In regards to The Odyssey, is Calypso a nymph or a goddess? Also, what is the difference between a nymph and a goddess?

Calypso is both a nymph and a goddess. Nymphs were daughters of gods. The word "nymph" in Greek originally meant "bride" but later also meant "young woman." Sometimes nymphs refer specifically to dryads, or wood-nymphs; naiads, or river-nymphs; or nereids, or sea-nymphs. But in Calypso's case, as she is the daughter of Atlas and has the ability to offer Odysseus the magical gifts of immortality and eternal youth, she is both.

In what two cities is the story set and do those settings have symbolic value? Could the story have been set as validly in Cleveland and Detroit?...

Paul's Case begins in Pittsburgh.  The setting changes to New York City for the second half of the narrative.

Cather is not an author of convenience--she does not idly pick settings for simplistic reasons.  The story of Paul's Case could not have been as effectively told had the two cities not been Pittsburgh and New York City.

Pittsburgh is an industrial city with a history of steel production.  This sets it up as a grey, practical city--one of necessary industry, working-class families, and practicality, rather than of art and culture.  Paul craves to be in the mix of things, among the rich and the glamorous, and the artistic.  This is shown by the fact he ushers at Carnegie Hall, but also dawdles after his shift is over to admire the performers.

New York City is the hub of all stage-related culture (musical theatre, dramatic plays, opera, etc.) as well as known for its high-fashion, high-class people and the luxury they live in.  Paul wishes to experience everything that is iconic about New York.  Although there are other cities--Los Angeles or New Orleans, for example--that are known throughout the world for their lively atmosphere or luxury, the oldest and most famous continues to be New York.  Also, it must be taken into account that Cather wrote this short story in the beginning of the 20th century, and while New York would still hold the grandeur it has always been known for, the same would not necessarily be true of other metropolitan areas.  Similarly, while there are other cities that could fill in for the plain, practical life that Paul's family lives in Pittsburgh, there are few other cities--again, particularly in 1905, when the story was published--that would offer such a concrete example of a boring, working-class life as cold, hard, unfeeling steel.

Why do u think the Kellogg-Briand pact failed? Do u think a pact like the 1 designed by them would have a chance of working today? Why/why not?By...

In my opinion, the Kellogg-Briand Pact failed because it was one of the silliest treaties ever (and because Hitler and the Japanese had no reason to obey it).  So it's not surprising that I would think that a treaty like it would have no chance of working today.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, essentially, outlawed war "as an instrument of national policy."  So it's a law saying war is illegal.  So what's so dumb about that?

Well... what's the point in saying war's illegal?  Will that really stop some country from going to war?

If a country does go to war "illegally" the only way to punish them is to defeat them in a war, right?  Well, countries only go to war by choice when they think they're going to win.  So the treaty won't have any impact.

So overall then, my problems with the treaty are:

1. There's no way to enforce the treaty short of going to war.


2. Because of that, a country that wanted to go to war would feel free to do so as long as it thought it could win.

Until countries stop being greedy, pieces of paper won't stop them from going to war.

Economically speaking, would Bill Gates pick up a dollar on the street?

Speaking strictly from an economic point of view, it would probably not make sense for Bill Gates to take the time to pick up a dollar.

The reasoning behind this is tied to the idea of opportunity cost.  If Gates stops to pick up the dollar, he has used X number of seconds of his time.  He will now not be able to use this time to do something else.

Given how much money Bill Gates makes, it is likely that he could have done something with those seconds that would have been worth more than $1. In that case, the opportunity cost of picking up the dollar would be higher than the value of the dollar.

So, if we assume that Gates could have done something that would have made more money, he shouldn't pick up the dollar.

Please cite a quote directly from the novel describing how Curley thinks or feels.John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" Please indicate the page of...

In John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" the descriptions of the men are fairly terse as the author seems to seek to present the characters first as men, common men who may be representative of variations on lower class men of the 1930s.  It is no coincidence that several of these characters' names begin with the same letter, C.  Chapter Two of the novella juxtaposes several men in the bunkhouse.  The old swamper, Candy, shows George and Lennie their bunks, the owner of the ranch arrives, and then Curley, the son of "the boss," enters:

At that moment a young man came into the bunk house; a thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair.  He wore a work glove on his left hand, and, like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots.  'Seen my old man?' he asked.

Candy, then, tells him that the boss was just there, and Curley responds,

'I'll try to catch him....His eyes passed over the new men and he stopped.  He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie.  His arms gradually bent and the elbows and his hands closed into fists.  He stiffened and went into a slight crouch.  His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious.  Lennie squirmed under the look and shifted his feet nervously.  Curley stepped gingerly close to him.  'You the new guys the old man was waitin'for?'

When George tells him they just arrived and that he and Lennie travel together, Curley says, "Oh, so it's that way," implying that the relationship may not be the regular one of two ranch hands.  Then, when Lennie does not speak, Curley asks why.  So, Lennie repeats, "We just come in."

Curley stared levelly at him. 'Well, nex'time you answer when you're spoke to.'  He turned toward the door and walked out, and his elbows were still bent out a little.

After he leaves, the swamper informs the men that Curley is

pretty handy...He done quite a bit in the ring.  He's a lightweight, and he's handy.

Candy knows that George has noticed the fighter stance and the "pugnacious attitude" of Curley.

(These entries are found in the second section (Chapter 2, paragraph 74 and the following.  In the paperback edition of  Peguin Books, this is page 25.)

What kinds of clothing do Indians wear in the country of India?I know they wear saris, but that's not all.... i think.

Most of the males in India now wear, what may be described as western dress, which I believe is commonly worn by many men all over the world. Some men also continue to wear what may be described as traditional dresses. Among women, adoption of western dresses is less common. Dresses most popular among women are Sari and Salwar.

Traditional dress for men include dhoti or pajama for legs and kurta for top. Dhoti is an un-stitched cloth of about 4 meters wrapped around waste in a particular style. Actually there are a few different styles possible. Pajamas are just like pajama bottoms in the western countries. Actually the western countries copied the concept of pajama from India and perhaps other eastern countries. However, in India there are several variations of pajama. As a matter of fact the word pajama or payjama means clothing for legs.

Most common traditional top for men is kurta, which is very much like a shirt, which is somewhat longer and and hangs out loosely over dhoti or pajama rather than tugged in. Something parallel to the jacket or coat of the western dress is a sherwani, which is much longer than western coat, has tightly fitting collar like the collar of shirt, buttoned right upto the neck. Men might also wear something like a stole over kurta or sherwani, particularly on special occasions when they dress up more formally.

Sari worn by women is actually a set of three pieces of clothing. A blouse, a petticoat, and a saree. The Indian blouse is rather tight fitting. The petticoat is like a skirt from waist right upto ankles. Saree is a un-stitched cloth of about 5.5 meters, part of which is wrapped around the waist and the rest is slung over shoulders, and may be adjusted in different ways for style or to cover the body from protection from cold or for other purposes.

Salwar worn by women is again a three piece affair - salwar, kurta, and duppatta. Salwar is a stylish version of payjama. Similarly kurta is similar to kurta for men, but more stylish. Duppatta is a piece of cloth about 2.5 meters long slung over shoulders, which may be used in different ways like the top portion of saree. This duppatta is very much like a stole.

I have described above the most popular traditional Indian clothing. In addition to these there are scored of different varieties, which are more popular in different regions, or are variations of the basic dress, to make them more stylish.

What is the sentence that Defarge and his compatriots give after hearing the fate of the Marquis’s killer?

Charles Dickens’s novel "A Tale of Two Cities" takes place in London and Paris before and while the French Revolution is occurring The Marquis is a cruel man who likes to be able to have control over people.  He hands out sentences with injustice and no concern for others.  The book addresses class distinction and the cruel inappropriate punishments that were handed out during the era. 

The Defarge’s own a wine shop and lead a band of revolutionaries secretly.  The Marquie kills an immigrant man's child and tosses a coin to cover the loss.  Defarge tosses the coin back into the Marquis' coach which makes the Marquis very angry.

Gaspard goes to the Marquis château and kills him.  Defarge and his compatriots learn who killed the Marquis and that the man had been arrested and killed.  He and his compatriots then order that all of the Marquis family shall be put to death.

In "Fahrenheit 451" how has the hound's hatred for Montag come true in its search at the end?

At the beginning of "Fahrenheit 451," the first time that we are introduced to the hound, it expresses a rather disturbing and illogical hostility towards Montag.  It is just a machine, one who has to be programmed with DNA or some form of scent or fluid of a person before it learns to "hate" or hunt or stalk or destroy anyone.  And yet, as Montag comes into the fire station at the beginning of the book, "the hound growled" and Montag

"saw the silver needle extend upon the air an inch...the growl simmered in the beast and it looked at him."

The hound, a machine, seems to instinctively consider Montag to be an enemy, and is even stepping forward menacingly as Montag slips upstairs.

This event actually foreshadows the hound's chase of Montag at the end of the book.  Indeed, Montag does turn out to be the enemy, and it chases Montag through the city streets, intent on the kill.  Perhaps it did sense Montag's defection even before he himself realized it, who knows.  Either way, Bradbury uses the hound's reaction at the beginning as a form of foreshadowing for the ending of the book.  I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

Analyze the significance of the role of the porter in the play Macbeth. Explain in detail using evidence from the text as examples.

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the porter scene that comes after the killing of Duncan makes the reader laugh. The porter is a strange gatekeeper. It is also a metaphor for the gates of hell. When the porter enters, it is a  transition from a supernatural story to a more dramatic story.

Macbeth's porter scene functions as a comic relief after King Duncan is killed. The troll-like gatekeeper makes the audience or reader laugh with his drunken banter, and relieves the tension of the killing in the prior scene. He casts light on Macbeth's internal torment. For example, in the manner of dark comedy he makes fun of Lady Macbeth's fears. This scene makes people laugh because of the porter's soliloquy.

On a more serious side, the porter's drunken state gives rise to one of the second act's main metaphors - the house of Macbeth as the gates of hell. The Porter's soliloquy contains  satanic images, and he views himself as gatekeeper. Shakespeare views Castle Macbeth as the home of death and corruption, because of the Lady and the murderous acts of its Master. The porter scene symbolizes that everyone who comes into the castle and tries to stop Macbeth ambition have entered hell. Even though this scene makes audiences laugh, it also shows how Shakespeare feels about Macbeth's murderous behavior.

