Lady Macbeth Essay Example for Free

Lady Macbeth Essay Lady Macbeth is a fascinating character in the play of Macbeth. When we first meet her in Act One, she seems to be a very strong character however, later on, we realise that she isnt so strong and cant live with her guilt of killing Duncan. She goes insane and later dies as a weak, vulnerable figure. She is reading a letter from her husband about his meetings with the witches. We get a very strong indication as to the nature of her character at this stage through her soliloquies the first being her reaction to the witches prophecies and the second being her response to the messengers news of the king comes here tonight. Lady Macbeth is determined that Macbeth should be king but knows that hes too full of the milk of human kindness/To catch the nearest way. She is aware of her husbands weaknesses and indeed strengths, and is ruthless enough to exploit them. She is a woman ambitious for her husband whom she loves. She recognises the essential good in him, and feels that, without her, he will never win the Crown. For him, she invites the evil spirits to unsex her and remove her femininity to make her evil enough to carry out the deed of murdering Duncan. The fact that she had to call upon the evil spirits emphasizes that she knows shed never do it without the help of the spirits because her feminine qualities would take over. To Macbeth, in his letter to her, she is his dearest partner of greatness, an indication of love and trust. We see her as she analyses his virtues and weaknesses and decides to overcome his scruples, hie thee hither/That I may pour my spirits at thine ear. She is very faithful to Macbeth and at this point, thinks she knows theyre not going to fail. Macbeth starts to falter and says we will proceed no further in this business. She is angry at this and uses the horrific imagery of dashing a baby from her breast and slamming it down onto the stone ground to kill it, if she had promised Macbeth she would do a task such as killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth berates her husband for his lack of conviction, she questions his love for her; she mocks him, saying that he is less than a man, accusing him of being drunk and a coward. Her loyalty to him is unfaltering as he procrastinates. When Macbeth asks her about failing, she replies We, fail?/But screw your courage to the sticking place and we will not fail. She has planned Duncans murder right down to the last detail she has planned to drug Duncans guards and has left the daggers ready for Macbeth. She also seems to be the more devious of the two and, perhaps, the better criminal when Macbeth brings the daggers down with him, she quickly notices and puts them back. Here, we do see a sign of conscience creeping through when she mentions how she couldnt have killed Duncan because he resembled her father. Throughout the scene of the murder (Act II, scene ii), she is under the influence of drink, proving that she is not filled from top to bottom with the direst cruelty. After Duncans body has been discovered, Macbeth nearly blows their cover when he starts talking about how he killed the guards. Lady Macbeth cleverly faints here to divert the attention away from her husband. In Act III, Lady Macbeth realises that the crown doesnt bring happiness Noughts had, alls spent/Where our desire is not got without content. Here, I think she realises how she has become distanced from Macbeth after he got the crown. Further in Act III, is the banquet scene. Macbeth has had Banquo killed at this point but did not tell his wife about the plot. When Macbeth enters the banquet hall, he sees Banquos ghost in his chair. Lady Macbeth again fears that Macbeth is going to give away their whole scene when he starts talking to the ghost. Her first strategy is to appeal to his manliness again, Are you a man? When she sees that this isnt working, she makes excuses for him by saying that he has been mentally ill since his youth. She quickly ushers out the guests, to stop Macbeth from saying something the pair would later regret. This is the last point we see Lady Macbeth until the last Act. In Act V, we meet a very different Lady Macbeth. She has now been reduced to a poor, mad creature, very badly shaken by events. She is observed sleepwalking and retracing the events of the murders of Duncan, Banquo and of Macduffs family. Se unfolds a piece of paper, reads it, refolds it and replaces it in the closet. We are not told what this is (some scholars have suggested it to be a suicide note; others have suggested a confession of the murders. It doesnt make much difference what it is, however, it is sometimes nice to speculate). She washes her hands again and again, saying out damned spot, out! Her gentlewoman reports that what Lady Macbeth has said has been incriminating. She has been reduced to such an insecure wreck that she cant even go to sleep without a light on. She reminisces about the knocking heard on the night of the murder To bed, to bed: theres knocking at the gate. Subconsciously she is going over the events in her head even those she wasnt directly involved with but knew about- The thane of Fife had a wife. When she returns to bed, we dont ever see her again and we hear not of her again until Seyton says to Macbeth The queen, my lord, is dead. Macbeth doesnt seem upset by this and basically says it was an inconvenient time for her to die. Throughout the play, we see a great change in Lady Macbeths person she changes from a strong, ambitious mind at the start to a weak mentally disturbed soul at the end. A great contrast can also be seen between Macduffs O gentle lady to Malcolms fiend-like queen. Maybe we should feel sorry for Lady Macbeth or maybe we should feel that she got her just-desserts. Either way, she was one of the most complex, enigmatic characters introduced by Shakespeare, representing the fundamental drive for human ambition.

