Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy - The Humanist Chronotope Essay -- Spanish T

Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy - The Humanist Chronotope In "Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel," Mikhail Bakhtin defines the chronotope as "the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature" (84). That is what the chronotope is; Bakhtin continues with what the chrontope does: "It can even be said that it is precisely the chronotope that defines genre and generic distinctions" (85). In The Spanish Tragedy, Kyd layers three chronotopic zones to create a new chronotope, the "humanist chronotope," which in turn creates a unique dramatic genre, one we might call "humanist drama." According to Bakhtin, two seminal chronotopes from classical literature form the basis of most later chronotopes. The first of these seminal chronotopes is the adventure chronotope, found in romance narratives such as Longus’s Daphnis and Chloe. Time in this chronotope is a random and non-causal chain of events characterized by "suddenly" and "at just that moment" that ends at the same point in biographical time at which it began. Time is thus infinite, reversible, and extratemporal; it is also governed by chance, and therefore, Bakhtin writes, "The initiative in this time does not belong to human beings" (95). Extratemporal time requires "extraspatial" space that is abstract rather than concrete, as a concrete space, argues Bakhtin, would limit the power of chance. Adventure space is also alien space: a familiar world would also leave traces that would limit the chance that drives time in the romance. Apuleius’s The Golden Ass exemplifies the second seminal chronotope: the adventure-everyday chronotope, a hybrid, as the name suggests, of the abstract adventure chronotope and a ... ...er a dumb show, so too will the audience understand the idea after the performance of The Spanish Tragedy. Kyd’s "humanist chronotope" thus places drama at the center of humanist learning: yet it is as a spectator, not as an actor or playwright, that one becomes a humanist. WORKS CITED Bakhtin, M.M. "Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel: Notes toward a Historical Poetics." Michael Holquist, ed. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1981. 84-258. Freeman, Arthur. Thomas Kyd: Facts and Problems. Oxford: Clarendon, 1967. Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. J.R. Mulryne, ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989. Mann, Nicholas. "The Origins of Humanism." Jill Kraye, ed. The Cambridhe Companion to Renaissance Humanism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. 1-19.

