Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts

Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts By Maeve Maddox The use of the expression â€Å"just deserts† in a recent DWT exercise brought some reader objections. Here are two: She got her just deserts really? â€Å"Desert†Ã‚  like an arid place? Isnt it desserts? You are surely incorrect. The correct form of the expression is â€Å"just desserts.† Many speakers think that people who get what they deserve get dessert, unaware that there’s another noun pronounced like dessert but spelled with one s: desert [deh-ZERT]. Here are three kinds of desert: desert [DEZ-ert] (noun): an arid place desert [deh-ZERT] (verb): to abandon desert [deh-ZERT] (noun): worthiness of recompense Desert [DEZ-ert] in the sense of a wasteland or wilderness came into English by way of French from Latin  desertum, â€Å"thing abandoned.† Desertum is used in the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible to translate the word for â€Å"wilderness.† Dessert [deh-ZERT] in the sense of the last course of a meal is from French  desservir, â€Å"to clear the table,† literally, â€Å"to un-serve.† The dessert comes at the end of the meal when the table has been cleared of everything that went before. Desert [deh-ZERT] in the sense of consequences comes from French  deservir, â€Å"to be worthy to have,† or â€Å"to deserve,† from Latin  deservire, â€Å"to serve well.† One reader explained why she’s reluctant to accept the correct spelling of the expression: My interpretation of â€Å"just desserts† was that â€Å"dessert† was the sweet stuff at the end of a meal†¦cake, ice cream, etc. So â€Å"just desserts† was you got the dessert you deserved, meaning you didn’t get the sweet stuff or you got something less than sweet. The expression â€Å"Just Desserts† is often used deliberately as a marketing pun for the selling of baked goods, but there are plenty of unintentional errors among the examples that come up in a Web search: In the end she turns on him, but also gets her just desserts when the mob’s lawyer finally sees the light. –The Rotarian (magazine). Woman driver gets her just desserts –Video blog A serial Czech  prankster got his just desserts  after pals spooked him with a hilarious specter stunt.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œNY Daily News The error even appears in books from reputable publishers: He should have been pleased that Ralph Standishhad got his just desserts. –A Parliament of Spies, Cassandra Clark, Minotaur 2012, p. 221. Note: The character Standish is a bad man who has been found murdered. Corrected examples: In the end she turns on him, but also gets her just deserts when the mob’s lawyer finally sees the light. Woman driver gets her just deserts A serial Czech  prankster got his just deserts  after pals spooked him with a hilarious specter stunt.   He should have been pleased that Ralph Standishhad got his just deserts. Although the expression is most frequently used to refer to a deserved punishment, it can also refer to a deserved reward. For example the following headline from the Oye! Times (Toronto) uses the expression in a positive sense. [The actor mentioned has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame]: CHRISTOPH WALTZ GETS HIS JUST DESSERTS [sic] Bottom line: Ice cream and chocolate cake are desserts. People who get what’s coming to them get their just  deserts. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them)In Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisThe Difference Between "Shade" and "Shadow"

How To Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate In One Step

How To Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate In One Step You’ve arrived, but feel lost. Or confused. Youre being bombarded with stimuli. Or too many choices. You’re unsure what to do next. I know exactly what you’re going to do next. You’re going to leave. You’re off in search of a place where you feel comfortable, confident, more â€Å"at home.† Now here’s the rub. You actually were at someone’s home- their home on the web- their home page, but something went terribly wrong. The problem’s simple enough. The home page isn’t simple enough. The host made you work. As a website visitor, you don’t want that. And as a website host, your goal must be to invoke a sense of belonging. The Number One Way to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate #Marketing by @feldmancreativeThe goal of a home page is to get the visitor to click Bounce rate, which is revealed in your analytics, indicates the percentage of web site visits where only a single page was viewed. Translation: zero clicks. For a blog site, you need not get overly concerned about bounce rate. One-and-done visits are common. However, those that enter your site via its home page are likely to be first-timers. In this case, a high bounce rate is deadly. So how do you inspire a visitor to click a page deeper into your site? You interest them. And how do you interest your visitor? You communicate an idea that is easy to understand and memorable. Marketers often describe such ideas as â€Å"sticky.† Made to Stick, the bestselling book by Chip and Dan Heath, spells out the formula with six principles. The first, and perhaps, most vital, is simplicity. I’ll paraphrase from the book where they ask and answer the question, â€Å"How do you find the essential core of your ideas?† They submit you must be a master of exclusion. You must relentlessly prioritize. The book’s chapter on simplicity also offers the following: It’s hard to make ideas stick in a noisy environment You must weed out ideas, even if they’re important, in an effort to highlight the most important one Uncertainty- caused by multiple choices- tends to paralyze readers Powerful ideas are compact and meaningful Is your homepage simple? Does it elicit the response you want from visitors? If it’s not clear and compact, it’s time to review and revise it. It’s time to simplify. What’s in it for me? If you’ve studied copywriting even a wee bit, you’re likely to have read the â€Å"WIIFM† lesson. A common derivative of it goes: readers don’t care about your company or product; they care about themselves. I want to say you get the idea. I want to say everybody does. But they don’t. In fact, I don’t think it’d be outrageous to say a painfully large majority can’t (and maybe never will) comprehend the concept. And it’s a pity because when you shine the spotlight on yourself, you lose business. Your headline has a job to do While your typical web-browsing human is obviously not a goldfish, researchers like to explain his or her average attention span falls short of the little orange pucker’s. This means your job is to create a page, which is capable of expanding the average attention span. You need to grab ‘em fast. This is the headline’s job. The headline on your home page is the first line the visitor reads and therefore the most important line on your entire website.

