Abstract
This paper will discuss Mamet's film "The Spanish Prisoner" and the elements of plot that take place within the story. Although the plot sequence of events seems organized, an argument for unplanned events will be discussed in this analysis. By revealing how events occur in the movie, we realize that all of the events are not planned with a deliberate intent.

Abstract
The paper briefly summarizes the play "Oedipus Rex" and focuses on how it is seen as a play about human beings' inability to escape a prophecy, or destiny. The paper also shows how Oedipus himself is the enigma which he solves when he pursues the truth, even when he is pretty certain that it will be horrific. The paper asserts that while "Oedipus Rex" has been described as a play about the 'terror of coincidence', if it was simply a play about coincidence, it would not have gained the fame it enjoys. The paper believes that it is the complex motives which drive Oedipus to seek out the truth and the fact that he is a genuine Greek hero that has made Sophocles's play last for thousands of years.

Outline:
Introduction
Destiny in Oedipus Rex
Enigma in Oedipus Rex
Conclusion

From the Paper
"To sum up the play briefly; a king who has reigned in Thebes for many years seeks his predecessor's murderers as the answer to a Delphic pronouncement; the anger of the Gods has left his people dying in handfuls. Gradually, he comes to realize that he has slain this former King (whose widow he has married), and also reveals that he left his home country in order to escape a terrible prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. It is then, very slowly and painfully, revealed to King Oedipus that the man whom he killed at the crossroads (King Laius), was his true father, and Jocasta, now Oedipus's wife, is also his mother."

Tags:destiny, enigma, truth, tragedy, coincidence, hero

Abstract
The paper relates that fewer historical figures are as hotly debated as Michel Nostradamus, a 16th century physician who issued a series of four-line poems that seemed to predict subsequent major world events. The paper discusses how detractors argue that Nostradamus was a first-class con-man, who wrote purposely vague predictions that allow his forecasts to be applied to a variety of events. The paper shows, however, that some of his predictions had a degree of detail that supporters argue is much more than coincidence.

Outline:
Supporting Nostradamus
Nostradamus the con?
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Nostradamus, whose birth name was Michel de Notredame, was born in Saint Remi in Southern France and gained notoriety as an innovative physician who healed seriously ill patients suffering from the plague (Nostradamus, 2006). His fame as a healer eventually led him to be appointed court physician to Charles IX in 1560 (Nostradamus, No Date)."
"In 1547, Nostradamus began making predictions in rhyming quatrains that made use of French, Latin, Spanish and Hebrew, eventually culling them together for the publication of Centuries in 1555 (Nostradamus, No Date). Centuries became an immediate hit and people from across Europe flocked to visit Nostradamus at his home in Salon, hoping to earn a glimpse into the future. Nostradamus claimed Centuries laid out a series of predictions for world events from his own era to the end of the world, which he predicted would occur in 3797 (Nostradamus, 2006)."

Tags:con-man, phony, coincidence, accuracy, future

Abstract
This paper relates the story of Thomas Hardy's novel "Far from the Madding Crowd", which is a blend of romance, pathos, irony, coincidence and regionalism that distinguishes much of Hardy's fiction. The rural chorus, the author points out, is the best example of how connected this novel is to the earth. The paper concludes that this early novel demonstrates characteristics of Hardy's future writings, such as the emerging role of nature, the typical dramatic romantic situations, plots that have an improbability and a sense of the miraculous found in folklore.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Story
Critical Evaluation
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Fanny goes on to Casterbridge, but she is so weak and ill when she arrives there that she dies shortly afterward. When news of her death reaches Weatherbury Farm, Bathsheba, unaware that Troy was the girl's lover, sends a cart to bring the body to the farm for burial. When the body arrives, Gabriel sees scrawled on the coffin lid a message that both Fanny and a child are inside. He erases the last words in his fear that the real relationship of Fanny and Troy might reach Bathsheba's ears; but Bathsheba, suspecting that the coffin conceals some secret, opens the casket late that night. At the same moment, Troy enters the room and learns of Fanny's death and of the death of his child. Torn with grief, he tells Bathsheba that she means nothing to him, that Fanny was the only woman he ever loved, and that he married Bathsheba only for her looks and for her money. Bathsheba shuts herself up in an attic room.
"Troy has a beautiful tombstone put up over Fanny's grave, which he covers with roses and lilies. During a heavy storm that night, water pours from the church roof through the mouth of a gargoyle, splashes on the grave, and ruins all of his work. Troy disappears from Casterbridge."

Tags:power marriage, agricultural life, melodramatic, series of coincidences

Abstract
In this article the author looks at the events of 9/11 and its aftermath through the eyes of Carl Jung. He examines how Jung would have reacted to the events of 9/11. He points out that Jung believed very strongly in coincidence. But, would he have thought that 9/11 was a coincidence, something hidden in the collective unconsciousness. Maybe the unconscious beliefs of government officials, the CIA and FBI who knew that there was something going to happen, but didn't know when or where or even how. The paper goes on to describe how Jung would have categorized the different reactions of the American people after 9/11 in his terms of introvert and extrovert personalities. The author examines the different archetypes that Jung proposed in terms of 9/11. The paper concludes with the statement that even Jung would have not have been able to explain the "why?" of the terrorist attacks and what they hoped to accomplish.

