Dramatic power and for ending the play in confusion Essay

The final act of Translations is an act in which Yolland ends up as missing, so creating a number of stories as to the circumstances of his disappearance. The final act of Translations can indeed be criticised for lacking dramatic power, as throughout the act there is no particular build up of tension that leads to one significant event. It can be seen that what happens to Yolland is fairly predictable; therefore the dramatic power is not present. The act can also be seen as ending in confusion as there is no definitive point that tells us exactly what each character goes on to do. But despite this, the statement may be questioned as was it Brian Friel’s purpose to do this? Perhaps by ending the play with a lack of dramatic power and in confusion, he has left the rest of the play and the events leading on from it down to the imagination of the reader. In the final act of Translations, everything flows along in a kind of way that doesn’t give dramatic power, as the subject and the dramatic power it radiates is the same as it was in the beginning of the play. The subject is still the same, being that of the changing of place names and its effect on the people of Ireland, and it never changes, therefore the readers have not experienced a build up of tension to an exciting and unannounced event. The very fact that Yolland, a British soldier loathed by many Irish as he is changing Irish place names, has had a relationship with Maire, a pretty young Irish girl whom Manus also likes, tells us that it may be likely that something will happen to him at the end of the play as he has caused much dislike for himself from those in the play due to these things. Therefore, this also causes a lack of dramatic power when he finally goes missing in act three, as it can be argued that it was bound to happen and could have been predicted by the readers. The final act of Translations also lacks dramatic power due to its ‘echoes’ and resonances (that is, repetitions) to previous parts of the play. Brian Friel has woven in many an echo and resonance into the structure of the play, and this also causes a lack of dramatic power as the points that have been made in previous parts of the play are just being repeated over in act three. However, although it can be argued that there is a considerable lack of dramatic power, this may only be a lack in a physical sense, i.e. a lack of physical dramatic power, such as a fight taking place or someone being killed within the narration of the play. Throughout act three, characters emotions run high, and dramatic power can be seen as being expressed through their emotions. An example can be seen with Sarah mumbling her regret for not being able to speak more fluently. ‘I’m sorry†¦I’m sorry†¦ I’m so sorry, Manus†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This use of few words repeating themselves, and the use of a. ellipsis symbolises her not being able to fully express her feelings fully through language as her linguistic talent is limited. The act has also been criticised for ending in confusion, and this may be down to many points which emerge throughout Act three.  The final act ends with an ellipsis, in that Hugh ends with, ‘†¦would come forth from Lybia’s downfall†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ If this final speech had ended with a full stop, then perhaps this would have signified the end of an era or the end of a build up to events. However, the ellipsis suggests that the process is ongoing, and it is not clear where the process is leading, or what it is leading to. Therefore, we can’t directly determine what happens at the end of the play, as there appears to be no definitive end to it. The ellipsis suggests that something will happen following the end of the play, yet the readers aren’t made clear as to what that will be. Another reason as to why the act has been criticised for ending in confusion is that we (as the readers) are not clear as to what finally happens to Yolland, or who is responsible for him going missing. We only have our suspicions to work with in trying to create an ending to the story. It seems suspicious that Manus leaves right away after it has been discovered that Yolland is missing, as Owen points out, ‘Clear out now and Lancey’ll think you’re involved somehow.’ Therefore, the readers may form suspicions about who’s involved, yet this shows how the play ends in confusion as no-one can determine what has happened to him. The play ends in confusion as all of the characters are ended on a depressing note, with none of them showing exactly where they are going to go on to or what they’ll end up doing in life. The one thing we know is that Maire is going to go on to learn English, yet we are not told what that will take her on to. None of the characters specify what they will go on to do in life, yet each is ended in a dismal way with Jimmy Jack going mad and Yolland having gone missing. This demonstrates why the play has been criticised for ending in confusion, as the readers must only imagine what the characters go on to do. However, this may also have been purposeful by Friel to let audiences use their imaginations and minds to create an ending to the play. Another way of interpreting this is by saying that Brian Friel has not ended the play in that much confusion, as by taking information from the history books, and by using our own knowledge, it is clear as to what happens to Ireland following on from the end of the play. Ireland does go on to be taken over completely by England, and all the place names are changed form Irish to English. Therefore, it can also be argued that the play does end in confusion but only to a certain extent as we (as readers) at least know the fate of Ireland.  Therefore, the points that Brian Friel ends act three in confusion and with a lack of dramatic power can be agreed upon but can also be argued against as Brian Friel may have ended in such a way for a purpose, that being to allow the reader to use their imagination in creating the end of a ‘story.’

Fiedler contingency model Essay

Whenever and wherever human beings are gathered together in large numbers, they need leadership. Even children need their school prefects and schools captains! Men whether of the East or the West, require to be led and each group ‘throws up’ its own leaders in each succeeding generation. Whether in the school-room, or on the battlefield or in governmental deliberations, people who are natural leaders and who are chosen to lead, always have the same qualities of character and of outlook. In order to become the best leader the person should possess several qualities that will be described in this essay. Leadership is an indispensable activity, which every leader has tap perform for directing the people, working under him. It is the ability of the Leader to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal. In other words â€Å"Leadership is the process by which an leader imaginatively directs, guides and influence the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the individuals and the organisation in such as manner, that both will obtain maximum satisfaction. As a matter of a fact many people choose their perspective leader by appearance, however it is their fault. Some people have a misconception that only those people who are physically strong can become good leaders, but this is not the fact. A leader may not be physically strong but he needs to be mentally strong and firm in decisions. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation was the greatest leader but he was active and had a firm desire to serve the Nation. He had the power of organizing and uniting people and attracting people towards him by his speeches. This is the best quality of a leader which he had in him. We can also say that, a person who can satisfy the basic psychological needs of his followers can also be an effective leader. Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing. that only those people who are physically strong can become good leaders, but this is not the fact. A leader may not be physically strong but he needs to be mentally strong and firm in decisions. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation was the greatest leader but he was active and had a firm desire to serve the Nation. He had the power of organizing and uniting people and attracting people towards him by his speeches. Being altruistic and farseeing also affect the leadership. A leader has to use his/her brain every time and also has to remain alert with eyes and ears open otherwise he/she could easily be carried by any fraud or enemy. Many a times we see such situations around us, where a person in trouble or problem doesn’t hesitate in blaming and embarrassing even his closest friend to save himself, and also does not bother about his friends at all because the person has to get rid of his problems anyhow. So, he just thinks about himself and his life, the life of other does not matter to him much. Almost all of us are having one or more such close friends, so a leader should always keep in mind that he should not trust even his closest friends more than required as it can create problems for him. At the time of war, an Army Officer who leads his soldiers as to apply his brain every second and has to be attentive while marching ahead. A Police Officer has to be attentive always while he is at work as his duty is to control crime and provide safety to the people. The political leader of a county should be most intelligent as the security of not only few people but of the whole nation depends in him in one way or the other. Therefore, we can say intelligence and alertness are the indispensable qualities of a leader. As for example, one of the greatest leader of his time, Winston Churchill could win the Second World War just by applying his brain and his alertness. A leader should also be an optimist having a positive attitude. he should not think negatively or plan something showing negative attitude. A person who thinks or plans something’s showing his negative attitude never be a Leader. A leader should always be courageous. He should have courage to face the troubles or problems and solving the problems by himself in place of blaming and embarrassing others. Cowards, who at the time of facing problems or troubles in their life try to blame and embarrass others can never succeed in their life. Such person remain at the same place where they stood in the beginning. To gain height and achieve something, one should come out of cowardness, jealousy and should become innovative, courageous, action-oriented and optimist. A good leader has all these qualities in him. To elaborate further the qualities of a good leader there are three theories of leadership and these are (a) trait theory (b) behavioral theory and (c) situation theory. The first approach (trait theory) views leadership as a conglomeration of a set of personality traits. The older tradition in these studies of leadership has been the search for a cluster of traits, attributes or other types of individual difference, which see leaders apart from their followers or which distinguish effective leaders from ineffective ones. A good leader, as it found more often, is a good teacher. Instead of bossing his followers or group members – a good leader always helps them through experience that brings a changed mind and motive. The leaders are rarely born. Favorable circumstances and perseverance – these are the main components of the education of any leader. Therefore, if your goal – to take the lead, develop those qualities that, in your opinion, still do not meet the â€Å"standard. † The aforementioned characteristics can help people to make great strides in being leader regardless of sphere of work, as human should preserve the humanistic thought. Finally, a good leader must be faithful to his group members and activities. This in turn, will result in an atmosphere of assurance among the followers. Having faith in self abilities and the world around him/her the leader gains inspiration and also inspires others in the process.

