In all genres of literature, there are numerous character types one might encounter. Some bring humor or comic relief to a more serious plot, while others bring both pity and fear to the minds of the audience. A tragic character is one who shows characteristics above normality, while simultaneously giving evidence to the audience concerning his or her tragic flaw that causes the character’s life to end in an abnormal state of events. “A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.” (George Orwell, Columbia Dictionary of Quotations) In a tragedy the main character rises to greatness, then continues to fall down a shame spiral, which leads to his …show more content…
Macbeth fights bravely on Scotland's side, killing Macdonwald himself. King Duncan hears of Macbeth's brave and noble qualities, crowning him the new Thane of Cawdor. The king states that the old Thane should not device, "... Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth." (I ii 63-65) Macbeth is hostile to accept the rank, because earlier three witches prophesied that the new hero would become Thane of Cawdor even though there was one at that time. Since Macbeth was crowned Thane of Cawdor, Banquo and Macbeth believe that the three weird sisters are able to correctly tell them their fate. Macbeth now having higher-ranking authority begins to have his ambition act up on him; thus, he craves more power. Lady Macbeth organizes King Duncan’s murder, which increased Macbeth's will to become king, enabling the overzealous ruler to rise up to the ultimate height. The murder is carried out, but not as planned, driving Macbeth to kill the king himself. Macbeth states to everyone after the discovery of the dead king, "Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man. Th’ expedition of my violent love..." (II iii 111-112) This is only done to destroy the thoughts that may have targeted Macbeth as one who is characterized by a drive to kill the …show more content…
The devilish creature speaks the most disillusioned in the play when he contemplates life’s “…petty pace from day to day.” (5.5.20) Macbeth still believed that the witches’ promises would protect him, but when he heard that “The wood began to move” (V v 33) his confidence is shaken as he begins to doubt the equivocation of the fiend that lies like the truth, the devil’s oracles. Although the indifference invading Macbeth shows itself early in the play, the true extent of Macbeth’s lack of respect for Elizabethan values occurs when this monster orders the murder of Macduff’s wife and child. Even Macduff, who understands the danger that inundates his life in Scotland, does not feel a large enough threat for him to take his family and servants with him on his flee to England. “He has no children. All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, At one fell swoop?”(IV iii 216-219) Macduff, as well as the audience, can hardly believe such inhumane acts can be committed by a man, no matter how disturbed or evil he can be. The murder of Macduff’s family is the nail in Macbeth’s coffin, bringing such terrible thoughts upon himself by the audience, that under no circumstances will there be a possibility that Macbeth can ever be marked out for good
Elder abuse is a very sad reality. With an understanding of what the term elder abuse encompasses, who is at risk, what the warning signs are, the statutes that are there to protect the elderly, who is mandated to report the abuse, and how to report the abuse, it is important to minimize the crime. As with all things, the most important way to prevent something from happening is to educate, and elder abuse is no different. If care takers had education about the numerous resources there are, such as support groups and counseling, elder abuse could possibly be decreased exponentially.
Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as often as I did, why they felt so bored, they always gave me the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were
What Luke had used is non-conformity in order to influence the prisoners and gain their respect. The way Luke managed to achieve this respect is by boxing the leader of the chain-gang named, Dragline. Luke claims that Dragline is working with the authority which fueled the invitation to a boxing match (Pierson et al., 1997). Though Dragline had the physical advantage, Luke persevered through the beatings and had even said that he would have to be killed to be stopped. Moreover, Dragline is unable to defeat Luke and he is not allowed to kill him either. Coincidently, Dragline leaves the ring in defeat thus showing the whole prison that Luke has the superior authority and influence and therefore becoming the new leader (Pierson et al., 1997). Luke attempts to show that if you endure the challenges of petty authority and power [representation of Dragline], you will come out victorious and that you don’t need anything more than ‘nothing’. One of the most crucial lines of the film, spoken by the Captain, was, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate’ (Pierson et al., 1997), and was said on behalf of the non-conformity Luke had portrayed by escaping prison. In addition, the Captain follows to beat Luke in front of the other prisoners. Now, by the Captain punishing Luke, he only places himself into a situation where Luke is able take advantage of him by gaining influence. This influence through non-conformity is achieved when Luke escapes twice after and is killed by the authority; what this does for the prisoners is instill an image of Luke as a martyr for goodness, perseverance, and courage, which they these traits they begin to adopt as well as showcasing the corruption of the authority around them. One might say that Luke becoming a martyr had freed his soul and cleared his name
The exact period of time in which the Gilded Age occurred is ever-debatable, but most historians can at least agree that it started within the 20 years after the Civil War ended and lasted until the early 1920s. (West) The Gilded Age itself was characterized by the beginnings of corporations and corrupt political machines. Policies such as the General Incorporation Laws allowed business to grow larger more easily, and with less red tape involved. New technology allowed faster and more efficient production, but this explosive growth of industry called for not only more resources, but new business practices and leaders as well. (Moritz 10-12)
The Gilded Age was a time period of rampant development in the American Economy with a policy that minimized the intervention of the government in economic matters. In the late 1800’s starting with railroads, small businesses evolved to the point where the nation’s economy was monopolized by wealthy industrialists and financiers.1 With all this control in the hands of few wealthy individuals critics began to point out several inequalities among Americans.