What are new development in the plot in act 3 scene 3 and show character development and conflict in act 3 scene 3 line 285-445?

First, Othello loses the handkerchief.  He says to Desdemona, "Let it alone."  He will later blame Desdemona for losing it.  As the napkin is a symbol of his love for his wife, he sabotages his own marriage by setting her up for failure.

Emilia finds the napkin and admits that her husband has wanted her to steal it.  Why does Emilia give it to him?  Is she too jealous of Desdemona and Othello's love?  Is she not lacking in that department in her own marriage?  She thinks the napkin will help regain her status in Iago's affections.  Iago gives her a few crumbs from his table: "A good wench," he calls her.  She's a fool, like Roderigo.

Iago starts to prove Cassio and Desdemona are cheating.  The first story is a weak one: Iago says Cassio sleep-talks about Desdemona.  Very Freudian.

Othello isn't yet convinced; he wants "ocular proof."  Knowing this, Iago plants the idea that Desdemona has given the napkin Cassio.  So overcome by jealous rage upon hearing this, Othello loses his power of speech.  He has a bunch of one liners:

"Death and damnation! O!";

"Give me a living reason she's disloyal";

"O monstrous! monstrous!";

"I'll tear her all to pieces;"

"O, blood, blood, blood!"

His language, which helped him defeat Brabantio and Iago in court and on the street, is gone now.  He had avoided using his hands in combat in Venice; now, his hands will become weapons against his voice and logic.  Now, he is a man of action, a man of passion, a man of combat--a soldier again.  But, he has misidentified his enemy: he thinks it's Desdemona, but it's really Iago and himself.

If I may go a bit beyond line 445 (seems kind of pointless not to, as the scene ends at line 533 anyway)....

At the end of the scene, Othello basically divorces Desdemona and marries Iago.  Only Iago says the "marriage" vow: "I am your own forever."  This stands in sharp contrast to what he said in Act I: "I am not what I am."

Where can I find the complete summary of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horsemen?

Death and The King's Horseman is a play based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria during British colonial rule. The focus of this story is on the character of Elesin, the King's Horseman referred to in the title. According to a Yoruba tradition, the death of the Chief must be followed by the ritual suicide of the Chief's Horseman as the Horseman's spirit is essential to helping the Chief's spirit ascend to the afterlife. Otherwise the Chief's spirit will wander the earth and bring harm to the Yoruba people.

The first half of the play follows the last day of the King’s Horseman who is a vital and sexual man as he celebrates his last day on earth. At the last minute the local British ruler stops the suicide as they deem it barbaric. The Yoruba community is horrified at the breaking of the ritual as they feel it will throw the natural order of their world off. The community blames the King’s Horseman as much as the blame the British ruler. The Horseman eventually kills himself, but this action condemns his soul to a miserable existence in the afterlife.

What colors are used as symbols in "The Scarlet Ibis" and what does the color symbolize?

The main color used in this story is obviously red.  It's used when describing the bird after it came tumbling through their (red) bleeding tree. It says that it lay "like a broken vase of red flowers" on the ground before them.

The other scene where the color is used dominantly is when the narrator goes back for Doodle in the ending scene.  He runs back to find that Doodle, and he sees that "his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red."

Both Doodle and the ibis are beautiful creatures.  Red can symbolize love and represent the "heart" that the character has.  Doodle worked so hard to please his brother and the ibis tried so hard to survive.  However, neither could survive the struggle.

The most important symbolism is the guilt that the narrator felt for beign responsible.  He realized that his pride led to Doodle's death.  So the red symbolized his guilt as well.

What is the importance of Manifest Destiny in the United States history.How important is it as a concept that defines us as a people? Why? Offer...

Manifest Destiny has been a major force in US history.  It was very important in causing the expansion of the US in the 1800s.

Let's define it as the idea that A) America and American civilization should take control of as much land as possible and B) that this should be done because Americans had a culture and government that were superior to those of the people around them.

The major impacts of the concept were the expansion across America (the "winning of the West") and the Mexican-American War.

Does it define us as a people?  It certainly defined us during those years.  We used it as a justification for taking land from the less-developed people -- the Indians and the Mexicans and then overseas places such as the Philippines.

The idea that we should spread our ways (if not our actual control) to other people and other parts of the world is part of what has caused us to do things like invade Iraq in modern times.

How do such poems as “The Road Not Taken,” work to discuss the individual and the culture?

I see the Frost poem "The Road Not Taken" in a very different way than the two previous posters. My reading is supported by at least two reputable sources, which are identified at the end of this posting. Both sources state that the poem can be read one way on the surface (readers often don’t move past this superficial reading, unfortunately) and a very different, more compelling and more complex way if the reader pays close attention to the language of the poem.

In 1961, Frost commented that “The Road Not Taken” is “a tricky poem, very tricky.” The trickiness may lie in the speaker's contradictions in characterizing the diverging roads. At first, the two roads seem very different, but upon closer analysis, these differences all but vanish. The second stanza opens by asserting that the one road is “just as fair” as the other and ends with the statement that “the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.” Stanza three includes a similarly contradictory statement. The two roads do not appear to be different at all; they “equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black.”

What are we to make of these contradictions? A number of critics argue that the poem actually mocks (with good humor) our tendency to look back on our past (just like the speaker, who jumps forward in time in the final stanza of the poem) and to assign all sorts of significance to our past actions. In reality, we know that there are multiple ways to get to any one place; it often really doesn’t matter all that much which particular road we take.

Is there foreshadowing in "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury?

Since the story is so short, there isn't much time to slip a whole lot of foreshadowing in, but, Bradbury does manage it.  Take a look at the first line.  Right in the first line of the story, it mentions that there is a clock that speaks out the time to the house and family, and tells them that it is time to get up.  Then, here is the foreshadowing; the clock speaks "as if it were afraid that nobody would."  Right there that is foreshadowing.  The clock, an inanimate object, is given a fear that no one would get up when it asks.  That foreshadows that indeed, no one will respond to its call, which alludes to something terrible having happened.

Breakfast is then not eaten--this could reference an empty house.  Then, when the clock chimes in again, stating that it is time to go to school, once again, here is the foreshadowing:

"But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels."

Once again, there is a reference to an absolutely empty house, a house in which no one is going about their business, going to work and school.  From here on out, signs of emptiness increase--no car leaves the garage, the uneaten food is thrown away.  Then at ten o' clock, what has happened becomes much more clear--the story describes the house being the lone survivor in a ruined city.  At this point, we begin to understand what might have happened, and then right after that, we get the description of the images on the side of the house, images of the family that used to live there, that now does not because they were decimated.

So, the foreshadowing comes very quickly in the story, and in small ways until the full devastation is revealed; I hope that helps!  Good luck!

What do the children notice about Calpurnia's behaivor in her church community?

Scout and Dill do indeed hear Calpurnia move from the standard (Southern) dialect that they're used to hearing her speak to a more strongly marked black dialect when they accompany her to church in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. They also see her stand up to one black woman (Lulu, who's pretty much the black version of the Ewells, despised by the main characters and by most readers) who doesn't approve of white children coming to their black church. Not everything in Calpurnia's behavior is above reproach, however. She addresses Lulu with a coarse term (in a context that's hardly neutral): "Stop right there, nigger."

The most important thing that Dill and Scout learn through their visit to her church, I believe, is that Calpurnia has a full life outside of their house. They've grown up believing that they're all she has, but in reality she has a church, a house, and probably even a family of her own (although, as I recall, the reader never gets to know anything about that family).

How did the scarlet ibis arrive in their backyard?I would like to know how the scarlet ibis arrived at Doodle's house and why?

The beautiful red bird which made a solitary appearance at Doodle's house in James Hurst's short story, "The Scarlet Ibis," had probably flown off-course due to sickness and the storm which followed shortly after. Doodle's family had never seen such a bird before, and after looking it up in "the bird book," it was determined that it was a scarlet ibis--a tropical bird that lived between Florida and South America. (The story is presumably set in North Carolina, Hurst's home state.) "A storm must have brought it here," Doodle's dad decided. Since the bird fell dead from the tree, we can also assume that it was extremely tired and/or sick. Symbolically, of course, the author placed the beautiful, red bird in the story to compare it with the unique Doodle, who later died bloody in the swamp from which the bird had come.

What does humour mean and how is this applied to Emma by Jane Austen?

Humour (humor US) is

• (1) the quality of being amusing or laughable.


• (2) a temperament or disposition given to caprice, or unexplained impulsiveness.


• (3) to try to gratify or indulge someone eles's wishes.


• (4) an emotional, psychological state (Collins Dictionary).

(1) When applied to Emma, the first meaning of humour applies to the amusement derived from Austen's narrator's understated ironic wit along with ironic dialogue between characters, which, when understood properly, is humourously laughable and amusing.

The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; (narrator)

(2) Jane Fairfax defines the humour associated with caprice and inexplicable impulsiveness perfectly well when she covertly describes Frank Churchill at the Box Hill outing. Her comments are not complimentary of Frank because caprice is not an admirable quality: Mrs. Churchill, who rules "with an irony hand," is said to have caprice.   

"it can be only weak, irresolute characters, (whose happiness must be always at the mercy of chance,) ..." (Jane to Frank)

(3) Mr. Knightley does not like Mrs. Elton, thinking her coarse and pushy, yet, ever the gentleman, he seeks to arrange events to her liking whenever her events have anything to do with him. In other words, he humours her by trying to gratify her wishes. She notes this herself when they are discussing arrangements for the Strawberry Party at Donwell Abbey:

"you are a thorough humourist.— ... I am fully sensible of your attention to me in the whole of this scheme ... the very thing to please me." (Mrs. Elton to Knightley)

(4) Austen's characters often speak or think of the emotional or psychological state of those around them or of their own. Emma thinks about other's being in "ill-humour," "good-humor," "the best humour," "a humour to please" or not to "please." Of Frank Churchill's psychological state, she says he is in an "odd" humour at the commencement of the ball (we learn that it is because he is being delayed from dancing with Jane Fairfax), while at the Strawberry Party, she describes him as agitated, or "out of humour":

Emma could hardly understand him; [Frank] seemed in an odd humour.

Emma listened, and looked, and soon perceived that Some people were always cross when they were hot.

