Walt Whittman Essay Research Paper Palomo1Michael PalomoAmerican free essay sample

Walt Whittman Essay, Research Paper Palomo1 Michael Palomo American Literature Professor Sanchez May 9, 2000 Walt Whitman: An American Poet The ability to nail the birth or beginning of the poet life style is rare. It is rare for the perceiver as it is for the author. The Walt Whitman poem Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking is looked at by most every bit merely that. It is a certification, of kinds, of his ain paradigm displacement. The worlds of the universe have therein matured his conceptual models. In line 147 we read # 8220 ; Now in a minute I know what I am for, I awake # 8221 ; ( Baym 1041 ) . This waking up is at the same clip a decease. The naivet? of the talker ( I will presume Whitman ) is destroyed. Through his summer long observation, the truths of life are born, or at least strengthened, in him. The obvious elements are birth and decease, which are both caused by another case of the latter ( decease of the # 8220 ; she-bird # 8221 ; ) . We will write a custom essay sample on Walt Whittman Essay Research Paper Palomo1Michael PalomoAmerican or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nature # 8217 ; s function is ever-present. Not merely in the sense of it giving a changeless liveable environment, but besides about deified in the personification of its will and actions. The birth of vision in the talker is due non merely to the observation of decease, as that is merely a individual happening, but to the observation of the function of nature in all of its cryptic rhythms. Nature is non the exclusive beginning of dramatic symbolism in the piece. The actions of the characters themselves reflect the piece # 8217 ; s definite ends. Though these # 8220 ; characters # 8221 ; set the scene and take centre phase at different points, it must be remembered that what occurs is removed from the reader by two filters. The first is the filter of reading by the male child who is witnessing the events, it is so filtered through the memory of the male child go both adult male and poet. The male child has Palomo2 therefore created a profound narrative of privation and unfairness through interlingual rendition of natural happening ( sounds and sea ) , and the man-poet has created a way though which all could follow the patterned advance of these messages into the poet # 8217 ; s penetration ( # 8221 ; Poems # 8221 ; 8 ) . Due to this fact, the cardinal character in this piece is the male child, boding what he is to go. Attention is non focused on the birds and sea themselves, but on the boy-man # 8217 ; s turning understanding brought on by them. They are so factors in the equation of nature and talker. The apparently autobiographical nature of this piece immediately calls for observation. The talker is an older Whitman, advanced and experienced. The verse form is a recollection of his childhood from afar. This gives Whitman the chance to distance himself from the clip period and do farther matured observation. As said before, the experience written from here is a major cause of his personal acquiescence. The construction of clip alterations throughout the piece, but is consistent. The first stanza of the verse form is largely in the present tense as the advanced Whitman is sum uping the events before he tells of them. On line seven ( still the first stanza ) Whitman begins to travel deeper into summarized account with a alteration to past tense. Here he tells, rather literally, of the two birds # 8217 ; consequence on him as recognized by an older adult male, but originally seen through a kid # 8217 ; s oculus. He speaks of the power it held over his senses and how it forces the coming flashback. # 8220 ; From the memories of the bird that chanted to me, From your memories sad brother, from the spasmodic rises and falling I heard, From under that xanthous lunula late-risen and swollen as if with cryings, From those get downing notes of longing and love at that place in the mist, From the 1000 responses of my bosom neer to discontinue, Palomo3 From the countless thence-arous # 8217 ; vitamin D words, From the word stronger and more delightful than any, From such as now they start the scene revisiting, # 8221 ; His words come by list in force. He speaks of the emotions brought on by the bird # 8217 ; s vocal and the environmental scene of his piece. He so makes reference of all the words forced upon him upon his epiphany. The word # 8220 ; stronger and more delightful than any # 8221 ; is the word decease. This is found in line 168, but eluded to in the debut. On the shore near the childhood place of Whitman, the scene is set in May when he as a male child, finds a nest of birds, male and female and their eggs. In his observations he translates the actions of the birds through personification. The birds # 8217 ; ideas are his ain reading. He witnesses what he believes to be true love between the two. # 8220 ; Two together! Winds blow south, or air currents blow north, Day come white, or dark come black, Home, or rivers and mountains from place, Singing all clip, minding no clip, While we two maintain together # 8221 ; ( Baym 1039 ) . There seems to be a flawlessness to the province which these two portion. No affair what the universe brings their love exists as it ever had. The following stanza begins with # 8220 ; Till of a sudden, May-be kill # 8217 ; vitamin D, unknown to her mate, One morning the she-bird crouched non on the nest, Nor returned that afternoon, nor the following Nor of all time appeared once more # 8221 ; ( Baym 1039 ) . The late impossible is now the world. The love perceived by Whitman still exists, but non as a functioning unit. From this point on the he-bird longs for the lost love of his mate. Palomo4 The voice of the he-bird calls for nature to return his love to him by any agencies necessary. # 8220 ; Blow! Blow! Blow! Blow up sea-winds along Paumanok # 8217 ; s shore ; I wait and I wait till you blow my mate to me # 8221 ; ( Baym 1039 ) . This is the extent to which the he-bird carries on the love for the she-bird, with a changeless yearning vocal. Whitman recognizes this and begi ns the procedure of easy coming to larn the truths of the universe. # 8220 ; Land! Land! O land! Whichever manner I turn, O I think you could give me my mate back once more if you merely would # 8221 ; ( Baym 1039 ) . Whitman besides realizes the torture felt by the he-bird as he is confused by the universe without his love. # 8220 ; Yes my brother I know, The remainder might non, but I have treasured every note # 8221 ; ( Baym 1039 ) The he-bird is farther tormented by his loss, to