Sunday, January 26, 2020

Testing Registry Cleaner for Windows

Testing Registry Cleaner for Windows Abstract Registry is a collection of database that stores configuration setting in Microsoft windows operating system. Each Registry item is accessed by navigating through a designated path of keys and sub-keys. (Wang et al. 2004). As Windows operating system needs to keep track of all changes to configuration of program that run on the computer. Windows registry is the tool as database that stores all information about programs and is controlled by window operating system. The function of windows registry include as a tool to store all data from programs, store program setting include security setting, store setting for OS configuration and hardware devices. The Windows Registry can be accessed using Registry Editor Program. The registry contains two elements: keys and values. Making changes to these values or keys using editor will affect the setting of a particular value control. This paper is to test a registry cleaner to help enhance the pc performance. The test is done by testing by ins talls registry cleaner into a few pc and record the test data. We also review related journal and conduct survey in order to gather related detail. After that we summarized the data from the data we collected. Keywords Registry, Windows operating system, Registry Editor Program 1. Introduction New computer systems are always running fast, but as time increases the computer system speed will gradually become slower. When a computer becomes gradually saturated, the computer system speed becomes slower as well inconspicuously(Zhu Chen 2009). This will create trouble to the users. Nowadays there are about 1 billion of computer users in the world. In another word, nearly every of them will face the computer degradation problem. Most of the user will try a few ways to improve the efficient of pc and one of the ways is by using registry cleaner. Some of the user will also think that registry cleaner is able to remove viruses in the windows registry. The aim of this study is to study the effective of registry cleaner to help improve efficient of the pc and to test that is registry really able to remove virus in the window registry. The comment of user about registry cleaner is also been collected through the survey. 2. Material and Method This research is done by using quantitative method and qualitative method. Quantitative method, survey is been use to collect the comment and opinion of the computer user about registry cleaner. Qualitative method, experiment is done by using a few pc and installs a few registries cleaner in each pc. Then the data is collected when running the registry clean. Every data collect in the survey and experiment then is been summarized. This research uses questionnaire survey to collect users’ opinions and satisfaction levels of using registry cleaner application based on the nominal scare and 5-point Likert scales. We need to determine the awareness of respondents about the registry cleaner application, which function of registry cleaner application that bring the most benefits to respondents and what problem(s) will be encounter when using registry cleaner application. This experiment is done by using one pc for scanning and cleans the errors; three pc is use when trying use the registry cleaner to clean the virus. For scanning and clean errors, one pc is installed with a few registries cleaner then start the experiment follows the step:- Step 1: scan the registry error using the registry clean, at the same time record the time it needed to scan Step 2: After scan, backup the registry error found (record how many errors found) then clean it Step 3: Run scan again and record how many leftover error found Step 4: Recover back the entire cleaned registry and use another registry cleaner than needed to be test then start from Step 1. For the clean virus test, virus is been create and put in the window registry. Then uses the registry try to clean the virus. The result is then recorded. 3. Result and Discussion Table 1: Compare between genders with their awareness about PC degrading overtime. Noticed PC degrade overtime No noticed PC degraded overtime Gender Yes No Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Male 15 100% 0 0% Female 11 73% 4 27% Overall Total 26 87% 4 13% The above Table 1 has shown that the male and female with their awareness about the pc degrading overtime. With the table above, we compute that 87% of respondents aware that their pc are degrading overtime and only 13% of people didn’t notice that their pc are degrade overtime. With the percentage, respondents aware that their pc are degrading overtime, male (58%) are slightly higher than female (42%). With this table, we can know that male have more concern with their pc speed rather than female. Figure 1: Shown the purposes of respondents using registry cleaner application Figure 2: Shown the reasons of respondents using registry cleaner application With the table 4 shown at above, we can know that most of the respondents are using it for the purpose of increase their pc performance speed. 