Antigone Tragic Hero Essay Essay

Most Greek tragedies were based on myths and consisted of a series of dramatic episodes mixed with a chorus who commented on the dramatic action or analyzed the pattern of events. The role of a tragic hero was vital to the tragic plays. Sophocles argues that a tragic hero is a character who possesses six specific traits. A tragic hero must be of noble stature, can not be perfect, their downfall most be their fault, their misfortune is not wholly deserved, the fall is not a total loss, and has a moral purpose. Therefore, Creon is the tragic hero in Antigone because he is of noble stature, posses character flaws, and his fall is not an entire loss. Creon is the brother of Jocasta, who was the wife and mother of Oedipus, who was the king of Thebes. He becomes ruler of Thebes after the s of Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polynices in the recent civil war. In his speech to the people assuring the citizens that order and safety have returned to Thebes he says, â€Å"I now posses the throne and all its powers†(line 194, page 67). This passage easily shows that Creon is the ruler of Thebes because it says that he posses the throne which is a possession of the king. This shows that Creon is of noble stature, which is one of the necessities of a tragic hero. Throughout the whole play Creon exhibits that he is imperfect. Creon is very stubborn as well as ignorant, which results in his many problems all through the play. In his dispute with Haemon over the fate of Antigone he says, % –show me a greater crime in all the earth! She, she destroys cities, rips up houses, breaks the ranks of spearmen into headlong rout. But the ones who last it out, the great mass of them owe their lives to discipline. Therefore we must defend the men who live by law, never let some woman triumph over us. Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man–never be rated inferior to a woman, never (lines 751-761 page 94).† The word % † basically means â€Å"without a leader.† He makes it sound as if he may be speaking about Antigone. Creon looks at as the unavoidable consequence when insubordination of the law is left with impunity. This excerpt vividly shows how Creon is very stubborn and ignorant. He refuses to see that woman play a  major role in society. He only views them as objects. He visions woman as a threat to masculine superiority and he will stop at nothing to avert this from happening. His refusal to allow Antigone to go free ultimately results in the of his son and his wife. This shows that Creon is imperfect, which is also one of the requirements of a tragic hero. By the end of the play, after the of his wife and son, Creon gains some self-knowledge and learns from what he has done. After Creon learns of the of his wife and son he says, â€Å"Ohhh, so senseless, so insane†¦ my crimes, my stubborn, ly— Look at us, the killer, the killed, father and son, the same —the misery! My plans, my mad fanatic heart, my son, cut off so young! Ai, , lost to the world. Not through you stupidity, no, my own (line 1395-1400, page 124).† This quotation from the play illustrates that Creon realizes that his stubbornness and foolishness is the cause of all of this pandemonium. Creon now understands that his flaws resulted in his family’s . He then goes on to say, â€Å"Oh I’ve learned through and tears (line 1405-1406, page 124).† This shows that he has learned his lesson so the of his family is not a complete loss because now he is aware of the fact that it is because of his stubbornness and stupidity that this occ urred. This shows that Creon’s fall is now a pure loss, which is as well, a condition of a tragic hero. Creon is the tragic hero in Antigone because he is of noble stature, posses character flaws, and his fall is not an entire loss. These flaws eventually are what leads Creon to his demise and to the of his wife and son. In Antigone there were numerous themes. One of the themes is pride and its effect on the characters. Both Antigone and Creon are exceedingly proud, making it impossible for either one of them to back down once they have taken a position on something. This character flaw leads to their downfall. In contemporary times, we can relate this type of tragic hero to powerful figures like Donald Rumsfeld, who does not waver from his positions until others have paid a heavy price for his pride. Another theme is Moral Law vs. Human Law. This is shown when Antigone’s conscience influences her to bury her brother, which conflicts with Creons law of the state. It’s a decision of whether morals should be placed above the human law. A semi-modern  example of this can be seen in World War II where the soldiers had to decide between their morals or the decision of the state in the s of the Jews. The third and final central theme is the position of woman. This is brought up several times in Antigone. Creon feels that woman are subordinate to men and should never be placed as high as men. This is also evident in present times because even now women do not have the same opportunities as men do although women have come a long way in just this century. There will always be tragic heroes in any society. They are usually high-profile people who rise and fall in the public eye. Hopefully, those of us who watch their stories unfold can learn from their experiences by debating the merits of the decisions a one-time hero made to render him/her tragic. The presence of a tragic hero is evident in modern society because even now we have people who are examples of tragic hero’s.

