One variety of Shamanism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

One variety of Shamanism - Essay Example These are the needs, which paved the way for Shamans and Shamanism. Since the earliest Homo sapiens, hundreds of cultures around the world have developed different varieties of Shamanistic traditions which have fascinated generations of scholars and researchers. The traces of shamanism can be found in every continent. Some of the varieties of Shamanism are the Celtic Shamanism, Vedic Shamanism, Siberian Shamanism, Mongolian Shamanism, Tibetan Shamanism, Chinese Shamanism etc. what is common to all these manifestations of Shamanism is the healing of the body, mind and soul - a kind of purification. The study of these aboriginal traditions broadens our understanding of Shamanism as a whole. The evidence of the fact that Shamanism is an age-old tradition can be found in ancient literary texts such as The Rig Vedas. Vedic Shamanism, which flourished in the East and Central Asia is very similar to the other Shamanistic traditions, and believed in an animating principle that permeates through all things and all beings. That unseen essence of being is called the soul. The Shamans used roots and barks and produced a rattle sound while healing. It is believed that the Shamans made the rock paintings of Bhimbetaka in India. The meditative tradition in Asia that advocates Yoga is an offshoot of the Vedic Shamanism. Yoga attempts to set the mind in a thoughtless zone. This meditative tradition explores the ancient wisdom that an unseen energy flows through all beings and is connected directly to the quality of life. By trapping that life force, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being can be ensured. Although the process is spiritual in nature, it is not confined to any religion. The Yoga masters suggest that it is necessary to have a clear perception of the Self. Unless one recognizes the inherent energy, the pilgrim's progress towards eternity will be obstructed. How does one come to become a Shaman According to Robert M. Huff, a Shaman "may have received" his "calling to become a shaman as a result of a near-death experience in which" he was "carried into the spirit world and met teachers who helped them to learn healing songs, medicines, and revelations about the future. A shaman may also be born into the role, or be trained for it after demonstrating some special aptitude for healing." Every generation expects someone to take on the role of the shaman. The Roles of a Shaman: Michael Harner tells us that 'Shaman' is a Tungis word which originated in Siberia. It means one who can see with eyes closed or in the dark. The Shaman can be either a man or a woman. The chief role that the Shaman plays is that of a healer, as he knows the pragmatic techniques of diagnosis. Another important role of the Shaman is dealing with the spirits, because he is the one who can retrieve lost souls and banish the intruding souls. Davidson, in his book Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, writes, "The shaman acts as intermediary between the world of men and the gods, and has the power to descend into the realms of the dead. His spirit is believed to journey forth from his body, which remains in a state of trance. Sometime the long journey which it takes is described by him in a chant." (118). A significant role of the shaman, according to

Study on online gambling market Essay Example for Free

Study on online gambling market Essay For thousands of years, mankind has enjoyed spending money on games of chance. Today this has developed into a multi-billion dollar worldwide phenomenon- the gambling industry. While the total number of gambling enterprises has fallen in recent years the overall number of people employed in the industry has increases, suggesting that enterprises are now larger than they were a decade ago. The way people bet has been revolutionised of recent years with the online gambling industry taking over the traditional high street bookmakers. Betting exchanges on the internet where punters can offer bets to other punters. Meaning the average punter can now act as the bookie and say that a certain event will not happen. To understand the impact of the gambling industry, one has to consider the percentage of people that partake in gambling. Knowing it has been around for two millennia, it is interesting to observe today 80 to 85% of people will gamble in any given year. The gambling industry has evolved greatly in recent years due to the development of online gambling, this is clearly the reason for the rapid growth in the market. Along with new markets such as the online poker industry, that has taken the world in a massive fad with millions playing poker online. The gambling industry tends to be an industry in which people will use their disposable income, but the desire to win more and the increased joy from having a larger bet causes people to spend more money on gambling than they wish. This is a market driver for the industry but also the general increase in people gambling has become the main market driver in recent years. (Party Gaming) For the five year period from 2005 to 2009, it is estimated that revenues generated by the global online gaming market will increase to approximately $22. 7 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 22 per cent. From this estimation of expected spending in the online gambling market, it shows a market with great potential. Introduction . The following report analyses the dynamic market within which gambling exists, and the way the online gambling industry beginning to takeover the gambling industry. From the report on the market it will be possible to have a clearer understanding of whether the market will continue to grow or whether the market can not continue to grow at such a rapid rate. The following report analyses the dynamic market within which online gambling exists. The report will focus on areas such as 1. PEST Analysis 2. Boston Matrix 3. Porters Five Forces 4. Competitors Analysis 5. SWOT Analysis 6. Shareholders Such consideration of the market will enable a clearer understanding of whether the market will continue to grow at such a rapid rate. Market Definition Market sectors There are four main gambling sectors that attract the vast majority if online gambling ? Online Poker ?Online Casinos ?Sports Betting ?Betting Exchanges Online poker and betting exchanges are dominating the market and have only been introduced in recent years to the online gambling market. Sports betting and casinos still have large market share of the market but growth has slowed down. The size of the online gambling market for 2004 was $8. 2 billion for the world. In 2004 in the U. K ? 7. 