Explain in detail the power of speech in "Julius Caesar."

That words are powerful is evidenced throughout all the writing of Shakespeare.  In "Julius Caesar" the persuasive power of language is first exemplified in Cassius's convincing Brutus of Rome's need to be rid of Caesar because he is a tyrannt.:

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Colossus, and we petty men/Walk under his huge legs and peep about/To find ourselves dishonorable graves./Men at some time are masters of their fates:/The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,/But in ourselves, that we are underlings./Brutus and Caesar:  what should be inthat "Caesar"?/Why should that name be sounded more than yours?/Write them together, yours is as fair a name.../Rome, thous hast lost the breed of noble bloods!....There was a Brutus once that would have brooked/Th'eternal devil to keep his state in Rome/As easily as a king. (I,ii,135-161)

After this persuasive argument to his sense of pride and honr, Brutus promises to consider Cassius's words, declaring that before now he has pondered the same things.  Of course, Brutus is later swayed by his love of Rome: Caesar's "abuse of greatness" must be ended, so he and the other conspirators assassinate Caesar.

After Caesar's death, Brutus addresses the people of Rome. In order to explain the conspirators' slaying their ruler Brutus appeals to their abilities to reason:

If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his.  If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:  Not that I love Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.  Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? (III,ii, 19-24)

Brutus ends his persuasive speech  with a final rhetorical question:  "Who is here so vile, that will not love his country?" (III,ii, 33)

In the most salient example of the power of speech, Marc Antony returns to give a funeral oration for his friend, Julius Caesar.  Facing a hostile audience after the speech of Brutus, Marc Antony cleverly begins with "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." (III,ii,74), aligning himself with the audience.  Appealing to their emotions rather than their intellects, Antony is able to better persuade than Brutus, for he wins over the crowd by means of his effective pauses and  his emotive repetition of phrases.

With brillant verbal irony, Antony declares that he will not attempt to stir the crowd:

I come to bury Caesar,, not to praise him....The noble Brutus / Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.If it were so, it was a grievous fault,/And grievously hath Caesar answered it.  Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest/(For Brutus is an honorable man,/So are they all, all honorable men), (III,ii,74-84)

Employing this verbal irony, Antony creates the illusion that he has not come to stir the crowd.  When the crowd's resistance to him is lowered, Antony begins his manipulation, insinuating that Brutus and the others are, indeed, not honorable.  His tone and effective pauses along with the repetition of the phrase "so are they all, all honorable men" underscore the contradictions of what has happened.  T Antony,then,directs the crowd to Caesar's wounds. With emotional appeal, Antony reminds them of Caesar's love for Brutus, so the stab from Brutus was the "most unkindest cut of all" (III,ii,184).  He ends with his final argument and rhetorical question:

in every wound of Caesar's that should move/The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny (III,ii,230-231)

Here was Caesar!  When comes such another? (III,ii,253)

In The Crucible, what are some examples of Negative Belonging, and Passive Belonging?Who is being forced to Belong? Who Passively Belongs?

Active belonging, passive belonging and negative belonging are terms that refer to the relationship between religious belief and belonging to a church and/or religious affiliation. Active belonging indicates religious belief coupled with active attendance at and affiliation with a church and/or religious group. Passive belonging indicates passivity in belief coupled with attendance at and/or affiliation with a church and/or religious group; something on the order of "You can make me go, but you can't make me a fanatic." Negative belonging indicates the absence of belief coupled with coerced attendance at and/or affiliation with a church and/or religious group; something on the order of, "You may be able to make me go, but you can't make me believe."

Tituba and Abigail Williams might represent examples of negative belong. Tituba may be so classed because she is associated with Voodoo and magic through the associations with her homeland of Barbados. Her superstitious nature is aggravated by the trials leading to her psychological disintegration while in jail.

Abigail may be so classed because The Crucible raises the question of how extensive her beliefs in magic, are and her conduct raises the question of her acceptance of basic Christian doctrine requiring that one extend love and kindness and do justice and not bear false witness. On the other hand, Giles Corey might represent passive belonging since he spent the majority of his life not caring much about the church or church doctrine.

Can anyone tell me the summary plot of "The Jewelry"?

The plot revolves around M. Lantin and his wife. He really loves her and they have a wonderful marriage. The only things that bother him are his wife's fascination with fake jewels and her love of the theater. Even though he really loves his wife more and more, after a time, he begs off going to the theater with her. He tells her that he does not like the fake jewels, but she wears them anyway, saying that she can't help it, she likes them.

One cold night attending the theater, M. Lantin's wife becomes ill and 8 days later she dies. After her death, he is grief stricken and he can't bear to look at the fake jewels. In need of money, he decides to sell the jewels and takes them to a merchant who tells him that the jewels are real and very valuable.

M. Lantin is shocked when he learns that the jewels were in fact real, he does not know how his wife could have afforded to buy them, he did not buy them, so he realizes that she must have had a lover who bought them for her. Confused by the discovery of his wife's infidelity, he determines to find a virtuous woman if he marries again.

M. Lantin finds a woman he wants to marry. He chooses a woman that is without question, very virtuous and will be totally faithful to him. They marry, and his wife is a model of virtue, and M. Lantin finds that he is miserable.

