Themes Essays - Greek Mythology, Ancient Greece, Operas, Antigone

Themes The three major themes are love, loyalty, and irony; the most major theme being irony. Antigone's love for her brother, Polyneices, was so strong, she died for him. Haemon's love for Antigone was so strong, he died with her death. Eurydice's love for her son, Haemon, was so strong, she died with his death. Creon's guilt and love for his wife and son was so strong, he felt he should not go on living after their death. ". . . I speak for you, for me, and for the spirits of the dead. . . The dead? Precisely--you'll never marry her alive. . .Well then, dead--one death beckoning to another. . . " This is part of a conversation between Creon and Haemon while Haemon is standing up for Antigone. Love is constantly being shown through the book. Another quote from the book is said by the Strophe I: ". . . Love, unquelled in battle, Love making nonsense of wealth, Pillowed all night on the cheek of a girl, You roam seas, pervade the wilds, And in a Shepherd's hut you lie. Shadowing immotal gods, You dog ephemeral man--Madness your possession. . . " Another theme is loyalty, which is mostly the same as the theme of love. By loving someone, therefore you are also loyal to them. It follows the same cronilogical order as the theme of love: Polyneices' death brings out Antigone's loyalty, which brings upon her death, which then brings out Haemon's loyalty to Antigone, which brings upon his death, which shows Eurydice's loyalty to her son, which brings about her death, then finally the guilt and grief of Creon. Also, Antigone had to choose which family member to stay loyal to: Creon, her uncle, or Polyneices, her brother. The major theme of the story is irony. Irony is when the meaning of the speakers words are opposite of his actions, which is exactly what is portrayed in this story. To further explain the theme, I will take quotes from the book, and explain them as I go along. The first quote is from Creon. ". . . You wait and see! The toughest will is the first to break: like the hard untempered steel which snaps and shivers at a touch when hot from off the forge. . . She and her sister will not now escape the utmost penalty. . ." There he is contradicting himself by saying people should bend and be lenient, but he won't even give his niece her life. Her sister and future husband, which is Creon's son, all try to convince him to let her go, but he won't bend. The second quote is from Haemon. ". . . But a wise man is flexible, has much to learn without loss of dignity. See the tree in floodtime, how they bend along the torrent's course, and how their twigs and branches so not snap, but stubborn trees are torn up roots and all. In sailing too, when fresh weather blows, a skipper who will not slaken sail, turns turtle, finishes his voyage beam-ends up. . ." His words are trying to tell his father that he must bend the rules, and let Antigone go free, and hinting at some consequenses.

