Socrates Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Socrates - Research Paper Example To put it in simple words, Protagoras views the principle of morality as a valuable aspect that facilitates social cooperation. On the other hand, Socrates holds a vision about the principle of morality as a matter of an individuals’ interrelation towards his/her own soul which cannot be taught based on certain defined theories or assumptions contradicting Protagoras’ views that a person learns virtue from his early age recently when he/she starts speaking (Plato 5-25). Thesis Statement This study intends to analyze the arguments made by Socrates questioning the dialogues in Protagoras regarding the teachability of virtue and education humans regarding wisdom. Protagoras’ acclamations with reference to the viewpoints of Socrates will also be analyzed in this study to recognize the role of a rational agent, its justness and also its goodness in teaching wisdom to individuals. Proper justification will also be rendered with concern to the agreeability of the thesis , i.e. Protagoras. Explanation of the Argument The sole concern of Protagoras’ acclamations has been to rationalize that virtue and wisdom of human life can be taught. However, this argument has further been countered by Socrates where he questions the reality concerning the teachability aspects of virtues. ... Conversely, Socrates holds a perception that the diverse aspects of virtue are singular as well as indivisible in nature. As per his beliefs concerning the aspects of courage and wisdom are simply dissimilar names for two similar qualities of good life. Apart from arguing regarding diverse aspects of virtue, the determination of the interrelation between knowledge, doing good and pleasure have also been focused in the rudiments of Socrates’ arguments based on Protagoras’ dialogues. In this connection, Socrates proclaimed that pleasure undividable with the concern of good. This can be further rationalized with reference to Socrates’ acclamation that anything which seems to be painful is regarded as evil. This particular proclamation of Socrates signified that it is not possible knowingly to do what is good which apparently contradicts the views of Protagoras stating that individuals can be taught of doing good. Moreover, the proclamation put forward by Socrates al so represented with reference to the fact that it is quite unfeasible to live delightfully while performing any sort of evil activity which again rationalizes a strong connection within the various aspects of virtue as described by Protagoras. Conversely, Protagoras argued that there are several people who are not able to measure the most prominent doing that would bring pleasure to them. Hence, as a consequence, wrong activities are generally caused by ignorance that is not to be considered as a conflict or disagreement between ethical duties and the aspirations for pleasure within an individual. According to Protagoras’ dialogues, there lay the requirement of a specific art or

Interview Essay Essay Example for Free

Interview Essay Essay Anthony Bryant Jr. is a man who is willing to sacrifice his free time in order to chase his goals. He started out watching the p90x infomercial late one night because he had nothing else to do and just wanted to see what it was like. He began to ask around and see if anyone he knew had the program and if it gave the results that were promised. Luckily, he ran into an old friend who had recently lost the motivation to stick with the program, and asked if he could try it out for himself. â€Å"I thought it would be a breeze because its just a simple home workout,† he smirked. Little did he know, he was about to challenge himself harder than ever before. This was only the beginning of his journey to understand what dedication and commitment truly meant. A. J. decided that we should meet at his local gym which he attends daily. I got there a little early and decided to check out the environment. Inside was a sizable room filled with machines and equipment built strictly for strength training, half of which I didnt even know how to use. Out of nowhere, I heard â€Å"hey man whats up† from the front of the gym, I smiled and turned around to see Anthony walking through the door wearing a Grey cutoff shirt that said â€Å"pain is weakness leaving the body† and a pair of light blue basketball shorts. He is a rather tall, lean guy with short, black hair, weighing in at about 205 pounds. We started talking as he laid down on the bench to pump some iron. After the first three or four minutes, I asked if we could go somewhere else to talk because I could hardly hear him over the sound of the weights rattling against each other. He agreed that it was a bit too loud in the gym for an interview; we went outside and sat at a round table and I asked my first question. I began by asking what his typical day was like through the week. He said he starts his day by getting to the gym before the owner at five in the morning to do cardio. After an hour of cardio he goes home to make his first meal of the day, which is always protein pancakes. Then he picks up his backpack and heads off to school for the next 5 hours. As soon as he gets home from school, he hits the