America's intervention in World Wars Term Paper

America's intervention in World Wars - Term Paper Example This is because America considers herself as a perfect nation as far as the ideals are concerned. She propagates democracy which contains freedom of speech and freedom of press and the like, and heavily promotes human rights. America sees herself as a country that can end all the evils in the world, or at least that is how she presents it to the world. Therefore, when America saw in the First and Second World War that democracy was being threatened then she considered it as her duty and responsibility to protect it and thus intervened in the war on the side of Britain and France. Treaty of Westphalia that laid the foundation of modern state system outlined that no country can intervene in another countries’ issues. This is because any country that is sovereign and that is independent, has right to make laws and implement them in their own way unless that country asks for help from outside. America is a superpower and superpower is not a stand-alone thing. This power comes from her internal competency, which ranges from education to military and to governance. For a superpower to have a say in the world matters, it is important that she builds friendly ties with as many influential countries as possible. This is exactly what was seen in both the world wars that America intervened because she had stakes in the country she allied with. This is not to say that America did not have stakes in Germany. Germany was a big market and in the beginning America started off with selling arms and ammunition to both the sides in the war. However, the public sentiments turned more towards the Allies and thus US parted with Britain and France in both the World Wars (Hargreaves, p. 17). Balance of Power is an important concept in International relations. No matter how big and powerful a country is but if it does not have enough allies, then it can prove to be a great threat to that country. This is because even the smallest country in the world can come up and confront a b ig and powerful country with the help of powerful and influential ally or allies. Therefore, it was seen in both the world wars that the US sided with France and Britain because America saw these countries as great colonial powers and more stable than Germany. This way, America knew that siding with Britain and France would bring the country greater favours in return (Sheehan, p. 1). World War I and World War II – A Background America has always been the greatest supporters of democracy and capitalism. Not only she has been a supporter, but she has made every effort to fight against every power that comes to compete against democracy. This case was seen in both the world wars. America did not have any direct stakes in the war, but she joined both the wars because not joining them would have been a threat to democracy. In the First World War, this threat to democracy was dictatorship. Similarly, in the Second World War the threat to democracy was Nazism, Fascism and the quickl y spreading communism. America has always shown herself as an isolationist, but she indirectly helped Britain and France in both the wars due to her vestigial interests in those countries (Sheehan, pp. 11-13). First World War started because of the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s crowned Prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb national and Germany got involved in it because of his support to Austria-Hungary. America maintained her policy of isolation from the start of the war in 1914

The Phamaceutical Sector in Madagascar Coursework

The Phamaceutical Sector in Madagascar - Coursework Example These can then be developed into drugs in the western world and marketed in ventures where a pharmaceutical company can make millions if not billions of dollars. To do this, they have encouraged conservation efforts of the rainforests as well as speedy cataloguing of all the different species that are largely unknown to date. Thorough all of this, it must be taken into consideration that while Madagascar does not have the financial resources to develop the drugs themselves, these pharmaceutical companies are working in a sovereign country where the biological flora present is, in fact, a property of that country. This must be delicately balanced with attaining the materials needed for research as well as keeping within the legal framework of the country. For a start, this paper will first take a brief look at the country of Madagascar. It will examine some general facts, the political and economic situation in the country and the tropical rainforests. The interest of pharmaceutical c ompanies lies primarily in these forests and the importance of conservation of these forests will be detailed. Some examples of plants that have been successfully developed into drugs will be made mention of as well as the legal aspects of exporting biodiversity such as this to other countries. In addition, the financial aspects that are considered why a pharmaceutical company will be detailed followed by a discussion of whether it is worth investing in the pharmaceutical industry of Madagascar by companies based in the western world. Madagascar is an island in the Indian Ocean that is located about 400km away from the coast of Mozambique. It is the world’s fourth largest island. It covers an area of 587,041 sq km (226,658 sq miles) (BBC News) and has a population of 20.1 million (UN, 2010 from BBC News). The inhabitants of Madagascar, the Malagasy are descendants of the both Africans and Indonesians who moved to this island over 2000 years ago (BBC News). Madagascar used to be a French colony and only gained independence 1960 (BBC News). Due to this colonialism, Madagascar has strong ties both culturally and economically both to France and other West-African countries where French is spoken (BBC News). The two main official languages in the country are Malagasy and French though English was recently introduced as an official language too (BBC News). Due to its positioning, Madagascar is prone to being affected severely by massive flooding and torrential rains, the latest being in 2000 and later in 2004 (BBC News). Natural disasters have not been the only challenge the people of Madagascar have faced. The country has been in political turmoil for a number of years. Andry Rajoelina, along with the army’s support overthrew the president at the time Marc Ravalomanana. Rajoelina Rajoelina’s government has not been recognized internationally and no agreement has been reached with other political parties in the country. Due to this stalemate, Ma dagascar’s economy has suffered with private investment slowing down and international donors suspending support (BBC News). It has been approximated that up to 70% of people in Madagascar survive on less and a dollar a day (World Bank from BBC News) and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was US $420 (World Bank, 2009 from BBC News). Poverty is widespread and there has been much competition for agricultural land (BBC News), which is where the next aspect of this paper leads us to. The forests are home to much of the products that foreign

An analysis of “Night” and “Beloved” Essay Example for Free

An analysis of â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† Essay In the list of the most tackled themes for literary works, freedom and love probably top the list. The Novels â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† are some examples of the literary pieces which intertwine these two popular concepts. Basically, the books dwelled on stories of slavery and brutality which ultimately destroyed the lives of the fictional characters. In this paper, the researcher tries to examine how these books address the importance of freedom and love in terms of living a life of meaning and purpose. The Lack of Freedom Can Deny Worth Both literary pieces demonstrate that without freedom, a person can ultimately loose his sense of self, and thus stripping the individual of his love for himself and his worth as a human being. The lack of worth is often initiated by the perpetrators or those who enslave. However, through continuous exposure to maltreatment, discrimination, and intolerant violence, the enslaved may loose hope, and in the end – accept the fact that he and his life are indeed worthless and that there is no point of loving himself and his fellows. This is clearly shown in the first novel. In the beginning of the â€Å"Night†, the Jews who were brought to the Nazi camp found relief in caring for each other. They also turned to religion and their God at times when they feared for their lives. In particular, Eliezer excessively prayed seeking salvation, security, and purpose in his faith and believing that God would not let evil prevail. The Jews also tried to seek relief from supporting Zionism. To a certain sense, the captives tried to preserve their worth as a human being through loving and caring. (Wiesel) However, brutal experiences forced them to thwart their beliefs and their worth. They had to see babies that were burned in open pit furnaces. Such event is very demoralizing to people since babies are often regarded as symbols of pure and innocent lives which needed love, not brutality. Apart from that, they were also forced to watch the hanging of their fellow Jews, people whom they loved and cared for. Such experiences combined with the inhumane treatment of Nazis gradually led the Jews to believe that they were basically nothing but slaves – individuals who have no purpose in life but to serve the superior race. They were somehow, undeserving of love and life, which will only be wasted through unjustifiable and imposed death. In â€Å"Beloved†, the slaves were liberated but one can see that their liberation was probably too late in the sense that slavery already ruined their â€Å"sense of self†. Take the case of Paul D. As a slave, he was treated with utmost cruelty by the â€Å"school teacher†. When he tried to escape with Sixo, they were captured and Sixo was killed. Paul D was then subjected to humiliation when he was forced to wear an iron bit much like a horse. He also suffered from pitiless beatings and torturing of the ‘chain gang’. As a result of these inhumane treatments, Paul D often felt insecure and unconvinced of his humanness and manhood. (Morrison) In the case of Sethe, she was also treated as an inferior being that, as the school teacher notes, has â€Å"animal characteristics†. She was violated by men and even whipped almost to death, despite the fact that she was pregnant. As a result of these experiences, she felt a feeling of self-hatred for becoming a slave. Sethe also cannot find a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment in her own self. That is why she saw motherhood as the only chance for her to redeem her worth. Thus, she regarded her children, especially ‘Beloved’ as her â€Å"best thing. † By being so selfless to the point of martyrdom, it seems that Sethe did not possess any love for herself. Rather, every loving emotion is directed to her children. The Lack of Freedom Can Distort a Person’s Sense of Life and Love The two novels also showed that slavery can greatly alter a person’s view of living and loving. Basically, the lack of freedom can introduce seemingly irrational and unreasonable perspectives that are derived from sheer fright, panic and anxiety. In â€Å"Night†, the lack of freedom reduced the lives of the Jews as nothing but mere struggles for survival. Through the extensive â€Å"selection† process promoted by the Nazis, the Jews developed the idea that the fittest are truly the only ones who can live. This is demonstrated by the fact that those who were considered as ill and weak were quickly exterminated while the â€Å"strong† ones were used for labor. The idea of the â€Å"survival of the fittest† was further enforced by the scarcity of resources in the camp. There was too little food and water and this prompted the Jews to compete against themselves. What’s worse was that the competition even prompted the prisoners to lose their sense of love and respect for their fathers. As noted by one of them: Listen to me, boy. Don’t forget that you’re in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, (and) no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone. (Wiesel) In a sense, without freedom the lives of the Jews became â€Å"animalistic†. They lost their regard for familial relations along with the loss of their hopes to be free. Without freedom, they had no love; and without love, their lives seemed to have no meaning. Elizier further demonstrates this point through his narration of a son’s beating of his father because of a fight over food on the train to Buchenwald. (Wiesel) In â€Å"Beloved†, the most twisted result of slavery is shown through murder. In the story, the schoolteacher wanted to take Sethe and her children back into the barn where slaves were dehumanized. Instead of surrendering her children however, Sethe decided to kill them rather than forcing them into a life without freedom. Through this act, Sethe demonstrated that life without freedom is worse than death. She somehow equated death as the only way to escape slavery and achieve freedom. For her, the act of murdering her own children – cutting their throat with a handsaw – was an act of love. Paul D explained Sethe’s actions: She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them†¦Outside this place, where they would be safe. (Morrison) In conclusion, the two novels, â€Å"Night† and â€Å"Beloved† show that without freedom, individuals can lose their idea of â€Å"love† – both in terms of self-love and love for others. Continuous demoralization and dehumanization can ultimately ruin a person’s concept of love and life. Moreover, such acts can drain purpose and meaning in living. Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987. Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.

