Shooting an Elephant Essay Example for Free

Shooting an Elephant Essay George Orwells essay â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† was a first-person narration by an Indian Imperial Police officer. Set in British colony of Burma during the early 20th century, the officer was seen as white foreign repressive authority figure. His relationship with Burmese natives was poor. The officer sympathized with the feelings of the Burmese, but still resented them. The story revolved around an elephant that killed a Burmese man and the officer’s moral dilemma about having to shoot it. A large crowd gathered wanting the beast dead, while the officer deliberated the elephant’s fate. The officer shot several times wounding the elephant. Unable to watch the elephant suffer the officer left, while the crowd stayed to watch it died slowly in agony. The officer questioned whether the right decision was made. Orwell effectively used rhetorical strategies to argue the shooting by implementing response to opposing views, assumptions, and emotional appeals. Orwell responded to opposing views by claiming the shooting was legitimate and fulfilled the wishes of the natives. Orwell argued, â€Å"legally I had done the right thing, for a mad elephant has to be killed, like a mad dog, if its owners fails to control it† as a justification for the shooting. (383) The narrator was trying to vindicate the killing of the elephant through law. He acknowledged that the shooting had divided opinions among Europeans (Orwell 383). The elder people felt he was right while the younger Europeans thought it was wrong to kill the animal just because it had a slayed native (Orwell 383). The death of the native gave the officer a defense for the shooting. The narrator explained that the shooting was a necessity; his own life was in danger if he did not pull the trigger because of the size of the crowd that wanted the beast dead (Orwell 382). Orwell wrote, â€Å"it put me legally in the right and it gave me sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant† (383). Orwell assumptions start at the beginning of the essay when the Burmese hassle the narrator. The author claimed he was hated by many of the Burmese (Orwell 378). Orwell summarized the natives despised him because he was an officer of the Imperial police; â€Å"As an officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it was safe to do so† (378). The narrator was appalled at the treatment of the Burmese by the British, yet beholden to do his job. Orwell contended that imperialism was wrong (378). When it was time to shoot the elephant, the officer was in a difficult situation. He had the authority, the means, and the skill, but he did not have the will. He did not want to shoot the elephant (Orwell 380). The author compared the elephant to a piece of machinery; the officer realized the importance of the elephant to the owner and the financial cost (Orwell 380). Assumptions were made about animal significance and worth. He believed as the Burmese did about the Empire. The assumptions facilitated Orwell realization that he would have to shoot the elephant (381). Orwell’s use of emotional appeal was strongly evident in this essay. Orwell showed with convincing imagery the narrator’s shame of the British Empire (379). Orwell appeal was reinforced by an unbearable sense of remorse (379). The officer was overwhelmed by massive burden and pressure over having to decide on whether or not to shoot the elephant. The writer said, â€Å"The people expected it of me and I got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward† (Orwell 381). Several times the officer repeated his feelings about not wanting to shoot the elephant (Orwell 380-381). The officer expressed the pressure he was under by the native to shoot the elephant (Orwell 381). Orwell wanted the readers to understand his position about the shooting by writing the essay. The officer had the ultimate authority amongst the crowd to shoot the elephant however; the crowd’s large numbers essentially ordered and forced him into compliance. One cannot forget about a man’s pride being blemished, especially in the early twentieth century. Orwell wrote, â€Å"my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at† (381). The emotional appeal Orwell makes is strong through the entire essay. The argument that Orwell made about having to shoot an elephant was strong. He responded to opposing views and the reasons why the elephant had to be put down. Orwell was legally justified but also provided sufficient evidence for self-perseveration. There were two thousand natives wanting the execution to happen. Orwell used assumptions to enhance the mood and perception the Burmese people had of him and of the British Empire. The author acknowledged that his assumptions of the Empire were the same. Orwell used the emotional appeals throughout the entire essay. The author cited reasons for having to shoot the elephant; he denied his inner voice and did the opposite. Clearly, Orwell argument for having to shoot the elephant was proven through use of the rhetorical strategies.

Globalisation Of Culture Global Culture Cultural Studies Essay

Globalisation Of Culture Global Culture Cultural Studies Essay Thus, globalization is often constructed as an impersonal and inevitable force in order to justify certain policies or behaviors, however praiseworthy some of them might be. In a broader historical sense, Mazlish (1993:6-7) and Robertson (1992:68-71) cogently argue that not only capitalism or advocacy movements but also Christianity, Islam, and Marxism have made global claims and harbored global pretensions. The start of globalization is also a contested issue (Held et al. 1999). World-system theorists maintain that the expansion of European capitalism in the 16th century marks the start of globalization (Wallerstein 1974; see also Waters 1995:2-4). Robertson (1992:179) argues that globalization took off between 1875 and 1925 with the time-zoning of the world and the establishment of the international dateline; the near-global adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the adjustable seven-day week; and the establishment of international telegraphic and signaling codes. term globalization was first used around 1960 in its world-wide sense as opposed to its much older meanings of the global as something sphericalor universal. It is far from a uniform and inexorable trend. Rather, globalization is a fragmented, incomplete, discontinuous, contingent, and in many ways contradictory and puzzling process (Guidry, Kennedy, and Zald 1999; Held et al. 1999:43proponents of the feeble thesis focus almost exclusively on the economic and financial aspects of globalization to the detriment of political, social and cultural ones. The literature offers and discuss evidence in support of political and cultural globalization that is, on the whole, qu ite persuasive. (Castells 1996:66-147) The anthropologist Jonathan Friedman (1994:210-211) asserts that globalization is the product of cultural fragmentation as much as it is the result of modernist homogeneity, and that what appears as disorganization and often real disorder is not any the less systemic and systematic. At the ideological and cultural level, globalization has been observed as a symptom of late imperial culture as Aijaz Ahmad calls it as the most recent and highest stage of imperialism (Ahmad: 2002). Does Globalisation Produce Convergence? A second contested issue in the literature on globalization has to do with its consequences as to the convergence of societies towards a uniform pattern of economic, political, and even cultural organization. Most famously expressed in modernization theory, the spread of markets and technology is predicted to cause societies to converge from their preindustrial past, although total homogeneity is deemed unlikely. The critique of the presumed convergent consequences of globalization. Political scientist Robert Cox (1996:28, 30 n. 1) writes that the social and ethical content of the economy may be organized differently in various parts of the world. Historian Bruce Mazlish (1993:4) argues that no single global history is anticipated. So It should be noted that some sociologists reject the very terms of the convergence debate by arguing that globalization homogenizes without destroying the local and the particularistic. For example, Viviana Zelizer (1999) argues that the economyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ differentiates and proliferates culturally in much the same way as other spheres of social life do, without losing national and even international connectedness. Thus, globalization is not seen as precluding or contradicting diversity. Like Zelizer, Robertson (1995:34-35) sees the global as the linking of localities. A final aspect of the convergence controversy has to do with the impact of globalization on inequality across and within countries. The evidence unambiguously indicates that there is today more inequality across countries than ten, twenty, fifty or even one hundred years ago. Stunningly, the gap in per capita income between rich and developing countries has grown five-fold between 1870 and 1990 (Pritchett 1997; Temple 1999). There are, however, several noteworthy developing countries that have managed to close half or more of the gap since 1960, e.g. South Korea, Taiwan, and Ireland. Very few developing countries, however, have consistently grown faster than the most advanced ones since 1980. Thus, development levels appear not to be converging as a result of globalization. By contrast to cross-national UNDERSTANDING CULTURE: What is culture? Culture is itself is diacritical rather than a substantive concept. In Frederick Jamesons words, culture is not a substance or a phenomenon in its own right, it is an objective mirage that arises out of the relationship between atleast two groups.No group has a culture all by itself: culture is the nimbus percieved by one group when it comes into contact with and observes another one. In a globalise economy culture is deemed as a matter of choice as much as of inheritance, and thus as a potentially less oppressive, and hence less politicising, category of identification than colour or ethnicity, class or gender. (See, Bennette, 1993:3-4) CULTURE AND GLOBALISATION: Global Culture When we talk about globalisation, we are in a sense talking about unity of the states across the globe. How this unity is brought up? Then how does it link the states together? What are the major contributors in this unification process? Along with a myriad of intellectuals I will also sum- up with an answer, global- culture. However, it is one of the measures required for the unification process. One set of theorists, who are pro-global- culture say, that the global culture is making the world closer and more united. The people of the world are combining their differences and being more cooperative towards one and other. This process of emerging global culture can be seen in times of need when everyone has pulled together to strive for peace and freedom. Although, there exists a wide range of