Sample Personal Statement Essay For College Applications

Sample Personal Statement Essay For College Applications While the precise topic of my thesis is undecided, I am particularly interested in Mexico and its development towards a more democratic government. Minoring in Spanish, I have read various pieces of literature from Mexico and have come to respect Mexico and Latin American culture and society. Additionally, my attendance would allow the Political Science department to make a more accurate determination on how well I would fit in to the program than from solely my graduate school application. My interest in attending the University of Rochester in particular, relates to my first semester at OU and the opportunity to take an introductory course in statistics with the now retired Dr. Larry Miller. Through the combination of a genuine appreciation and knack for statistics and with his encouragement, I proceeded to take his advanced statistics class as well as the first graduate level statistics course at OU. Participating in such a large study from start to finish has validated my interest in academic research as a profession. In order to pay for school and continue being active in the community, I enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard as a Medic. Due to the increased deployment schedule and demands placed on all branches of the military after September 11, my attendance in school has necessarily come second to my commitment to the military. There are various semesters where, due to this demand, I attended school less than full time. Despite taking a long time and the difficulty in carving separate time for school with such occupational requirements, I remained persistent aiming towards attending school as my schedule would allow. My military commitment ends this July and will no longer complicate my academic pursuits. I come from a small, economically depressed town in Northern Wisconson. The effort paid off as I earned not only an ‘A’ in the course, but also won the T.O.P.S. award in statistics. This award is given to the top undergraduate student with a demonstrated history of success in statistics. Professor Mitchell obtained a grant to take a class of students to Belgium in order to study the EU. This course revealed a direct correlation between what I had studied in the classroom with the real world. After spending several weeks studying the EU, its history and present movement towards integration, the class flew to Brussels where we met with officials and proceeded to learn firsthand how the EU functioned. This fall I will embark on writing an additional honors thesis in political science. I look forward to conducting this research as it will have a more qualitative tilt than my thesis in psychology, therefore granting an additional understanding of research methodology. As an undergraduate, I was privileged to gain extensive research experience working in a research lab with Dr. Carol. I continued my statistical training by completing the second graduate statistics course on model comparisons with Dr. Roger Johnson, a Professor in the Psychology Department. The model comparison course was not only the most challenging course I have taken as an undergraduate, but the most important. As the sole undergraduate in the course and only college algebra under my belt, I felt quite intimidated. Yet, the rigors of the class compelled me to expand my thinking and learn to overcome any insecurities and deficits in my education. Great writing is hard to achieve, but it’s possible if you’re smart about it. Anyone who works in journalism will tell you that you can catch any reader’s attention as long as you deliver a great introduction. You may think it’s redundant to mention that you need to read the instructions carefully, but with all the excitement and stress that characterizes this period of your life, it needs to be highlighted. Take a look at our college essay samplesto get an idea of what colleges are looking for in your essay. Our vision is to be the company that best recognizes and serves the needs of international students around the world. Colleges are simply looking for thoughtful, motivated students who will add something to the first-year class. Manuela is passionate about education and evolution and wishes to collect enough information in order to help students from all corners of the world take the big step towards their incredible future. You will have a maximum number of words, so the secret is not to try to cover everything in your essay. Create a plan before you actually start writing, organize your essay in three parts , and decide on the main ideas you want to express. Universities are looking for authenticity and quality of thinking, so don’t try to shape your essay around phrases or ideas that people have used many times before, but base it on your genuine beliefs.

