Who are the characters in Act 1 of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing? What happens in the first act?

Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing takes place in five acts. In Act I, Scene 1, Leonato–together with his daughter Hero and his niece Beatrice–prepares to welcome Don Pedro and his soldiers home from the war and host them in his home in Messina. Leonato learns from a messenger that Don Pedro favors a young soldier named Claudio, who has proven himself on the battlefront. Beatrice inquires after another soldier–Benedick. The Messenger speaks well of Benedick as a soldier, but Beatrice responds sarcastically, disparaging Benedick's character. Leonato reveals that Beatrice and Benedick are engaged in an ongoing battle of wits.

Don Pedro arrives, accompanied by Claudio, Benedick, Don John, and Balthasar. As greetings are exchanged, Benedick and Beatrice immediately start verbally sparring. Don Pedro introduces his traitorous brother Don John, who–although back in Don Pedro's good graces–is essentially a prisoner.

In private, Claudio asks Benedick his opinion of their hostess Hero: Benedick's response indicates he thinks little of marriage, though that is clearly what Claudio has in mind. Don Pedro agrees to help Claudio woo Hero by masquerading as Claudio at a dance that night and declaring his intentions to Hero and–if all goes well–her father Leonato.

In Act I, Scene 2, Antonio relays to his brother Leonato that one of his men overheard Don Pedro and Claudio discussing Hero. Antonio's man misunderstood the conversation, however, as he says Don Pedro plans to ask for Hero's hand that night.

In Act I, Scene 3, Conrade tries to cheer up Don John, who freely admits his villainous nature. Borachio arrives with the news that Claudio intends to propose to Hero. Don John seizes upon the news and begins to plan mischief. And so the stage is set...

The woman does not ask the boy about where he lives or who are his folks. So, what does she do instead and why in "Thank You Ma'am"?

Instead of asking Roger where he lives or about his folks, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones feeds Roger some supper, telling him about her job. After they eat, she gives Roger ten dollars for some blue suede shoes.

As Mrs. Jones walks back to her room at a boarding house after working at a beauty shop that stays open late, a boy tries to grab her purse. But when the strap breaks on the purse, the combination of the weight of the purse and the boy's weight causes him to lose his balance and fall. Seeing him fall

...the large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter.

Then, she picks him up and shakes him. She asks him why he has tried to steal her purse, but the boy lies, “I didn’t aim to.” Mrs. Jones calls this boy a liar, and because he admits that he will run if she releases him, Mrs. Jones tells Roger she will hold onto him. Further, she complains of his face being dirty, so she announces that she will take him home with her to wash it. Mrs. Jones grabs Roger and drags him home. 

While she is fixing a little meal for Roger, Mrs. Jones talks with him, but leaves him alone with her purse. However, Roger "did not trust the woman not to trust him," so he makes sure she can see him. He listens as Mrs. Jones tells him about her job and the customers; she advises Roger to not steal any more. When they finish eating, Mrs. Jones gives Roger ten dollars so he can buy the shoes he wants. Overcome with emotion, Roger only manages a quick "Thank you" before Mrs. Jones closes her door.

Why is it significant that Mr. Martin helps set up the Lottery, while everyone else avoids helping in "The Lottery?"

The Martins are the town grocers.  While everyone else avoids the lottery, they seem to want to be involved in it.  They even keep the box in their store sometimes.  This demonstrates that not everyone is afraid of the lottery and some people even like it.  The town could not keep a tradition like this without some people like that. 

Little Bobby Martin seems to really like the lottery.  His behavior borders on sociopathic, because he gets way too much pleasure out of the lottery.  Either that, or he is too young to fully grasp the significance what is going on.  He is the first one to gather the stones. 

Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones…

He also runs around giggling before the lottery starts, until his father speaks sharply to him, aware that his son is being inappropriate.  The Martins keep their enthusiasm for the lottery maintained.  The villagers “kept their distance” from Mr. Summers and the paraphernalia of the lottery when it was first starting.  When Mr. Summers asks for help, most of them stand back.  Mr. Martin, like his son, is right in the thick of it.  He volunteers, along with his other son.

[When] Mr. Summers said, "Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?" there was a hesitation before two men. Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter. came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it. 

While everyone else avoids the lottery, Mr. Martin and his son are willing to hold the box while the lottery takes place.  They chat with Mr. Summers during the proceedings.  These things, little the littlest Martin gleefully collecting stones and running around giggling, show that the Martins enjoy the lottery and have a different perspective than the rest of the town.  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Mr. Martin’s behavior and attitude influenced his sons’.

How does the scaffold in The Scarlet Letter bring greater meaning to the message, and does how the symbol further Hawthorne's purpose?

At the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and her illegitimate child, Pearl, stand on the scaffold in Boston so they can be public objects of scorn. Hawthorne writes, "The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron" (33). In other words, the scaffold is meant to shame people because it holds the gaze of the person on the scaffold forward so the offender's eyes must meet the crowd's. The scaffold enhances the idea that Hester and her child are outcasts, as they are held aloft from everyone else as sinners. 

At the end of the book, as the Reverend Dimmesdale is dying, he asks Hester and Pearl to help him ascend the scaffold, which he once feared. Hawthorne writes that as Dimmesdale ascends the scaffold, the crowd would not have thought it strange "had he ascended before their eyes . . . fading at last into the light of heaven" (140). Dimmesdale sacrifices himself on his death bed by telling the truth—that he is Pearl's father and a sinner—and the scaffold at this point acquires a symbolism that is similar to the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Hawthorne's message is that Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale are saintly, while the crowd that crucified them is evil. The striking symbol of the cross reinforces Hawthorne's message that in Puritan society, those who are outcasts are truly saints while those who cast them out are sinners. 

