Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Film Review "Brave Heart"

Summary Of Brave Heart

After years in Scotland, the land was open to an invasion from the south. King Edward I of England he decided to conquer Scotland. After invading Scotland and winning the war, Edward granted areas of land in Scotland to his, which they were to rule, along with the traditional privileges. One of these privileges was Primae Noctis, the right for the lord to take a newly married Scottish woman into his bed and spend the wedding night with the bride. William Wallace grows up in this atmosphere of repression and fear and survives the death of his father and brother. His uncle arrives and takes him away to live with him. They travel Europe and Wallace learns to read, write and speak Latin and French. When he returns home, he falls in love with his childhood sweetheart Murron MacClannough , and they marry in secret so that she does not have to spend a night in the bed of the English lord. However, the marriage is discovered and after a fight in the marketplace, Murron is captured. Wallace can't get there in time to save her and she is killed by the Sherriff. Wallace, with the other villagers, storms the garrison and kills all the English soldiers there, as well as the Sherriff. Wallace is compelled to fight against the English who have taken over his homeland and enslaved himself and his countrymen and women. Wallace's army grows as other Scotsmen arrive to fight the English. They fight a number of successful battles and Longshanks is worried enough by the threat he poses to send Princess Isabell to try and negotiate peace with him. Princess Isabelle is the wife of Prince Edward (Peter Hanly) the Prince of Wales and Longshanks sent her because his son is a weak man and would not be imposing enough to negotiate, but she is a strong leader. As a French princess, Longshanks also knows that if Wallace kills her, the French king will declare war on Wallace in revenge. Wallace rejects the offer of a title, an estate and a chest of gold that Longshanks has told Isabelle to offer and continues with the fighting. However, during their conversation, Isabelle tells Wallace that she understands his suffering and that she has heard about the death of his woman. They share a moment of understanding and she becomes charmed by him. For Wallace to continue fighting, he needs the Scottish nobility on his side, contributing troops and food. But Wallace has problems convincing the nobility that they have a real chance to take back the country from the English. The nobles think that the Scots will lose and the English will treat them even worse than they are treated now. Also, the nobles are getting money from England and live quite well. Some of them are more concerned that this money continues to come and that their standard of living continues to be the best instead of looking after their people. Robert the Bruce is particularly torn over what he sees as his duty to the people to free them and what his father tells him to do to keep in good with the English. Eventually, two of the nobles betray Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk. Wallace is wounded badly and forced into hiding. He begins a guerilla war, which includes the murder of the two men who betrayed him at Falkirk. During the guerilla war, he meets again with Princess Isabelle, who has told him about a trap that Longshanks had set. Wallace evades the trap and kills the soldiers who were sent to capture him. He and Isabelle spend a night together. Unbeknownst to Wallace, she conceives his child. Robert the Bruce contacts Wallace to set up a meeting, where the Bruce intends to declare his intent to join Wallace and commit troops to the war. However, Roberts father has conspired with the other nobles to set a trap and Wallace is caught. He is beaten until he is unconscious and then handed over to the English. Wallace is taken to London and charged with high treason. He denies the charge, but is found guilty. He is given an opportunity to confess, and told that if he does so, his death will be quick. If he does not confess, he is told he will need to be purified by pain before he is killed. Isabelle visits him in his jail cell and begs him to confess, saying she cant stand the thought of him being tortured. He refuses to confess, and she asks him to take a drug she has brought, which will dull the pain. He refuses, but she begs him and he allows her to pour it into his mouth. They kiss and she leaves. Once she is gone, Wallace spits out the drug. Wallace is sentenced to death and because he didnt confess, he will be hung, drawn and quartered. He is taken to a public square and hung for a few moments. His stomach is cut open and his intestines are taken out. The magistrate again offers Wallace a quick death, this time if he will plead for mercy. The crowd overhears and calls for mercy on his behalf. Even at the end, Wallace will not be broken, and instead of begging for mercy, he cries Freedom! one last time. As he is about to be beheaded, he sees Murron in the crowd, smiling at him. We are told that Robert the Bruce takes control of what is left of the Scottish army and faces the English at Bannockburn. Cheering for Wallace, they defeat the English and win their freedom.

Characters in Brave Heart

*William Wallace
- the main character in brave heart the leader in Scotland. And defeats English to get there freedom.