add to his discouragement he feels the physical signifiers of nature are pitted against him. The landscape becomes hostile. This illustration of nature’s incarnation is the 3rd component to the â€Å"trio† ( Line 140 ) . The first is the talker, who is broken into two classs the matured and the sodium? ve male child. The 2nd component are the â€Å"two feather’d invitees from Alabama† . In each of the first two elements we find a duel function. The 3rd nevertheless possesses more beds as it encompasses all. Mentions to its power span land, sea, air, and even the animals themselves. The symbolism of elements in this piece falls into two classs. We see the polar antonyms ; dark and twenty-four hours, Sun and Moon, land and sea, life and decease, and love and loss ( # 8221 ; Walt Whitman # 8221 ; 590 ) . In the first we see land, love and life as connected subjects. In the 2nd we find sea, loss, and decease. At the verse form # 8217 ; s get downing we are exposed to colour and graphic description, which is the first class. # 8220 ; When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass was turning # 8221 ; ( line 24 ) , # 8220 ; four greenish eggs spotted with brown # 8221 ; ( line 27 ) , # 8220 ; Pour down your heat, great Sun! # 8221 ; ( line33 ) . Palomo5 From this debut to the love of the birds we get a feeling of strength and beauty which is subsequently traded, in the latter parts of the verse form, for a bleaker description of the environment. # 8220 ; With angry groans the ferocious old female parent endlessly moaning, On the littorals of Paumanok # 8217 ; s shore grey and rustling, The xanthous lunula enlarged, drooping down, saging, the face of the sea about touching # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Baym 1041 ) . This latter description is that of a only love deprived of its object with apparently merely the universe to fault. # 8220 ; One set of these symbols is associated with physical love, the organic structure, and life ; the other with religious love, the psyche, and decease. Out of these associations comes the suggestion that life and decease excessively, like twenty-four hours and dark, are simply a portion of the rhythmical development of the universe. # 8221 ; Whitman takes the parts, separates them, so combines them as a whole. This is, once more, nature ( in the eyes of Whitman ) being both the beginning and terminal of the self-progression. Demon or bird! ( said the male child # 8217 ; s psyche ) # 8220 ; Is it so towards your mate you sing? Or is it truly to me? # 8230 ; O you singer lone, singing by yourself, projecting me, O lone me listening, neer more shall I discontinue perpetuating you # 8230 ; The courier at that place arous # 8217 ; vitamin D, the fire, the Sweet snake pit within, The unknown privation, the fate of me # 8221 ; ( Baym 1041 ) . The he-bird # 8217 ; s vocal is Whitman # 8217 ; s accelerator. The male child # 8217 ; s psyche senses a alteration ( the advanced Whitman ) and ponders over the bird/nature # 8217 ; s purpose. He asks the bird whom he sings for, but the inquiry merely returns to himself. Whitman is the transcriber therefore the inquiry is his to reply. The full ordeal has as of this point changed the talker. The bird speaks Whitman # 8217 ; s cognizing psyche without defect. The bird has both given a decease and a birth to the talker ( # 8221 ; Walt Whitman # 8221 ; 31490 ) . Palomo6 # 8220 ; The word concluding, superior to all # 8230 ; Are you whispering it, and have you been all the clip, you sea-waves? Is that it from your liquid rims and wet littorals? # 8221 ; ( Baym 1042 ) . Upon inquiring for more of an account to his intangible feelings the talker points toward the sea. His line of oppugning the same as with the bird ; is this for me? He finds the reply to put at the meeting point of sea and land. # 8220 ; Whereto answering, the sea, Delaying non, travel rapidlying non, Whisper # 8217 ; d me through the dark, and really obviously before dawn, Lisp # 8217 ; vitamin D to me the low and delightful word decease, And once more decease, decease, decease, decease # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Baym 1042 ) Along with the twenty-four hours the talker receives his reply from the blending of the physical and religious kingdom of nature, the reply is decease. Death to what he had entered with. Death to his childhood. The repeat of the whipping moving ridges is onomatopoetic. Each moving ridge is an reply to his inquiry and to his intent. The # 8220 ; sissing tuneful # 8221 ; , which seems a oxymoron, is a farther extension. Hissing, idea of as a changeless noise with out tune, is here made to pealing with pleasant true tune. The beauty is in truth and apprehension. Whitman knows of the truth and the vision now born within him. # 8220 ; Neither like the bird nor like my arous # 8217 ; d child # 8217 ; s bosom # 8221 ; . # 8220 ; Which I do non bury, But fuse the vocal of my twilight devil and brother, That he sang at me in the moonshine on Paumanok # 8217 ; s grey beach, With the thousand antiphonal vocals at random, My ain vocals awaked from the hr, Palomo7 And with them the key, the word up from the moving ridges # 8230 ; # 8221 ; ( Baym 1042 ) . On a shutting note, the bird is a devil in that he has forced the talker to alter, and any drastic life agitating alteration consequences in feelings of uncertainness and uncomfortableness, we must besides observe the term # 8220 ; brother # 8221 ; is applied. The terminal consequences of this merger are, in fact, the neonate or newfound spirit. His acquisition is complete ; whether it was noticed ab initio or after farther maturating International Relations and Security Network # 8217 ; t apparent. What is apparent is the fact that through the talker # 8217 ; s observation of the combined elements of clip ( maturating ) and infinite ( the milieus ) he transcends all dimensional fields to truly understand nature. The Sea against the shore is the # 8220 ; cradle infinitely swaying # 8221 ; , besides the decease of artlessness. Him recognizing the birth of poet is his assent yesteryear this truth ( # 8221 ; From # 8221 ; ) . Life and decease are non the bookends to our being, b ut points in an eternal rhythm. To this decease there is a birth, the birth of spirit. Bibliography Baym, Nina, et.al. Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking. New York. W.W. Norton A ; Co. , 1999. # 8220 ; Walt Whitman # 8217 ; s Poems. # 8221 ; London Sun 17 April 1868, p.31490. # 8220 ; Poems by Walt Whitman. # 8221 ; Lloyd # 8217 ; s Weekly London Newspaper 19 April 1868, p.8. # 8220 ; Walt Whitman # 8217 ; s Poems # 8221 ; Sunday Review 25, 2 May 1868, p. 589-590.