31% of people use registry cleaner to improve PC performance, 23% of respondents uses it to clear redundant data in registry, 23% of respondents use it to fix corrupted data in registry and 19% of respondent use it to clear viruses hide in registry. Based on table 5, reasons of respondents using registry cleaner mostly is because they need to improve their pc performance. With the percentage shown in table 5, they faced problems with their new pc is fairly new but performance already low is the main reason and the time required to start up their pc is the second reason make them want to use registry cleaner. Respondents that encounter low performance with their new PC took 33% of overall, startup time quite long took 32%, and pc crashes without reason took 23%. However low performance and startup time long took the highest percentage as overal l, we also cannot neglect that pc crashes is also a reason that respondents want to use registry cleaner. In table 4, one of the purposes is using registry cleaner to fix corrupted data. It took 23% as overall of purposes respondent to use registry cleaner. Figure 3: shown the satisfactory of respondents in using registry cleaner to improve their pc performance. With the table 6 shown above, 40% of people agree that registry cleaner able to improve the pc performance, 20% of respondents totally agree with it, and 17% of people not sure with the performance of registry cleaner and only 23% of people not satisfied with the registry cleaner application. Hence, we can conclude that most of the people believe that the registry cleaner are able to improve pc performance. Figure 4: shown the satisfaction of respondents in using registry cleaner to reduce occurrences of crashes. With the table 7 shown above, 40% of people agree that registry cleaner able to reduce the occurrences of crashes, 7% of respondents totally agree with it and 33% of people not sure with the function of registry cleaner and only 20% of people not satisfied with the registry cleaner application. Hence, we can conclude that most of the people are agree with register cleaner application able to resolve problem of crashes. Figure 5: Shown the satisfaction of respondents in using registry cleaner to fix corrupted data. With the table 8 shown above, respondents are not sure that registry cleaner application able to fix their corrupted data in their registry. It may because the output of the function cannot clearly be determined. It cannot be evaluate due to the errors occur inside the registry may not affect the pc performance sometimes. Hence, most of the respondents are not sure with it. Table 2: Experiment (effectiveness of registry cleaner) CC Cleaner Wise Cleaner JetClean Auslogic AML Scan time 9 seconds 49 seconds 32 seconds 22 seconds 2 minute 6 seconds Number of error (first) 114 489 3532 896 3205 Number of error (second) 0 12 11 2 3 Remove virus Fail to remove virus Fail to remove virus Fail to remove virus Fail to remove virus Fail to remove virus When we do the experiment, we never meet any problem occur after using the registry cleaner to clean the registry but it also more safe to backup the registry before clean it as the registry cleaner may clean up some registry and create errors. Base on Table 1, we can see that CC cleaner has the fastest speed when scanning but in only can detect very less errors in the registry. From this table we can say that JetClean is the most effective even it is slower when compare to CC Cleaner and Auslogic Registry Cleaner but it is able to detect the most errors. And from Table 1 it also tells us that registry cleaner is not able to remove the virus that already in the window registry. The reason that registry cleaners won’t clean up viruses is that although they are harmful, registry cleaning software isn’t written to be able to recognize viruses, so they can look like innocent, important software to the program. (Brimmer, 2013) From the survey and experiment, we can conclude that most registry cleaner user use register cleaner in order to improve their pc performance without knowing how register clean actually help improve their pc performance. Some of the registry cleaner like CC Cleaner may have other feature like option to enable and disable program at startup and clean some junk file in the computer that help in pc performance but sometime using registry cleaner to clean the registry may lead to error. Registry cleaners scan your registry for these outdated entries and offer to remove them. Because there are so many registry entries to go through, they’ll sometimes also remove useful registry entries, causing you problems. (Hoffman, 2012) 4. Conclusions Nowadays there are many registries cleaner in the market. Different registry cleaner may have different feature and different way of clean the registry. User can use the feature provided by the registry cleaner to improve their pc performance like control the startup program to help in the pc speed (Window startup speed). But for cleaning registry, they have to choose the right cleaner as some cleaner maybe remove some useful registry and cause problem to the user. It is better to backup the registry before running the registry clean as we do not know which program may be affected after the clean. Cleaning registry will only improve the pc significantly and it is most probably user will not see the effect after clean the registry. 5. Acknowledgements This work is support and guide by Mr. Teh Boon Chuan 6. References Brimmer, M., 2013. downloadregistrycleaner. [Online] Available at: http://www.downloadregistrycleaner.com/are-registry-cleaners-and-anti-virus-programs-similar/ [Accessed 15 3 2013]. Hoffman, C., 2012. makeuseof. [Online] Available at: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/registry-cleaner-difference/ [Accessed 15 3 2014]. Zhu, L. Chen, M., 2009. How to Deal With Speed Degradation in Computers of Today and What Causes It. Wang, Y. et al., 2004. Why PCs Are Fragile and What We Can Do About Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯: A Study of Windows Registry Problems Archana Ganapathi One Microsoft Way Why PCs Are Fragile and What We Can Do About Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯: A Study of Windows Registry Problems University of California. , (June).

