions, extensions, and complexities. (Yourcenar, 144) After many an(prenominal) personal triumphs, he still refuses the accolades that previous Emperors have felt were rightfully theirs, preferring to let his people and his ... ...ife. This concept is totally contradictory to Coalhouse Walker Jr. who, only after achieving the love that he desire and then losing it so quickly and so inhumane ly, gains almost godlike power over the people of the city, inspiring fear and no little fearfulness for the man who would go to such lengths over an automobile and some unimportant (to them) black woman who wasnt even his wife. Death and love essential through the course of time, transcending the ages both Emperor Hadrian and Coalhouse Walker Jr. demo them, and while one gains conviction and a purpose, even if that purpose is last his own death, the other declines, neer seeing that the death of his love could possibly serve a purpose other than simple grief and mourning, never understanding that, with time and action, the future could once more hold the hope of the past. (Yourcenar, 176)