*Murron- true friend of Wallace. They have strong relationship and then when they grew up there relationship deepens.

*Malcolm Wallace- he is father of Wallace. After he died he taught Wallace the freedom and honor. He also taught Wallace that fighting is are not things that one should seek out.

*Robert the Bruce- he is the king of Scotland.

*Princess Isabelle- the Princess is in an arranged marriage with Prince Edward, she is to be the future Queen of England. She falls in love with William Wallace

*Longhanks- when Willam Wallace begins his revolt against English rule he sends Princess Isabelle to try to make him believe that some sort of peace can be worked out.

*Prince Edward- this "prince" is the heir to the throne of England. He is till the wimpiest future king you can ever fathom. His father sees just how pitiful his son is so he tries to toughen him up a bit before his death.

* William Wallace's Warrior Friend- this is friend of William Wallace. And he has the look of truly warrior.

*William Wallace's Friend- this is another of Willam Wallace's close and most trusted men

Significance Of Brave Heart

For my own opinion The significance of Brave Heart is freedom. In this movie/film the people of Scotland wants freedom because English defeats them once. They show strenght and being a good leader and men, showing a good leadership. Showing to be strong in every fight. It's like life we need to be strong to get rid of it to avoid it and to find solutions.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Teachings of Taoism

Who is Lao Tzu?

Lao Tzu, also known as Lao Tsu, Lao Tse, Lao Zi, Laotze or a number of other ways, is said to have lived in the sixth century BC according to Chinese tradition. However, recent scholars believe this is incorrect place the life of Lao Tzu in the fourth century BC.

Although little is known about the life of Lao Tzu, his cultural significance is important to the lives of generations of Chinese. According to Chinese tradition, Lao Tzu was born in Ku Prefecture of the ChÅ­ state, which today is named Lu yiCounty of the Henan province during the Spring and Autumn Period, roughly between 722 BC and 481 BC. Some legends state he was born with white hair, having spent more than eighty years in his mother's womb, giving him his title Laozi, which means "the old master".


His teachings is very simple, simple as Confucius teachings. His teachings is also Base on his beliefs it is so faithful and religous. I think he is also a good teacher but not good as Confucius do. Maybe it's because Confucius is more intelligent than him. I dont have any idea but that's how I proposed it

Teachings Of Confucianism

So first who is Confucius?

Confucius Also known as Kung Fu Tze better known in the west as confucius. He is a primarily a social philosopher. was born in 551 BCE in the state of Lu modern day Shantung Province. He lived during the Chou Dynasty, an era known for its ethical vigilance. Later in life, he wandered through many states of China, giving suggestions to their rulers. He accumulated a small band of students during this time. The last years of his life were spent back in Lu, where he dedicated himself to teaching.

His writings deal primarily with individual morality and ethics, and the proper exercise of political power by the rulers.



Confucianism's teachings is base on his belief. He taught that people would act in a proper manner the evil in the world would disappear. That is his belief. I think he is a good teacher the way he teach is base on faith and the way his teachings is really good by making people in a good manner. He don't want Evil lives with us. His thoughts centered on the duties of the individual within the society. His students also collected his sayings in a book called "Analects". Base on what I have searched he use his own intelligence, he use his learnings and moral development in his teachings. That's amazing because being a teacher is really hard. He teaching disciples and editing ancient classics, because he is expecting that the disciples would carry on his will and bring his teachings on the later generations. Sacrificial dances and music also offered to Confucius. Confucius says "Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways going to bangkok". I dont know what it really means but I believe that every sayings of him, there is a deep meaning and explanations. That's how amazing Confucius is. A really amazing Teacher and disciple.

Friday, August 6, 2010

How did the Caste System evolved?

Well , I'll show first what is Caste System is all about. The indian Caste System describes the system of social stratification and social restriction in Indian subcontinent in which social classes are defined by thousands endogamous heredity groups, often termed jatis or caste. Within a jati there exists a exogamous groups known as gotras. There are many social stratifications of indian Caste System. The nobles, scribes, artisans, peasants and slaves. A stratified and hierarchical socio-economic organization of society that evolved as Indian's ancient civilization with it's social order,moral and ritual codes absorbed the nomadic, sanskrit speaking aryan population.