religions of which people are becoming tolerant, forming a homogenised society. On the other hand there are also philosophers who scorn global culture for the reason, that the local culture and morality are all at stake. If we say that the global culture is the synonym of the common culture, then there are wide range of opinion on it. Wight uses the term common culture so loosely that it is unclear whether he has in mind a deep, historic sense of culture, or the more superficial agreed rules that compose a contractual society. (James 1993: 277-8) Alan James, System or society?, Review of International Studies 19: 3, 1993. I argue that to certain extent global culture is a common culture among the people of the world. Further, Appadurai, Arjun in Difference in global cultural economy talks about five dimensions of the global culture 1) ethnoscape, 2) technoscape, 3)medioscape, 4) finanscape and 5) ideoscape. Origin of Global Culture: To get through the idea of the origin of the global culture, I am at consensus with Barry Buzan, the way he differentiates the origin of the global culture by the way of Vanguardist and Syncretist accounts. Vanguardist account emphasizes the centrality of Europe in the expansion story and projects a rather one-way view of cultural transmission from the West to the rest of the world. The Syncretist account puts more emphasis on the interplay of civilizations during the expansion process, and takes a more fluid and interactive view of cultural transmission generally. (Buzan:3 ) Buzan says, that before working through these two accounts and their consequences, it helps to keep in mind that prior to them there are two models of expansion by which a global international society could have evolved from the late classical world. In that world there were several centres of civilization whose degree of contact with each other ranged from quite intense (the Islamic world with both Christendom and the Hindu world) through fairly thin (Christendom and China) to more or less absent (the civilizations of Eurasia and those of Meso-America and the Andean highlands). From that starting point, one way of reaching a global-scale international society would have been for the various civilizational cores of the classical world to expand into increased contact with each other, so requiring that they develop rules of the game to mediate their relations in a polycentric international society. In such a case, global international society would have developed on the basis of cultu ral diversity, perhaps along the lines shown by the Indian Ocean trading system before the European arrival. The other way would have been the takeover of the whole system by one civilizational core, the imposition of one culture on the others, and the absorption of all the others into its particular rules, norms and institutions. This monocentric model is close to most historical accounts of what actually happened. (Buzan: 3) . In Vanguardist terms, the development of a global interstate society has been almost entirely a function of the expansion of the West. From the sixteenth century onwards, the rise of European power quickly crushed the two civilizational areas in the Americas and eroded, and eventually overwhelmed, the four in Eurasia. By the end of the nineteenth century virtually the whole of the international system was recreated in the image of Europe, as in the Americas and Australia; or directly subordinated to Europe, as in the African and Asian colonies; or desperatel y trying to catch up with Europe in order to avoid being colonized, as in the few most resilient parts of the classical world: the Ottoman empire, Japan and China. The triumph of European power meant not only that a sharp and permanent rise in the level of interaction took place, but also that western values and institutions-the so-called standard of civilization-dominated the whole system in imperial fashion. This mixture of coercion and copying runs in close parallel to Kenneth Waltzs idea that anarchy generates like units through processes of socialisation and competition. (Waltz 1979:74-79) Looking at this process in Wendtian terms.(Wendt 1999: 247-50) outsiders might emulate the core because of direct coercion, or by calculation or consent. Whatever the mechanisms and whatever the rationales, the effect is one of a sub-global Vanguard remaking the world in its own political image. This account rests on a sharp distinction between West and non-West, and less sharp differentiations among the different cultures and civilizations within the non-West. It has parallels with other stories of expanding imperial cultures where westernization is a similar process to Sinification, Romanization, Russification, Islamization and suchlike. In explaining the breakout of one culture to dominate others, a Vanguardist account inevitably puts a lot of emphasis on cultural difference generally, and on the exceptionalism of the Vanguard culture in particular. As in much nineteenth-century European imperial discourse, exceptionalism easily drifts not only into a ranking of cultures from superior to inferior (civilized, barbarian, savage) but also into a racist ranking of peoples as superior and inferior. (Hobson 2004: 219-42) Because it rests on differences of both culture and power. (Buzan:6) Robert ONeill and John Vincent also noted the unequal relations between the West and the Third World and the consequent regional diversity of international society, with some Third World unity around non-alignment, development, and the elimination of colonialism and racism. (O Neill 1990: 283-5) The challenges to the West come in two forms. The first is that non-western powers manage to reduce inequality by developing, and then use their new power both to assert different cultural values and to resist the solidarist western values of human rights, democracy and the liberal market. The West has lost the dominance of the second phase, and its prospect is one of continued relative decline as countries like China, India and Iran acquire the elements of modernity, and the corresponding power, that the West has made available. Its only hope is that the homogenizing effects of capitalist development will reduce cultural difference at the same time as they redistribute power. But if culture is viewed in essentialist terms as more or less fixed, then in terms of the instability hypothesis the move to a multicultural foundation and a redistribution of power spells permanent trouble and weakness for international society. (Buzan: 7) The second type of challenge comes not from opposition combined with strength, but from weakness, whether oppositional or not. Part of the legacy of decolonization is an array of weak and failed polities that are unable to play their part in the game of states. Somalia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and other notional states represent holes in the fabric of international society. Their levels of internal disorder make it difficult to pursue the western agenda within them, and provide bases for criminals and terrorists acting against the West. (Buzan: 7) The Syncretist account is based on the idea that it is the normal condition of human affairs for cultural ideas to flow between areas of civilization. Cultures thus evolve not only in response to their own internal dynamics, but also because of encounters with other cultures, even remote ones. The Syncretist account challenges the strong Vanguardist distinction between West and non-West, and its corollaries of w estern exceptionalism and superiority. (Buzan: 11) Rather than European international society emerging pristine out of a unique and self-contained European civilization, in the Syncretist account the development phase in Europe involves very significant interaction with the other civilizations of Eurasia and North Africa. As Wight notes, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the crusades brought Europe into close contact with the Islamic world, adding to the contact already created by the earlier Islamic occupation of Spain, the two episodes together serving as the channel for the acculturation of medieval Christendom. (Wight: 52). Almost at the same time, the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia brought Europe into contact with China and enabled increased transmission of ideas. The rise of the Ottoman empire from the late thirteenth century, and its conquest of Constantinople in 1453, meant that a rising Europe was neighbour to, and in regular contact with, a hostile and powerf ul non-European culture. Given that classical Greece is sometimes used as a comparator for Europe in discussions of the relationship between culture and international society, it is a nice irony that the Ottoman modifier to the story of a pristine European development runs in close parallel to the way in which the Persian empire shared a system with the city states of classical Greece, initially as the greater power, and then as the victim of Greek expansion. (Wight: 46-109). To sum up: the Syncretist view is that culture and international society are both malleable. They can and do change; cross-cultural interactions are the normal condition of international society, and flow in many directions. The Syncretist account suggests that for two reasons there is less cultural difference between the West and the rest of the world than the Vanguardist account supposes. First, the emergence of European international society was not a pristine process but took place during a long period of s ustained cultural interaction with the other civilizations of Eurasia and North Africa. (Buzan: 19) This outcome envisages the triumph of the Vanguardist process. Either the Vanguard displaces and replaces other cultures, or it converts the rest of the world to its own standard of civilization, creating a universal culture based on a widespread acceptance of Western values, practices and institutions. We know that replacement did not and will not happen, so this outcome now rests on the success of westernization. The degree of cultural unity necessary to stabilize international society would come from the success of westernization, and would go a long way towards mitigating the contradiction between hegemonic practice and the legitimating principle of sovereign equality in present-day international society. This outcome would eliminate OHagans tension as to whether international society represents the values of a dominant culture or a neutral mode of communication across cultures. This outcome envisages the triumph of cultural mixing and adaptation. It is therefore in principle not wedded to any particular set of values, practices and institutions, but is normatively open, allowing these to emerge in the syncretic process. In practice, since the Syncretist account largely accepts the monocentric model, the actual homogenization would reflect the considerable success that the West has already had in projecting onto other cultures many of its values, practices and institutions: sovereignty, diplomacy, nationalism, the market and so on. The expectation here is also that international society will