Are the the feelings of love expressed in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night based on appearance or personality?

There is definitely a lot of falling in love with a woman’s looks or money in this play.  However, Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino because of his personality.

Duke Orsino specifically mentions Olivia’s looks, and so does Viola when she is trying to convince her to fall for the duke as Cesario.  Olivia actually makes a joke about the fact that they are so focused on her appearance.

I will give
out divers schedules of my beauty: it shall be
inventoried, and every particle and utensil
labelled to my will: as, item, two lips,
indifferent red; item, two grey eyes, with lids to
them; item, one neck, one chin, and so forth. Were
you sent hither to praise me? (Act 1, Scene 5)

Sir Andrew also wants to marry Olivia even though he does not really know her.  He is more interested in maintaining his status by getting a hold of her money, though.  Either way, neither of them are in love with her for her personality.

The best example of a person who marries just for looks is Sebastian.  He marries Olivia even though he doesn’t even know her.  (She thinks that she is marrying Cesario.)  He even wonders if she is crazy, or he is, but figures he might as well go along with it.

SEBASTIAN

What relish is in this? how runs the stream?
Or I am mad, or else this is a dream:
Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

OLIVIA

Nay, come, I prithee; would thou'ldst be ruled by me!

SEBASTIAN

Madam, I will. (Act 4, Scene 1)

Viola, on the other hand, loves Orsino.  She has a chance to get to know him while she pretends to be Cesario, and she cares about his personality and not just his looks.  When Cesario finds out she is a woman, he seems quite ready to switch affections and love her.  Of course, he also knows her personality, even if it was in the guise of a man.

Who was the thirteenth president of the United States?

The thirteenth president of the United States was Millard Fillmore.  He was president from 1850-1853.  He was a member of the Whig Party.  He took office in 1850 after the death of Zachary Taylor.  During Fillmore's presidency, America opened up trade with Japan under the leadership of Commodore Matthew Perry.  Fillmore was also the president who signed the Compromise of 1850, which was an attempt by Congress to prevent civil war.  The U.S. government did not have a clear plan of what would become of the lands ceded to it by the Mexican government after the Mexican War.  Some wanted the dividing line between free and slave drawn by the Compromise of 1820 extended to the Pacific.  This was put to the test when California voted for immediate statehood in 1850 thanks to the population boom from the gold rush.  Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850, which brought California into the Union, ended the slave trade in Washington D.C., and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law.  Fillmore ran for president again in 1852 but his stance on slavery angered Northern Whigs--this led to the election of Franklin Pierce.  

What is the importance of doublethink to the Party's control of the citizens of Oceania?

Doublethink is a form of "reality control" in which people accept two ideas, even when these ideas are contradictory.  For the majority of the novel, for instance, Oceania is at war with Eurasia but, suddenly, during Hate Week, the Party declares that it is fighting against Eastasia and always has been.

You will notice from the text that nobody questions this sudden change, even though they can remember the war against Eurasia. This is why the Party is so successful in maintaining control: it manipulates the popular understanding and perception of the past and the people of Oceania willingly accept it because they have been brainwashed to do so. On a practical level, this means that the Party can do as it pleases, safe in the knowledge that nobody will ever question its actions. 

This is, perhaps, best summed up in the following quote from Emmanuel Goldstein from Part Two, Chapter Nine:

"For the secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one’s own infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes."

From Zusak's The Book Thief, how might one write a thesis statement on the symbolic meaning of Han's accordion?

A thesis statement is the controlling sentence of an essay. Usually, a thesis statement makes a claim that the writer supports, then lists details that will be discussed within the essay about that claim. For example, a thesis statement about the symbolism behind Hubermann's accordion might claim what it represents in the story and then list three examples that will be discussed in the body paragraphs of the essay. Here's an example:

Hans Hubermann's accordion represents loyal friendship, protection, and comfort because not only does it provide enjoyment for those who hear its music, it also connects the Vandenburgs with the Hubermanns and the Hubermanns with each other.

The thesis statement above declares three things that the accordion provides to people in the book. Then it shows how the accordion helps to connect family and friends during times of war. Next, the writer would shape the body of the essay to prove the statement true by providing specific examples for what is listed therein. Here are a few passages that support the thesis statement above:

"Then there was his other savior. It was the accordion that most likely spared him from total ostracism . . . there was no one in Molchin who could play exactly like him" (183).

The above passage supports how the accordion represents protection for Hubermann when he might have become an outcast if it weren't for his ability to play. The following example shows how the accordion connects the Vandenburgs with the Hubermanns, while also supporting the "loyal friendship" part of the thesis statement.

"'Would you be Hans Hubermann?'