Life & Work of Dr. Maria Montessori Essay

Birth & Family: Montessori was born in Ancona, Italy. Her father, Alessandro Montessori, 33 years old at the time, was an official of the Ministry of Finance. Her mother, Renilde Stoppani, 25 years old, was well educated for the times and was probably related to Italian geologist and paleontologist. While she did not have any particular mentor, she was very close to her mother who readily encouraged her. She also had a loving relationship with her father, although he disagreed with her choice to continue her education. Education: Maria herself proved remarkably talented. She was a confident and strong-minded lady who excelled in school by the role of leader in different games and conversations. At the age of thirteen she got admission in a technical school, a thing considered off-limits to females at that time. She scored high marks that when she graduated, in 1886; she was able to enter in the Regio Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci. Here she studied math, natural sciences, and languages, again excelling beyond all expectations. It was here too that she became fascinated with the biological sciences, and began to dream of pursuing a career in medicine. Despite her gender, she was allowed to study medicine. When she presented her thesis in 1896, her absolute brilliance so impressed the all-male board of review that they awarded her a medical degree, making her Italy’s first woman doctor. After this accomplishment she was promoted to surgical assistant at Santo Spirito, where she had worked previously as medical assistant. As a physician, Montessori specialized in pediatrics and the new field of psychiatry. She continued research at the University of Rome, joining the university staff in 1897. She became interested in psychology and human behavior, and in 1900, at the elapse of just a short span of four years after her degree in medicine, she accepted a professorship in anthropology at the University of Rome. Work of Dr. Maria Montessori: After accepting a professorship in anthropology, Montessori researched & worked on so-called â€Å"phrenasthenic† children—in modern terms, children experiencing some form of mental retardation, illness, or disability. She also began to travel, study, speak, and publish nationally and internationally, coming to prominence as an advocate for women’s rights and education for mentally disabled children. In Rome during this time, children who were considered mentally deficient were sending in asylums. Montessori’s early observations of these asylum children formed a crucial element of her theory that would later influence many people. She observed children who use to crawl on the floor to grab crumbs of bread after mealtime and realized that â€Å"not all children developed through phases of life in the same way.† Her initial focus was to rehabilitate mentally retarded children, with behavioral problems, orphans, and the desperately poor. Montessori’s early efforts were so surprisingly successful that she soon had a large following, not only of parents desperate for her help, but of teachers desperate to learn her methods. Montessori was much influenced by the earlier work on child development and psychology, in particular research conducted by Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard and Edouard Seguin. Their experiments & research were a source of inspiration for Montessori who believed that â€Å"mental deficiency presented chiefly a pedagogical, rather than mainly a medical problem†. Satisfied with the fact that so-called â€Å"mentally deficient† children could learn the same things as normal children, sometimes at a faster pace or by attaining a higher mastery level, Montessori began to focus on working directly with normal children in the field of education. The opportunity to work with normal children came to her in 1907, when she was offered the position of a medical director for a day-care center that was being organized for working-class children who were too young to attend public schools. Casa Dei Bambini (House of Children) The 1st day-care center, named Casa dei Bambini (House of Children) was located in the worst slum district San Lorenzo in Rome on January 6, 1907, & the conditions Montessori faced were atrocious. Its purpose was to provide a space for pre-school age children who were damaging and destroying the houses while their parents were at work. Montessori believed in taking the time to learn from the children, as she herself learned through her observations of the children in the asylums. As Montessori herself wrote, â€Å"I merely wanted to study the children’s reactions. I asked not to interfere with them in any way as otherwise I would not be able to observe them.† Montessori surprised when she saw children’s lack of interest in the toys or the drawing materials and their keen interest in the educational materials. Each educational material had some carefully planned objective that was pre-determined by Montessori. â€Å"Liberty of the pupil† was fundamental met hod according to her. The spread of Montessori education in Italy The first Casa dei Bambini was a success, and a second was opened on April 7, 1907. The children in her programs continued to exhibit concentration, attention, and spontaneous self-discipline and the classrooms began to attract the attention of prominent educators, journalists, and public figures. Three more Case dei Bambini opened in 1908, and in 1909 Italian Switzerland began to replace Froebellian methods with Montessori in orphanages and kindergartens. International Recognition and Growth of Montessori Education As early as 1909, Montessori’s work began to attract the attention of international observers and visitors. Her work was widely published internationally, and spread rapidly. By the end of 1911, Montessori education had been officially adopted in public schools in Italy and Switzerland, and was planned for the United Kingdom. By 1912, Montessori schools had opened in Paris and many other Western European cities, and were planned for Argentina, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Syria, the United States, and New Zealand. Public programs in London, Johannesburg, Rome, and Stockholm had adopted the method in their school systems. Montessori societies were founded in the United States as AMI (the Montessori American Committee) and the United Kingdom (the Montessori Society for the United Kingdom). Maria Montessori’s writings were also being translated to different languages. She was continually giving lectures around the world where she is always welcomed. She also continued her research and application of her principles to school aged and preschool aged children as well as infants from birth. Her research about the child’s early years is written in â€Å"Absorbent Mind† (1949). Alternatively she also took notice of the social possibilities based on the idea that â€Å"true education is an armament of peace†. In 1939 she flew to India where she met Mahatma Gandhi. In 1949 she addressed UNESCO where she received an ovation. She was honored with the Legione d’Honneur and received an honorary of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam. Awards and Recognition: Montessori truly deserved and referred to as a lady much ahead of her time. She was a true pioneer of a modern education system. She was honored by many countries with royal, civic and academic awards and was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949, 1950 and 1951. Regarding her work and efforts in educational sector her picture was on Italian 200 lire coin and in 1990 on the 1000 lire bill. Montessori’s Death: Maria Montessori died in the Netherlands on May 6, 1952 aged 81. Her name always lives through the method of teaching that she introduced because she said once that, â€Å"I did not invent a method of education, I simply gave some little children a chance to live†. She was truly a woman ahead of her time.

