Merchant Of Venice Essays (Examples)

Also, the role of the Duke would not be as prominent if the city of Venice would not have been selected for the majority of the activity of the play. The city in itself ensures a certain aura that traditional cultural life as well as the fame of a modern, yet traditional in many instances cities, that provides the story a special twist, embedded in culture, yet modern in line of thought.
The subject is yet another element that would be interpreted differently had the play been written in a different time and era. The plot, among other aspects, also includes signs of what literary critics nowadays consider anti-Semitism. Therefore, the role of Shylock and the way in which this role was constructed through the perception of all characters in the play, is essential as being the central focus of the play, the person from which most of the events,…

Shylock is also perceived and portrayed as an enemy of the Christian faith and as the nemesis of the play's protagonist, Antonio. He therefore serves a distinct literary purpose by contrasting the depth of friendship exhibited by Antonio's group. Because he is not viewed as a friend, he cannot truly betray any of them. Thus, when Shylock does not back down from his bond with Antonio he is merely saving his own honor and dignity. Shylock repeatedly mentions his mistreatment at the hands of Antonio and the other Christians in Venice. They did not treat him as a friend and therefore Shylock does not act out of kindness or mercy. Shylock is never shown to betray those close to him: notably his daughter Jessica and his assistant Lancelot. On the other hand, Jessica and Lancelot both abandon Shylock. Jessica dishonors her father more so because of her ready decision to…

Bassanio chooses lead, when asked to select from the three caskets that Portia offers to test her suitors. She is happy that he wins, and the lead is supposed to be the correct choice, for the person who chooses lead is supposed to be a man who has hazarded all he has, to win Portia. But in truth, Bassanio has hazarded nothing and desires Portia's gold. It is Antonio who has taken the risk in lending money for his friend. Now that Shylock is angered because of the loss of his daughter, he resolves to call upon the bond Antonio made in jest, a pound of flesh. The jest-like nature of the false bond was reflected when Antonio said that: "The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind." (I.2) in other words, Shylock asked for no interest or money upon the loan in an effort to cement his relationship with…

Merchant of Venice: Queen Elizabeth vs. Portia
There are a number of similarities that exist between Queen Elizabeth of England and illiam Shakespeare's character Portia in his play The Merchant of Venice. Both women had a good amount of money and power; although Portia was not royalty, she was still a wealthy heiress in the city of Belmont. Because of the money and power associated with these women, they each had numerous suitors and some noteworthy encounters with suitors during their lives. Also, they each involved themselves with the law and helped to decide issues of governance -- the Queen did so from a national perspective while Portia did so from a more modest, civil perspective. These parts of their character and more have helped to make them somewhat ambiguous. There are some scholars who regard them as good people, and others who believe that they did more good than…

Merchant of Venice
In illiam Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the playwright uses certain symbolic items to illustrate points about human characteristics. Shakespeare's plays are usually full of symbols which feature in to the major themes of the piece. In The Merchant of Venice, much of the plot consists of the desire for wealth and riches and the things that people are willing to do to acquire more. To mirror this them, the most important symbols of the play are those that have to deal with wealthy and riches, such as Portia's ring, Shylock's gold, and the pound of flesh that is to be taken in lieu of money. The Oxford English Dictionary defines casket as both a coffin and a small case or chest, used for jewels and other valuables. The caskets in The Merchant of Venice are jeweled boxes with treasure, although since they represent the failure of…

Merchant of Venice is an anti-Semitic play. Rather, what I see in the play is Shakespeare cleverly mocking stereotyped views of both Jews and Christians. Shylock, the Jew, is cruel and inhumane in his demand of a pound of flesh from Antonio for his unpaid debt. On the other hand, the Jew, who is definitely not a nice guy, and who was the subject of laughter in early scenes, becomes a sympathetic victim of un-Christian Christians as the court scene progresses. In the end the Christians who trick the Jew out of not only his wealth, but his religion, and perhaps his very soul, appear to be as incredibly cruel as the villainous Jew. In my opinion The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeare's treatise against hate and inhumanity.
The blessings of mercy as described in the famous speech of Portia that begins "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, /…

The Jews were no longer a part of English history, and in fact were expunged from it.
It was into this atmosphere that Shakespeare was born in 1580, 300 years after the Jews had been forced out of England. If there were Jews in London at the time of Shakespeare, they were certainly in the minority.

In 1589, Marlow created a play entitled the Jew of Malta. It was a play that did not vilify the Jew, but satirizes Christian society. Using a Jewish villain, Barabas, as protagonist when his property is seized and he is expelled from England, Marlow has his character embark upon a vengeful slaughter of nuns and other Christians. In the play, Barabas is boiled to death in front of the audience, creating sensational and violent theater. hile the play vilifies the Jews, the main point of the play was to satirize Christian society for its…

Shylock Character the Merchant Venice
Portia and Queen Elizabeth:

Through the trenches of the microcosm of play, no character serves as much semblance to Elizabeth Tudor as Portia. I agree so, and forthwith draw more comparisons between her and a contemporaneous learned enaissance woman going by her terrific rhetorical skills, markedly in the trial scene. By all measure, Elizabeth Tudor was a learned woman, possibly of the highest caliber in all of England during her lifetime. The associations between Portia and Elizabeth transcends the similarity in their use of rhetoric, to the extravagant use of logic and dialectic statements to efface Shylock's claim to the bond, statements only learned individuals at the time could muster.

