What two enemies does the kingdom of Scotland face? How are they overcome?

At the start of the play, the kingdom of Scotland faces two enemies: Norway and a rebellion led by the Scottish traitor to the throne, Macdonwald. Both enemies are essentially overcome on the battlefield. First, Macbeth and Banquo fight the rebels, led by Macdonwald. The injured captain tells Duncan that

brave Macbeth (for well he deserves that name)

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel [...]

carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave [and]

...

At the start of the play, the kingdom of Scotland faces two enemies: Norway and a rebellion led by the Scottish traitor to the throne, Macdonwald. Both enemies are essentially overcome on the battlefield. First, Macbeth and Banquo fight the rebels, led by Macdonwald. The injured captain tells Duncan that

brave Macbeth (for well he deserves that name)

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel [...]

carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave [and]

unseamed him from the nave to th' chops" (Act I, Scene 2, lines 18-24).

He paints a vivid mental picture of Macbeth, slashing through a thicket of bodies to forge a path to Macdonwald, and, once he reached the leader, Macbeth thrust his sword through the man's stomach and ripped him open all the way up to his jaw.

Then, the captain explains, just as Macbeth and Banquo were turning away from their victory over the rebels, the Norwegian king saw his opportunity to attack while they were tired. The king then brought a fresh army, and even though Macbeth and Banquo were clearly alarmed by the prospect of another battle, "they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe" and won (Act I, Scene 2, line 42). Scotland, then, really owes its safety to the bravery of its champions on the battlefield.

In "Odalie Misses Mass," what is Kate Chopin saying about the South using muckraking? What is she trying to illustrate about the South? How?

Muckraking is considered investigative writing meant to expose social ills or corporate and political corruption. In her short story "Odalie Misses Mass," Kate Chopin exposes some of the social ills of slavery.

When Odalie stops at the cabin of Aunt Pinky, she finds the old slave, "the helpless, shrivelled old negress," alone. Disturbed that Aunt Pinky is alone, Odalie learns that a young slave named Pug has left her to go to church. So, Odalie...

Muckraking is considered investigative writing meant to expose social ills or corporate and political corruption. In her short story "Odalie Misses Mass," Kate Chopin exposes some of the social ills of slavery.

When Odalie stops at the cabin of Aunt Pinky, she finds the old slave, "the helpless, shrivelled old negress," alone. Disturbed that Aunt Pinky is alone, Odalie learns that a young slave named Pug has left her to go to church. So, Odalie calls to her waiting mother that she is going to stay with Aunt Pinky and cannot continue on with her to church.

When she resumes her seat, Aunt Pinky repeats "done gone" a few times, suggesting that she is left alone frequently. Then, Aunt Pinky recalls when Odalie's grandfather said he would have to sell Pinky and others because he had hit hard times, but he did not sell Pinky after witnessing how fond Odalie was of her and when Odalie insisted that she did not want fancy things if it meant selling Aunt Pinky. Aunt Pinky also recalls to Odalie the time that she caught her crying because Pinky wanted to marry Hiram, a servant of a certain Mr. Benitou.

Because Odalie went home and cried and broke dishes 

"...an' pesters yo' gran'pap 'tell he bleedge to buy Hi'um f'om de Benitous."

Odalie's grandfather again softens and gives in to his granddaughter, and Pinky gets to marry Hiram. The contrast between the treatment and consideration for his granddaughter and that given his slave exposes the cruelty and disregard for human feelings that slave owners exhibited frequently in the South.

In the novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, what are some of the implications of capitalism?

This is a very creative question because it asks you to take a concept from economics, capitalism, and apply it to a critical work in the English canon, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It is also a timely question. Thomas Hardy wrote Tess of the d’Urbervilles in England at the end of the 1800s, when industrialization was on the rise and nations were having impassioned dialogues about the role of capitalism and the distribution of resources.

Capitalism refers to the way that goods and services are distributed in a society; in a capitalist society, goods and services are distributed according to the free market. In other words, private individuals own, trade, and manage the nation's wealth according to their needs and desires. In any capitalist society, accessing money is of the utmost import to both surviving daily life and achieving upward social mobility.

The implications of capitalism are paramount to Tess's experiences in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Writing in the late 1800s, Thomas Hardy's story of Tess, a woman who was raped and then abandoned because of it, ran against Victorian social norms of the time. While the novel is commonly interpreted as an exposé of gender-based double standards, it also reveals how Tess was both disadvantaged and advantaged in the capitalist system.

The opening of the novel reveals the extent to which capitalism is at the heart of the complicating events of the narrative. Tess's father drives by her and her friends in their family’s old, shabby cart; there is great concern over whether or not the family beehives will make it to market; and Tess blames herself for the death of their family horse, Prince. The name of the horse, "Prince," is ripe itself with symbolism. A prince, by definition, is a man born into a royal family. The use of this term underscores Tess's poverty and her lack of a wealthy suitor. So, at the very outset of the novel, the social class of the Durbeyfield family is directly in the forefront. Their poverty is thrown into further relief by Tess's father's critical discovery that they are far-off descendants of the noble and rich d'Urberville family.

The contrast between the Durbeyfields' home and the d’Urbervilles' home underscores the inequitable economic distribution that is inherent in any capitalist society. The Durbeyfields are presented as wholesome and hardworking, yet they have little; meanwhile, Alec is well-groomed and wealthy yet cruel to both Angel and Tess through mockery and sexual abuse. This relationship reflects the inequitable and often unearned distribution of wealth in capitalist societies.

The explanation, if there can be one, for Alec's rape of Tess is complex. But, one can say that the economic disparity between the two is at least one factor. When Tess goes to the d'Urberville family, she is both asking for money and working as a servant. Remember, Tess is very aware that both her family's well-being and her father’s health rely on her ability to make money. As such, Alec is in a situation of power, as he can give Tess money or even marry her. Instead, he commits an act of sexual assault. And he does so with the security of knowing that Tess, a woman without money, has minimal ability to defend herself or bring him to justice.

Capitalism plays a more positive role in Phase the Third. Tess is able to leave the prying eyes of her hometown to find work at Talbothays Dairy. Tess's ability to change her circumstances, find work, make money, and build a better life are considered to be the hallmarks of capitalism. Angel Clare’s character similarly presents a positive view. Even though he came from a well-off background, he is not required to join the clergy like his brothers. Instead, he can do what makes him happy: farming. These advantages of capitalism—freedom and the pursuit of happiness—are why many individuals immigrated to capitalist countries over the course of the late 1800s and 1900s.

The novel’s culmination, however, reveals yet another aspect of capitalism. Believing Angel will never return to her, Tess returns to Alec. Consider the dramatic tension at the start of Phase the Seventh: Angel does not yet know of Tess's transformative new wealth, and the readers, though suspect of her choice to return to Alec, are as shocked as he is to find her so richly clothed. It is no coincidence that once she has access to wealth she is able to have greater agency in life, killing Alec for his crimes against her. This reveals yet another aspect of capitalism, the inevitable equation of money to power.

In "Shooting an Elephant," why would the Burmese have no weapons?

There are three general reasons why the Burmese might not have weapons, reasons that each might apply but that are very different from one another.

The first reason is there is a history of nonviolence in Burma. The Burmese might not have weapons due to their philosophical orientation.

The second reason is the Burmese might well have had weapons, but no guns (and Orwell is simply generalizing too broadly). You could have a staff or...

There are three general reasons why the Burmese might not have weapons, reasons that each might apply but that are very different from one another.

The first reason is there is a history of nonviolence in Burma. The Burmese might not have weapons due to their philosophical orientation.

The second reason is the Burmese might well have had weapons, but no guns (and Orwell is simply generalizing too broadly). You could have a staff or knife and not be able to stop an elephant.

The third reason is political. Decades earlier, the British had passed laws limiting gun ownership among their colonies. For example, in 1878 the British passed a law allowing Europeans to carry guns freely, but markedly limiting Indian access to guns. It was hard for colonial subjects to get the licenses required to own guns.

What is an analysis of The Art of the Commonplace?

Wendell Berry provides a challenge and an inspiration to our society. Both his life and thinking cut across political and intellectual divides, challenging us to leave our isolated ideological silos and to think deeply about how we really live and about what constitutes a worthwhile life.

Out of paradox, Berry has carved a niche for himself in American society as thinker and teacher, writer and activist. He comes out of a countercultural  tradition that includes Henry David Thoreau, William Morris, the Amish, and Annie Dilliard, author of the Pulitzer prize winning The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. He is both deeply Christian and deeply wedded to environmentalism, both an intellectual who left a prestigious teaching position at New York University and a Kentucky farmer. 

The Art of the Commonplace pulls together 20 essays from across his career, united by the theme that it is vitally important that Americans return to a whole life: a life centered in place and community, a life in touch with past and future, and a life that values work while being centered in morality.

He writes in The Art of the Commonplace of himself as anachronistic. By this, he means he belongs to an earlier period of history and to some extent shares its worldview. Berry, born in 1934,  states that if he had been born five years later, he would not be who is today. The agrarian Kentucky world he first knew was, he writes, "doomed." He grew up knowing how to hitch a team of horses to plough a field; he did not know how to work on a car. After leaving rural Kentucky for the big city, he returned to his roots, buying a Kentucky farm and investing in the community of his grandparents.

The Art of the Commonplace is well named. An argument running throughout the essays maintains that we have lost the art of living ordinary lives. Like Thoreau, Berry rejects consumerism as a soul-killing disease that has robbed us of our understanding of what is most important. Berry reserves some of his harshest language for our exploitative economy, stating in the essay "The Unsettling of America" that it "sells sham and frustration as luxury and satisfaction." In fact, he argues, our economy, based on the drive to always have more, leads to "the hysterical self-dissatisfaction of consumers."

