GCSE English Coursework †Wide Reading Assignment - Lamb to the Slaughter :: English Literature

GCSE English Coursework – Wide Reading Assignment - Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, and The Speckled Band In this wide reading assignment I have been looking at two stories, 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl, and 'The Speckled Band' by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle. Both these stories are classed as murder mysteries, and I am intending to investigate and compare the motives of the killers in both stories. 'The Speckled Band' is written in first person from the viewpoint of Dr. Watson. The story starts with Watson looking over notes of the cases that he and Holmes have taken in the last eight years; one in particular comes to his mind, and from their Watson tells the story of 'The Speckled Band'. The killer in 'The Speckled Band' is Dr Grimesby Roylott. Roylott is a tall man who was well built. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is written in a third person perspective, and the story starts with a description of a room, and then breaks into the characters, and follows them though the rest of the story. The killer in 'Lamb to the Slaughter is Mary Maloney, a gentle, petite housewife. The two stories, as previously said, are both classed as murder mysteries, however when comparing these two stories the styles of writing and the way in which the stories are presented is completely different. An example of this would be the chronological order of each of the stories. What I mean by this is the traditional order of murder mysteries would be body, a motive, a weapon, a death, a suspect, an alibi and detectives. Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band are no exception to these "guidelines". The Speckled Band follows this order and is a very traditional murder mystery; Lamb to the Slaughter on the other hand does not follow the conventional style of murder mysteries and follows its own order. This order would be a motive, a weapon, a death, a killer, an alibi and detectives. In changing the traditional order of murder mysteries I feel that Dahl is mocking the genre of Murder Mysteries. The motives in 'The Speckled Band' are clear from an early stage. Its clear to see that Roylott's motives was the money, or the lack of it he would have if his step-daughters were to marry. While spending some time in India, Dr Roylott married a considerably rich woman. Upon her and Roylott's return to England Mrs Stoner died, and left her money to Dr Roylott, and an annual fund that Julia and Helen Stoner could collect when they were to wed. This is what Dr Roylott obviously

In The Crucible childrens lies lead to allegations of witchcraft and the breaking up of a community Essay

