Strange Behavior and Ghosts in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

Throughout the play ‘Hamlet‘, we see that the protagonist seems troubled and quite isolated. The Shakespearean play is believed to have been first performed between 1600 and 1601 but not published until 1603. Hamlet is the young prince of Denmark, his mother Gertrude married her brother-in-law shortly after her husband (Hamlet’s father) died. In the Elizabethan era many people believed in supernatural forces and this is displayed within the play when Hamlet’s father returns as a ghost. Many people would argue that Hamlet is possessed and his madness and strange behaviour is partly due to his father’s death and his reoccurrence as a ghost. From the beginning of the play Hamlet seems as if he is emotionally unstable and unable to cope well with his emotions. The audience see this through Hamlet’s sadness over his father’s death. For example ‘I have of late†¦lost all my mirth’ (2,2,280). Hamlet says here that he has lost all of his happiness; this shows us as an audience that he feels empty and has nothing to feel happy or joyful about. Moreover we see that Hamlet is unable to communicate well with others and this backs up the point that he feels isolated and lonely. Shakespeare uses short sharp sentences to show that the character doesn’t want to converse, ‘Words, words, words’ (2,2,189). This is the response Hamlet gives when Polonius asks what book he reads. The reply shows that he doesn’t want to talk and is being quite dismissive when asked questions. Hamlet’s behaviour is obsessive at times in different ways. He is very focused as he is concentrating on fulfilling his late father’s task, which is to kill his Claudius (Hamlet‘s uncle) for betraying him. For instance, ‘A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his son, do ... ...ortant quote that could show that he is pretending is ‘, â€Å"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw† (2,2,361–362). Here Hamlet basically says he knows what is what in which case he knows when he is seen to be mad. Finally, the way that Hamlet is perceived by the audience is different for everyone and is interpreted in many different ways. The other characters all believe that Hamlet is truly ill or mad, however most critics feel that this was a cover up plan so Hamlet could organise his plan to murder Claudius and the other characters would find it hard to believe Hamlet could murder somebody if he was truly insane. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. â€Å"The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark† Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 9th Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print

The Development of Musical Literacy in Relation to the Learning of a Primary Language :: Musical Education Music Essays

The Development of Musical Literacy in Relation to the Learning of a Primary Language Many parents demolish their child’s chance to succeed before they send them off to their first day of kindergarten. So much of American society believes more or less that the talent and abilities of a child can only be as good as what was passed onto them from the genes of their parents. Therefore, before they even enter the school system, parents, teachers, and students alike hold high, average, or low expectations for the success of the child. These expectations can be held for all areas of school subject matter, but they tend to especially apply in areas where society considers talent instead of persistence to be one of the chief attributors of success. Such an area is music. I am always amazed at the amount of parents who are willing to say â€Å"Well, I’ve never been able to understand music, and my child certainly could not have inherited any kind of musical ability from me. Therefore, even if they really want to try to learn music, they probably won’t be very good at it.† This kind of rationality can at best set up the child to believe that they have a very small chance of being good at music, and cause them to give it a try anyway, and to keep persisting if they are met with a moderately surprising amount of success. Typically, a child will be resistant against any musical instruction they are faced with if they have been told either verbally or indirectly that they have not inherited any talent for it, and thus continue the cycle of â€Å"Well, I was never good in music, therefore my children won’t be either†. What would happen, however, if children were all raised from birth with the attitude that regard less of their background, they could all achieve amazing measures of success in whatever they tried to do? What would be the outcome of a society that believed talent was something that could be developed upon entrance into the world, instead of a set amount being instilled into a child based upon what they inherited from their parents? First, I would like to show that talent, especially musical talent, can be developed. Second, I would like to offer more successful ways of teaching children to develop these talents.

