Analysis Of Punishment, By Seamus Heaney

As Robert Blecker, a Professor of Economics and American University, says, “An unpleasant life in prison, a quick but painful death…can help restore a moral balance” (Blecker). Some people agree with the death penalty because of moral fairness; however, some people oppose the death penalty because of family relationship, financial costs with education, false conviction, bias and religious perspective. In the article “With the Death Penalty, Let the Punishment Fit the Crime,” the author Robert Blecker argues about which method of execution would best fit the crime and the unequal situation in prison. Although Blecker explains the reason of death penalty and discusses about choosing better method of execution, based on the research, I oppose

Like a shovel to dirt as a pen to paper. In “Digging,” Seamus Heaney uses specific elements such as diction, and imagery to convey his meaning that children don’t always want to be like their past generations of men.

Throughout the history of mankind, many genocides have occurred around the world because there is much hatred among specific kinds of people. A genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. An example of a genocide in Germany is the Holocaust where Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, showed the Jews’ experience from the horrors, tortures, and killings in the death camps. At the same time, a mass execution was happening in Nanjing, China, where the Japanese soldiers were slaughtering and torturing thousands of the Chinese. Both the Jews from Night and the Chinese in the “Nanking Massacre” had suffered the elements of cruelty from execution methods and their torture such

There are many different philosophies that are in use in the court systems when determining what sort of punishment will be imposed on someone who is found guilty of committing a crime. These philosophies are in use in both the adult courts and juvenile courts. The juvenile court system is similar to the adult courts, but there are many differences between the two. Both court systems try and keep crime from happening and both courts sentence those found guilty to some sort of punishment through the punishment philosophy that the court determines is a suitable approach for preventing future crime.

Throughout history, there are lesser-known occurrences in which Historians can make assertions about the society in that time period as a whole. The conviction, execution and alleged resurrection of William Cragh is one such occurrence. In The Hanged Man, Robert Bartlett writes of a man who was executed, but allegedly rose from the dead in the Middle Ages. The story of William Cragh is not only a riveting anecdote, but also, an insightful look at the legal system of the Middle Ages. The Hanged Man helps to explain the relationship between England and Wales, the legal process that led to hanging, as well as societal perceptions of criminals and outlaws in the Medieval Period. Robert Bartlett is able to present a complicated historical event through the language of an everyday person. The Hanged Man is a great example of accessible historical nonfiction, bringing an understanding of the Middle Ages to a broad audience.

In the poem “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” by George Gascoigne, the speaker expresses his lack of faith towards a women who betrayed him, through the imagery and diction used. George Gascoigne writes the poem in one stanza that helps readers focus on the speaker's feelings. To help readers understand his feelings of betrayal he uses the image of a mouse and a fly. “The mouse which once hath broken out of trap”( line 5) “The scorched fly which once hath scaped the flame. ”(line

The human race remembers people in history who fought for something they believed in. For example, both Neapolitan Bonaparte and George Washington killed other people in battle, because they had something that they believed worthy to fight for regardless of the established and universal law against killing. In Raskolnikov`s words from Crime and Punishment, they were extraordinary men. These men, according to Raskolnikov, had the right to commit any crime, because they were leading ordinary people into a new and improved society, without any moral repercussions. In Fyrodor Doveskey`s, Crime and Punishment, his character Raskolnikov`s argument of the extraordinary man versus the ordinary man,

“Punishment,” a poem written by Irish author Seamus Heaney, speaks of the discovery of the body of a young bog girl, who as realized later in the poem, was punished for being an “adulteress.” (23) On closer inspection and as the poem shifts from past to present the faith of the bog girl is compared with the faith of another woman in more recent violent times, namely The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In this poem Heaney thus comments, through the use of literary devices such as enjambment, contrast, imagery, metaphors and alliteration and through his diction, on the cruelty of human nature, guilt and on the question of whether we have changed and evolved over time or whether we are still, deep inside, as barbaric and savage

In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky discusses justice, questioning who or what determines this ideal. Primarily, he focuses on a man named Raskolnikov, who murders two women and then wrestles with his motives. As Raskolnikov’s hopeless outlook drives him to madness, his friend Sonia reveals an alternative view of justice, which allows for redemption. Through analyzing his character’s viewpoints, Dostoevsky never explicitly defines justice; instead, he exposes his audience to different interpretations to form their own conclusions. However, by depicting Raskolnikov spiraling into madness, Dostoevsky guides his reader to reject justice as determined by man in favor of it established by a higher power.

Crime and Punishment, written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky; is a philosophical crime fiction novel. The story is very powerful in that it goes beyond the book and into the lives of the audience; making the audience feel some type of relation between themselves and the story. Dostoevsky was brilliant in creating a fictional world where the characters seem to be found within the audience, transitioning from a fictional story to a self-help book. He employes many life lessons in the story, which give the audience a new perspective on themselves.

The characteristics of the genre the work does meet is provide the reader thought provoking questions over their morals of what is considered a crime and what punishment should be made by delving into the mind of a criminal tormented by the guilt of a murder which presented psychological aspects, and displaying a situation that involves a criminal with motive and events that led to his imprisonment.

Before the interactive oral, I noticed the numerous dreams and hallucinations in the novel Crime and Punishment, but I was not quite able to grasp the deeper meaning of some of the dreams and hallucinations. After this interactive oral, I see how important dreams are in this novel. They serve to illuminate the state of a character in a way that would not otherwise be clear.

In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky expresses his disapproval of the Ubermensch theory by using his main character; Raskolnikov who tries to become an extraordinary person but fails to do so. Raskolnikov is put in a group where people maintain the idea that man is not actually equal but are divided into two separate groups which are; the ordinary people who are locked within the laws and tradition of society by only reproducing their own kind, and the extraordinary who believe that people should have the moral right to break laws if their violation is for the greater society.

Seamus Heaney is a widely celebrated poet from Northern Ireland and was well known for writing about his culture and song-like pieces that touched on historical and ethical natures. In “Punishment”, the piece focuses on the image of a dead girl, now a preserved piece of history, who was supposedly killed for committing adultery in Germany. In the dark, dramatic, and historical poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney, he uses overt words and phrasing, internal rhyme, as well as alliteration, metaphors, and other literary devices to uncover the brutality, injustice, and chilling exposedness of the murder of the young girl, who is the subject of the piece.

Philip Larkin (1922-1895) was an English novelist and poet, in 1955 he became a Liberian at the University of Hull. He would stay on working at the University until his death in 1895. During the first few months of his time working at the University he stayed in various bedsits, after this he moved into a flat which appears to be the same flat in which he wrote his poem “High Windows” which was first published in 1974. Clive James commented on this poem by saying: “The total impression of High Windows is of despair made beautiful.”1 The speaker of “High Windows” is most likely Larkin, although he is hiding behind a mask, not truly confirming his identity as he narrates on what he sees looking out of his window. “High Windows” was written in London during the time known as ‘The Summer of Love,’ this is when Bands such as ‘The Beatles’ brought around the craze of free thinkers, free love and drug use; no longer was the topic of sex whispered in the shadows.