Cleopatra :: Essays Papers

Cleopatra II. Summary: After the completion of the book, it had let me to believe the book was written for the general audience. Although the author provided many resources, the information was taken from literature that was written during the time. Therefore, some of the quotes were biased either against or favored Cleopatra. For an example of bias against her, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus called her a â€Å"wicked creature, who was a slave to her lusts, but she still imagined that she wanted everything she could think of, and did her utmost to gain it†¦. As for Antony, he was so entirely overcome by this woman that†¦ he was some way or other bewitched to do whatever she would have him do.† On the contrary, here is an example of bias in favor of Cleopatra: â€Å"a princess well versed in the sciences, disposed to the study of philosophy and counting scholars among her intimate friends. She was the author of works on medicine, charms, and other divisions of the natural scie nces.† This was taken from a tenth-century Arab historian Al Masudi. The author allowed his readers to conclude their own interpretation of Cleopatra by stating both sides of the story. The book was broken down into eight chapters. These chapters spanned the time from 332 B.C. to 30 B.C. In the beginning of the book, it began the story of Cleopatra with Alexander the Great liberating Egypt from Persian control. However, the bulk of the chapters concentrated at 69 B.C. and ended 30 B.C. with the birth and death of Cleopatra. The story of Cleopatra began with her rein over Egypt as queen. This was when she allied and companioned with Caesar in attempt to strengthen her power. It was not long before Caesar was assassinated and his close friend and a powerful general Mark Antony denounced the conspirators. Not long after Caesar’s death, Antony and Cleopatra fell in love and ruled Rome and Egypt together. Together, they had formed an alliance strong enough to take down the most powerful force in the world at the time, Rome. The fall of Antony and Cleopatra began when they were defeated at Actium in Greece against Octavian’s Roman army. Towards the end of the book, the author went into details on the true love that existed between Antony and Cleopatra.

Scarlet Letter Images

Joseph Gurke 10. 17. 2012 Ms. Boas P. 1 The Scarlet Letter Light, Dark, Sunlight and Shadows Throughout his entire life, Nathaniel Hawthorne had lived in seclusion from people and society, isolating himself and his thoughts behind a mysterious shade. This may explain why the themes of sin, secrecy and guilt are used in Hawthorne’s fiction, exploring hidden human dimensions.The images of sin, secrecy, and guilt are constantly portrayed in Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, through the presence of recurring motifs of light and dark, sunlight and shadows; as these themes aid the reader's depiction of the separation between evil and goodness. Images of light are seen throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. These images illuminate a character’s true intention and personality, yet at the same time, force a character to hide certain aspects of his personality while under the public eye.The view of Hester on the scaffold, when she is receiving her punishment for adulte ry in front of the public eye, the image of light illuminates her scarlet letter and sin; liberating Hester from public judgment and the pain of concealing sin, â€Å"Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how here beauty shown out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped. † (49).The fact the Hester’s sin is known to all and that she is stands tall with her baby in her arms and the scarlet letter on her chest shows that she no longer needs to conceal anything from the public eye, â€Å"And never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. † (49). After being revealed to the public, Hester must now live in isolation with nature, self-reliance and non-conformity being the ethics in her life; yet having the relief of wearing sin on her chest. Sunlight is a naturally occurring light and one that reflects goodness and pureness in characters. It is a positive image, representing cleanliness and lack of sin in this novel. When in the forest with Pearl, the sunlight avoids Hester completely while she carries the scarlet letter on her chest, â€Å"Mother,† said little Pearl, â€Å"the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet! †(161).When she removes the letter, sunlight flows into the forest, bringing everything to light and removing any shadows present, â€Å"So speaking, she undid the clasps that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, through it to a distance among the withered leaves. † (191) â€Å"All at once, as with the sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, trans muting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the grey trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now. †(191).The sunlight represents cleanliness; washing sin, secrecy and guilt from characters, allowing them to feel a sense of freedom, â€Å"Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (190). With the absence of the scarlet letter, sunlight floods the forest and surrounding area around Hester and Dimmesdale, removing any shadows, which represent evil and bondage, and with this flood of sunshine comes a new feeling of freedom for both, exactly what sunshine represents in the text, â€Å"And as if the gloom of the earth and the sky had been but the effluence of those two mortal hearts, it vanished with their sorrow. (190). Darkness is a constant theme in this novel, representing guilt, sin and secrecy, major themes that Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates into his literature. Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl meet on the scaffold, under the darkness of night and shadows, the only time that Dimmesdale can express his sin and evil, â€Å"Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy. † (133).The scaffold shows the irony of Hester and Dimmesdale’s situation because Hester, in the daylight reveals her sin to the town and could be freed from the bondage of hiding sin, and now Dimmesdale, after seven years is revealing his sin on the scaffold to only Hester at night, still feeling the pain of bondage and concealment of this sin. It is the only time that Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and Pearl’s father ever embraces them and can openly reveal his sin, but the darkness does not allow him to be free. The minister felt for the child’s other hand and took it. The moment that he did so, there came what seemed tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring lik e a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through his veins, as if the mother and child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed and electrical chain. † (142).This love that the minister feels frees him of his bondage and cleanses his soul for a moment in time, yet this moment is enveloped back by the surrounding darkness that takes all hope of escape from him. Hester experienced this escape on the same scaffold that they are on yet in the light that allowed her to live the rest of her life without this bondage to sin, that under darkness, the minister cannot be free. Light, dark, shadows and sunlight, are all motifs that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses to describe different types of emotions in the text.Light and its more natural form in sunlight reflect the goodness in characters and the ability to be free from bondage with nothing holding you back, no pain of concealing sin. While one the other hand darkness and shadows allow the characters to reflect their emotions and reveal sin, but under darkness these emotions and secrets will not reach anyone else and will keep characters like Dimmesdale in bondage and pain. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. Print.

What Should Be Called A True Best Friend - 844 Words

Life wouldn’t be the same if friends didn’t exist. Since one could not ever know when a friend will come by and remove that loneliness that have been longed in the hearts. That is what should be called a true â€Å"best friend.† Those are people who continue to be loyal no matter what happens, unless it’s serious, dead serious. Although those type of friends aren’t the only type of friends one could have. There are also true friends, normal friends and frenemies(a friend that became an enemy). Worst type of friend that could one could ever have is a frenemy, but a friend who spills a secret is even worse. These type of friends differ on people who were trusted the least or most, depending on their trustful relationship with that one main friend. Continuing on, there just aren’t a lot of trustful friends in this vast world. That’s when trust issues begin to form between, slowly building up until one of the two or three friends fall and back away from the group. 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