books to make sure he gets all of his work done and has nothing to stress about at the gym. When his training partner arrives they eat a quick meal before heading out to the weight room. They get there and start their average two hour workout, depending on the day: Monday – Chest ; biceps, Tuesday – Legs, Wednesday – rest day, Thursday – Back ; Traps, Friday – Shoulders, Saturday – Arms, and Sunday – rest day. Upon completing the strenuous exercises they return home for their last meal of the day and go their separate ways until the next session. By this time the only thing left to do is get a good nights rest to let their muscles recover for the next day. I could not understand how they did this every day without giving in to failure. Mr. Bryant told me that there were three objectives to keep in mind when choosing to embark on a fitness journey, to decide, commit, and succeed. I asked what each of these meant individually; he leaned back in the chair and said â€Å"boy lemme tell ya, deciding to better yourself is the easiest part, you simply determine whether or not you are willing to go the distance. Anyone can say theyre going to get in shape right after they take a bite of a twinkie. † That is when I realized he was very passionate about physical fitness. Obviously, deciding to become fit was the easiest step, my next question was which one was the hardest. He told me commitment was the most important part of the challenge to become fit, he looked at me and firmly stated that we should never make a plan B because it only distracts from plan A. He told me if someone was to fully decide and commit to working out then the success would come on its own. After hearing him say that, I felt like it was possible for anyone to achieve what he has with the correct guidance. I asked him if he ever thought about personal training or motivational speaking. He nodded his head and laughed, until he saw that I was serious. Responding with, â€Å" not really, I mean I just planned on attending and hopefully winning competitions, I never thought I could be a help to others in achieving their own goals. † A. J. asked if I thought he would be a good inspiration to keep other people motivated and challenge themselves. I reassured him saying, â€Å"you have done this for so long now that it has become second nature to you, I am sure you would have no problem assisting people who need your help. † After the interview was over, I thanked him for giving me his time. he got up anxiously and simply walked back into the gym he has so long loved. I sat there in awe, at how a person can be so dedicated to improving his physique. Anthony Bryant went from watching infomercials of P90X to making the gym his second home. This is a man that has changed my view about what hard work actually means, and was only the beginning of my journey to understand the meaning of dedication and commitment.

Effect of Medicinal Plant Extracts on Alzheimers Disease

Effect of Medicinal Plant Extracts on Alzheimers Disease Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease which causes a lethal twist in the structural integrity, and a roadblock in the function of brain, this eventually channel the situation to degeneration and shrinkage of brain, and override the control of brain over other parts of the body, and comes to the final closing remark of the disease- death. Studies done on the topic have corroborated that the disease is not reversible, and the only patch of hope is slowing down its progress. But as the disease advances through mid stage and evolves into severe AD, the condition of patient becomes pathetic and care giving becomes more painful. Studies have reported that notable symptoms of AD are seen only after 60 years of age, even though the disease has started before that. Initial symptoms are loss of short term memory- being forgetful about the recent events, and gradually over a period of time patient seems more absent –minded about the environment, things which are chemically etched in the long term memory begins to be erased, and the final stage starts pushing the patient into severe AD which is tremendously pathetic. Studies have proved that loss of function of neurons is the cause of AD. A closer look into the aspect revealed a complex set of events that precede the neuronal degeneration- oxidative stress and imbalance in homeostasis, formation of roadblocks in communication, falling apart of integrity and death of neurons. This enabled to go beyond the findings of superficial studies done and hypothesis developed, and helped to delve much deeper into the inner workings and mechanism of the disease. Hypotheses developed to explain mechanism of AD are: amyloid cascade hypothesis, cholinergic hypothesis and tau hypothesis. Amyloid cascade hypothesis says, APP- Amyloid Precursor Protein, a transmembrane protein involved in main roles of growth, survival and repair of nerve cells- is snipped at wrong places by an enzyme called secretase, leading to the formation of amyloid ÃŽ ² peptides which accumulates to form plaques- amyloid plaques- and bind to synapses blocking the communication channel, event ually causes memory loss. According to cholinergic hypothesis, downward drift in the levels of acetylcholine in brain is