WHY DO ECONOMISTS ADVISE NOT TO LOOK AT SUNK COSTS?I MEAN WHY NOT LOOK AT THE PAST WHEN MAKING A DECISION?

Not considering sunk costs in deciding future course of action is not same as not not looking at the past or learning from the past in deciding future course of action.

Sunk cost is a concept used to identify costs incurred in the past which have no impact on the outcome of decision being undertaken now. Sunk costs are defined as the cost that have already been incurred and which cannot be recovered whatever is the future course of action. Thus sunk cost is something which you may regret having incurred, but about which you can do nothing. And if you can do nothing about, it is best not to take this in consideration.

Let us say you purchased a vacuum cleaner in sale at very low price but with no warranty. Unfortunately it breaks down within a week and you spend a significant amount for its repair. But again after a fortnight the vacuum cleaner breaks down. Now you have to decide weather you continue with the cleaner which may need frequent repairs, or buy a new vacuum cleaner. The sunk cost concept advises that that your decision to buy a new vacuum cleaner should not take into account the amount you have already spent on purchasing the vacuum cleaner and having it repaired. This means you do not say that I have already spent X dollars on the old one and now for a new one I have to spend additional Y dollars, so is it worthwhile to spend X + Y dollars. The X dollars are sunk cost, so you don't consider it. You just consider the Y dollars that you need to spend now.

Please note that this concept does prevent you to learn from your past. You can use your past experience in either forecasting your repair expenses if you continue with the old cleaner, or in deciding if it is worthwhile to again buy vacuum cleaner without warranty at discounted prices.

Describe the central struggle in "The Devil and Tom Walker."

In "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving, the central struggle has to do with Tom's greed.  In the beginning of the story, Tom and his wife both display miserly habits and go so far as to cheat each other.  When Tom is given the proposition of wealth by the Devil, his wife cannot wait for him to accept the offer and attempts to claim it for herself.  Tom finds it a bit amusing when she meets her death during a battle with "Old Scratch," yet he does not learn from her example.  He feels that he is on good terms with the Devil, and his own greed compels him to pursue the deal with the Devil.  His greed takes over him, and after he begins making much money cheating poor landowners and workers, he does not want to share any portion of this with the Devil.  But a deal is a deal, and the Devil comes to claim his share.  When Tom resists, the Devil carries him away on horseback, and his home sparks into flame and is reduced to ashes. 

Throughout the tale, the Devil challenges Tom to see how far his greed will carry him by making conditions to their deal:  Tom will not submit to being a slave trader, yet ironically he believes that robbing hard-working people through exorbitant interest rates on their loans is morally acceptable.  This inner conflict is challenged by the Devil's character, and when Tom does not see the error of his ways, he is punished.

What is the setting of "By the Waters of Babylon"?

For the setting of "By the Waters of Babylon," you will have to give generalized details, not specifics, because no specifics are given in the text at all.  We can narrow it down to a pretty precise location, but not time period.

For a time period, all that we know is that it is set in the distant future.  Given that the story gives clues that suggest a nuclear bomb wiped out most of civilization, it had to be after the 1940's, when nukes were first developed and tested.  Then, mankind is practically wiped out in the wake of those bombs, and at least several generations later, the story begins.  John and his father don't remember first-hand what happened in the "great burning," so it is at least 50 years afterwards, and maybe longer, since John's tribes are large and well-established in their traditions.

For the actual location, we can take clues from the city of the Gods.  He passes by a statue that says "Ashing," which we can infer was a statue of Washington.  Also, there are large skyscrapers, subway systems, and large highways and streets.  There is a river too. It is probably in Washington D.C. where many national monuments are kept, like statues of Washington, and where rivers and large cities are housed.  So that is what we can get for the actual location.

I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

What is the irony of Lady Macbeth's giving Macbeth comfort in act 2?William Shakespeare's "Macbeth"

In Act II Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's tragedy, "Macbeth," Macbeth returns from having murdered King Duncan so that he may be king. Upon his return, he encounters his wife, Lady Macbeth who remarks that she fears that the assassination has not been completed.  To this, Macbeth responds that he has done the deed.  Then, he asks his wife if she has not heard a noise; Lady Macbeth replies that she has heard an owl screech and thinks she has heard Macbeth speak.  Worried that his act may have been witnessed, Macbeth says "Listen!" and asks who is in the second chamber; his wife responds, "Donalbain." Anxious, Macbeth says, "This is a sorry sight!"(II,ii,28), but his wife makes light of his anxiety and tells him,

A foolish thought to say a sorry sight!....Consider it not so deeply....Be not lost so poorly/ in your thoughts... (II,ii,29,40,90,91)

The irony of this comforting remark is that Lady Macbeth is the one who becomes obsessed with the thoughts of the murder committed and, tormented by the crimes her husband has committed, goes insane. Guilt-ridden, she worries that the blood on the steps of their castle will be discovered, she obsessively wipes the "spot," repeating "Out, damn'd spot!"(V,i,35).

Who is Kithairon? How is he connected to Oedipus in Oedipus Rex?

Kithairon, or Cithaeron, is not a who but a what. Kithairon is the western area of a mountain range in Greece. It serves as the border between Athens and Thebes. And it is on the side of that mountain that Oedipus, as a baby, was abandoned to die.

It goes like this:

We learn in the play, as Oedipus himself learns, that Oedipus' father, King Laius, and mother, Queen Jocasta, were unable to have children. King Laius sends for an oracle to see if he can help the couple with this problem. The oracle tells Laius that if he has a son the son will grow up and kill his father and marry his mother. And they do have a son. Horrified by the prophesy, Laius has a pin put through the baby's ankles, his feet are bound together, and the baby is given to a messenger. The messenger is ordered to abandon the baby, and he does so on the side of a mountain, Mount Kithairon. We learn, as does Oedipus, that a shepherd found the bound baby on the mountainside and saves him. The rest, as they say, is history... and the prophesy is fulfilled.

Near the end of the play, Oedipus, who has finally learned the truth of his existence, says he will go back to where he was, so long ago, left to die:

But for myself, O never let my Thebes,

The city of my sires, be doomed to bear

The burden of my presence while I live.

No, let me be a dweller on the hills,

On yonder mount Cithaeron, famed as mine,

My tomb predestined for me by my sire

And mother, while they lived, that I may die

Slain as they sought to slay me, when alive.

Why does the poem "The Seekers of Lice" seem to be more about the boy than the sisters?

Your question beings with a supposition...that the poem is more about the boy than the girls (despite the fact that most of the poem is actually about the girls.) This is a pretty safe premise to go with, though, as I think that it is correct.

Even though most of the poem is written about the girls it would seem (upon closer inspection) to be more about the boy.  Here's why I think this is so:

Stanza 1

"When the boy's head, full of raw torment, Longs for hazy dreams to swarm in white, Two charming older sisters come to his bed With slender fingers and silvery nails."

The focus of this stanza is on the boy, whose head is full of lice. Even though his sisters are mentioned, his problem is the focus.

Stanza 2:

"They sit him at a casement window, thrown Open on a mass of flowers basking in blue air, And run the fine, intimidating witchcraft Of their fingers through his dew-dank hair."

This stanza focuses more description on the sisters and the setting, though the boy is represented as it's his "dew-dank hair" they are running their fingers through. He is the object of their attention and therefore the object of this stanza.

Stanza 3: He listens to their diffident, sing-song breath, Smelling of elongated honey off the rose, Broken now and then by a hiss: saliva sucked Back from the lip, or a longing to be kissed.

This is an oddly erotic section of the poem...the boy is noticing the feminine qualities of his sisters, most poignantly the fact of their kissable lips. This stanza, again, focuses on the boy and the unconscious observations he's making about the desirability of his sisters.

stanza 4: He hears their dark eyelashes start in the sweet- Smelling silence and, through his grey listlessness, The crackle of small lice dying, beneath The imperious nails of their soft, electric fingers.

Again, the girls are in close proximity to him, doting over him, their fingers probing his hair and destroying the invaders. He is very in tune to his environment.  He can even hear their beating eyelashes.  The words are very "sensory"; electric, crackle, sweet smelling.

Stanza 5: "The wine of Torpor wells up in him then — Near on trance, a harmonica-sigh — And in their slow caress he feels The endless ebb and flow of a desire to cry."

This stanza, again, focuses on the boy and his feelings. He is overcome with emotions as the girls "work him over." A "torpor" is a state that's sort of a cross between a hibernation and catatonia. He's enraptured by the attention the girls are giving him.

So, there you have it.  The poem, though it spends more time describing the girls, is really about the boy and his feelings toward them.  Don't think of it as being too creepy, either, but more the boy approaching a crossover to manhood that the feminine attentions of the girls are "aggravating."  His feelings are not explicit, they're more hidden, and notice the way his emotions are making him feel toward the end...he wants to cry.  He is very confused by his feelings, it would seem, but this again shows how focused the poem is on the boy.

What are some of the themes of Buried Onions?

Some of the major themes in this novel include racism, family, and hardship.

As a Mexican youth living in the violence and poverty of the barrio, Eddie is well acquainted with the racist attitudes that oppress him and his hispanic acquaintances. In the white neighborhood where he seeks work, he is eyed with suspicion, and a little white boy on a tricycle hounds him, reporting negatively on his every move. Although he struggles to improve his lot by taking classes at City College, Eddie is overcome by the difficulties of surviving in his environment, and he notes wryly about a Mexican friend,

"Lupita. Waitressing and cashier work is what you do if you got that name."

Eddie gets little support from family. His father is dead, and his mother, who, in her self-absorption, cares little about him, lives with her sister in a nearby town. Eddie appeals to her for money sometimes to help him get by, but she does not readily give him much, and when she does, she wants him to spend it on things like coffee, so that she and her sister will have some when they arrive for infrequent visits. Eddie's cousin Jesus has been killed by an unknown assailant, and Jesus's mother, Eddie's nina, pressures Eddie to continue the cycle of violence and revenge by finding and taking out his killer. Eddie wants only to escape the gang lifestyle, but his aunt is persistent, badgering him with appeals to his sense of respect and "honor," and even supplying him with a gun.

Although hardship, as represented by Eddie's imagined "buried onion," is endemic to his own people, it also afflicts the white population, who appear to have so many more opportunities and so much more material comfort and wealth. Hardship is a universal condition, and when Eddie goes into a white neighborhood, he recognizes that the residents' apparent affluence is empty. Their share of the "buried onions" is still with them, lurking beneath their tidy front yards.

