Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Psychology. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 99-110. Available online via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis focuses on the religious aspects of William Shakespeare's Hamlet which, I argue, form the foundation of Hamlet's plot and are critical to understanding Hamlet's character and his dilemmas. Early modern culture was particularly saturated with religious allusions. The advent of the Reformation and emergence of printing resulted in an explosive growth in the publication of new Bible translations and other religious materials. While I note that most early modern writers of general literature made frequent use of biblical texts and themes, I add that Shakespeare's use of the Bible and Christian doctrine in Hamlet is especially subtle and substantial. Shakespeare achieves this by establishing Hamlet as a particularly devout Christian Prince who is a student at the University of Wittenberg. I argue that it is Hamlet's theological pedantry which makes him procrastinate throughout the play. Additionally, Hamlet's Christian characteristics exhibit syncretic - Catholic and Protestant - Christianity as represented by Elizabethan religious culture. Shakespeare incorporates contemporary religious beliefs in the play not for dogmatic purposes but rather for dramatic expedience. I compare Hamlet to other contemporary revenge tragedies and establish how the underlying Christian themes, as revealed in Hamlet's character through his soliloquies, set Hamlet apart from other revenge plays. Finally I argue that Hamlet exacts his revenge through a particular performance that operates exclusively within his Christian worldview. Ultimately, as I conclude in the third chapter, through the character of Hamlet, Shakespeare also makes the best dramatic use of contemporary religious beliefs and contentions to make his audience ponder the big question that concerned them: the eventual fate of the human soul.

Through four hundred years of accumulated disparaging comments from critics, revenge plays have lost much of the original luster they possessed in early modern England. Surprisingly, scholarship on revenge tragedy has invented an unfavorable lens for understanding this genre, and this lens has been relentlessly parroted for decades. The conventional generic approach that calls for revenge plays to exhibit a recurring set of concerns, including a revenge motive, a hesitation for the protagonist, and the revenger’s feigned or actual madness, imply that these plays lack philosophical depth, as the appellation of revenge tends to evoke the trite commonalities which we have created for the genre. This dissertation aims to rectify the provincial views concerning revenge tragedies by providing a more complex, multivalent critical model that makes contemporary the outmoded approaches to this genre. I argue that Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of carnival, and the ways in which it engages with new historical interpretations of early modern drama, functions as a discursive methodology to open up more creative interpretative possibilities for revenge tragedy. Carnival readings expose gaps in new historicism’s proposed systems of omnipresent power, which deny at every turn the chance for rebellion and individuality. Rather than relegating carnival to an occasional joke, quick aside, or subplot, revenge plays explore carnivalesque concerns, and revengers plot their vengeance with all the aspects of a carnival. In these plays, revengers define subjectivity in terms of the pleasure-seeking, self-serving urges of unofficial culture; negotiations for social change occur in which folk culture avoids a repressive, hierarchal order; and carnival play destabilizes courtly systems that track, classify, pigeonhole, and immobilize individuals.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-83). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Zürich. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-84).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Zürich. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-84).

Humiliation as an emotion may result from everyday interactions between migrants and members of the host country by which the former feels unjustly rejected by the latter. The present study aimed to extend our understanding of whether humiliation influences the acculturation and adaptation processes of migrants. The following issues were addressed: (1) the behaviour and emotional responses to humiliation, (2) the behavioural implications of humiliation for the acculturation strategies, (3) the influence of acculturation strategies on sociocultural and psychological adaptation and (4) the moderating role of a humiliating climate in society on the relationship between acculturation strategies and sociocultural/ psychological adaptation. These issues were addressed in a cross-sectional study which was conducted with migrants (N = 132) residing in Johannesburg, South Africa. The results showed that the behavioural responses to humiliation are indeed dependent on the accompanying emotions of anger and shame. In addition, the present study showed that the behavioural implications of humiliation indeed influenced the acculturation strategies. For instance, relationship-challenging responses to humiliation were likely to lead participants to separate and integrate less, while relationship-maintaining responses were likely to lead participants to integrate. In line with previous findings, the results also showed that integration is the most preferred, while assimilation is the least preferred acculturation strategy. Lastly, only the relationship between integration and sociocultural adaptation revealed to be conditional on a humiliating climate in society. / Psychology

Includes bibliographies. / God's wrath results in divine acts of vengeance in favour of the powerless and the oppressed. This manifestation of anger is devoid of hatred and malice, for in the first epistle of John, love is equated with God in such a way that it is the personification of the divine Being (1 John 4:7-12). God's grace, forming the nexus between compassion and wrath, renders any suggestion of a contradiction in the divine nature untenable. Human vengeance is, however, an ambiguous concept. It emanates from human anger, which often includes hatred and malice. Nevertheless, this cannot simply be dismissed as a destructive force, as it can be a valid form of resistance. The crucial theological-ethical question arises: Can the wrath of God's children (human vengeance) legitimately reflect divine anger? The first part of the thesis deals with the historical content of God's wrathful children, focusing on the history of struggle in South Africa. The age-old history of injustices perpetrated against black people has generated a deep-seated anger, a dangerous socio-political rage that cannot be ignored. The central question is: How should black people handle their anger theologically? Given the multi-religious and -cultural South African context this issue needs addressing at an ecumenical level, while taking interfaith perspective into account. The Zealots of first-century Palestine, the late-medieval reformer Thomas Muntzer, and the African-American activist Malcolm X, wrestled with the interplay between faith and vengeance. Case studies of these revolutionaries are dealt with in the second part of the thesis, and assistance is sought from their experiences in clarifying our own theological formulation. The final part of the thesis argues that post-apartheid South Africa requires a comprehensive, inter-faith 'ethic of vengeance' to curb destructive black political rage.

The majority of students experience peer victimization at least once during middle school. Existing research has established a strong link between exposure to peer victimization and poor psychosocial outcomes, including, but not limited to, maladaptive coping processes. Although little empirical attention has been devoted to examining how peer victimization impacts the development of social goals, the few existing studies have shown a positive relation between peer victimization and revenge goals. To further advance this research, several concurrent and longitudinal models delineating the relations among peer victimization, physical aggression, parental attitudes toward aggression, peer deviance, and revenge goals were examined in a sample of 5,068 sixth graders in the fall and spring of the academic year. It was hypothesized that the relation between overt victimization and revenge goals would be moderated by: a) physical aggression, b) parental support of aggression, and c) peer deviancy, such that the relation would strengthen as levels of each moderator increased. Hierarchical linear regression models found significant, positive main effects for overt victimization, physical aggression, parental support for aggression, and peer deviancy on revenge goals both concurrently and over time. These effects did not differ by gender. Results indicated that the relation between overt victimization and revenge goals was strongest for students with low to moderate levels of physical aggression, whereas victimization was inversely related to revenge goals for highly aggressive students. In addition, overt victimization was positively related to revenge goals for students with low to moderate numbers of deviant peers, but this relation was no longer significant for students at the highest quartile of peer deviancy. These results have important implications regarding the inclusion of traditionally “low risk” students in violence prevention programs, and also highlight the importance of intervening at the individual, parent, and peer level.