During the turn of the 19th century, the American economy rapidly switched from an agriculture base to one of the largest manufacturers in the world through Industrialization. This movement could be tied to the Gilded Age, or the time between the Civil War and WWI, where the rich were extremely poor and vice versa. The wealthier Americans during the Gilded Age were the poster children of the nation, the picture of American opportunity, and a large contributor to the spike in immigration to the United States during the turn of the 19th century. With developments in manufacturing, these wealthy citizens capitalized on the opportunity and became leaders during Industrialization, earning themselves the title of Industrialists. Industrialists during
The Gilded Age gets its name from a book by Mark Twain called The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today. It was written in 1873, and unfortunately was not that successful. While the Gilded Age conjures up visions of ostentatious displays of wealth and decorative parties, the over all topic was politics. The book gives an extremely negative assessment of the state of American democracy at that time. Which does not come as a huge surprise coming from Twain, who famously said "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” So when faced with sweeping changes in the American economy after the Civil War, the American political system both nationally and locally dealt with these problems in the best way possible, by inevitably and incredibly becoming corrupt.
Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.
The Gilded Age was characterized by rapid industrialization, reconstruction, ruthless pursuit of profit, government, corruption, and vulgarity (Cashman 1). After the Civil War, America was beginning to regroup as a nation. There were many other changes developing in the country. Industrialization was taking over the formerly agricultural country. The nation’s government was also in great conflict (Foner 20). Many changes occurred during the Gilded Age. These changes affected farmers, labor, business, and politics.
Over the past 15 years tremendous awareness has been raised around this and programs of preferential treatment emerged. These programs ensured equal rights for people of color and females in the work place, allowing for them to apply for executive level positions and earn the same amount of money, benefits, and prestige as a white male ensuring equality for all race and sex. Lisa Newton argues that, “reverse discrimination does not advance but actually undermines equality because it violates the concept of equal justice under law for all citizens. In addition, to this theoretical objection to reverse discrimination, Newton opposes it because she believes it raises insoluble problems.” Among them are determining what groups have been sufficiently discriminated against in the past to deserve preferred treatment in the present and determining the degree of reverse discrimination that will be compensatory. Newton outlines the importance of ensuring her argument is recognized as logically distinct from the condition of justice in the political sense. She begins her argument for reverse discrimination as unjustified by addressing the “simple justice” claim requiring that we favor women and blacks in employment and education opportunities. Since women and blacks were unjustly excluded from such opportunities for so many years in the not so distant past, however when employers and schools favor women and blacks, the same injustice is done. This reverse discrimination violates the public equality which defines citizenship and destroys the rule of law for the areas in which these favors are granted. To the extent that we adopt a program of discrimination, reverse or otherwise, justice in the political sense is destroyed, and none of us, specifically affected or no is a citizen, as bearers of rights we are all petitioners
Of nursing home staff interviewed in 2004, nearly 40% admitted to committing at least one psychologically abusive act toward a resident and 10% admitted to physically abusing a resident in the preceding year.[1] Not only are nursing home residents at risk of being abused by their caretakers but they are also at risk of being restrained, which may lead to a form of abuse. With five percent of the elderly population, or one to two million instances of elder abuse occurring yearly there is no doubt that elder abuse deserves serious consideration.[2]
After the Civil War, business and corporations have expanded significantly throughout the United States. During this time period, known as the Gilded Age, many aspects of the United States were influenced by these large corporations. The Gilded Age was given that name after Mark Twain referenced it in one of his works. In the post Civil War period, big businesses governed by corrupt acts and held power of both the political system and the economy.
When discussing abuse and neglect we often think of children first. That being said, children are not the only ones who will be abused and/or neglected. In fact, this happens to some elderly as well. While some elderly may be productive enough to care for themselves, others are not. The end result is a complete (or close to complete) dependency on someone else for their needs. In addition, just like with children, this dependency can lead to abuse and/or neglect.
In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto urges Americans to see the school system as it really is: testing facilities for young minds, with teachers who are pounding into student 's brains what society wants. Gatto first explains that he taught for 30 years at the best and worst schools in Manhattan. He claims to have firsthand experience of the boredom that students and teachers struggle with. Gatto believes that schooling is not necessary, and there are many successful people that were self-educated. He then explains the history and importance of mandatory schooling. To conclude his article, Gatto gives his foresight for the future of schooling. Although Gatto has a well thought out argument for his opinion on schooling, he focuses
There is a saying “walk in a mile in my shoes…then maybe you’ll understand why I do, what I do.” This quote is a bit longer than the usual “put yourself in someone else’s shoes,” but they essentially ask a person to take a moment and try to see the perspective of another person to understand them. While growing up, I often heard these saying and I thought I completely understood them. If I wanted to understand someone who was going through a rough time, I should take a moment and see the world through their eyes, especially here in college where I am exposed to people of different nationalities, cultures, and upbringings, I realize I can also apply this mentality to everyday interactions. Before I thought these sayings mostly applied to situations