Shakespeare and Angela Carter and their works Macbeth and Blood Chamber Essay Example for Free

Shakespeare and Angela Carter and their works Macbeth and Blood Chamber Essay Shakespeare and Angela Carter present through their work of ‘Macbeth’ and ‘The Bloody Chamber’ the struggles of women rebelling against gender stereotypes and how they fall victim to the patriarchal society they are a part of. Firstly, Shakespeare shows the importance of gender boundaries in society and how women who do not conform to their gender stereotypes will be punished. In Macbeth Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth to show this. Lady Macbeth throughout the play influences and controls her husband Macbeth for personal gain, she does this by taunting her husband which is already the first sign that she doesn’t conform to the stereotypical 16th-century woman who would usually be submissive to their husband. â€Å"When you durst do it, then you were a man† here we see that the gender roles have switched because it’s the wife who has the power here, by saying you ‘were a man’ is telling of this, she is almost mocking him by inferring that if he doesn’t murder Duncan then he is a ‘woman’ in the sense that he was too weak to carry out the murder showing how society viewed women as almost ‘delicate’ however in this scene it’s the woman who has the power. Lady Macbeth teases Macbeth because she knows how if he murders Duncan that she will gain power, now as they’re in a highly patriarchal society Lady Macbeth would not have had any social hierarchy over men but if she becomes queen she will have that power and this would have been desirable for her, as Shakespeare has shown us through her not follow social stereotypes that she has more ‘masculine’ desires rather than women who conform to society by following their only purpose in having children which Lady Macbeth opposes through her description of infanticide she has no interest in having children. To a Jacobean audience, this would be absurd because women’s only purpose in society in the 16th century was to provide men with children. Shakespeare is showing us here how she is against the most feminine thing for a woman and is almost striving for her own personal gain of power which is more masculine in the sense that in most Jacobean plays/stories it is onl y men who strive for power and is a masculine trait traditionally. In The Bloody Chamber, we see a masculine trait again is given to a female character, Carter gives the role of the hero who saves the damsel in distress to the protagonist’s mother which again in traditional stories is a male stereotype where a man would come to save the female who has been captured. The mother is identified with power as she’s described as having â€Å"furious justice† which shows that Carter and Shakespeare have both given female characters that power or shown that like Lady Macbeth they are capable of wanting/having that power. However, a female craving this power is not punished in The Bloody Chamber like it is in Macbeth with her being haunted by her feeling of guilt with her having visions of blood on her hands â€Å"come out, damned spot! But I command you!† as we can see from the way Shakespeare wants this presented as she’s shouting it’s obviously driving her insane as she can see it but no one else can and thus Shak espeare shows how a woman is punished for rebelling against gender stereotypes by her seeking power and has gone insane due to a man’s actions and therefore takes the consequences. But The Bloody Chamber doesn’t punish women for trying to gain power like in Macbeth but through the use of fetishes and sexual desires, they are punished. In The Bloody Chamber, the main protagonist is seen as having sexual desires through the words â€Å"thrusting†, â€Å"ecstasy†, †burning cheek† and â€Å"tender† the main protagonist is usually described with sexual words like this throughout the story. This is a continuative theme throughout the story even by things such as the red necklace she is given by the count which can symbolize blood is a reference to sexual fetishes and desires. However, the same intrigue that allows her to explore sexuality also forces her to explore the secret room which allows her to discover the bodies of the counts old wives. Like Lady Macbeth who is punished for her husband’s actions, the main protagonist in this story would also have been punished for her husband’s actions that being that she discovered his murders and would have been killed by him for discovering them until she is saved by her empowered mother. Secondly, we also see the rebelling of gender stereotypes through the merging of the genders with female and masculine traits being given to opposite-sex characters in Macbeth and The Bloody Chamber. In Macbeth, we see the characters of the witches who cross the line between female and male gender stereotypes. â€Å"You should be a woman, yet your beards forbid me† showing that Shakespeare even blurred the lines of gender through their appearance and thus they rebel against the patriarchal society by not conforming to these stereotypes of looking like a woman and it shows through the confusion of Banquo who has been indoctrinated by the patriarchy and knows nothing else. However, even with the witches who have tried to rebel from gender stereotypes even through appearance they still fall victim to the patriarchy. They have received the punishment of being segregated from a society which is most likely due to the time being that in the 16th century England the fad for witch hun ting was at its peak. A critic states: ‘Of all Shakespeares female characters Lady Macbeth stands out far beyond the rest — remarkable for her ambition, strength of will, cruelty, and dissimulation.’ I agree with this statement that Lady Macbeth stands out and has traits such as ‘strength of will’ because of â€Å"That made you break your enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man† it would have been unheard of for someone like Lady Macbeth who is a representation of a woman in 16th century Elizabethan England to stand up and taunt their husband like she does which does show strength, it also shows her rebelling against gender stereotypes because it’s unfeminine for a woman to mock their husband for not being a man in considering if she wasn’t married she would have no power at all in society and therefore doing this could be seen as a risk to a woman and therefore making Lady Macbeth ‘strong’ and ‘ambitious’ As Lady Macbeth propels her husband toward committing Duncans murder, she indicates that she must take on masculine characteristics. Her most famous speech