Terrorism in the Old Testament

Stacy Norton 03 October, 2012 Old Testament Ballard Terrorism and the Old Testament Many terrorist organizations use their religious texts as justification for their acts of terrorism. People even go as far to say that God, as depicted in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, encourages those acts as a way to defend their actions. While it is true that the Old Testament has evidence of God sending out his people to defend his word and his chosen people, it should not be taken as black and white as others would argue. It is important that we study the religious texts in their proper context.When these texts are not read in their proper textual and historical contexts they are manipulated and distorted. My God is a teacher of love and forgiveness and only uses violence as a last resort. This is more evident in the story of Moses and the release of the Israelite's from the Egyptians. The Israelite s were being held captive and tortured by the Egyptian Pharaoh and his people. They we re forced to spend their days as slaves and lived in deplorable conditions and were beaten routinely by the Egyptians. Moses upset that his people were being treated this way sought guidance from God.God agreed to help Moses free his people. God first sent Moses to the Pharaoh to ask kindly for his people's release. The Pharaoh refused. Moses even tried to convince the Pharaoh with the threat of curses being placed on his people. The Pharaoh refused again. Then, after the curses were released, the Pharaoh still held strong and would not release the Israelite s He was willing to have his own people suffer just because he did not want to give up his power over the Israelite s He only relented when the final curse was released and the first born of the Egyptians, including the Pharaoh's, were killed.The Egyptian Pharaoh was given multiple opportunities to prevent his own people's suffering but decided instead that his power was more important. Another part of the bible people like to c riticize is the book of Judges. Especially the story of Samson. Samson was a Nazarene leader with incredible strength. The Philistines wanted to capture him but could not find a way. Samson then fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who then tricked him into telling her the secret of his strength. He told her that if his hair was cut he would lose his power.When Samson fell asleep that night she cut his hair and let the Philistines in to capture him. They shackled him and gouged out his eyes and were planning on offering him up as a sacrifice to their deity. Samson cried out to God for help. He took out his revenge on the Philistines by basically, for lack of a better term, suicidal terrorism. He killed more people that day than in his whole life combined. In conclusion, the bible is not exempt from what some could deem as unflattering to the Christian faith. God does not try to deny that humanity is riddled with faults.But we must instead of looking at specific stories to justif y harming others think about the overall message. He only asks that we try to lead faithful lives. Treat each other kindly . Above all, we must keep his name holy. No where in the bible can we find where he tells us to set out and harm others just because we do not like their culture or religious viewpoints. He teaches tolerance. A most noteworthy verse that I like to remind myself often â€Å"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 25

â€Å"Oh, I just want to take a little peek,† Bonnie moaned, looking at the forbidden sketchbook, the one in which Lady Ulma had drawn their high couture outfits for the first party, the one that would be held tonight. Beside it, just within reach, were some sample squares from bolts of fabric in shimmering satin, rippling silk, transparent muslin, and soft, rich velvet. â€Å"You'll get to try it on for the last fitting in an hour – this time with your eyes open!† Elena laughed. â€Å"But we can't forget that tonight isn't playtime. We'll have to dance some dances, of course – â€Å" â€Å"Of course!† Bonnie repeated ecstatically. â€Å"But our purpose there is to find the key. The first half of the double fox key. I just wish there was a star ball that showed the inside of tonight's house.† â€Å"Well, we all know pretty much about it; we can talk about it and try to imagine it,† Meredith said. Elena, who had been fiddling with the star ball from the other house, now put the slightly cloudy orb down and said, â€Å"All right. Let's brainstorm.† â€Å"May I storm, too?† a low, modulated voice asked from the doorway. The girls all turned, rising at the same time to greet a smiling Lady Ulma. Before taking a chair, she gave Elena a particularly heartfelt hug and kiss on the cheek and Elena couldn't help herself from comparing the woman as they had seen her at Dr. Meggar's to the elegant lady she was now. Then, she had been hardly more than skin over bones, with the eyes of a timid wild creature under great strain, wearing a common housecoat, with men's bedroom slippers. Now, she reminded Elena of a Roman matron, with her face tranquil and beginning to fill out under a crown of glossy dark braids held back by jeweled combs. Her body was filling out, too, especially her belly, although she retained her natural grace as she took a seat on a velvet couch. She was wearing a saffron-colored gown of raw silk, with an underskirt of fringed and shimmering apricot. â€Å"We're so excited about the fitting tonight,† Elena said, with a nod toward the sketchbook. â€Å"I am as excited as a child, myself,† Lady Ulma admitted. â€Å"I only wish I could do for you a tenth of what you have done for me.