the cause for Alzheimer’s disease. Loss of function of cholinergic neurons was found in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Shift in the level of acetylcholine happens due to the lack of two enzymes involved in synthesis and breaking down of acetylcholine. This will lead to loss of function of neurons; brain’s functionality falls apart, and eventually leads to symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Tau hypothesis approaches the problem in another perspective, tau protein- a protein associated with microtubules in nerve cells- gets hyperphosphorylated, this enables cross linking among tau protein units, and they back off from being attached to the microtubules. This causes loss of structural integrity of nerve cells, and they collapse and clump to form tangles- neurofibrillary tangles. Studies conducted focusing on the inner workings of these hypoth esis have found that oxidative stress is the reason that enhances plaque and tangle formation, repair mechanisms in cells are unable to solve the situation as the oligomer formation and cross linking are predominantly made by non peptide bonds. In another study, amyloid ÃŽ ² peptides have shown close relation with some causes of mad cow disease. Studies related to genetics of AD have found the link between APOE gene on chromosome 21 and the disease. APOE gene codes for apolipoprotein, and one among its functions is breaking down of APP. APOE has variants, APOEÃŽ µ4 is the one which codes for less active protein whose capacity to break down APP is sluggish. People with this variant gene are more tend to develop AD in later stages of life, and any abnormality related to chromosome 21 also results in AD over a period of time. To know more about the mechanism of disease and its attachment to oxidative stress, further studies have done from different angles, and all the studies have come to a common point, the findings from all the studies stitched together gave a complex and elaborate picture about the mechanism of the disease. Free radical damage leads to oxidation of products in cell. Oxidation leads to new end products of glycation, nitration, lipid peroxidation, and oxidation of nucleic acids. These new end products chemically modify other proteins and compartments inside the cell. Oxidized derivatives impede with the channel of trace elements, and imbalances their homeostasis, and enables proteins like tau to form non peptide cross linking. In response to changes cell up the levels of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)- an antioxidant enzyme to mitigate the bad effects from free radical damage- but rapid heaping up of neurotoxic substances goes beyond control leading to severe imbalances, blockage of communicati on channels, and eventually death of neuron. Since mitochondria is the main source of free radicals and oxidative precursors. Certain deletions in mtDNA resulted in change in normal levels and rates of metabolism and production of free radicals. Free radicals formed in mitochondria are short lived and they do not have the ability to cross membrane and reach cytoplasm to cause damage, this led studies in a new direction and found free radicals- OH from cytoplasm- can attack guanidine in RNAs in cytoplasm and this both can cross the membrane and reach into mitochondria, and cause imbalance and production of more stable H2O2 radicals which can come to cytoplasm and react with the channel of trace elements, and starts the primary events for the major causes for AD to come into being. AD starts at neocortex area of brain, and as the neurons die and rupture, the neurotoxic substances- plaques, free radicals, tangles, etc. pervade the nearby nerve cells, and the cycle goes on and graduall y covers the brain and makes it slip out of its normal being. Oxidative stress in brain leads to degeneration of neurons, which eventually leads to dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This oxidative stress in brain can be slowed down or reversed- to a small extent- using drugs to treat AD or using antioxidant capacity of some medicinal plants. In this study rats were arranged into seven groups, and different groups were treated with different plant extracts and rivastigmine. AD was induced using aluminum chloride- rats were given aluminum chloride for one month, and the dosage was 17mg/kg of body weight. One group was kept as control- healthy control and another group as AD-induced. Rivastigmine was given to group 3. Group 4 and 5 were treated with extracts of a medicinal plant- Salvia triloba; and group 6 and 7 were treated with extract made from Piper nigrum. The rats were given drug and extracts for three months. At the end of three months duration biochemical assays and histopathology was done to examine the changes happened to t he brains. The following things were checked for in serum: malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity and nitric oxide, and level of superoxide dismutase were checked in erythrocytes. Acetylcholine and acetylcholine esterase levels were checked in brain samples and another group of brain samples were given for histopathology. From the results, the rats which were treated with Piper nigrum extract and rivastigmine showed increase in brain Ach, and