Is Violence in Pursuit of Happiness Justified Essay example

How are the people, oppressed by others and by the government, supposed to react? Certainly, they do not enjoy being treated unjustly, however, they should still obey the laws. Is it to the laws of the land that command total submission or to his convictions by which he is convinced that the system is totally unjust? Therefore, how should citizens defend their liberties, without using violence or disobeying the law, if they think it’s unjust? If an individual obeys the law, he would automatically be thought of supporting the unjust system but in case he does not, he would be accused of disobeying the law. There are various controversies about whether violence is justified when liberty is threatened. Throughout history, people have had†¦show more content†¦Consequently, he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions,† Abraham Lincoln. Therefore, the attention of the population and the government must be drawn to wi n their sympathy and guide the country towards justice. However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, in the United States, many changes were to take place in order to meet justice. Common problems like, slavery, racism and oppression caused various controversies about how the black population should react to these different types of injustice. People like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King fought for vindication of natural rights of African Americans. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both participate in civil disobedience acts, such as protests against slavery althought they had somewhat different orientations on protesting. The King claimed that passifism is useless and would only create more injustice coming from the government and violence should not take place during protests, because violence never brings any benefit, but only scares the citizens and loses its authority from the government. So he supports the non-violence movements. On the contrary, Malcolm X suggests that if blacks are treated unjustly, they should react like any normal intelligent human beings would do--fight back. To say the least thus, the common question whether one must obey the laws is increasingly imortant during the periods of unjustShow MoreRelatedEssay on Utilitarianism742 Words   |  3 PagesUtilitarianism states that when a moral dilemma arises, one should take action that causes favorable results or reduces less favorable results. If these les s favorable results, or pain, occur from this action, it can be justified if it is produced to prevent more pain or produce happiness. Stating the Utilitarian view can summarize these basic principles: the greatest good for the greatest number. Utilitarians are to believe that if they follow this philosophy, that no matter what action they take,Read MoreCurfews Dont Work812 Words   |  4 PagesCurfews Strict rules create rebellious teens. 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Most contemporary films portray violence to be a male dominated characteristicRead MoreGuts, Glory, Greatness: Inspiring Stories1280 Words   |  5 Pagessome great contributors during the Civil Rights Movement time that doesn’t mean that he is like all great persons because the Texas Western basketball coach is not like M alcolm X because he does not chose to use violence even when provoked unlike Malcolm X who has no problem with violence being used to achieve a common goal. Although many people may believe that Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violent leadership style is not as effective as a violent leadership style, but King accomplished numerous

Elements that Make a Tragic Hero in Shakespeares Works Essay

Elements that Make a Tragic Hero in Shakespeares Works In all of Shakespeares tragedies, the hero must suffer and in some if not most cases, die. What makes a tragic hero? One has to be a man of high estate: a king, a prince or an officer of some high rank. It was common practice for Shakespeare to tell of his tragic hero through the voices of others around his hero. This way we can understand his conflicts, his struggles, and flaws. Usually the heros own actions and obsessions bring him to his tragic end. (Bradley 2) v The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent#8212; v The calamities of tragedy proceed mainly from actions, and those, the actions of men. v Shakespeares tragic heroes are†¦show more content†¦If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.(III.II) Brutus is a very important tragic hero in the play. He is of high ranking, (servant of Caesar) and he struggles with conflicts and flaws. (loving Caesar and trying to care for Romes people) His actions brings on the death of Caesar, this makes Brutus an excellent example of a tragic hero. Shakespeares King Lear is an excellent example of two tragic heroes. King Lear himself and his friend Earl of Gloucester. King Lear fits the typical tragic hero outline, he is of high ranking: a king. His tragedies are caused by his bad judgment, arrogance and foolishness. King Lears first mistake is giving up his throne and dividi ng his kingdom among his daughters. He creates a contest amongst the three daughters, in which they must declare their love for him. His daughters Goneril and Regan meet the challenge, but the third daughter Cordelia, does not. She does not express her love like her sisters have even though she is the only daughter who truly loves her father. She is banished by her father. How sharper than a serpents tooth it is#8230;to have a thankless child! Away, away! (I.IV) This is King Lears first of many down falls. In the sub plot Gloucester makes basically the same mistake King Lear makes. Gloucester is a good-natured but naà ¯ve man. Edmund, Gloucesters illegitimate son creates a plan toShow MoreRelatedOthello is Not a Tragic Hero Essay1481 Words   |  6 Pagesdescribed as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is â€Å"Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?† Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers wouldRead MoreA Tragic Hero As Used By Shakespeare. 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Places in Gullivers Travels Essay Example For Students

