The Scarlet Letter Intro Essay Example for Free

The Scarlet Letter Intro Essay In the 16th century, Puritans immigrated to America from Great Britain in order to escape religious persecution, and by the mid 17th century they had erected a well established society based on their theological beliefs. The Puritan religion was one of austerity and geared towards spiritual devotion rather than worldly possessions. Puritans followed rigid laws which rarely changed with time. They also had little tolerance for anyone who broke these laws. Individuals who did violate these laws however, faced punishment on various levels and would have to prove their repentance to themselves and society. The Scarlet Letter, set in mid 17th century Boston, portrays such forms of repentance from two perspectives. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, constructs the plot to revolve around the journey of repentance of two characters: Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale. Both characters have committed the blasphemous sin of adultery together, but only Hester has been punished for it, whereas Dimmesdale has yet to be discovered for his involvement in the misdeed. Hester’s severe punishment is to carry the eternal burden of the scarlet letter A, a symbol that apprises everyone of her status as an adulterer, and outcasts her from the rest of society. Even though she is shunned by society, Hester still manages to perpetrate acts of penance to atone for her sin. However, Hester is not the only character who seeks repentance; Rev. Dimmesdale self-inflicts punishment as a form of penance. Throughout the novel, both characters strive to achieve true repentance, a feeling of remorse which comes from the soul. As committed as they are to atoning for their sin, neither Hester nor Dimmesdale truly ever reach the state of repentance. Their failure to achieve true repentance can be perceived through their similar goals of penitence and their different forms of punishment. Through the course of the novel, Hawthorne constantly evinces parallels and similiarities between the journeys of penance of both Hester and Dimmesdale. Both journeys for repentance end in the same place; failure to feel remorse for their sin. In chapter 17, Hawthorne finally brings Hester and Dimmesdale together in an intimate setting since their committing of adultery. A literal and metaphorical symbol of their parallel journey. The lovers meet up in the forest, a dark place symbolic of evil, to speak privately for the first time in years about their plans for the future. Throughout the novel the reader has been able to track the acts of penance, however, it has never been plainly stated that these acts of penance have been in vain and no true repentance has come from them. Hawthorne decides that in this chapter both characters will blatantly state their failure to repent. In this chapter, Hester states to Dimmesdale, â€Å"What we did had a consecration of its own† (203). Hester has not only failed to repent at this point, but she has also stated that their adultery has had a valid purpose. Due to the fact that Pearl has come out of their fornication, she has not wronged in stating this but, any individual who has truly repented for their action would be too remorseful to justify their misdeed. Literary critic, Samuel Chase Coale, summarizes Hester’s vain journey for repentance by writing that â€Å"her public show of sorrow and repentance†¦ is in reality a hollow rite, not genuine penitence† (Coale 37). In parallel, Dimmesdale admits his lack of regret for his adultery with Hester. Of the two, Dimmesdale journey has been the most rigorous in penance, yet, like Hester, his journey of penance has ended in failure. He openly admits, â€Å"Of penance, I have had enough! Of penitence, there has been none!† (200). Dimmesdale does not feel the least bit sorry for his sin with Hester. Hawthorne parallels their journey for the goal of repentance for 17 chapters, until he finally brings about their ultimate failure. This length of time allowed the reader to view two similar, simultaneous journeys which ultimately ends literally and metaphorically in one place, failure in the forest, a place of evil, sin, and insincere penance. Although both Hester and Dimmesdale have had a similiar goal of true repentance, the details of their journey are entirely different. Hawthorne structures the novel like this for various reason, the most obvious being redundancy. If Hawthorne had made Dimmesdale’s and Hester’s journey exactly alike, the story would seem extremely redundant and would lose the interest of the reader. On the other hand, Hawthorne creates this contrast in their journeys in order to establish some social commentary. He establishes a journey of penance through two different conflicts, person vs. society and person vs. self. Hester penance, of course, is established through person vs. society. â€Å"Spatial relationships, those based on the placement of images within the text, reveal a set of structures and codes that embody the social organization of a community, both in terms of its ideology and its culture. How one is seen and for what reasonsand what is being seensuggest the nature of soc ial powers at work in early Boston. Thus when Hester emerges from the prison to stand fully revealed (52) before the crowd, she is moving from enclosed darkness to open sunshine, from the present enclosure of her crime into the public gaze that has branded her a criminal. Hawthorne has made so much of the prison to begin with, however, that no matter how precious the open air now seems, to step from that prison and mount the scaffold is to move from one enclosed space to another, each underscored by the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law (52) as embodied in the people and the magistrates who fasten their thousand unrelenting eyes (57) upon her. Their eyes become our eyes, for we as readers are as interested in observing the spectacle, in order to understand exactly what is going on, as they are, although unlike us they do so assured of justice in their gaze.† In contrast, Dimmesdale, faces internal conflict in the form of person vs. self. He self inflicts torture as a form of his penance in an att empt to repent. Both protagonist, Hester and Dimmesdale have failed to reach a similar goal of true repentance through very distinct journeys.