serum TAC and SOD; and a significant decrease in brain AchE, and serum MDA and NO. The rats which were treated with extract of Salvia triloba showed even better result in subduing the oxidative stress to a certain limit. Antioxidant capacity of plants was used to bring down the effects of oxidative stress in brain. Here, the effect of the extract made from Boswellia serrata is compared with rivastigmine on rats with AD- induced by oral administration of aluminum chloride. Ninety male rats were used in the study. They were made into nine groups. Group 1 was kept as healthy control, group 2 was given with aluminum chloride for four weeks, and group 3 was treated with rivastigmine, group 4 and 5 were treated with two different concentrations of plant extract made from Boswellia serrata. Groups 3 to 5 were treated with a combination of aluminum chloride and other things to check the ability of extract and drugs to protect the brain from the stress. Group 6 was given with water after inducing AD. Group 7 was given with rivastigmine, and group 8 and 9 were given with two different concentrations of plant extract- this was done for twelve weeks. Cognitive tests were done at the beginning of each new stage o f the study. At the end of the duration of the study, the brain samples were subjected to biochemical assays and histopathology. From the results, B.serrata has significant ability to reduce the oxidative stress in brain, and higher dose if the extract showed better effect- bringing down the severity of oxidative stress damage. Bacopa monnieri is another plant used to trim the effects of AD. This plant is used since ancient times for improving intelligence, and in this study its ability to protect against AD is checked. Alcoholic extracts of the plant was made for the study. AD was induced using ethylcholine aziridinium ion (AF64A)- administered intracerebroventricular way bilaterally. Plant extract was given to the rats two weeks before and one week after the administration of AF64A. rats were subjected to cognitive tests. Rats treated with the plant extract cleared the tests in less time. Histopathology results showed, low dose of the plant extract brought down the degree of damage in brain- reduction of neurons density. Low dose showed better result compared to the medium and high dose. The study has not revealed the mechanism of action of the plant extract, but it showed the scope for a further study on the same. Targeted drug delivery to brain in case of Alzheimer’s disease is more complex process due to many factors like blood brain barrier and actions of plasma proteins. But nanoparticles are used for targeted drug delivery, and this is again affected by physiochemical properties of Nanoparticles in different surfactants, stability of nanoparticles and organic coating or capping agent on nanoparticles. Blood brain barrier is a homeostatic defense mechanism used by brain to screen out pathogens and unwanted materials from entering brain. The barrier screens the solutes biochemically, physicochemically and structurally at the periphery. There are times when blood brain barrier breaks down due to certain infections or due to any physical reason, and this makes it skew from its usual nature- highly selectively permeable. Studies have been conducted to find how nanoparticles are treated at blood brain barrier. In a study, nanoparticles were made by warm microemulsion precursors, and the nanoparticles were radiolabelled by entrapment. Then an in situ study was conducted to check how nanoparticles cross the blood brain barrier. From the study it was concluded that endocytosis or transcytosis as possible mechanism for the transport across the barrier- more studies are yet to be conducted. Studies have shown that clioquinol- a quinoline derivative- can solubilize amyloid ÃŽ ² plaques in vitro and this could prevent accumulation of amyloid ÃŽ ² plaques in Alzheimer’s disease transgenic mice- an in vivo study. Clioquinol has shown its ability to dissolve plaques which are induced by Zn and Cu ions- NMR studies have shown that clioquinol can remove bound Cu ions from amyloid ÃŽ ² plaques. The study conducted has overlooked the toxicity part of clioquinol- though clioquinol has many side effects attached to it at high doses. It has shown in the later part of the study that clioquinol coupled with nanoparticles could easily cross the blood brain barrier- higher degre e of uptake by brain. So, clioquinol-nanoparticle delivery system is suggested to be considered as one among the models for treating Alzheimer’s disease by targeted drug delivery. Even though using nanoparticles are considered for drug delivery, there are studies showing the side effects, and doses. In a study- toxicity of silver nanoparticles- it was found that exposure to more than 125mg/kg of silver nanoparticles will lead to liver damage due to toxicity. In a study curcumin nanoparticle formulation was used to test its effect on Alzheimer’s disease in mice. Nanocurcumin was synthesized and orally given to the mice for twelve days. Memory tests were done before starting every new stage of the experiment. Results have shown that mice treated with nanocurcumin could clear the cognitive tests- significant improvements were observed.

