“In the face of the fire”: Melville’s Prometheus, Classical and Romantic Contexts

2017 ◽  
pp. 241-266
Author(s):  
John P. McWilliams
Keyword(s):  
Moby Dick ◽  
Prometheus Unbound ◽  
The Face

Prometheus is a crucial analogue through which Ishmael’s quest to know the whale, and Ahab’s quest to destroy it, are to be understood. Melville’s Promethean references are located in the context of literature about Prometheus (Hesiod, Aeschylus, Plato), more particularly in the context of the Romantics’ understanding of Prometheus (Goethe’s “Prometheus,” Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus). Melville had read Frankenstein before writing Moby-Dick. It seems sure that he had read both Aeschylus (a copy of Aeschylus’s plays bought in 1849 in London) and Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound (references to Demogorgon). This essay focuses not on source hunting but rather on how Melville refashioned the Romantic Prometheus to fit the kinds of opposed, paradoxical judgments that his imagination habitually evoked. Ahab’s compulsive Promethean need to “gaze too long in the face of the fire” (“The Try-Works”) emerges both as a daring heroism (on the Aeschylean pattern) and as a self-destructive solipsism of vengeance (in accord with Melville’s image of Narcissus as “the key to it all” in “Loomings”).

scholarly journals Modern Rape-Revenge Movies and Shelley’s The Cenci

k ta ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-78
Author(s):  
Sahar Jamshidian ◽  
Fazel Asadi Amjad
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Legal System ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Female Victim ◽  
Prometheus Unbound ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
The Face ◽  
Traditional Pattern ◽  
Second Wave

Viewing Shelley’s The Cenci from the political upheavals of the nineteenth century would limit one’s response to the play to the issues of that century. However, this play continues to be played in the twenty first century, which makes one wonder how a modern spectator with a feminist inclination might react to the theme of rape and revenge. The Cenci shares with a number of movies flourishing with the rise of the second wave feminism during the 1970s, the theme of a female victim transformed into a hero-avenger, who takes law into her own hands and avenges herself in the face of a dysfunctional legal state. As revisions of the archetypal narratives of violation-revenge-violation, these modern movies have been praised for depicting heroines who are no longer powerless, miserable and victimized, but strong enough to avenge themselves with impunity. Though The Cenci repeats the traditional pattern of violation-revenge-violation, it focuses on the corruption and irresponsibility of the patriarchal legal system as well as its reformation, which have been neglected by both mythical narratives and modern rape-revenge movies. By reading The Cenci along with William Blake’s “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” and Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound,” we examine how The Cenci challenges the modern rape-revenge movies and how Beatrice could have used her agency and her anger in a more effective way to fight against tyranny. 

The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (12) ◽  
pp. 1755-1763
Author(s):  
David R. Carrier ◽  
Stephen M. Deban ◽  
Jason Otterstrom
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Potential Function ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Sperm Whales ◽  
Male Aggression ◽  
Moby Dick ◽  
The Face

SUMMARY `Forehead to forehead I meet thee, this third time, Moby Dick!' [Ahab (Melville, 1851)] Herman Melville's fictional portrayal of the sinking of the Pequodwas inspired by instances in which large sperm whales sank whaling ships by ramming the ships with their heads. Observations of aggression in species of the four major clades of cetacean and the artiodactyl outgroup suggest that head-butting during male—male aggression is a basal behavior for cetaceans. We hypothesize that the ability of sperm whales to destroy stout wooden ships, 3-5 times their body mass, is a product of specialization for male—male aggression. Specifically, we suggest that the greatly enlarged and derived melon of sperm whales, the spermaceti organ, evolved as a battering ram to injure an opponent. To address this hypothesis, we examined the correlation between relative melon size and the level of sexual dimorphism in body size among cetaceans. We also modeled impacts between two equal-sized sperm whales to determine whether it is physically possible for the spermaceti organ to function as an effective battering ram. We found (i) that the evolution of relative melon size in cetaceans is positively correlated with the evolution of sexual dimorphism in body size and (ii) that the spermaceti organ of a charging sperm whale has enough momentum to seriously injure an opponent. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the spermaceti organ has evolved to be a weapon used in male—male aggression.