be strong and fairly uniform at the global level, but not exclusively based on western values. Rather, some mixture will emerge as western power wanes and the power and influence of non-western cultures rise. Here too we can find those who think that homogenization will result from the global operation of capitalism, though in this version the undoubted cultural carrying capacity of the global market will work both ways, with the West being as transformed as transforming by the cultural flows across the planet. There is plenty of Syncretist evidence to point to here, from the popularity of Asian food, fashion and film, and This outcome envisages the partial failure of both the Vanguardist project and the process of Syncretism. Such failure might occur for various reasons. The West might lose power before it can convert the rest. Political and cultural resistance in the non-West might be strong, particularly against the more recent and more liberal elements of Western international society. Global- culture and Religion Whether societies are becoming less or more secular? is another point of debate, but in the present context, to a certain extent, the societies are becoming secular . Religion became a categorical model for the ordering of the national society and their relations during nineteenth and early twentieth century. So it became an aspect of International law. The argument I want to raise here is there is a distinction between the culture and the religion? Some equate, culture with the civilisation and inturn, civilisation with the religion; which is not true practically. During seventies and eightees there were church and state conflict prevailing, in the same way as today we think of global culture and the religion. Here comes the issue of diffusion of the religion, and then its global- foci. I agree the way Robertson differentiates between the world and worldliness, on the similer terms as Max Weber does. (Robertson: 143) The major consequences of globalisation have been (1) the transmogrification of traditional religions and belief systems; (2) the beginning of the disintegration of the traditional social fabrics and shared norms by the invasion of consumerism, cyber- culture, newfangled religions, social fads, and changing work ethics and work rhythms; (3) the fast spreading anomie (in the Durkhemian sense) forcing an ever increasing number of individuals to fall back upon for moral and social support the easily accessible pretentious religious banalities; and (4) attributing to religion the creation and acceleration of extremist, fundamentalist, and terrorist tendencies in the third world countries, which are intended to destabilise them, and strike at the root of their civilisation, and multicultural and pluralist nature. (Radhakrishnan: 1403) The nature and functions of religion in society have been Under speculation and discourse for several centuries; the approaches to the understanding of religion philosophical, theological, anthropological, sociological and the related dimensions of religious ideas have been very old; and the nexus between religion and society has been very close, with wide, complex, intricate and elaborate ramifications: The role of religion in giving spiritual and moral sustenance to individuals, the related regulation of social life and moral order, creating and regulating cultural forms, and the inte- gration of society. One may go with the French sociologist Emile Durkheims postulate (endorsed by, among others, the English anthropologist A R Radcliffe-Brown) that the main role (or function) of religion [is] to celebrate and sustain the norms upon which the integration of society depends [Geertz 1968: 402]. While on religion and globalisation, it is important to know whether globalisation unites or divides religions; results in newfangled religions; and has a direct nexus with fundamentalism and religion-linked terrorism. It is also important to ascertain whether for its new imperialist project globalisation has been exploiting different religious forms; whether fundamentalism and religion-inspired terrorism have increased since the advent of globalisation; and whether religions, far from being belief sys- tems in their traditional sense, have spawned new dimensions which are far removed from the spiritual and religious realms. (Radhakrishnan : 1406) Challenges to the global culture: For Transnational corporations, However there are signs evidencing that the national culture no longer affects companies, when they enter other markets, because new global rules are becoming more important instead. Instances of Global- culture: To my way of thinking and after reading so many scholars, I come up with the following instances, which evidence the emergence of the global culture. People are having a shared belief of freedom, and safety across the globe. All do have some common issues like Human Rights, environment protection, Freedoms, technology- savvy practices, feminist issues, health- issues and all other who make the whole world unified in claiming them. Global culture is also emerging slowly in parts of the world. For example, Europe used to have different forms of money and now they have switched to one shared currency, the euro-dollar. Although there are many different form of money throughout the world, someday that might change. The world is shrinking. The things which were common to one particular country or region are now accessible to the world at large. Like Italian, Chinese, Mexican And Indian food. The world commercial market has given rise to the trans- national corporations. Although arranged marriage persists in many cultures today, as modernization proceeds and many areas become part of the global economy, parental influences on marriage continue to decline. Young people who work for wages rather than on the familys land no longer depend as highly on their parents resources. As Western popular culture-including motion pictures, television, music, and fashion-spreads around the world, many young people are drawn to Western notions of love, romance, and individual choice. In some places, such as Japan, people combine modern Western and older cultural practices. For instance, parents and computer matchmaking services help find prospective mates, and the individuals can accept or reject the proposed match. Since its inception in the 1950s, rock music has moved from the margins of American popular music to become the center of a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Closely connected with youth culture, rock music and musicians have helped to establish new fashions, forms of language, attitudes, and political views. However, rock music is no longer limited to an audience of teenagers, since many current listeners formed their musical tastes during the golden age of rock and roll. Similarly, while rock has historically encouraged new creative expressions, the innovations of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix have defined a tradition to which successive generations of musicians have repeatedly turned for inspiration. Natural resources are conserved for their biological, economic, and recreational values, as well as their natural beauty and importance to local cultures. For example, tropical rain forests are protected for their important role in both global ecology and the economic livelihood of the local culture; a coral reef may be protected for its recreational value for scuba divers; and a scenic river may be protected for its natural beauty. The same is the case with conservation of Water, the whole world collectively is in favour of water conservation policies. Cultural exchanges, across the world, for example, the spread of islam or Christianity has been seen in last few years as increasing. Internationalisation of the Media like radio, television, newspaper and internet are linking together the world at large. Apperception of Western culture as an attribute of the world today, as an outcome of the global expansion of industrial capitalism, which for the first time integrated the world into a global system centered in Europe. Major constituent of Western culture have ceased to be ethnic and have become internationalized as intrinsic constituent of a world shaped by the development of the West. Even the idea of art as a self-sufficient activity based on aesthetics, is also a product of Westernisation. The traditional art of other cultures, as well as that of the West from earlier eons, was a different type of creation, determined by functions of a religious, representational, or commemorative nature. Is a Global Culture in the Making? Perhaps the most popular and controversial of the debates about globalization has to do with the rise of a global culture. Actually, there are only a few scholars who maintain that a global culture is in the making. The idea goes back to Marshall McLuhans slippery concept of the global village (McLuhan 1964) The global culture driven by symbols, images, and the aesthetic of the lifestyle and the self-image-has spread throughout the world and is having some momentous effects, including the standardization of tastes and desires, and even , anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1996:4, 21) argues that individuals and groups seek to annex the global into their own practices of the modern, and that consumption of the mass media worldwide provokes resistance, irony, selectivity, and, in general, agency. Some of the most persuasive arguments against the idea of the emergence of a global culture come from anthropologist Clifford Geertz. He observes that the world is growing both more global and more divided, more thoroughly interconnected and more intricately partitioned at the same time [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Whatever it is that defines identity in borderless capitalism. And the global village it is not deep going agreements on deep going matters, but something more like the recurrence of familiar divisions, persisting arguments, standing threats, the notion that whatever else may happen, the order of difference must be somehow maintain (Geertz 1998:107-110). Like Geertz, sociologist Anthony Smith is skeptical, and notes an interesting initial problem with the concept of global culture: Can we speak of culture in the singular? If by culture is meant a collective mode of life, or a repertoire of beliefs, styles, values and symbols, then we can only speak of cultures, never just culture; fo r a collective mode of life [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] presupposes different modes and repertoires in a universe of modes and repertoires. Hence, the idea of a global culture is a practical impossibility, except in interplanetary terms (Smith 1990: 171). However, I argue that this notion is wrong, and the global culture is not only in existence, but it is flourishing as well. LOCAL versus GLOBAL Local culture and social structure are now shaped by large and powerful commercial interests in ways that earlier anthropologists could not have imagined. Early anthropologists thought of societies and their cultures as fully independent