Huckleberry finn Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a major argument among literary critics whether the adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is or is not a racist novel. The question focus on the depiction of Jim, the black slave, and the way he is treat by Huck and other characters. The use of the word â€Å"nigger† is also a point raised by some critic, who feel that Twain uses the word too often and too loosely. Mark Twain never presents Jim in a negative light. He does not show Jim as a drunkard, as a mean person or as a cheat. This is in contrast to the way Huck’s father is depicted, who Twain describes using all of the above characterizations and more. The reader views Jim as a good friend a man devoted to his family and loyal to his companions. Jim is however very naà ¯ve and superstitious. Some critics say that Twain is implying that all blacks have these qualities. When Jim turns to his magic hairball for answers about the future, we see that he does believed. This type of naà ¯ve was abundant at the time and found among all races the result of a lack of proper education. So the depiction of Jim is not negative in the sense that Jim is stupid and this aspect of the story is clearly not meant as a racial slight. Next it is necessary to analyze the way in which white characters treat Jim throughout the book. Note that what the author felt is not the way most characters act around Jim and his feelings are probably only conveyed through Huck. In the South during that period, bla...

How Historical Architecture Elements Have Been Destroyed

How historical architecture elements have been destroyed in the buildings of Lass Vegas Lass Vegas is a city in the state of Nevada and the city is extremely populous and internationally known for the fine dining, gaming and shopping (Stern, Peggy and Alan 13). Lass Vegas proclaims itself as the world's capital of entertainments due to its famous hotels combined with casinos. It may seem like all the great architecture of the world is gathered in one place: there's Venice, Caesar Palace, Luxury, New York and Camelot Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and etc.Directly low the Eiffel Tower, cicadas buzz in branches of the Roman pines that overlook the waters of an Italian lake. Suddenly, the waters burst into song: the voices of Andrea Bacilli and Cline Don rise into the warm night air and spectacular fountains sway in time to the music. Fifteen minutes later, the fountains are dancing to Elvis. ( Hollies, Edward) All these revolution of the themed casino hotel building took place in the sass, when casino owners such as Steve Wynn and Sheldon G Delano realized that Vegas didn't have to be Just about gambling.If they could turn Vegas into a loudly destination in its own right, they figured, then they could attract all sorts of people – folks from Out East, families, and so on, who would never have dreamed have coming before. And if they could attract those regular respectable folks, then they could attract regular money, too. But the architectural design used in the majority of the buildings in Lass Vegas is just a total replication of the ancient architectural design from various part of the world (Stern, Peggy and Alan 13).This meaner that most of its modern architectural design is a complete abstraction of the original design. The Lass Vegas hotels with the ancient architecture theme may have the similar fade of the ancient building but they are essentially still the modernism buildings. The ancient architectural buildings emphasi ze 3 elements like aesthetic, function and structure. All these three elements should marry together. The Lass Vegas buildings are like most of the modernism buildings which emphasize the space.Space is deified in the modernism thus replaced the position of the symbol, bringing the architect to give up the combination of architecture and painting, sculpture, images, and no longer pursuit the symbol. Modernist international style of â€Å"less is more† from Miss van deer Roe as the representative to the simple and rapid industrialization nature adapted to the needs of the times, has swept the world. (Wick) As we all know Lass Vegas is an extremely commercialese city where advertising, signs and construction of the symbol itself is as important as the position, which has also become one of the images of the city of Lass Vegas.Extensive use of neon at night makes the city showing a completely different image. This is a naked commercialism table. Billboards, similar to the tradem ark signs, neon signs, all this kind of exaggeration, mixed nightclub style architecture are not cohesive with the ancient style architecture. The