Hamlet - The Real Tragedy Essays (901 words) - Characters In Hamlet

Hamlet - The "Real" Tragedy In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the death of a character becomes a frequent event. Although many people lose their lives as a result of their own self-centered wrong-doing, there are others whose death are a result of manipulation from the royalty. This is the case of Polonius' family. The real tragedy of Hamlet is not that of Hamlet or his family but of Polonius' family because their deaths were not the consequence of sinful actions of their own but rather by their innocent involvement in the schemes of Claudius and Hamlet. The first character to die in Hamlet is Polonius. Although Polonius often acts in a deceitful manner when dealing with Hamlet, it is only because he is carrying out plans devised by the king or queen to discover the nature of Hamlet's madness. Being the king's Lord Chamberlain, it is his duty to obey the king and queen's wishes and it is this loyalty that eventually proves to be fatal for him. An example of hoe Polonius' innocent involvement with the royalty results in his death can be found at the beginning of Act III, scene iv, when Hamlet stabs him while he is hiding behind the arras in Gertude's room. This shows how Polonius, a man unaware of the true nature of the situation he is in, is killed by a member of the royalty during the execution of one of their schemes. This makes Polonius' death a tragedy. The next member of Polonius' family to die is his daughter Ophelia. Ophelia's death is tragic because of her complete innocence in the situation. Some may argue that Polonius deserves his fate because of his deceitfulness in dealing with Hamlet while he is mad, but Ophelia is entirely manipulated and used by Hamlet and the king for their own selfish reasons. An example of how Ophelia is used by Hamlet takes place in Act II, scene I, when Hamlet uses her to convince his family he is mad. Ophelia explains to Polonius how Hamlet has scared her, causing Polonius to draw the conclusion that Hamlet has an "antic disposition". Although this is the subject to interpretation and many believe that this is simply Hamlet taking one last look at Ophelia before he becomes engaged in his plan to kill Claudius, the fact that he scares her and does not try to alleviate these fears points to the conclusion that he is simply using her to help word of his madness spread throughout the kingdom via Polonius. In Act III, scene iv, Hamlet kills Polonius while he is hiding behind the arras in the Queen's room. This event causes Ophelia to become insane and leads to her eventual death in a river near the castle in Act IV, scene vii. It can be seen how the combined scheming of Hamlet's scheme which brings about the death of Polonius which leads to Ophelia's death. The passing of Ophelia is a tragedy because she does nothing deserving of death, she is merely used for other people's personal gain. The last member of Polonius' family to die is Laertes, Ophelia's brother and Polonius's son. Laertes' death is tragic because, although he kills Hamlet, he is avenging his father's death, an act, with reference to the moral climate of the 1600s, that would have been condoned by the people who saw the play. The difference between Hamlet and Laertes is that Laertes does not use others to attain his goals and his revenge is in part due to the pressure put on him by Claudius. This makes Laertes' murder of Hamlet excusable and his death a tragedy. An example of how Claudius uses Laertes to try and murder Hamlet is seen in Act IV, scene vii. Claudius and Laertes are discussing Hamlet when Claudius says: Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart? He is asking Laertes whether he is really sorry about his father's death or if he is just acting mournful without feeling mournful. Claudius uses these lines to lead Laertes into a plan to kill Hamlet, asking him what will he do to prove his

If I were President essays

If I were President essays If I were president I would strive to accomplish these three major things. First, I would strengthen our educational system, second, I would make certain that everyone has equal and fair treatment in our society, and lastly, I would secure our borders. Our education system in America is not one in which we should be very proud of. Yes, America does have excellent schools, colleges, and learning institutions, but our standards are not set as high as other countries. For example, our country does not fund our schools adequately. Teachers teach with not enough books, no supplies, or books that are often over 20 years old. How can we expect our children to be up to date with the worlds information if our teaching materials are not new? Often teachers in our public schools are forced to buy text books and supplies for our children with their own personal money. Why do they do this? Because they believe in a good education for all learners. Our country "prides" itself on the quality of education a person can receive here, yet teachers are one of the countries lowest paid professionals. If I were president, I would also make sure that everyone in this country was treated equal and fair. The 13th Amendment to the constitution did abolish slavery, and the 14th Amendment was passed to counter the black codes, but in reality, discrimination still occurs in every aspect today in America. Discrimination is not just a black and white issue, it also has to do with age, gender, equal housing, religion, national origin, and credit, to name a few. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped to reinstate what the amendments tried to do early in history, but there is still much to be done. Companies need to be regulated better, and stricter rules need to be enforced and fined if necessary. Every American deserves the right to be treated with equality and fairness whether they are male or female, old or young, or non white. ...