Hans gave him a single nod. He was reaching for a paintbrush. 'Yes, I would.'

'Do you play the accordion, by any chance?'

This time, Hans stopped, leaving the brush where it was. Again, he nodded . . .

'Are you a man who likes to keep a promise?'" (184).

Hans Hubermann shows his loyalty to Max's father by helping Max years later when Jews are targeted by Nazis. Since Max's father taught Hans how to play, and Hans later inherited the accordion as well, it becomes a code word between the two men for a promise Hans made years ago in World War I. But once Hans is called up to go to the second world war, the accordion becomes a symbol of love for Rosa--a connection between home and Hans. Rosa's reaction to Hans going off to war is somewhat surprising, but also understandable as shown in the following passage:

"Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband's accordion tied to her chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys" (429).

This passage shows Rosa connecting with her husband, who has gone to war by holding it for a very long time. This gives her some comfort and strength to face the war without her husband.

When writing a thesis statement, sometimes it is easier to find passages from the text that would work with the topic of the assignment first; then construct a thesis statement to answer the prompt accordingly. 

What were the significant contributions of Spivak and Bhabha to their schools of literary criticism? Also, what contributions to criticism have...

Gayatri Spivak has been an influential figure in rethinking Marxism, postmodernism, and feminism in the context of post-colonial, transnational capitalism. Her most often cited texts are the essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” and her book A Critique of Postcolonial Reason. Spivak’s notion of the “subaltern,” an underclass that exists independent of Marx’s proletariat, is an attempt to theorize classes of people, particularly women, who have been “erased” by the dominant culture and rendered unable to “speak,” or be heard in public discourse.

Homi Bhabha is best known for his books Nation and Narration and The Location of Culture. Bhabha argues that traditional European notions of nationhood (that a nation can be defined by a single, coherent historical narrative) cannot apply to post colonial nations, and that instead national identity is “imagined” or produced through the interaction and conflict of many different cultural experiences. In fact, colonial rule itself produces the conditions for resistance through “mimicry” – the idea that by trying to instill European language and values on native populations, colonial rulers actually invite indigenous co-optation and inversion of official language.

Trauma theory seeks to understand the significance of past catastrophes or traumas. It is based on a few basic principles: first, that the trauma did happen; second, that the totality of the trauma is inaccessible to representation; third, that testimony about the trauma is a legitimate way to understand the importance of the trauma; fourth, the collective narrative created by testimony about the trauma can, through its incompleteness, provide “spaces” in which the significance of the trauma can be understood. Trauma theory provides a theoretical framework within which personal experience can be used to understand or construct the “reality” of historical trauma.

Taken together, Spivak and Bhabha, along with the trauma theorists, can be understood to be engaged in the same project: understanding and articulating the colonial experience – finding a way, either through Bhabha’s notion of “mimicry” or the “testimony” of trauma victims, to allow Spivak’s subaltern to finally speak.

Sources:

Berger, James. “Trauma and Literary Theory”. Contemporary Literature 38.3 (1997): 569–582. Web.

Simon, Jon, ed. From Agamben to Zizek: Contemporary Critical Theorists. Edinburgh: Univ. of Edinburgh Press. 2010. Print.

What was the monarchy and government like in 19th century London?

The nineteenth century was a period of dramatic change in England. Legally, England is described as a constitutional monarchy, with the monarch having powers limited by Parliament. The nineteenth century was a period of great change though in how Parliament was elected, the relative powers of the two houses of Parliament, and the relationship of the monarchy to Parliament. 

There were four monarchs during this period: 

GEORGE III 1760 - 1820: Due to his increasingly erratic behavior due to mental illness, his son ruled as Prince Regent from 1811-1820. 

GEORGE IV 1820 - 1830: Note that he had been Prince Regent from 1811-1820 and was a quite colorful character.

WILLIAM IV 1830 - 1837: Brother to George IV.  

VICTORIA 1837 - 1901: Giving her name to the "Victorian" period, Queen Victoria was one of the longest reigning monarchs in English history and presided over a period of great prosperity.

The three Reform Bills of 1832, 1867, and 1884 gradually expanded voting rights from the wealthy to most adult males. The House of Commons became increasingly powerful compared to the upper house. The civil service expanded, with the government beginning to fund and manage such things as public schools, poor relief, marriages, census taking, and citizenship records that had earlier been the responsibility of the church. 

London itself had no municipal government, but rather a miscellaneous collection of parishes and vestries and special-purpose organizations such as the Metropolitan Police (established by Prime Minister Robert Peel, and thus called "bobbies" or "peelers").

How does Portia in The Merchant of Venice display mercy in three different ways (with examples)?

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