Juvenile Justice: Age and Judicial Culpability Essay -- Criminal Justi

This paper will first define culpability, explore its various levels and examine how it is used during sentencing. Next, this paper will examine literature that supports the belief that age is not the key factor in determining culpability and should not be used to determine guilt or innocence during trial. Finally, this paper will suggest that trying juveniles as adults and remanding them into adult facilities is ineffective at decreasing juvenile crime rates. These issues will be reviewed to determine if physical (chronological) age is a justifiable cause to lessen culpability or an excuse used to mask the ineffective research efforts of lawmakers. Culpability has long been defined as a legal term that is used by judicial officials to describe the level of responsibility each person has for a crime Giedd et al (1999). Prosecutors use courtroom jargon such as culpability based on physical age as a legal excuse to persuade courtroom officials to reduce sentences for juvenile offenders. Studies taken from Corriero (2007) revealed that a â€Å"normal† child can decipher right from wrong as early as the age of 2 physical years but it may take up to 1 additional year for an abnormal child to develop that same unit of cognitive measure. This statement suggests that although it may take longer for anâ€Å"abnormal† child to reach the same level of understanding mentally, one calendar year does not have to open the door for lessened criminal liability. This raises the chronological age of normal children and lessens the age of abnormal children in many cases. For example, a 14 year old (chronological age) child can have t he mental age of a 6 year old or vice versa. Juvenile accountability varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction throughout the ... ...dies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition Vol. 80, No. 1 (Oct., 1995), pp. 41-49 Smit, D. (2005) The Abolition of Capital Punishment for Persons Under the Age of Eighteen Years in the United States of America. What Next? Oxford Journals Law Human Rights Law Review Volume 5, Issue 2 Pp. 393-401 Staniels, J. (1995) Grading Culpability at Sentencing: The Example of Sentencing Entrapment: Federal Sentencing Reporter Vol. 7, No. 4, Criminal Law Defenses at Sentencing pp. 178-180 Steinberg, L & Scott, E.(2003) Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence: Developmental Immaturity, Diminished Responsibility, and the Juvenile Death Penalty. American Psychologist, Vol 58(12), 1009-1018 Winter, H ( 2006)The Economics of Crime: An Introduction to Rational Crime Analysis 5th and 14th Amendment Retrieved from www.findlaw.com October 29, 2011