Recent Legal History of the Death Penalty in America

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the government-sanctioned execution of a person sentenced to death by a court of law as punishment for a crime. Crimes that can be punished by the death penalty are known as capital crimes and include serious offenses such as murder, aggravated rape, child rape, child sexual abuse, terrorism, treason, espionage, sedition, piracy, aircraft hijacking, drug trafficking and drug dealing, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Currently, 56 countries, including the United States allow their courts to impose the death penalty, while 106 countries have enacted laws abolishing it completely. Eight countries sanction the death penalty in special circumstances such as war crimes, and 28 countries have abolished it in practice. As in the United States, the death penalty is a matter of controversy. The United Nations has now adopted five non-binding resolutions calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty, calling for its eventual abolition worldwide. While most countries have abolished it, over 60% of the world’s population live countries where the death penalty is allowed. China is believed to execute more people than all other countries combined. The Death Penalty in the United States While the death penalty has been an integral part of the American judicial system since the colonial period, when a person could be executed for offenses like witchcraft or stealing grapes, the modern history of American execution has been shaped largely by political reaction to public opinion. Between 1977 and 2017—the latest year available in U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data—34 states executed 1,462 people. The Texas state criminal correctional system accounts for 37% of all executions. Voluntary Moratorium: 1967-1972 While all but 10 states allowed the death penalty in the late 1960s, and an average of 130 executions per year were being carried out, public opinion turned sharply against the death penalty. Several other nations had dropped the death penalty by the early 1960s and legal authorities in the U.S. were starting to question whether or not executions represented cruel and unusual punishments under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Public support for the death penalty reached its lowest point in 1966, when a Gallup poll showed only 42% of Americans approved of the practice. Between 1967 and 1972, the U.S. observed what amounted to a voluntary moratorium on executions as the U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with the issue. In several cases not directly testing its constitutionality, the Supreme Court modified the application and administration of the death penalty. The most significant of these cases dealt with juries in capital cases. In a 1971 case, the Supreme Court upheld the unrestricted right of juries to both determine guilt or innocence of the accused and to impose the death penalty in a single trial. Supreme Court Overturns Most Death Penalty Laws In the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision effectively striking down most federal and state death penalty laws finding them arbitrary and capricious. The court held that the death penalty laws, as written, violated the cruel and unusual punishment provision of the Eighth Amendment and the due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. As a result of Furman v. Georgia, more than 600 prisoners who had been sentenced to death between 1967 and 1972 had their death sentences commuted.   Supreme Court Upholds New Death Penalty Laws The Supreme Courts decision in Furman v. Georgia did not rule the death penalty itself to be unconstitutional, only the specific laws by which it was applied. Thus, the states quickly began to write new death penalty laws designed to comply with the courts ruling. The first of the new death penalty laws created by the states of Texas, Florida and Georgia gave the courts wider discretion in applying the death penalty for specific crimes and provided for the current bifurcated trial system, in which a first trial determines guilt or innocence and a second trial determines punishment. The Texas and Georgia laws allowed the jury to decide punishment, while Floridas law left the punishment up to the trial judge. In five related cases, the Supreme Court upheld various aspects of the new death penalty laws. These cases were: Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976)Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262 (1976)Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242 (1976)Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976)Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325 (1976) As a result of these decisions, 21 states threw out their old mandatory death penalty laws and hundreds of death row prisoners had their sentences changed to life in prison. Execution Resumes On January 17, 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore told a Utah firing squad, Lets do it! and became the first prisoner since 1976 executed under the new death penalty laws. A total of 85 prisoners - 83 men and two women - in 14 U.S. states were executed during 2000. Current Status of the Death Penalty As of January 1, 2015, the death penalty was legal in 31 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty: Alaska, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Between the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and 2015, executions have been carried out in thirty-four states. From 1997 to 2014, Texas led all death penalty-legal states, carrying out a total of 518 executions, far ahead of Oklahoma’s 111, Virginia’s 110, and Florida’s 89. Detailed statistics on executions and capital punishment can be found on the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Capital Punishment website.