Saturday, November 16, 2019
Impact of New Media Technologies on the News
Impact of New Media Technologies on the News This essay argues that new media technologies have impacted on the structure of international news. As development of new media technologies is not a linear progression (Logan, 2010), what constitutes ââ¬Ënew media technologyââ¬â¢ changes from time to time. The exact definition of new media is arbitrary as television back in the 1950s is considered the new media but at this present moment, it no longer is. Recognising the transitory of the term ââ¬Ënew media technologiesââ¬â¢, I agree with Logan (2010)ââ¬â¢s definition of new media technologies as digital, two-way interactive media with ââ¬Ëthe ability to combine text, audio, digital video, the Web, email, chat and a cell phoneââ¬â¢ (ibid, 2010: 5), which is different from electric mass media such as TV or Radio posit by McLuhan in 1964 (ibid, 2010). As Shapiro (1999) articulates, ââ¬Å"the emergence of new, digital technologies signal a radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources â⬠(cited in Croteau William, 2003: 322) reinforces my support on the statement that new media technologies have impacted the structure of international news. Therefore, in order to illustrate my stance, I will discuss how the functionality of new media technologies, specifically mobile devices and the social media platform- Twitter have impacted the structure of international news in terms of its news production and distribution. Furthermore, I will look at the wider discussion sphere as to how new media technologies have impacted the media environment with relations to the structure of international news. As media coverage on international news according to Moeller (1999) focuses mainly on war, famine, pestilence and human misery issues, I will be using the case studies of 7/7 London Bombing and the Israel-Gaza conflict as examples. First of all, this essay argues that the functionality of new media technologies like smartphones have impacted the structure of international news in terms of news production. With the increase to access and ownership of new media technologies, in this context culture production tools, ââ¬Å"today everyone is a reporterâ⬠(Utley cited in Holms, 2001: 126). Smartphones are typically defined as mobile phones with advanced capabilities such as internet access, camera function, voice and video recording (Smith, 2011). These capabilities within a mobile device, I argue are potential mediated tools for news gathering, enabling ordinary citizens to generate their own news content especially in times of unfortunate event. For example, during the 7/7 London bombing incident where journalists were denied access to the sites of bombings, the public capture images and videos of the bombing attacks using smartphones (Allan, 2007). These photographs and videos captured by ââ¬Ëpeople who are not professional journalists and are unrelated to news organisationsââ¬â¢ are what Wardle Williams (2008) defined as user-generated contents (UGC). With relations to the 7/7, news agency and organisation like Reuters and Sky News initially have no confirmation of what was going on at Londonââ¬â¢s Liverpool Street station (Allan, 2007). Instead of obtaining news material from professional journalists, evidences of this breaking news came from UGC captured by eye-witnesses (Allan, 2007). This demonstrates that in times of emergency, producer of international news rested in the hands of whoever has the means of cultural production (Beckett, 2009). Realizing the difficulties entering the site of incident, BBC News site publicly solicit photos and statement of witness (Allan, 2007) and as a result, received over thousands of news materials. As such, this proves that the functionality of new media technologies like that of smartphones has enabled the production of UGC, thus aff ecting the production of international news which are formerly generated ââ¬Ëexclusivelyââ¬â¢ by professional journalists (Beckett, 2009). Due to the functionality of smartphones that connects users to the Internet, this essay moves on to argue that social media, another form of new media technology has impacted the structure of international news in terms of news sourcing and distribution. Hahn (2013) asserts that BBC journalistsââ¬â¢ referral to Twitter has increased by 500% between 2010 and 2012. As opposed to traditional international news sourcing which rely on the four global news agencies namely Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters and Agencia EFE (Belair-Gagnon, 2013), Twitter has become a valuable source of reportage for modern journalists (Hermida, 2010). BBC News editor agreed that social media help journalists to see what people were seeing and experiencing in real time (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). For example, updates of 7/7 bombing documented by citizens on Twitter allow news organisations to come up with a precise timeline of the attacks. Furthermore, amateur journalists who are on the ground in t imes of emergency sent texts on to Twitter and further spread it across other social media like Facebook, Instagram and MySpace through actions of ââ¬Ëre-tweetingââ¬â¢, re-bloggingââ¬â¢, ââ¬Ësharing,ââ¬â¢, and ââ¬Ëtaggingââ¬â¢ (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). This decentralized distribution of international news to not only official news organisations but also other unofficial avenues