John Ray - An Evolution Scientist

Capital Punishment The Death Penalty - 1482 Words

Alexandra Saczawa English 1 A Mrs. McElmoyl 12/12/14 Capital Punishment As stated by former governor of New York, Mario M. Cuomo, Always I have concluded the death penalty is wrong because it lowers us all; it is a surrender to the worst that is in us; it uses a power- the official power to kill by execution- that has never brought back a life, need inspired anything but hate. (Cuomo 1) This is one of the main arguments against capital punishment (also known as the death sentence.) Capital punishment is the ability for a government to execute a person who has committed a crime. People that agree with using the death penalty, will argue that the death penalty is a way to bring justice to a murderer. But, nobody has the power to end the†¦show more content†¦They tightened the restrictions on the death penalty, only allowing treason and murder to be punishable by death. In 1846, the first state abolished the death penalty. This state was Michigan, and the main reason for the abolishment was because there hadn t been an execution in Michigan since 1830. 6 years later, Rhode Island also abolished capital punishment, followed by Wisconsin in 1853. Over a century later, the federal case Furman v. Georgia helped abolish capital punishment in the entire United States. The Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was cruel and unusual punishment, which violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. However this didn t last too long. By 1975, 30 states had authorized the death penalty yet again. (Reggio 1-6) In the United States, there are 5 different ways in which the death penalty is done today and has been carried out in history. These methods include lethal injection, the electric chair, lethal gas, hanging, and the firing squad, but the most commonly used methods in modern times are lethal injection and the electric chair. Lethal injection is composed of 3 different chemicals. Thiopental sodium puts the criminal to sleep, potassium chloride stops his heart, and an anesthetic overdose finally ends his life. The criminal not only dies from the anesthesia but also respiratory and cardiac arrest while he is unconscious. When

Harem The Power Within Essay Example For Students

Harem: The Power Within Essay In Muslim societies the social interaction between unrelated men and women is restricted. Traditional house design often allowed the women the inner part of the house which would be off-limits to outsiders. This is the concept of Harem, which literally means a sacred or restricted place. However, in Arabic and Turkish the word Harem is also used as a general name for all the women living in an household. According to Alev L. Croutier the most largest Harem of all times was the Harem of the Ottoman Sultans. He claims that in 16th century there were 600 women in the Ottoman Harem. The origin of the girls brought to the Imperial Harem was very diverse. Because the territories of the Empire was expanded into three continent they were girls from European Countries, Iran, Russia, and North Africa. Most of the girls were brought when they were child. The real source for slaves and concubines brought to the Imperial Palace were the continuos wars. These girls were mostly Christian. Because m ost wars were made with the Christian countries. Later in 14th century when the Mediterranean piracy started the source for girls and slaves became the north Africa and Caucasian. Besides the girls who were brought as a war prisoner, there were also girls sent to Sultan by the ministers and princes of other countries and states of the Ottoman Empire. Imperial Harem was above all schools. Before being presented to the Sultan, all girls had to learn Arabic, Turkish, literacy, court manners, music and religion. For talented girls Harem also had private teachers coming from other countries. All girls were made Muslim the day they entered the Imperial Palace. A new Arabic or Persian name were giving to them. After that, older women of the Harem were giving these girls the necessary education in case they could see the Sultan one day. If a concubine who saw the Sultan for one time could have the chance to see him again, she became a favorite. Favorites of the Sultan had more chance to mar ry him. If a girl marries the Sultan and gives birth to a child, then she could guaranty her luxury until the death of her husband. However, the most powerful woman of the Harem and the Empire was the mother of the Sultan. She was also called Valide Sultan which means Mother Sultan. She had a higher income than the Grand Vizier, the vice president, and often acted as the guardian of the interests of the Sultan and the dynasty. Therefore, the dream of all mothers of princes in the Harem was to be a Mother Sultan (Croutier). ?However, the character of an Oriental Harem has often been set forth incorrectly. While it may contain hundreds of women, a very few of these are the actual consorts of the monarch?