Friday, January 31, 2020

An essay considering whether Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

An essay considering whether Romeo and Juliet Essay Romeo and Juliet was a play written by William Shakespeare in 1595. William Shakespeare died on St. Georges day, 23rd April, 1616, making Romeo and Juliet one of his earlier plays; written in what is now described as his second period, from his joining the Lord Chamberlains men in 1594 to the opening of the Globe Theatre in 1599. The diversity of Shakespeares work included comedies, histories and tragedies as well as poetry. Romeo and Juliet comes under the category of a tragedy, tragedy meaning an event in which something dreadful occurs, or in a theatrical sense a serious play with a tragic theme, often involving a heroic struggle and the downfall of the main character. This definition of tragedy relates to Romeo and Juliet because it is a play in which both the principal characters die in preventable circumstances at the close of the play. The downfall of Romeo and Juliet occurs by the fact that both characters start as young, beautiful descendents of powerful families and find themselves fleeing the city of Verona in fear of their lives and their relationship both banished by the authorities or their own households. However, an alternative view could be developed by looking at the perception of the word tragedy when the play was written; in the late 16th century. People of the time were of the view that if something tragic were to happen it must happen to a person of innocence, otherwise it is not technically tragic. Romeo is not an innocent person because he takes the life of another person on more that one occasion, with the murders of Tybalt and Paris. Even though there is the argument that these crimes were a consequence of his obsessive and at times over-enthusiastic love for Juliet, they are still actions that take away his virtuousness. Juliet damages her purity by treating the wishes and guidance of her parents with contempt and disregarding the arranged marriage to Paris. These egocentric actions help develop another, more imperfect impression of the two protagonists which provides an argument against Romeo and Juliet being a tragic play. In further illustration, tragic storylines generally end in unhappy circumstances, which on the one hand Romeo and Juliet does with the many deaths, for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Whilst on the other hand it could be argued that a more exultant conclusion occurs by the fact that the long-standing feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is finally resolved through their deaths. Basis for this statement is provided in the final scene by Capulet, O brother Montague, give me thy hand, this is my daughters jointure, for no more can I demand. In Shakespearean times Romeo and Juliet would have been compared to such tragic plays as Hamlet and Macbeth which were tragedies to the exact definition because they entailed stories of monarchs with flawed characters diminishing from the highest place in society to death over the course of the play. These stories fulfilled the public criteria for a tragic tale; a concept initially introduced by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived from 384 to 382 BC. He produced directives for the perfect tragedy, concepts which heavily influenced academics and writers throughout Europe. He dictated that, the tragic heroes of any play must be people of royal or other high-born backgrounds. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet can be argued against being a tragedy because the two central characters are not royalty or part of any particular hierarchy. Many contend that being young and beautiful puts them in a social position to surpass most to begin with, although this does not fit unerringly into Aristotles theory. Aristotle exactly specifies the protagonists must be of royal or other high-born backgrounds, explicitly kings or generals, which Romeo and Juliet are not. The aforementioned statement can be supported by the following quotation from act three, scene one, in which Romeos killing of Tybalt is analysed, with the prince announcing, Immediately we do exile him hence. The fact that he has been exiled prior to his death illustrates further the fact that he is at a low point in society. Additionally, Aristotle also expresses his belief that these high born protagonists should have fatal flaws which lead to their downfall. Romeos fatal flaw is his impetuous and spontaneous nature which causes him to act before thoroughly thinking about what he is doing and considering the consequences of his actions. An example of his rashness comes when Balthasar tells Romeo that Juliet is dead, not knowing it is a faked death, hire post-horses, I will hence to-night. Here he is saying he will return to Verona, which he has been banished from, without waiting for news from Friar Lawrence; an action, as the audience soon finds out, that causes his death. His hot-headed rashness develops into the fuel for his uncontrollable obsession for his love, Juliet; who herself is fatally flawed by her notorious and narcissistic disobedience which causes her to defy the instructions and beliefs of her family. Juliet becomes so caught up in the irrepressible ardour of her relationship with Romeo that she fails to see the outrage and hatred she is rousing from an already hostile feud between two households. An example of her defiance comes when her mother tells her of her arranged marriage to Paris, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. Here she refuses to marry Paris, which infuriates her parents, causing them to reject their daughter; and inevitably her characters downfall as she is now shamed. These self-centred actions defiantly caused their demise leading to their death because if they both were to act with less haste when fuelling their love for each other then some of the consequences that occurred may have been prevented. Therefore, it is possible to maintain that Romeo and Juliet both suffered dramatic downfalls due to their own actions. On the contrary to this it could also be argued that as both their families recognised their lives by erecting statues of them, for I will raise her statue in pure gold, their characters therefore living on in a manner of speaking, meaning that their characters were not entirely degraded by their actions, thus rendering their characters not downfallen. Moreover, another notion primarily introduced by Aristotle was centred around the audiences perception of a tragedy, and how this could be used to define a tragic play. He said that the audience should feel pity and terror, pity for the hero and terror at the importance of the gods. This relates to Romeo and Juliet in the sense that the heroic characters are Romeo and Juliet themselves, whom the audience does feel a certain amount of pity for because of the unfortunate and seemingly preventable misfortunes that happen to them throughout the course of the play. Juliet is pitied for the fact that she is disowned by her family, do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Flood of Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis of the Holy Bible :: Epic Gilgamesh essays