College Admissions Essay Writing Help

College Admissions Essay Writing Help Once you've chosen the topic for you essay, write a first draft. Don't worry about making it perfect, just write down everything you can think of that relates to your topic. Don't try to copy someone else's tone in your writing. You don't have to sound like anyone else, you just have to sound like you. There are hundreds of possible topics that you can be asked to write an essay on. I am developing self-awareness, but I still have so much to learn. I want to travel to actual countries and take pictures on a bunch of disposable cameras because there is something magic about those blurry images that develop in the dark. I want to scale real mountains, close my eyes and sit cross-legged on their tops while the whole world around me spins wildly into the future. My donor’s file is the first item I packed when I recently had to evacuate my home during a hurricane. We know what admissions boards want and we know how to give it them while still using your voice and your ideas. Especially considering how short these essays usually are and that the general rule of thumb is to stick to just one point to expand on. And then there’s the danger of using too many clichés! Unless otherwise specified, use 1.5 or double spacing for your essay, format it with a one-inch margin all around and clearly delineate your paragraphs using a single space tab. Editing and rewriting should be done in sections, and after you are satisfied that each of it is in order, move on to the next section. Note your strongest impressions and how they affected you. If you loved the Grand Canyon, for example, write down three specific reasons why, aside from the grandeur and beauty that everyone loves. Describe an accomplishment that you had to struggle to achieve. Include what it was, how you tackled it, and how it changed you. Thanks to that first morning on Fall Creek, I’ve found a calling that consumes my free time, compels me to teach fly fishing to others, and drives what I want to study in college. Reflect on experiences or turning points in your life that shaped your perception of the world. Also, you can recall some jokes or personal anecdote to dilute your story with catchy, humorous elements. Tell us about a journey â€" real, imagined, or metaphorical. Applicants who qualify for TruMerit Automatic Admission will have the admission essay requirement waived for admission review. An easy way to write in your own voice is by avoiding clichés. Don't use phrases that you've heard repeated over and over, unless you can put your own, creative spin on them. Reflecting on those experiences will give you ideas for creative, unique ways you can portray them to admissions officers. Some places like the Common App will release the essay prompts from previous years, if you want to get an idea of what topics you might be asked to write about. Tell us the story of a street, path, roadâ€"real or imagined or metaphorical. As you can see from the attributions, the questions below were inspired by submissions from UChicago students and alumni. Don’t write about illegal activities or situations which put you in a bad light. Don’t state a point of view without back up details. Using Academized reliable service is the best way to ensure you get accepted to your chosen place of study. For competitive scholarship consideration, all applicants are encouraged to submit an essay. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 91,829 times. Word counts depend on the college or university in question. Start your essay with a good quote or a statement that reflects your whole theme perfectly. Make sure you write real experiences and do not make up stories. I treasure and protect the papers because they contain the only insight I have into half of my DNA. His essay is the sole connection I have to a man I will never meet. I will never know more about my donor than what he chose to reveal in his personal essay. Make sure that your essay does not exceed the maximum word and page length. This might mean cutting out whole sentences or it might mean using fewer words to say the same thing. Once you've drafted your essay, reread and edit it more than once. Read your essay first to make sure that it says exactly what you want it to say. Then read it again for spelling and grammar errors. At some point in everyone’s life, a promise stops being forever. But no matter how many times a promise is broken, I’ve always wanted to believe that someone will keep one to me.

Nyu Application

Nyu Application A separate request form is not required, however, students may be required to submit documentation in support of a request. If you have any questions about completing your application for admission, please contact the Office of Admissions at to speak with an admissions counselor. Writing an admissions essay is a chance to break off the standard five-paragraph essay as this gives you a little room to wiggle around. However, just like a five-paragraph essay, you need to wrap it up using a neat conclusion. The language used in the writing of an application essay should be formal and professional. Avoid cutesy and colloquial formatting choices as they are unprofessional and immature. Correct any mistakes you find, but be sure not to rely on grammar and spelling checkers as they cannot put your words into context. Be sure to keep the focus of the essay narrow and personal. Don’t tell your whole life story, but tell enough of it to answer the question. As you are telling your story, be honest, be yourself and do it in the most concise way you can. Before penning down a word of your admission essay, it is important that you understand the question and what it expects from you. Applicants should submit transcripts indicating rank for the latest completed semester prior to the application deadline. All applicants must submitthree required short answersand may submitone optional short answerresponding to prompts in your admissions application. Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250â€"300 words, typically the length of one paragraph. Students may request a fee waiver by indicating their eligibility on the online application. (We do not require the SAT Essay or ACT Writing scores.) Scores included in transcripts and copies of score reports don’t meet this requirement. If you wish, you may submit either a video/short film or a written review/critique to support your application. This may be something you did for school or on your own. This is an opportunity to show us your potential as an RTF student. If you select a second-choice major other than the Division of General Studies on your application, write a second essay explaining your interest in this major, too. We want to give you enough time to craft the very best essays you canâ€"and the best way to do that is to tell you what they are now. All application essay samples (personal statement sample / statement of purpose sample) are for review only. We do not recommend that customers cite or otherwise use them for academic credit. Furthermore, avoid humor unless you are absolutely sure of it. What is funny to you may not be funny to someone else. A college admission essay doesn’t typically require a title unless it has been specifically mentioned in the instructions. Even after confirming that your essay is as close to perfect as it can get, you need to get it closer still. At the end of the essay, the question that was asked should have been answered fully and in detail. Afterward, take the time to think about it before brainstorming on the different ways to answer it. Our elite team of editing experts has helped thousands of academics, researchers, students, and business professionals improve their writing and achieve their goals. While revising and reworking the drafts is more of a “global” process, this step also includes changing phrases and fixing grammar, punctuation, and style errors in the work. Not everyone is a born writerâ€"in fact, pretty much no one is. The duration of the video should be no more than 5 minutes OR the review/critique should be no more than 500 words. If you have earned any college credit while in high school, request that the college or university send official transcripts to UT Austin. comparable to the average class rank of students from traditional schools who have equivalent SAT or ACT test scores. Rank should be indicated as your numerical position out of the total number of students in the class. For example, if you’re fifth in your class of 130, your transcript should report your rank as 5/130. After rewriting the essay several times, keep it away. Let it sit for a couple of hours untouched or even a whole day where the deadline isn’t close. After catching the new episode of that TV show you love or going a few chapters of the book you have been reading, go through your essay one more time. Want to see what a successful admission essay looks like, proceed with an application, make sure to follow all steps below. Do not rush your writing process; create space in your schedule to revise your work. Ultimately, it is up to you to polish your essay before you submit.