From the Paper
"Jung dreamt a great deal about the dead, the land of the dead, and the rising of the dead. These represented the unconscious itself -- not the "little" personal unconscious that Freud made such a big deal out of, but a new collective unconscious of humanity itself. It would be interesting to assume that the thousands who died at the World Trade Center, the Pennsylvania field and at the Pentagon were somehow part of a Jungian dream. But, while we might think of Freud and Jung as seeing psychosis in dreams, Jung was more realistic. "Jung felt that, if you want to understand the jungle, you can't be content just to sail back and forth near the shore. You've got to get into it, no matter how strange and frightening it might seem" (Boeree 1)."

Tags:safety, truth, world, concept, shadow, pyschic, mythology, religion, muslim

Abstract
This paper analyzes the use of fate, coincidence, and accident in "Libra" as these topics serve to reinforce the book's titular concern with astrology, as well as the affinity that the concept of astrologically-determined fate and conspiracy theories have with each other. It traces the references to fate, coincidence, and conspiracy in the novel, ultimately finding Oswald's sun sign, Libra, to be the generator of the events of the novel.

From the Paper
"Libra tells the story of the life and death of Lee Oswald, and the conspiracy to assassinate John F Kennedy. Oswald's life is out of control, constantly pushed and pulled in different directions by those around him. The chaos of Oswald's life and mind are explored throughout the novel, and his character is predictably weak-willed and mercurial. Less predictable, however, is the fact that the seemingly well-organized plot to kill the president is equally out of control, equally subject to the machinations of some greater exterior force. In admitting the chaos of Oswald and his life into their plot, the conspirators subject themselves to the forces of coincidence that this chaos facilitates and allow a greater outside force to manifest itself through him."

Tags:assassination, conspiracy, lee, oswald, kennedy

Abstract
This paper examines how the story of Lucian's Alexander has many similarities to modern-day Christianity and how Christianity has been shown to have borrowed many ideas from other pagan religions in its infancy, so these correlations may or may not be coincidence. It looks at how the foundation of Christianity, Jesus Christ's rebirth, is an almost identical story to the known religious scam established by Alexander, as described by Lucian.

From the Paper
"Lucian's account was very scandalous and basically has condemned Alexander to remain forever in history as a religious swindler who simply purchased a large snake and then choose a group of people to scam. The ploy, as described by Lucian, was that Alexander and his cronies planted bronze tablets, created fake talking serpents and claimed that his serpent had descended to earth from a godly past. Lucian detailed how well thought out the plan was and how Alexander used official looking documentation and even baby snakes thought to be hatched from goose eggs to carry out his deceitful objectives. In effect, the scheme hatched by Alexander entailed advertising agents, tainted government officials and lie after lie which in turn fooled everyone. As P.T. Barnum pointed out, "There's one born every minute!""

Tags:serpent, christianity, jesus

Abstract
This paper discusses Charlotte Bronte's classic novel, "Jane Eyre". The paper explains the problem of modern literary criticism being the interjection of modern ideals and morals upon the past. The paper contends that feminism in the context of Bronte's time and the coincidence of the publishing of Jane Eyre is the feminism of the Victorian Era, fighting against convention and for self-determination, not the feminism of today, which would pit women against nearly all pretenses of morality and freedom of will.

From the Paper
"The single most dangerous trap of modern literary criticism is interjecting modern ideals and morals upon the past. Gilbert and Gubar discuss Jane Eyre's "rebellious feminism" and see her narrative as "a story of enclosure and escape". Though there are some concepts, such as feminism that simply have no other word to describe the relative phenomena of a social ideal they must be used sparingly and only in context to the nature of the society which originally received the works. Feminism in context of Bronte's time and the coincidence of the publishing of Jane Eyre is the feminism of the Victorian Era, fighting against convention, and for self-determination, not the feminism of today that would pit women against nearly all pretenses of morality and freedom of will."

Tags:feminism, victorian, rochester

Abstract
This paper examines how Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" stands alone as one of the greatest works produced by an American writer. In particular, it looks at how it was written in the year 1848, the same year as the first women's rights conference in Seneca Falls, N.Y., and how, by coincidence, the novel is the story of Hester Prynne, a single mother in puritanical Boston. It discusses how Hester, despite her disagreeable position, labors to not only to live, but to make a life for herself and her young daughter and how, in doing so, she makes a statement for the need for change concerning the rights of women.

From the Paper
"Both in puritanical Boston and in 19th century America women had few rights and were often overshadowed by their male counterparts. The fact Hawthorne chooses to make Hester Prynne the protagonist of a story set in the 17th century is the first indicator that speaks for change. Rarely, if ever, were women the main character in a novel, especially one written by a man. Hawthorne broke this mold and made Hester not only the protagonist of the story but the strongest character as well."

Tags:hester, prynne, women's, rights

Abstract
This paper examines whether it was a coincidence that Tsar Nicholas II abdicated just 3 years after the commencement of World War One. It examines several factors which may have been the cause of the collapse of Tsarism - Nicholas' leadership; Bloody Sunday; The October Manifesto; Rasputin or WWI.

From the Paper
"The First World War caused the collapse of tsarism, but it was not the reason it occurred. It seems to have acted only as a catalyst to the problems already facing Russia. It is evident that the tsarism would have collapsed eventually due to the oppressive nature of the regime. There was deep discontentment in the Russian people whose tolerance for an autocratic state had worn out. Believing that the state was responsible for all their problems, many Russians were determined to overthrow it in order to create change. Another cause for problems was that Tsar Nicholas II was an unsuitable ruler and the Russian people were unforgiving towards this gentle man. Wanting change in their society, it appears that the fate of the tsarism lay in the hands of Nicholas at least until World War One commenced."

Tags:czar, nicholas, russia, tsar, bloody, sunday, october, manifesto, rasputin