systems. But today, many nations are multicultural societies, composed of numerous smaller subcultures. Cultures also cross national boundaries. Some people fear a loss of cultural diversity as U.S. media companies become dominant. Such companies tend to bundle their products so that a blockbuster movie is promoted by selling soundtracks, books, video games, and other. However, the under- developed countries companies do not have such a control, even any sort of control over the market. On the one hand, as world beat became a more visible feature of the international popular musical landscape in the late 1980s and early 1990s, popular music scholars began to analyze its economic and cultural implications. Most analyses focused on the inequalities characterizing the bilateral relationships between north and south and accused the industry of exploiting Third World cultural resources. Others were concerned about the potentially disastrous consequences of homogenization and westernization upon folk cultures being swept up in and transformed by what has been called global culture flows. The most trenchant critics also charged the world music industry with racism, for ignoring the harsh realities of economic and political subordination experienced by Third World peoples of color, and instead constructing images of cultural authenticity in order to satisfy the desires of northern whites safely to consume exotic otherness. More optimistic observers, for example, have sugges ted that the powerful forces of cultural and economic hegemony are being resisted by culturally and technologically savvy Third World musicians who are taking control of the production of their own music, revitalizing local musical traditions by modernizing them. Furthermore, the international popular musical landscape, so long dominated by U.S. and European pop and rock, has unquestionably been diversified and enriched by the increased circulation of musics from multiple locations around the globe. To better understand the national and global linkages, Some observers would argue that it is inappropriate to distinguish Afro-Brazilian from Brazilian music, since black expressive cultures have contributed so profoundly to what is understood to be national culture. Perhaps no other artistic field in Brazil has been so deeply influenced by black cultures than popular music. Nevertheless, it is useful and necessary to identify distinct styles and movements in Brazilian popular music that are associated particularly with black urban communities. The past 20 years have seen the proliferation of Afro-Brazilian social, political, and cultural movements that explicitly reject the traditional belief in a unitary national culture. Yet, for the most part, contemporary Afro-Brazilian musical countercultures continue to be racially inclusive. An increasingly globalized world economy has intensified the influx of African and diasporic musical cultures, particularly from the United States and Ja maica, to major Brazilian cities. These forms of music and their attendant cultural styles, modes of dress, and dance steps have been widely appropriated and transformed by young urban Brazilians. Several broad currents in contemporary Afro-Brazilian music may be identified: contemporary samba, soul/funk/hip-hop, reggae, axà © music, and mangue beat. (See, Encarta) Another example of globalised music culture Samba emerged in the 20th century as the preeminent national music of Brazil. Modern urban samba was developed in the predominantly black favelas (shantytowns) on the morros (hills) of Rio de Janeiro, and now globalised. In addition to music, there are plethora of dancing style,

The Use Of Dramatic Monologues

The Use Of Dramatic Monologues Compare the ways the poets develop a story through the use of dramatic monologues: in the poems The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy, Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess, both by Robert Browning. In this essay I will be analysing the poems, The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy and Robert Brownings My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover. My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover were both written in the Victorian era, and The Man He Killed was written just after Queen Victoria died. All of the poems, I am studying, are dramatic monologues, which are used by poets to portray their powerful emotions to the reader only through a single character. Dramatic monologues usually deal with issues that are of controversial nature, which are shocking and create drama and suspense through the poets use of dramatic language. My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover are both set in the 19th century; both monologues focus on the views of the patriarchal Victorian society, dominated and often corrupted by powerful men. Women were not allowed to voice their opinions or disobey the forceful male authority, which controlled them. Disobedience meant ruthlessly harsh and terrible consequences. This abuse of power is well illustrated in My Last Duchess, in which the Duke, a man of power and command, misunderstands his wife and conflicts harsh treatment upon her. We know that the Duke is powerful as he has the power to kill his wife without being suspected: I gave commands. /Then all smiles stopped altogether line 45/46. This is dramatic as the Duke abuses his power to rid himself of his innocent misunderstood wife. Moreover, this is shocking to the audience as a man who people believe to be virtuous, exploits his authority, in addition, he murders a naà ¯ve woman whose only crime was being appreciative and pleased for her life. The Duke describes the Duchess as beautiful, kind-hearted and easily pleased by small things. The Duke believed that instead of being cheerful to everyone she meets, the Duchess should have behaved in a more regal manner; spot of joy is a metaphor for blushing meaning that other men could easily make the Duchess blush, probably by complimenting her beauty, she thought they were just being kind however the cynical Duke considered it as flirting and disapproved of her reactions to such remarks, he says that she had a heart too soon made glad. Throughout the poem, Browning uses caesuras which suggest that the Duke was hiding something or pausing to think, this indicates that the Duke was apprehensive when he was talking about his wife; this can also suggests that the Duke did not know his wife and therefore could not easily describe her. In line 45, I gave commands/Then all the smiles stopped together, we learn that the Duke ordered the assassination of his wife, he casually informs the silent listener about how he murdered his wife. Furthermore, he is boasting about it, expressing no regret at her death but focusing on the artistry of the artist for catching her expression. The is Duke callous, he is not poignant for her death; he tries to presents his pleasant side towards the audience, nevertheless though his speech the reader can see that he is very jealous and devious. When she was alive the Duke could not control her smile and did not understand her love for him therefore he considered her to be unfaithful. The Duke likes the smile in the painting as he can control it and only he can receive it as he owns the painting and it is placed behind a curtain, hence he controls who she smiles at. This to the audience is shocking as a woman is treated like an object. The Dukes controlling behaviour can be compared with the lovers in Porphyrias Lover as he too had a peculiar approach towards his love. The unnamed lover transforms from being passive to controlling towards the end of the poem when he brutally murders Porphyria to ensure that Porphyria would only belong to him. Porphyrias Lover seems like a typically romantic poem; however it reveals shocking and horrific elements as in this poem a wealthy, high-class lady (seeking comfort and love) has an affair with a poor low-class man, who unjustly murders her. The unnamed lover knew that society would not let them be together, therefore, he decides to be with his lover forever in death. Dramatic phases like: Three times her little throat around, /And strangled her, are used to create shock in the readers mind. This quote is very dramatic and powerful as this act was a murder, which the reader witnesses. This would create shock and horror within the readers mind. It would also make the reader curious as the reader would want to know why the unnamed lover murdered Porphyria when she truly did love him. The main issues that are dealt within this poem are class differences; different classes had to keep separate, however a forbidden love was blooming midst this diverged society. This was considered as unacceptable and would have never been supported in the society at that time. They knew that society will not allow their affair to continue therefore the lover makes the decision that in order to keep Porphyria with him he would have to kill her. By killing Porphyria, the lover seeks to stop time and preserve the moment of love that they share. They cannot be together vainer ties dissever as Porphyria cannot break free from her wealthy friends, as she was too weak, thus the lover decides that he would kill her in a deranged attempt to be together forever. Through this dramatic monologue Robert Browning brings out an issue that was evident during the time, but one that was overlooked and secreted. Browning wrote this to show that women, in the Victorian society, trod on a fine line betw een possessing a life and being impressionable objects denied of any rights. Both My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover convey the same form of love; a love based on jealousy and possession. Both speakers of the monologues are possessive of their love and murder their love in order to ensure that they remain faithful to them only and do not fraternise with any other males in the society. Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess are both about possessive, psychotic men who murder their love. In both poems, the two speakers kill their lovers based on what their individual psychosis caused them to see; however, what the two speaker saw was different, due to this the reason and the way the two speakers kill their love is different. Even though the speakers attitudes between the lovers are different in both poems, both the Duke and the unnamed lover are unable to deal with their feeling realistically or appropriately. They both neglect the womens feelings and physical wellbeing in favour of their own selfish love. In both monologues the women were seen as a prize that could be gained. In My Last Duchess, the Duke tries to win over the Duchess by presenting her with lavish gifts, however that was not enough to win her love. The Duke believed that the Duchess did not see him as nothing special or important: but who passes /Much without the same smile he deduces this as she did not have a special smile for him. He thought that his greatest gift to her was his gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name. Nevertheless, the Duchess did not believe that she should treat the Duke superior to anyone else and due to this the Duke considered that she was ungrateful to be married to a wealthy, influential man like him. The attitudes shown in the two poems are very different, whereas hardy creates a modest, baffled character who feels very guilty, brownings Duke is a vain, proud man who has killed his wife in a premeditated manner. Both poem are about killing, the solider feels very guilty for his actions; evident, when he says I shot him dead because†¦ that was clear although.. his guilt is evident as he is questioning his own actions, this strikingly contrasts the Dukes attitude who is relatively content about murdering his wife as he believes that it was the right thing to do to protect his familys honour. All three poems are developed around the theme of murder and killing. Hardys character feels liable for the death of a stranger; however, both of Brownings characters are unconcerned about the death of their beloved. †¦cottagedripping cloak and shawl†¦soiled gloves†¦ lines 9, 11, 12 this quote is dramatic as it shows that the man porphyria has an affair with is a poor low-class man as he lives in a cottage. The dramatic theme comes in as we find out that Porphyria is a rich, wealthy lady who can afford expensive garments. This would create a powerful impact on the audience as in Victorian times rich and poor never mixed. It was highly unusual for rich people to even touch a low classed person; nevertheless porphyria breaks all societys rules and dares to have an affair with the low classed man. Necromancer -people messing with dead bodies The lover believes that he was right in his decision in killing Porphyria and justifies his actions as they were performed with the pure intention God has not said or done anything. Furthermore, he believes that he made the right decision as Porphyria let him kill her. She did not struggle or resist therefore he believed that he made reasonable decision. It is arguable that she agreed with his decision as she loved him and she let him do anything he wanted with her. The poem is of hopeless love and disturbing death. Lines 21-25, the lovers cannot be together as Porphyria is already committed to someone else. She is probably married or engaged and thus she is committing adultery. This is shocking to the Victorian society as the young woman is betraying her family by fraternising with the low classed man. The poem is deplorable to the audience of the time as the young woman takes off her clothes in front of a stranger: †¢ She begins to expose herself: he is morose even though she is elegant and beautiful †¢ Now HE has the power †¢ He dehumanises her by referring to her as it. †¢ He reassures himself again: states she wanted to die Browning uses contrast a kind gentle wife and a cunning suspicious husband. The Duke has an avaricious personality. In the monologue, the Duke is shown as an insane and sick man with absolute power, utterly remorseless, a man unable to express love or pleasure; this is the description of a dangerous monster. This also shows that the Duke could not see the value of love and friendship; he only wishes to own all that is rare and unique Notice Neptune†¦a rarity/Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me! This quote shows that the Duke had a taste for collecting pieces of rare art; this shows the reader that in the Dukes view his wife was merely another item in his possession, an ornament to him which increased his status within society. When he felt that the Duchess might cause him to stoop he decided that it was better to kill her than let her destroy his reputation with her trifling. Does not have skill in speech- which I have not- only has skill in power and force. The Duke is powerful as he does not need the dowry from his new Duchess, dowry will be disallowed this shows the reader that the Duke is very wealthy and powerful. Furthermore, in the next few lines of the monologue, we discover that to the powerful Duke the new Duchess would be just another possession, his fair daughters self†¦is my object and Notice Neptune, though, /Taming a sea-horse, This quote shows that the Duke believes that the Dukes daughter will become his new ornament, he also implies the fact that she will be tamed just as Neptune, the god of the sea tames a wild seahorse. This shows that the Duke considers himself to be superior to anyone else and believes that he has had power over all who enter his realm. Thomas Hardy wrote the poem, The Man He Killed, demonstrating the effect war has upon soldiers and how war changes friend into a foe. The Man He Killed reveals the speakers feelings about killing another innocent soldier during the battle. The poem is dramatic as the single speaker mentions how much they both had in common; he thought hed list off hand just as I, this quote justifies the other mans innocence. The poem is dramatic because the audience is shocked by the speakers sense of regret about his own behaviour. The poem is highly ironic as the speaker mentions that war is quaint and curious. He is saying that war is strange because people want to join the army to satisfy their curiosity, only to find that they kill innocent people who are just like them. The drama of the monologue reveals that the soldier does not understand the seriousness or the purpose of war, You shoot a fellow down the speaker does not know why it is right to murder innocent people. This is further emphasised when the speaker move on to show his confusion as he does not know the reason he killed the other man; I shot him because because, the repetition of because and the use of the hyphen indicate a pause to show that the young soldier is still living in a state of shock. The speaker believes that the innocent young man he killed probably joined the army for the same reason as him- to get some money so that they could live appropriately. However, the soldier did not know that the glamorous life that the army showed them would be cursed. The government made the army look exotic and exciting as the men had the opportunity to go abroad. In the readers viewpoint this would be shocking as in that period, people believed that the government went to save the people, not kill them. Visiting abroad, at the time, was only available to wealthy, who could afford to spend a large sum of money on luxury. Moreover, the speaker believes that money is the bane of life as he had to kill to earn it this shows the reader that the speaker, unlike the Duke, was not driven by money or the power that originates from it; however, just the two other monologues, in this monologue someone dies due to class distinctions and misunderstandings.

John Brown: Past and Present :: essays research papers

John Brown: Past and Present Host: â€Å"Looking into the crystal ball, I wonder who our guest will be. As the fog lifts from the orb, a picture of a man that has had an enormous impact on our socially accepted views begins to appear. Who is this man? Well, he is known as both a martyr and a psychopathic killer. He has been called a blatant liar as well as a man of strong convictions, all in the same breath. But his most notable contribution to our country is undoubtedly his involvement in the antislavery movement. The man I am referring to is John Brown. While we talk with him today, we will compare the consequences of past actions with the consequences of today’s actions. So, let’s give a warm round of applause as we welcome John Brown to the hot seat. To begin with, why don’t you give the audience a little bit of back ground about yourself. Tell us where you were born and something about your childhood.† John Brown: â€Å"I was born on May ninth in the year of our Lord 1800. To understand my story, I must first tell you about my father, Owen. As a child during the Revolution, his father, John Brown, was away fighting in the Revolution and Owen found himself handling a lot of the responsibilities around the home. During the day he worked in the fields alongside a slave, from Guinea, named Sam. Sam used to carry my father on his back and my father grew to love him. When Sam died, it was to be the first funeral my dad had ever attended. Because Owen’s dad was gone during the Revolution and Sam stood in as a caring father figure, Sam ended up being the seed of my father’s views about slavery. My dad saw Sam as a mentor and not as a slave or a man of color. After Sam’s death, my father turned to religion for comfort. This was during the same time as the Great Awakening and my father started attending the revivals. During one such revival, my father heard a sermon by the late Reverend Jonathan Edwards where he stated that slavery was a cardinal sin against God. After hearing this sermon, his attitude towards slavery was cemented. The final incident that caused my father to become active in the antislavery movement then occurred. A preacher by the name of Mr. John Brown: Past and Present :: essays research papers John Brown: Past and Present Host: â€Å"Looking into the crystal ball, I wonder who our guest will be. As the fog lifts from the orb, a picture of a man that has had an enormous impact on our socially accepted views begins to appear. Who is this man? Well, he is known as both a martyr and a psychopathic killer. He has been called a blatant liar as well as a man of strong convictions, all in the same breath. But his most notable contribution to our country is undoubtedly his involvement in the antislavery movement. The man I am referring to is John Brown. While we talk with him today, we will compare the consequences of past actions with the consequences of today’s actions. So, let’s give a warm round of applause as we welcome John Brown to the hot seat. To begin with, why don’t you give the audience a little bit of back ground about yourself. Tell us where you were born and something about your childhood.† John Brown: â€Å"I was born on May ninth in the year of our Lord 1800. To understand my story, I must first tell you about my father, Owen. As a child during the Revolution, his father, John Brown, was away fighting in the Revolution and Owen found himself handling a lot of the responsibilities around the home. During the day he worked in the fields alongside a slave, from Guinea, named Sam. Sam used to carry my father on his back and my father grew to love him. When Sam died, it was to be the first funeral my dad had ever attended. Because Owen’s dad was gone during the Revolution and Sam stood in as a caring father figure, Sam ended up being the seed of my father’s views about slavery. My dad saw Sam as a mentor and not as a slave or a man of color. After Sam’s death, my father turned to religion for comfort. This was during the same time as the Great Awakening and my father started attending the revivals. During one such revival, my father heard a sermon by the late Reverend Jonathan Edwards where he stated that slavery was a cardinal sin against God. After hearing this sermon, his attitude towards slavery was cemented. The final incident that caused my father to become active in the antislavery movement then occurred. A preacher by the name of Mr.

