The Rings of Power Symbolic Exchange in the Merchant of...

The Rings of Power: Symbolic Exchange in The Merchant of Venice Rings are significant to the narrative of The Merchant of Venice for several reasons. Firstly, as symbols of love, wealth and power. Secondly, as a means through which Portia gives and then regains control of herself, her weath and power and finally, the theft and sale of Leahs turquoise ring acts as a source of sympathy towards Shylock and allows him to parallel the Christian husbands, Bassanio and Graziano. A ring is, in and of itself, a frivolous object; it serves no practical purpose and its only functions are symbolic and aesthetic. They are thus also a symbol of the wealth and power of the owner; a demonstration that they have so much money they can afford to†¦show more content†¦This is particularly notable in the case of Portia, due to her assumption of traditionally masculine traits over the course of the text, and the exchange of rings ultimately allows her to reclaim her own autonomy. In giving Bassanio her ring, Portia assumes the traditionally masculine role, both in giving the ring and in giving herself, a role usually belonging to the father of the bride: †¦But now, I was the lord Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, Queen oer myself;†¦ (3.2.167-9) By referring to herself as the lord and master of the house rather than the lady and mistress, Portia makes it clear that she has been in charge of and running the estate since her fathers death, rather than the more traditional female role of managing only the household. Interestingly, she then uses the feminine queen rather than king, which on the surface might seem to undermine this, however, a female Monarch maintains their power upon marriage, rather than having to surrender it to her husband, and holds power in her own right. Further, like Portia, some queens gave, rather than received rings: Mary, Queen of Scots, sent Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, a ring to indicate her willingness to marry him, and Queen Elizabeth gave the Earl of Essex a ring as a token of affection. Unlike a queen, Portia yields her power to Bassanio along with her hand: This house, these servants and this same myself,Show MoreRelatedHow to Read Lit Like a Prof Notes3608 Words   |  15 Pagesconnotations 3. Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires a. Literal Vampirism: Nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates a young woman, leaves his mark, takes her innocence b. Sexual implications—a trait of 19th century literature to address sex indirectly c. Symbolic Vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, using people to get what we want, placing our desires, particularly ugly ones, above the needs of another. 4. If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet 5. Now, Where HaveRead MoreBirthstones9275 Words   |  38 PagesIsrael. The current list dates back to 1912 with only one addition since then – the tanzanite was added to December. There are numerous legends and myths about birthstone healing powers and their therapeutic influence. According to these legends, wearing a gemstone during its assigned month heightened its healing powers. For the full effect, individuals needed to own all twelve and alternate them monthly. Birthstones are special stones associated with each month of the year. They have a place inRead MoreMarketing Management130471 Words   |  522 Pagesdistributing the products so that customers have appropriate accessibility and have quick and easy delivery. Marketing is thus the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges (with customers) that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. 2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After reading the unit, you will understand how: †¢ †¢ †¢ To learn the evolution of marketing as a discipline To understand the reasons why marketing is

Love Is Experienced By The Lover - 2203 Words

What is love, a timely question for this time of year. Most everyone wants to experience love. Yet do most of us really know what is true love? If someone wants to have a better understanding of how to love in order to fully experience love, they need to get a grip on the concept of unconditional love. We all experience love in some form and in some way, but do we really contemplate what it is? It is important to understand that love is experienced by the lover. When you love someone, that is your very personal experience of love. The person you are loving may experience the love they feel from you. However, the love that they experience toward you maybe be different than your experience of love toward them. These differences may be profound or subtle but it is likely that these differences do indeed exist. For example, one party may be in touch with their love with another while the other party may not be feeling it on that moment, that day or that week etc. The experience of love i s typically filtered through the mind and its minefield of possible thoughts to the heart. The less the mind is at play and the more the heart is at play the deeper we feel love. We can categorically claim that love is a unique experience of feeling love for another. It is very easy to fall in love with someone. The difficulty is to stay in love. But if it is difficult to stay in love, that means, that it is not the love of your life. It is a love experience. Love is always beautiful, if it isShow MoreRelatedPoetry : Theme Of Love1638 Words   |  7 PagesLove in Poetry Studying the theme of love in poetry can help