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Gender Inequality in the Ancient World

Francesca Succi Dr. Brown Western Civ I 18 September 2012 Gender Inequality in the Ancient World Throughout history, women have been regarded as unequal and subordinate to men. In the male-dominated Western culture, the issue of women’s rights seems unending; even thousands of years after the first evidence of gender inequality, society has yet to even the playing field. Although it seems like our culture is progressive, we still share many qualities with the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Greece.Women were in no way equal to men during these ancient times; in fact, in some areas, they were considered subservient to men, with no rights or privileges. However, there were some areas of Ancient Greece that had a different model for social structure. The treatment of women in Mesopotamian culture differs greatly from that of Greek culture, as well as within Greece, between Lacedaemon and Athens; despite this, gender inequality was still present in each culture at some le vel.Of these three areas of the ancient world, Lacedaemon indisputably had the most progressive model for social structure, with Mesopotamia close behind. Athens, which seems like it would have the most liberal model for society, actually had the highest level of gender inequality. In ancient times, there were several aspects of life that caused a divide between genders. First, and probably most obviously, women had various levels of responsibilities and several social roles within the different areas of the ancient world.In the most progressive social structure of Lacedaemon, women played an indispensable and essential part. Since the basis of their culture was to train and sustain an unconquerable army, this occupied most of the time for almost all men, who left many responsibilities that the women needed to take on. Girls learned from age seven not only how to cook and clean and be a good housewife, but also everything that was required to run an estate (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Yo ung women were taught math and accounting so they would easily be able to take on and run an estate when they were older.Lacedaemon â€Å"was unique among ancient Greek cities in the freedom it granted to its female citizens—this was partly due to reliance on women to manage estates while men were away at war† (Sacks â€Å"Sparta†). This culture relied almost equally on both the men and women in society for very different jobs. Since the responsibilities were so evenly distributed, there was more of a sense of gender equality. Indeed, Lacedaemon was quite unique in this tendency to treat women relatively equally to men.The Mesopotamians, who were the second most liberal of these three areas, set women on a much lower pedestal than the Lacedaemonians: Mutually exclusive extremes [like male vs. female] are at the core of ancient Near Eastern gender roles†¦ [cuneiform] makes it very plain that the place of a woman was considered the domestic sphere, where she gave birth and raised children; cooked, baked, and brewed; made textiles by spinning, weaving, and sewing; laundered and cleaned; and kept the household running (Radner). The women’s social roles and responsibilities were much more restricted than those of Lacedaemon women.They were only expected to clean and be a suitable housewife. One of the only similarities between Lacedaemon and Mesopotamia is that the women were held somewhat responsible for running the estate. Males and masculinity were associated with power and strength, while females and femininity were associated with passiveness and weakness. This probably sounds relatively familiar, because in the modern and post-modern eras, society still experiences these gender roles that were established in ancient times. Mesopotamia, the foundation of Western civilization, is where these moderately-conservative gender roles truly began.Even more extreme gender roles could be found in Athenian culture. Women were, in the most literal sense, inferior to men. The Athenians took the conservative gender roles that were found in Mesopotamia and inflated them to enormous proportions: Male Greek society valued rational discourse, military courage, and physical endurance and self-restraint. Women  were believed to be irrational, fearful, and ruled by physical desires. One reason why  women  were kept secluded at home is that they were thought liable to sexual seduction (or other mischief) if they ventured out unescorted (Sacks â€Å"Greece†).Women were predominately seen as mothers – they would be married off at a very young age, begin bearing children as soon as possible, and consequently died much younger than men, often during childbirth. Women were taught not to speak unless spoken to, and were required to tag along beside their husbands the rare times they were ever permitted to leave the house. Although Athens was the birthplace of democracy and was one of the most progressive cities i n history, they still stripped women of some of the most basic equality rights (Brown, Lecture, 2012).Athenian culture perpetuated the gender stereotypes that began in Mesopotamia and exaggerated them to ostracize women in society more than the Mesopotamians or Lacedaemonians ever did. Women and men were separated not only in their social roles and responsibilities, but also in their legal rights and punishments. In Mesopotamia, citizens were under the command of Hammurabi’s code. Although this code was harsh in general, it is important not to compare the laws and punishments to modern or post-modern practices, but instead to compare Mesopotamian legal treatment of men