Fate and Free Will in William Shakespeares Macbeth Essays -- William

Fate and Free Will in William Shakespeare's Macbeth In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there is a question as to whether or not Macbeth is driven by fate or free will. The three weird sisters approach Macbeth with prophecies that will all come true in the end. It would appear that Macbeth is just following destiny at first. However, Macbeth always had a choice throughout the play to choose his own fate. Macbeth journeyed to his murderous doom through his own free choice. In Act I, the three witches visit Macbeth and Banquo on the heath. The witches make three predictions; Macbeth will be the Thane of Cawdor, he will be King, and Banquo’s sons will be king but not Banquo. Even though the witches did make these prophecies, Macbeth’s fate was not sealed. Later in the same scene, Ross and Angus meet Macbeth. They tell Macbeth that he is now the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth then reflects on the predictions and says, "Present fears are less than horrible imaginings" (Act I, vii, 139). Macbeth is relating his fear that he may have to do something violent in order to become king but he hopes that it can come about by "chance". Almost immediately after the witches have visited him, Macbeth begins to take their prophecies as a reality. He is almost trying to fulfill the tempting predictions, now that his mind is lustful for power, instead of remaining loyal to the King. It is once again apparent that Macbeth does control his own destiny when the witches make their second appearance to him...

Growing Up African American Essay

I am a member of the African American group and I would like to tell you a bit about the group of when I am a part of. Let me start by saying that my African American group originated from Africa and growing up in America can be tough for people of my race, the African Americans. My group’s history is wide ranging spanning for many years and varying from region to region within the United States. I remember when I was young I use to talk to my mother a lot and asked her many questions like â€Å"Why am I called an African American? † She went on to explain that our race originally comes from Africa and we were part of a slave trade. From my mother I learned that we were slaves until a law was passed to give us freedom. I use to wonder when I was young if there were other people similar to me all over America. I also remember something my father told me once that African Americans live all over the country. My father told stories of how he used to go to an all black school could vote or sit in the front of buses. Being African Americans have faced several kinds of creation and consequence situations in the years they have been a part of the United States. In some places cheaper labor, longer work hours and terrible living conditions. Many people of the United States have made it almost impossible for groups of another race or Ethnicity to strive and live full happy lives. I have seen over the year’s situations of extermination in some parts, as well segregation, and expulsion. In school from some of my teachers, in social interactions like just walking through a store, and especially in the work place when they’ll even give me the chance to work because it doesn’t matter I go to get a job out here. There are some racist, even the Uncle Tom’s. I’ve done everything they ask and still I either get denied the job or they hire me and treat me like Growing up African American 3 trash until I quit, or they try to find a reason to get rid of me. Since, I don’t give them much reason to get rid of me due to my strong work ethic and performance; they usually try to break me down. Education plays an important role for most African Americans; however we are still way behind when compared to the White American which probably has a lot to do with the way some of us was brought up or our background. Regardless of the contributions made by the forefathers of black people, there is a hesitation of acceptance of the race that has been a focus of many groups the strive for freedom and justice for all, that has not yet been rectified. The same group of people was good enough to built the country is not always seen as good enough to live in the house next door. I believe because this country is made up of many different races and ethnic groups that are steadily growing in numbers. If different races are toco exist peacefully in the U. S. , it is vital that we all become educated on the history and culture of different races and ethnicities. According to the 2000 Census data for Lexington, MS the total population for 2000 were 2,025 male 965 and female 1,060 square miles 2. 45. Race: white (635); black or African American (1,362); American Indian and Alaska Native (1); Asian (13); and two or more races (14); and Hispanic or Latino (of any race) (40) (Fact finder Census 2000). Birthplace facts from the 2000 census data in Lexington born in the same state (1,706); born in another state (269); born outside the US (0); naturalized citizen (14); and foreign born, not US citizen (10). Some more 2000 census data in educational attainment population 25 and older was 1,206 in Lexington: high school graduates (299); some college, or associate’s degree (349); bachelor’s degree (111); and master’s, professional or doctorate degree (60). Some enrollment population 3 years and over Growing up African American 4 enrolled in school was 627: preschool and kindergarten (83); grades 1-12 (446); and college (98) (2000 census data). Growing up African American 5 References Factfinder Census 2000 Census data for Lexington, MS My mother and father.

