Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essays

Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essays Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essay Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essay 22 May 2010 Oedipus and his Tragic Character In the play Oedipus the King we identify the classic tragic hero. The character, Oedipus Rex plays the role of the tragic hero perfectly. He shows the three main characteristics being talented and of noble birth, possessing a tragic flaw that causes the downfall and pain of everyone, and the recognition of responsibility. Oedipus’s first characteristic of being a tragic hero is being talented and of noble birth. Oedipus is talented because during his journey to run away from his curse, the oracle foresaw for him, he stumbles upon the Riddle of the Sphinx in Thebes; Oedipus solved the riddle and is rewarded to be king and is given the old kings wife. â€Å"You freed us from the Sphinx; you came to Thebes and cut us loose from the bloody tribute we had that harsh brutal singer† (Line 44). As Oedipus is being rewarded for his talents, no one knows that Oedipus is already of noble birth and is the true heir to this kingship. Only the blind prophet of Thebes, Tiresias knew before anyone else found out that Oedipus is the old king’s son which made him nobility. â€Å"None of you knows and I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, not to say your own† (Lines 373-379) The next characteristic that shows Oedipus playing the tragic hero is him possessing a tragic flaw. Oedipus’s flaw is being a very narcissistic person. He might have been a good leader for all the years that have come to past but he is very full of himself and makes sure everyone remembers that he solves the riddle of the sphinx even though it is many years ago. Another thing is if his people had problems like the plague that was spreading, no one is as sick as him because to him he had to be number one no matter what the situation. Lines 71-73 show his personality perfectly, â€Å"Well I know you are sick to death, all of you, but sick as u are, no is as sick as I†. This personality if his stirs up much trouble for himself that has the real truths of him surface in front of everyone, that he was the curse that the profit reveals to Laius and Jacasta. Jocasta realizes that he is her son when he pushed the answers out of the messenger, and the messenger says, â€Å"No sir, another shepherd passed you on to me. He called himself the servant of†¦ if I remember rightly-Laius† Now that Jocasta figures it out, she is so afraid that she keeps begging Oedipus to not push any further, to leave it alone, but he is not satisfied and needs to know where he come from and is he of nobility or a servant. Oedipus‘s recognition of his responsibility is very easy for him. He keeps pushing for answers whether or not he is this curse the prophecies foresaw and he does get what he wants and puts the pieces together and figures out he is the prophecies curse, that he killed his father and he did marry his mother. â€Å"I’d never have come to this, my father’s murder-never been branded mother’s husband, all men see me now! † Oedipus feels he is blind and could not see his fate with his eyes, and that he should have seen this coming. The next horror to come for Oedipus is for him to walk into the room where Jocasta hanged herself. He runs to her and cut her down. This is the final act he could witness, and takes her brooches and gouges them into his eyes so he could never see the pain he has caused everyone again. The messenger states, â€Å"You, you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen; blind to the ones you long to see, to know! In conclusion, the tragic hero is a very intense role for a character to play. As one may see in Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a character in the beginning one probably hated for his selfishness, but just had to feel bad for seeing all these mysteries unfold before Oedipus showing he was the curse that the prophecies foresaw, the one to murder his own father and then wed his mother. Work s Cited Brown, A. L. â€Å"The End of the Seven against Thebes† The Classical quarterly 26. 2 (1976) 206-19 Carloni, Glauco and Nobili, Daniela. LaMamma Cattiva: fenomenologia, anthropologia e clinica del figlicidio (Rimini, 2004) Dallas, Ian, Oedipus and Dionysus, Freiburg Press, Granada 1991. ISBN 1-874216-02-9

