Hamlet Essay Essays - Characters In Hamlet, English-language Films

Hamlet Essay Comment on Hamlet's madness. Do you think it was altogether assumed or can you offer evidence to suggest that Hamlet was not always in complete control of his action? Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet, and his sanity can arguably be discussed. Many portions of the play supports his loss of control in his actions, while other parts uphold his ability of dramatic art. The issue can be discussed both ways and altogether provide significant support to either theory. There are indications from Hamlet throughout the play of his mind's well being. Hamlet's antic disposition may have caused him in certain times that he is in a roleplay. Hamlet has mood swings as his mood changes abruptly throughout the play. Hamlet appears to act mad when he hears of his father's murder. At the time he speaks wild and whirling words:Why, right; you are I' the right; And so, without more circumstance at all, I hold it fit that we shake hands and part... [Act I, scene V, lines 127-134]. It seems as if there are two Hamlets in the play, one that is sensitive and an ideal prince, and the insane barbaric Hamlet who from an outburst of passion and rage slays Polonius with no feeling of remorse, Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune;/ Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.- [Act III. scene IV, lines 31-33] and then talks about lugging his guts into another room. After Hamlet kills Polonius he will not tell anyone where the body is. Instead he assumes his ironic matter which others take it as madness. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. / A certain convocation of political w orms a e'en at him. [Act IV, scene III, lines 20-21] If your messenger find him not there, seek him I' th' other place yourself. But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. [Act IV, scene iii, lines 33-36]. Hamlet's behavior throughout the play, especially towards Ophelia is inconsistent. He jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes in her grave. He professes I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum [Act V, scene I, lines 250-253], during the fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but he tells her that he never loved her, when she returns his letters and gifts, while she was still alive. Hamlet subtly hints his awareness of his dissolving sanity as he tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in a fit of madness [Act V, scene II, lines 236-250] Hamlet has violent outbursts towards his mother. His outburst seems to be out of jealousy, as a victim to the Oedipus complex. He alone sees his father's ghost in his mother's chambers. Every other time the ghost appeared someone else has seen it. During this scene he finally shows his madness, because his mother does not see the ghost. On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares!/ his form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones / Would make them capable. [Act III, scene IV, lines 126-128]. Throughout the play, there are also supporting factors to argue Hamlet's sanity, as these details compromise his madness, to balance out his mental state. Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to feign madness, and that if Horatio notices any strange behavior from Hamlet, it is because he is putting on an act. [Act I, scene V, lines 166-180]. Hamlet's madness in no way reflects Ophelia's true madness, his actions contrast them. Hamlet's madness is only apparent when he is in the presence of certain characters. When Hamlet is around Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he behaves unreasonably. When Hamlet in the presence of Horatio, Bernado, Francisco, The Players, and Gravediggers, his actions are sensible. Other characters confess that Hamlet's actions are still unsure whether Hamlet's insanity is authentic or not. Claudius confesses that Hamlet's actions although strange, do not appear to stem from madness. And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose/ Will be some danger; which for to prevent,/ I have in quick determination [Act III, scene I,

The eNotes Blog The Big Read Get Talking AboutBooks

The Big Read Get Talking AboutBooks One of the things I miss most about graduate school is the time to luxuriate in conversation with intelligent, engaged people about literature.   Inevitably, someone had a different take on some element of the book that made me re-evaluate my own position or, conversely, helped me feel more confident about an interpretation. In a recent interview on NPRs  Morning Edition,  Oprah Winfrey told interviewer Lynn Neary that her reason for starting the original book club (that catapulted so many authors to fame and fortune) was for the exact same reasons as my own: wanting to talk to other people books. Of course, there are probably hundreds of book clubs in every city and intimate gatherings are great. But if your life and relationships are anything like mine, trying to get friends to commit, show up at the same time, and actually have  read  your selection by a specific date can about as successful as herding cats. Thats why I think that this year, for the first time, I am going to attempt to participate in a number of   Big Reads.   The Big Read  is a project sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. Here is a brief description of how  The Big Read  works (learn more by clicking the link): Through The Big Read, selected communities come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 34* selections from U.S. and world literature. In addition, The Big Read provides comprehensive information about the authors and their works in the  Our Books  section of The Big Read website. Click  here to enter your city, state, or zip code to find out what your community is reading, find a real life book club or online discussions. Curious what titles up for discussion? Here are just a few of the selections, ranging from new works to classics: In the Time of the Butterflies  by Julia Alvarez Bless Me, Ultima  by Rudolfo Anaya Fahrenheit 451  by Ray Bradbury My Antonia  by Willa Cather The Poetry of Emily Dickinson