The novel The Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska Analysis

The novel The Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska tells about a traditional Jewish family immigrating to America and the problems that they face. In the book, Father, Reb Smolinsky, is bothersome and irritating instead of helping his wife and daughters in maintaining the household. His hypocrisy was very cruel. He married his daughters to men who they loved did not love. Lastly, Father was negligent to his daughter Sara. Although a reader can draw sympathy towards him because he is naive and does not know how things work in the ‘New World', he shows that he is very mean and cruel throughout the story. Reb Smolinsky was a contemptible individual. First of all, Father's hypocrisy was cruel and cold. For example, when his daughter, Sara, came to visit the family and her sick mother, after she completed her college education he scolded her. â€Å"A lot from it. She's only good to the world and not her father. Will she hand me her wages from school like a dutiful daughter should? † (page 248) This was Father's response to her success. Sara could not even afford to buy good clothing in college. She starved herself just to pay the tuition and rent. There is no way she could have sent her father money. When the doctor arrives to the home later to check on Sara's sick mother Father introduces his daughters to him. He boasts about Sara becoming a teacher. He says that she takes after himself and that he paid for all of her education. Another example of his hypocrisy is when Father wanted to become some one greater, a businessman. He took the money he got from his son-in-laws and bought a store. When the Smolinsky family found out that the store was a fake setup and that all their money was squandered, they yelled at Father. Mother grabbed Father by the front of his coat trying to shake him out of his calmness. Mother then said, â€Å"Now that the girls are married and no wages coming in, what shall we live on? † (page 124) This was Mothers reaction to the disaster. Eventually the whole family forgave Father for what they saw was a grave blunder. When Sara left home and wanted to become something greater instead of supporting her Father financially for life, he disowned her. He thought she was wasting her time and money on classes and she should put her money into helping the family. Father also wanted Sara to marry Max Goldstein, but she refused to. In his opinion, she had committed several serious errors. Throughout the rest of the story he did not apologize to her for his abusive treatment, yet his family forgave him. Reb is a hypocrite who makes his family feel servile. Another way in which Reb Smolinsky makes readers feel contempt is by marrying his daughters to people who are rich, and not to people who his daughters truly loved. He did this for his own gain and not for the good of his daughters. For instance, his daughter Mashah was in love with a pianist by the name of Jacob Novak. Father did not like Jacob because Jacob's father did not allow him to visit Mashah before and after one of his important symphonies. In this way Father thought of him as a deserter and did not like him. He would not allow her to see him and marriage was out of the question. Instead, Father got a diamond dealer named Moe Mirsky to marry Mashah. After the marriage Mashah came home one night and told her family that Moe was a fake. He worked at a diamond jewelry shop and borrowed some jewelry to show off. He had now lost that job and had no money. â€Å"Empty-head! Where were your brains? Didn't you go out with the man a whole month before you were married? Couldn't you see he was a swindler and a crook when you talked to him? † This was Father's reaction. He blamed the whole situation on Mashah although he had arranged the marriage. Father only married Mashah to him so he could get some money; there was no true love between them. Father also made his daughter Bessie marry someone she did not love. He made her marry a fish peddler by the name of Zalmon. Zalmon had a good amount of money that father wanted. Zalmon was in his late 50's and had six small children. The children were to become a great burden on Bessie. Father's greed landed his daughters in dreadful relationships. Lastly, instead of supporting his daughter Sara throughout her schooling Father outcasted her. Sara Smolinsky ran away from home due to Father's constant persecution. Sara started to attend school with her own hard earned money. She really needed support emotionally and wished Father came to visit. One night Father came to visit her and scolded her. He told her that she was wasting her time and nothing would amount to her classes. He spat angry words in her face and disowned her. He did this all because Sara refused Max Goldstein, a potential suitor for her picked by Father. Most parents of that time and today would never do such a thing. The responsibility of parents is to raise their children, teach them right from wrong, educate them, and support them emotionally and financially. Father did not do all of this. He might have told her right from wrong and taught her about the Torah, but did so in a very narrow-minded sense. Sara suffered for her father's self-centeredness and irresponsibility. Reb Smolinsky makes readers feel he is an evil individual. His unethical and disturbing actions would send him directly to jail today. Father treated his family to the point where it became disgusting. He married his daughters to abusive and unconcerned men. He scrutinized every error his family made, but said nothing when he, himself committed a wrong. He was also ignorant of his parental responsibilities. Reb Smolinsky can therefore be classified as a contemptible character.

