Thurgood Marshall, First Black Supreme Court Justice

Thurgood Marshall, First Black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908–January 24, 1993), the great-grandson of slaves, was the first African-American justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where he served from 1967 to 1991. Earlier in his career, Marshall was a pioneering civil rights attorney who successfully argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, a major step in the fight to desegregate American schools. The 1954 Brown decision is considered one of the most significant civil rights victories of the 20th century. Fast Facts: Thurgood Marshall Known For: First African-American Supreme Court justice, landmark civil rights lawyerAlso Known As: Thoroughgood Marshall, Great DissenterBorn: July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, MarylandParents: William Canfield Marshall, Norma AricaDied: January 24, 1993 in Bethesda, MarylandEducation: Lincoln University, Pennsylvania  (BA), Howard University  (LLB)Published Works: Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences (The Library of Black America series) (2001)Awards and Honors: The Thurgood Marshall Award, established in 1992 by the American Bar Association, is presented annually to a recipient to recognize long-term contributions by members of the legal profession to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in the United States, the ABA says. Marshall received the inaugural award in 1992.Spouse(s): Cecilia Suyat Marshall  (m. 1955–1993),  Vivian Burey Marshall (m. 1929–1955)Children: John W. Marshall,  Thurgoo d Marshall, Jr.Notable Quote: It is interesting to me that the very people...that would object to sending their white children to school with Negroes are eating food that has been prepared, served, and almost put in their mouths by the mothers of those children. Childhood Marshall (named Thoroughgood at birth) was born in Baltimore on Jan. 24, 1908, the second son of Norma and William Marshall. Norma was an elementary school teacher and William worked as a railroad porter. When Thurgood was 2 years old, the family moved to Harlem in New York City, where Norma earned an advanced teaching degree at Columbia University. The Marshalls returned to Baltimore in 1913 when Thurgood was 5. Thurgood and his brother Aubrey attended an elementary school for blacks only and their mother taught in one as well. William Marshall, who had never graduated from high school, worked as a waiter in a whites-only country club. By second grade, Marshall, weary of being teased about his unusual name and equally weary of writing it out, shortened it to â€Å"Thurgood.† In high school, Marshall earned decent grades but had a tendency to stir up trouble in the classroom. As punishment for some of his misdeeds, he was ordered to memorize portions of the U.S. Constitution. By the time he left high school, Marshall knew the entire document. Marshall always knew that he wanted to go to college but realized his parents couldnt afford to pay his tuition. Thus, he began saving money while he was in high school, working as a delivery boy and a waiter. In September 1925, Marshall entered Lincoln University, an African-American college in Philadelphia. He intended to study dentistry. College Years Marshall embraced college life. He became the star of the debate club and joined a fraternity; he was also very popular with young women. Yet Marshall found himself ever aware of the need to earn money. He worked two jobs and supplemented that income with his earnings from winning card games on campus. Armed with the defiant attitude that had gotten him into trouble in high school, Marshall was suspended twice for fraternity pranks. But Marshall was also capable of more serious endeavors, as when he helped to integrate a local movie theater. When Marshall and his friends attended a movie in downtown Philadelphia, they were ordered to sit in the balcony (the only place that blacks were allowed). The young men refused and sat in the main seating area. Despite being insulted by white patrons, they remained in their seats and watched the movie. From then on, they sat wherever they liked at the theater. By his second year at Lincoln, Marshall had decided he didnt want to become a dentist, planning instead to use his oratory gifts as a practicing attorney. (Marshall, who was 6-foot-2, later joked that his hands were probably too big for him to have become a dentist.) Marriage and Law School In his junior year, Marshall met Vivian Buster Burey, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. They fell in love and, despite Marshalls mothers objections- she felt they were too young and too poor- married in 1929 at the beginning of Marshalls senior year. After graduating from Lincoln in 1930, Marshall enrolled at Howard University Law School, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., where his brother Aubrey was attending medical school. Marshalls first choice had been the University of Maryland Law School, but he was refused admission because of his race. Norma Marshall pawned her wedding and engagement rings to help her younger son pay his tuition. Marshall and his wife lived with his parents in Baltimore to save money. Marshall commuted by train to Washington every day and worked three part-time jobs to make ends meet. Marshalls hard work paid off. He rose to the top of the class in his first year and won the plum job of an assistant in the law school library. There, he worked closely with the man who became his mentor, law school dean Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston, who resented the discrimination he had suffered as a soldier during World War I, had made it his mission to educate a new generation of African-American lawyers. He