For Berry, the devastation of the natural environment reveals to us our soul sickness. We cannot divorce who we are from what we do and how we do it. As he writes in "The Unsettling of America," quoting Confucius, "If a man have not order within him, he cannot spread order without him." A ruined environment can only emerge from souls that are sick and in need of healing. 

Berry envisions a better society built on agrarianism and localism, in which people are deeply connected and rooted in a particular place, a geography they steward for future generations rather than exploit for present profit. Like William Morris, he advocates that we lose our "contempt" for work—by which he means good work that is well done in a spirit of craftsmanship. He passionately argues that the physical diseases that plague our bodies will not be cured until we go deeper than treating our atomized physical symptoms. Instead, we need to live as whole people.

Berry has much to offer in his critique of society and the environment. He exemplifies and offers a compelling alternative vision.  

How is the theme of loss explored in "Out, Out—" by Robert Frost?

In "Out, Out—," Robert Frost explores the theme of loss in a number of ways. Firstly, he uses the title of the poem to suggest that life is very fragile and that it is easily lost. To do this, Frost employs an allusion from Shakespeare's Macbethin which Macbeth uses the phrase "Out, out, brief candle" as he is musing about the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. By naming his poem after this...

In "Out, Out—," Robert Frost explores the theme of loss in a number of ways. Firstly, he uses the title of the poem to suggest that life is very fragile and that it is easily lost. To do this, Frost employs an allusion from Shakespeare's Macbeth in which Macbeth uses the phrase "Out, out, brief candle" as he is musing about the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. By naming his poem after this phrase, Frost shares Macbeth's belief that life is little more than an illusion and that it can be put out (just like a candle) at any moment.

In addition, Frost also explores the theme of loss from the boy's perspective. In this case, it is a loss of innocence which Frost touches upon: the young boy is out cutting wood for his family because he has to contribute to their survival. This is a significant burden for the young boy and he wishes to be freed from it, as shown by the following line:

"That a boy counts so much when saved from work."

Similarly, it is the boy's young sister who calls him in for supper, which hints at her domestic contribution to family life. Like her brother, the young girl is forced to help her family and, therefore, she has also lost her innocence.

Finally, Frost also explores loss in a literal sense: the boy loses his hand in an accident with a saw and, as a result, he also loses his life. To emphasize this sense of loss, Frost describes the boy's deathbed scene, in which he is surrounded by his family as he draws his last breath. Frost deals with the boy's death in a dark, yet pragmatic, way: the boy's family and the villagers do not spend time mourning his death and instead return to their daily lives, too consumed with the business of survival, as we see in the closing lines:

"Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it. 

No more to build on there. And they, since they

Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs."

In poem "Snaps," how does Espaillat transform silence into observation of the gendered universe her poetry examines and explores?

The title of the poem, "Snaps," refers to two snapshots of a female: one when she is a little girl and one taken when she is 17. Photos are silent: they cannot speak in literal words. The figure in both poems is rendered even more silent by being a carefully posed object in a photograph. In both photos, she looks the way other people want her to look, and in both her personality is flattened. Both photos, thus, become a metaphor for the way a woman in patriarchal society is not allowed a voice and is forced to conform to the image others want her to convey.

We see in stanza one an image of a girl who is "neatly dressed" in "white," a color typically associated with purity, and posed in "old light" that falls "flat" on a "featureless expanse of chest." Words like "old light," "flat" and "featureless" emphasize how the girl has been flattened out and made generic. She is depicted as the stereotype of any good little girl.

In the second stanza, her 17-year-old self is also forced to conform to "good girl" gender norms. "Ankles crossed," hands in lap, and "clean sweater" show without any words how she is pressed into what stanza three calls her "obedient pose." She also wears a "gold cross," showing she conforms to her family's religious faith. In stanza four, we learn "mama's touch" "bent" her "to the law," and "to sanctities of custom." In other words, the second photo also is supposed to convey that she is her mother's idea of a good girl: docile, constrained, religious, and clean.

But the silence of these "snaps" also communicates another side to this girl that is different from the perfect obedience, cleanliness and docility that gender traditionally assigns to a female. Behind her silence and outward conformity, the girl speaks another language to the narrator. In stanza five's "sharp tilt of the the jaw" and "small thrust of hip," the girl asserts her individualism and independence. The narrator ends by stating, in the final stanza, that although the silent snaps are supposed to convey that the girl will fulfill her gender role ("not cross this line," "[not] talk back," not take any risks, never deviate from being "good"), underneath the  surface they communicate that she will rebel: "flashing me a sign...yes, we would." 

Explain how transcendentalism emerged in the early nineteenth century.

Transcendentalism emerged as a literary, philosophical, and intellectual movement in the Romantic tradition. It arose in reaction to the intellectualism and spirituality of its age.

The Transcendental movement began in Concord, Massachusetts, the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the leading exponents of this philosophy. The basic tenets of Transcendentalism are as follows:

1. A belief that God is omnipresent. He is present in every aspect of Nature, as well as in every...

Transcendentalism emerged as a literary, philosophical, and intellectual movement in the Romantic tradition. It arose in reaction to the intellectualism and spirituality of its age.

The Transcendental movement began in Concord, Massachusetts, the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the leading exponents of this philosophy. The basic tenets of Transcendentalism are as follows:

1. A belief that God is omnipresent. He is present in every aspect of Nature, as well as in every human being.


2. The belief that every human being can apprehend God through the use of intuition.


3. The belief that everything in Nature is reflective of the divine spirit.

Transcendentalism was formed in part from the philosophy of Greek idealism and partly from Puritanism and its notion of high purpose. Idealists contend that reality lies in rational ideas, rather than senses. Idealists also believe in human perfectibility. Transcendentalists view nature as a doorway to a mystical world holding important truths.

Transcendentalism emerged from the Romanticism of the nineteenth century which valued feeling and intuition over reason. Just as Romanticism placed faith in the inner experiences of a person and the power of the imagination, Transcendentalism put much faith in intuition and the spiritual experiences that a person has in the presence of Nature. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that when he was in the presence of Nature, 

Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.

In the book The Giver, how did the Giver look?

In Ch. 10 Jonas meets the Giver of the first time and we get a few details about his appearance.

We know that he has blue eyes like Jonas:

"Jonas looked self consciously into the pale eyes that mirrored his own."

We also know he is quite old and seems fairly worn out ... we just don't know why yet.

"The man was wrinkled, and his eyes, though piercing in their unusual lightness, seemed tired....

In Ch. 10 Jonas meets the Giver of the first time and we get a few details about his appearance.

We know that he has blue eyes like Jonas:

"Jonas looked self consciously into the pale eyes that mirrored his own."

We also know he is quite old and seems fairly worn out ... we just don't know why yet.

"The man was wrinkled, and his eyes, though piercing in their unusual lightness, seemed tired. The flesh around them was darkened into shadowed circles."

We also know he is "very old" because Jonas exclaims this to the Giver...although respectfully.

We also know from later in the book that he is in a lot of pain due to the memories he carries. This causes him to be in physical agony, and so his appearance is also affected by this stress. This is why he looks so exhausted.  

What literary element is being used in each quotation below, and what effects do these elements have on the reader? 1.) From the The Faerie...

The first quotation makes use of a classical literary allusion, and makes us think of the dawn is more than a natural phenomenon: It is a goddess who helps ensure the knight's victory.

The second makes use of a simile that evokes several meanings, including the idea that a youthful appearance is fleeting.

I explain and develop these points below.

1. Classical allusion: Spenser's words allude to Aurora, the goddess of the dawn.

This quote is taken from Book I, Canto XI. For background, consider what has been recounted just before these lines. The knight has fallen for a second time, but luckily he has landed in a balm that has flowed from sacred tree. The dragon "durst not approach" because the life-giving force of the balm is anathema to it. So the fight comes to a temporary standstill, and night falls.  

The balm is healing the knight's wounds as he sleeps. But Una is still understandably frightened for him. The night is intrinsically worrisome, "noyous," or afflicting. And so she keeps watch, prays, and waits "for joyous day."

The next lines are the lines in question. Spenser tells us that dawn arrives in a poetic fashion -- he alludes to the classical goddess Aurora. She brings light by awakening, rising from her dewy bed, climbing into her chariot, and riding across the sky to

"chase the chearlesse darke / with merry note her loud salutes the mounting larke."

Note that Spenser could have chosen to tell us about the arrival of daylight in purely naturalistic terms. That would have contributed to the feeling that the knight and Una face the dragon alone. But instead he's conjured up the image of a pleasant goddess who intervenes and chases aware the gloom "with merry note." The effect is to make us feel that Una and the knight aren't alone. There are other, supernatural beings on their side, beings that represent good cheer.

2. Simile: Marvell's narrator is comparing a woman's youth to a fleeting characteristic of the morning.

This quotation comes at the beginning of the last stanza, and we can appreciate Marvell's use of the simile better if we consider what leads up to it.

The narrator begins the poem by considering what life would be like if he didn't have to worry about the passage of time. He could spend hundreds of years praising his mistress's beauty.

But in the second stanza, he notes the inexorable reality. Though his mistress might deserve this timeless state of affairs, it isn't going to happen. Her beauty will fade, and they'll both die. Her "quaint honor" -- her resistance to go to bed with him -- will "turn to dust," and his lust will turn to ashes.

He's expressing the age old argument for putting propriety aside and indulging in a sexual affair: Time is running out. We should grab happiness while we can. What will our concerns matter after we're dead and gone?

