The Duchess of Malfi Essay examples -- Duchess of Malfi Webster Papers

The principal characters and their roles We follow after bubbles, blown in th'air. Pleasure of life, what is't? Only the good hours of an ague The Jacobean age was one of questioning and uncertainty about many issues, such as religion, politics and law. At the same time it was rediscovering the potency of Classical texts of Rome and Greece, and reinterpreting tragic form to suit its own ends. The Duchess of Malfi is a revenge tragedy, but Webster has used the form for much more than just its entertainment value; he has used it as a vehicle for the exploration of some themes relevant to the society of his time. Webster based his plot on a true story set in Italy, and kept the Italian setting because like Shakespeare and other playwrights of his day, he had to use politically-acceptable foreign settings in which to explore ideas such as those presented in The Duchess of Malfi, (which were really commentaries on the England of their own era), to do with inequality, injustice, and corruption, without causing outrage in response to his work. Antonio and The Duchess The fact that Antonio can never have an equal relationship with the Duchess has prompted some readers to feel that his importance as a character in the play is limited, while others suggest that his main role is as a mouthpiece for Webster's own judgements and opinions. To assess the importance of his role we need to consider it relation to the Duchess, and in the context of the play as a whole. Inequalities of power associated with gender and social status are highlighted in the relationship between The Duchess and Antonio, and the reactions of others towards their relationship. In Antonio's self-deprecating dying speech, Antonio: We follow afte... ... been pointed out that The Duchess of Malfi is a flawed play. For example Ferdinand reveals to Bosola a possible motive for wanting his sister to be murdered: Ferdinand: To have gain'd an infinite mass of treasure by her death. [Act 5, Scene ii] But this sounds unconvincing, as Malfi is little more than a poor fishing village. Moments such as these in the play have led it to be criticised for its plot, and it has other flaws. For example is it plausible that the Duchess could marry Antonio and have children in secret? Webster tends to neglect the importance of The Duchess' sons, and in Act 5 we see Delio apparently with a false heir. But in spite of these flaws The Duchess of Malfi has lasted and remained popular, not just for its potent entertainment value and Webster's masterful use of language, but also for the insights it gives us into Jacobean society.

American Society of the 1950’s Essay

He is attacking the American society for not doing it earlier, as Hale is only shown to realise what is happening when it is too late. Miller’s slow build up of tension throughout the scene emphasises the emotional trauma suffered by the victims of both Salem and McCarthy. Abigail’s dramatic entry, right at the climax of the scene, has a negative effect on the audience, as they already have an idea of how evil she is, and the extent to which she will go to get what she wants. She manipulates the mind of Danforth, who she is able to overpower, making him very uneasy at times, and shows him to be â€Å"weakening†, he asks questions â€Å"apprehensively†, and at times is â€Å"dumbfounded†. This is because Abigail is the only way he can prove that he is in the right, and that years of studies have not gone to waste. By making Danforth’s character so weak, Miller is condemning the fact that McCarthy is a weak man who has a closed mind over the things he says and does. The language throughout the whole scene is very extreme, ‘Whore’, for an extreme, negative effect on the audience. Mary is shown to be ‘pleading’ with Abigail and this shows the extent o fear in the people of Salem and in America in the 1950s. Mary Warren is unable to faint when asked to, and this immediately creates tension in the audience, as they, most probably, would want her to faint in order to save Proctor and Elizabeth. Her inability to faint only strengthens Abigail’s case, and this would only strengthen what Danforth stands for. She then changes her confession to saying that she did deal with the devil, â€Å"My name, he want my name†, and goes against Proctor. Miller is showing us here how people would lie to save their own lives, and kill those who have been most helpful to them, and this criticises the American society, where people would lie in order to save their own lives. This scene would anger the audience, and make them feel hatred towards Mary, Abigail and especially Danforth, who will now definitely sign the death warrant for Elizabeth. Again, by making the hero of the play suffer Miller is expressing his hatred towards McCarthy and the people who followed him. When Abigail feels threatened, she and the other girls pretend to be attacked by the devil, in the shape of a yellow bird. Abigail tells the bird that ‘envy is a deadly sin†, and then accuses Mary of being the bird. This is ironic as Abigail is most envious of Elizabeth, and this is the only reason why the court cases have come this far. The faked attacks grow anger in the