envisioned a group of attorneys who would use their law degrees to fight racial discrimination. Houston was convinced that the basis for that fight would be the U.S. Constitution itself. He made a profound impression upon Marshall. While working in the Howard law library, Marshall came into contact with several lawyers and activists from the NAACP. He joined the organization and became an active member. Marshall graduated first in his class in 1933 and passed the bar exam later that year. Working for the NAACP Marshall opened his own law practice in Baltimore in 1933 at the age of 25. He had few clients at first, and most of those cases involved minor charges, such as traffic tickets and petty thefts. It did not help that Marshall opened his practice in the midst of the Great Depression. Marshall became increasingly active in the local NAACP, recruiting new members for its Baltimore branch. Because he was well-educated, light-skinned, and dressed well, however, he sometimes found it difficult to find common ground with some African-Americans. Some felt Marshall had an appearance closer to that of a white man than to one of their own race. But Marshalls down-to-earth personality and easy communication style helped to win over many new members. Soon, Marshall began taking cases for the NAACP and was hired as part-time legal counsel in 1935. As his reputation grew, Marshall became known not only for his skill as a lawyer but also for his bawdy sense of humor and love of storytelling. In the late 1930s, Marshall represented African-American teachers in Maryland who were receiving only half the pay that white teachers earned. Marshall won equal-pay agreements in nine Maryland school boards and in 1939, convincing a federal court to declare unequal salaries for public school teachers unconstitutional. Marshall also had the satisfaction of working on a case, ​Murray v. Pearson, in which he helped a black man gain admission to the University of Maryland Law School in 1935. That same school had rejected Marshall only five years earlier. NAACP Chief Counsel In 1938, Marshall was named chief counsel to the NAACP in New York. Thrilled about having a steady income, he and Buster moved to Harlem, where Marshall had first gone with his parents as a young child. Marshall, whose new job required extensive travel and an immense workload, typically worked on discrimination cases in areas such as housing, labor, and travel accommodations. Marshall, in 1940, won the first of his Supreme Court victories in Chambers v. Florida, in which the Court overturned the convictions of four black men who had been beaten and coerced into confessing to a murder. For another case, Marshall was sent to Dallas to represent a black man who had been summoned for jury duty and who had been dismissed when court officers realized he was not white. Marshall met with Texas governor James Allred, whom he successfully persuaded that African-Americans had a right to serve on a jury. The governor went a step further, promising to provide Texas Rangers to protect those blacks who served on juries. Yet not every situation was so easily managed. Marshall had to take special precautions whenever he traveled, especially when working on controversial cases. He was protected by NAACP bodyguards and had to find safe housing- usually in private homes- wherever he went. Despite these security measures, Marshall often feared for his safety because of numerous threats. He was forced to use evasive tactics, such as wearing disguises and switching to different cars during trips. On one occasion, Marshall was taken into custody by a group of policemen while in a small Tennessee town working on a case. He was forced from his car and driven to an isolated area near a river, where an angry mob of white men awaited. Marshalls companion, another black attorney, followed the police car and refused to leave until Marshall was released. The police, perhaps because the witness was a prominent Nashville attorney, drove Marshall back to town. Separate but Not Equal Marshall continued to make significant gains in the battle for racial equality in the areas of both voting rights and education. He argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944 (Smith v. Allwright), claiming that Texas Democratic Party rules unfairly denied blacks the right to vote in primaries. The Court agreed, ruling that all citizens, regardless of race, had the constitutional right to vote in primaries. In 1945, the NAACP made a momentous change in its strategy. Instead of working to enforce the separate but equal provision of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, the NAACP strove to achieve equality in a different way. Since the notion of separate but equal facilities had never truly been accomplished in the past (public services for blacks were uniformly inferior to those for whites), the only solution would be to make all public facilities and services open to all races. Two important cases tried by Marshall between 1948 and 1950 contributed greatly to the eventual overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson. In each case (Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents), the universities involved (the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma) failed to provide for black students an education equal to that provided for white students. Marshall successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that the universities did not provide equal facilities for either student. The Court ordered both schools to admit black students into their mainstream programs. Overall, between 1940 and 1961, Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education In 1951, a court decision in Topeka, Kansas became the stimulus for Thurgood Marshalls