charant Empathy for Characters in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Empathy for Characters in Sophocle's Antigone Sophocle's tragic play Antigone, written in 441 BC, is a theatrical piece of drama in which an audience is compelled to empathize with its character's. When empathizing with characters in Antigone the audience can, in imaginative and cognitive ways, participate in the understanding of a character's feelings, ideas as well as their situations. Antigone, Creon and Ismene all struggle with decisions that concern the laws of their city and the cosmic law of religion and moral judgement. Characters such as Haemon and Eurydice ultimately show the consequences of the decision formed by the two protagonists. Amongst the audience, empathy is created for both; characters faced with agonizing decisions and characters inflicted with tormenting consequences. The levels of empathy felt for each character changes as the story develops and as different qualities are revealed about each character. The amount of empathy felt for a character effects not only the reading of that character but also the m eaning of the play. The first scene of the play involves Antigone asking her sister to go against the laws of the state to help her give the proper burial rites to their brother Polynices. In the first scene there is an immediate sense of empathy felt towards Antigone as she express her feelings of misfortune to Ismene. 'My own flesh and blood - dear sister, dear Ismene, how many griefs our father Oedipus handed down! Do you know one, I ask you, one grief that Zeus will not perfect for the two of us... (p59) By introducing Antigone to the audience as the daughter of the Oedipus the empathy felt toward the tragic hero Oedipus is somewhat inherited by Antigone. The audience reflects on the hardships that the incestuous family of Oedipus have already endured and realizes that the wretched fate of Oedipus is still bringing grief in to Antigone's life. This immediately gives the audience an insight into Antiogne's personal feelings and gives the audience the opportunity to feel empathy for the pain that plagues her life simply because she was born as the daughter of an ill-fated man. Because the audience has been put into a position where they feel empathy for Antigone her character is read with a sympathetic understanding, allowing any of her actions to be considered rational in her situation. Despite the immediate empathy felt toward Antigone because of the connection between herself and Oedipus, the audience is obliged to feel empathy for Antigone because her two brothers at war against each other clashed and won the common prize of death (p66).

Occupy Wall Street Movement

Krystal Graham â€Å"Occupy Wall Street† Business Ethics Professor: Steven Curry â€Å"Occupy Wall Street† The â€Å"Occupy Wall Street† movement has become a big deal since it began in the fall of 2011. This movement was inspired by international protests, with thousands arriving in New York City answering the call, soon spreading to well over 500 cities. I would like to discuss more of the details of the movement, the moral and economic implications, as well as the different ethics theories to see which theory best applies to the movement.The Arab Springs protest on February 11, 2011 was the most notable inspiration of the Occupy Wall Street movement. According to the website occupy together, the occupy movement is an international movement driven by individuals. They are organized in over 100 cities in the United States, and they aim to fight back against the system that has allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. All of us have many differe nt backgrounds and political beliefs but feel that, since we can no longer trust our elected officials to represent anyone other than their wealthiest donors, we need real people to create real change from the bottom up†¦ We no longer want the wealthiest to hold all the power, to write the rules governing an unbalanced and inequitable global economy, and thus foreclosing on our future. The movement works to achieve their goals by resist, In the spirit and tradition of civil disobedience #occupy takes to the streets to protest corporate greed, abuse of power, and growing economic disparity; Restructure, #occupy empowers individuals to lead others into action by gathering in the commons as engaged citizens to demonstrate a culture based on community and mutual aid. We will be the change we are seeking in the world; and finally, Remix work to make fundamental changes in the system.Now that we know a little more about the movement itself, let us look at some of the moral and econom ic implications of this movement. In the Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the government provide â€Å"equal protection of the laws† to all citizens. The moral implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement reach far beyond the passing sensation it has created. The movement seems to be acquiring immunity from the laws the rest of us are expected to obey by calling themselves representatives of the 99 percent against the 1 percent.If 99 percent of the people in the country were like the Occupy mobs we would have anarchy, not a country. Democracy means majority rule, not mob rule, and if Occupy or any other mob movement actually represents the majority, they would have enough votes to legally achieve what they are trying to accomplish by illegal means. In problems of collective action, individuals who work solely for their own selfish interests can bring about tragic consequences for society as a whole. The only way for collective action problems to be solv ed is to create coordinated collaborations that unite social and individual interests.The â€Å"collective† element is paramount because even one â€Å"defector† (someone who acts selfishly, like those who stand accused of criminal acts at Occupy Wall Street camps) has the power to run everything by leading others to defect as well. I found an example of the Occupy movement being about the law on the national review website. â€Å"When trespassers blocking other people at the University of California-Davis refused to