In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the
climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the proof that Claudius is guilty
leads to Hamlet's decision to not kill Claudius while he's at prayer--and that is the
climax of the play.

Hamlet, until he sees Claudius's
reaction to the "play within the play," isn't entirely sure Claudius is guilty.  He has
no real proof--only the word of a ghost, who, he says in Act 2.2.565-572, could be a
devil trying to deceive him (as, by the way, the witches do to Macbeth in his play of
the same name).  Hamlet needs proof.  He is too reasonable to act like Fortinbras or
Laertes and just jump into revenge without thinking it
through.

The king's reaction to the murder scene in the
play gives Hamlet the proof he needs, though, and he sets off to kill the king.  He gets
an opportunity but decides not to take it.  Why?  Because he thinks Claudius is
confessing (he isn't, but Hamlet doesn't know that), and killing him immediately after
he confesses his sins would send Claudius straight to heaven.  And Hamlet doesn't want
to send Claudius to heaven, not when his father is suffering in a purgatory-like state,
and when Hamlet might be sent to hell because he kills
Claudius. 

The problem is, though, that when Hamlet decides
not to kill Claudius because he doesn't want to contribute to his salvation, he is
playing God.  Salvation is God's business, not Hamlet's.  Hamlet is messing where he
shouldn't be messing.

The result--you see it in Act 5:  the
sight Fortinbras says doesn't belong in a castle, only on a battlefield.  Death
everywhere. 

When Hamlet walks away from his rightful
revenge, by playing God, he dooms himself and so many others.  This is the climax. 
His receiving proof of Claudius's death could be considered the crisis, and Hamlet's
refusal to kill Claudius while the king's at prayer is the climax.  One leads to the
other.  

Please answer these questions about Lennie and the deaths he causes in Chapter 5 of Of Mice and MenONLYCHAPTER 5,How does Lennie react to...

In Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men,
Lennie also tries to cover the puppy up and hide it.  If he can keep George from finding
out that he has killed the puppy, he won't get into trouble.  He is also somewhat
comforted by Curley's wife, who tells him the pup is nothing and can easily be
replaced.

In contrast, Lennie, after killing Curley's
wife, very quickly sneaks out of the barn and, the reader learns later, goes to the spot
George told him to go to if he gets in trouble. 

This does
demonstrate that Lennie understands the difference between killing a puppy and killing a
human being.

What is the relationship between Joe and Pip in Chapter 57 of "Great Expectations"?

While Pip is sick and helpless in Chapter 57, his relationship with Joe is like it was when he was a child.  Joe, "good Christian man" that he is, cares for Pip's every need with joy and gentle, unconditional love.  Pip says,

"the tenderness of Joe was so beautifully proportioned to my need that I was like a child in his hands...he would sit and talk to me in the old confidence, and with the old simplicity, and in the old unassertive protecting way".

Pip, remembering how badly he had treated Joe when he came into his "expectations", feels grateful and terribly guilty, but when he tries to explain, Joe stops him, observing,

"ever the best of friends; ain't us, Pip?  Then why go into subjects...which as betweixt two sech must be for ever onnecessary?" 

Joe, with a forgiving heart, is content to enjoy the present, when he and Pip can be like before, with no questions asked.

As Pip gets better, his relationship with Joe changes.  Joe becomes more distant, and starts calling Pip "sir", and although Pip wants to tell Joe that he has learned from his experiences and wants their old friendship to continue as it was before, he does not speak what is in his heart.  After making sure that Pip is indeed well on the mend, Joe, not wanting his presence to become intrusive, leaves Pip and goes home, having, with infinite love, given Pip care and companionship when he was in need, and even paying off all his debts (Chapter 57).

What is the irony in "Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid?

The story is ironic because Jamaica Kincaid writes from a mother's perspective giving her daughter information on how she is to live her life.  The daughter rejects the information as being too confining and is determined to act rebellious.

Kincaid, from the Caribbean Island of Antigua, had a very conflictual relationship with her mother.  She left the island at age 17 partly to escape her mother and the lifestyle.

The author writes a story about a mother who imposes on her daughter ideas that seem old fashioned and restricting. 

"The mother is a woman in Antigua who understands a woman's "place." She lives in a culture that looks to both Christianity and obeah, an African-based religion, and that holds women in a position of subservience to men. She recites a catalog of advice and warnings to help her daughter learn all a woman should know. "

What hints are there in Chapter 4 of "A Tale of Two Cities" that Mr. Lorry's secret mission resurrects some issues from his own past?

The author gives us a clear hint that Mr. Lorry's mission resurrects issues from his own past through metaphor.  He describes the gentleman's thoughts as he awaits dinner, noting that "his mind was busily digging, digging, digging, in the live red coals".  The phrase "live red coals" expresses the idea that the memories recalled because of his mission, whatever they are, are still sensitive and perhaps very painful.

