Can you please explain how John Clare depicts the mouse in his poem "The Mouse's Nest"?

In his poem, John Clare depicts the mouse as an "odd" and "grotesque" maternal figure. When he disturbs a ball of grass that he imagines is a bird's nest, a mouse bolts out with "all her young ones hanging at her teats."

To Clare, the mouse and her babies present an incongruent picture. When her hiding place is disturbed, the mother mouse flees with her nurslings still hanging onto her. It is clear that Clare...

In his poem, John Clare depicts the mouse as an "odd" and "grotesque" maternal figure. When he disturbs a ball of grass that he imagines is a bird's nest, a mouse bolts out with "all her young ones hanging at her teats."

To Clare, the mouse and her babies present an incongruent picture. When her hiding place is disturbed, the mother mouse flees with her nurslings still hanging onto her. It is clear that Clare is unused to seeing this "odd" picture in nature. Basically, nature takes him by surprise. What the poet could be getting at is that nature is not circumscribed (restricted or confined) by our own expectations or by our preconceived notions.

Clare is literally surprised to have come across the mother mouse and her "young ones." He had been expecting a bird to emerge from the nest. Instead, he sees baby mice clinging to their mother for dear life as she makes her way to safety. Interestingly, Clare was himself a laboring man during his married years. His wife, Martha Turner, was the daughter of a neighboring farmer.

Martha and John Clare had seven children. Throughout his married years, Clare continued to write poetry. However, he had difficulty earning enough to support his large brood. His first book of poems, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, earned him great acclaim. However, his subsequent works netted him little profit. Eventually, the stress of his domestic responsibilities took a toll on him, and he became an alcoholic.

Clare was eventually committed to an asylum, and he spent the last twenty-three years of his life at St. Andrews Asylum in Northampton. It was reported that he wrote the best of his poetry during this period.

Now, how does Clare's background relate to the "odd" and "grotesque" maternal figure that the female mouse represents? Some literary experts believe that Clare equated his own tenuous position with that of the mother mouse. Like the mouse, Clare was weighed down with the burden of providing for his large brood. It is very possible that he felt suffocated by his responsibilities. To Clare, such burdens may have been as "odd" and "grotesque" in nature as they were in the human world.

short note on nucleic acids

Nucleic acids are one of the four types of biomolecules that are essential to all life forms (in addition to lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates). Nucleic acids include DNA (which stands for deoxyribose nucleic acid) and RNA (which is an abbreviation for ribonucleic acids). Nucleic acids are made of nucleotides. Nucleotides have three parts- a five-carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and one of five nitrogenous bases (adenine, thymine, uracil, guanine, and cytosine). DNA and RNA differ in that DNA contains the sugar deoxyribose, while RNA contains the sugar ribose. DNA and RNA also different in their nitrogenous bases. In DNA, adenine pairs with thymine and guanine pairs with cytosine. In RNA, adenine pairs with uracil and guanine pairs with cytosine. Additionally, RNA and DNA are different because RNA is single stranded with DNA has a double-stranded helix structure.  

What is Sigmund Freud's view on personality dynamic? |

Sigmund Freud pioneered a theory of personality that is known as psychodynamics.  His view on this subject was that the personality is made up of three parts and that our behaviors are affected by the interactions or dynamics between the three.

To Freud, our personality is made up of the id, the ego, and the superego.  The id is our most instinctual part.  When we are born, all we have is an id.  The id...

Sigmund Freud pioneered a theory of personality that is known as psychodynamics.  His view on this subject was that the personality is made up of three parts and that our behaviors are affected by the interactions or dynamics between the three.

To Freud, our personality is made up of the id, the ego, and the superego.  The id is our most instinctual part.  When we are born, all we have is an id.  The id wants to get pleasure and to avoid pain.  It lacks any idea of morality or propriety.  This is where things like our sexual instincts and our desire to be aggressive come from.

The ego is the part of our personality that develops in order to mediate between our id and reality. The id wants what it wants and it wants it right away.  The id does not care whether we can get what we want in any reasonable way.  We need to develop an ego in order to do this.  Our ego tries to keep our id somewhat in check.  The ego still wants pleasure, but it wants to be reasonable and go about pursuing pleasure in a realistic way.  Freud said that the ego is sort of like a man riding a horse.  The horse is the id, which is stronger than the ego, which is the rider.  The ego has to try to harness the id and direct it where it (the ego) wants to go.

The superego is the part of our personality that is created by society.  As we grow up, we learn that there are rules and expectations that are placed upon us by our parents and other people.  We learn that we cannot simply seek pleasure because that is not always consistent with what society says we should do.  The superego develops in order to rein in the id even further.  It makes us feel that it is right for us to deny our id and to act in ways that are acceptable to our society.

Freud says that these three aspects of our personality are constantly interacting with one another, creating our personalities and influencing our behaviors.

Hamlet: What does the end of the play convey to the audience? (Specifically Act 5. Scene 2)

The end of the play seems to signify the idea that anyone who contributed to the "something rotten" in Denmark has to be eliminated in order for the country to move on and prosper again.  Gertrude has to die because of her disloyalty to her first husband (shown by her hasty remarriage) as well as the fact that she has committed incest (biblically speaking) by marrying her brother-in-law.  Claudius has to die because he is...