a relationship to move from one level to another. Poems express love in unique ways that draws the attention of both the poet and the recipient to focus and express love in powerful ways. The choice of words and phrases used in poems can provide the insight lovers needs to keep their love strong and live for as long as possible (Literary Devices, 2015). Sometimes love fades because people take each other for granted and forget expressingRead MoreSonnet 116 And John Donne1059 Words   |  5 PagesMourning† similarly explore the theme of everlasting true love. However, both poems differ in rhyme scheme, techniques, and meaning. The poets use these tools to convey to the reader that everlasting true love does in fact exist. Although both speak so passionately about said love, only the speaker of Donne’s poem has actually experienced it. While both poems explicate eternal true love, their rhyme scheme differences convey everlasting true love in different manners. Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnet 116† followsRead MoreLove Styles1292 Words   |  6 Pagesthat includes six different love styles: eros, ludus, storge, pragma, mania, and agape. These love styles were orginially developed by John Lee in 1973 and then further expanded by Clyde and Susan Hendrick of Texas Tech University throughout the mid 1980’s. All six love styles are significantly different but everyone has experienced atleast one throughout their life. In my case, I’ve experienced all six at one point or another in my life. These models of how people love indicate the different waysRead MoreComparing Attitudes Toward Love in First Love, Shall I Compare Thee, Porphyrias Love and The Flea1055 Words   |  5 PagesComparing Attitudes Toward Love in First Love, Shall I Compare Thee, Porphyrias Love and The Flea Love is an uncontrollable emotion experienced by everybody at some time. There are many different types of love, whether its between mother and child, friends, lovers or a shop-a-holic and her credit card. Many poets have written on the subject of love and tried to capture the essence of the indescribableRead MoreThe Good Morrow By John Donne973 Words   |  4 Pagespopularly, love, which John Donne specifically seemed to favor. Whether he meant to poke fun at love or meant his words quite literally, his poetry expressed his feelings on the matter quite eloquently in each of his poems. More specifically, in the poem â€Å"The Good-Morrow,† Donne shows just how much a lover loves his companion with his words alone by beautifully stringing his verses together to make wonderful stanzas. â€Å"The Good-Morrow† is a poem written from the point of view of a lover to his companionRead MoreWhat Is Love? Essay examples1693 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"I love you.† These three small words have such a powerful meaning. Love is something for which every human since the beginning of time has searched. From the quest for the perfect guy or girl, to yearning for acceptance, the search goes back to the individual’s desire for love. The dilemma is that love has become hackneyed and clichà ©. People fling around the word love as if it is nothing when in reality love is such a powerful word. People use the word love when in reality they should be usingRead MoreRest in Peace, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe868 Words   |  3 Pagesinclude their living lover caressing their decaying body night after night. However, the speaker of Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"Annabel Lee† sure does; in fact, he does this to his deceased wife. So what would motivate one to do such a disconcerting act? Apparently the belief that no matter the state of being, two lovers’ souls are binded for eternity. However, does anyone ever think to ask Annabel Lee what she feels of this madness? The answer is ‘no,’ because instead of the doting love poem that most readersRead MoreWorlds Collide in A Midsummer Night’s Dream1324 Words   |  6 Pagessides with authoritarian Egeus and forces Hermia to marry Demetrius or face death. Defiantly, Hermia and her love, Lysander, resolve to elope and abscond into the woods, confessing their plan only to Hermias covetous friend, Helena. Helena, in a rash attempt to earn Demetriuss love, divulges to him the lovers plan. He sets off to retrieve Hermia and Helena follows in hopes of soliciting his love. In another plane of imagination, Oberon, King of the fairies, desires to possess the Indian boy thatRead More Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet What lips my lips have kissed and where and why531 Words   |  3 Pages Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet, â€Å"What lips my lips have kissed and where and why,† is about being, physically or mentally jaded, and thinking back to the torrid love of one’s youth. The â€Å"ghosts† that haunt her are the many lovers of her past; she’s specifically trying to remember them all. She recalls the passion she experienced and how there was a certain feeling within herself. Millay shows this through her vivid imagery, use of the rain as a literary device and by paralleling herself withRead MoreLove Essay965 Words   |  4 Pages Love is not a god as the fine philosophers of Greece once suggested. Love is something far more powerful and universal, for not all people believe in gods, yet people cannot refuse the existence of love. Instead, love is a condition of the human body that cannot be denied. True love is obstinate; in the way that music pours into the ears of an audience, love pouring into the heart of a man cannot be stopped, denied, or set off course. Love is a natural instinct. You cannot artificially make love

