Analyse of the Two Key Moments Essay Example for Free

Analyse of the Two Key Moments Essay Just before this key moment starts, the guards takes Rebecca Nurse out of her cage, on its way to the place where people are hanged. She is astonished that John is confessing. The key moment starts with Proctor refusing to say that he saw Rebecca Nurse in the Devils company, or anybody else. Danforth demands that Proctor prove the purity of his soul by accusing others, but Hale advises that it is enough that he confesses himself. Parris agrees, but Danforth demands that Proctor should sign a document. Proctor says that he has confessed to God, and that is enough. He asks Danforth whether a good confession must be public. Proctor wishes to keep only his name, and Danforth thus refuses to accept his confession. Danforth orders Proctor to be hanged. Hale begs Elizabeth to plead with Proctor to sign a confession, but Elizabeth states that Proctor has his goodness now, and God forbid that she take it from him. The characters have turning points in the key moments, and I am going to discuss what happens to Hale, John Proctor and Danforth in this key moment. Hales beliefs in witchcraft changes, so does his faith in the law. In Act 4, he tells the accused witches to lie, to confess their supposed sins in order to save their own lives. This change of heart and hopelessness, makes Hale gain the audiences sympathy but not its respect, since he lacks the moral character of Rebecca Nurse or, and as it turns out at the end of Act 4, John Proctor. Although Hale recognises the evil of the witch trials, his response is not resistance but surrender. He thinks that survival is the highest good, even if it means helping oneself to injustice, which honourable and truly heroic characters can never accept. John Proctor changes himself and provides a final charge of the witch trials. Offered the opportunity to make a confession that he has seen the Devil, he almost surrenders, even signing a confession letter. His great pride and fear of public opinion drove him to hold his truth, adultery, from the court, but by the end of the play he is more concerned with his personal honesty than his public reputation. He still wants to save his name, but for a personal and religious view, rather than the publics reasons. Proctors refusal to provide a false confession is a true religious and personal determination. His confession would dishonour his friends who are convicted who are brave enough to die as support to the truth. Also it will dishonour himself, staining not just his public reputation, but also his soul. He then decides to change his mind and tells Danforth that he does not want to lie, this bringing him to heaven. He has now redeemed his sin. As Elizabeth says to end the play, responding to Hales plea that she convince Proctor to publicly confess: He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him! In this key moment Danforth shows that his greatest interest is to protect the reputation of the court when he prompts Proctor to sign a confession, thus preventing the response of his death. I think that Danforth has changed internally but not externally. I think he believes that the witchcraft is fake, but externally he is still a strict and craving for a good reputation. If he did believe people at the end of the play, then he would not convict John Proctor, but he did because it was to late then, and his reputation would be ruined, as he has convicted people before. It is a crucial moment for the audience because they think Proctor is a bad and not a honourable man when he signs the paper. It is dramatic irony, but not as much. The audience know that Proctor does not see the Devil, to save his life by confessing and showing you don not lie, he says he has been seeing the Devil. But he suddenly changes, he rips the piece of paper representing his confession, and explains that his name is more important, he wants to show he is a heroic man, so he says he never has see the Devil, which is true, and the audience see how he is a better man, and is going to die being an honourable and a heroic man. A crucible is a melting pot, where substances are heated to a high temperature to get rid of impurities. Miller is suggesting the play is like to purge by fire, a form of cleansing. This is a metaphor for spiritual improvements as the result of a confession being exerted. It is known as cleaning or cleansing yourself by confessing to seeing the Devil. There is many ways to explain the name of the book and here are some more: first witches supposedly boil potions in cauldrons and a synonym for cauldron is crucible. Secondly, it has a metaphorical meaning: the society of Salem is being heated and stirred in an attempt to remove the impurities and leave only the pure members of the society. One of the central themes of the play is the spiritual development of John Proctor. It is a powerful and complex play. All of the action takes place indoors and it is very black, simplistic and it emphasises the lifestyle of the people and it echoes the claustrophobic atmosphere of the play. The play focuses on ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. In the play Miller is discussing the forces of evil. In the attempt to cut out evil there is certainly a degree of irony. The irony in this play is that evil and tragedy actually occur from the actions of the unwise and over eager characters