Unionization of employees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Unionization of employees - Essay Example Industrial Revolution was one of the major turning points in human development. It is the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This revolution had a major impact on the society and the labor force. Initially, this revolution made people work in factories for long hours perhaps from 14 to 16 hours. As a result of which many of them including children were forced to work in this manner and was very hard for them.Industrial revolution began in England in the 18th century which involved technological changes such as the use of iron and steel, new energy sources, the invention of new machines that increased production in relatively less time. Many of them did not survive the hardship and died. Though Britain was where the Industrial Revolution began, it was also the place where reformations started. In 1932 when middle class males won the right to vote in Great Britain all the reformation started. Workers formed socie ties and in due course it was called trade unions also known as the unionization of employees began (Wikipedia, 2008). The aim of trade unions was to fight for better working conditions and better pay as a result changes were also brought to the working conditions such as 10 hour work days, child labour laws and required school. Therefore, a trade union is an organization which was formed to promote and protect the interests of a collection of workers. Even today, unionization is helping employees and is fighting for there rights. This research paper aims to provide information on how unionization of employees has had an impact on various aspects. The status of unionization of employees varies for country to country or state to state. While in some countries trade unions possess substantial freedom, from the right to Freedom of Association, to public demonstrations and active protest against political opponents such as strikes, in other countries it is totally opposite and are actively suppressed by political or military rules, with little or no freedoms. Additionally, in these countries the prospect of violence or even death is high. Like it or not unionization of employees are political in nature, and often attract both positive and negative consequences. Over the last few decades, trade unions have developed into a number of forms propagandize by differing political and economic regimes. Trade unions in the early days, such as the Friendly Societies, often offered a number of benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. Similarly, in many industrialized countries, these functions have been taken up by the state. In addition, the provision of professional training, legal advice, and representation for members still remain among the main benefits of trade union membership. The second and one of the most important aims of unionization of employees is that they are able to operate openly, are legal bodies and are recognised by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions. If the demands are not met, employees union may organize strikes or resistance to lockouts if their particular goals are not agreed by the authorities. They may also go to the extent of camp aigning, undertake lobbying, or financially support individual candidates or parties for public office who will help to fulfil their demands (Wikipedia, 2008). There are several researchers who have devoted several years working on the effects of unionization of employees. Brown and Medoff (1978) are the pioneers who worked on this issue. Following the pioneering work and inspired by the controversial work of Freeman and Medoff (1984), a number of empirical studies have studied the impact of union on productivity particularly in UK and the USA. Although a number of authors have estimated positive union productivity differentials, there is a common agreement in the literature about unionism

Compare and contrast the four distinct categories of presidential Essay - 1

Compare and contrast the four distinct categories of presidential personality described in James Barber's habitual action patterns approach - Essay Example Then, one should also look at the positive-negative effect. How well does the person like what he is doing? (Barber 5) Active-positive: The man has high self-esteem and shows consistencies in the activities he carries out. In addition, throughout his life he has shown high level of productivity and conservation of environment. In connection to this, he sees himself as achieving some of his personal goals (Barber 6). Active-negative: This type of leader shows high level of commitment, however, he does not show high level of emotion for that job. On top of that, he behaves like someone who is trying to run away from anxiety. He is also ambitious and power-seeking, and has an aggressive feeling which makes him have a problem in managing the environment (Barber 6). Positive-positive: These types of leader depend a lot on other people’s judgement and they are not assertive. The contradiction here is high optimism and low self-esteem. In addition, they always make politics to be soft. However, because they depend on other people’s judgement, they are likely to be disappointed (Barber 6). Passive-negative: These types of people are always in politics because they feel that it is the right place to be. They do not enjoy being in politics and they also do not have enough experience. Although, a person of this nature normally does well in other areas but in politics, they are always under performers (Barber 6). President Obama can be said to be an active-positive president. This is because he has high self-esteem and shows consistencies in what he does. For example, during his two terms he has invested a lot of emotions and finances during his campaigns. In addition, he is passionate about what he does. It is not that someone forced him to become the president, but he decided out of his will to become the president. Also, he was the first, black president of

CHURCHILLS LEADERSHIP STYLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CHURCHILLS LEADERSHIP STYLE - Essay Example He said that â€Å"if we fail then the world sink into an abyss† (Churchill, 1940). Technical and analytic skills: Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Blenheim Palace. He was born into a wealthy family who treated Winston to a rich lifestyle. In 1893, Churchill entered the Royal Military College as a Cadet, where he rose to the top ranking commander. He began to make political speeches at the age of 23; he talked to the primrose League. When he was 24, he wrote his first book ‘The Story of the Malak and Field Force’. Churchill was elected to the House of Commons at the age of 26, being one of the youngest members. Winston was appointed Prime Minister of England on May 10, 1940. The two books published made him a respectable author and made people believe his speeches. Influence and social skills: His speech at the House of Commons was intended to not only try to persuade elected officials, but also to speak to all people fighting against the Nazi Party. â€Å"We must fight in this war, and we must win, for if England shall lose the rest of the world would lose.† In the last part of his speech, he said, â€Å"But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science† (Churchill, 1940).   Communication skills: The speech was written in chronological order. It started with British efforts in France and the battles that were fought around the area then ends with him stating that the war now laid on the British navy and army. Winston’s speech also gives a problem and a solution to the war; he says, â€Å"Fight and never give in, for losing is not the end of the war but the end of the world† (Churchill, 1940). Throughout the speech, he claims that since Hitler was winning the war and conquering countries, Great Britain must

Downsizing and Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Downsizing and Globalization - Essay Example This paper presents a critique of the globalization and downsizing, and the reasons why organizations engage in these strategies. Downsizing Strategy Downsizing is a management strategy that involves reduction of an organization’s labor force as a result of corporate restructuring that is focused on maintaining competency in a highly competitive environment. Mergers and acquisitions are among the significant drivers for downsizing. For instance, the acquisition of PeopleSoft by Oracle led to a reduction in the number of employees by 5,000 in a bid to increase efficiency in the new organization. PeopleSoft’s revenue had been declining as a result of the economic crises that significantly affected the profitability of UK firms in 2007 (Blackburn, 1999). However, mergers and acquisitions may necessitate downsizing due to duplication of roles among employees from the merging organizations. The dominant organization tends to retain a greater share of its human resources whil e selecting few employees from the other organization, mainly those with specialized skills that may help in maintaining competitiveness (Kothen et al. 1999). Revenue management is focused on maintaining high revenue while keeping costs at the lowest level possible. Downsizing is among the key strategies for revenue management since organizations find it easy to reduce the workforce and utilize the remaining employees maximally. The operating environment is under constant changes that may affect an organization’s profitability if drastic measures are not undertaken. For example, globalization of industries has increased competition as foreign firms establish subsidiaries globally. Local industries in the global economies are faced with challenges with regards to product quality and production costs. For example, Spar (2003) observes that the cost of labor in China is low compared to some developed economies such as US and the UK. Foreign companies have therefore established s ubsidiaries in China where they produce at lower costs and then sell their products to other economies where the cost of labor is high. This trend has significantly affected industries operating in such economies since they have to minimize spending on labor to effectively compete with organizations that have taken advantage of the Chinese labor market. They have been compelled to lay off workers as well as calling for early retirement (McCann et al. 2008). Technological advancements have significantly influenced the need for organizations to downsize. Organizations engage in innovations to maximize production and increase efficiency. However, some innovations reduce labor-intensive work thereby reducing the need for workers. For example automation of processes increases speed and efficiency in production compared to human labor. Moreover, the recurrent expenditures of maintaining human resources are avoided since the machines require an initial capital outlay and occasional mainten ance. Many organizations globally downsized after introducing computers in their processes. This was a significant development that increased efficiency and accuracy in record keeping as well as service delivery to customers (Froud et al. 2000). Efficiency improvement involves reduction of the excess workers that perform tasks which have little contribution to the organization’

Research on state government agencies Coursework

Research on state government agencies - Coursework Example With such core values, the agency is destined to make the best in their scope of work. To ensure they are working efficiently, the agency provided vital information. Some of the vital information include the address, telephone and contact details. The contact details for Texas transport department are telephone number: (800) 558-9368, address: 125 East 11th St. and the website is http://www.txdot.gov. The Texas department of public safety’s mission is to protect and serve the public. Its core values include integrity, excellence, and accountability. In order to serve people optimally, the department have given an email, which is kevin.jones@dps.texas.gov. Similarly, its address is 5805 North Lamar Blvd. while its contacts are Texas 78773-0251 and 512-424-5900. Its website is http://www.dps.texas.gov. The Texas parks and wildlife department mission is to maintain and conserve the resources in Texas. This includes the natural and cultural resources, in providing various services like fishing, hunting and outdoor activities (United States, 2012). It has various philosophies, which include being a recognizable manager of resources, serving Texas effectively, and maintaining responsibility. Its contacts include 4200 Smith School Road and its website is http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us. The Texas department of transportation has a wide scope of work. To begin with, the department ensures the highways are safe for public transport. This is by ensuring all roads are repaired in time. As such, they have to plan on all repairs on the highways. Secondly, the Texas department ensures the traffic is flowing accordingly. At times, there are traffic snarl-ups, which affect the people. As such, they have to avoid such instances. Thirdly, the department ensures people who commit road offences are apprehended. In some instances, people flout the traffic rules. This is the work of the department, to ensure people follow the rules.

Manufacturing Technologies - Assignment 1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Manufacturing Technologies - 1 - Assignment Example 382). In the present technologically changing environment, the manufacturers of goods and services need to improve on their current products to survive. Hence demand forecasting is crucial for the companies to make their product satisfy the needs of the consumer. Hence the concept of Product life cycle is very important. It is a tool through which we can analyse the demand within an industry. Through this PLC, it is possible to identify when a product needs to be replaced to make way for another product so that the manufacturer can make decision of introducing another new product replacing the existing one so that the manufacturer can earn profit (Gillies, 1996, p. 127). According to PLC theory a firm in any industry can predict the shift of product from one stage to another and hence will be able to adopt proper marketing-mix polices like when to replace a product with newer improved version to meet the expectations of the consumers. In 2004, the replacement purchases accounted for 55% of the digital camera sales, 63% of cell phones sales and 82% of computer sales. Product Life Cycle A product life cycle shows the sales pattern a product over a period of time. The time span begins with the period of introduction and ends with replacement of the product. Basic Stages in the Product Life Cycle Figure 1: Product Life Cycle Introduction / Development stage. Growth Stage Maturity Stage Decline Stage Here we will concentrate mainly on the Maturity Stage. It is here where the manufacturer has to get rid of old products and come out with strategies to rebrand the old products or manufacture and altogether new products in their portfolio of products. In the Maturity stage the product faces lot of market competitors and hence the profit declines as percentage of the sales (Grieves, 2006, p. 23). Hence companies when facing this has to come up with strategies to preserve their customer base and achieve profitability. Automobile Industry Figure 2: PLC of Car Industry In a utomobile industry the car manufacturers needs to replace their old cars with new cars to meet the demand and needs of the customers. Automobile industry faces extraordinary level of competition, which make the carmakers produce cars with a higher degree of differentiation (Kumar and Krob, 2006, p. 114). This makes the demand more elastic in nature and hence the carmakers are face with making new cars. In the 1970s most of the western car makers were in the saturation stages. Like in USA and Europe there was a demand of high motorization rate i.e. more car per person and hence the car manufactures had to make new products. The consumer’s decision to purchase a new car is based primarily on the search for a better car with more innovative solutions than ever before (Jones and Mathew, 2008, p. 384). Hence to retain the old customers and get new ones, the carmakers must offer new or better products to the customers at any time the customers decide. Car makers know that any delay in the product – innovation across the product life cycle will result in potential loss of consumer base. Whenever a car manufacturer comes out with newer car model, large manufacturers have economies of scale so that they can easily make the use of their resources and manufacture the new cars at a much reduced cost. Sometimes re launching of new car is not the only option. Car manufacturers sometimes decide to rebrand their

