Abstract
The paper discusses how the notion that "confession is good for the soul" does not apply in Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess" or Antonia Bird's "Priest" since, in both films, confession (in the ritualistic Catholic sense) is presented as causing harm and confusion. The paper shows how the secrecy that enshrouds the ritual causes the priest in each film to suffer mental anguish and inner conflict, whereas neither of the penitents in the films is shown as benefiting spiritually or in any other sense.

From the Paper
"The notion that "confession is good for the soul" is glib and very much open to debate, especially when considered in the context of what happens in Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess" (1953) and Antonia Bird's "Priest' (1994). It is important, for the sake of clarity, to differentiate between two kinds of confession. There is, on the one hand, confession in the Catholic sense of penance for having sinned and then there is the secular meaning of a formal admission of criminal guilt. The Hitchcock film is concerned chiefly with confession in the Catholic sense and only secondarily with confession in the criminal sense, whereas Bird's film is concerned solely..."

Tags:confession, characters, effects

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts James Joyce's short story "Araby" with Frank O'Connor's short story "First Confession," discussing the theme of religion and the differences in tone and meaning.

From the Paper
"James Joyce's short story "Araby" and Frank O'Connor's story "First Confession" both have a first-person narrator and both stories describe the author's coming of age as a young boy. The way the narrator in each story crafts the coming-of-age story is somewhat different, although there are also some similarities in approach. This paper will discuss each story individually and then conclude with a brief summary of the similarities and differences. "Araby" is a rather gloomy story in which the narrator describes his experience of..."

Tags:Araby, First Confession, James Joyce, Frank O'Connor, Irish, coming of age, boy, narrator, religion, religious, theme

Abstract
This paper is an exploration of the impact of speech and silence in the novel, "The Scarlet Letter." It pays special attention to the centrality of Dimmesdales' confession. The paper discusses the issues of sin and confession in the novel, with a unique approach to the meaning of sin to Hester and Dimmesdale. According to this author, Dimmesdale, and not Hester is the key to this story, since his silence and refusal to confess control the story, its outcome and as such, the development of the other characters.

From the Paper
"Dimmesdale finds inspiration and power in the act of sin; he is most potent when he is most perverse. It is a passionate sexual transgression that produces Pearl; it is his failure to confess his adultery and the resultant hypocrisy that gives force to his sermons and gains him respect in the eyes of the community; his decision to leave with Hester and his sexual excitement "lent him unaccustomed physical energy" (2347); his incitement to do "some strange, wild, wicked thing" (2348) allows him to write "with earnest haste and ecstacy" a sermon "with such an impulsive flow of thought and emotion, that he fancied himself inspired" (2352)."

Tags:guilt, inspiration, public, sin, tension, hester, revelation, fear, adultery, evils, reluctance, potency, decision, lifeless, silence, language, weakness

Abstract
This paper explains that 8% of wrongful convictions are due to forced confessions prompted by the police. The author states that twelve-year-old Stephanie Crowe was found stabbed to death on her bedroom floor in 1998; however, the Crowe family's nightmare had only just started because her 14-year-old brother Michael was coerced by Escondido, California police detectives, who were so desperate for a confession to close this horrific crime that they overlooked crucial evidence, into confessing to the murder. The paper relates that the charges of murder were dropped before trial in February, 1999 after last-minute DNA testing found spots of Stephanie's blood on a sweatshirt worn by a transient man seen in the neighborhood the night of the killing.

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Crime
The Investigation
The Transient
Mass of Evidence
Under Suspicion
The Interrogation of Michael Crowe and Joshua Treadway
What Was Wrong With The Interrogation?
Aftermath of the Confessions
Preparing for Trial
Forensic Flip-flop
Preview of Evidence
The Richard Tuite theory
The Evidence in the Container
The Hearing
Prosecution's Confidence Enhanced
Defense's Rebuttal
The Crucial Hearing
Groundbreaking Evidence
A Conviction at Last

From the Paper
"The detectives interrogating Michael Crowe crossed a clearly and explicitly defined line when they told Michael only by admitting he killed his sister they could help him and by telling him his parents no longer wanted him. According to a Crime Library Article, the police "used lies, false promises, isolation from parents and attorneys, even threats of adult prison and predatory older inmates" as techniques to elicit a confession. The treatment of Michael by detectives was clearly not according to protocol. The interrogation of Michael Crowe was against protocol and clearly was an enormous mistake made by detectives."

Tags:wrongful, isolation, protocol, blood, relationship

Abstract
The writer relates; "Through the long years of youth, characterized by so many books and tasks, I wondered at the point of my studies; reading works and analyzing ideas of men long dead who seemed, to my eyes, to have no clearer insight into the problems of life than did I. How could the words of men, brilliant and wise though they may be, take me beyond the problems of men? I asked myself: where am I going?"

From the Paper
"Through the long years of youth, characterized by so many books and tasks, I wondered at the point of my studies; reading works and analyzing ideas of men long dead who seemed, to my eyes, to have no clearer insight into the problems of life than did I. How could the words of men, brilliant and wise though they may be, take me beyond the problems of men? I asked myself: where am I going? My God, who is the Truth and the Way, in those days I knew you not as I know you now, and so I was blind to the guidance you offered me. Instead I..."

Tags:augustine, imitation, analysis

Abstract
This paper examines what is probably now the best known of O?Connor?s works, the short story ?The First Confession?, examining three different critical perspectives on this story that help us to understand both its individual merit and its importance as an example of O?Connor?s style and wit and the larger place that short stories (and particularly Irish short stories) have held in the literature of the English-speaking world since World War I and especially since World War II.