Free Essays on Sonnet 18

In the sonnet â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (XVIII),† William Shakespeare uses images, metaphors, personification, and conceit to portray his theme that as long as this poem lives so does the beauty of the man he speaks of. The beloved's "eternal summer" shall not fade just because it is personified in the sonnet. The speaker has much influence in the poem to defy time and carry the beauty of the beloved down to generations forever. The images that Shakespeare uses are simple, but capture the beauty of the beloved man. In line 3 the speakers talks of â€Å"rough winds,† and â€Å"the darling buds of May† he is using rough winds to describe the unpredictable chance and change, and he implies that his beloved does not suffer from these winds as summer does. When the speaker assures his beloved that his â€Å"eternal summer shall not fade,† he is using summer as a metaphor for his beauty. He boasts that, unlike a summer’s day, the memory of his beloved will last forever. The speaker personifies the sky, or â€Å"heaven,† by using the metaphor of an â€Å"eye† for the sun so that the comparison between a person and a season becomes dramatic. By assigning heaven an â€Å"eye,† the speaker uses the image of his beloved’s eyes. Similarly, in the next line when the speaker mentions that summer’s â€Å"gold complexion† is often â€Å"dimmed,† he is attempting to compare a human attribute with some trait of summer. Throughout the poem the speaker is comparing his beloved to the traits of summer. The first line introduces the conceit of the sonnet, the comparison of the speaker’s beloved to a summer’s day. The speaker then builds on this comparison when he writes, â€Å"Thou art more lovely and more temperate† because he is describing his beloved in a way that could also describe summer. The speaker simply contrasts the life span of his poem and his beloved’s memory to the personality of a summer’s day. He brags that,... Free Essays on Sonnet 18 Free Essays on Sonnet 18 In the sonnet â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (XVIII),† William Shakespeare uses images, metaphors, personification, and conceit to portray his theme that as long as this poem lives so does the beauty of the man he speaks of. The beloved's "eternal summer" shall not fade just because it is personified in the sonnet. The speaker has much influence in the poem to defy time and carry the beauty of the beloved down to generations forever. The images that Shakespeare uses are simple, but capture the beauty of the beloved man. In line 3 the speakers talks of â€Å"rough winds,† and â€Å"the darling buds of May† he is using rough winds to describe the unpredictable chance and change, and he implies that his beloved does not suffer from these winds as summer does. When the speaker assures his beloved that his â€Å"eternal summer shall not fade,† he is using summer as a metaphor for his beauty. He boasts that, unlike a summer’s day, the memory of his beloved will last forever. The speaker personifies the sky, or â€Å"heaven,† by using the metaphor of an â€Å"eye† for the sun so that the comparison between a person and a season becomes dramatic. By assigning heaven an â€Å"eye,† the speaker uses the image of his beloved’s eyes. Similarly, in the next line when the speaker mentions that summer’s â€Å"gold complexion† is often â€Å"dimmed,† he is attempting to compare a human attribute with some trait of summer. Throughout the poem the speaker is comparing his beloved to the traits of summer. The first line introduces the conceit of the sonnet, the comparison of the speaker’s beloved to a summer’s day. The speaker then builds on this comparison when he writes, â€Å"Thou art more lovely and more temperate† because he is describing his beloved in a way that could also describe summer. The speaker simply contrasts the life span of his poem and his beloved’s memory to the personality of a summer’s day. He brags that,...

French Words with New Meanings in English

French Words with New Meanings in English French Words with New Meanings in English French Words with New Meanings in English By Mark Nichol Thanks to the Norman Conquest, and to the long dominance of France in European culture and politics, almost half the words and phrases in the English lexicon (including that of its American variety) are derived from French. The list below consists of words used in American English that acquired one or more senses distinct from that or those of the French words from which they are descended. After each term, the American English meaning(s) is/are listed, followed in parentheses by the French meaning(s). 1. accoutrement: accompanying items or accessories (a ludicrous costume or tasteless attire) 2. aprà ¨s-ski: socializing after skiing (snow boots) 3. auteur: a film director or other artist who artistically dominates a creative endeavor (an author) 4. au naturel: naked (acting or looking natural, unaltered or unadulterated) 5. bà ªte noire: someone or something avoided or disliked out of fear (someone or something hated) 6. boutique: a shop selling designer or distinctive clothing, or, as an adjective, describing a small, exclusive business (a shop) 7. boutonnià ¨re: a flower placed in a buttonhole (a buttonhole) 8. chef: a professional cook (a boss) 9. claque: a group of admirers (a group of theatergoers paid either to applaud or to criticize a performance) 10. corsage: flowers worn on a woman’s dress or around her wrist (a woman’s chest, and attire covering this area) 11. coup: a forced change of government (a hit) 12. coup de main: surprise attack (give a hand) 13. debut: a first performance by an artist or entertainer (a beginning) 14. dà ©colletage: a low neckline, cleavage (lowering a neckline, or, in agricultural and technical contexts, cutting) 15. en masse: a group or mass moving as one entity (a collection or crowd) 16. entrà ©e: an entrance, or the main course of a meal (an entrance, or appetizers preceding a meal or before the main course) 17. à ©pà ©e: a specific fencing sword (a sword) 18. exposà ©: published material pertaining to a fraud or scandal (a report or talk) 19. hors d’oeuvre: a snack (the first course of a meal) 20. outrà ©: unusual (exaggerated or extravagant, or outraged) 21. prà ©cis: a summary (accurate, precise; also, an abridged textbook) 22. premiere: a first performance or presentation (first) 23. recherchà ©: obscure, pretentious (sophisticated, studied) 24. rendezvous: a clandestine meeting, or a location for an appointed meeting or reunion or a joining of two spacecraft (an appointment, date, or meeting) 25. reprise: a repetition of a piece of music during a performance (an alternate version or cover version, or rebroadcast) 26. rà ©sumà ©: an employment history with a list of qualifications (a summary) 27. risquà ©: sexually provocative (risky) 28. seance: a gathering to communicate with spirits (a meeting or session) 29. touchà ©: acknowledgment of a point made, or of a hit in fencing (emotionally touched) 30. vignette: a brief description or scene (a small picture) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesRunning Amok or Running Amuck?Practice or Practise?

