Much Ado About Nothing - A Feminist Perspective of Hero Essay -- Femin

A Feminist Perspective of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing  Ã‚     Ã‚   Unlike the title of this piece suggests, Hero did not undergo her transformation in Much Ado About Nothing through magic.   Rather, Hero was a victim of the double standards and illogical fears that the men of Shakespeare’s plays commonly held.   The following quote sums it up quite well:   In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period.   Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry.   The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity.   The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hero’s plight in Much Ado About Nothing is a perfect example of how the skewed male perspective can turn a sweet and innocent girl into a scheming strumpet in no time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The main problem is young Count Claudio.   He is immature when it comes to matters of love, and it shows when he hints of his growing feelings for Hero when he asks Benedick what he thinks of her (I.i.161).   Claudio cannot come out and just say that he has feelings for Hero, he has to seek approval from his male counterparts first.   While talking to both Benedick and Don Pedro, Claudio describes his feelings as passion first (I.i.219-220), and then he says, â€Å"That I love her, I feel† (I.i.228), indicating that he knows he feels something for Hero, but he is unsure of exactly what his feeling... ...   Ironically, this has occurred because of the folly of the men, almost making up for the double standards exercised in the beginning†¦But not quite.   Hero should not have had to depend on the men to regain her honor. Works Cited   Ã‚   Much Ado About Nothing.   Directed by Kenneth Branagh.   Samuel Goldwyn Company and Renaissance Films, 1993.    Much Ado About Nothing.   The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed.   Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997.   366-398.    Neely, Carol Thomas.   â€Å"Shakespeare’s Women: Historical Facts and Dramatic Representations.†Ã‚   Shakespeare’s Personality.   Ed. Norman N. Holland, Sidney Homan, and Bernard J. Paris.   Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.   116-134.    Ranald, Margaret Loftus.   â€Å" 'As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks': English Marriage and Shakespeare† Shakespeare Quarterly 30, (1979): 68-81.      

Songs can be Considered A Form of Modern Day Poetry Essay -- essays re

Can Songs be Considered A Form of Modern Day Poetry? Yes. The youth of today are more likely to have a favourite song rather than a favourite poem. Although the feelings and hidden meanings expressed in songs are often unacknowledged by the listener, they often have qualities that resemble those of a typical poem. These qualities include word choice, mood, hidden meanings and imagery. Using the songs â€Å"Luka† by Suzanne Vega, and â€Å"April Come She Will† by Simon and Garfunkle, I am going to prove that songs can be considered a form of modern day poetry. To indulge the reader, poets can use contradictory language and specific word choice to contrast the themes of the poem thus creating a particular mood. Suzanne Vega demonstrates this in the song â€Å"Luka†: Verse 1 My name is Luka I live on the second floor I live upstairs from you Yes I think you’ve seen me before The impression created in verse 1 is that of a typical â€Å"boy meets girl† theme. This is motivated by the pleasant, happy music and the lyrics indicating a girl meeting a boy. As the song continues, verse 2 indicates that their initial impression was incorrect: Verse 2 If you hear something late at night Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight Just don’t ask me what it was Just don’t ask me what it was Just don’t ask me what it was The music continues to be pleasant, which contrasts to the bad vibe given off by the lyrics in verse 2. The songwriter is using contrasting themes which is a technique often used in poems. The repetition of â€Å"Just don’t ask me what it was† encourages familiarity for the listener as, because it is repeated, it is what the listener remembers about the song. Furthermore, it adds more emphasis to the indication that ... ... been related to months and seasons maybe because the hidden message of the song is that love is a never-ending cycle (like the seasons). This would indicate that love will inevitably die, but be reborn again, perhaps in the form of someone else or with the same person. This then could lead to the theory that this song was written to be compatible with everything that is loved i.e. a new job, new friend etc and that it often deteriorates through familiarity. Such depth in a song compares to the depth of a poem in terms of the hidden meanings and imagery. I believe that songs can be considered a form of modern day poetry as they often effectively use poetic techniques such as repetition, imagery, contrasting themes, effective word choice and climaxes. The two songs that I have discussed clearly possess and demonstrate these qualities and how effective they are.