The Five Parts Of The College Paragraph

The Five Parts Of The College Paragraph As I was rejected from StuGo for the second year in a row, I discovered I had been wrongfully measuring my life through numbers--my football statistics, my test scores, my age, my height (I’m short). I had the epiphany that oh wait, maybe it was my fault that I had never prioritized communication skills, or open-mindedness . That must be why I always had to be the one to approach people during my volunteer hours at the public library to offer help--no one ever asked me for it. After experiencing many twists and turns in my life, I’m finally at a good spot. I know what I want to do with my life, and I know how I’m going to get there. Learning how to wake up without my mom every morning became routine. For me, time isn’t just seconds ticking by on a clock, it’s how I measure what matters. ” The thought screams through my mind as I carry a sobbing girl on my back across campus in search of an ice pack and ankle wrap. She had just fallen while performing, and I could relate to the pain and fear in her eyes. The chaos of the show becomes distant, and I devote my time to bringing her relief, no matter how long it may take. I find what I need to treat her injury in the sports medicine training room. Over time, I found it difficult being my family’s glue. I wanted back the family I had before the restaurant--the one that ate Luchi Mongsho together every Sunday night. I realize I choreograph not for recognition, but to help sixty of my best friends find their footing. The rollout plan for the iTaylor is to introduce it to the theater market. My goal is to use performance and storytelling to expose audiences to different cultures, religions, and points of view. Perhaps if we all learned more about each other's lifestyles, the world would be more empathetic and integrated. On the outside, I look like any smart phone, but when you open my settings and explore my abilities, you will find I have many unique features. After all, it is quite possible my future job doesn’t exist yet, and that’s okay. I can’t conceivably plan out my entire life at the age of 17, but what I can do is prepare myself to take on the unknown, doing my best to accompany others. Hopefully, my wings continue enabling me to fly, but it is going to take more than just me and my wings; I have to continue putting my faith in the air around me. Overtired, we don’t even realize we’re entering the fourth hour of rehearsal. This same sense of camaraderie follows us onstage, where we become so invested in the story we are portraying we lose track of time. I didn’t realize she would be the first of many patients I would tend to in this training room. Since then, I’ve launched a sports medicine program to provide care to the 500-person choir program. Laughter fills the show choir room as my teammates and I pass the time by telling bad jokes and breaking out in random bursts of movement. Over the next two years, things were at times still hard, but gradually improved. My parents decided to start anew, took some time apart, then got back together. My mom started to pick me up from activities on time and my dad and I bonded more, watching Warriors and 49ers games. Not long ago, I would have fallen apart at the presence of any uncertainty. As I further accept and advance new life skills, the more I realize how much remains uncertain in the world. Making my teammate smile even though he’s in pain. These are the moments I hold onto, the ones that define who I am, and who I want to be. I resolved to alter my mindset, taking a new approach to the way I lived. From now on I would emphasize qualitative experiences over quantitative skills. Despite knowing how to execute these very particular tasks, I currently fail to understand how to change a tire, how to do my taxes efficiently, or how to obtain a good insurance policy. A factory-model school system that has been left essentially unchanged for nearly a century has been the driving force in my educational development.