What Were the Consequences of the Enron Scandal Case Study

What Were the Consequences of the Enron Scandal - Case Study Example This case study represents a bold attempt to answer the question stated in the work's title: What Were the Consequences of the Enron Scandal? Enron, â€Å"a provider of products and services related to natural gas, electricity and communications to wholesale and retail costumers† represented one of the largest fraud scandals in history. As a result of the fraud investigations, the company was forced to file for bankruptcy in December 2001. While the bankruptcy of a small company is taken as a routine, Enron’s case is different as the company was ranked seventh by Fortune 500. During the 1990s, Enron expended quickly into several areas such as developing a power plant and a pipeline. This expansion, however, required large initial capital investments and long gestation period. By that time, Enron already raised a lot of debt funds from the market and hence any other attempt to raise funds would affect Enron’s credit rating. But Enron had to maintain the credit ranking at investment rate in order to continue business. On top of that, the company wasn’t making enough profits either, as it promised to investors. Hence, Enron began making partnerships and other special â€Å"arrangements† (Special Purpose Entity, or SPE). These companies were used to keep Enron’s debts and losses away from its balance sheets, therefore allowing it have a good credit rating and look good in front of the investors. Figure 1 How SPEs worked Adapted from Chary, VRK. (2004). Ethics in Accounting. Global Cases and Experiences. Punjagutta. The ICFAI University Pres., India, pg. 115 -$ millions- Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 Revenues 20,273 31,260 40,112 100,789 Total assets 22,552 29,350 33,381 65,503 Long Term Debt 6,254 7,357 7,151 8,550 Shareholder's Funds 5,618 7,048 9,570 11,470 Table 1 Enron's Financial Highlights Adapted from Chary, VR. ((2004). Ethics in Accounting. Global Cases and Experiences. Punjagutt., The ICFAI University Press. India. pg. 119 Enron's goal was to bypass the rules of consolidation and still increase credibility. If a parent company (in this case Enron) financed less than 97% of an initial investment in a SPE, it didn't have to consolidate in into its own accounts. If properly done, the legal isolation and the third party control over the SPE, reduce the risk of the credit. Therefore, off-balance sheet treatment of such a SPE involves enough third party equity. The third party's equity must be "at risk", otherwise the transferor would be required to consolidate the SPE into its own financial statements. Up to end of 2000, no one pointed fingers at Enron. For 2000, the corporation reported $101 billion revenue and the auditors gave a clean report. But, at this stage, Enron announced its intention that during the third quarter of 2001, it would book a loss of $1.01 billion and, at the same time, reducing shareholders' funds by $1.2 billion as a result of correcting accounting errors in the past. After a long trial, Andrew Fastow, the former Enron finance executive has been sentenced to six years in prison. Fastow pleaded guilty for fraud and money laundering in 2004 and also became the chief whiteness in the trial against Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay. His testimony helped convict Lay (who died in July 2006 after a heart-attack) and Skilling, who was sentenced to 24 years in jail. In May 2006, the latter was found guilty on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud and inside trading over Enron scandal. Skilling was found to have orchestrated a series of deals and financial scheme which later

Hotel & lodging management current event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Hotel & lodging management current event - Essay Example The balance between technologies, communication, and human touch helps hotels and lodgings to be more competitive. Technology is also used to convert natural resources into simple tools. It has an influence on the use of leisure facility like the class, impurities in the environment and natural resource depletion. The hotel industry and leisure providers are expected to keep up the pace in technology in order for them to make profits and improve customer services. There are many technologies that the hotel industry should keep up with in order to improve service delivery. Technology can also be used in support for guests with disabilities. Regulations are being released and revised to provide support to guests with disabilities. These regulations require hotels and companies to review most aspects of their operations, from distribution to construction to ensure compliance. Hotel management works their best strategies in the quest to provide related and better sources of information and service to guests with disabilities due to increase that is felt as it goes to the distribution which affects the hotel information and transactions. Cloud computing is another system that can be employed by the hotel management to ensure appropriate and efficient data storage, and it is also very secure as compared to other storage methods. It involves the use of online storage systems whereby the hotel management and storage information on a reserved space online using the computer. It is considered as one of the reliable ways to storing records. Mobility is the new face of computing as devices such as tablets and smartphones revolutionize the way we interact with technology. In hotels, tables, mobile phones, smartphones, and laptops have become critical tools on both sides of the check in desk. Therefore, some hotels access its management system on Apple iPad to eliminate manual registration desk

Cultural Imperialism Theory Analysis

Cultural Imperialism Theory Analysis What is the ‘cultural imperialism’ thesis and how valid is it today? Discuss with reference to relevant theory and examples. The best way to understand what cultural imperialism is, is by analysing its difference from the traditional modes of imperialism. This theory has been developed through a long line of historical events, especially ones that developed around the relationship of the west with the rest of the world and led to our contemporary society and whether or not this society is a big global culture due to cultural imperialism. In this essay I intend to explain the difference between imperialism and cultural imperialism, present the multiple forms it can be discussed and understood based upon and go through some historical events, important to define its concept. The second part of the essay will be more focused on the global perception of western media within non-western countries and several globalization and cultural globalization developments, in order to understand whether or not cultural imperialism is valid in our modern society, as far as these globalization developments are concerned. Imperialism, as a concept we have come across through history, is the policy of expansion of control or authority exercised in foreign entities as a means of obtaining and/or maintaining an empire (Hopper,2007, Ritzer,2011). This term is usually used to describe the political domination of one, usually stronger, nation to other countries, whether that domination is practised with direct territorial conquest or indirect methods of political and