such as Danforth and Parris and to a certain extent Hale, who became responsible for deaths, misery and cruelty. Miller is suggesting that humans are vulnerable to evil and he aims to show that the evil generated in Salem was through a combination of circumstances for which no one person could be held entirely responsible but yet none were guilt free. The Crucible was based on real events and characters. The people of the 17th Century Salem, witchcraft were a very real and forceful threat. Many people were accused of being witches, and were tortured and executed. The discrimination of witches spread to a lot of places around the world. Witches thought to commit crimes have various proofs of a witch including the testimony of a fellow witch, the common belief or accusation of those who live with suspected witch, cursing followed by some mischief or the person disagrees with the person when questioned. Miller was interested in McCarthy trials in the 1940s/50s and made the book parallel to it, Salem witch trials of 1682. Miller may have oversimplified matters, in that while there were no actual witches in Salem, there were certainly Communists in 1950s America. However, one can argue that Millers concern in The Crucible is not with whether the accused actually are witches, but rather with the refusal of the court officials to believe that they are not. McCarthyism limits, which wronged many innocents and this parallel was felt strongly in Millers own time. In real life, at Millers time, Abigail Williams was 12 years old, but in the play she is 17, but why did he change the age? He did this to make Abigail Williams a better character to make her do all the mischievous things she does in the play. At the age of 17, you are mature and able to make an opinion, and act more like an adult, unlike a 12 year old where you are still to young to do things adults do. Danforth was not a real person, he was made up, but the wonderful thing about him is that he is made up of 3 characters. These three characters were the judges, but they would not be as dramatic and neither strong, unless there is one person who rules, making that character more remembered, and more important to the play.

Comparing The Murder of Duncan in Macbeth and The Assassination of Kennedy :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing The Murder of Duncan in Macbeth and The Assassination of Kennedy There is a man who is a head of state. He is a very powerful man and is well liked by his subjects. The people love him. Then he is suddenly, inexplicably murdered. Someone is blamed for the murder, but the entire country knows the accused are innocent and are tools used in a cover-up. Does this situation sound bizarre? Does it sound like some work of fiction? Well, it is. It is the beginning of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. However, it is much more than that. It is real life. It is the circumstances that surrounded one of the most surreal periods of time in United States history. It is the situation surrounding the assassination of one of the US's most revered Presidents, John F. Kennedy. These circumstances suggest that the events which occur in the play Macbeth are still possible. It is possible for the circumstances surrounding Macbeth to be repeated in modern day America because no protection provides absolute safety, some men are still willing to do what Macbeth did, and the ac t could still be covered up. No amount of protection provides absolute safety. In today's world, it is easier than ever to kill someone. Any person can buy a cheap pistol and kill someone. It is also easier to kill without being caught. There are long range rifles and remote control explosives that can be used as the murder weapon while the actual perpetrator is far away. Also, it is easier than ever to find a professional assassin who will kill anyone for the right amount of money. These latter methods could allow a person to commit murder and easily get away with it. Even though the actual murderer may be caught, the person financing the operation could get away untouched. In Macbeth, Duncan was well protected by his guards. However, he was still murdered. The guards were overcome through a simple trick. "The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets..." says Lady Macbeth. She had drugged their drinks, and instead of guarding Duncan, they were asleep. Macbeth was easily able to sneak past them and kill Duncan. Every precaution available had been taken to insure Duncan's protection. It is not an easy task to get past two armed bodyguards in a cramped area. However, through some deceit, Macbeth was able to accomplish this. This reaffirms the statement that no protection is absolute. Perhaps the best example that no protection is infallible occurs in the

Biology on Drug Abuse and Addiction Essay