vs. omen. Where men had to pay monetary fines for crimes that broke Hammurabi’s code, most times women had to pay with their lives. With more serious crimes, Hammurabi seemed to follow the â€Å"eye for an eye† philosophy when it came to men, but women were once again subjected to more serious pun ishments, and men were permitted to add to the abuse: â€Å"In addition to the punishments for a man’s wife that are written on the tablet, a man may whip his wife, pluck out her hair, mutilate her ears, or strike her† (Brophy 33).However, while men could physically abuse their wives with no penalty, women were sentenced to physical punishment if they laid a hand on their husbands. The one accommodation that the Code made for women is that they were allowed to own property. If the scenario arose where a woman was widowed, they would inherit the land that her late husband owned. Although the Code of Hammurabi was an effective ruling tool in Mesopotamia, it created a double standard that is still prevalent in society today. This double standard is seen not only in Mesopotamian culture, but in theAthenian society as well. The Athenians treated women as subservient and inferior, so naturally the laws would favor the males in the society over the females. Similarly to the M esopotamians, the punishments for women were more severe than those for men. Women had no rights in society, while most free men had the right to vote in the original democracy, whether it was in the Assembly or the Council of 500 (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Since the Athenian double standard is more extreme than the Mesopotamian one, it seems clear that their law codes would in turn be more extreme.Athens solidified the gender inequality between men and women, and it lasted through pre-modern, modern, and post-modern eras. One of the cultures that went against the grain of gender inequality is the Lacedaemon society. Because the society was more inclined to equality between genders, the laws were more predisposed to be fairer towards women. Although the voting rights were similar to Athens, where only free men could vote, the women still had more rights than they ever would in Athens or Mesopotamia.As aforementioned, women were educated on how to run an estate in Lacedaemon, so even at a young age they had more privileges than women in other cultures (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Since women were so essential in the society, their rights, as well as their punishments for broken laws, would naturally follow the same trend and be relatively evenly matched. After seeing all of these variances between different cultures, a logical progression of thought would lead one to ask, why? Why is there some much differentiation between cultures in the same time period, and even in similar geographical locations?The answer may lie in a group of people called the Dorians. The Dorians invaded and conquered the ancient city of Mycenae, taking the Mycenaeans as slaves (Brown, Lecture, 2012). Later on, the city developed into Lacedaemon. This sort of shift in power happened only in the Lacedaemon civilization, not in both the Mesopotamians and Athenians. It could be that the Lacedaemonians, so afraid of a slave uprising with their new political paradigm, developed a different system of g ender roles to try to remedy the potential situation (Sacks â€Å"Sparta†).This could be the reason that Lacedaemon differed so greatly from the other two civilizations, while Athens and Mesopotamia – although they has some dissimilarities – were relatively parallel to each other. Overall, each culture has at least some level of gender inequality woven throughout the society, despite the variances between levels of different cultures. No matter the level or severity of gender separation, it is indisputable that women were treated as subservient and inferior to men.The developing Western civilization began a double standard between men and women that would perpetuate through thousands of generations, and is still prevalent today. This inequality between genders can be clearly identified in the ancient traditions, laws, customs and social structure. The issues of women’s rights, uneven distribution of responsibilities and privileges, and unequal treatment b ased on gender are obviously not going away any time soon, because they have endured through thousands of years of societal development. Even post-modern era thinkers cannot eliminate this disparity.The everlasting discrepancies between genders are more a result of Athenian and Mesopotamian customs, rather than Lacedaemonian. Western civilization has always been, and very may always be, male-dominated. Works Cited Brophy, James M. , Cole, Joshua. , Epstein, Steven. , Robertson, John. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations from the Ancient Near East through the Age of Absolutism. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. , Inc. Print Brown, K. M. 2012. Lecture. York College of Pennsylvania. Radner, Karen. gender structures and roles in ancient Mesopotamia. † Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2008. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Sacks, David. â€Å"Sparta. † Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2005. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Sacks, David. â€Å"women in ancient Greece. † Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc. , 2005. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Friday, January 10, 2020

A Comparative Tragedy Study of Fatalism and Determinism: Oedipus Rex and Thunderstorm Essay