150 Million Years of Snake Evolution

150 Million Years of Snake Evolution Considering how diverse they are todaynearly 500 genera comprising almost 3,000 named specieswe still know surprisingly little about the ultimate origin of snakes. Clearly, these cold-blooded, slithering, legless creatures evolved from four-legged reptilian ancestors, either small, burrowing, landbound lizards (the prevailing theory) or, just possibly, the family of  marine reptiles called mosasaurs that appeared in the earths seas around 100 million years ago. Piecing Together the Evolution of Snakes Why is snake evolution such an enduring mystery? A big part of the problem is that the vast majority of snakes are small, relatively fragile creatures, and their even smaller, even more fragile ancestors are represented in the fossil record by incomplete remains, mostly consisting of scattered vertebrae. Paleontologists have discovered putative snake fossils dating as far back as 150 million years, to the late Jurassic period, but the traces are so evanescent as to be practically useless. (Further complicating matters, snake-like amphibians called aistopods appear in the fossil record over 300 million years ago, the most notable genus being Ophiderpeton; these were completely unrelated to modern snakes.) Recently, though, solid fossil evidence has emerged for Eophis, a 10-inch-long middle Jurassic snake native to England. The Early Snakes of the Cretaceous Period Needless to say, the key event in snake evolution was the gradual withering away of these reptiles front and hind limbs. Creationists like to claim that there are no such transitional forms in the fossil record, but in the case of prehistoric snakes theyre dead wrong: paleontologists have identified no less than four separate genera, dating back to the Cretaceous period, that was equipped with stubby, vestigial hind legs. Oddly enough, three of these snakesEupodophis, Haasiophis, and Pachyrhachiswere discovered in the Middle East, not otherwise a hotbed of fossil activity, while a fourth, Najash, lived on the other side of the world, in South America. What do these two-legged ancestors reveal about snake evolution? Well, that answer is complicated by the fact that the Middle Eastern genera were discovered firstand, since they were found in geologic strata that were submerged in water a hundred million years ago, paleontologists took that as evidence  that snakes as a whole evolved from water-dwelling reptiles, most likely the sleek, fierce mosasaurs of the late Cretaceous period. Unfortunately, the South American Najash throws a monkey wrench into that theory: this two-legged snake was clearly terrestrial, and appears in the fossil record at roughly the same time as its Middle Eastern cousins. Today, the prevailing view is that snakes evolved from an as-yet-unidentified land-dwelling (and probably burrowing) lizard of the early Cretaceous period, most likely a type of lizard known as a varanid. Today, varanids are represented by monitor lizards (genus Varanus), the largest living lizards on earth. Oddly enough, then, prehistoric snakes may have been kissing cousins of the giant prehistoric monitor lizard Megalania, which measured about 25 feet from head to tail and weighed over two tons! The Giant Prehistoric Snakes of the Cenozoic Era Speaking of giant monitor lizards, some prehistoric snakes also attained gigantic sizes, though once again the fossil evidence can be frustratingly inconclusive. Until recently, the biggest prehistoric snake in the fossil record was the appropriately named Gigantophis, a late Eocene monster that measured about 33 feet from head to tail and weighed as much as half a ton. Technically, Gigantophis is classified as a madtsoiid snake, meaning it was closely related to the widespread genus Madtsoia. Unfortunately for Gigantophis fans, this prehistoric snake has been eclipsed in the record books by an even bigger genus with an even cooler name: the South American Titanoboa, which measured over 50 feet long and conceivably weighed as much as a ton. Oddly enough, Titanoboa dates from the middle Paleocene epoch, about five million years after the dinosaurs went extinct but millions of years before mammals evolved into giant sizes. The only logical conclusion is that this prehistoric snake preyed on equally huge prehistoric crocodiles, a scenario you can expect to see computer-simulated in some future TV special; it may also have occasionally crossed paths with the equally giant prehistoric turtle Carbonemys.

Global governance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global governance - Coursework Example Every nation has its own laws, but due to the existing shared resources such as the oceans, the atmosphere, and climate among others, the necessity of global governance on such environmental issues has to be in place, to protect the environment and the biodiversity. There are series of environmental challenges which span several nations, regions, and eventually the entire globe causing serious harm. Some of the main global governance issues relating to the environment include health, energy, hazardous chemicals, green house gas emissions, invasive species and polluted water, and depleting resources. Truly, it is each nation’s and its societies’ responsibility to safeguard the environment, but their efforts are too small to handle the increasing issues; hence international cooperation has to take responsibility, by enforcing policies to guide and discipline nations. Health Issues The increasing health problems are matters of global concern, especially now when the transm ission of diseases, either sexually, contact or airborne is on the rise. New diseases are emerging, all threatening the lives of the global population, who have unrestricted movements across different boundaries. Health problems are wide, but the growth of global health partnerships is helping to address majority of them. ‘Health threats such as HIV/AIDS, influenza, SARS, or avian flu threaten every country and the global community as a whole, due to the rapid spread based on global travel and mobility; their impact is frequently very serious in economic terms.’2 Some of the diseases are arising or spreading due to human, economic, and social actions, which could be regulated easily to counter the diseases. Nations are spending huge amounts of money that could be drained in other sectors, to assist the citizens to meet the costs of treatment of these diseases. Food processing, alcohol, and tobacco companies have been accused of being channels that steer certain diseases like Diabetes and cancers within the societies. As financing healthcare continues to be a political issue, inequalities in accessing health care still persist with nations like the United States spending $7285, while developing nations such as Eritrea and Myanmar may have to spend less than $10 per individual annually.3 Often, human health has a relation with the health of the ecosystem; hence environmental degradation does not affect terrestrial organisms only, but generally lead to diseases that are severe to human health than infectious diseases. Malaria is partly attributed to environmental changes arising from human activities for economic gain. Parts of the Amazons, Peru, and Bangladesh demonstrate increasing malaria cases, as the clearing of the forests left pools of water bodies, creating ideal sites for mosquitoes to breed; these human caused changes encourage mosquitoes movement into areas populated by humans as their habitats are destroyed.4 This problem is also a health problem in Africa, since the tropics are much warmer due to deforestation activities, influencing organisms’ evolution (insects tend to live longer and breed faster than before) and as they migrate to other newer environments,

