Political commentator Essay Example for Free

Political commentator Essay Inspector Goole is an ingenious character; manipulated by Priestley to display many functions within the play, as he is used as a political commentator, universal inquisitor and truth seeker. -Many people view Inspector Goole as a representative for political and moral value, but overall, he is just a mere dramatic device, used for the purpose of delivering Priestleys opinion across to the audience, in the context of a domestic backdrop. The audience becomes first aquatinted with the character of Inspector Goole, when he enters the play at the beginning of Act One. -During this arrival, the Inspector interrupts Mr. Birling in midst of his pro-capitalist speech, thus disrupting the pretentious calm of middle-class luxury displayed before. -Mr. Birling, who represents the Capitalist opinion in full, speaks extremely arrogantly, as he believes that all knowledge and experience is held within his grasp:  Ive learnt in a good hard school of experience that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own and (Mr Birling, act one). -Through this, Mr Birling shows that he is a Capitalist, and is one who feels that he has to take many risks to keep hold of his aesthetic power in status and money. He uses the speech to reveal all of his secrets and predictions around living life to the full, and in mid-flight of this, is rudely interrupted by the doorbell ringing. This doorbell acts as a dramatic device and medium for Inspector Gooles entrance. Its shrewd disturbance, possibly acting as a symbol for his disagreement in ethics, but also, the lack of respect for Mr Birlings Capitalist beliefs. Mr Birling is immediately phased by this impertinence, as just the Inspectors presence stops him from carrying on. The audience knows at this point that Birling isnt the great power figure that he made himself out to be and in fact, someone far greater has taken his dominating role for good. The Inspector is now number one. At first, the other characters are completely unaware of the Inspectors purpose within the play, as though they dont realise there is something to hide from. However, this arrogance and disregard for others is soon transformed, as they become conscious of the brutal truth of what they have done. Sheila and Eric become vividly changed, whereas the somewhat stubborn Mr and Mrs Birling remain seemingly callous within their original Capitalist views: but even with their supposed unchanged opinions, the effect of Inspector Goole steel haunts them, as all the characters will never be the same. The overall impression that surrounds Inspector Goole throughout the whole play is that of mystery and superior presence. This notion is partly created by the Inspectors manner but also his name, Goole, which is obviously an inference to mythical creatures of the medieval times, by the name of Ghouls. This similarity could just be a mere coincidence, but I think it is a metaphor, used to describe the Inspectors mystical character in short. Ghouls by legend are mysterious, magical creatures that are associated with death; and through this comparison, (plus the Inspectors style of just appearing with immediate authority), the same can be said about him. Priestley ultimately wanted to create a presence of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness (directional notes, Act one) and through the Inspectors deliberate name, manner and timing, he has created just that.  Paragraph 4 The Inspectors function as a Protagonist 1st Re-Draft  The most influential role of the Inspector and perhaps the most crucial in setting up his political authority within the play, is his imminent function as a Protagonist. In this role, Priestley has allowed the Inspectors character to immediately hold power and influence over the plot, thus giving him enough status to later deliver a political opinion to the audience. The first indication of the great power Inspector Goole has within the play, is only given upon his entrance into the plot, as it is then and only then, that the main proceedings are allowed to unfold. The audience is instantly left in suspense as they await the Inspectors motive for coming to the Birling household on such a joyous occasion. Although he immediately reveals his intentions: Id like some information, if you dont mind(The Inspector, Act one), they know he wants more. This mere information is all too trivial for Priestley to make such an atmosphere around the Inspector and thus, it is not viewed upon as just a light-hearted inquiry, but far more. The audience realises that the Inspector has immense power even enough to disrupt people of higher class; therefore they know he is here to reveal something life changing something important, and they wont stop watching until they find out exactly what. Throughout the play, Inspector Goole is the dominating character, as he leads the proceedings through immense interrogation. Every action he takes part in changes the reactions of the other characters, as he continually delivers Priestleys socialist opinion across to the audience. Before the Inspector enters though, Mr. Birling fulfils this role, as he roams through the dominion of a middle-class celebration, in flare of his true Capitalist mind. However, Birlings power is only temperamental, as it is immediately transferred to the Inspector as soon as he arrives into the plot. This switching of power and purpose between Inspector Goole and Mr Birling upsets the overall equilibrium of the play. The contrast of reign is thus shown vividly, as the pretentious calm of Capitalist wealth is rapidly morphed into the blunt truth of socialism. Priestley emphasises this change in mood specifically in his directional notes at the beginning of Act One:  The Lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder (Directional notes). This change in light signifies the transferral of power between characters, but also the transformation of the plots tone. It shows that during Inspector Gooles entrance, the barrier of higher-class wealth does not matter, as he holds the power where no one can hide. Light in religious terms is a symbol for truth, and I think that this brighter light in the directional notes is a sign of the honesty in Inspector Goole, as Priestley shows the Inspectors beliefs to be pure and genuine.  