Premium Essay

Victorian Vice

In:

Submitted By webinvest
Words 315
Pages 2
I will contribute a real one later.

In June of 2006, Edward Alexander began searching for a small income-producing apartment building in which to invest. Alexander had graduated from Harvard College four years earlier, and he was working for a biotech firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had grown up in Boston and was attracted to the investment potential of the Back Bay-Beacon Hill area, which he considered the best residential section of downtown Boston. Many of his contemporaries were renting apartments or had purchased homes there, and he and his wife had attended many of their parties. He considered paying rent to someone else a waste of a capital building opportunity, since he was building up someone else's equity.
Alexander wanted to gain experience in the real estate field, and build an equity base for future real estate investments. He hoped to increase his return by managing and operating his property on weekends and after normal working hours. Through a modest inheritance and a series of jobs Alexander had cobbled together savings of $80,000, and now wanted to give his investments a focus and achieve maximum leverage for this equity. Although he had no real estate experience, he had a working knowledge of carpentry from three years of designing and building sets for Harvard's Hasty Pudding Show.
Beacon Hill Properties
Alexander began to spend all his free evenings and weekends becoming familiar with the area. He obtained a copy of the U.S. Census Tract, Boston Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) to check the demographic data on age breakdowns, education, employment, marital status, income, length of stay, and ethnic background of present Beacon Hill residents. Most were transient, and either single or newly married. He checked maps for distances to the city's office, shopping, cultural, and entertainment centers, and found that Beacon Hill

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Mr Mishary Al Rashed

...Dickens was born in the year 1817, Victorian Era Mid 19th century till to beginning of 20th century, Hard Times published on 1854, Schools become mandatory in 1889. _____________________________________________________________________ OUR TALK WILL BE DIVIDED INTO 4 PARTS: INTRODUCTION OF VICTORIAN ERA The Victorian era of British history: was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain, where during that time, the British Empire has existed for centuries and was able to maintain a world order which rarely threatened Britain’s wider strategic interests. By the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, The British empire extended over about one-fifth of the earth’s surface and at least a quarter of the world’s population. One of the ways they achieved such a thing is through the Industrial Revolution. What is the Industrial Revolution exactly? Prior to the Industrial Revolution, a working person would be lucky to have 1 or 2 shirts. To make fabric, these people had to spend their whole lives weaving this shirt and as demand for british goods increased, they needed a way to speed up things in a way without affecting it economically. As a result, they came up with the idea of factories where workers would repeat the same thing over and over again. So I want you to think like a business man in the victorian era right now. What would make...

Words: 2426 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Allegory In J. R. Tolkien's Essay On Fairy Stories

...The rise of the Victorian novel in nineteenth century England is often associated with social changes and reform. The narrowing gap between the aristocratic and middle classes and the deplorable conditions of the working class provided ample material for Victorian novelists to develop plots exploring social concerns and often providing useful commentary. Following the French Revolution, England showed a remarkable social plasticity predicated by the Magna Carta and the Bloodless Revolution. While France’s working class built up a storm of vengeful justice toward the aristocracy unleashed on Bastille Day, England’s aristocracy incrementally relinquished political power to the people, thereby avoiding much of the calamity seen during the 1780s...

Words: 1213 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Satire

...in a number of situations creating ridiculous occurrences and absurd characters. Wilde presents the character(s) in the comedy play to obtain weaknesses, conceits, and lack of insight so that their acts can be easily compared between real life and form a sense of humor within the audience. Comedy of matters is a category of play suitable to uncover the superficial values of the dominant class in society written in a satirical but natural way. Wilde satirizes the values of the Victorian higher class using the characters Jack, Gwendolen, Algernon, Cecily, and Lady Bracknell. There are many examples from “The Importance of Being Earnest” that depict comedic and satire elements through themes like marriage and triviality. The nature of marriage, critique of marriage as a social tool, is a theme that is portrayed throughout Wilde’s play. It is also the most valuable during the Victorian era and to most of the characters especially to Lady Bracknell. She represents the predictable fascinations of the Victorian name such as social class, income, and an acceptable character. She views marriage as a financial business and does not approve of Jack to marry her daughter, Gwendolen, and simply because he is an orphan. “Lady Bracknell: …You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter—a girl brought up with the utmost care—to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good Morning, Mr. Worthing!” (Wilde 476). Lady Bracknell contemplates...