† â€Å"You have already,† Elena said. â€Å"And if we can find the fox keys – it will only be because you helped us so much. And that – I can't tell you how much that means to me,† she finished almost in a whisper. â€Å"But you never thought I could help you when you defied the law for a ravaged slave. You simply wanted to save me – and you have suffered much for it,† Ulma responded quietly. Elena shifted uncomfortably. The cut running down her face had left only a thin white scar along the cheekbone. Once – when she had first returned to Earth from the afterlife – she would have been able to wave the scar away with a simple wash of Power. But now, although she could channel her Power through her body, and use it to enhance her senses, she couldn't make it obey her will in any other way. And once, she thought, imagining the Elena who had stood in Robert E. Lee High School's parking lot and drooled over a Porsche, she would have considered the marring of her face the greatest calamity of her life. But with all the accolades she had received, with Damon calling it her â€Å"white wound of honor,† and her certainty that it would mean as little to Stefan as a scar on his cheekbone would mean to her, she had found she just couldn't take it very seriously. I am not the same person I once was, she thought. And I'm glad. â€Å"Never mind,† she said, ignoring the pain down her leg that still throbbed at times. â€Å"Let's talk about the Silver Nightingale and her gala.† â€Å"Right,† Meredith said. â€Å"What do we know about her? How did the clue go again, Elena?† â€Å"Misao said, ‘If I said that one of the halves was inside the silver nightingale's instrument, would that even give you an idea?' – or something like that,† Elena repeated obediently. They all knew the words by heart but it was part of the ritual, every time they discussed it. â€Å"And the ‘Silver Nightingale' is the nickname for Lady Fazina Darley and everyone in the Dark Dimension knows it!† cried Bonnie, clapping her small hands in sheer delight. â€Å"Indeed, that has long been her sobriquet, given to her when she first came here and began to sing and play on her harps strung with silver,† Lady Ulma put in gravely. â€Å"And harp strings need to be tuned, and they're tuned with keys,† Bonnie continued excitedly. â€Å"Yes.† Meredith, in contrast, spoke slowly and thoughtfully. â€Å"But it's not a harp-tuning key we're looking for. They look like this.† She put down on a table beside her an object made of smooth pale maple that looked like a very short T or, if held on its side, like a gracefully waving tree with one short horizontal branch. â€Å"I got that from one of the minstrels Damon hired.† Bonnie eyed the tuning key loftily. â€Å"It might be a harp-tuning key we're looking for,† she insisted. â€Å"It might be used for both things, somehow.† â€Å"I don't see how,† Meredith said doggedly. â€Å"Unless somehow they change shape when the two halves come together.† â€Å"Oh, my, yes,† Lady Ulma said, as if Meredith had just made an obvious proposition. â€Å"If they are magical halves of a single key they will almost certainly change when the two halves come together.† â€Å"You see?† Bonnie said. â€Å"But if they can be any sort of shape, then how the hell will we even know when we've found them?† Elena asked impatiently. All she cared about was finding what it took to save Stefan. Lady Ulma fell silent, and Elena felt badly. She hated to use harsh language or even appear distressed in front of the woman who had lived a life of such subjection and horror since her early teens. Elena wanted Lady Ulma to feel safe, to be happy. â€Å"Anyway,† she said quickly, â€Å"we know one thing. It's in the Silver Nightingale's instrument. So whatever is inside Lady Fazina's harp, that has to be it.† â€Å"Oh, but – † Lady Ulma began, and then she stopped herself almost before the words were out. â€Å"What is it?† Elena asked gently. â€Å"Oh, nothing at all,† Lady Ulma said hastily. â€Å"I mean, would you like to see your dresses now? This last fitting is really just to make sure every stitch is perfect.† â€Å"Oh, we'd love to!† Bonnie cried, at the same time making a dive for the sketchbook, while Meredith rung a bell pull that brought a servant hurrying in and hurrying away again to the sewing room. â€Å"I only wish Master Damon and Lord Sage had agreed to let me create something for them to wear,† Lady Ulma said mournfully to Elena. â€Å"Oh, Sage is not going. And I'm sure Damon wouldn't have minded – as long as you designed him a black leather jacket, a black shirt, black jeans, and black boots all exactly like the ones he wears every day. He'd have been happy to wear it then.† Lady Ulma laughed. â€Å"I see. Well, there will be enough fantastical styles worn tonight that he may change his mind for the future. Now let's draw the curtains on the windows all around. This gala is to be indoors, with gaslight only, so colors will show true.† â€Å"I wondered why it said ‘indoors' on the invitations,† Bonnie said. â€Å"I thought maybe it was because of rain.† â€Å"It's because of the sun,† Lady Ulma said soberly. â€Å"That hateful crimson light, changing every blue to purple, every yellow to brown. You see, no one would wear aqua or green to an outdoor soiree – no, not even you, with that strawberry hair that cries out for it.† â€Å"I get it. I can see how having that sun hanging there every day would really get you down after a while.† â€Å"I wonder if you can,† murmured Lady Ulma, and then she added hastily, â€Å"While we wait shall I show you what I have created for your tall friend who doubts me?† â€Å"Oh, please, yes!† Bonnie held out the sketchbook. Lady Ulma thumbed through it until she came to a page that seemed to please her. She took up pens and coloring pencils like a child eager to play with beloved toys again. â€Å"Here it is,† she said, using the colored pencils to add a line here and a curve there, but holding the book so that the three girls could see the design. â€Å"Oh, my God!