A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Pretty Woman Essay -- Movie Film Essays

A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Pretty Woman In the introduction to his book, The Sublime Object of Ideology, Slavoj Zizek acquaints readers with his book’s tripartite aim. He plans, among other things, to illustrate concepts fundamental to Lacanian psychoanalysis – an intention which will serve to further his more ambitious goal â€Å"to reactualize Hegelian dialectics by giving it a new reading† in the light of Lacanian psychoanalysis – and â€Å"to contribute to the theory of ideology via a new reading of some well-known classical motifs† (7). In this broad category of classical motifs associated with the theory of ideology, I have isolated both fetishism and the commodity-form and intend to briefly illustrate some of these concepts against the backdrop of the movie Pretty Woman -- a popular rags-to-riches romantic comedy from 1990. Looking through the prism of Lacan and Marx, Zizek brands us as â€Å"fetishists in practice, not in theory†; he posits that we â€Å"do not know† or we â€Å"misrecognize† the fact that in our â€Å"social reality itself, in [our] social activity – in the act of commodity exchange – [we] are guided by the fetishistic illusion† (31). Amidst this discussion on ideology, Zizek highlights one of the most significant differences between Marx and Lacan: In the predominant Marxist perspective the ideological gaze is a partial gaze overlooking the totality of social relations, whereas in the Lacanian perspective ideology rather designates a totality set on effacing the traces of its own impossibility. (49) This difference corresponds to the one that distinguishes the Marxian from the Freudian notion of fetishism: In the former, â€Å"a fetish conceals the positive network of social relations,† whereas in the latter â€Å"a fet... ...difficult to let go of something so beautiful.† The movie is jam-packed full of such desirable â€Å"somethings† -- potentially fetishized objects which characters use in an effort to compensate for a â€Å"lack† in their lives: cash, a silver Lotus, clothes from Rodeo Drive, a personal jet, the â€Å"kill† of a hostile takeover, or the company of a beautiful woman. In the movie's conclusion, Edward does go through with the jewelry-return; he does not leave behind the ruby-haired Vivian, though, and the audience receives their â€Å"happy ending† – perhaps a fetish in its own right. Works Cited: The Internet Movie Database Ltd. (An Amazon.com company.) http://us.imdb.com [Accessed 11 November 1998]. Pretty Woman. Dir. Garry Marshall. With Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. Touchstone, 1990. Zizek, Slavoj. The Sublime Object of Ideology. London: Verso, 1989.