audience, as everyone knows that they are pretending, and yet the people still believe them. Miller is portraying the American society of the 1950’s as ignorant and stupid, who will believe anything the court and McCarthy believe. John Proctor is shown to be a very Christ-like figure throughout the play. In the movie version, Proctor is shown to be in water when he chases Mary Warren after she has run out of court. When everyone is against him, he stands alone in the water, almost as if he is being baptised. By showing us this, Miller is hinting at the fact that only the people who told the truth were the real ‘gods’; as Jesus Christ is believed to be in Christianity, and the others were just liars, who sacrificed their friends, or in Salem’s case, their enemies, in order to save themselves. Proctor’s confession to committing lechery, in an attempt to save his wife, is a much tensed scene. The dramatic irony of Elizabeth not knowing he has confessed, and the ‘natural lie’ she tells in order to save her husband’s name, all create suspense in the audience, as they know that the Proctor’s are innocent, and yet because of the injustice of the court, one of them, if not both, will die. Miller is again criticising McCarthy and his laws, as the innocent are dying and the guilty live. Proctor’s damning lines at the end of the play suggest that there were some good people in Salem and in America during the 1950’s-people who would give their lives for their loved ones. In the movie, Proctor is shown to be reciting the God’s Prayer just before being hanged, and it was believed that witches were not able to recite the God’s Prayer. By showing him do this, Miller is showing everyone how blatant it was that the innocent were dying, and he criticises the citizens of Salem for not realising this, in other words, he is criticising the American society. This has a negative effect on the audience, as they appreciate the injustice of McCarthy, and how the people were not doing anything to save anyone. The Crucible on a whole is a single issue play. The main plot evolves around the main characters of the play, and the other characters seem to be props to fill in the missing spaces. It is for this reason that the play lacks subtlety in both the plot and the characters, and why John Proctor is made to be the main character of the play, the only believable character that we can identify with. Having considered the dramatic nature of this scene, I believe that it criticises McCarthyism and is an attack on the American society of the 1950’s. Miller does this by repeatedly showing the Salem citizens as ignorant and unintelligent. He attacks Danforth time and time again, showing him to be weak, and yet he is able to have power over the people, only because of the fact that he has higher authority then they have. The innocent characters are the ones who are killed, and the guilty characters are the ones who get away with their crimes. This highlights the very point that during 1950’s America, there was no justice whatsoever, and the only people who ruled were those who were able to put fear into the hearts of others. Naaila Haq English Coursework 10g1 – 1 – Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Factory Farming Essay Essay

Factory farming is one of the most controversial topics talked about around the world. Most people just believe their perfectly packaged meat from the supermarket comes from a normal farm. Little do they know, it’s much more than that. Consumers have no idea what animals go through just for them to have a great chicken or steak dinner. Jessica Leader of the Huffington Post states, 99% of the meat in the United States comes from factory farms. (Leader, paragraph1). Factory farming according to Webster’s Dictionary is a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost. This doesn’t sound so hurtful or damaging, but according to the Huffington Post, these operations cause distress for the animals that live there, and they are given chemicals, antibiotics and sometimes they even have diseases (Paragraph 2). Factory farming, in my opinion is really animal savagery and there is nothing healthy or positive about it. There are actually many health and environmental problems associated with industrial farming. For example, Jonathan Foer in his book, â€Å"Eating Animals† states â€Å"These animals are genetically engineered, restricted in mobility and fed unnatural diets.† (Page 34) Anything unnatural obviously can’t be healthy for the animals let alone the people who are being fed these animals after they are packaged and sent away to markets. In addition, factory farms are not healthy for the environment. A farm with 10,000 hogs produces as much fecal waste as a small city with 40,000 people, says Robert Martin of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of public health. (Kristof, Nicholas, page 2). Food people are consuming and fecal waste should not even be in the same association with each other. The hogs in a single country of North Carolina produce half as much waste as all of the people living in New York City. That fact right there clearly shows that factory farms are usin g very unsanitary conditions just to harm these animals, as well as the