Dona Perfecta Essay Example for Free

Dona Perfecta Essay Dona Perfecta, written by B. Perez Galdos, is a novel that explores the conflict between the new progressive movement and the old religious school of thought. This conflict takes place in the small Spanish village of Orbajosa. Narrow-minded Catholic zealots dominate Orbajosa. The most prominent of the zealots is Dona Perfecta. Dona is traditional catholic and strives to fight any opposition to her fixed beliefs. Pepe Rey, her nephew, presents the biggest challenge to Dona because he is an engineer who relies on scientific fact rather than religious faith. Dona feels as though Pepe is challenging her and the towns’ livelihood. This belief leads Dona to not only turn the town against Pepe, but also to have him killed. Dona’s Catholic belief system is only a facade to her evil nature. The town of Orbajosa is presented to be a small yet inviting town. Pepe is welcomed to the town warmly and happily. Dona is the first to greet Pepe when the narrator states, â€Å"the sincere expression of her affection, was receiving him at the gate itself in her loving arms† (23). Dona appears to be a very loving and hospitable character. She also surprises Pepe with her lengthy preparations to his room when the narrator states, â€Å"Pepe recognized in all the details of the room the diligent and loving hand of the woman† (24). Dona has proven that she is capable of being kind and loving towards those who pose no threat to her lifestyle. However, it is only when Pepe denounces religion that Dona feels threatened and begins to revel her evil nature. When Pepe and the town canon, Don Inocencio, meet, the men clash with their ideals. Both are intelligent and therefore, are stubborn. Pepe reveals to Don Inocencio that science is more valid than religion when he states, â€Å"Mysticism in religion, routine in science, mannerism in art, are failing, as the Pagan gods fell† (36). Pepe expresses his opinions about science and religion without any hesitation. Don Incencio and the towns’ people of Orbajosa feel that Pepe is resolutely against their beliefs. Increasing animosity is the result of Pepe’s progressive mind-set. Dona feels as though Pepe is a liability to the town’s way of life and the only way to get rid of the problem is to exterminate it completely. Dona is desperate to get rid of Pepe. She knows that Pepe poses the possibly to contaminate the towns ideals with his progressive philosophy. Dona decides that the town must turn against Pepe. Dona accuses Pepe of being disrespectful in the church when she states, â€Å"between thinking things and showing them in that irreverent manner, there is a distance which a man of good sense and good breeding should never cross† (56). Dona feels the need to make baseless accusations about Pepe in order to sway the public opinion against Pepe. Pepe himself recognizes the absurdity of Dona’s accusation when he states, â€Å"I have shown no contempt for any one, nor do I entertain the ideas which you attribute to me† (57). Pepe is troubled by the idea that his own aunt would accuse him of such trivial acts. Pepe knows that his progressive ideals are threatening to the town and are creating distrust between him and Orbajosa. Dona knows that the only way to truly get rid of Pepe is to kill him. Dona is consumed with the idea that the town of Orbajosa is transitioning from a traditional mindset to a progressive mindset. In reaction, Dona orders the killing of Pepe. She then lies about the killing saying that Pepe committed suicide when she states, â€Å"Pepe Rey at about twelve o’clock last night entered the garden of the house and shot himself in the right temple† (218). Dona manufactured this lie in order to cover up her evil action. Dona resorted to extreme and evil measures in order to preserve her way of thought. Her name Dona Perfecta is ironic in the sense that Dona is far from perfect because she is evil. The injustice that Dona commits revels not only the true hypocritical nature of Dona but also the hypocritical nature of Orbajosa as a whole. Dona Perfecta uses the conflict between Pepe and Dona to show the strong opposition the progressive movement faces. While Pepe was welcomed at first, he was soon ostracized and persecuted for his thoughts. The towns’ people of Orbajosa felt Pepe might threaten their way of life. Extreme measures were taken by Dona to put Pepe to rest. Perhaps Galdos intends the reader to see that while people may appear to be good, in reality, they are not what they seem.

Aristotle on Nobility and Pleasure :: essays research papers

â€Å"The lovers of what is noble find pleasant the things that are by nature pleasant; and virtuous actions are such†¦ Their life, therefore, has no further need of pleasure as a sort of adventitious charm, but has pleasure in itself.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ethics, I.8  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aristotle was a student under Plato, and although he did not believe in the metaphysical Forms that Plato so firmly believed in, he did apply an element of the theory behind the Forms. Instead, what Aristotle postulated was that there was some ultimate, some final goal to which we all reach, but instead of being some unattainable goal, it was very simple: happiness. Happiness manifests itself in all of our actions, whether it’s a conscious process or not, but when we are truly happy is when we do things that are virtuous and honorable. And instead of being some latent part of another goal, Aristotle stated that happiness was the goal, that there was no higher form to achieve beyond. In chapter seven of Book One, Aristotle is almost vague as he tries and defines what happiness is, and more importantly, why happiness is crucial to the human function, and in fact states that â€Å"nor should we demand to know a casual explanation in all matters alike† (1098b). Comparing it to simple truths that are a priori, like when dealing with fundamental principles, he admits that it cannot be defined so easily nor so quickly. He then struggles, in chapter eight, to define happiness. It is, according to him, a kind of â€Å"good life and well-being;† virtue precludes action as well as thought. It is also synonymous with virtue: even though virtuous acts are, in general, â€Å"not pleasant by nature †¦ men who love what is noble derive pleasure from what is naturally pleasant† (1099a). Aristotle also makes a clear separation of happiness that is god-given – makarios – and a happiness that is produced through human effort and virtue, eudaimon. But it seems as if there is an inherent flaw in his outlook for those who are not blesses with makarios and lack the means (political connections, wealth, stature, et cetera) to carry out an action that would make someone happy. In chapter ten, he even goes so far as to ask if a man could truly be called happy in his lifetime, because â€Å"many changes and all kinds of contingencies will befall a man in the course of his life.