The Catastrophic Impact of Rising Oceans on the Pacific Islands Essay

The Catastrophic Impact of Rising Oceans on the Pacific Islands All over the world indigenous communities are faced with an array of new problems, though the public continues to gain insight into the lives of these people they continue to be marginalized in the global arena as well. The Pacific Islands are an entity far removed from the minds of most westerners. The primary focus of any political discourse within the United States places most emphasis on Australia and New Zealand ignoring the smaller less politically salient states. However, it is these smaller islands that will bare the brunt of one huge problem in the future, global warming. For the purpose of this paper I will ignore the polemics of global warming and not hypothesize whether or not it actually has any permanent adverse effects on the ecosystems of the world or whether or not it is cyclical. Instead, I will focus on the evidence already documented within the Pacific Island states, evidence which lends strong support to the notion that the earth is getting warmer and the oceans are rising. For the people of the lowland Pacific Islands it doesn’t matter if the current warming is a temporary trend that will reverse itself in a few centuries, they will have to deal with it on a much more short-term basis. The ocean has already begun to change and for the people of the Pacific Islands that is a major concern, it could be catastrophic if left unattended. The prospect of rising waters in the oceans has a transcendent effect on the Pacific Islands. Not only will the oceans rise and the seas become more torrent, their very cultures could be uprooted and their modes of existence forever changed. Recently a new study conducted by the National Oceanographic Data C... ...rliest Washington cherry blossom peak...Almost no one disputes the fact that a substantial rise in sea level would be a bad thing, inundating first a number of oceanic nations such as the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and the moving on to eat up places like Manhattan and the world’s other great coastal cities...The plight of Washington’s cherry blossoms pale by comparison. The National Park Service is making no promises, but barring a catastrophic petal-scattering storm, it appears there will be enough blossoms around on April 9th to avoid total embarrassment at this years parade. Bibliography: Smith, Donald National Geographic News@nattionalgeographic.com Pacific Islands Report GPI Atlantic www.gpiatlantic.org Vanishing Islands www.ourplanet.com Warming Hits Hard in Pacific www.ABCNEWS.com Environmental News Network www.ENN.com

How does Shakespeare demonstrate the power of the mind in Macbeth? Essay

Macbeth is a play famous for murder and its references to blood. It is usually associated with bad luck and evil; however, there is one main issue that appears time and time again throughout the play – what is it that drives the characters to do the things that they do? Shakespeare explores and presents the power of the mind in many interesting ways. These include soliloquies and slight changes in characters such as the way they talk, act or present themselves. The main character affected by the power of his mind is, of course, Macbeth. What happens in his mind basically provides the plot for the whole play. Once the witches have told Macbeth that he will be king he can either choose to ignore this piece of information or do something about it to make it come around faster. Macbeth chooses to do the latter and he kills the current king, Duncan. Lady Macbeth becomes so caught up in the series of events and excited at the prospect of being Queen that she urges Macbeth on, encouraging him to fulfil his apparent destiny and become King. In the end, the way that Macbeth presents himself and talks is completely different to the character we are introduced to at the beginning of the play. This is all due to the effect his mind power has over him. We also see changes in Lady Macbeth’s character such as paranoia and slight changes in the way she talks and thinks. The first evidence we see of mind power is in Act 1, Scene 3 where Macbeth meets the witches. Why do the witches’ prophecies in this scene have such power over Macbeth? Although Macbeth and Banquo hear the same thing, Macbeth is much more moved by the words, and I think the main reason for this is that the witches’ are speaking Macbeth’s innermost, dangerous thoughts. Once the witches say ‘Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!’ (Macbeth’s current title) it becomes apparent to Macbeth that the witches are knowledgeable and are capable of predicting the future. Shakespeare constructs the plot cleverly here. The dramatic irony of the audience knowing he has been crowned Thane of Cawdor ensures that the audience are already aware of what the witches can do before Macbeth realises. The tragedy is often blamed on the witches because they torment Macbeth by speaking his thoughts in riddles and they make Macbeth think that his greatest prize is near. However, the witches could only have so much power over Macbeth if he already had these thoughts in his head. Therefore, Macbeth himself could be blamed for the tragedy of the play. If he had already thought about killing Banquo, but thought nothing of it until the witches had confirmed the idea, you could blame him entirely for the murder. The witches know what to say and exactly how to say it, which implies that they know what Macbeth is thinking. Another line in this scene which suggests that Macbeth had already thought about becoming King or killing Duncan is when he pleads with the witches to ‘Stay you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.’ The fact that he was willing to listen to more of what the witches had to say suggests that he had thought of becoming King before and was reassured by the idea that it could really happen. Once the witches have vanished, Macbeth and Banquo visit Duncan at a room in his palace. Here, Duncan appoints Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. It is here that Macbeth begins to fully realise the impact the witches’ words are having on him. He also sees that they knew what was going to happen to him because they had said, ‘All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor’ in the previous scene. In a powerful soliloquy, Macbeth reveals his thoughts to the audience: ‘†¦Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires;’ With ‘let not light see my black and deep desires’ Macbeth confirms that he has thought of becoming King before, but does not want to show it. When he was speaking with the witches he wasn’t sure whether to believe what they were seeing and although he did think about the idea of becoming King, he never really pursued it. Once the prophecy of Macbeth becoming Thane Of Cawdor comes true, Macbeth realises that he will be king. In Act 1, scene 7 Macbeth is considering murdering Duncan but says there are many arguments against it. Some of the lines in this scene make me wonder whose initial idea the murder was and whether Macbeth really wanted to kill Duncan. Macbeth says he is enjoying the feeling of being famous and powerful but Lady Macbeth’s persuasion quickly works on him: ‘I am settled and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.’ In the second act when Macbeth decides he is against the idea, the more persuasive Lady Macbeth is towards him, the more Macbeth submits to her taunting – ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.’ By the end of the scene, Macbeth has been made to feel so inferior by Lady Macbeth that he has taken over the planning himself. Macbeth plans to blame the murder on the two guards in Duncan’s chamber: ‘Will it not be receiv’d, When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber, and us’d their very daggers, That they have done’t?’ Temporarily, Macbeth has lost his doubt and fear in the excitement of planning the murder. Perhaps the most famous act of mind power in this play, is the dagger Macbeth sees in Act 2, Scene 1. It is late at night in the castle and Macbeth meets Banquo and Banquo’s son Fleance. Banquo wants to talk about the witches’ prophecies to Macbeth. Banquo says that he has dreamt of the sisters and seems to be annoyed because they have ‘showed [Macbeth] some truth.’ Just as the three Weird Sisters predicted, Macbeth’s wishes and secret dreams of power have all come true. But along with these, so have his darkest fears. Throughout the play Macbeth continues to struggle against the images his mind conjures up against his own conscious will. Although technically, he has won the crown and been successful, he cannot enjoy himself because of the immense guilt he feels over how his mind has been poisoned by the Weird Sisters. The dagger scene is an extremely powerful example of mind power. Shakespeare uses metaphors, imagery and other dramatic cues to express Macbeth’s emotions and fear. Probably the most well known line in the play, upon seeing the dagger Macbeth says to himself, ‘Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand?’ Macbeth realises that the dagger is only a vision created by his mind, in this question he is questioning his mind – asking himself whether what he is seeing is real or a figment of his imagination. He continues, ‘†¦art thou but A dagger of the mind,’ The way Shakespeare has written Macbeth’s speech make it seem so much more realistic. Because this play would first have been performed in a Jacobean theatre, there would have been no special effects in the theatre to emphasise the visions Macbeth’s mind were creating throughout the play. The actors would of course had to have been talented to pull off such acting without props, but the choice of words Shakespeare uses it what makes it so much more believable. Act 2 Scene 3 is the morning after the murder. In this scene Macbeth shows a variety of different emotions so it is difficult to tell what he is feeling about the murder. Also, what Macbeth says in this scene is quite ambiguous so it is quite hard to figure out what he means. When Macbeth says ‘Twas a rough night’ it could either mean that he is shocked by the night’s events or that he fears being found out. And when Macbeth says ‘Had I but died an hour before this chance I had lived a blessed time’ it is relatively easy to see that he feels guilty and regrets the murder. Another change in Macbeth’s speech is that his statements seem to be shorter and more formal. This suggests that he is on edge and is worried about being found out. In this scene, Macbeth also decides to start acting secretly, and does not communicate his plans with Lady Macbeth – ‘Be innocent of the knowledge †¦ ’till though applaud the deed’. Another major demonstration of mind power in the play is when Macbeth conjures up the image of Banquo’s ghost at the banquet in Act 3, Scene 4. Thinking about why Macbeth is so tense and anxious when he enters the room helps you to understand how his mind could have conjured up the terrible image of the ghost. Macbeth is obviously worried and guilt-ridden about Banquo’s murder, he says ‘I had else been perfect †¦ but now, I am bound in to saucy doubts and fears.’ Banquo was Macbeth’s best friend, and Macbeth had ordered him to be killed. He needed both Banquo and Fleance to be killed, but Fleance escaped. Macbeth excluding his wife from the plans is putting extra pressure on him, not to mention the relationship between the two. The banquet is the first function that Macbeth organises when he is appointed King. Therefore, he needs his guests to feel that he is a good King and is control of the banquet. When Macbeth sees the ghost and everything starts to go wrong, Macbeth is desperate to calm his important guests so that they do not think of him as not being a fitting King. The ghost in Act 3, scene 4 has an extremely powerful effect on Macbeth. He goes through different stages of acceptance, first cowering from it, then challenging it and finally, confronting it. ‘†¦the time has been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns and push us from our stools†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Macbeth’s fear of the ghost is completely natural. He cannot understand how Banquo could have reappeared, especially after having just been informed of his death. He challenges the ghost, ‘Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!’ Macbeth confronts the ghost, ‘Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes, Which thou dost glare with.’ The ghost disappears at these words and Macbeth seems to have won by confrontation. Macbeth returns to his guests. Macbeth doesn’t realise that no one else in the room can see the things he is imagining – he assumes that they saw the ghost and is surprised by their apparent failure to react to it, ‘†¦now I think you can behold such sights, ands keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, when mine is blanched with fear.’ The sleepwalking scene is one in which Shakespeare demonstrates mind power through actions very well. Lady Macbeth is subconsciously ridden with guilt over the deaths. When she sleepwalks we see her vigorously washing her hands to scrub Duncan’s blood from her hands and asking no one in particular ‘†¦who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’ Of course, Lady Macbeth does not still have Duncan’s blood on her hands; it is only her imagination making her think she needs to scrub her hands clean – ‘†¦all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ Lady Macbeth is usually seen as dominant over Macbeth, she tries to seem stronger than Macbeth and hides her fear, guilt and shame as much as possible. The way that Lady Macbeth weakens when asleep creates a very powerful image of mind power. By scrubbing her hands over and over again we can guess that, rather than trying to rid her hands of blood, she is actually trying to rid her mind of the memories of the night of Duncan’s murder. The doctor who has been called to help Lady Macbeth says that the disease is ‘beyond his practice’ and that ‘more needs she the divine than the physician.’ meaning that she has more need for a priest than a doctor to rid her of her ‘evil disease’. Lady Macbeth leaves the room soon after muttering that ‘what’s done cannot be undone’ and repeating that she must go to bed. The doctor continues trying to analyse Lady Macbeth’s disease and confides in her gentlewoman, telling her that ‘Foul whisp’rings are abroad†¦ †¦infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.’ The doctor knows Lady Macbeth is hiding something – when he says ‘deaf pillows’ it suggests that people reveal their secrets to pillows because they are deaf and therefore cannot hear or repeat what they have done. Shakespeare’s use of language is just as important as the actions of the characters in showing how powerful their minds are. Macbeth seems weary when he is told of Lady Macbeth’s death – ‘She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word.’ It is a strange reaction – he is suddenly quiet, thoughtful and almost subdued. His drive and motivation disappear. Macbeth no longer sees any point in trying to hold on to the kingship, and does not understand why he ever wanted it. †¦[life] is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing’ Macbeth also thinks that his time is coming to an end and he will die soon. He says that his actions in the past have ‘lighted the fools way to dusty death’. It seems as though, no matter what happens from this point on in the play, Macbeth can no longer return to being the person he was before the Witches poisoned and taunted him with ambition. On the battlefield, Act 5, Scene 8 Macbeth dares each man on the battlefield to kill him in the face of his seemingly infallible prophecy. ‘Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them.’ Roman generals in defeat would commit suicide to avoid the disgrace of capture, but, in this speech Macbeth says that while he can see living enemies, he will do his best to kill them. He continues taunting his enemies until Macduff kills him. Macbeth finds out that Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’ which is what the Witches told Macbeth earlier in the play. At this point, Macbeth realises his life has come to an end and knows that he will not survive the fight with Macduff, however he is brave enough to fight on to the end. An interesting idea is to think about who was truly responsible for the tragedy in Macbeth, other than the witches. Macbeth himself had already thought about the kingship before being told by the Witches that he could achieve it and listens willingly to what the Witches tell him. However, when the plan has been hatched, Macbeth begins to back off until Lady Macbeth taunts him enough to convince him to take over the planning again, which he eventually does. Also, many of Macbeth’s speeches are filled with threats, evil and darkness. Mind power plays a large part in Macbeth’s character – having already thought of the kingship, he was really only waiting for confirmation from someone else before acting on his thoughts. Lady Macbeth also plays a major role in the tragedy. She becomes obsessed with the news she is sent by Macbeth, and immediately hatches a plan to achieve the goal. Her speeches, not dissimilar to Macbeth’s, are also full of darkness and double meanings. When Macbeth backs down and is not so sure about the plan, she taunts him until she finally persuades him to continue. It is also Lady Macbeth who takes the knives back down to the servants after the murder and tried to make everything normal again. Lady Macbeth is greatly affected by her mind, which we see particularly in the sleepwalking scene where she continually washes and rubs her hands in an attempt to scrub away what she believes to be Banquo’s blood. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a great man. After meeting the Weird Sisters he begins to make bad choices and gets everything wrong. The effect the three Witches have on Macbeth’s subconscious mind is astonishing – they make him see things, hear things and do things he doesn’t really want to do. Along with Lady Macbeth, the Witches’ taunting and riddles possess Macbeth and turn him into a power-obsessed, ambition-crazed ‘fiend’. However, Macbeth redeems himself at the end of his life and does not die as the villain of the play. Macbeth is a tragic hero – possessed by evil thoughts, but able to redeem himself by being brave enough to fight on to the end, even though he knows he cannot win back his sanity and/or peace of mind.

