Maria Gaetana Agnesi essays

Maria Gaetana Agnesi essays Maria Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy on May 16, 1718. During her lifetime she accomplished quite a bit. She was the first woman in the western part of the world to be officially and accurately referred to as a Mathematician. Her largest accomplishment and publication was published when Sir Isaac Newton was still alive and his studies most likely contributed to her own. Nevertheless, Agnesi deserves recognition not only for her mathematical publications but for all she contributed to math, science, and the western world as a whole. She began her studies of mathematics a very early age. In fact, she began studying all subject matters at the tender age of four years old. This was due to many factors. For one, her father, Pietro Agnesi and mother, Anna Brivio were learned people. Pietro was a professor at the University of Bologna and encouraged Marias interest in scientific matters. He made sure she was tutored at home by a string of distinguished professors. They challenged her by having her come up with her own theses. She was then to discuss and defend them among leading scholars. She eventually gained their respect, and according to historians, their admiration as well. Mathematics was not her only strong subject matter. She was considered to be a genius linguist. Her native language is Italian, but by age five, Agnesi learned to speak French fluently. By the time she was nine, she was able to speak, write, and read Latin. Finally, by age eleven, she could translate Greek, German, Spanish, and even Hebrew. During her years of tutor, a scholar would ask her a question is his native tongue and she would answer him in his languagewhatever that may have been. She also covered subjects such as ontology, botany, zoology, mineralogy and many more. At age seventeen, Maria composed her first manuscript and even though her tutors considered it to be excellent work, it was neve ...

Study Guide for the Medieval Morality Play Everyman

Study Guide for the Medieval Morality Play 'Everyman' Written in England during the 1400s, The Summoning of Everyman (commonly known as Everyman) is a Christian morality play. No one knows who wrote the play. Historians have noted that monks and priests often wrote these types of dramas. Basic Plot God decides that Everyman (a character who represents an average, everyday human) has become too obsessed with wealth and material possessions. Therefore, Everyman must be taught a lesson in piety. And who better to teach a life lesson than a character named Death? Man Is Unkind God’s chief complaint is that humans are ignorantly leading sinful lives, unaware that Jesus died for their sins. Everyman has been living for his own pleasure, forgetting about the importance of charity and the potential threat of eternal hellfire. Upon God’s bidding, Death summons Everyman to take a pilgrimage to the Almighty. When Everyman realizes that the Grim Reaper has called upon him to face God and give a reckoning of his life, he tries to bribe Death to â€Å"defer this matter till another day.† The bargaining doesn’t work. Everyman must go before God, never to return to Earth again. Death does say that the hapless hero can take along anyone or anything that may benefit him during this spiritual trial. Friends and Family Are Fickle After Death leaves Everyman to prepare for his day of reckoning (the moment in which God judges him), Everyman approaches a character named Fellowship, a supporting role that represents Everyman’s friends. At first, Fellowship is full of bravado. When Fellowship learns that Everyman is in trouble, he promises to stay with him until the problem is resolved. However, as soon as Everyman reveals that Death has summoned him to stand before God, Fellowship ditches the poor guy. Kindred and Cousin, two characters that represent family relationships, make similar promises. Kindred declares, â€Å"in wealth and woe we will with you hold, for over his kin a man may be bold.† But once Kindred and Cousin realize Everyman’s destination, they back out. One of the funniest moments in the play is when Cousin refuses to go because he has a cramp in his toe. The overall message of the play’s first half is that relatives and friends (as reliable as they may seem) pale in comparison to the steadfast companionship of God. Goods vs. Good Deeds After getting rejected by fellow humans, Everyman turns his hopes to inanimate objects. He talks to a character named â€Å"Goods,† a role which represents Everyman’s material possessions and wealth. Everyman pleads for Goods to assist him in his hour of need, but they offer no comfort. In fact, the Goods chide Everyman, suggesting that he should have admired material objects moderately ​and that he should have given some of his goods to the poor. Not wanting to visit God (and subsequently be sent to hell), Goods abandons Everyman.​​ Finally, Everyman meets a character who will genuinely care for his plight. Good-Deeds is a character who symbolizes the acts of charity and kindness performed by Everyman. However, when the audience first meets Good-Deeds, she is laying on the ground, severely weakened by Everyman’s many sins. Enter Knowledge and Confession Good-Deeds introduces Everyman to her sister, Knowledge. This is another friendly character who will provide good advice to the protagonist. Knowledge serves as an important guide for Everyman, instructing him to seek out another character: Confession. Everyman is led to Confession. Readers expecting to hear a bunch of scandalous â€Å"dirt† on the main character, expecting him to beg forgiveness, or hoping he will at least apologize for whatever sins he has committed will be surprised here. Instead, Everyman asks for his vices to be wiped clean. Confession says that with penance, Everyman’s spirit may become clean once more. What does penance mean? In this  play, it means that Everyman undergoes a severe and purifying form of physical punishment. After he suffers, Everyman is amazed to discover that Good-Deeds is now free and strong, ready to stand by his side during his moment of judgment. The Five-Wits After this purging of the soul, Everyman is ready to meet his maker. Good-Deeds and Knowledge tell Everyman to call upon â€Å"three persons of great might† and his Five-Wits (his senses) as counselors. Everyman calls forth the characters Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five-Wits. Combined, they represent the core of his physical human experience. Unlike the first half of the play when he begged for help from his friends and family, Everyman is now relying on himself. However, even though he receives some good advice from each entity, he realizes that they will not go the distance as he journeys closer to his meeting with God. Like previous characters, these entities promise to stay by his side. Yet, when Everyman decides that it is time for his body to physically die (perhaps as part of his penance), Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and the Five-Wits abandon him. Beauty is the first one to take a hike, disgusted by the idea of lying in a grave. The others follow suit, and Everyman is left alone with Good-Deeds and Knowledge once again. Everyman Departs Knowledge explains that he won’t be going into the â€Å"heavenly sphere† with Everyman, but will stay with him until he departs from his physical body. This seems to imply that the soul does not retain its Earthly knowledge. However, Good-Deeds (as promised) will journey with Everyman. At the end of the play, Everyman commends his soul to God. After his departure, an angel arrives to announce that Everyman’s soul has been taken from his body and presented before God. A final narrator enters to explain to the audience that all should heed the lessons of Everyman: that everything in life is fleeting, with the exception of acts of kindness and charity. Overall Theme As one might expect from a morality play, Everyman has a very clear moral, one that is delivered at the beginning, middle, and end of the play. The blatantly religious message is simple: Earthly comforts are fleeting. Only good deeds and God’s grace can provide salvation. The lessons of the play are delivered in the form of allegorical characters, each one representing a variety of abstract concepts such as good deeds, material possessions, and knowledge. Who Wrote Everyman? Many morality plays were a collaborative effort by clergymen and residents (often tradesmen and guild members) of an English town. Over the years, lines would be changed, added, and deleted. Therefore, Everyman is probably the result of multiple authors and decades of literary evolution. Historical Context When Everyman summons the Five-Wits, a fascinating  discussion about the importance of the priesthood follows. FIVE-WITS:For priesthood exceedeth all other thing;To us Holy Scripture they do teach,And converteth man from sin heaven to reach;God hath to them more power given,Than to any angel that is in heaven According to the Five-Wits, priests are more powerful than angels. This reflects the prevalent role of priests in medieval society. In most European villages, the clergy were the moral leaders. However, the character of Knowledge mentions that priests are not perfect, and some of them have committed egregious sins. The discussion concludes with a general endorsement of the church as the surest path to salvation.

