Excess

Question

1. Apparently, the two yellow "excess"s in the following text mean "crime" while the green one means "criminals". Am I right?

2. Does "the unlawful" mean "the crime"?

Text:

His work has also examined the abject bodies of the criminal. Pay for your Pleasure, 1988, is a corridor of posters of philosophers and writers who allude to transgression and violence in their philosophy, mostly in overblown tones of grandiosity and outrageous statements. However, this excess is culturally sanctioned. Unsanctioned excess occurs in the actual acts of criminals. At the end of the corridor, a painting of a clown done by the serial killer John Wayne Gacy confronts us with the unlawful excesses which we cast out of society into prisons yet which retain a fascinating hold upon the population. Why do we sanction the unlawful when it is presented within the frame of art?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

catttt1. Apparently, the two yellow "excess"s in the following text mean "crime" while the green one means "criminals". Am I right?

Sort of. The writer employs metonymy, equating the act and the person.

catttt2. Does "the unlawful" mean "the crime"?

I guess so.

CalifJim · Answer

catttt1. Apparently, the two yellow "excess"s in the following text mean "crime" while the green one means "criminals".

overblown tones of grandiosity and outrageous statements

These words indicate 'excess' of expression. These are "over the top" ways of talking about crime and violence. So 'excess' refers to overindulgent overstatement in the case of what is culturally sanctioned, but to overindulgent use of violence in the case of the unsanctioned acts of criminals. In both cases there is a stepping outside of certain limits.

catttt2. Does "the unlawful" mean "the crime"?

"the unlawful" refers to any acts which are against the law, i.e., illegal.

CJ

Excess

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