From the paper:

"Frank O?Connor was the literary pseudonym of Michael O'Donovan. But given the quality and breadth of his work, it is hard to understand why this Irish playwright, novelist, and short-story writer who, as a critic and as a translator of Gaelic works from the 9th to the 20th century, served as one of the most important and influential interpreters of Irish life and literature to the English-speaking world would want to hide his light under the bushel of a nom de plume."

Tags:literary, criticism, experience, Gaelic, Irish, Catholic, culture, expression

Abstract
The paper looks at how the poetry is an outlet for the expression of personal experiences - though "My Papa's Waltz" is very much about physical experiences involving a son and his father while "The Courage My Mother had' is a testament to a metaphysical trait - courage - that the poet feels when recounting her long-departed mother. The paper shows how literary devices such as voice, tone, word choice, rhyme scheme, and imagery all conspire to give the poems the haunting resonance and depth of feeling that makes them memorable compositions. This paper argues that the Roethke poem is more powerful and penetrative because it does not try to turn the father into something either super-human or sub-human whereas Millay's work clearly elevates the mother to a status that borders on the ethereal.

From the Paper
"The following paper will look at the theme of the confessionalism in two noteworthy works: Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" and Edna St. Vincent Millay's, "The Courage that My Mother had". Specifically, the ensuing several pages will look at how the poetry is an outlet for the expression of personal experiences - though "My Papa's Waltz" is very much about physical experiences involving a son and his father while "The Courage My Mother had' is a testament to a metaphysical trait - courage - that the..."

Tags:confession, edna, millay

Abstract
This paper examines research about coerced-internalized false confessions, which occur when innocent suspects actually believe that he or she is guilty of the crime; many of which are the result of police interrogation in which deceptive and deceitful practices may be used and accepted by the judicial system. The author points out that the article "The Social Psychology of False Confessions" tested the hypothesis that the presentation of false evidence can lead individuals who are vulnerable to confess to an act, which they did not commit, and, more important, to internalize the confession and perhaps confabulate details in memory consistent with that new belief. The paper relates that the researchers used an experimental method, which the paper describes, and concludes that this experiment was well-executed and well-reported.

From the Paper
"There were two independent variables in this experiment. First, the subject's level of vulnerability was manipulated by varying the pace of the task. Therefore, the confederate read at either a fast or slow pace. Second, the experimenters varied the use of false incrimination evidence. The confederates either "witnessed" or acknowledged the mistake or some confederates did not "witness", or see the subject touch the ALT key. The dependent variable was the confessions. Three forms of social influence were evaluated: compliance, internalization, and confabulation. To assess compliance, the experimenter handwrote a confession and asked the subject to sign it. "

Tags:coerced-internalized, variables, methodology, vulnerability, witness

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts two Baptist confessions. The paper discusses the Anabaptist confessions and the American Baptist confessions. This comparison examines the doctrinal differences, the construction and ordinance of these confessions. It then goes on to discuss how the confessions impacted the religious movement.

From the Paper
"Comparing and Contrasting Two Baptist Confessions Introduction This paper shall compare and contrast two Baptist confessions. The two Baptist confessions selected for this purpose are the Anabaptist confessions and the American Baptist confessions. Confessions tended to be used to establish protocol, dispel grounds for dispute, and promote correct actions when assessing the faith. This comparison will examine the doctrinal differences, the construction and ordinance of these confessions, and how the confessions impacted the religious movement. The Anabaptist Confessions The Anabaptists dated from the Prereformist and the Reformist periods and strongly resembled the dissenting movement that preceded it; dissenters and Anabaptists alike identified the structure of faith as one that needed to be affirmed and continuously reaffirmed throughout the course of the practitioner's life."

Tags:baptist, confessions, doctrine

Abstract
This paper centers its discussion and analysis on St. Augustine's "Confessions," discussing in detail its dominant theme of "salvation as God's grace to humanity". The writer assumes the position that, according to St. Augustine, salvation is the path towards goodness and determines the purpose of humanity in life. The writer discusses in detail, with evidences from the "Confessions," how this thesis is proven in accordance to St Augustine's experiences and eventual conversion to being a Christian. The writer concludes that, ultimately, "Confessions" tells its readers that Salvation is the primary mover, influence, and factor that drive humanity to the path of goodness, whether this is prescribed by Christianity, or by St Augustine himself.

Outline:
Introduction
"Men are born with Sin"
Only God can save humanity from sin through good works
Conclusion

From the Paper
"For St Augustine, humanity must not only surrender itself to God's will by acknowledging its inherent sinfulness, but it must also ask for God's mercy for this reason alone (inherent sinfulness of humanity). And because humanity's sinfulness is inherent, every individual on earth is subject to God's will and mercy, in the same way that every individual becomes a sinful individual because of the original sin, and, as posited by St Augustine earlier, by humanity's propensity to commit sins."
"For this section, the thought, "Men are born with Sins" is proven as an inherent and inevitable quality of humanity: it is inherent because humans are born with sin (i.e., the original sin), and it is inevitable because St Augustine believed that humans cannot not commit sins. Thus, in order to absolve the self from this inherent and inevitable nature of humanity's sinfulness, St Augustine recommended seeking God's mercy and following His will."

Tags:salvation, humanity, Christian, Vashum