Thursday, January 30, 2020

Frankenstein and Paradise Lost Essay Example for Free

Frankenstein and Paradise Lost Essay Shelleys story of a creature created by Victor Frankenstein has striking similarities to Miltons Paradise Lost from the outset, as the second letter in the novel that documents Frankensteins misfortune, is sent from Archangel. Satan was an archangel before he was banished from heaven for challenging God, and we know that he was supposedly perfect. Frankenstein sought to make a human being in perfection, although both the creature and Satan fell from grace at the hand of their creators. The opening line of Paradise Lost underpins the correlation between the tales; Paradise Lost opens with the lines, Of Mans first disobedience, and the fruit, Of that forbidden tree, this is referring to Adam who took forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and was therefore exiled by God. This story of Eden and mans downfall has obviously influenced Shelley as Frankensteins pursuit of nature to her hiding places is what led to the demise of himself and his family. Miltons Satan challenges God; Adam and Eve are tempted by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit and this echoes in Shelleys novel and Miltons poem, as he tells us that heaven hides nothing from thy view. Yet both Satan and Frankenstein want more than nature has to offer, and the irony in the events leading up to the monsters creation are highlighted, by Shelleys use of dark and gothic descriptions of foraging in vaults and charnel-houses, and how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain.. This dark depiction echoes the fate of Frankenstein, the monster and Miltons Satan, as they all endure an experience of Hell; Frankensteins personal hell was of of intense tortures such as no language can describe, and his endurance of a deep, dark, death like solitude, ironically echoes his creations feelings of loneliness and despair. The monster however, considered Satan as the fitter emblem of his condition and continued sufferings, but his hell was also a personal one, to be lived out on earth, and unfortunately alone. Satan, at least, had his host of rebel angels and had experience of a father and being loved, his demise was through choice, as was Frankensteins. It is Satan and the monster who initially invoke the readers compassion, as the monster seems of a benevolent nature as he watched the beloved De Lacy family and took pleasure in aiding their labours. He also shows altruistic behaviour in saving a drowning girl, and lighting a fire to warm his creator, making him possibly more sympathetic than Frankenstein, who forgot his family in his aspirations to become greater than his nature will allow. The monster states, after reading Paradise Lost and other literature he has found after eating the metaphorical apple, that sorrow only increased with knowledge, as he became aware from the De Laceys, of such things as love and acceptance that he came to long for. His good intent could also be interpreted on his hearing Saphie play music that he found so entrancingly beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and of delight from my eyes. Satans ruin also came from his pursuit of knowledge, leading both men to their exile from the people they sought acceptance from. According to Stephen Boyd*, Shelleys husband believed that men are not inherently corrupt, and that they are perfectible, adding to the influence of Frankenstein being to blame for the monsters feelings of vengeance to all mankind, and Frankensteins own corruption when trying to discover the elixir of life. Shelley portrays the monster in child-like ways throughout the novel, as he learns empirically; it was a long time before I was able to distinguish between the operations of my various senses, and he burns himself with fire as a child with no awareness would. This allows the reader to feel some empathy towards this wretched creature, as we imagine an abandoned child, but also reinforces her exploration of human nature as potentially good. Frankenstein and the creature both state they were formed for peaceful happiness, like Miltons Adam, making them perfect antiheroes. It could be argued that the monsters rejection is what made him commit such heinous crimes against Frankensteins loved ones, as the rejection he continually faced made him wretched. We could see Shelley taking the stance that man made a monster, and man also made him monstrous. As the monster lives in a hut, we are reminded that he doesnt only live outside physically, but emotionally as he is a mere voyeur of family life while watching the De Lacys, and this social exclusion is to blame for his murderous behaviour, again relating to Satan who was excluded my his creator. We could again relate this to Satan who is looking for earth and is also racked with deep despair, as are Shelleys characters. Frankenstein also resembles God, as he created his own version of Adam, and the monster that he constantly refers to as fiend and devil reminds him; You, my creator, abhor me.. his plea resounds through the humanity of every reader who has ever felt alone or incomplete, but these feelings however are to be changed as the monster commits heinous crimes against the humanity he once longed for, and on his final rejection he cries; oh, earth the mildness of my nature had fled, and all within me was turned to bitterness and gall. This is when the role of God is transferred from Frankenstein and to the monster who will now decide his fate.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