Hathaway and Scottish Power Essay Example for Free

Hathaway and Scottish Power Essay 1.What is the possible meaning of the changes in stock price for Berkshire Hathaway and Scottish Power plc on the day of the acquisition announcement? Specifically, what does the $2.55 billion gain in Berkshire’s market value of equity imply about the intrinsic value of PacifiCorp? 2.Based on the multiples for comparable regulated utilities, what is the range of possible values for PacifiCorp? What questions might you have about this range? 3.Assess the bid for PacifiCorp. How does it compare with the firm’s intrinsic value? As an alternative, the instructor could suggest that students perform a simple discounted cash-flow (DCF) analysis. 4.How well has Berkshire Hathaway performed? How well has it performed in the aggregate? What about its investment in MidAmerican Energy Holdings? 5.What is your assessment of Berkshire’s investments in Buffett’s Big Four: American Express, Coca-Cola, Gillette, and Wells Fargo? 6.From Warren Buffett’s perspective, what is the intrinsic value? Why is it accorded such importance? How is it estimated? What are the alternatives to intrinsic value? Why does Buffett reject them? 7.Critically assess Buffett’s investment philosophy. Be prepared to identify points where you agree and disagree with him. 8.Should Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders endorse the acquisition of PacifiCorp? 1.What does the stock market seem to be saying about the acquisition of PacifiCorp by Berkshire Hathaway? 2.Based on your own analysis, what do you think PacifiCorp was worth on its own before its acquisition by Berkshire? 3.Do you think Buffett is overpaying? 4.Here are the major elements of Buffett’s philosophy. What do those elements mean? Do you agree with them? 5.Let’s return to the basic issue. Is the PacifiCorp acquisition a good or bad deal? Why?

Bob likes cheese Essay Example for Free

Bob likes cheese Essay In these pages a few years ago, I reported on some of my findings at having reached very old age. I was then in my early 90s. Five years further down the hill, I have a few more matters to note. Certainly I have not gained in wisdom, but due to so little physical activity and fewer social goings-on, I have begun to inhabit the static house of my head. To my surprise I find it a somewhat well-furnished abode, occupied with what I remember, have heard recently, and observed. Ernest Hemingway boils things down to the essentials, his friend William Faulkner lets the pot boil over, spilling onto the stove, down onto the floor, and maybe somehow catching the kitchen on fire. With Faulkner we can feel the vines tangling, the magnolias blooming, the plants around Emilys house breeding, helping to hide her from the harshness of the world she lives in, a world in which she doesnt really belong. This tangling of blooming and breeding is replicated in the fancy words and long, complicated sentences for which Faulkner is famous. Part of lushness is that other side of nature, the side we might not want to look at, and the side thats in store for everything in nature: death and decay. Faulkner never neglects this side (certainly not here), and with every blooming rose, he gives us a rotting one, too. The lushness is also ironic, and perhaps a reaction against a lack of lushness. We know that although Emilys place was probably lush and overgrown, she never went outside to enjoy it, and only rarely even let in the light from outside. The story not only celebrates a lush life, by representing its opposite, but also cautions us against alienating others, against pushing others to hide from the light of life. Next Page: Whats Up With the Title?