like that of social media is a sign of how new media technologies have impacted on the previously vertically distributed international news (Goode, 2009) by changing it into the present day horizontally shared model. However, I acknowledge that there have been concerns over the quality of UGC and legitimacy of tweets used in international news reporting (Bowman Willis, 2003). For example, in the event of the 7/7 bombing, mainstream media misreported the number of explosions, causing many to thought there were six explosions but in actual there were only three (BBC News, 2005). Despite the uncertainty over the authenticity of the information extracted from social media, mainstream media still adopts the ââ¬Ëpublish then filterââ¬â¢ journalistic style (Kperogi, 2011). As messages on Twitter often consist of unsubstantiated rumours whenever there is a major breaking news event, such unverified news source may jeopardizes a media organisationââ¬â¢s corporate ideology such as that of BBCââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ëbeing impartial and accurateââ¬â¢ (Hermida, 2010). Nevertheless, despite such risks, BBC still broadcasted a ââ¬Ëshakyââ¬â¢ video clip taken with camera documenting the real-life sto ry event of commuters being trapped underground (Allan, 2007). This is probably due to publicââ¬â¢s demand for minute-by-minute report (Belair-Gagnon, 2013), especially in times of emergency like that of 7/7 has changed the traditional structure of international news of presenting news as a whole. Owing to globalization, flow of information has speeded up and with global communications infrastructures that links distant communities across the globe, new media technologies supply us news feeds across the world (Terry, 2007). As such, this essay argues that despite the controversy over the inaccuracy and low quality of news sourced via new media technologies, UGC remain valuable to newsgathering in times of crisis (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). After looking at how new media technologies have impacted the structure of international news in terms of production and distribution, I further argue that new media technologies has caused a ripple effect to the wider international news media environment. This statement is supported by Kperogi (2011)ââ¬â¢s assertion that the new media technologies have challenged the ââ¬Ëdominant cultural hegemonyââ¬â¢ of global media organisations. For example, the emergence of citizen journalists which is the resultant of new media technologies have become the watchdog of mainstream media (McQuail, 2008), thus indirectly affecting the structure of international news. Meraz (2011) further contends that as contemporary cultural production tools have been ââ¬Ëdemocratized to the massesââ¬â¢, the increase in citizen journalism has contributed to the creation of panopticon effect where mainstream media are under the surveillance of citizen monitoring (Stones cited in Meraz, 2011). As a m atter of fact, citizen journalists who are generally perceived to uphold the notion of ââ¬Ëfreedom of expressionââ¬â¢ (Krumsvik, 2010) often question the editorial structure of international news which they condemned as narrow, homogenous and pre-determined by news agencies (Holm, 2001). As the Internet has allowed media users to bypass traditional gatekeeper in publishing news (Holm, 2001), citizens are being given an opportunity to create a networked public sphere that deviates from the hegemony public sphere. For example, the creation of Twitter-sphere and the use of hashtag ââ¬Ë#ââ¬â¢ (Butcher cited in Hermida, 2010) such as #GazaUnderAttack demonstrate a deviation from the Western international news that deliberate structure Israel as the only victim in the Israel-Gaza conflict. As such, I argue that the prominent usage of hashtag demonstrates how new media is used to provide narratives of war from a marginalized groupââ¬â¢s news angle. As the intention of contem porary journalists practice is to provide independent and wide-ranging information that a democracy requires in news reporting (Bowman Willis, 2003), Goode (2009) reckons such journalistic practices poses challenge to mainstream corporate media. Therefore, new media technologies have empowered citizen journalists the ability to challenge the spreading of the dominant Western worldview on the structure of international news. In order to mediate the contestation from citizens as discussed above, international news organisations such as CNN, BBC, ABC, Fox News and MSNBC initiate corporate-mediated citizen journalism projects such as iReport.com, UCG Hub, i-Caught, uReport.com and FirstPerson.com. (Belair-Gagnon, 2011; Kperogi, 2011). This incorporation of citizen journalism in the mainstream media offers ordinary people the opportunity to contribute unedited, unfiltered and uncensored UGC (Kperogi, 2011), reflecting news organisations democratic practice in news structuring. Furthermore, news organisations also solicit publicââ¬â¢s opinion for example, BBC uses SMS poll to gather audiencesââ¬â¢ heterogeneity views (Lee-Wright, 2010). This connotes news organisations, in the face of new media technologies advocate open conversation, transparency as well as encouraging heterogeneity of opinions in structuring international news reporting (Belair-Gagnon, 2011) by recognizing the usefulness and credibili ty of UGC (Bruns, 2007). Nevertheless, I argue that this adoption of corporate-mediated