4 billion was spent in gambling. Even though stats are not that easy to compare it shows that online gambling has not yet dominated the gambling market and there is potential for further growth. PEST Analysis PEST Analysis is analysis of macro-environments that affects all firms. PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological factors of the external macro-environment. Such external factors are beyond most firms control and sometimes present themselves as threats. On the other hand changes in the external environment can lead to new opportunities; this is certainly true for the gambling industry. Political Political and legal factors are those controlled by ? governments, local authorities, or other trade or activity orientated regulatory bodies (Brassington and Pettitt, 2000). Gambling legislation is put in place in order to prevent consumers been taken advantage and also help control consumers with gambling problems. The internet is open to great abuse in all areas of the internet and gambling is no exception. Within five minutes it is possible to be gambling on the internet at as high stakes as one desires, this obviously has its dangers. Companies have recently been pushed to be more responsible for caring for their customers. Some of the companies now have a system which its customers can use. The system offers the customer control of how much they can deposit in a designated time period, this helps the customers control their spending. Though this may affect profits for a company, it gives the impression that they care for their customers, which promotes their company. The laws for online gambling are reasonably relaxed and with it been a worldwide market that anyone from any country can access it is hard to control such a market. There have been recent worries about illegal gambling carried out on Betfair with trainers and owners regarding the running of a horse to lose. Many bets would be taken on the specific horse resulting in a major movement in the market and the price . The in the know punters will know the certain horse that is going to lose the race and they then lay the horse to lose on betfair, guaranteeing that they will win. This has caused many investigation and question over betting exchanges. Economic This considers both the ?macro- and micro-economic environment conditions which affect the structure of the market (Brassington and Pettitt, 2000). With the UK expecting an increase in disposable income this is likely that more money is to be spent in gambling. The gambling market may, however, be susceptible to recessionary influences. In times of economic downturn consumers become more reserved in their spending. With the market been worldwide the economic stability of different countries should balance the market out at such times, but large consumers of the market such as the US may have an effect on the market. Interest rates and level of inflation must be considered as threats to the online gambling industry. Social In order to combat the issues surrounding gambling addiction, casino staff undergo training in order to identify problem gamblers. The Gambling Bill is to focus on social responsibility rather than on casinos. The resort casinos which the gambling bill allows are an issue as evidence from New Zealand suggests that the bigger the casino the bigger the risk of problem gambling. This kind of control on the internet is done in a different way and there is no obligation for companies to offer this service. It is only the leading companies who tend to offer protection against gambling addiction. The way it is done on the internet is to let customers set there deposit limit with a desired time period. Obviously this is not as well controlled as at the casino as employees can take control of the problem customers but on the internet that kind of control does not exist, which proves to be a real worry for the online gambling industry. Many online gambling companies cater for only English speaking consumers due to the large domination of the market from the U.S and the U. K. This restricts market growth in other countries but companies are changing towards catering for other countries, with casinos ahead of the game due to its global appeal. As gambling is seen as a use of leisure activity the market considers its success on the amount of leisure time consumers have but from research it is clear to see consumers feel no obligation to carrying out their gambling whilst at work, often a poker game in the lunch break or even whilst working, which creates extra revenue for the online gambling industry. It also emphasis the ease at which it is to gamble online, which is the main reason behind the success of the market. Technological Gambling has been revolutionised in recent years by technological change and this is the reason for the rapid growth in the industry, making it easier than ever to gamble. The internet has seen new systems such as Betfair, and online poker which is know an $8. 6 billion market. The idea of online gambling is the ease of placing a bet. Before people would have to go to the betting shop or the casino to gamble but with such easy access for customers to access there betting accounts it has a bee a revolutionising advancement in the gambling market. New software is constantly been developed to offer an enhanced experienced for the consumers. The betting exchanges offer the chance for consumers to act as the bookies by being able to lay their bets. This obviously offers a new exciting way for consumers to experience gambling and has helped to develop the market. With improved graphics companies are making it more like the real thing. Some of the casinos online are designed to make you actually feel like you are in the casino the same is done with online poker games and even sports betting is going down the same line with offering text and audio commentary for sports events. This encourages consumers to use the internet rather than go to the casino or the betting shops. Porters Five force analysis Mr Porter was a scholar and management consultant. His model is based on the insight that a corporate strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organisations external environment. Porter has identified five competitive forces that shape every industry and every market. These forces determine the intensity of competition and hence the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. The objective of corporate strategy should be to modify these competitive forces in a way that can improve the position of an organisation. Barriers to Entry New entrants into to the market are quite regular due to the low costs of setting up an online gambling site. However, in practice, there are significant barriers to building a large, successful online gambling firm, as the business model is dependent to a large extent on, amongst other things, a strong brand underpinned by liquidity and effective payment processing. The exceptions of success by new entries tends to be when a company has an innovative idea such as Betfair. They are offering something different to the customer. The