How to Get More Young People in the UK Involved in Politics Coursework

How to Get More Young People in the UK Involved in Politics - Coursework Example It is noticed that youth across the world, are interested in doing those activities, which they think are good for them and which give them the opportunity to call themselves as a â€Å"good citizens†. Some of these activities include voting, watching the news, party activism, sending emails to government websites, attending meetings in the town hall, volunteering, or addressing envelopes for civic organizations , to name a few (Banaji, 2008). However, in their effort to become â€Å"good citizens†, certain activities indulged by the youngsters such as distrust and dissatisfaction, (legitimate, as per them), as well as group anger, cynicism and unsanctioned protest are in direct contrast with the civic path they are supposed to follow. While analyzing the scenario prevailing in UK, one gets the feeling that young people are alienated from politics (Henn et al., 2002). The view held by some people is that it is a direct reflection of a wider malaise prevailing in the soc iety. The study conducted on the youngsters and first time voters of UK, gives an impression that young people are definitely interested in political matters as they affect them directly. They are also supportive of democratic process of working of the government. What really puts them off is the kind of work the elected representative end up doing, which is in total contrast with their expectations and they feel skeptic about the whole process of elections. The general feeling is that young people in the UK are increasingly disinterested in ‘conventional politics’. This has been illustrated by the alarmingly low turnout of 18–24 year olds in the 2001 and 2005 general elections as well as in the shrinking and ageing memberships of political parties. Yet, young people remain interested in politics (broadly defined) and are active in alternative modes of political participation. The problem is not, therefore, political apathy, but alienation from the political syst em.   A debate in the government and public throws up some interesting findings. It shows that youngsters are â€Å"apathetic free – riders â€Å"and would like to enjoy the benefits and privileges of citizenship, without doing their primary duty of voting. (Marsh et al., 2007). The reason for this apathy is clearly due to extremely low level of political literacy. This can be corrected by the Government by making sure that citizenship lessons are introduced compulsorily at school level and also explaining to youngsters the meaning and ease of voting. The findings of David Marsh et al., (2007) conclude that young people per se are not apathetic but sincerely believe that their interests and worries are taken care of by the elected representatives. Due to this reason they tend to refrain in taking active part in mainstream politics. One remedy suggested is to employ adult support workers and develop organizations that can outlast the commitment of their initial participant s.  With the help and support of elderly and those who are in the thick and thin of the politics, the picture can be clarified to they youngsters and their doubts can also be cleared. The other suggestions are to actively involve youngsters, from their school level to take part in the democratic process of elections. Establishing youth parliaments means grappling with processes and mechanisms in new territory. For example, elections for school council can be held and students can be asked to participate in the process. This would give them first hand idea and information how the democracy functions. Their own views of improving the conditions

Chose one for me 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chose one for me 1 - Essay Example The federal government is better able to keep emergency highly expensive and specialized resources. The fact is that each state only has a major emergency very rarely, and that it would be incredibly inefficient for each state to keep disaster resources. The resources would inevitably drift into unimportance during a particularly tight budget year in which a disaster has not occurred for a long period of time, and then would be neglected and cut. A disaster would then hit, demonstrating how much those resources are needed, and people would suffer. The United States can collectively keep those resources available much more efficiently because the country as a whole has to deal with emergencies much more than particular states ever would. Finally, pushing more responsibilities onto already cash-strapped states would be incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. Liberal commentators love to point to major events such as the recent hurricane Sandy as absolute proof that it would be more than impossible to limit the size of government without making drastic changes and harming people who need help. The problem is, however, that the liberals’ logic is often twisted and contorted beyond recognition. One of the biggest logical problems with liberals is their constant insistence that pushing more service provision onto the budgets of already beleaguered states would be unacceptable. The problem with this logic is that it misses the point entirely: states should be collecting a broader share of the taxes *and* giving more of the services. Obviously one without the other would be ludicrous, but pretending that transferring a lot of responsibilities to the states without also cutting federal taxes (and thus letting states charge higher taxes) is a possibility shows how broken the liberal’s argument is. They cannot even imagine shrinking the federal

