Element of Fiction

1.) The artist doesn't like the emperor but wants to get this job he's applying for. When the artist takes the job, it's against his own inner morals, but he knows the opportunity is better for him than his inner feelings can be sometimes. The artist is forced to pain whatever the emperor wants, not what the artist desires to which results in the artwork being bad.

2.) The artist faces an internal conflict with himself whether to stop working for the emperor to keep his conscience alive or to get the exposure he needs for his career.

3.) One theme in the passage is the danger of sacrificing ones own happiness and identiy for others.