In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, it is obvious that Macbeth has not involved his wife in planning Banquo's murder. Why did he choose not to involve her?

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth is very much involved in the planning of Duncan’s death; indeed, she is the
prime mover in the plot.  However, later, when Macbeth decides to kill Banquo, Lady
Macbeth takes no active role, and indeed Macbeth doesn’t even tell her exactly what he
has in mind (3.1.44-46). Several reasons may help to explain why Macbeth does not
involve his wife in the plotting of Banquo’s death. Among those reasons are the
following:

• By making Macbeth the prime mover in
  the second death, Shakespeare may have wanted to show how much Macbeth’s moral character
  has degenerated between Act 1 and Act 3.


• On the other
  hand, by making Macbeth the prime mover in the second killing, Shakespeare may also have
  wanted to make Lady Macbeth seem less responsible for the second crime, and thus not
  darken her moral character even further. If she had participated in the planning of the
  second murder, she might have seemed an almost Satanic figure; instead, Shakespeare’s
  presentation of her is far more complex.


• In the scene
  immediately after Macbeth dispatches two murderers to kill Banquo, Lady Macbeth appears,
  and it is clear that she is now having second thoughts about the killing of
  Duncan:

readability="13">

. . . Nought’s had, all’s
spent,

Where our desire is got without
content:

’Tis safer to be that which we
destroy

Than be destruction dwell in dougtful joy.
(3.2.4-7)

Perhaps, then,
Macbeth did not want to run the risk that his wife might have some qualms about another
killing.  If she were to have such qualms, she might conceivably have tried to dissuade
him from the second murder. After all, she later misses a perfect opportunity to suggest
that he kill Banquo (3.2.37-38).

• Perhaps, too,
  Macbeth did not want to trouble his wife any further than she was already
  troubled.


• Perhaps Macbeth, having been shamed by his wife
  into killing Duncan, wants to prove to her now that he can act on his own. This
  possibility is suggested when he says to her, concerning Banquo’s
  murder,

readability="9">

Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest
chuck,

Till thou applaud the deed.
(3.2.45-46)

Such phrasing
implies that Macbeth expects his wife to approve of the killing of Banquo and that he
even takes a kind of pride in having concocted the plan on his
own.

What is the plot of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Edgar Allan Poe's short story masterpiece, "The Cask of
Amontillado," takes place at an undetermined locale and date; an educated guess would
place the setting as somewhere in Italy in the late 18th century. Montresor (presumably
a Frenchman), has been the subject of "a thousand injuries"--and more recently,
insults--by an acquaintance, Fortunato, and Montresor has vowed revenge. In doing so,
Montresor's act must not be detected and Fortunato must be aware that Montresor is his
punisher. Taking great precautions not to have witnesses around, Montresor lures
Fortunato into his family catacombs, which doubles as a wine cellar, under the pretense
that a rare bottle of Spanish sherry, Amontillado, awaits. Knowing that Fortunato cannot
resist the temptation of sampling such a vintage, Montresor leads him deeper and deeper
into the catacombs. Reaching a far recess, Montresor suddenly produces a chain and
fetters Fortunato to the floor. Using a trowel and mortar, Montresor then builds a wall,
sealing the stunned Fortunato within, and he leaves him to die among the bones of the
crypt. Montresor, the narrator, ends the story by telling the reader that Fortunato's
bones have been undisturbed for a half century. Montresor has committed the perfect
crime.

Is the protagonist of The Hobbit portrayed sympathetically?

From the very beginning of the novel, Tolkien
characterizes Bilbo as a sympathetic, friendly protagonist.  In many ways, Bilbo's
shortcomings make him more endearing to the reader.  He is not athletic or graceful like
the elves or strong as some of the dwarves might be.  Bilbo's attributes make him more
of an 'every man' that most readers can easily identify
with. 

Now Bilbo is certainly not without flaws.  He is
continually fussy throughout the novel, bemoaning the loss of his handkerchiefs,
comforts, and extra meals.  The reader, however, overlooks most of Bilbo's personality
quirks in favor of his deeper virtues--his perseverance, loyalty, and clever mind. 

How is Preludes by T.S Eliot a modernist poem?

T.S. Eliot's poem, Preludes, like
his The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste
Land, and works by other modernist authors does not shrink from the 19th
century view that certain subjects were 'unsuitable' for literature. Their literary
credo went beyond the orbit of the romantic or pastoral canon and embraced new themes.
One of these was the cityscape, toward which Eliot and others had a decidedly
pessimistic attitude, composed in part of revulsion and fascination. Thus, Eliot's early
poetry is transfixed by the cityscape. Indeed, the arrival of modernism signals the
decisive return of western literature to the cityscape, but wearing an almost
apocalyptic vesture. There are a number of strands in this. One is alienation. No longer
is the individual woven into a web of benefical mutuality. Instead, he or she is lost in
the teeming masses of the city. The cityscape of Eliot's early poems continually
reinforces this social decay, an image repeated in the character of the woman in
Preludes, whose inner self has been corrupted by her sordid life in
the city slums:

The thousand sordid
images
Of which your soul was
constituted;
(Preludes
ll.26-28)

Atomized humanity caught up in the monotony of
city life Eliot further reinforces by the technique of 'disembodied body
parts':

One thinks of all the
hands
That are raising dingy
shades
In a thousand furnished
rooms.
(Preludes, ll.21-23)

Eliot
conceives of the mass of city-dwellers as uncaring, an indifferent multitude, a kind of
human herd:

Or trampled by insistent
feet
At four and five and six
o'clock;
And short square fingers stuffing
pipes,
And evening newspapers, and
eyes
Assured of certain
certainties,
The conscience of a blackened
street
Impatient to assume the
world.
(Preludes, ll.41-47)

Another
strand is disgust with the dirt, decay, and desolation of the city. To reveal this Eliot
developed a technique of realism, one that appealed in a rapidfire way to the senses,
where the elements of the city themselves constitute the
poetry:

The burnt out ends of smoky
days [smell/taste]
And now a gusty shower
wraps
The grimy scraps
Of
withered leaves about your feet [touch]
And newspapers
from vacant lots;
The showers beat
[sound]
On broken blinds and chimney-pots
[sight]
(Preludes, ll.4-10)

Still
another strand can be described as apocalyptic or visionary. Here a character catches a
glimpse of another reality beyond the miasmic environment of the
city:

And the light crept up between the
shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters
You had such a
vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
('Preludes'
ll.31-34)

Eliot and other post-war newcomers to the
literary world fashioned a revolutionary diction, where mingled a distaste for the city
with a celebration of it as the true centre of civilization. This literary
accomplishment, founded on an urban imagery, is rightly called
modernism.

 

Relate the classical myth of Pygmalion and indicate how this play follows the myth and where it departs from it

Yes, of course the story of Pygmalion from the Greek
mythology, i.e.,falling in love with his own creation -the ivory statue has inspired G.B
Shaw's play 'Pygmalion: A romance in five acts.' As we know that
 Shaw used to write about women who had self-respect and and a head of their own to know
their emotions, choices and sentiments, e.g., Candida and other
plays. They don't have to depend upon men to decide their fate, instead they themselves
are sufficient and intelligent enough to take a stand on their own in a dignified and
graceful manner.

So,I feel Shaw's play is similar to the
myth when Mr. Higgins and Pickering choose to train Eliza-the flower girl with a heavy
cockney accent in her language, with the mannerisms of a lady. And, at the end,after
doing this job successfully, Higgins wishes her to marry him. So, here there is a
similarity with the myth-if we take the flower girl metamorphosed into a perfect lady by
the phonetician Higgins as his creation, and then a wish to take her as his wife , i.e.,
falling in love with his own work/creation.

But, at the
same time this play differs also largely from the myth in the way that Eliza is a living
modern woman with an independent personality,hre own choices,ceratin ego and
self-respect. She knows what she wants and refuses Higgin's marriage proposal and
marries Freddy. Thus, Shaw differs from the myth as he has not considered an inanimate
object (statue in the myth) but a living flower girl. Another instance of difference is
that he has used mundane and day to day life activities to make the play sound realistic
to audience. The play opens with a dark rainy night with people who have taken shelter
under the roof of a church. So, its somewhat more realistic and near to pactical life
when compared to the original myth.

So,the play is more a
satire on the rigid British class system of that day and a comment on women's
independence which is packaged as a romantic comedy.

What problems or obstacles are unresolved at the end of A midsummers nights dream?

Some of things that remain unresolved, in this play
are:

Oberon does not get what he wanted, which was the boy
that Titania is protecting (her squire).

Bottom is left
with memories of what happened and this leaves him confused and distressed.  The lasting
effect that this will have is unknown.

Lysander and
Demitrius are not aware of why their feelings changed. For Lysander this was remedied
but Demitrius remains under the magical effects iof the flower and we wonder how long
this will last? Will the effects wear off in time ?

Helena
also doubted Demitrius' love for her and this must remain in her mind.  She was under
the impression that they were teasing her in the woods and somehow this must stay in her
mind.  What will the future bring for their relationship.

What are the values associated with liberalism?

I assume that you are asking about liberalism in the
historical sense as opposed to liberalism in the context of the American
conservative-liberal political divide.

If so, the major
value associated with liberalism is the idea that individuals are important and that
they have rights that the government must protect.  This value informs the most
important aspects of liberal systems.  For example, one major aspect of a liberal system
is a limited government.  Liberals believe that government must be limited so that it
cannot trample the rights of its citizens.  As another example, liberals believe in the
sanctity of private property.  Again, this is a case in which they believe the
government must respect and protect a particular right that its citizens
have.

In this way, the most important aspects of a liberal
system go back to one value; the idea that individuals and their rights are
important.