† cried Bonnie in genuine astonishment, and even Elena felt her eyes widening. The girl in the sketch was definitely Meredith, with her hair half up and half down, but wearing a dress – such a dress! Black as ebony, strapless, it clung to the long slim figure perfectly sketched in the picture, emphasizing the curves, enhancing them on top by what Elena learned was called a â€Å"sweetheart† neckline: one that made Meredith's front look like a Valentine's Day heart. It kept close to the body all the way to the knees where it suddenly flared out again, dramatically wide. â€Å"A ‘mermaid' dress,† Lady Ulma explained, satisfied with her sketch at last. â€Å"And here it is,† she added as several sewing women entered, reverently holding the miraculous gown between them. Now the girls could see that the material was of plush black velvet dotted with tiny rectangular metallic golden flecks. It looked like midnight back home, Elena thought, with a thousand falling stars in the sky. â€Å"And with it, you will wear these very large black onyx and gold earrings, these black onyx and gold combs to hold your hair up, and some lovely matching bracelets and rings Lucen has made just for this outfit,† Lady Ulma continued. Elena realized that sometime in the last minutes Lucen must have entered the room. She smiled at him, and then her eyes dropped to the three-tiered tray he held. On the top tray, against an ivory background, were two black onyx and diamond bracelets, as well as a ring with a diamond in it that almost made her swoon. Meredith was looking around the room as if she had stumbled into a private discussion and didn't know how to get out. Then she looked from the dress to the jewels to Lady Ulma again. Meredith was not one to lose her composure easily. But after a moment she simply went to Lady Ulma and hugged her fiercely, then went to Lucen and very gently put her hand on his forearm. It was clear that she couldn't speak. Bonnie was studying the sketch with the eyes of a connoisseur now. â€Å"Those matching bracelets were made just for this dress, weren't they?† she said with a conspiratorial air. To Elena's surprise Lady Ulma seemed uncomfortable. Then she spoke slowly. â€Å"The truth is†¦well, that Miss Meredith is†¦a slave. All slaves are required to wear some sort of symbolic bracelets when they travel outside their households.† She turned her eyes down to the polished wooden floorboards. Her cheeks were flushed. â€Å"Lady Ulma – oh, please, you can't think it matters to us?† Lady Ulma's eyes flashed as she looked up. â€Å"Not matter?† â€Å"Well,† Elena said hautily, â€Å"it doesn't really matter†¦er, yet, because there's nothing to do about it, not now.† Of course, the servants weren't in on the secrets of the Damon-Elena-Meredith-Bonnie relationship. Even Lady Ulma didn't see why Damon didn't free the three girls just in case â€Å"something should happen, may the Celestial Guardians forbid it.† But the girls had formed a solid phalanx against it; it would be like jinxing their whole enterprise. â€Å"Well, anyway,† Bonnie was blathering, â€Å"I think the bracelets are beautiful. I mean she could hardly find anything more perfect for the dress, could she?† – striking at the professional sensibilities of the designer. Lucen smiled modestly and Lady Ulma gave him a loving glance. Meredith's face was still glowing. â€Å"Lady Ulma, I don't know how to thank you. I will wear this gown – and for tonight I will be someone I have never been before. Of course, you've drawn my hair up, or partly up. I don't usually wear it that way,† Meredith finished weakly. â€Å"You will tonight – up and high over that lovely wide brow of yours. This dress is to show off the charming curves of your bare shoulders and arms. It's a crime to cover them, day or night. And the hairstyle is to lay bare your exotic face instead of hiding it!† Lady Ulma said firmly. Good, Elena thought. They've gotten her off the subject of symbolic slavery. â€Å"You'll wear a touch of makeup as well – pale gold on your lids, and kohl to enhance and lengthen your lashes. A touch of golden lipstick, but no rouge; I don't believe in that for young girls. Your olive skin will complete the picture of a sultry maiden perfectly.† Meredith looked helplessly at Elena. â€Å"I don't usually wear makeup either,† she said, but they both knew that she was beaten. Lady Ulma's vision would come to life. â€Å"Don't call it a mermaid dress; she'll be a siren,† Bonnie said enthusiastically. â€Å"But we'd better put a spell on it to keep all the vampire sailors away.† To Elena's surprise, Lady Ulma nodded solemnly. â€Å"My seamstress friend has sent a priestess today to bless all the garments and to keep you from being victimized by vampires, of course. If that meets with your approval?† She looked at Elena, who nodded. â€Å"As long as they don't keep Damon out of the way,† she added jokingly, and felt time freeze as Meredith and Bonnie immediately turned their eyes on her, hoping to catch something in Elena's expression that would give her away. But Elena kept her expression neutral, as Lady Ulma continued, â€Å"Naturally, the restrictions would not apply to your – to Master Damon.† â€Å"Naturally,† Elena said soberly. â€Å"And now for the smallest beauty to go to the gala,† Lady Ulma was saying to Bonnie, who bit her lip, blushing. â€Å"I have something very special for you. I don't know how long I've been yearning to work with this material. I've trudged by it in a shop window year after year, just aching to buy it and create with it. You see?