Twelfth Night Essay: Olivias Denial -- Twelfth Night essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚   After first reading Twelfth Night I was puzzled at Olivia's denial of Orsino's hand in marriage and her subsequent desire for Cesario. After considerable thought and research, I intend to propose and support the argument that Olivia is not being simply "coy" towards Orsino, nor does she desire Cesario because he/she is attracted to him/her. She denies Orsino because of her refusal to marry a man of higher rank and desires to marry Cesario because he is a man of lower rank. Olivia wants to give the impression that her mourning of her brother's death doesn't allow for the admittance of suitors. In the opening scene, Valentine says that Olivia "shall not behold her face at ample view" (1.1.27) because she "desires to season a brother's dead love" (1.1.31). Feste knows that mourning is the not real reason for her refusal to marry Orsino.    Clown: Good madonna, why mourn'st thou? Olivia: Good fool, for my brother's death. Clown: I think his soul is in hell, madonna. Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool. Clown: The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen. (1.1.64-70)    Feste shows Olivia the foolish nature of mourning over her brother's death since he is in hea... ...t that Olivia may have a lesbian tendeny because she is attracted to Cesario (who is really a woman) is rendered less plausible.    Works Cited David, R. W., ed. The Arden Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost. London: Methuen, 1951. Erasmus, Desiderius. In Praise of Folly. Trans. Hoyt Hopewell Hudson, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970. McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents. New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1996. Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

A Summer with My Aunt Essay

I, of course, was not used to spending any amount of money because my parents were doing well enough to keep my sister and me in school, so the idea of having leisurely money was a new concept which I craved. As a child I admired this woman for many reasons and wanted to be like her. I wanted to live in a nice neighborhood with a big house, I wanted to drive a beautiful white shiny car and wear new clothes, I wanted to be strong and healthy , but most of all I wanted to be successful like she was. So I spent my days in school preparing for college so that someday I would be able to be like her. Things changed, though, when I moved down to Texas for two months to take care of her nine month old son, Luke; as it turns out Gretchen Decker was and is not as happy with her life as I thought she was. At the beginning of the summer I had agreed to fly out to California to take my grandma’s place as a helping hand for my aunt. Gretchen had just married her third husband, Chris, two years prior and had recently become pregnant. My whole family was rather concerned with this matter because my aunt was now in her forties; when complications started arising my grandmother put her own life on hold to focus her attention on her daughter. When the time came, though, it was my turn to help my aunt. I left my job, friends, summer activities, and leisurely time to fly out to California and take care of my cousin. Plans were interrupted by my aunt’s job, though, when she received recent news of a promotion that would land her in the Dallas metropolis. I, of course, did not mind because either way I would be able to finally get to know this woman I so aspired to be like, and at the same time I would be able to visit with my aunt Trudy. So at the end of the summer I packed up my bags and my dad, sister, and I drove down to Texas. The house was gorgeous with a huge entry way and vaulted ceilings and a large open-concept kitchen and living room. The rooms were not very large but they were a decent size, close to a large bathroom. There was no furniture yet because it was still being moved from California and sadly we’d have to live without it for a couple more weeks. It was a great neighborhood, though, quiet and clean but most importantly, safe; this was the house my mother and father were working so hard for. The city was also very established with great schools and big malls, another thing I, myself, had always wanted. The next day I met Luke and was shocked by his appearance. He was a gorgeous baby but his weight brought up a bit of a concern for me. Luke was only nine months old and weighed 30 pounds; the first though in my mind was, â€Å"why is she feeding him so much? † but I held my tongue and asked, â€Å"So, what does he eat? † My aunt replied saying, â€Å"well he has five bottles a day and two to three solid meals a day. † Another thought, â€Å"holy crap,† then I said, â€Å"Wow, he’s big. † She laughed and said, â€Å"Yeah he’s definitely not starving. She may have found it funny but I found it odd that this child was the size of a two year old and was barely able to move. I walked over to the refrigerator next and poured myself a glass of water. As I drank, I stared at a picture of my aunt and Chris. They were running side by side concentrating on the goal ahead, when suddenly Luke laughed and my attention was turned to the other side o f the room. My sister, Darian, was playing with Luke and showing him how to use his toys. My aunt smiled at the sight and said, † Darian, I love this little guy so much. It’s amazing. I’ve never loved anyone or anything this much. † My sister immediately asked, â€Å"Don’t you love Chris? † The pause in-between the question surprised me, but finally