Identification of Foraminiferal Species

Identification of Foraminiferal Species Kutch is well-known for its rich and diverse megafossils, particularly upper Jurassic Ammonites, bivalves and other benthic invertebrates (Kitchen, 1900; Spath, 1933; Cox, 1940, 1952) which provide good intra- and intercontinental correlation. Several workers from time to time tried to explain the geological history, including stratigraphy of the Kutch region, well known for its potential of mineral oil. Vulnerability to natural disasters like the recent Bhuj earthquake has further attracted the attention of researchers from all over the world. Syke’s (1834) contribution, probably one of the first, in the field of stratigraphy and taxonomy of the fossils biota is incomparable. He was followed by a more detailed account by Wynne (1872) based on mapping surveys. Ammonites have proved worthy throughout as far as the age determination and correlation of the Mesozoic formations is concerned. Recently the unearthing of several assemblages of foraminifers by various workers in Kutch region has proved reasonably promising. It is beyond the scope of this study to record the details of each and every finding of all the earlier investigations in different branches of geology on this region. Therefore, on the basis of priority only the researches on foraminifera have been dealt with some detail while the rest have simply been listed. Tewari (1957) reported several foraminiferal genera for the first time from the Jurassic rocks (Patcham ‘series’) of Habo Hill, Kutch including Aulotortus, Textularia, Bigenerina, Spiroplectammina and Gaudryina. Subbotina et al. (1960) described 34 species of Jurassic foraminifera from the southwest of village Lodai and from the shales of Khawda in Kutch and also from Rajasthan; most of the species were benthic. They have proposed a Callovian- Oxfordian age of the studied rocks. Agrawal and Singh (1961) reported Rhabdammina, Ammodiscus, Ammobaculites, Quinqueloculina, Triloculina, Robulus, Lenticulina, Nodosaria, Saraceneria, Vaginulina, Palmula, Nonion, Elphidium, Rotalia and Anomalina from the Habo beds of Walakhawas and Fakirwari, southwest of Bhuj. They also reported some post- Jurassic elements like Elphidium but were unable to offer any explanation for this abnormal mixing. It was only established later on that the post-Jurassic elements are not indigenous but by some means leaked into these rocks. Bhalla and Abbas (1975a, b, c; 1976a, b; 1978, 1984) carried out detailed work on the Jurassic Foraminifera of Kutch. These authors (Bhalla and Abbas 1975a, 1976a) recovered sixty-five species of foraminifera, dominated by the family Nodosariidae. Out of these, ten were new, forty six were reported for the first time from this region, and the rest has been those already described by earlier investigators. Bhalla and Abbas (1975 a) observed variation in Lenticulina subalata (Reuss) and recommended proper caution while dealing with the taxonomy of Jurassic nodosariids. They too found some post-Jurassic elements in the studied rocks (1975 b, c). Shringarpure and Desai (1975) recovered a foraminiferal assemblage of nineteen species representing family Nodosariidae. Shringarpure et al. (1976) observed stratigraphic leakage, a problem with foraminiferal assemblages of Wagad Mesozoic sediments of eastern Kutch. They observed that foraminiferal assemblages occur in association with few ostracoda, brayozoa and echinoderm spines. They also came across some microscopic plant tissues and insect skeleton of Tertiary, sub-recent and Recent age mixed with older Mesozoic sediments of Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The reason for this highly mixed fauna has been assigned to the natural agencies of erosion and transportation. Bhalla and Abbas (1976b) worked on the age resolution and paleogeographic significance of Jurassic foraminifera from Kutch. They recommended a Callovian-Oxfordian age of the rocks exposed in a section near Habo Hills and proposed that foraminifera from the Jurassic of Kutch can be compared effectively with those of adjoining regions of the world, viz., Rajasthan, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Somalia and Malagasy, which indicates that Kutch was joined with these landmasses during the Middle and Upper Jurassic times. Singh (1977) proposed two biostratigraphic assemblage zones, Epistomina stellicostata- E. alveolata assemblage-zone and E. ventriosa- E. mosquences assemblage-zone (late Jurassic of Banni area, Kutch). Singh (1979) proposed seven Biostratigraphic zones for the subsurface Jurassic sediments of Banni, Rann of Kutch, on the basis of foraminifera, Charites sp., and Ostracoda. He proposed a late Jurassic age for the subsurface rocks in the above mentioned locality and a brackish to marine environment for the beds of the Charites- Otocethere Assemblage Zone; whereas the rest of the sequence was regarded to have been deposited in an inner neritic environment. Singh (1977a) recovered five species of Epistomina from the subsurface rocks intersected by the Banni well on the basis of which an Upper Jurassic age was assigned to this sequence. Subsequently, Singh (1977b) assigned an Oxfordian age to the same strata and suggested an inner neritic environment of deposition on the basis of nannoplanktons from this well. Bhalla and Abbas (1978) carried out a comprehensive study of a section cutting across Patcham, Chari and Katrol â€Å"series† from the Jurassic rocks of Habo Hills, Kutch. Of these, the first two units were highly fossiliferous but the last one was unfossiliferous. The obtained assemblage includes ten new species and many were reported for the first time from the Indian region. Family Nodosariidae dominates the assemblage and it was assigned a Callovian- Oxfordian age. The whole sequence of Habo dome was divided into three part, first two suggested fluctuating environmental conditions, In Patcham series, overall rarity of faunal and the presence of arenaceous form having a simple interior and of glauconite, a shallow, near-shore, slightly reducing marine environment with restricted connection to the open sea such as that in a lagoon, but above the patcham foramtion, it is therefore, evident that through nodosariids migrated from shallow water sediments and through time, they a lways preferred open marine environments of normal salinity. (? Palaeoecology and Palaeogeography) Bhalla and Abbas (1984) continued their studies on Jurassic rocks of Habo Hills and divided them into several palaeoecological units. The study revealed that the overall deposition of the sediments took place in shallow marine water, tectonically unstable marine basin with a frequently changing shore-line. Abbas (1988) on the basis of foraminiferal information tried to demarcate the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary within the Mesozoic rocks of Kutch. Bhalla and Talib (1978, 1980) carried out a detailed investigation of the Jurassic rocks of Badi in central Kutch. They suggested a Callovian-Oxfordian age for the Chari ‘series’ exposed in the area on the basis of a few short ranging species. On the basic of foraminifera the Chari sequence near badi was accumulated in a near shore, shallow water, marine environment which fluctuated between littoral to infraneritic conditions. It was also suggested that Jurassic rocks of Kutch have close affinity with that of neighboring areas, viz., Iran, Rajasthan, Egypt, Somalia and Afghanistan. (? Palaeoecology, Palaeobiogeography) Bhalla and Talib (1985a, b, c) Published a series on foraminifera from the Jurassic sediments of Jhurio hills, Kutch, western India. These authors (1985a) discussed variation in the population of Lenticulina quenstedti recovered from Jhurio hill, Kutch. They identified four morpho-variants of this species which showed continuous inter-gradation into one another. In a subsequent paper, (1985b) two new species were recovered belonging to family Nodosariidae from Jurassic sediments of Jhurio hill, Kutch, viz., Marginulina sastryi and Vaginulina bhatiai. In another publication these investigators (1985c) reported fifty-three foraminiferal species from Jhurio hill, Kutch. Of these, twenty six species were recorded for the first time from the Indian region. They (Bhalla and Talib, 1985c) also briefly discussed the age and depositional environment of these sediments as well as palaeogeography of the Kutch region prevailed during the Middle and Upper Jurassic times. A Callovian-Oxfordian age was assigned to the enclosing rocks. An attempt was also made to demarcate the boundary between Callovian and Oxfordian of the sequence in the Jhurio Hill. (? Palaeoecology, Palaeobiogeography) (? 1985 a, b, c) Bhalla and Lal (1985) found a foraminiferal assemblage of seventeen species in the Jurassic sediments exposed at northern flanks of Kaiya Hills, Kutch mainly from Chari â€Å"series†. This study pointed to a near shore, shallow water, marine environment and an age of Callovian-Oxfordian was favoured on the basis of a few short ranging species such as Citharina hetropleura, Dentalina guembeli and Patellinetlla poddari. Govindan et al. (1988) studied samples collected across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary from wells drilled in Kutch Mainland and recovered a rich calcareous benthic foraminiferal assemblage including epistominids, lenticulinids and agglutinated species belonging to genus Dorothia. The whole sequence was divided into several assemblage zones on the basis of the recovered fauna. Bhalla and Gaur (1989) described Marginulina jumarensis, a new species of Vaginulinidae family and commented that this species is tolerant of highly variable environmental conditions between that of shallow open marine to paralic environment such as a marsh or lagoon. Mandwal and Singh (1989) described sixteen foraminiferal species from the Patcham and lower part of the Chari Formation, Jhurio Hill, Kutch. Their study has shown that these rocks belonged to Bathonian age. Boundary between Bathonian and Callovian was demarcated by these authors. In a subsequent study by Mandwal and Singh (1994) ninety five foraminiferal species were recovered from the Patcham-Chari formations in the same area. A Bathonian-Oxfordian age was supported for the studied sequence and also demarcation of the Bathonian/Callovian and Callovian/Oxfordian boundaries were carried out. Bhalla and Talib (1991) presented a detailed version of their earlier study by describing and illustrating fifty three species of foraminifera from Jhurio Hill. The assemblage is dominated by family Nodosariidae, which suggested deposition of the studied sequence in near shore, tectonically unstable marine basin. A Callovian-Oxfordian age was proposed on the basis of some short ranging species. The foraminiferal assemblage from Chari formation exposed in the section was dominated by nodosariids. Based on the foraminiferal assemblage exposed at Jhurion hills deposition took place in a near- shore, shallow marine basin, which was rather tectonically unstable as suggested by occasional shifting of the shoreline. The evidence furnished by the present foraminiferal assemblage supports the earlier Middle to Late Jurassic time, a gulf of thethys extended from near Afghanistan to Madagascar covering Iran, Arabia and East coast of Africa which also engulfed the Kutch region. The Jhurio hill f oraminiferal assemblage and those recorded from another region of the Tethyan realm has been observed. (? Palaeobiogeography) Pandey and Dave (1993) worked simultaneously on six sections from western Kutch, viz., Jhurio Dome, Jumara Dome, Habo Dome (Kalajar Nala), Mundhan Anticline, Umia River and Patcham Island (Khavda Nala) and described in detail their geology, stratigraphy, and foraminifera. They reported seventy seven benthic foraminiferal species and worked out biozonation along with chronostratigaphy and correlation of different stages and zones. Eleven biostratigraphic zones were delineated within the Jurassic sequence on the basis of the recovered foraminifera. Bhalla et al. (1998) while carrying out studies on foraminifera from the sediments of Jhurio Hill, Kutch, also investigated carbonate micro-facies and foraminiferal paleoecology of the Jurassic sediments of Chari Formation. They grouped the sequence into five ecological units based on foraminiferal assemblages and four microfacies in the limestones of the Chari sequence, suggesting a near shore, shallow marine environment of deposition in a tectonically unstable basin. Bhalla et al. (2000) carried out foraminiferal and sedimentological analysis of a section exposed at Jhurio Hill, Kutch. The foraminiferal assemblage from Chari formation exposed in the section was dominated by nodosariids. Based on the foraminiferal assemblage and the petrographic study of the samples, they inferred a shallow, near shore environment of deposition and with various phases of transgressions and regressions. Gaur and Singh (2000) reported forty-four foraminiferal species from Nara Hill, Kutch. Four biozones, viz., Spirillina polygyrataLenticulinaCitharina clathrata Assemblage Zone, Epistomina mosquensis Assemblage Zone, Flabellammina sp.– Triplasia emsalandensis Assemblage Zone, and Astacolus anceps–Epistomina alveolata Assemblage Zone, were identified within the Callovian-Oxfordian succession on the basis of the foraminiferal assemblage. Gaur and Sisodia (2000) obtained forty-one foraminiferal species from Keera Dome, Kutch. These authors established four benthic foraminiferal biozones, viz., Dentalina guembeliCitharina clathrata Assemblage Zone, Epistomina mosquensis Assemblage Zone, Ammobaculites gowdai Triplasia emslandensis Assemblage Zone, Spirillina Lenticulina Assemblage Zone, and Barren Zone Talib and Gaur (2005) studied the Middle-Upper Jurassic sequence of Jumara Hills, Western Kutch. The foraminiferal evidence supplemented with petrographic, mega faunal and field observations suggested that the overall deposition of the Patcham-Chari sequence at Jumara Hills, Kutch, took place in a shelf zone which was tectonically unstable as is evident from the periodic fluctuations in the environmental conditions. Talib and Bhalla (2006a) favored a Callovian to Oxfordian age for the Chari Formation exposed at Jhurio Hill, Kutch on the basis of foraminifera. The Boundary between Callovian Oxfordian within this sequence was also discussed in detail. In another study of the Chari Formation exposed at Jhurio Hill, Kutch, these authors (Talib and Bhalla, 2006b) correlated some of the recovered Callovian- Oxfordian species with that of Rajasthan and neighboring regions of the world including Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Somalia, and Malagasy. They concluded that during Middle-Upper Jurassic time, foraminiferal fauna of these regions were flourishing in a separate provenance of the Tethyan Realm, the Indo-East African provenance, which occupied a southwestern arm of the Tethys covering these regions. Talib and Faisal (2006) recovered a rich foraminiferal assemblage comprising fifty three species from Callovian Oxfordian sediments of the Fakirwari Dome in the Kutch Mainland. Among these twenty five species were reported for the first time from the Indian region. The foraminiferal assemblage helped in assigning a Callovian-Oxfordian age to the sequence. The overall dominance of Vaginulinidae along with nodasariids and Epistomina are indicative of shallow open marine, shelf environment for the studied sequence. The foraminiferal assemblages exhibits affinity with the other Jurassic foraminiferal assemblages of the neighboring countries of the Tethyan Realm, viz, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Somalia and Malagasy is indicating a sea connection between these regions and the Kutch during Middle and Late Jurassic times. Talib and Faisal (2007) studied a section from the Jurassic rocks of Ler Dome situated southeast of Bhuj. A rich foraminiferal assemblage of forty species, dominated by fami ly Vaginulinidae was recovered in the section. On the basis of some foraminiferal species, they assigned a Callovian-Oxfordian age to the studied sequence. The dominance of vaginulinids along with nodasariids in the recovered foraminiferal assemblage of Ler Dome suggested the overall deposition of these sediments in shallow water, near shore, normal marine conditions, most probably shelf environment. Talib et al. (2007) identified some marker foraminiferal species in the Jumara and Jhurio domes, Kutch Mainland, which facilitated in assigning a Callovian-Oxfrodian age of these rocks and marking of Callovian–Oxfordian boundary in the two domes. Talib and Gaur (2008) discussed the affinity of the foraminiferal assemblage from the Jurassic rocks of Jumara Dome and concluded that the foraminiferal assemblage of Jumara Dome compares well with those of neighboring regions and exhibits a distinct Tethyan affinity. On this basis, these authors inferred that during Middle and Late Jurassic times, the Kutch region was having sea connections with these neighbouring regions which were covered by a southeastern arm of the Tethys, the Indo-East African Gulf. Gaur and Talib (2009) reported a fairly rich foraminiferal assemblage from the Callovian-Oxfordian sequence exposed at Jumara Hill, western Kutch, India. He employed the foraminiferal assemblage to assign a Callovian-Oxfordian age to the studied rocks and inferred shallow water near shore environment for the deposition of the Jumara Dome sequence. They further correlated the reported foraminiferal species with those of Rajasthan in India as well as with the neighboring countries. The comparative study revealed their distinct affinity with the aforesaid regions, including Rajasthan, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Somalia and Malagasy which were occupying the Indo-East African Province of the Tethyan Realm during the Middle and Late Jurassic times. Talib et al. (2012a) recovered a foraminiferal assemblage comprising fifty one species from Callovian Oxfordian sediments of the Kaiya Dome Kutch Mainland. Among these eleven species were reported for the first time from the Indian subcontinent. The foraminiferal assemblage was employed for preliminary interpretations regarding age, palaeoecology, and palaeobiogeography. The assemblage suggested a Callovian to Oxfordian age for the exposed sequence at Kaiya Dome. A near shore, open marine environment ranging from mid to outer shelf with fluctuating strandline was interpreted on the basis of the recovered foraminiferal assemblage. The Kaiya Dome foraminiferal assemblage exhibited a Tethyan affinity and suggested that the Kutch region was engulfed by a shallow southwestern arm of the Tethys during the Middle to Late Jurassic times. Talib et al. (2012b) worked on the age resolution and palaeoenvironmental significance of Jurassic foraminifera from Keera Dome, Kutch. The paper presented a systematic account of eight species, reported for the first time from the Indian region. They recommended a Callovian-Oxfordian age for the studied rocks and proposed that foraminifera from the Jurassic of Keera Dome, Kutch were deposited in a near shore, open marine environment ranging from mid to outer shelf.