Night World Soulmate Chapter 4 Free Essays

string(55) " of trauma for her and deadly knowledge for any human\." Thierry knelt by the window, careful not to make a noise or disturb the dry earth beneath him. It was a skill so familiar to his body that he might have been born with it. Darkness was his native environment; he could melt into a shadow at an instant’s notice or move more quietly than a stalking cat. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Soulmate Chapter 4 or any similar topic only for you Order Now But right now he was looking into the light. He could see her. Just the curve of her shoulder and the spill of her hair, but he knew it was her. Beside him, Lupe was crouched, her thin body human but quivering with animal alertness and tension. She whispered, softer than a breath, â€Å"All right?† Thierry tore his gaze from that shoulder to look at her. Lupe’s face was bruised, one eye almost closed, lower lip torn. But she was smiling. She’d stuck around Medicine Rock until Thierry had arrived, tailing the girl called Hannah Snow, making sure no harm came to her. Thierry took Lupe’s hand and kissed it. You’re an angel, he told her, and made even less sound than she had in speaking because he didn’t use his vocal chords at all. His voice was telepathic. And you deserve a long vacation. My limo’s at the tourist resort in Clearwater; take it to the airport at Billings. â€Å"But-you’re not planning to stay here alone, are you? You need backup, sir. If she comes-â€Å" I can take care of things. I brought something to protect Hannah. Besides she won’t do anything until she talks to me. â€Å"But-â€Å" Lupe, go. His tone was gentle, but it was unmistakably not the urging of a friend anymore. It was the order of her liege lord, Thierry of the Night World, who was accustomed to being obeyed. Funny, Thierry thought, how you never realized how accustomed you were to being obeyed until somebody defied you. Now, he turned away from Lupe and looked through the cracks in the boarded-up window again. And promptly forgot that Lupe existed. The girl on the couch had turned. He could see her face. Shock coursed through him. He had known it was her-but he hadn’t known that it would look so much like her. Like the way she had looked the first time, the first time she had been born, the first time he had seen her. This was what he thought of as her true face, and though he’d seen various approximations of it through the years, he’d never seen it again. Until now. This was the exact image of the girl he’d fallen in love with. The same long, straight fair hair, like silk in different shades of wheat color, spilling over her shoulders. The same wide gray eyes that seemed full of light. The same steady expression, the same tender mouth, upper lip indenting the lower to give her a look of t unintentional sensuality. The same fine bone structure, the high cheekbones and graceful line of jaw that made her a sculptor’s dream. The only thing that was different was the birthmark. The psychic brand. It was the color of watered wine held up to the light, of watermelon ice, of a pink tourmaline, the palest of gemstones. Blushing rose. Like one large petal, slantwise beneath her cheekbone. As if she’d laid a rose against her cheek for a moment and it had left its imprint on her flesh. To Thierry, it was beautiful, because it was part of her. She’d worn it in every lifetime after the first. But at the same time the very sight of it made his throat clamp shut and his fists clench in helpless grief and fury-fury against himself. The mark was his shame, his punishment. And his penance was to watch her wear it in her innocence through the years. He would pour out his blood on the dry Montana dirt right now if it would take the mark away. But nothing in either the Night World or the human world could do that-at least nothing he’d found in uncounted years of searching. Oh, Goddess, he loved her. He hadn’t allowed himself to feel it for so long- because the feeling could drive him insane while he was away from her. But now it came over him in a flood that he couldn’t have resisted if he’d tried. It made his heart pound and his body tremble. The sight of her lying there, warm and alive, separated from him by only a few flimsy boards and an equally flimsy human male†¦ He wanted her. He wanted to yank off the boards, step through the window, brush aside the red-haired man, and take her in his arms. He wanted to carry her off into the night, holding her close to his heart, to some secret place where nobody could ever find her to hurt her. He didn’t. He knew†¦ from experience†¦ that it didn’t work. He’d done it once or twice, and he’d paid for it. She had hated him before she died. He would never risk that again. And so now, on this spring night near the turn of the millennium in the state of Montana in the United States of America, all Thierry could do was kneel outside a window and watch the newest incarnation of his only Jove. He didn’t realize at first, though, what his only love was actually doing. Lupe had told him that Hannah Snow was seeing a psychologist. But it was only now, listening to what was going on in the room that Thierry slowly realized exactly what Hannah and the psychologist were up to. They were trying to recover her memories. Using hypnosis. Breaking into her subconscious as if it were some bank vault. It was dangerous. Not just because the guy performing the hypnosis didn’t seem to know what he was doing. But because Hannah’s memory was a time-bomb, full of trauma for her and deadly knowledge for any human. You read "Night World : Soulmate Chapter 4" in category "Essay examples" They shouldn’t be doing this. Every muscle in Thierry’s body was tense. But there was no way he could stop it. He could only listen-and wait. Paul repeated with slow resignation, â€Å"He’s not human.