So when Marvell finally presents us with the quote about youth and dew, he's chosen a simile that emphasizes the fleeting nature of youth. Furthermore, his choice suggests that youth is a mere appearance (a "hue"), something superficial that sits on the skin. Dew appears on a leaf purely as a function of the time of day: We can't take credit for it, nor can we can't change its inevitable disappearance. The dew, the youthful veneer, fades and we are left with the slow decay of what's underneath. Marvell's simile suggests the image that his mistress is in the morning of her life, and that the passing of time will soon dry up her youthful appearance -- an image that echoes his earlier references to the lovers' qualities being reduced to "dust" and "ashes."

Some might think that the reference to a "youthful hue" is itself a kind of metaphor, because youth is a physical state rather than a color. But the English of this era had a highly developed set of cultural beliefs about various shades of skin, and often characterized youthful skin as rosy. So I don't think we can be sure that Marvell is being entirely metaphorical.

How can the story "Two Kinds" be misunderstood? Please provide examples.

What an interesting question! There are certainly varied interpretations of the story, and many of us are drawn to the prevailing theme of mother-daughter conflict in it. However, we may also misunderstand the story by interpreting Tan's portrayal of the conflict as a definitive statement about the nature of Chinese American mother-daughter relationships. 

Certainly, the mother-daughter conflict in the story exposes stereotypical cultural biases. For example,

Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley...

What an interesting question! There are certainly varied interpretations of the story, and many of us are drawn to the prevailing theme of mother-daughter conflict in it. However, we may also misunderstand the story by interpreting Tan's portrayal of the conflict as a definitive statement about the nature of Chinese American mother-daughter relationships. 

Certainly, the mother-daughter conflict in the story exposes stereotypical cultural biases. For example,

Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to the beauty training school in the Mission District and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without shaking. Instead of getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz. My mother dragged me off to the bathroom and tried to wet down my hair. "You look like a Negro Chinese," she lamented, as if I had done this on purpose.

We cringe at the racial epithet used by Jing-mei's mother and instinctively wonder whether it is typical of mother-daughter interactions in Chinese American culture. In doing so, however, we may miss Tan's actual message: that the conflict between Jing-mei and her mother is universal in nature. The desire of the maturing child to distinguish herself from the maternal figure represents an ubiquitous, age-old longing for independence and autonomy. 

This longing transcends culture, language, and religion. Jing-mei's fear that she will never be good enough to merit her mother's approval represents our innate fear of irrelevance:

In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect: My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk, or to clamor for anything. But sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good," it warned. “And then you'll always be nothing."

In the story, Jing-mei's ego is pitted against her mother's. The conflict exposes the dual longings of our human nature: the desire for approval juxtaposed against the equal longing for personal agency. 

As a result, we may perceive the mother-daughter conflict in cultural terms but fail to understand the actual message of Tan's short story: that maternal-child conflict is universal and an inevitable aspect of the human experience.

How to write an essay on moral theology?

Moral theology, a Catholic teaching, is:

A branch of theology, the science of God and Divine things . . . [which] is limited to those doctrines which discuss the relations of man and his free actions to God, and his supernatural end, and propose the means instituted by God for the attainment of that end.

In other words, moral theology is interested in how a person's actions line up with divine intent. It assumes that God has created humans with the free will to make...

Moral theology, a Catholic teaching, is:

A branch of theology, the science of God and Divine things . . . [which] is limited to those doctrines which discuss the relations of man and his free actions to God, and his supernatural end, and propose the means instituted by God for the attainment of that end.

In other words, moral theology is interested in how a person's actions line up with divine intent. It assumes that God has created humans with the free will to make their own choices and that he has provided us with methods and instructions to act in accordance with his will. If morality is a discussion of how actions are determined to be right or wrong and theology is the study of God and his nature, then moral theology is the intersection between divine will and human action. Moral actions would be those that line up with divine will, while immoral actions would be those that deviate from it. 

There are a few approaches you could when writing an essay on moral theology. First, you could summarize and examine what moral theology is and what it teaches (as done above). Second, you could explore figures and teachings in Catholic history that are relevant to the development of moral theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, John Finnis, and the various papal encyclicals that deal with human action would be good sources to investigate. Third, you could look at how Catholic moral theology compares and contrasts to other sets of ethics. Within Christianity, you could compare Catholic morality to Protestant morality, or you could compare it to Buddhist or Islamic ways of thinking. 

The links below can provide further information to help you. Good luck!

Can someone help me label the stressed and unstressed syllables for the holy sonnet 1? THOU hast made me, and shall Thy work decay ? Repair me...

This sonnet, written by John Donne, is penned in iambic pentameter. This means that each line contains ten syllables each, grouped into five (hence, the prefix "penta-") "feet" or two-syllable pairs. The particular type of "foot" used in this style is known as an "iamb," which is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Thus, we can conclude that the ten syllables in each line will follow a pattern of unstressed syllable, then stressed...

This sonnet, written by John Donne, is penned in iambic pentameter. This means that each line contains ten syllables each, grouped into five (hence, the prefix "penta-") "feet" or two-syllable pairs. The particular type of "foot" used in this style is known as an "iamb," which is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Thus, we can conclude that the ten syllables in each line will follow a pattern of unstressed syllable, then stressed syllable, unstressed syllable, then stressed syllable, and so on and so forth.

With that in mind, let us do a traditional "scan" of the poem so that you can see this visually. I will put the stressed syllables in a bold font and let the unstressed syllables be italicized. I will also separate out each iamb with a single vertical line ( | ), so you can see how there are five iambs in each line. You will naturally notice that some polysyllabic words will contain both an unstressed and stressed syllable. You will also see me split words when they are divided across feet "breaks;" I will indicate this with hyphens (-). This may sound complicated now, but I assure you that it is much easier to understand when seen! Let us take a look: 

Thou hast | made me, | and shall | Thy work | decay ?
Repair | me now, | for now | mine end | doth haste;
I run | to death, | and Death | meets me | as fast,
And all | my plea- |sures are | like yes- | terday.
I dare | not move | my dim | eyes an- | y way;
Despair | behind, | and Death | before | doth cast
Such ter- | ror, and | my fee- | ble flesh | doth waste
By sin | in it, | which it | towards hell | doth weigh.
Only | Thou art | above, | and when | towards Thee
By Thy | leave I | can look, | I rise | again ;
But our | old sub- | tle foe | so temp- | teth me,
That not | one hour | myself | I can | sustain.
Thy grace | may wing | me to | prevent | his art
And thou | like ad- | amant | draw mine | iron heart.

What does the reader learn about the narrator's mother in the exposition of the story "The Leap"?

In the exposition, the reader of "The Leap" learns that the narrator's mother, Anna Avalon, is a very resourceful woman, as well as a quick thinker.

Central to the theme of this story is the mother's remark to her daughter that she would be 

...amazed at how many things a person can do within the act of falling.

While it does feel as though time slows while one is mid-air, Anna Avalon means that

...in...

In the exposition, the reader of "The Leap" learns that the narrator's mother, Anna Avalon, is a very resourceful woman, as well as a quick thinker.

Central to the theme of this story is the mother's remark to her daughter that she would be 

...amazed at how many things a person can do within the act of falling.

While it does feel as though time slows while one is mid-air, Anna Avalon means that

...in that awful doomed second [when the circus tent collapsed], she could think, for she certainly did.

When lightning struck the main pole of the circus tent, her husband Harry, who was toppled forward from his swing as the tent buckled swept past her, Anna of the Flying Avalons could have caught his ankle and fallen with him, but, instead, she changed direction by twisting her body toward a heavy wire which she grabbed and held despite the burns to her hands.
Three people died this night, but Anna Avalon survived because of her quick thinking. She opted to live rather than to die with her husband, who was plummeting to the ground.

How was Peter the Great great?

Peter the Great was great in the sense that he modernized Russia according to Western custom and expanded its borders. Peter the Great acquired Kiev from Poland and he gained ports on the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire. He gained new territory around the Caspian Sea as well. Peter the Great built the Russian navy according to Western European traditions and ended arranged marriages in the Russian nobility. He also established the Julian calendar...

Peter the Great was great in the sense that he modernized Russia according to Western custom and expanded its borders. Peter the Great acquired Kiev from Poland and he gained ports on the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire. He gained new territory around the Caspian Sea as well. Peter the Great built the Russian navy according to Western European traditions and ended arranged marriages in the Russian nobility. He also established the Julian calendar in Russia in 1700. Peter the Great established St. Petersburg as the new capital of Russia and even hired designers from Western Europe to design many of the official buildings. Peter the Great also successfully went to war against Sweden and took what would later be known as the Baltic States.  

Domestically, Peter the Great tried to create a Russian nobility that valued merit and service more than hereditary position. His Table of Ranks lasted until the fall of the Romanov family in 1917. He also changed taxation policy in order to gain tax money from all classes of Russian society. These domestic changes are secondary to Peter's territorial acquisitions as to why Peter the Great is "great." He is best remembered for modernizing the Russian state and making it a player in Western European politics.

How is Aldous Huxley's own life reflected in Brave New World?

The easy answer to this is question is that, like the characters in the book who took the mind-altering drug soma, Huxley also experimented with mind-altering drugs such as mescaline and, most famously  LSD, albeit starting in the 1950s, long after the novel was published. More interestingly, the novel reflects a society on the cusp of change. Huxley was involved with an avant-garde set of friends in post-World War I England known as the Bloomsbury...