most significant case. Oliver Brown of Topeka had sued that citys Board of Education, claiming that his daughter was forced to travel a long distance from her home just to attend a segregated school. Brown wanted his daughter to attend the school nearest their home- a school designated for whites only. The U.S. District Court of Kansas disagreed, asserting that the African-American school offered an education equal in quality to the white schools of Topeka. Marshall headed the appeal of the Brown case, which he combined with four other similar cases and filed as Brown v. Board of Education. The case came before the U.S. Supreme Court in December 1952. Marshall made it clear in his opening statements to the Supreme Court that what he sought was not merely a resolution for the five individual cases; his goal was to end racial segregation in schools. He argued that segregation caused blacks to feel innately inferior. The opposing lawyer argued that integration would harm white children. The debate went on for three days. The Court adjourned on Dec. 11, 1952, and did not convene on Brown again until June 1953. But the justices did not render a decision; instead, they requested that the attorneys supply more information. Their main question: Did the attorneys believe that the 14th Amendment, which addresses citizenship rights, prohibited segregation in schools? Marshall and his team went to work to prove that it did. After hearing the case again in December 1953, the Court did not come to a decision until May 17, 1954. Chief Justice Earl Warren announced that the Court had come to the unanimous decision that segregation in the public schools violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Marshall was ecstatic; he always believed he would win, but was surprised that there were no dissenting votes. The Brown decision did not result in overnight desegregation of southern schools. While some school boards did begin making plans for desegregating schools, few southern school districts were in a hurry to adopt the new standards. Loss and Remarriage In November 1954, Marshall received devastating news about Buster. His 44-year-old wife had been ill for months but had been misdiagnosed as having the flu or pleurisy. In fact, she had incurable cancer. However, when she found out, she inexplicably kept her diagnosis a secret from her husband. When Marshall learned how ill Buster was, he set all work aside and took care of his wife for nine weeks before she died in February 1955. The couple had been married for 25 years. Because Buster had suffered several miscarriages, they had never had the family they so desired. Marshall mourned but did not remain single for long. In December 1955, Marshall married Cecilia Cissy Suyat, a secretary at the NAACP. He was 47, and his new wife was 19 years his junior. They went on to have two sons, Thurgood, Jr. and John. Work for the Federal Government In September 1961, Marshall was rewarded for his years of legal work when President John F. Kennedy appointed him a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Although he hated to leave the NAACP, Marshall accepted the nomination. It took nearly a year for him to be approved by the Senate, many of whose members still resented his involvement in school desegregation. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson named Marshall to the post of solicitor general of the United States. In this role, Marshall was responsible for representing the government when it was being sued by a corporation or an individual. In his two years as solicitor general, Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued. Supreme Court Justice On June 13, 1967, President Johnson announced Thurgood Marshall as the nominee for Supreme Court Justice to fill the vacancy created by Justice Tom C. Clarks departure. Some southern senators- notably Strom Thurmond- fought Marshalls confirmation, but Marshall was confirmed and then sworn in on Oct. 2, 1967. At the age of 59, Marshall became the first African-American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall took a liberal stance in most of the Courts rulings. He consistently voted against any form of censorship and was strongly opposed to the death penalty. In the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, Marshall voted with the majority to uphold a womans right to choose to have an abortion. Marshall was also in favor of affirmative action. As more conservative justices were appointed to the Court during the Republican administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford, Marshall found himself increasingly in the minority, often as the lone voice of dissent. He became known as The Great Dissenter. In 1980, the University of Maryland honored Marshall by naming its new law library after him. Still bitter about how the university had rejected him 50 years earlier, Marshall refused to attend the dedication. Retirement and Death Marshall resisted the idea of retirement, but by the early 1990s, his health was failing and he had problems with both his hearing and vision. On June 27, 1991, Marshall submitted his letter of resignation to President George H. W. Bush. Marshall was replaced by Justice Clarence Thomas. Marshall died of heart failure on Jan. 24, 1993, at age 84; he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Marshall was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in November 1993. Sources Cassie, Ron. â€Å"The Legacy of Thurgood Marshall.†Ã‚  Baltimore Magazine, 25 Jan. 2019.Crowther, Linnea. â€Å"Thurgood Marshall: 20 Facts.†Ã‚  Legacy.com, 31 Jan. 2017.â€Å"Past Recipients Keynote Speakers.†Ã‚  American Bar Association.â€Å"Thurgood Marshalls Unique Supreme Court Legacy.†Ã‚  National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.org.