What is a good thesis statement about flower imagery in The Great Gatsby?*this is not for an essay

A simple thesis would be that F. Scott Fitzgerald uses flower imagery to enhance the characterization of various people in the novel.

For example, the name "Daisy" suggests a white flower           ( perhaps for purity) with a yellow ( suggesting ultimate cowardice) to describe the heroine of the novel. In contrast, Myrtle, her husband's mistress, again reminds the reader of the myrtle bush which has white flowers but also dark berries. This suggests a woman who seems pure but has a dark side or future in front of her. Her adulterous affair with Tom, of course, eventually leads to her ultimate destruction. Fitzgerald also uses flowers to quickly personify minor characters. For example, when one young man brings four women to one of Gatsby's parties, the last names the sweet girls have"the melodious names of flowers or months" while the "sterner" ones have names of "great American captialists."

What agreement does Tom Walker ultimately make with the devil?

The Devil, or Old Scratch as he is called in the story, initially tries to persuade Tom to become a slave-trader.  Tom says that even the Devil himself could not persuade him to partake of such an enterprise, which is a reflection of the Romantic writer's awareness of and belief in democracy.  What Tom ultimately agrees to is to become a usurer, one who lends money at exhorbitant interest rates.  He trades his soul for a guarantee that he will be rich.  Once he gains his riches, he spends the rest of his life looking over his shoulder wondering when the Devil will come to collect his part of the debt.  He tries going to church as penance for what he has done, but inevitably, the Devil comes and collects on his deal and carries Tom away on horseback.

Why does my computer slow down when I use the Internet?

There are lots of possible answers to your question, but it is hard to guess at which one of them would be right without more information about your particular computer and how you connect to the Internet. Still, there are a few things that you can think about.

First, the today's web is filled with pictures, ads, movies, sounds, and flash animations.  All of these require a browser to be much more "buff" than it was a few years back.  In short, in order for a computer to be able to display a web page properly (with all its doo-dads showing) a browser must use more CPU power and RAM than it used to.  It is possible that the Internet is slow on your computer because it is the same computer you have used for years and isn't getting any faster, while the web is getting harder to display.

Secondly, after years of surfing with the same browser it is likely that you have accumulated a lot of "plug ins" and other bric-a-brac that is slowing you down (in the same way that barnacles will slow down a ship.)  The more of that kind of junk you have running (google or yahoo toolbar, web page checkers, etc) the slower your experience is going to be.  For example, I just got a computer and I noticed that Internet Explorer is VERY slow.  I have attributed it to my security software (which is checking each page to make sure I am not being taken advantage of) and IE (which is doing the same thing).

You can test the theory by downloading a different browser that is pretty spry...try Google Chrome or something.  See if your browsing speeds up.  If so, you know the problem is your old browser.  Try turning off your virus checker for a while and surf somewhere big and safe...is it faster?  If so, perhaps your security suite is bogging you down.

RAM.  How much do you have?  As the years go by and software gets more memory intensive, what you had a few years back might not be enough.  Think about getting more.  In addition, download the latest versions of Flash and your browser to be sure you have the most updated technology.

It's possible, too, that the problem isn't with you.  It might be with how you connect.  Maybe you are having a slowdown because your neighbors are on the Internet too and dragging you down (check this by logging on late at night, when they are probably in bed, and seeing if you are going any faster.)  You might have a sucky ISP, or bad drivers for your router.  If you are connecting wireless, maybe try upgrading to a faster wireless router/card?  And, God forbid, you are using dial-up service, well, then you have no right to complain about it being slow as molasses : )

Anyway, these were just some ideas.  Hope they help!

Explain the symbolism of the simile "...at intervals she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond and hissed: 'You promised!' into his...

In Ch.3 Nick Carraway attends a party at Jay Gatsby's house. Initially, as soon as he arrives at the house he is completely overwhelmed by the lavish splendor and extravagance of the party:

On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.

A little later as the party warms up, he views the anonymous interpersonal interactions of the party guests very cynically:

The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names.

At about two in the next day Nick notices that the men are reluctant to return home with their wives. They wish to continue flirting with the other beautiful women:

I looked around. Most of the remaining women were now having fights with men said to be their husbands. Even Jordan's party, the quartet from East Egg, were rent asunder by dissension. One of the men was talking with curious intensity to a young actress, and his wife, after attempting to laugh at the situation in a dignified and indifferent way, broke down entirely and resorted to flank attacks--at intervals she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hissed: "You promised!" into his ear.

The wife's anger and rage are expressed in her eyes which glint and sparkle like a diamond and she hisses her displeasure to her husband like a snake saying that he promised to behave and that he has been promising her perhaps for a very long time to take her home.

One of the most important characteristics of modern fiction is that the prose is poetic. Here Fitzgerald very poetically uses a simile to describe the eyes of the wife glinting suggestively with rage to that of a sparkling diamond. At the same time the simile itself is an instance of 'pathetic fallacy' for the inanimate diamond is endowed with the human quality of anger.

Ruskin who coined the term 'Pathetic Fallacy' in his "Modern Painters" (1856) defined it as “to signify any description of inanimate natural objects that ascribes to them human capabilities, sensations, and emotions."

In "The Drunkard," from what does the story's pathos arise?

Pathos is the quality or power of evoking (bringing out) pity, compassion, sympathy, tenderness, and/or sorrow. Frank O'Connor has a light touch in telling about Larry's misadventures in helping his father stay away from becoming drunk, which is heightened by his use of the charming Irish vernacular: "Begor, I was not grand!" But the real tale of The Drunkard is how one man's inability to stay sober brought hardship, betrayal and sorrow upon his wife and son.

This is the core source of the story's pathos. Added to this is the pathos of the downfall (if only for a day) of Mick's son while trying to guard Mick from a downfall of his own. The evocation of pity, sorrow and compassion in the reader in the presence of a lonesome kitchen without a clock, Mick's horrible behavior, Larry's physical illness from drinking, and Larry's painfully accurate imitation of his drunken father are the footprints of pathos in The Drunkard.

Why do you think that it is so hard to say no to drugs? Also why is peer pressure so hard to refuse?Just wondering.

What a good question. The reason why peer pressure is so hard to resist is because we are all social beings and society exerts more pressure upon us that we can ever realize. Peer pressure is a part of that.

When it comes to drugs, if you live in a society where the cool thing to do is to take drugs, then drug use will become more appealing due to social pressures. But if you live in a a culture were drugs are a bad thing, then it will be much easier to resist due to the lack of social pressure.

I suppose that you live in a place were drugs are accessible and desirable to some degree. If so, it will be hard to resist, but you can.

Is there a literary term that refers to a character's feelings reflected in the weather or in nature?

Yes. You are thinking of the pathetic fallacy. The term was coined by John Ruskin, and it is closely related to the device of personification. Often, when using the pathetic fallacy, authors will attribute human characteristics to setting, usually reflecting a character's emotions and personality. Ruskin originally intended the definition to describe a mistake or a lapse in language control, but it has since been adopted to mean a conscious choice in style.

The following example is from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Maud":

There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion-flower at the gate.
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
She is coming, my life, my fate.
The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"
And the white rose weeps, "She is late;"
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;"
And the lily whispers, "I wait."

Here, we can see the emotions of the speaker are reflected in the flowers. Other literary works that make extensive use of pathetic fallacy include Macbeth and Jane Eyre. Here is an example from Jane Eyre:

“It stood up, black and riven: the trunk, split down the center, gasped ghastly. The cloven halves were not broken from each other, for the firm base and strong roots kept them unsundered below; though community of vitality was destroyed—the sap could flow no more: their great boughs on each side were dead, and next winter’s tempests would be sure to fell one or both to earth; as yet, however they might be said to form one tree—a ruin, but an entire ruin.”

Here, the tree reflects Jane & Rochester's relationship: strong roots and base, but a brutal strike has split the two. The "sap" of their passion could no longer flow, & another blow would surely end the relationship. In this novel, that blow comes in the form of Bertha, Rochester's legal wife. Thus pathetic fallacy can be used in obvious or subtle ways, and can be an effective literary device.

What are the indications for use of chamomile and safety in it's use?

Chamomile is an herb used by people for centuries. Already is known as a tea that soothes the stomach is "disturbed" or help sleep. There are two types of chamomile used for health iron: German chamomile (Matricaria retutica) and English chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile).

German chamomile is the most studied and most used. A German governmental organization (Commission E) has approved its use on the skin to reduce swelling (increase in volume) or as antibacterial but is also used as a tea as a dietary supplement for stomach cramps.

Chamomile is marketed in the form of dried flowers, infusion (tea), liquid extract, tinctures (concentrated in alcohol) and in creams or ointments.

Indications

German chamomile is used to treat irritation from cold,wounds which are hard to heal , abscesses (localized infection), inflammation of the gums, colic (violent abdominal pain ) and skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema, chicken pox and the diaper rash. For these conditions use chamomile in an infusion or bath water or tincture form of concentrated extract and alcohol mixed. Chamomile is used as a tea to treat stomach upset, sleep problems and menstrual pain.

The safety of chamomile

-pollen that is found in chamomile preparations may cause allergic reactions

- Chamomile preparations interfere with blood thinning drugs 

Organization FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not regulate dietary supplements the same way as drugs.   dietary supplements are sold, although are limited or at all studied.

Take account of these things when using dietary supplements:

- Like medicines on prescription , dietary supplements may cause side effects, may precipitate allergic reactions or interact with drug therapy or other supplements  used at the same time, this may aggravate pre-existing illnesses;

- Dietary supplements have not standardized production process. Due to this, their indications and adverse reactions differ from brand to brand and even lots of the same brand.As for vitamins and dietary supplements side effects because of the long-term use, are not known.

Give short notes on: parent/child relationship theme in King Lear, Cordelia's hanging justified, & improbabilities/inconsistencies in the play.