Lass Vegas hotels mimicking the ancient style architecture buildings and at the same time mixed these entire modern commercial decorations extremely destroyed the classical style and the classical atheistic elements of the ancient architecture.In the book LEARNING FROM LASS VEGAS, the author Robert Venture divided the symbolism of the local building into two types: a Decorated Duck, or decorate shed or huts. Long Island duck, Aberdeen (designed like a duck store) is a erect symbol of the space of the building. The Duck is a building that has so reduced itself in importance that it has actually become the sign. According to Venture, most modern architecture are basically UN-admitted Ducks. The real hypocrisy for Venture was that â€Å"†¦ Odder architecture always demonstrated what it was by setting itself against what it wasn't. â₠¬  But a duck is a duck. The overall structure of the way submerged in the shape of an elephant. Decorated huts are ordinary buildings with local giant billboards and markers. He describes functional boring architecture, auteur to the point of being difficult to recall, but carries a surface with applique © ornamental symbols. The billboard is higher than the construction, in addition to the front facade, the back facade of the building seems to be no style.These billboards has become a symbol rich architectural language of the local business, on the other hand the building seems to be reduced only with the symbols of asylum. The buildings in the Lass Vegas with the ancient building look are Just the mixed of these two types. These hotels Just used the ancient building as a symbol of the space of the alluding. In S. Maria del Priority, as Venture, Scott Brown, and Ignore wrote of Lass Vegas, â€Å"architecture is a shelter with symbols on it. † (90) The designs of the anci ent architecture are Just working like a shell or out shape.The essential elements are no longer inside of these buildings. With these ancient architecture shell, the hotels added the giant billboards to the front fade which is a total conflict with the classic style made all the ancient styles buildings more liked the cartoon type of architecture. The classical aesthetics have been destroyed by these cartoon type. In the eighteenth century Europe, however, aesthetics was a discipline in formation. (Irene Small, 18) The classical styles of the ancient architecture here became only a giant decoration of the hotels.The elements of these building no longer emphasis on performance of the structure and function but on symbolic significance and the billboard, markers dominate the space. Luxury Hotel is a very prominent building in Lass Vegas strip due to its sheer size and the architectural construction design. The hotel is named after ancient city in Egypt. It was built with a unique Egy ptian concept. Its structural design is perceived to be a pelvic of the Gaza pyramids in Egypt with huge sphinxes at the front of the building. The interior design of the building is a copy of the Egyptian artifacts, form it golden materials to the sculptures.This is according to the Evolve Simpson who was the main architect of the Luxury building (Stern, Peggy and Alan 14) the building is Just a replica of the ancient pyramid in Egypt because its exterior design is composed of a black glass that encases the metal frame hollow structure. The inside of the building opens up to the largest open hall in the world, it's lavishly decorate with very many productions of the Egyptian painting and artifacts which give the building a sense of ancient times. During the night, very powerful spotlights shoot straight from the building to the air.These spotlights are even visible from space (Vinegar, 28). The Luxury Hotel, which was actually opened in the 1993, had a very magnificent theme of an ancient Egypt, when compared to the original pyramid but the architectural design borrows a lot of the modern technology while still trying to maintain the structural design of the original pyramid. Paris Lass Vegas is another building with a omelet imitation of the original architectural work. The building is located at the strip of the Lass Vegas. Its theme is the city of Paris in France.It's a 541 foot tall replication of the Eiffel tower, in a shape of a Montpellier balloon. It has a two-third size Arc De triumphed, which is a replica of the La Fontanne deer. Surging the architectural planning, the Eiffel scale model was supposed to be built to the full model. That is to the same height like original tower in Paris France. But the airport was to close and tower had to be shrunk. The Eiffel tower of Lass Vegas is in the scale f 1 in comparison to the original tower in Paris France. The