Faust And The Devil s Tug Of War - 870 Words

Lucas Wheatcroft Professor Nannette Crane 7 October 2016 World Literature II Faust and the Devil’s Tug of War Published in 1775, Goethe’s literary work Faust exemplifies individualism, emotionalism, and nature in the protagonist’s gradual escape from extreme rationalism in his life, only to realize that emotion and nature culminate reason. Beginning in the late 17th century, Romanticism was connected with politics to portray people’s fears, aspirations, and emotions (Brians). In the beginning of the literary work, Faust tells Mephistopheles, the devil, that he cannot be tempted by human emotion, but later switches to the position that he has exhausted academic study, therefore immersing himself in the passions that make people so earnestly moved and motivated. Goethe implemented the biblical book of Job to enable Mephistopheles to intervene in Faust’s life as a bet to see if he is faithful to God, as evidenced by the script, where the Lord attests, â€Å"So it’s agreed, you have my full consent. Divert the soul of Faust from its true source and if you’re able [to], lead him along† (Lawall 632). As a result of this switch, Faust demands that Mephistopheles procure Margarete for him. Goethe calls this form of emotion and passion into question, dramatizing their infatuation towards the end when Margarete is in the dungeon, anticipating her execution. The most significant connection of Faust with nature is when he is in a natural setting after seducing Margarete. Romantics sawShow MoreRelatedWhat Makes A Story Faustian?1867 Words   |  8 Pagescharacter often resorts to selling their soul to the devil, in a search for power beyond their human limitations. And although Faustian themed stories provide a contemporary look at human limitation, their theme can be traced back to the earliest of biblical stories. What makes a story Faustian? Well all legends and stories considered ?Faustian? have a couple major elements in common. They all involve a character making a deal with the Devil, and they all attempt to teach a lesson.[i]That

Legalization of Marijuana - 1498 Words

Legalization of Marijuana Thesis Statement Marijuana use should not be legalized and must be discouraged as it is harmful and creates problems for the society Introduction Marijuana, also known as marihuana, is a drug that is taken from Cannabis sativa, a hemp plant. It is one of the most frequently used and popular drugs in the world along with caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. The United States of America is one of the worlds leading producers of marijuana where it is generally smoked and is also referred to as weed or reefer by the citizens (marijuana). Marijuana has been known for lowering testosterone levels and sperm counts in males and raising testosterone levels in females. It has a damaging effect on the fetus of the pregnant women and consequently results in poor development of the child. Evidence has proved the affects of marijuana on the normal maturation of teenagers. It is also found to affect the short-term memory and intellectual capacity of its users. Intense users of marijuana frequently sustain lung damage and its heavy usage can also in dependency (marijuana). The Legalization Question The policy of barring the sale and use of marijuana is of immense public interest (Thornton). During 1960s-1970s, the number of middle-class marijuana users increased. Due to this rather greater acceptance of the drug, supporters of marijuana asked for the relaxation of U.S. laws regarding it. As a result, The Drug Abuse Prevention Act (1970) relievedShow MoreRelatedThe Legalization Of Marijuana Legalization1061 Words   |  5 PagesThe Legalization of Cannabis in Ohio Marijuana is a controversial topic all across the United States. Recently marijuana has been voted on, legalized, and denied legalization in multiple states. There are still more states trying to fight the green fight for marijuana. The fight for legalization hasn’t been an easy one for cannabis supporters; they have been fighting tooth and nail to make it happen. One of the main concerns in the marijuana debates are whether or not marijuana is a gateway drugRead MoreLegalization Of Marijuana And Marijuana1633 Words   |  7 PagesBalyuk March 8, 2016 Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana has a few different names that are commonly used in today’s society including weed and cannabis. Weed is smoked with joints, bongs, or pipes. Marijuana can also be mixed with foods usually brownies, cookies, and candy which are called edibles. The main chemical responsible for the high feeling is called THC but marijuana also contains over 500 chemicals. The chemical is found in resin produced by the leaves and buds. â€Å"Marijuana is the most commonlyRead MoreThe Legalization Of Marijuana Legalization Essay2566 Words   |  11 Pagescurrent prohibition on marijuana reforms has put the United States in a similar situation. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, â€Å"95 million Americans age 12 and older have tried pot at least once, and three out of every four illicit-drug users reported using marijuana within the previous 30 days† (ONDCP). The decriminalization and eve ntually legalization for the recreational use of marijuana will bring forth benefitsRead MoreThe Legalization Of Marijuana Legalization1282 Words   |  6 Pages On November 8th, 2016, the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative may be included on the ballot. The people of California will vote on whether to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults. The move targets at regulating the consumption of the drug and taxing it like other legalized drugs. California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996 (National Institute of Drug Abuse). The state prohibited any legal actions from being taken on patients and recognized caregiversRead MoreThe Legalization Of Marijuana And Marijuana Essay1314 Words   |  6 PagesMarijuana or Cannabis is one of the bused drugs in America and the rest of the world. Interesting accumulating evidence show that the significant negative impact of this drug outweighs the positive effects. However, the medical benefits of the drug seem on the process of chemical compounds as compared to the drug itself. Medical debates show that chemical compound in marijuana are the problem as compared to the plant. The said chemical compound affects the mental and physical health of the personsRead MoreThe Legalization Of Marijuana Legalization1660 Words   |  7 PagesKyler Smith 9/15 â€Å"Marijuana Legalization† The legality of cannabis varies from country to country. Possession of cannabis is illegal in most countries and has been since the beginning of widespread cannabis prohibition in the late 1930s. However, possession of the drug in small quantities had been decriminalized in many countries and sub-national entities in several parts of the world. Furthermore, possession is legal or effectively legal in the Netherlands, Uruguay, and in the US states of ColoradoRead MoreThe Legalization Of Marijuana Legalization996 Words   |  4 Pages the monetary gain of its legalization for most has been productive to say the least. For example, Denver Colorado is on track to more than triple the marijuana tax revenue this year alone. $44 million was collected in 2014. In July 2015, 73.5 million was collected, while 19.6 million went to schools. A place such as Chicago could really use the legalization to help with the school system infrastructure issues they have. With a deficit of over 1.1 bi llion marijuana sales could alleviate bothRead MoreLegalization of Marijuana1550 Words   |  7 PagesLegalization of Marijuana: Benefits and Statistics The topic of legalizing marijuana has been a topic of controversy for quite some time now not only throughout our local streets, but throughout the local and into the state government. The legalization of marijuana is such a controversial topic because some are for it and some are against it. People are for the legalization because of the great uses it has towards medicine, the money that could come from the taxation of legalized marijuana, andRead MoreLegalization of Marijuana972 Words   |  4 PagesOn January 1st the states of Colorado and Washington officially began the regulation of legal marijuana sales. Thousands of people from all over the country including tourists from Wisconsin, Ohio, Chicago, and even Georgia lined up out front of dispensaries to make a purchase. 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Backlash Films Free Essays

Over twenty years after its release, Fatal Attraction continues to inspire discussion and controversy. While the movie comfortably takes its place as one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s and one of the most unforgettable thrillers in cinematic history, there are many that contend it contains a slew of anti-feminist overtones. The female lead and her traits as an otherwise archetypal career woman combine with her psycho-sexual obsession with the male lead to create a character that some may see as tragic and insane, while others see as a direct attack on the feminist movement itself. We will write a custom essay sample on Backlash Films or any similar topic only for you Order Now With its portrayal of the stalking career woman that victimizes a hapless man and his innocent wife, Fatal Attraction contains many elements that reflect a â€Å"backlash† against the feminist movement, as well as dark male fears over the proliferation of career-minded women. Fatal Attraction, released in 1987, written by James Dearden and directed by Adrian Lyne, was conceived as a film about the consequences of infidelity. The film’s main character, Dan Gallagher, played by Michael Douglas, is a New York lawyer with a seemingly happy family that includes a beautiful wife Beth, played by Anne Archer, and daughter. When