The old story of the British king and his daughters, as dramatised by Shakespeare in King Lear, has at its centre the theme of filial ingratitude. In the legendary opening scene, the octogenarian king declares to divide his kingdom among his three daughters on the basis of their expressions of love for the father. The whole idea sounds very ridiculous because Lear brings down love of children for their parents to the grossness of sheer material gain, the opportunity to grab "the largest bounty." It looks like an elocution contest that tends to vulgarise the value of the parent-child bond. Goneril and Regan, the two married daughters, use all artifices of language to flatter their father, while the youngest unmarried daughter, Cordelia, refuses to profane her love for the father. Cordelia goes on repeating the word "nothing," and tells Lear that she loves her father "according to the bond: nor more, nor less." Lear is infuriated to banish Cordelia from his kingdom and love. Goneril and Regan are rewarded for their lip-services. Later in the play, Lear is humiliated and abused by both Goneril and Regan; he is forced to come out on the heath in storm and rain, battling against the unfriendliness of nature. It is Cordelia, the wronged daughter, who comes with her husband's army to rescue and protect the wronged father, suffering from the inhumanities of his two "pelican daughters." Lear and Cordelia are reunited but in prison. Circumstances lead to Cordelia's death.

The same story of the father betrayed by his "bad child/children" and saved by his "good/wronged child" re-appears in the parallel plot of Gloucester and his two sons. The illegitimate son, Edmund, conspires against the life of Gloucester, while the legitimate but wronged son, Edgar, wears the guise of a Bedlam beggar to accompany Lear in the storm as well as to save the blinded father from committing suicide.

Cordelia's hanging saddens us because her death is the conspiratorial outcome of the designs of the rascal, Edmund, a death that rather shows the injustices of the material world. Cordelia dies the death of a victim for having said the truth, a truth that old and impassioned Lear fails to understand. Cordelia has also been seen as a Christ figure, dying the death of a martyr for a cause.

How to reduce air resistance in a vehicle?

The air resistance of a vehicle depends on three factors. These are shape of the vehicle, surface finish and speed o the vehicle with respect to the air. Out of these three factors the most important factors is the shape of the vehicle. This is almost entirely determined by the vehicle manufacturer. The user of the vehicle has limited control over this in form of external accessories fitted on the vehicle. Any luggage carrier fitted on top of a car or other vehicle can increase air resistance significantly, particularly if luggage has been loaded. Keeping the windows of the vehicle open amounts to changing the shape of the vehicle, and tends to increase air resistance.

The relative speed of vehicle, particularly at high speed also has significant effect on air resistance. However it is not a practical solution to keep the speed of vehicle low just to reduce air resistance.

A smoother surface offers less resistance to air. Therefor, one can keep the vehicle well painted and polished to keep the air resistance low.

Indentify the word that has no suffix, and the word whose suffix is different from others.Isolate the suffix that remaining two words share and...

If I understand your question correctly, here is an analysis of each:

A. "Actor" and "rider" have suffixes that mean "one who acts" and "one who rides."  The "er" suffix in "colder" indicates a comparative form, for example: He is colder than I am.  "Silver has no suffix at all.

B. Both "tresses" and "melodies" are plural forms.  "Bess's" is a possessive form, while "guess" has no suffix at all.

C. "Running" and "handling"  share the same suffix, "ing," which place "run" and "handle" in the present tense. "Foundling," while it has an "ing" suffix, too, is different because its suffix makes it mean "one who is found," a noun, as opposed to the "ing" that still maintaines a kind of verb form. "Fling" has no suffix at all.

D. "Witches" and "tables" have suffixes that make them plurals.  The "s" in "calculates" changed the verb to a singular third person, and has no pluralizing function.  "Lens" is  singular word, thus the "s" does has no plural function. 

Will someone please explain what, "We are determined to starve before we are hungry" means, along with, "Men say a stitch in time saves nine, and...

I'm assuming that you don't quite understand the phrases and need some interpretion?  If that's the case, I will try to help.  "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau is a very thought-provoking account of all of the things that he learned while living on his own in a tiny shack on a friend's pond.  The quotes above are just two of the profound sentiments that he expressed as a result of being close to nature, doing his own work for sustenance, and spending a lot of time in solitude.

The first quote, "We are determined to starve before we are hungry" refers to the fact that many people miss all of the meaning of life; they don't take time to "suck the marrow out of life," but rather rush about feeling unhappy and unsatisfied.  And instead of working to fill the unhappy voids in their lives, they complain and claim that they are destitute and miserable. However, most people live pretty comfortable, nice lives, and have never really, truly been in dire need of anything.  And yet we still complain and whine like we are starving to death.  Really, we are just unhappy, and too lazy to figure out why, or to make changes in our lives that will help us to be happy.  Thoreau is saying there that in order for us to truly fill the gaps in our lives, we have to first of all hunger after things that really matter--knowledge, relationships, love, wisdom, instead of money, power, and comforts.  Then, we have to work hard to get the things that matter, instead of being upset when we don't have absolutely everything.  Instead of whining about how awful our lives are (when they are really not), focus on what is good, and work to make them better.

The second quote refers to the fact that people are always toting how much time they can save by doing this or that, but then, they don't ever use the extra time for anything good.  Instead, they fill their extra time with more "time-saving" techniques.  We expend so much effort on time-saving technology and activity that it becomes the main thing we do in our free time.  If you do the math of Thoreau's quote, it doesn't make any sense, and wastes time.

I hope that those thoughts help a bit; good luck!

Why does Holden want to take off with Sally now instead of after college? What is the difference in his eyes?please explain in detail

J.D. Salinger has created a classic character in his crafting of Holden Caulfield. One reason we could speculate that Holden wants to run off with Sally now rather than waiting until college is over is that he has no faith in the stability of the people he holds dear and thus tries to cling to them. Allie died. His older brother sold out to Hollywood. Even Phoebe is changing as she grows out of being the little kid he remembered. Another reason is his rapidly disintegrating psyche. Sally could be the life preserver he needs to keep from drowning. We know it won’t work, but for Holden perceives that she could be his “Catcher in the Rye.”

Hale said, "The Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!" What did Hale mean by this?

What this passage means is that Hale wants to investigate anyone who is accused of witchcraft, no matter who they are.

To "quail" means to shrink back in fear.  In this case, he is saying that they must not be afraid to investigate wherever they see evidence (the accusing finger) of witchcraft.

Hale says this when two respectable citizens, Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, are accused of being witches.  When their husbands try to argue, he shuts them down with the quote you cited.

It is because of this sort of attitude that Hale is instrumental in bringing about the trials.

What themes does Chopin address that relate to societal changes in the late 19th century?

Chopin was a realist, part of a literary movement in the 19th century that was dedicated to reporting the lives of common people.The attributes of realism as a literary style are debated; however all critics agree that it is the author's dedication to verisimilitude as the basic precept. Regionalist writing focuses on segment of society, copying their manner and speech patterns, their class system, and other social rules particular to the region.

The themes she addresses are industrialism and child labor and the women's changing roles in society.

In The Awakening, Chopin focused on the Creole culture of Louisiana. Their common heritage came from the French and Spanish ancestry, a complex cast system, and the setting of urban New Orleans.

For example when she portrayed Edna, as a protestant from Kentucky, rather than like the local, French-speaking Catholic Creoles. Edna married a local Creole man, so she was an outsider marrying into the local culture. Chopin highlighted the cultural differences by comparing an outsider entering the local culture. Especially she chose to highlight their social relationships as wives and capitalists.

What did Newton discover about gravity?Multiple Choice: A) Any force on a planet would be directed along its path B) all objects near the Earth...

Some of the options provided are completely false, others are true, but were not discovered by Newton.  Newton's discovery was D, that gravity is a universal phenomenon.

While it is true that all objects on Earth fall at the same rate of acceleration (or they would if there were no resistance from the atmosphere that would act differently on objects of different shapes), this was known before Newton's day.

Newton's insight was that the force that made things fall on Earth was also what made the moon orbit.  This meant that the force was not confined to the Earth.

If cos x * (cos 4x) = sin x * sin (6x), what is x between 0 and 2pi?

Knowing the following formula:

cos a+cos b= 2 cos[(a+b)/2]cos[(a-b)/2] and

cos a - cos b= 2sin [(a+b)/2]sin[(b-a)/2]

Suppose we have:

cos a+cos b= cos x * (cos 4x), but

cos a+cos b= 2 cos[(a+b)/2]cos[(a-b)/2]

From the both identities above, it results that:

cos x * (cos 4x)=2 cos[(a+b)/2]cos[(a-b)/2]

From the principle of an identity it results that:

x=(a+b)/2 => a+b=2x

4x=(a-b)/2 =>a-b=8x

a+b+a-b=2x+8x

2a=10x

a=5x

a+b-a+b=2x-8x

2b=-6x

b=-3x

So, cos 5x+ cos 3x=(1/2)cos x * (cos 4x)

(1/2)(cos 5x+ cos 3x)=cos x * (cos 4x)

sin x * sin (6x)=(1/2)[cos a-cosb]

x=(a+b)/2 => a+b=2x

6x=(b-a)/2 => b-a=12x

a+b+b-a=2x+12x

2b=14x => b=7x

a+b-b+a=2x-12x => 2a=-10x => a=-5x

(1/2)(cos 5x - cos 7x)=(1/2)(sin x * sin (6x))

So, the equivalent of the give identity is:

(1/2)(cos 5x+ cos 3x)=(1/2)(cos 5x - cos 7x)

(cos 5x+ cos 3x)=(cos 5x - cos 7x)

cos 3x=-cos 7x

cos3x+cos7x=0

Now, we'll write the sum as a product, in this way using the properties of a product of 2 factors which is equal to 0.

2cos[(3x+7x)/2]cos[(3x-7x)/2]=0

2cos(5x)cos(2x)=0

cos 5x=0

5x= arccos0+2kpi

5x=pi/2+2kpi

For k=0, x=pi/10, (x=180/10=18 degrees)

For k=1, 5x=2pi-pi/2

5x=3pi/2

x=3pi/10(x=3*18=54 degrees, first quadrant)

cos 2x=0

2x=arccos0 + 2kpi

2x=pi/2+2kpi

For k=0, x=pi/4(x=45 degrees)

For k=1, 2x=2pi-pi/2,

x=pi-pi/4=3pi/4(x=3*45=135, second quadrant)

What is the earth compared to in All Quiet on the Western Front?

In Chapter 4 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul describes the nature of the earth.  He says that the earth provides the soldiers with shelter and a place of safety.  He comments on the shell holes that get blown into the earth that later serve as places of protection when the men are on the battlefield.  Similarly, Paul describes the trenches that the soldiers prepare to provide safety during combat.  Thus, Paul compares the earth to elements of safety and protection with which he is familiar.  As evidenced in other parts of the novel, Paul has deep respect for the earth and nature in general, and here he explores this by citing its benefits to the soldier during war.