disperse and locked their arms with one another to prevent the police from being able to physically remove them, police finally resorted to pepper spray to break up this human logjam.The result? The police have been strongly criticized for enforcing the law. Apparently pepper spray is unpleasant, and people who break the law are not supposed to have unpleasant things done to them. Which is to say, we need to take the â€Å"enforcement† out of †Å"law enforcement. † The police are the last line of defense against barbarism, but they are equipped only to handle that minority who are not stopped by the first line of defense, moral principles. If everyone takes the path of least resistance, then the moral infrastructure will corrode and crumble.The moral infrastructure is one of the intangibles without which the tangibles don’t work. Like the physical infrastructure, its neglect in the short run invites disaster in the long run. Examples of real, measurable Occupy inspired change in the political sphere are hard to come by, though a band of millionaires did storm Capital Hill on Wednesday November 16, according to an article by the Associated Press to urge Congress to tax them more, claiming they are not paying their â€Å"fair share. The financial crisis caused a deep recession in our economy, and there are many individuals who are struggling to make ends meet and to get a job and to live their lives given the e conomic difficulties. I think there is an understandable frustration with the difficult economic circumstances that many families are experiencing now and a desire for change. There is one cost associated with Occupy Wall Street that is readily available, and that is the cost incurred by police as they patrolled the movement, originally in a watchdog status, and eventually as they cleared protestors from parks throughout the country.According to the Associated Press, as of November 24, taxpayers had paid at least $13 million in police overtime and municipal services. This includes $7 million in New York and $2. 4 million in Oakland, which faces a budget gap of $58 million this year. Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. The interests of the community are simply the sum of the interest of its members. An action promotes the interests of an individual when it adds t o the individual’s pleasure or diminishes the person’s pain.There are six points that need to be considered about utilitarianism. First, when deciding which action will produce the greatest happiness, we must consider unhappiness or pain as well happiness. Second, actions affect people to different degrees. Third, because utilitarians evaluate actions according to their consequences and because actions produce different results in different circumstances, almost anything might in principle, be morally right in some particular situation. Fourth, utilitarians wish to maximize happiness not simply immediately but in the long run as well.Fifth, utilitarians acknowledge that we often do not know with certainty what the future consequences of our actions will be. Finally, when choosing among possible actions, utilitarianism does not require us to disregard our own pleasure, nor should we give it added weight. Immanuel Kant sought moral principles that do not rest on continge ncies and that define actions as inherently right or wrong apart from any particular circumstances. He believed that moral rules can, in principle, be known as a result of reason lone and are not based on observation. Kantian theory uses the categorical imperative which says that we can will the maxim of our action to become a universal law. By maxim, Kant meant the subjective principle of an action, the principle that people in effect formulate in determining their conduct. Another way of looking at the categorical imperative is universal acceptability. Each person, through his or her own acts of will, legislates the moral law. Because reason is the same for all rational beings, we all give ourselves the same moral law.In other words, when you answer the question â€Å"What should I do? † you must consider what all rational beings should do. You can embrace something as a moral law only if all other rational beings can also embrace it. It must have universal acceptability. I n addition to the principle of universal acceptability, Kant explicitly offered another, very famous way of formulating the core idea of his categorical imperative. According to this formulation, as rational creatures we should always treat other rational creatures as ends in themselves and never as only means to our ends.Virtue ethics is identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach which emphasizes duties or rules or that which emphasizes the consequences of actions. Out of the theories, utilitarian, Kantian, and virtue ethics, I believe the Occupy Wall Street movement tries to follow the utilitarian theory. The movement is attempting to end the relationship built on money and donations between our elected officials and corporate interests.They want a system that operates in the interest of the people and to empower people to be a part of the process. They say they represent the 99 percent, and trying to make a change to have eq ual distribution of wealth for the country, which is what they feel is the best interest of the country as a whole. The income inequality and unequal wealth distribution in the United States is something that has been building over time and is not really any one person or companies fault. Many of the wealthy have earned the money by working hard to get to where they are now.There are many issues involved in the wealth distribution in our country, including that many of the poor have gotten poorer due to the lack of jobs as well as the fact that many of the mortgage companies allowed people to get into more debt by handing out home loans to people who wanted to purchase homes way out of their price ranges. This is also the fault of the people who got themselves into those positions. I am not sure if there is an equitable outcome from this movement, but I am sure this movement will continue, and if not, there will be another movement similar to this one.