Demonstrate how you would plan the development of a corporate Assignment

Demonstrate how you would plan the development of a corporate communications strategy - Assignment Example Further, the main purpose of devising a corporate communication strategy is to deliver the company’s message to internal and the external audience (Steyn, 2000). Prior to defining the objectives of the company’s corporate communication strategy, it is essential to critically analyse the company’s profile and current organizational achievements. For this purpose SWOT analysis may be performed, to understand company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and the future targets of the company. Moreover, a PEST analysis must also be performed to grab an overview of the environment in which the company plans to survive and succeed (Cornelissen, 2014). The first and the foremost objective of the communication strategy is to devise a message that it wants to deliver to its audience. The audience is divided into two groups that are internal audience and the external audience. The sole purpose of devising a corporate communication strategy for a company is to pave the way for the flow of information. As suggested earlier, there are two groups of audiences that are dealt by the company, and they are the internal audience and the external audience (Steyn, 2004). The internal audience include employees, investors, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. The external audience include governmental and nongovernmental organisations, general public, and other private companies. Communication with the internal audience is carried out at two steps (Steyn, 2012). The first step is of informing and developing knowledge and skills among the members of the organisation. The second step includes convincing the investors, bargaining with the suppliers, and satisfying the stakeholders of the company. For this purpose, one could suggest regular surveys at an organizational level, and periodical reports of the company’s performance over six or twelve months. Fu rther, the company may acquire the help of business consultants to evaluate its

Ethical, legal and professional considerations Coursework

Ethical, legal and professional considerations - Coursework Example software development is a set incremental and iterative method which is focused on the value of customers and interactions that turn it to a business reality following a particular plan. For a project which is meant to investigate methods of agile development, effects of using agile to improve IT and valuation of agile methods, there are a number of crucial considerations that can be focused on. They include legal considerations, professional considerations and ethical considerations. A systematic approach for dealing with any moral dimensions of any practice or activity is professionalizing. Software development is considered an emerging profession in engineering whereby a professional is expected to rely on common sense alongside time-honored experience other than relying application of scientific knowledge and principles and lack the essentials elements of a real professionalism. Any profession has a basic requirement for training and learning, a particular code of conduct that impose high standards, an effective disciplinary system meant for those people who breach the code, a basic emphasis on the social responsibility of a professional and finally licensing. Therefore, when a code of conduct is enforced in a profession or rather for given professionals, it has a significance impact on the professionals. To start with, it enables a professional to protect and serve the public by developing user friendly and less harmful software. Secondly, it enables a professional to inspire and provide guidance to other aspiring or junior professionals in the field. Moreover, enforcement of code of conduct enables professionals to arrive at or rather meet the set standards for a given profession; for this case Agile Software Development. Fourthly, it assists in giving moral support that is essential for validation of courageous decisions in line of duty. Finally, enforcing code of conduct in Agile Development educates and engenders mutual understanding among professionals