environment. Although not intentional, these farms hurt the animals without a care because people need to eat. Mass amounts of waste is a perfect example of air pollution. Soil used for vast crops as well as the manure are  the largest contributors to air pollution from the farms. Another big health risk of factory farming is the use of chemicals/antibiotics. Antibiotics are medicine prescribed from a doctor to humans or animals to kill infections and more then 80% of antibiotics was produced in 2011 to be fed to livestock. (Leader, #2) Factory farmers are giving these to the animals who aren’t sick. Routinely they are given antibiotics, in order to help them grow quicker in small living conditions. Infections can also be given because of antibiotics, which puts Americans at risk everyday because of overuse (Paragraph 13). The animals are fed the medicines to fight disease that they don’t have, pretty much infecting the humans as well. People could be getting sick because of the f oods their eating everyday without even knowing it. Taking antibiotics not prescribed to you sometimes allows unwanted bacteria to grow causing a person to get sick when they weren’t going to be in the first place. Although there seems to be no positive reasons as to why factory farming could benefit anyone, the only benefit besides people not starving really is it’s efficiency. Because it’s a fast and organized system, these farms have no choice but to make a lot of money for themselves and the government. Consumers are obviously buying all things that are being made mainly because they don’t really know what’s being put into the meat they are buying. Because there are not enough reasons to convince me why factory farming is positive to anyone at all, I think that it’s a very negative way to get our food. Kristof states in his article â€Å"Is That Sausage Worth This?† that animals, â€Å"Live out their adult lives without exercise or meaningful social interaction; it’s like a life sentence of solitary confinement in a coffin†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kristof, Nicholas, Paragraph 7). In no way, shape or form is that fair to an innocent animal. Animals shouldn’t have to be kept prisoners in small places just to be poisoned, killed and eaten. All of the various drugs and chemicals are harming the animals and humans that it touches. More animals are being slaughtered and fed different chemicals that aren’t safe for people to be eating all the time. If the government truly cared about societies health, they would try to stop unsanitary and unhealthy conditions such as this. In 1906, a situation just as similar to this had risen with the meat packing industry. In that year, Upton Sinclair a reformer/socialist released his book The Jungle which told a horrible story of Chicago’s meat packing industry. Because of this book, society started to change severely. The issue of the unsanitary and unfair working conditions got to the president and he knew he had to make a change. President Theodore Roosevelt had a bill signed on June 30th of that same year, called The Meat Inspection Act. This banned packers from using unhealthy dyes, chemical preservatives and adulterants. By studying what happened to improve the industry in the 1900’s I believe that our food system could then make some changes. This act should still be in effect, but the way it’s been worked around, it seems as if factory farming really isn’t harming people at all. It’s an undercover system. Obama already started trying to fix these problems by undertaking a push beginning in 2010 to strengthen antitrust of the meat industry. Kristof, Nicholas, Paragraph 4). I still believe that overtime they could find better products to give the animals that are safer and healthier for both them to live a little longer, and us to be healthier. Personally, I believe that if people including myself start to buy more healthier, organic foods, and less meat, producers will start to realize that maybe people are seeing the truth. Organic foods are just made in a safer way, without really harming animals and they’re also more nutritious as well. Also, in some way people need to be informed of what’s really being put into their food and actually try to make a difference instead of sitting there and watching themselves be harmed by things that should be giving them a better well being. Over time, hopefully factory farms die out and there will be a better system to produce our foods. Analysis of Sources Form Give the following information for each source that you use in your research paper. Source 1) Title of Source 9 Facts About Factory Farming that Will Break Your Heart . Name of Author Jessica Leader . Date of publication March 17, 2014  . Publisher: The Huffington Post . Where did you find the source? Online . Type of Source (Is your source a book, magazine, newspaper, journal, etc?) The source is an online article from a newspaper. Credentials of the author: Check your source for information about the author or google his/her name) Jessica Leader is the Huffpost Green associate editor. Publisher: How long has the publisher been in business? What other publications does the publisher publish?