Improvement of American Labor

Beginning in 1866 until the present time many labor leaders have initiated many effective and important labor laws. Throughout the past one hundred plus years there have been many steps forward in the labor movement along with a few major steps back. The actions of these labor leaders and the accomplishments of the acts that they have helped to pass have paved the way for the American worker in today's society. One of the labor laws that had an impact was the Taft-Hartley Act. The Taft-Hartley act formerly called the Labor-management Relations Act was passed in 1947. Its founders were Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley. This act helped in collective bargaining along with allowing workers the right to defer from joining a union. This act required unions to give notification of a strike sixty days before it was to occur. It also outlawed specific union practices that were unfair and required that union officers must deny any Communist affiliations while under oath. Another of the labor acts that contributed to the labor movement was the National Labor Relations Act. It was passed by Congress in 1935. It has been called the Magna Carta of American labor. The National Labor Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to join unions without fear of being punished by management. In order to enforce this law the National Labor Relations Board was formed. This act prevented employers from committing unfair labor practices that would make the worker be afraid to organize a union or sign a union contract. Yet another labor law was the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931. Created by Congressman Robert Bacon and Senator James Davis, this act was mainly established to grant stability to the construction industry. The bid requirements on public projects were low and this allowed outside contractors to obtain work on substandard wages. This also caused contractors to look past the high paid local workers to the lower paid workers from around the country. Davis and Bacon felt it was wrong for workers from other areas to be herded together to work for lower wages than the standard in that state. An important labor leader in the early labor movement was Francis Perkins. Francis Perkins devoted much of her life to the improvement of the American Worker. While going to school at Mt. Holyoke College, Perkins gained an interest in social reform. This interest grew when she joined the National Consumer League, which had a goal to improve labor conditions through consumer pressure. In 1928, New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Perkins as the head of the state labor department. Four years later, when Roosevelt was elected to the presidency, Perkins was asked to be his secretary of labor. Perkins played a major role in Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression. She also was an advocate of social security, wage and hour regulation, and the abolition of child labor. Eugene V. Debs was another famous labor leader. Debs made the first major attempt to form a labor union for both skilled and unskilled workers of a specific industry. This attempt was the American Railway Union. Debs also played a major role in the Pullman Strike in 1894. He asked for arbitration and when Pullman refused to negotiate Debs and the American Railway Union began boycotting Pullman train. Later in the Pullman strike Deb was arrested. While in prison Debs realized his true calling. He became a spokesperson for the Socialists Party of America and ran for president five times. Surprisingly, in 1912, he won 900,000 votes. A famous quote of Deb's was, â€Å"I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.† A significant strike of the past was the aforementioned Pullman Strike. The Pullman strike began during the Panic of 1893. The Pullman Company laid off three thousand of its fifty-eight hundred employees. The Pullman workers all lived in houses owned by the Pullman Company and had to pay rent. The remaining employees had their wages cut twenty-five to thirty percent and the housing prices remained the same. After paying the rent on their homes, their paychecks dwindled down to almost nothing. Later, after the depression, two thousand Pullman workers were hired. Again, the Pullman Company did not restore wages of compensate with lower housing rates. In the spring of 1894, the outraged workers called for a strike. The strike was one of peace, that is until Pullman hired strikebreakers. This brought on a violent end to the strike. In conclusion, Pullman fired most of the strikers and named more to a blacklist. The Homestead strike occurred in 1892. It began when workers from the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers struck the Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead plant in order to protest a cut in wages. The company's general manager, Henry C. Frick, was determined to break the union. He hired strikebreakers and then hired three hundred detectives to protect the plant and the strikebreakers. After an armed battle between the detectives and workers, three detectives and six workers were dead. The strike ended on November 20th after the plant reopened and nonunion workers remained on the job. This strike caused a weakening effect on the unions of the steel industry that would take forty years to repair. A more recent labor issue was the United Parcel Service's strike in 1997. The central issues of this strike were part-time work, pensions, and subcontracting. The union claimed that many part-time workers work full time hours without getting paid the full time rates, which are almost twice that of the part-time. The union also wanted an increase in contributions to its pension and health funds. The union would not budge on this issue and UPS met their demands. The last aspect of the strike was subcontracting. The union claimed that a loophole in their contracts was allowing more than the one percent limit of the business to go to subcontractors. There are many opinions on whether or not the strike was a victory for the union but at the end the workers were back on the job. The Haymarket Affair, sometimes called the Haymarket Riot, began on the night of May 4, 1886, as a form of protest after the killing of a striker by police on the previous day. On this night 1,200 protesters met at Chicago's Haymarket Square where police opposed them. Chaos ensued as someone threw a bomb into the police line. Eight men, three speakers and five other radicals, were charged with starting a riot. Four were hanged while one committed suicide in prison. After the Haymarket Affair, the public began to shy away from the labor movement. In July of 1877 the Strike of 1877 became a turning point in labor history. A worker's strike at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began in order to protest the second cut of wages in just a few months. This strike would lead to strikes from every railroad east of the Mississippi and then later would spread to western railroads. Fifty thousand miles of railroad were halted for more than a week. This caused riots in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco. After President Rutherford B. Hayes sent troops in to break up the strike, the strikers began to retreat. On August 6th, the strike was over and railroads were up and going again. The case of Muller vs. Oregon is a famous Supreme Court labor case. The focal points of this case were the Fourteenth Amendment versus the Tenth Amendment. In these times in Oregon it was illegal for a woman to work for more than ten hours in a factory or laundry. In 1905, a suit was filed against Curt Muller for making Mrs. E. Gotcher work more than ten hours. After being found guilty, Muller took his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would later rule against him. Another Supreme Court issue of the labor movement was the Munn v. Illinois case. Munn, a partner in a Chicago warehouse firm, had been found guilty by an Illinois court of violating the state laws providing for the fixing of maximum charges for storage of grain. He appealed, contending that the fixing of maximum rates constituted a taking of property without due process of law. The Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws, establishing as constitutional the principle of public regulation of private businesses involved in serving the public interest. Since 1866 the labor unions have been involved in many more strikes and there have been new labor leaders who have been involved in controversial court cases in order to make sure that workers are treated fairly. Throughout the history of the United States labor has changed greatly and it will continue to change in the future.