It wasn't uncommon to find learned women in the enaissance period. Alas, the Countess of ichmond, the Lady Margaret, who also is Elizabeth's great-grandmother was sufficiently learned. Same as her step-sister Mary, and Lady Jane…

The parallels between these situations and Frye's basic assessment of the plot of New Comedies are not, perhaps, immediately apparent, but they have the same effect by the end of the play, where "the audience witnesses the birth of a renewed sense of social integration" (Frye 94). The parent/child relationships have been largely done away with in favor of te romantic ties that seem to be favored by the play. It is disingenuous, however, to dismiss the issue of class in this play outright. In many ways, the relationships between the various fathers and their children can be een to be indicative of class lines. Launcelot's position and its possible implications in his treatment of his father have already been discussed, but both his and Jessica's treatment of Shylock still deserved comment. Jessica is somewhat exonerated for her actions towards her father (again, the degree depends on the particular choices…

The Carnevale and Sensa festivals were outlawed and the Book of Gold, which had recorded the names of patrician families of Venice for more than four centuries, was burned.
Before leaving Venice Napoleon instructed his men to take twenty paintings along with five hundred manuscripts of rarity including the 'Wedding Feast at Cana' by Veronese. Napoleon additionally took the four bronze horses of San Marco to be taken from the facade of the building. As well, the ancient winged lion that was atop the column in the Piazetta was removed. The Aresenale is reported to have been "systematically stripped down to the bare walls. A regiment of French soldiers took axes to the lavish busintoro…" (Madden, 2012, p.449) in addition, "dozens of priceless works of medieval art, including Golden oses bestowed o Venice for centuries of faithful service to popes were broken apart for their diamonds, pearls, and precious metals."…

The interaction between father and son takes place in Act II, Scene ii, with a teasing display of affection where Lancelot fools his father into thinking he is dead, and then asks for his help in leaving Shylock's employment. His father, an old blind servant, supports his son and urges Bassanio to hire his son. The unconditional love between father and son is quite clear in this funny yet touching scene. This is in direct contrast to the relationship between Jessica and Shylock. Jessica despises living in her father's house and hopes to elope with her love, Lorenzo. She finds her father stingy and live in her home is "hell." She despairs when Lancelot leaves, and determines to leave as well. Both she and Lancelot chafe at Shylock's ways, but her relationship with her father is strained at best. The healthy relationship between Lancelot and his father only serves to…

Don Quixote, despite his inability to recognize between his conscious and unconscious selves, differed from Shylock in that made no conscious effort to allow his unconscious self to emerge. His continued exposure to an alternative life -- life in the world of fiction -- made him develop a stronger unconscious self: " ... he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise ... And what with little sleep and much reading his brains got so dry he lost his wits. His fancy grew full of ... all sorts of impossible nonsense ... " This narrative about the development of Don Quixote de la Mancha's character, the metaphorical self of Don Quixote, was associated with the Captain's Leggatt's persona, the individual who symbolized the man's innermost desire for freedom and adventure. In effect, the hero that was Don Quixote surfaced to dominate over the…

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"Sonnet 130" by Shakespeare and "Sonnet 23" by Louis Labe both talk about love, as so many sonnets do. Their respective techniques however, differentiate them from each other. Shakespeare uses a rhyme scheme that became known as Shakespearean rhyme scheme or English rhyme. He writes about love in a sarcastic manner though. He is mocking the traditional love poems and the usual expressive manner in which women are often compared to. It is ironic in a way because Shakespeare himself also uses the very techniques in his previous writing when he is writing from a man's point-of-view and describing a woman. But in this sonnet he uses the technique of mocking this exaggerated comparison. Usually women are compared to having skin as white as snow, however, in reality, Shakespeare points out, women don't really fit this description, "If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun."

Louis Labe…

It recounts the travails of Antigone, daughter of Oedipus the former king of Thebes, who disobeys King Creon in burying the body of her slain brother. She knows that she faces death for doing this, but insists that she does not care, saying "For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,
/ How can it be but death shall bring him gain? / And so for me to bear this doom of thine / Has nothing painful" (Arrowsmith, lines 508-12). Antigone does not see meaninglessness in death, but rather is willing to face death for the symbolic gesture of burying her brother. This illustrates her own tragic quest for truth; like Gilgamesh (and Creon), she is frustrated by the rules and order imposed by a mortal government, and feels that it pales in comparison to the divine moral laws such as those regarding the treatment of the dead and the…

Your answer should be at least five sentences long.
The Legend of Arthur

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 9 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7A: Honor and Loyalty

1. Consider how Arthur's actions and personality agree with or challenge your definition of honor. Write a few sentences comparing your definition (from Journal 1.6A) with Arthur's actions and personality.

