The Subject of Choice in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay example -- Shakesp

The Subject of Choice in Shakespeare's Hamlet It is said that life is nothing more than an endless stream of choices. Every day before work or school, we must all make choices—what to eat, what to wear, whether or not to bother with that homework assignment—some of which are trivial, while others have the direst consequences. In Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet, the inner thoughts that accompany each decision, as well as the quest for what is actually truth and what is lie, is brought to light in Act 2.2. Hamlet is caught in a great struggle over what to do with his uncle, his evil, murderous uncle. By all rights he should die...yet the easy choice—outright murder—is not always the correct or prudent one. Overall, through diction and poetic devices, Shakespeare manages to convey a feeling of bitterness, an angry yet doubtful tone that shows the turmoil of the inner mind of a complex character. This angry tone is brought about to a great extent by the choice of diction. Hamlet’s soliloquy is full of angry words; he refers to people of the wretched lower classes—whores, drabs, and kitchen maids—as he curses his own cowardice. Strings of adjectives describing all sorts of horrible sins are attached to the king as well as his own name. The king is a treacherous, kindless, â€Å"bloody, bawdy villain!† As Hamlet’s anger both at the king and himself radiates from the speech, so does his inner confusion. There are two choices open to him—revenge or cowardice as he sees it. Shakespeare uses words and ideas to remind the reader of this fact throughout. Hamlet refers to â€Å"heaven and hell,† showing that Hamlet knows that only one course of action is just, yet he is in doubt. In the passage, the devil is mentioned several times, both ... ...ke every human being, Hamlet is caught up in a choice—a grave and far more serious choice than what to eat for lunch—but a choice nonetheless. Through diction and form, Shakespeare manages to bring the tortured spirit, the angry yet doubtful mind, the horribly bitter soul of a man trapped in a choice that he shouldn’t have to make, to life. He shows how we wrestle with the best and worst in every choice and the uncertainty inherent in all important decisions. It is this theme that makes Hamlet real. It is this...humanity that drives in the point. Life is full of options, some bad, some good, most a mix of both. All we can do, like Hamlet, is do the best we can in each situation and wrestle with the doubt when it comes. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985.