Abstract This paper will discuss what drug abuse and addiction is. It also will discuss what effects that alcohol, marijuana, and heroin have on the body. Over the past couple decades drug abuse and addiction is a growing epidemic in the United States. As the years go by more and more people are leaning on drugs to make them forget what’s going on, for fun, or just for personal satisfaction. People never seem to only worry about the feeling they get from using them, but what about the long term effects? What about the body, the brain, your health? Well people like me want to know the effects, so I will be discussing these things throughout this paper. There are many different types of drugs and they all have different effects depending on how often they’re used. I will be going through a list of drugs and what type of effects they have on your body and brain. This isn’t just a simple outline of them, this is more than that I hope you’re prepared. Drug abuse is a repetition of usage of addictive or illegal drugs. Addiction is being abnormally dependent on a habit. Today drugs seem to become the newest trend. Most of it is tried just for fun out of curiosity. Otherwise it used for more psychological problems such as: stress, anxiety, or depression. This doesn’t automatically make it abuse and there is no direct notice of level of drug usage to determine the movement from casual to problematic. When talking about drug abuse and addiction it isn’t about consumption but more on consequences. If your drug addiction starts to affect your everyday life you most likely you’re a drug abuser or you have an addiction problem. Drug abuse and addiction can have many effects on the brain. These repeated usages of drugs can cause the way your brain’s appearance and function. From taking drugs it can cause large amounts of dopamine can be released into your brain. Dopamine triggers feelings of pleasure, which your brain remembers and wants them to reoccur. If you become addicted to any drug it can start to take place of normal healthy things such as eating and drinking (non-alcoholic beverages). When addicted changes in your brain begin to interfere with your ability to clearly think, exercise good judgment, control your behavior, and feel normal without drugs. Your addiction is bad when the urge is so extremely strong that your mind starts to find a way to deny or rationalize the addiction. Let’s start with alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant it slows down reaction time and thinking and other activity with the brain. Alcohol rapidly enters the bloodstream and circulates to all parts of the body within a few minutes. When it reaches the brain it knocks out control centers, causing intoxication. (Hanley Center, 2012, â€Å"Get the Facts about Drugs and Alcohol,† para. 1). The addiction to alcohol is called alcoholism. Alcoholism is genetic. With consumption of alcohol it can cause many psychological effects such as to drink to escape problems, feelings, insecurity, etc. Little do they know that doesn’t solve them that only make those problems worse. Alcoholism can cause malnutrition, shakes, tremors, brain damage, mouth cancer, cancer in the esophagus, cancer in the stomach, heart disease, liver damage, ulcers, and gastritis. There are also many mental effects such as: Erratic behavior, impaired thinking/judgment, slower reactions, loss of self-control, moodiness, slurred speech, double vision, impaired memory, and depression. Alcohol can cause amnesia, because believe it or not the brain cells are not killed from alcohol; They are blocked by steroids that are created by the neurons in the hippocampus when large amounts of alcohol are consume which blocks memory formation. Marijuana is a preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria. When marijuana is consumed it enters the bloodstream and immediately attacks the brain and nervous system. Marijuana isn’t a stimulant, depressant, nor hallucinogen, however it a mixture of all three. It also can be determined on how the person who consumes it reacts from the effects. Marijuana is a mind-altering drug it distorts the users mind. When marijuana is used the chemicals can be located in the brain from three to six weeks and can be detected while getting a drug screen. When marijuana usage is gradually increasing by someone they may start becoming dependent on it because they like the feeling. However when becoming more dependent on it when they go days without they may suffer from withdrawal. With withdrawal they may experience effects like sleeping difficulties, nervousness, and mood swings. Now to get more specific we’ll start with women and pregnancy. According to research it can cause infertility. Infertility is being unable to become conceive children. Smoking marijuana while pregnant can also cause premature birth and birth defects on the unborn child. Now moving on to the men, did you know that marijuana has been linked to testicular cancer? According to the American Cancer Society they found the germ sub-type tumor non-seminoma in men twice as much in men that consume marijuana than in men who didn’t. This type of tumor is more difficult to treat and is more likely to be found in men in the late teens and early thirties. On to the mental problems, marijuana can cause short term memory, mood swings, impaired reaction time, high irritability, insomnia, anxiety, depression, paranoia, frustration, and confusion. Heroin is a highly addictive analgesic drug derived from morphine, often used illicitly as a narcotic producing euphoria. When heroin is injected into the body it reaches the brain anywhere between seven and eight seconds. Heroin can take immediate effects on your body even after small amounts of intake. Heroin is a depressant. Heroin depresses the part of the brain that controls the â€Å"survive† functions. Some functions are breathing and coughing. The thing that heroin does to the body is that it tricks it to release hormones that stop