The Real National Treasure :: essays research papers

THE REAL NATIONAL TREASURE The United States, along with the allied forces of the world, is currently fighting to find Osama bin Laden as well as his organization, al Qaeda, in Afghanistan. The new declaration of the â€Å"War on Terrorism† has withdrawn all boundaries that the terrorist organizations have been hiding behind. Although this war is a new idea to the average American Citizen, it is an old foe of the governments in most countries, which have already established antiterrorism and counter-terrorism task forces, but are now working together under an allied force. With the tightened security at the airports and military facilities, the counter-terrorism efforts are fighting back to counter the terrorists actions, but the key to fighting terrorism is to prevent the attacks from happening at all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  More than a majority of the American public supports this military action against countries that terrorize the United States. In fact according to a gallop poll, eighty-eight percent of Americans polled agree that the United States should take military action in retaliation for attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The problem that is being faced by the world is how to avoid future attacks after the smoke clears from the current engagement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two types of forces that are currently employed against terrorism and both have the same mission of fighting terrorism, with different applications. The antiterrorism force is used as a preventive action against future attacks while the counter-terrorism task force has many more post-action responsibilities. According to the Office of Counter-Terrorism, there are four policies being implemented as guidelines: â€Å"Make no concessions to terrorists and strike no deals, bring terrorists to justice for their crimes, isolate and apply pressure on states that sponsor terrorism to force them to change their behavior, and bolster the counter-terrorism capabilities of those countries that work with the U.S. and require assistance†. These steps are necessary to fight terrorism after the actions of horror have occurred, and the current Afghanistan action in search of the al-Qaeda members (including bin Laden) is an example of a counter-terrorism action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to prevent future attacks, the United States must put a stronger emphasis on strengthening the antiterrorism forces. Putting more numbers on the membership board of this force is what is going to make headway in the â€Å"War on Terrorism†. It is a lot more difficult to fight terrorism before the attacks have taken place, but history has already demonstrated that the oldest form of intelligence collection, human intelligence, can be used to fight an entire country.

Monday, January 13, 2020

A Formal Analysis of Statue of Liberty by Andy Warhol

A Formal Analysis of Statue of Liberty by Andy Warhol Andy Warhol created his painting Statue of Liberty in 1962. The painting’s subject is, obviously, the Statue of Liberty, repeated twelve times in a 4 by 3 matrix. The painting belongs to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; however it is being auctioned on November 14th at Christie’s in New York. It is rather large at 80 by 61 inches. To be able to see the entirety of the painting, one must stand back several feet. The image that appears twelve times in the painting is the Statue of Liberty facing forward from her legs up.One can see most of the statue, including the torch, and the horizon behind her. The painting is composed mostly of a cool blue. In addition to the blue, a vibrant red is included, creating a contrast in the painting. Strangely enough, the painting is not centered, but rather aligned to the right, leaving a lot of unused space on the left. The repetition of the statue forms a harmony of sorts, but the individual coloring creates a small separation. The original image of the statue appears that it was not painted, though it contrast between the ocean and the sky makes it seem like the picture might have been altered.The sky in the background matches the color of the linen. The image shows the statue dead center with the ocean filling two thirds of it and the sky filling the other third. In a majority of the rectangles there is a splotch of darker blue than what is used on the statue that covers the statue’s torch and torch, keeping one from seeing everything completely. Only two of the images include red paint, excluding the images on the far right that are cut off. The grid of the images creates six or seven implied lines.There is also an implied line from the bottom of the left side of the statue to the tip of the torch. There is a line created along the horizon of the dark ocean and the bland sky. There are contrasted lines within the ocean to show wave s or motion using the linen as the background color. The face of the statue varies in visibility between each square. It varies between visible, somewhat visible, and not visible between the images. The appearance changes from square to square. Together, the squares show harmony since the statue is fixed in place. The variation occurs with the splotch on the statue’s face.It seems to move, or disappear, from the top left to the bottom right square, giving the painting its variation. The splotch that covers Lady Liberty’s face can possibly emphasize the face or the torch she holds. The important matter is possibly the face that she is, or isn’t, covered, though it is in an inconsistent way to induce speculation of the artwork. Symmetry has been used to show uniformity or order. Since the painting is aligned to the right it doesn’t show uniformity in that aspect. The image, on the other hand, is very uniform. The entirety of the painting expresses almost an ordered chaos.The squares show strange, jagged shapes that are indistinguishable across the painting. Each one of them is much lighter than the color in the square. The shapes are presented as shadows, and from square to square it seems as though they are moving as they would through a film strip. Even though the Statue of Liberty is enormous, it's seems to be shrunken in this artwork. The shrunken statue is then multiplied by twelve and fluidly placed on the linen canvas. The movement of the blue splotch and the white shadow overlay gives a sort of flow across the piece.The repetition of the image in the squares could possible represent the variety of ways that America is perceived by people. The variation of color and the distortion of the face/torch by the blue splotch could represent the different experiences of people in the country. The blank area on the left of the piece depicts the abundance of opportunity in America. The repetition of the same picture, on the other hand, c ould show a generic form of America, but with the variation of color could represent that it could differ with some very small details. The painting is somewhat ambiguous in this way, but is great nonetheless.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Paronomasia Definition and Examples