The Thunderstorm and Oedipus Rex, the representatives of Chinese and Greek play, both tell tragic stories about incest and unexpected destiny. The two masterpieces reveal much about the literature patterns and philosophical implications of the different cultures. The exploration of the two plays could help further understand the oneness of world literature and the tragedy of unlike culture. This paper will compare two famous tragic dramas—Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm to analyze the similarities and differences in terms of the tragic themes—fatalism and determinism. The process of textual analysis will be associated with the basic literature theory of tragedy and philosophy. Over the centuries, Oedipus Rex, which is a famous Greek drama written by one of three ancient Greek tragedians Sophocles, has come to be regarded as the Greek tragedy par excellence. It chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes and was destined from birth to murder his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on the power of oracle on human destiny and how Oedipus’s own flaws contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall. The Thunderstorm is written by renowned Chinese playwright Cao Yu, often regarded as China’s most important play of the 20th century. The subject matter of The Thunderstorm is the complex relationships between the members of two households, centering on the Zhou family’s psychological and physical destruction as a result of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its morally depraved and corrupt patriarch. It is considered to be one of the most mature and popular plays in contemporary China. In this paper, the theory being used and the previous study of the two plays will be first presented in the literature review. In the main part of my analysis, I will compare the two plays from the perspective of the contraction between fatalism and determinism. From the analysis of two dramas, we could examine some similarities and differences in the tragic topics. Both Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm concern the fatalism and determinism in the tragedy themes; however, they lay different stress on the two topics. 2. BACKGROUND STUDY AND LITERATURE REVIEW One of the most important studies of tragedy is Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle states that â€Å"A tragedy, then, is an artistic imitation of an action that is serious, complete in itself, and of an adequate magnitude.† (2) The magnificence of tragedy can be revealed in different aspects, and the tragic theme that considers fatalism and determinism of protagonists is one of the most important elements. The dispute between fatalism and determinism has been long lasting in the development of tragedy study. Fatalism is one of the most eternal themes of tragedy in general. It is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable in person’s life. Determinism is the belief that all actions and events result from other actions, events, or situations, so people cannot in fact choose what to do, which is a creation of Hellenistic thought (Dodds 42). Homeric heroes have their predetermined â€Å"portion of life† and they must die for some predetermined reason, but it never occurs to the poet or his audience that this prevents them from being free agents. As Bernard Knox put it, â€Å"the gods know the future, but they do not order it. (122)† Concerning fatalism and determinism, previous scholars have done many researches on the two plays. Martin Kallich (1966), in his article â€Å"Oedipus: From Man to Archetype,† interprets the philosophical theme of Sophocles’ play as a mild agnosticism or neutral fatalism. Oedipus, he declares, behaves normally, commits an error in ignorance, and brings suffering upon himself. However, he fails to include the religious belief in his essay to give a full view of the tragic spirit of Oedipus Rex. From another perspective, E. Lefà ¨vre and A. Schmitt (2007), in the article â€Å"Interpretation of Oedipus Rex† argues that the old and popular formula that Oedipus is â€Å"guiltlessly guilty† is untenable, and they propose instead that his fall results from his behavior—his wrong behavior—brought about by passion. However, they mainly discuss from their own understanding and fail to employ strong tragedy theory to support their viewpoints. Foreign scholars do not conduct many researches on The Thunderstorm. Nevertheless, Chinese scholars have looked deeply into this drama. Both Xin Xianxi (1981) and Wang Linlin (2009) argue that Cao Yu is strongly influenced by the traditional Greek tragedy and Christianity religious belief so that the play has mystical idea of fate, which adds to the impressiveness of the play. However, they fail to take the social background into account when analyzing the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm. Wan Ping (2010) classifies the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm into three different categories: the tragedy of love, fate and personality and all the tree aspects of the play make it an intense plot and dramatic artistic effect. Also, he doesn’t consider the social background, which is important part of the play. From the above, we could see that the two plays are well studied by western and eastern scholars. Yet, not so many researchers discuss the similarities and differences between this specific two plays or even the Greek and Chinese drama in general. 3. ANALYSIS OF TRAGIC THEMES: FATALISM AND DETERMINISM The conflicts between fatalism and determinism are fully presented in the two plays, which can also be called the god-made tragedy and human-made tragedy. However, the two holds different proportion of two elements—Oedipus Rex putting more emphasis on fate, while The Thunderstorm underlining the importance of human factors. 