Anne Bradstreet :: Free Essays

Anne Bradstreet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The poem â€Å" Upon the Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666† by Anne Bradstreet is a poem about her house burning down. I can sympathize with many of her feelings in this poem because I shared many of them when my house was robbed. During the beginning of the poem she talks about her belongings that she lost and the things she would never do again, then towards the end she talks about how the incident brought her closer to God. Anne Bradstreet shows how living through a struggle, such as having your house burn down can bring you closer to God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"My pleasant things in ashes lie, And them behold no more shall I,† (108), shows the pain I felt in dealing with the loss that I suffered. I lost all of my money, my TV, and my stereo. I knew I would never get the opportunity to recover my lost items. â€Å"And to my God my heart did cry† (107), compares with the emptiness I felt when my family arrived home and saw the back door kicked in. At that point I didn’t want to continue into the house to find what had been taken from me.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third stanza starts by saying, â€Å"And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took,† (107). After everything was over she realized that God had given her everything she had lost in the fire, and that she could once again receive those things from God. This relates to me being robbed in the fact that everything I lost was something that was not needed. This helped me to realize that material things aren’t going to make you happy, but the Love of God is. The last line of the play says, â€Å"My hope and treasure lies above.† (108). I believe that Anne Bradstreet became very spiritual after the fire and looked to God for the answer to everything.

Everyday Life in the Industrial Revolution Essay

Industrialisation created an enormous impact on people’s everyday lives. Many machines were invented to produce goods much more quickly and efficiently. This lowers the price for expensive goods such as textiles and furniture and made it more affordable for everyone due to mass production. Steam trains were also invented to move perishable goods and people in quickly in long distances to markets and bring fresh, organic foods to cities which are growing in population. Trains were an affordable form of transport for citizens and people. The invention of steam ships allowed a large number of people to North America and Australia from Europe. These were the fundamental changes that occurred during the industrial revolution. The first artificial was produced using gas. These lights made cities safer, it allowed people begin to go out at night to social events or meetings, shops and factories open for longer. Working hours in in factories were also extended thanks to the invention of artificial lighting. Electricity led to the development of household appliances such as refrigerators and irons that help with house chores. It also led to many innovations such as telegraph which made communication much easier, following the telegraph were the telephone and radio. Technologies has made a dramatic change to people’s ordinary lives, it has affected the society in a positive and negative way. The industrialised innovations helped with factory work and produce products more efficiently; however these machineries have highly polluted the environment. It was very surprising how far society have come, the development of technologies made the process of things much easier. Thanks to these inventions made during the industrial revolution and is still being improved, changed the lives of younger generations. Children in the modern society now have phones, iPad, iPod etc.

International Business Entry Case Study Essay

High turnover. Small companies tend to have a small structure, then job opportunities are few, which force employees to change job. Poor customer service. Distributors mostly only care about selling off a product, then they direct customers with Microsoft. The main problem is that Microsoft Customer service is focused on developed countries, where the needs and tools are greatly different. In some cases the technical service is non-existent, heavily hurting the image of the company, not the distributor. Poor input for further developing products. If all the deployment and input is being done and received by a distributor, then it is most likely that the information will never reach Microsoft’s engineering department. Without that knowledge products will stall for that particular market in a short period of time, inflicting loses in the long run for the company. 2. Are there countries where Microsoft’s strategy might not work? Why? Small countries with an unique language possibly are the toughest. Microsoft strategy mean that while local partners are relied to market the products, Microsoft is still in charge of the code and language. In that regard Microsoft is very vulnerable to small IT companies that develop solutions for their language. With small partners, it is easy for local developers to attract those distribution channels for their own product, therefore using Microsoft’s resources and know-how to make profit out of other products, making Microsoft lose money. 3. What other kinds of businesses might find Microsoft’s strategy to be effective? Please explain. Car manufacturers. They basically operate the same scheme with distributors. When a car’s manufacturer enter a new country most times they give the concession to sell the cars to a local person or company. Almost entirely those distributors operate in a very small area. The manufacturer covers Marketing and promotion, while the distributor has to develop their sales only in their area. 4. How might Microsoft need to change its strategy once it has established a strong position in a foreign market? They need to deploy a strong services net. They need to be in constant contact with customers in order to assure that they meet their current and future needs. They need to deploy training facilities for their products in order to have a strong pool of expertise from where enterprises can nurture in order to keep fidelity with the products. They need to partner with high profile local companies to develop solutions in order to gain traction in the country. 5. Describe how host governments might react to Microsoft’s entry strategy? Governments usually react in a good way. The way Microsoft do business benefit host countries a lot, since it creates a lot of jobs for the locals. Nonetheless there might be some countries who could think that Microsoft is a danger for their local IT industry. In those cases their strategy also soften their position a lot, since the entry in indirect. Reference Glusing, J. (2006, June 1). The third world goes high-tech: The dirt road to the information superhighway. Spiegel. Retrieved from http://www. spiegel. de/international/spiegel/the-third-world-goes-high-tech-the-dirt-road-to-the-information-superhighway-a-419034. html