The end of the play seems to signify the idea that anyone who contributed to the "something rotten" in Denmark has to be eliminated in order for the country to move on and prosper again.  Gertrude has to die because of her disloyalty to her first husband (shown by her hasty remarriage) as well as the fact that she has committed incest (biblically speaking) by marrying her brother-in-law.  Claudius has to die because he is a murderer (and has committed incest with his sister-in-law).  Laertes must die because he has behaved dishonorably in his dealings with Hamlet (by tipping his sword with poison during their duel).  Hamlet must die because he is responsible for the deaths of many relatively innocent individuals: Ophelia, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern.  In short, the heart of the Danish court has become a rotten, corrupted Eden, from which everyone who has committed sins must be cut out.  In the end, Fortinbras assumes power and it seems as though he will honor Hamlet's better qualities as well as restore order to the court and country.

How did Melba spend most lunches at school?

After previous attacks from angry white students, Melba spent most of her lunches at Central High alone. She avoided the cafeteria, preferring to eat in a more secure spot.

Because there were no uniformed officials or National Guardsmen in the cafeteria, the nine African American students were often exposed to harassment from belligerent white students. Melba relates how her friend, Minnijean was attacked in the cafeteria a day before winter vacation began.

Accordingly, five African...

After previous attacks from angry white students, Melba spent most of her lunches at Central High alone. She avoided the cafeteria, preferring to eat in a more secure spot.

Because there were no uniformed officials or National Guardsmen in the cafeteria, the nine African American students were often exposed to harassment from belligerent white students. Melba relates how her friend, Minnijean was attacked in the cafeteria a day before winter vacation began.

Accordingly, five African American students had entered the cafeteria for lunch that day. On her way back from the lunch line, Minnijean was taunted by two white boys. Minnijean had a big bowl of chili on her tray, and the boys would not let her pass. They heckled her, kicked at her, tried to trip her, and called her names.

Meanwhile, Melba watched helplessly from a distance. She knew that if she tried to help Minnijean, other white students would rush in. Since there were only five African American students in the cafeteria, Melba was afraid to intervene; they were outnumbered 200 to 1.

Events soon came to a head after Minnijean lost control of her tray and the heckling boys were splattered with chili. A school official soon showed up to take Minnijean away. Later, a white student cruelly taunted Melba with the information that Minnijean had been suspended. Events such as this prompted Melba to spend most lunches by herself, away from the cafeteria.

Is Macbeth a static or dynamic character?

Macbeth is a dynamic character because he does fundamentally change over the course of the play.  Initially, he is described as "brave" (1.2.18) and "valiant" (1.2.26), and he is awarded a new title as a result of his courageous and loyal service to the crown: he becomes the new Thane of Cawdor when the old one is executed for disloyalty.  Even his wife, the person who (potentially) knows him the best, thinks that he is...

Macbeth is a dynamic character because he does fundamentally change over the course of the play.  Initially, he is described as "brave" (1.2.18) and "valiant" (1.2.26), and he is awarded a new title as a result of his courageous and loyal service to the crown: he becomes the new Thane of Cawdor when the old one is executed for disloyalty.  Even his wife, the person who (potentially) knows him the best, thinks that he is "too full o' th' milk of human kindness" to ever do anything to betray his king—a man who is also his kinsman and friend (1.5.17).

By the end of the play, however, Macbeth has not only murdered Duncan (a crime for which he, admittedly, does feel a great deal of guilt), he also arranged for the murders of his best friend, Banquo, as well as Banquo's young son, Fleance.  (Fleance, unfortunately for Macbeth, succeeds in escaping with his life.)  In fact, at this point in the play he tells his wife, "We are yet but young in deed," meaning that they will have to continue killing in order to secure their positions as king and queen (3.4.176).  Additionally, Macbeth arranges to have the innocent wife and children of a rival, Macduff, killed in their home; he does so with no evidence of guilt or remorse.  By the end of the play, he has become a callous killer, much changed from the Macbeth we met in the beginning.

What character traits in Fortunato make him fall prey to Montresor?

It is mostly Fortunato's pride and arrogance that renders him vulnerable to Montresor's plans.  Montresor knows that Fortunato will not be able to resist the implication that Luchesi is as good a connoisseur of wine as Fortunato, and that Fortunato will insist on accompanying Montresor to his vaults to see the wine Montresor claims to have purchased.  Further, Montresor knows that Fortunato will not be able to resist the opportunity to tell Montresor that he...

It is mostly Fortunato's pride and arrogance that renders him vulnerable to Montresor's plans.  Montresor knows that Fortunato will not be able to resist the implication that Luchesi is as good a connoisseur of wine as Fortunato, and that Fortunato will insist on accompanying Montresor to his vaults to see the wine Montresor claims to have purchased.  Further, Montresor knows that Fortunato will not be able to resist the opportunity to tell Montresor that he made a mistake and paid far too much for wine that couldn't possible be the rare Amontillado.  Moreover, Montresor knows that, despite his repeated warnings to Fortunato that the vaults are too damp, especially given that Fortunato has a cold, Fortunato will proudly insist that he is fine, that the damp is nothing.  In this way, then, Montresor knows that he can manipulate Fortunato's pride to be Fortunato's downfall.