E-Commerce and E-Business Fundamentals (Business Report on WH SMITHS) Essay

E-Commerce and E-Business Fundamentals (Business Report on WH SMITHS) - Essay Example In addition, the corporations that cater to the requirements of media are more probable to obtain regular coverage as well as minimize the potential for errors in published stories. Moreover, the online press rooms are working as hubs for organizations, presetting the product information, latest news and visual elements to facilitate them better recognize products and services. In the scenario to enhance the online business corporations are now trying redevelop their business strategies. This report presents a detailed analysis of WH Smiths web based business re-development process and expected potential enhancements. Additionally, this report will offer a new and much better online strategy regarding the potential enhancement in the customary online business practice of the WH Smiths. This report will also present suggestions that can enhance the WH Smiths business and offer better competitive edge to the business. Business industry is by no means an exception to internet mania in view of the fact that, with the passage of time, the online business is turning out to be an exhortation. The online business means that people can buy and pay from home and even while sitting in their bedroom via an internet equipped PC or laptop. The universal wave of information technologies (ITs) development and implementation has turned out to be a driving force in approximately every part of human job. In this scenario, the internet that is a main element of this global wave has been transformed into a double-edged weapon offering a lot of opportunities, facilities, tools, and capabilities to individuals and corporations (Salifu, 2008). Liam (2009) stated that growing amount of people who make use of the internet is showing to be a boon intended for businesses that are interested in expanding their reach to the online community. Additionally, the huge number of internet clients shows a huge potential customer b ase that is there

The Business Environment of European Union Research Paper

The Business Environment of European Union - Research Paper Example With the formation of the European Union, all the member states are required to follow the EC 92 as the Single European Act. The single European act was a step closer to the goal of economic integration. Economic integration has revolutionized all the laws and regulations and has changed the whole business environment in most of the member states. With the dismissal of the trade barriers the European act also proposed an array of commercial policies including single European standards for goods produced. This has given rise to difficulties for the companies producing below the standards as they are faced with the challenges of technology upgrade and quality advancement while keeping the prices competitive due to increased competition. For example in the Italian textile industry producers are struggling to keep under priced clothes from flooding the Italian market, designer label brands are waging another battle - against imitations, or "knockoffs", as they are known in the trade. (Italian designers, 2005) Most of the fakes come from China or other Asian countries with low labor costs and no concern for social services, welfare and pollution control. Although the Italian sector is currently facing unprecedented challenges these challenges can be faced only by innovation. These include the abolition of quantitative restrictions (quotas) which took place on 1st January 2005. These challenges are occurring in a period of marked slowdown in economic activity, which has a significant impact on sectors such as textiles and clothing. Furthermore, at the same time, the Euro has shown a significant upward trend against the US dollar. All in all, every segment of textiles and clothing production, from spinning and weaving to garment make-up, has in one way or the other suffered from the impact of the developments of the last few years. (Textiles and clothing sector in the EU-25) The years 2001-2004 have been particularly difficult for the industry. After substantial falls in production and employment in the previous three years, it is estimated that in 2003 production fell by a further 4.4% and employment by 7.1% (EU-25, source: Eurostat). The trade deficit (EU-25) amounted to 29.4 billion in 2003, the trade in textiles reaching a surplus of 3.7 billion and the deficit in clothing 33.1 billion. The European Union was expanded in May 2004 having 25 members. The aim of the creation of the union was to create the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of substantial economic growth with more, and better, jobs and greater social cohesion (Elizabeth Hunt Recruitment). All the member states of the EU have to follow common trade and employment laws, which on the one hand provided them with the ease of free trade and larger availability of workforce and a vast product market on the other.

Perfect Pizzeria Essay Example for Free

Perfect Pizzeria Essay Perfect Pizzeria Restaurants is a chain of 125 pizza establishments around the country with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. There are three locations in Bloomington, Indiana however they have financial and employee problems particularly at the location near the Indiana University campus. Each location has one manager and two shift leaders. The employees are mostly college students, with a few high school students performing the less challenging jobs. Nearly all of the employees, with the exception of some managers, are employed part-time and most earned only the minimum wage or slightly above. To address the financial problems, the Perfect Pizzeria manager’s compensation plan was changed to now being based on food and beverage costs and profit targets. If the percentage of food unsold or damaged is very low, the manager gets a bonus. If the percentage is high, the manager does not receive a bonus; rather he or she receives only his or her normal salary. Their compensation is also reflected in the restaurant’s profit figures which also must reach a certain level for the manager to receive a bonus. Thus the managers knew the criteria being used for their evaluation and therefore where to focus their efforts. These profit and loss figures often fluctuate. Knowing the manager cannot be in the store 24 hours a day, some employees make up for their low paychecks by helping themselves to the food. When a friend comes in to order a pizza, extra ingredients are put on the friend’s pizza. An occasional slice or two of pizza by the 18 to 20 employees throughout the day/evening at the break table also raises the percentage figure. An occasional bucket of sauce may be spilled or a pizza accidentally burned. Sometimes the wrong size of pizza may be made. In the event of an employee mistake or a burned pizza by the oven person, the expense is supposed to come from the individual employee. Because of peer pressure, the night manager seldom writes up a bill for the erring employee. Instead the establishment takes the loss and the error goes unnoticed until the end of the month when the inventory is taken. That’s when the manager finds out if the food loss percentage is high and if there will be a bonus. (Next page) Over time