In â€Å"The Crucible† children’s lies lead to allegations of witchcraft and the breaking up of a community. Why do people lie and what can the consequences be? The word lie means â€Å"a false statement deliberately presented as being true† according to the American Heritage Dictionary, and it’s a very common habit in everyone. When it comes to lying, we can find white and normal lies. White lies are often harmless, whereas normal lies can be dangerous because of the various consequences they might have. In this essay I’m going to present two arguments explaining the reasons why lies are used, which are to protect their reputation or get themselves out of a compromising situation, and to have a motive in order to commit an act of vengeance or violence. Then, I will give four examples regarding the book â€Å"The crucible† and modern day events, which I will then compare. One of the main reasons why people make use of lies is because when they are accused of something that can get them into trouble, the best option at that moment seems to be denying their acts. However, lying can have severe consequences depending on how much you twist the truth when doing it, and even if it doesn’t make much sense, people are actually aware of what can happen later but since they feel there’s no other choice, they lie anyways. A clear example of this can be found in â€Å"The crucible† by Arthur Miller, where a group of girls are caught performing witchcraft, and some dancing naked around a fire. In the time of the book, dancing was strictly forbidden and witchcraft was a matter nobody dared to discuss. Therefore, anyone being related to any of these would be punished. The group of girls had a leader who was Reverend Parris’ niece, Abigail, and whose cousin, also in the group, was Betty, Parris’ daughter. They were performing witchcraft in order to get men to fall in love with them, but Abigail threatened the other girls making them lie about their actions so that she wasn’t punished. Even though they could have disobeyed her, telling the truth would have also jeopardized them given that they had as well taken part in the event. This big lie led to several false allegations against many innocent people whose families were torn apart because of the whole scandal, and also ruined important people’s reputations in the society. An example of modern day would be the Lewinsky scandal which first broke on January 17, 1998, basically involving the then current president Bill Clinton and one of the White house’s employees, Monica Lewinsky. It started as rumors in websites, but people seemed to be very interested since they regarded the nation’s leader. Clinton denied everything a million times as we can see in the following statement: â€Å"†¦I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false†¦Ã¢â‚¬  However, after further investigations, evidence such as recorded tapes and a dress of Lewinsky’s stained with his semen were taken into consideration and it was concluded that President Clinton had indeed, had sexual relations with her. Overwhelmed by accusations and strong proof, Clinton finally admitted on August 17, 1998, to have had an inappropriate physical relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Even though Clinton’s wife forgave him, many people had a new opinion of their president and lost some respect for him. These two examples show us how far a person would go to protect their reputation or get out of a problem, being totally selfish given that many times lies like these can benefit you while hurting others. We can see this because Abigail didn’t care who was punished for something they didn’t do as long as she was safe, and President Clinton was maybe trying to protect his family from breaking up but in my opinion, he was just trying to protect his reputation as an important entity. Another reason why people lie is because they sometimes need a motive to hurt someone else, being this for revenge or just pure envy. We often see people committing murders and harming others in any way possible because they seek revenge and/or envy them. Some are so intense about their feelings that they are indifferent to the consequences their acts might lead to and would rather go to jail or even die as long as they have satisfied their sick desires. On the other hand, we have people who do care about what may happen to them when performing inappropriate actions, reason for which they look for any motive possible. However, sometimes there isn’t a motive at all, so they have to create one and they lie by starting rumors and giving false statements in order to accomplish what they want. We can see this in â€Å"The Crucible† when Abigail lies about performing witchcraft and makes other people take the blame. When in court, she gave Mary Warren a poppet with a needle in her stomach, and told her to give it to Elizabeth Proctor in order to frame her so that she would be blamed of witchcraft and that way, Abigail could take her place as John Proctor’s wife. A modern day example is the Big lie Bush invented against Iraq. He claimed Sadam Hussein had in his power weapons of mass destruction and would use them on America. However, this was not true and it was proved after thorough investigations. Bush made these accusations because he wanted to attack Iraq but he didn’t have any good reason, so saying they were going against the USA made it almost mandatory to attack them back. These examples show us that when a person wants something, lies can sometimes help get it, like Abigail who tried to make a false accusation against Proctor’s wife, whose place she wanted to take. The same happened with Bush, who wanted so bad to take revenge on Iraq, he invented a lie about Hussein. This clearly reveals a certain selfishness from both since they have no interest at all about anyone but themselves. In conclusion, we can say lies are all around us at all times and sometimes we need them but it is not right to use them. In the previous examples, this affirmation is confirmed, showing us the consequences lying can lead to.

Cheating cannot disappear in the school Free Essay Example, 2500 words

As with any issue related to morality and ethics, a wide range of opinions exists with regards to whether it is admissible and allowable for an individual to cheat within their scholastic endeavors. Ultimately, the question that this particular analysis will seek to answer is not whether or not cheating is in and of itself wrong, it is patently obvious that the evidence for its unethical nature abounds in a wide variety of extent literature; instead, the author will focus upon the externalities of cheating, how it is impacted, the thoughts of stakeholders concerning it, and what can be done to help curb this phenomena, are the more salient issues. Through such a level of discussion and analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed and rational understanding with respect to societal norms, the means through which individuals seek to engage with cheating as a means of benefiting themselves The innate and tacit drive for cheating (as well as what cau ses it), the benefits as compared to the risks, and the types and variety of cheating that is represented throughout scholastics within the current era. We will write a custom essay sample on Cheating cannot disappear in the school or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Further, a cursory analysis with regards to the scope and impacts of unlimited cheating will be discussed. Firstly, it must be understood cheating is something of a social phenomena within the world. Although the impacts of cheating within scholastics have only recently come to a broad level of understanding, the fact of the matter is that cheating is a type of social problem that traces its origins back to the innate desire for an individual to gain a competitive advantage over his/her peers with the least amount of effort. Ultimately, the human spirit is one that continually seeks for self betterment and a level of advantage over their fellow students (Bing et al. 29). Oftentimes, this desire to be better engages the individual to try harder and exert their selves more fully. However, oftentimes, the case is that the individual seeks a shortcut with regards to maintaining an advantage and reaching a desired goal. This shortcut can either be the re duction in the overall quality of the work that they represent or it can be referenced with regards to the fact that the seek to cheat in one form or the other as a means of providing themselves the benefits that had previously been mentioned. Regardless of the way in which cheating is defined, it must be understood cheating is not localized to the University or secondary education systems.