Crime And Punishment Dream Ana Essay -- essays research papers

Dreams of Good and Evil   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dreams are windows into peoples sub conscience and their true emotions and gives important clues to emotional disturbances. Sigmund Freud, the first person to systematically study dreams, said that desires are revealed in the form of dreams. Freud said that dreams gratify those desires which that a person would never express while awake. Psychiatrists today tend to view dreams as attempts to solve problems rather than as the fulfillment of unconscious desires. Whatever dreams are, they gratify a physiological and psychological need of humans. In Crime and Punishment, Raskolinov manifests guilt itself in a dream in which Ilya Petrovich mercilessly beats his landlady. This dream is a vision into Raskolinov’s emotional disturbances and signifies resentment and fear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Raskolinov’s dreams are continual conflicts between his dark and hateful mind and his conscience. His mind drives him to murder and inflates his ego to make him feel as an â€Å"extraordinary man.† On the other hand, his conscience struggles to hinder these violent motives. Raskolinov’s mind is at battle with itself in a conflict of morals and corruption that is manifested into the dream of the mare. Dostoevsky uses the dream as evidence of Raskolinov’s psychic illness. Raskolinov can be identified as all of the characters in his dream: Mikolka, the jeering crowd, the beaten horse, and the innocent child. Raskolinov’s confusion and obvio...

Nazi Concentration Camps

The Holocaust was one of the world’s worst genocides; concentration camps were the worst place to be if you were a captive. Adolf Hitler, a Nazi, convinced many that certain groups of people needed to be exterminated. He started concentration camps to terrorize his enemies. The first concentration camps started in 1933, six years before World War Two began. There were several concentration camps. These concentration camps consisted of European Jews, P. O. W. ’s (Prisoners of War), political prisoners, criminals, homosexuals, and gypsies, the mentally ill and other groups.The first concentration camp was called Dachau, located in Munich, Germany. It was opened March 22, 1933. Within five years of Dachau opening, the number of concentration camps quadrupled. The Nazis created different types of camps, for example, labor camps, transit and collection camps, P. O. W. camps, hostage (or death camps), and extermination camps. Labor concentration camps were where inmates had t o do hard labor under inhumane conditions and cruel treatment. Transit and collection camps were where inmates were collected and transferred to main camps.Prisoner of war camps were where prisoners were held after being captured. These P. O. W. camps caused torture and liquidation of prisoners on a large scale. Death camps were where hostages were held and killed as reprisals. Extermination camps were a mixture of the other camps and were not useful people were sent to be killed. These concentration camps were all horrible but Auschwitz was the worst. Auschwitz was located in Poland and was opened in June 1940. Auschwitz was a total of 40 kilometers. Auschwitz was a labor and extermination camp. Auschwitz had three other sub camps Auschwitz 2 Birkenau and Auschwitz 3.Auschwitz had the highest death count compared to any other camp. It’s estimated that 4 million people were sent to Auschwitz and 1. 1 million died at Auschwitz. The prisoners died of starvation, exhaustion, dis eases, or killed inhumanely by being shot, burned, or gassed. For the most part, children and elders in the concentration camps were treated the worst. If a child was born in a concentration camp, they would be killed on the spot. Most children and elders were killed as soon as they got to the concentration camps if they looked too weak to be useful to work.Some were used for drug and surgery experiments. To save the amount of poison gas and ammunition used to kill people, some children would be thrown into ovens or put into open fire pits. These prisoners were also beaten, put in pressure chambers, or frozen to death. The Nazis were brutal and didn’t care who they killed. There were many escape attempts, though only 802 attempts on record. Only 144 made it out but most of them were caught and killed, or taken back to camp and starved to death. If someone successfully made it out of the camp, random people in their prisoner block would be starved.One of the most successful es capes was when a few prisoners dressed as guards, stole a car and drove out the