Later on in the plot, after the Inspector has left, the other characters are close to restoring the equilibrium to how it previously was. They try to gain power back and delude themselves into thinking that the Inspectors existence was merely a hoax: There isnt any such Inspector. Weve been had. (Gerald, Act three).  The characters are purely interested in just their own statuses and therefore, try to make up excuses of why Inspector Gooles testament is not valid, so that in the end they can go about their lives, un-affected. However, the Inspectors power was so great and commanding, that Sheila and Eric are transformed and therefore, can not let the Inspectors morals go on forgotten. In the end, they stand up for what they believe, and in agreement with the Inspector they allow his reign to have justice until the very end the equilibrium of which, does not return.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: Free Essay Writer

To Kill A Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an award-winning novel, published in 1960. Through six-year old Scout, her narrator, Harper Lee drew an affectionate and detailed portrait of Maycomb, Alabama, a small, sleepy, depression-era town. The main plot concerns the trial of an unjustly accused black man who is steadfastly defended by Scout's father, a respected lawyer. Covering a period of one year during Scout's childhood in Alabama, the story reflects the details of small-town life in the South and examines the painfully unjust consequences of ignorance, prejudice, and hate, as well as the values of courage, honor, and decency. Harper Lee shows that what appears may not always be real by presenting life like situations during the story. One of the main themes in To Kill A Mockingbird is â€Å"racism†. Maycomb has both a black and white community. Both sides have racial views about each other. When Jem and Scout go to the black church a woman comes out and says, â€Å"You Ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here – they got their church, we out ours.† (Pg. 119) Both communities are hostile towards each other. When a black man is accused of a crime he doesn’t commit, he is still found guilty because of his skin color. It is stated in the book, â€Å"In our courts, when its white man’s word against a black man’s, the white always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.† (Pg. 220) However most of the white people agree with this. Most of them think that Tom Robinson is guilty just because of the color of his skin. The Radley property also threatens the lives of people brave enough to venture near it. The children believe that anything that comes from the Radley's soil is poison, including the nuts and fruits on the trees. Jem yells at Scout once saying about the Radley property: â€Å"Don't you know you're not supposed to even touch the house over there? You'll get killed if you do† (pg. 33). Jem also goes so far as to say, â€Å"if Dill wants to get himself killed, all he had to do was go up and knock on the front door† (pg. 13) No child has ever died from touching something on the Radley property, yet the children continue to believe it to be true. They envision Boo, Finch’s neighbor who never came out of his house, as a horrible beast that eats squirrels and rats with his bare hands who loves to kill children.

“In “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” and in “The Fifth Child” Essay

â€Å"In â€Å"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde† and in â€Å"The Fifth Child† an outsider is progressively released into an existing society destroying peace and goodness as it comes† In â€Å"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde† by Robert Louis Stevenson the outsider is Mr Hyde. Dr Jekyll is a very clever person who does not like having to be a good, respectable member of society and trying to live up to his reputation all the time. After living his life like this for a while and becoming ever more frustrated by living like this he uses his knowledge of drugs and medicine and Mr Hyde is born as the evil side of Jekylls personality. In â€Å"The Fifth Child† by Doris Lessing the outsider is a boy called Ben the fifth of five children from a couple called David and Harriet. David and Harriet wanted a happy family life with many children and a big house. This dream world was going fine until the outsider Ben is introduced. This essay is going to look at the similarities and differences between the two books and the two outsiders. The reader from the first time they are met views both Ben and Hyde as outsiders. Harriet just after she has given birth to Ben describes him as â€Å"a troll or goblin† This is certainly not the usual reaction a mother gives her new born child or â€Å"creature† as Harriet describes him. Ben was not like other new born babies â€Å"he was muscular, yellowish, long† â€Å"his forehead sloped from his eyebrow to his crown. His hair grew in an unusual pattern from the double crown where started a wedge or triangle that came low on his forehead, the hair laying forward in a thick yellowish stubble.