Two-Spirit

The idea of vengeful spirits has caused both a spark of interest and controversy that has remained ablaze over hundreds of years, inspiring both the media and everyday customs with it’s awe-inducing nature. Bloody Mary proves quite an infamous tale among Western civilizations, portraying the spirit of an angry and powerful woman, the details of who vary among different regions, making the true nature of this ghost unclear. Japanese culture, though, has a range of popular lore that all sprout…

thing. He then becomes weak, falling to his knees in the middle of the room crying as if he was a child. The audience can almost feel his emotions off-screen as he makes eye contact with the camera, emphasizing on the lines “but two months dead: nay, not so much, not two.” He is disgusted by his mother's actions and how quickly she married, not only another man but his father's brother, his own uncle. In this version,…

with mythology and cultural superstitions both in past and present. Japan is one of the countries where belief in ghosts and demons has been deep-rooted. According to “Buddhism and Japanese Shinto, the Japanese believe that they are surrounded by spirits all the time”(footnote1). The existence of this inexplicable phenomena can arouse a fear in humankind because we have no way of understanding it. Many cultures around the world believe that if the soul of the dead…

Spirit possession Kazembe found that in order to commune with the spirits of their ancestors, as well as with non-human spirits, the Shona rely on spirit mediums who the spirits can possess. This process of spirit possession and communication can be complicated. "Different spirits may compete to possess one medium, and each such spirit may have its own pantheon of mashave spirits," wrote Kazembe. "Mashave are not spirits of dead people. No one knows their origin. They are believed to have…

Act 1 Scene 1 – King Hamlet Ghost On a dark night in Elsinore Denmark, fellow guards Bernardo, Francisco, and Marcellus are hanging out in the battlements of the castle. When guarding, they witness a ghost that resembles the dead king Hamlet. They decide to share the news with Horatio, since he is a scholar and would know what to do. Horatio attempts to talk to the ghost but the ghost refuses to talk to him and walks away. This is when Horatio suggested telling his good friend Hamlet about the…

In act one scene five, Hamlet’s ghost father told him “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” This ghost is a questionable ghost. Hamlet’s friends don’t trust the ghost at all, they say because, it might tempt him into madness. Hamlet does not beleave in the ghost’s words just yet. He thinks the Ghost is questionable. He does not know for sure if it is his father or not, which makes him delay. Even though the Ghost compares himself to an angel and even though Horatio hopefully says,…

the ghost of his father. Most would say that he has just lost his mind from the grief. It is a reasonable accusation, however even though he was going through the emotions and the devastation of losing his father, he was not the only one to see the spirit of his father walk about the night. In (1.1.50-60) Bernardo, Marcellus, and Horatio are standing guard when they see the ghost of the past king. Now note, this is at the beginning of the play. This is before Hamlet is made known that his…

soul returned to them. Due to that fact that humanity will probably never know what the true answer is, one cannot help but ponder about what happens to our spirit after it leaves our body. That is exactly what Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius do in On the Nature of Things and Meditations, respectively. While Lucretius believes that our spirits are made of miniscule atoms, Marcus Aurelius believes that we are all limbs of God, striving to protect the perfection of the whole. Marcus Aurelius is a…

The body is a form of art that extrapolates ones identity. It is through the identity of the body, that the society dictates the treatment of individuals. Ovid declares in his opening statement of the Metamorphoses, “to tell of bodies changed into new forms.” The body is consistently changing or shape-shifting, like the Greek characters, thus changing ones identity. And with the change of identity come the change of treatment of the self. Ovid’s proposition in his Metamorphoses, In the Flesh by…

The Concept of Ghosts as Portrayed in The Piano Lesson The Piano Lesson, a play written by August Wilson, portrays a family that has been living within the presence of various ghosts and spirits. The play hones in on the Charles family living in Pittsburgh during the depression. Doaker, Berniece and Maretha are surprised with a visit from Bernice’s brother Boy Willie and his partner Lymon. In the house which Berniece, Doaker and Maretha live, there is a piano; a family heirloom that has…