3.1 Analysis on Oedipus Rex 3.1.1 The Voice of Fate Oedipus Rex has been almost universally regarded as the classic example of the â€Å"tragedy of fate.† Sir Maurice Bowra’s idea that the gods force on Oedipus the knowledge of what he has done strongly supports the idea of fatalism (390).Through his priests at Delphi, Apollo told Laius that he would be killed by his own son, and later told Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother. At the beginning of the play Apollo tells Creon that Thebes will be saved from the plague only when the murderer of Laius is found and expelled. Although everyone in this play try to do something to avoid the realization of the oracle, in the end, everything comes true. Its power was based on a widespread, indeed in early time’s universal belief in the efficacy of divine prophecy. Sophocles himself also believes in this point: Unless these prophecies all come true for all mankind to point toward in wonder†¦ They are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius, Now our masters strike them off the rolls. Nowhere Apollo’s golden glory now— The gods, the gods go down. (Sophocles 989-97) When chose as the subject of his story about a man who tried to avoid the fulfillment of a prophecy of Apollo, Oedipus believes he had succeeded and casts scorn on all the oracles, only to find out that he had fulfilled that prophecy long ago. The voice of destiny in the play is the oracle of Apollo and Oedipus, to some extent, is the innocent victim of a doom which he cannot avoid. 3.1.2 Hamartia and Loyalty To the rationalist critics of the eighteenth century and still more to the firm believers in human progress of the nineteenth, this aspect of the play was a historical curiosity, to be discounted; in Oedipus Rex, although the fate is God-made to a great degree, it must be clarified that he has his own free will and he is not mere a puppet in the hands of the gods who pull the strings that make him dance. This is a crucial idea of further development of determinism, on which we could give two varied explanations—hamartia and loyalty. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of insight within a man. The human frailty which is said to bring sufferings beyond the ordinary lot of men is represented in translation by â€Å"blindness of heart†. The conception in the Poetics of an ideal tragic person with his imperfect insight, proper for tragedy, can be constructed in the personality of Oedipus (39). He turns upon a certain blindness of impulse, which at length is recognized the man himself—whereupon he puts out his own eyes. On the other hand, Oedipus’ loyalty to truth and to Thebes leads him to seek the truth tirelessly. Even though Creon, Jocasta, and the prophet try to stop him all the way, Oedipus, who is struggling in the pursuit of truth, insists on reading the last riddle, the riddle of his own life. The immediate cause of Oedipus’ ruin is not just â€Å"Fate†Ã¢â‚¬â€no oracle said that he must discover the truth—and still less does it lie in his own weakness; sometimes it is suggested that Oedipus would not have avoided his misery by having been a better man, but he could have remained prosperous and happy if he had been a less good man. What cause his ruin are his own strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to truth. 3. 2. Analysis on The Thunderstorm 3.2.1 Destiny or Coincidences Similarly, in traditional Chinese literature, destiny, which often translated into Tian [Ã¥ ¤ ©], also has a deep implication in the formation of tragedy. Famous critic Li Jiangwu said, â€Å"This play has the most potent but invisible power—destiny, which we feel all the time. (48)† And Cao Yu writes in the preface of The Thunderstorm, â€Å"I am a spiritually poor man, but I invited my audiences to be god of my play to look sympathetically on ‘those moving creatures’ on the stage, to look how they argue with each other blindly, how they helplessly struggle in the battle of love. (2)† Two families’ destinies fall into tragedy because of some unexpected coincidences. If Sifeng does not go to the Zhou’s family to work as a servant or if Lu Dahai does not come to visit Zhou Puyuan, or if any detail in the play changes, the whole story may not happen. The fate plays an important part in the development of the plot and contributes much to t he tragic effect. 3.2.2 Social Tragedy Although there is the fate that works in the play, what the characters have done is the main pusher of the plot. Cao Yu also states that this play is not about retribution or karma (3). While, in The Thunderstorm, the determinism presents in a different direction. Zhou Pin cannot endure the suppression of his father, but he does not show it and bear it inside. He feels repent and wants to get out of the secret relationship with his stepmother, but he only chooses to escape the reality, so that he falls in love with Sifeng, which is also a person that he cannot love. Similar as Oedipus, what he tries to avoid finally leads him to destruction. From what the play presents, Zhou Pin is more like a coward escaping the tragic results of his life. His evasion contributes to the tragic ending. Zhou Fanyi, who is also a tragic character in the play, marries Zhou Puyuan, but she is not able to feel love until she loses her heart to Zhou Pin. What is more tragic is that Zhou Pin cannot love her wholeheartedly either. She mistakenly put the happiness of her whole life to a person that cannot company and care for her aboveboard. Her tragedy is the social tragedy, at which time women’s social status is low and they do not have the ability to pursue their felicities on their own. Fanyi’s personal flaws and the social environment lead to the tragedy of herself. While writing this play, Cao Yu underlines the social background, in order to further reveal the social problems, which offer people no freedom of choice. That’s why everyone’s wrong choice results in the destruction of the whole family. 