My Fear of Public Speaking Essay Example

My Fear of Public Speaking Essay Example My Fear of Public Speaking Paper My Fear of Public Speaking Paper Essay Topic: Public Speaking Fear is defined often as a negative reaction provoked by a looming danger. As humans, we have felt this negative emotion in varying degrees. Some of us fear snakes, heights, death and even the number Thirteen. My fear keeps me from expressing my ideas and myself. My fear is public speaking. Born and raised in Ethiopia I spoke Amharic my native language, until the age of fourteen. I then moved to the United States to join my family. Coming to a new country already had lots of challenges; having to learn a new language makes it a lot harder to overcome the fear of public speaking. Can you imagine how difficult it was to move? We find it hard moving to a different apartment let alone a whole new country. I had to move from a different continent. Yes, it was very challenging and terrifying. In spite of my fears, in my first year of high school English class, I found myself having to give a speech report. From the moment Mrs. Smith, my teacher, announced that we had to present our essay; I was consumed with worry and dread in anticipation. The day was Tuesday and it was unusually muggy and dark outside. As I walked through the tunnel that led to my English class, I wished I could keep walking to my home, my true home. Knowing that there was no hope of going back, I stepped in through the gates of hell to face my demons. In the class I saw monsters, in varying sizes. I saw them having huge ears, especially made, for listening to any errors, mispronunciations, and stutters. These beasts had huge eyes, big as baseballs, made to look for nervous ticks. Their huge mouths were filled with enormous tongues like lizardsmouths made for laughing at me and tongues to talk about me behind my back. Oh, such terror! I had never felt so terrified. My heart was beating so fast I thought any minute it would jump out and run away. I walked in slowly, with measured steps. I didn’t want to disturb the creatures. Not wanting them to turn on me this minute, I sat at my desk avoiding any eye contact and made myself as small as a mouse. I was hoping the main monstrous creature sitting behind the desk would not utter my name. â€Å"Ko row beil,† the creature shrieked murdering my name. For a moment, I thought, â€Å"That’s not my name. Should I sit here till the monster gets it right?† No, I thought it best not to anger the beast. I stood quickly and moved toward the front of the class. Approaching the front, I smelled a strong perfume emanating from the creatures body. The perfume was so strong it smelled like toilet cleaner with a hint of citrus. I felt light headed either from the overwhelming odor or my fear. My vision got swirly I had to hold on to a desk to keep from falling. In this state, I began to speak my introduction. Thirty seconds or so into my speech, I began to breathe normally and relaxed a bit. I dared to look down from the ceiling. I looked at my classmates. On their faces were the funniest expressions I had ever seen. There was bewilderment and some looked dumbfounded. Then my brain started to register that I was speaking Amharic my native language. I stopped and looked at those funny expressions on the students’ faces, and I busted out laughing. I could not control my laughter. Then the whole class erupted with laughter, even the enormous creature behind the teacher’s desk. A few minutes later, the class calmed down from laughter, so had any difficulties I had about speaking. I began again in English this time. I was very relaxed and even had a smile on my face. I finished my presentation it wasn’t perfect but I was done. As I sat back at my chair in relief, the creature stepped out from behind its desk. Looking at the monster’s face I saw similarities. It had the same demeanor, caring and loving as my mother. The monster was no more. Of course, my fear was not just a fear of speaking to people; rather it was not being understood. There were many factors that added to my fear of public speaking. I believe not being raised by my parents and societal tradition in Ethiopia was significant. In Africa war, famine, and political are realities that separate families. My family had no control over these uncontrollable situations. As a consequence I was not raised by my parents. Not being raised by my parents had impacted my confidence and made me fearful of speaking in public. However, I’m thankful of my first speech in English class. The speech that day built up my character and made me a better person.

Human Right Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Right - Essay Example Values, such as freedom, equality and human dignity, are relevant to all societies and all times, but differ in their forms of manifestation and their roles in society. The term 'human rights' was born of Western cultural and historical traditions, but with the passage of time it has transcended the Western cultural boundary and become a universal symbol of human values. As a concentrated expression of diverse positive values, human rights enjoy unprecedented popularity today. However, each nation or culture has its own system and ways to achieve these values. People have different understandings of what human rights entail and what the approaches are to achieve them. These differences call for international cooperation and coordinated efforts of nations to promote human rights the world over. "Dialogue on human rights is a sensible means to surmount differences and reach consensuses." (Yunlong, 2006) During the last two years, one major 'human right' issue of conflict; was that of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict which initiated on July 12, 2006 .It had ignited loud criticisms. These criticisms were basically regarding the conflicts that had occurred because of the violations of the International Humanitarian Law. The international armed conflict and the laws which governed it were a major cause of debate. The issue was twofold: The relation of Hezbollah, the guerilla group, to the international humanitarian law, the treatment of the prisoners of war, the protection of the civilian's indiscriminate attacks and access to humanitarian relief. On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite armed group, launched an attack on Israeli positions, captured two Israeli soldiers on the other side of the Blue Line (the United Nation embarked line after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon on May 25, 2000). Nine Israeli soldiers were also killed. In response, Israel launched a large scale ope ration on Lebanon. The death toll of the ongoing conflict from August 1, 2000 has climbed up to 800 killed Lebanese civilians and 51 Israeli killed civilians. The Israeli army has been accused of disproportionate and indiscriminate assaults in its operations toward Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Forces said that they were doing 'everything to minimize' civilian casualties in Lebanon. The Hezbollah on the other hand launched its rockets randomly on targets within Israel and has been accused targeting civilians and civilian objects within Israel. The actions from the Hezbollah, as also from the Israel Defense Forces are reflecting the current opposing conflict between them, as they are also considered international humanitarian law violations. The second conflict in violation of the humanitarian law took place in Azerbaijan, which accused neighboring Armenia of breaching a ceasefire, regarding the dispute about the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, causing the death of an Azeri soldier. In this latest round of feuding between these two rivals, Armenia quickly denied the charge and responded with a counter-accusation that Azeri troops had killed an Armenian soldier. When these two former Soviet republics became