economic controlling. This political or traditional imperialism though is quite different from cultural imperialism, although the lines of distinction are usually blurred (Harvey,2003). Even though imperialism is usually used in conversations about politics or wars, cultural imperialism thesis describes the process within which a dominant culture penetrates the modern world system and how its dominating stratum, values and attitudes are spread to foreign cultures, creating unequal relationships between them, favouring the more developed and pow erful one (Hopper,2007, Schiller,1976). In other words, it is the concept within which certain dominant cultures, mainly western ones, threaten to overcome other more vulnerable ones (Tomlinson,1993). This term therefore is usually associated with globalization processes and deterritorialization, where culture seems to not necessarily be related only to geographical and social territories (Ritzer,2011). The fact that some cultures appear to be subordinate to others, within the concept of cultural imperialism is a natural social phenomenon which occurs at a later stage of a long historical chain of colonialism (Hopper,2007), that allowed western cultures to force their beliefs and values on areas, such as Africa or Asia, that were not traditionally inhabited by populations same as the metropolitan authority that conquered them. Since at some point in history West Europe controlled most of the world, they had easily penetrated societies for centuries, introducing the western civilisation to them and undermining their local heritages. All those undermined localities and cultures resulted to a modern world system, where West Europe does not rule most of the world anymore but has left its fundamental characteristics there, only to be re-enforced by the contemporary Trojan horse ‘for penetrating foreign cultures’, the media. After the Second World War and the end of the tradi tional European colonization, the two superpowers that emerged, the USA and the USSR, realised early enough their benefits from cultural imperialism and, more specifically, media imperialism to promote their authority along with their ideals. Media imperialism is the theory which suggests that smaller nations are in risk of losing their traditional cultural identities due to western mass media dominance (Ritzer, 2011). The USA’s use of cultural imperialism and the mass media then, empowered their position as the most powerful and, consequently influential, country in the world, enabling them to lead the way in terms of food or drink ( McDonalds, KFC, Coca Cola) or film and entertainment industry (Hollywood cinema). The promotion of American culture therefore has become another layer of cultural imperialism and the mere exposure of western media to other nations has created a sense of American superiority in the world, resulting to individual and traditional cultural identitie s to risk being forsaken forever (Hopper, 2007). Debates on media imperialism as a sub-category of cultural imperialism appeared first during the 1970’s when unequal media flows and absolute control over them by dominant nations increased over developing countries. By the time new and more powerful media appeared, during the 1980’s-1990’s, it became much more difficult for smaller nations to resist them and for local media outlets to survive (Boyd-Barret, 1998). This new form of imperialism did not only affect developing countries’ media but also the shaping of their local cultures, receiving also a lot of criticism over the years, since according to Ritzer, ‘it undermines the existence of alternate global media from developing countries, as well as their influence of the local and regional media’ (2011). Also, it considers the audience to be passive and ready to accept and interpret the same medium exactly the same way as everyone else in the world. This is problematic since audiences aroun d the world have many, big or small, differences between them which cause them to interpret things their own way. For example, The Simpsons is a very popular show throughout the world, translated in several languages and shown in many countries. However it contains various references of drugs, sex and drinking which make it difficult for the show to be shown as it is in every country, since references like that may cause offence in certain places, like Pakistan for example. That is why it is edited to be suitable for its target audience, which proves that audiences can interpret the same medium in lots of different ways. Another reason why media imperialism is criticised, is the fact that most media flows from developed countries to developing ones are controlled entirely by one company or owner, who decides what gets to be shown or gets censored. Those media therefore, could be very biased and untrustworthy and since they create a type of cultural dependency between the developed a nd developing countries, being biased means that the smaller nations would be completely controlled and exploited. Moreover, capitalism came to re-enforce media imperialism and the contemporary, capitalist driven system it creates as ‘the primary driving force behind cultural globalization’ (Ritzer, 2011). Despite the debates and arguments against media imperialism though, the existence of new global media which subsequently allowed several cultural characteristics to flow easily all over the world, creating a more global culture, is a fact. Culture, as in the shared sense of habits, traditions and beliefs of a country, society or a group of people (Cambridge Learner’s Dictionaries) is usually associated and defined within specific geographical barriers. For example, there is Cypriot culture in Cyprus, French culture in France and so on. The possibility though, that cultural and media imperialism create for a globalized culture to exist is mostly based on the deterritorialization theory. Based on this concept, the growing presence of social forms of control and involvement goes beyond the limits of a specific territory (Giddens, 1990). Deterritorialization therefore, is the transformation that occurs on local cultures from the impact the media and communications have on them, ca using them to no longer be as defined with local geography as they once were (Tomlinson, 2007). Deterritorialization then has become a general cultural condition, re-enforcing the idea that more and more cultures throughout the world are the same. Examples of instantaneous global communications, such as television or the internet, support the formation of a globalized culture, along with the English language considered to be the world’s global and information language. Another example of how traditional cultures can easily be derived from globalization and deterritorialization concepts, is how the residents of Fiji, particularly women, changed their traditional preferences of robust, full figure bodies and started dieting for the first time, resulting in health problems like anorexia or bulimia, after being introduced to television and western media in 1995 (BBC News). This influence of the USA or other western countries on smaller nations, as far cuisine, technology, busines s practises, political techniques, entertainment, fashion or food are concerned is known as Americanization or Westernization and is one of the effects of cultural imperialism (Hopper, 2007). Another theory is the cultural