Why do you think Shakespeare opens the play with humor when the story is the tragedy of Julius Caesar?

Shakespeare often juxtaposes humor and tragedy. In fact, almost all of his major tragedies include "light" scenes that both cut through the tension and provide dramatic contrast with the gut-wrenching scenes that characterize plays like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and others. Commoners especially exhibit a wry, sometimes coarse, but often perceptive wit in Shakespeare's plays. In the case of Julius Caesar, the play opens with Flavius and Marullus , two tribunes, encountering a crowd of commoners celebrating Caesar's victory. They confront a cobbler, who responds with a number of puns that would have resonated with Shakespeare's audiences: the cobbler describes himself as a "mender of bad soles," and says that he is leading the crowd of commoners to create more business for himself by wearing out their shoes walking about Rome. In this case, Shakespeare seems to show that the rise of Caesar has disrupted the social bonds and hierarchies that undergirded Roman society. By making these jokes, and carrying them even further--saying, for example, that he could "mend" Marullus--the cobbler is behaving above his station. Shakespeare's audiences would have found this funny, and the mild humiliation that the tribunes experienced would have underscored their alarm at Caesar's popularity. So in this case, humor is used to create dramatic tension.

Why did Brutus betray Caesar?

The answer to this question can be found in Brutus's funeral speech in Act 3, scene II, where he tries to explain to the Roman citizens why Caesar needed to die. He explains that no one loved Caesar more than he, but that he "loved Rome more." Throughout the speech, he provides reasons for why Caesar was no good to the people of Rome, pointing to the fact that under his rule, they would "die all slaves" and therefore it was necessary for Brutus to "rise against Caesar." Brutus explains to the audience:

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him.

Though Brutus admires many of Caesar's traits, his admiration does not outweigh the need to stop his ambition. In weighing his strong love for Caesar with his love for Rome, Brutus effectively sways the audience, in this moment, from thinking he has committed a crime to believing he has made a sacrifice for their benefit.

What did Declaration of Independence actually declare?

The Declaration of Independence emphasized many ideas. The most important idea was that the colonies were no longer under British rule. The Declaration of Independence declared that we were a free country, and we could do whatever we wanted or needed to do.

There are other ideas that were stated or declared in the Declaration of Independence. One of those ideas was that everybody has natural rights that can’t be taken away. These rights include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are called the inalienable rights. The Declaration of Independence went on to state that when a government doesn’t protect the rights of the people, the people have no choice but to remove that government and replace it with a new government.

Finally, the Declaration of Independence went on to say that if a group of people were going to declare their independence from another group of people, they should let everybody know why they are doing this. In the Declaration of Independence, the writers listed the complaints they had against the King of England.

Most people look at the Declaration of Independence and think that all it declared was that the colonies were free from British rule. It actually declared much more than that statement.

`int sinh^2(x) cosh(x) dx` Evaluate the indefinite integral.

You need to evaluate the indefinite integral by using the substitution `sinh x = t` , such that:

`sinh x = t =>cosh x dx = dt `

`int sinh^2 x*cosh x dx = int t^2 dt`

Using the formula `int t^n dt = (t^(n+1))/(n+1)` yields:

`int t^2 dt = t^3/3 + c`

Replacing back `sinh x` for t yields:

`int sinh^2 x*cosh x dx = (sinh^3 x)/3 + c`

Hence, evaluating the indefinite integral, yields `int sinh^2 x*cosh x dx = (sinh^3 x)/3 + c.`

How does Ishmael progress as a character in Moby Dick? My teacher told me that all main characters in some way develop through the story but I do...

While Ishmael is absent from parts of the narratives and digresses with scientific discussion of the whale, he at first links himself with Queequeq and then pairs with himself through much of the narrative. He becomes linked to Captain Ahab in his fatalistic view, but rejects that and reaches a deeper fulfillment with self realization of his own basic feelings. In a sense, he is reborn as he clings to the coffin and the "baptismal" waters of the sea.

With the utterance of the famous first sentence in Moby Dick, Ishmael suggests himself that he will wander through various convictions and metaphysical thoughts as he dwells on predestination, free will, evil, and the existential condition.

According to Christopher S. Durer in Mocking the "Grande Programme," the character Ishmael progresses through four stages of development during the narrative of Moby Dick:

1. Chapters 1-18: Ishmael holds an ambivalent attitude towards this Prorgramme; he half-believes in the Calvinistic predestination of Father Mapple, but has some doubts. 


2. Chapters 19-43: Ishmael begins to lose any belief in this "grande programme" and gravitates towards Ahab's belief in the "pasteboard masks" of Nature there lies an "inscrutable malice."


3. Chapters 44-93: He starts to give this "programme" no credibility, calling the universe "a practical joke."


4. Chapters 94-105: Ishmael rejects the "grande programme" entirely.

1. Whereas in the early chapters of Moby Dick, Ishmael acts primarily as a narrator, in the later chapters, he becomes an active participant of the crew and is central to the tragedy at the end. Nevertheless, Ishmael shows signs of being influenced rather easily as he is initially fearful of the savage harpooner Queequeq with whom he is to room in Nantucket; then the next day, he narrates that they are companions. Ishmael jokes that the harpooner slept with his arm around him, and they are now "married." Nevertheless, Ishmael feels himself apart from others.