By night in chile

This is the story of a boy who yearned to be a poet but became an Opus Dei priest Father Sebastian Urrutia. His love is for the literary arts and continues writing poems even as he continues his work as a priest. He is challenged to preserve churches in Europe and encounters odd priests who have a prejudice for pigeons, maintaining falcons in order to keep the pigeons away. One of the priests posits that falconry is the destruction of the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Father Urrutia is sent to teach Marxism to General Pinochet and his Junta secretly.He occasionally goes to the house of a literary lady Maria Canales who has a penchant for hosting parties to artists and authors. As the story progresses, it is revealed that the American husband of the hostess collaborates with the Chilean secret service so that they can detain and imprison suspected subversives. They are kept in the basement of the house where his Chilean wife had these parties. The author masterfully weaves the story and exudes the creative and destructive forces of Chilean politics and literature. He uses magical realism in order to stimulate readers’ minds using graphic style of writing as well as satire and sarcasm.This paper looks at the entity of Urrutia who remains indifferent of the plight of man as well as the destructive apathy of Chilean literature amidst corruption and literary collapse. Bolano uses this narrator to point out the air of complacency that pervades the artists, officials and other people who are accountable to history because of the show of indifference. Father Urrutia is not interested in politics at all since he is basically a priest and literary critic and a priest first and foremost but the political events at that present time seem to get a hold at the upper class circles of literati whom he associates with.His has a comical reaction to the election of Allende (and Pinochet's subsequent coup) since as the people of Chile march to the streets in sweeping social ch ange, Urrutia indulges himself in classical Greek literature so that he is able to escape the political confusion that may derail him from his own personal pursuits. Pinochet succeeds and restores some kind of order. Urrutia is able to breathe as he senses peace at hand. Thus the priest seemingly has distantiated himself from this kind of responsibility and escapes in his own world.He thinks that it distracts him from his art. He is of the thinking that he needs to find something if he does indulges in the confusion of politics if he is to pursue it at all. Thus, he is alienated from the times. Basic to being an effective person is the fact that we are able to make decisions and freely choose from among alternatives. One’s likes and dislikes are partly the wisdom of one’s organism, partly the result of helpful learning that protects one and keeps one out of trouble, and partly the result of harmful learning.Harmful learning includes certain kinds of accidental learning brought about by chance circumstances, as well as conditioned responses that were once appropriate but are no longer so. These obsolete ways of thinking and feeling make it hard for one to act in healthy and satisfying ways now. But when one pays attention to one’s liking and disliking, one naturally becomes more fully aware of likes and dislikes of what one wants to do and do not want to do. One discovers that these sometimes contradict with what one should like and dislike, if one is aware of what is happening inside him.As Urrutia refuses to recognize the kind of apathy that he has for being involved with the exigencies of the times then, he cannot identify with the people around him. The author states that Urrutia maintains that â€Å"One has a moral obligation to take responsibility for one's actions, and that includes one's words and silences, yes, one's silences, because silences rise to heaven too, and God hears them, and only God understands and judges them, so one must be very careful with one's silences. I am responsible in every way. My silences are immaculate. Let me make that clear. Clear to God above all.