(DOhsson). A large number are personal servants and entertainers of himself, his mother his consorts, his daughters or his infant sons. Another section consists of those being educated for some personal service. A fourth group, probably the greatest majority, are mere house-servants, w ho attend to all the domestic labors of the Harem and are seldom promoted to more honorable positions. There is finally, a group of older women who preserve order and peace, teach, and keep accounts. The average age in the Harem was 17. Most female children were married off at five to much older men who couldnt see them alone, until they were 13 and had reached puberty. They were usually married off to leading servants of the Sultan, who were thereby more intimately connected with the imperial household (Altindal 46). In Harem, it was forbidden for the girls to talk or even to see other men than the Sultan. There was only one Sultan the rest got turned into eunuchs or killed! Eunuchs were the guardians of the Harem. Although the Sacred Law strongly disapproved the employment of eunuchs, that unfortunate class was thought too useful to be dispensed with entirely. Some were white, brought mainly from the Caucasus region; but the great majority were black brought from Africa. The class deserves mention because several of the important offices of state among the men of the pen were held by eunuchs, and now and then rose to high place in the army and administration. They were mostly black slaves turned into eunuchs when they were children. They had very high education and they were the connection between the Sultan and the girls of the Harem (Altindal 89).They were responsible for choosing new girls for the Harem and informing the Sultan about these girls and making rules to keep the Harem peaceful. For women, being part of a Harem meant emotional and psychological insecurity; and unless they happened to be free, not slaves, and independently wealthy, it meant material insecurity as well. Harem was a boring place for the most part. There really was not that much to do. Women in the Harem could sew, eat, go to the baths, shop, sleep, take care of children if have any and pray That was about it. So the women of the Harem channeled their energy into vanities, and vied for positions of most-favor while trying to maintain their status in a group of 200 to 300 women. It was a fiercely political environment where women fought each other for every tiny scrap of power, or what was perceived as power. From 1541 to 1687 women ruled the Ottoman Empire through the power they created for themselves using the tools forged in the Harem. Some of the women in the Harem were more powerful than the Sultan of the time; there are many examples of these women in the Ottoman history. Tutankhamen As A Teacher EssayIn Ottoman Palace there are many examples of Sultan daughters marrying man who are in age of their grand-father. Ayse Sultan was the daughter of Ahmet I. The first marriage of Ayse Sultan was with Nosuh Pasha when she was only seven years old. Nosuh Pasha had to wait long time before he could enter the bridal chamber. However, he got killed at the second year of his marriage with the baby bride. When the father of Ayse Sultan, Ahmet I, was death when he was 28 years old Osman II became Sultan. Osman was the grand brother of Ayse Sultan. At this time Ayse Sultan was only a teenager and she was again widow after the dead of her second husband Karakas Mehmet Pasha. Osman II found her a new husband and marry her off with the governor of Beylerbeyi , Hafiz Ahmet Pasha. To marry off Ayse Sultan was as important as choosing someone for the government affairs. During the revolt of the janissaries, the mercenaries, Hafiz Pasha was killed; and Ayse Sultan was wi dowed again. A month later in 1632 Ayse Sultan married off with the prime minister of the Sultan Oman, Murtaza Pasha. But unfortunately her marriage with him did not last longer than a year because of the death of her husband. After that, she had three other marriages again with the most important governors of the time. She had her last marriage when she was 50 years old. But this last one ended with her death in 1656 (Wheatcroft 76). During the Ottoman Empire there is no other Harem woman who was used in politics as much as Ayse Sultan was (Altindal 21). Many French historians claimed that the mother of Mahmut II, Nelesdil Sultan was the daughter of a very noble French family. She was brought to the palace when she was 14 years old by the Turkish pirates. The young