these loss figures increased. To address these problems at the Bloomington location, the manager took retaliatory measures. Previously, each employee was entitled to a free pizza slice, salad, and all the soft drinks he or she could drink for every 4 hours of work. Management decided to raise this figure to 6 hours of work before any free food. Since the employees had received this â€Å"free food after 4-hours† benefit for a long time they frequently ignored the rule and took advantage of the situation whenever the manager was not in the building. Therefore, the Perfect Pizzeria manager decided to create an assistant manager position which could more closely supervise the shift leaders. Each shift leader was now responsible for a team of 3 4 employees who were given specific responsibilities for a particular job such as counter, delivery, food preparation, etc. Employee apathy grew within the pizzeria. There seemed to be a further separation between the store manager and his workers, who were once a closely knit group. The manager made no attempt to alleviate the problem, because he felt it would iron itself out. The employees who were dissatisfied would quit or they would be content to put up with the new regulations. As it turned out, there were many employee resignations. The manager had no problem in filling the vacancies with new workers, but the loss of experienced personnel was costly to the business. It didn’t take long for the new employees to become influenced by the more experienced employees and the unsold/damaged food percentage remained high. Then the manager took a bolder step. He eliminated all the benefits that the employees had – no free pizzas, salads, or drinks. The manager tried still another approach to alleviate the rising unsold/damaged food percentage problem and maintain his bonus. He placed a notice on the bulletin board, stating that: if the percentage remained at a high level, a lie detector test would be given to all employees. All those found guilty of taking or intentionally wasting food or drinks would be immediately terminated. This did not have the desired effect on the employees, because they knew if they were all subjected to the test, all would be found guilty and the manager would have to dismiss all of them. This would leave him in a worse situation than ever. As the manager sat in his office listening to his beloved Cub’s baseball game, he analyzed the month’s profit/loss statements and knew things were not going to be good. What he did not expect was that the percentage was actually increasing from previous months. Another problem developed at the Bloomington campus location when Jennifer, a recently hired night shift counter clerk filed a complaint with the regional manager. She stated in her complaint that she was always required to work the late shift and Bill the night manager was becoming a bit â€Å"too friendly†. In fact her complaint stated, the only way she could get off from work earlier than other employees was if she would agree to meet Bill on their nights off at Hoosier’s, a popular college student club down the street from Perfect Pizzeria. Additionally, there was a formal complaint from a group of male employees that only the attractive female workers were being promoted to assistant managers or shift leaders even though the men had worked at the restaurant longer than most of the promoted women. The case assignment questions follow†¦ PERFECT PIZZERIA – CASE QUESTIONS (Please type your responses by listing the question number/letter and then your answers to the questions.) 1. List two different managerial functions/activities the manager has performed. Then give specific examples or evidence from the case that explains these two management functions the manager has performed. 4. points) 2a. Which of the managerial skills was the manager best at? Explain. 2b. Which of the managerial skills did the manager need to improve? Explain. (4 points) 3. List and/or give examples of four (4) different forces or factors from Perfect Pizzerias’ external environment. Then give a specific example of how each of these could have an impact on Perfect Pizzeria. Please be specific.(4 pts.) 4a. The case mentions that some employees put extra ingredients on their friends’ pizza or take a nibble or two of pizza during their shift. Please discuss whether you feel this is ethical and your reasons why you feel this way. (2 pts.) 4b. What actions could an organization take to prevent these potential ethical violations from happening based on the concepts in the textbook? Explain by applying these ideas to this case situation. (4 pts.) 5. Review the organizational approaches to managing diversity from Chapter 6. Then discuss or give an example of how you would apply two of these concepts to address the complaints of the male employees regarding the unfair promotions? Be specific. (4 points) 6. Give an example from the case of a poor management action and discuss two (2) specific ways you would correct the situation if you were the manager. (3 points)

Dwight D Eisenhower :: essays research papers

Dwight D Eisenhower was our thirty-fourth president, serving from 1953 to 1961. He was born in Texas in 1890, and brought up in Abilene, Kansas. He was very good in sports in High school and recieved an appointment to West Point. He was stationed in Texas as second lieutenant where he met Mamie Geneva Doud, whom he married in 1916. He excelled at many staff assignments and served under the guidance of many great generals. After Pearl Harbor he was called to Washington for a war plans assignment. He commanded the allied forces landing in North Africa in November 1942. On D-Day, 1944, he was the supreme commander of the troops invading France. After the war he became President of Columbia University. In 1951 he took supreme command over the new NATO forces. Republican emmissaries to his headquarters near Paris persuaded him to run for President. On June 4, 1952 he announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for Presidency. He was soon nominated at the Republican convent ion and elected on November 4, 1952. He was able to use the catchy slogan â€Å"I Like Ike† to help him win. He was able to serve two terms as President of the United States from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961. He saw the end of the Korean War, and promoted â€Å"Atoms for Peace† and dealt with several crisis in Lebanon, Suez, Berlin, and Hungary in Foreign affairs. He helped make Alaska and Hawaii become states. Throughout his presidency he was very concerned with civil rights issues and the interstate highway system in domestic affairs. Between his two terms he suffered a heart attack in September 1955 in Denver, Colorado. He left the hospital after seven weeks and was reelected for his second term in November. President Eisenhower was very concerned with promoting peace and equality. He began with the desegregation of schools, of which he had to send troops into Little Rock, Arkansas to assure the compliance with the Federal courts decision. He also ordered th e complete desegregation of the armed forces. He wrote â€Å" There must be no second class citizens in this country.† A program that eisenhower was quite proud of was his â€Å"Atoms for Peace† program which was the loan of American uranium to â€Å"have not† nations for peaceful purposes.

