The Importance of Communication as a Business Professional Research Paper

The Importance of Communication as a Business Professional - Research Paper Example Associations that have comprehended the due job of culture have additionally understood the degree to which culture can have a positive or a negative impact. On the off chance that workers from various social foundations collaborate with each other, there will undoubtedly be issues that the association may see. This is on the grounds that every last one of these representatives has a different language that they are master inside, and comprehend their exceptional subtleties than others would. Likewise they would think that its hard to fathom the seriously various motions and feelings which are imparted by individuals at work. Along these lines, there could be disarrays and complaints among the individuals (Brenton, 2005). This is very characteristic on the grounds that social settings are drafted in such a manner. What is significantly all the more convincing is the way under which various workers and business staff have a knowledge with respect to the utilization of a typical langua ge †a language that will be the mode of guidance. It is the premise of realizing which expressions and sentences will be talked about grinding away and what words and linguistic structure to evade. It will likewise interpret the correct job of sentence structure and spelling and not to overlook the particular contributions from the individuals who are competent grinding away. Such social settings basically leave a permanent impact on the psyches of the representatives who are giving a valiant effort to speak with each other. The need is to discover where oddities are and what best should be possible to maintain a strategic distance from such inadequacies and missteps. There is a desperate need to have the most ideal comprehension concerning various societies under the aegis of correspondence in light of the fact that these set the reason for efficiency to prosper inside the spaces of an association. In whole, the impacts of culture on correspondence are quintessential to compre hend on the grounds that these pinpoint the need to ask about the sort of work which should be embraced and the articulations that must be evaded no matter what. The exercise in careful control really makes for a decent thinking of the current subject. The Importance of a Business Plan When Starting a New Business A marketable strategy chooses already how a business will be set up. It directs the fundamental premise of a business and the dos and don’ts that the business needs to embrace. What it additionally takes into point of view is the measure of data sources that should be considered for maintaining a business and the partners who will profit by it over the long haul. A marketable strategy is to be sure a proper articulation which characterizes a lot of business objectives and the goals that are in close relationship with each other. It specifies the reasons why these business objectives are regarded as achievable and how these will feel free to make the business a serio us one inside the significant modern settings. Additionally the designs for arriving at the ideal focuses are determined heretofore with the goal that the strategies are taken as complete and all-covering from various edges and points of view (Morden, 1995). The marketable strategy likewise features the foundation information with respect to the business and the way under which the association or the business group is putting forth a valiant effort to accomplish those objectives and goals. It must be recollected here that field-tested strategies deal with various choices that are made inside their fore. The marketable strategy in this way figures out how to accomplish the errands which would have been hard to break down and comprehend when the business was being begun. It gives a pathway to characterize things in a by and large way. It likewise sets the

China One Child Policy Essay Example for Free

China One Child Policy Essay Envision an existence where one can’t basically go to the grocery store on the grounds that there isn't sufficient food. An existence where contamination is a day by day reality, the air too thick to even think about evening breath and the water for all intents and purposes undrinkable. A spot you can no longer purchase shopper products in light of the fact that there isn’t enough materials to make them. This could turn into a reality, yet forestalling it has consistently been on the psyches of the Chinese government. War and pandemics had struck China for a considerable length of time, yet after the establishing of the Peoples Republic of China, sanitation and medication improved and incited fast populace development. This joined with the development made by Mao Zedong, China’s past socialist pioneer, prompted fast populace development that gave China’s grand populace. This stupendous error incurred significant damage in the food gracefully when Mao accentuated steel creation over cultivating, food flexibly slipped behind populace development; by 1962 a monstrous starvation had caused exactly 30 million passings. After the populace leveled off, the administration proceeded with the outdoors to diminish China’s populace. In 1979 the Chinese government presented an approach requiring couples from Chinas ethnic Han larger part to have just a single kid. Contingent upon where they lived guardians can be fined thousand of dollars for having an additional youngster without an allow and can be compelled to prematurely end the kid and afterward be cleaned. In view of this I not just accept that the one youngster approach with certain modifications can be a decent answer for the overpopulation and issues identified with it yet in addition it is a vital strategy. With changes to the arrangement will extraordinarily improve China’s individuals living condition and gauges. Without this approach we can confront difficult issues concerning food supplies, exhaustion of normal assets at a fast rate, poverty,spreading of maladies because of absence of legitimate clinical consideration, packed urban communities that can prompt substantial contamination, deficient lodging, lower future and higher demise rates, instructive offices may not meet the populace requirements,and at long last lower work openings that lead to inconsistent circulation of riches. The entirety of this could turn into a reality without the correct populace control gave by the strategy. Society an exceptionally organized arrangement of human association for huge scope network living that ordinarily outfits insurance, progression, security, and a national character. Some basic things that are required for the flourishment of a general public are fundamentals, for example, food and water. This are non begging to be proven wrong prerequisites for urban areas to rise, endure and flourish. Over populace can bring numerous deterrents and challenges that could hinder us from flourishing as a general public. Some incorporate overwhelming contamination that is brought about by production lines that are expected to fulfill the needs of the large populace. This contamination can be hastened into the water sources can prompt the spread of illnesses, for example, cholera and typhoids. Albeit higher populace number will deliver more food the earth can unfortunately bolster a limited amount of a lot. Indeed, even with hereditarily adjusted (GMC’s) the land must be utilized such a great amount before it runs put of supplements and afterward become futile. The abuse of the land will prompt soil disintegration from attempting to fulfill the food needs of an immense populace. Air contamination can cause the spread of maladies, for example, asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, coronary illness and even diabetes. This will prompt a large number of death and might clear out whole populaces and cause poor day to day environments. The absence of appropriate clinical consideration will be one of numerous components additionally adding to the decrease of expectations for everyday comforts and lower living anticipations which implies higher demise rates. Thomas Malthus composed hypotheses that anticipated day to day environments over numerous hundreds of years. He expressed that over populace will cause more hindrances that will exceed the favorable circumstances. Some may said that in his hypothesis he didn’t consider the advances in innovation that is basic to the thriving of a nation. I don’t contend that Malthus might not have considered yet it still doesn’t change the way that earth has a limited conveying limit. Regardless of how innovation advances or shows signs of improvement it will be restricted by the assets that we can get. Assets are constrained. Innovation could give methods of utilizing this assets all the more