____Not sure how long the publisher has been in business, but she wrote several articles in the Huffington Post . Reasons why this source is reliable:____Real information and real live pictures to show how gruesome factory farming is. Reasons why this source may be unreliable: There may be some opinions listed, not all people may be heart broken from this. Source 2) Title of Source Eating Animals . Name of Author Jonathan Safran Foer . Date of publication 2009 . Publisher: Little, Brown and Company . Where did you find the source? I was told to read this novel last semester in English 12. Type of Source (Is your source a book, magazine, newspaper, journal, etc?) Source is a book . Credentials of the author: Check your source for information about the author or google his/her name) Foer is most known for his two novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Known especially for his storytelling in non-traditional ways . Publisher: How long has the publisher been in business? What other publications does the publisher publish? His first novel was published in 2002, and he’s written many other books as well. Reasons why this source is reliable: first hand source, someone who has experienced and studied factory  farming on his own. Reasons why this source may be unreliable: The novel includes a lot of his opinion and a reader may interpret those things as facts. Source 3) Title of Source Is That Sausage Worth This? Name of Author Nicholas Kristof . Date of publication February 19, 2014 . Publisher: The New York Times . Where did you find the source? CUNY online library . Type of Source (Is your source a book, magazine, newspaper, journal, etc?) Online, newspaper article. Credentials of the author: Check your source for information about the author or google his/her name) Columnist for The New York Times since 2001, writes op-ed columns that are in the paper twice a week. Mr. Kristof won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in 1990 and 2006. Publisher: How long has the publisher been in business? What other publications does the publisher publish? He joined the Times in 1984, and as well as columns in the paper he is the author of a chapter in a book on George W. Bush. Reasons why this source is reliable: He has been in the business for a very long time, so he is clearly smart and speaks facts. Reasons why this source may be unreliable: Newspaper columnists can too make mistakes when writing. Source 4) Title of Source The Unhealthy Meat Market . Name of Author Nicholas Kristof . Date of publication March 12, 2014 . Publisher: The New York Times . Where did you find the source? CUNY online library . Type of Source (Is your source a book, magazine, newspaper, journal, etc?) Online, newspaper article. Credentials of the author: Check your source for information about the author or google his/her name) Columnist for The New York Times since 2001, writes op-ed columns that are in the paper twice a week. Mr. Kristof won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in 1990 and 2006. Publisher: How long has the publisher been in business? What other publications does the publisher publish? He joined the Times in 1984, and as well as columns in the paper he is the author of a chapter in a book on George W. Bush. Reasons why this source is reliable: He has been in the business for a very long time, so he is clearly smart and speaks facts. He wouldn’t continue to be working with the Times if he wasn’t knowledgable. Reasons why this source may be unreliable: Sometimes there are errors in breaking news. WORKS CITED Leader, Jessica. â€Å"9 Facts About Factory Farming That Will Break Your Heart (GRAPHIC PHOTOS).† The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/factory-farming-facts_n_4063892.html Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating animals. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print. Kristof, Nicholas. â€Å"Is That Sausage Worth This?.† The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/opinion/kristof-is-that-sausage-worth-this.html Kristof, Nicholas. â€Å"The Unhealthy Meat Market.† The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/opinion/kristof-the-unhealthy-meat-market.html

Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick

Running head: MARKETING GIMMICK 1 Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick? Ong Shi Meng MARKETING GIMMICK 2 Is Going Green Nothing More Than a Marketing Gimmick? â€Å"Marketing† has a lexical definition, which is â€Å"theory and practice of commercial selling†, whereas the persuasive definition is â€Å"the activities of promoting products or services in order to gain profits or other advantages by changing consumers’ attitudes towards a brand†. Green marketing is somewhat similar, but it is the activities of promoting products or services that are presumed to be eco-friendly.There are many perspectives on green marketing, for example, it is just a marketing strategy of a corporate and it is mainly targeting on consumers who are concern of environmental issues. To put it simply, a business is utilizing green marketing tactics when their marketing message is targeting the eco-conscious members of the target market, for example, a Web hosting provider markets itself as environmentally friendly to prospective