Ghost in Hamlet

The Role of the Ghost in Hamlet by William Shakespeare The role of the ghost in Hamlet is twofold: firstly it is to create   interest; secondly it is to further the narrative of the play. Shakespeare recognized that he needed to create interest in the   audience from the very first scene of the play. The play opens with a conversation between Officers of the Watch who   patrol the Battlements of Elsinore castle. Their talk is of a  ghost   who has appeared before twice previously: † What, has this thing appeared again tonight? † Immediately this arouses the audience's curiosity.What is the nature   of ‘this thing' that has appeared? Horatio, who has not seen the ghost, voices the scepticism that some   of the audience may have been feeling: † Tush, Tush, 'twill not appear†. Suspense is therefore created in the minds of the audience i. e. will   the ghost actually appear; does the ghost exist? The character of Horatio is contrasted with th at of Barnardo,   Francisco and Marcellus. Barnardo, Francisco and Marcellus are believers in the ghost, whereas   Horatio, who is highly educated, unlike Barnardo, Francisco and   Marcellus, questions the ghost existence.When the ghost finally appears in line 40, cutting short Barnardo's   line, it is a moment of high drama resulting from the tension that has   been created. The appearance of the ghost has a  huge impact  on both the characters   and the audience (who together with Horatio see the ghost for the   first time). Horatio, sceptic, expresses his fear and amazement in the   first line he speaks since seeing the ghost: â€Å"aâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. It harrows me with fear and wonder†. The audience would have been filled with similar emotions on seeing   the ghost, and would have realised that the appearance of the ghost   signifies that something is wrong.Elizabethans believed that only   people who died without the chance of confessing their sins w alked the   earth as troubled spirits. Horatio questions the ghost, which   disappears mysteriously without speaking. When the ghost fails to   speak, it adds to the tension of the scene and the apprehension of the   characters. The ghost makes a second appearance in Act 1 Scene 1 after Horatio has   talked about preparations for war with Norway. This sets up the idea   in the minds of the audience that the ghost may have something to do   with the on going war, but, again the ghost does not speak, and so the   audience is left with unanswered questions.This sense of mystery   sustains interest and builds suspense in the preparation for scene 2. At this point the nature of the ghost is ambiguous. Is it a good   ghost, it appears in the form of Old  Hamlet, or is it an â€Å"erring   spirit†? It disappeared when the cock crowed i. e. at first light. The audience   would have known that light represent goodness, and dark represents   evil. Horatio co mments: â€Å"And then it started like a guilty thing†. The audience would have been left wondering why the word ‘guilty' had   been applied to the ghost. Is the ghost to be trusted, or not?The   only thing person who can decide is Hamlet: â€Å"Let us impart what we have seen tonight unto young Hamletaâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. † In the next scene Horatio tells Hamlet after some prevarication, that   he has seen his fathers ghost. Hamlet is thoroughly depressed because   his mother Gertrude, has re-married very quickly. To make matters   worse, she has married Claudius, Old Hamlets brother, whom young   Hamlet mis-trusts. This is a man â€Å"With one auspicious and one dropping eye† Which an Elizabethan audience, would have recognized as the sign of a   hypocrite.Horatio describes the ghost to Hamlet, emphasising that the ghost   appears to look like Old Hamlet: â€Å"aâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. A figure like your father armed exactly, cap-a-pe† And is dressed in armour. Hamlet wants to know everything about the   ghost, where it appeared, whether it spoke etc, and through his short,   excited questions which he utters in quick succession, reinforces the   mystery and ambiguity of the ghost, thus building the audiences   anticipation of the second appearance of the spirit. The scene closes with Hamlet arranging to take the watch on the   battlements that night, in order to meet with the ghost.He asks the   others to keep quiet about the appearance of the ghost. The ghost appears to Hamlet in Act1, Scene 4. Immediately, the   ambiguous nature of the ghost is addressed. Hamlet himself says, â€Å"Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned† , Meaning is the ghost to be trusted, or is it some evil creature come   to destroy? The ghost refuses to speak in front of the others, but beckons Hamlet   away to speak with him alone. Marcellus and Horatio are suspicious of   the ghost intentions: Marcellus. â€Å"But do not go with it† Horatio. â€Å"No, by no means†.Eventually, almost fighting off his companions with a sword, Hamlet   follows the ghost and they are alone. In scene 5, the role of the ghost moves from creating interest and   suspense, to the function of moving on the narrative and plot line. Hamlet is not naturally a man of action, and, although suspicious of   his Uncle Claudius, would not have tried to find out more about the   circumstances surrounding his father's death. It is the appearance of   the ghost that forces Hamlet to take action, and therefore moves on   the action of the play. The ghost begins by telling that he is in purgatory. Doomed for a certain term to walk the night† Hamlet must have felt puzzled and, at the same time, full of