Why does Crane structure "The Open Boat" so that only the oiler dies?

One clue as to why the olier dies--and is the only one to die--lies in the importance of the textual connection between the oiler and the correspondent as seen in light of the Naturalist perspective in literature. Throughout the text, the oiler and correspondent are an inseparable pair:

Then the oiler took both oars; then the correspondent took both oars; then the oiler; then the correspondent. They rowed and they rowed.

Again and again, "the oiler rowed, and then the correspondent rowed, and then the oiler rowed." The other variation of the pairing is that while the correspondent rowed, the oiler slept. The oiler "slept once more the dead sleep," as he and the correspondent did together on the occasion when the cook took the oars to spell them.

Since one of the tenets of Naturalism is that nature is supreme and all-powerful and completely arbitrary, Crane may be using the pairing of these two men--the absolute equality of these two men--to illustrate this characteristic of nature, that with nature being all-powerful and destructive, there must be death; being arbitrary, it matters not which must be sacrificed to death. In other words, of two equal men, it matters not which one dies.

What are the names and ages of the other murdered victims that Mr. Harvey killed in The Lovely Bones.

In Chapter 14, most of Mr. Harvey's victims are introduced to Susie in the cornfield.  Here is the list of the murders by year, name, location and details of the death.  This list will include both Susie and the unnamed waitress (mentioned in Ch. 20) that are not included in the group of girls Susie meets in Ch. 14.

1960: (Two murders)

• Sophie Cichetti- 49 years old. Killed in Pennsylvania.  She was his landlady.   After having a brief sexual moment with her, Harvey smashed her head when she started talking. Her body was dumped in a stream. 


• Leidia Johnson- 6 years old. Killed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Harvey dug out a cave from the hill and lay in wait. While the book does not give the specifics of her death, it was premeditated so it is safe to assume that it was also a sexual assault.

1963: (One murder)

• Flora Hernandez- 8 years old. Killed in Delaware.  She was not killed intentionally during the attack. She started screaming, and she was killed to silence her. Her body was dumped in a basement.

1967: (One murder)

• Jackie Meyer- 13 years old.  Killed in Delaware.  While the aspects of her death are not fully revealed, she was found next to an overturned chair, missing all of her clothes except for a striped t-shirt.  She died from an injury to her head where she bled out.  

1969: (One murder)

• Leah Fox- 12 years old.  Killed in Delaware.  She was sexually assaulted on a couch under a highway on ramp.  After, Mr. Harvey fell asleep on top of her for ten hours.  She suffocated.  

 1971: (One murder)

• Wendy Richter- 13 years old.  Killed in Connecticut.  She was raped outside of a bar and strangled.  

1973: (One murder)

• Susie Salmon- 14 years old.  Killed in Morrison, Pennsylvania.  She was raped and stabbed to death after being lured to the dugout in the cornfield.  

 Post Susie's murder but several years before Mr. Harvey visits the shack in chapter twenty:

• Unnamed waitress- Unknown age.  Killed in Connecticut.  She was raped and murdered by Harvey. She was buried in a shack in the woods.  When Mr. Harvey visits, the grave has been dug up.  He falls asleep inside it.

Who is the best critic for John Donne's work? With regard to poetry.This question is related to know, who is the best critic who have worked on...

This is a very difficult question to answer, and indeed it would be impossible to name one person who is the very "best" critic or analyst of John Donne's verse. Donne has been the subject of extensive critical discussion for hundreds of years, especially during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many would argue that the modern American poet and critic T. S. Eliot had a decisive influence in stimulating modern interest in Donne, but few would agree that Eliot alone is the "best" critic of Donne.

Fortunately, two extremely valuable resources now exist that make it possible to attain a very broad view of what hundreds of the best critics have had to say about Donne's poetry.  One of these resources consists of the detailed annotated bibliographies of Donne criticism prepared by John R. Roberts.  These bibliographies offer brief summaries of thousands of articles and books written about Donne. Thanks to the detailed indexes of Roberts' volumes, it is possible to trace very precisely what many different critics have had to say about practically every poem written by Donne. The following links will provide more information about Roberts' bibliographies:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/john-donne-an-annotated-bibliography-of-modern-criticism-1912-1967/oclc/702884&referer=brief_results

http://www.worldcat.org/title/john-donne-an-annotated-bibliography-of-modern-criticism-1968-1978/oclc/8168995&referer=brief_results

http://www.worldcat.org/title/john-donne-an-annotated-bibliography-of-modern-criticism-19791995/oclc/54529016&referer=brief_results

Even more detailed than Roberts' volumes are the multiple volumes of the "Variorum" edition of Donne's poetry.  The general editor of this edition, which is not yet complete, is Gary Stringer. This edition of Donne's verse provides extremely detailed line-by-line, even word-by-word summaries of what thousands of critics have had to say about Donne's poetry.  The Donne Variorum edition is one of the great monuments of modern scholarship. For more information about this edition, please visit this link:

http://johndonnesociety.tamu.edu/dv.html

When was Easter first celebrated in colonial or antebellum America?I have checked every source I know, and have learned a lot about early...

Easter, of course, far predates the discovery of the New World.  It is the earliest Christian holiday, although exactly when it began to be celebrated as distinct from Pesach, or Passover, is unknown, although the early Church historian Eusebius tells us the dating of the celebration became a problem in the churches by the second century.  The name, at least according to 8th century historian the Venerable Bede derives from Eostre, Teutonic goddess of springtime, not surprising since early European Christians retained local festivals if they were at the same time of the year as Jewish festivals(logically enough).  In America Easter was celebrated from early on, but as a personal or familial holiday, not in large formal celebrations.  For one thing, the earliest colonists were Anglican and they did not hold formal religious holiday celebrations, a holdover from the Protestant Reformation (with religious wars still ongoing between Catholic and Protestant counties at the time).  The later Puritans of course held no religious holidays.  Of course there were Catholics in Virginia early on, and they celebrated Easter, as did some smaller Protestant groups especially among German or Norwegian immigrants.

Large scale formal celebration of Easter in the United States began following the War of Secession, or Civil War.  The religious revivals of the era just predating the war continued through the war and afterwards, and the sense that the nation had been crucified by the war and aftermath led to the Presbyterian Church holding large public ceremonies at Easter.  The scars of the war were equated with the scars of Christ, and the suffering of the people as a metaphor for those of Jesus.  From the Presbyterians the practice spread to other Protestant denominations.

The Easter Parade in New York has a documented history into the 1880s, but almost certainly began by the mid-1870s.  Large celebrations did take place in Boston and many cities around that time, but as to specifics on which church in which town presided over by which pastor, I'd be surprised if you could find out short of searching the individual church records of all still existing Presbyterian churches from that era.  As far as I know, which may not be far, there was no official Presbyterian declaration on the issue.  Obviously it began somewhere in the late 1860s or early '70s, but exactly where is probably lost to us.  Indications are it may have been in small-town Massachusetts.

Describe the show of eight kings presented to Macbeth by the witches.

In act 4 sc.1, three apparitions conjured up by the witches prophesy all about Macbeth's ruin, though in an ambiguous riddle-like language. Macbeth insists on knowing more, especially about the prospect of kingship as promised to Banquo's issue. The witches then present a show for Macbeth :

" A show of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; Banquo's Ghost following".

All the eight kings look like Banquo. The crown that the first wears burns Macbeth's eye-balls. The second and the third also wear the same dazzling crown. Macbeth, disturbed at the sight, curses the witches as 'filthy hags'. As the procession of kings goes on, Macbeth is outraged to believe that Banquo's look-alikes would be marching on and on till the very end of the world. Macbeth finds that the eighth in the line holds a mirror which shows many more kings to follow. Some of these eight kings carry with them 'two-fold balls' and 'treble sceptres'; the first signifies the two crowns of England and Scotland united under James I, while the second suggests the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Banquo's 'blood-bolter'd' spectre smiles sarcastically at Macbeth.

Why are Giles Corey's informant and the people who signed the first deposition afraid of being called to testify in court?

I think there are a couple reasons for this (which happens in Act III, Scene 2).

First of all, it seems likely that they are scared that they might themselves be accused of being witches.  With the way the court is going, you never know who might be accused (especially by the girls) or for what reason.  So you are better off not even having the court notice you.

The other thing is that (especially for Giles Corey's informant), they would be testifying against powerful people.  Giles is accusing Putnam of a crime and Putnam is pretty powerful in the town.  If Putnam finds out who the informant is, he might hurt him as well.

How are Afghanistan's race, ethnicity, and tribes important to the story "The Kite Runner"?

The different tribes of Afghanistan set up one of the major conflicts in the book. Amir is a pashtun, a member of the privileged ruling class of the country. Hassan is a hazzara, a class of servants who are not only socially different but also look different form their pashtun counterparts. This causes conflict between the two, especially in Amir’s eyes, as he is clearly friends with Hassan, but at the same time Hassan is a servant to Amir. Amir is reluctant to treat Hassan like a friend when others are around, or to admit that Hassan is in fact his friend. Much later in the book, when Amir returns to Afghanistan, the country has been taken over by the Taliban, who are mostly Pashtun, and Assef, who as a child said that Afghanistan was a country for the Pashtuns and will one day be for the Pashtuns again, is a high ranking official.

In Chapter 12 of The Scarlett Letter, how do the other townspeople who see the red letter "A" from the meteor in the sky interpret it?

In Chapter 12 of The Scarlet Letter, while Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl are standing at night on the scaffold, Dimmesdale having asked the other two to join him there after the pain he bears made him cry aloud, a meteor splits the sky and leaves a trail in the shape of letter "A." It is interpreted by the three on the scaffold as a reference to Hester's scarlet letter. The next day the church sexton tells Dimmesdale, after handing him his glove that he dropped at the scaffold of public shame, that many townspeople are reporting the sight of a meteor that left a trail in the shape of a letter "A."

Dimmesdale is relieved and surprised to hear that the townspeople are attributing the miracle of the letter "A" in the sky to be an "A" for angel as a sign of a heavenly reward for Governor Winthrop, who died during the night at about the same time as when Dimmesdale had stood alone on the scaffold before asking Hester and Pearl to join him as they were returning from Governor Winthrop's death bed; Hester had been requested to sew his burial robe.