Multiple causes downed the challenger

The United States has always been proud of its space exploration endeavors.   NASA’s programs have always led the world in technology and performance.   In 1970, NASA began its Shuttle program which was meant to create reusable space shuttles rather than one-use shuttles.   They were successful in producing four models:   Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis.   All was going well for NASA and its space shuttle program until January of 1986 when the Challenger exploded 73 seconds into the flight, killing all the crew. Since then, the shuttle program has been besieged by controversy, much of it stemming over the causes of the Challenger explosion.   Basically, reports and research now indicates that the explosion was caused by a deadly combination of mechanical failure and human miscalculation and poor decision-making. The Challenger liftoff was plagued with foreboding problems long before it actually was launched.   Initially, liftoff was scheduled for 3:43 pm on January 22, 1986.   However, delays in both scheduling and weather forecasts forced it back nearly a week.   During the last day of delays, a small closing fixture was malfunction, so it was replaced.   Additionally, a module which detects fire was found to be malfunctioning; the crew fixed it as well before the shuttle finally lifted off into space, and then exploded (Green 2007). Officially, the investigative report pointed to a faulty â€Å"O-ring† seal in the solid-fuel rocket.   This faulty seal combined with the very cold weather to allow hot gas to leak into the hole.   Rocket flames were then able to penetrate the fuel tank and catch fire causing the booster rocket to break off of the shuttle and pierce the fuel tank.   The liquid hydrogen and oxygen then ignited, causing the Challenger to explode (Green 2007). A nation stood in horror as media broadcasts replayed the chilling scene over and over again. However, this mechanical failure did not receive the weight of the blame.   As the Reagan-ordered investigation continued, several human factors were uncovered in this tragedy.   For years, NASA’s programs had, like many other agencies, been forced to cut manpower and money from its programs. One researcher, James Sigler of the U.S. Naval Institute, noted that at the height of the shuttles missions, â€Å"NASA's leaders were emphasizing the importance of safety, while their personnel cutbacks sent other signals† and cites NASA’s motto –   faster, better, cheaper – as meaning that â€Å"cost efficiency goals [became] elevated to the level of†¦ safety goals† (Sigler, 2007). Fewer men and less money meant more work for those that did remain with fewer resources.   In fact, â€Å"the accident investigations in the wake of the Challenger disaster decried the paucity of resources allocated to support NASA's objectives† (Sigler, 2007).   Clearly, there was too much work and not enough manpower, resources, parts, or money to meet all of the objectives. Yet, despite these conditions, some engineers did warn NASA officials about the fateful launch.   Many engineers voiced concerns about the extremely cold temperatures and the possibility that the equipment could fail.   Apparently, two NASA officials were told of these concerns well before the flight: Joseph Kilminster had overruled five of his own engineers when they argued on a telephone conference call the night before the launch that the conditions were unsafe. The subfreezing temperatures at Cape Canaveral, the engineers told Kilminster, could cause a failure in the O-rings that protect the joints of Thiokol's solid rocket motors, which could lead to an explosion. The concerns were also rejected by NASA manager Lawrence Mulloy, who was in charge of the solid rocket boosters and was listening in on the debate   (Vartabedian, 2003). Sadly, this is exactly what happened.   Both officials are now retired from NASA. Of course, this sad occurrence goes beyond the doubtful opinions of two men.   It seemed that the entire attitude of NASA had suffered a bit of egoism. According to investigators, NASA, at that time, seemed to be â€Å"blinded by its ‘Can-Do' attitude, a cultural artifact†¦ that was inappropriate in a †¦ program so strapped by schedule pressures and shortages that spare parts had to be cannibalized from one vehicle to launch another† (Sigler, 2003).   James Oberg, a former NASA engineer, agrees:   â€Å"NASA managers made a bad call for the launch decision, and engineers who had qualms about the O-rings were bullied or bamboozled into acquiescence† (2006).   The men who knew the truth were asked to remain silent to preserve NASA’s reputation. It is rare that one cause can be attributed to a disaster as horrible as the Challenger explosion.   Here, investigators did find a mechanical failure, but soon learned that this failure had been detected.   Instead, the decision-makers chose to ignore the advice of engineers in an effort to preserve the already late launch date.   As a result, the explosion set up a new level of safety for NASA. â€Å"The entire space shuttle program was grounded during the Space Shuttle Challenger Commission's investigation and did not resume flying until shuttle designers made several technical modifications and NASA management implemented stricter regulations regarding quality control and safety† (Green, 2007).   On September 28, 1988, the shuttle missions started again with the flight of the shuttle Discovery.   Sadly, the entire tragedy had to be revisited with the 2003 explosion of the shuttle Columbia.   Hopefully, the lessons learned can be applied to future decisions in the NASA shuttle program. REFERENCES Greene, N. (2007). Challenger Disaster – A NASA Tragedy.   About.com.   Retrieved 12 December 2007 from http://space.about.com/cs/challenger/a/challenger.htm   Oberg, J. (2006).   7 Myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster. MSNBC.   January 27. Retrieved 11 December 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ Sigler, J. (2007). Repeating NASA’s Deadly Mistakes. U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 133.9: 48-52 Vartabedian, R. (2003). The Nation; Forgotten Lessons of Challenger Seen as Haunting NASA; Retired space officials say today's managers must, as a first step, take blame for Columbia loss. Los Angeles Times. Jul 28, 2003: A.1      

Arrival in the Us - 984 Words

Victoria Brown Africana Studies 215 September 28, 2011 Journey to America Native Americans are the only people indigenous to the Americas. There are approximately two million Native Americas living today in the United States. The cause of this drastic decline of this group of people is common knowledge. Most people know that Native Americas were slaughtered and exposed to deadly diseases by the Europeans. After Christopher Columbus, stumbled upon this land, Europeans came in droves. This was a land of freedom, and a chance for people live whatever way they desired. People journeyed across the Atlantic to escape various problems. The Pilgrims and the Quakers came to the Americas to have religious freedom. Others traveled to get rich†¦show more content†¦The next step was an examination by a doctor to ensure they didn’t have any incurable diseases. Immigrants were also screen for mental diseases. After being approved by the doctor, they were interviewed by legal inspectors. Interpreters assisted to acquire 29 pieces of vital information incl uding name, age, and planned destination. This whole process took an average of five hours, and an average of 20,000 people passed through Ellis Island monthly. Ten of millions of Africans were brought to America via the transatlantic slave trade. Millions died on the voyage due to harsh conditions of the slave ships. Those who survived the cruel journey were auctions where they would be separated from love ones forever. Some slaves were brought to the Caribbean or South America to seasoning camps. Seasoning is the process of breaking down slaves. Throughout slave trade millions of slaves died from seasoning. Seasoning was done to prepare the slave for the workload, and to break down the slave mentally. Seasoned slaves were less likely to try to escape. The slaves that bypassed the seasoning process were immediately put on a platform to be sold. The slaves had to endure being poked, prodded, and forced to open their mouth for inspection. What’s even worse is that most of the time the slaves were completely naked throughout this process. They didn’t speak the language and had no idea what was happening to them. 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