The easy answer to this is question is that, like the characters in the book who took the mind-altering drug soma, Huxley also experimented with mind-altering drugs such as mescaline and, most famously  LSD, albeit starting in the 1950s, long after the novel was published. More interestingly, the novel reflects a society on the cusp of change. Huxley was involved with an avant-garde set of friends in post-World War I England known as the Bloomsbury Group. This group rejected Victorian sexual mores and engaged in freer sexual practices than the society at large. Brave New World both satirizes Bloomsbury sexual experiments and extends them out to a whole future society. Because our society, with safe birth control available, has largely embraced these freer sexual mores, it is easy to lose how shocking some of the customs in the book, such as the widespread and socially sanctioned "hooking up" for casual sex, would have been to early audiences. Likewise, the book was written before post World War II consumption patterns set in, so such practices as throwing out clothes insead of mending them would have been more shocking, and comic, to Huxley's contemporaries than they are to us. 

I have to write an essay on Blaming The Victim: The Art of Savage Discovery, by William Ryan, and I'm having trouble understanding the ideological...

Steps to Blaming the Victim

Ryan specified four steps that comprise the process of victim blaming. The first step is to identify a social problem, such as income inequality. The second step requires an investigation of anyone affected by the problem to determine what makes them different from society in general. This may include cultural differences, race, or religion. The third step is to declare those identified differences as the source of the problem itself. In the fourth and final step of victim blaming, a bureaucratic intervention is planned to address the differences in the victimized group rather than the problems affecting them.

According to Ryan, most people who engage in victim blaming are operating with good intentions. Most of them believe themselves to be engaged in philanthropy by attempting to solve the problems facing the victim. However, by placing responsibility for the perceived social issue on the victim, these idealists often derail more productive lines of inquiry that could identify the actual cause of the problem. By victim blaming, they are effectively delaying any genuine solution to the problem and placing the burden of guilt upon the victim.

The Exceptionalist Viewpoint

The exceptionalist approach or viewpoint is described by Ryan as the idea that problems occur to specific groups of people in an unpredictable way. Exceptionalist arrangements are "private, local and exclusive." In some cases, these problems are seen as a result of individual defects, while in others they are caused by seemingly unusual circumstances. These problems require specific solutions tailored to the individual. A charity offering services to those involved in a localized environmental disaster in an impoverished area is an example of an exceptionalistic solution, and it supports Ryan's assertion that exceptionalism can be used to reach some positive social goals, despite its shortcomings in a bureaucratic system. In this example, only those who have been affected by a specific disaster are given economic support that would be beneficial for the community in general.

The Universalistic Viewpoint

The universalistic viewpoint is essentially the opposite of the exceptionalist viewpoint. It is reflected in public arrangements, legislated, and inclusive of a wide group of people. This viewpoint supports the idea that social problems are caused by harmful arrangements in the community or in society as a whole. As a result, the universalistic problem solver attempts to address the universal problems that cause individual hardship. These problems are predictable and they do not imply any defect in the individual who suffers from them as they affect the broader community as well. Education reform is an example of a universalistic approach to problem solving, while the exceptionalist counterpart would be a charity offering services exclusively to children whose parents fall below a certain income level. Universalistic solutions address underlying inequalities in a systematic and universal manner.

According to Ryan, victim blaming occurs when exceptionalist thinkers fail to recognize universalistic problems. As a result, they apply policies and solutions based on exceptionalist ideas to problems that affect many different people and are not unusual in nature. Victim blaming leads to the justification of cruelty because it places the responsibility for a universal problem on the perceived shortcomings of the affected group or individual. By blaming the victim, society is no longer held responsible for its own faults and there is no incentive to change the systems that are causing social issues.

`int_1^2((4 + u^2)/(u^3))du` Evaluate the integral.

You need to evaluate the definite integral using the fundamental theorem of calculus, such that:

`int_a^b f(u) du = F(b) - F(a)`

`int_1^2 (4+u^2)/(u^3) du = int_1^2 4/(u^3) du + int_1^2 (u^2)/(u^3) du`

`int_1^2 (4+u^2)/(u^3) du = 4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du + int_1^2 1/u du`

Using the formula` int u^n = (u^(n+1))/(n+1)+ c` yields:

`4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du = 4(u^(-2))/(-2) = -2/(u^2)|_1^2 = -2(1/2^2 - 1/1^2)`

`4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du =-2(1/4 - 1) = -2*(-3/4) = 3/2`

`int_1^2...

You need to evaluate the definite integral using the fundamental theorem of calculus, such that:

`int_a^b f(u) du = F(b) - F(a)`

`int_1^2 (4+u^2)/(u^3) du = int_1^2 4/(u^3) du + int_1^2 (u^2)/(u^3) du`

`int_1^2 (4+u^2)/(u^3) du = 4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du + int_1^2 1/u du`

Using the formula` int u^n = (u^(n+1))/(n+1)+ c` yields:

`4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du = 4(u^(-2))/(-2) = -2/(u^2)|_1^2 = -2(1/2^2 - 1/1^2)`

`4int_1^2 (u^(-3)) du =-2(1/4 - 1) = -2*(-3/4) = 3/2`

`int_1^2 1/u du = ln u|_1^2 = ln 2 - ln 1 = ln 2`

Hence, evaluating the definite integral, yields `int_1^2 (4+u^2)/(u^3) du = 3/2 + ln 2.`

I am writing an outline for an argument about what I want to be when I grow up, and how I can address a pressing issue by going into this field....

There have been many examples of media bias in the coverage of the election for the presidency this year. One recent example of bias dealt with the health of Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign has made many statements about the health of his opponent. If people believe that Hillary Clinton has health issues, this could influence their vote.

Last weekend, Hillary Clinton suffered a health issue after she attended a ceremony remembering the events of...

There have been many examples of media bias in the coverage of the election for the presidency this year. One recent example of bias dealt with the health of Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign has made many statements about the health of his opponent. If people believe that Hillary Clinton has health issues, this could influence their vote.

Last weekend, Hillary Clinton suffered a health issue after she attended a ceremony remembering the events of September 11, 2001. It was reported and determined that she had pneumonia and needed to rest in order to get better.

When CBS News interviewed her husband, former President Bill Clinton, he caught himself in mid-sentence saying that these medical issues have happened frequently. When CBS News originally ran the interview, the slip of the tongue by former President Clinton was omitted. This clearly changed the dynamic of the story. If people believe that the medical situation last Sunday is a frequent occurrence, they might have concerns about voting for her. If people don’t have that knowledge, they might think this was a one-time, isolated event.

While CBS News did play the full video clip the next day, other news organizations continued to use the original, edited clip. The source I listed provides both the edited and the unedited clip of this interview.

I will give you one other example of media bias. This goes back to the late 1890s and the Spanish-American War. Newspapers, like the New York World and the New York Journal, over exaggerated stories about events that were happening in Cuba. The stories made the Spanish mistreatment sound worse than it was. They also blamed the Spanish for the explosion and sinking of the USS Maine. They also glorified Teddy Roosevelt’s role in the war. He didn’t ride up San Juan Hill. He actually walked up San Juan Hill. These newspaper stories help turn American public opinion against Spain and helped put pressure on President McKinley to have the United States declare war on Spain.

It is great that you have set as your professional goal to work to eliminate media bias. There are many people who think there is too much bias in the media today.

How does Shakespeare develop the motif of blood over the course of the play? I don't really get the question . . . I know that it helps the...

Early in the play, beginning in scene two of the first act, blood is associated with military valor and honor. The sergeant approaching Duncan is described simply as "that bloody man." When the sergeant describes Macbeth's valor in the battle to preserve Duncan's throne, he evokes the image of a sword steaming with blood in the midst of the fighting. Once Macbeth murders the king, however, blood begins to connote his guilt. Even as he...

Early in the play, beginning in scene two of the first act, blood is associated with military valor and honor. The sergeant approaching Duncan is described simply as "that bloody man." When the sergeant describes Macbeth's valor in the battle to preserve Duncan's throne, he evokes the image of a sword steaming with blood in the midst of the fighting. Once Macbeth murders the king, however, blood begins to connote his guilt. Even as he is making his way into the king's chamber, he sees a vision of a bloody dagger and interprets it as having been conjured by the prospect of killing the monarch. After the murder is carried out, Lady Macbeth tells him to wash the "filthy witness" (the king's blood) from his hands.

Once Macbeth kills Banquo, he sees another vision. This time Macbeth sees his murdered friend, and Macbeth beseeches Banquo not to shake his "gory [bloody] locks" at him. This he interprets (though his wife disagrees) as guilt, and one can see how the motif of blood has been developed. The connection between blood and guilt can best be seen in Lady Macbeth's famous sleepwalking scene in act 5, scene 1, in which she tries in vain to scrub imaginary spots of blood from her hands. In this scene, the connection between blood and guilt is explicit, and it is clear that Lady Macbeth has been consumed by a guilty conscience. 

What do you think about the sudden use of the name "Jane" in the penultimate line of the story?

By the time the narrator references a person named "Jane" in the final lines of the story, she believes herself to bethe woman in the wallpaper.  The narrator also talks about the bed that will not move, peeling off as much paper as she can from the walls, and she also considers jumping out of the window.  She even references the "creeping women" she can see from her window: these are, for the most...

By the time the narrator references a person named "Jane" in the final lines of the story, she believes herself to be the woman in the wallpaper.  The narrator also talks about the bed that will not move, peeling off as much paper as she can from the walls, and she also considers jumping out of the window.  She even references the "creeping women" she can see from her window: these are, for the most part, topics she has discussed before.  However, suddenly, she ponders, "I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?"  It seems that, as a result of having been imprisoned by her husband and kept from everyone and everything that brought her joy or stimulated her intellect, the narrator has suffered a major dissociative break in which she no longer identifies as herself.  Now, she identifies herself as the woman she has freed from the wallpaper; she has liberated this (fictitious) woman and taken on her role; this is perhaps a mechanism of her brain that allows her to finally feel free.  There has been no other mention of a "Jane": her husband is John and his sister is Jennie.  Jane must be the narrator's name, a name with which she no longer identifies herself because, in her mind, she has become the woman who was freed from the wallpaper.