proficiently yet regardless of what we do it will consistently prompt the exhaustion in light of more popularity brought about by overpopulation. In spite of the fact that innovation can take care of a considerable lot of our issues it has an extraordinary impediment. That constraint is us. The congestion of urban communities may prompt instructive offices not having the option to give the best possible learning condition and neglect to show the populace. This will cause elevated levels kids falling behind and not have the option to contribute and proceed onward to significant level employments in science, math or building which will hinder the pace of movement in innovation, and without it we won’t have the option to satisfy the needs of an enormous populace. Over populace can cause lower work openings that will leave numerous families in destitution. This will cause and lopsided conveyance of riches that can cause the crime percentage to go higher. Less employments implies the economy would be extremely constrained or there will be a ton of occupations however the lowest pay permitted by law employments. Families would be compelled to sends their youngsters to work so they can help bolster the family as opposed to sending them to class. With a littler populace all the more elevated level occupations can be given and more cash implies better way of life and high future levels. Riches can give numerous things, for example, clinical consideration, satisfactory housing,etc. The entirety of this can be maintained a strategic distance from with populace control approaches, for example, the one kid strategy. There is a great deal of burdens that can cause a deplorable future. So we have to inquire as to whether that will be an actual existence wen need to live in. The appropriate response will consistently boil down to no. The one kid approach has cruel impacts that are disputable. The constrained cleansing and fetus removal of ladies is one of the terrible real factors that the arrangement makes conceivable. Be that as it may, this doesn’t change the way that the approach is a need. I totally concur this must be change. New guidelines can be instituted that are increasingly uninvolved and all the more broadly acknowledged by the larger part. The one kid strategy is a need that helps our general public from numerous points of view. The benefits of having this arrangement far exceed the disservices. It keeps China’s thriving and empowers incredible monetary riches and movement. So I encourage you to consider the entirety of the focuses made and see that the one youngster arrangement isn't just a shrewd decision yet in addition an extraordinary one.

Why Change Blindness Happens to Us

Why Change Blindness Happens to Us Theories Cognitive Psychology Print Why Change Blindness Happens to Us By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on August 14, 2019 Tetra Images/Getty Images More in Theories Cognitive Psychology Behavioral Psychology Developmental Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Psychosocial Psychology In This Article Table of Contents Expand Definition Research Causes Real World Examples View All Back To Top Change blindness is a term used by psychologists to describe the tendency people have to miss changes in their immediate visual environment.?? If something in your visual field changed dramatically right before your eyes, you would notice it immediately, right? While you might think that you see or are aware of all the changes that happen in your immediate environment, the reality is that there is simply too much information for your brain to fully process and be aware of every single thing that happens in the world around you.?? In many cases, big shifts can happen in your visual field and you are never even aware of these changes. Psychologists refer to this as change blindness. What is it? Why exactly does it happen? What effect does it have on how you perceive and interact with the world around you? Definition Lets start by taking a look at how some of the top researchers describe this fascinating phenomenon. According to the Change blindness: past, present, and future study,  the term change blindness refers to the surprising difficulty observers have in noticing large changes to visual scenes.?? Why do they describe this as surprising? Because in many cases, the changes in the visual seem are so dramatic that they seem impossible to miss. Yet when attention is directed elsewhere, people are capable of missing both minor and major changes that take place right in front of them. Change blindness is a failure to detect that an object has moved or disappeared and is the opposite of change detection. The phenomenon of change blindness can be demonstrated even when the change in question is large, researchers Michael Eysenck and Mark Keane, authors of Cognitive psychology: A students handbook, also suggest.?? Research Perhaps the easiest way to see change blindness in action is to look at some of the fascinating experiments that have explored this phenomenon. Blackmore, Belstaff, Nelson, and Troscianko (1995) - In this experiment, participants were shown an image that was changed during a brief blank interval in the visual scene. The researchers found that when there is a brief break in the visual scene, people find it more difficult to detect changes.??Simons and Levin (1998) - In this experiment, researchers engaged participants in a conversation. Then, during a period of distraction, they switched the original person to someone else. Surprisingly, only about half of the participants noticed the swap.??O’Regan, Rensink, Clarke (1999) - Researchers found that when small shapes are splattered over an image, such as mud splashes over a car windshield, large changes can be made to a visual scene without the observer noticing.?? While previous research demonstrated that change blindness could be produced by a visual disruption such as flickering, blinking, or eye movement, this study demonstrated that change blindness can also occur witho ut visual masking.Levin et al. (2000) - When researchers told observers about changes that happened in a film sequence and showed them stills from the film, 83 percent of the participants predicted that they would notice these changes. When these observers did not know which changes were going to occur, only 11 percent of them actually noticed the changes.??Feil Mestre (2010) - Recent research also suggests that subject-matter experts may be more adept at noticing a change in their area of expertise than novices. For example, a physicist would be better able to detect changes to a physics problem than a college student taking his first physics course.?? Causes The ability to detect change plays a major role in our daily life. A couple of examples include noticing when a car drifts into our lane of traffic or observing a person entering a room. If perceiving change is so important, why do we often fail to notice major changes? There are a number of factors that play a role.?? Focused Attention and Limited Resources At this very moment, your attention is focused on the words you are reading. While you are looking at this sentence, are you giving any attention to the wall color of the room you are in or to where your feet are placed? Until we asked you that question, its highly unlikely that you were paying attention to either of those things. According to researcher Daniel Simons, attention is limited, so we have to pick and choose what we focus on.?? We can really only focus on one thing at any given time, so it is that one thing that we pay attention to in great detail. As a result, large volumes of information in the world around us simply pass by our awareness because we lack the resources to attend to it. What are some other possible explanations for change blindness? Expectations and Past Experiences Oftentimes, our expectations for what should happen in the environment can play a role in what we notice about the world. In his book Sensation and Perception, E. Bruce Goldstein writes, One reason people think they would see the changes may be that they know from past experiences that changes that occur in real life are usually easy to see. But there is an important difference between changes that occur in real life and those that occur in change detection experiments. Changes that occur in real life are often accompanied by a motion, which provides a clue that indicates a change is occurring.?? We dont notice some changes, particularly the artificially induced ones in an experimental lab because we simply dont expect such changes to occur. How often in real life does one person suddenly turn into somebody else? When would an object suddenly blink into existence when it wasnt there before? Would a persons shirt really change color right before our eyes? Because these things simply dont occur in our day to day existence, we