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Photo Essay | The Lady or the Tiger?

This is a photo essay based off of the short story, 'The Lady or the Tiger'. This short story deals with the argument of which would trump what, love or hate. The author of this short story made sure to not make up a definite ending on which one wins at the end, leaving it up to the reader to conclude if love or hate would win and this photo essay is my take on the story itself and the conclusion.

Written Peice | Mental Health in Hamlet

Mental is oftentimes too taboo and is rarely mentioned in the society and therefore a stigma is thus created. When dealing with mental health, people often associate it with the negatives and stereotypes regarding it established through media and public attitudes towards mental health. The Tragedy of Hamlet includes many of its cast showing symptoms of a possible mental health disorder but portrays it as erratic behaviour.

The play’s titular character, Hamlet, is not exempt from this fact. Hamlet shows symptoms of borderline personality disorder such as unstable relationships, impulsive behaviour, extreme mood swings, explosive anger and out of touch with reality. Hamlet has hallucinations and delusions during his times of peril and is obsessed with the of revenge when it comes to Claudius, making it his goal to kill his uncle. He also cannot maintain relationships with either his mother, Gertrude, or his former lover, Ophelia. Hamlet would often times physically and verbally abuse Ophelia, assaulting her because she claimed that she was unable to love him and spews out slurs while he was beating her.

Ophelia, the main love interest of Hamlet, starts off in the novel as an innocent young girl but as the novel progresses, the reader can see her slow descent towards madness. She displays symptoms of depression and even PTSD as she has tendency to sing songs relating to events which she herself experienced. These songs would be about death, chaos and unrequited love. Ultimately, she commits suicide by jumping into water.

Claudius, the main antagonist of Hamlet, can be diagnosed as a sociopath. Sociopaths seek to dominate others and win at any cost. They are the masters of deception and influencing others, though unlike psychopaths, they are able to feel remorse. Claudius is a power hungry individual and because of his greed, he decides to kills his own brother in order to claim the throne. He was able to manipulate an entire kingdom and even the wife of the man that he killed and the only one who did not fall for his charade was Hamlet. He was able to feel guilt but not for the reason that one should expect, he only felt guilty due to his inability to feel remorse for the killing of this brother. He felt guilty for the fact that he was able to live with himself even though he stained his hands with his brother’s blood.

Symbolism | Symbols in Raisin in the Sun

Mama’s Plant

The plant in which the matriarch of the family in ‘Raisin in the Sun’ is symbolized as desire of growth and the current state that Mama and her family are in. Mama is constantly caring for the plan knowing that the plant will be able to survive the tough living conditions if she continues to care and nurture it. This can also be applied to her family as she never gave up on them and puts great care towards them. Mama’s deep nurturing of this plant even though it is not getting enough sunlight represents how no matter which state her family is in, she will still tend to and care for them.

Insurance Cheque

This cheque represents a successful dream. People in the household desire the money from this cheque to be able to accomplish their goals though Mama has the final say on what to do with the money due to her being the one in charge of the household. This cheque is able to accomplish multitudes of dreams such as Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor, Walter’s goal of investing in a liquor store and Mama’s dream of moving her family into a better living condition.

Liquor Store

This store represents Walter’s greed for money. He despises his current job as a chauffeur and wants to provide money for his family and places his hopes in a chance to invest in a liquor store. His idea of owning a liquor store trumps his family’s dreams as he uses the remaining money of the cheque, $6500, to fulfill his own personal desires. As a result of this, he places his family in a crisis regarding money as they will not be able to maintain the money needed for their new house and money for Beneatha and her dream of becoming a doctor.