Materialism vs. Simple Living

The definition of materialism is not far-fetched from the word material, from which it was derived. Materialism simply means the quest for possessions. Some would readily call it acquisition of goods. It is a term encoding a life style born in a continuous desire to acquire goods of this world with possibly an end result of deriving satisfaction. Hardly any will argue that human needs some basic things in life, conversely, what has been an imprecise issue is, what these human’s needs are. This has generated a lot of argument both in the distant and recent past. However, an agreement has been arrived at that human’s needs are basically Food, shelter and Clothing. Virtually all schools of thought have given assent to these three basic needs, but the question yet unanswered is, will life be bearable with just these three things? Apparently, anybody attempting the above question will answer with a salvo no!, for the idea of human without cars, mobile phones, computers etc is a painful conception itself not to mention human practically living it. At this juncture, we cannot but subscribe to the materialist doctrine, for all logical human know that these material things do not only make our everyday lives easy, they virtually make our existence possible and a reality. Following a logical trend, few would disagree with the fact that too much of many human’s habit is bad. Like a medical doctor will rightly explain that too much smoking is dangerous to health, psychologists would claim that a child being exposed to too much film full of violence is wrong, consequently, it will not be far away from truth to claim that too much desire for materials things is wrong. After all, these things we claim give satisfaction to us are short termed, that can be referred to as timed satisfaction, such as things that do not stand the test of time after a longing for them. It is simply ephemeral (short live). Taking a philosophical flight, one would realize that human can be considerably happy with little or few material things. Imagine the sheer pleasure of sitting under a tree in a nearby park on an early morning before sunrise, with the natural bliss of early singing birds waking all the blossoming flowers. This priceless experience could be unparallel to any acquisition of all the wealth in the world. Aren’t the best things of life free? Living a materialistic existence is a habitual passion to quench thirst for unnecessary luxuries that probable in the end bring pain to human. Imagine the expense of maintaining tax on a garage of cars of different models and brands. The lifestyle could be based on some objective and subjective reasons. For example, a quest for comfort at all time backs up the need to get equipped with different form of   expensive automobiles even though it is certain that more than one cannot be in use at the same time. Some will rather submit that materialistic existence is more than ninety percent base on psychologically reasons that may be unfit to hearing. Many rather remain silence at such a question about the necessity of getting those materials. â€Å"We are dust, and to dust we shall return†! This was an aged verdict of the creator of men. Who sees us occupying space for only a calculated period of time. With a strong holding on this believe, majority of the people who consciously live a simple lifestyle attached reasons to this. Others who are known to live a simple lifestyle really do not have a genuine excuse other than the financial strength to maintain the pace of materialism without wearing out in the lane, but several surveys have proved them the happiest people. We also have the ‘busy ones’ who do not care about other things beyond a single purpose of contributing to their generation. Scientists are categorized in this class. They experiment new discoveries all and derive joy solely in their works, which they consider as the only relevant essence for living in this world. These categories have been the ones that contributed mostly to the world. Their discoveries generate all the expensive gadgets the materialists seek with lust. Personally, I believe most of material things human acquire are not only meant to satisfy their needs but to either impress or entice this or that person, â€Å"vanity† to borrow a word from the bible. Many have gone bankrupt trying to maintain the exotic lifestyle of the society they chose to belong to. Many cases of suicide have been traced to this source. However, between materialism and simple living the thin line separating the two can be difficult to mark out, after all, no human can claim he or she does not enjoy the pleasure of the good things. Today, even the so called men of God are known to have all the material benefit this life could offer, what they renounce is an excessive lust for these things which they claim leads to evil. Summarily, since it has been proven that man cannot do without some material needs and that too much lust after material these things is uncalled for, it will be a logical conclusion to claim that human should pursue their need with moderacy, by limiting their pursuit to their basic need of existence. References Linda Breen Pierce , Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World . The Gallagher Press. Dr. Peter C. Whybrow American Mania, Neuroscientist: When More Is Not Enough (W.W. Norton), 2005. Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent Fathers, www.markbrandenburg.com n.d.