Application Essay

Application Essay Each body paragraph will have the same basic structure. Begin by writing one of your main ideas as the introductory sentence. When your time is up, a complete essay will score more points than an incomplete essay because the evaluator is expecting a beginning, middle and an end. If there is no way to cut down your essay without keeping your argument clear and strong, you must simplify your argument. In short essays, it is often better to have a broader thesis that you can support with one or two specific examples. This way, readers can infer implications from your thesis that you did not explicitly state. The answer is around 4 pages single spaced, and 8 pages double spaced. The introduction should attract the reader’s attention and show the focus of your essay. You can use shocking information, dialogue, a story, a quote, or a simple summary of your topic. Whichever angle you choose, make sure that it ties in with your thesis statement, which will be included as the last sentence of your introduction.6. The body of your essay argues, explains or describes your topic. Each main idea that you wrote in your diagram or outline will become a separate section within the body of your essay. Next, write each of your supporting ideas in sentence format, but leave three or four lines in between each point to come back and give detailed examples to back up your position. Fill in these spaces with relative information that will help link smaller ideas together.5. Notice how our conclusion was definitive but optimistic. We explain that colleges need to adapt their rules to fit the needs of their students. Yet still, confirm that cell phone use policies should be enforced. If our thesis was that cell phones should NOT be controlled in college, we would explain the dangers of not having access to cell phones. You should approach all essays with the same mentality, regardless of their length. The number of readers depends on the college’s review process. It will be anywhere from one reader to four readers. Topics like death and divorce are cautionary because they can be extremely difficult to write about. While these topics are tough, if you feel passionately that a particular tragedy impacted your life significantly and you do want to write about it, try to keep the essay’s focus on you. Think about your feelings regarding the situation, how it affected you and what you learned from the experience rather than just simply recalling the situation or the person you lost. Now that you have developed your thesis and the overall body of your essay, you must write an introduction. Yet, it is still short enough that it does not need footnotes and cited resources, usually. 500-word essays do not have to be exactly 500 words, but they should be as close as possible. The essay prompt may say “in under 500 words” or “in at least 500 words,” which would state whether 500 is the minimum or maximum word count. If that information is not specified, write as much as you need to comprehensively address the prompt without frivolous content. Yes, every college essay is read if the college has asked for it . 1,000+ word essay prompts are often used for writing competitions, where you may be asked to create a fictional story. The extra length gives room for extra creativity, but it also requires more time to put the perfect piece together. 500-word scholarship essays offer more writing flexibility than 250-word essays. With a shorter word count, you are often forced to summarize long-winded thoughts into quick to-the-point snippets. 500 words give you more room to express your opinion. Your goal is to compose a piece that clearly guides the reader through your thoughts and reasoning. You may have to adjust how you convey those thoughts based on the length. Your essay should always have a beginning, middle, and end. Another scholarship essay length you may encounter is 1,000 words. With a 1,000-word scholarship essay, you will need to cite sources and provide detailed references to support your claims. Your word processing software and settings may result in slightly different pages counts, but with conventional page margins and a 12 point Arial or Times New Roman font you can expect similar output. Examples of 2000 word count pages might be longer for blog posts, college essays or term papers, and operating manuals. We’re giving away a $1,000 scholarship to affected college students. All you need to do is submit a proof of your enrollment.

Our Tips On Writing Your College Essay

Our Tips On Writing Your College Essay Another way to get critical distance from your essay is to get criticism. And I don’t mean a slash-and-burn review like you might get from an unreasonable reality-TV competition judge. When done well, this strategy can workâ€"your goal is to stand out from the rest of the applicants and taking a risk with your essay will help you do that. Find the most relevant, memorable, concrete statements and focus in on them. Eliminate any generalizations or platitudes (“I’m a people person”, “Doctors save lives”, or “Mr. Calleson’s classes changed my life”), or anything that could be cut and pasted into anyone else’s application. Find what is specific to you about the ideas that generated those platitudes and express them more directly. If you plan on going to college, however, you’re in for some bad news. Essay writing is one of the more important things you need to get out of your high school experience, because you can’t get through college without it. When you apply to Penn, you must submit your application for admission to one of our four undergraduate schools. In the Penn-specific essays, be precise when explaining both why you are applying to Penn and why you have chosen to apply to that specific undergraduate school. I’m talking about constructive feedback from trusted friends, family, or mentors. Southwestern University Assistant Director of Admission Rebecca Rother recommends having two people review your essay. The first should be someone “who knows you super well, such as a parent, best friend, close teacher, etc. From a narrative perspective, consider using this experience as a jumping-off point for a bigger lesson about life or education, and then return to this experience towards the end of your essay. This narrative structure presents an excellent way to frame a story and is common in many successful admissions essays. Some of our specialized programs will have additional essays to complete, but the Penn essay should address the single-degree or single-school choice. We understand that you may be writing essays for different schools and you may want to reuse material, but read through your essay to make sure the content is relevant to the essay prompt. High school students who apply to The University of Texas at Austin for fall 2021 undergraduate admission will not be required to submit an ACT or SAT test score as part of their application. You should plan to submit your essays in conjunction with yourApplyTexasor Coalition for Collegeapplication. It’s a lot of work for you to write, it’s a lot of work for them to read and evaluate, but it really is for your own good. After three years of high school, you would probably be glad never to write an essay again. Essay you write should be sincere, personal, not formal or superficial. Universities are interested in promising and motivated students, who will study well, take an active part at academic and student life, find work after graduation, realize their career potential. A competently compiled admission essay will help the applicant to focus on successful aspects of his academic life and give good account of himself. In this writing, admission committee should see integrity and deep personality with wonderful qualities and experiences that aspire to the development and new knowledge. The gates of academia will open much easier with a strong college or university admissions essay. Many guides to writing application essays encourage you to take a risk, either by saying something off-beat or daring or by using a unique writing style. If you can get your essay finished during this summer, you’ll have plenty of time to adjust it or rewrite it, as well as to get started on other essays, as well. Plus you’ll be in a position to apply for early decision deadlines by the winter, which is always a good idea. So for now, how do you create a college application essay, personal essay, common app essay, or whatever you need to write to get in? These tips will get you most of the way thereâ€"you’ll just have to come up with the exact words. That means most schools will want to make sure you know how to put an essay together before they offer you admission. We cannot miss college admissions - it is part of services we offer. You can easily order a college admission from us and choose a writer who will write an essay for you. Medical experts from our team know medical terms and nuances to follow for admission writing. If you order medical school admission essay, it is a medical expert who will write an admission essay. You will be required to complete the short answer responses in order to complete and submit your admissions application. We are thrilled you are considering The University of Texas at Austin as your college home. The flexible and individualized learning aspects of Empire State College's programs require students to use and improve their reading and writing skills continually as they study at the college. In order to be successful from the beginning, students need to start with sufficient reading and writing skills. One is to show his energy, activity, enthusiasm within his favorite business.