Words: 953 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

The Minor and Principle Characters Contribute Equally to the Form of 'the Importance of Being Earnest'. How Far Do You Agree with This Statement?

...The minor and principle characters contribute equally to the form of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. How far do you agree with this statement? A comedy of manners is categorically associated with and elaborate and scandalous plot, a joyous ending and using wit and inversions throughout. Throughout the play “The Importance of Being Earnest”, the conventions of a comedy of manners are clearly demonstrated by both the principle characters and the minor characters. However due to Oscar Wilde’s ideology of empowering the minorities and the ideas of reform in a Victorian society, it can be argued that the minor characters contribute more significantly. The first convention of a ‘Comedy of Manners’ that the characters contribute to is an elaborate plot. Unexpectedly, due to her insignificance in previous scenes and portrayal as a minor character, Miss Prism makes the most significant contribution to this. As she is the one who concludes the mystery of where Jack came from and in turn leads him to learn his name is Ernest, which therefore resolves the problem he had with Gwendolen over his name. This then also concludes the play as Lady Bracknell eventually grants permission for them to marry as she realises that he is the son of her “poor sister, Mrs Moncreiff, and consequently Algernon’s elder brother”. Nonetheless, the principle characters all make a significant contribution to the elaborative plot. A forewarning of such plot developing is first hinted by the principle characters...

Words: 1261 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Duality of Human Nature Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The text not only posits the duality of human nature as its central theme but forces us to ponder the properties of this duality and to consider each of the novel’s episodes as we weigh various theories. Jekyll asserts that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each struggling for mastery. But his potion, which he hoped would separate and purify each element, succeeds only in bringing the dark side into being—Hyde emerges, but he has no angelic counterpart. Once unleashed, Hyde slowly takes over, until Jekyll ceases to exist. If man is half angel and half fiend, one wonders what happens to the “angel” at the end of the novel. Perhaps the angel gives way permanently to Jekyll’s devil. Or perhaps Jekyll is simply mistaken: man is not “truly two” but is first and foremost the primitive creature embodied in Hyde, brought under tentative control by civilization, law, and conscience. According...

Words: 4255 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Jude the Obscure

... II Abstract The purpose of my study is to show the conflict between idealism and society in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. In this novel, Hardy portrays the strife of the two individuals Jude and Sue to make their own ways in society by seeking to realise their ideals. He also reveals the difficulties met by the two idealists in front of society’s attempts to thwart their ideals and to force them to surrender to its norms. This study allows the reader to have a deep understanding of the origin of the conflict, the climax of the confrontation between the two opposing sides and the result of the conflict. In this respect, the present study helps the reader to acquire a thorough knowledge of Hardy’s thought and the values of the Victorian society to which he belongs. III Résumé L’objectif de cette étude est de montrer le conflit entre l’idéalisme et la société décrit dans le roman de Thomas Hardy Jude the Obscure. Dans ce roman, Hardy dépeint la lutte des...

Words: 16996 - Pages: 68

Premium Essay

What Is Moral Fable? How Can You Say That Hard Times Is a Moral Fable?

...involves animals rather than humans. It speaks to our hearts as it entertains us; the ending is the logical, moral conclusion that satisfies our logical brains and seems "right". The problem with all moral fables is that there are often 2 sides to the same story ... things are rarely so black and white in reality ... so there could be more than one ending ... e.g. there are times when speed is necessary over steadiness - of course, there also has to be good judgement. Although it is not appropriate to describe a work of art, which Hard Times undoubtedly is, as a moral fable or a morality play, yet the fact remains that there is a strong moral intention behind this novel. Hard Times is a satirical attack on some of the evils and vices of Victorian society. Satire has always corrective purpose and is therefore basically moral in its approach to the subjects it deals with. Apart from that, there are passages of direct moralising in this novel. Hard Times is a novel which from the moment of its publication aroused very different sentiments in the reading public. Dickens's reasons for writing Hard Times were mostly monetary. Sales of his weekly periodical, Household Words, were low, and he hoped the inclusion of this novel in instalments would increase sales. Since publication it has received a mixed response from a diverse range of critics, such as F.R. Leavis, George Bernard Shaw, and Thomas Macaulay, mainly focusing on Dickens's treatment of trade unions and his post-Industrial...