Compare and contrast the subject matter of the Iliad and Dante's Inferno.

Homer's other great epic, the Odyssey, probably has more in common with Dante's Inferno than the Iliad. Indeed, the Odyssey, like the Inferno, involves the hero descending into the underworld and returning after encountering its inhabitants. But both the Iliad and The Divine Comedyin general are epic poems, emphasizing the complex relationship between humanity and the divine. Perhaps the most obvious connection between the two poems is not really thematic,...

Homer's other great epic, the Odyssey, probably has more in common with Dante's Inferno than the Iliad. Indeed, the Odyssey, like the Inferno, involves the hero descending into the underworld and returning after encountering its inhabitants. But both the Iliad and The Divine Comedy in general are epic poems, emphasizing the complex relationship between humanity and the divine. Perhaps the most obvious connection between the two poems is not really thematic, though. Dante populates hell with many of the figures from Homer's poems, including the blind poet himself. (Remember that the Roman epic poet Virgil is actually Dante's guide in Inferno). In Canto IV we discover Homer, along with other poets, including Horace, Ovid, and Lucan—all poets who would have been familiar to Dante's readers—and Hector, one of the main characters in the Iliad. These men are in the First Circle of Hell, reserved for those who were not evil people, but had been born before Christ and were therefore not able to be saved. One circle deeper into Hell, Dante encounters Achilles and Paris, two major figures in the Iliad, who are there for the sin of lust. Helen of Troy is there, too, for her betrayal of her husband, Menelaus. Their actions essentially set the events portrayed in the Iliad in motion. Odysseus, one of the most important characters in the Iliad, is in the Eighth Circle of Hell for his trickery. So there are many connections between Dante's Inferno and the Iliad, and a good essay might take this a step further by considering the reasons that Dante chose to portray these characters in Hell.

Explain permanence verses mutability in the poem Ode to a Nightingale.

As with all Keats's odes, the "Ode To A Nightingale" explores the relationship between a number of antitheses: art and life; the immanent and the transcendent; and the permanent and the mutable. Keats has chosen to use the nightingale, a well-worn symbol of death, to illustrate the point. In doing so, Keats lays bare the ambiguity of the Romantic attitude towards nature, one that both acknowledges its changeability while at the same time investing...

As with all Keats's odes, the "Ode To A Nightingale" explores the relationship between a number of antitheses: art and life; the immanent and the transcendent; and the permanent and the mutable. Keats has chosen to use the nightingale, a well-worn symbol of death, to illustrate the point. In doing so, Keats lays bare the ambiguity of the Romantic attitude towards nature, one that both acknowledges its changeability while at the same time investing it with a sublime force which has a life all its own.

The nightingale's song embodies this. It is sweetly beautiful, so much so that it transcends the world of nature to which both we and the bird belong. When the nightingale is dead and gone, its song like all art will live on in the hearts and minds of successive generations.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

But the nightingale is not immortal; like us and everything else in nature it must one day perish. Yet, ever the arch-Romantic, Keats invests nature with a power beyond anything mere mortals can ever possibly conceive. The nightingale's song has been there throughout history, delighting both emperor and clown alike. And there is no reason for us not to hope that as the world turns, the music will endure.

As Keats sinks deeper into reverie, he is lifted out of himself and his immediate surroundings to partake of the sublime music of the nightingale's song. But he knows that he cannot do so for long. The harshness of reality must soon intrude.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toll me back from thee to my sole self!

Keats comes to his senses, reluctantly realizing that his languid vision was precisely that. But there is enough ambiguity here to sustain the tension between the permanent and the immutable. What is real and what is ideal have yet to be conclusively determined. 

In his own sublime lyrics, Keats desires to achieve the lasting posterity of the nightingale. He too yearns for his song to soar high above the here and now of the temporal world and attain immortality. "Ode To A Nightingale" perfectly illuminates the ancient saying Ars longa vita brevis. Art endures but life is short.

Please discuss the anti-trust cases against Microsoft in both the United States and Europe, noting the differences in their allegations and their...

While both the American and European anti-trust cases against Microsoft began similarly, they diverged in outcome. 

The American case began in 1997, when the Department of Justice and twenty U.S. states argued that it was illegal for Microsoft to bundle its Windows operating system with its Internet Explorer browser in order to secure a monopolistic advantage. The Justice Department asserted that Microsoft's practice led it to dominate the web browser market at the expense of third party browsers such as Firefox and Netscape.

Microsoft was also guilty of entering into agreements with Internet Access Providers and independent software providers to promote Internet Explorer to the exclusion of other browsers. Many industry experts proclaimed that the eventual court settlement was too lenient. Essentially, Microsoft had to refrain from continuing its anti-competitive Internet Explorer agreement with internet providers and software providers. It also had to allow third party vendors to install competing software programs, if they wished.

In regard to interoperability, Microsoft had to disclose how its Windows operating system interacted with middleware products like its Internet Explorer browser. This would allow independent software providers to configure the Windows interface according to their specifications. 

In contrast with the American settlement, the European Union slapped Microsoft with the largest anti-trust violation fine in Europe: almost 500 million Euros. The European Union found Microsoft guilty of making its Microsoft operating system incompatible with non-Microsoft work group servers and for tying its Windows Media Player to its operating system. In addition to the substantial fine, the European Union demanded almost immediate compliance to its requirement that Microsoft disclose the process by which its operating system could be made compatible with non-Microsoft work group servers. 

The difference in outcomes concerns Gary Rebach, who was interviewed by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch on the topic of technology and anti-trust legislation. Gary Rebach is the author of Free The Market: Why Only Government Can Keep The Marketplace Competitive. Rebach's concern is that Microsoft continues to function as a monopoly; he states that anti-trust legislation and ensuing government supervision are the only factors that can protect the free market from companies like Microsoft. 

While Rebach doesn't think that Microsoft should be broken up, he believes that government litigation will clear the way for start-up companies to compete freely in the market. Once the market is freed up, new technologies will emerge. That's the beauty of the free market: it leads to lower costs, more choice, and more innovation. Anti-trust laws protect competition, which is crucial to the free market. On the other hand, the U.S. court settlements in 2001 did little to rein Microsoft in. Microsoft's pledge of supporting interoperability and open standards have largely been made only for the purposes of placating the courts. 

Rebach equates the Microsoft settlement with the Google Books settlement. In 2005, the Author's Guild filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of massive copyright infringement for its practice of digitizing copyrighted books and materials. However, Google won the case in 2013: Google defeats authors in U.S. book-scanning lawsuit. Rebach argues that the Justice Department must protect consumers and ultimately the free market against such practices. To expand upon his argument, he questions whether companies like Microsoft and Google should be allowed to get too big in the first place.

Rebach compares the role of an anti-trust system to a referee in sports. The referee isn't supposed to influence the outcome of the game, but he is supposed to prevent opposing teams from securing unfair advantages over the other. At this point, Arrington raises an interesting question: who will protect us from a government which tries to control more and more of the economy? 

Rebach also discusses the issue of patent settlements, an issue addressed in the consumer choice article. Basically, Microsoft has used the threat of litigation to intimidate Linux and open source software companies into compliance with its licensing requirements. The company has so far made the claim that Linux and third party vendors have infringed upon 235 of its patents. This means that many Linux users are compelled to pay royalty-bearing licensing fees in order to avoid potentially costly litigation.

Essentially, the argument (based on the Youtube video and articles) is that effective anti-trust legislation and government intervention is needed to protect the integrity of the free market and to promote competition within that market.

Find the work done by the gas for the given volume and pressure. Assume that the pressure is inversely proportional to the volume. A quantity of...

Work is done when a constant force F is applied to move an object a distance D. It is defined with a formula `W = FD.`

For expanding gas, we denote the work done as `W =P* DeltaV.`

With the stated assumption pressure is inversely proportional to volume, we let `P =k/V ` where k is the proportionality constant.

Then plug-in `P = k/V` on `W =P* DeltaV` , we get: `W =k/V* DeltaV `...

Work is done when a constant force F is applied to move an object a distance D. It is defined with a formula `W = FD.`

For expanding gas, we denote the work done as `W =P* DeltaV.`

With the stated assumption pressure is inversely proportional to volume, we let `P =k/V ` where k is the proportionality constant.

Then plug-in `P = k/V` on `W =P* DeltaV` , we get: `W =k/V* DeltaV ` or `(kDeltaV)/V`

The integral of work done  will be `W=int_(V_1)^(V_2)(kdV)/V`

To solve for the proportionality constant `(k)` , we plug-in the initial condition:

`P= 2500` pounds and `V_1= 1` on `P= k/V.`

`2500 = k/1`

`k = 2500*1 =2500`

To solve for the work done by the gas to expand the volume, we plug-in `k=2500` , `V_1=1` , and `V_2=3` on `W=int_(V_1)^(V_2)(kdV)/V` .

`W=int_(1)^(3)(2500(dV))/V`

Apply basic integration property: `int cf(x)dx = c int f(x)dx` .

`W=2500int_(1)^(3)(dV)/V` .

Apply basis integration formula for logarithm.

`W=2500 ln(V)|_(1)^(3)`

Apply definite integral formula: `F(x)|_a^b = F(b)-F(a)` .

`W=2500 ln(3)-2500 ln(1)`

`W=2500 [ ln(3)- ln(1)]`

Apply natural logarithm property: `ln(x/y) = ln(x)- ln(y)` .

`W=2500 [ ln(3/1)]`

`W=2500 ln(3)` or `2746.53` ft-lbs.