As Mr. Lorry awaits the arrival of Lucie Manette and commences his explanations when she does come, he strives to appear calm and nonchalant, but his actions betray the turmoil he feels.  When Lucie is presented, he perceives "a sudden vivd likeness...of a child whom he had held in his arms" long ago, and when the vision passes, he "cast(s) a troubled look" towards the place where it appeared.  Mr. Lorry is troubled by the story he must tell Lucie; he says, "it is very difficult to begin", and is tormented by "indecision".  Once he begins his tale, he insists that he is not emotionally involved, reiterating that he acts in a business capacity only -"Feelings!  I have no time for them, no chance of them".  His nervous mannerisms contradict his protestations, however, as he "flatten(s) his flaxen wig upon his head...which is most unnecessary", and is "exceedingly disconcerted" when Lucie questions him on what he has said. 

Discuss the role of the U.S. in political affairs of other countries and the U.S. and Soviet responses to each other during the Cold War.i need...

The topics that are the focus of your paper seem to take
US history from the time of early imperialism under Teddy Roosevelt in the first decade
of the 1900s to the time when the Cold War was beginning to heat up in the late 1940s
and early 1950s.

So with those two larger topics in mind -
imperialism and the Cold War, you may want to talk about the development of the
first:

* how the United States became an empire and
expanded its territories to include the Panama Canal, control over the Caribbean, with
heavy influence over Latin America and the Philippines.  Include why the US would do
this - for world power in competition with other empires, and for control of resources
which would aid our economy

And the beginning of the Cold
War second:

*how our goal of expanding our control as an
empire changed into a foreign policy of containing the Soviet empire's expansion, and
controlling more resources and influencing other countries with economic and military
aid so they wouldn't be communist, or so the Soviet Union would not gain access to their
resources.

What are five of Minerva's strengths in the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies?

Minerva is intelligent and determined.  From a young age, she desires to become a lawyer, but her ambitions are thwarted because her father dispproves.  She does eventually achieve her law degree, but is denied a license to practice by the dictator Trujillo.

Minerva is also passionately committed to the revolution in her country.  Her activism is born when she hears from a quiet schoolmate that her brothers were all murdered because they dared to resist Trujillo's regime, and from then on her involvement in the movement shapes the course of her life. 

There are a number of incidents in the book which show that Minerva is resourceful, and adept at salvaging the good out of bad circumstances.  While still in school she diffuses a dangerous situation by diverting attention from a classmate who had directed criticism toward Trujillo during a play, and when she discovers her father has fathered daughters out of wedlock, she accepts them and arranges for their education.  Later, while in prison, she organizes classes for the women in her cell. 

Finally, Minerva has a fierce sense of integrity, and is true to her beliefs.  When she is offered a pardon while in prison she refuses to accept it, because to do so would be an admission of guilt. 

Beside the work on the windmill, what other hardships do the animals have to face in Chapter VII in Animal Farm?

Chapter 7 is really one of the low points for the animals
of Animal Farm.  As you mentioned, they have to work really hard trying to build the
windmill.  But there are other things going on as
well.

• The winter is a really hard one --
  terrible weather.


• They did not have enough food.  Their
  corn ration was cut back and the potatoes that were supposed to make up for that
  spoiled.


• The other thing that I see as a hardship is all
  the executions and the fact that Napoleon is forcing the hens to allow their eggs to be
  sold.

What makes Touchstone a character of importance in As You Like It?

Touchstone takes on importance in As You Like It because his role, as devised by Shakespeare, is to bring out the true nature, values and thoughts of each character he speaks with. An example of this is his parodic conversation (conversation that parodies the other speaker) with Corin, the shepherd, which can be contrasted to his equally parodic conversation with Jaques.

When speaking with Corin, Corin's true heart and values are revealed and the audience/reader learns of Corin's sincerity and genuine feelings. When speaking with Jacques, Jaques' more urbane sentiments are revealed and his opinions laid open to examination.

Shakespeare uses Touchstone in the same role in which he uses his other "fools" (urban characters who serve the lead characters and entertain with wit that tells the truth and reveals significant information about the protagonists and other important characters) but with a variation: Touchstone keeps the play grounded in reality, preventing it from being lost in an idyllic pastoral celebration in Arden Forest.

In "The Lord of the Flies," what trait do Jack, Roger, Johnny, Henry, and Maurice share?Beginning to chapter 5: is it distinguishable in degrees...

Up to Chapter 5, Jack, Roger, Johnny, Henry and Maurice all share a conditioning by society that is beginning to break down. Jack and Roger are, of course, the first to allow their evil side to show and to break away from the confines of civilization. Percival, Johnny, and Henry, are three littluns who suffer from fear of the beast at night but play happily during the day. At the beginning of Chapter 4, they are playing on the beach. Soon Roger and Maurice begin to harass the boys, kicking over their sand-castles and throwing stones near them. These events foreshadow the actual violence Roger and Maurice will use later in the novel to threaten Ralph and Piggy. All of these boys' conditioning by society will break down eventually as they turn more and more into little savages.