tend not to notice them when they happen in a staged experiment or scene. Other Factors That Play a Role A number of factors can also influence change blindness, including attention, age, how objects are presented, and the use of psychoactive drugs. Researchers have found that shifting a persons attention, such as causing a distraction, leads to increased change blindness. Studies have found that older people are less likely to detect changes in a visual scene.?? Our ability to take in visual information is constrained by limited resources. The basic problem is that far more information lands on your eyes than you can possibly analyze and still end up with a reasonable sized brain, explained researcher Jeremy Wolfe of Harvard Medical School to The New York Times.?? To cope with this overwhelming amount of data, huge amounts of information enter our visual system without being assimilated. Focused attention on a particular part of our environment allows us to essentially shine a spotlight on something that we deem as important that needs to be processed and attended to. Change Blindness in the Real World Detecting change plays a major role in our ability to function in our daily life. You can probably already think of a few examples of when change blindness might cause problems in real-world situations. Some of these include:?? Social Interactions: Change blindness can impact our day-to-day social interactions such as relatively minor slip-ups like asking the wrong waiter for the check.Driving: Failure to detect changes in the environment while you are driving can lead to dire, sometimes fatal, consequences. Researchers have found that distractions such as talking on the phone or texting can impact attention and lead to increased change blindness.Eyewitness Testimony: Researchers have found that change blindness can also play a role in a witnesss ability to recount the details of a crime or to identify the perpetrator of a crime.Air Traffic Control: If an air traffic control fails to detect important changes, fatal accidents could result.

Impact on Unemployment on Standard of Living - 783 Words

If unemployment rises in a country, will its standard of living necessarily decline? Unemployment refers to the condition and extent of joblessness within an economy, and is measured in terms of the unemployment rate, which is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force. If unemployment rises in a country it will affect the country’s standard of living in a negative way, take Jamaican economy for example, approximately 65% of the labour is unemployed, so if 65% of the population is not earning an income /income is not being generated then there is going to be a fall out in the economy which will result in recession and also the GDP will decline. If unemployment continues to increase the standard of†¦show more content†¦Frictional unemployment are individuals that are temporarily unemployed while transiting between jobs or just entering the labour market. This kind is typically short in duration but always present in a market economy. Structural Unemployment whenever an economy undergoes basic structural changes there is the possibility of some part of the labor force being thrown out of employment. The long term process of economic development and growth gives rise to variety of structural changes. Considerable changes in productive activity from traditional agriculture to modern industry; transformation of rural sectors into urban units; replacement of small scale and cottage industries by large scale manufacturing units; introduction of electricity or other sources of commercial energy in place of manual and animal power are some examples of structural changes. The economy under the process of structural changes is in the condition of transition. Some workers are likely to become jobless during the process of transition. Moreover, the duration of such unemployment may also be fairly long depending upon the extent of corrective and restorative measures introduced to restrict the period of unemployment. What are the policies which a government may adopt to reduce unemplyment Increased Government Expenditure The Government can raise the level of its own spending. This fiscal pump-priming directly increases aggregate demand and can have a multiplier effect onShow MoreRelatedGross State Product ( Gsp ) Essay1252 Words   |  6 PagesCalifornia in 2015 is $2,229,070 million dollars, which is about 13.8% of the Gross Domestic Product of the whole United States calculated around $16,146,736 million dollars; this puts California as the state with the most impact on the GDP, right above Texas. which currently impacts GDP of the U.S. at 9.2%. In the beginning of 2015, California had a GSP of $2,171,390 million, while in the end of 2015 it was $2,229,070 million. This demonstrates a yearly change of approximately 2.7%, calculated by usingRead MoreUnemployment Is A Measure Of Unemployment1532 Words   |  7 PagesAccording to Balami (2006) unemployment is conceptualized as a situation wherein a worker is or workers are involuntarily out of work. This means that workers are willing and able to wo rk but cannot find any work. Unemployment has been defined by the classical economists as the excess supply of labour over the demand for labour which is cause by adjustment in real wage. The Classical or real-wage unemployment occurs when real wages for job are set above the market-clearing level, causing number ofRead MoreAustralia s Current Economic Growth1390 Words   |  6 Pagesand services purchased by households in the nation. Another economic issue is that of unemployment, which consists of situation where individuals desire to work, but are unable to find a job, and as such, labour resources within the economy are underutilised. A person is classified as unemployed if they are aged 15 years or older, and are actively seeking work however unable to obtain it. The rate of unemployment is currently at 5.7% (May 2016). The use of macroeconomic policy has assisted AustraliaRead MoreDiscuss the extent to which economic growth may benefit the economy888 Words   |  4 Pageslow unemployment, which has an ef fect on the components of aggregate demand in that consumption will rise as when more people have a job, more people have more disposable income, savings and investment rise and with this productivity rises too. Long-term economic growth will arise from a continuous percentage increase in real GDP however it may not always be sustainable. Economic growth can benefit the economy in that with it often comes lower rates of unemployment. 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Gross domestic product is the market value of final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. Which this is commonly considered an indicator of the standard of living within a country. Real GDP on the other hand is measureRead MoreThe Issue Of The Minimum Wage1514 Words   |  7 Pagesthe forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss of available jobs. Small businesses maintain that it would spellRead MoreComparing The Australian Economy And The Chinese Economy1066 Words   |  5 Pages federal, state, and local governments that improve our standard of living through the crea tion of jobs, new technologies, economic health, and the creation of an overall better quality of life. The comparison between the Australian economy and the Chinese economy provide a detailed and comprehensive view of both nations. China is of political, cultural and economic strategic importance to Australia. Economic growth, employment/unemployment, environmental sustainability, the role of government (inRead MorePoverty Is The Most Far Reaching Social Problem847 Words   |  4 PagesPoverty is the most far reaching social problem that the population of the world faces today. Poverty does not discriminate against race or age. History has show that even social classes living above the poverty line are not safe from the treat of poverty(Meissnerd). A social problem is defined as a condition that undermines the well-being of some or all members of a society and is usually a matter of public controversy(Macionis).† Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or s ociallyRead MoreUnemployment Of The Australian Economy1077 Words   |  5 PagesIn the Australian economy, trending unemployment rates are a prevailing socio-economic issue. With the labour market central to unemployment and the distribution of jobs, many factors arise as the key influences on unemployment. With an incredible number of industries facing high demand by consumers, it is speculated that employment would feature an increase to compensate. However, many factors of the labour market contradict this and instead increase unemployment. Factors such as the level of economic

The Role of Kurtz’s Intended in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of...