2. Write a brief paragraph explaining the importance or unimportance of loyalty in being honorable.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 10 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7B: Combining Sentences

Complete the Practice Activity on page 202 of your text. After completing this activity, read over your Essay Assessment or another journal activity you've completed.

* Identify three passages that could be improved by combining two or more sentences with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. Below the practice activity in your journal, write the original passages and the revised sentences you've created.

* Be sure to…

The moral question of the play is whether Shylock and Antonio -- and by extension those who close ranks around Antonio -- are truly different. Antonio and his friends are just as capable of the same "evil" which Shylock attempts to perpetrate -- just as Christians were the original antagonists of the story, before the roles were reversed -- yet the protagonists are greater in having a solidified group identity. The solidification of that identity, however, would not have been possible without the "evil other." So, is the process of othering moral? Certainly not, answers Shakespeare, but highly useful.

Who is The Merchant of Venice? Ostensibly, the title refers to Antonio, who is repeatedly called a merchant throughout the play. Yet, could not Shylock also be considered a type of merchant? Are not, as shown by their actions, Shylock and Antonio proven to be the same? The process of othering…

i.95-9).
Here Portia is arguing that Shylock should always consider the human aspect of things noting that if God can have mercy on mankind, the very least that men could do is have mercy upon one another. Portia shows mercy toward Shylock when she allows him a way out of his bond. This action works to her benefit when he does not want to change his position. Portia's performance in court is one to be admired because she gives Shylock every opportunity to change his mind and have a little mercy upon Antonio. His stubbornness is emphasized when he refuses to budge and insists on carrying out the law. Portia is too clever for him, however, and when he realizes that he cannot take a pound of flesh without a drop of blood, he wishes to change the plan. ith irony, Shakespeare illustrates how adhering to the law while overlooking…

Tolstoy and Shakespeare
"How Much Land Does a Man Need?"

The short story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" By Tolstoy serves to teach a lesson to the reader. It is a morality play explaining the sin of greed and how it leads to trouble. The story begins with a peasant complaining that he does not have enough land. "If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!" (Tolstoy 140) Land is thereby equated with lack of fear. In the end, greed is what causes the peasant Pahom's death. He believes that he can outwit his neighbors and get their land at a fraction of its value. His cockiness leads him to have a heart attack at sunset and be buried in a six foot grave. "Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed" (140). The title of the story becomes ironic…

The Merchant of Venice, though ostensibly a comedy, is one of the more serious plays in the comedic genre. The Taming of the Shrew is far more humorous and light hearted, but it is not without its lessons. The specific lessons vary greatly depending on one's interpretation of the play, especially in performance, but one key lesson that most of the female characters fail to learn is the advantage of working in tandem with their husband. Petruchio manages to win a substantial amount of money through his new wife Kate's quick obedience; she has learned through the course of the play to at least give the appearance of docility and subservience, which the other women lack -- they have failed to learn anything from her transformation, seeing no problems in themselves form the outset. This failure costs them some cold, hard, cash.

It is in Julius Caesar, however, that Shakespeare…

Like so many of us, he feels that heaven has cursed him. The element of disgrace would mean that he has fallen out of favor with God. He feels that all of his efforts are "bootless" (useless). However, the skylark has risen above this, implying that by remembering his love, he will also rise above it.
This author used the example of heaven because it is universal. We all think about our mortality and want to make sure that our lives have meaning. Without it, we are lost and rudderless. However, like the skylark, love will help us rise above the situation and finally make our way through the troubles of life that we all have.

4) the issue of Jews, Judaism and the character of Shylock are famous and among the most examined aspects of the Merchant of Venice. The raise all sorts of questions about whether or not…

My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

She swore, in faith, twas strange, 'twas passing strange,

Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd

That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me,

And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, should but teach him how to tell my story.

And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:

She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,

And I loved her that she did pity them.

This only is the witchcraft I have used:

Here comes the lady; let her witness it.

Translation

Setting: The inside of the administrative building. Nighttime. Othello is wearing a suit, and is confronted by the school's president, 'Dr. B,' and several members of the administration in their pajamas.

John Othello: Look Dr. B,…

Simultaneously, he forces a man long upheld as honest in the highest Venetian circles into scheming and manipulations; these are roles which Iago takes on too readily, suggesting a certain familiarity, but it must be preserved that no earlier instance is ever presented to suggest that the notables of Venice were in any way wrong to uphold Iago as honest and true. In fact, those same notables are those that appealed to Othello on Iago's behalf in the question of the promotion. Allowing passion to rule what should be societal decisions is Othello's barbarism cracking through the veneer of his civility. Othello, though a great soldier, is no Caesar nor even a Roman at all. His nature is of the wild, and -- like many tamed, wild beasts -- he retains the inner potential to one day bite the hand that feeds him.
And, even after Othello's barbarian passion has…

incongruous to try to compare the artists illiam Shakespeare and Bob Marley. These two men, separated by centuries and embodying two very different forms of art, both make up part of the history of popular culture. One man is considered the premiere playwright in the history of the English language, a man whose name is synonymous with high culture. The other man is known for his success in a musical genre and a culture that uses a different meaning for the word high. hat could these men possible have in common one might ask? Examining the history and writings of both Renaissance writer illiam Shakespeare and reggae musician Bob Marley it becomes evident that they both use emotional appeals and heavy symbolism to prove points about the human condition and to promote understanding between people from different stations of life, all of which are used to persuade others that the…