she answered, â€Å"well†¦ yes but I just love Luke so much. † She continued to answer the question by saying that Chris was a good companion and that’s why she married him. Later I would learn my aunt â€Å" just liked to be married† and that is what led me to believe my aunt didn’t care about love as much as she did her job, because she went into a marriage thinking like a business woman rather that a girl in love. To me this also meant she just didn’t want to be alone. A week went by and the moving was done and I was left alone with my aunt. She was struggling to get used to things at her new job and ii could tell she was under much stress. So I did everything I could think of to take a load off her back like doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning and making sure Luke was in a good mood for her when she came home. No matter what I did though my aunt began to become increasingly frustrated with her job. She would leave the house around six-thirty every day and come back around six and continue to do work after Luke went to bed. She would always tell me she wished she could spent more time with Luke but that wouldn’t be able to happen because Chris was playing â€Å" peter pan† in Afghanistan. Every day it was the same thing: â€Å"Chris is peter pan,† â€Å"I wish I didn’t have to be the main provider† but the fact of the matter is that my aunt makes around 104 thousand dollars a year and Chris makes around 84 thousand. I was becoming very frustrated with my aunt’s complaints because my family of four had loved off 30 thousand for quite some time and managed to survive, so why couldn’t she live off 84? The answer to my question was very upsetting. She said, â€Å"Well that’s Missouri and Missouri isn’t the real world. † How dare she belittle my parents’ hard work! They both worked day and night trying to provide a better life for my sister and I and this is how she sees their work? I didn’t even get to see my parents a lot of the time because one of them was always at work, and here my aunt sat in a huge house with a nice neighborhood, with a beautiful baby and a handsome husband and money so much that she didn’t even know what to do with it, trying to tell me how terrible her life was. I kept my mouth closed because it was not my place to tell her these thoughts but more and more I became disappointed in my aunt. Why could she not be thankful and content with what she had? Her favorite subject of complaint was her husband; mostly, because he didn’t make enough money for her to stay at home but she also accused him of trying to avoid her and Luke because he didn’t wasn’t to take any responsibility. She thought this because he was going to stay in a deployable unit but at the same time the reason he was doing that was for an education opportunity. There was no pleasing her, though; even the fact that Chris wanted to be the provider did not appease her. She had made a comment to me about how she would â€Å"Find Luke a new daddy† if she had to. This made me sick to my stomach that she would say such a thing but I guess that is what happens when you marry someone just because you â€Å" like to be married. † Marriage is not like playing house it is a gift God has given us to become one with another person you love. Everything I admired my aunt for pretty much washed away because of my experience this summer and I will not go back to live with her again. She will sit in her big house in a nice neighborhood, with a husband she dislikes, a job that makes good money, and rot because she does not know how to be content. That’s what I really want is to marry a man I love, give him beautiful children, and work at a job that I absolutely love; not a bunch of money with nothing to do with it. I can thank my aunt, though, for showing me how unhappy a person can be in their life because they focus their mind on only the negative and never any positive aspects of their lives.

The Rise of America’s Prison Empire Essay - 1927 Words

When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of†¦show more content†¦While all three are considered prison’s goals, punishment is most heavily relied on and rehabilitation, when attempted, is often halfheartedly executed to uninterested participants. According to authors Gerald Mel nick, et al. in their essay, â€Å"Treatment Process in Prison Therapeutic Communities: Motivation, Participation, and Outcome,† the lack of motivation an individual prisoner experiences regarding his success often contributes to his dropping out of an in prison rehabilitation program (634). Such programs are therefore futile because the inmates who would benefit most from the rehabilitation are often the most unmotivated and unwilling to participate. If an inmate does fulfill the numerous participation requirements for completion of an in prison program, the chances of his continuing treatment are exponentially low. Prisoners often neglect to extend treatment through the use of after-care rehabilitation programs upon release from jail (Melnick, et al. 636). The benefits of rehabilitation are therefore lost because after-care facilities are designed to further reinforce critical values gained by prisoners during prior rehabilitation. This means that even if a prison were to offer inmates the most innovative forms of rehabilitation, the programs would be in vain due to the overwhelming majority of prisoners who would not willingly partake in treatment. If a prisoner manages to acquire a job upon release, his rehabilitation may stillShow MoreRelatedTexas Tough : The Rise Of Americas Prison Empire1423 Words   |  6 