Personalidad: Proposito de Las Teorias, Caracteristicas Y Y El Papel de La Funcion Cerebral En Personalidad

TEORIAS BIOLOGICAS: SE CENTRAN EN ASPECTOS FISICOS Y FISIOLOGICOS. Teorias biologicas: se centran en aspectos fisicos y fisiologicos. Teorias psicologicas. Se incluyen aqui tres versiones: por una parte tenemos la teoria psicoanalitica; en segundo lugar esta la rama conductista, basada en relaciones estimulo-respuesta; por ultimo, el enfoque cognitivo, que parte de la base de entender nuestra mente como un ordenador, con propias leyes de almacenamiento y procesamiento de la informacion. Teorias socioculturales. Estas teorias se centran en el estudio del sujeto dependiendo del ambiente cultural en que se desarrolla. TEORIAS BIOLOGICAS: TINY DYNAMITE Cuando nos referimos a las teorias biologicas de la personalidad, debemos tener presente que son aquellas que se interesan por el estudio de la personalidad desde dos perspectivas. Por un lado, parten del hecho de que una gran parte de la personalidad viene determinada geneticamente. Por otro lado, otorgan cierta relevancia al aspecto fisico como determinante en el desarrollo de la personalidad. E. Rojas senala que estas teorias son tan antiguas como la propia ciencia de la psicologia. Los antiguos estudiosos griegos ya habian establecido lo que se conoce como la teoria de los cuatro humores. Entendian que la personalidad estaba predefinida dependiendo del nivel existente de los cuatro tipos de fluidos, tambien llamados humores. Asi, la sangre, la flema, la bilis amarilla y la bilis negra daban origen a cuatro temperamentos: Un exceso de sangre conducia al sanguineo que desarrollaria una personalidad caracterizada como optimista, alegre, abierto, extravertido y de apariencia saludable y agradable. Una abundante cantidad de linfa define al flematico. Serian personas lentas, apaticas, siempre con tendencia a la inactividad motivada por el cansancio y la abulia. En tercer lugar tendriamos al colerico, definido por un exceso de bilis amarilla. Sera una persona irascible, fuerte, agresiva por naturaleza, combativa e impulsiva. Finalmente, la excesiva bilis negra conducia al melancolico, convirtiendolo asi en una persona triste, decaida y con una vision de la vida excesivamente pesimista. E. Rojas senala que ya en el siglo XX, la clasificacion que tuvo mayor fortuna fue la de E. Kretschmer3 (1926). Kretschmer intento establecer una union entre los aspectos fisicos, es decir, la morfologia de los sujetos, y la forma de ser, reaccionar, actuar. Llego asi a clasificar la personalidad en cuatro tipos y, dependiendo de estos tipos, establece la tendencia a sufrir algun tipo de trastorno o enfermedad psiquica. El leptosomico sera un sujeto de alta estatura, cuerpo delgado y aparentemente fragil. Le caracteriza la hipersensibilidad, es introvertido, idealista y presenta grandes dificultades en el contacto interpersonal. El leptosomico tiene una inteligencia mas profunda que expresa y presenta facilidad para el pensamiento abstracto. El picnico, sin embargo, es de baja estatura, el cuerpo ancho y miembros flacos. Su estado animico oscila continuamente entre la alegria y la tristeza. Tiene facilidad en el proceso comunicativo, es abierto. Es un sujeto con una inteligencia mas extensa que el leptosomico, no tan profunda, lo que lleva a que su forma de pensar y actuar sea concreta y siempre practica. El atletico tiene una figura herculea, su forma de ser es perseverante, con explosiones de caracter en ocasiones. Su pensamiento es de escaso relieve. El displasico viene determinado como una mezcla de caracteristicas de las tres categorias anteriores. Una clasificacion similar es la que establece W. H. Sheldon4 (1939), discipulo de Kretschmer. Identifico tres dimensiones basicas: endomorfico, mesomorfico y ectomorfico. El endomorfico se corresponderia con el picnico, el mesomorfico con el atletico y el ectomorfico con el leptosomico. W. H. Sheldon anade que, atendiendo a esta clasificacion, el individuo sera mas propenso a desarrollar un tipo determinado de enfermedad psicologica. Asi, el endomorfico sera mas susceptible a padecer enfermedades psicologicas afectivas-depresivas. El mesomorfico, debido a su tendencia a la lucha y el esfuerzo por conseguir sus propias metas, sin importarle el dolor o sufrimiento y receloso o desconfiado por naturaleza, tendra mayor posibilidad de sufrir algun tipo de enfermedad psicologica que se incline hacia lo paranoide. Los ectomorficos tienen una psicologia que Sheldon denomino cerebrotomica, es decir, les caracteriza el autocontrol y dominio de si mismos, prefieren la soledad y saben enfrentarse a sus propios problemas. La enfermedad psicologica surgiria cuando alguno de estos aspectos tienda al desequilibrio. Abi Morgan no caracteriza a sus personajes desde un punto de vista morfologico, los datos que establece vienen relacionados con la edad, el estado civil y la profesion. Nosotros, como lectores activos, podemos llegar a imaginarnos la estructura fisica de los personajes. Formamos nuestra propia imagen de como podria ser ese personaje dependiendo, por un lado, de los datos anteriormente citados por la autora y, por otro, de la forma de actuar e interactuar de esos personajes, por lo que no considero muy oportuno establecer una clasificacion de sus personajes atendiendo a esta teoria, ya que la propia autora no determina estas caracteristicas. Aun asi, es una teoria muy interesante para poder llevar a cabo el proceso contrario cuando se proceda a la posible caracterizacion escenica, es decir, atendiendo a la personalidad y rasgos se puede llegar a determinar un fisico especifico. El Dr. C. George Boeree5 (1997) senala que la teoria temperamental desarrollada por H. Eysenck6 ha significado un gran avance en las teorias biologicas de la personalidad. Aunque es un conductista que considera los habitos aprendidos como algo de gran importancia, considera que las diferencias de nuestras personalidades vienen determinadas por la herencia. Segun Eysenck, el temperamento es un aspecto de la personalidad con el que se nace y las diferentes personalidades parten del aprendizaje y el desarrollo temperamental en el transcurso de las vivencias individuales. Eysenck senalo que el temperamento tiene dos dimensiones principales: ‘neuroticismo’ y extraversion-introversion. El ‘neuroticismo’ es la dimension que oscila entre las personas tranquilas, calmadas, equilibradas, y las nerviosas en exceso, de forma incontrolada, quienes tenderan a sufrir con mayor frecuencia una gran variedad de trastornos nerviosos o neurosis. Este exceso nervioso viene determinado por la respuesta que muestra el sistema nervioso simpatico7 ante situaciones determinadas. Dependiendo del nivel de respuesta del sistema nervioso simpatico, podemos establecer una caracterizacion de los individuos como mas o menos propensos a sufrir algun tipo de trastorno neurotico. Otra dimension del temperamento formulada por Eysenck es la conocida como extraversion-introversion. Su hipotesis consiste en que una persona extravertida tiene una fuerte inhibicion, es decir, ante un trauma, la respuesta de su cerebro le protege. Una persona introvertida en la misma situacion de estimulacion excesiva, no es protegida lo suficiente debido a que le caracteriza una pobre inhibicion, y, por tanto, es mas susceptible a sufrir un trauma.