citizen journalism is a double-edged sword that on one side, seemingly advocating citizen journalism but on the other hand, retaining the dominant hegemony ideology. As Jurrat (2011) asserts, structure of international news can never be free of hegemonic control. Kperogi (2011) further points out that the very creation of corporate-mediated citizen journalism in actual represent hegemony cooptation of citizen journalism. This statement is reflected through Moeller (1999)ââ¬â¢s assertion that international news reporting have always made references that resonates and emphasizes the Americans in mainstream news channel. This is because media globalization is dominated by Western transnational media corporation and as such, allowing the West, particularly the United States to exert hegemony across the world (Terry, 2007). For example, even though UGC are gathered in CNNââ¬â¢s iReport.com, the selection of these UGC is still subjected to the control of gatekeeper (Kperogi, 2011). Such highly editorially controlled news suggests that homogeneity opinions are still very much preferred (Lee-Wright, 2010), thus implying that media cultural imperialism still exist. News help stronger countries influence weaker ones. For example, in the Israel-Gaza conflict, CNN and Fox News presents the Hamas group as terrorist organisation, framing the idea for audiences that US support for Israel is justified. Being one of the superpower in the media industry, the spreading such homogenous media content worldwide (Terry, 2007) is undeniable, branding Hamas or rather Palestinians as terrorists. Furthermore, there may even be a possibility of media domestication (MacGregor, 2013) where actions of altering video and text supplied by making it relevant to local context such as modifying news angles and omitting irrelevant material. For example, the way how the current Gaza war is narrated conforms to the Westernââ¬â¢s dominant hegemony ideology of framing the Hamas as terrorist organisation instead of showing how Palestinians being victimized. Such deliberate framing I argue, gives the US authority the justification to supply ammunition to Israel. This essay concludes that new media technologies have indeed impacted on the structure of international news in terms of its production, where news organisations have become reliant on user-generated content and its distribution, where previously vertically distributed news have become horizontally distributed. Besides that, social media, Twitter in particular has emerged as a powerful tool for reporting breaking news stories and generating stories angles (Belair-Gagnon, 2011). Even though there have been speculations over the usage of UGC and Twitter feeds, I argue that these new media technologies still have positive significances in the structure of international news. Discussing on a wider spectrum, new media technologies have further advocated the manifestation of citizen journalism which proves to pose quite a challenge to the hegemonic structure of international news. Nevertheless, I concede that the dominant Western ideologies of media organisations though being contested, re main dominating in this global media landscape. As a conclusion, in this globalized technological determinism society, technology is the impetus in the development of cultural production, in this context, the structure of international news.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The Effects of American Reform Movements in the 1900s :: American America History
The Effects of American Reform Movements in the 1900s Living in the United States of America is all about opportunity. The opportunity to get a good job, make money, and lead a life of good quality; in other words, the opportunity to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. However the opportunity for many people was not around through out the 1800s. Certain groups of people did not hold the basic rights that were guaranteed by the Constitution. In fact, most of the people that had opportunity were the wealthy white men, and few other people ever had any chances to lead a good life. For example, at the end of the 1800s African Americans had some rights, however a lot of their rights were severely limited by laws that were made by the wealthy white men. Also, Native Americans didnââ¬â¢t have any rights at all; they werenââ¬â¢t even considered United States citizens. So how did the United States go from a country that only benefited white men to a land of opportunity for everyone? The answer to this is through reform mov ements. The many reform movements through out United States History as shaped American Society and Culture to what it is today. For example, the Progressive movement saw many laws passed which are still in effect today. Also, without the Civil Rights movements we would still be living in a hypocritical, racist society. In the late 1800ââ¬â¢s a group of Americans decided that something needed to be done about the decline of moral and ethical values in most Americans. These people called themselves the progressives and started one of the most comprehensive reform movements in the United States to this day. Progressivism became so widespread that by the end of World War I, anyone who didnââ¬â¢t agree with Progressive ideals was labeled a communist. The Progressives had four major goals that they wished to accomplish. These four goals were to democratize America, to Americanize America, the humanization of capitalism and rationalization of the economy. Each goal dealt with a different aspect of Americaââ¬â¢s society that the Progressives thought needed help. The way these goals were accomplished was to get laws passed that would reform the practices of many Americans. Progressives held that in order to bring American back to its old time, rural values people would need to attend church m ore.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Iââ¬â¢m the King of the Castle Essay