Women in Shakespeare
In The Merchant of Venice, the life of Antonio is saved by Portia, who disguises herself as a male lawyer in order to confront the Jew Shylock and turn the tables on him in a witty and discerning exploitation of legalism. Similarly, in King Lear, it is Cordelia, the despised daughter of Lear who alone of all his daughters remains loyal to the King and, in the end, saves his life even though it costs her own. Thus, in these two plays Shakespeare shows not only that women are equal to men in a world that declared them unequal but that in many respects the patriarchy that existed could not have existed without the help and, ultimately, saving actions of the women. This paper will show how Dusinberre is correct in assessment that Shakespeare viewed the sexes as equal by providing examples from Lear and Merchant of…

Most Elizabethans believed their self-identity was wrapped up in a cosmic paradigm of fate and destiny, and were somehow controlled by the stars and planets and had a power over the baser side of man -- tools of God, but with certain amounts of free will. Thus, a very central idea in Shakespeare is this central view that an individual's identity is set by God, the Planets, the Universe, the Gods, and Nature. But in contrast, the idea of free will for the individual -- or even a single utterance or decision, can change forever the destiny of the individual. A superb example of this is in Romeo and Juliet.

Fate and chance surround the identities of the major and minor characters in RJ almost from the opening scene. Because the audience already believed that their destiny was predetermined, they saw the characters as having very little choice in their…

Shakespeare Never Read Aristotle?
Or, the dynamic forms of catharsis and tragic flaws in Shakespeare's plays

Shakespeare's most beloved plays are his tragedies. If one were to list his best and most popular plays: Othello, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and so forth, one would find the list comprised almost entirely of tragedies. So it would not be amiss to say that much of the modern literary conception of theatrical tragedy is shaped and influenced by Shakespeare. At the same time, the definitions of the tragic form as understood at the roots of theatrical history (in Greco-Roman times) continue to be part and parcel of the official comprehension of tragedy. Many critics have sought to fore Shakespeare into the mold of tragedy defined in Aristotle's Poetica, and many others have rightfully protested that he was not cast from that mold, and that in fact he owes little to it.…

room in the castle.
Enter OTHELLO, LODOVCO, DESDEMONA, EMLA and Attendants

LODOVCO

do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.

OTHELLO

O, pardon me: 'twill do me good to walk.

LODOVCO

Madam, good night; humbly thank your ladyship.

DESDEMONA

Your honour is most welcome.

OTHELLO

Will you walk, sir?

O, -- Desdemona,

DESDEMONA

My lord?

OTHELLO

Get you to bed on the instant; will be returned forthwith: dismiss your attendant there: look it be done.

DESDEMONA

will, my lord.

Exeunt OTHELLO, LODOVCO, and Attendants

EMLA

How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did.

DESDEMONA

He says he will return incontinent:

He hath commanded me to go to bed,

And bade me to dismiss you.

EMLA

Dismiss me!

DESDEMONA

t was his bidding: therefore, good Emilia,.

Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu:

We must not now displease him.

EMLA

would you had never seen him!

DESDEMONA

So would…

ork Cited

Antony and Cleopatra. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from:

http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/cleopatra/full.html

Brown, Lenora Inez. "Enter the Body: omen and Representation on Shakespeare's Stage." American Theatre. May 01, 2001. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.

Desmet, Christy. "omen's Matters: Politics, Gender, and Nation in Shakespeare's Early History Plays." Comparative Drama. September 22, 2000. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.

Hunt, Maurice. "Shakespeare's Venetian paradigm: stereotyping and Sadism in The Merchant of Venice and Othello." Papers on Language & Literature. March 22, 2003. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.

Julius Caesar, The Life and Death of. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from:

http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/julius_caesar/full.html

Othello, The Moore of Venice. Retrieved September 30, 2005 from:

http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/othello/full.html

Starks, Lisa S. "Like the lover's pinch, which hurts and is desired: The Narrative

of Male Masochism and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra." Literature and Psychology. December 22,…

Greenblatt also provides us with some thought into what be hidden in Shakespeare's strange epitaph. Perspective is also gleaned on many of Shakespeare's works, including the Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear IV. He also goes into how Shakespeare only had one rival, Christopher Marlowe until 1957, when Ben Johnson emerged. The two men were similarly in age and envy. The two men "circled warily, watching with intense attention, imitating, and then attempting to surpass each other" (256). Here we see how healthy competition can spur talent. Additionally, Greenblatt delves into some of the mysterious aspects of Shakespeare's life with a convincing perspective. His marriage to Anne Hathaway is viewed fairly. Shakespeare's early marriage years and why he left for London are still elusive but Greenblatt attempts to ferret out some of the more popular theories regarding these issues. That Shakespeare did, for all intents and purposes, abandon…

" Retried on 03.06.06 at http://www.ergoweb.com/news/detail.cfm?print=on&id=525
15. Hunter R. Hughes, III." (2006). Retrieved on 03.06.06 from: Rogers & Hardin LLP http://www.acctm.org/hhughes/.