The Tremendous Impact of Global Financial Crisis Essay

The Tremendous Impact of Global Financial Crisis - Essay Example Although the world is yet to recover from the financial crisis, studies show that the main cause emanates from the misunderstanding of its roots (CrÄÆ'ciun & Ochea, 2014). Six years down the line, the effects of the financial crisis are still present as if it was just yesterday. Most of the affected nations, especially in Europe are still grappling with the effect that came along with the crash. Studies show that there were several factors associated with the crash. One of the most recognized causes of the financial crisis was bursting of the US housing bubble. This was due to the laxity in the loan policies, whereby it was quite easy to obtain loans such as mortgage auto and credit card (The Economist, 2013). This, later on, resulted in financial institutions, which had expected a positive income, ending up with huge losses and debts. The decline in the prices also caused homes worth less than mortgage loans to be forced to financial incentives in order to qualify for foreclosure. Studies showed that the crisis was avoidable since the main reasons behind the crash were financial regulation failures by institutions such as banks and governments. Another reason is the dramatic collapse of corporate governance, which was because of the reckless manner in which financial institutions were behaving (Shun, 2013). For instance, financial institutions were involving themselves in risky affairs whereby they would take part in excessive borrowing patterns hence putting the financial system in direct collision with the crisis (Shun, 2013). Apart from financial institutions risky affairs, another reason behind the crisis is ill-preparedness by nations on matters relating to the financial crisis. Key policymakers in most of the affected states never saw the crisis approaching due to the lack of full knowledge of the financial systems.

Judiciary in a democracy

Judiciary in a democracy What is the role of the judiciary in a democracy? This work is going to examine the way judiciary works and operates in a democracy. Judiciary has definitely a very significant role in a democracy as it shapes and interprets the laws. Key roles and features of the judiciary will be discussed in this work. There will be some theories looked over at and some real life examples as well. First of all, the meaning of the term ‘judiciary needs to be established. Judiciary is ‘the branch of government that is empowered to decide legal disputes and adjudicate on the meaning of the law (Heywood, 2007:452). Democracy on its hand has the roots in Ancient Greece as even the word itself has Greek parts e.g. demos for ‘the people and kratos for ‘power. The word democracy has a lot of meanings nowadays and may not have any meaning to some people at the same time (Heywood, 2007). In this essay the word ‘democracy is going to be used in the context of ‘a system of government that serves the interests of the people regardless of their participation in political life (Heywood, 2007:72). As it was discussed in class the role of the judiciary is as follows: * Protect the constitution * Look after government and parliament * Expound the constitution and laws The key feature of judiciary in a democracy is its complete independence from government. For judges being nonpolitical is essential as well. They must be neutral in order to be legal (Heywood, 2007). Neutrality is ‘the absence of any form of partisanship or commitment (Heywood, 2007:329). Often not only the judicial independence in a democracy is the case, but the external pressure can sometimes take place. Heywood argues that in this case it ‘is not so much how judges are recruited, but who is recruited (Heywood, 2007). Judges may sometimes be the subject to internal bias and external bias. Internal bias occurs when judges may have personal preferences and cant be neutral in their decisions. External bias may occur when someone else may put pressure on the judge or put at risk his/her employment, it is said that the external bias is controlled by the principle of ‘judicial independence. It gives a suggestion that judges cant be dismissed and that the amount of cri ticism towards judges work is constrained. In reality judges tend to be dependent on certain circumstances as political bodies often have control over certain key issues e.g. judge recruitment (Heywood, 2007). As it is seen from Heywood, judges are not always neutral and therefore in a real democracy can influence the final decision in both ways. Kathleen Sullivan, the past Dean of the Stanford Law School, agrees to the statement of judiciary being the protector of constitution: ‘ It seems obvious that the court system especiallyjudicial review of the acts of the legislative and executive branches of government is, in one way,a bulwark of our constitutional democracy. The court protectscertain minority rights from being trampled by the majority, protects the basic liberty and participatory rights of all, and checks the excesses of the other branches of government.Thats all well and good and crucial for democratic self governance (http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html). Kathleen adds another point about judiciarys role in a democracy that we did not look at during the class: judiciary protects minorities and makes them less vulnerable to the majorities choices. Judges expounding the law and constitution have a very important role in a democracy. Many things and even lives depend on the way a judge interprets the law at that moment. Heywood states that every judge uses law in his/her own way, interprets and builds up the argument in court: ‘†¦judges impose meaning on law through a process of ‘construction that forces them to choose amongst a number of possible meanings or interpretations. In this sense, all law is judge-made law (Heywood, 2007: 330). In real life judiciary can be very contradictory. It can be observed from different angle and be seen in a different ways by different parties. For example the X case in Ireland caused a lot of confrontation. The case was about a 14 year old girl who was raped and got pregnant and wanted to go to England to have an abortion. However, she was refused to go by the High court. Later the case was solved by the appeal from the Supreme Court which stated that if there was a risk to mothers life as the result of pregnancy as there was a suicide possibility. As the result there were three amendments proposed to the constitution of Ireland. One of them argued to remove suicide threat from the grounds for the legitimate abortion and was then rejected. Other two were ratified and these are thirteenth and fourteenth amendments (http://www.ifpa.ie/eng/Hot-Topics/Abortion/Abortion-in-Ireland-Legal-Timeline). This case shows how different judges can build their arguments and interpret the law in di fferent ways and, for sure, influence the final decision. Some people have mixed feelings about the way how judges are elected in a democracy. First of all they are elected just like politicians, so it makes judges political what interferes with judges being ‘strictly independent and nonpolitical actors (Heywood, 2007:328). It is thought that appointing judges is better than electing them as they are maybe more independent than the elected ones (http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html). Another case is the demographical representation of the judges in democratic countries. As it was discussed in the class about 80% of all the judges in Ireland attended UCD. Most of the judges in Britain are white young males with private education (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). There was an attempt to change this pattern and encourage women and members of the minority groups to become judges to have a more diverse judiciary. The launch of the independent Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) in 2006 was meant to herald an end to the old tap on the shoulder method of recruitment and secret soundings among existing judges, which produced a senior judiciary that was almost exclusively white and male (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). Unfortunately, this new method of recruitment did not work as well: ‘But a Guardian review of selection shows that those appointed since last September are remarkably similar to those selected under the old process (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1). Diversifying of the judiciary is not easy, so it will take some time, but it will certainly get to the point. In the conclusion I would like to say that judiciary certainly works in a democracy. The question is if it works fairly, correctly and totally neutrally like it must work. Judiciary protects the constitution and judges interpret the laws in court and expound constitution. Real life examples can be very contradictory and be seen in different ways by different judges e.g. the X case. Bibliography. Heywood, Andrew (2007) ‘Politics. Third Edition, Palgrave. http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2007/02/democracy_and_t.html http://www.ifpa.ie/eng/Hot-Topics/Abortion/Abortion-in-Ireland-Legal-Timeline http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/28/uk.immigrationpolicy1

