He is hanging in the balance and standing on the crossroad. Also the land of permanent bless is only one step away. Desperation may lead you to either way. He has gone to the very limits if human existence to find dignity, but in vain. Sickness will strike many, and death will strike all human beings in the end.
Man desperately fights against what is unavoidable.
Disappointed he looks at the lines in his hands which promised him a prosperous future but let him down. No dignity in this sort of prophecy. No dignity either in the great masterpieces of art which man has produced throughout the ages. Man is unable to produce or capture dignity in words or lines. Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind, combing his hair back, his future looks thin, he bites the bullet and looks within, for dignity.