Dan’s wife and daughter go away for the weekend, Dan meets the independent and sultry Alex Forrest, played by Glenn Close, at his law firm. The two soon engage in what Dan believes to be a casual and temporary affair. When Dan attempts to end the affair, Alex’s refusal to accept it turns dramatically negative. Alex begins to stalk Dan, showing up where he does, calling him until he refuses to take her calls. Eventually, realizing that Dan truly wants nothing to do with her, she tells him that she is pregnant with his baby. The growing obsessive madness of Alex peaks after she spies on Dan and his family from the bushes in his yard, and later breaks into the house when the family is out and boils the pet rabbit of Dan’s daughter. Because he can no longer hide his transgressions, Dan tells Beth about the affair, and she eventually forgives him. Alex crosses the final line with Dan and his family when she kidnaps his daughter only to return her unharmed later. It becomes apparent to all involved that something must be done, and for Alex, that means killing Dan’s wife so she can take her place. In a final climatic scene, Alex, Beth, and Dan physically fight as Alex attempts to kill Beth with a butcher knife. Dan is forced to drown Alex in the bathtub, but she only appears dead and attacks him again, when Beth, using a gun Dan purchased for protection, promptly guns her down. While many of the plot points in the movie can be seen as simple movie suspense, the deeper one digs the easier it is to find subtle allusions to the place of women in society. The role of the female characters in Fatal Attraction show diverging archetypes for the ideal woman, as viewed by traditionalists and progressive feminists. On the one hand is Alex, the calculating career woman; on the other hand is Beth, the faithful wife and mother. The main female characters show the dichotomy between the traditional social roles of women and the ultramodern. According to Gerrig, â€Å"A social role is a socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person when functioning in a given setting or group† (Gerrig and Zimbardo 574). The portrayal of each can be seen as a representation of a provincial masculine view of femininity, in essence a backlash against feminism. Feminism has long been a misunderstood concept, by women and men alike. Beginning in the late nineteenth century with the rise of â€Å"the New Woman,† the First International Women’s Conference in Paris in 1892 coined the word after the French term feministe, to represent a belief in and advocacy of equal rights for women based on the idea of the equality of the sexes (Haslanger and Tuana). At the time, it was a call for suffrage and equal justice for women and represented the beginning of the â€Å"First Wave† of feminism, which in America culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. By the time Fatal Attraction was released, feminism was in the midst of a strong new wave of feminism, which began in the late 1960s. In the â€Å"Second Wave† of feminism, feminists pushed far beyond the first wave by asking for more than just equal political rights but also greater universal equality in the workplace, education, at home, and with their own bodies (Haslanger and Tuana). The proliferation of birth control added to this wave and the growing independence of women reached a zenith in the 1980s, with women achieving equality in almost every sense of the word, with prominent women politicians, artists, and world figures. The character of Alex Forrest seemed to suggest a dark side to this rise of feminism, that the irrational female psyche will eventually overrule the mindset of even the most successful women, granted that they failed to have the things traditionally considered the most feminine: a family. The stability of the idealized traditional wife and mother, Beth, provides a stark contrast to the nightmarish descent into madness of the progressive single woman, Alex. While this could be nothing more than a dramatic coincidence, some see it as a deliberate expression of masculine fear of female empowerment. Fatal Attraction seems to suggest an almost misogynistic fear of the independent career woman that she seeks to destroy families and will stop at nothing to do so: â€Å"In its representation of a crazy career woman out to destroy the nuclear family, the film is a perfect example of the era’s conservative backlash against independent women† (Benshoff and Griffin 281). Alex participates in stalking, which is traditionally associated with men, and she possesses many of the same dominant tendencies of men. In her book, High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood, Sharon Willis critiques Fatal Attraction, taking the position that films like it suggest that â€Å"feminine force seems to arise at the direct expense of masculine power and bodily integrity† and that femininity becomes inextricably linked to masculinity, a position widely shared by feminist film