Chris Conte
eNotes Educator
Achievements
14
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1662
Answers Posted
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About
eNotes Educator since 2008. Favorite subjects are history, literature, and science.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in History
Junius Bassus (ca. 317-359) was a high-ranking Roman official, who served in the Roman senate and held the office of "Praefectus Urbi" for Rome, more or less what we would consider as the office of... -
Answered a Question in World War I
The final major alliances in Europe leading up to the First World War were The Triple Alliance, comprising Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, and the Triple Entente, composed of... -
Answered a Question in A Christmas Carol
In a case of art imitating life, Charles Dickens, (1812-1870) heavily in debt and obliged to his publisher, began working on the very well known short story A Christmas Carol in the fall of... -
Answered a Question in The Metamorphoses of Ovid
Ovid's (43 BCE - 17 CE) Pyramus and Thisbe, one of his stories in the collection known as Metamorphosis may not show the origin of good and evil, but certainly exemplifies that... -
Answered a Question in Animal Farm
In his extended allegory of Animal Farm, George Orwell described the causes, action, and conclusion of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Each of the characters mentioned throughout the work stands as... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
The sources for Shakespeare's texts were numerous -- he himself had his "foul" ("working") copies, the actors had "cue scripts," and finally there was the "fair" copy of the completed play.... -
Answered a Question in History
The Chinese Revolution in 1949 put the Communists in power in the most populous nation on Earth. Prior to that time, China was loosely allied with the former Allied nations that had fought... -
Answered a Question in Environment
Long before we succeed in killing the planet the planet will dispassionately kill us. Earth has been around a long time, long before humankind existed, and will probably exist long after... -
Answered a Question in European History
The Hundred Year's War, lasting from 1337 to 1453, encapsulated the Black Death, which depopulated Western Europe between 1348 and 1350. The Plague is what broke the feudal system, as agricultural... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
The tale of Hamlet precedes the Bard's version; a Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, wrote a history of Denmark around 1200 which includes elements of the story, including a dead father, usurping... -
Answered a Question in History
The clash of competing empires around the world eventually came home to roost in Europe. All the aforementioned are factors for describing the onset of the war, but the competition between... -
Answered a Question in History
Usually catastrophes like the Black Death would wipe out a civilization; in this case just the opposite happened -- by the 1400's the Renaissance had begun. Part of why Europe bounced back was due... -
Answered a Question in Secession and Civil War
The balance of political power in Washington had been dominated by the "Free State, Slave State" balancing act that started right from the founding of the country (Look up the acceptance of Vermont... -
Answered a Question in Abraham Lincoln
No one like Abe will be elected anytime soon, but the fact that he did get elected suggests that in times of difficulty, exceptional candidates can rise to the occasion. Of course politics is... -
Answered a Question in Literature
My senior thesis was a comparison between Jane Eyre and the Scarlett Letter. I made the argument that these were the same book -- both had elements of an "excluded woman" and the various... -
Answered a Question in History
The Supreme Court opposed the New Deal because many of its proposed programs violated the Constitution. Once such violation was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which seeked to tax food processors... -
Answered a Question in History
There's more printed media since the Age of Computers, it's just not in the traditional forms of newspaper and book. Now that everyone has a computer with a printer attached, (or at least... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Clearly Hamlet is not. He admits to putting on a "antic disposition" so it'll throw off Claudius. It gives him time to plan, and as we watch throughout the play, sort out his feelings.... -
Answered a Question in Elizabethan Prose Fiction
"The terms, of course, are Latin for "above" and "below" the Moon. The concept was that all creation was contained in The Great Chain of Being, all of existence being composed of either... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Because of the intense industrialization in Britain during the Victorian Era, the manufacture of books got much cheaper -- enabling the mass market and the prominence of the new form of the Novel,... -
Answered a Question in History
The former Colonies were able to expand into North America simply because they had the military backing and a desire for additional resources and land. As colonial immigration increased, it simply... -
Answered a Question in European History
Within Europe, the warming climate during the Middle Ages made for ideal conditions to increase the yield of wheat, barley, and grapes for wine. This led to an Agrarian Revolution, in which... -
Answered a Question in Bacon's Rebellion
As some in the Colony of Virginia prospered from the Tobacco Trade, many others were less fortunate. Bacon's Rebellion, occurring in 1676, was a conflict between the established, wealthy... -
Answered a Question in European History
One difference was the "international" versus local trade. During the Roman Republic and Empire, trade spread all around the Mediterranean, into the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. By... -
Answered a Question in History