† â€Å"No. He’s a Lord of the Night World. He’s powerful†¦ and evil,† Hannah whispered. â€Å"He’s lived for thousands of years.† She added, almost absently, â€Å"I’m the one who’s been reincarnated.† â€Å"Oh, terrific. Well, that’s a twist.† â€Å"You don’t believe me?† Paul seemed to suddenly remember that he was talking with a patient-and a hypnotized patient at that. â€Å"No, I-I mean, I don’t know what to believe. If it’s a fantasy, there’s got to be something underneath it, some psychological reason for you to make it all up. And that’s what we’re looking for. What all this means to you.† He hesitated, then said with new determination, â€Å"Let’s take you back to the first time you met this guy. Okay, I want you to relax in the light; you’re feeling very good. And now I want you to go back through time, just like turning back the pages of a book. In your mind, go back. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Hannah’s ordinary mind was intruding, waking up, overriding the dreamy part of her that had been answering Paul’s questions. â€Å"Wait, I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea.† â€Å"We can’t figure this out until we find out what it all symbolizes; what it means to you.† Hannah still didn’t feel convinced, but she had the feeling she wasn’t supposed to argue under hypnosis. Maybe it doesn’t matter, though, she thought. I’m waking up now; I probably won’t be able to go back. â€Å"I want you to see yourself as fifteen years old, see yourself as fifteen. Go back to the time when you were fifteen. And now I want you to see yourself at twelve years old; go in your mind to the time when you are twelve. Now go farther back, see yourself at nine years old, at six years old, at three years old. Now go back and see yourself as a baby, as an infant. Feel very comfortable and see yourself as a tiny baby.† Hannah couldn’t help but listen. She did feel comfortable, and her mind did show her pictures as the years seemed to turn back. It was like watching a film of her life running backward, herself getting smaller and smaller, and in the end tiny and bald. â€Å"And now,† the soothing, irresistible voice said, â€Å"I want you to go farther back. Back to the time before you were born. The time before you were born as Hannah Snow. You are floating in the red light, you feel very relaxed, and you are going back, back†¦ to the time when you first met this man you think of as Thierry. Whatever that time might be, go back. Go back to the first time.† Hannah was being drawn down a tunnel. She had no control and she was scared. It wasn’t like the rumored near-death tunnel. It was red, with translucent, shining, pulsing walls-something like a womb. And she was being pulled or sucked through it at ever-increasing speed. No, she thought. But she couldn’t say anything. It was all happening too fast and she couldn’t make a sound. â€Å"Back to the first time,† Paul intoned, and his words set up a sort of echo in Hannah’s head, a whispering of many voices. As if a hundred Hannahs had all gotten together and murmured sibilantly, â€Å"The First Time. The First Time.† â€Å"Go back†¦ and you will begin to see pictures. You will see yourself, maybe in a strange place. Go back and see this.† The First Time†¦ No, Hannah thought again. And something very deep inside her whimpered, â€Å"I don’t want to see it.† But she was still being pulled through the soft red tunnel, faster and faster. She had a feeling of unimaginable distance being crossed. And then †¦ she had a feeling of some threshold being reached. The First Time. She exploded into darkness, squirted out of the tunnel like a watermelon seed between wet ringers. Silence. Dark. And then-a picture. It opened like a tiny leaf unfolding out of a seed, got bigger until it surrounded her. It was like a scene from a movie, except that it was all around her, she seemed to be floating in the middle of it. â€Å"What do you see?† came Paul’s voice softly from very far away. â€Å"I see†¦ me,† Hannah said. â€Å"It’s me-it looks just like me. Except that I don’t have a birthmark.† She was full of wonder. â€Å"Where are you? What do you see yourself doing?† â€Å"I don’t know where I am.† Hannah was too amazed to be frightened now. It was so strange . .. she could see this better than any memory of her real life. The scene was incredibly detailed. At the same time, it was completely unfamiliar to her. â€Å"What I’m doing†¦ I’m holding†¦ something. A rock. And I’m doing something with it to a little tiny†¦ something.† She sighed, defeated, then added, â€Å"I’m wearing animal skins! It’s a sort of shirt and pants all made of skins. It’s unbelievably†¦ primitive. Paul, there’s a cave behind me.† â€Å"Sounds like you’re really far back.† Paul’s voice sounded in stark contrast to Hannah’s wonder and excitement. He was clearly bored. Amused, resigned, but bored. â€Å"And-there’s a girl beside me and she looks like Chess. Like my best friend, Chess. She’s got the same face, the same eyes. She’s wearing skins, too†¦ some kind of skin dress.