1.

Edmond Burke describes beauty as having qualities that positively stimulate our senses, such as
things that are aesthetically pleasing, soft, or innocent. These qualities invoke a sense of calm and
serenity to a viewer, whereas the qualities of something sublime capture a sense of awe and terror.
For something to be qualified as sublime in the eyes of Burke, it needs to overwhelm a viewer
with a sense of fear and uncertainty. To demonstrate this, one can look at specifically designed
cartoon characters for clear examples of these standards. For beauty, Sylveon from the popular
video game series and show Pokemon embodies qualities Burke would consider beautiful.
Sylveon’s color scheme is white, pink, and blue, all colors that work extremely well together, not
causing strain to a viewer's eyes. Sylveon also has a cat-like body, with soft features such as
ribbons and bows. These are to convey the look of femininity and delicacy, as bows and ribbons
are often associated with very feminine women. When one looks into the large sparkling blue
eyes of Sylveon, they are met with a sense of tranquility, love, and comfort, as seen by her ability
“cute charm”, which makes an opponent inclined to miss their attacks because of the effect
Sylveon has on them.
On the contrary, a Pokemon that embodies the sublime would be Banette, a creature who is
inspired by forgotten childhood toys. Bannette’s story is that it is a toy come-to-life by hatred and
resentment of being left behind. Its body is composed of negative energy, which is tightly sealed
behind a yellow zipper-mouth, much resembling rotten teeth. Banette would be considered
sublime not only for not only its tragic backstory, but for its outward appearance as well. Banette
is seen as a creature akin to a voodoo doll, with bulging red eyes with narrow slits for pupils, and
a black body, not resembling any known creature. These adhere to qualities in the sublime such as
obscurity, and terror.

2. Disney is famous for their captivating and entertaining villains, but my personal favorite is Dr.
Facilier from the hit movie, Princess And The Frog. He manipulates the protagonists for power
and money, and does so while sporting the fanciest hat I have ever seen. Dr. Facilier seems to
have no socially acceptable reason for his cursing of the protagonists, he is simply after power
and wealth. As seen by his line “You and I both know the real power in this world ain't magic. It's
money! Buckets of it.”. He uses Prince Naveen’s naivety, and Lawrence’s resentment against
royalty to his advantage, and persuades them to agree to a deal which they have no idea as to
what it entails. Taking the role of the “Tempting Demon”, Dr. Facilier uses his pure charisma to
convince them to “shake a poor sinner's hand”, and take a questionable deal. It also could be
argued that Dr. Facilier is a “Haunting Demon”, as when he first meets Prince Naveen and
Lawrence, he uses their past to convince them to take the deal. As seen in the line, “you've been
pushed around by your mother and your sister and your brother, and when you're married, you'd
be pushed around by your wife! But in your future, that now I see... is exactly the man you always
wanted to be!”. He uses the troubled pasts of his victims to convince them he can provide better
for them. Or in the case of Naveen, he uses his glorious past to convince him that those days can
be achieved again. I believe the title that fits this charming villain best would be the “Tempting
Demon”, as for the majority of the film his main method to gaining power is the persuasion of
others, whether it be the protagonists, or spirits to assist his evil doings.
3. In chapter 38 of Genesis Rabbah, the story is of Abraham, who lives among people who worship
idols. He could not fathom how others could worship inanimate objects, because he believed in
monotheism. One night, when the villagers were at a festival, he destroyed all the idols in an idol
shop, and placed their broken pieces at the foot of the largest idol, which he left intact, to frame it
as the culprit. Shocked to find their idols desecrated, the villagers questioned Abraham, where he
said the largest idol was the one responsible. The villagers were left confused, as they rationally
knew the idol could not have done the crime, because it was inanimate, but had no other
explanation. This tale serves to teach the lesson of using critical thinking, even in the face of
adversity, as Abraham was able to stick to his faith and ultimately show the villagers their
absurdity. It also serves to be a symbol of rejecting idolatry and to devote worship to a single
God, and to not sway your faith for the sole reason of others not adhering to the same one. It is
also important to mention that the morals of this story are not purely virtuous, as the demolition
of objects of other people's faiths is a violation of their right to freedom of religion, and one
should not impose their ideas on others without consideration of their feelings. Other individuals
may have different beliefs, and they must be respected.

In the Gospel of Luke, the story of the Pharisees can be criticized for depicting the Jewish people
as self-righteous and selfish. It is important to note that historically in the time of the New
Testament, Jesus had conflict with religious leaders, which contextually explains making the
Pharisees evil due to being Jewish. But with that aside, the depiction of the Pharisees portrays
condemnation of Jewish people and Judaism. With the Pharisees' center of attention being
appearances and adhering to rules of the faith, they are seen to disregard the foundation of faith
and abuse its meaning. This has caused many people to believe that is how Jewish people are, and
has led to tons of harmful stereotypes. In the Jewish faith, focusing on appearance is generally
frowned upon. An example of this can be seen as when there is a death, one is supposed to
completely let themselves go, and focus on mourning and a connection with Hashem. Another
example of this is men wearing Kippot to services, and women often wearing hair coverings to
honor Hashem. Another example of something the Pharisees were condemned for was denying
Jesus as a God. The reason the Pharisees might have done this was not due to malice, but due to
the religious belief of monotheism. As seen in my last paragraph, the Jewish people believe in
only one Hashem. Although many people across the religion have been righteous and performed
miracles, none have been without the assistance of Hashem, and that is a reason for belief in only
one God, and the rejection of idolatry. This story has been taken and used to demonize the Jewish
faith, which already has rejection from many other religions. As a Jewish person, I can personally
say that this has been abused and used against me, and my people. Now more than ever, these
harmful stereotypes persist, and individuals continue to associate a group of wrongdoers with an
entire religion.
4. The Buddha has lived a life of extremes, he has been rich, and has been poor. Both, he found,
were no ways to live. His childhood, until he reached enlightenment, taught the value of
moderation, and satisfaction. As a child, he lived sheltered, and unaware of his surroundings, and
after a carriage ride outside of his ivory palace, his eyes were opened to the life of poverty. His
compassion and large capacity for empathy encouraged him to want to help the lives of others.
After sitting under a tree for 49 days, he came to the conclusion the root for unhappiness was
dissatisfaction, and the constant human need for more. When an individual is focused on what
they can achieve, and not on their current state, they can never truly be happy, because they will
always believe they deserve more. In media, past and present, ambition of a character being a
folie is a common plot device. Macbeth and The Greatest Showman are examples of this. The
Buddha understood that to achieve happiness, a balance must be struck between wanting more,
and being content with what you have.

In Buddhism, there is a wheel of rebirth, which depicts many possible scenarios for how a soul
continues its cyclical life. Depending on how one acts in their mortal life, they achieve an
outcome suited to the life they lead. With a wheel that punishes or rewards a person, motivations
for doing what somebody believes is good, may be morally flawed in society now. Although it is
up for debate, doing a good deed to achieve something in return could be construed as a bad
thing. To many people, morality is very subjective. Somebody might do an act that they deem as
righteous in the name of the Buddha, but might harm somebody, or cause other forms of chaos.
Many people take teachings from religions out of context, and use that as an excuse to commit
immoral acts, in the name of the being they believe in. Although Buddhism is most generally
known for being a religion that promotes peace and wellbeing, somebody may use those
teachings to push their own personal bias, by believing it will grant them a deserving afterlife.