Quantum Computers :: quantum physics computer

Missing figures With today's technology we are able to squeeze millions of micron wide logic gates and wires onto the surface of silicon chips. It is only a matter of time until we come to a point at which the gates themselves will be made up of a mere handful of atoms. At this scale, matter obeys the rules of quantum mechanics. If computers are to become smaller and more powerful in the future, quantum technology must replace or reinforce what we have today. Quantum computers aren't limited by the binary nature of the classical physical world. Instead, they depend upon observing the state of qubits (quantum bits) that may represent a one or a zero, a combination of the two, or that the state of the qubit is somewhere between 1 and 0. This "blending" of states is known as superposition. "Here a light source emits a photon along a path towards a half-silvered mirror. This mirror splits the light, reflecting half vertically toward detector A and transmiting [sic] half toward detector B. A photon, however, is a single quantized packet of light and cannot be split, so it is detected with equal probability at either A or B. Intuition would say that the photon randomly leaves the mirror in either the vertical or horizontal direction. However, quantum mechanics predicts that the photon actually travels both paths simultaneously! ... This effect, known as single-particle interference, can be better illustrated in a slightly more elaborate experiment, outlined in figure b below:"1 "In this experiment, the photon first encounters a half-silvered mirror, then a fully silvered mirror, and finally another half-silvered mirror before reaching a detector, where each half-silvered mirror introduces the probability of the photon traveling down one path or the other. Once a photon strikes the mirror along either of the two paths after the first beam splitter, the arrangement is identical to that in figure a, and so one might hypothesize that the photon will reach either detector A or detector B with equal probability. However, experiment shows that in reality this arrangement causes detector A to register 100% of the time, and never at detector B!"2 "This is known as quantum interference and results from the superposition of the possible photon states, or potential paths. So although only a single photon is emitted, it appears as though an identical photon exists and travels the 'path not taken,' only detectable by the interference it causes with the original photon when their paths come together again.

Social Networking: Privacy Issues Essay -- Facebook, Twitter, Internet

Is it an invasion of privacy, if we place our private thoughts and photos on social websites and other people besides out friends and family view it? Who really reads the terms of use and conditions in a privacy statement online? We just click the checkbox and keep on going. If we had to read each and every single line, no one would ever sign up on a social networking site. How do users protect themselves through the forest of privacy options so they can get the most out of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter with the least amount of risk? The more information a user gives to the social network the greater risk that someone could misuse or steal information. Most users do not understand how to protect themselves and go through the necessary steps for protection on cyberspace. There are several problems with adding contact information in your profile. If you do not lock out this information to the friends you want to have such information, anyone that views your page can get you contact information such as cell phone, IM screen name, address, city and email address. According to the Web site geek system, Cryptome, a whistleblower site got their hands on Microsoft’s â€Å"Global Criminal Compliance Handbook,† a comprehensive 22 page guide running down surveillance services Microsoft perform for law enforcement agencies on its various online platforms, which includes detailed instructions from IP address extraction (Quigley, 2010). This article published electronic surveillance guides for Facebook, AOL and Skype (Quigley, 2010). According to Facebook search warrant guidelines data retrieval is based upon a Facebook user ID or group id (Facebook, 2008). When the Facebook ID is not available they can locate a user by using their email a... ... top 50 U.S. web properties for June 2010, Retrieved August 08, 2010 from: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/7/comScore_Media_Metrix_Ranks_Top_50_U.S._Web_Properties_for_June_2010/%28language%29/eng-US comScore (2010b, June 2). Social networking ranks fastest growing mobile content category, Fastest growing content catergories via browser access 3 month avg. Retrieved August 8, 2010 from: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/6/Social_Networking_Ranks_as_Fastest-Growing_Mobile_Content_Category/%28language%29/eng-US comScore. (2010c, July 28). Social networking sites reach a higher percentage of women than men worldwide. Reston, VA: Retrieved on August 4, 2010 from: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/7/Social_Networking_Sites_Reach_a_Higher_Percentage_of_Women_than_Men_Worldwide/%28language%29/eng-US

Edward Scissorhands Essay Essay

Burton’s eye opening film, Edward Scissorhands, showed intense drama through the use of Edward and Kim who expressed great love for each other. Yet it became a tragedy as the couple who were meant to be together were too different from each other. This essay, will illustrate how much Edward loved Kim so much that he was willing to do anything for her, and how much Kim loved Edward so much that she sacrificed her love to let him go. The way Burton used these two characters to show the realistic view of what love is about and how love can be complicated, will also be explained. Burton’s ideas about love through the use of these extraordinary characters were an extreme representation of society which made this film a great and memorable drama with the elements of great love and great tragedy. The first idea that Burton expressed was the great love Edward had for Kim, but with the influence of others their love became too difficult. Edward fell so deeply in love with Kim, that he was willing to do ANYTHING for her. Edward helped Jim and Kim break into Jim’s home even though he knew it was wrong. When Kim asked Edward why he willingly helped them, Edward replied, â€Å"Because you asked me to. † Edward showed how much he loved Kim by the way he considered the consequences if he were to physically be with her. â€Å"Hold me,† Kim asked, but Edward knew that if he did, there would be a possibility that he would hurt her with his scissorhands, so he answered, â€Å"I can’t. † Edward’s love for Kim was also shown through his actions of wanting to protect Kim. Edward fought to protect Kim from Jim who constantly hurt her physically as he booted her off him with his foot, yanked her away from Edward and had put her life in danger by his reckless actions of wanting to kill Edward. Edward’s only way of stopping Jim from hurting Kim and himself was to kill him. Jim made it impossible for Edward and Kim to be together because of his want to control Kim. Edward Scissorhands explores the idea that some people are unable to be together because of their differences, but can also be caused by the influence of other people round them. The thought of people who love each other and yet cannot be together makes people unsatisfied because of the belief that couples should live happily ever after, and yet Burton has created the opposite. Another idea presented in this film is the amount of love Kim had for Edward which was so tremendous that she let him go. In the mid-shot of Kim telling Edward to â€Å"run†, her facial expressions showed just how much she cared for him. Kim knew that the people of Suburbia would not leave Edward alone and it would cause too much conflict if he continued to stay in Suburbia. The only way Edward would be safe would be to return back to his home where he belonged. Her love for him was also shown in the scene when she told the people of Suburbia that Edward was dead. Her pure white dress gave the impression of an innocent girl which made it easier for the crowd to believe her. Burton demonstrated how difficult it could be to be in love with someone and the sacrifices that will be made for the better of everyone, even if it means to give up love for love. The story of ‘The Beauty and the Beast’ was represented in this film; however it was remade with a twist, as the Beauty and the Beast did not live happily ever after. This interpretation and modification of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ story did not live up to Hollywood’s expectations of a happily ever after ending, seeing that Edward and Kim did not end up together. The movie is not a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ romance either as they did not die together showing how much they love each other, but let each other go for the better of the other person. Edward and Kim saw that they could not be together so decided on the best plan to keep both of them alive but also happy, knowing that they tried at love. The most compelling aspect of the film was the idea of a monster falling in love with a human where the audience is set up for an exciting love story. However, Burton changed the typical Hollywood ending into a reality that would make the audience feel irritated. Burton built the audience up for an unlikely love story, yet made the audience root for the couple, knowing that people should be together, could not be together. His plan to make the audience root for the couple to be together is what made the audience engage in the love story and yearn for Kim and Edward to be a pair. Though, in reality the audience knew that Edward and Kim would not work out due to their differences. As Edward said â€Å"Goodbye†, Kim kissed him and said â€Å"I love you† then fled the scene. Burton showed the reality of love and how some relationships are not meant to be due to society’s thoughts and rules and because some relationships just do not work out. Hollywood would let Kim and Edward be a couple as they always try to find a way to make the characters live happily ever after. However, with Burton he showed the reality of life and that they could not live happily ever after. He showed an extreme example of what the society would do if there was a person like Edward in the world today. He showed that the likelihood of Edward and Kim being together is slim and life goes on. Love does not stop people from living their own lives as long as they are happy. Edward and Kim continued to live their lives separately but are still content with their own lives. They have learnt what it is like to fall for someone they cannot have and took the responsible way of letting their love go, rather than trying to make it possible or dying together like Romeo and Juliet. They resorted to an outcome that will let both of them live satisfied lives without hurting others but themselves. To summarise the many ideas that Burton has produced through Edward Scissorhands, his extreme representation of society and its rules let the audience reflect on the meaning of life, how people treat others and what great love could do to people. His message about love reflecting the reality of life and how relationships do not always work out reminds the audience that love is not easy. The sacrifices and the pain people go through while they are in love with a person are not like the Hollywood movies, which is what made this film a great and memorable drama.