The Subjects Of Truth And Deception Philosophy Essay

The Subjects Of Truth And Deception Philosophy Essay The subjects of truth and deception are things that concerns everyone in the world, also it something everyone wants to find out. The search for the truth is basically what life revolves around, whether it is finding out the truth about yourself (e.g. your personality), in science or perhaps of other people; the truth is something everyone wants to know. My experience is that the truth is hard to find, for example when in an argument with people the truth always lays midways. There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false. To answer this question it is important to know what truth and deception means, also this question is difficult to answer because the truth about this is hard to find as well. There are a lot of different opinions on this matter to distinguish truth from deception. The complexity of this simple claim can be easily underestimated due to its simple nature, however to completely understand the true complexity of the statement would require t horough analysis of its meaning and an understanding of the process that we go through in order to obtain knowledge. Definitions of truth can only be interpreted so far, however an understanding of how knowledge in acquired through the ways of knowing in each of the areas of knowing can provide further insight into the certainty of the claim. This essay will revolve around the statement that it is impossible to absolutely distinguish truth from deception; it seems that there is a thin line between what is true and what is false. à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"To say something which is that it is not, or to say something which is not that it is, is false. However, to say something which is not that is not, is trueà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ Ã‚  [1]  . However, true and false, in many cases, does not seem to be a simple black and white matter, that is to say, there could sometimes be no causes for which we can decide what is true and what is false. As truth is an necessary part of knowledge, we have to distinguishing between what is true and what is false constantly through our learning process and our pursuit of knowledge, and whether we are aware of it or not, the distinctions between what is true and what is false, to a certain extent, shape and form the way we think and should therefore be considered of great importance. This idea of there being an absolute truth or also known as universal truth has been debated for centuries. For example Pluto believe believed that absolute truth existed, but that truth on e arth was merely a shadow of great forms of absolute truth existing in the universe. Yet many believe in relative truth, which means that something is true depending on the circumstances. Many factors such as reason, perception, emotion, the area from which this truth is coming determine if something is true or not. If one has a look at perception for example, there are many theories of approaching perception which vary strongly what we perceive and therefore take as true. Through religion it becomes very clear that what one perceives as the truth, is not accepted by others. Christians, for example, see God and his creation as the truth, but atheist would argue that there is no actual proof for this and therefore they do not perceive it as true. This clearly shows as well that truth is also something based on opinions and beliefs combined with proof. Everyone in the world has a different perception of the world, and therefore has different beliefs and thus has a different conception of what the truth and falsehood conveys. But it is also shown through science, Newton introduced the law of gravity to the world which is believed as the truth by many but is it actually the absolute truth? This is something which can be questioned because of course we know that when we drop a pencil it will touch the ground eventually, but does that proof gravity immediately? Does that really show the absolute truth of Newtonà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s gravitationa l law? This is not shown clearly. The claim that there is no absolute distinction between what is true and what is false is correct if it goes as far as absolute truth, there is no such thing as absolute truth. It should be kept in mind that truth is relative and that because of peopleà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s interpretation of the world; the truth is perceived differently per person. What might be the truth to one person, could also be false to another. There is a thin line between truth and falsehood which differs per person which is very complex and causes for a lot of dilemmas and troubles in the world.