† â€Å"Yeah, and it has about the detail of most of the past-life regressions in this book,† Paul said wryly. Hannah could tell he was flipping pages. â€Å"You’re doing something to something with a rock. You’re wearing some kind of skins. The book’s full of descriptions like that. People who want to imagine themselves in the olden days, but who don’t know the first thing about them,† he muttered to himself. Hannah didn’t wait for him to remember that he was talking to a hypnotized patient. â€Å"But you didn’t tell me to be the person back then. You just told me to see it.† â€Å"Huh? Oh. Okay, then, be that person.† He said it so casually. Panic spurted through Hannah. â€Å"Wait-I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But it was happening. She was falling, dissolving, merging into the scene around her. She was becoming the girl in front of the cave. The First Time†¦ Distantly, she heard her own voice whispering, â€Å"I’m holding a flint burin, a tool for drilling. I’m boring holes in the tooth of an arctic fox.† â€Å"Be that person,† Paul was repeating mechanically, still in the bored voice. Then he said, â€Å"What?† â€Å"Mother’s going to be furious-I’m supposed to be sorting fruit we stored last winter for the Spring, Gathering. There’s not much left and it’s mostly rotten. But Ran killed a fox and gave the skull to Ket, and we’ve spent all morning knocking the teeth out and making them into a necklace for Ket. Ket just has to have something new to wear every festival.† She heard Paul say softly, â€Å"Oh, my God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then he swallowed and said, â€Å"Wait-you want to be a paleontologist, right? You know about old things†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I want to be a what? I’m going to be a shaman, like Old Mother. I should get married, but there’s nobody I want. Ket keeps telling me I’ll meet somebody at a gathering, but I don’t think so.† She shivered. â€Å"Weird-I’ve got chills all of a sudden. Old Mother says she can’t see my destiny. She pretends that’s nothing to worry about, but I know she’s worried. That’s why she wants me to be a shaman, so I can fight back if the spirits have something rotten in mind for me.† Paul said, â€Å"Hannah-uh, let’s just make sure we can get you out of this, all right? You know, in case that should become necessary. Now, when I clap my hands you’re going to awaken completely refreshed. Okay? Okay?† â€Å"My name’s Hana.† It was pronounced slightly differently: Hah-na. â€Å"And I’m already awake. Ket is laughing at me. She’s threading the teeth on a sinew string. She says I’m daydreaming. She’s right; I wrecked the hole for this tooth.† â€Å"When I clap my hands, you’re going to wake up. When I clap my hands, you’re going to wake up. You will be Hannah Snow in Montana.† A clap. â€Å"Hannah, how do you feel?† Another clap. â€Å"Hannah? Hannah?† â€Å"It’s Hana. Hana of the River People. And I don’t know what you’re talking about; I can’t be somebody else.† She stiffened. â€Å"Wait-something’s happening. There’s some kind of commotion from the river. Something’s going on.† The voice was desperate. â€Å"When I clap my hands-â€Å" â€Å"Shh. Be quiet.† Something was happening and she had to see it, she had to know. She had to stand up. †¦ Hana of the Three Rivers stood up. â€Å"Everybody’s all excited by the river’ she told Ket. â€Å"Maybe Ran fell in,† Ket said. â€Å"No, that’s too much to hope for. Hana, what am I going to do? He wants to mate me, but I just can’t picture it. I want somebody interesting, somebody different. . . ,† She held up the half-finished necklace. â€Å"So what do you think?† Hana barely glanced at her. Ket looked wonderful, with her short dark hair, her glowing slanted green eyes, and her mysterious smile. The necklace was attractive; red beads alternated with delicate milky-white teeth. â€Å"Fine, beautiful. You’ll break every heart at the gathering. I’m going down to the river.† Ket put down the necklace. â€Å"Well, if you insist- wait for me.† The river was broad and fast-flowing, covered with little white-capped waves because it had just been joined by two tributaries. Hana’s people had rived in the limestone caves by the three rivers for longer than anyone could remember. Ket was behind her as Hana made her way through new green cattails to the bend in the river. And then , she saw what the fuss was about. There was a stranger crouching in the reeds. That was exciting enough-strangers didn’t come very often. But this stranger was like no man Hana had ever seen. â€Å"It’s a demon,† Ket whispered, awed. It was a young man-a boy a few years older than Hana herself. He might have been handsome in other circumstances. His hair was very light blond, lighter than the dry grass of the steppes. His face was well-made; his tall body was lithe. Hana could see almost all of that body because he was only wearing a brief leather loincloth. That didn’t bother her; everybody went naked in the summer when it was hot enough. But this wasn’t summer; it was spring and the days could still be chilly. No sane person would go traveling without clothes. But that wasn’t what shocked Hana, what held her standing there rigid with her heart pounding so hard she couldn’t breathe. It was the rest of the boy’s appearance. Ket was right-he was clearly a demon. His eyes were wrong. More like the eyes of a lynx or a wolverine than the eyes of a person. They seemed to throw the pale sunlight back at you when you looked into them. But the eyes were nothing compared to the teeth. His canine teeth were long and delicately curved. They came to a sharp and very non-human point. Almost involuntarily, Hana looked down at the fox tooth she still held in her palm. Yes, they were like that, only bigger. The boy was filthy, caked with mud from the river, his blond hair ruffled crazily, his eyes staring wildly from side to side. There was blood on his mouth and chin. â€Å"He’s a demon, all right,† one of the men said. Five men were standing around the crouching boy, several of them with spears, others with hastily grabbed rocks. â€Å"What else could have a human body with animal eyes and teeth?