How is Eli Sisters' character affected/changed by the personal, constructed, and psychological landscapes in Patrick deWitt's novel The Sisters...

Patrick deWitt's western novel The Sisters Brothers is a tale of a battle between an evil and a moral nature. At the start of the story, the two brothers of the last name Sisters, Charlie Sisters and Eli Sisters, are caught up in the world of evil by working as hired assassins for the Commodore. Eli in particular is caught up in this evil world because his fierce temper makes him more savage than most men. However, as they continue witnessing evil throughout the novel, Eli grows disgusted with the evil he sees and is ready to let go of it.

Eli's vicious temper is seen in such incidents as him using his boot to crush the skull of a prospector Charlie had just shot because the prospector held Eli at gunpoint. The prospector was already dead and his skull had already been disfigured by Charlie's gunshot; however, filled with rage at having been held at gunpoint, Eli was unable to quench his desire to continue mutilating the deceased prospector. Yet, after that moment, many events happen to change Eli emotionally.

One of those events is meeting Mayfield's beautiful hotel bookkeeper, who is dying of tuberculosis, yet still has a very positive outlook. Her outlook makes him feel ashamed of his violent rages and of his job as an assassin, especially since the man they are after, Warm, may be completely innocent. Eli begins to change most when he and Charlie read Warm's diary and determine that he truly is innocent. All the men the Commodore had sent them after before had been guilty of double-crossing the Commodore, but Warm hasn't done anything of the sort; he is only guilty of devising an ingenious chemical method of discovering gold in streams, a method the Commodore is eager to get his hands on. Instead of killing Warm and Morris, another man of the Commodore's who has betrayed the him to become Warm's partner, Charlie and Eli prove their loyalty to them by defending them against bandits and becoming their partners until both Warm and Morris are killed in a chemical accident. During their partnership, Warm says something insightful that particularly influences Eli to begin thinking about change:

Most people will continue on, dissatisfied but never attempting to understand why, or how they might change things for the better, and they die with nothing in their hearts but dirt and old, thin blood--weak blood, diluted--and their memories aren't worth a goddamned thing. (p. 295)

After Warm and Morris's deaths, Eli conquers the evil he has been battling throughout the whole novel by strangling the Commodore to death. Then, they return home to their mother, promising that they are done with all the violence they have been involved in. Eli even speaks of his new vision of opening up a trading post. Yet, despite Eli conquering evil by killing the Commodore, by the end of the novel, we know that Eli's change is not a complete, miraculous change; instead, it is a very realistic change. His change is realistic because he confesses to his mother that he still has his violent urges and still tries to use his calming technique. Yet, though he still has his violent urges and probably always will, at least he has conquered evil by no longer wanting to succumb to the evil within him; instead, he wants to succumb to the desire to behave morally.

How can I describe the relationship between Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughter Ruth in Paul Zindel's play The Effect of Gamma Rays on...

Beatrice and Ruth have a very problematic relationship. It is easy to see their personalities are similar, and this causes them to clash frequently. They are both outgoing, vain, and very sensitive to what others think about them. Beatrice talks about her younger days and how attractive and popular she was. We learn from Ruth that some people in the community used to refer to her mother as "Betty the loon." When Ruth repeats this in her mother's presence, Beatrice is visibly wounded and upset. It is obvious this gossip causes pain and humiliation for both of them, but Ruth retaliates against her mother's criticism of her by taunting her with this information.

Their relationship is characterized by oversensitivity and hyper-criticism; it is volatile, dysfunctional, and often passionate. Beatrice is protective of Ruth due to her illness, but just as Ruth is ashamed of her mother, there seems to be some embarrassment on the part of Beatrice because of Ruth's ailment. Clearly, the similar personality traits and psychological issues affecting both women are a factor in their relationship. There is also shame connected to Beatrice's husband leaving her years ago, and Ruth's interest in boys is overshadowed by her mother's failed marriage.

What is the meaning of "seedy"?

As it's used in the first chapter of Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, "seedy" means "unwell" or "poor," often as if you've been eating or drinking way too much:

We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of giddiness come over him at times, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said that HE had fits of giddiness too, and hardly knew what HE was doing. With me, it was my liver that was out of order. I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed the various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order. I had them all.

As you can see in that paragraph from the story, the men are feeling "seedy," specifically meaning that they are feeling dizzy and otherwise sickly.

The Oxford English Dictionary actually cites Jerome's use of this "seedy" as one example of the word's meaning of "unwell, poorly, 'not up to the mark,' specifically as a result of excessive eating or drinking." The idea is that the seedy person is looking pretty shabby, like "a flowering plant that has run to seed," in the words of the OED. Imagine a flower that's already shed its seeds. It's becoming less colorful, less strong, and closer to death.

So, "seedy" is the perfect word for the men in this story. Even though most of their illnesses are imagined, they probably really do look all droopy, tired, and sallow as a result of how they constantly sit around doing nothing but trying to look sick.

In addition to describing what unhealthy people look like, "seedy" also describes what run-down, dirty places look like, and how their reputations are similarly icky. A seedy city street, for example, is clogged with garbage and full of cracks. By extension, a seedy restaurant or a seedy politician has a lowdown, dirty, slimy reputation. 

It's good to know, however, that "seedy" can also simply mean "full of seeds," as in "Wow, this watermelon is delicious, but it sure is seedy."