Beowulf Essay Example for Free

Beowulf Essay In the epic poem â€Å"Beowulf†, the poet presents both the elements courage and cowardice. These elements are very important and show up continuously throughout the poem. Although the poem is mainly about heroic battles, there are also many cowardly acts among the villagers. The poet significantly develops courage throughout the poem. It is shown when Beowulf challenges Grendel to a battle and ends up defeating him. It is stated that Beowulf fought without any armor and still won. Once done with the fight, he is faced with another battle which is Grendel’s mother. After a tough and long fight, Beowulf ends up winning as well. The brave and courageous thing about Beowulf is that he is willing to do anything and fight for his people, he gives it all his strength to save his village. For example, the challenge with Grendel started because he was terrorizing the Danes. Another example of courage in the poem is when Beowulf fights the dragon, it is clear that this is one of his toughest battles but he cares for his people and puts himself in danger. Beowulf accomplishes a lot for the survival of the Danes and the Geats. On the other hand, cowardice is also shown in the poem through Unferth. Unferth does not want to live under the â€Å"courageous† culture that is so popular in many men anymore. By this, he is letting so much happen to his kingdom and doesn’t care. The most coward thing that Unferth does is give away his sword, it was known back then that a virtuous warrior never parted from his sword. Just like Beowulf is very brave, he has his bad moment as well, he doesn’t want to admit that his time has come and that he is too old to fight the dragon. But the people in Geats show cowardice by not helping their king on his battle. Instead, they hide and just watch not even helping their king who has done so much for them. In conclusion, the epic poem â€Å"Beowulf† may have many brave people but it also shows how some throw away their position as king or do not want to fight for their people anymore, as well as the inconsiderate villagers. Both courage and cowardice are very well portrayed in the poem.

Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality :: Philosophy Essays

Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality ABSTRACT: Consider the paradox of altruism: the existence of truly altruistic behaviors is difficult to reconcile with evolutionary theory if natural selection operates only on individuals, since in that case individuals should be unwilling to sacrifice their own fitness for the sake of others. Evolutionists have frequently turned to the hypothesis of group selection to explain the existence of altruism; but group selection cannot explain the evolution of morality, since morality is a one-group phenomenon and group selection is a many-group phenomenon. After spelling out just what the problem is, this paper discusses several ways of solving it. Introduction The term ‘evolutionary ethics’ denotes an approach to naturalistic moral philosophy which seeks to explain how moral traits and behavior evolved. Sophisticated versions of evolutionary ethics do not argue that the moral judgments of each and every individual can be predicted given only the tenets of evolutionary theory. Rather the aim is usually to show that human beings possess moral traits because such traits confer a selective advantage. The motivation for this kind of view lies in a broader naturalism: if moral philosophy is to be founded on a naturalistic understanding of human beings and their place in the world, and if evolutionary theory gives us the best (kind of) account of the natural history of human beings, then moral philosophy will need to be brought in line with (some version of) evolutionary theory. Shaping moral theory so that it is possible to explain the selective advantage of moral traits and behavior is thus the vocation of evolutionary ethics. One of the intriguing problems confronting evolutionary ethics is to solve the apparent paradox of altruism. According to evolutionary theory, natural selection entails that in general only the fittest individuals in any given biological population will survive and reproduce. An organism’s evolutionary telos, or goal, seems to be to promote its own fitness in order to survive long enough to reproduce. In situations where an organism confronts a choice between enhancing its own fitness and enhancing the fitness of others, it would seem to follow that the organism will (or "ought to," or should be expected to) choose to enhance its own fitness. (1) The paradox arises because empirical facts seem to contradict this prediction of evolutionary theory. In a wide range of cases, and among organisms of differing levels of sentience and sapience, individual organisms frequently behave in ways that promote the fitness of some group (especially but not always a kin group) at the expense of their own individual fitness.