Essay --

In Philip Larkin’s poem â€Å"High Windows† the speaker displays mixed emotions towards the invention of modern birth control and its integration into society during the 60’s. Larkin composed poems during a period of political turmoil and instability and expresses a desire to escape the apparent chaos; he describes both the sexual and religious freedoms of the time. Nevertheless, â€Å"High Windows†, presents a small background of sexuality and culture that is about social change. Yet, during this time period using birth control was looked down upon by the previous conservative generations because the kids were rejecting the previous generations’ morals. In addition, opponents of the birth control pill were concerned that because many were using birth control, it would be used as an excuse to engage in premarital relationships. However, birth control â€Å"Pill† was an innovative invention that brought about a positive cultural change to soc iety because it allows couples to plan for wanted children, establish relationships, financial stability, and women to pursue professional lives with more freedom. In the time period that Larkin wrote â€Å"High Windows†, there were intense changes in matters referring to sex and birth control methods. Sexual practices that were previously considered inappropriate for discussion were openly discussed. New methods of contraception allowed men and women to be able to control their own reproduction. Larkin captures this sense of a new age of sexual freedom in his poem, â€Å"High Windows†. Larkin expresses the desire to escape a constantly changing world due to sexual freedom in order to achieve some type of fulfilling personal relationship. â€Å"Larkin was a life-long bachelor; he had several sexual relationships, but was n... ...Marks). Therefore, the key development of the pill is the freedom of choice one has. â€Å"It frees the woman from the burden of involuntary childbearing that has traditionally made her a poor risk to employers and assigned her a secondary role in society. Now, three out of five working women were married† (Marks). Nonetheless, birth control allows couples to plan for the conception of children and take charge of their life. Birth control has brought about a positive cultural change to society. Women were now able to consider having careers and attending college, rather than worrying about raising a family. The past decade has witnessed significant changes in the culture of society due to the introduction of the birth control movement. The â€Å"Sexual Revolution† of the United States is believed to be part of the aftermath of the widespread use of the birth control pill.