† â€Å"A spirit?† Hana said. She didn’t realize that she was going to say it until the words were out. But then, with everybody looking at her, she drew herself up tall. â€Å"Whether he’s a demon or a spirit, you’d better not hurt him. It’s Old Mother who should decide what to do with him. This is a matter for shamans.† â€Å"You’re not a shaman yet,† another of the men said. It was Arno, a very broad-shouldered man who was the leader of the hunters. Hana didn’t like him. And she wasn’t sure why she had spoken up in favor of the stranger. There was something in his eyes, the look of a suffering animal. He seemed so alone, and so frightened-and so much in pain, even though there were no visible wounds on his body. â€Å"She’s right, we’d better take him to Old Mother,† one of the hunters said. â€Å"Should we hit him on the head and tie him up, or do you think we can just herd him?† But at that moment, a high thin sound came to Hana over the rushing of the river. It was a woman screaming. â€Å"Help me! Somebody come help me! Ryl’s been attacked!† How to cite Night World : Soulmate Chapter 4, Essay examples

1936 Nazi Olympics Essay Example For Students

1936 Nazi Olympics Essay The 1936 Olympics have become a mere footnote in history, remembered mostly for the heroics of Jesse Owens. The events that followed in Germany, namely the Holocaust and World War II overshadowed the Berlin games. However, it is very important to note that a world gathering like the Olympics could take place in a country that was in the process of eliminating an entire race of people. These games were used by the Nazis as a huge propaganda effort for Germany to show to the rest of the world that they had again become a powerful nation under the leader of the Adolf Hitler. The games were a huge success in this regard, the Nazi regime was able to fool and world and prove to Germany that they were everything the Nazi had said. But did the Olympic Games have any effect on the chain of events that led up the Holocaust and World War II?Germans became quite obsessed with sport in the 1870s following the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn popularized gymnastics which became a staple of the German education system. At this time gymnastics was not the sport we think of today, but instead more of a show of mass strength and to promote national unity in the newly formed Germany at the end of the nineteenth century.These ideas were very popular and every German youth was required to participate in them as part of their education. Along with promoting sporting programs in school, the Germans played a major role in the reinstatement of the Olympics. Men like Jahn and Ernest Curtius went around the country giving speeches on the subject. The goal was to create a powerful state like the old Greeks, and the holding of annual athletic Olympics was a big part of this idea. With the help of the Germans as well as many other European nations the Olympics were reinstated in 1896, with the first Olympics being held in Athens Greece. The Germans waited patiently and were extremely happy when they were awarded the With Olympiad, scheduled to take place in Berlin in 1916. By the time 1916 arrived most of Europe was involved in the Great War which was entirely blamed on Germany and these games were canceled to the great disappointed of the German sports officials. During the next three Olympics: Paris in Belgium in 1920, Paris in 1924, and Amsterdam in 1928 the Germans were not even invited to compete. During this time Germanys sports program was almost non existent, the only countries they competed with were there World War One allies and this was only sparingly.During this time the Weimar Republic was beginning to rebuild itself in the eyes of the world and the International Olympic Committee met in 1933 to decide who would be granted the 1936 games they only had two proposals one from Spain and one from Germany. At this time most of the world was mired in a deep depression and Germany was more confident about the ir economic situation that the rest of the world because many of the National Socialists plans were working. The main reason the Germans were awarded the games was because they already had most of the buildings and equipment built from their preparations for the 1916 Olympics. The IOC was confident that the Germans would be able to put on the games financially. Just months after the games were awarded to Berlin Hitler and the Nazi party began there astonishing political ascent in Germany. In July, just two months after the IOC met the Nazi party becomes the largest party in the Reichstag. In January of the following year Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany denoting him as the leader of the largest party in the Reichstag. On February 27th, 1933 just a month after he becomes Chancellor the Reichstag burns down. In March he gets congress to pass the enabling acts which suspends the Weimar Constitution and the personal liberties it guaranteed for four years. This set the table for hi s dictatorship, which he gained on August 3rd 1936 when President Hindenburg dies. Anti-Semitism was rising in Germany even before the death of Hindenburg. Jewish people were already