Existentialism Essays (512 words) - Philosophy, Literature

Existentialism Existentialism is a concept that became popular during the second World War in France, and just after it. French playrights have often used the stage to express their views, and these views came to surface even during a Nazi occupation. Bernard Shaw got his play "Saint Joan" past the German censors because it appeared to be very Anti-British. French audiences however immediately understood the real meaning of the play, and replaced the British with the Germans. Those sorts of "hidden meanings" were common throughout the period so that plays would be able to pass censorship. Existentialism proposes that man is full of anxiety and despare with no meaning in his life, just simply existing, until he made decisive choice about his own future. That is the way to achieve dignity as a human being. Existentialists felt that adopting a social or political cause was one way of giving purpose to a life. Sartre is well known for the "Theatre engage" or Theatre 'commited', which is supposedly commited to social and/or political action. On of the major playwrights during this period was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre had been imprisoned in Germany in 1940 but managed to escape, and become one of the leaders of the Existential movement. Other popular playwrights were Albert Camus, and Jean Anouilh. Just like Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman for the French Underground when he wrote his famous essay, "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" or "The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll a rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. For Camus, this related heavily to everyday life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero, with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was necessary to wonder what the meaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some sense of clarity in the world, since "if the world were clear, art would not exist". "The Myth of Sisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in the theatre, and eventually The Theatre of the Absurd. Right after the Second World War, Paris became the theatre capital of the west, and popularized a new form of surrealistic theatre called "Theatre of the Absurd". Many historians contribute the sudden popularity of absurdism in France to the gruesome revelations of gas chambers and war atrocities coming out of Germany after the war. The main idea of The Theatre of the Absurd was to point out man's helplessness and pointless existance in a world without purpose. As Richard Coe described it "It is the freedom of the slave to crawl east along the deck of a boat going west". Two of the most popular playwrights of this time include Samuel Beckett, who's most famous piece was "Waiting for Godot", and Eugene Ioensco with "Exit the King". Most absurdist plays have no logical plot. The absense of the plot pushes an emphasis on proving the pointless existance of man. Quite often, such plays reveal the human condition at it's absolute worst. Absurdist playwrites often used such techniques as symbolism, mime, the circus, and the commedia dell'arte, which are quite evident in the more popular plays of the time, such as Waiting for Godot, The Bald Prima Donna, and Amedee.

Problems Muslims face in Britain Essay Example

Problems Muslims face in Britain Essay Example Problems Muslims face in Britain Essay Problems Muslims face in Britain Essay Originally 35 problems, cancelled down to 15.1. Muslims usually go in for arranged marriages, the women let the men in their family choose a suitable husband for them, and then they marry them. Of course not all Muslims do this, but the vast majority do. This can be frowned upon in some societies as people believe that everyone has a right to marry who they choose2. Muslims feel that western women dress in inappropriate ways, especially teenagers. However westerners do not feel like this, its just simply how they function. Of course all this is more likely to happen with westerners because of the fact that they mingle while they are teenagers or adolescents. Muslims separate children of different sexes after they hit their teenage years so that they do not get the wrong ideas. Several problems occur during that. The most important being that a woman may only expose her hands and face to a man not of her family. So when they have P.E or school they must wear trousers to cover their le gs. They have to go to same sex schools, which can cause a problem as most same sex schools are private so cost a lot. They cannot go swimming in mixed schools either. Muslim teenagers are not aloud out alone with boys. When they have relatives over the women and men will go their separate ways, and into separate rooms.3. Muslims may not eat food that is considered Haram. Which are animals that eat other animals. The food they eat must be halal, which means it has been killed in a special way (by slitting the animals throat). Sometimes they cannot eat cakes, pastry and cheese, because the animals it came from wasnt killed properly. Food cooked in fat that comes from a haram animal may not be eaten.4. When Muslims die they may not be buried in a coffin. This is illegal in Britain, as when you are buried, if you are not in a coffin all the maggots will slowly eat away at the flesh. Muslims cannot be cremated either and they must be buried with their head facing Mecca. Muslims must be buried on the day of the death, and be washed by members of the family. This is impractical in Britain. Sometimes it can take up to a week to be buried.5. Women and men may not be seen by a member of staff (doctor) who is off the opposite sex. So when they go into hospital this can cause problems, for example only male staff may be free and if youre a woman you might have to wait hours to see a female one.6. When a baby is born the words of command to worship are to be the first thing he hears. However if the baby is ill it may need to be rushed of right away and so cannot hear the words. Male babies are circumcised after birth, which can cause problems to have the operation at such a young age.7. The hijab that Muslim women wear which covers their whole body makes people prejudiced against them because of the London and Twin tower bombings by Muslim extremists.8. Muslims may not be in pubs or near anyways that sells alcohol. In fact in Muslim countries alcohol is forbidden, it is a prisionable offence to bring it into the country.9. Muslims may not have pictures which have people in them in their house.10. Smoking is frowned upon because it harms your health and it is discouraged to harm anything God created.11. At lunchtime Muslims must pray and at lunch time on a Friday Muslim men MUST go to the mosque to pray to Allah. This causes problems if they work for someone who is not Muslim because they may not understand.12. Muslims may only marry people whose family were Muslim. Which means that the father was a Muslim.13. Muslims is eastern countries are aloud more than one wife, however in Britain this is illegal.14. Sexual relationships outside marriage are considered wrong.Becki Atkinson Im sorry Mrs Smee but the school files were inaccessible over the weekend, we only found out on Friday. So I was unable to get onto my account to access the leaflet, so I just wrote up the information. Sorry again