“Cain’s Ring”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Mariani
Keyword(s):  
Moby Dick ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

This chapter examines the juxtaposition of war and sacrifice in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Melville has been often identified as a forerunner of later anti-war writers—as an artist engaged from early on in his literary career in denouncing the destruction unleashed on the world by “the most ferocious animal on the face of the earth”: “white, civilized man.” Moby-Dick casts serious doubts regarding the possibility of curbing a violence that keeps frustrating mankind's best hopes from time immemorial. This chapter first considers Father Mapple's sermon and the concept of monstrous double in Moby-Dick, along with the logic of primal sacrifice and the link between sacrifice and survival in the text. It then explores how, in Melville's world, resistance to violence seems to entail further violence, in an endless, tragic cycle of aggressions and counteraggressions, as well as the cultural and narrative logic behind the paradox that no one can be entirely innocent and yet felt spotless as the lamb.

Why do people believe in a zero-sum economy?

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel G. B. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Everyday Experience ◽  
Coalitional Psychology ◽  
The Face ◽  
Zero Sum

AbstractZero-sum thinking and aversion to trade pervade our society, yet fly in the face of everyday experience and the consensus of economists. Boyer & Petersen's (B&P's) evolutionary model invokes coalitional psychology to explain these puzzling intuitions. I raise several empirical challenges to this explanation, proposing two alternative mechanisms – intuitive mercantilism (assigning value to money rather than goods) and errors in perspective-taking.

Mars: was There an Ancient Eden?

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias C. Owen
Keyword(s):  
Positive Answer ◽  
Biogenic Elements ◽  
Habitable Zones ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Early Mars ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Rocky Planets ◽  
Impact Erosion

AbstractThe clear evidence of water erosion on the surface of Mars suggests an early climate much more clement than the present one. Using a model for the origin of inner planet atmospheres by icy planetesimal impact, it is possible to reconstruct the original volatile inventory on Mars, starting from the thin atmosphere we observe today. Evidence for cometary impact can be found in the present abundances and isotope ratios of gases in the atmosphere and in SNC meteorites. If we invoke impact erosion to account for the present excess of129Xe, we predict an early inventory equivalent to at least 7.5 bars of CO2. This reservoir of volatiles is adequate to produce a substantial greenhouse effect, provided there is some small addition of SO2(volcanoes) or reduced gases (cometary impact). Thus it seems likely that conditions on early Mars were suitable for the origin of life – biogenic elements and liquid water were present at favorable conditions of pressure and temperature. Whether life began on Mars remains an open question, receiving hints of a positive answer from recent work on one of the Martian meteorites. The implications for habitable zones around other stars include the need to have rocky planets with sufficient mass to preserve atmospheres in the face of intensive early bombardment.

Evidence for a shear mechanism for the precipitation of γ-zirconium hydride in zirconium

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 658-659
Author(s):  
G.J.C. Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Temperature ◽  
Strain Field ◽  
Zirconium Hydride ◽  
Zirconium Atom ◽  
Atom Diffusion ◽  
Solvus Temperature ◽  
Hexagonal Close Packed ◽  
Partial Dislocations ◽  
The Face

In zirconium-hydrogen alloys, rapid cooling from an elevated temperature causes precipitation of the face-centred tetragonal (fct) phase, γZrH, in the form of needles, parallel to the close-packed <1120>zr directions (1). With low hydrogen concentrations, the hydride solvus is sufficiently low that zirconium atom diffusion cannot occur. For example, with 6 μg/g hydrogen, the solvus temperature is approximately 370 K (2), at which only the hydrogen diffuses readily. Shears are therefore necessary to produce the crystallographic transformation from hexagonal close-packed (hep) zirconium to fct hydride.The simplest mechanism for the transformation is the passage of Shockley partial dislocations having Burgers vectors (b) of the type 1/3<0110> on every second (0001)Zr plane. If the partial dislocations are in the form of loops with the same b, the crosssection of a hydride precipitate will be as shown in fig.1. A consequence of this type of transformation is that a cumulative shear, S, is produced that leads to a strain field in the surrounding zirconium matrix, as illustrated in fig.2a.