key features of a successful online gambling firm are difficult to achieve due to the following: ? Player liquidity: a large number of players are required for online poker and betting exchanges, to provide customers with opposing players for poker or a price for betting exchanges. In addition, player liquidity means that the larger sites can offer a greater variety for its customers. ?Software control: ownership of software to provide the operator with greater control, improved margins and bespoke functionality, with the ability to develop high quality user interface and scalable systems which are critical for attracting and retaining customers. Payment processing expertise: to attract and maintain customers, sites must be trusted and must provide a wide range of methods to pay-in and withdraw funds. Such payment processing must also be quick and efficient whilst maintaining low levels of fraud. ?Customer support: responding to customer enquiries on a timely and efficient basis enhances the level of customer service and customer retention. To build and sustain a large online gaming business requires significant investment in customer service operations. Marketing and global reach: as competition increases, the leading operators have greater marketing resources with which to attract and retain customers and are increasingly becoming global brands in order to penetrate new geographic markets. Buyer power The buyer power of customers determines how much customers can impose pressure on margins and volumes. The gambling market is driven by consumer trends and companies need to identify these trends and implement their strategies to remain competitive. Promotional strategies are used to initially sign up a customer and once signed up they are likely to stay there if they like the lay up of the site. It is predicted that one in three people that sign up for a free bonus will use that company for their gambling. Threats of Substitutes This is no real concern for the online gambling market, the only substitutes is betting shops and casinos, but these where all put in place before the online gambling market was created, so there is no possibility of threats from this. Supplier Power The supplier in this market is the software developers, where many companies use the same software to run their websites and with a worldwide market suppliers are never short when it involves employees skills to create the products, unlike coffee that may be affected by poor weather conditions. The concern of software developers rising prices for their products may be an issue due to them feeling they are loosing out on profit with which some online gambling companies are creating a large amount of profit. Competitor Analysis Competitor analysis is a ? systematic attempt to identify and understand the key elements of a competitors strategy (Brassington and Pettitt, 2000). An understanding of competitors enables competitive advantages to be formed. Gambling is a highly competitive market which may discourage market entry and stifle innovation, it may similarly stimulate a range of strategies for promoting growth and with constant technological improvements markets may open in the future. The amount of online gambling companies available to consumers are very variant, this has made a very competitive markets with companies offering free bonuses and providing the latest in software technology. The online gambling market can be split up into 4 sub-markets, online poker, betting exchanges, sports betting, and casinos. Betting exchanges market is dominated by betfair. Betfair is the dominant player in the betting exchange market, with an estimated 86% market share by value. Betfair exchange boasts a high level of liquidity across a wide range of betting markets, and a professional customer service operation alongside a fully integrated telephone and internet betting service. These features, have served to act as a significant barrier to entry into the betting exchange marketplace. Several other betting exchanges were set up including Sporting options and Betdaq. Sporting options was no success and was closed with many people losing money in there betting accounts because the company were unable to pay them back, betfair stepped in to offer support for these people which helped betfair grow even more dominant in the market. While there are over 200 online poker sites in operation, the online poker market is dominated by a small number of large operators. For the current year to 5 June 2005, the top eight operators had an estimated combined market share of 95 per cent in terms of ring game rake, 92 per cent in terms of number of ring game players and 88 per cent in terms of number of tournament players, which illustrates the effective barriers to developing an online poker business. Of these operators, PartyPoker. com has been the clear market leader in terms of both revenue and number of players since mid-2003. The sports betting market is much like the poker market, as many companies exist but the market is dominated by several market leaders such as William Hill and Paddy Power. William Hill has had success due to it is reputation of stores in towns and cities all over the U. K. As for paddy Power the success has been from large amounts or promotion and innovative ideas to promote the company. The casino market also works on the same basis that there are few market leaders that dominate the market. The main market leaders are casino on net, Golden Palace and Ladbrokes casino; there are still many major competitors in the market but with less market share but have the potential to take more of the market share. Most traffic is driven to online casinos via marketing on television channels and bonus deals in order to get customers to sign up for the casinos. Boston Matrix The Boston matrix is a chart created by the Boston Consulting Group in 1970. This is a useful marketing tool when analysis of market growth-relative share is required; the growth and share of different online gambling methods can be compared. The markets on the internet consist of poker, sports betting, betting exchanges and casinos. Dogs These are products with a low share of a low growth market. They do not generate cash for the company, they tend to absorb it. There are no online gambling markets that are in this category, this shows a strong healthy market. Cash Cows These are products with a high share of a slow growth market. Cash Cows generate more than is invested in them. Sports betting and casinos markets have slowed down as the stars of the online gambling market have entered the market. Problem Children These are products with a low share of a high growth market. They consume resources and generate little in return. They absorb most money as you attempt to increase market share. These gambling games are fairly new to the market and have yet had a chance to grow. Stars These are products that are in high growth markets with a relatively high share of that market. Stars tend to generate high amounts of income. Betting and exchanges and online pokers have taken the market to the new levels of turnover and have set of a craze worldwide. Shareholders For nearly every industry, sustainability is a key objective. Creating a sustainable online gambling industry benefits all of the industrys stakeholders. In recent months we have seen the flotation of many online poker companies, which developed a great relationship between the stock market and online gambling. But in September this year PartyGaming warned its growth prospects may be not be as great as was suggested when it floated in July 2005. More than ? 