What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV, Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him:

Despair thy charm.
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripped.

Shakespeare wanted to portray Macbeth, his hero, as courageous and powerful in spite of all his obvious faults. The playwright makes it clear that Macduff would never have been able to beat Macbeth were it not for the fact that Macbeth has become demoralized as a result of the treachery of the witches. When he learns that Macduff was born of a crude Caesarian operation, he realizes that his defeat is inevitable. He tells Macduff:

Accursed be the tongue that tells me so.
For it has cowed my better part of man
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.

Macbeth goes down fighting. He may be a tyrant, but he has been manipulated by his own wife as well as the three witches. Shakespeare intended to represent him as a great warrior willing to take on the whole world, including the supernatural world ruled by fate. It is only because Macbeth has been "unmanned" by these "juggling fiends" that a lesser man like Macduff is able to beat him in hand-to-hand battle. 

How would one characterize Helen Keller?

Helen Keller was a famous author and activist. She became deaf and blind due a childhood illness shortly before her second birthday. For the next several years of Helen's life, she struggled to communicate with her family and to adjust to a world where she could not see or hear. Her life changed when Miss Sullivan came to be her teacher. Miss Sullivan worked hard to help Helen. Finally, she had a breakthrough and she taught Helen to communicate using the manual alphabet.

Once Helen could communicate, the world opened up to her. She left home with Miss Sullivan to attend school. She learned to read, write, and speak. She traveled to many places and met a variety of friends. Helen then started to write her autobiography, The Story of My Life. She even went on to attend college.

Helen Keller was a person who was filled with determination. She loved learning wherever she went. She felt a special connection with nature. Helen enjoyed the ocean, the forest, and gardens. She liked to sail and go for long walks. Helen especially enjoyed spending time with her friends. She concluded her autobiography with the following words:

Thus it is that my friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation (Chapter XXIII).

Who is the "jewel" referring to in the play The Lion and the Jewel?

The "jewel" in the play The Lion and the Jewel references the character of Sidi. Sidi is a beautiful young woman who has become famous after a foreign photographer published her images in a magazine. She is considered the "jewel" throughout the play because of her beauty and prestige, while Baroka is referred to as the "lion." After finding out that her images are throughout a magazine, Sidi becomes extremely conceited and vain. When Sidi is ridiculing the Bale after rejecting his initial marriage proposal, she says,

"Baroka merely seeks to raise his manhood above my beauty. He seeks new fame as the one man who has possessed the jewel of Ilujinle!" (Soyinka 21).

Sidi referring to herself as the "jewel of Ilujinle" portrays the extent of her arrogance and vanity. Later on in the novel, Baroka successfully woos Sidi and takes her virginity after promising to put her image on every stamp leaving Ilujinle. Sidi then decides to marry Baroka over Lakunle. 

How were carpetbaggers and scalawags similar?

"Carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" were both epithets coined by southern Democrats who opposed the social change of Reconstruction. Carpetbaggers were northerners who entered the region after the war (or stayed there--many had been Union Army veterans). Carpetbaggers had many different motives. Many were motivated by the economic opportunities created by a South that was forced to turn to free labor. They invested in railroads, textile mills, mines, and other ventures, or they sought patronage jobs in the new Republican administrations that emerged throughout the South during Reconstruction. But many were also driven by a desire to promote social change in the South. Judges, teachers, ministers, and other reformers came to the region out of a desire to secure fundamental rights, including political rights and education, for freedmen. Scalawags, on the other hand, were Southerners who joined the Republican Party, or at least supported Reconstruction. These men, many of whom had fought for the Confederacy during the war, were also driven by complex motives. Many were simply out to profit, or gain political influence, in the new postwar order. Others believed that the South needed to reform itself socially as well as economically to recover from the effects of the war. Few of these men held the same egalitarian beliefs about African-Americans, but many opposed the excesses of the Ku Klux Klan (who sometimes targeted them) and other Southern reactionaries. Both of these groups were vilified mercilessly by Southern Democrats during Reconstruction and in Southern memory of the period.

In Julius Caesar, what proof is there that Cassius wants what's best for Rome?

In grappling with Julius Caesar, readers often focus on Brutus' noble intentions. However, there is some evidence that Cassius also wants what's best for Rome, and so it's worth analyzing the character of Brutus' co-conspirator as well. 

The following quote from Cassius in Act 1, Scene 2 is a good place to begin when examining Cassius' altruistic intentions:

Rome, thou has lost the breed of noble bloods!

When went there by an age, since the great

flood,

But it was fam'd with more than with one man?

When could they say, till now, that talk'd of 

Rome,

That her wide walls encompassed but one man?

Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,

When there is in it but one only man. (151-57)

In this quote, Cassius bemoans the current state of Rome, saying it has lost its nobility by idolizing one man (Caesar) and setting him up above the masses. Furthermore, the passage suggests that Cassius values Rome's noble history of political freedom, and does not relish the thought of a dictatorial rule. Taken in this context, one could surmise that Cassius, like Brutus, wants what's best for Rome.

However, it's important to also recognize that Cassius is, unlike Brutus, prone to jealousy. It's no coincidence that, in describing Brutus in Act 5, Scene 5, Antony says, "All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did in envy of great Caesar" (69). This quote suggests that, apart from Brutus, all the conspirators overthrew Caesar not because they wanted what was best for Rome, but because they envied Caesar's power. Thus, it's important to consider that Cassius, like the other conspirators, is at least partly motivated by envy and the desire for power. 

How is Friar Lawrence's character developed in Act III of Romeo and Juliet?

In Act III of Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence becomes very involved with the fate of Romeo and Juliet; his well-meaning efforts evince his kindness, a certain wisdom, but also frustration.

In Scene 3, Romeo comes to Friar Lawrence in his despair after having killed Tybalt. The Friar tells Romeo that the Prince has fortunately changed his sentence to banishment, rather than death. But Romeo will not be comforted. This reaction of Romeo raises the ire of the priest, and he scolds Romeo:

O deadly sin! o rude unthankfulness!
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind Prince,
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law. (3.3.25-28)

However, Romeo is not comforted by being merely banished. Friar Lawrence then suggests that he be philosophical about the matter--

I'll give thee armour to keep off that word;
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,
To comfort thee, though thou art banished. (3.3.55-57)

but again Romeo will not be consoled, telling the priest that being philosophical will not help him and that Friar Lawrence just does not understand.

Frustrated, Friar Lawrence scolds Romeo, but he still tries to comfort him with the fact that both he and Juliet are alive. Further, he instructs Romeo to be with his wife, but to make certain he is gone by dawn and on his way to Mantua where he will send messages to him.

There is no doubt that Friar Lawrence is a kind, loving, religious man. Perhaps, although he wisely advises Romeo against being so emotional, he takes upon himself more than he can practically handle and, therefore, is frustrated.

What did Martin Luther ask for when he was first brought to trial?

Martin Luther was in quite a lot of trouble with the Catholic Church after he made public his Ninety-Five Theses, which criticized a number of practices and beliefs which had become commonplace in Roman Catholicism. His books were burned publicly, and so offensive were his criticisms that he was excommunicated in 1521. A few months later, he was brought to trial at the Diet of Worms. There, he was asked to confirm that several books presented were indeed written by him, and whether he would recant the statements he had made. Luther confirmed that the books were indeed his, but requested that he have some additional time to think over the second question, as his very soul was on the line. He was granted permission to think on it and asked to return the next day.