Managing Business Organizations (business studies) Essay

Managing Business Organizations (business studies) - Essay Example and these differences and similarities a multi-national organisation â€Å"ZARA† is compared with a local UK architecture firm Purcell Miller Tritton (PMT) LLP. Zara is a renowned brand and flagship chain store of Inditex Group. It has gradually gained major popularity since its first store was opened in Spain. Zara has operated with an aggressive management style towards the business. It has proven many theories wrong, theories related to economies of scale, supply chain, etc. The company’s operation can be divided into philosophy, capability and payoff. Zara has kept a philosophy to keep 5 fingers touching the factory and five touching the customer i.e. they have kept a very quick movement between the production of their stock and the immediate transfer of that stock to the stores. Their main capability is to design, produce and deliver in 15 days as compared to the six month industry average. This is the major area in which the company has excelled over its competitors and has kept them way behind and it is because of these unique strategic capabilities that the company took over the clothing industry giant GAP in their first quar ter of 2010. Zara’s main and the innovative approach is their fast fashion trend, which makes their product available in stores after just two weeks in the designing process. Besides such a fast and flashy approach, they keep their production limited i.e. the batch of clothing in merchandise is only available for just that two weeks time period and after that it is not available in the stores. This approach of scarcity and the customer’s perception towards rarity has helped Zara to boost their Revenues significantly. (Bonnin, 2002; Tokatli, 2008) The main distinctive feature about Zara is its co-operative nature i.e. every staff member of the organization is involved in some business process for the entire organization. Each store manager and the store assistant are really participative in collecting and providing information

