How does Victor depart from the typical tragic hero?

Frankenstein is a brilliant man who brings disaster on
himself and his family because he has a tragic flaw – pride. This tragic flaw causes him
to make a huge error of judgment in trying to create life. His problems are not brought
about by personal depravity but by the tragic flaw and error of judgment. In the classic
sense of a tragic hero, fate and external forces combine with the tragic flaw and error
of judgment to bring on the tragedy. I think it can be argued that fate and external
forces do not play a part in Victor’s tragedy, however, so in that sense, he departs
from the classic definition of tragic hero. Although I believe a case can be made
against this view, it is my opinion that fate has nothing to do with exacerbating
Victor’s tragedy. It is all on him – he created the monster, and if the monster did not
exist, then there would have been no tragedy. The monster teaches himself to talk and to
read and learns that he is subhuman. Everything that he does after this is motivated by
the fact that his existence is painful to him and Frankenstein is responsible for this.
Frankenstein refuses to create a mate for him, so the monster sets out to kill everyone
that Frankenstein loves. Frankenstein was caught in a dilemma of his own making – if he
created another monster, then he could have prevented other loved ones from being
killed, but Frankenstein was conflicted about compounding the problem and creating two
monsters. So again, he is the cause of the tragedy, not fate or external
forces.

The Aristotelian tragic hero had to be a noble
character – like a prince or a king. Writers have deviated from this requirement and
many tragic heroes have not been of noble birth. Frankenstein would fit this as well. He
is not a noble, although he is well-off.

What does "The Souls of Black Folk" mean according to Dubois?

There can be many approaches to this question.  I think
that being able to explore the dual consciousness in people of color would be one
meaning of what lies inside "the souls of black folk."  The reality is that the problem
of "the color line" demarcates a unique and different experience in America.  Exploring
this reality is part of what lies inside the narrative of people of color in America. 
At the same time, the "veil" that covers the experiences of both groups in America,
causing them to perceive reality different is another part of what lies inside the souls
of those who are of color in America.  For DuBois, there is little way to overcome the
issue of race and so comprehending its vast implications in all realms becomes
critical.  The exploration of racial dynamics and its effects in academic, social,
political, and even personal realms becomes of vital importance to Americans of color,
particular African- Americans.  For DuBois, African- Americans live at the hyphen of
being both public participants in the experiment of democracy, but also have to reside
in the private reality that compels them to examine how issues of race and ethnicity
formulate their own consciousness.  It is such a reality that is at the heart of "the
souls of black folk."

What is "foregrounding," which is a major stylistic device amongst creative writers?

Foregrounding is a literary concept borrowed from Russian
Formalism and developed by formalist Jan Mukařovský who called it
aktualisace, which has been translated
to English as foregrounding. Foregrounding is a technique within
literary devices whereby the author creates
"defamiliarization" through linguistic (i.e., pertaining to
language) "dislocation" that calls readers' attention the
strangeness of the world or the perception of the world
portrayed or depicted in the literary work.

In explanation,
Mukařovský posited that literature is a process of "strange
making" whereby the world or a perspective is presented in a manner that
separates it from real life experience through literary devices that manipulate
variables to set literary experience apart from real experience, thus making it strange,
as in unfamiliar. This stands in stark contrast to classical theory stating literature
reflects real life experience of the world and how it
operates.

The purpose of
foregrounding is to sharpen readers' vision and understanding of the event, feelings,
circumstance, concept, etc. that the author wants to point out in the hope of giving
readers new clarity, epiphany or motivation etc. The favored
techniques for creating foregrounding are patterns, such as
repetitions; ambiguity, in which meaning is clear but conclusions may be variable;
metaphor; tone; parallelism; and diction. Structural elements may also be foregrounded,
such as character development and plot structure. Any of these devices may be used to
defamiliarize the literary work through linguistic dislocation (i.e., atypical language
usage) so that the reader is struck by the author's points and aims while submerged in a
"strange" perspective of life and the world.

In As You Like It, Act 4, Sc. 1, lines 34-35, Jaques says "blank verse." What does he mean when he says this?Does it refer any how to...