Qn: In her after word, the writer talks about ââ¬Å"the evil ââ¬â for I think I evil-of Hooperâ⬠. What do you think the novel says about the nature of evil in people? In my perspective, I do not believe that people are born evil. ââ¬Å"Evilâ⬠is undisputedly an arbitrary term whereby different people have different scope of what evil is. Susan Hillââ¬â¢s definition of ââ¬Å"evilâ⬠is that of Hooper -being sadistic and afflicting harm in others, as seen in Hooper. Yet, I feel that Hillââ¬â¢s definition of ââ¬Å"evilâ⬠is rather cynical and biased. Hill should not even relate Hooper to ââ¬Å"evilâ⬠in the first place, as the child is still growing up and does not know how to differentiate between good and bad, and the fact that he does not receive any love and care sort of make him an ââ¬Å"emotionlessâ⬠person. Thus purely describing him as evil is somewhat biased. I think better adjectives to describe him are probably contumacious and unfeeling. In my essay, Iââ¬â¢ll first prove that Hooperââ¬â¢s cruelty is due to his lack of fundamental love and care and that it is due to some circumstances that drove him to be who he is. Secondly, Iââ¬â¢ll prove that Hooper cannot be really blamed for his evilness, and lastly, Iââ¬â¢ll counter opposing arguments put across and further reinforce on my motion. Firstly, the fact that Hooper is cruel cannot be denied. Yet, one must take into consideration that it is the environment and external influences that led him to be evil. Hooper is born into a dysfunctional family. His mother died when he was very young, and that deprived him of mother-love, which is often thought to be very important and influential during a childââ¬â¢s growing phase. In addition, Hooperââ¬â¢s situation is made worse due to lack of fatherââ¬â¢s care and understanding. Hooper is thus deprived of any love and care, which any other normal child would have gotten. Thus, he could only turn to being evil, probably to attract attention from his only kin, which is his father. Hooperââ¬â¢s hostile attitude towards Kingshaw indeed makes readers feel indignant. However, the crucial point here, which I feel, is why Hooper is so mean towards Kingshaw. It is a fact that all living beings need companionship. Hooperââ¬â¢s cruelty towards Kingshaw could be a way he shows affection. Well, we never know for sure how some people choose to show affection. And cruelty could be how Hooper chooses to show. Furthermore, Hooper has never ever experienced the true feeling of love and care. So most probably, he doesnââ¬â¢t know anything about love. So, that explains why he thinks cruelty is a form of affection. Taking for instance the case of ailing pets. Veterinarians and pet lovers, in a bid to stop their precious pets from suffering more pain, put them to sleep. This, irrefutable, is a cruel thing, but it is a way pet lover show their affection towards their pets. Now, are their actions really evil and inhumane? I, basically, think this action is not a cruel thing, but rather, something piteous as it helps to alleviate the petââ¬â¢s pain. Basically, this sentence sums up that the fact that I do not believe that people are born evil, but rather it is ââ¬Å"nurtureâ⬠, rather ââ¬Å"natureâ⬠, that turns people evil. In addition, Hooperââ¬â¢s actions, to me, can be justified as being selfish rather than evil. We all know that Hooper is possessive. He wants Warings to himself and does not waste any attempt drive away ââ¬Å"redundant peopleâ⬠living in Warings. His actions are certainly more of Selfishness than Evilness. The fact that Hooper is merely a young child further accentuates and explains why he is so selfish. Afterall, young child are more self-centered and possessive. This can be illustrated by the fact that a young child only accepts their parentsââ¬â¢ full, unscattered love and concern, and more often than ever, news of the arrival of another child, only make them fret about the amount on concern they would receive. Thus, Hooperââ¬â¢s selfishness is somehow understandable. On the other side of the coin, Kingshaw is undoubtedly kind. Critics have commented on Kingshaw as having ââ¬Å"natural goodnessâ⬠. Now, the question is, if people are born evil, then why is Kingshaw still so kind? Kingshaw has been inundated with taunts and torments from Hooper. Yet, there is still this tinge of kindness inside him that made him remain good right from the start, albeit he did harbour some ill intentions of harming Hooper initially (ââ¬Å"had only to move his handâ⬠¦so that he would topple through the well of the staircaseâ⬠, chapter 2). So, if people were to born evil, then, why is Kingshaw still benevolent? Therefore, my motion, that people are not born evil, is further reinforced here. In conclusion, Iââ¬â¢d like to state that it is nurture, not nature, that made Hooper evil, and that people are certainly not born evil. Perhaps one simple analogy one to reinforce my point is that when an adopted child commits a crime, the ones he would blame are definitely his foster parents and not his natural parents. Why? Because itââ¬â¢s nurture rather than nature, that makes one who he is. With this, I end my essay.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Warm blasts of wind embraced Essays