16. French. (2002). The Most Recent Development: An Overview GENETIC TESTING IN THE WORKPLACE: THE EMPLOYER'S COIN TOSS Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 0015.

17. "NSF and EEOC Settle Genetic Testing Case Under Americans with Disabilities Act "V. (2006) http://www.bnsf.com/media/news/articles/2002/05/2002-05-08-a.html.

18. Michael.

19. Schafer.

20. Ibid.

Genetic..."

22. William Shakespeare (1623) Macbeth,

Columbia Encyclopedia. http://www.bartleby.com/66/65/53165.html.

23. William Shakespeare (1564-1616),. Earl of Northumberland, in Richard II, act 2, sc. 3, l. 6-7. Flattering Henry olingbroke

Columbia Encyclopedia. http://www.bartleby.com/66/53/753.html.

24. On Shylock's offer to lend Antonio 3000 ducats.William Shakespeare (1564-1616), ritish dramatist, poet. assanio, in The Merchant of Venice, act 1, sc. 3, l. 179.

Columbia Encyclopedia. http://www.bartleby.com/66/82/50182.html. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105363095

Graeme Laurie, Genetic Privacy: A Challenge to Medico-Legal Norms (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 7, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105363095.

Settlement at urlington Northern Railway…

"Robert Frost the famous poet received four Pulitzer prizes for poetry." "There is small difference between a dramatist and a poet." "Shake spear is known more for his work as a dramatist, not as a poet"
Intention and Intensional definitions

Absurd is used to describe something irrational or illogical. Absurd is something which does not make sense, something which borders insanity.

Buffoon is a stupid person or a fool. A person who does things in an amusing way, e.g a clown.

Cemetery is a place where dead people are buried. A cemetery is a modern graveyard.

Dictator is a ruler who has complete power over a nation, mostly acquired through force. A person who behaves in an autocratic way in regards to other people.

Egotism is being obsessed with one's sense of importance making someone to think and act only in regards to one's importance. Egotism is to be utterly…

ight to Privacy, 1st Amendment
The parameters of one's right to privacy have long been a subject of controversy and while the Constitution does not expressly guarantee one's right to privacy, there are several amendments that were designed to protect specific, private rights of citizens. One of the amendments that seek to protect the private rights of citizens is the First Amendment. However, controversies have arisen that have required the Supreme Court to impose limitations on an individual who is exercising his or her rights under the First Amendment.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (U.S. Const. amend. I). As stated in the First Amendment, one is…

Madame Sarah' by Cornelia Otis Skinner
Life engenders life, energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich." Sarah Bernhardt in 'Madame Sarah' p. 14.

Madame Sarah' occupies a significant place in the incessant flood of biographies that hit the world of literature every year. This genre has been given the most attention because of the fact that we all find lives of rich and famous rather intriguing and thus worth exploring. This is the very reason Madame Sarah was warmly received when it was first published in 1967. Apart from being a witty account of the life of one of the greatest French theatre actresses of all time, the book sold well because of the credentials of the author, Cornelia Otis Skinner, who herself was a fine actress.

Since the subject belonged to the same field as the author, we get an in depth first hand…

Just War" Theory
The idea of a 'just war' is a conundrum. How can one group of people consider their actions 'right' or 'just' to apply military force against an another group. When can one group's actions, which will create devastation, economic difficulty, and death to thousands of people, be considered 'right?' In a civilized society, the concept of a 'just war' has become the centerpiece of many discussions, and has acted as a gate keeper, restraining hawkish tendencies of nations who pride themselves in freedom, and individual liberty. In order for a nation to engage in an activity which creates harm for another group, there must be a justifiable reason.

Just-war theory deals with the justification of how wars are fought, and attempts to give answers for why. Often the justification is based in either theoretical (ethical arguments) or in long standing historical hostilities between peoples. The theoretical aspect…

Introduction
William Shakespeare and Robert Burns are both iconic figures in the UK. Also known as the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare is often regarded as England’s national poet. Shakespeare is also considered the world’s greatest English writer and dramatist. During his time, Shakespeare authored tens of plays, over a hundred sonnets, and several narrative poems and verses (Marche, 2012). Shakespeare’s work has been translated into virtually all major languages of the world. Also, his work is performed more regularly than any other work. Robert Burns, born close to one and a half centuries after the death of Shakespeare, was also a prominent poet. Similar to Shakespeare, Burns is regarded as Scotland’s national poet (Hogg, 2008). Referred to as the Bard of Ayrshire, Burns is also recognised worldwide for his work (Cairney, 2000). As poets and playwrights, both Shakespeare and Burns have substantially influenced English literature and language as well as…

Madam Eglantyne the Nun, is also an ironic charater. She eats in a very refined manner and attempts other fine characteristics such as speaking French, although she fares poorly at this. Ironically, not all her language is pure, as she swears cosntantly by "St. Loy," a saint renowned for not swearing. Unlike the general conception of the Nun, she is very concerned with outward appearances and did not much care for human beings. Indeed, she cared much more for her three dogs than the human beings around her. Another irony is that she has a coral trinket to fight worldly temptations, which is clearly failing badly.

