Analyse the Way In Which a T.V Soap Opera Has Dealt With a Religious or Moral Issue.

• Non voluntary euthanasia:  ending someone’s life painlessly when they are not able to ask, but you have good reason believing they would want you to do so (e.g. switching off a life support machine).

• Not striving to keep alive:  the idea that you should not use medication simply to prolong the life of a dying person if the quality of that life is very poor.

• Sanctity of life:  life is holy and belongs to God.

• Suicide:  ending your life yourself.

        A character named Ethel was slowly dying of cancer. Ethel wanted to die with self-esteem. Ethel wanted to be put out of her misery. In order to do this Ethel wanted her close friend Dorothy Cotton better known as Dot to do this deed for her. Dot is very religious woman follows all the Christian teachings. In Christianity euthanasia is prohibited. Christians believe that God gave us life and so God can only bring a human being’s life to an end. Christians also believe that life is a gift from God and all Christians should maintain it. One of the Ten Commandments states ‘Thou shall not kill’, which had an enormous effect on Dot. At first Dot refused to take any part of Ethel’s death, but after a while of influential talking from Ethel Dot agreed to help Ethel. Dot gave Ethel an overdose of her medication and Ethel passed away that night. She prayed that she or Ethel would not end up in hell in the afterlife. Dot thought that if she prayed for forgiveness she would end up in heaven in the afterlife. Dot felt guilty of assisting a close friends dead. Dots guilty conscious got to her and she wanted to be punished for what she did. Dot then went to a shop and began shoplifting for the reason that she wanted to be arrested and sent to prison. Dots plan worked and she was arrested and sent to prison for shoplifting. In my opinion the audience of this specific episode would have been taught a lot about Euthanasia. The storyline would have a huge effect on the audience as Eastenders is watched by many people. I myself grew knowledge of Euthanasia and saw things from various perspectives of which I have never thought about before. The episode covered a lot of teachings on Euthanasia and had many things to be learnt from. An example is that even if someone may strictly follow the teachings of their religion, at times they will go against it for a cause seriously they believe in.  

          A number of people believe euthanasia should be prohibited. One reason for this argument is due to the religious teachings that are followed by numerous people which come from a variety of cultures. Other people believe that every human being has significant importance in life. The major reason for being against euthanasia is because of the fact that it’s simply murder.

        However other people consider euthanasia to be acceptable. One motivation for this argument is for the reason that many people feel that it’s a basic human right to have control of your own life. For instance if someone was critically suffering then that person has the right to end his/her own life. What's more is that if you have the right to commit suicide, then you have the right to ask a doctor to assist your suicide if you are ill and in pain and unable to commit suicide yourself.  

        After taking into consideration both sides of the argument I have come to a conclusion, and my own personal opinion is that euthanasia should be allowed. Even taking into account it will affect the loved ones of someone I still believe if someone is in so much pain he/she couldn’t take it any more, subsequently it would seem fair to respect their decision.