5. Conclusion Different from the previous study, as we could examine from the analysis, this paper regards the tragedy as a combination of fatalism and determinism. What is similar between Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm is that they both stress the necessity the factor of destiny in the plot of a tragedy. Destiny is a universal theme of all tragedies in the history and all around the world. What is different about the two plays is that the determinism is presented in distinct way. Oedipus Rex embeds the tragic elements into the â€Å"tragic flaws† of Oedipus. Through building the downfall of Oedipus as a hero but somewhat ignorant person, readers may feel more regret and grieved. While in The Thunderstorm, the social background, in which the story was carried on and which people who are unable to avoid and revolt, contributes more to the happening of tragedy. This difference shows the different concerns in Chinese and western culture: Chinese literature works tend to focus on the social problems through revealing the personal life, while the western literature puts the emphasis on the image of the whole person. (Word Counting: 2190 words) Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Lane Cooper. New York: Cornell University Press, 1947. Print. Bowra, Maurice. â€Å"Dance, Drama, and the Spoken Word† The Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 251.772, (1966): 390. ProQuest. Web. 15 May 2013. Cao Yu. The Thunderstorm. Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 1994. Print. Dodds, E.R. â€Å"On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex.† Cambridge University Press: Greece & Rome, Second Series13.1 (1966): 42. Jstor. Web. 26 April 2012. E. Lefà ¨vre and A. Schmitt. Interpretation of â€Å"Oedipus Rex†[Die Suche nach der Schuld. Sophokles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex†, Aristoteles’ â€Å"Poetik† und das Tragà ¶dienverstà ¤ndnis der Neuzeit] The Classical Review 57.1(2007):18-20. Jstor. Web. 1 May 2013. Kallich, Martin. â€Å"Oedipus: From Man to Archetype.† Comparative Literature Studies 3.1 (1966): 33-35. Rpt. in Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens and Lynn M. Spampinato. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. Knox, Bernard. â€Å"Introduction to Oedipus the King.† Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House. 2007. 71-90. Print. Li Jianwu. â€Å"The characteristics of drama† [Xiju De Tezheng] Beijing: Literary Criticism: 3(1963): 42-52. CNKI. Web. 2 May 2013. Ma Xiaozhao. The Entanglement between History and Human Relation: the comparison between the aesthetics meaning of western and Chinese tragedy. [Lishi Yu Renlun De Tongku Jiuchan: Bijiao Yanjiu Zhongxi Beiju De Shengmei Yiyun] Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House, 2008. Print. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Print. Wang Linlin. â€Å"The Unavoidable destiny tragedy—the textual analysis on The Thunderstorm.† [Nanyi Duobi De Mingyun Beiju—Leiyu Wenben Fenxi] Taiyuan: Masterpieces Review: 14 (2009): 85-88. CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. Wan Ping. â€Å"A tentative study on the tragic essence of The Thunderstorm† [Shilun Leiyu De Beiju Yiyun] Beijing: Literary Criticism: 3 (2010): 134. CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. Xin Xianxi. â€Å"A Discussion on several questions of The Thunderstorm.† [Guanyu Leiyu Ruogan Wenti De Tantao] Beijing: Studies on Modern Chinese Literature: 1(1981). CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. View as multi-pages

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus - 963 Words

Introduction Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a sci-fi novel composed by Mary Shelley. This is the story of a science understudy, Victor Frankenstein, who made a beast amid one of his trials. This beast ends up being an inconvenience for Victor. The creature depicted as a living being with all the emotions and feelings, and his appearance of beast was a huge issue when he felt that individuals dreaded him, and they abhor him. He would not like to murder individuals; indeed he attempted to spare a young lady, yet because of dread a man attempted to execute him as a beast. Victor s sibling additionally attempted to shout when he saw him, in his endeavor to keep the kid calm, he strangled the kid. To stay away from all these killings, he asked Victor to make him a female with the goal that he can leave this spot with his mate and will never come in broad daylight. Victor concurred, however when he understood the results of this entire type of creatures, he slaughtered the frag mented female. Creature attempted to take reprisal and murdered Victor s wives. The story was an incredible achievement and confronted negative feedback before all else. Commentators consider it as a sickening awfulness story; however with its prosperity it got different positive remarks. Thesis Statement The strongest topic in this novel that changed the critics perspectives is the subject of alienation. Discussion One of the reactions composed on Shelly s Frankenstein is via CarinaShow MoreRelatedFrankenstein And The Modern Prometheus1665 Words   |  7 Pages1. In the novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, both Victor Frankenstein and the Monster are viable protagonists, as the fates of both characters comprise a considerable amount of the novel, and are so cruelly intertwined. Both being so crucial to the story, it is really a matter of the reader’s perspective as to who is good and who is bad. 2. From Victor Frankenstein’s perspective, the Monster is clearly the antagonist in the novel Frankenstein. He murders all of Frankenstein’s lovedRead MoreIs Frankenstein the Modern Day Prometheus?1302 Words   |  6 PagesRunning head: IS FRANKENSTEIN THE MODERN DAY PROMETHEUS? Is Frankenstein the modern day Prometheus? Irvin M. Beacham Jr. ENC 1101 Dr. Gaspar Is Frankenstein the modern day Prometheus? When Mary Shelly wrote her 1818 classic Frankenstein, she subtitled it â€Å"The Modern Prometheus.