A study of interface sliding at F.C.C.-B.C.C. boundaries in a Cu-Zn alloy

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 422-423
Author(s):  
F. Monchoux ◽  
A. Rocher ◽  
J.L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Face Centered Cubic ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
High Voltage Electron Microscopy ◽  
Diffusion Treatment ◽  
Voltage Electron ◽  
The Face ◽  
Face Centered ◽  
Interface Sliding ◽  
Zn Alloy ◽  
Made In

Interphase sliding is an important phenomenon of high temperature plasticity. In order to study the microstructural changes associated with it, as well as its influence on the strain rate dependence on stress and temperature, plane boundaries were obtained by welding together two polycrystals of Cu-Zn alloys having the face centered cubic and body centered cubic structures respectively following the procedure described in (1). These specimens were then deformed in shear along the interface on a creep machine (2) at the same temperature as that of the diffusion treatment so as to avoid any precipitation. The present paper reports observations by conventional and high voltage electron microscopy of the microstructure of both phases, in the vicinity of the phase boundary, after different creep tests corresponding to various deformation conditions.Foils were cut by spark machining out of the bulk samples, 0.2 mm thick. They were then electropolished down to 0.1 mm, after which a hole with thin edges was made in an area including the boundary

The glycomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and other model organisms

2002 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 117-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart M. Haslam ◽  
David Gems ◽  
Howard R. Morris ◽  
Anne Dell
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Entire Genome ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
The Face ◽  
Area Of Concern ◽  
Nematode Worm

There is no doubt that the immense amount of information that is being generated by the initial sequencing and secondary interrogation of various genomes will change the face of glycobiological research. However, a major area of concern is that detailed structural knowledge of the ultimate products of genes that are identified as being involved in glycoconjugate biosynthesis is still limited. This is illustrated clearly by the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which was the first multicellular organism to have its entire genome sequenced. To date, only limited structural data on the glycosylated molecules of this organism have been reported. Our laboratory is addressing this problem by performing detailed MS structural characterization of the N-linked glycans of C. elegans; high-mannose structures dominate, with only minor amounts of complex-type structures. Novel, highly fucosylated truncated structures are also present which are difucosylated on the proximal N-acetylglucosamine of the chitobiose core as well as containing unusual Fucα1–2Gal1–2Man as peripheral structures. The implications of these results in terms of the identification of ligands for genomically predicted lectins and potential glycosyltransferases are discussed in this chapter. Current knowledge on the glycomes of other model organisms such as Dictyostelium discoideum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster is also discussed briefly.

Supporting the Use of Rudimentary Vocalizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Zubow ◽  
Richard Hurtig
Keyword(s):  
Rett Syndrome ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Multiple Modalities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
The Face

Children with Rett Syndrome (RS) are reported to use multiple modalities to communicate although their intentionality is often questioned (Bartolotta, Zipp, Simpkins, & Glazewski, 2011; Hetzroni & Rubin, 2006; Sigafoos et al., 2000; Sigafoos, Woodyatt, Tuckeer, Roberts-Pennell, & Pittendreigh, 2000). This paper will present results of a study analyzing the unconventional vocalizations of a child with RS. The primary research question addresses the ability of familiar and unfamiliar listeners to interpret unconventional vocalizations as “yes” or “no” responses. This paper will also address the acoustic analysis and perceptual judgments of these vocalizations. Pre-recorded isolated vocalizations of “yes” and “no” were presented to 5 listeners (mother, father, 1 unfamiliar, and 2 familiar clinicians) and the listeners were asked to rate the vocalizations as either “yes” or “no.” The ratings were compared to the original identification made by the child's mother during the face-to-face interaction from which the samples were drawn. Findings of this study suggest, in this case, the child's vocalizations were intentional and could be interpreted by familiar and unfamiliar listeners as either “yes” or “no” without contextual or visual cues. The results suggest that communication partners should be trained to attend to eye-gaze and vocalizations to ensure the child's intended choice is accurately understood.

Verrucae planae of the face

1971 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-330
Author(s):  
R. Lester
Keyword(s):  
The Face
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