The bystander effect

The bystander effect And of Clay We Are Created, written by Isabel Allende, explores what social psychologists refer to as the bystander effect. In the story, Azucena is a little girl who is trapped in the mud, and needs help if she is to survive. While the girl suffers and was filmed by countless reporters, no one actually comes to save her. The reporters are more concerned with filming the girl than with saving her life. The bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon where persons are less likely to lend assistance in an emergency situation when other humans are present than when they are alone (Myers, 463). Throughout the story, Allende uses voyeurism as a critical dramatic device as she connects Eva Luna to Rolf and Azucena. Through the interactions between the characters, Allende is able to investigate how voyeurism can lead to social apathy and act as a desensitizer in a crisis. Allendes And of Clay We Are Created describes how a host of reporters and cameramen become desensitized and apathetic towards Azucena as she is dying a preventable death. The situation clearly characterizes the bystander effect. Studies by John Darley, a social psychologist at Princeton University, Allan I. Teger, and Lawrence D. Lewis, his colleagues, demonstrated this psychological phenomenon in the laboratory. The most common explanation of this phenomenon is that, the more people present, the more likely the individual observer will pass off the responsibility to help the victim, unfortunately believing that there is bound to be someone who is helping already or is going to help soon (Darley, Lewis, and Teger 395). As more reporters arrive on the scene, each individual reporter feels less obliged to actually, help the girl. Although in the story Allende does mention, Soldiers and volunteers had arrived to rescue the living, the reader is made aware that much of the rescue effort is ineffective and cumbersome (47). In this way, Allende poignantly criticizes the government for not responding appropriately, when she points out geologists had set up their seismographs weeks before and knew that the mountain had awakened again (47). She goes on to say that the geologists had predicted that the heat of the eruption could detach the eternal ice from the slopes of the volcano, but no one heeded their warnings (Allende 47). The immediate thought that strikes the reader is that this completely ghastly episode could have been thwarted entirely if only the villagers had been either directly forewarned or even forced to relocate by the authorities. Interestingly, Allende seems to point out that the villagers themselves did not heed the warnings of the geologists, perhaps to mitigate any blame on the government and the media. Adding to the frustration and ignorance, the leaders of the government and military are unable and/or unwilling to help secure a pump that could have drained the mud water, which could have effectively saved the little girls life. Although it is granted that Azucena is not the only person in dire need of rescuing, the fact that she became the symbol of the tragedy (47) while never receiving help is truly heartbreaking. Instead, the entire world must watch the girl die a slow, agonizing death in front of the cameras. What makes the situation so horrifying is that this event closely parallels an actual incident that occurred in Columbia in 1985 (Picture power). A volcano had erupted (as in the story), and vomited debris and catalyzed mudslides that engulfed the towns near the mountain. A photojournalist who proceeded to take her photograph, which made headlines throughout the world, found a 13-year-old girl. Many who saw the photographs were appalled how technology had been able to cap ture her image for all time and transmit it around the globe, but was unable to save her life (Picture power). In fact, Allende seems to explicitly question the integrity and value of human technology as she describes how more television and movie teams arrived with spools of cable, tapes, film, videos, precision lenses, recorders, sounds consoles, lights, reflecting screens, auxiliary motors, cartons of supplies, electricians, sound technicians, and cameramen, yet how they were not able to secure one life-saving pump (50). It is almost unbelievable how so much advanced technology and machines are brought to film the disaster as opposed to the amount of materials and supplies that are needed to help save the victims of the calamity. Allende is almost begging someone to help the girl as Rolf keeps pleading for a pump (50). Allende also masterfully foreshadows that the attempt to save Azucenas life will inevitably fail as she tells how anyone attempting to reach her was in danger of sinking [themselves] (48). When a rope is thrown to the girl, she tries to grab the rope, but ends up sinking deeper into the mud (Allende, 48). At this point, the reader must also ask whether Azucena actually wants to be saved. She must have been in the mud for some time now, and the pain and shock would have been eating away at her will to survive. In fact, when the rope is thrown at her, she makes no effort to catch the rope (Allende, 48). Has Allende doomed Azucena to death already? For a while, the reader is given little rays of hope that the girl will eventually be rescued and that there will be a happy ending, but in all honesty, most of the signs point toward certain death for the girl. Another attempt to rescue her by tying a rope beneath her arms is also thwarted when the girl cries out in pain from them pulling on the rope (Allende, 48). She is stuck in the mud and is only kept from being totally consumed by the mud when