† â€Å"He did not look like a baby at all.† The first time we meet Mr Hyde he is attacking a small child in the street â€Å"trampled calmly over the child’s body† whi ch is not normal practice for the normal man in the street. Stevenson makes this more horrific by saying â€Å"it sounds nothing to hear† but I think it does sound quite nasty to hear â€Å"but it was hellish to see† implying that it is much worse than it sounds. Mr Hyde’s appearance made the doctor who would usually have nothing to hold against Hyde â€Å"turn sick and white with the desire to kill him†. Later in the book Mr Utterson tries to describe Hyde â€Å"there is something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere, he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point†. All this suggests that Mr Hyde is not normal. Stevenson then goes to describe Hyde through his house and his front door. Mr Hyde’s house lies just past a market that is described as having â€Å"an air of invitation, like rows of smiling sales women†. Mr Hyde’s house is nothing like this being situated in a court and is one of â€Å"a sinister block of buildings† this description immediately makes you imagine a dark house with dark anti-social inhabitants. Stevenson then goes on to say the house â€Å"showed no windows, nothing but a door on a lower story† and â€Å"the door which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained† all of this is not actually just describing the house but Hyde as well. It says Hyde is a dark anti-social man that does not like visitors and does not generally fit in. In â€Å"The Fifth Child† there is also an object like Mr Hyde’s door used to describe, but this time peoples feelings and what is going on. This is the big table; it is used to show the state of the family and relationships. The table near the beginning of the book before Ben is born is full of people at Christmas who are all happy and Christmassy but when Ben is born less and less people come around until at the end of the book the table is totally empty apart from Harriet. Harriet is imagining what it used to be like before Ben was born with many people all enjoying themselves and how much better it would have been without him. Mr Hyde and Ben are both violent people. Mr Hyde had trampled over a small child in the street and killed an MP with a walking stick; both of these people were people that someone of Hyde’s age should have been stronger than, an old man and a small child. Ben had sprained his older brothers arm and â€Å"attacked an older girl in the playground†, both of these people should have been able to overpower someone of Ben’s age but Ben seems to be abnormally strong. When Ben was a small baby his mother did not breast-feed him like she did with her others because it hurt too much â€Å"the child looked at her and bit, hard†. This may suggest that Ben is more evil than Hyde in being able to attack people that should be stronger than him. Stevenson describes the event of Hyde trampling a small child in a different way to the way Lessing describes how Ben attacks a girl in the playground. Stevenson tells the story through Mr Enfield who is talking to Mr Utterson but Lessing uses Harriet’s thoughts to tell the story of Ben. Stevenson doesn’t just describe what Hyde did to the girl he goes on and makes the incident more realistic and tries to compare Hyde with other things such as a â€Å"juggernaut† to provoke more feeling in the reader â€Å"it sounds nothing to hear but it was hellish to see†. Lessing on the other hand describes Ben’s actions almost as a series of bullet points, stating what he did and nothing else â€Å"he had pulled her down, bitten her and bent her arm back until it broke†. For this reason, that Stevenson used more description in parts of his book I can find parts of â€Å"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde† more believable and mare memorable. These parts of the two books also show how far apart they were written. In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson uses the word juggernaut, which then meant a large unstoppable force but in today’s world has become to be associated with large lorries. Also in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde there are few women and the ones we do hear about are servants or maids but in the Fifth Child there are many women and one of the most important people in the book, Harriet, is a woman. We also do not hear many people called by their first names in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but in the Fifth Child last names are seldom used. The title of this essay I agree with most of except for the part that says, â€Å"progressively released†. This part of the statement is true for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as Mr Hyde is only really understood at the end of the book â€Å"he is not easy to describe†. In the Fifth Child Ben is thrown into the middle of everything suddenly and can even be different before he was bourn â€Å"David felt a jolt under his hand†. The second part of this statement â€Å"destroying peace and goodness as it comes† I totally agree with. In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Hyde causes Jekyll so much pain that eventually he commits suicide. In the Fifth Child Ben scares Harriet and David off having any more children and breaks the family apart by making some of Harriet’s other children go to boarding school and by making them go and live with relatives.