PagesTexas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire In Robert Perkinson’s book, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, a remarkable amount of a decade’s worth of in-depth research is given regarding Texas and it’s astounding past regarding racism, prisons, and penitentiaries. Perkinson’s finding lead to how the only way to escape what could be the continuation of tragedy in this nation is to examine the history of this nation’s most severe prison state, Texas. It allRead MoreThe French Revolution And The American Revolution1294 Words   |  6 PagesSaint-Domingue, there was the most successful slave revolt , The Haitian Revolution in 1791. In 1821 Greece fought the Ottoman Empire for their freedom(Richards 85). There was a rise in German nationalism in 1794 that lead to the execution of Hungarian Jacobins. Later on in the mid nineteenth century Italy also had their national unity movement. Many of Latin America’s republics were created on the French model. This French influence can even be seen in the amount of native French speakers, theRead MorePolitical Elements Of 1984870 Words   |  4 PagesGeorge Orwell’s book, 1984, was and still is an astonishing success. Every year this book rises to the top of the charts than falls back down until the next year comes around. Even though 1984 is a book from 1949, somehow it stays relevant in modern day society. Many people ask the question why and the answer is not as simple as you may think. 1984 has many elements in it that makes it perfect for studying in a school. The book has a big focus on government control as well as politics, uses manyRead MoreFamous Trials : Al Capone1092 Words   |  5 Pages The Accused: Al Capone (full name Alphonse Capone), was born into an Italian immigrant family in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. Capone rose to infamy as the leader of the Chicago outfit during the prohibition era. Prior to being sent to Alcatraz prison for tax evasion, Capone amassed a total income of $100 million as the head of perhaps the most infamous crime syndicate of all time. Once he had served his time for the conviction, Capone died due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 48. The Crime:Read MoreKu Klan And Ku Klux Klan1359 Words   |  6 Pageslocal branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an â€Å"Invisible Empire of the South.† Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was chosen as the first leader, or â€Å"grand wizard,† of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses (â€Å"Nathan Bedford Forrest†, 2014, para. 5). Rise in Power The Klan’s popularity grew quickly after it was formed. Articles were being written, people began to talkRead MoreA Brief View Of The History Of Marijuana Legalization Essay1379 Words   |  6 Pages there were only 169 marijuana related convictions in the entire United States. During this time, marijuana was seen more as an escape and protest. Time Magazine saw marijuana use as an attention worthy means of protest. (Time) Crime rates did not rise, and no major health problems had appeared to be caused by the drug. The 1962 White House Conference on Drug Abuse concluded that there was only weak evidence indicating that marijuana leads to using harder drugs. (Eldridge) At that point in timeRead MoreCould the Second World War have been Avoided?1442 Words   |  6 PagesTreaty of Versailles, the rise of Hitler, the rise of Japan as a world power, the rise of fascism in Italy and the League of Nations were all factors which contributed to the cause of World War II. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace settlement between Germany and the Allied Powers that officially ended World War I. However, the conditions in the treaty were so harsh on Germany that many believe the Treaty of Versailles was one of the main causes for the eventual rise of Nazis in Germany and theRead MoreThe Negative Impact of American Prohibition1632 Words   |  7 Pagesappeared, along with new dances and a new and exciting era for women. Also, a general relaxation of standards after the stressful years of WWII. (Prohibition.) Prohibition in the 20’s was also called the â€Å"Noble Experiment† by many, because it was America’s first try at the prohibition of alcohol on a national level that many people didn’t agree with. Prohibition has changed America by changing the way people live, and setting the foundation for organized crime in America. â€Å"The last day before theRead MoreThe Start of Gangsterism/ Organized Crime because of Prohibition1984 Words   |  8 Pagespeople took notice of the amazingly high level of demand for alcohol within society and the extremely limited avenues of supply to the average citizen. Within this imbalance of supply and demand, gangsters saw profit.† . Organized crime started to rise because gangsters wanted money and they noticed that people needed alcohol, finally they came to the idea of selling alcohol illegally. Sometimes there were even government officials that would help control gangsters control bootlegging. As organizedRead MoreColombia: Drugs, War and Cartels2311 Words   |  10 PagesColombia has been home to some of the most violent and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations in the world. What started as a small cocaine smuggling business has, in the last thirty years, blossomed into an enormous multi-national cocaine empire. Starting in the mid-1970s, marijuana traffickers in Colombia began exporting small quantities of cocaine to the United States hidden in suitcases. At that point, cocaine could be processed for $1500 a kilo in jungle labs and could be sold