† And the next set of sewing women came forward, holding a smaller, lighter frock between them, while Lady Ulma held up a sketch. Elena was already staring in amazement. The material was glorious – incredible – but especially clever was how it had been put together. The fabric was vivid peacock green-blue, with the most amazing hand stitching to represent a pattern of peacock eyes flaring up from the waist. Bonnie's brown eyes had widened again. â€Å"This is for me?† she breathed, almost afraid to touch the material. â€Å"Yes, and we're going to slick that hair of yours back until you look as sophisticated as your friend. Go ahead and try it on. I think you'll like the way this dress has come out.† Lucen had retired and Meredith was already being carefully encased in the mermaid dress. Bonnie happily began to strip. Lady Ulma turned out to have been right. Bonnie loved the way she looked that evening. Right now she was being given the finishing touches, such as a delicate spray of citrus and rosewater; a fragrance made just for her. She stood before a giant silvered-glass mirror, just minutes before they were due to start off for the gala given by Fazina, the Silver Nightingale herself. Bonnie turned a little, looking at the strapless, full-skirted dress in awe. Its bodice was made – or seemed to be made – entirely of the eyes of peacock feathers, arranged in a spray that was gathered together at her waist, showing off how tiny it was. There was another spray of larger feathers that pointed downward from the waist, front and back. The back actually had a small train of peacock feathers against emerald silk. In front, below the larger, downward pointing spray, a design worked in silver and gold, of stylized undulating plumes, all upside down, made its way to the bottom of the gown, which was edged with thin gold brocade. As if this were not enough, Lady Ulma had had a fan made with real peacock eyes set in an emerald jade handle, with a tassel of softly clinking jade, citrine, and emerald charms at the bottom. Around Bonnie's throat was a matching necklace of jade, inlaid with emerald, sapphire, and lapis lazuli. And around each of her wrists were several emerald jade bracelets that clicked together whenever she moved, the symbol of her slavery. But Bonnie's eyes could hardly linger on them, and she couldn't summon up a proper hatred of the bracelets. She was thinking of how a special hairdresser had come to â€Å"slick back† Bonnie's strawberry-colored curls until, darkened into true red, they were plastered flat against her skull and held in place with jade and emerald clips. Her heart-shaped face had never looked so mature, so sophisticated. To emerald eyelids and kohl-darkened eyes, Lady Ulma had added a vivid red lipstick and had for once broken her rule and cleverly, wielding the brush herself, had added touches here and there of blusher so that Bonnie's translucent skin looked as if she were constantly coloring at some compliment. Delicately carved jade earrings with golden bells inside completed the ensemble, and Bonnie felt as if she were some Princess of the Ancient Orient. â€Å"It's really some kind of miracle. Usually, I look like a pixie trying to dress up as a cheerleader or a flower girl,† she confided, kissing Lady Ulma again and again, delighted to find that the lipstick stayed on her lips instead of transferring to her benefactress's cheeks. â€Å"But tonight I look like a young woman.† She would have kept on babbling, helpless to stop herself even though Lady Ulma already was trying to discreetly dab tears away from her eyes, except that at that moment Elena came in and she gasped. Elena's dress had already been finished by the afternoon and so all Bonnie had seen of it was the sketch. But somehow that had failed to convey just what this dress would do for Elena. Bonnie had secretly wondered if Lady Ulma were leaving too much to Elena's own natural beauty, and was hoping that Elena would be as excited about her own dress as everyone seemed to be about Bonnie's and Meredith's. Now Bonnie understood. â€Å"It is a called a goddess dress,† Lady Ulma explained to the stunned silence in the room, as Elena walked in, and Bonnie dizzily thought that if goddesses had ever lived up on Mount Olympus, they would certainly have wanted to dress this way. The trick of the dress lay in its very simplicity. It was made of milk-white silk, with a delicately pleated waist (Lady Ulma called the irregular tight pleating â€Å"ruching†) which held two simple bodice panels that formed a V-neckline, showing off Elena's peach-blossom skin between them and behind them. These panels in turn were held at the shoulders by two carved clasps – gold inlaid with mother-of-pearl and diamonds. From the waist, the skirt fell straight in graceful, silken folds all the way to Elena's delicate sandals – again designed in gold, mother-of-pearl and diamonds. In the back, the two panels that clasped at the shoulder became straps and crossed over to once again meet at the pleated waist. Such a simple dress, but so magnificent on the right girl. At Elena's throat, an exquisitely designed golden and mother-of-pearl necklace in the stylized shape of a butterfly was inset with so many diamonds that it seemed to blaze with multicolored fire each time she moved and they caught the light. She wore this over the lapis and diamond pendant Stefan had given her, since she had flatly refused to take the pendant off. It didn't matter. The butterfly covered the pendant completely. On each wrist Elena wore a wide bracelet of gold and mother-of-pearl inset with diamonds, creations that they had found in the secret jewel room, obviously made to go with the necklace. And that was all. Elena's hair had been brushed and brushed and brushed until it formed a silky golden tumble of waves that hung below her shoulders in back, and she was wearing a touch of