Iran Contra Affair Essay

In 1979, an Iranian government supported terrorist group overtook the US embassy. They captured 52 people. In an order to obtain the release of the American hostages being held in Lebanon, The Reagan Administration secretly began to sell weapons to Iran. This went against an American ban on arms sales to Iran, which had been in affect since the embassy had been seized. (Corrigan 40-41) These deals were arranged through Robert McFarlane, who was the head of the National Security Council. One of McFarlane’s main staff members was Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. McFarlane gave North the responsibility of handling the details of the deal and told him not to send anything to Iran until the hostages had been released. North wanted to keep the deal going so he allowed Israel to ship the weapons before any hostages had been released. McFarlane criticized North, but North kept his job. McFarlane was replaced with Rear Admiral John M. Poindexter. North tried to convince Poindexter to continue the arms-for-hostage deal with Iran. North realized that there was a massive amount of money being made in this trade. He used some of this money made could be used to support an anti-communist organization in Central America. This organization, that was active in Nicaragua, was known as the Contras. The Contras were also highly supported by Reagan and his administration, seeing as we were in the Cold War against Communism. (Lawson 41-60) In the early 1980s, Congress passed a series of amendments known as the Boland Amendments. The Boland Amendments made it illegal for the U. S. military to further aid the Contras. (Cohen) The National Security Council was formed in 1947 to acquire secret information about the military plans of Russia throughout the Cold War. (Lawson 49) In 1985, North and McFarlane gave several letters to Congress, in which he lied about the questions that they had been asked about their involvement in supporting the Contras in Nicaragua. North lied again in a face-to-face meeting with Congress in 1986. North told the House Intelligence Committee he was involved neither in fundraising for, nor in providing military advice to, the Contras. In 1987 he was confronted with these accusations to which he admitted to misleading Congress with the answers he gave them. When the president later asked Attorney General to gather the relevant facts, North and Poindexter shredded and altered official documents on November 21, 1986. The destruction of these documents was a major loss to Congress, because they were now unable o use those destroyed documents against North in court. (http://icah. infobaselearning. com/pdocument. aspx? ID=129729&search=iran+contra+north) Further complicating the situation, Congress granted immunity to North and Poindexter so that they could eliminate the need for the testimony of President Reagan and Vice President Bush. Oliver North and Poindexter, while accused and under intense investigation were ultimately convicted. (http://icah. infobaselearning. com/pdocument. aspx? ID=110538&search=iran+contra+north) Lt.  Colonel Oliver North was criminally charged, prosecuted and convicted but later the convictions were overturned upon appeal due to the fact that he was granted immunity. North should have been convicted of his crimes and faced his time in jail for what he did. North burned legal documents containing crucial evidence for his trail, he lied to Congress about using the money from the Iran weapons sales to help the Contras, and by helping the Contra, he violated the Boland Amendments. On November 21, 1986, Oliver North shredded documents that were to be used in court as evidence. These documents were important legal information concerning his involvement in helping the Contras. His destruction of these documents led to Congress losing very valuable data to prove whether he was a scapegoat or a criminal. The fact that he destroyed the evidence made it clear that he wasn’t being honest and that led Congress to believe his other criminal charges. Oliver North violated many laws. The two most flagrant legal violations were the Boland Amendments and the American ban on arms sales to Iran. North continued to sell the weapons to Iran without any argument even though he knew it was against the law that was put in place by Congress. He went against the banned sales of guns with Iran, which was put in place to keep Iran from gaining powerful weaponry and putting American citizen’s lives in danger. His involvement and encouragement of continuing the illegal trade to aid the policies that he believed in should lead to his punishment. Also, the fact that he was also using federal money and weapons for the Contra agenda is a misappropriation of funds and of his position of power.

The Travels of Marco Polo essays

The Travels of Marco Polo essays Marco Polo, an Italian traveler and author, wrote one of the most influential books of all time. This book was no mere travel account, as it was able to give Europeans the first authoritative view of life in the Far East. His book also played a key role in the development of European overseas expansion. With the wealth of vivid detail that this book contains, it was the only existing source in Europe for information on the geography and the life of the Far East for a very long time. This book even gave Christopher Columbus the inspiration to explore the Orient. It is this book that I had the pleasure of reading. Marco Polos Journal is a written account of Marco Polos travels, dictated from Marco Polo himself to a fellow prisoner, Maestro Rustichello of Pisa, while he was imprisoned in Genoa. This recount has been accepted by most people, but some critics doubt whether Marco Polo ever reached China, as his recount never mentions tea drinking, foot binding or cormorant fishing that were prominent in China at that time. However, whether Marco Polo ever reached China we maybe will never know, so you will have to make your own judgement on whether he did or not. Marco Polo was born in Venice. His father and uncle were Venetian merchants and business partners. Their main commercial interest was Constantinople (present day Istanbul). Unfortunately for them, Constantinople fell into the hands of rival Genoese merchants. This meant that the two businessmen had lost their main trade, and in 1260, had to set out and find a new prospering market north of the Caspian Sea. They found a key city on the caravan route to China, where they remained for three years. After several years they left there to serve in the court of the Mongol Emperor, Kublai Kahn. They were welcomed and carried out various missions during their stay. Finally, after three years serving in Kublai Kahns court, they returned home to Venice in 1269. In 1...