Behaviors of Domestic Cats

Cats have been kept as domestic pets since ancient times. They are known as loyal, finicky and independent creatures. Their behaviors can tell us whether they have a physical ailment, are upset or worried or are happy and contented. (Catsinfo. com) When a cat rubs up against someone, they are showing ownership of that person and marking them as such. Cats can be quite finicky as to who they like and can even choose to ignore someone if they decide they do not like them. (Budiansky, 2002) A cat is naturally inclined to claw things such as furniture, drapes or rugs.Many people have their cats declawed to prevent damage to these objects. While this was commonplace for many years, it is now becoming something of a controversy. Animal rights activists and many cat owners are comparing the procedure to amputation and vehemently oppose the practice. With time and effort, cats can be trained to use a scratching post. One problem for cat owners is the hazard that most house plants present to the cats. In the wild, cats eat grass to help with fur in their stomach. Many common house plants can be poisonous to cats if ingested.Hanging plants are not always safe since cats will climb furniture to reach them. Some owners have found that growning a small patch of grass in a container will keep the cats happy enough to leave the other plants alone. Many indoor cats use a litter box instead of the outdoors. In the wild, cats bury their feces to keep predators from scenting them. This behavior continues indoors as well. Cats are naturally clean animals and like the litter box to be clean as well. One of the main issues for cat owners is urination in an area other than the litter box.There can be many causes for this behavior and it is trial and error until the problem is resolved. Finding the right litter box and type of litter can also be trial and error as some cats prefer one thing, some another. One reason for a cat to refuse to use the litter box is that it is not clean. If the litter box is clean, it may be a physical ailment such as a bladder infection or urinary tract infection. Any ailments should be treated by a veterinarian. A cat may show it is upset by urination outside the litter box as well.Cats can be upset by any number of things such as changes in habitat, additions of new pets to the family or other changes. Watching a cat’s tail can be a good indication of the cat’s mood. A tail that is erect and held high indicates a friendly mood. A tail that is laying down and twitching usually indicates the cat is pensive or irritable. A tail held high and fluffed out is a good indicator that the cat will attack if provoked. (xmission, 2007) Cats show affection in several ways. Purring is the most commonly recognized behavior of a friendly, content cat.A cat will purr when happy, many times while being petted. Cats will also rub against a person to show friendliness and also to mark the person as their. Cats have scent glands all over their bodies that enable them to mark their territory. property This is another behavior taken from the wild where they mark their territory against other animals invading it. Butting their heads against a person is another way of showing affection. Urinary spray is also a way for them to mark their territory but having them spayed or neutered at around six months of age will stop this behavior.Cats are natural hunters and will stalk birds, small animals and toys. It is their instinct to hunt that causes them to pounce on toys and bat them around. Cats are good hunters and quite fast at times. Many farms keep cats as mousers in the barn and home. Cats will chase small toys or laser lights. This is the hunting instinct in them causing this behavior as cats are attracted by movement. Cats have a tendency to show attention to people who do not care for cats when they visit. This is due to a behavior in the wild that indicates submissivness.Cats will look directly at another cat and sho w aggression if protecting territory or young. A cat who refuses to look directly at another cat or seems to ignore it is showing submission to the other cat. It is the same behavior in people who do not care for cats, they tend to look away or try to ignore the cat. This is an invitation to the cat to show dominance. A cat that is injured or in pain will tend to hide itself in a dark area. This is a behavior that often saves their lives in the wild. Injured or weak animals often become food for predators so hiding is a natural instinct.Cats will often do the same thing indoors when hurt. It is important to remember that any injured or pained animal will strike out if frightened and extra care should be taken when attempting to extricate the cat from its hiding place. (xmission, 2007) Cats make wonderful pets and are relatively low maintantence due to their independent nature. They do not require constant attention or reassurance. They can be trained to overcome inappropriate behavi or and are extremely affectionate when it suits them. Whether the cat is an indoor cat or an outdoor cat, the behaviors tend to be the same.Instinct plays a large part in cat behavior and knowing these behaviors can lead to a satisfactory cat and owner relationship. Works Cited Budiansky, Stephen. â€Å"The Character of Cats: The Mystery Is Not Why They're So Antisocial but Why They're Social at All. † The Atlantic Monthly June 2002: 75+. Questia. 26 Sept. 2007 . http://www. catsinfo. com Moore, Glenda. â€Å"Catstuff† Retrieved September 24, 2007 from http://www. xmission. com/emailbox/whycat. htm