† (Bolano, 1) Thus, his silence can be a kind of cowardice and stubbornness that characterize his motives. Maria Canales’ house is the host of a soiree and a few of Chile’s well-bred and worldly poets gather to drink cocktails. There is a kind of denial about the urgency of the times as one guest accidentally discovers man manacled who has been tortured because he was an anti-Pinochet dissident. The guest discovers this was done by Canales' husband, Jimmy Thompson. Urrutia thus looks deeply at the implications of this and how it reflects on the inappropriate choice of Canales as the party is done in the same house.â€Å"Because, normally, when she had a soiree, the basement was unoccupied. I asked myself the following question: Why then, on that particular night, did a guest who lost his way find that poor man? The answer was simple: Because with time, vigilance tends to relax, because all horrors are dulled by routine. I asked myself the following question: Why didn't anyone say anything at the time? The answer was simple: Because they were afraid. I was not afraid. I would have been able to speak out but I didn't see anything, I didn't know until it was too late. Why go stirring up things that had settled down after a few years? † (Bolano, 122).Every guest in the party ignores and dismisses this as people get to know about the tortured man at the basement of the house where the party was being held. It is a pity that a priest like Urrutia could justify this inhumanity saying that this is some sort of a goal of literary history, â€Å"That is how literature is made, that is how the great works of Western literature are made. You better get used to it. † (Bolano, 128). Urrutia as an indifferent man is like that of the tortured man and the symbolism that this entails is replete all throughout the story because other people are also indifferent to the plight of the people.Bolano is able to create Urrutia as a pessimistic embodiment of the moral apathy of the writers during the regime of Pinochet. The kind of true responsibility is lacking in Urrutia because response-ability according to Perls, is often a misused word that refers to â€Å"the ability to respond: the ability to be alive, to feel, to be sensitive. † (GTV, 100). It does not mean â€Å"obligation. † It does not mean â€Å"duty. † It is actually a trait that directs a person to do a task without asking why. One does it automatically and because he has been committed to doing that no matter what happens.Discretion is a trait that characterizes the career of Urrutia and his views become distorted as guilt overwhelms him. Author Eder of The New York Times maintains that â€Å"His avowals fall suddenly mute; his omissions blare revelation. † (Eder). WORKS CITED Bolano, Robert o. By Night in Chile. New Directions Publishing Corporation (December 2003) Eder, Richard. Books of the Times: A Priest who Lived Trhough the Grim Pinochet Era. The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2008 at: http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9B00E2DB1030F935A25752C0A9629C8B63&n=Top%2FFeatures%2FBooks%2FBook%20Reviews