The Role of Kurtz’s Intended in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Very often in literature minor characters appear for only a short time in the story but carry a very heavy significance in the overall meaning of the book. Kurtz’s Intended, in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, is this kind of character. The unnamed woman only appears for a brief period at the end of the novel, but Conrad includes her for three very crucial reasons. He has Kurtz’s fiancà ©e appear to provide a justification for Marlow to lie, to be the catalyst that leads to Marlow’s revelation that darkness does indeed exist everywhere, and to symbolize all of civilization. When Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, he intended the theme to be universal,†¦show more content†¦The threat of darkness does not just exist in Africa and other uncivilized places, but it comes from the heart within each individual. Conrad wants the reader to realize that there is no getting away from the darkness that dwells inside everyone; it is necessary always to practice self-restraint or the darkness will take over. The significance of the presence of the Intended is to provide Conrad a chance to have Marlow lie to make evident to the readers that darkness exists everywhere, that it is inside the heart of every person. Conrad uses the Intended in another way to convey to the reader that darkness is every- where. Conrad develops a very sexist attitude towards women early in the book. It’s queer how out of touch with the truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. (77) This apparently demeaning attitude towards women sets up Marlow’s meeting with and first impression of Kurtz’s Intended. Marlow describes the Intended as having â€Å"fair hair, [a] pale visage, [a] pure brow†(160) and â€Å"a soul as translucently pure as a cliff of crystal†(155), all features that are light and cause the Intended to appearShow MoreRelated moralhod Relative Morality in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness1511 Words   |  7 PagesRelative Morality in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚   It has been well documented by critics that modernist literature departs from the blind acceptance of beliefs, religious beliefs in particular, evident in literature of prior periods (Abrams 1).   As Jump notes [...] the modern western world is less sure of its values than most previous cultures with which we are familiar; relativism and subjectivity are facts of everyday experience (15).   Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is no exception.   TheRead MoreGender Role In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Essay1430 Words   |  6 PagesGender Role In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness For the most part people who read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may feel that the novella is strictly a story of exploration and racial discrimination. But to Johanna Smith who wrote â€Å"’Too Beautiful Altogether’: Ideologies of Gender and Empire in Heart of Darkness† it is much more than that. Johanna Smith along with Wallace Watson and Rita A. Bergenholtz agree that throughout Heart of Darkness there are tones of gender prejudice, but the wayRead More Sexist Attitude in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay856 Words   |  4 PagesSexist Attitude in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness This paper will discuss the way Conrads novel Heart of Darkness relies, both thematically and formally, on values that could be called sexist. By sexism I mean the those cultural assumptions that make women be regarded, unjustly, as in different ways inferior to men: socially, intellectually and morally. Since Heart of Darkness has often been regarded as one of the best and profoundest discussions of morality in English literature, thisRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad And The Portrayal Of Women1679 Words   |  7 PagesLucia Zhu Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and the Portrayal of Women Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is an adventure tale about the narrator’s journey through the mysterious Congo River. Marlow, the narrator, becomes a sea captain as he travels the world in a steamboat. His journey starts from the Thames River in England to deep in the Congo River of Africa. Marlow’s mission is to locate and retrieve Europe’s best agent–Mr. Kurtz. As the search for Kurtz proves to be both horrifyingRead More The Role of Marlow as Narrator in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness1481 Words   |  6 PagesThe Role of Marlow as Narrator in Heart of Darkness  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Whether Marlow is, or is not, Conrad has been discussed extensively. Clearly, Marlow is both, at the same time that he is neither. Heart of Darkness is not, then, Marlows story exclusively. And if we examine it for a moment as the creation of the nameless member of Marlows audience, it takes on a different coloration. The narrators inclusion of Marlows story within his point of view appears as a deliberate attempt on his partRead More The Portrayal of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay1201 Words   |  5 Pageswoman potential. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness exemplifies the Western patriarchal gender roles in which women are given the inferior status.p Not only are women portrayed as being inferior to men, but Marlows (the protagonists) seldom mentioning of them in his Congo adventure narrative symbolizes his view of their insignificance. There is a total of five women presented in Marlows narrative but only three of them are significant minor characters: Marlows aunt, Kurtzs African mistressRead MoreThe Significant Role of Women in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness1986 Words   |  8 PagesIn the 1900s novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the protagonist often encounters women at landmarks of his life. Charlie Marlow is a sailor and imperialist who sets out along the Congo River to â€Å"civilize† the â€Å"savages.† The novella begins with a crew on the Thames waiting for the tides to change. During their wait, a character named Marlow tells of his exploits on the African continent. In his recounted travels, Marlow meets other imperialists such as Mr. Kurtz, a man who is obsessed withRead MoreEssay on Feminist Theory in Heart of Darkness1199 Words   |  5 PagesMonsters in Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad’s varying depiction of women in his novel Heart of Darkness provides feminist literary theory with ample opportunity to explore the overlying societal dictation of women’s gender roles and expectations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The majority of feminist theorists claim that Conrad perpetuates patriarchal ideology, yet there are a few that argue the novel is gendered feminine. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar claim â€Å"Conrad’s Heart of Darkness†¦penetratesRead MoreSimilarity in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim3156 Words   |  13 PagesSimilarity in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim Many times, after a successful novel, an author will publish another story very similar to the praised one. Joseph Conrad followed in suit with the previous statement. After the publication of Heart of Darkness in 1899, Lord Jim was released in 1900. However, according to majority of his critics, Conrad’s Lord Jim arguably outdoes Heart of Darkness to be named his best work. Few realize, though, that Lord Jim was actually started beforeRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad1436 Words   |  6 PagesIn Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness one encounters the telling of Conrad’s adventures on a steamship traveling up the Congo when numerous, drastic accountancies take place. During this Victorian age, men are seen as heroes and women are occupied by roles of domesticity, which ironically the story tells quite the opposite from these two ideals. Throughout the text, one will also learn from the imperialistic society that is set forth by the Europeans and the controversy that arises because of the

The Lost Symbol Chapter 127-128 Free Essays

CHAPTER 127 The breeze felt cold outside CIA headquarters in Langley. Nola Kaye was shivering as she followed sys-sec Rick Parrish across the agency’s moonlit central courtyard. Where is Rick taking me? The crisis of the Masonic video had been averted, thank God, but Nola still felt uneasy. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lost Symbol Chapter 127-128 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The redacted file on the CIA director’s partition remained a mystery, and it was nagging at her. She and Sato would debrief in the morning, and Nola wanted all the facts. Finally, she had called Rick Parrish and demanded his help. Now, as she followed Rick to some unknown location outside, Nola could not push the bizarre phrases from her memory: Secret location underground where the . . . somewhere in Washington, D.C., the coordinates . . . uncovered an ancient portal that led . . . warning the pyramid holds dangerous . . . decipher this engraved symbolon to unveil . . . â€Å"You and I agree,† Parrish said as they walked, â€Å"that the hacker who spidered those keywords was definitely searching for information about the Masonic Pyramid.† Obviously, Nola thought. â€Å"It turns out, though, the hacker stumbled onto a facet of the Masonic mystery I don’t think he expected.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"Nola, you know how the CIA director sponsors an internal discussion forum for Agency employees to share their ideas about all kinds of things?† â€Å"Of course.† The forums provided Agency personnel a safe place to chat online about various topics and gave the director a kind of virtual gateway to his staff. â€Å"The director’s forums are hosted on his private partition, and yet in order to provide access to employees of all clearance levels, they’re located outside the director’s classified firewall.† â€Å"What are you getting at?† she demanded as they rounded a corner near the Agency cafeteria. â€Å"In a word . . .† Parrish pointed into the darkness. â€Å"That.† Nola glanced up. Across the plaza in front of them was a massive metal sculpture glimmering in the moonlight. In an agency that boasted over five hundred pieces of original art, this sculpture–titled Kryptos–was by far the most famous. Greek for â€Å"hidden,† Kryptos was the work of American artist James Sanborn and had become something of a legend here at the CIA. The work consisted of a massive S-shaped panel of copper, set on its edge like a curling metal wall. Engraved into the expansive surface of the wall were nearly two thousand letters . . . organized into a baffling code. As if this were not enigmatic enough, positioned carefully in the area around the encrypted S-wall were numerous other sculptural elements–granite slabs at odd angles, a compass rose, a magnetic lodestone, and even a message in Morse code that referenced â€Å"lucid memory† and â€Å"shadow forces.† Most fans believed that these pieces were clues that would reveal how to decipher the sculpture. Kryptos was art . . . but it was also an enigma. Attempting to decipher its encoded secret had become an obsession for cryptologists both inside and outside the CIA. Finally, a few years back, a portion of the code had been broken, and it became national news. Although much of Kryptos’s code remained unsolved to this day, the sections that had been deciphered were so bizarre that they made the sculpture only more mysterious. It referenced secret underground locations, portals that led into ancient tombs, longitudes and latitudes . . . Nola could still recall bits and pieces of the deciphered sections: The information was gathered and transmitted underground to an unknown location . . . It was totally invisible . . . hows that possible . . . they used the earths magnetic field . . . Nola had never paid much attention to the sculpture or cared if it was ever fully deciphered. At the moment, however, she wanted answers. â€Å"Why are you showing me Kryptos?† Parrish gave her a conspiratorial smile and dramatically extracted a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. â€Å"Voila, the mysterious redacted document you were so concerned about. I accessed the complete text.† Nola jumped. â€Å"You snooped the director’s classified partition?† â€Å"No. That’s what I was getting at earlier. Have a look.† He handed her the file. Nola seized the page and unfolded it. When she saw the standard Agency headers at the top of the page, she cocked her head in surprise. This document was not classified. Not even close. EMPLOYEE DISCUSSION BOARD: KRYPTOS COMPRESSED STORAGE: THREAD #2456282.5 Nola found herself looking at a series of postings that had been compressed into a single page for more efficient storage. â€Å"Your keyword document,† Rick said, â€Å"is some cipher-punks rambling about Kryptos.† Nola scanned down the document until she spotted a sentence containing a familiar set of keywords. Jim, the sculpture says it was transmitted to a secret location UNDERGROUND where the info was hidden. â€Å"This text is from the director’s online Kryptos forum,† Rick explained. â€Å"The forum’s been going for years. There are literally thousands of postings. I’m not surprised one of them happened to contain all the keywords.† Nola kept scanning down until she spotted another posting containing keywords. Even though Mark said the code’s lat/long headings point somewhere in WASHINGTON, D.C., the coordinates he used were off by one degree–Kryptos basically points back to itself. Parrish walked over to the statue and ran his palm across the cryptic sea of letters. â€Å"A lot of this code has yet to be deciphered, and there are plenty of people who think the message might actually relate to ancient Masonic secrets.† Nola now recalled murmurs of a Masonic/Kryptos link, but she tended to ignore the lunatic fringe. Then again, looking around at the various pieces of the sculpture arranged around the plaza, she realized that it was a code in pieces–a symbolon–just like the Masonic Pyramid. Odd. For a moment, Nola could almost see Kryptos as a modern Masonic Pyramid–a code in many pieces, made of different materials, each playing a role. â€Å"Do you think there’s any way Kryptos and the Masonic Pyramid might be hiding the same secret?