In Act 1, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, why does Romeo want to go to the Capulet's party and why does Benvolio want to go with him?

In Act I Scene 2, Benvolio and Romeo come across Capulet’s servant, who is charged with inviting the guests to Capulet’s ball; however, he cannot read the guest list, and must ask Romeo’s aid in the matter.  In this way the two Montagues learn of the ball and of the many women who will be there – “Signior Martino and his wife and daughters,” some “beautious sisters” and “lovely nieces” – and of course Rosaline, Romeo’s lost love, destined for the nunnery rather than his arms.  After Romeo has read the list, the servant invites him and his companion, on the condition they “be not of the house of Montagues.”

When Romeo and Benvolio first come onto the scene, Benvolio is trying to comfort Romeo after losing Rosaline.  He argues that all his cousin need do is find another lover – "Take thou some new infection to they eye,/And the rank poison of the old will die."  And yet Romeo will have none of it, preferring to be a prisoner of his misery.  So, when they are invited to Capulet’s ball, the event falls perfectly into Benvolio’s attempts to distract Romeo.  He states that at the party, Rosaline will be surrounded by “all the admired beauties of Verona,” and when Romeo sees her compared to such beauty, he will forget her instantly, and see how ignorant he had been for loving her. 

Benvolio wants to go to the party to end Romeo’s moping heartache – he asserts proudly that when Rosaline is weighed against the other many women at the ball, “she shall scant show well that now shows best.”  Romeo, the hopeless romantic, will not be swayed by this argument, but avows that he will “go along…to rejoice in splendor of mine own.”  He will go for his own reasons – likely to see Rosaline again. So really, it is Benvolio who desires to go to the party, and who persuades Romeo to tag along in hopes that the feast will raise his spirits.  

What is the smallest unit of descent in a society?

If you are referring to closest (genetic) descent it would be between the two biological parents and the child or children born of that union. However, there are societies where by the closest descent runs specifically through either a matriarchal or patriarchal line. In these cases only one set of genes is recognized as the direct line of descent. For example in a matriarchal line closest descent is between grandmother, her children, mother, her children and so on. The father and his ancestry is not considered part of the direct lineage.

would you call "Doctor Faustus" a morality play? Give evidence in favour or otherwise discuss in detail?

Doctor Faustus has many features of a morality play: the conflict between good and evil, the creation of Good and Bad Angels, the Old Man as Good Counsel, the pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins and the appearance of Faustus’ enemies to ambush and kill him.

The conflict between Good and Evil was a recurring theme in the medieval morality plays. From this point of view, Marlowe’s play is a dramatization of the medieval morality play, Everyman. Doctor Faustus becomes a morality play in which heaven struggles for the soul of a Renaissance Everyman, namely Doctor Faustus.

The Good Angel and the Bad Angel are characters derived from the medieval morality plays. They are sometimes regarded as an externalization of the thoughts of Faustus. This is a twentieth-century view. The Angels are independent absolutes, one wholly good and one wholly evil. They appear in Doctor Faustus like allegorical figures of a morality play. They reflect the possibility of both damnation and redemption being open to Faustus. A close examination shows that the Evil Angel declines in importance as the play advances. The angles work by suggestion, as allegorical characters in morality plays do.

The audience also observes the pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins in Doctor Faustus. This is another feature borrowed by Marlowe from the tradition of the morality play. In Marlowe’s play, to divert Faustus’ attention from Christ, his savior, Lucifer, comes with his attendant devils to rebuke him for invoking Christ and then presents the pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins as a diversion.

Benvolio’s attempts to ambush and take revenge on Faustus is also a device taken from the medieval morality play. Faustus loses his head, only for it to be revealed as a false one. This theatrical device was originally used in the medieval morality play, Mankind. Similarly, Faustus’ attempt to strike Dick, Robin and the others dumb in the Vanholt show scene is also derived from the medieval morality play. Doctor Faustus has many features of the morality play of the Middle Ages.

In The Kite Runner, what is the role of Nang and Namoos and how does it shape Baba's actions in a positive way?

Nang and namoos--defined as "pride" and "honor or dignity" in The Kite Runner--are probably the most important elements of Baba's character. Be it in Kabul, where he outwardly wears his pride of family history and financial accomplishments; or on his flight from Afghanistan, when he risks his life by standing up to the Russian soldier; or in California, where he maintains the strict Afghan way of life as much as possible in a faraway land, Baba lives by these principles and preaches his strict ethic to Amir. The Afghan terms are specifically mentioned during Amir's first meetings with his future wife, Soraya. Baba warns his son to take care when speaking with General Taheri and his daughter. They may be living in California, but theirs is still the Afghan way. Baba and Amir's relationship has progressed far enough that the father does not discourage his son from wooing the girl with a questionable past, but he does demand that nang and namoos be present when doing so. Important as these principles are for Baba in his social and financial dealings in Afghanistan, he is guilty of straying from them himself: His secret concerning Hassan's heritage is the most glaring example, and keeping it to the grave eventually troubles Amir when he discovers the truth. Nevertheless, Baba's friends consider him a man of unquestioned honor and dignity, and even dying of cancer, he lives his life by these principles.