Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Essay

Mercy is compassionate treatment, while justice is the administration of law. Justice may not necessary include mercy. Mercy is natural. Portia says that the â€Å"quality of mercy is not strained†, it is not a forced effort but something that one already possesses. Mercy cannot be forced by anyone; it is something that one must come up within himself. Like how â€Å"gentle rain† cannot be created artificially, it is sincere. Mercy also benefits the merciful. Portia says that â€Å"earth power doth then show likest God’s when mercy seasons justice†, implying that man can only become like God when he is merciful. Mercy is something that is powerful. Portia says, â€Å"scepter[s] shows the force of temporal power†¦but mercy is above this sceptered sway†, symbolizing that mercy is more powerful than mere symbols of earthly power, i.e. the crown and the scepter. Mercy is forgiving. Portia points out that God is merciful, and forgives us for our sins, and â€Å"in the course of justice none of us should see salvation†. Only with the mercy of God would they be delivered. Mercy is reciprocal, and â€Å"twice blest†, bringing good tidings to both â€Å"him that gives and him that takes†. Portia says that mercy is divine, as it â€Å"droppeth†¦from heaven† and â€Å"an attribute to God himself†. Mercy is a heavenly quality, a sacred virtue and he who has this characteristic becomes â€Å"likest God†. It is like â€Å"gentle rain from heaven†. Mercy is fair treatment to others. For example, the Duke asks Shylock to â€Å"forgive a moiety of the principal†, sympathising with Antonio as he has lost money in his wrecked investments. Justice is strict and condemning, as the place where justice is practised is  described as the â€Å"strict court of Venice†. Portia asks Shylock to â€Å"mitigate†¦thy plea†, exemplifying how justice is indeed harsh. Justice is earth-bound, dispensed and followed by Man. â€Å"No power in Venice† can alter justice, meaning that justice can be changed by heaven’s mercy. Justice is something that follows laws strictly, and is blind. Even as Shylock says, â€Å"What judgment shall I fear, doing no wrong,† he emphasizes how justice is strictly based on laws, as he has nothing to fear despite plotting against Antonio’s life as the law says he is entitled to. Justice is one-sided, and that it clearly defines a loser and winner. Shylock, who thinks that justice and mercy cannot be reconciled, decides the fate of Antonio, saying, â€Å"it is his humour†, as he has lost three thousand ducats in the deal. Justice is inflexible. As Portia states, â€Å"there is no power in Venice that can alter a decree established†, she is also hinting to Shylock that heavenly mercy is the only thing that can change justice, and it is unchangeable otherwise. Mercy is something that enhances justice, and â€Å"mercy seasons justice†. Too much mercy spoils justice, as it will thus become too lenient, but without mercy, justice is bland.

