The Funerals of Sclyd and Beowulf Essay Example for Free

The Funerals of Sclyd and Beowulf Essay The opening of the Beowulf is the funeral of Sclyd, his clan is preparing him for his funeral and sending his body to God, As they prepare him for his voyage, I use this as an important word because as we continue to read of the grief of his clan we find out that they instead of a funeral pyre as was common in some cultures of the time that his clan filled the ship with the bounty from as it said far and wide. Setting him out to sea upon a ship or barge as it is also referred to in this passage. It is interesting that this is the way the clan set their beloved Lord to his final rest because the Historic funeral show that the Scandinavians practice of setting them out to sea with one twist, they generally set the barge or ship carrying the deceased on fire in the passage where they send Sclyd off to his final rest they do not set him on fire but fill the ship with many riches. There were a couple of reasons for burning the body at that time, one was to keep the spirit of the deceased from coming back to harm the living, it was also for the purpose of â€Å"Freeing the Spirit† so that it could enter the afterlife with the Gods. One interesting point in the passage of Scyld’s death is the part where they fill the ship with the riches of far and wide. This was not a normal Scandinavian practice in this practice originated with the ancient Egyptian practices of burying the possessions of the Pharaohs with them in their crypts. It is a curious cross of cultures. They loaded the ship with weapons, shields and upon his chest his breast plate and helmet were laid. In the death of Beowulf we see a far different funeral scene. The difference between the two is telling, while Scyld’s body is cast to the sea on a ship carrying with him his riches. Beowulf, however, was buried in a different manor all together he was placed upon a funeral pyre, following the proper burial of the times. There were no riches to surround him although before his death he did request to see the treasures guarded by the dragon that he fought and lost his life too. There is an interesting contrast between the two of these men while Sclyd was considered a lord and given a burial that his clan felt was befitting his status, Beowulf was a prince of his people and yet his burial was in the traditions of the Nordic clans of the time, they believed that setting the soul free was the best way to honor their fallen hero. In the funeral there is the sorrow of his queen, as she sings her pain for all to hear. As they mourned him they set him on fire and the blaze burned all that was upon his pyre. What was most interesting is what they did after they built as he requested a mound that over looked the sea so that sailors would see it as they sailed by, they then built a wall where they put his ashes behind the wall and placed the treasures from his last battle with him. Then the warriors the same who had failed to aide him when he needed them rode in a circle and told of their grief and sorrow. They left the great warrior among the kings that he had gone to join. The contrast between the two cultures is evident in the passages as you read seeing how the people dealt with the death of each man, while Beowulf’s men grieved him they carried out his final wishes and built the great mound that he asked them to do. While Sclyd was laid to rest an old man with his many riches there was no great out cry of mourning it was simply they mourned their honored lord. References Historic Funeral Practices-Roger D. Sellers- http://www. sellersfuneralhome. com Beowulf- By Dr. David Breeden-http://www. lnstar. com/literature/beowulf/index. html http://links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0015-587X(195012)61%3A4%3C169%3ATHOTDA%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-I

On Liberty Essay examples -- essays research papers

Analysis & Critique of J.S. Mill's On Liberty The perception of liberty has been an issue that has bewildered the human race for a long time. It seems with every aspiring leader comes a new definition of liberty, some more realistic than others. We have seen, though, that some tend to have a grasp of what true liberty is. One of these scholars was the English philosopher and economist J.S. Mill. Mill's On Liberty provided a great example of what, in his opinion, liberty is and how it is to be protected. In this essay we will examine Mill's ideals concerning liberty and point out a few things he may not have been realistic about. For Mill, liberty is defined by, "the nature and limits of the power of which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual." Mill's stance is that society can step in only when the action of the individual causes harm to others. Interference for any other reason is unwarranted and only hinders the development of society as a whole. When these liberties are preserved the end result is freedom, and true freedom, according to Mill, is pursuing one's own good in which ever way they deem fit, so long as it doesn't bring harm to others. And here in lies the problem, It is human nature to believe that you are right and the other is wrong. This concept, which seems to be hard wired into all of us, leads to the disapproval, which leads to anger, which in turn leads to suppression. This is the one thing that must be avoided. Across history there are examples of government, or society, stifling the voice of opposition. Though we may think we are right, that doesn 't give us the right to keep others from expressing their own opinions and ideas. To take away an individual's ability to think and feel for itself is to rob them of the greatest part of being alive. Along with that you are robbing yourself of the knowledge that they posses, which is retarding your growth as a person. According to Mill, we dare not quiet the voice of opposition for there is a good chance that that voice is correct. The truths of life are an ever evolving concept. Things that were thought to be true have falling time and time again, and if we are honestly trying to find out these truths we must listen and argue every ... ...t would be structured like, with the three branches and currency. Mill has more of an ideal that he would like to project onto a society. Both believe a government's priority is to protect the freedom of its citizens, and if it does not accomplish this then it is the populations duty to relieve it of its power. I myself agree with a lot of what Mill says. We do need to let people express themselves even when what they say and do angers us. For what we say and do my anger them just the same, and no one would like to be silenced. Tolerance is a virtue that we all need in our everyday lives. But the problem is implementing this into a society that preaches free speech, but doesn't always back it up. People here don't want to hear those who oppose. Though we don't directly stifle their voice, we don't take the time to hear what they have to say. Now isn't that in the same ballpark as suppressing someone's ideas, not taking the time to hear the ideas and to form educated opinions of them. "If a tree fall in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Wouldn't that same thing apply to someone talking and nobody listening?