she is given a tire as a life buoy (Allende, 48). Allende skillfully blends fact and fiction, by creating her own stories from events that have transpired in the real world. She creates characters that tell a gripping story, and become very believable. In the story, Rolf is a reporter who finds Azucena, the girl trapped in the mud and debris. Samuel Amago, a literary critic writing in the Latin American Literary Review, asserts that [Rolf] tries to give [Azucena] the inspiration to live while the impersonal television cameras look on without helping (54). He has become battle-tested through his work as Allende explains: For years, he had been a familiar figure in newscasts, reporting live at the scene of battles and catastrophes with awesome tenacity. Nothing could stop himit seemed as if nothing could shake his fortitude or deter his curiosity. Fear seemed never to touch him, although he was not a courageous man, far from it. (47) Through Azucenas struggle, he ends up undergoing a personal transformation by abandoning his aloof stance as a reporter that had served him so well in previous episodes, and by passionately embracing the girls fate personally. This is where voyeurism comes into play. This is not the kind of voyeurism confined only to the sexual fetish of receiving gratification from observing a sexual occurrence or object, but as Elizabeth Gough, a literary critic writing in the Journal of Modern Literature, states that it also includes any kind of intense, hidden or distant gazing (93). Eva Luna is not physically present with Rolf and Azucena, but she is able to see everything that is occurring through the news. She is in a way, spying on the two people. The intensity of her gazing is noticeable as the reader finds that Eva is emotionally, connected as she witnesses the events on television. The first aspect of voyeurism we find is the camera in the story. Rolf is a reporter and sees everything through a lens. Allende describes how the lens of the camera had a strange effect on him; it was as if it transported him to a different time from which he could watch events without actually participating in them (47-48). The mechanical tailoring of the cameras rolling as a human life is slowly failing portrays the media as impersonal, cold, and heartless. To Rolf, the camera lens acted like a desensitizer and promoted a sense of separation between Rolf and his surroundings so that while he was physically at the scene, his mind was in another safe, secure place. Eva Luna realizes that for Rolf, the fictive distance [between the lens and the real world] seemed to protect him from his own emotions (321). Rolf had erected a psychological self-defense mechanism in response to his traumatic experiences as a young child. His trauma mostly stems from his guilt for not protecting his sis ter, Katharina, from their abusive father. Allende suggests that Rolf could not forgive himself for not saving his sister, but through his efforts to save Azucena- and through his subsequent emotional revelations- he could finally weep for her death and for the guilt of having abandoned her (328). Through this act of acceptance, Rolf finally realizes that all his life he had been taking refuge behind a lens to test whether reality was more tolerable from that perspective (Allende 328). Allende suggests that Rolfs voyeuristic approach to life had led to shallow success as a reporter, and weakened his ability to trust his own emotions as well as other humans. Why else did it take him so long to accept that Azucena was going to die? It was because he was too afraid to feel the pain of loss again, just like when he lost his sister. One of the most memorable turning points in the story occurs when Azucena helps Rolf break down his emotional barriers and to come to terms with own past. Azucena accomplishes this not by saying much, but by listening to Rolfs stories until he could not hold back the unyielding floodgates that had contained Rolf Carles past (Allende, 327). In a classic reversal of roles, Azucena takes on the nurturing role of the adult during Rolfs weak and vulnerable moments. Allende portrays Rolfs mother as an uncaring, frigid woman who would not give him emotional support or even to dry his tears (329). Azucena is the one who tells Rolf not to cry, something a traditional mother figure would have done (Allende 329). Voyeurism is also evident when Eva Luna, Rolfs lover, watches all that occurs in the news on television. The physical distance between Eva and Rolf is palpable, as Allende explains through Eva: Many miles away, I watched Rolf Carle and the girl on a television screen (324). Nonetheless, through the story we are made aware that Eva and Rolf are intangibly bound together. The reader is left in the similar plight of Eva; we see natural disasters and tragedy through the eyes of the media. Therefore, in a sense, the media helps desensitize humans to real tragedies that occur by providing a fictive, safe distance for its viewers. This is precisely the reason why actually experiencing something can leave a truly lasting impression whereas seeing something on television can seem obscure and impartial. However, in the story, this fictive distance actually fuels the reality of what is happening at the disaster scene to Eva. For Eva, it is as if she is physically present at the disaster with Rolf and Azucena. The images on the television help her visualize what Rolf is seeing and even thinking at each precise moment, hour by hour (Allende 326). It is indeed surprising and remarkable how Allende portrays the attachment of Eva to Rolf even though Eva is limited to the impersonal medium of television to keep in touch with her