hybridization theory, which emphasizes on how the world seems to have become a smaller place and also on the interaction between the global and the local that has created new types of unique hybrid cultures that are neither global or local (Hopper,2007, Ritzer, 2011). In other words, it describes the ways in which different cultures create new forms and connections with each other, developing new types of cultures from the blending of their individual characteristics. A specific term about cultural hybridization came out of Roland Robertson’s (2011) work on the interaction of the global and the local and how the first, instead of eliminating the second, combines itself with it resulting to new forms of localities, based on the global. This term is glocalization and an example of it could be how internationally known companies slightly alter some of their products based on their locations and audiences. More specifically, Pringles’s flavour s in the USA range between original, salt or vinegar while in Asia you can find flavours such as seaweed or peppered beef. Due to phenomena like this and according to Ritzer (2011) ‘globalization leads to increasing sameness throughout the world’, resulting in cultural convergence, with the McDonaldization theory as a main example of it. McDonaldization theory was first introduced by George Ritzer in 1993 and uses the principles of the fast-food restaurant company as its model, to prove how some specific principles ‘are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society, as well as the rest of the world’ (Rtizer, 2011). With five principles, McDonaldization theory shows how the world can become more globalized, exactly the same way the fast-food restaurant became globally known and successful, with restaurants built in almost every country in the globe. The five dimensions, according to Ritzer, are efficiency, as in the way of finding the best possible method for accomplishing a task, calculability, which means emphasizing on the quantity rather than the quality of products, so that customers get more amounts of product in less period of time; predictability, as in the stereotypical way in which employees and customers are expected to behave in everywhere in the world and control, as in the con trolling or even replacement of employees by technology. The fifth dimension, is the so-called irrationality of rationality, which refers to when something that is normally considered to be rational is in fact exactly the opposite and sometimes can also be described as dehumanization, for the employees and/or the customers. These principles have Mcdonaldized many aspects of contemporary society, emphasizing the convergence even more. The modern trend of ‘speed-dating’ for example, is a McDonaldized way of the traditionally time-consuming process of meeting new people, since in this case potential partners gather up for short face-to-face meetings with each other. Also, the use of the Internet as the standard tool for the process of getting and exchanging information, making libraries more and more obsolescence is another example. Based on the aforementioned aspects of globalization and global culture in relation to cultural imperialism, there appears to be a general view that one cannot adequately grasp the relevance of globalized culture through the cultural imperialism thesis alone. That is because it oversimplifies the process of information flow, which is normally complex and unpredictable, by suggesting there is only a one-way flow of imperialism, from stronger nations to less powerful ones. Such a suggestion could not possibly be absolutely valid, especially nowadays, when more non-western countries, such as India, have started to grow into powerful, out-sourcing exporters, e.g. Bollywood movies (Hopper, 2007). It also overlooks the importance of the international relations between developed and developing countries, since the influence of the western media on non-western societies is somehow bound to them. Where those relations are not as good, then it is obviously unlikely that the influence of the me dia will affect the local population. This, in addition, is proven by the national media systems and protectionism applied by some European countries, like Canada and France as a form of rejection and protest against the American domination in the European film market. This form of resistance to Americanization is overlooked by the cultural imperialism thesis, as well as Stuart Hall’s (1973) encoding and decoding theory, which suggests that there are various different ways in which audiences can decode the same media text. To conclude, it is understandable that cultural imperialism is a very vague concept which can be understood in specific forms regarding specific contexts of imperialism, media and globalization processes. It establishes connections between developed and developing countries for print media, television, radio, film or consumer goods, creating a new form of imperialism in its core, the media imperialism, which allows western media and therefore culture to easily spread the information they want to convey the world and continue being a superpower. That makes cultural imperialism an expansion of cultural values re-enforcing a dominating ‘global’ culture through products or commodities diffused with cultural values that are strengthened by media imperialism. The media are after all a very important part of people’s daily lives. The cultural imperialism thesis though has created several debates and arguments over the years, about whether or not it is the right thesis to describe and evaluate our contemporary culture, as far as globalization processes are concerned. Due to all the critiques about how it overlooks important aspects of society, information flow and media theories in general, it is mostly considered to be a negative way of understanding media globalization and global culture and therefore it is not as valid as it seems to be in our contemporary society. Bibliography CAMBRIDGE Learners Dictionary 2007 Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences Of Modernity. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1990. Hall, Stuart. Encoding and Decoding In The Television Discourse. Birmingham [England]: Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, 1973. Harvey, David. The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hopper, Paul. Understanding Cultural Globalization. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2007. Lenin, Vladimir IlÊÂ ¹ich. Imperialism, The Highest Stage Of Capitalism. New York: International Publishers, 1982. News.bbc.co.uk,. BBC News | Health | TV Brings Eating Disorders To Fiji. N.p., 1999. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. Robertson, Roland. Globalization. London: Sage, 1992. Schiller, Herbert. Communication and Cultural Domination. New York: International Arts and Sciences Press, 1973. Oliver Boyd-Barret, Media and imperialism reformulated In Thussu, Daya Kishan(ed.) Electronic Empires: Global Media and Local Resistance. London: Arnold, 1998. Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX: Continuum, 1991. Tomlinson, John. Internationalism, Globalization And Cultural Imperialism In K. Thompson(Ed.) Media And Cultural Regulation. London: Open University/Sage, 1997. Tomlinson, John. The Culture Of Speed. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007.