Frankenstein: How To Read Literature Like Professor

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses symbolism and allegory to depict the actions of the main characters and what their actions truly mean. In How to Read Literature Like a professor, Thomas C. Foster asks his readers what you think a symbol stands for, Foster also writes â€Å"[whatever] you think it stands for, it probably does. † (ninety-seven) Frankenstein contains many symbols, however there is only a few symbols that truly support our findings the whole nine yards.There are six specific symbols and allegories that were purposefully chosen to support our findings: Light, The Bible, Alps, Water, White, and Lightening. light, shelley establishes light as a symbol on the very first page, when walton tells his sister that he’s heading off to a â€Å"country of eternal light â€Å" where the â€Å"sun is forever visible† (letter one. two), our first indication that light isn’t all good when the monsters first sensation is of â€Å"light pressed upon [his] nerves† (eleven.one).The light does not benefit to the daemen, it only allows people know how hideous he truly is. The Bible in frankenstein is not a symbol but in fact it is an allegory, the monster is compared to adam the first man in the Judeo-Christian Tradition, â€Å"like adam i was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence†¦. † later on the monster is also compared to satan â€Å"Many times i considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition. † (15.7)The Alps is another important symbol that helps bring the true meaning to the characters actions, Frankenstein goes to The Alps, The Alps combined with it’s beauty took his mind away from his horrible time with the results of his creation. In Frankenstein, water figuratively brings life to Frankenstein whether he is traveling on it or drinking it. it brings him life and inspires him to be close to nature. Walton believes the light of the far North as eternal and full of hope â€Å"What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?†Light is important to all the characters in Frankenstein, Light guides the Character through Important decisions. However many of the decisions that the characters have made could have gone a different way, when Frankenstein decides the truth of how his younger brother died from his family already clearly told the readers what the result might be. Lightning is also a symbol in Frankenstein the tree being burnt by lightning. Here lightning represents the destruction/creation dichotomy. Just as the tree once grew the lightning destroys it.

Bureaucratic Management Theory Essay

Weber’s theory of bureaucratic management has two essential elements. First, it entails structuring an organization into a hierarchy. Secondly, the organization and its members are governed by clearly defined rational-legal decision-making rules. Each element helps an organization to achieve its goals. An organizational hierarchy is the arrangement of the organization by level of authority in reference to the levels above and below it. For example, a vice-president of marketing is below the company’s president, at the same level as the company’s vice president of sales, and above the supervisor of the company’s social media department. Each level answers to the level above it with the ultimate leader of the organization at the top. The easiest way to understand the term rational-legal decision making rules is to think of it as a set of explicit and objective policies and procedures that governs how an organization functions. Examples of rational-legal decision-making rules include human resources rules and policies or the regulations governing who is entitled to unemployment insurance. Bureaucracies are all around us – this form of organization, which is comprised of non-elected officials who implement rules, is not only common in the public sector but in the business world as well. Examples of bureaucracies in the public sector include the Social Security Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and public universities. Among the oldest bureaucratic structures in the country is the United States Military. In the private sector, most large business firms have a bureaucratic organization. Examples of private sector firms with a bureaucratic structure include IBM, GM and the Union Pacific Railroad. Knowing how bureaucratic management works can lead to a better understanding of how government agencies and large business firms operate – it can assist you in interacting with complex organizations, whether it be seeking social security benefits or working for a large corporation. Max Weber Max Weber. Published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the US. Max Weber – Father of Modern Organizational Theory One of the most important thinkers in modern organizational theory, Max Weber (1864-1920), is the father of the bureaucratic management theory. Weber was a German sociologist and political economist that viewed bureaucracy in a positive light, believing it to be more rational and efficient than its historical predecessors.