lover. Allende explains that Eva was near [Rolfs] world and [she] could at least get a feeling of what he lived through (324). She further clarifies that while [t]he screen reduced the disaster to a single plane and accentuated the tremendous distance that separated [Eva] from Rolf Carle; nonetheless, [she] was there with him (324). Eva and Rolf were connected in mind as well, as Eva was able to overhear the verbal exchanges between Rolf and Azucena to the point wh ere she was present with them (Allende 326). Although it can be argued that Eva is much more personally connected and involved than the general reader is to the situation at the site of the catastrophe, the reader is drawn into the conflict and struggle by the personal narrative of Eva. The reader is told the story through Evas perspective, and thus we are left with an impression that is comparable to the storyteller. The voyeurism goes many ways. Compounding this idea of long-distance interconnectedness is how Allende ties Eva to Azucena, in addition to Rolf. Through Rolfs interplay with Azucena, Eva is hurt by the girls every suffering, and feels Rolfs frustration and impotence (Allende 324). The three are enjoined together in a peculiar love triangle. Rolf tells Azucena that he loves her more than he loved his mother, more than his sister, more than all the women who had slept in his arms, more than he loved [Eva], his life companion (Allende 330). Of course, he does not mean Eros love, the kind between adult men and women, but a more intrinsically human one of neighborly love and goodwill. Eva, in her turn, expresses her love for Rolf and Azucena when she admits that she would have given anything to be trapped in that well in her place, [and] would have exchanged her life for Azucenas (Allende 330). We are then forced to analyze whether the voyeuristic qualities of the media affects the different types of l ove shown in the story. For the most part, the media helps Eva to express stronger love for Rolf and to become connected to Azucena, whom she had never met. Without the media, Eva would never have known what had happened at the disaster as well as the identity of the little girl who had tremendously affected Rolf. For Rolf, his initial voyeurism through the lens of the camera had acted as a desensitizer and emotional barricade, and when faced with the crisis, his love for Azucena is bolstered as he comes to realize he must let go of his past and obligingly accept the situation. However, Rolfs love for Eva seems to have taken a hit after he returns from his ordeal (Allende 331). A bitter question one is forced to ask is what or who exactly Allende is blaming in her story, or if she is even blaming someone or something in particular for Azucenas death. While it is clear that Rolf definitely undergoes a psychological metamorphosis, we cannot logically assume that this change is for the better. The end of the story suggests that Rolf will never be the same man again, but that he will eventually heal (Allende 331). Eva hopes that one day when Rolf return[s] from [his] nightmares, they shall be the happy couple they used to be (Allende 331). However, the ending suggests that for Rolf, the incident was as traumatic as his initial trauma as a child. Rolf is not free from his past, as Eva would like him to be. In fact, although he is freed from his childhood trauma, he is still haunted by his failure to save Azucena. Perhaps Allende is suggesting that emotional healing can only occur when the victim is ready to be healed. Then is Allende blaming the media for Azucenas death? Alternatively, is she pointing out the gross inability of the government to intervene swiftly and to protect its citizens? Probably, a bit of both. The media is clearly depicted in a heartless, cold manner. Why did anyone not helped? Nevertheless, if any one thing is to be blamed, it should be the society where this incident occurred. Allende seems to be challenging the ineptitude and unpreparedness of the government and its leaders for not mustering the resources and courage to save the girl. The villagers are also criticized as unheeding fools who only brought the calamity upon themselves by not listening to the geologists. This makes it hard to blame anyone at all. Perhaps Allende is suggesting that it is unnecessary to blame anyone, but rather to calmly accept what happened, just as Azucena does in the end. One thing is though: that Allende does not approve of the social apathy that permeates throughout the story, and claims t hat it was the unwillingness to help that ultimately kills Azucena. This makes us wonder, just how dangerous it can be to remain a bystander, instead of actively assisting those who need our help. Reference: Amago, Samuel. Isabel Allende and the postmodern literary tradition: A reconsideration of Cuentos de Eva Luna. Latin American Literary Review 28.56 (Jul-Dec 2000): 43-61. Darley, John M., Allan I. Teger, and Lawrence D. Lewis. Do Groups Always Inhibit Individuals Responses To Potential Emergencies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 26.3 (1973): 395-399. Gough, Elizabeth (2004). Vision and Division: Voyeurism in the Works of Isabel Allende.Journal of Modern Literature,27(4),93-120. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID:801683111). Myers, David G. (2010). Social Psychology (10th Ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Picture power: Tragedy of Omayra Sanchez. BBC News 30 Sept. 2005. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4231020.stm. Rubenstein, R. Larson, C. (2002). Worlds of fiction (2nd Ed.). Isabel Allende, And of Clay Are We Created, 46-52. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