pains, and ones that cause pleasure. The person who is taking the drug experiences euphoria or extreme happiness. More effects of this drug are difficulties to urinate, retracted pupils, and decreased breathing and heart rate. As heroin becomes more of a habit for people it becomes very much expensive. Once addicted to heroin the user has to use this drug every eight to twelve hours or they can undergo a serious of side effects. The effects that happen when the user doesn’t get what their dosage is called withdrawal. When going through withdrawal the user experiences fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, and muscle spasms. The symptoms usually last anywhere between five to seven days. Also when experiencing withdrawal it can lead to feelings of anxiety, severe pain throughout the body. Since the body becomes so attached to the drug that when they go without they can potentially die, so it is important for an addict to go detox clinic or hospital to get doses of methadone for a while so they can wean themselves from heroin. Not only does heroin affect you internally, it effects externally as well. Some physical effects are: Sleepiness, skin sores, bleeding, slow breathing, and collapsed veins, heart damage, malnutrition, AIDS, anemia, death. It always seems to be the people who’ve never experienced drug addiction and abuse that are quick to make myths and rumors about it. The first myth is â€Å"Overcoming addiction is simply a matter of willpower. You can stop using drugs if you really wanted to.† That isn’t true. When you use drugs for so long the brain is changed so much that it makes it difficult for the user to quit. The second myth is â€Å"Addiction is a disease: there’s nothing you can do about it† although this is considered to be a disease it doesn’t mean you’re incurable that’s why there are rehabilitation centers and substitutes to help wean you off the drug you are on. My three is â€Å"Addicts have to hit rock bottom before they can get better.† Actually you can start recovering from an addiction at any time, and the earlier the better. Myth four is â€Å"You can’t force someone into treatment: they have to want help.† People don’t have to be your own choice to be done. In most cases the ones who are pushed by their families are most likely to go through with it. Last but not least â€Å"Treatment didn’t work before, so there’s no point trying again. â€Å"Recovery is a lengthy recovery sometimes there are setbacks but relapse doesn’t make it unsuccessful it just gives them reason to do better. Some signs and symptoms of drug abuse are when you begin to neglect responsibilities, when using drugs under bad conditions or taking risk while under influence, when the drugs you use are getting you into trouble, and when the drugs are causing relationship problems. Some signs and symptoms of drug abuse are if you have gained a drug tolerance, you take drugs to relieve withdrawal, you have no control on your drug usage, your life is slowly starting to revolve around drugs, you start to abandon activities you used to enjoy, and the continuance of drugs even after you found out what they do to you. References Robinson, L., Smith, M., M. A. (2012) – Drug Abuse and Addiction. Signs, Symptoms, and Help for Drug Problems and Substance Abuse, Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/drug_substance_abuse_addiction_signs_effects_treatment.htm Wade, C., Tavris, C. (2010) . Psychology. California: Prentice Hall

Effect Of The Policy On China s Sex Ratio - 982 Words

â€Å"Vigilantes abduct pregnant women on the streets and haul them off, sometimes handcuffed or troused, to abortion clinics (some) aborted babies cry when they are born,† said Steve Mosher. China’s policy was so strict to a point where they prevented a child’s birth just to keep the population number low. Statistics show that the Chinese government prevented over 400 million births. The one-child policy was implemented to curb a then surging population and limit the demands for water and other resources, as well as to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China. One of the most significant effects of the policy has been on China’s sex ratio. China has a grossly unequal ratio of about 114 males to every 100 females. Due to the policy, many families were forced to only having one child. With that, baby boys were valued in China’s society than baby girls because boys carry on the ancestral name and are responsible for taking care of aged parents. Because of this many families would abandon their baby girl, sometimes leaving her on the streets, railways stations, and public buildings. The one-child policy left no more than sad memories for China’s nation. The law consisted of forced abortions and an unbalanced gender society. Although it was meant for the greater good of the people by decreasing the population to increase scarce resources, it caused many girls to be left abandoned by their own families. The one-child policy allowed forced abortions and killedShow MoreRelatedSocial Consequences Of China One Child Policy723 Words   |  3 PagesWhile china One child Policy was aimed for improvement, the policy has caused some serious social consequences. The New England Journal of Medicine s article The Effect of China s One-Child Family Policy after 25 Years discuss the social consequences of Chinas One child policy. 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