Laurence Olivier Essay

The original classification of Shakespeare’s plays – ‘Comedies’, ‘Tragedies’, ‘Histories’ and ‘Roman plays‘ – don’t adequately describe all of Shakespeare’s plays, and scholars have come up with more names to do so. The most widely used categories are ‘Romance Plays’, ‘Problem Plays’, and Shakespeare’s ‘Tragicomedy Plays’. The plays in those categories have much in common, but there are enough differences to prevent some of them to fall into all three. The Winter’s Tale, for example is a play that does have the features of all three, however. A tragicomedy is a play that is neither a comedy nor a tragedy, although it has the features of both. Tragedies are usually focused almost exclusively on the central character, the tragic hero (although Shakespeare’s tragedies can sometimes be a double tragedy, with two tragic heroes, like Romeo and Juliet). The audience has insights into his mind and goes deeply in, as he does in Macbeth or Hamlet. Comic plays, on the other hand, remove that focus and the concerns are diversified so that the action is made up of the stories of several characters, particularly pairs of lovers. The shadows in human emotions are usually minor in the comedies: they are such things as misunderstandings, playful deceptions and so on. Plays that fall between the two stools of tragedy and comedy are sometimes referred to as ‘Problem Plays. ’ so the whole area of classification is a very difficult one. It shouldn’t be necessary to classify them but scholars need a language in which to talk about the plays. The Merchant of Venice can be seen as a tragicomedy. It has a comic structure but one of the central characters, Shylock, looks very much like a tragic character. The play has a comedy ending with the lovers pairing off but we are left with taste in the mouth of the ordeal of Shylock, destroyed by a combination of his own faults and the persecution of the lovers who enjoy that happy ending. The feeling at the end of the play is neither joy nor misery. The play has a decidedly comic structure but there is also a powerful tragic story. It can therefore be called a tragicomedy. Shakespeare’ tragicomedies usually have improbable and complex plots; characters of high social class; contrasts between villainy and virtue; love of different kinds at their centre; a hero who is saved at the last minute after a touch-and- go experience; surprises and treachery. The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline are two plays that fit that tragicomical pattern. Shakespeare’s plays generally accepted as tragicomedy plays are: * Cymbeline * The Winter’s Tale Shakespeare’s Tragedy plays One of the main features of Renaissance art is that it was inspired by classical art and philosophy. This is evident in the work of such artists as Michelangelo who, caught up in the spirit of Humanism that was sweeping across Europe, focused on the human form. Focusing on the human form during Mediaeval times would have been impossible as it would have been a distraction from the necessary focus on God. The essence of Humanistic art was that human beings were created in God’s image so it was possible for Michelangelo even to portray God – as a beautiful and physically powerful man with realistic human features, presented as perfection – in fact, the human form at its most beautiful. Artists became anatomists, going as far as buying human bodies for dissection. The result was a new realism in the representation of human beings in art. Shakespeare is, in a way, the Michelangelo of literature. That he could, in one play, Othello, written four hundred years ago, represent what we can recognise as a modern psychopath and a modern alcoholic, in Iago and Cassio respectively, is incredible. Iago is a fully realised physochological character just as the David is a fully realized man physically. Greek drama was an important model for Renaissance drama after the flat, unrealistic morality plays of the mediaval centuries. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, defined tragedy and asserted that it was the noblest and most serious, dignified and important form of drama. Many of the plays of the Renaissance resembled those Greek tragedies. In several of Shakespeare’s plays there is a central protagonist who undergoes a harrowing experience as he is brought down from his lofty height, ending up dead. There is also a special feeling created in an observer of those Shakespearedramas, similar to the feeling described by Aristotle as the effect of tragedy on an observer. Critics thus thought of those Shakespeare plays as tragedies and that notion has remained with us to  this day, although many of those interested inShakespeare are now thinking differently about the plays. There are still teachers, though, who teach the ‘tragedies’ as though they were Aristotelian tragedies and miss a great deal of what those plays are doing. In his Poetics Aristotle outlines tragedy as follows: The protagonist is someone of high estate; a prince or a king. He is like us – perhaps a bit different in his level of nobility so that we can both identify with him and admire him as a man as well as respect him for his high estate. The protagonist has a ‘tragic flaw’ in his character which makes him contribute to his own destruction. This can take the form of an obsession. The flaw is often part of his greatness but it also causes his downfall. The flaw causes the protagonist to make mistakes and misjudgments. That in turn begins to alienate him from his supporters so that he becomes isolated. He begins to fall from his high level. He struggles to regain his position but fails and he comes crashing down. He eventually recognises his mistakes, but too late. An important aspect is the suffering he undergoes, which the audience observes and identifies with. We experience ‘pity’ and ‘terror’ as we watch what seems to us an avoidable suffering. At thend the air is cleared by the restoration of the order that existed before the events of the story and we experience what Aristotle calls ‘catharsis’ – a feeling of relief and closure. Using the term ‘tragedy’ about Shakespeare’s plays invites attempts to fit them to the Aristotelian pattern but none of them fits. Othello seems to conform to the pattern but when one thinks about it, Othello, superficially resembling a tragic hero, doesn’t even seem to be the main character in the play. It can be seen as a modern psychological drama about a psychopath who manipulates everyone around him just for fun – just because he has nothing better to do – and destroying other human beings gives him pleasure or is necessary because they get in his way. Othello may seem to have a fatal flaw – too trusting, gullible – but so do all the other characters, because Iago has deceived them all with his psychopathic charm and a deliberate effort of making himself appear trustworthy. Every misjudgment Othello makes is the hard work of Iago. Easily manipulated? Jealous? Does he have all those ‘tragic flaws’ as well? The feeling at the end is not quite Aristotle either. Perhaps it is more of a disgust for Iago than pity for Othello, who comes across as more stupid than tragic. And to make things more complicated, our feeling of pity is directed more to Desdamona. And yet some teachers miss the meaning of this play by their insistence on teaching it as an Aristotelian tragedy. Antony and Cleopatra is sometimes called a ‘double tragedy’. While Othello appears to fit the Aristotelian pattern because of the huge charisma of Othello at the beginning of the play Antony and Cleopatra cannot fit it in any shape or form. In tragedy the focus is on the mind and inner struggle of the protagonist. The emotional information comes to the audience from that source. In comedy the information comes from a variety of sources and the comic effect is produced by a display of many different points of view, coming at the audience from different angles. That is exactly what happens in Antony and Cleopatra , so we have something very different from a Greek tragedy. What we have is a miracle – a tragic feeling coming out of a comic structure. So what is Shakespearean tragedy? Perhaps there is no such thing. And yet we can identify a tragic feeling and even a cathartic effect in some of the plays. We must be very careful not to insist on fitting them to any pattern because that wouldn’t help us understand the plays. We must look elsewhere for our understanding of them. Moreover, all of Shakespeare’s plays have elements of both tragedy and comedy, sometimes very finely balanced, creating effects that Aristotle could never have dreamt of. List of Shakespeare’s Tragedy Plays * Antony and Cleopatra * King Lear * Macbeth * Othello * Romeo & Juliet * Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare’s Comedy Plays Early Greek comedy was in sharp contrast to the dignity and seriousness of tragedy. Aristophanes, the towering giant of comedy, used every kind of humour from the slapstick through sexual jokes to satire and literary parody. Unlike tragedy, the plots didn’t originate in traditional myth and legend, but were the product of the writer’s creative imagination. The main theme was political and social satire. Over the centuries comedy moved away from those themes to focus on family matters, notably a concentration on relationships and the complications of love. Such a universal theme was bound to survive and, indeed, it has travelled well, from Greece through Roman civilization and, with the Renaissance preoccupation with things classical, into Renaissance Europe, to England and the Elizabethans, and into the modern world of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, where we see Greek comedy alive and well in films and television. Shakespeare’s comedies (or rather the plays of Shakespeare that are usually categorised as comedies), just as in the case with he tragedies, do not fit into any slot. They are generally identifiable as the comedies of Shakespeare in that they are full of fun, irony and dazzling wordplay. They also abound in disguises and mistaken identities with very convoluted plots that are difficult to follow (try relating the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to someone! ), with very contrived endings. Any attempt at describing these plays as a group can’t go beyond that superficial outline. The highly contrived endings are the clue to what these plays, all very different, are about. Take The Merchant of Venice for example – it has the love and relationship element. As usual there are two couples. One of the women is disguised as a man through most of the text – typical of Shakespearian comedy – but the other is in a very unpleasant situation – a young Jewess seduced away from her father by a shallow, rather dull young Christian. The play ends with the lovers all together, as usual, celebrating their love and the way things have turned out well for their group. That resolution has come about by completely destroying a man’s life. The Jew, Shylock is a man who has made a mistake and been forced to pay dearly for it by losing everything he values, including his religious freedom. It is almost like two plays – a comic structure with a personal tragedy imbedded in it. The ‘comedy’ is a frame to heighten the effect of the tragic elements. The Christians are selfish and shallow and cruel beyond imagination and with no conscience whatsoever. This is the use of the comic form to create something very deep and dark. Twelfth Night is similar – the humiliation of a man the in-group doesn’t like. As in The Merchant of Venice, his suffering is simply shrugged off in the highly contrived comic ending. Not one of these plays, no matter how full of life and love and laughter and joy, it may be, is without a darkness at its heart. Much Ado About Nothing , like Antony and Cleopatra (a ‘tragedy’ with a comic structure) is a miracle of creative writing. Shakespeare seamlessly joins an ancient mythological love story and a modern invented one, weaving them together into a very funny drama in which light and dark chase each other around like clouds and sunshine on a windy day, and the play threatens to fall into an abyss at any moment and emerges from that danger in a highly contrived ending once again. Like the ‘tragedies’ these plays defy categorisation. They all draw our attention to a range of human experience with all its sadness, joy, poignancy, tragedy, comedy, darkness, lightness, and its depths. Shakespeare’s Comedy Plays * All’s Well That Ends Well * The Comedy of Errors * As you Like It * Cymbeline * Love’s Labours Lost * Measure for Measure * The Merry Wives of Windsor * The Merchant of Venice * Twelfth Night * Two Gentlemen of Verona Shakespeare’s History Plays Just as Shakespeare’s ‘comedies’ have some dark themes and tragic situations while the ‘tragedies’ have some high comic moments, the Shakespeare’s ‘history’ plays contain comedy, tragedy and everything in between. All Shakespeare’s plays are dramas written for the entertainment of the public and Shakeseare’s intention in writing them was just that – to entertain. It wasn’t Shakespeare, but Shakespearian scholars, who categorised his plays into those areas of tragedy, comedy and history – as well as ‘problem‘ and ‘Roman‘. Unfortunately, our appreciation of the plays is often affected by our tendency to look at them in that limited way. Most of the plays have an historical element – the Roman plays, for example, are historical but scholars don’t refer to those Roman plays (Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus etc.) ashistory plays. The plays that we normally mean when we refer to the ‘history’ plays are the ten plays that cover English history from the twelfth to the sixteenthcenturies, and the 1399-1485 period in particular. Each play is named after, and focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period. In chronological order of setting, these are King John, Richard II, Henry IV Parts Iand II, Henry V, Henry VI Parts I, II and III, Richard III and Henry VIII, although Shakespeare didn’t write them in that order. The plays dramatise five generations of’ Medieval power struggles. For the most part they depict the Hundred Years War with France, from Henry V to Joan of Arc, and the Wars of the Roses, between York and Lancaster. We should never forget that they are works of imagination, based very loosely on historical figures. Shakespeare was a keen reader of history and was always looking for the dramatic impact of historical characters and events as he read. Today we tend to think of those historical figures in the way Shakespeare presented them. For example, we think of Richard III as an evil man, a kind of psychopath with a deformed body and a grudge against humanity. Historians can do whatever they like to set the record straight but Shakespeare’s Richard seems stuck in our culture as the real Richard III. Henry V, nee Prince Hal, is, in our minds, the perfect model of kingship after an education gained by indulgence in a misspent youth, and a perfect human being, but that is only because that’s the way Shakespeare chose to present him in the furtherance of the themes he wanted to develop and the dramatic story he wanted to tell. In fact, the popular perception of mediaval history as seen through the rulers of the period is pure Shakespeare. We have given ourselves entirely to Shakespeare’s vision. What would Bolingbroke (Henry IV) mean to us today? We would know nothing of him but because of Shakespeare’s plays he is an important, memorable and significant historical figure. The history plays are enormously appealing. Not only do they give insight into the political processes of Mediaval and Renaissance politics but they also offer a glimpse of life from the top to the very bottom of society – the royal court, the nobility, tavern life, brothels, beggars, everything. The greatest English actual and fictional hero, Henry V and the most notorious fictional bounder, Falstaff, are seen in several scenes together. Not only that, but those scenes are among the most entertaining, profound and memorable in the whole of English literature. That’s some achievement. Finally, although adding this at the end of the article and leaving it in the air, several questions are begged: what we see in the plays is not mediaval society at all, but Elizabethan and Jacobean society. Because although Shakespeare was writing ‘history’, using historical