The Importance of Language in Clare Rossini’s Final Love Note and Louis

The Importance of Language in Clare Rossini’s Final Love Note and Louise Gluck’s Mock Orange Love is such an abstract concept for the human mind to figure out. Along with the love of a mother for her child, there are many types of sensual love or brotherly love; friendship is frequently described as a type of love, as well. This abstraction can also be distorted and made to fit into categories that would normally be associated with negativity and abuse not "love." Think of why a woman will continually go back to an abusive spouse with the irrational reason that "he loves me." If he loved you, he wouldn't beat you†¦Would he? In a poem, the confusion seems only to extend, as writers will describe a beautiful event that is tainted by a bad experience or emotion. In this manner, word choice plays a primary role in determining the actual meaning of the poem. Clare Rossini, in her poem entitled "Final Love Note" and Louise Gluck, in her poem "Mock Orange," both use carefully chosen language to portray different aspects of the concept that we, in individual and often irrationa l ways, use to explain "love." These particular writers use words of love and hate to explain extremely passionate feelings toward their personal relationships-and nature, an elm tree, and a Mock Orange bush, to be exact. Clare Rossini's ", Final Love Note," reflects a depth of emotion that, on the surface, is directed towards an elm tree that has died and must be cut down. She opens the poem describing an intensely intimate state in a relationship, and it is her word choice that reflects deeper into her love, than merely sadness due to the loss of a tree. "For months we've been together, hardly wanton,/ never touching. Yet your shade commingled/ with my clot... ...n the world?" (lines 21-24). Although Gluck and Rossini write of separate experiences and emotions related to both love and plants, their word choice is what keys the reader in to their meaning. By evaluating the language usage of a poet, a reader comes to appreciate the careful planning and preparation that goes into each poem of value. These writers know each of the meanings and definitions of the words that they chose, and as we have seen with Gluck, and especially Rossini, that choice has a great impact on how a reader will relate to the poems. With such abstract concepts as love and intimacy, it is the word usage that a writer must rely upon to convey the appropriate message. Sources Cited Gluck, Louise. Mock Orange Available at http://www.geocities.com/bjlandry_00/Otherwriters/gluckmockorange.html Rossini, Clare. Final Love Note Class Handout

Yeats’ Leda and the Swan and Van Duyns Leda Essay -- Leda Swan Essays

Yeats’ Leda and the Swan and Van Duyn's Leda  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In Greek mythology, Leda, a Spartan queen, was so beautiful that Zeus, ruler of the gods, decided he must have her. Since immortals usually did not present themselves to humankind in their divine forms, Zeus changed himself into a great swan and in that shape ravished the helpless girl (Carey 58-59). Both William Butler Yeats and Mona Van Duyn base their poems "Leda and the Swan" and "Leda," respectively, on this story of a "mystic marriage." Yeats' focus on the sexual act itself, along with his allusions to Leda's progeny, manifest a grave and terrifying tone. While he raises Leda to a status similar to that of Mary, mother of Jesus, Van Duyn portrays Leda as a universal mother. By making both figures, Leda and Zeus, ordinary, she gives a "surprising twist" (Greiner 337) to the original myth, emphasized by her witty tone. In addition, whereas Yeats suggests that Leda has gained something from her encounter with Zeus, Van Duyn asserts that she has gained nothing, portray ing women in general as primarily objects of men's satisfaction. Yeats begins his poem by concentrating on the mere depiction of the rape scene. Words such as "beating, dark, helpless," and "terrified" provide this violent act of intrusion with negative connotations. The victim, Leda, is helpless against the power of the aggressor, Zeus, and terrified by his actions. Recalling the original Greek myth, Yeats clearly shows Leda's resistance at every step ("staggering girl," "helpless breast," "terrified vague fingers push"). Zeus' relationship with Leda parallels human interaction in general with either Satan or God. In Christianity, the prevailing religion of Yeats' time, pious men attempt to push away ... ...f violence, and underlying religious motif. Overall, Yeats instills fear into the reader, while Van Duyn elicits an occasional laugh; however, both poems are equally effective, one for its religious message and the other for its man bashing.    Works Cited    Barnhart, Clarence L. and Robert K. The World Book Dictionary. Chicago:Doubleday, 1985.    Carey, Gary. Cliffs Notes on Mythology. Lincoln: C.K. Hillegass, 1973. Greiner, Donald J. "American Poets since World War II." Dictionary of LiteraryBiographies. Detroit:Doubleday, 1980.    Heaney, Seamus. The Redress of Poetry . New York: Noonday, 1995.    Magill, Frank N. Critical Survey of Poetry. Engelwood Cliffs: Salem Press, 1982. Vol. 7 "Torah: The Five Books of Moses." Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985.      