For Cullen and Gilbert 'rehabilitation should be the major goal of any Essay

For Cullen and Gilbert 'rehabilitation should be the major goal of any correctional system'. Critically discuss this proposition - Essay Example In addition, the strengths and weaknesses are also imparted to be able to portray the potential gain of the whole system and even the limitations. The main view of Cullen and Gilbert can be considered as positive theories to answer the problems of criminology. Rehabilitation is the main objective that can be projected in relation to the effect of application in the behaviour of the detainees. The positive view of the theory can be considered as a priority in contrary to that of the old theories of justice that involve deterrence and retribution. Through the course of modern justice system, it can be considered that the role of rehabilitation on the reform of the offenders had taken the main road and had produced influence. The said influence had developed on the turn of the 1900s wherein the development and changing of the characteristics and the attitudes of the criminals and offenders had been projected as the main solution for the decrease of the number of crimes (Cullen and Gendreau, 2000). Through the 70’s toward the end of the century, the effectiveness and the feasibility of the rehabilitation approach in the correctional systems had been criticized and questioned. Basically as the rehabilitation theory affirms that the crimes had been committed by the offenders on the basis of the problems in behaviour and inadequate decision making, critics believe that the process cannot help the society lessen criminals but there are dangers that rehabilitation cannot fully discipline the offenders. This can then pose danger to the welfare of the people (Wilson, 2005). In the presentation of the view of Cullen and Gilbert on the proper approach for correctional system, it is important to be able to present the different pros and cons. For that matter the criticisms of the rehabilitation theory is needed to be studied and scrutinized. The main scenario in the study undertaken by Cullen and Gilbert relates to the world in the

Why people commit crimes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Why people commit crimes - Research Paper Example They decide to commit crime upon determination of potential risks such as getting caught as well as punishment, against rewards that could come with success in their acts (humans are rational with free will to choose to commit crime). Crime happens to be an immoral behavioral form which weakens the society (Steven, 2015). According to the social disorganized theory, the physical as well as the social surroundings of a person primarily determine the decisions and actions of such a person. Specifically, a neighborhood with fraying social structures more likely will have higher rates of crime. This kind of a neighborhood could have vacant as well as vandalized buildings, poor schools, a mix of commercial and residential property and high unemployment. With broken or weak bonds to religion, family, school happens to be a catalyst towards criminal behavior. Individuals fail to see the good in adherence to conventional societal values, hence commit crime believing that it is through crime that they can improve their private social conditions. Social learning explains that individuals are motivated to criminality and get criminal skills from persons they associate with. They learn from criminal friends. Lack of self-directions well as insufficient social roles happen to be the root causes for criminal behav ior (Aldunate, 2015). Biology, evolution as well as evolution – mental illness, poor diet, chemistry, bad brain or evolutionary rewards to violent criminal behavior could lead to crime. Genetics determine the behavior of an individual to a certain degree. This according the biological theory. From one generation to the other, human behavior basic determinants could be passed. This way, one can inherit criminal behavior. Psychobiological theory explains that reactions to foods, chromosomal anomalies deficiencies of vitamins or surrounding’s allergies, integrated with a specific genetic makeup could predispose