figures and events, what he was really doing was writing about the politics, entertainments and social situations of his own time. A major feature of Shakespeare’s appeal to his own generation was recognition, somethingShakespeare exploited relentlessly. List of Shakespeare’s History Plays, Henry IV Part 2,Henry V,Henry VI Part 1,Henry VI Part 2,Henry VI Part 3,Henry VIII,King John,Richard II,Richard III. 2) Tragedy; Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello. King Lear Play: Overview & Resources The King Lear play is set in the BCE period, somewhere in England, usually thought of as being what is Leicestershire today. The action in the first two acts shifts among the castles of Lear, Gloucester, and those of Lear’s two daughters, Goneril and Regan. The rest of the action takes place in the frozen countryside, mainly on a blasted heath with violent weather, symbolising the state of Lear’s mind. Date written: 1603-1606 Genre classification: King Lear is regarded as a Tragedy Main characters in King Lear: King Lear is the king of pre-Christian Britain. He has three daughters – Goneril, Regan andCordelia. The Earl of Gloucester is a senior duke in Lear’s kingdom. He has two sons, Edmund, an illegitimate son and Edgar, a legitimate son. The Earl of Kent is a fiercely loyal nobleman, sticking by Lear in spite of Lear’s atrocious treatment of him. The Fool is the court jester, developed well beyond the jesters that appear in Shakespeare’s and other writers’ earlier plays. King Lear themes: This is a play about family – a thorough exploration of family relationships, particularly filial ingratitude, where the cruelty and disregard for their father by Goneril and Regan are contrasted with those of the love and loyalty of Cordelia in spite of the ruthless treatment she has experienced at her father’s hands. There is also a deep exploration oflegitimate versus illegitimate offspring. Good versus evil is presented through the evil of the two older sisters against the saintliness of the youngest. Other themes are those of old age and authority. and attitudes to those; pain, justice, and the ever present theme in Shakespeare’s plays: appearance and reality. King Lear Plot Summary The Earl of Gloucester introduces his illegitimate son, Edmund, to the Earl of Kent at court. Lear, King of Britain, enters. Now that he is old Lear has decided to abdicate, retire, and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. Each will receive a portion of the kingdom according to how much they love him. Goneril, Duchess ofAlbany, the oldest, and Regan, Duchess of Cornwall, the second, both speak eloquently and receive their portion but Cordelia, the youngest, can say nothing. Her declaration that she loves him according to a daughter’s duty to a father enrages him and she is disowned. One of Cordelia’s suitors, the Duke of Burgundy, rejects her once she is dowerless but the King of France understands her declaration and takes her as his wife, while the Earl of Kent is banished for taking Cordelia’s part against the King. The kingdom is shared between Goneril and Regan. Lear tells them that he intends to live alternately with each of them. Meanwhile, Edmund is determined to be recognised as a rightful son of Gloucester and persuades his father that his legitimate brother, Edgar, is plotting against Gloucester’s life, using a deceitful device. Edmund warns Edgar that his life is in danger. Edgar flees and disguises himself as a beggar. Goneril becomes increasingly exasperated by the behaviour of Lear’s hundred followers, who are disturbing life at Albany’s castle. Kent has returned in disguise and gains a place as a servant to Lear, supporting the King against Goneril’s ambitious servant, Oswald. Lear eventually curses Goneril and leaves to move in with Regan. Edmund acts as a messenger between the sisters and is courted by each in turn. He persuades Cornwall that Gloucester is an enemy because, through loyalty to his King, Gloucester assists Lear and his devoted companion, the Fool, when they are turned away by Regan and told to return to Goneril’s household. Despairing of his daughters and regretting his rejection of Cordelia, Lear goes out into the wilderness during a fierce storm. He goes mad. Gloucester takes them into a hut for shelter and seeks the aid of Kent to get them away to the coast, where Cordelia has landed with a French army to fight for her father against her sisters and their husbands. Edgar, pretending to be mad, has also taken refuge in the shelter and the Fool, the mad king and the beggar are companions until Edgar finds his father wandering and in pain. Gloucester has been blinded by Regan and Cornwall for his traitorous act in helping Lear. Cornwall has been killed by a servant after blinding Gloucester but Regan continues to rule with Edmund’s help. Not recognised by his father, Edgar leads him to the coast and helps him, during the journey, to come to an acceptance of his life. Gloucester meets the mad Lear on Dover beach, near Cordelia’s camp and, with Kent’s aid, Lear is rescued and re-united with Cordelia. Gloucester, although reconciled with Edgar, dies alone. The French forces are defeated by Albany’s army led by Edmund, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Goneril has poisoned Regan in jealous rivalry for Edmund’s attention but Edgar, disguised now as a loyal knight, challenges Edmund to a duel and wounds him mortally. Seeing no way out, Goneril kills herself. The dying Edmund confesses his crimes, but it is too late to save Cordelia from the hangman. Lear’s heart breaks as he carries the body of his beloved daughter in his arms, and Albany and Edgar are left to re-organise the kingdom. Hamlet Play: Overview & Resources for Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare sets his Hamlet play in the cold, dark isolation of Elsinor a bleak, snow-covered region of Denmark. It’s the royal court of the King of Denmark. The atmosphere is established on the cold, windy battlements of the castle. Most of the action takes place in theinterior rooms and corridors of the castle and one scene is set in a nearby cemetery. Date written: 1601 Genre classification: Hamlet is regarded as one of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Main characters in Hamlet: Hamlet, the son of the recently murdered King is the heir to the throne. Hehas had the crown stolen from him by his father’s villainous brother, Claudius whom thelate king’s widow, Gertrude – Hamlet’s mother – has married. Hamlet’s father’s ghost tellshim on the battlements that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is continuously spied on by Polonius, the garrulous Lord Chamberlain of Denmark. His eavesdropping results in his being accidentally killed by Hamlet. Ophelia is Polonius’ daughter. Led on to a possible relationship by Hamlet, then rejected, she commits suicide by drowning. Her brother, Laertesseeks revenge by plotting with Claudius to kill Hamlet. Other characters are Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, in whom he confides, Rosencranz and Guidenstern, Hamlet’s fellow university students, who spy on Hamlet for Claudius, a troupe of strolling actors and a pair of gravediggers. See a full list of characters in Hamlet. Hamlet Themes: The play falls into the genre of the Revenge Tragedy, which was very popular in the Jacobean era with its taste for violence and intrigue. Revenge is the most obvious, and one of the main, themes of the play. Although explorations of the idea of appearance and reality are present in all Shakespeare’s plays, it’s more fully developed in Hamlet, with all it’s plotting, intrigues, deceit and hypocrisy. Other themes are the question of what a human being is; death and mortality and suicide. In common with several other Shakespeare plays, there is a clear Christian parallel. Hamlet Plot Summary Prince Hamlet’s student friend, Horatio, goes to the battlements of Denmark’s Elsinore castle late at night to meet the guards. They tell him about a ghost they have seen that resembles the late king, Hamlet. It reappears and they decide to tell the prince. Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, having become king, has now married Hamlet’s widowed mother, Gertrude. In the court, after envoys are sent to Norway, the prince is dissuaded from returning to university. Hamlet still mourns his father’s death and hearing of the ghost from Horatio he determines to see it for himself. Laertes, son of the courtier, Polonius, departs for France, warning his sister, Ophelia, against thinking too much of Hamlet’s attentions. The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. The prince swears vengeance and his friends are sworn to secrecy as Hamlet decides to feign madness while he tests the truth of the ghost’s allegations. He rejects Ophelia, as Claudius and Polonius spy on him seeking to find a reason for his sudden strange behaviour. Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, former student friends of Hamlet, are summoned by Claudius and their arrival coincides with that of a group of travelling actors. The prince knows these players well and they rehearse together before arranging to present Hamlet’s choice of play before the king and queen, which will include scenes close to the circumstances of the old king’s death. At the performance Hamlet watches closely as Claudius is provoked into interrupting the play and storming out, resolving to send the prince away to England. Hamlet is summoned by his distressed mother and, on  the way he spares Claudius whom he sees kneeling, attempting to pray. To kill him while he is praying would send his soul to heaven rather than to the hell he deserves. Polonius hides in Gertrude’s room to listen to the conversation, but Hamlet detects movement as he upbraids his mother. He stabs the concealing tapestry and so kills the old man. The ghost reappears, warning his son not to delay revenge, nor to upset his mother. As the army of Norway’s King Fortinbras crosses Denmark to attack Poland, Hamlet is sent to England, ostensibly as an ambassador, but he discovers Claudius’s plan to have him killed. Outwitting this plot Hamlet returns alone, sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in his stead. During Hamlet’s absence Ophelia goes mad as a result of her father’s death and she is drowned. Hamlet returns and meets Horatio in the graveyard. With the arrival of Ophelia’s funeral Hamlet confronts Laertes who, after attempting a revolt against Claudius, has taken his father’s place at the court. A duel is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes at which Claudius has plotted for Hamlet to die either on a poisoned rapier, or from poisoned wine. The plans go wrong and both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded, while Gertrude unwittingly drinks from the poisoned cup. Hamlet, in his death throes, kills Claudius, and Horatio is left to explain the truth to the new king, Fortinbras, who returns, victorious, from the Polish wars. Macbeth Play: Overview & Resources The main source for Shakespeare’s Macbeth play was Holinshed’s Chronicles. Holinshed in turn took the account from a Scottish history, Scotorum Historiae, written in 1527 by Hector Boece. Shakespeare, flattering James 1, referred to the king’s own books, Discovery of Witchcraft and Daemonologie, written in 1599. Some of the main ideas of Macbeth are Nature, Manhood and Light versus Dark. In Macbeth, the murder of a king by one of his subjects is seen as unnatural and the images ofthe play reflect this theme, with disruptions of nature, like storms – and events such as where the horses turn on their grooms and bite them. In Macbeth Shakespeareexplores what it is to be a man. Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth of being unmanly because of his hesitation in killing Duncan, but Macbeth says that it’s unmanly for a man to kill his king. Shakespeare plays with that paradox. Duncan is a good king and a good man, and he is surrounded by images of light. Macbethand Lady Macbeth turn their surroundings into a picture of hell, blanketed in darkness. Those images of light and dark interact throughout the play. Traditionally, there is a curse on Macbeth. Actors and productioncrews perpetuate the superstition by avoiding using the play’s title, Macbeth, which is considered bad luck. It has to be referred to as â€Å"The Scottish Play†. Date written: 1605 Read the full Macbeth text Genre classification: Macbeth is regarded as a tragedy. Macbeth Characters: The hero, Macbeth, the Thane of Glamys and later Thane of Cawdor, murders the king, Duncan, and is elected as king in his place. Lady Macbeth, his wife, is his co-conspirator in the murder. Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalblain, themselves in danger, flee. Banquo, Macbeth’s friend, is also murdered by Macbeth. Macduff, the Thane of Fife, suspects Macbeth and his whole family is massacred. Macduff is the man who finally kills Macbeth. There are three witches, who plant the idea of murdering Duncan in Macbeth’s mind, and they lead him on to his destruction. Their queen is Hecate. Other characters are the Scottlish noblemen, Lennox and Ross, and the English general, Siward and his son, Young Siward. See a full list of Macbeth characters. Themes in Macbeth: The main themes in Macbeth are ambition and guilt. Macbeth’s ‘overweening ambition leads him to kill Duncan and from then on until the end of the play he suffers unendurable guilt. Another theme is that of appearance and reality. Of all Shakespeare’s characters, Macbeth has the most difficulty in distinguishing between what is real and what is not. Macbeth Plot Summary King Duncan’s generals, Macbeth and Banquo, encounter three strange women on a bleak Scottish moorland on their way home from quelling a rebellion. The women prophesy that Macbeth will be given the title of Thane of Cawdor and then become King of Scotland, while Banquo’s heirs shall be kings. The generals want to hear more but the weird sisters disappear. Duncan creates Macbeth Thane of Cawdor in thanks for his success in the recent battles and then proposes to make a brief visit to Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth receives news from her husband of the prophecy and his new title and she vows to help him become king by any means she can. Macbeth’s return is followed almost at once by Duncan’s arrival. The Macbeths plot together and later that night, while all are sleeping and after his wife has given the guards drugged wine, Macbeth kills the King and his guards. Lady Macbeth leaves the bloody daggers beside the dead king. Macduff arrives and when the murder is discovered Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain flee, fearing for their lives, but they are nevertheless blamed for the murder. Macbeth is elected King of Scotland, but is plagued by feelings of guilt and insecurity. He arranges for Banquo and his son, Fleance to be killed, but the boy escapes the murderers. At a celebratory banquet Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo and disconcerts the courtiers with his strange manner. Lady Macbeth tries to calm him but is rejected. Macbeth seeks out the witches and learns from them that he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to his castle, Dunsinane. They tell him that he need fear no-one born of woman, but also that the Scottish succession will come from Banquo’s son. Macbeth embarks on a reign of terror and many, including Macduff’s family are murdered, while Macduff himself has gone to join Malcolm at the court of the English king, Edward. Malcolm and Macduff decide to lead an army against Macbeth. Macbeth feels safe in his remote castle at Dunsinane until he is told that Birnam Wood is moving towards him. The situation is that Malcolm’s army is carrying branches from the forest as camouflage for their assault on the castle. Meanwhile Lady Macbeth, paralysed with guilt, walks in her sleep and gives away her secrets to a listening doctor. She kills herself as the final battle commences. Macduff challenges Macbeth who, on learning his adversary is the child of a Ceasarian birth, realises he is doomed. Macduff triumphs and brings the head of the traitor to Malcolm who declares peace and is crowned king. Othello Play: Overview & Resources The Othello play begins in Venice where there is a wealthy, well ordered, well behaved community, controlled by strong laws and established conventions.