How Buddhism Integrated to the Chinese Society Essay

How Buddhism Integrated to the Chinese Society - Essay Example Buddhism succeeded to integrate to the Chinese society through its branched meditative practices, ethical practices, and theories of psychological, philosophical, and cosmological trends. In addition, Buddhism appealed to the Chinese people through its prospect of the release of frustration, the full development of human potential, with a personal relationship with an intangible and ultimate spiritual reality ("Buddhist Principles, Customs and Manners"). Hence, analytically speaking, the Chinese people accepted Buddhism with its teachings, which come from Siddhartha Gautama (the "awake"), and considered the historical Buddha. The life of the Buddha is rich in legends describing miracles and divine apparitions. But only 300 years after his death it began to be known by text, along with his teachings, with the Emperor Ashoka that the promotion throughout its area and sends missions abroad (Background to Buddhism: A history of Buddhism"). One of the paths through which Buddhism reaches the Chinese people is related to the essence of the Buddha, who is not regarded as a god or even as a divine messenger. It is the symbol of a principle, a thing which cannot be achieved but we must try to sketch by definitions ("Buddhist Principles, Customs and Manners"). ... However, modern Buddhism does not believe in reincarnation in a strict sense, but uses this concept in the form of parable ("Buddhism: What Buddhism is"). This parable says that a person is sentenced to die and return to Earth on the number of times it will take until it has reached the spiritual level necessary to escape from earthly life. Each time he dies he will be reincarnated in a different shape. These suites of reincarnations symbolize what Chinese people are experiencing in their lives ("Buddhist Principles, Customs and Manners"). Thus, according to the Buddhist theory of incarnation, if we drive someone brutal to satisfy our needs, we are reborn into an animal. In a spiritual work, we can kill these horrible things that we are born again and become once more, in a better form (â€Å"Background to Buddhism: A history of Buddhism"). Hence, these spiritual beliefs that are related to the theory of incarnation helped Buddhism to be integrated to the Chinese society. Moreover, for the Chinese people, what seemed appealing in Buddhism is the concept of "Dharma". It is the idea that the universe has meaning and humans have a role to play. There is only one dharma, by definition the same for everyone. Each religion is a light on the nature of Dharma, it teaches men how they should behave. A religion like Buddhism, for the Chinese, bases its teaching on the absolute. This religion teaches that the soul of the dead will live forever ("Buddhism: What Buddhism is"). It gives a specific instruction. It therefore resembles in many points of view other Chinese principles and religions derived from the Bible. What is unique about Buddhism, from the Chinese point of view is that it teaches that nothing is absolute

Reading blog Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading blog - Assignment Example An aspect of the book that needs further clarification has to do with the state of human freedom before civilization. This is because the author creates the impression that civilization came with several laws which came to suppress the human instincts for pleasure. With this said, one is forced to ask if there was a state of lawlessness and anarchy before the very first forms of civilizations were realized. This connects with other texts that seek to justify the position that civilization cannot be dated and that it has been with men since the beginning. To a very large extent, culture context influences the text and the validity of its arguments. For example, even though it is accepted that we are now in a civilized, there continues to be places of the world where cultural and religious principles are made to reign above other forms of laws that are universally accepted to be appropriate. A typical example of this is the practice of stoning of women caught in adultery in some religious settings. Until now, I still hold the opinion that it is culture rather than civilization that makes the individual

The OJ Simpson Trial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The OJ Simpson Trial - Essay Example Simpson â€Å"not guilty†. The Evidence The DNA evidence against O.J. Simpson was the most powerful evidence presented against him. The prosecution presented DNA samples on the alleged blood drops and footprints of Simpson that was positive for DNA match. The blood drops was said to be collected at Nicole Brown’s home, in Simpson’s car and his home. Another important evidence was the bloody glove found at Simpson’s home that tested positive for the DNA of Simpson and the victims Brown and Goldman. Although a surprising amount of DNA evidence was produced by the prosecution, as author John M. Butler believed â€Å"DNA evidence is not always understood and can be quite complex to explain to the general public†.1 The defense team took this complexity as an opportunity to debase prosecution’s DNA evidence and attacked on the validity of the collection and the preservation of the evidence. They argued that the evidence was mishandled and violated the â€Å"chain of custody† as provided in the Rules of Evidence. A systematic argument was created by the defense panel in invalidating the evidence, including the possible contamination of the blood drops collected, and the alleged planting of evidence by police officers on the samples found in Simpson’s car, footprints, and the bloody glove that was found in the murder scene by Detective Mark Fuhrman. The handling of the samples openly, created the â€Å"reasonable doub†t of possible contamination in the DNA testing. Although the DNA test resulted positive, the doubt of its validity gave more credibility to the jury. But perhaps, the most positive result that failed to convict Simpson of guilt beyond reasonable doubt was the presentation of the bloody glove as object evidence. The defense team demonstrated their argument by asking Simpson to fit the questioned glove. As demonstrated, the glove was small and could not fit Simpson’s athletic hands, which lead Johnnie Cochran, Simpson’s lawyer to say the infamous line â€Å"if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit†. Another prosecution weakness was the presentation of Detective Mark Fuhrman as a witness. The defense team took note of Fuhrman’s history of racism, by attacking his character based on beating up suspects and prior statements recorded using the word â€Å"nigger† repeatedly in an interview made by a screenwriter in 1986.2 The prosecution attempted to present character evidence against Simpson that was in general rule, not allowed by the Rules of Evidence. But Judge Ito accepted the character evidence presented by applying the same on the angle of a possible motive by Simpson to allegedly perform the murders. Arrest records were found indicating that Simpson was charged with domestic violence. A picture of the beaten and bruised ex-wife Brown was presented in court. But the images were not enough to convict Simpson and remove the doubt that the planted evidence has created. THE JURY The Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution provides for the right to elect a trial by jury. Unlike other judicial procedure in most part of the world that follows an inquisitorial system (where a judge makes a decision based on witnesses and evidence in an investigative form), a trial by jury is an adversarial process. Janet Coterril explained that an â€Å"adversarial trial process attempt to persuade the jury that one constructed version of reality is more plausible than the other†, giving more focus on â€Å"