Clinical Manifestation of HIV Infection Essay

There are lots of diseases that are transmittable and dangerous to human lives but until today the HIV still leading the most dangerous human life taker. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) destroys the immune system’s helper T cells, the loss of which causes AIDS. The person infected called as HIV positive that shows by test for antibodies to HIV in the bloodstream to be infected with HIV. But how you will know a person if she/he is infected. What are the manifestations you can observe? How can this be applied scientifically based knowledge to nursing practice? What knowledge do you get in reading all these articles?  Ã‚   In the next paragraph the answers to the question are discuss step-by-step. Clinical Manifestation The incubation period of a few weeks after exposure to HIV, most infected individuals present with an acute flue-like illness. The clinical symptoms of HIV infection were first descried in 1985 as an illness resembling infectious mononucleosis. The most common symptoms are fever, maculopopular rash, oral ulcers, lymphaenopathy, arthralgia, pharyngitis, malaise, weight loss, aseptic meningitis and myalgia. In one study, fever (80%) and malaise (68%) had the highest sensitivity for clinical diagnosis of HIV infection, whereas loss of weight (86%) and oral ulcers (85%) had the highest specificity. In the study, the symptoms of fever and rash followed by oral ulcers and pharyngitis had the highest positive pr5edictivevalue for diagnosis of HIV infection. In another study, fever, rash myalgia, arthritis and night sweats were the best predictors for HIV infection.   The symptom phase of HIV infection lasts between 7-10 days, and rarely longer than 14 days. The nonspecific nature of the symptoms posses a great challenge to the clinician and underlines the importance of a detailed history of exposure. (Altfeld & Walker). Another manifestation is Erythema elevatum diutinum (EED) is a chronic and rare dermatosis that is considered to be a variant of leucotoclastic vaculitis. The clinical manifestations are papules, plaques or nodules, which vary in coloration from reddish to purple, light brown and sometimes yellowish. The lesion’s are persistent and symmetrically distributed on extensors surfaces, particularly in the joints of the extremities. Such patients may presents arthralgia. The itchiness and pains, with rare systemic involvement were also observed (Medical Journal 2005). Immune thrombocytopenic purpura may be the sole clinical manifestation of HIV infection. Results of the treatment of 6 patients spontaneous bleeding due to severe thrombocytopenia are presented.   In all patients immune thrombocytopenic purpura was the only clinical manifestation of HIV infection. Four of them were intravenous narcotic addicts, and the other two patients did not belong to high-risk groups (Elizovic, Jevtovic &Rolovic 1989). Peripheral Facial paralysis as a manifestation of HIV Infection, Two patients had typical Bell’s palsy while one had a facialdiplegia. CD4 cell counts were above 100 cells/mm3 in all cases. A review of literature confirmed that peripheral facial nerve palsy could occur at any stage of HIV infection and in various clinical contexts. It is suggested that adult patients presenting with peripheral facial paralysis should be counseled, and screened for HIV (Annals AF Med: 2002 1(1) 1:28-30).