rose-colored lipstick. But her face, with its thick black eyelashes and lighter arched brows – and just now its look of excitement that parted her rose-colored lips and brought brilliant color to her cheeks – had been left entirely alone. Earrings that were just cascades of diamonds peeped through her gold tresses. She's going to drive them crazy tonight, Bonnie thought, eyeing the daring dress with envy, but not with jealousy, instead rather reveling in the thought of the sensation Elena would make. She's wearing the simplest gown of any of us, but she still completely puts Meredith and me in the shade. Yet Bonnie had never seen Meredith look better – or more exotic. She'd also never known what a stunning figure Meredith had, despite her friend's wide assortment of designer clothes. Meredith shrugged when Bonnie told her this. She had a fan, too, black lacquer, that folded. Now she opened it and folded it shut again, tapping her chin thoughtfully. â€Å"We're in the hands of a genius,† she said simply. â€Å"But we can't forget what we're really here for.†

Great Ideologies Stemming Out From Chaos Essay

Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Paine, three great political philosophers, all view the nature of man and society as anarchical, which is a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority, making it â€Å"war of all against all†. The utopian society of individuals enjoys complete freedom without government, wherein there is a display of a lack of morality for most of the time. In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes presented the political state as a Leviathan—a sea monster. As a metaphor for the state, it is described as a replica of a person whose body is made up of all the bodies of its citizens, who are the literal members of the Leviathan’s body, and placing the sovereign as the head. In order for them to escape this natural condition, the people in the state constructed the Leviathan through social contract wherein they give up certain natural rights and transfer them to another person of authority. In turn, the power of the Leviathan protects them from the abuses of one another. The source of inequality comes from the scarcity of resources. If one looks around at other animals—Hobbes specifically notes ants and bees—they appear to live harmoniously with one another without any sort of state or society. If they can do so, then why can’t men who are, after all, â€Å"animals† themselves? Hobbes discussed several reasons as to why men cannot live this way: the main one being that men are rational creatures. If we lived in some pre-societal concord with others, reason would always devise ways for us to cheat and make ourselves better off than others in order for us to survive. Furthermore, as we humans possess speech, we are able to mislead one another about our wants and desires. Hobbes also claims that animals naturally agree with one another while humans do not, and the reason for this essentially is because man is competitive in nature and therefore views everyone around him as a threat. Therefore, the government is created to provide order and regulation. For Hobbes, the best form of government is monarchy for four reasons: first, since humans will always choose the private over the public good, the best way to ensure peace when choosing a sovereign is to have these united. And by the outweighing of private good over public ones, infighting and corruption within government is encouraged. Second, having a secret counsel is allowed in a monarchy as opposed to in a democracy or aristocracy. Third, a monarchy is more consistent: since the monarch is one person and humans are not perfectly consistent, the commonwealth changes only as human nature dictates. In a democracy and aristocracy, because more natural bodies compose the sovereign, the commonwealth is more subject to human inconsistency as well as the inconsistency that comes from a change in the makeup of the sovereign, which happens with each election cycle or new member of the aristocracy. Lastly, infighting or warring factions caused by envy, self-interest, or any other human imperfections cannot be seen in a monarchy. On the other hand, Jean-Jacques Rousseau views the government as an abomination because it interferes with the nature of man. His aim is to examine the foundations of inequality among men, and to determine whether this inequality is authorized by natural law. He attempts to demonstrate that modern moral inequality, which is created by an agreement between men, is unnatural and unrelated to the true nature of man and that it is necessary to consider human nature and to chart how that nature has evolved over the centuries to produce modern man and modern society. Like Hobbes, he describes man as just another animal, and this proves to be very important. The distinction between human and animal was used both to justify man’s possession and use of the Earth’s resources, and to explain why humans apparently have certain unique capabilities, such as reason and language. He further expounds that man is like yet unlike other animals, due to the unique way he develops. And as time goes by, human faculties were being fully developed. To be and to appear became two different things. Man became subjugated by a multitude of new needs, especially by his need for other men. Man became a slave to men as one takes pleasure in domination and tries to be their master. However, this is only true for the rich. When the powerful claims a right to another person’s goods, such as the right of property, the inequality can lead to a state of war. Therefore, the rich tried to persuade the weak, who were indeed easily convinced, to unite with them into a supreme power to institute rules of justice