wonder   and despair at the terrible situation his father is in. When his   father finally reveals that he was murdered, Hamlet is overwhelmed. To   make matters worse, the ghost then asks Hamlet to re venge his murder. Ghost. â€Å"If ever thou didst ever thy dear father loveaâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. † Hamlet. â€Å"O God! † Ghost. â€Å"Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder†. Like Hamlet, at this point, the audience would want to know more. The questions that have been posed in Scene 1 are finally about to be   answered.When the ghost reveals that he was murdered by Claudius,   Hamlet reacts with: â€Å"O my prophetic soul! My uncle? † Hamlet had suspected from the beginning that his uncle was the   complete opposite of Old Hamlet in appearance, personality and action. Now his worse fears have been confirmed. His mother has married a   murderer! Before the ghost leaves, Hamlet swears to revenge his   murder. To make matters worse, the ghost describes the horrific nature of his   death, by poison and the fact that he died without having confessed   his sins: â€Å"With all my imperfections on my head†.This is in sharp contrast with the gl ib statement made by Claudius to   Hamlet concerning the death of his father: â€Å"aâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity† Finally, at the end of the scene Hamlet rejoins the others and   confirms that the ghost is not evil but, â€Å"It is an honest ghostaâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. † He makes his friends swear to keep the existence of the ghost a   secret. The cries of the unseen ghost â€Å"SWEAR, SWEAR† whom Hamlet calls   â€Å"old mole†, reinforce Hamlet's insistence in secrecy. Interestingly,   only Hamlet can hear the ghost.Is Hamlet ‘really' going mad? The final appearance of the ghost follows the pivotal scene. Up to   this point there has been little action-taking place. Instead the play   consists of building up characters, making motives and giving the   audience information. After this the action increases dramatically in   pace. Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius, but fails because   h e believes that Claudius is praying. If he had known that Claudius   cannot pray: â€Å"My words fly up my thoughts remain below, Words without thought never to heaven go†Presumably, Hamlet would have killed Claudius and the play would be   over. It is possible that Hamlet used the situation as an excuse for   the deed he was afraid to do. Therefore, when Hamlet confronts Gertrude he is full of frustration   and anguish at his inability to act. In this scene, Hamlet almost   loses his self-control and perhaps is truly â€Å"mad†. Having killed   Polonius, it is only the entrance of the ghost that prevents Hamlet   from harming his mother. This time, the ghost appears, not in armour, but â€Å"aâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. In his habit as he liv'd† In other words, dressed in every-day clothes.The ghost has changed;   no longer the warrior king seeking revenge for his murder, the ghost   is more insubstantial a quieter, gentler ghost perhaps because it is   ne arer to oblivion. This ties in with the ghost's speech back in Act 1   Scene 5 when he says: â€Å"I am thy fathers spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night† This time only, Hamlet can see the ghost, which begs the question, is   the ghost really there, or is Hamlet quite mad? The role of the ghost in this scene is primarily to remind Hamlet of   his promise. â€Å"Do not forgetaâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦. â€Å"However, the ghost also serves as a reproof to Hamlet, exhorting him   to be gentle with Gertrude. † Oh step between her and her fighting soul: Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works† Having delivered its message, the ghost simply slips away. In this   scene, in contrast to earlier scenes in which the ghost appears, there   is no knocking from underneath the stage, the ghost merely â€Å"steals   away†. From this moment, the play gathers pace as Claudius attempt to have   Hamlet killed, Ophelia's commits suicide in her madness, and the final   scene of the play ends in a blood bath.From the very first dramatic appearance of the ghost the whole plot is   set in motion towards inexorable scene of murder and mayhem at the end   of the play. Hamet appears to regain his sanity; we as an audience wonder was he   ever mad and if so was his madness incurred by the ghost. In conclusion it could be stated the ambiguity of the ghost is never   resolved. This is questioned again because as a result of the ghost,   the majority of the characters die. Therefore despite Hamlets thoughts   of the ghost, in the end the audience wonder is the ghost and its   intentions really, true and good or actually bad and evil

Analysis Of Death Of A Salesman - 900 Words