2. He remains in conflict with his Presbyterian beliefs, expounded by Captain Mapple. In Chapter 41, in which Captain Ahab unites the crew in the search for Moby Dick, offering a doubloon to whoever first sights the white whale, the harpooners partake of a communion of wine that parodies the Christian ceremony. Swept up in the excitement and unity, Melville's narrator declares, "I, Ishmael, was one of that crew...my oath had been welded with theirs." Nevertheless, Ishmael remains skeptical as in Chapter 47 he comments upon chance that "rules by turns" with necessity, and later he speaks of "the audacious seas" that ignore the "blessed light of the evangelical land." He notes, too, Ahab’s obsession with the whale as far greater than that of the other sailors. When Ahab projects a sense of the presence of evil in the world onto the White Whale, Ishmael observes that this projection is absurd; however, he also begins to give credibility to Ahab's conviction that there is "but a pasteboard mask"; that is that there is an evil force lurking behind creation.

3. In Chapter 49 Ishmael rejects the ideas of Romanticism and comments that there are certain times that life is, as Ahab says, inscrutable. At times it seems to be "a practical joke" on man. Further, in Chapter 72, "The Monkey Rope," Ishmael speaks of his Siamese relationship with Queequeq in the ropes that hold them in place: "Queequeq was my own inseparable twin brother...." Then, in Chapter 83, Ishmael recalls Father Mapples's mention of Jonah and the whale; he realizes from his new study of this mammal that the stomach juices of the whale would destroy a man. This discussion marks his increasing skepticism of religious teachings (the "practical joke.")

4. In the latter chapters, Ishmael feels that Ahab's projection of all evil onto the single creature of Moby Dick is absurd. But, because other cultures have also found malevolent forces in the world, Ishmael hints that the belief in an intelligent and evil presence has credibility enough for him to reject "the grande programme" of the Divine. Instead, a more sinister presence seems to take hold of the world, Ismael concludes.

Finally, Ishmael's camaraderie with the crew ends as Ishmael becomes more independent and breaks from the restrictions of religion. He mentions the grande programme very little after Chapter 94 in which he takes more delight in pure physical activity and socialization with others rather than acting as a crewman. His new perspective of Chapter 94 demonstrates that Ishmael has achieved independence and is no longer dependent upon "the grande programme" of order imposed by Providence.

As some critics note, Melville has taken his narrator out of the bondage of an order imposed by a controlling God and given him existential freedom to choose the direction of his life. With the narrative of Quequeeq, who has transferred the stories of his tattoos onto the coffin, Ishmael need wander no more; he can forge his own existence.

Additional Source:

Durer, Christopher S. "Mocking the 'Grande Programme'": Irony and after in Moby Dick." Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 36.4(1982):249-58. Print.

What commandments are broken in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell?

Early in George Orwell's Animal Farm, the animals take over Manor Farm and come up with seven commandments by which they agree to live their lives.

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal. (Orwell 43)

It does not take long, though, for the pigs, particularly Napoleon, to take over as leaders and once this happens, the commandments start to change. By the end of the book, the pigs are walking around on two legs, wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, and drinking alcohol. As each commandment is broken, the other animals go to check the original commandments on the wall and find them "magically" changed. "No animal shall sleep in a bed" has "with sheets" added to the end of it, for example. Alcohol may be drunk, just not to excess. Animals can kill other animals if there's a good reason for it. Snowball, though he has four legs, is considered an enemy. The pigs live in the house and have become quite human-like and in many ways worse than Mr. Jones in their treatment of the other animals. 

In The Giver who does Jonas give the memories to and why did he give the memories?

Jonas gives memories to Gabriel to keep him calm.

The ability to receive and give memories is unique in Jonas’s community.  A person has to have the Capacity to See Beyond in order to be receptive.  We know that this is a very rare gift because the community avoids having most citizens in contact with memories.  Jonas has the ability, and he soon realizes that Gabriel has it too.

Families in the community are only supposed to have two children—a boy and a girl.  Jonas’s father is able to get a special extension for Gabriel and brings him home instead of releasing him.  Perhaps Jonas’s father is attached to Gabriel because he reminds him of Jonas.  Both boys have the same rare trait of light colored eyes.

Jonas becomes attached to Gabriel too.  One day Jonas begins to rub his back when he is fussing, and accidentally transmits a memory to him.  Up until this point, doing this had never occurred to him.  He was the Receiver, not the Giver, of memories.

He was not aware of giving the memory; but suddenly he realized that it was becoming dimmer, that it was sliding through his hand into the being of the newchild. Gabriel became quiet. (Ch. 14)

Jonas is shocked and surprised when he realizes what he has done.  He understands that Gabriel is special like him.  The light eyes are a clue that they are related, and it seems that this means that Gabriel could be a Receiver of Memory.

Jonas uses this ability to help Gabriel when he takes him and runs.  When Jonas realizes that Gabriel is threatened, he takes off with him.  He has come to see Gabe as a little brother and loves him like a brother.  He understands that Gabe is sensitive and special, things the community does not understand.  On the run, he uses memories to soothe and sustain the baby.

Before he had left the dwelling, he had laid his hands firmly on Gabe's back and transmitted to him the most soothing memory he could: a slow-swinging hammock under palm trees on an island someplace, at evening, with a rhythmic sound of languid water lapping hypnotically against a beach nearby. (Ch. 21)

Throughout the dangerous journey, Jonas uses Gabe’s ability to receive memories to help keep them alive.  He gives him memories of food and warmth when they do not have the real thing.  In the end, they both survive—but barely—due to the help the memories have given them.

Jonas and Gabriel share a special connection, and it is one that most people in the community would never understand.  They do not know emotions or love.  They realize that it is a sad thing to release a Newchild, but to them it is a disappointment and not a travesty.  Other than The Giver, Jonas alone appreciates the real emotions behind caring about someone.