What happens to aggregate demand when the dollar depreciates?and what happens when households expect lower prices in the future?

When the dollar depreciates against foreign currencies,
exports should increase and imports should decrease.  This is because our products get
cheaper for foreigners and their products get to me more expensive for
us.

In such a case, there gets to be increased demand for
American products.  That means that aggregate demand goes
up.

If households expect lower prices (I assume for all
goods and services) in the future, AD goes down because people will wait to buy until
the prices actually do drop.  In other words, if you think the car that you can buy for
$25,000 is going to cost $20,000 in 6 months, you really ought to wait if you
can.

Consider the idea of social class as exemplified in "Richard Cory." In what ways does this poem appear to be an American poem?"Richard Cory" by...

This poem, "Richard Cory," was written by Edward Arlington Robinson after the 1893 Depression when the average person in America could not afford meat and had a diet consisting mainly of bread. Thus, during this period and during the period of the 1920's Great Depression, there was a very sharp divide between the "haves" and the "have nots." 

When the wealthy Richard Cory goes downtown, although the people admire him, they do not speak to him, for he is in a place apart from them, an enviable place because in the United States there was once  the "American Dream" that promised anyone he/she could rise out of poverty.  With the depression, this dream now seems unattainable and Richard Cory appears distantly "imperial" and a gentleman from "sole to crown" to the disenfranchised of the 1893 American depression who do not understand that one who has food and comfort can be desperate enough to commit suicide. 

What is the significance of the opening and ending scenes of "A Thousand Splendid Suns"?

The story begins with a description of the first time Mariam heard the word “harami”. She was five at the time and living with her mother in a small hut outside Herat. Her father would visit her once every week. This was because Mariam was a bastard child who would cause embarrassment to the rest of her father’s legitimate family, thus she was banished together with her mum to the outskirts of Herat. During one of her father’s visits, Mariam broke her mother’s Chinese sugar bowl, left to her by her own mother as inheritance. Mariam’s mother is very annoyed and calls her “harami” and even though she does not know what it means, she can tell it is an offensive word. This opening shows the position Mariam is in, with regards to the prevailing social structures, and the word signifies the myriad of problems that Mariam would encounter throughout her life, coupled with her inability to change her situation.

In the closing, Laila would have wished to know where the Taliban buried Mariam and, although, she does not have this information, she believes Mariam to be alive in the rebuilding process and in her heart. She considers her among the people who died in order to restore hope to the people of Afghanistan.

In the opening Mariam is condemned to her fate because of her background but in the end she is revered as a martyr and the source of hope for Laila’s family.

What is the theme of the entire story of "Astronomers Wife"?

This is the story of wife waking up one morning and realizing that she is unhappy.  It is about the true meaning of marriage, but it is also about the true meaning of life.  Although her husband is "there" for her physically, he is not emotionally supportive.   They do not have a real connection and do not understand one another.  In marriage, a partnership and a friendship should be the central focus - these two have neither.

But as she realizes this, and watches the plumber working "with" the world and not just in it, she realizes that she needs to have the same relationship with the world around her.  She needs to feel that she is really a part of something, contributing and receiving.  Both in her marriage and in her life as a whole.  It can't all be about intellectual experience - it has to be about physical experience and interaction as well.

What is the difference between "assigned" and "selected"?

In chapter seven, the ceremony of twelve shows everyone in Jonas's class receiving assignments to their appointed careers. Fiona is assigned to serve in the Home of the Old taking care of the elderly. Asher is assigned to work in the recreation department. Instead of college, Fiona and Asher will finish out their teen years going to school, but also learning in their assigned fields of work, like apprentices. After graduating from school, they will continue on for the rest of their lives in their assigned fields. 

Jonas, on the other hand, is selected for a special appointment as the Receiver of Memory. This special calling is not only an honor, but he will eventually be an Elder of the community. Elders must be selected, whereas people working in regular jobs are only assigned. It is most likely that Asher and Fiona will not serve as Elders, for instance; but Jonas has been selected for a more important role in the community. The chief elder says it this way:

"Jonas has not been assigned. . . Jonas has been selected. . . Such a selection is very, very rare. . . Our community has only one Receiver. It is he who trains his successor. . . But the Receiver-in-training cannot be observed, cannot be modified. That is stated quite clearly in the rules. He is to be alone, apart, while he is prepared by the current Receiver for the job which is the most honored in our community" (60-61).

Thus, this isn't a run-of-the-mill assignment to just any job. A selection is more important and reserved for someone who is special. For a community who strives for Sameness, they must have one who bears their burdens alone and they take this seriously because the weight of the community's happiness will be placed on his shoulders.