2 billion was wiped of the value of its shares; they dropped 30% in value. This obviously had an effect on other online gambling company shares which saw a slide in share price as well. One indicator of the slowdown is that although there are still more people signing up to play poker online, their average spend is falling. This is a concern for the online poker market as it shows the growth is not sustainable and action must be taken to not just let the online poker market just a short fad. Chief Executive Richard Segal said as these trends continued, the group would adapt its marketing strategy and infrastructure to provide greater focus on customer retention and player value. SWOT Analysis ________________________________________ SWOT analysis is useful in auditing information in a systematic manner. It demonstrates how strengths and weaknesses can be understood in context with opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis helps to explain where the online gambling market is today, but also where it is likely to be in the future. ?Strengths 1. New innovations and improvements are a regular feature due to a highly competitive market and high demand from consumers. 2. The growth in new consumers is constant, especially with the current fad of online poker. 3. Consumers have more faith in using the internet which is helping the market to grow: new payment systems such as Paypal are trustful and they prevent, together with insurances and banks, consumers from online fraud. 4. The overheads are very low for new companies to enter the market of online gambling: create a webpage and buy a payment gateway is basically enough to have a gambling website. 5. Online gambling represent entertainment at home that can be accessed at anytime, from anywhere and by anyone. 6. Due to the diversity of gambling available bringing consumers into the market that would not potentially consider gambling (e.g. gambling on games such as Chess) is very easy. ? Weaknesses 1. Online gambling is likely to become quite a saturated market, and will only continue to grow at such a rate if innovations can be added to the existing offer: develop gambling in new areas such as politics, decrease the time between the deadline to place a bet and the event on which the bet is placed 2. Companies with poor marketing strategies will have to struggle to exist due to the amount of competition: new websites are issued quite every day without even proposing new possibilities for consumers. 3. In becoming stronger, more reputable organisations have the capability to over power smaller organisations or websites: this may occur in France in the next few years if La Francaise des Jeux decides to develop a wide-scale platform for online betting it will probably have a very negative impact on smaller competitors. 4. Gambling laws in several countries such as France or Italy constrain success of market with the social issues of gambling addiction. 5. Betting shops and Casinos when they are allowed by national gaming acts still have a high presence in the gambling market and stop people using the online gambling options as much. 6. It appears to be quite difficult for new company to enter the market place due to high competition and dominance of large firms controlling the market, unless with having an innovative idea: some small websites, for example, focus on the European market, they propose adapted hours for online tournaments or develop their pages or hotlines in many languages ?Opportunities 1. Can emphasis on the rapid popularity of online gambling and that anyone can do it. 2. It is highly potential to gain a lead on the market with new technology. 3. Innovative ideas such as celebrities even gamble online, e. g. www. celebritypoker. com offers the chance to play poker against celebrities. 4. Inexpensive start up costs for a new online gambling company. 5. Constant improvement in technology opens up opportunities in the market. 6. Broadband creating much more opportunity. 7. The market is worldwide so anyone who has access to the internet can be targeted. Threats ?Rapid growth of the market may cause gambling laws to be tightened affecting profit for companies. ?Negative publicity highlighting the dangers of gambling. ?Demand depends upon real income therefore downturns in the economy can have an adverse effect of demand. ?Some companies are in a weak position financially. ?Dominance of the market. ?Market dependant on technology, which is not always reliable. Conclusion ________________________________________ The future of online gambling is bright with estimates of $32 billion spent in the year of 2009 compared to $14 billion this year. The market has seen rapid growth in recent years and it is not possible for a market to sustain such rapid growth forever, but it is still likely to grow at such a rapid rate for several years to come but it will slow down gradually. Gambling laws vary in different countries but could prevent the growth of the market, due to worries such as gambling addiction. There will always be a strong market for online gambling but is likely to see more domination by larger companies keeping the barriers of entry difficult to succeed in the market. Online gambling is highly innovative industry with new ideas to draw more people into gambling with the latest idea of offering to be able to gamble on games of chess or snooker or backgammon It is possible to gamble on nearly everything, this just defines the potential of the market. References Textbooks Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000). Principles of Marketing. Websites www. quickmba. com/strategy/porter. shtml Five forces analysis diagram. www. gamblinglicenses. com Provided information on the gambling laws work. www. partygaming. com Provided stats on market size and useful information on the online poker market. www. bettingmarket. com Reviews of the online gambling market with stats of traffic on online sites. www. reports. mintel. com Provided a report on the gambling industry, with helpful information on market size. www. amadeus. bvdep. com Provided information on the market share of companies. www. thismoney. co. uk Provided information on the share situation for the market.