Avoid Burnout by Connecting with Your Healthcare Colleagues

Avoid Burnout by Connecting with Your Healthcare Colleagues As a member of the medical field, you already know that you speak a totally different language from non-industry people. But beyond that, your emotional language is also quite foreign to outsiders.  Sure,you can certainly talk to  your friends and family  about your job, but they’ll never  truly  Ã¢â‚¬Å"get† the unique challenges you face daily–not like someone else who’s been there in the trenches. If you don’t have an emotional outlet, the daily stresses that come with a health care job might consume your life outside of the job. After all, someone who hasn’t experienced the phenomenon of being responsible for someone else’s health and well-being will never understand:The pressure of managing life-or-death situations on a daily basisThe physical toll of being on your feet for hours at a timeThe constant worry about possible malpractice suitsThe daily struggle to deal with difficult (and oftentimes irrational!) patientsThe co nstant feeling that you’re moments away from burning outIt’s key to your professional success to seek out peers with whom you can vent and feel understood. The shared camaraderie with peers who work in medicine is indeed a special bond, one that can make you a better employee in the long run. Take advantage of the connection you share to avoid career burnout!

Marketing Essential Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Essential - Assignment Example The return on assets of the bank was only 0.65% as compared to the average industry return approximated to be only 0. 81%. According to research, this low performance was due to the low interest from the public sector, that gives about 48% of the deposits and 28% of the loans (Thomas 2001). The country's government, in its proposed housing report has given a directive to the Bank to give 100% mortgage finances to its civil servants for three years (Roger 2000). The strategic plan of the Bank for the period starting 2001 to 2004 does not however include this directive from the government, as the competition for the deposits is still high . This situation therefore is a clear indication that the Bank has a great task to manage and give funding for this kind of loan deposits if it's to work with the guidelines of the Central Bank. The government, however, has given the Bank an opportunity to increase its market share as the deal would generate more money. Therefore, there need to raise the required money through deposits, while giving the Bank a greater market share in the local industry and increase the profits for the bank in the coming three years. This has been analyzed by looking at both the internal and external factors. The external factors has taken a look at the â€Å"macro-environment† , and the rivals in the market, while the internal factors was the analysis of the performance of the Bank, its management, infrastructure, the mission statement and its market coverage. There was the â€Å"SWOT† analysis that was aimed at identifying the Bank's strengths, weakness, opportunities and the threats. The analysis gives the Bank an indication that their need to change the strategies the bank used that and to give the market coverage the importance. This does not show that the Bank should ignore its existing market such as giving service to the public sector but refocusing the already being used mission. This would help the bank to achieve her stat ed objectives over time. Introduction The directive by the government to the Bank to give mortgaging, financing to the public servants puts the bank in a hard situation to get the deposits required to finance these servants. The mortgages will have a repayment period of 15 years with the interest rates based on 7. 5 per annum. The mortgage amount the Bank is expected to raise for the civil servants is $ 65 million and according to a research the new mortgage plan is to amount to $10 million in the first year, $18 million in the second year, and $37 million in the third year. This marketing plan for the Bank is intended to enable it raise the required funds for the directive, while to secure a strong position in the market industry and get higher profits for the 3 year period and the future plan (Carl 2000). In order to achieve this objective, the Bank had to deal with the issue of retaining the existing customers, come up with new customers, raise the $65 million to fund the civil s ervants over the next three years, increase her market share, maintain loans to deposit ratio to be in line with central bank's guidelines (appendix A), and to increase the company profits (Mintel 2001). Analysis of the Company Situation Competition In the country, there are four other related banks that offer similar services as the Kenya Commercial Bank. The banks include, the Barclays bank, the Standard Chartered bank, the Equity Bank, and K-Rep bank. These banks have all been successful in their