Knight of Night - Literature Essay Samples

The period referred to as the Golden Age of English Drama was a revolutionary period when it came to the portrayal of human thought and behavior in society. Some would even argue that this period in Renaissance England was a major influence in the development of English identity. At the time, Europe was experiencing many changes in all social spheres and those changes were strongly reflected in English drama. Amongst the many great playwrights of the time the present essay will focus on was Christopher Marlowe, specifically two of his works: Tamburlaine the Great and Doctor Faustus. It was the thinking of Marlowe and his contemporaries that probably had the biggest influence in the shaping of English identity and the society of Early Modern England. The notions of the Marlowe and his colleagues, especially those belonging to the titular ‘School of Night’, were seen as outlandish and atheist by many critics and as a result the group was highly persecuted. However, as I wi ll attempt to argue, the ideas of the group and especially Marlowe, were more for the benefit of the people rather than for the detriment of the government. To this endeavor I will make two claims. The first is that Christopher Marlowe represented the notions of politics and religion in the use of theatrics (a blanket term which I will use to refer to all physical manifestations of a play such as props, scenery, etc.). The second being that Marlowe embodied his ideas about humanism in his two eponymous heroes to illustrate that one can decide his own fate and live on his own terms without the intrusion of politics and religion. In order to begin I would like to discuss some terminology that I believe is crucial to the foundation of my arguments. The first thing I would like to discuss is the title itself. The ‘Knight’ specifically refers to Christopher Marlowe. The ‘Night† as discussed in the introduction refers to the enigmatic ‘School of Night’, a group consisting of many artists and scholars such as Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and to some extent even William Shakespeare. Because the group was so secretive it is really difficult to pin down their exact motives and some even argue their existence outright. However, the interpretation that I would like to examine is their critique of the government, and in Marlowe’s case, the interplay of politics and religion. Many of his critics accused him of some version of the following quote, â€Å"†¦affirming our [Savior] to be but a [deceiver], and Moses to be but a [conjurer] and seducer of the people, and the hol y Bible to be but [vain] and idle stories, and all religion but a [device] of [policy]† (Hunter, 149). This quote is allegedly attributed to Marlowe, although quotes such as these have dangerously lackluster evidence to support them, and it clearly depicts his feelings towards government and politics and it is this interpretation of his notions that I wish to use in the present essay. As I mentioned the particular quote has some questionable validity but many claim that Marlowe was responsible for some version of the above quote and many believed him to express similar notions occasionally. From this I can conclude that Marlowe was fairly aware that politics were fairly influenced by religion and in retrospect it is easy to support this as many English monarchs generally held on to the ‘divine right to power’. Another thing I would like to discuss is the notion of atheism. Marlowe is often alleged as an atheist and as it turns out, this connotation places on him an unwarranted stigma. The present definition of atheism differs greatly from the one used centuries ago. Today we define an atheist as someone who denounces the notion of a deity as well as the conventions of religion for a more humanistic approach to life. In Renaissance England the term was used as a throw-away word for immoral behavior. Nicholas Davidson claim â€Å"†¦in the sixteenth century, words such as ‘atheist’ and ‘atheism’ had no precise intellectual connotation, and were used mainly as terms of abuse or as a literary device on which to hang more orthodox arguments† (Davidson, 132). Davidson argues that the term was so loosely used that its potency in Early Modern England is questionable at best. Furthermore, some scholars agree that the term ‘atheist’ was synonymous wi th what we would call an anarchist. That is, not someone who is in open rebellion against the government per se but merely someone who strongly questions policy. And, if the above representation of Marlowe is to be believed then the suit of ‘atheist’ becomes a better fit for him. Certainly Marlowe was not a stranger to questioning the powers and policy of government. Michael Kelly claims that many writers before and after Marlowe used the written word to safely criticize the government through satire (Kelly, 3). This quote, coupled with everything we have been looking at creates the sense that Marlowe did indeed believe in the presence and power of religion, however as I claim, he believed the power it had over people was inferior to the innate human power, the idea of humanism. From this I can conclude that Marlowe held the belief that religion was responsible for the background workings of society and that he held strong disagreements of its efficacy. Now that the groundwork has been covered I believe I can argue for my first claim: that Christopher Marlowe stages his plays in such a way as to represent the presence of religion and politics as theatrical elements. I will use theatrical element to refer to every part of the play-making process that includes things like scenery, costumes, props, and so on. I believe this connection between theatrics and religion is reasonable due to Marlowe’s feelings