critics. Willis claims that films like Fatal Attraction focus â€Å"on an urgent effort to reinscribe the border of sexual difference at exactly the divide between domestic interior and public space† (Regester 52). Alex engages in behavior that, even in the 1980s, was deemed uniquely masculine. Women have long suffered the double standard of adhering to strict sexual mores, and her promiscuity exemplifies the lack of maternal qualities that most men look for in a mate. However, men like Dan use biological precedent to rationalize their constant desire to spread their seed. Dan is equally responsible for what occurred, but it is almost as if he is forgiven for his gender’s predilection for sexual promiscuity, however erroneous. The most obvious feminist critique of Fatal Attraction is how it portrays Alex, the professional, single woman in her thirties as domineering, man-obsessed, and driven to insanity by her quest to achieve a long lasting relationship with Dan. The movie vilifies her and on the opposite end of the spectrum, sanctifies Beth, the devoted wife and mother. As with all the strong popular icons before her, Alex â€Å"becomes the screen upon which an audience of thousands projects their fears and fantasies† (Nguyen â€Å"The Legend of Billie Jean†). Through all of this, Dan is portrayed as almost more of a hapless victim that succumbs to the wiles of a siren than what he really is: a cheating spouse. The author of the story, James Dearden contends that he meant no deliberate anti-feminist overtones in his work, which began as a 1979 short film, â€Å"Diversion. † According to Dearden, he merely borrowed from life to create a minimalist story about the perils of adultery: â€Å"My wife was out of town for the weekend, and I thought what would happen if a man who has just dropped his wife at the railroad station rings this girl who he’s met at a party and says, ‘Would you like to have dinner? ’ But, then it all gets ugly† (Forsberg). According to the man who created the story, it was nothing more than a simple suspense story, and the criticisms that label it as anti-feminist and woman fearing are unfounded: â€Å"I don’t see that Alex symbolizes the New Woman and is therefore made to appear ghastly to sabotage the New Woman’s cause. She has a career because she lives in New York, where it’s difficult to survive without one. For me, it was a fable about the irrational creeping into the everyday† (Forsberg). He also examines the possibility of his own fears towards women and the prevalence of men that fear women in his script: â€Å"I don’t think I fear women, but there’s a certain archetype – the temptress who undoes heroes of Homeric legend who is as predatory sexually as the man – which men find hard to deal with because they’re used to being in the dominant role. Women certainly have an equal right to be dominant, but I don’t like very dominant males or females period† (Forsberg). While it can be said that Fatal Attraction sought to express the male anxieties about the emerging female, as well as a rejection of feminism as a social force, to the movie aficionado it remains merely a suspense movie filled with gimmicks and plotlines as old as cinema itself. The immense success of Fatal Attraction may have entered it into the feminism conversation, but it realistically remains nothing more than a dramatic examination of adultery and obsession. The idea of the femme fatale is nothing new, and the movie simply showed that, man or woman, there is no such thing as sex without consequences. Looking at Alex Forrest as a backlash against feminism is a fair criticism, however it is unfair to believe that a fictional suspense movie like Fatal Attraction could influence anybody that saw it free of any preexisting agendas. The movie may be simply a reflection of the ambitions that drive everyone mad, whether male or female, career or sexual, decent or indecent. Works Cited: Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. London: Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Forsberg, Myra. â€Å"James Dearden: Life After ‘Fatal Attraction’. † The New York Times. 24 Jul 1988. 16 Dec 2008. http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res= 940DE1DA133CF937A15754C0A96E948260sec=spon=pagewanted=print. Gerrig, Richard J. and Zimbardo, Philip G. â€Å"Social Norms. † Psychology and Life. 17th ed. 2005. Haslanger, Sally Tuana, Nancy. â€Å"Topics in Feminism. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15 Mar 2004. 16 Dec 2008. http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/feminism-topics/. Nguyen, Mimi. â€Å"The Legend of Billie Jean. † WorseThanQueer. com. 1 Aug 2005. 16 Dec 2008. http://www. worsethanqueer. com/slander/pp45. html. Regester, Charlene. â€Å"Review: High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood Film by Sharon Willis. † Film Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2. Winter 1998; pp. 51-52. 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