A second character is the Friar, Hubert. While he is jolly, merry, and festive, his actions are nevertheless evil and cunning. He impregnates girls, for example, and marries them off. He deceived the faithful by hearing confessions for a fee, and even begged from…

The interior architecture of the Querini Stampalia Foundation also provides a connection to the more historical details of Venetian and Italian architecture while at the same time not tying itself to the restrictions of an historic reproduction. Something as simple as a staircase has become, under Scarpa's careful design and guidance, something of strange geometric beauty that almost crosses the line into sculpture. The odd split in the stones that make up the stairs, and the spaces left in the faces of the stairs, look almost Moorish in their design. They could also be seen to draw from far more ancient sources, like the Romans who occupied Italy long before the Moors were ever heard of in Spain. The regular geometry of the stairs makes them appear both very strong and also simple and easy to build, which would definitely have been favored qualities of older civilizations working with other…

The goods from Asia were shipped to Venice and Genoa from where they were carried over the Alps to France and Germany, or through the strait of Gibraltar to Britain and the Scandinavian countries. The Black Sea port of Caffa, controlled by the Genoese during the 14th century, was an important terminal point on the silk route. Apart from the fur and slaves that it normally imported, Caffa is also reputed to have introduced the dreaded "Black Death" epidemic to Europe through fleas on rats that traveled on Genoese ships to Constantinople. (Ibid)
Genoese Trade with the Ottomans

Until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century, the Genoese had prospered in trading through their relations with the Byzantines, the Christian principalities of the East, and even their sworn enemies -- the Arabs, while fighting for domination of trade with Venice. Thereafter, most of their trading activities depended…

We know now that more than one knight who went to the Holy Lands ostensibly to "rout out the infidel" actually had a more pragmatic agenda: they brought home loot, everything they could physically handle plus anything more they could load on pack animals and/or enlist the aid of a squire or a fellow traveler to help them haul away. In that context, therefore, it's neither very surprising nor out of the realm of possibility that one particular group of mercenaries saw a chance for a real gold mine to come their way-if not the Holy Grail, then a pretty good second choice!
Thus it was in 829, the story goes, that two merchants smuggled the body of St. Mark from its original burial place in Alexandria, Egypt, to Venice, upon which point the Doge promptly declared the church as the apostle's official burial place and appropriated him as the…

Thomas Aquinas led the move away from the Platonic and Augustinian and toward Aristotelianism and "developed a philosophy of mind by writing that the mind was at birth a tabula rasa ('blank slate') that was given the ability to think and recognize forms or ideas through a divine spark" (Haskins viii). y 1200 there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy, Archimedes, and Galen, that is, of all the intellectually crucial ancient authors except Plato. Also, many of the medieval Arabic and Jewish key texts, such as the main works of Avicenna, Averroes and Maimonides now became available in Latin. During the 13th Century, scholastics expanded the natural philosophy of these texts by commentaries and independent treatises. Notable among these were the works of Robert Grosseteste, Roger acon, John of Sacrobosco, Albertus Magnus, and Duns Scotus. Precursors of the modern scientific method can be…

Indeed the Germans, the French, and the rest looked back to an antiquity in which their ancestors had been subjugated by the legions. Nothing is more remarkable therefore than the rapid and irrevocable penetration of Italian ideas and practices among the "barbarians," as the Italian writers referred to them, some of whom were currently invading the peninsula." (Wiener, 124) it's also important to note that influence of antique classicism typical for Italian architecture of the 14-16th centuries is not observed in the north. Classical style of Italian cathedrals and churches, typical for Ancient Greek and oman pagan temples is usually not observed in buildings of enaissance epoch in Germany, Britain or France, where architecture was influenced by Gothic style, which got earlier spread in Europe.
eformation and Counter eformation

The spread of Protestantism over Europe, which is considered to be one of the most historically significant achievements of enaissance and…

Also, because of the lack of land and the unwillingness for the Nobles to maximize the potential of the land,
instead relying on Muslim traditions and European feudal models,
agriculture was not as prominent. Because a large mercenary military was
needed for protection, there was therefore a need for a great deal of
tribute and taxation to hire and fund the military aspects of the Kingdom
of Jerusalem. Despite these factors which would contribute to a weaker
economy, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was in a tenuous economic position but
was able to prosper, especially in the 12th century, as a result of the
trade and the realization of the potential of trading in the Middle East.
This meant riches for the merchants, colonizers, Europeans, and nobles who
could not only tax those from other places, but bring in new and valuable
products to Europe. Thus trade was improved greatly between…

China and the Mongol Conquest
China and Mongol Conquest

The 13th century saw the influence of the Mongol Empire which Genghis Khan established stretching from the borders of Poland in the west to the East around Yellow Sea. Grandson of Genghis named Kublai Khan was the ruler of this empire in 1260 after which he went a head to consolidate his power when he relinquish the Mongol conquests outside China and established his capital where modern-day Beijing is now located.