Pride and Prejudice †Coursework Assignment Essay

How does pride and prejudice affect Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship? How does Elizabeth change her opinion about Darcy after reading his letter? â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.† This is the opening sentence of the famous book â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. The sentence automatically states to the reader that the story written is about issues regarding marriage at the time. It is saying that a â€Å"man in possession of good fortune† is searching for a wife and a poor woman would love to marry him as to the money she would receive. The original copy (book) of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† was published in the 19th century (1813) and was named â€Å"First Impressions†. Jane Austen soon changed it to â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†, as the publishers would not accept it as it was seen as weak novel. The book was written â€Å"by an author†, later known as Jane Austen. This is because Jane Austen was aware of the attitude of men, which was negative towards women. The early 19th century view of women was stereotypical and sexist( but was considered perfectly rational at the time), reason being women were given little autonomy and it was virtually impossible to be independent with men as men were considered to be superior and women ass the inferior beings. They believed that nature gave women the power to produce offspring, so they should just stay at home and care for their children. People living at the time underestimated women, so were not allowed to participate in high society doings, but if one was in high society it self , ten she had the power to write and publish books unlike Jane Austen. This probably gives an idea of the general attitude towards women at the time. They were held at a low esteem, put down, slaves for men, developed their knowledge at home. Life then is the same as in the book and Jane Austen uses the novel to criticise in the way which women were regarded. The only career that women had was to marry their daughter(s) in high society; the business of their life was to make their daughter(s) economically secure, which can lead them to have their own identity in society. The novel â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† raises issues in society at that particular time e.g. marrying a â€Å"man in possession of good fortune†. The theme that runs through the book is about people who are blinded by their pride, ego which eventually leads them to be prejudice against someone. There is a saying â€Å"never judge a book by its cover† well this statement is challenged by â€Å"the first impression is the last impression†. I personally agree with the first statement, but characters in the story do not. The theme is basically based on issues affecting marriage, status of women, romance and opinions. The story is about Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth (also known as Lizzy/Elisa), Mary, Lydia and Kitty. The Bennet family is the unhappy marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet, the quote in chapter 20 informs the reader about this â€Å"†¦from this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do? This is spoken by Mr Bennet, this shows that the couple do not agree on situations and if they don’t agree and also keep such conditions to their children they are not happy with such a marriage. The story opens with a conversation between Mr and Mrs Bennet. The dialogue significantly acquaints the reader to the personality, which the two characters have. Mr Bennet appears to be calm and at ease, he is also intelligent and sarcastic, whereas Mrs Bennet is boisterous, over excited and is constantly trying to get her daughters married. In the book she is almost a caricature in addition she also lacks the intelligence of her husband. Due to Mr Bennet is getting old and when he dies the family’s possessions will be inherited by Mr Bennet’s closest male relative, Mrs Bennet is under immense pressure. This is because when Mr Bennet dies the Bennet family will be left homeless and the girls will be in desperate need for marriage. In chapter 1 (page 5) Mrs Bennet talks about Netherfield park which is let at last .she affirms that â€Å"A single man of large fortune† has brought it whose name is Bingley. She carries on saying â€Å"what a fine thing for our girls†. This shows to the reader that she is adamant on getting her daughters married. She confirms this by saying â€Å"you must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.† As all the daughters are single Mrs Bennet assumes Mr Bingley will fall in love with one of them. Jane the eldest of the sisters is the prettiest and is also good from the heart, as she does not acknowledge anything bad in any one this is because she is naive. Elizabeth is the second eldest and is dearest to Mr Bennet i.e. when he talks about bingley meeting the girls he mentions â€Å"I must throw in a good word for my Lizzy† (page 6). She also is â€Å"not half so handsome as Jane†, but she is intelligent â€Å"Lizzy has some thing more of quickness than her sisters.†(page 6). Jane and Elizabeth are the main daughters in the book, they both have different opinions. Elisa judges people by first impressions, whereas Jane never judges anyone, she can never see anything negative in anyone, not even her mum. Mary is he quietist out of the girls, she is sensitive, works hard for everything and is more to her self. On the other hand Kitty and Lydia ( the youngest out of the girls)are always chasing soldiers, they are good humoured and enjoy dancing. The Bennets attend the ball hosted by Bingley; who is introduced to the sisters, but takes distinct interest in Jane Bennet. This is noticed when Bingley dances with Jane twice. Darcy is introduced by his friend Bingley at the Netherfield ball. He catches Elizabeth’s eye straight away as he is good looking and also because he possesses a large fortune. Bingley persuades Darcy to dance, but as Darcy is not fond of dancing unless he is fully acquainted with his partner he says no. Bingley mentions Elizabeth and asks Darcy to dance with her, but Darcy replies â€Å"she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.†(page 11). Darcy also says that Bingley â€Å"you are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room† (page 11). Bingley adds to that â€Å"Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld!..†(page 11). The ball is the main event in the story, as the conversation between Darcy and Bingley in which they speak of Elizabeth is over heard by Elizabeth. Elisa feels that she has been judged and her pride which has been hurt then goes on to judge Darcy. â€Å"PREJUDICE† the word means preconceived opinion. It is an assumption; in this case of what a person is like, it is a negative judgement against someone. Elizabeth is prejudice against Darcy, as he spoke wrong of her behind her back. The fact that Wickham and Darcy are not really the best of friends escalates her hatred for Darcy, due to the fact Wickham proves him self a better person than Darcy. This hatred of hers forces her to like Wickham, as she thinks that he is the better man. Chapter 15 is when Lizzy is introduced to Wickham and all the women around him give him a lot of attention, as he is good looking (Wickham is fond of female attention). He meets Lizzy when he has just bought commissions in the militia to gain a higher status, this is where Darcy comes and Elisa notices the tension between the two. Wickham later explains the reason for the enmity between them. Wickhams explanation is that Darcy made him forfeit all the money and property that late Mr Darcy gave to him, as he was jealous of the relationship between late Mr Darcy and Wickham. Elizabeth has remembered something in Darcy and that is that if some one offends or hurts him in any way, he can be very unforgiving (Lizzy brings this up at the second Netherfield ball) At the second Netherfield ball Lizzy cannot find Wickham and Darcy asks her for a dance. Elizabeth agrees only because she wants to find put more on Darcy and Wickhams not so great relationship. Darcy is drawn to Elizabeth every time he sees her and Elizabeth hates him even more. When dancing very little words are spoken. â€Å"For I have always seen a great similarity in the return of our minds† (page 74). By saying this Elisa is being ironic and sarcastic, she is criticising Darcy, but Darcy does not realize and is drawn to â€Å"her fine eyes†. She also says to him â€Å"and never allow yourself to be blinded by prejudice.† She is trying to say that you make mistakes by making judgement on first impressions. In my opinion it is very easy to see someone else’s faults before our own. This is exactly what Elisa is doing, but ironically as she later admits this is her fault to. Elizabeth begins to talk about Wickham she notices a sudden change in Darcy’s body language and his facial impressions. Darcy makes a comment on how Wickham can make friends, but can’t keep them â€Å"Mr Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his making friend – whether he may be equally capable of retaining them is less certain† (page 74). Darcy does not give any other reasons for thing Wickham. Mr Collins is the cousin of Mr Bennet and all the Bennet’s property will be his when Mr Bennet dies as he is the closest male relative. Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth as Jane is likely to be engaged to Mr Bingley, as hinted by Mrs Bennet. He makes this proposal in chapter 19. Mr Collins at breakfast asks for a private audience with Elizabeth and Mrs Bennet agrees even though Elizabeth doesn’t want to. Mrs Bennet â€Å"Oh dear!