Dream Interpretation of the Film Lost Highway Essay -- Lost Highway Mo

Dream Interpretation of the Film "Lost Highway" Cop: Do you own a video camera? Renee: No. Fred hates them. Fred: I like to remember things my own way. Cop: What do you mean by that? Fred: How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened. A dream can mean everything, or it can mean nothing. According to Freud, if we take its contents seriously, it has the potential to reveal things about ourselves that we scarcely believe could be true. But often the fragmented oddness of such a vision damages its credibility, and one is left wondering how something so disjointed could contain insight of any value. Such is the dilemma with "Lost Highway," a movie seemingly bent on walking its viewers down one path, and then, when they begin to understand the nature of it all, to abruptly change course and begin anew. Hitchcock's "MacGuffin" - the term he coined to refer to the apparent plot of a story, which is merely a cover for the underlying, more important thread - is both irrelevant and vital in this film. The viewer will watch what is happening, trying to get a sense of the plot, but the plot, really, is unimportant. The very nature of plot demands a sense of linearity, and this movie lacks such a characteristic. However, th e plot is also the most important aspect of the film, because, ultimately, almost everything each character does seems to be part of a dream in the mind of the central character, Fred Madison. Consequently, what happens is not merely manifest content to be brushed aside. Hidden within it is the latent content which will give the viewer an understanding of what is happening in the mind of this man. How do we know it is a dream and not merely poor story-telling? How do we know... ...on to detail complements this approach quite well. In either case, the effect works. One of the most difficult tasks in a movie is to let the viewer inside the mind of one of its characters. This is much easier in literature, which can employ the faculties of narration and omniscience. In a film with no such leisure, a director must rely on images and dialogue alone to accomplish this feat. To visually represent the emotions of a character can only be well-executed in a few distinct ways. One such, effective way is to film the dreams and fantasies occurring in the mind of that character. Lynch's approach works, and Fred's emotional and psychical states of being are clear, if the viewer can just look past the manifest to find the rich, latent content buried beneath. Bibliography Gay, Peter, ed. The Freud Reader. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1989.

Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet

Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 adaptation of Hamlet is a great way to enjoy the popular Shakespeare play. While I found the film to be quite lengthy, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a film version of the story I only knew a little bit about from reading an excerpt of Hamlet in high school. I think Kenneth Branagh did an excellent job in making the screen play into a movie. Everything in every scene couldn’t have been done more perfectly. Better yet is the cast, with actors like Kenneth Branagh himself, as Hamlet, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams among many other great actors.The tragedy starts with just that, tragedy, the death of Hamlet’s Father, the king. The movie starts out with the watchmen on duty seeing an apparition of some kind, which they later learn is Hamlet’s deceased father. The watchmen decide to tell Hamlet of this strange apparition after Hamlet’s mother, the queen’s wedding to her brother in law. While the wedd ing is going on and after the ceremony, Hamlet is clearly distraught. The queen is marrying Hamlet’s father’s brother only two short months after his father’s sudden death.The watchmen tell Hamlet of the strange apparition that is haunting them nightly and Hamlet is curious, he wants to see it for himself. In my favorite scene of the entire movie, Hamlet runs through the foggy woods that night, yelling, screaming for his father’s tragic passing. He gets a response from his father’s spirit; his father’s voice speaks in the most bone chilling voice. He tells Hamlet that his death was â€Å"most cruel and most unnatural† and he makes this very clear, saying it more than once. He says his brother snuck up on him while he was asleep in the orchard and poured a leprous mixture into his ear.The King’s own brother committed the deed that made him fall ill and die almost immediately. Before disappearing into the night, the apparition sa ys to Hamlet â€Å"Remember me! † This experience is of course very emotional for Hamlet. Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death. He decides the only way to wear on the new king’s conscience is to put on a play that is basically the story of his father’s betrayal by his brother and the queen for having married him. While this is going on, everyone is saying Hamlet has gone â€Å"mad† because of his erratic behavior, but attributes it to his being love sick over his girl friend, Ophelia.Hamlet loves Ophelia, and she loves him, but her father forbids her to see him any longer. Hamlet is enraged by this, as he is many things Ophelia’s father says and does. In the heat of an argument, Hamlet kills Ophelia’s Father. Ophelia is devastated, goes insane, and eventually ends up drowning herself. Ophelia’s brother returns from France to find out his father has been slain by Hamlet and Ophelia has killed herself. Needless to say, Ophel ia’s brother is furious. Ophelia’s brother and the King plan for him and Hamlet to spar. They plan to poison the cup Hamlet drinks from during the fight, so he will undoubtedly die.While fencing, the King insists that Hamlet drink for doing well, but he refrains and says he will wait until later. Next, the queen offers him a drink, but again he refuses, so she drinks out of the cup that is poisoned instead. The fight turns quite vicious and Ophelia’s brother is struck down. At the same time the queen has fallen to the floor, dying, saying she had been poisoned before she took her last breath. Ophelia’s brother confesses that the King is the one who poisoned the cup in order to kill Hamlet. Hamlet and Ophelia’s brother make amends before he dies. Enraged, Hamlet goes after the King and feeds him the poison.The King dies. Then Hamlet dies of poisoning. The Norwegian crown prince and his army storm the castle in order to assume the throne, wasting no time. They are astounded by the royal deaths. I thought the movie had an excellent cast, all great actors that did a wonderful job. Kenneth