Warm blasts of wind embraced Essays Warm blasts of wind embraced Essay Warm blasts of wind embraced Essay Warm blasts of wind embraced the figure in white standing all alone in the midst of the green grasses and weeds in the open field. He shuddered because even though the day was perfect, there was an uneasy feeling in the atmosphere. He took a few steps backwards because looking eastwards, the sun was blinding him. He turned around and ran into a door that seemed to appear out of thin air. He was puzzled for a moment as he reached forward to open the door. Just then, sounds of a bird came from up above and he turned his head upwards to have a look at it. It was a seagull flying high up in the sky in a straight line heading right over top of him.As the bird got closer to him, it bent his head down to look at the man in white, making eye contact, then it let go of a letter it was holding on to with his back legs. The bird made him nervous; its eyes were cold and lifeless. The envelope dropped a meter in front of him and kept on shifting on the ground as the wind moved it around yet it di d not lift of the ground. He tried to move forward to pick it up but froze in that moment as he looked up in the sky again. The sky above was no longer bright blue with the yellow sun shining above; it was turning grey as the clouds began to cover up the sun. He felt uneasy as if he was in a nightmare. He felt destruction coming towards him, he lusted for the destruction but his mind longed for a route to take, to escape the nightmares.Santiago backed away. His mind raced with images of death, bloodsheds, tears and guilt on faces of people he does not recognize. He backed away from the letter, further and further. The images did not stop. They flooded his brain. His soul was being plagued with these images. He closed his eyes hoping they would go away but they did not, they became more horrifying and he was forced to open his eyes. The nightmares were all of a sudden very real. There were people everywhere. They were dressed in whitefaces color drenchedlifeless eyes. They were the a bandoned angels. He was surrounded in a sea of white. There were not only adults.There were children, hundreds of them, more than he could possible imagine, all dressed in white. Every one of them was watching two figures ahead of them figures clothed entirely in red. The two figures just stood straight ahead of him and stared at Santiago like a statue. Nothing moved. No sound made. Next to him an albino child was praying, moving his lips, quietly forming his prayer, asking god for forgiveness, for mercy. The scene was haunting. He wanted to escape but he knew it was not possible. For a moment he closed his eyes again, and like a magnet he was attracted to the door that had reappeared behind him. His hands were then pinned perpendicular to the door and his legs forming an upside down v against it. He opened his eyes and saw the two red figures still standing in the same position. He tried to move but it was no use. The people around him were drawing around the two figures in red as if they were possessed.Frozen in the same position, he was forced to watch the crowd. The puppets and their masters stood still for what seemed like hours to look at him. They slowly started to turn their heads, except now the pale faces of the entire crowd was covered in crimson liquid. The little albino boy looked into his eyes, the same shade as the liquid on his face. They burned into him, warning him. This little boy, he saw everything in him. The red orbs were filled with satisfaction. He felt sharp strokes of pain coursing through his still body as He clenched his fists to stop himself from crying out in pain. He looked down his body. He had been slashed everywhere but no blood had come out. His white suit were spotless and his white shoes still shinning.There was no blood on the ground either. He looked up and realized that the crimson liquid that covered the faces of the crowd was probably his blood. The door suddenly disappeared; he fell to the ground hunched over and in p ain but now free to move. He saw that the red leaders were now looking at their feet holding swords covered in blood. They had cold smiles on their faces, looking satisfied. Something seemed to lie at the feet of the red leaders.He felt the anger radiating from the red leaders as he slowly made his way to where they stood. His breathing became worst and but he stayed composed and upright, trying to hide the pain, the discomfort and the fact that the crowd intimidated him. He was scared. When he reached the crowd, he pushed his way through them one by one. He finally reached the two red leaders and followed their gaze to where a body lay at their feet looking familiar.Santiago felt a cloud of sadness hover over him as he thought it may be someone he loved. He bent over and turned the dead body that lay faced down on the dirt covered ground. At that moment he was paralyzed. The body was not someone he loved. It was him. His once handsome visage was now severed, swimming in blood. It w as the same crimson blood that covered the faces of the sea of white that was surrounding him.The two figures now looked at him, holding long bloody