Taming of the Shrew Character Motivations Essay Example for Free

Taming of the Shrew Character Motivations Essay Many lives are ruled by a need to fit in and conform to the ideals of society. William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew centers around the two sisters, Bianca and Katherine and their marriages. Kate, an unpleasant and undesirable woman, unwillingly marries Petruchio who attempts to tame her. Bianca is the ideal woman who is pursued by many men. The play was written in 1590 and set in Italy, when submission and obedience were expected of women while men took powerful positions. Societal expectations motivate men and women. Women were motivated by societal expectations. A valued woman was obedient, passive and sweet. Bianca epitomizes these qualities and shapes her behavior around them. She exchanges vicious words with her sister in private, but while in the company of suitors she turns mild. Bianca’s father and her suitors determine who she marries, showing her surrender to men’s power and acceptance of obedience. In Kate’s concluding speech, she says, â€Å"A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty, and while it is so, none†¦will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. (5. 2. 151) Kate admits that an unpleasant, angry wife is undesirable and useless. Certainly no man will consider an ugly, rude woman worthy of his company. She finally relents to Petruchio’s taming and takes a woman’s normal place in the social hierarchy. Women conform to society’s strict expectations. The expectation that men are powerful and all-knowing influences men’s behavior. A m an’s masculinity and power was dependent on his control over his wife. Petruchio, Hortensio and Lucentio make a bet, â€Å"And he whose wife is most obedient†¦shall win the wager. † (5. 2. 15) This shows how much men value an obedient wife, which demonstrates their power. Each man hopes that he wins because a powerful man is valued. Baptista, the father of Kate and Bianca, arranges his daughters’ marriages and marries Kate off even though she is unwilling. Society’s standards permit this destructive and inconsiderate behavior. In their patriarchal society, women can’t show much preference in their suitors. Men are expected to make the best decision, and Baptista goes along with this standard. Wife taming was a common idea in this time and many men attempted it. Petruchio tries to tame Kate by starving, embarrassing, overruling and insulting her. Kate comments on the sun, but Petruchio contradicts her and says â€Å"Now, by my mother’s son, and that’s myself, it shall be the moon or star or what I list. †(4. 5. 6) Petruchio says anything he says is correct, enforcing the idea that women should surrender to a man’s authority. Petruchio tames Kate because of the social belief that men should be more powerful than their wives, therefore social expectations motivate him. Society’s standards motivate men’s behavior. Men and women modify their behavior to meet the ideals of society. Katherine transforms herself into a submissive wife and Bianca maintains her behavior as an obedient, charming woman. Petruchio tames Kate to show his masculinity and Baptista controls his daughters lives without regard for their feelings. In conclusion, societal expectations motivate characters in The Taming of the Shrew.

Sculptures in James Baldwins If Beale Street Could Talk Essay

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, Douglass describes his overseer as â€Å"a man of the most inflexible firmness and stone-like coolness† (Andrews 181). He adds that his mistress’s â€Å"tender heart became stone† (Andrews 188). When he first tries to free himself from such people, Douglass ends up â€Å"all alone, within the walls of a stone prison† (Andrews 208). Throughout these references, the image of stone is repeatedly linked with the stonehearted and dramatic Caucasian oppression of African-Americans. James Baldwin also includes images of stone and wood in his novel, If Beale Street Could Talk. Stone and wood are often mentioned together and are used for a joint purpose as Fonny, the protagonist, uses these materials to create sculptures. The novel’s three mentioned sculptures act as foreshadowing symbols that predict what ultimately happens to their subjects; they intricately detai l: the Caucasian oppression each subject faces, their subsequent imprisonment in stone, and their path to freedom. Fonny gives one of his first sculptures to his girlfriend’s mother; when describing the sculpture, his girlfriend, Tish, says, â€Å"It’s not very high, it’s done in black wood. It’s of a naked man with one hand at his forehead and the other half hiding his sex. The legs are†¦very wide apart, and one foot seems planted, unable to move, and the whole motion of the figure is torment† (Baldwin 38). This sculpture acts as a foreshadowing symbol in the novel because, like the sculpture, Fonny is a vulnerable black man who tries to avoid being raped, but he ends up being tormented and imprisoned in wood and stone. Also, like the sculpture, Fonny is ultimately left in the care and prote... ...g room† (Baldwin 38). It will likely become quite a conversation piece, encapsulating his life story more artistically and intricately than any family scrapbook or album. It will even link Fonny’s story to Frederick Douglass’s slave narrative, showing how both of these black men faced betrayal, isolation, and metaphorical death through unjust imprisonment in stone. It will also show how they both struggled to find freedom from Caucasian oppression, and how Fonny’s struggle occurred outside the context and time of slavery. Works Cited Andrews, William L., ed. The Literature of the American South: A Norton Anthology. New York: Norton & Company, 1998. Baldwin, James. If Beale Street Could Talk. New York: Dell Publishing, 1974. â€Å"Rape.† The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2000 Fourth ed. Bartleby.com. 30 Sept. 2004