Discuss the theme of the Dream in the book Of Mice and Men Essay

None of the people on the ranch have freedom, and freedom was what George and Lennie wanted. Crooks, Candy and Lennie are victims, Crooks because of his back, where a horse had kicked him, Candy because of his hand, which he lost on the ranch, although he got two hundred and fifty bucks in compensation and Lennie is a victim because of his lack of knowledge. The main dream in the book â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is George and Lennie’s dream. Their dream is to have their own land where they will grow whatever they like, and to have a variety of animals, and Lennie will get to look after the rabbits, if he behaves well. The rabbits are all he talks and thinks about – the perfect land and the rabbits that he will look after if he behaves himself. â€Å"Don’t you think of nothing but rabbits?† The land will be ten acres, have a windmill, a little shack and chicken run. It will have a kitchen and plenty of food and water. They will build a smoke house where they will smoke the bacon, the ham, and the sausages. They’ll kill a pig or rabbit each Sunday. They’ll can fruits. They’ll also sell eggs and milk. They want to be answerable to nobody, to have freedom and be independent. Also, like Lennie says with a lot of enthusiasm, â€Å"An` live off the fatta the lan`† This is a dream that George believes will not come true, (but he continues as though the dream will come true to lure Lennie to behave himself.) because they don’t have the money and Lennie is always getting in some sort of trouble and then, they have to run away. He doesn’t mean to do any harm. â€Å"All the time he done bad things but he never done one of ’em mean† Soon Candy gets to know about their dream, and this is the only part of the book where it seems that the dream is only around the corner. With Candy’s three hundred and fifty bucks and George’s and Lennie’s fifty bucks each coming at the end of the month, which makes a total of four hundred and fifty bucks, George says he could swing the owners for that as the lady needs an operation. George has a dream of his own which is a life without Lennie. If he didn’t have Lennie with him all the time, â€Å"When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get no peace.† If he also didn’t have Lennie ‘on his tail’ all the time, he could maybe even have a girl. This dream does come true at the end, but George had to kill Lennie or otherwise Curley would have come and killed Lennie himself. George learnt from Candy’s mistake of letting someone else kill his dog, so he killed Lennie himself making sure that the gunshot would not give Lennie any pain. Lennie’s life is ended, also with the dream as Lennie and George are talking about the dream – until Lennie is killed like an animal. Candy’s dream was to be happy. The only time he was really happy was when he was a child. Candy has no other relatives, so he thought he’d be happy living with George and Lennie. Candy is heartbroken when he finds out that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife. Candy knows that their dream cannot come true now, because Lennie was part of the dream and now he is dead. Also, when Candy’s dog was shot, Candy covered his eyes with his arm. â€Å"Old Candy lay down in the hay and covered his eyes with his arm.† And this was what he did when his dream was shattered. We do not know what happened to Candy or George after Lennie was killed, as the story ended there, so the death of Curley’s wife ended two dreams, but the death of Lennie made George’s second dream come true. Even though he didn’t like killing Lennie, he didn’t want to let someone else kill him. I suppose George thought it was the last straw – if he is killing unknowingly, he could kill again. They could not keep running from everything he did wrong. He would get caught one day, and be killed. Curley’s dream was to be big like Lennie and this is why Curley picked a fight with Lennie and he lost. He didn’t give Lennie a chance to show him that he was not against him, but straight away headed for Lennie and started asking him questions. George had told him not to speak, so he didn’t answer. Curley really got angry. George answered for him and he answered, ‘An’ you won’t let the big guy talk, is that it?’ He wants to be big and tall. He picks fights with anybody that is larger, in a way superior to him. He only has respect for Slim; we know this because he listened to Slim. â€Å"I think you got your han’ caught in a machine.† He knows what really happened. He didn’t want to get laughed at either, so he listened and obeyed Slim’s instruction. â€Å"But you jus’ tell an’ try to get this guy canned and we’ll tell ever’ body, an’ then will you get the laugh.† Curley agreed to this statement, otherwise he will be laughed at for starting the fight and then losing it. Even though Curley’s hand was totally ruined, and Lennie got a couple of bruises and cuts nobody got in any more trouble. When his wife was killed he was really mad. Not mad for losing a loved one. He was mad at Lennie for killing her, and instead of staying with his wife, he hurried off to find Lennie and to kill him. We notice that although Curley was very protective over his wife, he didn’t show any interest in her, and showed no signs of love. Nobody liked Curley, not even his wife. Curley’s wife was an outcast, because she is the only female on the ranch and wore a lot of red. We can sense she is heading for trouble, because of the way she flirted with all the men on the ranch. Red lipstick and red finger nails shows a sign of danger. Curley’s wife’s dream was to become a movie star, and have nice clothes. This dream only came about because; some guy had said that she was a natural. â€Å"this guy says I was a natural† Her dream was shattered because she didn’t receive a letter, this guy had promised to send to her. According to her, she thought her mother had thrown it away. We get the feeling that he didn’t actually send the letter. She really thought that her mother had thrown it away and only for revenge, she got married to Curley. She didn’t love Curley, nor even liked him. She’s not interested in Curley and Curley has no interest in her, but she is always looking for him, as an excuse, to talk to other guys. The other guys think she’s a tart, and is ‘jail bait’. Crooks has a dream, which is when he was a little child he remembered he had two brothers and they used to do everything together. His dream is to be back with his family. â€Å"I remember when I was a little kid on my old man’s chicken ranch.† He became negatively cynical. He doesn’t believe life will get any better and he thinks that people always behave selfishly or dishonestly. Crooks is lonely and the only one who has respect for him is Slim. When he was small he used to play with people that weren’t black and this would upset his father. He didn’t understand why until he was older. People called him a nigger and he is the only black person on the ranch. When he was a child, his family was the only black family for miles. Crooks had no other dreams; he just wanted friends that won’t criticize him, because of his colour. None of the dreams came true, and are all crushed and shattered, because George’s dream didn’t mean that he didn’t want Lennie at all, he wanted him, but not all the time. Lennie had to be killed and that ends another two dreams. Candy’s dream was to be a part of George and Lennie’s dream, but as Lennie was killed, his dream also vanished. Curley’s dream was to be big and as he’s a grown man he won’t grow any more. Crook’s dream is to be back with his family, but it is impossible to go back in time. Curley’s wife is dead which ends another dream. We see that John Steinbeck didn’t make anybody’s dream come true. Anjana Patel English coursework 2nd January 2001