swords in their hand and looking even more cold and emotionless than the fallen angels. In a split second, like fog lifting off of his vision, the faces of the strangers seemed clearer with details. But they were not strangers. The two figures in the red were two of his friends, the Vicario brothers. Most of the faces that met his were people he knew or loved. He felt betrayed and disgusted. Santiago tried to stand up but both brothers drove their bloody swords through his back. He cried out in agony but again no blood came out. Santiago ran out of energy but he still struggled to stand up. The crowd watched him agonize and did not help him. After a few minutes they all started walking away from him.The man dressed in white now lay in the middle of the dirty field covered with his own blood, as the heavens cried out in pain over the los s of a hero. The fallen hero who was betrayed by everyone he knew, everyone that had the power to help him failed. Tears poured down from heaven, the cold body lay on the grass as day gave into the night and the ice cold tears tortured the already dead body to another painful death.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Macbeth Quotes Explained
'Macbeth' Quotes Explained Macbeth, William Shakespeares bloodiest play, is one of the most quoted dramatic works in the English language. Memorable lines from the tragedy explore themes like reality and illusion, ambition and power, and guilt and remorse. Famous quotations from Macbeth are still recited (and sometimes spoofed) today in movies, TV shows, commercials, and even the daily news. Quotes About Reality and Illusion Fair is foul, and foul is fair:Hover through the fog and filthy air.(Act I, Scene 1) The Tragedy of Macbeth opens with an eerie, supernatural scene. Amidst thunder and lightening, three witches moan into the wind. They tell us that nothing is as it seems. Whats good (fair) is evil (foul). Whats evil is good. Everything is strangely reversed. The witches- also called weird sisters- are odd and unnatural. They speak in sing-song rhymes, but describe filth and evil. Theres an unexpected rhythm to their words. Most ofà Shakespeares characters speak in iambs, with the emphasis falling on the second syllable: da-dum, da-dum. Shakespeares witches, however, chant inà trochees. The emphasis falls on the first syllable: Fair is foul, and foul is fair. This particular quote is also a paradox. By pairing opposites, the witches disrupt the natural order. Macbeth aligns himself with their twisted thinking when he echoes their words in Act I, Scene 3: So foul and fair a day I have not seen[.] Shakespeares witches are fascinating because they force us to question the natural order of things, as well as our notions about fate and free will. Appearing at key moments in Macbeth, they chant prophesies, spark Macbeths lust for the throne, and manipulate his thinking. Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? Or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?(Act II, Scene 1) The witches also set the tone for moral confusion and hallucinatory scenes like Macbeths encounter with a floating dagger. Here, Macbeth is preparing to murder the king when delivers this haunting soliloquy. His tortured imagination (heat-oppressed brain) conjures the illusion of the murder weapon. His soliloquy becomes a chilling apostrophe in which he speaks directly to the dagger: Come, let me clutch thee. The dagger, of course, cannot respond. Like many things in Macbeths distorted vision, its not even real. Quotes About Ambition and Power Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.(Act I, Scene 4) Macbeth is a complex and conflicted character. His comrades call him brave and worthy, but the witches prophecy has awakened a secret longing for power. These lines, spoken by Macbeth as an aside, reveal theà black and deep desires he struggles to hide. Lusting for the crown, Macbeth plots to kill the king. But, on reflection, he questions the practicality of such an action. I have no spurTo prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which oerleaps itselfAnd falls on the other.(Act I, Scene 7) Here, Macbeth acknowledges that ambition is his only motivation (spur) to commit murder. Like a horse spurred to leap too high, this much ambition can only result in downfall. Ambition is Macbeths tragic flaw, and its possible that nothing could have saved him from his fate. However, much of the blame can be placed on his wife. Power-hungry and manipulative, Lady Macbeth vows to do whatever it takes to advance her husbands murderous plan. â⬠¦Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty! make thick my blood;Stop up the access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of natureShake my fell purpose, nor keep peace betweenThe effect and it! Come to my womans breasts,And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,Wherever in your sightless substancesYou wait on natures mischief!(Act I, Scene 5) In this soliloquy, Lady Macbeth braces herself for murder. She rejects Elizabethan notions of womanhood (unsex me), and begs to be rid of soft emotions and female visitings of nature (menstruation). She asks the spirits to fill her breasts with poison (gall). Womens milk is a recurring motif in Shakespeares play, representing the soft, nurturing qualities Lady Macbeth renounces. She believes that her husband is too full o the milk of human kindness (Act I, Scene 5) to kill the king. When he waffles, she tells him that she would rather murder her own infant than abandon their murderous plan. â⬠¦I have given suck, and knowHow tender tis to love the babe that milks me:I would, while it was smiling in my face,Have pluckd my nipple from his boneless gums,And dashd the brains out, had I so sworn as youHave done to this.