Albert Einstein, born on March 14, 1879 is one of the most influential people of the modern era. (Einstein) As a physicist he changed our understanding of the universe. He was very outspoken about the significant political and social issues of his time. As a Jew he advocated a moral role for the Jewish people. Over his scientific career, he was on a mission for the universal and indisputable laws that govern the physical world. Science was Albert Einstein’s love, but he always found time to devote many of his efforts to political causes that were close to his heart. He strived for peace, freedom, and social justice. He became an active leader of the international anti-war movement. (Albert Einstein Archives) Einstein died on April 18, 1955. (Einstein)
Einstein said, “I don’t know what kind of weapons will be used in the third world war, assuming there will be a third world war. But I can tell you what the fourth world war will be fought with- stone clubs.” This means that whatever weapons are used in the third world war will knock us back in time because they will be so powerful. That is also the reason he doesn’t know what they will be because they will be so far advanced compared to his time. This is very possible because of the advances some countries have made in their military strength. For example, the United States executed 1054 nuclear tests between July 16, 1945 and September 23,1992. They also executed two nuclear attacks in that period although the number of actual bombs tested in that time period is far greater.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet – The Ambiguity
Hamlet – the Ambiguity
The extent of the ambiguity within William Shakespeare’s drama Hamlet deserves consideration. Literary critics disagree in their assessments of how prevalent the ambiguity is in the work.
Lawrence Danson in the essay “Tragic Alphabet” discusses the equivocation and ambiguity within the play:
Equivocation – the conflict between the reality Hamlet perceives and the language used to describe that reality – has made all expression a matter of mere seeming, and Hamlet knows not seems. His rejection of the Claudian language extends to a rejection of all the symbolic systems that can denote a man. Thus, even his own punning (both verbal and silent) is inadequate: Hamlet chooses “nothing” since he cannot have “all”:
‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of silent black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour in the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly. These, indeed, seem;
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passes show –
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (I.ii.77)
In an ambiguous world, where all is but seeming, and hence misinterpretation, no symbol is successful. (70)
D.G. James says in “The New Doubt” that the Bard has the ambiguous habit of charging a word with several meanings at once:
“Conscience does make cowards of us.” There has been, I am aware, much dispute as to what the word means here. For my part, I find not the least difficulty in believing that the word carries both its usual meaning and that of “reflection an…
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… Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
West, Rebecca. “A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.
Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. “Hamlet: A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N. p.: Pocket Books, 1958.