LITERARY HISTORY, INTERPRETATION, & ANALYSIS Essay

LITERARY HISTORY, INTERPRETATION, & ANALYSIS - Essay Example Earlier to this, Henry and Beckett enjoyed a special relationship and Henry raised Beckett to the position of Chancellor and then to the Archbishop of Canterbury. By doing so the King wanted the control of Kingdom on ecclesiastical matters but Beckett undergoes a radical change in his character and attitude after accepting the honorable position. Beckett opposes King’s thirst for power as he tries to raise the crown above the Pope, gives up all the pleasures and starts living a very pious life .Thus, inviting King’s wrath. Thomas Beckett remains away from England for seven years and during his absence, the rule of the King was full of oppression and exploitation. Women folks cheer for his arrival at the time of Christmas but apprehend some disaster. Thomas Beckett is righteous and much loved priest. England awaits and welcomes his arrival. The three priests of the cathedral fear that the homecoming for Beckett won’t be easy as the King and Beckett won’t be able to renew their ties and the fuller reconciliation between them cannot be reached as both of them are head strong characters. The struggle appears more apparent as the plot develops. The homecoming might cost Beckett his life as it is very clear that the old ties cannot be renewed. The Play, Measure for Measure by Shakespeare is a distinctive play .It is been categorized as Black Comedy by some literary analysts. It is a comedy but not to entertain. In the garb of 2. comedy, some real societal problems have been raised therefore it does not fall in normal moulds of Shakespearean work. It is its own genre where the writer has dealt with the issues of power abuse and exploitation of women in the society. There is no protagonist in the play Measure for Measure as such, but all the main characters undergo struggle as the plot moves ahead. As this play deals with the abuse of power and authority, we find that the power is abused in the relationship as well and women are harassed and exploited in any relationship, be it a brother-sister relationship or a partner relationship. Isabella, Claudio’s sister is chaste and virtuous but she finds herself in a dilemma when her brother is arrested for impregnating his lover Juliet. She goes to Angelo and begs to show some mercy, who on the other hand suggests her to sleep with him. She is shocked and leaves. Isabella, on her way comes across Duke, who is disguised as Friar. He has done so to clean up the city from wrong doers. He tells Isabella that Angelo, himself is a big sinner. He has left his lover Mariana because her dowry got lost in a ship wreck. The characters in the play struggle as the plot develops and the true identity of Duke is revealed in the end. The first literary element is the PLOT; The Plot is a sequence of events in any literary work. Murder in the Cathedral very convincingly develops the social struggle faced by Thomas Beckett. The chorus in the play pays a major role in heightening the trag ic effect. In the beginning it informs the audience regarding the upheaval that might happen when the two titans clash. The readers are made aware in the very beginning that the play is about the death and calamity. The Plot is revealed in the words of chorus that they are the common people who, â€Å"try to keep our households in order,†

The hood and its influence on youth culture Essay

The hood and its influence on youth culture - Essay Example Hollywood movies often reflect the life in South Central Los Angeles and paint a picture in the minds of viewers about such stereotype but the media perhaps makes the bigger impact in such perception because of the reliability of the information given and the actuality of things that are reported. The media often show the poor neighborhood which is prone to violent events due to the obvious inequalities and the abuse of workers resulting to fights. Looking at the history of south Central L.A., proposition 13 can be blamed for what is happening at the ghetto. The proposition â€Å"cut funding for California libraries, universities, children’s programs, parks, playgrounds, and perhaps most importantly, its public schools† (Corwin, 174). This resulted to even worse quality of living conditions among the poor because the funds for maintenance and improvement of facilities were not enough. In relation to this, the low funding of schools have been affected by the building of prisons. It could be said that the priorities of the government have not been well-balanced. It is ironic that more money was spent on prisons when the more important institutions that could have helped the people stay away from the jails should have been given top priority. Instead, the exact opposite happened. Corwin says that, â€Å"From 1984-1995, California built nineteen new prisons but the state has not built a new university campus in almost thirty years† (175). Considering this situation, had there been great efforts to construct schools or improve those which already existed, more children could have been molded in a better environment. In effect, there would be no need to construct more jails if there was a better plan for the people that encourage them and show that there is a hope for a better tomorrow for the poor. Moreover, there is the â€Å"three strikes† law which demands more prisons to be built. The law is said to force more prisoners to stay in jai l for a minimum of twenty five years to life even for petty offenses. The long period of punishment for offenders increases the number of prisoners at a faster rate and thus requires the government to build more prisons. Other factors that affected the situation in the ghetto were the Watts riots which caused most white residents to flee the area. Then there was the fair housing legislation which allowed middle-class Blacks to move to better environments leaving the unemployed, single mothers, elderly and the welfare cases behind. Such groups of hopeless and helpless people were joined by Latinos who fled their country due to worse political situations. The competition for a low paying job among Blacks and Mexicans is high and is making their lives more difficult. With the struggles that they are going through, the people often result to violence to express their cry for their rights however such actions make the situation even worse. Following out Corwin’s logic, the conditi on of schools should first and foremost be made a top priority for the government because this can be an instrument in the making of better citizens. The improvement of such institutions should be well-funded so that quality service will be given to the people. Teachers should be paid well so that they will stay in the ghetto even after years of experience. Volunteer and substitute teachers may be accepted but they should not be the ones largely making up the faculty of the schools. The people, whether Whites, Blacks or Latinos, should be given equal