(Act I, Scene 7) In this shocking rebuke, Lady Macbeth attacks her husbands manhood. She implies that he must be weak- weaker than his wife, weaker than a nursing mother- if he cannot keep his vow to take the throne. Elizabethan audiences would have been repulsed by Lady Macbeths raw ambition and reversal of traditional sex roles. Just as her husband crossed moral boundaries, Lady Macbeth defied her place in society. In the 1600s, she may have appeared as weird and unnatural as the witches with their eerie incantations. Todays attitudes are very different, yet ambitious and powerful women still arouse suspicion. Critics and conspiracy theorists have used the name Lady Macbeth to deride public figures like Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard. Quotes AboutGuilt and Remorse Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep.â⬠¦What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No, this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas in incarnadine,Making the green one red.(Act II, Scene 2) Macbeth speaks these lines immediately after murdering the king. To murder sleep has a double meaning. Macbeth has killed a sleeping man, and hes also killed his own serenity. Macbeth knows that because of this action, he will never be able to rest peacefully.à The guilt Macbeth feels stirs hallucinations and gruesome visions of blood. Hes shocked by the sight of his murderous hands. (They pluck out mine eyes.) In his tormented mind, his hands are soaked with so much blood, they would turn the ocean red.à Lady Macbeth shares Macbeths crime, but does not immediately show guilt.à She coldly returns the daggers to the crime scene and smears blood on the kings sleeping grooms so that they will be blamed. Seemly unruffled, she tells her husband, A little water clears us of this deed (Act II, Scene 2). Out, damned spot! out, I say! - One: two: why,then, tis time to dot. - Hell is murky! - Fie, mylord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need wefear who knows it, when none can call our power toaccount? - Yet who would have thought the old manto have had so much blood in him.â⬠¦.The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? - What, will these hands neer be clean? - No more othat, my lord, no more o that: you mar all withthis starting.â⬠¦Heres the smell of the blood still: all theperfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this littlehand. Oh, oh, oh!â⬠¦Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not sopale. - I tell you yet again, Banquos buried; hecannot come out ons grave.â⬠¦To bed, to bed! theres knocking at the gate:come, come, come, come, give me your hand. Whatsdone cannot be undone. - To bed, to bed, to bed! (Act V, Scene 1) The king is only one of many killings during Macbeths bloody reign. To hold onto his ill-gotten crown, he orders the slaughter of his friend Banquo and the entire household of Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Macbeth suffers fits of hysteria and hallucinates Banquos ghost with blood-clotted hair. But its the hard-hearted Lady Macbeth who eventually collapses under the weight of guilt, and she is the one who gives this monologue. Sleepwalking, she wrings her hands and babbles about the stain of so much spilled blood.à The phrase Out, damned spot! can seem comical to modern readers. Lady Macbeths distraught words have been used in advertisements for products ranging from household cleaners to acne medicines. But this is the raving of a woman who teeters on the brink of madness.à Parts of Lady Macbeths monologue, like the incantation of the witches, depart from the traditional iambic pentameter. In a metrical pattern called a spondee, she strings together syllables that have equal weight: Out-damned-spot-out. Since each one-syllable word is equally stressed, the emotional tension is heightened. Readers (or listeners) are more likely to feel the impact of each word. The words themselves seem nonsensical. They are non sequiturs, jumping from thought to thought. Lady Macbeth is reliving all the crimes, remembering sounds, smells, and images. One after the other, she names murder victims: the king (the old man), Macduffs wife, and Banquo. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.(Act V, Scene 5) Unable to recover from her guilt, Lady Macbeth kills herself. When this news reaches Macbeth, hes already in deep despair. Abandoned by his noblemen and knowing his own days are numbered, he delivers one of the most desolate soliloquies in the English language. In this extended metaphor, Macbeth compares life to a theatrical performance. Days on earth are as short-lived as the candles that illuminate the Elizabethan stage. Each person is nothing more than a shadow cast by that flickering light, a silly actor who struts about and then vanishes when the candle is snuffed. In this metaphor, nothing is real and nothing matters. Life is a tale told by an idiotâ⬠¦ signifying nothing. American author William Faulkner titled his novel The Sound and the Furyà after a line from Macbeths soliloquy. Poet Robert Frost borrowed a phrase for his poem, Out, Out - . Even the cartoon Simpson family embraced the metaphor with a melodramatic rendition by Homer Simpson. Ironically, Shakespeares tragedy ends soon after this somber speech. Its easy to imagine audiences blinking from the theater, wondering, Whats real? Whats illusion? Are we part of the play? Sources Garber, Marjorie. ââ¬Å"Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Chapter One.