-Yes-certainly. I am sure Lizzy will be very happy-I am sure she can have no objection.† (page 84). As soon as everyone leaves the room he compliments Elizabeth â€Å"your modesty, so far from doing you any disservice, rather adds your other perfections.† I feel that he starts off with this line, so Elisa emotionally breaks down, and accepts his proposal. She is silent after this speech as she finds it comical and she feels that if she says something she might laugh â€Å"†¦his feelings, made Elizabeth so near laughing† (page 84). Mr Collins understands her silence to be a convincing yes and he carries on explaining his reasons for marrying. However after his speech, Elisa rejects his proposal. He is shocked as he considered her silence to be an act â€Å"playing hard to get.† Elizabeth â€Å"You are to hasty sir. You forget have made no answer let me do it further loss of time. Accept thanks for the complements you are paying me. I am sensible to do other wise decline them. â€Å"Through out the whole of the proposal he did not mention love for Elizabeth. He mentions his reason for this proposal – Miss Jenkinson, who advises him to marry someone with a higher status, so he is not alone. â€Å"Mr Collins, You must marry.† – â€Å"Chuse properly, chuse a gentlewoman for my sake: and for your own† This relates to Charlotte Lucas’s speech on marriage for love and marriage and just to have a partner. Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth’s decision and her father tells her that â€Å"your mother will never see you again do not marry Mr. Collins and I will never see you again if do.† (page 90) Her father supports her decision. After this Mr Collins marries Charlotte (Lizzy’s friend) and Charlotte invites Elisa to stay at her house in Kent. Jane writes a letter to in which she states that she does not meet Mr Bingley in town. For this Elizabeth suspects Darcy. She suspects Darcy because of Colonel Fitz William (Darcy’s cousin). Fitz William to Elisa â€Å"what he told me was merely this that he congratulated himself on having lately saving a friend from the inconvenience of a most imprudent marriage† (page ). In chapter 34 Elizabeth is at home, reading that particular letter from Jane. This is when Darcy enters the room and paces up and down the room, he eventually proposes â€Å"†¦ you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire you and love you† (page 147). The anger for Darcy In Elisa suddenly fades away â€Å"she lost all compassion in anger† (page 148). But when he comments on the Bennet her anger returns e.g. when Mrs Bennet and Lydia were made at the second Netherfield ball. Mrs Bennet says â€Å"what is Mr Darcy o me that I should be afraid of him? I am sure we owe him no particular civility as to oblige to say anything, he may not hear.† Mrs Bennet thought Mr Darcy would have not heard what she said, but she was wrong. Mr Darcy also comments on Lydia and Kitty’s behaviour. When Elisa asks her mother to lower her voice, Mrs Bennet points out that there is no reason to offend Mr Darcy as she will get no advantage, â€Å"you will never recommend yourself to his friend, by doing so.† What she is trying to say is that he will tell Bingley to marry Jane, because the family are bad mannered, so are not suitable. The irony is prophetic, because it is very close to what happens in the chapter. Elizabeth makes it clear that she knows that it was Darcy’s fault Jane did not meet Bingley when she went town. Darcy â€Å"I have been good to Bingley more than I have been to myself.† Darcy is saying that he has been good to Bingley as he will not get married in a bad family, whereas if Lizzy accepts the proposal he will be getting married in a bad mannered family. Darcy in my point of view is being a hypocrite. Elizabeth is patiently listening and both are not trying to shoe their feelings e.g. Elisa is furious â€Å"She tried however to compose herself to answer him with patience† (page 148). (As Jane Austen is a woman she can write down exactly how Elisa would react in situations, but as Darcy is a man, Jane Austen is not acquainted to his feelings, so she judges him by describing his body language). Elizabeth rejects Darcy’s proposal and he is shocked â€Å"Mr Darcy changed colour† (page 149). She made her reasons not to go unnoticed. The first reason was for insulting her at the first Netherfield ball â€Å"†¦insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (page 149). And the words he spoke at the ball which mortified her pride â€Å"she is tolerable, but she is not handsome enough to tempt me† (page 11). The second reason being, the interference that took place in Bingley and Jane’s relationship. Darcy did not tell Bingley Jane had come to town to visit him, so the relationship between Bingley and Jane came to an end. Elisa Believes that Darcy had no right to ruin her sister’s love life â€Å"†¦to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever happiness of a most beloved sister?† (page 149). The third reason Elisa gave was on the injustice done to Wickham â€Å"you have deprived the best years of his life of that independence which was no less his due than his desert† (page 150). She also mentions on page 149 that thanks to Wickham she found out what the real Darcy was like â€Å"your character was unfolded in the recital which I received many months ago from Mr Wickham.† She says this due to the explanation Wickham gave her about his â€Å"misfortunes†. She tells Darcy about these so called â€Å"misfortunes† of Wickham, and blames it all on him. Darcy replies contemptuously â€Å"his misfortunes!†-â€Å"yes, his misfortunes have been great indeed.†(page 150). After Elizabeth’s speech Darcy cried â€Å"and this,† â€Å"is your opinion of me.† Darcy had been shocked by Elizabeth’s view and after apologising â€Å"he hastily left the room† (page 151). After leaving Darcy goes home and writes a letter to Elisa explaining â€Å"his faults† and everything else that he has done so far according to Elizabeth. Elizabeth receives the letter and â€Å"With no expectation of pleasure, but with the strongest curiosity† (page 152) she opens it. â€Å"This cannot be! This must be the grossest false hood!† (page 159). This is the reaction of Elisa after reading Darcy’s letter. She can’t believe she trusted Wickham and his phoney explanation. She realised that Wickham is such a shrewd man, he tried to elope with Darcy’s sister, Georgina, just to get her à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½32,000 and she was just 15 years of age. In my opinion Darcy was right to hate Wickham. â€Å"She perfectly remembered everything that passed in the conversation between Wickham and herself† (page 161). This means that many of the expressions were still fresh in her mind. After reading Darcy’s letter Elisa changes her attitude towards Darcy in a positive way and towards Wickham in a negative way, as she now knows the truth. â€Å"How differently did everything now appear in which he was concerned† (page 161). Now Elizabeth sees everything clearly, it is like the clouds have moved away and the clear sky is visible. Everything seems different as the curtains have risen revealing the real Wickham and his lies. â€Å"She grew absolutely ashamed of her self of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think without feeling had been blinded; partial prejudice, absurd† (page 162). She is thinking of her first response to the letter, which in actual was resentment and anger. She now understood that she was quick to judge others, she saw their errors, before her own. She is ashamed of herself for being prejudice against Darcy. â€Å"He declared himself to have been totally unsuspicious of her sister’s attachment; and she could not help remembering what Charlotte’s opinion had always been†. It was not Darcy’s fault, Jane did not give any signs that she liked Bingley; Darcy was just trying to save his friend from pain. Charlotte had said that a woman should not conceal her affections â€Å"Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.† She remembered Charlotte saying to he that Jane should show Bingley that she likes him too. â€Å"Yet merited reproach, her sense of shame was severe. The justice of the charge struck her too forcibly for denial† (page 162-163), she realises that she and Darcy are exactly the same. â€Å"Till this moment I never knew myself†, she realizes the mistakes she has made. Pride and prejudice affects Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship. Pride is the sense of superiority and satisfaction within a person and if a person is proved wrong or someone has said something about the too great opinion that they have of them selves, then it hurts their pride. And if their pride is hurt, their sense of superiority leads them to make a fast biased preconceived opinion against that someone. This is exactly how Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship is affected. Pride was the obstacle in their relationship, Elisa’s pride was hurt and she became prejudice against Darcy. Prejudice emotionally blinded Elisa; therefore she couldn’t see the real Darcy. After reading Darcy’s letter, Elisa realises her mistakes and she now knows that she was quick to judge others. Since she is no more blinded by her pride, she can see the clear picture of Darcy, Darcy who is now the better man. After reading his letter she changes her opinion about Darcy in a positive way as she knows the truth.

Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Essay

The two creation myths selected to compare and contrast centers on the Norse culture of Iceland Vikings and the Genesis creation of the Hebrew origin of Christian culture. Both creation myths originate with a hollow abyss where anarchy or war cultivates. The Norse myth relates a struggle in the middle of the blistering realm of Muspell and the murky, icy realm of Niflheim inside the hollowness named ginnungagap and where nothing could cultivate. The Genesis struggle was involving God and nothing, seclusion, and the craving to generate something wonderful. There are exactly nine categorizations of creation myths and numerous utilize more than one notion. Genesis cosmogonies utilizes both the deus faber and ex nihilo ideas. The account frequently deemed the ex nihilo myth, implying â€Å"out of nothing† is the story in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, of God’s creation in six days by communicating into existence light and blackness, moon and sun, animals and plants, birds and fish, stars and earth, God then creates Adam in His image from the dust and inhales life into him and Eve was molded from one of Adam’s ribs, consequently joining deus faber (the â€Å"maker-God†) with ex nihilo motifs. The Nordic creation myths incline to merge accretion/conjunction, exudation, and sacrifice ideas. It introduces the combining of fire and ice in an arbitrary linking of components. When the tepid breath of Muspell encounters the chill of glacial Nieflheim, ice dissolves and the subsequent water droplets come to life, generating the wicked gigantic Ymir. As the titan slumbers, perspiration from his armpits produces the first man and woman. These added titans mature to loathe Ymir and the creation story goes on with the slaughter and disfigurement of the dreadful giant. The Norse culture consist what we call Vikings. They had a pantheon of 14 main gods and conceived the cosmos as separated into three levels: Asgard, Aesir, is the higher level and land of the main gods, fertility gods, and where light elves also existed. Midgard is the middle  level where men, giants, dwarves, and dark elves lived. Niflheim is the lower level, better known as the underworld, where the evil dead died a second time in the fortress city of Hel. Running through and ultimately reaching above heaven is Yggdrasil, the enormous ash tree that apparently existed before the beginning. The Genesis creation myth is comparable in that the world was shapeless also emptiness, and obscurity laid in the deep. God soul was touching above the top of the seawaters when, he generated the skies and the planet. The scriptural writers considered the universe as a horizontal round formed planet in the axis, an illicit world for the lifeless underneath, and paradise overhead. Underneath the planet stood the â€Å"waters of chaos†, the intergalactic ocean, and nest to mythological ogres conquered and killed by means of God. In Genesis, â€Å"the earth was formless, empty, and dark, and God’s Spirit moved over the waters preparing to perform God’s creative Word† (Fairchild, 2013). God initiated speaking his creation into existence. The first day, he generated luminosity and parted it from the blackness, calling sunlit â€Å"day† and obscurity â€Å"night.† The second day, God made the â€Å"sky† to detached the seawaters. The third day, he formed the waterless earth, called â€Å"land†, and congregated the seawaters, naming them â€Å"seas†. The Divinity as well formed flowers and plants on this day. â€Å"God created the sun, moon, and the stars to give light to the earth and to govern and separate the day and the night† on the fourth diurnal (Fairchild, 2013). These elements would also serve to establish days, seasons, and years. On the fifth day, he formed each existing organism of the oceans and of the skies, sanctifying them to flourish. Also formed the creatures to saturate the world on the sixth diurnal. Adam and Eve, believed to be the first man and woman, were also created in his reflection on this day to communicate. â€Å"He blessed them and gave them every creature and the whole earth to rule over, care for, and cultivate† (Fairchild, 2013). Finally, on the seventh diurnal, he completed his labor of conception and relaxed, consecration it and formulating it consecrated. The Norse story did not have one maker of good, but multiple elements and events that emerged from one evil giant in this creation myth. The cattle stroked off whole Alps of rime, gradually licking rime of other two additional existences, the god Buri and his spouse. â€Å"They had a son named Bor, and his son was named Odin, who became the king of all  the gods† (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). Ymir was malicious and wicked and when Odin along with the divinities may well no more endure Ymir’s wicked deeds, they united to kill the giant. â€Å"Ymir’s huge body formed the earth, his blood became the sea, his flesh became the land, his bones the mountains and his hair the trees† (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). He and the additional deities shaped the heavens with his cranium, sustained up by four immense columns. He created the sun and moon from flashes from the blistering pits of Muspell and placed them in the sky. The ice began to melt in the new world of Ginnungagap from the illumination of the sun and moon and vegetation began to grow. The largest tree, called Yggdrasil, grew from the center of the world and became known as â€Å"The Tree of Life†. â€Å"Its roots penetrated into the bottom of creation and its leaves reached the very top of the sky† (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). To his satisfaction of the newborn earth, Odin baptized it Midgard, meaning ‘The Middle Land’. However, Midgard needed tending to while the gods ascend to Asgard. Odin discovered two collapsed trees, an elm and an ash, which Odin removed from the dirt and shaped the incipient male and female. â€Å"Odin breathed life into the beings, gave them reason and feelings, hearing and sight† (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). Similar to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, Odin called the male Ask and the female Embla and from them, launched the whole humankind. In summary, the Genesis creation story identifies God as the writer of conception. â€Å"In Genesis 1 we are presented with the beginning of a divine drama that can only be examined and understood from the standpoint of faith. How long did it take? How did it happen, exactly?† (Fairchild, 2013). It is impossible to definitively answer these questions, but these inscrutabilities are not the emphasis of the conception account. The point, is for ethical and religious epiphany. Verse 26, God states, â€Å"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness †¦Ã¢â‚¬  The story goes that a serpent tricked Eve into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree and she offered it to Adam and he also ate from it. As a result, Eve and Adam were expelled from the Garden of Eden, men will labor over the earth, women will experience excruciating pain bearing children, and all humans will die. Readers from Western cultures tend to rank â€Å"metaphysical or spiritual† cosmogonies like the account of Elohim-God speaking the world into existence in Genesis higher than â€Å"physical, natural, or elemental accounts of creation by  accretion, excretion, copulation, division, dismemberment, or parturition† (Leonard & McClure, 2004). If, however, we are self-conscious about our culture’s assumptions about what is â€Å"normal,† we see that at least as many cosmogonic myths have presented creation as part of a natural process as have conceived it as an exercise of divine and creative will. Ranking one kind of myth as lower or more primitive and our own myths as higher or more cultured derives from a cultural bias. To study myth effectively, we need to free ourselves as much as possible from the prejudices we inherit from our cultural surroundings. References Distant Train, Inc. (2011). Norse Creation. Retrieved from http://bigmyth.com/download/NORSE_CREATION.pdf Fairchild, M. (2013, January 4). The Creation Story – Bible Story Summary. About.com Christianity. Retrieved from http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/ creationstory.htm Gill, N. S. (2012, April 13). Creation of the World – Norse Mythology on the Creation of the World. About.com Ancient / Classical History. Retrieved from http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/creationmyths/a/11083199Norse.htm Ginzberg, L. (2012, April 13). Legends of the Jews, By Louis Ginzberg. Legends of the Jews. Retrieved from http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_jewslegends1a.htm Leonard, S., & McClure, M. (2004). Myth & Knowing: An introduction to world mythology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Shmoop Editorial Team. (November 11, 2008).The Myth of Norse Creation Myth. Retrieved June 20, 2014, from http://www.shmoop.com/norse-creation-myth/