In "The Man Without a Country," what is Philip Nolan guilty of? Why was he a man without a country?

Edward Everett Hale's "The Man Without a Country" is based on the true story of Philip Nolan, an American army officer who becomes connected with the trial of Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr was being tried for treason, and Nolan was charged as a co-conspirator. While on the witness stand, Nolan cursed the United States, and the judge later sentenced Nolan to serving a life imprisonment without ever again setting foot on U.S. soil or hearing the name of his country mentioned again. Nolan served out the remainder of his sentence on board U.S. Naval ships--never setting foot on lan again. He eventually repented after reading Sir Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, particularly the line "Breathes there the man with soul so dead / Who never to himself hath said / "This is my own, my native land!" Late in life, Nolan was told of the might of his nation, and he died a proud and happy man. He also served heroically during a British attack on his ship, taking control of a gun after the officer in charge was killed.

What is the plot of "A Pair of Silk Stockings," Kate Chopin's short story?

The plot, which is the conflict and resolution, is that Mrs. Sommers receives a windfall of money and must determine how to spend it.  This symbolically represents her receiving a windfall of autonomy (in the form of money) that she must decide how to use.  At first she intends to divert the windfall to buying gifts for her children, but through unexpected circumstances (skipped lunch, exhaustion from hurried work) she is lured step-by-accidental-step to spend all the money on herself for a brief moment of autonomy from the restraints of her present reality of life (marriage, husband, children, home to keep).  The resolution of the plot is what Mrs. Sommers feels upon returning home: Does she feel liberated or more conscious of her limitations?

Mrs. Sommers, who has seen "better days" during which she read glossy magazines--but she never thought of those days as the necessities of the moment compelled her--received a tidy sum of money. She deliberated over how to invest it, deciding upon improving her children's wardrobes. On the day of the bargain-hunting shopping trip, she was overworked and missed luncheon and so sat aimlessly at a shop counter feeling weak and disoriented. Then she felt the silk stockings. The feel and shimmer of them led her to buy them. She replaced her cotton stockings with the silk and abandoning thought (once again), moved on an impulse to buy herself luxuries. At the end of the day, on the street car, she had a wish for the moment to continue into perpetuity.

squint problemi have a squint in my eye and all the doctor say that operation is not possible so i feel very shy when i come out of my house so...

Sometimes one has to just buckle down and do those miserable things that the doctor tells us to do.  Exercise is a safer and better option than surgery, but it is aggravating and long term.  I understand your problem. 

It sounds like you are at an age where you are very self-conscious.  It is important for you to now that even those girls who seem to look perfect all have something about themselves that makes them awkward.  They just mask it better. 

When I was growing up I had a best friend who was the most beautiful girl in our school.  She was also the most beautiful girl at dance class, rode horses for show, and had won many ribbons.  She had a big family that was so supportive and it seemed like every boy liked her.  She was very kind.  I probably looked like an old sock next to her.  One sad day I received a call from my grandmother to go home.  I went home and learned my friend had committed suicide.  I knew everything about my friend but one very important thing. She believed she was extremely ugly.  Her mother shared her diary with me and her closest friends to try and help us to understand.

I am sorry that you are having such a difficult time.  Talk with your mother or an adult that you trust about your concerns.  Be proud of who you are and remember that as you grow older you will not be as self-conscious.  Look and accent those parts about yourself that you like best.  I know this does not solve your problem, but I do want you to feel better about yourself.

Discuss Doctor Faustus as a typical Renaissance Man.

Think about these following points:

1) Faustus is an individual man. He is a superior scholar, led by his own will, prefers to take decisions self-willingly, paying heed to nobody.

2) Faustus is a practitioner of knowledge, and not only that, is accused of practising black magic as Albertus Magnus or Roger Bacon of the Renaissance period were accused. He is a famous artisan. And for this, he gets entangled in the cobweb of Power. According to Foucault, there is a nexus between power and knowledge. But it is evident in the play that, Faustus's craving for knowledge, his thirst to cross the limit of gaining knowledge like an Icarus, shows his Renaissance characteristic.

3) Faustus's love for beauty, definitely proves a Renaissance feature, which is manifested through his love toward Helen's Classical beauty.

4) Above all, Faustus chooses knowledge and self over God. that you can take as the most significant Renaissance part of his Character.

Now, if you think about the points above, I think you will find your answer. Please don't forget to include quotes from the play.

A rectangular tank can be filled with water by two pipes in 100/9 minutes. If the larger pipe alone takes 5 minutes less to fill the tank than...

The solution posted above contains some errors and leaves some points explained although the final answer given is correct. For example, it is stated:

... we assume the larger of the pipe alone takes x+5 minutes to fill up the water tank and the smaller alone  in x minutes.

This statement cannot be correct as the larger pipe should take less time to fill the tank as compared to the smaller pipe.

I suggest the following solution.

Let the time taken by the larger pipe to fill the tank be x minutes.

Then capacity of larger pipe to fill the tank in terms of tanks per minute = 1/x.

Now as the smaller pipe takes five minutes longer than the larger pipe the time taken by it to fill the tank = x + 5 minutes.

Then capacity of smaller pipe to fill the tank in terms of tanks per minute = 1/(x +5).

The total capacity of large plus small pipe = 1/x + 1/(x + 5)

= ([x + 5) + x]/[x*(x + 5)] = (2x + 5)/(x^2 + 5x)

The time taken by large plus small pipe to fill the tank =

1/(total capacity of large plus small pipe) = 1/[(2x + 5)/(x^2 + 5x)]

= (x^2 + 5x)/(2x + 5)

This time is given as 100/9 minutes

Therefore: 100/9 = (x^2 + 5x)/(2x + 5)

Therefore: 100*(2x + 5) = 9*(x^2 + 5x)

Therefore: 200x + 500 = 9*x^2 + 45x

Rearranging this equation with all the terms on left hand side we get:

9*x^2 - 155x + 500 = 0

Therefore: 9*x^2 - 180x  + 25x + 500 = 0

Therefore: 9x(x - 20)  + 25*(x + 20) = 0

Therefore: (x - 20)*( 9x + 25) = 0

Therefore x = 20, and -25/9

However the time taken to fill the tank cannot be negative therefore we accept only the first value i.e. x = 20

Therefore large pipe will take 20 minutes to fill the tank.

And small pipe will take 5 minutes more than that i.e. 20 + 5 = 25 minutes.

In the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, what is the name of Henry's regiment?

Stephen Crane withholds the name of Henry's regiment until late in the novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Like many of the men, the unit is a faceless group awaiting their turn to die in battle (in this case, the Southern victory at Chancellorsville) like so many before them. Crane tells us indirectly that the troops are from New York in Chapter 2, since

The tall one fought with a man from Chatfield Corners and beat him severely.

(Chatfield Corner is a town in Saratoga County.) The men are without battlefield experience, so they are likely a volunteer outfit, rather than a veteran U. S. Army regiment. In Chapter 18, just prior to Henry's heroic stand,

    Looking down an aisle of the grove, the youth and his companion saw a jangling general and his staff...

There they overhear the general demanding a subordinate officer for reinforcements.

"What troops can you spare?"
    ..."Well," he said. "I had to order in th' 12th to help the 76th, an' I haven't really got any. But there's the 304th. They fight like a lot 'a mule drivers. I can spare them best of any."
    The general spoke sharply. "Get 'em ready, then... I don't believe many of your mule drivers will get back."

So, Henry Fleming is a member of the 304th New York Volunteers.

(According to several Civil War historians, Crane's inspiration for the 304th was either a unit from French’s Division, Couch’s Second Corps; or the Orange County Regiment (124th New York), of Sickles’ Third Corps.)

Is competition good, bad, or a little of both?

As the question is put up in business section I will focus my response to competition in business.

Competition has its advantages as well as limitation, but on the whole it has been demonstrated that in business competition is essential in the interest of consumers.

The biggest advantage of competition is that it forces businesses to become responsive to the needs and preferences of customers. In absences of competition all business will become monopolies, manipulating prices and supplies to their advantage. The harmful effect of such monopolistic behavior is now well recognized by experts, and as a result most of the democratic countries toady have laws that restrict the activities of monopolies.

However, competition can become unhealthy also. Companies may spend too much money unwisely on advertisement, hurting their own interest as well as wasting resources of the society. Some companies may engage in unhealthy price cutting. This may result some company closing down. Such behavior also hurt the common interest of society by making some productive resources idle. Also multiple suppliers tend of a product tend to restrict the ability of suppliers to draw full benefits of economies of scale.

What is a summary of chapters 5 and 6 of In the Time of the Butterflies?

In chapter five Dede narrates to the interviewer(1994) a story concerning Virgiho Morales (Lio). She was romantically interested in Lio during his youth. After that, the story goes back to 1948. Dede is involved with Jaimito, her cousin that she married. Minerva flirts with Communist thinking. Lio leaves the country, asking Dede to hand Minerva a letter, but she burns it.

In chapter 6, Minerva tells the story that is in 1949. She is bored and wants to go to Law school.She investigates and realizes that her father had 4 daughters out of wedlock. He hid Lio's letters.They attend an outdoor party at Trujillo's where Minerva slaps Trujillo.It rains, the Mirabals leave. Minerva misplaces her handbag, that has Lio's letters. Enrique Mirabal is put under arrest. Minerva and her mother beg Trujillo so Enrique can be released.

The Glass Menagerie- a production...For my Theatre Arts class our professor has asked that we write a production plan for The Glass Menagerie. I...

A production of "The Glass Menagerie" is not all that demanding in terms of set design, props or costumes. First, read this:

The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire-escape, a structure whose name is a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all of these huge buildings are always burning with the slow and implacable fires of human desperation. The fire-escape is included in the set - that is, the landing of it and steps descending from it.

At the rise of the curtain, the audience is faced with the dark, grim rear wall of the Wingfield tenement. This building, which runs parallel to the footlights, is flanked on both sides by dark, narrow alleys which run into murky canyons of tangled clothes-lines, garbage cans, and the sinister lattice-work of neighbouring fire-escapes.

Downstage is the living-room, which also serves as a sleeping-room for Laura, the sofa is unfolding to make her bed. Upstage, centre, and divided by a wide arch or second proscenium with transparent faded portières (or second curtain), is the dining-room. In an old fashioned what-not in the living-room are seen scores of transparent glass animals. A blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living-room, facing the audience, to the left of the archway. It is the face of a very handsome young man in a doughboy's First World War cap.