customers by touting the fact that their facilities is run by wind or solar power.Another example would be in food marketing, where you’ll find products marketed as organic or pushing the fact that it’s from local farmers (meaning less preservatives and less waste in transporting the food). Essentially, the marketing campaign revolves to some degree around appealing to a consumer base trying to be more environmentally friendly. While my overall outlook on green marketing is a positive one, because of its consumer-driven and often altruistic to at least a degree, I do think there’s a flip-side where certain green marketing techniques are simply gimmicks.First, there’s green-washing, the false claims about environmental issues to raise concerns with the public, convincing them there’s a problem that may not even exist, and then pushing your product as a solution. In this case, consume rs who fall for the trick are committing the fallacy of inappropriate appeal to authority. According to McGraw-Hill (2012), the fallacy means we look to an authority in a MARKETING GIMMICK 3 field other than that under investigation.Similarly, consumers tend to buy green products from an authority that is not specialized or professional in environmental issues. This is just deceitful, and we’re in a day and age now where it’s very likely you’ll be caught and publicly exposed. Lie is a deliberate attempt to mislead without prior consent of the target (McGraw-Hill, 2012). I also think the premium prices for green products will eventually become a thing of the past.As people come to  expect  more products to be environmentally friendly, their willingness to pay more (looking at the items as special in some way) will diminish. However, with the demand rooted in personal convictions, I don’t think the demand for green products will fade to match that price issue – companies will find a way to go green for less. When it comes to green marketing, the real key is to be sincere. If you truly care about the environment, and are acting out of that concern first and foremost, consumers will notice.Taking actions is definitely more effective than using emotive language, language that is purposely chosen to elicit certain emotional impact in order to promote products which might be useless for consumers. Focus on building a more sustainable business beyond simply being able to increase prices or appeal to the eco-savvy markets. MARKETING GIMMICK 4 References McGraw-Hill. (2012). Think. New York: NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Political Kuwait before and after oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political Kuwait before and after oil - Essay Example Prior to the discovery of oil in Kuwait, their political structure was that different political classes were indebted to one another. This included the pearl divers, the captains, the merchants, the international merchants, and the ruling family, including the Sheikh. The entire political and governance structure was supported by debt that could not be rapid due to its amount. This, however, changed with discovery of oil as the government began to distribute wealth deliberately among all its recognized citizens. Kuwait also became a welfare state, while money was also funneled into the private sector through land purchases from the government at inflated prices (Slot 106). This worked to wipe out almost all debts owed by citizens. Prior to the discovery of oil, the Sheikh in Kuwait carried out all the executive functions of government, including the arbitration of disputes, using customary rules. Those disputes that he felt were covered under Sharia law were sent to the judges, although this was only to allow him make an informed and just decision (Slot 102). For this reason, it was important that the ruler availed himself to the people through open Majlis that enabled them to present grievances and disputes directly to the ruler. However, with the discovery of oil, government work expanded rapidly to include numerous agencies as required. The machinery of government diversified to include the Supreme Council that was constituted by various heads of government agencies. The Supreme Council became almost like a Politburo in that it reflected sharing of power among individuals linked to the ruling family, while the Amir’s continued absence from its sittings gave it a level of independence despite his con tinued chairmanship. In a further change to political structure away from the centralized figure of the Amir, the Organizing Body was formed to reform government

Cultural Diversity in clinical laboratory sciences Essay - 1