Main Character Analysis - The Yellow Wallpaper Essay

Main Character Analysis - The Yellow Wallpaper - Essay Example THE CENTRAL CHARACTER OF THE STORY REPRESENTS AN ‘OUTSIDER’ WHO DOES NOT WANT TO CONFORM TO THE TRADITIONAL NORMS AND HENCE FREES HER SOUL FROM THE PRETENSE OF THE CONVENTIONAL WIFE WHO ABIDES BY HER HUSBAND’S DECISIONS WITHOUT INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT. Women have attempted to get rid of the conventional definitions of their roles and the ideology forced upon them, thus seeking for a redefinition of Womanhood. Charlotte Perkins Gilman illustrated the struggle of the female character of the story to overcome the patriarchal constraints in order to be able to cultivate her writing talents. Here she talks about the dominating care of her husband as she says, â€Å"He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction†¦ There comes John, and I must put this away, --he hates to have me write a word. We have been here two weeks, and I haven't felt like writing before, since that first day. I am sitting by the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength† (Gilman, 1891, 2) Gilman also points out the lack of cooperation from the female counterparts which have helped the male reinforce their dominance. She has mentioned the case of the sister of the woman’s husband in this regard. ... From the fact that John would not encourage her writing let alone appreciate them, she gradually suffered from low-self esteem. The following lines express her feelings, â€Å"But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.† (Gilman, 1891, 3) The work represents the Cult of Womanhood, which ties up the women folk to the ambience of the home and family. Here the woman has been confined to the defined parameters that have been set by men. Constant domination negatively affects her creativity, as she has to put in the extra effort in order to overcome the mental set back and arouse the self-encouragement within her. The character Gilman creates in her story is an inspiration to all the women who have confined themselves within the shackles of dominance. She depicts the challenges thrown towards patriarchal ideologies and how women could move beyond the conventional ba rrier of ideology imposed upon them. She cites a reflection of this situation as she describes the changes in the wallpaper, saying, â€Å"There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous.† (Gilman, 1891, 6) she wonders whether all women would be able to walk out of these artificial misleading designs created deftly by men – â€Å"I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?† (Gilman, 1891, 12) The central character of the story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ therefore represents the ‘outsider’ to the set norms of the society