Lass Vegas tower has another unique architectural difference from the original tower.The back l eg of the Eiffel tower come down through the ceiling into the casino floor. The Eiffel tower has a very significant structural deviation from the original tower. The tower is only 165 meters with about 5000 tons of welded steel and stands. This is about half the size of the original which is about 320 meters tall. This is a same height as of an 81 – story building. Furthermore, the Eiffel tower of France consists of a structure that made up f puddle iron that weight approximately 7300 tones, while the rest of the structure is made of nonmetallic components, which weights a approximately 10000 tones.This demonstrates the economy of design which is much different with the Eiffel tower of Lass Vegas. Venetian hotel stands at the site where one of the famous old buildings used to stand. The Sand Building was restructured during the time when Lass Vegas was moving onwards in the field of architectural designs. The Sand buildings artistic design was altered and replaced with roman architectural design, which gave the Venetian building carved stone columns in the open lobby. Again these are Just the copy of the fade of the ancient architectural.Caesar Palace Casino in Lass Vegas was constructed in 1965. The hotel was named Caesar Palace because the owner though that the name would evoke the thoughts of the loyalty because of the roman general Julius Caesar. The architectural design of the hotel had a roman architectural touch and a theme, signaling both ancient decadence and sophistication. The roman architecture framed the entrance with spraying fountains and may replicas of detailed roman statues all around the building. The idea of replicating the ancient roman architectural design was to make every guest to the hotel feel like a Caesar.This ancient ideology is also represented by the absence of an apostrophe in the Caesar Palace, which meant that it is a place of many Caesar and not one. The Caesar Palace Just represents a fade of original architectural bu ilding design of the Romans. Lass Vegas has bee accused by critics as being uncultured, heartless metropolis with remarkably little patience with any architecturally outdated building in the city, which include its own historical building sites. Visiting the end of the Fremont Street one experience digress en walking past the hulking shell of Minneapolis. , without being aware of hope the building once represented.However the building has lost its original aesthetic value and visitors have shown little to no interest in the building. The building has been into Fremont square as a part of the revitalization efforts. The ancient beauty and aesthetic value of the building has bee replaced with an animation of the modern architectural design. The building of the Caesar palace mimic all these ancient elements like arch and column mostly in a decoration way. The ancient Rome use Arches which were made of stones or bricks and placed on top of each other in a way that it can form and an arc h and hold weight upon itself.Also in the Rome the arches were used to hold the massive weight of the dome. The arches in Caesar palace's ceiling works mostly Just as the decorating to resemble the ancient Rome building style and offer a glimpse into the ancient Roman buildings almost two thousand years ago. In fact, the hotel mainly used the columns from which originated from the Greek architecture. For the material, the ancient roman mainly used concrete and blocks. But the modern construction materials of the hotel are nothing similar to the brick and concrete walls.The hotel used the modern day technological materials and were built using the state of art architectural technology (Bourns, 1 53) same like the Luxury hotel. The pyramid is used by the totally different material from the original ancient building with the giant glass. The fancy version of the sphinx, totally different scale of the building, all made these Lass Vegas pyramid more like a children's park like buildings while the classical architectural pay attention to building as a whole. The four cascades in addition to the roof should be carved like a sculpture.In Lass Vega's extreme commercial environment, Buildings are made rapid, shallow and vulgar. In order to compete in this marketplace, a casino needs a virtual edge that fulfills the old role of the sign. The buildings are often renovated to get the glossy fades. In 1998, Steve Wynn transformed an image of the Italian Bellagio resort into drizzling fountains and â€Å"historic† two-story building facades, while in 1999, Circus Circus Corporation realized the Mandalay Bays Southeast Asian theme