Suffering In Shakespeares Plays Essay -- essays research papers

Suffering In Shakespeare's Plays How does suffering affect one's actions? Do different types of suffering affect one in different ways? This paper seeks to determine how William Shakespeare's character's respond to various types of suffering. Suffering can be defined in two ways; physical suffering, in which the character is inflicted with physical pain and trauma, and emotional suffering, where the character suffers an emotional trauma or loss. In The Tempest, the physically traumatized characters, are Trinculo and Stephano. They are chased by dogs but their physical trauma has not induced any sign of remorse or guilt. Ferdinand, on the other hand, is overcome by emotional suffering at the "loss" of his son. In King Lear, Lear is plagued emotionally. He feels that he has lost the love of his favorite daughter Cordelia, and he feels the harsh hatred of his two evil daughters. At the conclusion of the play, his sanity is restored but he has suffered tremendously in an emotional manner at the hands of Regan and Goneril. In Othello, Brabantio goes through emotional suffering when he must succumb to his daughter's wishes. Desdemona also goes through emotional suffering when she is accused by Othello of cheating on him when he is convinced of this by Iago. In The Tempest, the theme of purification through suffering can clearly be seen. Prospero, in his long exile from Milan, has more than attoned for whatever mistake he might have made while he ruled. Ferdinand must suffer through Prospero's hardships and laborious tests before he can win Miranda's hand. Most significantly, Alonso must undergo the suffering that Prospero has designed for him before he is forgiven. Prospero, who is the real Duke of Milan was overthrown 12 years earlier by his younger brother Antonio. Prospero was driven out of the island along with his daughter Miranda; the two were cast out to sea. His suffering has occured in a physical and a non-physical way, he is deeply hurt from losing his kingdom and from being cast out to die. Despite this, he is generous in forgiving. He is not only in control of those around him but he punishes the guilty and demands repentance. When Ferdinand meets Miranda, they instantly fall in love with each other. "I might call him...a thing divine; for nothing natural...I ever saw so noble." ( Tempest, I, ii, 417-419). He is perfect for h... ...ello and Iago agree that Desdemona should be put to death. Out of rage, Othello smothers Desdemona in bed and kills her. "She must die, else she'll betray more men." (Othello, V, ii, 6). In conclusion, there is evidence that Shakespeare designed his characters to be affected by different types of suffering in different ways. The characters who underwent emotional suffering, usually ended up purified or at least in a better state of mind. On the other hand, those who only underwent physical suffering did not change from their past behaviors and did not repent. Evidence of this can be seen in the following ways: Ferdinand in The Tempest, is struck by emotional pain. Because of this, he is purified through his trial and he repents. In Othello, the main character is caught in an emotional battle- who is he to believe- his loyal servant or his new bride? Unfortunately, Othello does not realize the truth until it is too late and has already killed Desdemona. In King Lear, Lear becomes temporarily insane from the pain and turmoil he endures from his daughters. He does not come to terms about his mistake until, like Othello, it is too late and Cordelia has already been killed.