having there houses, apartments and Cenogouges ransacked. Anti-Jewish publication like Der Sturmer were very popular throughout Germany and Nazi propaganda from Joseph Goebbels calling for the mistreatment of Jews was prevalent. When Hitler became dictator the anti-Semitism was escalated by the Nazis, Jews had their citizenship taken away from them when the Nuremberg laws were passed on November, 1935. These laws said thata Reich citizen is only that subject of German or kindred blood who proves by his conduct that he is willing and suited loyally to serve the German People and the Reich. This law took the civil liberties away from many Jews in German, including athletes. After the enacting of the Nuremberg the Reichsportfuhrer, Captain Hans von Tschammer und Osten gave this order to all German athletic clubs and associations. Anyone who sets himself up as a defender of Jewry no longer has any place in our associations. Every personal contact with Jews is to be avoided. There is absolutely nothing for any Jew in German mens associations. Let us take as our example the heroic struggle that Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Franconia, has been waging for many years against the Jews. We too, with our societies, must help him on to final victory. It is the obvious duty of our associations to give the defense movement against Jewry our energetic support.As a result of this statement no Jewish people or Mischlings were allowed to compete on German sports teams. This led to the dumping of some very good talent. Alex Natan, Germanys fastest sprinter defected to Great Britain. Dr. Daniel Prenn, Germanys best tennis player was kicked off of their Davis Cup tea m by the German Lawn Tennis Association when they announced that no non Aryans would be allowed to compete. The most celebrated example of Jewish discrimination was against Helene Mayer who was born to a Christian Mother and a Jewish father, making her a Mischling under the Nuremberg. Mrs. Mayer was the most famous female fencer in the world, when she was expelled from her fencing club and told she would not be allowed to compete in the upcoming Olympics. Even though there was a lot of racial violence going on in Germany, there was no serious moral outcry for a boycott from most of the nations. Tentative movements for boycotting the Berlin games occurred in Sweden, The Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia. In the end though the only country to boycott the games was Ireland. In Great Britain Walter Maclennon wrote a pamphlet called Under the heel of Hitler: The Dictatorship over sport in Nazi German, in which he called for protests against the nazification of German Sport. Maclennon was right sports were under the regulations of the Nazi party, but his outcry gained very little support in Great Britain and there was never a real outcry for them to boycott the games. For the most part Britain took the view stated by Lord Aberdeen, who saidBritain should have no problem attending the Berlin Olympics, since it had so few Jewish Citizens. Maclennon was absolutely right though, sports in the Reich had been taken over completely by the Nazi Party with Reichsportsfuhrer Tschammer und Osten in control would pay women to have the children of great German athletes. The foreward of the proficiency Book for German Youths outlined the role athletics would take in Nazi Germany. Physical training is not the private concern of the individual. The National Socialist movement orders every German to place his whole self at its service. Your body belongs to your country, since it is to your country that you owe your existence. You are responsible to your country for your body. Fulfil the demands of this manual, and you will fulfil your duty to the German people.In Germany this meant that if you showed talent in a specific sport you would shipped off to its training location where you would live and train, much like what the Soviet Union did in the second half of the twentieth century. Sports was clearly a part of the Nazis plans of c reating a strong nation and promoting Aryan domination. The Berlin games would be the pinnacle of this plan. But only in the whole world was there, which at times was a huge question mark. Civil Disobedience in American History EssayThe opening ceremonies were a lavish well orchestrated event that focused around the Fuhrer. A blonde haired blue eyed marathon runner was the last of the 3,000 Olympic torch bearers. Bearing the flame high above his head in a silver torch, a tall blonde runner raced swiftly through the stadium today, with even glides and perfect grace he dipped the flame before Adolf Hitler and sprinted up the stairs to the Olympic Alter. After the lighting of the flame, to the cheers of a roaring crowd Adolf Hitler pronounced, I declare the games of Berlin in celebration of the 11th Olympiad of modern times have opened. Many of the nations gave Hitler the Nazi salute as they passed by on the flag procession, among them France and Canada. America simply doffed their hats to him which caused them to be booed by the 110,000 fans. This however, was the only non-roar heard out of the crowd, this was a very successful large scale Nazi rally that proved to the world that the Germans were once again capable of being a world power. It was Hitlers full sponsorship of the games that made them such a huge success. Both Hitler and Goebbels viewed the games as a grand opportunity to raise gigantic monuments and to state civically beneficial pomp and ceremonyHitler remained in his seat throughout the two weeks of