Drugs and mass media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Drugs and mass media - Essay Example In the book â€Å"One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the ideology of Advanced Industrial Society† Herbert Marcuse claims that in modern society people are determined by the information that comes from mass media and technologies (13). The information forms the concepts people keep in their minds to estimate things they meet in their lives. The point is that people almost become controlled by the images and concepts mass media thrust them. For example, concerning drugs, when we watch some advertisement on TV where we see that people who have used some medical drugs become healthy and happy, we undoubtedly believe that we will get the same effect if we start using the drugs as well. The main problem is that we certainly believe in what we see in mass media because media system taught us that the best way to get trustworthy information is looking for it in mass media sources. Why don’t we ask ourselves whether the conceptualizations we get from media are truthful or just the tools of manipulation on society? Within his social theory of communication famous German sociologist Niklas Luhmann argues that communication is the main basis that lies in fundamentals of society. As far as mass media is the main communicative tool of modern social system, it works throughout all the aspects of society (25). First of all, it forms public opinion, which evidently is one of the most powerful manipulative remedy against personality. It turns out that considering media products, for example, watching TV we unconsciously catch the main points of public opinion. In other words, we learn how we have to look like and who we have to be to become the persons accepted by our society. If watching TV we see that it is normally to use drugs to look cool and stylish, we start using drugs to become cool and stylish. Luhmann claims that the messages we

The Holocaust. When Did The Nazis Decide on The Final Solution Essay

The Holocaust. When Did The Nazis Decide on The Final Solution - Essay Example It remains unclear whether the Nazi administration declared the final solution. However, the regime employed a number of euphemisms to camouflage their real intentions of annihilating the Jewish population in the expansive Germany. On this account, therefore, the final solution is chief among the vague expressions used by the Nazi government to refer to the spontaneous killing and annihilation of the Jews (Inter alia & Bullock, 1961, 480). Incidentally, the Nazi regime perpetuated the rampant annihilation of Jews throughout its reign, and there was no precise instant when a specialized mission to eradicate Jews was made until 1941. Nevertheless, it is quite relevant to note that there could have been a basis for the resolve to eradicate the Jewish population in Germany by the rogue Nazi administration. For that reason, the final solution could have been a result of systematic considerations and deliberations that eventually settled on the eradication of the Jewish population. Such a sequence of deliberation would point towards the exact cause the Nazi administration endeavoured to achieve through the systematic murder of Jews (Shirer, 1989, 864-865). This paper takes historical account of the holocaust by contemplating on the events leading to the final solution that involved the brutal murder and annihilation of the Jewish population in Germany by the infamous Nazi regime. The Nazis commonly used euphemistic speech to disguise the correct nature of their crimes. They used the expression â€Å"Final Solution† to mean to their agenda to wipe out the Jewish people. It is not recognized when the organizers of Nazi Germany definitively settled on to execute the "Final Solution." The genocide of the Jews was the height of a decade of increasingly brutal discriminatory measures. Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the maltreatment and isolation of Jews was executed in stages (Hilberg, 2003, 55). After the Nazi party ascended to power in Germany in 1933, its government-sponsored prejudice led to anti-Jewish laws, economic embargos, and the aggression of the Kristallnacht pogroms, all of which intended to systematically cut off Jews from the general public and coerce them out of the country. After the September 1939 German incursion of Poland (the commencement of WWII), anti-Jewish program escalated to the incarceration and ultimate murder of European Jewry. The Nazis first instituted ghettos (enfolded areas intended to segregate and manage the Jews) in the Generalgouvernement (a region in central with eastern Poland controlled by a German national government) as well as the Warthegau (a region of western Poland seized to Germany). Polish along with western European Jews were extradited to these ghettos where they resided in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions with insufficient food. Following June 1941 German offensive of the Soviet Union, SS (in addition to police units acting as portable murder units) began enormous killing operatio ns intended at entire Jewish groups (Cesarani, 1994, 78). These plated trucks had exhaust pipes rearranged to pump venomous carbon monoxide gas into potted spaces, murdering those sheltered within. They were planned to complement continuing shooting operations. On July 17, 1941, one month after the assault of the Soviet Union, Hitler commissioned SS leader Heinrich Himmler with an obligation for all security affairs in the inhabited Soviet Union. Hitler bestowed Himmler broad power to physically get rid of any perceived dangers to permanent German occupation. A fortnight later, on July 31, 1941, Nazi chief Hermann Goering sanctioned SS