Gilgamesh Essay Paper

English 3, 4 7 October 2012 The Quest for Immortality In the â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh† translated by N. K. Sanders, Gilgamesh completes a series of many challenges and obstacles, fulfilling the conditions of an archetypal quest story. In order to fulfill an archetypal quest story, the hero or protagonist must complete a series of hurdles, on their way toward achieving their goal. In the â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh†, Gilgamesh hunts for his main obsession, immortality, while he battles off monsters, with the help of some friends.Sensing Gilgamesh embraces too much power, the gods create a friend for Gilgamesh named Enkidu in the hopes of lessening Gilgamesh’s power. Enkidu and Gilgamesh turn out to be best friends after Enkidu loses a wrestling match to Gilgamesh. Enkidu decides to join Gilgamesh on his journey to seek immortality. Along the way the way they encounter enemies such as Humbaba, the guardian of the forest, and the Bull of Heaven. With the help of Enkidu, Gilgamesh travels a relentless journey and faces a road of trials, which carries out an archetypal quest story.Gilgamesh and Enkidu come across the guardian of the forest named Humbaba. Believing that Humbaba is undefeatable, Gilgamesh thinks that whoever slays Humbaba will receive immortality. Gilgamesh and Enkidu attack Humbaba with a â€Å"thrust of the sword to the neck and Enkidu his comrade struck the second blow† (22). With one more strike to the belly, Humbaba falls. Hoping to achieve everlasting life, they realize that defeating Humbaba does not give them eternal life. Instead, it gives them eternal fame.Still unsatisfied, with not having found everlasting life, Gilgamesh tells his companion that â€Å"the boat of the dead shall not go down† (20) and is determined that he will never die. The next challenge Gilgamesh faces is the Bull of Heaven, sent by Ishtar’s dad, Anu. Ishtar is the goddess of love who makes advances on Gilgamesh, wanting to marry him . Gilgamesh is wise and realizes Ishtar is the woman as a temptress and knows she treats her husbands poorly. Ishtar is a distraction and will pull him away from his goal.When Gilgamesh rejects her advances, Anu directs the Bull of Heaven to attack Gilgamesh’s homeland, Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu easily kill the Bull of Heaven which enrages the gods when they hear that the bull is dead. The gods make Enkidu become terribly ill, which kills him seven days later in a very painful death. Seeing his friend die, Gilgamesh obtains apotheosis and continues on his expedition of seeking immortality. Gilgamesh encounters Utnapishtim, a man who survives the great flood and receives immortality.Utnapishtim gives Gilgamesh eclectic tasks to achieve eternal life. The first task is to stay awake for seven days, which Gilgamesh is unable to accomplish. Feeling sorry, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh a secret that if he finds the â€Å"plant that grows under the water†¦ [it] restores his los t youth† (31). Gilgamesh lights up and ties rocks to his feet to sink down to search for the marvelous plant. Gilgamesh finds the ultimate boon. He is overjoyed and eager to bring the plant back to his homeland to restore the youth of all the men there.The refusal of the return occurs when, he was returning home and becomes careless and bathes in a nearby well of cool water, leaving the plant unattended. A snake suddenly appears and eats the plant, restoring the snake’s youth. Gilgamesh begins to weep upon seeing that he failed in his quest for immortality. Gilgamesh returns back to his homeland, Uruk, and engraves his story on a stone for everyone to see and remember. In conclusion, the â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh† executes the qualities of an archetypal quest story by Gilgamesh going on a trip to find immortality while performing the road of trials.The hero generally wishes to achieve a goal or object and return home with it, in this case, eternal life. The protago nist also might lose a few things he loves; an example is how Gilgamesh lost his best friend, Enkidu. Gilgamesh also had to fight off enemies such as Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, while searching for his obsession. From the departure, the initiation, and to the return of his journey, made the â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh† an archetypal quest story.

The Effects Of Natural Resources On A National Scale

Introduction Natural resources, are a key to humanity’s existence, and are often consider the cause of most conflicts, ranging from simple, disputes between neighbours to full, international conflicts that require U.N intervention . It is human nature to want more material possessions, and natural resources, like oil, water, natural gas, minerals and precious metals, are often considered to be the most pure of these possessions. On a national scale, the world leaders have a responsibility to look after these resources, but as countries with varying political ideologies grow ever closer to one another, conflict over who’s resources are who’s, seems inevitable. According to a research paper published in 2012 by academia at the Massachusetts†¦show more content†¦[2] Not surprisingly, the Middle East has frequently been at the centre of political debate and conflict, particularly in the Persian Gulf region. The Persian Gulf is home to nearly all the Middle Eastern supply of crude oil, and contains the largest offshore oil field in the world, the ‘Safaniya Oil Field’ as it is known, is regarded with so much value, that the US spent over 8 trillion USD attempting to protect it. [3] The US also used other huge amounts of military expenditure to protect inland oil fields within Iraq, and promised the Iraqi oil sector 2.05 billion USD in order to fully modernize the oil drilling apparatus. However, according to other international sources, it could take up to 100 billion USD of US money to fully complete the long-term reconstruction of the Iraqi oil industry. [4] Iraqi oil production has been on the increase since 2007, but this gradual increase has since stalled, once again prohibiting the U.S plan of gaining a substantial profit from the 12th largest oil producing country in the world. This, among other reasons is due to the loss of Iraqi workers after the Iraq war. Although sporadic violence continues, the country is considered stable enough to host workers and their families safely; the amount of Iraqi men that are unemployed is decreasing. This directly correlates