Discuss in detail Shakespeare’s presentation of women in Much Ado About Nothing

The role of women in the 1600's was to be submissive, passive, to obey men and to be seen rather than heard; as is depicted in the female characters in many of Shakespeare's plays such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Queen Gertrude in Hamlet. However, the characters in Shakespeare's plays are predominantly male, they include very few female characters and Much Ado About Nothing is no exception. Each of the female characters in this play represents a different role of a 16th century woman. The reason for the relatively small number of female character's in Shakespeare's plays is for both practicality, as all female roles in Shakespeare's plays were performed by men, but can also be seen as a reference to women's relatively insignificant status in society. A woman's virginity and chastity were what her reputation was solely based on. Her status was gained by marriage and women in this time were raised to believe they were inferior to men, this status is reflected in the character of Hero. Shakespeare seems to portray the conventional role of a Shakespearean woman through Hero. Her silent and submissive nature is what shows her weakness to being controlled by other characters. This is predominantly men; however, Beatrice also speaks over Hero, challenging the male chauvinistic stereotype by placing characteristics commonly associated with males, in a female character. This is most noticeable in act 2 scene1, where Leonato, Beatrice, Hero and Antonio are discussing the topic of Hero's future. Shakespeare uses Hero's lack of a response to anything the other character's are saying in deciding her fate to emphasise society's expectancies of Hero, and girls like Hero, in Shakespearean times. Shakespeare uses the character Beatrice to represent a less conventional 16th century woman, independent and outspoken. By contrasting the roles of Beatrice and Hero against each other in this way Shakespeare more effectively presents the differences between these two characters. Shakespeare also mirrors the role of Beatrice in Margaret. Beatrice unlike Hero does not have a prestigious reputation to maintain. Other characters refer to Beatrice, often by name, in comparison to Hero as ‘niece', ‘daughter', and ‘cousin'. The way in which Beatrice talks to the male characters is unusual for her time, she is outspoken and does not hold back on voicing her opinions. In the 16th century women could be punished by law for having such mannerisms as this. Beatrice is particularly bitter towards Benedick, to whom she is rude, ignorant and seems to take great delight in mocking at every available opportunity. In this respect Shakespeare challenges the male chauvinism of the time by matching Beatrice and Benedick, who both, at times, appear both as witty and stubborn as one another, despite Beatrice being a woman and therefore, supposedly (in accordance to society's hierarchy at the time) an inferior match to Benedick. Beatrice's stubborn nature is introduced from the very beginning of the play, in Act 1 Scene 1 where Beatrice makes no attempt to be subtle with her feelings towards Benedick. She promises â€Å"to eat all of his killing† calling him weak and challenging the praise he is receiving from the messenger who is saying â€Å"he hath done good service, lady, in these wars. † It can be interpreted, however, that Beatrice is perhaps trying too hard to convince the other characters of how much she dislikes Benedick, suggesting her stubborn and cruel nature is all just an act, Shakespeare uses Beatrice's intense bitterness towards Benedick to provide the audience with sufficient evidence to suspect that something has happened between these two characters in the past to leave Beatrice with these thoughts. Shakespeare mirrors Beatrice in the character of Margaret. He seems to portray Margaret as a less powerful and dirtier minded Beatrice. She, like Beatrice, is outspoken and often seen as rude. However as Margaret is just a servant, Shakespeare uses this character for the lines that Beatrice could not get away with saying. The audience can more easily accept this rude and often suggestive (particularly when talking to male characters) humour. The suggestive aspect can be seen in act 5 scene 2. In which Margaret flirts with Benedick by saying â€Å"will you write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty? Shakespeare tries to make it known to the audience that Margaret is aware of her lowly status, by writing lines for her that are jokes at her own expense, such as in act 5 scene 2 â€Å"why shall I always keep below the stairs? â€Å", this can be interpreted however, as either Margaret's acceptance of her role, or as a crude joke used to flirt with Benedick. Margaret's comedy contrasts t he intelligent wit Shakespeare writes for Beatrice. The character of Margaret's purpose is to provide a different kind of humour in the play, perhaps as a relief from the witty and sarcastic banter between the other characters. Margaret talks back to Beatrice without any hesitation, as is seen in act 3 scene 4, where she mocks Beatrice in saying â€Å"a maid and stuffed†, this reinforces Margaret's ill mannered nature, being used as a source of entertainment for the audience. This kind of talk would not be acceptable from the other characters, but Shakespeare builds up the character of Margaret to represent a more ill mannered and crude aspect of the play. Shakespeare does this both through Margaret's main purpose – as an accomplice in the shaming of Hero – and the way in which she acts around the other characters, who are predominantly richer and more powerful than her. Margaret's main purpose is to contribute to the shaming of Hero, which causes great controversy and outrage. It's possible that Shakespeare involves Margaret in this event as a way of informing the audience that Margaret is of a far lower status than the other character's and introduces the idea that it is acceptable for her to do many things that for the other characters it is not. The prime example being that even suspicion alone that Hero could be involved in such affairs causes outrage, and yet when it is discovered that it was in fact Margaret, not much more is said about the incident. In Act 2 scene 1 Beatrice compares marriage to a â€Å"scotch jig† giving a very bleak outlook on the subject by saying â€Å"for, hear me, Hero: wooing, wedding, and repenting, is a scotch jig†. By referring to the aftermath of the wedding as ‘†repenting† Beatrice makes her opinions on marriage very clear. The expectancy of women of this time was to get married and have children, and so by portraying such a passionate disdain towards the subject through Beatrice, Shakespeare challenges the stereotypical role of a woman. It is this attitude that likens Beatrice more so than Hero, to a modern day audience, the opinion that women's sole purpose is not to marry and reproduce. Beatrice also makes a joke when Leonato says to her â€Å"well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband† by responding with â€Å"Adam's son are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred† this joke can be taken either at face value, as something Shakespeare has built up to be ‘typical Beatrice', or seen as a way of avoiding what Leonato was really trying to say to her, as a way of covering her real feelings in case there is a lapse in her tough outer exterior. And yet when in Act 3 scene 1 when Hero, Margaret and Ursula try to gull Beatrice she seems, to a certain extent, to believe them. Shakespeare's sudden portrayal of slight naivety in Beatrice can be interpreted as a way of showing the audience Beatrice has a more compassionate side, and that really she wants to believe this is true such as when she says â€Å"and, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee†. Another