Discuss the emergence of realism in theatre

Theatre and Performance Lecturer: Ms Marcelle Theuma First term Discuss the emergence of realism in theatre at the turn of the 20th century and how you think it influenced playwrights like Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg and George Bernard Shaw. Miriana Borg Second year Group: 2A Realism in the theatre was a general movement in the later 19th century that steered theatrical texts and performances toward greater fidelity to real life.The realist dramatists Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg in Scandinavia and Anton Chekhov in Russia, and George Bernard Shaw, rejected the complex and artificial lotting of the well-made play and instead treated themes and conflicts belonging to a real, contemporary society. Henrik Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828. His mature work may be read as an effort to come to terms with reality, the reality of his early life and the reality of society as a whole. Ibsen is perhaps best known for eight plays he wrote in Italy and Germany. By separatin g himself physically from his homeland, he gained the freedom and perspective to criticize it.Ibsen embarked on a series of realistic prose plays exposing contemporary problems in contemporary Norwegian settings. Concentrating directly on Norwegian society, he addressed universal concerns, for the social problems that provide the context for these plays were instantly recognizable to audiences. Among them the question of women's rights in ‘A Doll House' (1879), hereditary syphilis in ‘Ghosts' (1881), and municipal corruption in ‘An Enemy of the People' (1882). Ibsen's realistic plays take place in three-dimensional rooms, rather than against tlat painted or architectural backdrops.Strindberg, and Chekhov each found a different dramatic model potential in the realistic mode evolved by Ibsen. Of the three, the Irish-born George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) most fully acknowledged his debt to Ibsen. Shaw believed that Ibsen fundamentally had transformed the theatrical for mula drawn from the French Boulevard plays by incorporating a new intellectual vigor in them. George Bernard Shaw was born in 1856 and he was know for his witty humor. He made fun of societes notion using for the purpose of educating and changing. His plays tended to show the accepted attitude, then demolished attitude while showing his own solutions.Some of his works include ‘Arms and the Man' (1894) which is about love nd war and honor and ‘Pygmalion' (1913) which shows the transforming of a flower girl into a society woman, and exposes the phoniness of society. Chekhov is known more for poetic expiration and symbolism, compelling psychological reality, people trapped in social situations, hope in hopeless situations. He claimed that he wrote comedies; others think they are sad and tragic. Characters in ChekhoVs plays seem to have a fate that is a direct result of what they are. His plays have an illusion of plotlessness.

Evaluate Break-Even Analysis as a Decision-Making Tool

3. 3 Evaluate break-even analysis as a decision-making tool. The definition of the Break-even analysis: The break-even analysis is an analysis of a product or company’s sales required to neither lose money nor make a profit, but simply to cover costs. Explain in mathematical term: total revenues – total costs = 0. The methods: By using a break-even formula or by drawing a break-even chart. Why is it so important using a break-even analysis?Because it gives vital information about a business or a company’s financial status, not just for a simple break-even point. For start-up businesses, it determines how businesses are setting-up prices for their projections to achieve a reasonable level of break-even point and safety margin. For an on-going business, it equally vital for review analysis and forecast its break-even point; as, how can it improve the relationship between fixed costs, variable costs and revenues and justify a right decision to achieve an ultimate re sult for a healthy business.Although it’s simple and easy to set-up, yet fundamentally it’s an essential decision-making tool for analysing all forms of businesses. For example: 1. Increase prices to raise total revenues, it creates a lower break-even point and better safety margin. 2. Reduce fixed costs or variable costs and prices remain the same also can lower the break-even point. 3. Reduce selling prices and variable costs to generate more sale revenues; equally it can lower the break-even point.