Gun Control A Reality Essay - 1860 Words

Gun Control: A Reality The issue of gun controlled has for the most part, been a topic both within the public venue and of course, within our political speak. It mainly became the proverbial hot potato topic since the middle of the 1970’s and continues to be, mainly when there is a political assassination, a shooting within a military area or a work place, a school massacre or such public places as a school or restaurant. Then most people start yelling about stricter gun control laws, the pendants start speaking about the culture of violence that we have inherited here within the United States and the debate just gains a life of its own. The issue is very real and the deaths caused by guns is all too realistic to simply deny the fact that we need to do something more than what we are doing to prevent further ownership and the buying of such weapons of destruction. My paper will be a discussion of gun control and why I believe further restrictions should be made. Facts and Figures: Before I get into the pros and cons of gun control, we should look at some of the facts concerning gun ownership. It has been estimated that â€Å"the total number of guns both licit and illicit held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,000 to 310,000.† (Hoyet, p.1) Private gun ownership tends to be somewhat surprising. â€Å"It is estimated that â€Å"the rate of private gun ownership both licit and illicit in the united States is 101.05 firearms per 100 people. (p.1). Civilian ownership isShow MoreRelatedAgainst Gun Control Of The United States1145 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish II November 1, 2015 Against Gun Control Crime and guns, the two always seem to be acting together, however, these two elements are absolutely nothing alike. Do guns commit the horrific crimes? Do the laws placed on gun control keep the citizens of the United States safe? These are the questions many citizens and lawmakers are asking themselves when they try to launch laws on gun control. Although many people are for gun control, they do not realize that gun control violate the United States SecondRead MorePresident Obama s 2015 Executive Actions On Gun Control1242 Words   |  5 PagesActions on Gun Control. National Conference of State Legislatures. 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 09 Jan. 2016. President Obama s 2015 Executive Actions on Gun Control. Susan Frederick is the senior federal affairs counsel at National Conference of State Legislatures. She writes an article, President Obama s 2015 Executive Actions on Gun Control, in which she gives an overview of President Obama’s actions regarding gun regulation policy. Frederick begins by writing that the new regulations towards gun control areRead MoreNo Guns More Crime : Gun Control Laws And Regulations Across The United States1486 Words   |  6 PagesNo Guns More Crime A growing number of states in the US have passed stricter gun policies for citizens to own bare arms. The almighty goal is to have all the guns taken away from gun owners and future gun owners. The policies have adjusted citizens to go through a process just to obtain a gun license or permit. For example, rigorous background checks and sponsorship from law enforcement. This process contradicts the 2nd Amendment from the U.S Constitution. Every American has the constitutionalRead MoreFirearms and Their Consequences1409 Words   |  6 Pagesas such the world should ask the land that claims to be home of the brave; being the United States of America, what it’s stance is on gun control. Because the land of opportunity can no longer say yes to unrestricted gun sales and no the safety of its innocents; or should only the gun owners dictate the laws in the land of opportunity. America needs to enforce gun restrictions to save the lives of innocent people. To long has it a llowed its own civilians to dictate the worth of the life of an innocentRead MoreThe Issue Of Gun Control1119 Words   |  5 PagesGun control is something that the country is strongly divided on. The some on the right wing wants so few restrictions they can go to Walmart and buy an AK-47. At the same time certain members on the left wing want to take away anything bigger than an airsoft gun. There is a fine line between the two, but that is where the country needs to be. Like a clown on a unicycle, edging across a tight rope, this country needs to find balance between the two. That being said, at this point the country needsRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1163 Words   |  5 PagesWith the wake following the San Bernardino attack and an apparent increase in domestic gun violence and terrorism, the fear of guns and violence associated with them has skyrocketed in recent years. To many, a promising solution to this problem is gun control, essentially placing restrictions a nd regulations on guns. In some cases this has been proven effective, and instances such as exceptionally dangerous weapons or automatic weapons it seems a given to ban. However, a ban on conventional weaponsRead MoreEssay on Gun Control is NOT the Solution967 Words   |  4 Pagesagainst Gun Control The development of arguments surrounding gun control corresponds to the increased violence and problems related to weapons and firearms use. This then prompted the expansion of gun control initiatives and has shapes public opinion particularly in the promotion of increased regulation to banning. Due to this, it became controversial as it split the opinions of the citizenry particularly in their stance to advance different objectives. Arguably, the process of developing gun controlRead MoreGun Control And The Possession Of Guns1247 Words   |  5 PagesGun Control is more like a ban on the possession of guns and other arms. Laws and Policies are defined to reduce the concept of gun possession from society. The efforts are made in wake of a real threat to the lives of many people and also to control illegal activities like terrorism, robberies and killings. Those times are long gone when a gun was possessed in an order to keep the flocks of animals arranged or to guard the cultivate d lands. Now the guns are becoming a real threat to human life.Read MoreThe Debate About The Gun Laws875 Words   |  4 Pagescases with children and teenagers involving gun shooting or being arrested in the crossfire. The debate about the gun laws has set, become one of the most controversial topics in US society and failing to dead end. Increasing of lives being affected by this â€Å"killing machine†, the concerns arise with the highest ever as how to prevent the danger of gun while there are millions of them in the market places. It is a tragic to know that someone is affected by guns almost everyday in news from either hometownRead MoreAmerica Should Have Stricter Gun Control1290 Words   |  6 Pagesall too recognizable. A troubled person pulls out a gun in a school, an office, or a shopping center, and he or she slaughters innocent men, women, and children. Recently, mass murders have occurred at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Omaha’s Wes troads Mall (Schwartz). These tragedies are not inevitable, so people wonder one question. Are guns in our society getting out of control? Four out of every ten Americans own a gun; which leads to the perception that America has returned