by bringing in 2700 tons of a sand. Buildings in Lass Vegas are in relentless change.The outlooks of the building are mostly concerned in these Vegas buildings but not the structure. The ancient buildings emphasize the structure and that's how they can stand there for over thousands of year. The sturdiness is a very important character of th e ancient buildings while in the Lass Vega's buildings these elements are no longer important. In fact, Vanity and fragility of modern architecture are criticized in Xavier Delver ‘s urban forms urban forms. Lass Vegas is the modern commercial city with visual propaganda in the business repose and business needs.The benefits of social, economic, and visual impact largely affect the form and the shape of the buildings. The vision becomes an important factor of a way to attract eyeballs. Maybe that's why they are mimicking the famous architecture in the world. But the essential elements of the architecture are totally lost in these commercial buildings in which the only logic is for the profit. The purpose of business is to make money; the purpose of commercial buildings is to service to make money. The buildings in Lass Vegas mimicking the famous architecture designs are Just the visual construction of the commercials.

Liberty and Paternalism Essay - 1663 Words

LIBERTY AND PATERNALISM John Stuart Mill and Gerald Dworkin have distinctly opposing views on legal paternalism in that Mill is adamantly against any form of paternalism, whereas Dworkin believes that there do exist circumstances in which paternalism is justified. Both agree that paternalism is justified when the well being of another person is violated or put at risk. Mill takes on a utilitarian argument, explaining that allowing an individual to exercise his freedom of free choice is more beneficial to society than deciding for him what is in his best interests. Dworkin, on the other hand, feels that certain cases require the intervention of either society as a whole or its individual members. He breaks Mills argument down into two†¦show more content†¦When a young child is about to run across a busy street in order to chase his ball, the childs parent, or any other bystander, is rightfully justified in physically stopping the child from running into the street. This is so justified because at th e time of giving chase to the ball, the child is unaware of the potential consequences of running into a busy street. A large part to this justification is the idea of future-oriented consent, the concept that once the child grows up and realizes the consequences of his chasing the ball, he will agree that the interference of an outsider was justified. Another example for which this concept can be applied is the matter of seat belts. The question of whether or not a person should be punished for not wearing a seat belt, I believe, can be answered by comparing it to the previous example. If a person were to be involved in a car accident and be seriously injured because he was not wearing a seat belt, he would come to the realization that he should have been wearing it. At this point, he will realize that his personal health is worth the inconvenience of putting on his seat belt. The fact that any logical, rational person will come to this realization justifies the interference of an outside party, the government in this example. If this person does not realize that his health and his life is worth putting on a seat belt, it is safe to say that this person is illogical andShow MoreRelated Liberty And Paternalism Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pages LIBERTY AND PATERNALISM nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;John Stuart Mill and Gerald Dworkin have distinctly opposing views on legal paternalism in that Mill is adamantly against any form of paternalism, whereas Dworkin believes that there do exist circumstances in which paternalism is justified. Both agree that paternalism is justified when the well being of another person is violated or put at risk. Mill takes on a utilitarian argument, explaining that allowing an individual to exercise his freedomRead MoreNegative Critique on Alan Goldmans View on Medical Paternalism1453 Words   |  6 PagesMedical Paternalism In the realm of medical ethics, there are many topics that are debated and discussed, but there is not necessarily one clear, correct answer. One of these topics is paternalism. Many questions are bandied back and forth: is it beneficial, should it be disallowed entirely, are there instances when paternalism is good and beneficial, and the list goes on. For each of these questions there have been authors who have provided their comments. One such author