As Venetian merchants, Nicolo Polo and his brother traveled overland in 1260 to the Mongol capital where they remained within the court of Khan until when they reached Venice in 1269. The two merchant once again traveled (though dangerous trip) to Kublai Khan's court in 1271 accompanied by their seventeen-year-old son Marco. They had to take three and a half years before their adventure came to an end. After staying…

Political and eligious Boundaries
Byzantium historically was the eastern side of the oman Empire that was the result of the religious, political and cultural schism that occurred between East and West in the 2nd Century AD. The city of Byzantium, or Constantinople, was located in a major strategic trading area between the Adriatic, Black and Mediterranean Seas. As the Western oman Empire declined, the "New ome," or Constantinople, became a blend of cultures and viable for about a millennium. Most scholars agree that it was the only long-term stable state in Europe that protected most of Western Europe from the emerging Islamic Empire. It was the most advanced economy in the Mediterranean area until the enaissance, with trading networks that extended through most of Eurasia and North Africa, as well as the beginning of the Silk oad. Without this economic power, it is unlikely that there would have been funding…

Aristotelian influence predominated together with the wisdom and learning of other ancient writers, while the former was often used as a framework for intellectual debates which readily expanded both philosophy and other areas of knowledge (Grant 127-131). The European university system was established alongside monasteries as centres for the propagation of knowledge. Scholars like Robert Grosseteste, Albertus Magnus, and Roger Bacon wrote about natural science to a growing audience. While Christianity did not recede as a dogmatic cultural system, it was not entirely determinative. Scholars could explore natural phenomena with an openness to past views, although often the learning acquired was purely rational rather than experimental, and was fused with a biblical worldview. In other words, the renaissance of the twelfth century played an integral part in transmitting scientific methodology within a predominantly religious environment that required thinkers to harmonise science with religion.
Other significant achievements took place in less…

religious, social, economic, and legal elements of town life that made the city so difficult for feudal and manorial society to contain. As town life grew, the town's citizens became resentful of the control feudal society held over them. Cities grew, trade grew, and people began working for themselves, rather than someone else. The people no longer wished to pay their lord part of their wages or earnings, and they began forming their own town councils and guilds, removing control from the manorial society. As a result, manorial society became archaic and declined, while the towns grew and prospered. eligion grew, building increased, and the first companies came into existence as the towns grew and feudalism declined. Feudalism served a purpose, but it had outlived its usefulness and towns developed and society changed.
Early medieval life revolved around the manor and a feudal society who served the lord of the…

Nathaniel's Nutmeg: The True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader who Changed the Course of History" by Giles Milton. Specifically, it will discuss the main theme of the book. The world was a different and much more profitable place after spices were discovered in the East, and spices changed Europe especially. Spices encouraged exploration, created vast fortunes, encouraged European colonization on far away shores, and changed global trade forever. The world could not live without spice, and spice created a new world.
Spices were an important part of living in medieval Europe. They were said to have medicinal properties, and they were used in many recipes. However, they were expensive, and Venice owned a monopoly on their trade. The author notes, "spices had become so popular that demand had long since outstripped supply" (Milton 21). The Portuguese initially had a stronghold on the Spice Islands in Indonesia, but before…

, lands useful to man, but according to technical and conspicuous for purposes that each civilization.
When business needs and adds prestige to urban heritage, religions, however, that mark their territories of pagodas, churches, monasteries, mosques and other places of worship, this singularity is affirmed more, while the forms of urban and rural habitat are specified, they are luxuries or miserable. And civilization, always customary in everyday life acquires additional visibility monumental materializing the skills of craftsmen-artists who enrich the work of the builders.

Added to this are, of course, the wealth and prestige that comes from adding additional, oral traditions of all time, written tradition gradually spread to shops and palaces, and the ideological apparatuses of all kinds, from which they eventually win the depths of peoples. o, the graphics become, like languages, distinctive marks of the various civilizations.

Maturation profoundly affects trade flows of civilization. On the one…

Frequent interception of American ships to impress American citizens was a major cause of the ar of 1812. ("Impressments." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 10 Aug. 2005, (http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0825052.html)
The enforced and arbitrary nature of the fate of impressment, and Budd's fate of facing the code of military law, which was different from the life he was accustomed to, did not understand, and had not agreed to, was thus the result of Billy being forced to obey a social contract in an environment that necessitated individuals obey without question to fight an armed enemy. This differing social contract is not necessarily 'worse' than life upon a non-military ship. The problem is not necessarily the innocent civilian Billy is good and that the military men are bad, but that two orders of individualism and the collective good are clashing on a ship -- it is through impressment that this has occurred, not because…

Cosimo De Medici
e know all about the de Medici family - one of the most important dynastic families in Europe and in particular concerning the cultural and artistic life of Italy and so of the continent. And yet, as Dale Kent makes clear in her authoritative (and fascinating) account of the family and in particular of the life of Cosimo De'Medici, we actually know less about the family than we think. Kent argues that common ideas - and common misconceptions -- about the De'Medicis reflect not only flawed knowledge about this family in particular but also more general flawed assumptions about their era and about prevailing attitudes of the time towards artistic patronage and indeed towards art.