Words: 1949 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Duality of Human Nature Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The text not only posits the duality of human nature as its central theme but forces us to ponder the properties of this duality and to consider each of the novel’s episodes as we weigh various theories. Jekyll asserts that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each struggling for mastery. But his potion, which he hoped would separate and purify each element, succeeds only in bringing the dark side into being—Hyde emerges, but he has no angelic counterpart. Once unleashed, Hyde slowly takes over, until Jekyll ceases to exist. If man is half angel and half fiend, one wonders what happens to the “angel” at the end of the novel. Perhaps the angel gives way permanently to Jekyll’s devil. Or perhaps Jekyll is simply mistaken: man is not “truly two” but is first and foremost the primitive creature embodied in Hyde, brought under tentative control by civilization, law, and conscience. According...

Words: 4255 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Duality of Human Nature Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The text not only posits the duality of human nature as its central theme but forces us to ponder the properties of this duality and to consider each of the novel’s episodes as we weigh various theories. Jekyll asserts that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each struggling for mastery. But his potion, which he hoped would separate and purify each element, succeeds only in bringing the dark side into being—Hyde emerges, but he has no angelic counterpart. Once unleashed, Hyde slowly takes over, until Jekyll ceases to exist. If man is half angel and half fiend, one wonders what happens to the “angel” at the end of the novel. Perhaps the angel gives way permanently to Jekyll’s devil. Or perhaps Jekyll is simply mistaken: man is not “truly two” but is first and foremost the primitive creature embodied in Hyde, brought under tentative control by civilization, law, and conscience. According...

Words: 4255 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Hard Times as a Moral Fable

...involves animals rather than humans. It speaks to our hearts as it entertains us; the ending is the logical, moral conclusion that satisfies our logical brains and seems "right". The problem with all moral fables is that there are often 2 sides to the same story ... things are rarely so black and white in reality ... so there could be more than one ending ... e.g. there are times when speed is necessary over steadiness - of course, there also has to be good judgement. Although it is not appropriate to describe a work of art, which Hard Times undoubtedly is, as a moral fable or a morality play, yet the fact remains that there is a strong moral intention behind this novel. Hard Times is a satirical attack on some of the evils and vices of Victorian society. Satire has always corrective purpose and is therefore basically moral in its approach to the subjects it deals with. Apart from that, there are passages of direct moralising in this novel. Hard Times is a novel which from the moment of its publication aroused very different sentiments in the reading public. Dickens's reasons for writing Hard Times were mostly monetary. Sales of his weekly periodical, Household Words, were low, and he hoped the inclusion of this novel in instalments would increase sales. Since publication it has received a mixed response from a diverse range of critics, such as F.R. Leavis, George Bernard Shaw, and Thomas Macaulay, mainly focusing on Dickens's treatment of trade unions and his post-Industrial...

Words: 1949 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Reasons Why Grade 10 Students of San Jose Pili National High School Engages in Vices

...San Jose Pili National High School San Jose,Pili,Camarines Sur A Research paper in Fulfillment of the Requirements in English 10 Submitted to: JAEL P. OLAÑO Subject Teacher Submitted by: CHARISH JOY B. BAYOT 10-EINSTEIN March 2016 HISTORY OF VICES IN TEXAS The history of vice in the U.S. state of Texas has been an important part of the state's past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the state's culture and its economy. Law enforcement organizations have traditionally defined vice as including prostitution, gambling, alcohol and narcotics, and pornography. These activities, though always controversial, represented major influences in the state with some enterprises at times holding legendary status. The legal status of the individual activities has fluctuated substantially over time. Additionally during some periods individual communities and public officials have been accepting of many of these activities, even when they were illegal, because of corruption, because the activities were seen as inevitable, or often because the activities were economically important. Early Texas and the Republic of Texas Before the arrival of the European settlers in Texas, the plant peyote (peyotl in Nahuatl) had become a popular hallucinogenic among tribes in the Rio Grande Valley as well as parts of West Texas and Chihuahua. Tribes in the area included the Carrizo...

Words: 6756 - Pages: 28

Premium Essay

Questionnaire

...how vices and social life affect the academic performance of freshmen Civil Engineers enrolled at TIP (SY. 2013-2014). We need your help to answer the questions below honestly. Rest assured that your answers will be kept with full confidentiality. Thank you for your kindness and consideration. Researchers, Camama, Kevin Clinton L. Cruz, John Paulo B. Cuaresma, Joena A. Dela Cruz, Elyzabeth Jecielle M. Pinca, Micha-Ella Jee Y. Name: _____________________________ (optional) Section: _________________ Gender: Male ( ) Female ( ) Age: _______ I. Read each question carefully. Check the box that corresponds to your answer. (You can check more than one.) 1. Are you engage in any kind of vices? (vices --- alcohol, cigarettes, online games, gambling, social networking sites, computer games, reading manga or comic books, etc. ). If “NO”, please proceed to test II. yes no 2. What is/are the vice/s that you are engaged with? Smoking Playing online games Drinking liquor Social networking sites Playing computer games Marijuana Shabu Gambling (billiard, card, kara y crus, etc.) Others, please specify: ______________ 3. What are the reasons why you are engaged in vices? Boredom Peer pressure Curiosity Advertisement 4. What are the factor/s why you are engaged in these vices? Society Media Family problems Financial Problem Complicated relationship 5. How often do you engage yourself in vices? Rarely...

Words: 439 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Bad Vices in Students

...It seems to be a "coming of age thing" when a student goes to college and ecounters vices such as drinking, unprotected sex and gambling. Such vices cannot be ignored anymore as to the more students seem to be detaching from their parents, they seem to be enjoying freedom too much. Some studies show that between non-college and those who are taking up college, drinking maybe quite a "thing" for college students when there are parties, events and other celebrations that can be thought of. Is this normal? A natural reaction to transitions might be the issue. From being under "rules" to the crossroads of the real life, things from the real life they might be experiencing might not come off good from the start. Such crossroads may be a time for experimenting, discovery and risky decisions. Although this might not apply to others, some of the college students who involve themselves in binge drinking, vices and even unprotected sex are either failing, dropping out or worse, ending up dead, making parents and administrators worried and that some of the laws and policies lack being implemented properly. Yes, there are deaths in students who have binge drinking and too much partying, this is caused by drinking and driving and other alcohol-related crimes. Is it because of kids' morality and views with drinking, peers and sex? Young people still need guidance, and the crossroads of their life like college, are one of the risky periods when they are tempted to try almost anything...

Words: 384 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Value of Virtue

...highly honored and valued by God, it is uprightness. If there is anything that commands any universal appeal, honor, respect and appreciation, it is virtue. By that same token, if there is anything that has been gravely weakened and misunderstood, it is still the selfsame appellation, virtue. It saddens the heart noticing the intimidating compass in moral decadence, negligence of duties, perversion of sexual purity and the cause of justice, bribery, child abuse, kidnapping, greed, immoral acts, selfishness and other social vices. One in a state of wonderment is likely to say that virtually virtue has finally been extinct in our contemporary society. Morals have been thrown to the dogs. People in civil service, political office etc., who claim to be protecting the interests of the masses, have failed woefully. After they have elapsed their stay in their undeserving positions, they won’t want...

Words: 1027 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Common Vices

...A “vice” is a generic term for a bad habit. Almost all human being s have some vices. Smoking, dringking, swearing are the common vices. A few common vices do not make a person “bad” person- merely a normally weak (that is to say “human”) person. Evil vices such as racial or sexual bigotry are maligant vices, tahat lower the humanity of the person possesing that vice. Even extremely ordinary thing (like a weakness for rich desserts) can be considered a vice in an overweight person, or one who suffers from diabetes, for example. Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another. Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property. In vices, the very essence of crime --- that is, the design to injure the person or property of another --- is wanting. It is a maxim of the law that there can be no crime without a criminal intent; that is, without the intent to invade the person or property of another. But no one ever practises a vice with any such criminal intent. He practises his vice for his own happiness solely, and not from any malice toward others. Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or property; no such things as the right...

Words: 516 - Pages: 3