Aimee was captured in a small Mediterranean island. They changed her name to Naksidil. She was one of the wives of the Sultan Abulhamid I. It is claimed that she was the cousin of Josephine, the wife of French emperor, Napoleon. (Wheatcroft 55)Naksidil Sultan was the mother of Mahmut II. She was the most important person of the reforms made during the Sultanate of his son (Altindal 74). The imperial Harem is one of the most interesting study areas of the Ottoman history. Harem was not only the ?inner part of the house? but it was a school of life full of challenges, restrictions and powers. Many women lived in this golden cage of the Ottoman dynasty; however, only a few of them were intelligent enough to use their power outside the closed doors of the Harem. All of them had an important role in the 900 years rule of the Ottoman Empire by serving the Sultan and giving birth to princes. Besides, concubinage is one of the reasons for the long dynasty of the Ottoman Empire. ?The Sultan had complete control over his partners. There was no possibility of embarrassment, so often caused to other dynasties, by matrimonial or sexual connections with members of the power elite or foreign dynasties?(Keddie 67). Work Cited ListAltindal, Meral. Osmanlida Harem. . Istanbul: Altin Kitaplar Yayinevi, 1993. Croutier, Alev L. ?The World Behind the Veil.? Reference Desk 17 Dec. 1996: n. pag. Online. America Online. 10 Jul. 1997. Available WWW:http://www.aol.com/ref/bookbuy.html. DOhsson, Mouradja I. ?Tableau General de LEmpire Othoman.? Le Journal de LHistoire 23 Apr. 1997: n. pag. Online. America Online. 10 Jul. 1997. Available WWW: http://www.revision/ histoire/120067.list.html. Keddie, Nikki R. , ed. Women in the Middle Eastern History . By Donald Quataert. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1992. Nanji, Azim A. ?Women Men and Gender in Islam.? The Muslim Almanac. Ed. Abdullah Kassami. 2 vols. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1996. Wheatcroft, Andrew. ?Ottoman Renaissance.? History Today Feb. 1996: 55.

Moby Dick Essay free essay sample

Moby-Dick is a novel of darkness. Though Melville did not intend it, his story, I find, can only be read at night by a dim light on my patio, looking out over the starlit desert. As I read, I sense the darkness of his story. I am not moved to fright or horror by it, but I feel those shadows move in. Psyche is near but not yet touchable. Something is missing, at least if you’ve only read to Chapter 40. There is darkness, jocularity, hints of imminent catastrophe, and pleasant old English to be read. The story is only just developing. Ahab, Ishmael, Starbuck, Stub, Flask, and Moby-Dick: all of these characters are well known in our modern, literary world. Ishmael’s narrative sets their qualities clearly, but this is only a tool of literary character development. The reader is not drawn into the horror that has occurred (Ahab’s dismemberment) or into the horror to come until Chapter  41. We will write a custom essay sample on Moby Dick Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We are faced with Ahab’s madness in Chapter 36 and, with Ishmael; we stand in awe of the power of the man, overlooking the depth of his madness. Chapter 41—curiously named by the title of the book—finally brings the horror to reality as Ishmael personifies the shadow within Moby Dick- the whale, and the madness in Ahab. Moby-Dick, the White Whale itself, is only a representation of the sperm whale species so clearly unique and delineated by Melville in earlier chapters. It is difficult to be either drawn to him—Moby-Dick—or repelled by him. That can only happen once the whale becomes the personification of the psychological Shadow. When we personify something, we move it closer to its archetypal meaning. In this essay, Moby-Dick becomes the personification of Shadow in all of us. Within that Shadow are found fear, vengeance, ferocity, and murderous rage. Personification by itself is not enough. Moby Dick is used as a vessel by the shadow, and once the Shadow is contained by the image of Moby-Dick, anyone with knowledge of archetypal images can clinically dissect it and, thereby, miss what Melville is trying to accomplish: linkage of the archetype to the insane Ahab. So the archetype is doubly personified, first in the embodiment of the White Whale, then in the humanity of Captain Ahab. Shadow exists in the presence of humanity, insane or not. If we are to understand madness, it must be personified. As the chapter opens, Ishmael ponders over his own participation in the excitement generated by Ahab’s grandiosity. Transference has occurred and now Ishmael senses, â€Å"A wild, mystical, sympathetically feeling†¦; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed mine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1967, p. 155). The counter transference is manifested in the arousal of the crew to do Ahab’s bidding. Before that can happen, though, Moby-Dick must become real. Ishmael relates the factual calamities caused by the sperm whale then, the rumors running widespread throughout the â€Å"fishery. †Ã‚  Ã‚  He points us to these facts and rumors and further says that it is not surprising that â€Å"whalemen should go still further in their superstitions; declaring Moby-Dick not only ubiquitous, but immortal (for immortality is but ubiquity in time)†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1967, p. 158). Ishmael cites contemporary authors who rave of the ferocity of the Sperm whale saying even sharks nearby are â€Å"‘†¦struck with the most lively terrors’ and ‘often in the precipitancy of their flight dash themselves against the rocks†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (1967, p. 57). These contemporary authors begin the process of personification. The whale seems to live in rage and fury. The â€Å"phantom† of fear and threat from the white whale strikes animals into their instincts to be fearful of such a mysterious thought. The sharks indeed can be personified as Ahab and his crew, fearful of the whale and the shadow within it. Moby Dick has been shown to hold the Shadow and all the malicious implications of that Shadow. Our fears and terrors now have a point—the whale, in space and time upon which to hang. In some strange way, our fears and terrors have an altar upon which we can sacrifice them. The whale becomes the god and, like Ahab, we point to it as source and origin of all that ails us, consciously and unconsciously. The whale/Shadow lives each day with us. We have reflected, as Ahab has, on its presence and now contemplate its destruction. The moral here is about to be conveyed through the character of Ahab, as his emotions represent the act of emotional self-defense. According to Sigmund Freud, The mind may avoid the discomfort of consciously admitting personal faults by keeping those feelings unconscious, and by redirecting libidinal satisfaction by attaching, or projecting, those same faults onto another person or object, which in this case Ahab projects those faults on Moby Dick, the white sperm whale. And now we turn to Ahab. Ishmael presents us with one telling sentence: â€Å"The White Whale swam before him as a monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung. (1967, p. 160) As with many a madness, Ahab suffered a physical trauma. He lived through the physical healing of that wounding but â€Å"his torn body and gashed soul bled into one another; and so interfusing, made him mad. † (1967, p. 160)  Ã‚  Ishmael incorporates poetic speech in his attempt to say that this madness personified in Ahab could afflict any of us. The soul of a human is affected by physical punishment such as humiliation penetrates the mental state of mind of the victim. One, in act of self-pity, will act upon the most dangerous undertaking to remove the humiliation from their mental state. Ahab comes to personify Madness itself as evinced in his ravings to the crew, his introspection in Chapter 37, and now by Melville’s delineation of the onset of that madness, in the voice of Ishmael. The reader makes this move, not Ishmael. Our own Shadow points to Ahab instead of inwardly; Ahab are substance, which will hold our conception of our own potentiality to madness. We nod our heads in affirmation of Ishmael’s narrative as he talks of â€Å"this grey-headed, ungodly old man, chasing with curses a Job’s whale round the world, at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1967, p. 62). It is Shadow that drives this Captain beyond his ability to understand. So Shadow stands now doubly personified in whale and man. The shadow which presents itself through a man’s raging passion subconsciously pushes a victim to think and act beyond the norm to rid our minds of that threatened psyche and the burning fire of revenge in the human soul. We have seen the psychology in this fiction. Now ask: where resides this fiction in psychology? Don’t let the enormity of this story cloud the metaphor. This happens every day in the consulting room. Personification of Shadow gives the client the means whereby to heal. The therapist must recognize the opportunity and make the most of it. It is Psyche that has allowed the presence of Shadow in the consulting room. It is Psyche that allows Shadow to walk with Healing. I have only told the beginning of this story within the story. Once personified, how will the madness and malice come to conflict? Who will win? We all know the story of  Moby-Dick. But have we ever stopped to think that its ending is  not  one of catastrophe, but one of integration?