Branagh made a good Hamlet. I liked Hamlet’s character and hoped the best for him, even though I did not agree with some of the things he did. I felt badly for Hamlet, as I also did Ophelia when she took her own life out of misery. I think it is sad they did not end up together; but then again that’s the point, it’s a tragedy.I loved the original King, although he wasn’t in the movie much in life form, he seemed like a fair and wise King. The actor who played the king did a fantastic job in the foggy woods scene. All in all the entire cast was very convincing, so much that you either came to love or hate the characters. I think there are many themes in Hamlet. The one that stands out the most is the importance of thinking before acting. Hamlet does and says many things he might not if he took some time to first  "cool down†. It seems as if he is too hasty to act and this often gets him into trouble making terrible things happen that he can’t simply take back.Another lesson to take from Hamlet is that nothing is forever and nothing is certain. Hamlet wrestled with the validity of the experience of his father’s apparition, he questioned whether or not it really happened. For some things in this life there is no hard science. Sometimes the answers are not always clear; you just have to trust your own judgment. I really enjoyed watching the movie version of Hamlet. Quite honestly I thought turning a play into a movie would be difficult to make interesting, but it was done extremely well. I would love to go to a real live play version of Hamlet.I think the experience of seeing the acting up close on a stage would be totally different then watching the movie because the audience is able to get more involved in the story, but the movie is a good way to go if you don’t ha ve the opportunity to see the play. The minor special effects in the movie really help to draw you in, but it’s nothing significant that couldn’t be done on stage as well. Hamlet is a classic story that has stood the test of time. I’m sure it will never stop being reenacted and adapted for movies in generations to come.

Early Civilizations Matrix Essay

Affirmative Action The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of affirmative action, and the policies that go along with it. The paper will be recommending to a board of directors that their business implement affirmative action policies. This argument will be supported by points and facts that are in favor of the implementation. It will also fairly discuss points against the implementation of affirmative action. The paper will cover points about how affirmative action policies relate to compliance with the equal opportunity laws. Before getting to far ahead, it is important to make sure that there is a valid understanding of what affirmative action actually is, and what its policies stand for. What is affirmative action? Affirmative action means that steps are taken to help increase the representation of women, and other minorities in areas like education, employment, and business. These are all areas from which they have typically and historically been excluded. It is when these steps involve preferential treatment or selection based on gender, race, and ethnicity then the concept of affirmative action becomes controversial (Affirmative Action, 2001). History of affirmative action In 1961, then President John F. Kennedy issued executive order 10925 against American Lexicon. The order gave the first mention of affirmative action.  The purpose of the order was to end discrimination within the business (Nittle, n.d.). Next, three years later in 1964, The Civil Right Act came out. The goal of the Civil Right Act of 1964 was to stop employment and public accommodations discrimination (Nittle, n.d.). Following the Civil Right Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson, who took office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, issued executive order 11246. This order required federal contractors to practice affirmative action, to help develop diversity within the workplace and help end race based discrimination, and other forms of discrimination (Nittle, n.d.). Before these amendments were signed into action, you had other key events that took place as well. For example, the case of Brown v Board of Education. This case was about an African American girl who wanted to attend a white public school, and was denied admittance. This case helped overturn a prior case Plessy v Ferguson. Plessy v Ferguson stated that a separate but equal America was constitutional (Nittle, n.d.). Brown v Board overturned that case by ruling that discrimination is a key aspect of racial segregation. Which meant that it violated the 14th Amendment (Nittle, n.d.). This decision started the countries goal to promote diversity in schools and various other places (Nittle, n.d.). This was a very important legal, as well as ethical case. It helped kick start the changes to people’s thought processes. Why affirmative action? Now that a bit of history on affirmative action has been covered, it is important to look at why affirmative action policies should be put into action at your company. Affirmative action would be very beneficial to your company for many reasons. It allows for a more diversified workplace, it is a way to allow all races to have equal rights, it shows that everyone has the ability to be great at their job, that people can be more productive by sharing various thoughts, plans, and ideas for the betterment of not only the company, but themselves as well, regardless of their gender, race, or ethnicity. This company should hire people based on things like their level of experience and skill, and whether they have the aspects necessary for that  position. The hiring process should not be based on the person’s racial or ethnic background, or whether they are a male or a female. People should be comfortable enough that when they apply for a position within your company they do not worry about whether or not they are being discriminated against. All that should matter is that they have the skills necessary to do the job to the best of their ability. Not whether or not they are the proper gender or if they are the right ethnicity. If someone applies for a job at your company, and they feel they may have been discriminated against, and then they ask you about it, if you dont give them a reasonable response or answer them correctly it can cause problems for the company. Whether it be through long bitter court battles, or just the company gains a bad name for even potentially being prejudiced or biased. Employment discrimination against women and minorities is something that has gone on for a very long