Once again, I find myself in the Loyal Opposition. Imperialism is the projection of a country's power and influence, and although that may be symbolically represented by means of politics, religion... -
Answered a Question in History
The Spanish-American War was fought between the United States and Spain in 1898. Cuba, still under Spanish domination, had since the 1860's been attempting to liberate herself from Spain. By... -
Answered a Question in Jamestown
Early Jamestown was almost a failure like the colonies before it. Some of the apparent problems were poor diplomacy with the natives, which resulted in armed attacks, poor agricultural planning,... -
Answered a Question in Prohibition
The reason the Twenties were Roaring was not just due to the post World War I economy in the United States, it was due to the increase in alcohol production. The reason Chicago and Al Capone... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Firstly, he admits it! In 4.1, he states "I am a very villain else." Unlike villains who "know not what they do," Iago is in full awareness of the results of his actions. He knows what... -
Answered a Question in Sonnet 18
Shakespeare of course is alluding to the Sun as the "eye of heaven," sometimes shining too hot, and sometimes dimmed. The variableness reflects actual real-world weather conditions. This... -
Answered a Question in The Ancient World
During the Roman Republic and well into the Roman Empire, trade became firmly established around the Mediterranean. However, unlike in the West, the East continued to trade after the Western Fall... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) most famous work, The Prince, was his observations of how people in power operate. The fact that the work continues to be read and argued over suggests that... -
Answered a Question in History
The Enlightenment's roots go back to the Renaissance, when many of the Medeaval concepts were finally displaced. The development of Art and expansion of Trade and Banking, among other social... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
The negatives proposed are failures of instruction, not the failures of students attempting to learn. Kids will embrace a Midsummer Night's Dream because it resonates with their magical... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Iago specifically expresses his hatred of Othello by referring to him as the "Moor" throughout the play, using it as a racial epithet. The term itself could also have meant a nonwhite not of... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Shakespeare as the author of the play is telling the story through a third person omniscient narrative -- he "sees all," knowing all the thoughts of all the characters. This narrative allows... -
Answered a Question in History
Catherine the Great (1729-1796, also known as Catherine II) was actually a German princess who was betrothed to the future czar of Russia, Peter III. Although originally Protestant, she... -
Answered a Question in History
John Pershing (1860-1948) Led the American Expeditionary Forces (1st Army) during the First World War. In August, 1918, the supreme commander of Allied forces, Marshal Ferdinand Foch,... -
Answered a Question in History
The word democracy (demos, 'people' and 'kratia' power or rule) was coined about 2500 years ago to establish a classless government -- one that would not be dominated by the aristocracy, and would... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
In a word, No. Hamlet finds himself in a very dangerous position at the beginning of the play; as his uncle Claudius has taken the throne, Hamlet existence threatens the king's legitimacy.... -
Answered a Question in Poetry
Shakespeare's sonnet 18 adheres to the sonnet form, 3 stanzas of 4 lines and a finishing couplet, ten syllables per line written in iambic pentameter. Robert Burns's poem is written in 4 stanzas of... -
Answered a Question in History
Both Italy and Germany went through their unification into nation-states at the same time in the 1860's. There appears to be a pattern with the rise of nation states in Europe moving west to east;... -
Answered a Question in The Articles of Confederation
The United States faced an uncertain future with the establishment of a Federal Government in 1789. After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, much was riding on the experimental... -
Answered a Question in Robert Frost
The Petrarchan, or Italian Sonnet consists of two stanzas of 8 and 6 lines respectively, so Design can be considered as such. Nothing Gold Can Stay is indeed an octet, composed simply of eight... -
Answered a Question in Literature
It is imperative to comprehend a given piece of literature in the era in which it was written. Without that perspective, one imposes 21st century Western biases to the text. The... -
Answered a Question in History
By introducing the Protestant Reformation, he gave English King Henry VIII the means to find an acceptable heir. By establishing the Church of England, of which he, of course, was head, he... -
Answered a Question in History
Part of the decline in accusations of witchcraft was the rise of the Enlightenment. As others have pointed out, witchcraft (or the punishment thereof) flourished in an age of ignorance.... -
Answered a Question in History
As #7 and #8 have stated, Protestantism forever altered world history. One of the prime changes that occurred in some sects was that individuals were responsible for their own salvation, not... -
Answered a Question in Renaissance and Reformation
Just prior to the Renaissance, Italy had become, once again, the major trader between West and East. As trade flourished, the economy grew and fortunes were made. Capital allocation, or... -
Answered a Question in European History
Back in the year 911, Carolingian King Charles the Simple allowed the Viking Rollo to settle in what became known as Normandy. In 1066 the Viking descendants invaded and conquered England at...
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