Lenses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lenses - Research Paper Example Whenever a lens is surrounded by air, refraction of light takes place from the air into the lens, crossing through the lens and then refracting back into the air. Each refraction can lead to a change in the direction of light travel. There are two types of lenses, converging lenses, and diverging lenses. A converging lens is one that causes light rays that were initially parallel to the central axis to converge, while a diverging lens is one that causes such light rays to diverge. When an object is placed in front of any of the two types of lenses, light rays that can refract either into or out of the lens from the object to produce an image of the object. A lens can produce an object image only because it can bend light rays, but it can only do this only if its refraction index is different from that of the surrounding medium (Halliday, Resnick & Walker, 936). The single spot to which light rays that have been refracted by a lens are converging is known as the focal point. The dista nce from the lens to the focal point, often denoted by the letter f, is called the focal length. Every lens has its own focal length that forms its defining characteristic. A lens can have either a positive or a negative focal length, depending on the side of the lens on which an object is placed. When the focal point of a lens is on the opposite side of the lens from where an object is placed, the resulting focal length is positive. On the other hand, when the focal point is on the same side as the object, the focal length is negative. While these terminologies are useful convections used by scientists and engineers to characterize lenses as well as mirrors, they contain no real physical meanings (Kirkpatrick & Gregory, 367). Both converging and diverging lenses form different types of images, depending on where the object is placed. When an object is placed inside the focal point, the lens forms a virtual image that is on the same side of the lens as the object, and having the sam e orientation. Thus, a converging lens can form two types of images, real or virtual, depending on whether the object is placed inside or outside of the focal point. In the case of a diverging lens, the image formed is virtual that is on the same side of the lens as the object, and contains the same orientation. This is regardless of the object distance and whether it is placed inside or outside of the focal point. Just like in the case of mirrors, when the image is real the image distance is taken to be positive while when the image is virtual it is taken to be negative. However, the location from lenses of real and virtual images are the reverse of those belonging to mirrors. Real images form on the lens side that is opposite the object, while virtual images form on the side that the object is located (Benenson, 358). There are lens systems that are arrangements of a correction of lenses that have a common optical axis, and are mostly applied in the correction of image defects tha t are present in single lenses. If the positions of the principal planes of the single lens are known together with their total focus, then it is possible for an optical image to be constructed for a lens system. The image construction is similar with that of thick lens if there are only two principal planes. In addition to lens systems, there are lenses with