Causes effects and history of prostitution

Causes effects and history of prostitution Prostitution is listed among the crimes some refer to as victimless or consensual crimes, but research shows that may not be the true picture of prostitution. Before proceeding, we need to define prostitution. Despite of the fact that, prostitution being known as the oldest profession in the history of mankind. The workable definition has proven elusive. From a dictionary we learn that prostitution is the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money. But a prostitute cannot simply be a woman who sells her body, since that was the norm of the society that women will get marriage in order to accomplish home and better life style. Promiscuity has been proposed as another candidate. Medieval canon lawyer Johannes Teutonicus suggested that a woman who had sex with more than 23,000 men should be classified as a prostitute, although, furthermore he says that sexual intercourse with 40 to 60 opposite gender would also be called prostitute. However, promiscuity itself does not turn a woman into a prostitute. Although a vast majority of prostitutes are promiscuous, most people would agree that sleeping around does not amount to prostitution. Hence I define prostitution as systematic sexual violence and oppression against female. Selected national and international research projects and various programs by women have been initiated to address the health burden of violence against women. Such projects have especially focused on the health consequences to women of battering or domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, child sexual abuse and incest, and female genital mutilation (See, for example, World Bank Discussion Papers 255, Violence Against Women: the Hidden Health Burden). In depicting the health effects of such forms of violence against women, these projects attempt to make the violence, harm and human rights violation to women visible. However, a consideration of the dire health consequences of prostitution demonstrates that prostitution not only gravely impairs womens health but it is obviously violence against women. The health consequences to women from prostitution are the same injuries and infections suffered by women who are subjected to other forms of violence. The physical health consequences include: injury (bruises, broken bones, black eyes, concussions). A 1994 study conducted with 68 women in Minneapolis/St.Paul who had been prostituted for at least six months found that 50% of those women had been physically assaulted by their purchasers, and a third of those experienced purchaser assaults at least several times a year. 23% of those assaulted were beaten severely enough to have broken bones. Furthermore, 90% of the women in this study had experienced violence in their personal relationships resulting in miscarriage, stabbing, loss of consciousness, and head injuries (Parriott, Health Experiences of Twin Cities Women Used in Prostitution). Prostitution is physically harmful to women. STDs (including HIV/AIDS, chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, human papilloma virus, and syphilis) are alarmingly high among women in prostitution. Only 15 % of the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study had never contracted one of the STDs, not including AIDS, most injurious to health (chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrheal, herpes). General gynecological problems, but in particular chronic pelvic pain and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), plague women in prostitution. The Minneapolis/St. Paul study reported that 31% of the women interviewed had experienced at least one episode of PID which accounts for most of the serious illness associated with STD infection. Among these women, there was also a high incidence of positive pap smears, several times greater than the Minnesota Department of Healths cervical cancer screening program for low and middle income women. More STD episodes can increase the risk of cervical cancer. Another physical effect of p rostitution is unwanted pregnancy and miscarriage. Other health effects include irritable bowel syndrome, as well as partial and permanent disability. The emotional health consequences of prostitution include severe trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-medication through alcohol and drug abuse; and eating disorders. Almost all the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study categorized themselves as chemically-addicted. Crack cocaine and alcohol were used most frequently. Ultimately, women in prostitution are also at special risk for self-mutilation, suicide and homicide. 