The Common Sense By Thomas Paine - 951 Words

On Common Sense In the tumultuous early months of 1776 a Colonial political theorist named Thomas Paine began anonymously publishing a treasonous pamphlet urging colonists to seek independence from the Crown. The concise volume titled Common Sense advocated a revolution in emphatic yet simple language intended for all levels of Colonial society. Paine was highly successful in appealing to the every man, and Common Sense spread quickly across the country. It was so influential and widely read that it is commonly credited by modern historians as being one of the single most powerful catalysts of the American Revolution, a publication so incendiary that John Adams remarked â€Å"without the pen of the author of Common Sense the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.† Paine effectively used low language and vivid imagery to create what amounts to the most successful propaganda tool in history. He made a point in demonizing King George as a â€Å"brute† and painting Great Brita in as a â€Å"parasitic† overseer, sucking profit from its American Colonies while returning nothing but oppression. His use of plain rhetoric; however was his most powerful weapon, the very title of the work implied that what Paine presented was simple logic, that it could be grasped by anyone. He plainly appealed to the already embattled colonists that â€Å"the period for debate is closed† on the issue of the Revolution, that the Crown had â€Å"made the choice to pursue bloodshed† and that there was only oneShow MoreRelatedCommon Sense by Thomas Paine859 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Common Sense† Common Sense is a pamphlet made in 1775-76 by Thomas Paine. This pamphlet inspired the thirteen colonies to declare war and fight for independence against Great Britain. It was straight forward and told Great Britain exactly the advantages of being independent from them. On January 10, 1776 during the American Revolution, the pamphlet was published and became a huge topic in the community. It was the biggest talk of the colonies. In proportion to the population, the book was the biggestRead MoreCommon Sense by Thomas Paine1396 Words   |  6 PagesCommon Sense was written by Thomas Paine and published in 1776. Paine wrote it as a plea for the American people to break away from Britain and to declare independence from the king. He was asking his audience to take a step back and see that just because something is tradition, does not mean it is necessarily right. Paine wanted to show his readers that government and society is not the same thing, which is how most people viewed it. Society was something that people should want to have, whileRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine957 Words   |  4 Pagespolitical pamphlet known as Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine in 1776. This pamphlet contributed in promoting the independence of America. In the pamphlet Thomas Paine challenged the American colonists to separate from England and create a democratic and independent society. Along with challenging the American colonists, he hinted at his own opinions about a democratic government that America should plan towards if they seek to separate from England. Thomas Paine also bluntly proposed thatRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine1574 Words   |  7 PagesCommon Sense was written by an Englishman, Thomas Paine, who came to the American Colonies in 1774. He had strong opinions about the British Monarchy – and monarchy in general – including the fact that by nothing more than an accident of birth one man had rule over so many other humans. He v iewed this elevation to monarch unnatural as all men are created equal. Additionally, Paine notes that â€Å"there is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of Monarchy; it first excludes a man fromRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine1036 Words   |  5 PagesCommon Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain. It was actually first published anonymously. Thomas Paine’s basic theme throughout Common Sense is that government is a â€Å"necessary evil†. His argument begins with more general reflections about government and religion, then progresses onto the specifics. There is a quote from the first page of Common Sense that lays out Paine s general conceptionRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine1244 Words   |  5 PagesIndependance, Why They Should Thomas Paine, an English political philosopher and writer made his way to the colonies when his good friend, Benjamin Franklin convinced him to do so. He worked as an editor for the Pennsylvania Magazine. Although, published anonymously in 1776, Paine was the man behind Common Sense, a political pamphlet that was distributed between all the colonies and challenged the British government by suggesting American Independency. Paine wrote the Common Sense because in his mind heRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine992 Words   |  4 PagesAmerica what it is today. Common Sense by Thomas Paine was inspiring to many American colonists as it was persuasive in showing how the colonists should have their own independence. Paine appealed the average citizen’s rationale, hence the title Common Sense. Paine’s pamphlet illustrates the importance of independence, and argues that colonial life under British rule was detrimental to America’s potential to become prosperous. In a fairly lengthy, but readable style, Paine discusses the differencesRead MoreThomas Paine And Common Sense1579 Words   |  7 PagesThomas Paine and Common Sense In colonial America, Britain’s colonies were subjected to many Parliamentary acts that were considered to be, by many of the colonists, oppressive. The Declaratory Act, the Coercive Acts, and numerous other tax-based acts were just a few of the many examples of the controlling behavior displayed by the British Parliament toward their North American colonies. This seemingly oppressive behavior by the British Parliament had not gone unnoticed by those outside ofRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine1438 Words   |  6 PagesKayla Boucher Doctor Hockin AMH 2010 22 January 2015 Common Sense The book Common Sense by Thomas Paine was an American pamphlet written during the American Revolution, which was around the time when America was trying to gain independence from Britain. Paine discusses government, religion, and colonial issues. In the first chapter Paine differentiates between the society and the government. He described the society as being positive and constructive and he described the government beingRead MoreCommon Sense By Thomas Paine770 Words   |  4 PagesThomas Paine first published Common Sense anonymously in 1776 and immediately became popular. I choose to read Common Sense by Thomas Paine, in order to know America and hopefully to understand the philosophy behind the founding of the country and how its government system was set up to function. In my opinion, one of the main reasons Thomas Paine’s pamphlet became favoured was because Paine used a lot of common sense opinions that most people could understand. In his pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas