...Imminent Death (An analysis of the theme of death in the fifth act of Hamlet) Death, no one likes to hear the word, but none of us can escape it. The death of someone or even ourselves is all a part of the life that we live. It is impossible to avoid death when the time has come. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet¬ there is much death throughout the play. The play itself starts out with the knowing of the death of the King, Hamlet’s father. Throughout the play more and more characters die in their own way. In act five of Hamlet death appears in three different ways: through suicide, through accidents, and through revenge. Initially, the first way death appears in act five is suicide. In the beginning of the fifth act the two grave-diggers are digging the grave of the once love of Hamlet, Ophelia. They are talking whether or not she is being buried in the right place or not. “Is she to be buried in...
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...The debate on whether the death penalty is acceptable will never be resolved. That is unless the government decides to abolish it. I do not nor will I ever agree with the death penalty. It does not matter what the person has done. Nobody has the right to take anyone’s life. Although these people have done horrible crimes the death penalty can never be justified. The death penalty is inflicted on those who have committed capital crimes. Those crimes being espionage, treason, murder, and aircraft hijacking resulting in death. Furthermore, kidnapping, genocide, and drug drive by’s all resulting in murder. The death penalty is legal in 31 U.S. states. While it is only illegal in 19 of the 50 states. Making over half of the United States murders. Explicitly, the ways of execution on the death penalty are the most some of the most lethal. There are five ways used in the U.S. , lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. All five of these processes are disgusting to me. When considering the death penalty it is important to look at it from all...
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...The Death Penalty: Cruel and Unjust As Ronald Ryan fell to the ground on February 3, 1967, a flock of pigeons flew away in a scare (York). Everyone nearby knew this man’s life had been taken from him and never to be used again. This moment was the last of Australia’s executions. 50 years later, however, the United States of America still commits Capital Punishment, and regularly, too. The topic is debated whether or not the Capital Punishment should be legal. The government is already involved in the lives of those who commit crimes, but the idea of it taking away someone’s life creates an uneasy thought. Some people believe that execution is wrong, inhumane and should be abolished while others believe that it projects positive impacts and will benefit the world, in such ways as lowering crime rates and ridding the world of the worst criminals....
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...Adrian though a lot about death continued to think of himself as a Christian. He was not afraid of death itself and often recited from Shakespeare’s plays, in this case Julius Caesar; ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I have yet heard, it seems to me strange that men should fear seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.’ Adrian considered himself among the ‘Valiant’, and he knew that in his job he faced death every day. Still, in the evenings when he was alone, his thoughts often turned to death and the promises of a hereafter. He wondered if death was the final end, and after death there was nothing. But like so many others he hoped...
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...As a parent, the greatest joy is seeing their children succeed in everything they couldn’t. The impact a parent has their child’s character is almost as important as the genes that make up their being. Positive influence, as well as negative influence, can affect a boys whole attitude towards life which will be noticeable in their ability to do hard work, interact socially, and even the way he thinks as he walks the path into manhood. In Arthur Miller’s 1949 play “Death of a Salesman”, the main character and father Willy Loman refuses to accept the fact that what he thinks to be the key to success in the business world has sculpted his two sons, Hap and Biff, into a pair of liars and thieves. Charley says something to Willy that pretty much sums up his whole life; he asks him, "When the hell are you going to grow up?" (Miller 1256) Willy spends his entire life in an illusion. He sees himself as a great man that is popular and successful. Willy behaves like a child. Willy is like a reckless kid with high ideals and high hopes. Children always have high hopes for their future. Willy dreams of moving to Alaska where he could work with his hands and be a real man which adds to his many fantasy “what if” moments saying that if he would have just done “A” instead of “B”, he would be a rich and successful business man like everyone else (Miller 1258). Willy truly believes that to be a success in the world all you need is to be physically superior and to be liked by everyone...
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...When it comes to the subject of success, and how to obtain it, it is almost impossible to find an agreement on how people feel like you can achieve such a thing. We see a prime example of this debate in Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller. In this play, the characters Happy, Willy and Biff all struggle with the challenge of obtaining success. Though the three share the belief that the approval of others control success, they contrast in their belief on how important others approval is in relation to other characteristics of being successful; because Biff understands that hard work is a more effective in achieving success than popularity, he is the most likely to succeed and have a satisfied life. The first character we are familiarized with is Willy, who is also Biff and Happy’s father. Willy is a firm believer that when it comes to obtaining success, “personality always wins the day” (Miller, 1868) over hard work. In the play, the reader is shown examples of Willy raising his sons to follow this type of belief. When Biff and Happy were children, Willy often taught his unworkable success lessons, one example is when he tells his sons “be liked and you will never want” (Miller, 1853). Alice Griffin writes that Willy has an “inability to distinguish between the dream of success and the reality of the world...
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...The Death Penalty Can one justify an action of a cold killer? Furthermore, should death penalty be abolish? Lastly, is it possibly to end the debate about death penalty and the abolition of it? William Otis comes with his arguments in “The Death Penalty Saves Lives”, 2006, for why death penalty should not be abolish and his opinion of the abolitionists own arguments for it. The death penalty or capital punishment is a legit system where a person, who has committed a serious crime, it put to death by the state as punishment. The death penalty consist of two parts, the death sentence, which is the judicial decree that the person gets, and the other part is the actual execution. Death penalty has been used for many decades, and are still being used today, but of course not as often. In the past, it was performed by most societies and the most common execution method was beheading, which were most often public. In the United States, death penalty is a legal punishment in 32 states as well as the federal civilian and military legal systems. Since 1976, the most common method used to execute an inmate is lethal injection. Furthermore, in that same year the death penalty was reinstated after a ten-year long moratorium, which is a temporary stopping of a certain activity, thirty-four states have performed executions. A year that is very interesting, as far as death penalty goes, is 2012, because it was the year with the lowest executions in USA and, furthermore, by information...
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...In the Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman not only ruins his life but also affects people closest to him by escaping to a virtual world. The effects that the older generation has on the younger one is also seen in the book. Because of Willy’s deception, the lies he has been telling himself, but most importantly his sons causes them to view the world in a wrong way. A habit that is shown throughout the book was Willy’s tendency to slip into his dream world whenever things are not going as he likes. Another important deception that Willy has which affect his sons is his altered view of the American Dream, in which being well-liked and and attractive will bring ultimate success. In the end, Willy is the one who is hit the hardest by the destruction of his well built dream work. When Willy was growing up he met a successful salesman named Dave Singleman, whom was able to become well liked even though he worked from his hotel room. After learning how much success Dave was able to achieve, he believed that this was the American Dream and the future of America. Looking back, he keeps telling himself that he should have chosen to follow his brother Ben to Alaska. His belief that it was his poor decision which is the cause of his misfortunes is skewed. He realizes that the American Dream is not working out for him, but chooses to ignore the signs and keep struggling as a salesman. This internal struggle Willy experiences is seen clearly as he first mentioned how great his car was, but...
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...Andrew Fishman American Prison Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, wants to live the American dream. He is consumed with his own misguided beliefs regarding success, which causes his life to be similar what Wyoming Senator Craig L. Thomas said about the American Dream: “You stuff Someone into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.” Willy’s obsession with the American Dream, believing that being well liked equates with success, keeps both he and his sons in a state of emotional immaturity. These beliefs causes the American Dream to be a prison. The Loman family’s American Dream becomes their prison, constructed of deception and false pride. They cannot escape their immature behavior of manipulating, lying, and bragging, never realizing that this behavior prevents them from success. The Loman Family is so caught up on the American Dream that they give up happiness for the business world, they do this even though the do not like to be in business. Throughout the book Willy is so concentrated on teaching his kids the American Dream that he and his kids fails to recognize their aspirations which causes them to continually be stuck in their American Dream prison. As Willy and Happy are locked up in the prison Biff realizes that he is not a business guy and that allows him to be happy. Willy is too stuck in the idea of the American Dream and the narrow minded approach of success to do what he wants. One example of this...
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...Fatherhood: Does the past effect the present? Did the lack of a father negatively affect Willy’s character? (Bradford,1) Willy Loman’s father left his family and was out of his childhood when Wily was only 3 years eleven months old. As a result Willy was a failure of a father to his sons. By not having his father in his life, Willy did not know or learn how to be a good father to Biff and Happy. In the play, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy is a husband, father, friend, business partner and salesman. Willy is not very good at any aspects of his life, particularly parenthood. The factors in which Willy fails at parenting are numerous including, not making his family number one priority, not disciplining his sons, encouraging bad behaviours, not admitting his faults and lying. Firstly, with Willy not making his family his number one priority, he does this by constantly putting work before them. Willy has never been there for his sons, as he is travelling every week to visit customers, and he never really had the chance to get to know, and show his love for his sons. Willy does not have the father-son relationship with his children that most fathers desire to have. Willy’s love for his eldest son Biff, is based solely on Biffs achievements as a football player. Biff has been offered '...scholarships to three universities...' (Miller 20), and when he fails math, and because of poor grades does not qualify for the university...
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...the path of a successful person because they think that they are perfect. We often neglect the truth that everyone is imperfect, and that god is not one of us. We are human beings, and liable to make mistakes. Therefore, being successful is learning from our mistakes and following our passion we desire. We as human beings are all born with a passion and we have to keep trying to achieve it. Of course, some may lack this wisdom because of their inability to understand success is not all about money and good looks. An example of this theme of success is presented in the novel Death of a Salesman. Miller clarifies this philosophical way of life through contrast and comparison between two characters. In the novel Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller demonstrates the idea of success through the Willy and Charley through the theme of foil as fathers, friends, and businessman. In the Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of a Salesman, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Happy and Biff, allows Miller to demonstrate the foil comparison of the father-son relationships with the Charley’s relationship with his son. Willy and Charley’s relationships with their sons contradict each other and therefore affected their son’s future successes in different ways. ‘Willy Loman is a man whose fall from the top of the capitalistic totem pole results in multiple pitfalls’. He is a low class man who speaks only by his words and not actions. Willy Loman loves his son, Biff, more than anything in...
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...Through the ages, there have been many different views on what makes a tragic hero. The archetype for a tragic hero has been set by Aristotle, from his rendition we learn that a tragic hero must “be better than we are”, born of nobility. Someone who is superior to the average person in some way, but at the same time, must evoke pity in the eyes of the audience. Arthur Miller, however, opposes Aristotle’s views saying that the common man can indeed be a tragic hero. The character must be willing to lay down his life to secure his sense of personal dignity. Furthermore, in act 2 of the play, the author reveals to the audience the reason behind Willy’s failure and guilt. It is also this section of the play that Willy is fired from his job, after this incident it is shown that Willy’s flaw as a tragic hero is his excessive pride because after being fired his longtime friend, Charley, who runs his own sales company, extended to him a job offer. But Willy refuses to take it saying that his sons are working on a big business deal and that he didn’t need the job offer. “I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week…” but Willy replies “what’s the matter with you? I’ve got a job.” This shows that even under the direst of circumstances that Willy is too stubborn to take a job offer from one of the only friends he has got in life. At the end of the play, as a way to reassure himself that he wants to commit suicide he manifests his older brother Ben to act as conscience for what...
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...In recent years there has been this discussion on the topic of the “Death with Dignity” act. This act came into play in particular with the case of Brittany Maynard, a twenty-nine year old with terminal brain cancer. Brittany decided that rather than to see herself and her quality of life deteriorate, or be a burden to others, to forego physician-assisted suicide. While death with dignity has made its seem as if it is helping people, there are some questions that come into play. What about the family of the disabled? What are you telling people who are disabled or stricken with sickness that will eventually lead to their death? With the death with dignity act, it is telling people they should give up, not only on life, but on themselves and allows further people’s right to take away the life of the most defenseless. It...
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...Admit it. We’ve all thought about what happens when death occurs. Is there life afterwards? What goes through our minds as the process is happening? Dr. Kevin Nelson, a neurologist who studies near-death experiences says that “they're not imagined. The explanation, he says, lies in the brain itself.” Although many people claim to have experienced this phenomenon, are near death experiences real or not? Although every one has a different opinion, many do not believe in the happenings of near death experiences. Even though you probably have to see it to believe it, many people agree that once near death experiences occur, that’s it. Your life line is cut. No one really goes in depth to think about the experience that actually...
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...The Masque of the Red Death “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe is an eerie short story about the “Red Death”, Poe’s twist on the Black Plague. This plague swept across an unknown kingdom killing many people as it went. There were sharp pain, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. Poe had two main themes for readers to think about. These themes were proven through five main symbols: The ebony clock in the black room, Prince Prospero in the abbey with his friends, the colors of the seven rooms in the abbey, the format of the hallway and rooms and, Prince Prospero running after death through all the rooms.One theme that Poe intended to portray is the fact that death can’t be cheated or escaped, no matter how powerful or prosperous a person is. In the short story, Prince Prospero tries to hide from the “Red Death”. After some time the “Red Death” slips into the abbey taking Prince Prospero’s Life. This proves that even the most prosperous die. Another theme that Poe tries to portray is that people can’t go through life feeling that they are invincible and death will never get them. When the ebony clock in the black room tolled out every hour, the guest ignored their nervous sensations and continued with their masquerade. After the ebony clock tolled the last hour of the night, every guest in the abbey died. The ebony clocked symbolizes the time that goes by leading up a person’s death. This ties to into both themes because...
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