is Alan Goldman. He drawsRead MorePaternalism: Slavery and White Slave Owners1626 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Writer Gerald Dworkin refers to paternalism as an interference with a person’s liberty of action that is justified particularly with reasons including the welfare, happiness, needs and interests of the person being oppressed. The aim of my essay is to investigate the slavery period in the Cape Colony during the nineteenth century with regard to the prevalence of paternalism between slaves and their masters. By means of suitable sources that justify this statement as well as proof ofRead MoreMorality, Paternalism, And Justice : Ethical Priorities1500 Words   |  6 Pages Critique #1: Autonomy, Paternalism, and Justice: Ethical Priorities in Public Health Olawale Akinbobola The University of Memphis School of Public Health PUBH 7180 – Fall 2017 Within public health, the issue of paternalism has become a controversial topic. Broadly, paternalism is defined as the interference of a state or individual with a subordinate overpowering the will of the subordinate, claiming the subordinate will be better off (Dworkin, 2017). Autonomy is the right of an individualRead MoreJohn Stuart Mill And Sarah Conly Essay1440 Words   |  6 Pagesto justify their own opinion and at the end present my own arguments in order to argue that sugar tax would not be the ideal solution but coercive paternalism would still be necessary, although used in a slightly different way. In his book â€Å"On Liberty† Mill states that the only time individuals or society as a whole can interfere with individual liberty is for self-protection and that coercion by the many toward the individual is only acceptable when that specific individual poses a threat to othersRead MoreThe Legalization Regulation Of The Sex Trade Essay849 Words   |  4 Pageslife, liberty, and security and b) the capacity for criminalization to prohibit sex worker’s from actively preventing harm to oneself. Philosophical support for this position will come from arguments rooted in human rights’ perspective, John Stuart Mill’s â€Å"harm principle† and arguments rooted in feminist theory. The harm principle contends â€Å"it is only justifiable to interfere with the autonomy or liberty of adults in order to prevent harm (physical harm deprivation of rights and liberties) occurringRead MoreConservatism as a Tension between Paternalism and Libertarianism678 Wor ds   |  3 PagesConservatism as a Tension between Paternalism and Libertarianism There are many different strands of conservatism within the ideology, the most significant of which in modern terms are paternalism and libertarianism. This conflict can be illustrated by the rival traditions of one-nation conservatism and New Right, or in particular neoliberal, conservatism. The basic idea of paternalism is to have authority over people for their own good. Whereas continental conservativesRead MoreCase Study : Liberty And The Elderly Patient1271 Words   |  6 Pages#3 Case Study: Liberty and the Elderly Patient In our culture, respect for individual autonomy is valued to the highest degree. We want to do what we want to do, what we think will give us fulfillment and meaning in life. In other words, we value our liberty and the last thing we want is somebody or some circumstance infringing on it. Ronald X is a self-sufficient man who values his liberty. After he broke his leg, everything changed. The free and autonomous life that he was enjoying was now goingRead MoreEthical And Ethical Issues Of The Healthcare Professionals767 Words   |  4 Pagessurgery and advised the surgeons to stop. Ethical Principles In the video the health care team members are challenged with many ethical principles and moral conflict. Autonomy beneficence, nonmaleficence, veracity and paternalism are tested in the video. Autonomy is a form of personal liberty in which the client have the right and freedom to make decisions regarding his or her own treatment and take control of health, fostering independence and self determination (Powell, 2008). Beneficence is the ethicalRead MoreCadbury : A Typical Example Of 19th Century Family Capitalism1364 Words   |  6 Pagestypical example of 19th Century family capitalism. The essay states that Cadbury was not a typical example of 19th century family capitalism. I will explain three main points on why Cadbury is not a typical example, because its time period, its non-paternalism and its expansion. Firstly, I would focus on that most family capitalism doesn’t last for more than one generation however Cadbury does. Next the essay is about that Cadbury is not pa ternalistic but most of 19th century family capitalism is. Finally