  The Flood of Gilgamesh  Ã‚     Perhaps the most popular comparison with Noah's Flood is that of an ancient Babylonian story of a similar flood. A quick look at the text does show some key similarities between them however there are also some pointed differences. I will show you both and let you decide whether there is or is not a connection.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First let us look at the similarities:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *It is set in the Iraqi/Turkey area.....similar to the Biblical Flood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *A man is warned by a god to build a ship so he could survive a coming flood, sent by the divine powers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The man is told to save himself, his family, and a sampling of all living things.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The boat was to be sealed with resin inside and out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *A set time is made by the divinity for the flood to begin.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The flood includes both rain and water from the surface.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The flood covered the mountains.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The boat came to rest on a mountain first.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *Birds were released to test for whether or not the waters had receeded.   In the Biblical account, a raven and a dove were released. In the Gilgamesh account, a dove, swallow, and raven were released.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *Once out of the boat, the man offers a sacrifice to the divinity which brings comfort to the divinity at the sweet scent of the sacrifice.         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Now for the differences:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The Babylonian tale never says why the gods chose to save the man in the story. It was pretty much dumb luck.   In the Bible, Noah was a rightous man amidst a population of evil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The boat dimensions are quite different. The boat in the story of the Babylonian flood is a cube, equal on all sides. While in the Bible, Noah is told to build his Ark in a 450x75x45 ratio. This ratio is what is known to ship builders as the perfect ratio for stabilty for a boat but it was not known until the 15th century AD.   The Gilgamesh boat, being equal on all sides, would have been wildly unstable and unseaworthy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   *The Babylonian man   took seven days to build his boat while Noah took 120 years. Why would such a numerology rich people use such a non-numerology number as 120 when seven was already in the story?

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Magazine Article on E-books

Cassettes-sidelined! DVDs –gathering dust! VHS-retired! Technology mutates and evolves leaving redundant platforms in its place. Much of the time technology is beneficial and change is good, however occasionally change is not so auspicious and we do not realise what we have lost until it’s truly gone. The book. The Bible, The odyssey and The Gruffalo (and that’s not even mentioning the poets).All books which have stood the test of time and are still being read as much today as the moment they were published; with these texts societies were bound and broken; lessons were learned and empires fell; all to the humble book. However the brazen veteran; the book; is endanger of being stripped of its crown by the young and brash E-book. In the words of Northrop Frye books are the only piece of technology which has not become socially defunct–Yet! They have stood firm whilst DVDs, tapes and vinyl like empires, rose and fell.However the frog like e-book with its dul l boring features and its fabulously annoying Wifi connectivity could be the bane of books. E-books are vastly growing in nature, like a weed; multiplying on every train, beach and plane you see them they are growing in number and his suggested by 2016 there will be nearly 10 billion of these dastardly devices roaming the world. Even the mere existence of E-books has created a whole new type of piracy where people are ripping off hard working authors and publishers by getting counterfeit e-books online for free.This illegal practice was consummated by the emotionless e-book. These characterless devices rob the tangible nature you get from books. The feel of the paper the smell of the ink all contribute to the sensation we get from reading. E-books rob this from us and sadly soon children will not understand this interaction as they will be more familiar with the blistering headache the monotonous e-book provides.

Monday, January 6, 2020

How Employee Motivation Is Important For Organizations

Employee motivation is important for organizations to produce the desired results needed and function effectively. In this essay we review rewards and recognition, trust, and employee development, as motivational issues that are challenging Cummins Western Canada today. These challenges are affecting the environment, the performance, and the culture of the organization. Looking at some motivation theories, we will analyze the issues identified and provide some ideas for improvement to this challenge. Cummins Western Canada (CWC) employs around 400 people that are located throughout 14 branches. Many significant changes to the business took place in the last five years, one significant change was due to ethical issues with the president†¦show more content†¦The bonus structure for mid-management leaders are based on total CWC performance, unfortunately there is no individual reward for the department that outperforms their forecasted expectations, but carries the load for others that do not perform well. Second, we look at the issue with trust in the organization. Many changes took place in the last five years and many tactics, including fear were used to motivate and manipulate employees to do what management wanted. The result of this fear environment also created silos where many people only focused on their own individual tasks, not to risk raising their hand or sticking out in any way that may bring attention. Wiener’s theory (1974, Lam 2014, p.59) focuses on the interpretation of success and failure based on events that have taken place. As we can see, these events that have happened to tear down the trust in our organization were internal, unstable and uncontrollable. McClelland’s theory of needs (Lam 2014, p.52) discusses the need for affiliation, achievement and power which focus on satisfying the manifest needs. Employees that have a need for affiliation, seek a harmonious work environment with sharing, communication, and cooperation. This type of environment did not take place under our previous leadership team, so now the task is to gain the trust back by intently listening to the employees and following up. Building relationships with all employees will also help foster anShow MoreRelatedTHE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE1110 Words   |  5 PagesMotivation can be a key-contributing factor in employee performance. It is of great importance to an organization to recognize ways in which it can use employee motivation to positively affect employee performance. 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