Paronomasia also called  agnominatio is a rhetorical term  for punning, playing with words. The point of paronomasia, says  Wolfgang G. Mà ¼ller, is that a mere accidental phonetic relationship assumes the appearance of a semantic relationship. (Iconicity and Rhetoric in The Motivated Sign, 2001). The term paronomasia is sometimes used more loosely to describe a combination of words that are similar in sound. Etymology From the Greek: para: beside, onoma: name   Examples and Observations A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handyman with a sense of humus.(E.B. White, The Practical Farmer)Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.(credited to Tom Waits)I used to be a tap dancer until I fell in the sink.The Lone Hydrangea(name of a flower shop in Melbourne, Australia)Curl Up and Dye(beauty salon in London)Al’s Clip Joint(barber shop in London)Rock and Sole Plaice(fish chip shop in London)Award Wieners(Hollywood hot dog stand in Disneyland)Thai Me Up(Thai restaurant in Manhattan)I have a mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it.(Groucho Marx)Well, Id rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.(Tom Waits on Fernwood2Night, 1977)Dishgusted, dishgusted, dishgusted.(ad for Lux dishwashing liquid)Were tobacco men . . . not medicine men. Old Gold cures just one thing. The Worlds Best Tobacco.(advertising slogan for Old Gold cigarettes)Peace is much more precious than a piece of land.(Anwar al-Sadat, speech in Cairo on March 8, 1978)Oh look—it has B-12 in it. I didn’t know that B-4.(commercial for Kelloggs Bran)Your children need your presence more than your presents.(Jesse Jackson)Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion.(Spike Milligan)Horse Lovers are Stable People.(saying on a pillow in the Potpourri gift catalog)Every bubbles passed its fizzical(slogan for Corona soft drink)Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent.(Falstaff to Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare) Paronomasia in Shakespeare Henry Peacham warns that [paronomasia] ought to be sparingly used, and especially in grave and weightie causes: that it is a light and illuding forme, which seemeth not to be found without meditation and affected labor. Contemporary awareness of its hazards, however, prevented neither [William] Shakespeare nor [Lancelot] Andrewes from employing paronomasia in the most serious of contexts. Desdemona, for example, catches her husbands habit of wordplay in trying to determine the reasons for his sudden coldness toward her; I cannot say Whore, she asserts, immediately before saying its sound again: It dos abhorre me now I speake the word (4.2)... Over and over, the force of the gathering objection to punning in general and to paronomasia in particular seems to have been that the fortuitousness of the connections it insists on makes it fundamentally a comic device; its appearance on the lips of a dying hero or, perhaps even more shockingly, at the climax of a sermon, came increasingly to be regarded as willfully and absurdly inappropriate. (Sophie Read. Puns: Serious Wordplay. Renaissance Figures of Speech, ed. by Sylvia Adamson, Gavin Alexander, and Katrin Ettenhuber. Cambridge University Press, 2008) The Lighter Side of Paronomasia: A Pungent Chapter The following half-baked exercise in  paronomasia  appeared in  Gleanings From the Harvest-Fields of Literature, Science and Art: A Melange of Excerpta, Curious, Humorous, and Instructive, edited by Charles C. Bombaugh (T. Newton Kurtz, 1860).   A Pun-Gent Chapter At one time there was a general strike among the workingmen of Paris, and Theodore Hook gave the following amusing account of the affair: The bakers, being ambitious to extend their   do-mains, declared that a revolution was needed, and, though not exactly   bred  up to arms, soon reduced their   crusty  masters to terms. The tailors called a council of the   board  to see what   measures  should be taken, and looking upon the bakers as the   flower  of chivalry, decided to follow   suit; the consequence of which was, that a   cereous*  insurrection was   lighted up  among the candle-makers, which, however wick-ed it might appear in the eyes of some persons, developed traits of character not unworthy of ancient   Greece. *  The adjective  cereous  means waxen or waxlike. Pronunciation:  par-oh-no-MAZE-jah