Please describle briefly the main characters in chapter 2 of "The Hiding Place."

Chapter 2, "Full Table," describes Corrie ten Boom's childhood. The main characters in the chapter are:

Corrie--the author and protagonist, or person who the story is about.

Casper ten Boom--Corrie's father. He is well-loved in the Haarlem community. He works as a watchmaker and repairer. In this chapter, Corrie recalls how she loved to go to Amsterdam with him, where he would buy parts for watches.

Mama ten Boom--Corrie's mother. Mama would often visit the poor, and Corrie tells of visiting a home in which a baby had died. That was the first time Corrie had been faced with death.

Tante Jens, Tante Bep, and Tante Anna--Corrie's aunt, her mother's sisters. The aunts are very disappointed in Corrie's behavior on the first day of school. Corrie didn't want to go, and refused to budge from the front steps. Her father had to unwind her fingers from the rail. The aunts disapproved and talked about what how defiant she was.

Chapter 21 summary?chapter 21

In chapter 21 of the novel Beka Lamb,
Beka and her family visit her friend Toycie in the Belize Mental Asylum.
Toycie has been expelled from school for being pregnant, her boyfriend refused to marry
her, and she has lost her mind. She acts like she is sitll in school, waiting for the
recess bell. Beka's Granny Ivy is dismayed that Toycie has lost her mind just because
she has become pregnant and the reader finds out later that Granny herself had the same
thing happen to her, and yet she did not "degrade herself" like Toycie seems to be
doing. Beka reminisces back about how she and Toycie used to take walks along the sea
wall. Beka remembers how Toycie's Aunt Eila told them folktales - about the evil
Tataduhende who goes around tearing thumbs off little girls and
boys.

Aunt Eila wants to move Toycie out of the mental
institution to her brother's home at Sibun River, a Creole settlement that Beka refers
to as "the bush." Eila thinks Toycie will get better there, among her people, where she
belongs.

Toward the end of the chapter, Granny Ivy
decorates the Lamb house with the blue and white flags of the Peoples' Independent Party
but Daddy Bill makes her take them down and put up the flags of the British colonial
empire, the Union Jack.

This is an important chapter
because it shows the continuing conflict of "be'fo time" and "nowadays" in Belize,
illustrates the continuing conflict of Creoles vs Panias (represented by Emilio and
Toycie), and the political conflict of colonialism vs
independence.

In Act III, scene 2 of "Macbeth," is Lady Macbeth enjoying her new position?

No, not really.Consider these lines: "Naught's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy"Here she's saying, we got everything we wanted, but we're not happy.  They don't have a chance to enjoy everything they've gotten—it's all crumbling away. Despite that, though, she's holding on to her chosen path, nudging Macbeth to put on a happy face and charm the guests so that they can hold on to the position they've won by their brutal methods.

What does Polonius mean when he says " I would fain prove so"? Why is he called Jepthah?

Polonius is simply responding to Claudius' assessment of his character: a man 'faithful and honourable'. 'Fain' means 'happily', so Polonius is simply saying: 'I would be very happy to be proved to be as good as you say I am'.

The comparison to Jepthah is more complex: Jepthah is an Old Testament Judge (see the book of Judges, below) who promised God that, in return for victory in battle, he would sacrifice the first creature that came to him when he returned to his native land. Of course, it was Jepthah's daughter who greeted him, but the Old Testament is unclear about precisely whether or not Jepthah did go through with the sacrifice. The mythological figure of Jepthah does sacrifice his daughter, but commentators disagree about the biblical one.

Might we see Polonius as sacrificing his daughter? He certainly isn't cautious about planting her where Hamlet might discover her, so that he and Claudius can spy on Hamlet (who is, so they think, mad). He also reads Hamlet's love letter to her out without any regard for her privacy or feelings.

Is it Polonius' fault that Ophelia goes mad and eventually commits suicide? It depends entirely how you interpret the character: Shakespeare is very ambiguous about exactly what sends Ophelia insane. But the reference to Jepthah opens up the possibility that Polonius, the wretched, rash, intruding fool, might - where Ophelia is concerned, at least - be a rather more sinister character.

Anthony Robbins , the peak performance coach, once said,``I dont motivate the people , I just inspire them.``What is the difference between inspire...

Motiviating means to propel people to act, to impel them
to move, to provide incentive. To motivate seems to suggest that people will receive a
reward from the performance that they do for their
motivator.

Inspiring has to do with arousing, influencing,
producing, or animating (making come alive). This to me, sounds like gaining an
intrinsic or internal value from the speaker that drives one to work or perform from
within. Motivation sounds more like an external or extrinsic force must act upon a
person to make the work or performance occur.

A coach would
be happy with inspiration as opposed to motivation because once you get inside someone,
they continue to motivate themselves.