Italian Poetry Essay

‘Glide’ forwards this pertaining uncertainty as ‘glide’ means to move fast without effort. Hence this can be linked to the final chapters where Victor chases his creation that watches and leaves deliberate clues for him. Victor feels his presence but fails to locate him. This creates atmosphere because his paranoia follows him until death, gradually draining all his happiness. His manipulation of Victor can however be interpreted as being ‘justifiably’ evil. Readers often sympathise with him because Victor was his only connection to humanity in-terms of attention and fluent communication; hence why after Victor dies he instantly contemplates suicide in the same cold condition. Victor’s death would fate him to a life, if he chose to live, of eternal loneliness: [Chapter 24] â€Å"†¦ for the bitter story of remorse may not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever. † The creature felt the same way Victor did; he did kill and destroy innocence, but however is not the psychopathic monster which humanity perceived him to be. The novel ends with the creature’s final recital of his tendencies: â€Å"My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, will surely not think thus. Farwell,† during his life-time he had taken a cynical outlook of humanity and thus sees death as his only escape to ‘a place’ more accepting. A similar word which describes Victor’s psychological isolation is his seeking of ‘asylum’ at â€Å"the Church of Ingolstadt†. ‘Asylum’ follows a cruder pattern of ‘refuge’; being an ‘asylum’ is similar to being a ‘refuge’ but it’s to mean more alienated – a criminal would take ‘asylum’ in a church to avoid persecution at that time. It is his method of keeping sane as he feels ‘protected’ inside God’s house. This is significant because he, prior to this, had labelled the creature as a ‘daemon’ and ‘fiend’: both of which are evil spirits related to the devil thus Victor by seeking ‘asylum’ believes that he is safe from the creature because in Christianity such evil is void of entering the Church. However all the creature wants is companionship. He had been tolerant and justifiable in his reasoning to Victor before driving himself further to demolishing his happiness. Such justification is shown in Volume 2; Chapter 9: Did I request thee, Maker, from my day To mould me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me? The monster through his intelligence learns to read and communicate in a profoundly persuasive manner. He quotes lines from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, paralleling his situation to that of Adam’s in Christianity. The creature is trying to show Victor that Adam may have been banished from all that was good in Paradise but even with such loss can still render happiness – merely because he has the one simple element to say alive for – love; which in comparison, the monster is deprived of. Therefore the monster, through his intelligence again, learns to deprive Victor of such love and companionship which will likewise inflict a profoundly negative effect on him. This is seen in Chapter 5 where he instantly recovers from his paranoia as he sees Henry: â€Å"In a moment forgot my horror and misfortune; I felt suddenly, and for the first time during many months, calm and serene joy. † Thus by the creature seizing away all his relations, he is seizing away elements of happiness which his life had contained. Hence this makes him pertain to his ‘wretchedly’ character which he had named himself. But Victor, however, knowingly shares similar emotion with his creation: â€Å"I passed the night wretchedly. † The verb which Victor uses to describe his action is ‘wretchedly’ which reflects his calling of the monster as a ‘wretch’. ‘Wretchedly’ is used to refer to someone who does an action in a deplorably unhappy manner; it is used in this context as a subtle form of foreshadowing of the trait of unhappiness he shares, and would continue to share in a fluent manner with his creation towards the end of the novel, especially during their mad endeavour towards the North Pole. The importance of friendships is further highlighted by the way he actually felt uneasy during his experiment; he was obsessed and did not genuinely enjoy what he was doing: â€Å"first time during many months† and he felt both ‘calm’ and ‘serene’ seeing Henry – such words indulge peace into one, which is contrasting with the whole experimental scenario. The significance of his creation is further emphasised, â€Å"The form of the monster whom I had bestowed existence was for ever before my eyes. † ‘For ever’ elaborates on the monster’s significance because it means for eternity, Victor will always seem him; ‘before my eyes’ is effective because it reinforces that Victor will feel the monster’s presence before or without seeing him. In Chapter 5, Victor describes the monster in a way which will inevitably repulse and frighten any human-being: â€Å"A mummy endued with animation could not be as hideous as that wretch†. The way Victor compares his creation to ‘a mummy endued with animation’ is striking, conjuring a beyond-frightful image of what the monster must look like. This image of the monster is further elaborated on in, â€Å"Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance†; â€Å"it became a thing that even Dante could not have conceived. † The way Victor says ‘no mortal’ reinforces that no living thing, in this case human, could even bear to look at him – the inference to Dante emphasises how the creature has surpassed the human connotations of the word ‘hideous’. This is because Dante, especially his death mask, is one of the most controversially hideous architectural figures of History to people, both contemporarily and at that time. Dante had also written Italian Poetry (subsequently translated to other languages) which includes emotions which the monster felt such as Loneliness and exile in Paradiso. This puts an emphasis on the creature’s loneliness, showing how nothing prior to his creation had trodden upon this Earth, thus nothing currently resembles him – and without Victor’s help of creating him a partner – nothing ever will. He is lonely to a degree where he struggles to answer the most fundamental questions of identity and personal History.