Serial Killers Modus Operandi, Signature, Staging - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1335 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Serial Killer Essay Did you like this example? Modus operandi, signatures, and staging have been used by serial killers since the beginning. Crime profilers will use these to help determine who the unsub of the crime is and to get to know their style of killings. These also play a part in figuring out if the unsub is an organized or disorganized killer. The first thing that needs to be understood is the modus operandi, or method of operation, is defined as the offenders actions while committing the crime (Douglas and Munn 1992). The modus operandi is a learned behavior and can always evolve in order to accommodate the circumstances in which the crime is being committed (Bonn 2015). This includes everything from luring, capturing, and killing their victim. A method that worked with one victim, may not work with the next, so the offender must take what they learned from that crime and make any changes that are necessary. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Serial Killers: Modus Operandi, Signature, Staging" essay for you Create order A few examples of some serial killers method of operation are Charles Cullen, John Gacy, and H.H. Holmes. Charles Cullen was a nurse who murdered/attempted to murder around 29-45 people by poisoning them with prescription drugs when the victims did not need them (Murder Pedia). John Gacy, who was a clown performer, would seek out his victims and promise them construction work. Once he had them lured, he would take them hostage, sexually assault them, and strangle most of them with a rope. He was able to kill about 33 young men using this method of operation (Biography 2014). H.H Holmes had what he called his murder castle which he would lead his victimsmostly womanto and suffocate with lethal gases. Once they were poisoned, he would take them to his basement in order to use them for experiments and then dispose of the bodies (Maranzani 2017). Every killer has their own specific method of operation and knowing what it is can help lead investigators to discover who the killer is. Next to be discussed is signatures. Most serial killers will leave behind some sort of signature. A signature is an offenders personal mark left on a victim or crime scene that is individual to them (Bonn 2015). Signatures can also be actions that the offender does consistently after each crime committed, for example, sending letters to the police to taunt them. They will leave these after committing their crime to show a part of their personality. These signatures are usually based off of their fantasies and unlike their MO, their signature always remains constant. A signature is left behind to give the offender satisfaction with their crime, however if the offender is interrupted, distracted, gets an unexpected response from the victim, they may not leave a signature. If the offender always leaves a signature but for one the reasons stated is unable to, this can cause them unsatisfied with their crime because since their violent crimes stem from their fantasies, their signature can be the most important part to them. Although this is very disturbing, the more victims found with a particular signature, the easier it is to find the killer. While investigators of course want to find the killer as soon as possible to put an end to their crimes, but they will usually need to gather evidence from multiple victims to accomplish this (Douglas 1992). To show some examples of signatures, Charles Albright, Keith Hunter Jesperson, and Dennis Rader will be discussed. Charles Bright, called The Eyeball Killer, was a serial killer in the 1990s. He murdered 3 women by shooting them and his signature was surgically removing their eyeballs (Murder Pedia). Although he never said why he would remove their eyes, it is thought to have stemmed from learning taxidermy at a young age. He was taught how to use tools, including the use of the scalpel that is needed to used to cut away the animals eyes from its sockets (Hollandsworth 1993). Keith Hunter Jesperson, referred to as the, Happy Face Killer was a serial killer in the 1990s and had around eight confirmed victims. His signature was drawing smiley faces on his letters to the media. It all started with his first victim, Taunja Bennett. Even though he was the one who killed her, someone else came forward and falsely confessed to murdering her. This upset Jesperson greatly because he was not r eceiving the attention he had hoped he would get. In order to obtain his sought-after attention, he wrote an anonymous confession on a bathroom wall along with the signing of a smiley face. However, his confession and drawing elicited no response, so he started sending hand written letters to police departments and the media which detailed his murders. Every letter that he sent was signed with a smiley face (Murder Pedia). Dennis Rader was a serial killer from 1974-1991 and had a total of ten victims (Murder Pedia). After Dennis would commit his crimes, he would consistently send letters to the police that entailed in great detail how he killed them and would give hints as to where he hid the bodies. These letters were meant to taunt the police and would always be signed with the initials BTK, meaning bind, torture, kill, which describes his MO and the reason why he named himself the BTK killer (Douglas 1992). The initials on the letters were also arranged in sexually explicit way, the B being the womans breasts, the T the torso, and the K being legs spread apart (Ramsland 2013). Another important element when looking at a crime is examining if the serial killer staged the scene and/or posed the victim in a particular way. Staging is the deliberate alteration of the crime scene before the arrival of the scene (Douglas and Munn 1992). Staging is considered to be a part of the killers MO if the purpose of the changes to the crime scene are meant to mislead or confuse the investigators of the crime. Posing is considered to be part of the killers signature if the alterations are meant to satisfy their fantasy needs (Bonn 2015). Staging and posing is not something that occurs commonly, but it does occasionally happen. Elizabeth Short, known as Black Dalhia is a good example of staging and posing. Black Dahlia was an aspiring actress in the 1940s. She was 22 years of age when she was murdered in an extremely brutal fashion. Her murder became very attractive to the media due to the graphic nature of the crime scene. Black Dahlias body was found in an empty lot in Los Angeles. Her body had been stripped of any clothing, nude, cut in half, and posed with her arms above her head, elbows bent at a right angle, and legs spread apart. Along with these gruesome details, her body had been drained of blood and scrubbed clean (Biography 2014). The MO, signature, and staging/posing are all important aspects that define a serial killer. Knowing these details can also help figure out if a killer is organized or disorganized. Organized killers crimes are usually planned and premeditated in order to leave no evidence of the crime. They are a lot harder to find due to the fact that they cover up tracks very well and are well educated on how police investigate crimes (Bonn 2015). These types of killers are more likely be more sociable, have average intelligence, and tend to take trophies with them from the crime scene along with any weapon used to commit the crime (Douglas 1992). Disorganized killers will kill when an opportunity is presented, even at random, which can lead to them leaving behind blood, fingerprints, etc. at the scene. These killers tend to have below average intelligence, not super sociable, and will often leave their victims in open view rather than attempting to cover up their mess (Douglas 1992). Disorganized killers are more likely to be young in age, mentally ill, live by themselves, and isolate themselves from other people (Bonn 2015). Of course, disorganized and organized killers are not one size fits all, as it is possible for an offender to display a mixture of both types.