† â€Å"Who knows?† Parrish shot Kryptos a frustrated look. â€Å"I doubt we’ll ever know the whole message. That is, unless someone can convince the director to unlock his safe and sneak a peek at the solution.† Nola nodded. It was all coming back to her now. When Kryptos was installed, it arrived with a sealed envelope containing a complete decryption of the sculpture’s codes. The sealed solution was entrusted to then – CIA director William Webster, who locked it in his office safe. The document was allegedly still there, having been transferred from director to director over the years. Strangely, Nola’s thoughts of William Webster sparked her memory, bringing back yet another portion of Kryptos’s deciphered text: IT’S BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION? ONLY WW. Although nobody knew exactly what was buried out there, most people believed the WW was a reference to William Webster. Nola had heard whispers once that it referred in fact to a man named William Whiston–a Royal Society theologian–although she had never bothered to give it much thought. Rick was talking again. â€Å"I’ve got to admit, I’m not really into artists, but I think this guy Sanborn’s a serious genius. I was just looking online at his Cyrillic Projector project? It shines giant Russian letters from a KGB document on mind control. Freaky.† Nola was no longer listening. She was examining the paper, where she had found the third key phrase in another posting. Right, that whole section is verbatim from some famous archaeologist’s diary, telling about the moment he dug down and uncovered an ANCIENT PORTAL that led to the tomb of Tutankhamen. The archaeologist who was quoted on Kryptos, Nola knew, was in fact famed Egyptologist Howard Carter. The next posting referenced him by name. I just skimmed the rest of Carter’s field notes online, and it sounds like he found a clay tablet warning the PYRAMID holds dangerous consequences for anyone who disturbs the peace of the pharaoh. A curse! Should we be worried? 🙂 Nola scowled. â€Å"Rick, for God’s sake, this idiot’s pyramid reference isn’t even right. Tutankhamen wasn’t buried in a pyramid. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Don’t cryptologists watch the Discovery Channel?† Parrish shrugged. â€Å"Techies.† Nola now saw the final key phrase. Guys, you know I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but Jim and Dave had better decipher this ENGRAVED SYMBOLON to unveil its final secret before the world ends in 2012 . . . Ciao. â€Å"Anyhow,† Parrish said, â€Å"I figured you’d want to know about the Kryptos forum before you accused the CIA director of harboring classified documentation about an ancient Masonic legend. Somehow, I doubt a man as powerful as the CIA director has time for that sort of thing.† Nola pictured the Masonic video and its images of all the influential men participating in an ancient rite. If Rick had any idea . . . In the end, she knew, whatever Kryptos ultimately revealed, the message definitely had mystical undertones. She gazed up at the gleaming piece of art–a three-dimensional code standing silently at the heart of one of the nation’s premier intelligence agencies–and she wondered if it would ever give up its final secret. As she and Rick headed back inside, Nola had to smile. It’s buried out there somewhere. CHAPTER 128 This is crazy. Blindfolded, Robert Langdon could see nothing as the Escalade sped southward along the deserted streets. On the seat beside him, Peter Solomon remained silent. Where is he taking me? Langdon’s curiosity was a mix of intrigue and apprehension, his imagination in overdrive as it tried desperately to put the pieces together. Peter had not wavered from his claim. The Lost Word? Buried at the bottom of a staircase that’s covered by a massive, engraved stone? It all seemed impossible. The stone’s alleged engraving was still lodged in Langdon’s memory . . . and yet the seven symbols, as far as he could tell, made no sense together at all. The Stonemason’s Square: the symbol of honesty and being â€Å"true.† The letters Au: the scientific abbreviation for the element gold. The Sigma: the Greek letter S, the mathematical symbol for the sum of all parts. The Pyramid: the Egyptian symbol of man reaching heavenward. The Delta: the Greek letter D, the mathematical symbol for change. Mercury: as depicted by its most ancient alchemical symbol. The Ouroboros: the symbol of wholeness and at-one-ment. Solomon still insisted these seven symbols were a â€Å"message.† But if this was true, then it was a message Langdon had no idea how to read. The Escalade slowed suddenly and turned sharply right, onto a different surface, as if into a driveway or access road. Langdon perked up, listening intently for clues as to their whereabouts. They’d been driving for less than ten minutes, and although Langdon had tried to follow in his mind, he had lost his bearings quickly. For all he knew, they were now pulling back into the House of the Temple. The Escalade came to a stop, and Langdon heard the window roll down. â€Å"Agent Simkins, CIA,† their driver announced. â€Å"I believe you’re expecting us.† â€Å"Yes, sir,† a sharp military voice replied. â€Å"Director Sato phoned ahead. One moment while I move the security barricade.† Langdon listened with rising confusion, now sensing they were entering a military base. As the car began moving again, along an unusually smooth stretch of pavement, he turned his head blindly toward Solomon. â€Å"Where are we, Peter?† he demanded. â€Å"Do not remove your blindfold.† Peter’s voice was stern. The vehicle continued a short distance and again slowed to a stop. Simkins killed the engine. More voices. Military. Someone asked for Simkins’s identification. The agent got out and spoke to the men in hushed tones. Langdon’s door was suddenly being opened, and powerful hands assisted him out of the car. The air felt cold. It was windy. Solomon was beside him. â€Å"Robert, just let Agent Simkins lead you inside.† Langdon heard metal keys in a lock . . . and then the creak of a heavy iron door swinging open. It sounded like an ancient bulkhead. Where the hell are they taking me?! Simkins’s hands guided Langdon in the direction of the metal door. They stepped over a threshold. â€Å"Straight ahead, Professor.† It was suddenly quiet. Dead. Deserted. The air inside smelled sterile and processed. Simkins and Solomon flanked Langdon now, guiding him blindly down a reverberating corridor. The floor felt like stone beneath his loafers. Behind them, the metal door slammed loudly, and Langdon jumped. The locks turned. He was sweating now beneath his blindfold. He wanted only to tear it off. They stopped walking now. Simkins let go of Langdon’s arm, and there was a series of electronic beeps followed by an unexpected rumble in front of them, which Langdon imagined had to be a security door sliding open automatically. â€Å"Mr. Solomon, you and Mr. Langdon continue on alone. I’ll wait for you here,† Simkins said. â€Å"Take my flashlight.