46% of the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study had attempted suicide, and 19% had tried to harm themselves physically in different ways, for example, in another survey of 55 victims/survivors of prostitution who used the services of the Council for Prostitution Alternative in Portland, Oregon, 78% were victims of rape by pimps and male buyers an average of 49 times a year; 84% were the victims of aggravated as sault and were thus horribly beaten, often requiring emergency room attention and hospitalization; 53% were victims of sexual abuse and torture; and 27% were mutilated (Documentation available from the Council for Prostitution Alternatives). In developing countries, it has also been estimated that 70 percent of female infertility is caused by sexually transmitted diseases that can be traced back to their husbands or partners (Jodi L. Jacobson, The Other Epidemic, p. 10). Among women in rural Africa, female infertility is widespread from husbands or partners who migrate to urban areas, buy commercial sex, and bring home infection and sexually transmitted diseases. Women in prostitution industries have been blamed for this epidemic of STDs when in reality, studies confirm that it is men who buy sex in the process of migration who carry the disease from one prostitute woman to another and ultimately back to their wives and girlfriends. The movement of abandoned or rejected barren women to urban prostitution has been documented in Niger, Uganda, and the Central African Republic. Numerous studies in Africa and Asia by the World Bank and a number of international research organizations have found that divorced or separated wom en comprise the great majority of prostitutes or semi prostitutes (Jacobson, p. 13). Thus, a major health effect of the mass male consumption of commercial sex and the expansion of sex industries in developing countries is not only a rampant increase in sexually transmitted diseases but an exponential increase in infertility. The further effects of this vicious cycle insure that a whole new segment of women who are abandoned by their husbands due to infertility, are propelled into prostitution for survival. In both developing and industrialized country contexts, current campaigns to control the spread of HIV/AIDS by advocating safe sex for women in prostitution fail to address the blatant inequities between women who are bought for sex and the men who pay for it. Any AIDS strategy based on negotiating condom use between the purchaser of sex and the woman who must supply it assumes symmetry of power that does not even exist between women and men in many personal consensual relationsh ips. If AIDS programs are serious about eradicating AIDS, they must challenge the sex industry. Women in prostitution are targeted as the problem instead of making the sex industry problematic and challenging the mass male consumption of women and children in commercial sex. This is institutionalized when governments and NGOs argue for the medicalization of prostitution when they propose laws on prostitution which subject women to periodic medical check-ups. It is stated that women in the sex industry would be better protected if they submitted, or were required to submit, to health and especially STD screening. The way in which sex industries are responsible for the widespread health problems of women and children is mystified with proposals to implement health checks of women in the industry. No proposals have been forthcoming, from those who would propose both mandatory and voluntary medical surveillance for women in the sex industry, to medically monitor the men who would purchase sex. The same is true with current attempts to medicalize prostitution. No action will stabili ze the sex industry more than legitimating prostitution through the health care system. If medical personnel are called upon to monitor women in prostitution, as part of occupational health safety, we will have no hope of eradicating the industry. Furthermore, from a health perspective alone, it is inconceivable that medicalization of women in the industry will reduce infection and injury without concomitant medicalization of the male buyers. Thus medicalization, which is rightly viewed as a consumer protection act for men rather than as a real protection for women, ultimately protects neither women nor men. As with other forms of violence against women eradicating the health burden of prostitution entails addressing but going beyond its health effects. To address the health consequences of prostitution, the international human rights community must understand that prostitution harms women and that in addition to needing health services; women must be provided with the economic, social and psychological means to leave prostitution. Until prostitution is accepted as violence against women and a violation of womens human rights, the health consequences of prostitution cannot be addressed adequately. Conversely, until the health burden of prostitution is made visible, the violence of prostitution will remain hidden. Once Victor Hugo quotes stated in is novel; We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true. Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Their Advantages Essay -- Cars Energy HEV

Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Their Advantages 'The HEV [Hybrid Electric Vehicle] concept goes back to 1905. On November 23 of that year, American engineer H. Piper filed for a patent on a hybrid vehicle. Piper's design called for an electric motor to augment a gasoline engine'(1, pg 2) and thus, the HEV was born. Hybrid Electric Vehicles, otherwise known as HEVs are vehicles that 'combine the internal combustion engine of a conventional vehicle with the battery and electric motor of an electric vehicle'(2). In this day and age car manufactures are trying to out-compete one another in terms of car features and sales. Technology has come a long way since 1905 but the principle is still the same: to produce hybrid vehicles that not only can compete with standard vehicles in terms of price and available features, but that also offer better mileage and less pollution. One may understand why hybrid vehicles are a good choice, but one may not understand why more auto manufacturers have turned to hybrids instead of electric vehicles. 'HEVs do not share an electric vehicle's main drawback: limited range between chargings. The few thousand electric vehicles on the roads in the U.S' can travel only about 80 miles before their batteries need recharging, which can take anywhere from three to eight hours'(1, pg1). For those who do not wish to be constrained by having to charge up batteries and worry about mileage, HEVs are the next logical choice. There are two different types of hybrid vehicles: parallel and designated series. The following is a good description of each : ?In a series hybrid, the internal combustion engine drives a generator that charges the batteries, whic... ...ent as well. Hybrid vehicles emit significantly less pollutants than do standard cars and trucks and their fuel efficiency is also a positive aspect that can attract consumers who are interested in saving money. As technology advances and hybrid technologies becomes more efficient it seems that the HEV ?could be- - and in fact should be - - the car of the near future?(1). Sources: 1) Online version of Scientific American article, by Wouk, Victor. October 1997. Hybrid Electric Vehicles: http://www.sciam.com/1097issue/1097wouk.html 2) http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/what.html 3) http://www.honda2001.com/models/2001/environment.html 4) http://prius.toyota.com/technology/hybrid.html 5) http://prius.toyota.com/green/index.html 6) http://www.epa.gov/autoemissions/ 7) http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/concept.html

Concert Essay

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at YUANZE UNIVERSITY auditorium in building 6. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because of religious restrictions. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the performers and some of the university students. I went with two friends, who weren’t so eager to go; I had to convince them by telling it would be interesting to see student performers/composers. The first piece was called Oblique/musique composed by Patrick Swanson. This piece instantly stood out among the others because of the instruments involved. The piece was performed by two people: one playing a vibraphone and the other playing a large drum/cymbal/gong. However, the piece also contained prerecorded sounds of static, bass, and an incoherent voice. In this piece the melody was repeated many times. It was similar to the works of John Adams because of its repetitions, background recording, and minimalistic sounds. The second piece was a piano composition called something Afternoon; I didn’t really get the title. This piece had a very relaxing melody and a mild tempo. It was not fast and not slow. It was an experience of a lifetime. I listened to a genre of music I never had listened to. At the concert two people performed already leaving the audience wanting for more. I also noticed that in the back of the auditorium there was a camera crew filming the whole performance. The auditorium was very elegant looking. The majority of the people in the audience were young people in their twenties. That’s what I expected, it being in a college and all. The hall was rather big for such a small performance. It could fit approximately three hundred people and in the performance floor there was a piano a chair for the pianist and a table with a jar and a glass of water. The songs performed in the concert were all mixed up between andante and allegro. Most of the songs went from andante to allegro. It was divided into five acts. Four of the five acts were homophonic and the other act was polyphonic. The performers were dressed very elegantly. There was about thirty people in attendance and they were dressed in there normal attire. Also the majority of the concert was in the dissonant form. Very rarely I saw a consonant song playing. The behavior of the performers was that they were very concentrated in their work. Keeping aware and avoiding all mistakes if possible The pianist was really young for his professionalism, he was really professional, played spectacularly well. He gave the audience feelings of anger, sadness, and joy. The flutist also played brilliantly. Lastly the vocalist was the best part. She had a very high pitched voice sang both high and low parts. Sang both happy and sad parts. Gave the crowd mixed up feelings.