Kent's book is as much an ethnographic exploration of the culture and society of fifteenth-century Florence as it is about Cosimo de'Medici himself - although in her telling the man and the…

Pei did not stop at this but went ahead to choose Jiang Nan residence primary color, white and grey, and in capturing this Pei used gray granite to replace whitewashed plaster wall dark gray clay tiles. If anyone thinks that these colors are not modern then Jodidio and Adams (2008, Inc. 311) think otherwise, they say that "The gray and white forms recall those of the region, but they remain resolutely modern."
Summary and conclusion

In any project that is undertaken by man there must be challenges and so did the design of Suzhou museum face challenges. The first challenge was on the location which was at the historic district of the city and this would necessitate the moving or destruction of some traditional houses, obviously the residents complained. Pei was lectured by government officials, despite the respect they had for him, he was instructed to make the museum modern…

Catholics played a main role in some of the first overseas explorations performed by estern European states. ith the purpose of inducing religious thinking into the people they conquered, Europeans brought priests with them. Most conquerors were not satisfied with imposing their religion on others, as they harshly condemned other religions they came across and subjected people worshiping other gods to great suffering.
Unlike the French, most English and Spanish conquerors believed that it was abnormal for one to worship in any other way that was not Christian. The French managed to live along side of the Huron tribes, making it possible for Huron tradition to exist in the present. In contrast, the Spanish and the English imposed their cultural values on the people they conquered, to the point where they were assimilated and were left with no cultural identity other than the one that was forced on them.

orks…

Lear and Comodore Barron, the commander of the American fleet in the Mediterranean agreed in 1805 that Ahmad was no longer useful to the American cause. As a result, Lear met with Muhammad D'Ghies, Tripoli's Minister for foreign affairs, and eventually reached an agreement. War prisoners would be mutually exchanged, and America had to pay a sum of $60, 000 to Tripoli. However, this sum was considerably smaller than what the Pasha had asked for in 1804. Legendary Commodore Charles Morris wrote, "On the 3rd of June, a peace was concluded with Tripoli by Colonel Lear, who had been authorized by the President to negotiate."
One of the most important consequences of the war was its power to produce some of the earliest American war heroes. In the absence of news correspondents, and the far-reaching means the press has today, the accounts of the war were given by the people…

crusades on the west?
Effects of Crusades on the West

For centuries, the Muslims had been attacking and usurping Christian lands. With no real boundaries differentiating territories, it was impossible to fathom any measure of cordiality to exist between the two

The wars that then raged, The Crusades, as the western world sought to exact revenge have altered the present and the future so much that the effects are being felt even today. According to Edward Gibbon

, a chronicler belonging to the Enlightenment era, the effort would have been better utilized to seek and forge better and peaceful relations with the Muslims. This, according to him and others of his ilk, was highly improbable, because the warmongers would have instead indulged in infighting, instead. According to the eminent historians of the Enlightenment age, the crusaders were instigated by vested interests and were a rather gullible misdirected lot that were…

Those with issues to overcome are always more heroic. Hector also becomes a hero when, after at first running from Achilles, he eventually stands up to him and dies a heroic death.
The Iliad is primarily a war epic. In your opinion, is the Iliad condemnation of the it could easily be argued that the Illiad glorifies war, as much of the poem is spent portraying the warriors as brave and courageous, even as they go on killing rampages. Warriors are describes as "masters of the battle cry" and "warlike" in glowing epithets. When Achilles originally refused to fight, he is roundly condemned for it by all of the other Greek characters. Even the weapons of war, such as Achilles impenetrable shield, are glorified. But homer is more complicated than simple -- war also brings death, which he describes in great detail. Hector's death is perhaps the most graphic of…

Tale as Told by another Character: Sweat - Zora Neale Hurston
Sweat

The spring came along with its flare of sunny afternoons in Florida on that particulate Sunday afternoon. For a given number of women in the small village populated by the black persons would be thinking of what the family would have for supper. However, for Delia Jones, she was still in bed, thinking of her previous life when she was still young and pretty. Then the thought of her poverty and suffering stricken husband hit her mind, and the trail of cursing and lamentations flowed from her mind; and eventually found their way into verbal words oozing from her mouth like the waters of the spring streams of the Amazon. Sure, this situation was getting to the peak of the humiliation and underpinning of poverty and suffering that she could take.

Delia sat up in her bed of…

Even in Catholic France, the Protestant sentiment that God's grace alone can save His fallen, human creation was evident in the humanist king, Francis I's sister, Margaret, Queen of Navarre's novel when she wrote: "We must humble ourselves, for God does not bestow his graces on men because they are noble or rich; but, according as it pleases his goodness, which regards not the appearance of persons, he chooses whom he will."
Shakespeare's Hamlet is haunted by the ghost of his father from Purgatory. Purgatory was a Catholic concept. But rather than trusting the vision of the divine on earth, Hamlet is suspicious about the ability of fallen human beings to enact justice. Rather than finding good in the face of women, Hamlet sees only evil. "In considering the cultural conditions that allow tragedy to revive, we may also want to consider that the plays occurred in Christian Northern Europe;…