Why is Tom depressed? |

There are two main reasons for Tom's depression. First of all, his conscience is still nagging him to tell the truth about what happened to Dr. Robinson that terrible night in the graveyard. Tom knows he must do the right thing and confess to what he saw, but he's too scared of what Injun Joe might do to him.

Secondly, Tom's hopelessly lovesick. He's developed a massive crush on Becky Thatcher, but she's got sick...

There are two main reasons for Tom's depression. First of all, his conscience is still nagging him to tell the truth about what happened to Dr. Robinson that terrible night in the graveyard. Tom knows he must do the right thing and confess to what he saw, but he's too scared of what Injun Joe might do to him.

Secondly, Tom's hopelessly lovesick. He's developed a massive crush on Becky Thatcher, but she's got sick and has stopped attending school. Tom fears for the worst, and his depression gets so bad that Aunt Polly cooks up some unusual home remedies to try and snap him out of it. Surprisingly, they work, but not in the way intended. Tom gives one of Aunt Polly's medicines to the cat. The poor animal starts running around like crazy and creates a huge mess everywhere. Tom's spirits are duly raised.

But he only really starts to feel better when Becky Thatcher recovers from her illness and returns to school. Unfortunately for Tom, she's not feeling particularly friendly towards him, and she gives him a good talking to before she storms off, leaving poor Tom feeling utterly dejected.

What is "phone phreaking" and how is this important to the story?

Phone phreaking refers to the practice of manipulating audio frequencies in older analog phone systems for the purposes of making free international or long-distance calls. In the novel, the Jade Key Quatrain alludes to a 70s hacker named John Draper/Captain Crunch. From the Quatrain, Wade learns that he must retrieve a Cap'n Crunch toy whistle from a house on planet Frobozz before he can open the Second Gate. In the 70s, John Draper discovered that...

Phone phreaking refers to the practice of manipulating audio frequencies in older analog phone systems for the purposes of making free international or long-distance calls. In the novel, the Jade Key Quatrain alludes to a 70s hacker named John Draper/Captain Crunch. From the Quatrain, Wade learns that he must retrieve a Cap'n Crunch toy whistle from a house on planet Frobozz before he can open the Second Gate. In the 70s, John Draper discovered that the toy whistle in Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes could emit a 2600-hertz tone, the same one that could be used to interfere with in-band signaling in telephone switching systems.

Draper used the 2600-hertz tone to create what he called a "blue box" (a device that emitted the tones telephone companies used). In Ready Player One, the whistle Wade blows generates the same iconic 2600-hertz tone before it transforms into the Jade Key, allowing Wade to open the Second Gate. Later in the novel, Wade finds Halliday's egg and becomes the billionaire’s heir, gaining absolute control over the OASIS (Halliday's iconic global game interface).

Why does Felice feel like hollering whenever she crosses Woman Hollering Creek? What epiphany does Cleofilas have?

Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros is a short story that follows the journey of a young woman, her underwhelming marriage, and ultimately her decision to leave. Set against the backdrop of the Mexican-American experience, the story examines the social role of women, particularly in regard to their relationships with men.

One of the story's most important images is that of a creek called "La Gritona" or Woman Hollering Creek. The creek is in the...

Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros is a short story that follows the journey of a young woman, her underwhelming marriage, and ultimately her decision to leave. Set against the backdrop of the Mexican-American experience, the story examines the social role of women, particularly in regard to their relationships with men.

One of the story's most important images is that of a creek called "La Gritona" or Woman Hollering Creek. The creek is in the backyard of Cleófilas' new house when she moves to the United States. When we first learn of the creek, Cleófilas wonders if the woman for whom it is named was yelling from anger or from pain. With this comment, Cisernos reveals that Cleófilas has a limited view of womanhood. Cleófilas can conceive of only two reasons that a woman might shout. She doesn't even consider that a woman might shout for other reasons, such as happiness or excitement.

At the end of the story, the image of Woman Hollering Creek returns as we find Cleófilas and Felice crossing it as Felice helps Cleófilas flee from her abusive marriage. They cross a bridge over the creek and Felice lets out a loud yell, startling Cleófilas.

Noticing the effect of her yell, Felice explains that she yells every time she crosses Woman Hollering Creek:

Every time I cross that bridge I do that. Because of the name, you know. Woman Hollering. Pues, I holler. She said this in a Spanish pocked with English and laughed. Did you ever notice, Felice continued, how nothing around here is named after a woman? Really. Unless she's the Virgin. I guess you're only famous if you're a virgin. She was laughing again.

That's why I like the name of that arroyo. Makes you want to holler like Tarzan, right?

Felice is one of the independent, wage-earning women that Cleófilas encounters in the tale. She represents a world different from what Cleófilas knows. When she arrived in the United States, Cleófilas understood her womanhood through marriage, as depicted in telenovelas. Later, she understood her womanhood differently as she suffered abuse at the hands of her unfaithful husband. Felice represents an entirely different way to understand womanhood, and it is an understanding that does not revolve around men.

Ultimately, Felice's yell leads Cleófilas to an epiphany that leaves her laughing at the end of the story. Felice's triumphant yell shows Cleófilas a different understanding of what it is to be a woman. Felice yells from a place of independence; she yells out of joy simply because she likes that the creek is named for a woman. As Cleófilas considers Felice's yell, she realizes she can shout for reasons other than pain or rage. She can shout for joy.

Who in modern politics or leadership can you compare to Julius Caesar?

I do not think that you can compare Julius Caesar to anyone in modern politics.  He was a successful general who managed to invade Britain and Gaul.  This involved a great deal of strategic thinking and the ability to manage logistics in order to keep his troops fed and equipped.  Caesar also wrote a history of the conquest of Gaul, which was still being used by academics centuries later.  Caesar survived a severe civil war...

I do not think that you can compare Julius Caesar to anyone in modern politics.  He was a successful general who managed to invade Britain and Gaul.  This involved a great deal of strategic thinking and the ability to manage logistics in order to keep his troops fed and equipped.  Caesar also wrote a history of the conquest of Gaul, which was still being used by academics centuries later.  Caesar survived a severe civil war which placed him at the head of the government.  He was known for his oratorical skill at a time when one could not rely on cameras to make oneself look presentable.  He provided housing for his soldiers and relief for the poor.  When he assumed total power over the Roman government, he became the most powerful man in the West's only superpower.  There is no one that can be easily compared to Julius Caesar because he combined military, scholastic, and political achievement in one person.  I do not see anyone who could potentially measure up to that standard today.  

What is the only thing Doodle asks of his brother? Why is this important to the overall impact it had on the narrator?

The only thing Doodle asked of Brother is to not leave him.  This happens when Brother cruelly showed Doodle the coffin that was made for Doodle when he was a baby and not expected to live.  Brother dared Doodle to touch the coffin, and Doodle was too scared to do it.  Doodle stood frozen in the barn looking at the coffin and pleaded to Brother not to leave him there alone.

Because Doodle did everything...

The only thing Doodle asked of Brother is to not leave him.  This happens when Brother cruelly showed Doodle the coffin that was made for Doodle when he was a baby and not expected to live.  Brother dared Doodle to touch the coffin, and Doodle was too scared to do it.  Doodle stood frozen in the barn looking at the coffin and pleaded to Brother not to leave him there alone.

Because Doodle did everything Brother asked him to do, the fact that Brother left Doodle behind during the violent thunderstorm at the end of the story showed Brother’s selfishness and lack of empathy for what Doodle experienced throughout his short life.  Doodle learned to walk for Brother, he tried to climb ropes and jump and run through Old Woman’s Swamp to please Brother, but Brother never seemed satisfied with Doodle’s valiant efforts to be “normal” for him. 

In the end, Brother, as an adult looking back on his childhood, realized his own guilt and shame in the way he treated Doodle, and it was all due to his pride.

The Great Awakening was characterized by colorful sermons that appealed to the emotions of the listener. Explain how this characteristic can be...

Edwards definitely uses pathos or an appeal to the emotions in his sermon. This characteristic rhetorical device is utilized to provoke strong emotions like fear, anger, and/ or despair in an audience. Experienced orators or preachers appeal to the emotions of their listeners to try to inspire them to enact changes in their lives.

There are many places in Edwards' sermon where he tries to inspire fear in his audience. For example, he warns his...

Edwards definitely uses pathos or an appeal to the emotions in his sermon. This characteristic rhetorical device is utilized to provoke strong emotions like fear, anger, and/ or despair in an audience. Experienced orators or preachers appeal to the emotions of their listeners to try to inspire them to enact changes in their lives.

There are many places in Edwards' sermon where he tries to inspire fear in his audience. For example, he warns his listeners that the fires of hell are just about ready to consume them and that God is angry with more of them than they think.

Yea God is a great deal more angry with great Numbers that are now on Earth, yea doubtless with many that are now in this Congregation, that it may be are at Ease and Quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the Flames of Hell. . . The Wrath of God burns. . . Damnation don’t slumber, the Pit is prepared, the Fire is made ready, the Furnace is now hot, ready to receive. . . the Flames do now rage and glow.

Throughout the sermon, Edwards piles on the emotional rhetoric; he means to frighten his listeners into submission and whip them into a frenzy of fear and despair. He paints the picture of the devil standing by, ready to "fall upon them and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him." Without fail, he emphasizes over and over again the image of a God who harbors "unmixed, unrestrained wrath" towards those who choose not to repent.

Later, he asserts that the only way to escape such damnation is to be "born again." Soon after, he casts doubt on who has actually achieved this envied status. Edwards thunders that he has "Reason to think, that there are many in this Congregation now hearing this Discourse, that will actually be the Subjects of this very Misery to all Eternity." In fact, he maintains that any one of them listening to his sermon may well end up in the fires of hell.