front gate, they were never caught. The most successful escape was when Oscar Schindler got 300 women out of Auschwitz. Oscar pretended to be one of the people in charge of the camp. Before the freight car full of people got to the camp, he told them to send them back. When they got back, he took them to a safe house and looked after them. The concentration camps were all shut down on May 7, 1945 when World War Two ended.It was estimated that 7,991,460 people lost their lives in the concentration camps. When the Germans were defeated by the allies they were forced to close down all of the concentration camps. Most of the camps were destroyed. Some of the camps were used as prisons for the Nazis. Some of these concentration camps have been converted into museums and memorials for those who lost their lives. Bibliography 1. Nazi concentration camps Jan 14-17 2011 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nazi_concent ration_camps 2. Auschwitz, Nazi death camp Jan 14-17 2011 http://www. auschwitz. dk/auschwitz. htm

Cesaro summation Essays - Mathematical Analysis, Mathematics

Cesaro summation Essays - Mathematical Analysis, Mathematics Cesaro summation Does 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 = 1/2? Submitted to: Mr. Mark Submitted by: Putri Introduction In mathematical analysis, which includes the study sequences and series, the infinite series 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 + ., can be also called Grandi's series. This is named after an Italian mathematician, philosopher and a priest, Guido Grandi. It is known as a divergent series which means that it lacks a sum in the conventional sense. Contrarily, the Cesaro sum is . Cesaro summation allocates values to some infinite sums which are not convergent usually. This sum is defined as the limit of the arithmetic mean of the partial sums of the series. It is named after Ernesto Cesaro, an Italian analyst (1859 - 1906). Most individuals often acknowledge statements and proofs regarding the Cesaro summation as an implication of Eilenberg-Mazur swindle. One example can be drawn from the Grandi's series. It is usually applied to the Grandi's series and the conclusion is that the sum of that series is . This result is totally be disproven. What is the sum of the infinite sequence 1, -1, 1, -1, 1? From my opinion, the two major intuitive answers are either that it sums to zero or no sum at all. If we arrange the pattern into pairs, then each pair (1, -1), which in result gives a 0. However if we arrange the pattern by first leaving the 1, then grouping pairs of (-1,1) would end up giving a sum of 1. First of all, it's worth seeing why we shouldn't just use our formula for an infinite geometric series: In the formula, r is the multiplicative constant of -1. The infinite geometric formula requires that the absolute value of r is less than 1, or else the series will not converge. The Cesaro Method Let a n } be a sequence, and let be the k th partial sum of the series. The series is called Cesaro summable, with Cesaro sum , if the average value of its partial sums tends to A : Simply put, the Cesaro sum of an infinite series is the limit of the arithmetic mean of the first n partial sums of the series, as n approaches infinity. If a series is convergent, then it can be summed and called Cesaro summable and its Cesaro sum is 0. For any convergent sequence, the corresponding series will be Cesaro summable and the limit of the sequence occur simultaneously with the Cesaro sum. Mathematical Computations Using the Cesaro method, If a n = (1) n +1 for n 1. It means, a n } is the sequence. 1,-1,1,-1... Then the sequence of partial sums s n } is 1, 0, 1, 0, ... so while the series not converge, if we calculate the terms of the sequence ( s 1 + + s n ) / n } we get: so that So, by using various different methods, I have shown that this series "should" have a summation of 0 (grouping in pairs), or that it "should" have a sum of 1 (grouping in pairs after the first 1), or that it "should" have no sum as it simply oscillates, or that it "should" have a Cesaro sum of , unsurprisingly it caused so much dismay amongst mathematicians. Conclusion The Grandi's series got its name after a few hundred years of mathematical debate to find what the correct summation was. This is quite a long time. And one of the solution to it was the finding of Cesaro summation which gives a result of . To sum up, we can never know the Cesaro sum if no one discover or study the series in depth, so we can't just guess the real answer based on our intuition, it could be correct but in reality, there is so much more that needs to be discovered. The series can actually be extended to a more complex one, , this includes the exploration of the sum of powers of i. The Ce saro sum shows how different proofs can sometimes lead to different and unforeseen results. What does this statements say about the nature of proof? Reflection

