Justice Anthony Kennedy faced a problem he never had in his day job at the Supreme Court. The defendant has been dead for 400 years, ordinarily reason enough to dismiss criminal charges. But the show, as they say, must go on. So Kennedy had to...

A former lawmaker already indicted on bribery allegations has been charged with taking more than $800,000 in consulting fees from contractors working for a state Medicare program, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.Former state Sen. John Ford is accused of using his elected position to...

Former state Sen. John Ford, a prominent member of a politically powerful family, was convicted Friday of accepting $55,000 in bribes during a statewide corruption investigation.But the federal jury deadlocked on the more serious charge of extortion, creating a mistrial on that count. Ford was...

Justices appeared skeptical of both sides in a state Supreme Court hearing on whether the brain, heart and other body parts removed during an autopsy should be returned to the relatives of the deceased instead of being destroyed.The case heard Wednesday pits coroners against parents...

Kaara Peterson In her far-ranging study Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic, Elisabeth Bronfen elucidates Western culture's fascination with depictions of dead, beautiful women in literature and the visual arts respectively, concluding that because such images are so omnipresent we are scarcely aware of their status as a resolute cultural tradition. Likening portraits of dead women to Poe's famous purloined letter—so numerous as to be invisible to the viewer's...

Shakespeare, in the portrayal of Ophelia shows how men in a strong patriarchal society controlled women in the 1600s. The influence of men in Ophelia's life is evident throughout by the relationships with men in her life. It is interesting to note that Ophelia's first scene is in a very domestic setting. Her brother, Laertes, is stressing to Ophelia the fickleness of young love.

Discusses the William Shakespeare play, Hamlet. Provides a character analysis of Ophelia from Hamlet. Describes how she is the underlying backbone of the tragedy.