† â€Å"Thank you,† Solomon said. â€Å"We won’t be long.† Flashlight?! Langdon’s heart was pounding wildly now. Peter took Langdon’s arm in his own and inched forward. â€Å"Walk with me, Robert.† They moved slowly together across another threshold, and the security door rumbled shut behind them. Peter stopped short. â€Å"Is something wrong?† Langdon was suddenly feeling queasy and off balance. â€Å"I think I just need to take off this blindfold.† â€Å"Not yet, we’re almost there.† â€Å"Almost where?† Langdon felt a growing heaviness in the pit of his stomach. â€Å"I told you–I’m taking you to see the staircase that descends to the Lost Word.† â€Å"Peter, this isn’t funny!† â€Å"It’s not meant to be. It’s meant to open your mind, Robert. It’s meant to remind you that there are mysteries in this world that even you have yet to lay eyes upon. And before I take one more step with you, I want you to do something for me. I want you to believe . . . just for an instant . . . believe in the legend. Believe that you are about to peer down a winding staircase that plunges hundreds of feet to one of humankind’s greatest lost treasures.† Langdon felt dizzy. As much as he wanted to believe his dear friend, he could not. â€Å"Is it much farther?† His velvet hoodwink was drenched in sweat. â€Å"No. Only a few more steps, actually. Through one last door. I’ll open it now.† Solomon let go of him for a moment, and as he did so, Langdon swayed, feeling light-headed. Unsteady, he reached out for stability, and Peter was quickly back at his side. The sound of a heavy automatic door rumbled in front of them. Peter took Langdon’s arm and they moved forward again. â€Å"This way.† They inched across another threshold, and the door slid closed behind them. Silence. Cold. Langdon immediately sensed that this place, whatever it was, had nothing to do with the world on the other side of the security doors. The air was dank and chilly, like a tomb. The acoustics felt dull and cramped. He felt an irrational bout of claustrophobia settling in. â€Å"A few more steps.† Solomon guided him blindly around a corner and positioned him precisely. Finally, he said, â€Å"Take off your blindfold.† Langdon seized the velvet hoodwink and tore it from his face. He looked all around to find out where he was, but he was still blind. He rubbed his eyes. Nothing. â€Å"Peter, it’s pitch-black!† â€Å"Yes, I know. Reach in front of you. There’s a railing. Grasp it.† Langdon groped in the darkness and found an iron railing. â€Å"Now watch.† He could hear Peter fumbling with something, and suddenly a blazing flashlight beam pierced the darkness. It was pointed at the floor, and before Langdon could take in his surroundings, Solomon directed the flashlight out over the railing and pointed the beam straight down. Langdon was suddenly staring into a bottomless shaft . . . an endless winding staircase that plunged deep into the earth. My God! His knees nearly buckled, and he gripped the railing for support. The staircase was a traditional square spiral, and he could see at least thirty landings descending into the earth before the flashlight faded to nothing. I can’t even see the bottom! â€Å"Peter . . .† he stammered. â€Å"What is this place!† â€Å"I’ll take you to the bottom of the staircase in a moment, but before I do, you need to see something else.† Too overwhelmed to protest, Langdon let Peter guide him away from the stairwell and across the strange little chamber. Peter kept the flashlight trained on the worn stone floor beneath their feet, and Langdon could get no real sense of the space around them . . . except that it was small. A tiny stone chamber. They arrived quickly at the room’s opposite wall, in which was embedded a rectangle of glass. Langdon thought it might be a window into a room beyond, and yet from where he stood, he saw only darkness on the other side. â€Å"Go ahead,† Peter said. â€Å"Have a look.† â€Å"What’s in there?† Langdon flashed for an instant on the Chamber of Reflection beneath the Capitol Building, and how he had believed, for a moment, that it might contain a portal to some giant underground cavern. â€Å"Just look, Robert.† Solomon inched him forward. â€Å"And brace yourself, because the sight will shock you.† Having no idea what to expect, Langdon moved toward the glass. As he neared the portal, Peter turned out the flashlight, plunging the tiny chamber into total darkness. As his eyes adjusted, Langdon groped in front of him, his hands finding the wall, finding the glass, his face moving closer to the transparent portal. Still only darkness beyond. He leaned closer . . . pressing his face to the glass. Then he saw it. The wave of shock and disorientation that tore through Langdon’s body reached down inside and spun his internal compass upside down. He nearly fell backward as his mind strained to accept the utterly unanticipated sight that was before him. In his wildest dreams, Robert Langdon would never have guessed what lay on the other side of this glass. The vision was a glorious sight. There in the darkness, a brilliant white light shone like a gleaming jewel. Langdon now understood it all–the barricade on the access road . . . the guards at the main entrance . . . the heavy metal door outside . . . the automatic doors that rumbled open and closed . . . the heaviness in his stomach . . . the lightness in his head . . . and now this tiny stone chamber. â€Å"Robert,† Peter whispered behind him, â€Å"sometimes a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light.† Speechless, Langdon stared out through the window. His gaze traveled into the darkness of the night, traversing more than a mile of empty space, dropping lower . . . lower . . . through the darkness . . . until it came to rest atop the brilliantly illuminated, stark white dome of the U.S. Capitol Building. Langdon had never seen the Capitol from this perspective–hovering 555 feet in the air atop America’s great Egyptian obelisk. Tonight, for the first time in his life, he had ridden the elevator up to the tiny viewing chamber . . . at the pinnacle of the Washington Monument. How to cite The Lost Symbol Chapter 127-128, Essay examples

Macbeth, Tragic Hero Essay Example