Understanding the Movie “Badlands”

The movie director and screenwriter Terrence Malick is known to be one of the most famous and prominent American movie maker who has already done numerous films that are all seen to be an exemplar of a movie that is superbly produced through a keen and artistic point of view. As a movie maker, Terrence Malick is also known for his profound use of meaningful camera shots and angles in most of his masterpieces. Thus, the movie Badlands is a movie of his masterpiece which is filled with his own unique usage of camera shots.In the movie, Malick has utilized the three major camera shots. Throughout the movie it is seen evident that Terrence Malick uses the wide camera shot to establish the movements of characters and visually depicts the specific setting in every scene. For instance, as early as the beginning of the film, Malick utilizes wide shots to draw a picture of a peaceful town and follow the movement of an upcoming garbage truck collecting trash.Thus, in the entire movie, the main purpose of the wide camera shot is to evidently determine the movements of the characters and show a glimpse of the setting where a specific scene is going to happen. Likewise, it aims to draw the real beauty of nature. In addition to this, wide shots in the movie are also used to capture all the significant characters in every scene. Medium camera shots, on the other hand, are often used to provide a closer look on the gesture and/or the body language of the character without eliminating a clear picture of the setting and with what is happening in the background.For example, medium shots in the movie are often used among the situation where the main characters are conversing with each other like in the scenes where Kit and Holly are interacting in the car, forest and in the deserts where the events in the movie happened. As for the close-up camera shot, its primary use is seen to be the most prominent throughout the film. Malick uses this in rendering details and clarity to the mo vements of characters and in providing the needed emotions or feelings in every scene by means of capturing the facial expression of the artists.For instance, in the specific scene where Kit confronted Holly’s father in the desert while doing his painting job, the close-up shot of Holly’s father primarily sets the emotion and the intensity through his face for that specific scene and at the same time draws a clear detail with what he is doing with the painting. In the end, Terrence Malick also seems to have been very well open in utilizing various movements and transitions of the camera and respective shots to be able to follow and clearly depict the movements of the characters as required in every scene in order to show a clear shot of what is happening in each specific scene.Nonetheless, Malick, in his movie Badlands, also utilizes extensive application of off-screen narration by his characters where Holly narrates her feelings and own point of views without her dire ct visual illustration while narrating. Rather, it is equipped with random footages of her and Kit and specific memories she has in the past. Work Cited Lee, Hwanhee. Senses of Cinema – Terrence Malick. 24 February 2009

Identity theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Identity theft - Essay Example Credit card fraud falls under the category identity theft. Credit card fraud means a fraud or theft committed, using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism. The intention of such a fraud is to obtain unauthorized funds from an account or receive goods without paying. It is estimated that the cost of credit frauds runs in to billions of dollars annually. Credit card fraud begins with either compromise of the account information or theft of the physical card. The drastic increase of credit cards has made data base security lapses very costly. If a credit card is stolen, it can be reported quickly by the owner, but a compromised account can be concealed by a thief for weeks or months. In most cases the owner or the credit card holder may not be able to discover the fraudulent use till he receives the billing statement which is delivered only once per month. When a credit card is stolen or lost, it remains unknown to the bank till the owner informs them that the card is lost. So it is possible for a stealer to make purchases till the card is cancelled. Signature panel is the only common security measures on all cards, but signatures are relatively easy to counterfeit. In some cases, credit cards bear the holder’s photograph. However, self serve payment system such as kiosks, gas station, which are used by the thieves, have no way to verify the card holders’ identity. Nowadays many websites which contain card information such as name of the card holder, account number, expiration date and verification code etc.

Wk 10 (67) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wk 10 (67) - Essay Example Beverly is upset because her surgery is next week and although she will not stop it, she is not sure how to talk to Sally about this final situation. From the conversation it seems that Beverly is asking the counselor to help her help Sally. The first strategy may be to explore the idea that Sally is grieving the loss of someone she dearly loves. This final step is the last identification that Sally has with Beverly as a man. This is now going to go away and Sally is probably going through the various phases of grief; this would be something to explore. According to Carroll and Gilroy (2002) counselors must first understand this issue and move part their own transphobia (p. 235). Certainly a man who is turning into a woman who legally married a woman can be cause for concern for the counselor, so they would need to deal with their own problems with the situation before counseling Beverly. Carroll and Gilroy also suggest getting more information through novels, films, biographies and periodicals (p. 235). In terms of counseling a client centered approach seems to be best because many transgendered people have challenges with trust in someone who is not transgendered because of ill treatment in the past (p. 238). Carroll, Gilroy and Ryan (2002) suggest that counselors should also have a growing knowledge of terminology that is evolving in the transgendered community along with "local, regional and national support networks (p. 134). This information can assist the client and give more information. Mark is a 35 year old male of mixed heritage. His father was black and American Indian and his mother identifies as "white" because her parents were Jamaican and Scotch Irish. Mark grew up in a home where he had no real understanding of any heritage because his family did not identify with any one group. As Mark grew older and left the family he has tried to interact