Yes, he is probably referring to the conversation that he
had previous with Orlando in Act III, scene ii, in which Jaques puts Orlando down for
being in love.  Jaques is a bitter sort of chap, who doesn't see much value in any of
life and always has a witty and deprecating remark for someone.  He considers Orlando to
be completely off his rocker, a fool, for falling in love.  In essence, for Jaques,
falling in love is for chumps.

So, though the whole of
Jaques' conversation with Rosalind in Act IV, scene i has been in prose
and not verse (prose
is just regular sentences, while verse is
written in iambic pentameter as poetry), he alludes to the fact that, once Orlando
enters, the two will commence speaking in blank verse.  It
is called blank verse simply because it does not depend upon any sort of rhyme scheme. 
The lines are iambic pentameter, but not necessarily with a rhyme scheme at the end of
the lines.

Verse was a common choice for Shakespeare
between high-born characters in love.  He used verse for important, dignified or
heightened moments in a play.  His lovers often use a lot of imagery (like Romeo) and
these poetic phrases were written in verse.  Here, however, Jaques is wrong.  Orlando
and Rosalind do continue their "fake" courtship, but they speak in prose not blank
verse.  Shakespeare shows that they are speaking honestly and simply together, just
being themselves rather than "lovers" by choosing to have them speak in prose rather
than verse.

What is the difference between cataracts and macular degeneration?

Cataract's are a condition of the eye in which the lens
becomes opaque distorting vision. Common causes include aging, endocrine or metabolic
disorders, protein deposits on the lens, as a side effect from tobacco use, or a side
effect from certain medications such as steroids. Cataracts are a common cause of
blindness in adults if left untreated but are easily treated with
surgery.

Macular degeneration is a chronic progression and
deterioration of the macula lutea of the retina which leads to vision loss. The macula
is responsible for central vision, color vision, and fine visual
detail.

Cataracts affect the lens and macular degeneration
affects the retina.

How are sex and death related in Romeo and Juliet?

When you consider that Romeo and Juliet fall for one
another - largely due to a sexual (or physical) attraction, and then that the long
standing fued between their families has been resulting in hatred and violence for many
many years, you could conclude with this statement: Because what started as a physical
attraction lead to marriage, Romeo and Juliet were destined to
die.

Think about the order of events in the story.  Romeo
goes to the Capulet party (knowing fully that he is not invited) to get over his
attraction to Rosaline.  He falls immediately for the beautiful Juliet.  They rush into
a very immature relationship.  They get married quickly in part, because in those days,
sex was out of the question before marriage.  On the very day Romeo is excited to spend
his first night with his new wife - his genuinely pleasant attitude angers his now
cousin-in-law, Tybalt, provoking him to a fight.  Mercutio dies.  Tybalt dies.  Romeo is
banished (a fate just as bad as death).  And through a series of slightly more
complicated events, both Juliet and Romeo die - all because of Romeo and Juliet's
physical desire for one another.

If the two had waited to
cultivate a more mature love for one another - one that went beyond just the physical
attraction (one that undoubtedly takes more time), we can assume a few things would have
happened differently.  Certainly they would have been more level-headed in decision
making.  Likely they would have eventually included their parents/families in the
relationship, rather than keeping it a secret.  Hopefully this would have brought the
two families together before a hasty wedding, and therefore
prevented the violence and death.

I think a major lesson to
be learned here (that isn't so far from reality) is that "new love" based very highly on
a physical attraction can lead to hasty and immature decision making - which can be very
destructive.

In the beginning of the book, how are the negative qualities of Santiago emphasized in The Old Man and the Sea?

In the beginning of The Old Man and the
Sea, the most negative quality of Santiago is the fact that he is an unlucky
fisherman.  He was lucky once, but he's now so unlucky that Manolin (the boy) is no
longer allowed to fish with him.  We see Santiago as being poor--beyond poor,
really--and dependent on the boy even for his food and bait.  He seems frail and unable
to fend for himself.  Your question is how those negative things at the beginning of the
novella are emphasized, and I'd have to say Hemingway does it by giving us so many of
these kinds of details.  The picture he paints is of a poor old man desperate for a
fish, setting us up for both the external and internal struggles to
come.