time. Government reports show that the pay, as well as job opportunities for minorities is smaller than that of white or Caucasian ethnicity ( Bohlander & Snell, 2007). If your company implements affirmative action, it can be beneficial from the outside and inside as well. One thing that needs to be done to begin the action, is to develop a plan. Your company needs to have a written statement showing commitment to the idea of affirmative action. You should look at where the company stands in terms of women and minorities that you have employed. By doing so, it will allow for you to see where changes, if any, need to be made. Once you see where the improvements and changes are, you need to take the right steps to make sure these changes are made. While making these changes, you have to make sure that no other race or gender within your employee base was mistreated, or undervalued in any way due to the affirmative action plan. Equal employment opportunity law According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, all businesses have an obligation to uphold. They are not to judge a potential employee based on ones race, gender, age, etc. This is a very important aspect of affirmative action. You have to make sure that your company understands and follows the  policy ( Bohlander & Snell, 2007). The court system is always interpreting the employment law. If changes are made, then it is the manager of your company’s responsibility to change the company’s employment guidelines to follow the court ruling (Bohlander & Snell, 2007). To help make sure that business do comply with the changes, and anti discrimination laws, the Equal Employment Opportunities Council was established to monitor that the guidelines are being followed (Bohlander & Snell, 2007). Benefits of affirmative action There are many benefits for your company to implementing an affirmative action plan. The employee’s themselves will benefit for instance, because minorities that are employed within your company have the chance to advance up the career ladder, and gain opportunities for promotions that they may not have had a chance of getting before. Your company shouldn’t be made up of one race, one ethnicity, or one gender because you think that one is better than the other. If a person has or gets a job, it should be due to their qualifications and abilities to do the job correctly. Not based on race or gender. The downfalls of affirmative action With almost any argument in favor of something, you are going to have opinions refuting the ideas. Some believe that affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. That instead of being hired for their qualifications and skill, that they are hired based on religion, race, gender, etc. Opponents feel that it can make people turn against one another. Preventing the downfalls of affirmative action The cons of affirmative action can be avoided as long as your company takes the proper steps. The company needs to look for the best people for the unfilled positions, and do the proper training if needed. To help prevent your employees from feeling as if the only reason they got the job with your company was due to their gender or race, make sure that you let them know they were hired because they had the needed experience or qualifications and therefore they were the best match. It is important to make sure that your company sticks to the plan that was laid out in the beginning, to the affirmative action plan that was developed. You watch over all of your employees, and not just those who are impacted more by the plan, the work environment at your company should stay sustainable and comfortable for all employees. Conclusion Affirmative action would be a great idea for your company. The purpose of this presentation was to show both the pro’s and the con’s of implementing affirmative action within your company, which is hopefully what was done. The main thing to remember here is that the benefits to implementing affirmative action, strongly outweigh the pitfalls. Also, the opposition to the plan can be avoided by following your action plan, and the steps provided for avoidance of those downfalls. It is hoped that you will choose to use the affirmative action policy within your company, as it is something that will most definitely help and payoff in your company’s future. References: Bohlander, G. W., & Snell, S. A., (2007). Managing human resources (14th ed.). Florence, KY: Thomson Learning Higher Education. Nittle, N.K. (n.d.). Key events in affirmative action history. Retrieved from http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/a/TheFiveLandmarkEventsWhichLedtoAffirmativeActionsRise.htm Affirmative action. (2001). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/

Much to do with hate, but more to do with love Essay Example

Much to do with hate, but more to do with love Essay Example Much to do with hate, but more to do with love Essay Much to do with hate, but more to do with love Essay Consider Shakespeares presentation of the theme of Romeo and Juliet with particular reference to character, language, setting and context.Love. The play Romeo and Juliet is based around love but, what is it? People always say their in love but how do they know? So many philosophers have tried to explain the word love, but what is it really? So were Romeo and Juliet ever in love with anyone? How do they show it? If not, how could they not be in love in the city of romance, Verona? The country of lovers, Italy? These are questions I asked myself when I read the play, watched the video and before I began this essay. So what is Love? The dictionary says Love is A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness. When I think of love, I think of the couple that have been together forever and dont need anyone but each other or love for family, but as I have found out from this play love is a little more complicated than I love you, you love me. We all have different feelings for each other which are shown in different ways and Shakespeare uses this in the play with all characters, which I will attempt to explain in my essay.The plot of Romeo and Juliet is based around a families hate for each other and the ironic love of their children. Shakespeare uses this to an advantage by makingFirst, the main thing is where? The setting is Verona in Italy. This was probably a good place to set a love story as in England at that time and even now, we portray Italy as the country in of Romance. Al so the audience would have found the situation of Romeo and Juliet more believable. A 13 yr old girl going against her parents wishes, to be with her lover even if it meant killing herself. The audience would have believed all things