Up dates on the mental disorder panic disorder with agoraphobie (PDA) Essay

Up dates on the mental disorder panic disorder with agoraphobie (PDA) - Essay Example HelpGuide (2006) identifies the general treatments as â€Å"cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, or a combination of the two†. Little is known on the recent developments on the study of these existing treatments. This paper then will attempt to evaluate some recent studies or new investigations that researchers have come up with to gain knowledge on the nature of PDA and its treatments. National Institute of Mental Health says that there are approximately 2.4 million of American adults having panic disorder within the age group of 18 to 54 years. Which is â€Å"about 1.7 percent of people in this age group† and about one third of this population have agoraphobia (as cited in Helpguide, 2006). Symptoms of this disorder feature physical symptoms like shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations, nausea or abdominal distress that are brought on by incidents that bring intense fear of being alone, dying and losing control in a public place. People with this particular panic disorder try to avoid or endure circumstances which they know they are not at eased with. Another indication is that they tend to become bound to their houses for long periods of time. Like other mental disorders, it is associated with many possible factors but the accurate cause of this disorder is yet to be known. One reason could be that physical symptoms of the anxiety attack of a panic d isorder with agoraphobia coincide with symptoms of other medical conditions. Treatment of PDA usually comes with cognitive-behavior therapies like exposure therapy. It is a very effective way of treating the disorder because first and foremost it makes the patient understand and accept the nature of his situation. In a study done by Asbahr, De Araujo, De Barros-Neto, Ito, Marks, & Tess (2001), self exposure to interoceptive or internal phobia cues were studied in comparison to self exposure to external phobia cues. This study was conducted because exposure therapy to external

Will Machines Replace The Human Race Research Paper

Will Machines Replace The Human Race - Research Paper Example The widespread phenomenon, however, provides a biased and one sided view. This paper aims to rebut this conception about human vs. robots debate. Waters and Waters (1995 p. 86) provides that the wide use of robots and machines in the modern environment may lead to massive amounts of unemployment. The computers, other machines and robots are able to tackle most of the tasks that were traditionally performed by human beings. This replacement of human tasks has reduced the need of labor force in the work environment. However, the complete replacement of human beings with robots or any kind of machinery is impossible to achieve. If we assume or take the position of people who presume robots as a replacement of human power and need for the organizations and other areas of life, it is quite obvious that robots are not able to perform every task which they are directed to perform. The main distinction between a human being and a robot is the ability to think, evaluate and form judgments on those thoughts and feelings. Human beings perform a task keeping their thoughts, views and personal likes influencing them. The Robots, however, perform the task in the exact manner that they are programmed to do so (Kids can press 2008 p. 37). Robots lack thinking and critical viewing which are essential for human beings in order to face, tackle and go through every situation in their lives (Shelly et al., 2010 pp. 209-216). Machines are man-made. The simple phenomenon which rejects any power or force given to the machines over humans is the reliance of machines on human beings for their performance, existence and instructions. The machines and robots are human made and they are incapable of performing any task which is out of their programming. A human, on the other hand, has the ability to perform every task assigned to them. They have the power to think, plan and perform the tasks assigned to them. Human beings are not reliant on any kind of programming to perform the entirely d ifferent tasks. They can perform home chores as well as the business activities which are totally different things yet they do not require any new programming or alteration in their regular mechanisms unlike machines. Machines and robots are entirely dependent on how human beings program and use them. They have a unlimited number of tasks which they can perform with new programs installed in them by the human beings. They can perform life-risking tasks which human beings cannot since robots are not living things. They are machine-based human figures (McMeans 2010, pp. 185-187). The media plays an important role in setting up views and altering the perceptions of human beings. The movies and shows which promote the view of robots and machines overrunning the human race are merely exaggerating the idea and use of machines. The concept of technologies and their use is not truly exposed in the movies and shows which recently portray how machines and robots may rule over human beings (Sc alzi 2005). The machines and technological advancements may be of less importance or benefit for one group but the group which is benefitting from them is much larger. The machines are promoted, developed and used by human beings. They have the power to create and destroy them, however, the extreme integration of machines in our lives leaves no space for us to eliminate the use of machines. The robots are developed to perform a particular task in any field. The robots are used in the households to help the mothers and other family members in the routine work. Robots are also used for commercial purposes like in the businesses in packing, data saving or any other field. The use of robots in battle fields is also common (Safford 1978). Robots are used in aircrafts in wars to keep the