Consumer and advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consumer and advertising - Essay Example In advertising, the purpose of making claims is educating clients and raising their expectations (Best 20). A claim can be a statement of fact or merely an attempt to create hype. Some claims do not always reveal all the details. The Range Rover ad reveals a sleek car moving at a high speed in a road bend. The car appears majestic and lovely beyond words. Its wide body and red color make it appear regal and even wider. The smaller details in fine print further expounds on the virtues of the car and hidden benefits. The message is that the car is not only a powerful machine but also luxurious four-wheel drive road monster. While other cars may come close to the class of the Range Rover, the ad says that the car is still ahead even when placed head to head with similar cars. Therefore, the car deserves to be ranked first in a contest of equals. The Lamborghini ad states that the car is a raging bull. A red car, the car appears ready for action. A cursory glance at it reveals it is ready for contest. Like an enraged bull, the car is capable of reaching above average speeds. The image of a raging bull in the minds of people is strong bull hurtling at dangerous and even killer speed. That is the image the advertiser wants to communicate to the readers; that Lamborghini is a powerful car capable of attaining high speeds. As in the other ads, the Bentley ad says that the car is the best of the breed. A text box in the ad says that Bentley is more than a car. It is mysterious, magical, and majestic. The use of such words is designed to inspire awe in the mind of consumers. It is a claim that is hard to verify. However, for interested users, they have a choice of buying and testing the veracity of the claim. The claim also says that the car is mysterious. That is designed to arouse curiosity. People are naturally curious about things that are mysterious. They are also interested in learning about the secrets behind magic and what makes great things

Dynamic of percussive enginnering Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Dynamic of percussive enginnering - Dissertation Example Oil wells were considered as the prosperity of a nation and the quantity of oil that was taken out from these oil wells originated to fall with the passage of the time. Thus the contemporary technical community has prepared vast scientific advances in the modification of the drilling methods that was tracked in the past. The oil well drilling systems that were utilized in the older age convoluted the conventional drilling technique which was named as the percussion technique (Beck, 1995). This technique was being extensively used in nearly all the oil wells throughout the world. In this oil well drilling method the earth's crust is infiltrated by the help of a very weighty device that take out the oil by way of a hole. The chief drawback of this technique was that this procedure was actually time based method and the drilling had to be irregularly suspended. Now along with new methods of drilling, the percussion drilling is also modified with latest technologies in order to improve i ts performance (Hartman, 1959). In the incident of the contemporary drilling techniques the oil well drillers utilize the horizontal drilling process, which came to be really efficient technology when matched to the conventional drilling technique that was utilized till then. The utmost benefit of this technique was that the wells, which were penetrated by the horizontal method, had greater surface area which consecutively prepared the well to be tremendously productive (Hartman, 1963).... agmented rock characteristic of geothermal developments is compatible to impact drilling because there is diminutive or no plastic distortion of the rock (Harpst and Davis, 1949). Percussion drilling utilizes a back and forth down-hole piston/anvil structure to put on impact loading either to a custom roller-cone bit or to a one-piece bit set with diamond coated insertions. CONTENTS S.no Topic Pages 1 Introduction & literature Review 1-2 1.1 Introduction 1-2 1.1.1 Background and context 1 1.1.2 Thesis objectives 1-2 1.2 Literature Review 3-15 1.2.1 Drilling Methods 4-5 1.2.2 Examples of drilling methods 5-12 1.2.2.1 Rotary drilling 5-8 1.2.2.2 Percussive drilling 9-10 1.2.2.3 Rotary – Percussive drilling 10-11 1.2.2.4 Other drilling 11-12 1.2.3 Drill bits 12-15 2 Percussive Drilling 16-27 2.1 Introduction to percussive drilling 17 2.2 Principle of Operation 17-19 2.3 Pros and Cons of percussive drilling 19-21 2.3.1 Pros 19-20 2.3.2 Cons 21-22 2.3.3 Percussive drilling developm ent 22-23 2.3.4 Mathematical Models 23-27 3 Non-linear dynamics techniques 28-31 3.1 Introduction 28-29 3.2 Bifurcation, Poincare map and chaos 29-31 3.2.1 Bifurcation 29-30 3.2.2 Poincare map 30 3.2.3 Chaos 31 4 Mathematical modelling 32-40 4.1 Description of the mathematical model 32-34 4.2 Numerical results 34-36 4.2.1 Steady state response 26-39 4.2.2 Bifurcation and progression of the model over a range of static force 39-40 Â  5 Conclusion 41 Bibliography 1. Introduction & literature Review 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 Background and context Material removal rate in the drilling region is one of the significant factors of determination of drilling economics. Over-all drilling expenses can be solved by forecasting the material removal rate and employed for pit preparation. The features which upset