The audience hears and sees the opening scene in the dining-room through both the transparent fourth wall of the building and the transparent gauze portières of the dining-room arch. It is during this revealing scene that the fourth wall slowly ascends out of sight. This transparent exterior wall is not brought down again until the very end of the play, during Tom' s final speech.

So, in terms of the apartment, the most important things are the living-room, which also serves as Laura's sleeping room, some tables and chairs and a sofa. And, of course, you will need a cabinet that holds Laura's little glass animals. The living-room can be changed into a dining room later in the play, so you really don't have to go through the complicated use "transparent gauze portières" discussed in Williams' last paragraph above.

You will definitely need some kind of construction that suggests a fire escape landing.

Williams describes Amanda's clothes and accessories in great detail, but adherence to these descriptions are not all that important (at least in my opinion). These are poor people, and their clothing is simple, decidedly not stylish or very tasteful and at least a bit tattered. Because Tom goes out to work every day, he is the best dressed, yet still you can keep it simple: nice slacks, a dress shirt, and an overcoat.

In terms of budget, my school puts together a stage crew that assembles everything, so the costs are kept to a bare minimum. We just scrounge around for props and lumber used in past plays.

Good luck.

How did the division of Germany lead to the Cold War??

I guess you could say that the division of Germany led to the Cold War, though I would say it was more a part of the Cold War than its cause.

You could say it led to the Cold War because it gave the USSR and the US something to fight/argue over (instead of being separated and never really coming into contact).

Because of the division of Germany and of Berlin, the Berlin blockade happened, with the Berlin Airlift coming soon after.  Because of this, the Berlin Crisis happened in 1958.

So overall, you could say that the division made a lot of things for the USSR and the US to argue and get mad at each other about.

One thing, though -- my guess is that there is something specific in your book or your lecture notes that your teacher will want you to talk about.  You should probably look for it.

What is Hamlet's fatal flaw? Is he merely indecisive, or does he have some other flaw that causes his troubles?

Hamlet's tragic flaw (the Greeks called it "hamartia") is SUPPOSEDLY his inability to take decisions. This has been forwared by many critics, including the famous A.C.Bradley in his classic book on Shakespeare, "Shakesperean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth" (1905). Since then, Shakesperean critics have taken this view more or less for granted.

I think the question we should ask these days is WHAT made Hamlet so indecisive. Here, I find the previous responder, Appletree, helpful in suggesting Hamlet's various complexities, especially regarding women, Gertrude (hi mother), and Ophelia (his lover). Perhaps for reasons of space, Appletree does not go deep enough to discuss Hamlet's misogyny (hating women).

My daughter wrote her senior theses last year on Hamlet. There she claims that Hamlet's indecisions result from his intellectual capacity to doubt -- almost everything. Now, this is also not a new idea. What was interesting about her thesis though is the fact that she cast doubt as an intellectual exercise, something Hamlet was fond of indulging in as a student, and then becoming obsessed with the act itself.

In the Elizabethan age, the age in which Shakespeare wrote, intellectual doubting was becoming a fashion. Hamlet was most probably produced between 1599-1601. At that time Shakespeare was about 35 years old, and, the voracious reader that he was, it is a safe bet to say that he was acquainted with the works of Michel Montaigne. He was a French aristocrat and intellectual with wide influence all over Europe. He published his book of "Essais" (Essays) in 1580. It was widely read among intellectuals in England.

In that book, Montaigne teaches intellectuals that doubt, unlike popular religious prejudice against it, was intellectually necessary. To Montaigne, doubt was a natural reaction for anyone who plainly sees hypocrisy.

Remember Hamlet exclaiming to Gertrude, "Seems mother! Nay it is, I know not seems!" early in the play? Rather than sexual jealousy -- which may have been real in Hamlet's case -- Hamlet's doubts came about by seeing a constant gap between what people say, and how they behave: Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, even Laertes. Hamlet's episodes with the ghost of his father also creates doubts -- not because it was a ghost, but because as a father, he would try to oblige his son to murder his uncle.

So, if you were to write on Hamlet's indecision, please pay some attention to his doubts. It may raise your essay from ordinary to interesting.

Why did Oliver hate Orlando?

It possibly as simple as typical sibling rivalry. In 'As You Like It' Shakespeare is taking a theme which is so common in very many families and expanding it to encompass and magnify that on a huge scale - the social ramifications of taking sides in a whole country when ruling brothers are enemies. It's possible that Oliver is plain jealous (perhaps Orlando is better-looking as we know that Rosalind takes a shine to him.) We see that his natural personable nature and exquisite manners have not been excised by the lack of a finishing education in matters of court and etiquette and courtly behaviors. Oliver is most probably envious of the easy way his brother has with people,how people warm to him despite everything -in the way that people sometimes do - for no reason that we can quantify or measure - some people have a certan 'je ne sais quois' or 'charisma.' people gravitate towards warmth and generosity. Some critics think that Oliver shows him up in a bad light and wants rid of the comparison so he will have no rival.

Describe the conflict between spiritual and material values in the poem Beowulf.

Beowulf is a very conflicted poem in many ways.  This is most likely due to the fact that it is the product of an oral tradition.  It was a story sung and passed down through talk, rather than through being committed to paper.  As a result, it is a story that is surely a combination of many other stories and different manifestations depending on who was singing the epic and when. 

One of the main conflicts is between the pagan polytheism (the worship of many gods) versus monotheism (the worship of one all powerful God).  Both are represented in this epic.  For example, Hrothgar’s throne can’t be touched, because it is protected by God.  However, when Grendel is terrorizing Harot and the Danes can’t get rid of him, they fall back to making sacrifices to stone pagan Gods.  This is a representation of the changing religious views that were occurring during the transition in Europe from paganism to Christianity.  The two different religious views differ in their beliefs regarding material wealth and the idea of fame and glory in this life.  This is where the answer to your question of most prevalent.  Although our hero is said to have God on his side in the monotheistic sence (this is one of the reasons that he can defeat Grendel  and his mother) he also expresses a large interest in fame, glory and riches during this life, which is much more in tune with paganism.  It is this man’s opinion that the person that actually put the poem down on paper was trying to sell a monotheistic religious ideal to polytheists through subtle messages injected into this age old pagan tale.    So, Beowulf still has some of the characteristics of a pagan in terms of earthly glory and riches, he also represents the newer ideal which was moving toward monotheistic religion in the British Isles. 

I need ideas for alternatives to the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that would have been acceptable to all sides.The immediate ending of slavery is...

This is a very tough question and I'm not sure I have a good answer, but here goes.

I'd like to start by stating the problem.  You have a balance between free and slave states so that means the Senate is equally split so each side can essentially veto any action it doesn't like.  But now Missouri wants to become a state and you have to figure out what to do with it and the rest of the area obtained thru the LA Purchase.

As you say, you can't just ban slavery in the whole Purchase.  Neither can you require that it be allowed.  Neither of those will work.

I suppose you could go with the popular sovereignty idea that ended up in the Kansas-Nebraska Act in '54 -- where you let each new state or territory decide about slavery for themselves.  But that's problematic because no matter what Missouri decides, it upsets the balance.

I suppose you could draw the line somewhere other than 36-30, but that doesn't really change anything all that much.

I think if I had to answer this I'd do it in these steps: lay out the problem, state some alternatives, say why those wouldn't work.  Conclusion: the people who made the Compromise did the best they possibly could.

I can see myself asking this question hoping you'd come to that conclusion.  Do you think your prof might be doing that?

How might Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence be described as "Petrarchan"?

The adjective “Petrarchan” alludes to the writings of the 14th-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (known in English as “Petrarch”). Petrarch’s most influential compositions consisted of a collection of 366 sonnets and longer songs known as the Rime sparse, or Scattered Rhymes. In this “sonnet sequence,” the speaker becomes infatuated with a beautiful and virtuous woman (“Laura”), but she fails to reciprocate his desires. Ironically, only after she dies does the speaker begin to love truly what made her truly beautiful: her virtue. While she lived, he was obsessed with her physical beauty; after her death, he learns to love her as he should have loved her all along: spiritually.

Petrarch’s sonnets were enormously influential throughout western Europe and began to have a major impact on English writers in the sixteenth century. Astrophil and Stella, however, is the first attempt in English to write a sonnet sequence with the same basic themes as those found in Petrarch’s poems. Here again we have a young man obsessed with the physical beauty of a virtuous woman, and here again the man’s physical desires are ultimately disappointed.

Sidney, however, like many imitators of Petrarch, imitates while innovating. Thus, Stella is not nearly as remote as Laura was, and indeed Astrophil even manages to kiss her while she is sleeping. However, the real innovation of Sidney’s sequence lies in its blatant comic ironies and mockery of Astrophil’s ridiculous behavior. Sidney makes Astrophil a much more obviously foolish figure than Petrarch’s lover had been (although he had been foolish enough). Sidney has great fun mocking his namesake’s obsessive desires.

Consider, for example, the tangled phrasing of the second line of sonnet 6, where Astrophil speaks of “hopes begot by fear, of wot not what desires.” Or consider the ways Astrophil quickly runs through a whole list of Petrarchan paradoxes in line 4 of the same poem, where he speaks of “living deaths, dear wounds, fair storms, and freezing fires.” Or consider how the timorous Astrophil is implicitly mocked in line 14 of that sonnet, when he remarks that his “trembling voice brings forth that I do Stella love.”

The comedy of the sequence, like the true motives of Astrophil, becomes even more blatant in sonnet 52. There, Astrophil can barely mention Stella’s name without interrupting himself with a fawning interjection: “Stella (O dear name) . . . Stella” (6). At the very end of the poem, it becomes quite clear that Astrophil’s main interest is in Stella’s “body” (14), and the same interest is made comically clear in the last line of sonnet 71: “‘But ah,’ Desire still cries, ‘give me some food.’”

In short, Sidney adopts the basic Petrarchan “plot” of a man obsessed with the physical beauty of a virtuous woman, but he also adapts that plot, giving the whole situation a much more comic twist. Astrophil, unlike the speaker in Petrarch’s sequence, never really seems to learn any valuable spiritual lessons as a result of his disappointed infatuation. He is as frustrated at the end of the sequence as he had been at the beginning.