â⬠10 Dec. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/books/chapters/chapter-shakespeare.html. Excerpted from the book, Pantheon Publishers.Liner, Elaine. ââ¬Å"Out, Damned Spot!: The Best Pop Culture References That Came from Macbeth.â⬠26 Sept. 2012, www.dallasobserver.com/arts/out-damned-spot-the-best-pop-culture-references-that-came-from-macbeth-7097037.Macbeth. Folger Shakespeare Library, www.folger.edu/macbeth.Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Arden. Read online at shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/index.htmlThemes in Macbeth. Royal Shakespeare Company, cdn2.rsc.org.uk/sitefinity/education-pdfs/themes-resources/edu-macbeth-themes.pdf?sfvrsn4.Wojczuk, Tana. The Good Wife ââ¬â Hillary Clinton as Lady Macbeth. Guernica, 19 Jan. 2016. www.guernicamag.com/tana-wojczuk-the-good-wife-hillary-clinton-as-lady-macbeth/.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Arab Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Arab Family - Essay Example Every morning, she prepares her family by making them breakfast before they leave for work or school. A typical day for her involves supervising and helping with the cleaning of the home, she then has the family driver take her to the market where she purchases provisions for the day before going back hope to prepare lunch. Her husband who runs his own business usually makes it home for lunch at around one and sometimes has a siesta before going back to the office where he stays until around 6 PM. In most scenarios in the Arab culture, the family revolves around the man who is expected to provide and protect his family; the woman in most cases takes care of the family and handles domestic concerns (Ertà ¼rk 4). Nevertheless, this is not universal and there are many Arab career women who hold professional positions, if they are married however, they will still be expected to look after domestic affairs. The children do not come home until 5 PM, Asha the daughter will normally greet her mother and go to her room to attend to her homework until 7 PM in the evening. Abdi is in college and unless he has a class project, he will watch TV or play video games, sometimes he will drive out to see his friends but almost always make his way back before 7. The family sits down to dinner at around 7: 30, the menu often reflects the diversity of rich Saudi cuisine. The food normally includes rice, some chicken or mutton, stewed vegetables and spiced tomato source. Side dishes and desert often include coffee ice cream and chocolate or soda, tea is also commonly served black with lots of sugar and spices such as rosemary. Dinnertime is very important for the family, in the Arab culture more so Saudi, families use dinnertime to get to talk and listen to each other about the dayââ¬â¢s events. When they are eating together, they get to bond and strengthen their family unity;
Saturday, November 2, 2019
The Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
The Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs - Essay Example with the intention of taking over common with autocratic regimes or those after certain resources from uncivilized people of the then era (Silberman & Alexander 179). Based on significant divergences between the two differing cultures, that of Aztec required an extent of destruction for the Spaniards to establish its own, which was Christianity. This included abolishing mode of worship whereby that of Aztec included using human beings as sacrifice. This was contrary to Christianity that entailed only allegiance to the pope besides adhering to the set guidelines. Eliminating the nativesââ¬â¢ culture was to pave way for the emergent Christianity creed whose establishment could not have been that easy if people held onto former practices. Conversely, other practices related to family as well as agriculture could have been preserved for they did not bar effective indoctrination of Christianity. This is despite the latter characterized by some aspects that sometimes failed to conform wholly to emerging Spaniardsââ¬â¢ creed. For instance, polygamy that encompassed some of the aspects entailed adequate suppression to enhance nativesââ¬â¢ compli ance as well as their respective devotion levels (Curtis & Hansen 426). How would the world be different today if the Spanish had only destroyed the Aztec religion and its emphasis on human sacrifice, but allowed the Aztec Empire and Tenochtitlan to remain as they were before 1519? Presently, the Aztecs will have a strong empire whose basis is Christianity besides people holding onto the notion former prophesy came to its fulfilment with the arriving of Cortes. Since, after his arriving they perceived him being a god whereby his actions coupled with those of entire Spaniardsââ¬â¢ entourage would be termed as a revolution that they were anticipating. In addition, the empire would have advanced in terms of varied aspects of knowhow, which they had, for instance, chinampas system (Carrasco & Scott 74). Consequently, this knowhow by to date
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