Macbeth Essays (945 words) - Characters In Macbeth, Free Essays

Macbeth Essays (945 words) - Characters In Macbeth, Free Essays Macbeth Macbeth is the epitome of what the literary world regards a "tragic hero". His admirable qualities are supplanted with greed and hate when he is duped by the three witches. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches. Yes, it is the first scene from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, a tragic tale of one man's quest for power and his ultimate defeat. The story revolves around our tragic hero, Macbeth, and how an admirable and noble man, so established in society, can fall so greatly. Throughout the play, he is driven by an obsession to become King of Scotland, and in the process commits acts of betrayal and treachery to achieve this goal. However, Macbeth is not the only character involved in this sordid affair. His wife, the manipulative Lady Macbeth, three prophetic witches and members of the Scottish aristocracy all play pivotal in the drama. Lady Macbeth, the great woman behind the man, plots, scheme and propels Macbeth into a nightmare of falsehood and guilt. The wiches, or weird sisters, embody the supernatural element of this tragedy. With their imperfect predictions and calculated duplicity, they created chaos in Macbeth's mind as they toy wit! h his sense of security. The Scottish aristocracy comprises of King Duncan, the two princes - Malcolm and Donalbain, and various other thanes and nobles, including Macbeth's friend Banquo. They serve as barriers for Macbeth and, regardless of friend or foe, he chooses to either "fall down, or else o'er-leap" these hurdles. However, one hurdle that proves too great is his nemesis: Macduff. After Macbeth's false sense of security is shattered, a mighty swipe of Macduff's sword releases Macbeth from a tangled web of desire, design and deceit. Macbeth has, as his wife says, the milk of human kindness (which was not a cliche when the play was written), the kind of affection that many people have for others when self-interest is not rampant. He has a high regard for Duncan and Banquo, defaming the latter only once (III.i.74 ff.). He differs from Duncan in this regard in that the King's charity is of a quality that works to transform human society into a family and that, as G. R. Elliott points out, "makes the spirit of Duncan persist through the play after his death." Nevertheless, Macbeth shares in a somewhat limited way in the moral nature of manhood as seen in I.vii.46-47, as E. M. Waith observes, without wanting to contract himself at the urgings of his wife into a paragon of energy, energy simply devoted to utterly selfish ends. Macbeth thus differs from Macduff, who more fully realizes both the valorous and moral nature of manhood, and from Richard III, who is a melodramatic villain and indeed a scourge of God. Macbeth, unlike Richard, is not completely hardened even at the end of the play. He exhibits remorse immediately after the murder of Duncan, and he repeatedly displays anguish after commission of his atrocities. In proposing the savage murder of Macduff's family, he speaks of these "unfortunate" souls (IV.i.152) without attaching irony or sadism to this adjective. The passage "I have lived long enough" (V.iii.22-28) is not, in its apprehension of the failure of a life, the utterance of a thorough reprobate like Richard; and "poor heart" (V.iii.28) is analogous to "unfortunate souls." Macbeth, unlike Richard, is self- tortured and thus wins of us a degree of sympathy. Macbeth is utterly free from Richard's savage humor as seen, for example, in his jesting about sending Clarence to Heaven post-post-haste. Unlike Iago, Macbeth is unequipped with a philosophy of egoism. Unlike Lady Macbeth, he does not pray to have his nature altered. He makes no formal compact, as Faustus does, with the Devil. He never chastises his wife for her failure to bear sons though his ambition is dynastic rather than personal, and even though, whatever Renaissance medical theory may have taught, royal practice as observable in the reign of Henry VIII held the wife rather than the husband to blame for lack of issue. Although there is slight evidence that Macbeth uses Lady Macbeth not to form his murderous intent toward Duncan but to give him courage and practical insight into the way this piece of regicide may be committed, he vacillates