Edwards keeps his audience in a state of panic and disequilibrium by veering between conflicting, vague statements. On one hand, he promises that those who repent will escape the fires of hell. He also proclaims that most people are less safe than they think. He gives his listeners the impression that, no matter what they do, they are very likely to be doomed to the fires of hell. Edwards definitely appeals to the emotions of fear and despair as he speaks to his audience.

In The Tempest, what is the relationship between Caliban and Prospero?

Although Prospero has traditionally been seen as a European who tried to help the "monster" Caliban become more civilized, in recent decades their relationship has been understood as that of the colonizer and the colonized. In Act I, scene 2, Caliban describes how Prospero first treated him with kindness when he was shipwrecked on the island:

"When thou cam'st first [when you first came]/Thou strok'st and madest much of me, wouldst give me/Water with berries in it ..."

In return, Caliban teaches Prospero how to survive:

"I show'd thee [you, Prospero] all the qualities o' th' isle,/The fresh springs ..." (Act I, scene 2)

However, once Prospero knows how to survive, he betrays and enslaves Caliban, mirroring what colonizers did to native peoples. Only too late does Caliban, for his point of view, learn that he has been conned.

Prospero has a different version of the story. Either he or Miranda, his daughter, depending on which version of the play you read, "pitied" Caliban and took pains to teach him "one thing or another." (Act I, scene 2). Rather than expressing gratitude for their civilizing influence, Caliban showed his "brutish" nature by trying to rape Miranda. In Prospero's eyes, this justifies enslaving him: Caliban is animalistic and cannot be trusted with freedom.

As many critics have pointed out, Prospero's actions show precisely what European explorers did to native peoples: they won their trust, learned what they needed to know from them, then turned around and betrayed them, using the rationale that the natives were savages.

Once Prospero and Caliban have their communication breakdown and Prospero enslaves Caliban, Caliban, not unnaturally, plots with Stephano to kill Prospero. 

When and where is Little Women set?

When the novel begins, it is Christmastime. We know the novel is set sometime during the early 1860s because Mr. March, the girls' father, is away serving as a chaplain for the North in the Civil War. When the book opens, it is likely 1861 or 1862 because it doesn't seem as though the war has been going on for very long at this point. Early in the story, while the March sisters are complaining...

When the novel begins, it is Christmastime. We know the novel is set sometime during the early 1860s because Mr. March, the girls' father, is away serving as a chaplain for the North in the Civil War. When the book opens, it is likely 1861 or 1862 because it doesn't seem as though the war has been going on for very long at this point. Early in the story, while the March sisters are complaining about all the things they don't have, Jo says,

"We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn’t say "perhaps never," but each [of her sisters] silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.

Later, Mr. March actually sustains an injury during his service and is sent home.

As far as geographical setting, the novel takes place in New England, though the town in which the March and Lawrence families live is never explicitly named. Most readers agree the location seems to be based on Alcott's home in Concord, Massachusetts, but this is never directly stated in the story. 

How does Dickens explore the theme of poverty through the Crotchet family in A Christmas Carol?

Charles Dickens was one of the most important social commentators of his time. Having a father who was placed in debtors' prison when he was quite young, Dickens had to work in a shoe-blacking house as a boy, and he experienced much deprivation that he never forgot. As a result, Dickens used his literary works to expose social ills and invalidate the idea that the poor were worthless and merely "surplus population."

The portrayal of the Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol demonstrates the love and charity that exists among the family members, as well as their true Christianity. When the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the four-room house of Bob Crachit's, Scrooge is amazed that the spirit would bless such a house. That the family is so excited and cheerful over their meager Christmas dinner also surprises Scrooge, as well as the loving atmosphere of the home. When Scrooge's employee, Bob Cratchit, enters the house, the children run into his arms, and two of the children carry Tiny Tim to the washhouse so that he can listen to the pudding "singing in the copper [pan]." In the meantime, Bob tells his wife that little Tim told him that he hoped the people in church would see him so that they would remember on Christmas Day "who made lame beggars walk and blind men see." 

Tiny Tim sits close to his father, who holds his "withered hand" with paternal care and love as though he wishes to hold him to his side from fear that the boy may be taken from him. Seeing this, Scrooge asks the Ghost if Tiny Tim will live. The Ghost replies, "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die." When Scrooge protests, the Ghost responds with Scrooge's earlier words, saying if the child is going to die, he should do it quickly and "decrease the surplus population." Shamed by his cruel words, Scrooge hangs his head and is "overcome with penitence and grief." Later, as he and the Ghost depart, Scrooge realizes how happy the family is despite their poverty because they are rich in love.

`y = x^3 , x = 0 , y = 8` Use the shell method to set up and evaluate the integral that gives the volume of the solid generated by revolving...

We can use a shell method when a bounded region represented by rectangular strip is parallel to the axis of revolution. It forms of infinite number of thin hollow pipes or “representative cylinders”.

 In this method, we follow the formula: `V = int_a^b ` (length * height * thickness)

or` V = int_a^b 2pi*` radius*height*thickness

For the bounded region, as shown on the attached image, the rectangular strip is parallel to x-axis (axis of rotation). We...

We can use a shell method when a bounded region represented by rectangular strip is parallel to the axis of revolution. It forms of infinite number of thin hollow pipes or “representative cylinders”.

 In this method, we follow the formula: `V = int_a^b ` (length * height * thickness)

or` V = int_a^b 2pi*` radius*height*thickness

For the bounded region, as shown on the attached image, the rectangular strip is parallel to x-axis (axis of rotation). We can let:

`r=y`

`h =f(x)` or `h=x_2 - x_1`

The `x_1` will be based from the boundary line x=0.

The `x_2` will be base on the equation `y =x^3 ` rearranged into `x= root(3)(y)`

`h = root(3)(y)-0`

`h=root(3)(y)`

For boundary values, we have `y_1=0` to `y_2=8` (based from the boundary line).

Plug-in the values on

 `V = int_a^b`` 2pi` *radius*height*thickness, , we get:

`V =int_0^8 2pi y*root(3)y*dy`

Apply basic integration property: `intc*f(x) dx = c int f(x) dx.`

`V = 2pi int_0^8 y* root(3)(y)dy`

Apply Law of Exponent: `root(n)(y^m)=y^(m/n)` then `root(n)(y)= y^(1/3)`and y^n*y^m = y^(n+m)

`V = 2pi int_0^8 y y^(1/3)dy`

`V = 2pi int_0^8  y^(1/3+1)dy`

`V = 2pi int_0^8  y^(4/3)dy`

Apply power rule for integration: `int y^n dy= y^(n+1)/(n+1).`

`V = 2pi y^(4/3+1)/(4/3+1) |_0^8`

`V = 2pi y^(7/3)/(7/3) |_0^8`

`V = 2pi y^(7/3)*(3/7) |_0^8`

`V = (6pi y^(7/3))/7 |_0^8`

Apply definite integration formula: int_a^b f(y) dy= F(b)-F(a).

`V = (6pi (8)^(7/3))/7 -(6pi (0)^(4/3))/7`

`V =(768pi)/7-0`

`V =(768pi)/7`  or `344.68 ` (approximated value).

What is the purpose of paragraph 5’s discussion of the name “Dillingham”?

Paragraph five of "The Gift of the Magi" evokes the connotation between long names and the upper echelons of society. That is, royalty, professionals, and those belonging to the "upper classes" typically identify with their full names. Especially in the case of royalty, this is to emphasize a family name that the average person associates with power and lofty social status.

At one time, Della's husband was making a comfortable $30 per week. This money...

Paragraph five of "The Gift of the Magi" evokes the connotation between long names and the upper echelons of society. That is, royalty, professionals, and those belonging to the "upper classes" typically identify with their full names. Especially in the case of royalty, this is to emphasize a family name that the average person associates with power and lofty social status.

At one time, Della's husband was making a comfortable $30 per week. This money granted them a certain lifestyle and social status, for which they had great pride. One manifestation of this pride is using Jim's full name: Mr. James Dillingham Young. Now that the young man makes only $20 a week, they are struggling financially and socially. The family status has declined, which is why the name on the mailbox "seemed too long and important."

However, this same paragraph also points out the fallacy in this line of thinking. The story acknowledges that society generally values money and social status over other things. Della cries because she cannot afford a proper gift. Yet the story observes: "But when Mr. James Dillingham Young entered the furnished rooms, his name became very short indeed. Mrs. James Dillingham Young put her arms warmly about him and called him 'Jim.'" This sets the stage for the moral of this story. It does not matter how much Della's husband makes, or "how long" his name is, because at the end of the day he is her "Jim." Their love for one another supersedes any other material or social consideration. This is the position of the story overall, and the fifth paragraph subtly paves the way for this revelation.

Explain the key Aspects of Qualitative vs. Quantitative Study Explain the difference between Survey type interview vs. Qualitative research...

Qualitative studies, as their name suggests, focus on the "quality" of research. They are used to provide beginning insights and ideas about a problem and to gain a better and deeper understanding of the subject. Qualitative research is exploratory in nature. It uses opinions and reasoning rather than only statistical facts. In a qualitative study, methods for collecting data may include group discussions on a topic, personal interviews, and observations of a particular setting. The sample size tends to be smaller than that of a quantitative study, and participants may determine in large part how the study moves along, as it is less strictly structured than other types of study.

Quantitative studies, on the other hand, use a more sizeable sample population and attempt to determine the "quantity" or scope of a problem. They use more statistics, data, and numbers rather than words. Often, different types of surveys are utilized to gain sample data from a large sample size.

