Beliefs In The Existence Of Ghosts And Poltergeists Term Paper

Beliefs In The Existence Of Ghosts And Poltergeists - Term Paper Example Saul was inclined to fits and visions, and perhaps in this instance, all that happened was that his imagination took over at a time when he was desperate. The prediction wasn’t even totally correct, although Saul would die at the hand of the Philistines – but that is likely to have happened anyway he was so disheartened. Webster’s Dictionary defines a ghost as being ‘a spirit or a demon, a disembodied soul.’ believed to be an inhabitant of an unseen world. Kipling, whose son died in the Ist World War and who might well have wanted contact with him, is warning people to leave well alone. The ghost of Samuel is not, of course, the only well known literary ghost. In the Odyssey, Homer describes how Circe advises Odysseus to consult the spirits of the dead. ( Odyssey 11 v 23-28.) There is also Hamlet’s father in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Banquo in his Macbeth., the ghosts being devices to explain a character’s inner feelings or move the story on. ‘Whethering Heights’ by Emily Brontà © ( 1847) has its Kathy clawing at the windows. Dickens, of course, had Marley appearing to Scrooge ( A Christmas Carol, 1843), one of the few instances in literature where some good resulted. In modern-day films, we have the Ghostbusters and of course the Harry Potter films, both of which show ghosts as being evil things, although J.K. Rowling also portrays more gentle beings such as Harry’s parents. In C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Great Divorce’ (1945) the author describes ghosts who have to choose whether to give up their sins and go to he aven or whether they prefer to retain them and go to hell. Stevie Smith in her 1953 poem ‘ Not waving but drowning’ has the dead man explaining his predicament.

Blog 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Blog 1 - Essay Example His work is important because he invites readers to think about the definition of the â€Å"barbarian† and how this affected international politics. From International Relations in Political Thought by Brown, Nardin, and Rengger (2002), â€Å"The History of the Peloponnesian War† aimed to faithfully narrate the causes and events of the Peloponnesian War. Boucher (1998) presented his analysis of empirical realism through â€Å"Chapter 4: Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War.† These authors have college students, who are studying politics and international history, as their audiences. Their works are important because they provide different perspectives in analyzing political history works. My question involves enthnocentricism and realism. Is ethnocentricism the main root of realism? If Spartans and the Athenians interacted more as a one cultural community, would they have avoided these anxieties against each other? Ethnocentricism is about one culture thinking that their cultural system is better than others, and it is one of the primary causes of realist thought in the Peloponnesian War. It is interesting that ancient Greeks were like the ancient Egyptians; they were colorblind in terms of their discrimination. Instead of racism, they practiced Greek-centricism, where they believed that their culture was superior to others. Keene (2005) maintained: â€Å"Blood, language, religion and custom†¦are the foundations of Greek Hellenic identity, and it is accordingly along these axes that the identity of the barbarian is conceived† (p.27). The Greeks saw themselves as the â€Å"better† race, while foreigners were seen as â€Å"barbarians.† The â€Å"Other† has become a form of Orientalism, a way of denigrating and fearing what is not known. Brown, Nardin, and Rengger (2002) noted the words of Thucydides, who believed that the causes of the Peloponnesian War are: â₠¬Å"growth of Athenian power and the fear which is caused in