Communications Persuasive Essay Essay Example for Free

Communications Persuasive Essay Essay Specific purpose: I would like to persuade my audience that drug test screenings should be mandatory in order for welfare recipients to receive their money. Introduction Attention material: How many if you have jobs? How many if the people with jobs like to see a huge chunk of their check MIA due to state and federal taxes? And how many of you like knowing that that chuck of your check thats missing could very well be going towards someones drug addiction? Thesis Statement: By enforcing a mandatory drug test to all welfare recipients, you ensure that hard working peoples tax dollars are being used the correct ways, and not being used to support a drug addiction, Preview: Today I will inform you on the pros of drug testing welfare recipients, how many states have already passed this law, how many states are trying to pass the law, the cons of the drug testing, and what we can do to out this plan into action. Body I. What benefits would drug testing welfare recipients have on our country? A. David Vitter of U.S. News Weekly states, by drug testing welfare recipients, it would ensure that all hardworking taxpayers’ money Id going to get used in the correct and intended way. The nation is already in enough debt of more than $14 trillion, does it make much sense to be wasting tax money on illegal drugs and dishonest welfare recipients? That makes no sense at all! (Vitter, 2011) B. Enforcing drugs testing will also force drug users or addicts that are looking for financial assistance to get help before receiving money that would have been used to feed their ongoing addiction (Vitter, 2011) By coming up with a plan to make drug user go to rehabilitation centers and treating their addiction before they receive financial assistance from the government will cause people to either get better first, or not have the opportunity to take the tax money and waste it on illegal drugs anyway. ll. Where in the United States has this law been implemented? A. Many states have tried very hard to get the drug testing law put into place and used effectively but not all have succeeded. In fact only 7 of the 29 that have proposed the law have had it passed in their state. The states that have the law include Florida, Utah, Michigan, Tennessee, Arizona, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Many of the states that have Mercado 3 tried to get this law into effect include North Dakota, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Texas, Kansas, Maine, Wyoming, and Virginia (National, 2013) III. What are the possible cons to drug testing welfare recipients? A. Two Michigan mothers, both on welfare argue that the drug testing law in effect in their state is it if constitutional grounds. Tanya Marchwinski, one of these mothers states, Just because we are lower income we are singled out. Makes me feel like Im doing something wrong and Im constantly being watched. (Cannon, 1999) B. Many states that have tried passing the drug testing law have failed because it is deemed unconstitutional. Due to the simple fact that the state representatives cannot assume all welfare applicants or recipients are drug users or addicts. Being able to pass these laws would take the conditions being changed to drug testing only taking place if state representatives suspect drug use in a welfare applicant or recipient. IV. A proposal on welfare reform A. Domenick Basolo the president of Good for Society, proposes a structure somewhat like the Three-Strikes Law Strike 1- Failing the given drug test when applying for welfare follows in providing written documentation for agreeing to signing up for a rehabilitation program. Strike 2- Must submit random drug screening, and provide proof once a week to attending rehabilitation programs. Strike 3- YOURE OUT! The failure to adhere to the following conditions and opportunities given will result in loss of funds to recipient, and possible household search to rule in or out of potential child negligence (Basolo, 2013). Conclusion A. There are many opinions on the welfare reform and whether or not to require applicants and recipients for submit a drug test and pass the drug test to relieve funds. However not all ideas or opinions would be acceptable in this country, because most ideas are deemed unconstitutional. Nevertheless, it is very evident a reform in welfare is much needed. Its just now about finding an acceptable way to reform it without creating controversy. Personally, as a hard working tax payer, I would like to know my tax dollars are going to the right things theyre intended for, not just to support a drug addict and at the same time neglect innocent childrens needs for daily life items.

Free Essays - Tales of Simple in Langston Hughes Black Voices :: Black Voices Essays

Free Essays - Tales of Simple in Langston Hughes' Black Voices Langston Hughes is represented in Black Voices by the Tales of Simple. Hughes first presents his character Jessie B. Semple in the Forward: Who is Simple? In this tale the reader is given its first look at the character Jessie B. Semple who is a black man that represents almost the "anybody or everybody" of black society. Semple is a man who needs to drink, to num the pain of living life. "Usually over a glass of beer, he tells me his tales... with a pain in his soul... sometimes as the old blues says... Simple might be laughing to keep from crying" ( 98, 99 ). Jessie B. Semple, also known as Simple, has just the right combination of qualities to be Black America's new spokesman and unsung hero. Semple seems to possess just enough urban humor and cynicism, down- home simplicity, naivete, and "boy-next-door innocence" that Semple easily becomes a character that hard-working, average, everyday people can relate to. He quickly becomes this sort of Black Everyman whose bunions hurt all the time and whose thoughts are relatively quite simple, yet he is a man who rises above these facts and has a perception that shows the man to have great wisdom and incredible insight. And although he maintains a seriousness for all his wisdom to come through; his presentation of the facts is given in a humorous manner. In Bop, "That's why so many white folks do not get their heads beat just for being white. But me --- a cop is liable to grab me almost anytime and beat my head- just for being colored " (105). This side to Semple is an example of Hughes attempt to give simple facts or actual truth but instead of telling these things harshly and angrily he tries to sweeten them with a little sarcastic humor. At times, Simple is full of pain. "I have had so many hardships in this life," said Simple, "that it is a wonder I'll live until I die" (105). This comment by Semple is one of many that help portray him as a simple man who has been both mentally and physically broken-down by society but