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 971 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? The article â€Å"The Assault on Reason’, Introduction was written by Al Gore in the year 2007. The article shows the various stages that the American democracy has passed through the years and the danger it is involved with because of corruption from i8nfluential blocks. Gore argues that the members of the American sphere are dependent on falsehood as the backbone of policy making (Gore, 1). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Assault on Reason by Al Gore" essay for you Create order He also depicts that different essential composition of the American nation from the media, congress and the independent judiciary which are supposed to propel the country into greater heights of democracy have failed the country (Gore, 2). He shows that the democracy level of the country has been failed not only by the policies of President Bush at the time but by the people in general. There is need people to utilize the free speech and the judiciary to make sure that they check and balance the decision and policies that are made in the political field rather than sleeping on their rights (Massaro, 12). Gore shows that the democracy of the nation is in danger form the changes in political and all spheres of the American environment. Gore shows that public discourse is one of the tools that have lost its path in demonstration of the democracy (Gore, 6). He argues that the 2001 polls depicted that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attack but in 2007 still half of the American people believe that he is connected to the attack (Gore, 3). He also suggests that the American airwaves have been corrupted in such a way that the case of the O.J Simpson trial was a mere serial obsession of the media power houses rather than promoting good sense (Gore, 3). The media has been in high obsession of many things such as the bizarre death of six year old Jon-Benet Ramsey. The high coverage hours of the cases which was still even in documentation of the articles suggests that the media has been blinded. The American watchers were tied to watching a series of events from trials, and other med ia stuffs that are of lesser relevance in building the nation (Gore, 5). The media focuses too much on petty things in the society today rather than majoring in things that affect the democracy and building of the nation. This poses as a threat to the nation. There is lack of reason by many blocks especially the media in driving democracy to people doors (Kellner, 25). Gore also argues that there is ignorance in terms of making decisions that involve going to war or seek peace (Gore, 5). He demonstrates that there is lack of debates so as to project the consequences of the decision that people make either in the judiciary or bin the congress. Decisions that involve invading a country a crucial and thus there is need to make a lot of consultations and deliberations before executing the idea. Gore suggests that the senate has been one of the tools that have led to the fall of the nation’s democracy (Gore, 5). The senators are involved in many fundraising projects rather than being in their stipulated place where they can debate the essential things of the nation. He depicts that the time that Senator Byrd description of the senate on crucial matter of the war was met in abnormal state since most of the members were indulging themselves in projects that will lead to their reelection (Gore, 4). In the eve of war there was lack of better indulges of all of members in making the decision. This demonstrates how they have fallen behind in making decisions that will drive the country into a more democratic zone (Gans, 11). America was built from diverse cultures thus there is need to involve the various people and many sections of the institution of government sphere should be involved in the execution of democracy in the nation (Gans, 4). The media especially the television has fallen to impact the people but rather has focused on seeking attention. The television was supposed to overtake the printing media and therefore its greater influence was supposed to increase the value of democracy (Kellner, 21). Gore suggests that the concept of governance can be bought by many people vying for the seats in the governance (Gore, 10). He shows that the various ads and the opinion polls have shifted the democracy of the country through promotion of wealthy members of community rather than visionary ones (Gore, 12). The television has been very influential in dividing many people through the publicizing the public opinions sampling which has been based on propagandas. The public forum has decayed so much that th e manufacture of consent has emerged in the American sphere where it was expected to have died from the past prediction (Gore, 14). There is need for the public forum to establish accountability of the government to the people (Gore, 10). The market place of the ideas is characterized by the market place being open to ideas from everyone, dependency on meritocracy and the fact that the participants’ unspoken duty was enriched for agreement (Parks et al, 2015). In conclusion, various medium of spreading information have existed in the American world. The printing press was the most common form of media in the American world but the television has overtaken it. These medium is essential in the promotion of democracy but there is falsehood in most public forums where the element of propaganda in public opinions has stretched the democracy of the country to its bottom. The people of America have failed the country from the ruling class, the judiciary, common public and media. There is need to put focus on things that will enable the development of the democracy of the nation rather than things that seek the attention or promoting re-election in member of states. People should not allow fear to overcome reason in the exercise of democracy.