Qualitative research is specific, where quantitative research is more general.

Quantitative research uses very structured interviews to create data. These are survey-type interviews. Questions are formatted the same way and asked the same way of each participant. The researcher will not change the questions or answers as the interview progresses. This makes the structure similar to an online or telephone survey, where participants answer with no input from the interviewer.

Qualitative interview methods are much less structured and more flexible. The topic may be more personal to the respondents. The interviewer may create follow-up questions as the interview progresses to probe deeper into a particular topic. Questions are open-ended and not usually assigned numerical answer scales.

To make a quantitative research study "sound," it must be reliable in its results. Observations and measurements must be consistent. They may be tested, reviewed, and revised before the study itself. Researchers or interviewers may need to be trained in how to conduct the research and how to analyze the findings. This is especially true in a case where the researcher assigns somewhat subjective "ratings." A quantitative study is also sound if the results are valid, meaning that the measurements produced are representing what they were meant to, whether they are measurements and data obtained by instruments or by the researchers. Whether a study is replicable is an important factor. If the study were to be conducted again, would the results be the same? Is the research report complete enough that any unconnected researcher could replicate the study and achieve similar results? Finally, qualitative research should be generalizable.The results should be relevant to a larger population than the sample group.

Qualitative research has different requirements for ensuring that a study is sound. Dependability, for instance, ensures that the flexible nature of the study does not negatively affect the overall result. This may involve using multiple data-collection methods within the same sample population to create overlapping results. Credibility ensures that the results are accurate. This may be achieved through longer studies, multiple sources, multiple researchers, and multiple locations. Confirmability provides the readers outside of the study with all the facts of the study, so the means of data collection may be understood as well as the results. Finally, the transferability of a qualitative study makes sure that the study is applicable to outside contexts or situations and therefore useful for more than just one result.

How long has the town been holding the lottery? How do you know this?

In "The Lottery," Jackson does not reveal for how long the lottery has been played by the townspeople. We can infer its history, however, based on some details from the story. Old Man Warner, for example, is the oldest man in town and when he walks through the crowd, he claims that this is the seventy-seventh lottery in which he has taken part. We can assume, therefore, that the lottery is at least seventy-seven years...

In "The Lottery," Jackson does not reveal for how long the lottery has been played by the townspeople. We can infer its history, however, based on some details from the story. Old Man Warner, for example, is the oldest man in town and when he walks through the crowd, he claims that this is the seventy-seventh lottery in which he has taken part. We can assume, therefore, that the lottery is at least seventy-seven years old.

There is some evidence, however, to suggest that the lottery is even older than Warner. Early in the story when Jackson describes the lottery "paraphernalia," for instance, she comments that the current black box has been in use since before the birth of Old Man Warner.

The lottery, then, is older than the living memory of anybody in the town and this adds to the sense of mystery which surrounds this violent ritual.

How would you characterize the role of religion in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust?

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a young adult novel by John Boyne, takes place during the Holocaust and is told from the point of view of Bruno, a young German boy. Religious themes arise when Bruno meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence. The reader understands that Bruno’s new friend is behind the fence of the concentration camp where Bruno’s father works as a Nazi officer....

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a young adult novel by John Boyne, takes place during the Holocaust and is told from the point of view of Bruno, a young German boy. Religious themes arise when Bruno meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence. The reader understands that Bruno’s new friend is behind the fence of the concentration camp where Bruno’s father works as a Nazi officer. As Bruno gets to know Shmuel, this friendship conflicts with the anti-Semitic propaganda Bruno has been taught.

Regarding religious practices of Nazis, the German population in 1933 was about 67% Protestant and 33% Catholic. While Nazi leadership was somewhat divided in its view of the role of religion, the Nazi party generally viewed religion as somewhat of a threat. Nazism desired to transform German society into a unified national community. Religious differences would threaten that common national identity.

Hitler’s Minister for Church Affairs, Hans Kerrl, supported the idea of Christianity being adopted by the Nazi party into “Positive Christianity” that renounced the Jewish origins of the faith. Hitler’s Protestant Reich Church was a failed attempt to unify Germany’s existing Protestant churches. The Catholic Church and others were persecuted; more than 6,000 clergymen were executed or imprisoned on charges of treason. 

With the onset of war, however, Hitler softened his position on religion. Wanting to eliminate sources of contention within Germany, he announced that his regime would no longer take action against Evangelical and Catholic churches for the duration of the war. While the Nazi party saw traditional religion as a threat, elements of Nazism could be considered semi-religious with Hitler at its center as a sort of demigod.

How did Katniss lose her innocence in The Hunger Games?

I might argue that Katniss wasn't completely innocent before competing in the Hunger Games.  Katniss comes from District 12, which is poor to begin with; however, Katniss is from the poorest part of that district.  She's been having to hunt for food for herself and her family for years.  Her mother is present, but is often overwhelmed, so Katniss is basically the only care provider for her family.  She's been putting her name into the...

I might argue that Katniss wasn't completely innocent before competing in the Hunger Games.  Katniss comes from District 12, which is poor to begin with; however, Katniss is from the poorest part of that district.  She's been having to hunt for food for herself and her family for years.  Her mother is present, but is often overwhelmed, so Katniss is basically the only care provider for her family.  She's been putting her name into the lottery system multiple times over for many years.  She's definitely not an innocent babe in the woods.  

I do believe that Katniss furthers her loss of innocence over the course of the novel.  One very concrete example of that is the fact that Katniss kills other combatants during the competition.  She's never killed a human being before, and during her time in the arena, she kills multiple people.  Another example is Rue's death.  Katniss feels like she is responsible.  Lastly, Katniss is completely conscious of the fact that she is using the "romantic" relationship with Peeta as a way to gain an advantage in the Hunger Games.  Through that, Katniss realizes that sexuality and romance sells.   

He grabs my hand away."What do I care. I've got you to protect me now," says Peeta, pulling me to him.

"Come on," I say in exasperation, extricating myself from his grasp but not before he gets another kiss. 

How does a comparison and contrast of Hamlet and Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet help highlight the character of Hamlet?

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince Hamlet believes that his Uncle Claudius murdered his father to marry his mother and take the throne; based on the advice of his father's ghost, he decides to kill his uncle for the betrayal. In order to understand how a comparison of the two men highlights Hamlet's character, one must consider how the similarities and differences make Hamlet himself appear. Ultimately, comparing and contrasting Claudius with Hamlet serves to better illustrate what kind of man Hamlet is and why the play ends as it does.

Both Hamlet and Claudius are driven, dedicated men. Claudius is driven to become the king and amass power, while Hamlet is driven to avenge his father. The two men's conflicting goals don't take away from the similar single-minded focus they have on achieving them. From the moment Hamlet meets his father's ghost, his entire personality changes; he decides to act crazy so that he can investigate what Claudius did to his father. Similarly, Claudius decided he wanted power and used the same single-minded focus to kill his brother, quickly marry his widow, and take the throne himself. 

Despite their similar natures, the two men are driven by different goals. Claudius works to gain and keep power, while Hamlet is working to seek revenge for his father. While few people could understand killing a family member for power, it's easier to relate to the desire to avenge a murdered parent. This difference of motivation is a major character aspect that separates Hamlet from Claudius and helps the reader relate to the prince, even as he descends into a kind of madness. 

These two characteristics serve to show what kind of man Hamlet is. Though he's driven like his uncle, he's motivated by a different, less selfish force. There is no sense that King Hamlet was a bad king; Claudius killed him for personal gain. Hamlet has no obvious interest in the throne—so his single-minded pursuit of justice on behalf of his father is clearer when viewed through the lens of Claudius's desire for the throne. It defines him as a more moral person than Claudius, at least in his goals.

Both Hamlet and Claudius hurt other people to achieve their own ends. Claudius kills his own brother and plots Hamlet's death at the hands of Laertes. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, rejects Ophelia cruelly, and sets up Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his former friends, to be killed. When Ophelia dies, Hamlet tells her brother Laertes that "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum." Yet he still rejected her and chose his revenge over her affection.

Claudius's initial murder is direct and gains him the power he was seeking. Viewing Hamlet's destruction and murder in opposition to what Claudius did makes a reader wonder whether Hamlet is any kind of hero. After all, he caused more death to achieve his goals than Claudius did to achieve his. He's a complex character, driven to cause terrible things by an understandable need for revenge. 

Another difference between the two characters is that Claudius is a more active participant in his scheme than Hamlet is as he tries to get revenge. Claudius even admits that he can't be forgiven by God because he did kill his brother, he did it to gain power, and he has no intention of giving up the things he gained. He says:

My fault is past. But O, what form of prayer 
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?
That cannot be, since I am still possess'd 
Of those effects for which I did the murder, 
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. 

When he decides to have Hamlet killed, he even tells Laertes that "No place indeed should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds." He's willing to place his own need to kill Hamlet above the sanctity of the church immediately with no hesitation.

Hamlet, on the other hand, frets and worries over whether the words of his father's ghost are true; while he immediately plans to find out, he is worried that the ghost isn't being entirely forthright. Hamlet's hesitation, when contrasted with Claudius's tendency to immediately set events in motion, clearly becomes one of the reasons why the end of the play is such a tragedy. If Hamlet had been straightforward and direct instead of lying and sneaking around, things might have taken a different path. That said, Hamlet's determination to verify the ghost's claims is also a noble one. His indecision causes both sympathy and frustration in the reader.

Ultimately, Hamlet's character and actions can be understood more clearly when they're compared to what Claudius has done. Though Hamlet is like his uncle in some ways, his motivation and hesitation make him a more sympathetic character—even as his plans collide with Claudius's and result in the death of almost everyone the two men care about.