Essays on The Castle

The Tokugawa Period lasted between 1603 and 1867 (Yanemoto). It was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and it was also called the Edo period. The Tokugawa period was characterized by political stability, internal peace, and economic growth. The people were led under military dictatorship. During this time, the Japanese society experienced some changes. Some of the transformation include educational expansion, commercialization and economic growth among others. The social order in the society was totally frozen. The society was divided into four classes: Samurai class, Farmers/Peasants, Artisans, and Merchants. Peasants were concerned with food production through farming. Artisans used their crafts ...

‘This is the tragedy of a men who could not make up his mind’ announces the movie interpretation of Sir Laurence Olivier, the Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for his Hamlet. It might be said that the award for Best Picture mainly belongs to William Shakespeare himself as the movie is closely following the original script of the play. In some cases it reveals the perception of the play by the movie director, the order of some scenes was changed. For example, in the first Act, the scenes of the appearance of Horatio, ...

Summary of Burton Malkiel’s “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”

Burton Malkiel authors the book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”, highlighting several investing strategies, truisms, myths, and axioms. According to the book, Malkiel seems to have his central premise that index funds are better investment options to an individual than other strategies used for selecting stocks. This piece provides a summary of four chapters divided into two parts: part 1 having chapters 1 and 2, and part 2 having chapters 4 and 14.

Chapter 1: Firm Foundations and Castles in the Air

In the first chapter, Burton starts by defining random walk as an instance in which future occurrences cannot be predicted based on the past occurrences ( ...

Chapter I. Firm foundations and castles in the air

The chapter focuses on the two investment theories, the castle in the air and the firm foundation. According to the firm foundation theory, investing involves knowing the real value of the investment and make decisions based on the real value. One of the examples to explain the concept is investing in Coca-Cola Corporation wherein investing in the company’s stocks requires determining the actual value of the company. In terms of the castle in the air theory, the concept implies that investments should be a response to what others are doing, and the returns for such investment can be ...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva on June 28, 1712. His family was of French origin. Jean-Jacques, who lost his mother at birth, was first raised by his father, who made him read him adventure stories and Plutarch's Lives. Then he spent two years with his uncle Bernard, who put him up to board with the Lambercier pastor at Bossey. Then, Rousseau returned to Geneva and was apprenticed to an engraver. But one day, in order to escape a deserved punishment, he went to the priest of Confignon, a village two leagues from Geneva, and told him he wanted ...

The novella by Von Kleist, titled “Michael Kohlhaas” was first published in 1810. In the book, the man Kohlhaas who was a horse merchant at the time is subjected towards a number of injustices by the government. His horses are taken away from him, and his wife is beaten and succumbs to her injuries. Attempts by Kohlhaas to use the legal system to get him justice are futile since he is dealing with politicians who are powerful in the state. He later resolves to violence in which he terrorizes the Junker together with an army he had managed to ...

Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula

The Film Dracula directed by Godfather trilogy director Francis Ford Coppola and based on the book by Bram Stoker, released in 1992. The story was slightly revamped from the book and it was modified to adapt to the culture of the 1990s. As in Stoker's book, sexuality forms the core part of the film. It defines the characters in many ways. The scene in which the Dracula and Harker were together alone, shows great passion and closeness between these two. The scene where Dracula shaves Harker in front of a mirror and when the mirror reflects only Harker, it ...

Movie Review

“Laputa: The Castle in the Sky” became the first animation film produced on Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata’s “Studio Ghibli”. Maybe it is because of the success of the given movie “Ghibli” became a synonym of a high-quality feature animation for many years ahead. Produced in distant 1986 the movie has not been forgotten until today. Is it because of the bright plot of genius writer and director Hayao Miyazaki or memorable music theme of a wonderful composer Joe Hisaishi, but “The Castle in the Sky” even nowadays continues to amaze the audience with its romantic kindness, taking ...

Introduction pp.3-4

Bella and Luke – Chapter 1: Bella p.5 Bella and Luke – Chapter 2: Luke p.6 Bella and Luke – Chapter 3: Bella and Luke pp.7-9 Explanation of plot summary and choices pp.10-12 Introduction For this assignment I have chosen topic number 2; “Write your own version of the Cinderella story, structuring your re-telling around the element(s) of the story that seem most significant or interesting to you. You can tell the story from the point of view of one of the characters or use third person narration. Think carefully about what specific aspects of the story you decide to emphasise ...

Van Helsing as a Protector: The Role of the Vampire Hunter the Present-Day Vampire Culture

Abstract The vampire culture grew out of the Gothic genre and became extremely popular throughout the world. The first and most famous representative of the vampire cast is Dracula, who first appeared as a protagonist in Bram Stocker’s book with the same name. Dracula was created as a predator that hid within his threatening castle, and attacked helpless women. The author also introduced Van Helsing, the hero who acted as a protector of women and fought to destroy the monster. However, Van Helsing remained a less popular and well-known character as compared to the monster he hunted. In ...