Microscale Techniques Essay

1. NaOH is a very corrosive chemical and contact with it can cause burns to body tissue and possible eye damage. Can irriate the lungs and can cause permanent lung damage. also contact with water can generate enought heat to ignite combustibles. 2. In your own words, briefly explain the terms below. Copied answers will receive zero points. a. equilibrium state When a chemical reaction is equal. when the products and reactients are at equal rates b. the effect of formation of a complex  a complex is a term used to describe a substance compused of two other substances.When pushing two substances together they can form a complex which is usually weaker than a regular chemical bond 3. A student is studying the equilibrium represented by the equation 2CrO42-(aq, yellow) + 2H3O+(aq) ↠ Cr2O72-(aq, orange) + 3H2O(l) → The mixture obtained by the student is yellow. a. Describe the color change the student should observe after adding concentrated hydrochloric acid to the equilibrium mixture. A) Adding acid causes the mixture to become more orange. As H3O+ ion concentration increases, the system converts some of the H3O+ ion to water and dichromate ions. The additional dichromate ion causes the mixture to appear more orange than before. b. Describe the color change the student should observe after adding solid sodium chromate to the equilibrium mixture. (HINT: when sodium chromate is dissolved in water, it dissociates into ions.) D) Adding solid sodium chromate causes the mixture to become more orange. As it dissolves, the chromate ion increases and CrO4 -2 ion is converted to dichromate ions. The dichromate ion concentration increases, so the mixture appears more orange. c. Describe the color change the student should observe after adding excess sodium hydroxide to the equilibrium mixture in (b). Briefly explain your answer in terms of Le Chà ¢telier’s principle, similar to the answers that were provided earlier in this problem. No change the solution will remain yellow. In Le Chà ¢telier’s principle it talks about how when stress is put on a reaction the reaction shift to relieve the stress. So when we add more of a reaction or product the reaction will shift to use it up, and shift away from added species. d. Write a net ionic equation to support your answer in (c). 1 H3O + (aq) + 1 OH – (aq) → 2 H2O (l) 4. a. Predict the direction in which the equilibrium should shift when you add sodium sulfate solution to the mixture in well A1. Explain why. B) The equilibrium will shift to the left. The system wants to lower the concentration of the sulfate ion, which can be done consuming some of the added sulfate ion and thus shifting the equilibrium to the reactant side. b. Predict the direction in which the equilibrium should shift when you add solid sodium hydrogen sulfate solution to the mixture in well A3. Explain why. C) The equilibrium will shift to the right. The system wants to lower the concentration of the hydrogen sulfate ion, which can be done by consuming some of the added hydrogen sulfate ion and shifting the equilibrium to the product side. c. Predict the direction in which the equilibrium should shift when you add concentrated hydrochloric acid to the mixture in well C1. Explain why. A) The equilibrium will shift to the right. The added acid reacts with hydroxide ions to form water, thus reducing the hydroxide ion concentration. The system responds by converting solid magnesium hydroxide to aqueous magnesium hydroxide. d. Predict the direction in which the equilibrium should shift when you add Na4EDTA solution to the mixture in well C2. to the right Explain why. EDTA purpuse to bind metal cations. So by adding this we reduce the concentration of Mg+2 ions, but we are also adding more OH- ions, and that means that the concentration of OH- ions is decreasing. e. Predict the direction in which the equilibrium should shift when your TA adds water to the hexaaquacobalt(II) ion mixture. Explain why. D) The equilibrium should shift to the right. The system lowers the concentration of the water by consuming some of the added water to form the hexahydrate complex, thus shifting the equilibrium to the product side.

How Do Pencil Erasers Work

Roman scribes wrote on papyrus with a thin rod made of lead, called a stylus. Lead is a soft metal, so the stylus left a light, legible mark. In 1564 a large graphite deposit was discovered in England. Graphite leaves a darker mark than lead, plus its non-toxic. Pencils began to be used, similar to the stylus, except with a wrapping to keep the users hands clean. When you erase a pencil mark, its graphite (carbon) you are removing, not lead. An eraser, called a rubber in some places, is an item used to remove the marks left by pencils and some types of pens. Modern erasers come in all colors and may be made of rubber, vinyl, plastic, gum, or similar materials. A Little Eraser History Before the eraser was invented, you could use a rolled up piece of white bread (crusts cut off) to remove pencil marks (some artists still use bread to lighten charcoal or pastel marks). Edward Naime, an English engineer, is credited with the invention of the eraser (1770). The story goes that he picked up a piece of rubber rather than the usual wad of bread and discovered its properties. Naime began selling rubber erasers, the first practical application of the substance, which gets its name from its ability to rub out pencil marks. Rubber, like bread, was perishable and would go bad over time. Charles Goodyears invention of the process of vulcanization (1839) led to widespread use of rubber. Erasers became commonplace. In 1858, Hymen Lipman received a patent for attaching erasers to the ends of pencils, though the patent was later invalidated since it combined two products rather than invented a new one. How Do Erasers Work? Erasers pick up graphite particles, thus removing them from the surface of the paper. Basically, the molecules in erasers are stickier than the paper, so when the eraser is rubbed onto the pencil mark, the graphite sticks to the eraser preferentially over the paper. Some erasers damage the top layer of the paper and remove it as well. Erasers attached to pencils absorb the graphite particles and leave a residue which needs to be brushed away. This type of eraser can remove the surface of the paper. Soft vinyl erasers are softer than the erasers attached to pencils but are otherwise similar. Art gum erasers are made of soft, coarse rubber and are used to remove large areas of pencil marks without damaging paper. These erasers leave a lot of residue behind. Kneaded erasers resemble putty. These pliable erasers absorb graphite and charcoal without wearing away. Kneaded erasers may stick to the paper if they are too warm. They eventually pick up enough graphite or charcoal that they leave marks rather than pick them up and need to be replaced.