about religion as a whole. In his paper, Davidson mentions that certain intellectuals (‘atheists’) were described my writer Thomas Nashe as those who â€Å"whose position and opinion it is that there is no Hel or misery but opinion’; they deny the accuracy of the scriptures and call Moses a magician† (Davidson, 135). This quote is not specifically attributed to Marlowe but it is a fairly common viewpoint held by critics of religion and government. Following from that, this next quote is more specifical ly connected to Marlowe, â€Å"I count Religion but a childish toy, /And hold there is no sin but ignorance† (Jew of Malta, Prologue 14-15). This quote is from the prologues to The Jew of Malta another one of Marlowe’s works. It is spoken by Machiavelli who was known to have his gripes with religion long before Marlowe. The mention of things like ‘toys’ and ‘magicians’ with reference to religion is what first allowed me to make the connection between theatrics and religion and although I do believe that the connection is not absolutely concrete I don’t believe that it is such a far leap to take. Furthermore, I believe that religion and plays share the quality of being greatly reliant on trust, that is, the notion of the suspension of disbelief. In a play the audience member has to believe that what he is seeing is the truth in order to fully immerse himself in the action, even though even the most common audience members in Marlowe†™s time would know that everything is fabricated for their entertainment. Religion is itself based on the idea of conviction and undisputed faith in god. Even though many believers cannot specifically explain the things that religious texts propose they still have faith in things like miracles and the omnipotence of god. In the following sections the specific examination of Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus will, in my opinion, make this connection more apparent. With that taken into consideration let us now look at the aforementioned plays more closely to see how this claim helps argue my second claim: that Marlowe portrays his characters in such a way to propagate the notion that human power stands above the power of things like politics and religion. The first play I will look at is Tamburlaine mainly because it’s first in terms of chronology. The connection between theatrics and politics is clearly evident here as politics and war is what fuels the plot and determines the actions of most characters. Tamburlaine seems to stand apart from all the other characters in terms of actions, behavior, and morality and I believe that is by design. Not only because he is the main character but because he is meant to embody the notion of humanism. The first thing I want to look at is Tamburlaine’s obsession with crowns. In 1.II.vi. Tamburlaine gives his famous soliloquy about the aspiring towards greater things and â€Å"the ripest fruit of all, /That perfect bliss and sole felicity, /The sweet fruition of an earthly crown†. This quote highlights two very important things: the first being aspiration which I will come back to later and the second is the idea of the crown. And that is what i want to put under the microscop e. It is the feeling of an earthly crown that Tamburlaine is after rather than the physical object. I think it is too drastic to say that Tamburlaine does not outright care about the physical crown but it seems reasonable to me to say that he is more interested in the power it provides. To him, it is just a prop and I believe that is what separates him from the rest of the characters, like Mycetes for example who goes far enough to hide it in a hole in the ground. Furthermore, regardless of how many crowns he wins it is never enough for him. He always seems to want more which is what ultimately kills him. That is what Marlowe was trying to accomplish with Tamburlaine: to show what aspiration can lead to. And it is fair to interpret Tamburlaine’s conquest in a negative light and likening him to Icarus or other tragic heroes who fell due to ambition, but one thing that cannot be undermined is what he was ultimately able to accomplish. Another thing to look at is specifically what he was able to accomplish and the position he came from. From the outset Tamburlaine is an outsider to the political sphere â€Å"Oft have I heard your majesty complain /Of Tamburlaine, that sturdy Scythian thief,. /Hoping (misled by dreaming prophecies) /To reign in Asia, and with barbarous arms /To make himself the monarch of the East (1.I.i 35-6 41-3). Additionally he refers to his shepherd parentage as an example of how far he rose. Yet even so he is able to greatly physically impact the world around him as he claims, â€Å"Here at Damascus will I make the point /That shall begin the perpendicular (1.IV.iv 84-5). This quote refers to him ‘redrawing’ the map to put his kingdom in the center of the world, exemplifying his power. What all these quotes illustrate is yet another quality of humanism that heavily contrasts the powers of politics and religion: the ability of one to live and die on his own terms. Everything tha t Tamburlaine does is on his own terms. For example, the whole exercise of using different color tents to reflect his mood and actions just seems very alien in the scope of the play. The colors reflect his actions and in whatever endeavor he strives towards he cannot be dissuaded or stopped: he not only massacres to virgins of Babylon despite their pleas, he kills his own son to the chagrin of everyone around him. But perhaps the greatest example of him taking his own life into his own hands is ironically his death. Throughout the course of the play Tamburlaine makes numerous challenges towards the gods (this is less an example of modern day atheism and more of the Marlovian