moment in which Beatrice shows compassion is when Benedick proposes his love to her, and her immediate reaction is to tell him to kill Claudio for what he has done to her cousin, Hero. She uses Benedick's love for her cruelly as a way of forcing him to kill Claudio against his will when she says â€Å"you kill me to deny it. Farewell†. In some respects, the character of Beatrice is there to show an independent and opinionated woman, representative in some aspects as an early feminist and as a way of challenging the conventional role of a Shakespearean woman. However in the final scene even Beatrice the independent, witty and intelligent heroine succumbs to the persuasive ways of men, love and society. The character of Hero can be interpreted in one of two ways. Critics say that Hero is ‘conventional, not at all deep, but ladylike and deserving of sympathy' this could be to uphold the reputation expected of her due to her father and as a result of this, her high social status which can be seen in act 2 scene 1. But Hero can also be interpreted as an intelligent young woman that simply knows the right, and similarly the wrong, times to speak; as can be seen in act 3 scene 4, a scene with only female characters in which Hero speaks of her own free will for herself. In Act 2 scene 1, Leonato makes it clear that it is his decision whom Hero marries; and not Hero's. Yet Hero says nothing throughout. This is what can make the character of Hero so hard to relate to for a modern day audience, as this kind of behaviour is not as common or typical in a modern day girl of Hero's age as it was in Shakespearean times. Although Hero's lines in the play are often merely functional and slightly lacking, it is this; her lack of speech, that most effectively represents her character and role in society. The only time the audience is shown Hero's wittier and more relaxed side is when she is surrounded by only female company. Beatrice in Act 2 scene 1however, does not hold back with her opinions, when Antonio says â€Å"well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father† Beatrice speaks for Hero by saying â€Å"yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say ‘Father, as it please you'† This can be seen as Beatrice either mocking Hero, or taking pity on her. But at the same time rather aptly sums up Hero's purpose. Hero has functional lines in the play and only really speaks when given permission, such as in act 2 scene 2 when she says â€Å"I will do any modest office, my lord† modest being the crucial word in this line. The first time we hear Hero speak for herself is at the masked ball. However, it can be interpreted that Shakespeare uses this opportunity for Hero to hide behind a mask to grant her the freedom to speak for herself, and in normal circumstances this would not be the case. In act 3 scene 1, we see a very different side to Hero than Shakespeare has previously portrayed. In this scene there are no men and so Hero is free to say as she ‘pleases', this freedom is furthered by Ursula and Margaret, both servants, both females, and both, therefore, below Hero in terms of social status, being the only other characters in the scene. In this scene Hero is given more lines than she has throughout the rest of the entire play. The scene opens with Hero giving Margaret an order â€Å"run thee to the parlor; there shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice†¦ whisper her ear and tell her, I and Ursula walk in the orchard and our whole discourse is all of her† up until this point this kind of assertiveness and power is completely unexpected of Hero to the audience. Hero then goes on to give Ursula clear and precise orders of what she must do â€Å"when Beatrice doth come† however, in act 3 scene 4, where the characters present are again all female, Hero is not as outspoken and forward. However one of the characters present is Beatrice, this suggest that's Beatrice overpowers Hero, and although Hero is technically more powerful and important than Beatrice, as she is Leonato's daughter, her lines are still functional and infrequent such as â€Å"these gloves the count sent me; they are an excellent perfume†. Hero is mirrored – in a similar way to how Beatrice is mirrored in Margaret – in Ursula. Out of Margaret and Ursula, Margaret is – as it is between Beatrice and Hero – the more loud and opinionated one, as opposed to Ursula who is more quiet and reserved, and like Hero is given functional lines â€Å"madam, withdraw: the prince, the count, Signior Benedick, Don John, and all the gallants of the town, are come to fetch you to church†. In act 3 scene 4, Margaret is the dominant speaker, mocking Beatrice and talking back to Hero â€Å"troth, I think your other rabato were better. . Hero's response to this â€Å"no pray thee, good Meg, I'll wear this† is uncharacteristically sure of herself, showing that she didn't really care about Margaret's opinion, and chooses to ignore it. This suggests that Hero is perhaps not a pushover as she is made out to be, but rather knows her place and what is expected of her, and so, when she is around certain com pany (i. e men) she is more reserved, so as not to get herself into trouble, giving reason to suspect Hero is perhaps smarter than a modern day audience would give her credit for. The other character's, in particular Claudio and Leonato's, expectancy of Hero is really emphasised when Margaret and Borachio set her up to be shamed. As even suspicion of Hero doing such causes great controversy and trouble, and is near enough the sole cause of the rest of the problems in the play from then onwards. Whereas, when it is found out that it was in fact Margaret, the act is completely overlooked. This reinforces the importance of social status within the play. Shakespeare both challenges and supports male chauvinism at times by exploring the social boundaries of women. This is done through the characters of Beatrice and Margaret, with their outspoken nature and Beatrice's seemingly unconventional outlook on life, but he does not cross these boundaries. As is seen in Act 4 scene 1 in which Shakespeare reflects and reinforces the separate roles 16th century society has created for males and females when Beatrice proclaims â€Å"O that I were a man! With Beatrice being the main character to challenge the conventional role of a woman, she – of all characters – being the one to say this, shows that there are still restraints put in place by society on things seen as acceptable for women to do. Beatrice repeats this line several times, interrupting Benedick with more of her self pitying rant every time he tries to defend his reasons for objecting to killing Claudio. This can be seen as giving Beatrice, an heir of ‘damsel in distress' a conventional and necessary role in romantic comedy, which contrasts with her character's less conventional role as a woman in the society she is in. Also in this scene, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony, when Claudio says â€Å"you seem to me as Dian on her orb† saying that Hero seems innocent, and pure, but he continues to say â€Å"but you are more intemperate in your blood† saying that he has realised Hero is not as she first appears and sees her more as someone who sleeps around. The audience, of course, knows this is not true. But the use of the dramatic irony here portrays the two sides of a woman, and shows how much Leonato's reputation lies on Hero's actions and status. Hero is a character that at first glance seems insignificant in the sense that she is rarely given opinions or a chance to speak. However the role that she plays is vital to romantic comedy as the young, innocent, female. This necessity of female characters to the plot and genre of the play despite their portrayal as being inferior to men is what is ironic in Much Ado About Nothing.