the games, always flanked by both Goebbels and Himmler. Parties were thrown every night by Nazi leaders to prove how power and majestic Germany had become since the Nazis took over political control. In American papers you could not find a bad word spoken about Adolf Hitler, in fact he was referred to as the Caesar of our generation by the associated press. After the opening ceremonies the games were almost anti-climatic. The Americans surged out early with huge wins in track and field. The hero the games was Jesse Owens who won three gold medals and gave the Nazi theory of Aryan domination a slap in the face. American papers proclaimed the next day, After the track and field events the Americans held a lead of 95 points. As the games continued though the lead narrowed at the end of competition the Germans had pulled off a huge upset by defeating the Americans by 57 points in the final point tally. At the end of the games with their victory in hand the German Crowd Shouted, Sieg Heil user Fuhrer Adolf Hitler Sieg Heil after he proclaimed the XIth olympiad over. The next day every German newspaper read we won. Aside from the German victory, Italy scored more points that France and took third, and Japan scored more points than Great Britain for the first time in Olympic history. As a result of these results high praises of Totalitarianism were also seen in all of the German newspapers, The preparations rested on the totality of the nationalist art of government and its fundamental idea of the community of the whole people. The world stands in honest admiration before this work because it has totalitarian character. Without unitary will that which today has astonished the world would have been impossible. It is the supreme achievement of the totalitarian state.. American sportswriters were also singing the praises of Germany. The New York Times reported, at the conclusion of the games the Reich has more reason than ever to sit back and admire the Athletic miracle that has just happened to them. The victory also caused sportswriters to question the AAU and AOC, America must work out a new method of choosing and training its teams to meet the fiercely nationalistic feelings of a number of countries.The Nazi Olympics was truly a huge world success, the question then was what would they do with this success. Things in Germany went back to normal almost immediately, the persecution of the Jews picked back up, heading on a course of mass destruction. The Olympic flame had hardly grown cold when Hitler made this Racist comment about the Americans at a Nazi rally, The Americans should be ashamed of themselves for letting their medals be won by Negroes. I would never shake hands with one of them. Things in Germany were back to normal, only now Hitler and Nazi party had an even firmer platform on which to stand. They had used the athletes of the Germany to prove their theories about Aryan domination. The success of the eleventh Olympiad gave Hitler an enormous boost, both in the moral and political feelings of Germany. The world had come to Berlin, with doubts an left overwhelmed by the show they had just seen.Hitler, however was only happy with success of the Olympics for so long when his giant ego and visions of grandeur got the better of him. In the Spring of 1937, Hitler announced that Ger many would begin having National Socialist sporting meets that were to be much like the original Olympics of the ancient Greeks. He then wrote this note to the IOC, In 1940 the Olympic games will take place in Tokyo. But thereafter they will take place in Germany for all time to come in this stadium. And then we will determine the measurements of the athletic field. The stadium Hitler was talking about was not the Berlin Reichsportsfield that had served as the main stadium for the Olympics games. Instead, he was speaking of the stadium designed by architect Albert Speer, who tried to warn Hitler that the stadium was an impossibility(Hitler would not listen). The stadium was to be called the Nuremberg Reichsportsfield and was to have had a seating capacity of 400,000.The lofty plan failed, not one brick was ever laid for the stadium. Obviously the Berlin Games were a huge success for Hitler and Nazi party, but the question we have to ask is did it in any way lead to the horrific events in Germany over the next nine years. This is an impossible question to answer because the Jewish persecutions already seemed to be headed down a horrifying road even before the games began. Yes, the Nazis were able to fool the world during these games and make them believe they were giving Jews as much freedom as the Americans were giving African Americans. However, even if the games had not been held there that year the persecutions would have continued down the same path to the Holocaust. I do however believe that this was the worlds one chance to stop the Nazis actions against the Jews before they really got started. A serious boycott effort by the powerful nations of the world like the United States would have been damning to the Nazi efforts who needed all the world to be there. A boycott would have crushed all of the Nazi plans because it would have made them look bad in front of their own people and it would have made the games that year a disaster. 30 million would have been wasted on an Olympics with no significant countries participating. That being said the world can hardly be blamed for going to the Berlin Olympics, because who could have ever dreamed that in ten years these same gracious hosts would have murdered over six million Jews