and peace. Men ran towards their chains in the belief that they were securing their freedom, while those who did know about the deceit thought that they could trade part of their freedom for security. Although his idea sounds wrong, it essentially represents a point at which the self-preservation and pity of savage man are perfectly balanced with the acute regard for oneself in relation to others of modern man. Some aspects of reason and communal life are good, but they are still potentially destructive. In criticizing civility and concern for others as negative features of society, Rousseau goes against the good manners and civility that are generally seen as restraining the savage features of man, as he feels that there is nothing to restrain in natural man, and civility only makes men compare themselves to one another. As for Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, he justifies the principles of modern republican governments. He attacks the notion of monarchy and privilege and argues that each generation has the right to establish its own system of government. No nation can legally be ruled by a hereditary monarchy because government is for the living and not the dead. No generation has the right to establish a government binding on future generations. He argues that humankind can reach its full potential under republican governments which would allow individuals to live free of privilege and caste. To sum it all up, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Paine put forward an idea of how the government sprung from inequality and lack of a central world authority. For Hobbes, an absolute monarchial government ruled by one person only, is necessary to fulfill the society’s need for order and the regulation of its people so that society can avoid from spiraling into anarchy. As for Rousseau, a government having biases towards the rich while deceiving the poor was created so that the insecurities of the people would force them in order to perpetuate inequality which make them dependent on the government, giving it more power. Lastly, for Paine, a representative and democratic government is formed to protect the people’s rights to be protected and to safeguard them from the threat of chaos, allowing the people to create an environment where they can mature and achieve their potential. Despite the differences in some parts of their ideologies such as the sources of inequality and the roles of the government, a single goal is presented—that is, for the creation of a concept of government in order to prevent the society from turning back to its nature of anarchism. While Hobbes’ â€Å"one-man rule† could lead to abuse of power, his intention is for this monarchial type of government to administer order and self-preservation in the society. As for Rousseau, the maintenance of an inequality between social classes assures the stabilization of finite resources and society itself. Lastly, for Paine, his ideal world of a representative-democratic government lies on the belief that environmental influences create the individual and that a benevolent form of government can bring about human happiness. Putting them together, their main objective can be viewed as the organization and harmonization of society so as to push it towards progression. References: (n.d.). Rights of Man. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www.enotes.com/rights-man salem/rights-man SparkNotes Editors. (n.d.). SparkNote on Discourse on Inequality. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/inequality/

Books can change our lives Essay

Books significantly impact and shape our lives as it can provide a vast and constant amount of knowledge that we can use in a variety of ways. They are also essential tools in education as they serve as permanent references for individuals who constantly need to educate or update themselves with information. In addition, certain books can also serve as a form of relief from the stresses of daily life by bringing us to different worlds and places that exists only in the imagination. One of the most important uses of a book is that it provides information. Whether it’s simply a basic chemical formula or equation, an economic principle, or a history of a certain country, a book can provide them all. A book on English, for example, can teach us the proper norms of grammar, pronunciation, and also widen our vocabulary, which can all be useful as we grow up and become professionals in our respective fields. Furthermore, in the field of medicine, books serve as important references for doctors and other health personnel as there are constantly new diseases and cures that are being discovered. These professionals in the health field can utilize the valuable information they obtain from a book in various ways such as diagnosing a patient’s disease or looking up a possible treatment for a certain illness or ailment. In other words, the next scientific or medical breakthrough can be found in a book. Books can also enrich our knowledge of our own culture and background. Through a good history book, we can trace how our founding fathers established our country or how the Bill of Rights was created. In short, books that provide facts and detailed information can greatly improve our intellectual capacity as well as our ability reasoning and analytical skills which we often use in our daily lives. Another way that a book can change our lives is that it inspires and feeds our imagination. This kind of book is usually in the form of fictional novels, plays, and rich literature that can take us to places we never thought we could go to. Whether it’s marveling at the works of Shakespeare, unraveling spooky mysteries with Stephen King’s novels or simply taking