Cultural Diversity in clinical laboratory sciences - Essay Example Among the Asians, blood is regarded as the energy of life that is passed on to children by the elders and ancestors and therefore should not be given away. Similarly, the elders among Afro American are highly respected and are considered to be the source of wisdom and knowledge (CultureDiversity.Com). Among the Afro Americans, religion is an indispensable and fundamental component of culture. It is central to their health and wellness believing that God is the giver of good health and can also cause illness. On the other hand, Asians believe in the balance of nature whereby balance is accomplished when the body is healthy and illness arises when this balance is lost. In contrast to the Asian community, the Afro Americans are highly sensitive to racism, which is derived from their history of oppression as slaves of American farmers. For example, restraint on a child who is tied on the bed to effectively apply intravenous lines is viewed by the guardian as a form of oppression based on her past experience with white masters. The reference of a black young man as a boy is also considered to be offensive in the Afro American culture, which is a word associated with slavery by the whites. In contrast to the Afro American, the Asian patient is unlikely to talk about his/her feelings of sickness unless the symptoms are notable by others. Under circumstances of ill health, the Afro American turns to prayers (CultureDiversity.Com). Understanding cultural diversity is useful in establishing the appropriate way to interact with patients from varied cultures. For example, it is important to understand restraint among Chinese patients while avoiding actions that may indicate racial tendencies among the Afro Americans. It is important for healthcare professionals to appreciate cultural diversity since they deal with patients from different cultural backgrounds. The first contact with a patient determines his/her

The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe - Essay Example National Identity is a very important part of our personality. The formation of national identity is a process of comparing and contrasting the values of our own nation with the values, principles and beliefs of other nations. Certainly, not all the people have an opportunity to travel, thus we have got another reliable and valuable source of information that help us form our views and got different feelings. This is an art. We see films and beautiful pictures, read poems and novels created by our ancestors and also modern artists. Studying the masterpieces of art, we receive valuable information about our history and this helps us form our own identity. We can learn about what is good and what is bad from different examples provided by the pieces of art. Art also serves as a reflection of our own feelings and thoughts. However, not all the information we receive is true and it is important to understand what to absorb and what to ignore. When the Great War was over, a new important period started began in the life of America. Actually, this period predetermined the future of the United States and its reputation of the most developed country in the world. It was a period of thriving, the time of economic development. There were many new opportunities opened for Americans that time and it is natural that this made the United States attractive for immigrants. The myth of American Dream appeared and many people from different countries in the world left their motherland to come to the United States seeking for better life. The United States became multicultural that caused many problems for immigrants. Instead of American Dream they faced terrible racial intolerance. Guy Vanderhaeghe tells us the story of Harry Vincent, a young scenarist, and his boss, a rich man Damon Chance, who wanted to create a special movie. The main purpose of the Damon Chance is to create a real â€Å"American† movie, which would reflect n amely American spirit. Chance thinks that the main problem of Americans is the lack of national identity. Here we can trace the attitude of Chance towards immigrants. It seems that he accuses multiculturalism caused by mass immigration of the lack of national identity in The United States. He respects real American nation and is sorry that it does not have its own art. He wants to create a real American masterpiece: â€Å"The Germans gave the world their music. The Romans their architecture. The Greeks their tragedies. We recognize the soul of a people in their art" (Vanderhaeghe 108). Chance is irritated by European’s domination and wants to help form separate American national identity. He criticized Griffith: â€Å"It was pure genius on [Griffith’s] part to advertise [The Birth of a Nation] as fact. Americans are a practical people, they like facts.†¦ You mark my words, Harry, there’ll come a day when the public won’t swallow any of our stories unless they believe them to be real. Everybody wants the real thing, or thinks they do.†¦ Facts are the bread America wants to eat. The poetry of facts is the poetry of the American soul† (Vanderhaeghe 19). Damon paid Harry Vincent for creating a scenario about a history of a cowboy. The book is divided into two parts with parallel plots and this makes the novel unique. The second half tells us about a boy who is travelling to Cypress Hills. This was done by the author to demonstrate the different interpretation of the same story. We have a chance to trace the process of movie making and compare it with the story of a real boy. The reader can see how the both Harry and the Englishman boy try to resist the actions of their common opponent Damon Chance and how this forms the plot of the book. At first, Harry was impacted by Damon Chance’s aspiration to create a movie and was going to do his best to