Analyze the quote below from Oedipus Rex.What is the significance/importance of this quote? What does it mean? "Then I shall begin again and...

One of the major distinguishing features of this amazing
play is the way that practically almost every line is full of dramatic irony concerning
the way in which Oedipus sets out on a kind of detective quest where he is unaware that
it is actually himself who is the criminal. This quote you have highlighted is a perfect
example of how this operates, as Oedipus publicly declares his intention to find the man
responsible for the death of the former king of Thebes, and ironically states that he
does this to protect himself. Note how he utters the fear that the murderer might wish
to punish Oedipus himself.

Such a quote therefore
highlights the way in which Oedipus is clueless about the impending discovery and the
tragedy that this unveiling of his own involvement in the present calamity faced by
Thebes. The dramatic irony is sharp and biting when Oedipus says that his motive for
finding the murderer is to stop himself being harmed and punished, when we know that the
very process of finding out the identity of the murder will be the ultimate undoing of
Oedipus.

How and when did American writers and poets respond to the Civil War?This is for my 11th grade english class, second semester, chapter 4.

If your definition of literature includes speeches and
historical documents, Lincoln's Inagural Address together with the Gettysburg Address
and the Emancipation Proclamation are certainly worth looking at. In these documents,
Lincoln illustrates the irreconciliable arguments on slavery that have led to the
conflict between the Union and the South. You can also look at Frederick Douglass's "An
American Apocalypse" (1861) to see that the Union was not so easily persuaded that the
abolishment of slavery should be one of the main points of their agenda and preferred to
see the conflict as an effort to preserve the unity of the nation. Common people such as
soldiers and civilians also wrote about the trauma of the civil war in journals and
memoirs. The second links takes you to a comprehensive list of these contributions and
primary sources.

As with other traumatic historical events,
the American civil war has continued to attract the attention of writers well beyond its
conclusion. In The Red Badge of Courage (1895), Stephen Crane used
the memoirs of civil war soldiers, filtered through the war stories by Russian writer
Tolstoy, to give a naturalist reconstruction of the civil war. To this naturalist
foundation, Crane also added psychological depth and symbolic overtones. The war is
potrayed in all its horror and the narratives emphasizes the alienation and loneliness
of soldiers as well as the lack of free will and personal
choice.

For a Southern perspective on the civil war, you
could look at Thomas Dixon's novel The Clansman (1905), which
served as the basis of D. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation.
Making African Americans little more than caricatures, the novel exemplifies
the appeal for white supremacy that characterized the post-reconstruction era. Margaret
Mitchell's bestseller Gone with the Wind (1936) also offers a
Southern perspective on the war together with a focus on the gender and class structure
of Southern society and how this organization is affected by the
conflict.

Which two conflicts does Lear face during the storm in King Lear?

It is clear that the storm that dominates in Act III is
symbolic of the turmoil that is engulfing Lear's kingdom and Lear himself. It appears
that the two major conflicts Lear faces in Act III scene 2 are internal and external.
His increasingly unfocused and bizarre comments suggest that he is facing an internal
conflict to maintain hold of his sanity. Lear himself recognises that his "wits begin to
turn" as he rages against his two ungrateful daughters that have cast him
out.

Secondly, Lear obviously faces and comments upon the
external conflict he has with his daughters, which has resulted in his exile status as
he wanders through the countryside seeking shelter. Notice how Lear addresses the storm
in regard to this external conflict:

readability="22">

Rumble they bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout,
rain!

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my
daughters.

I tax not you, you elements, with
unkindness;

I never gave you kingdom, called you
children.

You owe me no
subscription.

Because the
storm does not "owe" Lear anything, he encourages it to rage on, in contrast to his "two
pernicious daughters," who owe their father a great deal but have done nothing to help
him, and instead have spurned him, throwing him out of their
houses.

Are the battles in Macbeth good examples to explore the theme of violence and masculinity?

I would definitely want to argue that this is the case. I
think one of the best parts of the play you can use to argue this is actually at the
beginning of the play, in Act I scene 2, when Duncan is hearing the report of the battle
between the forces of Norway and the treacherous Thane of Cawdor. Note how the exploits
of Macbeth, who is called "Bellona's bridegroom," are
conveyed:

For
brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),

Disdaining
Fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which smok'd with
bloody execution,

Like Valour's minion, carv'd out his
passage,

Till he fac'd the
slave;

Which ne'er shook hands., nor bade farewell to
him,

Till he unseam'd him from the nave to
th'chops,

And fix'd his head upon our
battlements.

What is
important to realise is that we have not actually been introduced to Macbeth yet. This,
then, is our first introduction to his character. And note what a bloody, violent
character he is presented as being. His blade smokes with "bloody execution" and he is
reported to have violently and perhaps excessively killed the Thane of Cawdor, chopping
him in two and beheading him. Yet note Duncan's response to this violent
deed:

O
valiant cousin! worthy
gentleman!

It appears that
from the beginning of the play such acts of gratuitous and aggressive violence are
linked with an approved sense of masculinity. To be a "man" who is worthy of preferment
and the King's notice, it is suggested, you have to be willing to perpetrate such acts
of violence.

What is the significance of Fort Sumter?

Fort Sumter, located in Charleston, South Carolina was one
of two federal ports in the southern United States. Soon after the election of 1860
seven southern states succeeded from the Union.  President Lincoln declared that the
Union would hold on to these two ports after the succession.  However, on April 10, 1861
the Confederate General Beauregard demanded evacuation of the post by the Union troops. 
When they refused General Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.  On April
13, 1861, Fort Sumter was captured by the Confederacy and on April 14, 1861 Major Robert
Anderson surrendered to the Confederacy. 

In response to
the capture of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called on state militias to put down the
rebellion.  This in turn caused more states to join the Confederacy. The battle for
control of Fort Sumter marked the beginning of what was to become the Civil
War.

What was the main reason for Hitler to start World War II?

One of the main reasons was simply an expansion to the
borders of what he viewed as Germany, to take back the Rhineland and annexing Austria. 
After that it was to continue to further the goals of the Nazi party and the Nazi ideal,
to expand the borders of what Hitler considered to be a righteous republic while also
helping to rid the world of the people Hitler considered to be standing in the way of
progress and civilization.

Some might also argue that it
was simply a natural consequence of the poorly drawn up agreement ending WWI.  There is
also the argument that he had built up the military to such an extent that it simply had
to be used.

How did improvements in working conditions arise during the Industrial Revolution? See below.The improvement of working conditions over the spam...

The best of these answers is B, although this could vary
since you are asking about the whole span of the Industrial Revolution and you do not
specify what country you are talking about.

Typically,
improvements in working conditions did arise as a result of government actions.  There
are a number of examples that can be seen in the history of Great Britain.  One of these
was the Factory Act of 1833.  This law set a number of conditions on children working in
factories.  It was opposed by factory owners (which makes A and D incorrect at least in
that case) but was passed even so.

Many improvements in
working conditions arose in this way both in Britain and in the United
States.