Topic > Stephen King's portrayal of the terrifying role of Jack Torrance shown in his film The Shining

Jack Torrance is one of the most disturbing and terrifying characters ever depicted in a film. This is because, at first, he seems like a normal worker and father, but slowly becomes more sinister throughout The Shining as he pushes normal roles to the extreme and the hotel takes a toll on his sanity. Perhaps the creepiest part about Jack is that he was like this the whole time and didn't just go crazy when he got to the hotel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Early on, Jack shows signs of his madness in his control and anger issues. The first problems we see with Jack are when his wife is on the phone with the doctor explaining Danny's "accident". We find out that when Jack got home he discovered that Danny had messed up his work papers on the floor, so he pulls him up by the arm and hurts Danny. The second time we notice there is a problem is when Jack is “working” in the hotel studio and his wife comes to check on him and he yells at her, telling her to never disturb him while he is working. Both of these incidents show that perhaps Jack isn't as stable as we previously thought. Once they move into the hotel, we see a drastic escalation in Jack's erratic behavior. He isolates himself, rarely speaks to his wife when they arrive at the hotel. He treats her like a nuisance and alienates her further. His crazy behavior turns to paranoia when he begins to suspect that his wife is telling Danny that he would hurt her and Danny. The situation continues to rapidly worsen when Danny is injured again and Wendy blames Jack, which pushes Jack to seek alcohol. Alcohol drives him further into madness, and when Wendy goes to Jack and tells him that Danny was attacked by an old woman, he questions his sanity. He then goes to investigate the room where the woman was spotted and sees a naked woman there. He is seduced and kisses the woman, only to discover that he was kissing an old, rotting corpse. He never questions his own sanity and lies to his wife, telling her there is nothing in the room. Some other instances that show Jack's decline into madness are when Jack is standing in front of a window staring menacingly at his wife and son. who play outside in the snow; when Jack talks to his son and tells him he can't sleep because he has too much work to do; and when he tells his son that he likes the hotel and wishes they could stay there forever; and Jack during the day dreams a violent nightmare in which he kills his son and his wife. Each of these incidents shows the viewer that Jack is increasingly entrenched in the hotel's madness and his own madness. However, Jack's true character is revealed to the audience when Jack's wife comes to tell him about their son and she makes the horrible discovery that all of Jack's "work" was actually just the written word: "All work and no play makes Jack a boring guy” over and over again. It is even more disturbing for the public to see that there are pages and pages in which nothing but those words are repeated. So when Jack started working as soon as they moved into the hotel, he started writing just these words. Jack was also troubled at the beginning of his stay at the hotel, before the public even suspected anything was wrong. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Finally, the breaking point comes when Jack meets Mr. Grady who informs Jack that he (Jack) has been the.