a stroll with the pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, books that are rich in literature and creativity can inspire us to create a world similar to those that we have read about. Moreover, these kinds of books provide deeper meaning in life by showing various sides of art and various interpretations of human life. These books can also give us different perspectives in life and can even motivate us to use and express our creative skills by writing books of our own. However, the most significant way that a book can change our lives is that the information that it provides can be shared to other people. This information can enlighten those who are confused and enhance the knowledge of those who are already well-informed. Sharing the information found in books, especially to the uneducated, can inspire them to work hard and eventually provide a better life for themselves. For example, it is possible that a relatively poor man who constantly reads good books can eventually obtain a college degree simply because he used all the information he acquired from the books he has read. It can then be said that reading books and sharing the information obtained from them can immortalize us in a way as the knowledge we posses is passed down to younger and future generations. In conclusion, books can change our lives by simply providing us with in-depth information, sources of inspiration, and valuable knowledge that we can use to continuously hone our skills and talents and eventually become better people. Books can make us the next Nobel Prize Awardee, the next CEO of a major corporation, or the next award-winning writer in the future depending on how we use the information we acquire from them. In short, it can be deduced that books are almost a necessity for us to succeed in life and become highly competent and well-rounded persons.

A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay

A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the term used for any type of business or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of products, services and information over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The trader and customer are not face to face at any point during these transactions, the business being conducted remotely, regardless of location. E-commerce covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web. Although most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in one way or another, a large percentage of e-commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items, such as access to certain information on a website, purchasin g software or other on-line services. E-business is a superset of e-commerce   [ 1 ]   . Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions. E-commerce can be mainly divided into Business-to-Business electronic commerce (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer electronic commerce (B2C). B2B implies that both sellers (suppliers) and buyers are business corporations, while B2C implies that buyers are individual consumers. Business-to-business e-commerce is significantly different from business-to-consumer e-commerce. While B2C merchants sell on a first-come, first-served basis, most B2B commerce is done through negotiated contracts that allow the seller to anticipate and plan for how much the buyer will purchase. In some cases B2B is not so much a matter of generating revenue as it is a matter of making connections with business partners. 1.1.1 . B2B e-commerce B2B e-commerce requires the technological sharing of information among supplies, retailers, distributors, and other interested parties to create electronic relationships. B2B e-commerce does not just comprise the transaction via the Internet, but also the exchange of information before and the service after a transaction. From the purchasing company’s point of view, B2B e-commerce is a medium for facilitating procurement management by reducing the purchase price and the cycle time.   [ 2 ]    The key players usually include selling and buying companies, deliverers, and often some type of electronic intermediaries, or third-party service providers. These associations can take many forms, yet most fall into three models. These models are classified depending on who controls the marketplace: the supplier, the buyer or the intermediary: (a) In a Supplier-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face few suppliers. (b) In a Buyer-Orientated Marketplace: few buyers fa ce many suppliers. (c) In an Intermediary-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face many suppliers. A) Supplier-Oriented Marketplace Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces offer a group of customers a wide spectrum of products and services and also support them in their own business. The markets can involve proprietary auctions, bid systems, and exchanges. By using Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces, suppliers are offered new types of market channels in marketing and distribution. Products can be sold directly to the customer without using intermediaries. Most manufacture-driven electronic stores use this form of market place. Successful examples of this business model are e.g. Dell and Cisco.   [ 3 ]   Both Dell and Cisco sold and sell their products via the Internet. However, not only Dell and Cisco use the Supplier-Oriented Marketplace, there are thousands of other companies using this model. Cisco’s main business is providing electronic support using the Internet. The main applicati ons are software downloads, defect tracking and technical advice. Cisco’s business model also includes customer service and finding order status, as well as selling routers, switches and other network interconnect devices.