interpretation of it of critiquing the powers that be), starting with Jove and then moving on to Mahomet, with either ‘responding’ to his challenges. That is, there are no repercussions for his actions and he takes it mean that he is unopposed. As a matter of fact, he imagines himself even doing god ’s work, â€Å"I that am termd the scourge and wrath of God† (1.III.iii 44). He adopts the title of the ‘scourge of god’ because he does what god cannot. One can even argue that this is another way of Marlowe showing the possible futility of religion. Regardless, what is to be taken from his constant badgering of the gods is that ultimately he dies. In class we discussed in part the two major interpretations of this. The first being that his ‘warrior spirit’ was too much for his body to handle and as a result he dies. The other is that the gods finally had enough and decided to punish him. The actual choice, in my opinion, is irrelevant. Whether or not the gods kill him he still dies on his terms. While dying he still calls the shots and determines what is to be done after he passes but what is more important is what he doesn’t do. That is, not once does he plead for his life or repent for what he has done. He doesn’t acknowledge that he was bested. As a matter of fact, he sees this as a step up, as an evolution for him because he finally gets to go and conquer heaven (as idealistic as that sounds) and he is reunited—hopefully—with Zenocrate. Taking one’s life into his or her own hands is a crucial tenet of humanism and it is a direct counter to the fate-based prospects or religion and the puppet-like control that monarchies held over their subjects. These beliefs were very idiosyncratic of Tamburlaine at they were one of the many reasons why he stood out. However, what I feel is the most apparent example of Tamburlaine exemplifying the humanist characteristics is the following speech he gives in part two of the play. While chastising his eldest son for being a pacifist rather than a warmonger he exclaims: View me, thy father, that hath conquerd kings, And, with his host, marchd round about the earth, Quite void of scars and clear from any wound, That by the wars lost not a drop of blood, And see him lance his flesh to teach you all (2.III.ii. 110-4). The first time I was made aware of it was in the theater and it just struck me as unbelievable: Tamburlaine at this instance is almost superhuman. Marlowe explicitly states that after decades of conquering a majority of the known world, Tamburlaine is left somehow unscratched. No weapon, no soldier, nothing can touch him other than himself and to me this shows just how much he stands apart from the play. It is almost as if he is some omnipotent observer or better yet some puppeteer who firmly controls the tide of the story. And by making Tamburlaine superior to the pomp and circumstance of the play, Marlowe shows that one can similarly take power into his own hands and somewhat ignore the pressures and influences of the world around him at least as far politics and religion are concerned. If anything Tamburlaine explores the intrinsic power held by human beings and how they can fight for their own identity by individualizing themselves. However, certain scholars like William Stull, w ho examines the plays in terms of psychology claims that Marlowe fails in his mission when it comes to Tamburlaine saying â€Å"[but] social interest plays no role in either part of Tamburlaine† (Stull, 449). To respond, I feel that in order to develop a more hive-mind identity it is more important to start at the individual level an in a sense that is what Marlowe was trying to show as well. Because Tamburlaine was such a charismatic person he managed to attract many followers who eventually shared his vision to great effects. Now I would like to look at Doctor Faustus and how the eponymous hero embodies similar qualities to Tamburlaine, much to the same end. As Tamburlaine did with politics, Doctor Faustus has a very strong connection between theatrics and religion. The plot is about a struggle for the soul of the titular character and all the props and characters involved are religious in nature. To begin, I would like to examine an interpretation of the play which I find somewhat obscure yet not any less potent. Throughout the course of the play Faustus poses many questions about the world, physical and metaphysical, to Mephistopheles. The latter answers, as many scholars argue, sarcastically or in a patronizing tone. Stull notes, â€Å"In answer to even the most slender questions of cosmology, [Mephistopheles] replies with truisms worthy of a schoolboy† (Stull, 457). An example of one of these would be when Faustus asks Mephistopheles what hell is and the latter answers that â€Å"all places sh all be hell that is not heaven† (v. 128). To me it is clear that Mephistopheles could be perceived as treating Faustus as a child. However, more to the idea of the present essay I would like to take yet another interpretation. To put it plainly: what if Mephistopheles does not really know the answers? There seems to be no proof that he actually does and is therefore offering Faustus common low-born answers or answers that are provided by religious canon, â€Å"Equally central, it was believed, was a preference for natural as against supernatural explanations, the view that all things come to [pass] by nature, or fortune. Hence Gods active supervision of the world came under challenge† (Hunter, 141). Granted, it does seem like a weaker interpretation but it is at least one that can be considered. On a metaphysical level I can argue that this was simply Marlowe trying to enforce the notion that religion cannot provide the answers to these questions because of a, somewhat common, thought amongst Marlowe’s