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Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and his queen, Anne Boleyn. She was born in 1533. Roger Ascham very well educated Queen Elizabeth. She was taught many languages, history, rhetoric, and moral philosophy. Elizabeth became fluent in Italian, Greek, French, and Latin. Also, she was brought up in the Protestant faith. Her marriage plans were set early before her, and although she entertained many suitors, she never did marry because she considered herself “married to England.” While she was on the throne, she showed a great deal of leadership, and inspired and motivated many people in England. She considered the people’s thoughts and interests before she made her decision.

She was the monarch of England from 1558 until her death in 1603. She was queen for a 45-year period. One of Queen Elizabeth’s greatest strengths was that was that she was skilled in communicating with all the types of class of people.

She was good at speaking to statesmen as well as the people of England. She was of a high intellectual level, which was difficult for many people to accept. She used this to her advantage in order to make proper decisions for England. The fact that Elizabeth even became The Queen of England was not expected under normal circumstances.The Elizabethan Era lasted from 1558 to 1603. Read more…

During the days of World War I, a search began for new and fantastic subject matter, and so this brought together a number of young men. The writer, Hugo Ball, the painter, sculptor and poet, Jean Arp and the painter Hans Richter, as well as many others, all began this search of new and exciting styles that brought on the movement called Dada. This movement was largely a reaction to the destruction, hysteria and madness of the war. The Dadaists felt that reason and logic had resulted in war, and so, they wanted to move away from this and explore different principals such as simultaneity and chance.

There were two main parts to Dada, Zurich Dada and New York Dada. Zurich Dada came about as a result of these men whose demonstrations, art exhibitions, poetry readings and noise concerts attacked Western Art and Culture. Jean Arp was one of the most prolific artists to emerge from Zurich Dada. He studied painting in the early years of the twentieth century but found that there was great conflict between his paintings and what he learnt. This uncertainty that he had, led him to spend 3 years in various small towns in Switzerland where he was greatly influenced by the Swiss landscape. This resulted in many abstract works that were all based on nature and living organic shapes. Read more…

Until recently, I had never really thought much about the justifications of war. It had never pertained to my life; however when the subject became a reality for me this past year, I began to delve into the depth of the philosophies, legalities, policies, and political theories relating to war, attempting to justify past wars. I looked at war from all points of view, as each side of the fight has its own justifications for pursuing conflict. From taking a course in ethics at my university to attending nearby political rallies for and against the recent war on Iraq, I found myself with an overall picture of everyone else’s views on the subject. I was still searching for my own justifications.

It was only by chance that I had the good fortune of reading Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince for my freshman writing seminar. Written in 1513, The Prince is regarded as one of the most controversial yet crucial works in the field of political science- controversial because Machiavelli’s views were in total contrast with the humanist beliefs and teachings of his time; crucial because the book captivated its readers, transforming many to analyze and adopt Machiavelli’s perspective. While the book was written in the sixteenth century, its ideas are very much applicable to the challenges of war that society faces today. Read more…

Ernest Hemingway has managed to create a unique character using close to no action and dialogue all described in just fifty pages. The audience is able to recognize Santiago’s understanding and relationship with the world, his attitude towards life as well as some of his more concrete problems. It appears that in the novel “The Old Man and the Sea” the author needed to show a certain personality type encapsulated in one character on his fishing trip. It is visible that with all the pleasant characteristics the fisherman has, he is still holding on to his life tightly though immense amounts of problems. In addition to that, a rather vivid physical description was given to Santiago.

The old man in the book was not outstanding in his appearance. Like many more Cuban fishermen, as I would imagine, he was thin and wrinkly. The text states this fact clearly in the phrase ,” The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles on his back and neck. Santiago was also covered with “blotches of benevolent skin cancer” likely because of the burning sun in the area. The Cuban fisherman’s eyes were the “same colour as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated”. The old man’s appearance hints about some of the personal qualities he might have, for example a good attitude to life. Read more…