Critical Essay In Arthur Millers â€Å"Death of a salesman† we encounter an on-going feud between salesman Willy Loman and his son Biff Loman. In Willy’s eyes the key to gaining success in life is to be well liked, attractive and having a great personality, he is convinced if you have all these traits it guarantees you success and that you could outrun those with qualifications in terms of being employed. Willy bestows this theory of his onto his sons Biff and Happy during their teenage years. During Biffs High School years he attains the captain position for the school’s football team which gave Willy another reason to believe that he and his son were on track to achieving the American Dream. Willy is more than convinced at this point that they are both heading down the same path: to be known, to achieve success and to be liked. When Biff fails his maths exam during his senior year in high school he loses all hope, furthermore he discovers Willys involvement with another woman after he decided to pay Willy a surprise visit. This heavily influences their relationship they had as Biff realises the ugly truth and felt betrayed by his father. Willy has soaring expectations of Biff, however Biff fails to meet his father expectations, and hides his failures from Willy in order to keep him happy. Even after Biff flunks maths, Willy still believes Biff can â€Å"make it†. He doesn’t believe this because Biff is his son, but rather because Biff is a handsome young man, with a greatShow MoreRelatedDeath Of A Salesman Analysis914 Words   |  4 PagesLies of a Salesman (Movie Analysis of Death of a Salesman produced by Robert F. Colesberry) To be dysfunctional is to not operate accordly to normal in a negative way. Death of a Salesman produced by Robert F. Colesberry is a movie based on a play Death of a salesman written by Arthur Miller. The Loman family in the movie is a dysfunctional family, which is clearly show in many scenes,The mother and the father Willy and Linda Lowman. Willy a salesman in the field for over 30 years. The have kidsRead MoreDeath of a Salesman Analysis675 Words   |  3 PagesNovember 10, 2012 English P5 Death of a Salesman Essay Like Father Like Son In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Miller reveals what happens when a dream, especially the American dream, dies, as seen through the life of Willy Loman, a pathetic, self-deluded salesman. The play follows the family through painful conflicts, significant issues such as national values, and the price of blind fate while working toward the ‘American Dream’. The major problem woven into the plot discussesRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman Analysis1351 Words   |  6 PagesIn Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, Biff Loman confesses the following to his brother, Happy: â€Å"I don’t know—what I’m supposed to want† (22). Biff is expressing his internal struggle between wanting to live up to his father’s expectations and his desire to pursue what he really wants-- to be outdoors. Biff is conflicted and views himself as a failure for not achieving his father’s image of success. At the end of the play, Biff realiz es that in order for him to be truly successful he has to stopRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman Symbolism Analysis1145 Words   |  5 PagesSymbols in â€Å"Death of a Salesman† by Arthur Miller Symbolism, as defined by Oxford Dictionary, is the â€Å"use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.† Throughout the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, he uses symbols to represent a greater idea and to say more than what is actually being said. 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One piece of American literature that substantiates the fact that the American Dream can not be gotten is Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman which describes the tragedy of the average person in America. A number of other writers also draw the inability to capture the American Dream. John Steinbeck demonstrates in his highly acclaimed novel The Grapes of Wrath how hard economic timesRead MoreAnalysis of the Ending of De ath of a Salesman1261 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of the Ending of Death of a Salesman The play Death of a Salesman shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty- year-old salesman in the America of the 1940s, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big success in the business world. It also portrays his wife Linda, who plays along nicely with his lies and tells him what he wants to hear, out of compassion. The book describes the last day of his life, but there are frequent flashbacks in which Willy relives key eventsRead MoreAnalysis Of Death Of A Salesman 1859 Words   |  8 PagesIn â€Å"Death of a Salesman†, Willy and his family live in post-war Brooklyn, where America was enjoying a state of economic prosperity. In an attempt to shield Americans from the influences of communist ideals, Americans felt that financial success supported a capitalist society. The American dream is the belief that any American citizen can achieve their dreams if they are hard working, even those who are destitute. This idea of equality is criticized by both of the texts I will be comparing. In thisRead MoreAnalysis of Biff in Death of a Salesman Essay1584 Words   |  7 PagesCamilla Tanzi Year 12 An analysis of the character of Biff. Biff Loman is portrayed as the root of Willy’s mental illness and instability. He is also the only member of his family who acknowledges his own failures in life. On the whole, Biff Loman stands out as the most intriguing and strong character in â€Å"Death of a Salesman. He is not a successful man and never will be, he is however able to admit this, even in a harsh society as the one of the 1960s America. Biff knows he is a â€Å"nothing† andRead MoreA Detailed Analysis of Death of a Salesman1199 Words   |  5 PagesLook at Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman has been accepted worldwide as one of the greatest American dramas to premier in theatre. The story behind the play is based on Miller’s interactions with his Uncle, a salesman whose efforts to obtain the â€Å"American Dream† and pass his success on to his two sons becomes his main focus. Miller’s life during the preparation of Death of a Salesman provides the spark and inspiration needed to pen a literary classic. Almost five decades later, Death of a Salesman’s