Analysis of the Tragedy Othello Essay Example

Analysis of the Tragedy Othello Essay Example Analysis of the Tragedy Othello Paper Analysis of the Tragedy Othello Paper Essay Topic: Othello William Shakespeare is considered to be among the greatest playwrights that have ever lived. He has written dozens and dozens of brilliant plays, most of those plays have been made into movies. One such play that has been made into a movie is â€Å"Othello. † The play â€Å"Othello† is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. It is about a black general in the Italian army, Othello, and what happened between him and his wife, Desdemona. The main villain in this play is Iago; who is a soldier under Othello’s command. Iago tells Othello numerous lies about Desdemona and Othello’s friend, and former right-hand man, Cassio. Shakespeare covers quite a few of the major issues that are still facing society today. These themes such as ethnicity, betrayal, and love are what make this play one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. One of the more noticeable themes that Shakespeare discusses in this play is Ethnicity. Othello is a moor that somehow managed to climb his way up the ladder to the rank of general. At this time in history, blacks were considered to be barbarians, and murderous heathens. It is a very rare thing that a black man would be able to obtain the rank of general in a predominantly Caucasian army. It caused quite a bit of jealousy among the other officers serving under Othello. This element may have fueled the fire behind Iago’s lies and hatred for Othello. Another example when the ethnicity of Othello caused a problem was when he and Desdemona were married. Desdemona’s father is furious over his daughter marrying a moor. They even end up going to an Italian court to settle this matter. Normally Othello would have been executed for his actions, but because he was needed to lead the army he was allowed to stay married to Desdemona. This decision by the courts is another element that contributed to Iago’s betrayal, because if the court had ruled against Othello, Rodrigo wouldn’t have had a reason to pay Iago to spread his lies and deception. The Element that Shakespeare uses most in this play is Betrayal. There is one person at the center of most of the betrayal that takes place in the play- Iago. Iago has no loyalties to anyone throughout the entire story, not even to his own wife. He betrays every character at some point. He betrayed Cassio by getting him drunk and letting him shame himself in front of Othello. Then he betrays him further by telling him to go to Desdemona and plead his case with her so she will try to convince Othello to reinstate him. Iago even betrays his own wife when he gets her to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief, and leaves it in Cassio’s room. But, the person that he betrays most of all is Othello. Iago blatantly lies to Othello’s face with every word he speaks. Through Iago’s lies and manipulation, Othello begins to believe that Desdemona doesn’t love him and that she is in love with Cassio. Iago does such a good job at deceiving Othello, that Othello believes that the only way out of this situation is to kill his wife. Like most villains Iago’s treachery only leads to his own downfall. Iago isn’t the only character that betrays another person. Most of the other characters commit acts of betrayal that were much worse than the betrayals committed by Iago. Iago’s wife, Emilia, betrays her husband by telling Othello about the handkerchief that she stole for Iago. Even though it may have been the right thing to do this betrayal led to her and her husband’s deaths. Desdemona is the only one that seems innocent in this play, but she also contributes to the theme of betrayal. She lies to Othello about losing the handkerchief, and tells him that she still has it. This only furthers Othello’s suspicion that Desdemona is having an affair with his friend Cassio. But, Othello makes the largest betrayal of all when he believes the lies that Iago has told him rather than word of his own wife. Iago’s lies convince Othello that the only way to deal with the situation is to murder his wife. Not trusting a person that you love is one of the worst betrayals of all. Another theme that stands out in many Shakespearian plays is love. In â€Å"Othello† as in most of Shakespeare’s tragedies, love is one of the main driving force behind the actions of the main characters. Love was the reason why Desdemona lied to Othello about the missing handkerchief. Because, she knew how much it meant to him and she didn’t want to hurt him by telling him that she had lost it. Also Othello’s love for Desdemona might have been the reason that he went through with his betrayals. Desdemona’s betrayals wouldn’t have mattered as much to him if he didn’t love her. He also showed that he loved her when he killed himself after he found out that Iago had deceived him and that she was innocent. On the other hand Iago’s betrayals were fueled by nothing more than hate and greed. Ethnicity, betrayal, and love are difficult issues for the characters of the play to cope with. It ends up being too much for the characters and as in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies the majority of the people are killed. Shakespeare’s blending of these different elements is what made this play so enjoyable to watch. â€Å"Othello† is, by far, one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.