romantic are possible in Verona, and Shakespeare used this as he could have no limitations to his writing.The characters also show their love in different ways particularly to Juliet. Lady Capulet is very business like with her daughter this is the matter: Nurse, give leave awhile, we must talk in secret:-nurse, come back again. This line shows that Lady Capulet thinks she is close to her daughter but then realises she cannot be alone with her and calls the nurse back in. But Shakespeare makes a joke of how upper class children do not have a close relationship with their parents. The fact that the nurse had to be with her is like a Lawyer and there client, a business like relationship.However the nurse is more like a friend than a carer, telling her to sleep with men and have fun Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. But in front of Lady Capulet, the nurse becomes a carer again, talking about breast-feeding and caring for her thou hadst suckd wisdom from thy teat.Whereas Romeos feelings for Juliet are never certain, at first he is in love with Rosalind, he believes that if someone says they see someone more beautiful than Rosalind then they should be burnt a the stake for lying Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars. Romeos words are inspired by the practice of burning witches and heretics at the stake; this was common at the time of Shakespeare. But he quickly transfers his feelings to Juliet making his love for Rosalind fickle.Romeo also seems confused by the meaning of love as he uses many oxymorons Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, O brawling love! O loving hate!O any thing, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!Sick health. It seems he prefers the idea of being in love rather than actually doing it.When we first meet Juliet she acts like A good girl and she always does what she is told and always acts with great courtesy Madam, I am here. What is your will? and has a more religious way of talking about love, For saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss. You kiss by the book.Not only does this make us think she believes in marriage and God, but this also gives the impression of and innocence and purity. she hath not seen the change of 13 yearsEven though Juliet is only 13 she speaks about sex and love.It was appropriate in Shakespeares day for a girl of 13 to be married and have children. It was also acceptable for the parents to decide who their child was to marry; arranged marriages were common and acceptable in those times. But Juliets attitude changes when she meets Romeo, she follows her heart rather than her parents. This would have been almost forbidden at the time Romeo and Juliet was written, as children always obey ed their parents. When Juliet ditches Paris to be with Romeo, this would have been shocking to the audiences of the time, but it also exciting and more romantic that they could do something so outrageous to be together.Shakespeare also played with the language of the script, using the class difference of the audience to an advantage. This gave him an opportunity to make upper and lower class jokes as well as characters. The lower class characters, such as commoners or servants, speak in prose and use a lot of slang, to relate to the lower class audience. Using sexual jokes and un-rhyming verses, For Juliets sake stand and rise. Stand and rise is the nurse making a joke of Romeo because he should have had sex with her by now. The lower class would have loved this, a lower class character making a sex joke at an upper class character. Whereas the upper class characters speak in Blank-verse, using puns and soliloquies. This would have applied to upper class audience members who would u nderstand these jokes more than the lower class.In general I felt that Romeo and Juliet had a moral to the story. The way that they both overcame their families hate for each other. The fact that they killed there selves shows there commitment and love for each other.

Dramatic irony Essays

Dramatic irony Essays Dramatic irony Paper Dramatic irony Paper Eddie Carbone is main character in A view from the bridge. Set in the 1940s A view from the bridge was written in the 1950s by Arthur Miller, (Miller was influenced by Greek tragedy). During those times Italian immigrants came over to America for work, dreams and freedom but like in this story it all ends in disaster, Eddies an Italian American. This play is a tragedy because the play ends in death, also Eddie Carbone is tragic in that he cannot change who he is, his circumstances are beyond his control and he cannot change them, this type of tragedy revolves around hubris- Eddies stubborn nature and male pride causes his inner conflict and ultimately his death. In contrast to Alfieri, Eddie is not educated therefore he cannot express himself. He is also a stereotypical male as he cannot or will not cry. Therefore Eddie is presented as tragic in many ways. The idea of the American dream is where the family has two cars and usually two children, there was more definition to gender roles then as the man would go out to work and earn all the money whilst the wife stays at home cleans the house, cooks and looks after the children and their daughters usually head cheerleader for her high school whilst the boy is captain of the football team. the ideal family draws the audience in. the American dream is different to the Carbone family in most ways, as the Carbones are poor, live in a run down small apartment in Brooklyn, Eddie and B have no children of their own and are a dysfunctional family. We knew that all of Birlings information would be correct if reversed. Therefore, if we reversed the current mood of the opening scene, you would have figured out the mood of the ending of the play. A house filled with sadness and regret. It is the exact opposite of the mood in the opening scene. To conclude, the opening scene reflects largely upon what will happen later on in the play. The seeds are sown and throughout the production, the plot and theme grow and get stronger. Actions and speeches made at the beginning are cleverly intertwined with those at the opposite end of the play. This enables us to make fairly accurate predictions on the outcome of the play. The mysteries surrounding Eva Smiths death and who Inspector Goole actually was, are never solved. This kept me thinking and guessing even after the production had concluded. Overall, the nature of the play and the subliminal clues placed for the audience allows us to foresee later actions of characters which can then use to help solve the crime ourselves. It is this that keeps the production mysterious, intriguing exciting and entertaining.