contemporaries, â€Å"†¦ Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – had, it was occasionally suggested, all been invented for political purposes only, to aggrandize their founders and to secure the power of the secular rulers† (Davidson, 137). Even though it is not the strongest point to make it does at least show that there is something to question when it comes to Doctor Faustus. The next thing I wish to look at is a classical interpretation of the play as an allegory of sorts for the Calvinist notion of predestination. The idea claims that a human soul is destined to either go to heaven and hell before birth and that no action on earth can influence the decision in any way. This seems very problematic for me because if that is the case than the play only highlights the inefficacy of religion. What I want to pick on is the presence of the good and bad spirits. As we mentioned in class, those two characters represent the dichotomy of Faustus’ soul as it debates between repenting and sinning, respectively. Now, if we were to consider that the idea of predestination was actual doctrine then we would have to conclude that the presence of the angels is rendered useless. The play ends with Faustus dying and his soul being sent to hell so if predestination is correct then it would follow that this was going to happen regardless of what occurred during the pla y: it was determined before his birth and therefore long before the play begins. If that is the case then the good spirit cannot possibly persuade Faustus to meaningfully repent. Additionally, because Faustus is already doomed the bad spirit cannot further persuade him to sin and to further doom himself. Taking this into consideration the only conclusions I can draw from this is that either the Calvinist notion of predestination is wrong or that it is in fact right and that all the ‘earthly’ religious conventions are futile. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the spirits represent a much bigger pattern of inadequacy which religion provides. A majority of the tricks and charades that result from invoking the dark magic throughout the story either backfire or fall flat in terms of grandeur, for example the comic relief sections with Robin and Rafe. However, as has been the case throughout this essay is that all of the plot points, the magic tricks, and the like are m ostly just ‘sound and fury’. The real meat of the play is of course what happens to the title character and that is what I will now focus on. Just like Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus is a play in which the main emphasis is on the eponymous hero and, for the benefit of the present paper, how this hero take power into his own hands and takes control of his life in order to exemplify the notions of humanism. From the beginning we are introduced to a man who, like Tamburlaine, stands apart from his society by denouncing things like medicine, religion, and the law because he feels incomplete, and so he turns to the dark arts. Throughout the play Faustus’ descent into darkness consistently escalates all the way until his death. But he most important details to take out these events is that ultimately Doctor Faustus is the one truly responsible for what happens to him. As Stull notes, â€Å"For in true Adlerian fashion, it is not God or Lucifer who damns Faustus to a living hell. It is Faustus himself† (Stull, 458). He is the one who makes the conscious decision to delve into the dark arts. He is the one who chooses to summon a demon to do his bidding. And most importantly, he is the one who initiates himself into hell by offering to sell his soul to the devil. These actions, and their subsequent resolution are reminiscent of Tamburlaine. Both men share this almost unquenchable ambition for bigger and better things and eventually it is this ambition that overwhelms them but it is also this ambition that in turn allows them to transcend their realms. And in my opinion that is what is important here: the mere possibility of this sort of evolution is enough to inspire the audiences to pursue their own natural power and it is this sort of aspiration that could be seen as problematic for the power that be. What is problematic is the way in which this is portrayed in the plays by this sort of rebellion against politics and religion. In his plays, Christopher Marlowe portrays the presence of religion and politics of everyday life as theatrical elements that the man characters strive to escape or stand apart from in order to highlight their true potential. Although his beliefs were good in spirit they were still seen as problematic, which is a notion that extended to many of his contemporaries as well. The Golden Age of English Drama saw the rise of the English identity and its subsequent snuffing out by the same government that the playwrights sought to humanize. Regardless of what the opinions about them were, the members of the ‘School of Night’ are remembered as being greatly influential in the creation of English Renaissance drama and some, like Marlowe, have even influenced philosophers and scholars like Nietzsche and Freud to pursue their own studies into the human psyche and humanism as an alternative to the spectacle of religion. References Davidson, Nicholas. Christopher Marlowe and Atheism. Christopher Marlowe and English Renaissance Culture. Hampshire: Scholar, 1996. 129-47. Print. Hunter, Michael. The Problem of Atheism in Early Modern England. Transactions of The Royal Historical Society Fifth 35 (1985): 135-57. JSTOR. . Kelly, Michael J. Christopher Marlowe and the Golden Age of England. The Marlow Society Research Journal 05 (2008): 1-30. JSTOR. Romany, Frank, and Robert Lindsey, eds. Christopher Marlowe the Complete Plays. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.