† She compared the character of Dr. Victor Frankenstein a highly intelligent scientist to the Greek Titan Prometheus the wisest of the Titans. There are numerous parallelsRead MoreAnalysis Of Frankenstein Or The Modern Prometheus 1388 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Beginning o Myth of Prometheus †¢ Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is the complete title of Mary Shelley’s flamboyant monster novel, which includes an allusion to Prometheus. Her referral to Prometheus is not only about how he was the Titan punished by Zeus because he stole fire from the gods and presented it to mankind; it is also more focused on how he was titan and mythical being who created mankind and was not able to control his own creation. †¢ Prometheus is claimed by others toRead MoreAnalysis Of Frankenstein The Modern Prometheus 1123 Words   |  5 PagesBrian Markewicz 3/31/15 Per. 5 English CP Frankenstein the Modern Prometheus You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Mahatma Gandhi. In Frankenstein, the creature encounters many judgmental people that are mean to him at first glance. The story of Frankenstein compared to real life has many of the same problems. This story relates and will relate to society throughout time because these problems areRead MoreAnalysis Of Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus 1567 Words   |  7 PagesVictor’s Foolishness: Using Science to Learn Natures Secrets â€Å"I have always described myself as always having been imbued with a fevering longing to penetrate the secrets of science† Victor Frankenstein (Shelley, pg34). In the novel Frankenstein and the Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley romanticism of nature ties in to her fear of science. In the novel a knowledgeable individual named Victor creates a creature out of dead human parts and sparks life into it with electricity. The birth of the creatureRead MoreFrankenstein Vensor Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus And Victor Frankenstein1031 Words   |  5 PagesTitan or Theif In Greek Mythology, there is a tale where a Titan named Prometheus stole fire from the gods and put it in the clay to make man. Like in the Greek Mythology, Mary Shelley has Victor Frankenstein steal life from nature. As Mary Shelley states in the title of her book Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, she parallels Victor Frankenstein to the Titan Prometheus. As Mary Shelley states in Frankenstein the pursuit of unknown knowledge is dangerous. â€Å" So much has been done†¦ I willRead MoreEssay about Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus?1373 Words   |  6 PagesFRANKENSTEIN, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS? In order to illustrate the main theme of her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelly draws strongly on the myth of Prometheus, as the subtitle The Modern Prometheus indicates. Maurice Hindle, in his critical study of the novel, suggests, the primary theme of Frankenstein is what happens to human sympathies and relationships when men seek obsessively to satisfy their Promethean longings to conquer the unknown - supposedly in the service of their fellow-humansRead MoreFrankenstein, By Mary Shelley s Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus1316 Words   |  6 Pages Monstrosity in Marry Shelley s â€Å"Frankenstein† Mary Shelley s â€Å"Frankenstein† or â€Å"The Modern Prometheus† is an examination of monstrosity in all of its forms. Written during a time in which scientific, political and economical upheaval, the novel depicts mans desire to uncover every secret in the universe, while confirming the importance of the emotions that make us human, instead of monsters. But, what is considered to be a monster? When one thinks of a monster the first thing that comes to mindRead MoreMary Shelley s Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus1342 Words   |  6 Pagesthere is no doubt in the connection of the Greek God Prometheus and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as the title of the book states: Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus. Shelley made sure that the readers knew that Frankenstein is to be seen as the modern Prometheus, and all things in her book connect Frankenstein to the Greek God that shaped Humanity. In this essay is stated that Frankenstein is indeed as Shelley meant, the modern Prometheus. Reasoning behind this is of how Frankenstein’s and Prometheus’sRead MoreMary Shelley s Frankenstein And The Modern Prometheus1141 Words   |  5 Pagessomeone, do you think that you would take that chance? Prometheus is a Greek God who gave mankind fire, which had been stolen from Mount Olympus. â€Å"Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,† by Mary Shelley is about a man name Victor Frankenstein who creates a â€Å"monster† and tells the story of the lives of each character, and the conflict between Frankenstein and his creation. Victor Frankenstein tried to play God in â€Å"Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus,† by creating a his own specimen, giving his creation