Places in Gullivers Travels Essay Places In Gullivers Travels By: Jonathan SwiftGullivers Travels has several places that Gulliver visits. In this paper we will take a look a in-depth look at each of the places that Gulliver visits. In my opion Gulliver parelles many places to is home country, England. Lets take a look at the first stop in Gullivers travels, Lilliput. Lilliput is inhabitited by people who are only six inches tall. Gulliver seems like a gigant. The Liliputians have a structured government and social lifestyles. The government has a senate, officials, a council, and an emperor. The government has several parrells to the England government. Gulliver tells us that these competitions, to choose the officials, who can Dance on the Rope, are often the cause of fatal accidents. Flimnap, in fact, would havekilled himself ina recent fall had not one of the kings cushions broken his fall. The kings cushion represents George Is mistress, who aided Walpole in his return to power after a fall. Another comparison b etween Lilliput and England, Reldresal, a Lilliputian government officer. He represents Walpoles successor, he payed Gulliver a special visit. His purpose is to acquaint Gulliver further with domestic and international politics, and to enlist Gulliver for assists in protecting their land from invasion, corresponding to the Tories and the treats to France. In Lilliput, the warring parties are the High-Heels , the Tories, and the Low-Heels , the Whigs. Just as George I favored teh Whigs, so the Lilliputian emperor favors teh Low-Heels. Just as George Is successor, the Prince of Wales, indicated favor to both parties, the Lilliputian heir to the throne wears one high heel and one low. Although several things are parralleled to England some things are not the same. They both have punishment system that are based on different ideas, were as the Englandjudiciary system is based on on punishment, the Lilliputians judiciary system has its rewards for following the rules. They also have very stiff punishments for unjustly accusing another of a crime. If at a latter point in time the accused person is fround innocent, the person who wrongfully accused is put to an creul death and the un justly accused is rewarded materially, and also recieves a title from the emperor. Upon leaving Lilliput for Blefuscu after he had heard that the government was bringing charges of treasion against him and his punishment was going to be blinding him, which this could be paralled to an event in England, when Bolingbroke fleed to France before he went to trial. Gullivers second stop was quit different from his first stop in fact it was quit oposit. The people of Brondingnag were giants, Gulliver remembers the Lilliputians, and what they must have felt like. In this visit, the Brondingnagians, are a parrellal to the English noble. The Brobdingnags treat Gulliver as though he is a circus act to be watched instead of an human being, but they are careful of him and they dont harm him. The first owner of Gulliver actually does show him and then lets his daughter play with him like a doll. As the road show life is eating away at Gulliver he is rescued when the king and queen purchase him from the farmer. He bows and sctapes, pledges undying loyality, and embraces hte tip of the queen finger. The king and queen take good care of Gulliver and have thier scholars examine him to see what was wrong with him. They do lable him a freak because of thier ingornance. The society they are used to is that of the noble they have set ways they do things. They look down on people who are not the same as they are they are the High society of the world so to say. Just as the English noble feel to the common people of England. Because of Gullivers place in England his is offened after he had been talking to the king about England and the king said, how conemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects. Gulliver has his noble king and queen in mind when he treats the royality of Brobdingnag with the most highest respect. He asks the queen for some hair and he makes chairs similar to those back home, when the king and queen incourage him to use the furniture for him self he says that he dare not place a dishonoutable part of his body on those precious hairs. The king and Gulliver have a nother conversation about England and how they do things. The king his outraged when he learns about the taxation system, and thought that Gulliver had to be mistaken or that England was headed for bankruptcy. Also the k ing didnt agree with the colonies that England had unless they were only for self-protection. He also was blown away but the fact that England had a army standing by in peacetime. He was suprised to learn about the religious differences causing problems and didnt know what to think of the gambling. Gulliver tells us He was perfectly astonished with the historical account I gave him of our affairs during the last century, protesting it was only an heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishment, the very worst effects that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousnes, cruelty, rage,madness, hatered, envy, lust, malice, or ambition could produce. So as you can see the Brondingnag were a country that was basically the opposite of England with the exception of the thought of the English noble being higher than everyone else. The next stop, Laputa, which in Spanish means the whore, although Gulliver interprets Laputa as meaning flying island this is one of the foils the author uses. The Laputans are described in a way that makes them seem silly. The have one eye turned inward and the other up to the sky, its symbolic of thier activities. They are very devoted to abstract science, mathemativs, and music, Astronomy is a favorite of theirs. They have odd ways of satisfy their physical needs. Husbands generally ignore their waves and it is common for wives to meet their lovers in the presence of their husbands. Gulliver recalls a tale of a Laputan woman who left the flying island, normally if a woman leaves the island she never returns, who ran away from her husband to live with a cruel, deformed footman, so odious did she find her spouse and his Laputan ways. The Laputans houses were poorly built because they refused to uses right angles in their construction, they distain geometry, and practical discipline. Although they are very good at theoretical thinking the Laputans are very curiously irrational. Laputans are very superstitious, they have many fears mostly to do with the movement of planets and stars. These fear are in relation to the speculations of English scientists of this time. When the king of Laputa has to handle rebellious subjects, a problem the king of Brobdingnag bever faces, since he has no colonies, he has two choices to solve the problem. He can keep his island hovering over the troblesome town so that they are deprived of sunlight and rain. This dehas comparatively mild consequences, death and dieases, or he could simply have the island descend directly onto teh region, crushing the town. However, because he wouldnt want to be deprived of the riches of his olonies, and more importantly he wouldnt want to damage the underside of the flying island the king seldom resorts to this. So as you can tell they are different from England in their religious beliefs and practices. They have a high monarchy government where the king decides what what is the best decision that is to be made where in England the king does have council with he uses to help him make decisions that will effect the country. Gullivers last journey lands him in the land of the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms are horse like creatures that are governed totally by reason. They have a society that is perfectly ordered, perfectly peaceful, except for the Yahoos, and exempt from the topsy-turviness of passion. In thier society there is also no crime, poverty, unhappiness but also their is no joy, passion, ecstatic love. Everything is done on an even keel. The Houyhnhnms are the representation of the perfect human culture. The marriages are arranged and the couples have no more feelings for each other than for any one else. The Yahoos are human-like, and are keep in a kennel, and prohibited from having anything to do with the Houyhnhnms. The Yahoo had arrived on thier island by acident. These people are less civilzed than the Houyhnhnms. They represent the lowest traits in human nature. They are gluttonous, filthy, lascivio us, theiving, violentbrutes. Only physically do they resemble civilized people. They started out on the country only two Yahoo, and as they had children and their children had children they also lost the cilivilation and needed to be around other people to stay civilized. In a way this represent the way Gulliver wanted him home country England to be, perfect in its ways. But what would they have done with the Yahoos that they would have incountered?