Informative speech outline Essay

1. In order to give a good informative speech first thing you have to do Is to choose a good topic, and if you are doing your speech for school, pick a topic you are familiar with. It will help you to be a better speaker. 2. It will be helpful if you will include things you do and like into your speech. But it does not mean that you have to talk about stuff you know, make sure to do a good research and try to find something new and significant for you and of course your listeners. Read more:Â  Informative essay outline 3. It is important to narrow down your topic, so you can be able to cover your topic in the time allotted. 4. If you are making speech about popular stuff like obesity, bullying etc make sure you do a good research and try to find stuff people might do not know, at this point your speech won’t be boring. 5. From your list of topics, choose one to develop into your thesis. Your thesis is simply a specific statement expressing clearly in a single sentence what exactly you’re going to do. The last significant thing you have to know is that thesis has to be as specific as possible. References: ColoState.edu 1. Why is the topic appropriate for your audience? In my opinion movies are part of our lives, everybody watch them, therefore I have decided that this topic is going to be interesting not only for me but also for the audience. 3. How is your topic narrowed to conform to the time limits for the speech assignment? I am trying to be specific In order to narrow my speech and make sure that I make time. 4. What is your specific purpose statement? 5. What is your central idea? 6. How will you introduce your topic and what method(s) of gaining attention do you use in the introduction? Intro – How much work goes into making a good movie? Â  Inorder to get an attention of my audience I am going to use the questioning method. 7. How do you establish your credibility in the introduction? 8. Write the preview statement you will use in your introduction. Today I am going to talk about filmmaking. Not everybody aware of how hard is it to make a good movie. Firstly I will tell you about preproduction, which is one of the hardest steps in making a movie, secondly I’m going to talk about production and in conclusion you will learn what is postproduction period. 9. What method of organization will you use in the speech? I will use topical method of organization. 10. State in full sentences the main points to be developed in the body of your speech. I will give you some insight on what it takes in order to make some of your favorite movies. The film production has three main stages preproduction, production and postproduction. 11. What information will you include to adapt the content of your speech so it will be clear and interesting to your audience? Be specific. My speech will consist the information about preproduction, production and postproduction. Basically the information of how the movies are being made. 12. How will you conclude and what method(s) of reinforcing your central idea do you use in the conclusion? Using a quotation by Banksy Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, its probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it.

Compare and Contrast Essay the Tell Tale Heart and the...

In both the â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart†, and†The Black Cat†, the stories end with a death of a person. Some events in the murder are similar and different. In this paragraph, I will talk about the story, â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart†. In the beginning of the story, the narrator wants to kill an old man, who lives with him, because of his vulture eye. He decides that he will watch the old man at night and shine a light on his vulture eye. If he sees the eye he will kill the old man. In the first seven days, he does not see the vulture eye. But on the 8th night he makes a slight noise and wakes the old man up. After a little while he charges into the room, which then the old man screams, and the narrator kills the old man by†¦show more content†¦When he, his wife and a servant escaped from the house, all of his worldly possessions burned in front of his very own eyes. The following day, he visited the ruins and saw that one wall did not cave in. On the wa ll, he saw a great imprint of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck. This brought the narrator to believe that during the fire, someone threw the cat inside one of the houses windows when the house was on fire. Since the cellar was made of concrete, it was not destroyed and they decided to live there. After some time, they find another cat with a splotch of white on his chest. They decide to adopt him and bring him home. This cat followed the narrator everywhere and everywhere. This eventually angered the narrator again. When he was in the cellar with his wife the cat made him trip and he was about to kill the cat with a fatal blow with an axe, until his wife stepped in the middle and the axe slammed into her skull, oozing of blood and killing her instantly. He decides to put her body in one of the walls of the cellar, like the monks of the middle ages did. For the next three days he does not see the cat. So he ends up thinking that he is finally a free man. When the police arr ive on the 4th day, they check all the nooks and crannies in the room, and they do not see any evidence of a murder. When they are about to leave though, the narrator starts to brag about how well his house is constructed. When he taps the part of the wall whereShow MoreRelatedStudy Guide Literary Terms7657 Words   |  31 Pagesinanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs, facial features, human locomotion or other anthropoid form. (This technique is often incorrectly called personification.)The King and Queen of Hearts and their playing-card courtiers comprise only one example of Carroll’s extensive use of anthropomorphism in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 9. Aphorism-A brief statement which expresses an observation on life, usually intended as a wise observationRead MoreLangston Hughes Research Paper25309 Words   |  102 PagesMexico to avoid segregation and racial injustice in the United States. 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