The Scarlet Letter Themes and Symbols

The Scarlet Letter Themes and Symbols The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne’s 1850 novel of a 17th century adulterous affair in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, centers on several themes that would have been very meaningful to the highly religious, pre-industrial community in which it is set: the nature of shame and judgment; the differences between our public and private lives; and the conflict between scientific and religious beliefs. Additionally, several important symbols pop up throughout the novel to highlight these themes, including the scarlet letter, the scaffold, and Pearl. Through the use of these themes and symbols, Hawthorne constructs a world of Puritanical guilt and redemption in the earliest days of America’s history. Shame and Judgment The novel’s most central theme is that of shame and judgment- it is the focal point of the story’s first scene, when Hester Prynne is publicly ridiculed on the scaffold in the town square, and it permeates nearly every part of the book from there on. Prynne is forced to wear the eponymous token over her clothes for the rest of her days in the colony, which is itself a judgment she must endure, as well as an ever-present symbol of her shame and lowly position in the community. As such, wherever she goes she is quickly identified as the person who committed adultery, an act for which the townspeople pass judgment on her, causing her, in turn, to feel some degree of shame. This comes to a head when the townspeople try to take Pearl away from Prynne, an act that mostly stems from their misguided assumptions and views of the mother and daughter. Over time, both the town’s estimation of  Prynne and her own feelings of guilt begin to dissipate, but for many years these feelings are quite strong for each party and serve as a central, motivating force within the story. Public vs. Private The flip side of this form of judgment and shame is experienced by Dimmesdale who, though he has committed the same crime as Prynne, deals with this fact very differently. Dimmesdale must keep his guilt to himself, a state of affairs that drives him mad and eventually to death. Dimmesdales position provides an interesting insight into the nature of judgement and shame when felt privately, not publicly. For one thing, he receives no negative judgment from the others in the colony, as they don’t even know of his involvement in the affair, so he only continues to receive their adulation. Additionally, he has no outlet for his shame, as he must keep it hidden, so it eats away at him over the course of several years. This is not to say that this is worse than Prynnes fate, but the differing situation creates an alternative result; whereas Prynne eventually works her way back, somewhat, into the town’s good graces, Dimmesdale must hide his own shame and literally cannot live with it, as he reveals it and then promptly dies. Through the different ways in which these two are made to endure judgment as well as feel shame, Hawthorne presents a compelling look into the nature of human guilt, as both a public and private phenomenon. Scientific vs. Religious Beliefs Through the relationship between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, Hawthorne explores the differences between scientific and religious modes of thought and understanding. Given that this novel is set in a 17th century Puritan colony, the characters are deeply religious, and have little understanding of scientific processes. Most of their understanding of the world, in fact, comes from a place of religious belief. For example, when Dimmesdale- who, admittedly, is a priest- looks to the night sky, he takes what he sees as a sign from God. Dimmesdale filtering his perceptions through the lens of his profession is largely the point, though, as he and Chillingworth are used to represent these opposing views. Chillingworth is a new addition to the town, and, as he is a physician, represents the encroaching of science into the religious New World colonies. Additionally, he is often described as representing darkness or evil, or just the devil outright, indicating that his mode of thought is at odds with the others’ in the community, as well as antithetical to God’s order. Interestingly, the two men get along at first, but ultimately grow apart when Chillingworth begins to probe Dimmesdale’s psychological state, suggesting that science and religion are incompatible in analyzing one’s mental anguish. One area in which they do align, however, is over Prynne, as each man attempts at one point to win her love. In the end, though, she rejects both of them, showing that an independently minded woman has no need for either. Symbols The Scarlet Letter Given the book’s title, this object is unsurprisingly a very important symbol throughout the story. Even before the main narrative begins, the reader catches a glimpse of the letter, as the anonymous narrator of â€Å"The Custom House† describes it briefly in the book’s opening section. From there, it appears pretty much right away, and comes to be the story’s most prominent symbol. Interestingly, though the letter represents Prynne’s guilt to the other characters in the book, it has a somewhat different meaning to the reader. It symbolizes not just Prynne’s actions, which, of course, it does symbolize, but it also embodies the town’s viewing of her actions as wrong, and as a punishment forced upon her by her community. As such, it says more about the wearer’s environment, than it does about the wearer herself. It shows that this group is willing to make a very public example of people whom it believes to have transgressed. Notably also, Dimmesdale burns a symbol of some sort- which some claim is an â€Å"A†- onto his chest as a sort of atonement for his role in the affair. This highlights the public vs. private theme in the novel, as the two bear the burden of guilt very differently. The Scaffold The scaffold, which appears in the first scene, serves to divide the story into beginning, middle, and end. It first appears in the opening scene, when Prynne is forced to stand on it for several hours and endure harassment from the community. In this moment, it symbolizes a very public form of punishment, and, as this is the beginning of the book, establishes that tone going forward. Later, the scaffold shows up again when Dimmesdale goes out walking one night and ends up there, whereupon he runs into Prynne and Pearl. This is a moment of reflection for Dimmesdale, as he ruminates on his misdeeds, changing the book’s focus from public to private shame. The scaffold’s final appearance comes in the book’s climactic scene, when Dimmesdale reveals his role in the affair, and then promptly dies in Prynne’s arms atop the apparatus. At this moment, Prynne literally embraces Dimmesdale, and the town collectively embraces the two of them, acknowledging the minister’s confession, and forgiving them both of their crimes. The scaffold, therefore, comes to represent atonement and acceptance, completing its journey, much like the characters themselves, from punishment through reflection, and, ultimately, to forgiveness. Pearl Though Pearl is very much a distinct character in her own right, she also acts symbolically as the living embodiment of her parents’ infidelity. As a result, whenever Prynne looks at her, she must confront what she has done, almost more so even than when she looks at the scarlet letter. Importantly, though, she represents not just her parents’ infidelity, but also her mother’s independence. This is epitomized by some of the townspeople trying to take Pearl away from Prynne, which forces the mother to argue before the governor for the right to keep her child. Essentially, she must fight to prove the validity of her desires and affections in the face of this highly rigid and patriarchal society. Pearl, therefore, represents the sinfulness and the gracefulness balanced in tandem inside of her mother- that is, she is wild but still worth loving nonetheless.

Libyan negotiations to join the World Trade Organization Dissertation

Libyan negotiations to join the World Trade Organization - Dissertation Example Further, Libya is rich in oil production which would have allowed the EU to better diversify its own natural resources through this partnership in the WTO (Tsirelson, 2011). Libya also, in 2010, achieved support from the central bank to allow foreign direct investment licenses as a means to support the private sector in Libya (qfinance.com, 2010). All of this has changed due to the amassing conflict with Qhadaffi’s foreign neighbors, preventing the country, likely, from achieving WTO membership. Aims and Objectives The proposed dissertation aims to examine the current role of Libya as a potential member of the WTO compared to its earlier efforts and support from 2004-2010. Overall, the project intends to identify whether Libya can still maintain such membership even in the face of growing and intense conflict with the international community. The study maintains two specific objectives: 1. Determine the role of Libyan representation in the WTO and the potential advantages that the country can bring to the rest of the international community upon potential membership. 2. Understand how the country, especially pertaining to Qhadaffi, is viewed by the international community as well as the legal systems that guide WTO membership and affiliation. Method of Inquiry The research project will consult with secondary resource materials such as legal journals, multi-media publications, and historical primary data as a means to understand the evolving legal and governmental systems in Libya over the last seven years. The methodology will consist of qualitative and quantitative research focus as part of the primary study that will include surveys distributed to generalized sample groups about their opinion about Libyan policy and action as a potential WTO member. The current macroeconomic factors driving Libyan growth and sustainability will also be measured in appropriate secondary source materials. References Journal of Commerce. 2004, WTO says Libya can apply. Ju ly 27, p.1. Qfinance.com. 2010, Libya, p.1. [accessed June 6, 2011 at http://www.qfinance.com/contentfiles/QF02/glus0fcl/1h/0/libya.pdf] Tsirelson, M. 2011, Libya, European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. [accessed June 6, 2011 at http://www.europeanforum.net/country/libya] Bibliography Country Monitor. 2010, Libya: risk ratings. 18(19), p.11. Conversisglobalcom. 2010, Libya. [accessed June 5, 2011 at http://conversisglobalcom.site.securepod.com/cultural_commentaries/Conversis_Libya.pdf] Moran, R., Harris, P. & Moran, S. 2007, Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century, 7th ed. Elsevier: London. National Geographic. 2010, College Atlas of the World, 2nd ed. Wiley Publishers. Oxford Economic Country Briefings. 2010, Libya. March 18, Oxford Economics Limited. Rehfeld, A. 2010, Towards a general theory of political representation, Journal of Politics, p.48. [accessed June 7, 2011 at http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_program/legal_theory/papers /fall05?exclusive=filemgr.download&file_id=96459&rtcontentdisposition=filename%3DTowards+a+General+Theory.pdf] Triola, M.F. 2008, Elementary Statistics Using the TI-83 Plus Calculator, 2nd ed. Pearson Addison