Macbeth, Tragic Hero Paper Macbeth gives us a classic example of the literary definition of a tragic hero. The title character is a Thane, of high birth, and an influential leader whose decisions affect many others. He possesses a number of admirable qualities, among these honesty and conscience. Along with these positive attributes, he also possesses a fatal flaw, namely ambition. And like so many other tragic heroes, he rapidly falls from grace before encountering a moment of enlightenment. The first indication of Macbeths moral demise is plainly illustrated from the very first scene of the play, where the three witches are gathered amid an ominous backdrop that of stormy weather, signalled by thunder and lightning. The tempestuous weather serves as an indication of change and upheaval of a negative nature, so that from the outset, it is evident that all shall not run smoothly during the course of the life of the title character. The witches final words of the scene, Fair is foul and foul is fair, are eerily echoed by Macbeth later on, when he remarks, So foul and fair a day establishing a subconscious link between them. We will write a custom essay sample on Macbeth, Tragic Hero specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Macbeth, Tragic Hero specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Macbeth, Tragic Hero specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Macbeth can be described as a tragic hero since he possesses certain attributes of character and circumstances, which conform to the traditionalistic view of the literary tragic hero. Some of these characteristics are shown to us in the second scene through the eyes of Ross and the Sergeant. The latter ironically describes the Thane of Glamis as brave Macbeth well he deserves that name. Macbeth is portrayed as a noble and valiant fighter, and along with Banquo, is proclaimed the man of the hour. The Sergeant creates an immaculate picture of Macbeth, one that is larger than life. Shortly afterwards, the same man is described by Ross as the husband of Bellona, the goddess of war. The witches first encounter with Macbeth and Banquo is where the first seeds of ambition are planted in Macbeth. They use their prophetic words to seduce Macbeth into pondering the advantages of kingship, whilst Banquo remains sceptical and distant. The imperatives that Macbeth uses to try to stall these vindictive creatures reflect his perplexity. He uses words such as Stay, tell and Speak. When Ross and Angus appear and hand Cawdors title to Macbeth, Banquo remarks silently, what! Can the devil speak true? showing that, unlike Macbeth, he has associated the witches with evil. The encounter on the moor signals the beginning of the protagonists downfall. Banquo then advises Macbeth wisely, saying that: The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betrays In deepest consequence. The message Banquo is trying to get across is that in order to bring about our destruction, sometimes the forces of evil tell us simple truths, leading us to trust them. They then deceive us when it matters the most. Macbeth does not heed this warning, and later he and Lady Macbeth will sacrifice all they have for something that they think will make them happy. They do not count the blessings that they already have, and, consequently, fall into a trap of evil, deceit and despair. From then on Macbeths thoughts are set on kingship. He will become obsessed with the imperial theme. By professing that nothing is/But what is not we are fleetingly shown his single-mindedness, as he only desires the one thing which he does not have. Yet for the moment he adopts this sensible attitude: If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir. Subsequently, we encounter an event where Duncan is to bestow upon Macbeth his new title of Thane of Cawdor. Speaking of the traitorous Cawdor, he makes an important and meaningful statement, saying, Theres no art To find the minds construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust. Duncan has already started to build An absolute trust upon Macbeth, the new Thane of Cawdor. Here the irony lies in that Duncan has made the same mistake twice he has twice put his faith in a backstabber. Later on, Duncan makes an important statement, which is the turning point in Macbeths fall from grace it is his first plotting of murder. As soon as Duncan proclaims Malcolm as heir to the throne, Macbeth realises that he must kill both the king and his successor so that the third prophecy may be fulfilled. In order to magnify the horror of what Macbeth will do, Shakespeare establishes an almost father-son relationship between Duncan and Macbeth. This is why Macbeth asks that light not see his black and deep desires. It is an ominous wish, and it is uncannily similar to the language used by the three witches, the representatives of the evil in all of us. We then come to our first introduction to an encounter with Lady Macbeth, where she is reading Macbeths letter, in which he calls her my dearest partner of greatness. This reflects the ambitious nature of the couple. Lady Macbeth has guessed what it is that Macbeth is considering in order to gain the crown. Yet she has a very profound psychological understanding of Macbeth, and says that his nature is too full of the milk of human kindness/To catch the nearest way. She knows that Macbeth has a conscience, and that it will not be easily dispelled. She is also aware that he is morally upright and too sensitive to do something that is wrong. Lady Macbeth, nevertheless, is unlike her spouse. She is the decision-maker: domineering, manipulative and smooth talking. She abounds with self-confidence and has no qualms whatsoever. The latter is especially evident when, in the same scene, a messenger has just been to see her to tell her of Duncans arrival at their home that very evening. She invokes evil spirits, so that they may take away her maternal instincts, love and tenderness all that makes her a woman so she can have the determination and coldness to carry off the intended evil deeds. Lady Macbeth then asks that her evil deeds be hidden and obscured from all that is good and right. The foreboding image of darkness plays a prominent role throughout the play as a force closely attached with horror and malice. Upon Macbeths arrival, his wife tells him that [His] face, my thane, is as a book where men/May read strange matters. The eye is the mirror of the soul, and through this medium, Macbeth is plainly expressing his feelings. He must put on a false pretence if he wishes to succeed in his crusade. Lady Macbeth further utters words of advice to Macbeth, when she tells him that his hand and his tongue must look like the innocent flower/But be the serpent undert. The hand is that with which you convey sincerity or acceptance of a decision, whilst the tongue expresses your inner emotions. He must revoke all his honest feelings and give way to ruthlessness, malice and heartlessness. Duncans arrival at Macbeths castle follows, and both he and Banquo paradoxically describe the castle as something resembling paradise. Macbeth is not upon hand to greet the king, under Lady Macbeths orders. She is now in charge. Speaking on behalf of all present, Duncan tells Lady Macbeth that they love him highly. He, ironically, is referring to the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeths first soliloquy is presented to us at the end of the first act. It is the first opportunity he has had to carefully deliberate murder. He is presented as a man about to succumb to temptation; yet from the outset, he is acutely aware that if he escapes temporal judgement, he shall not escape divine justice. He wishes that there could be no negative consequences resulting from the proposed assassination, but he knows that this is well nigh impossible. Macbeth also knows that there is not a single justifiable reason why he should kill the good man who has treated him as his own. The only purpose he can find for which to kill Duncan is Vaulting ambition, which he knows only preludes a fall. Ambition is Macbeths tragic flaw. After his deliberation, Macbeth tells his wife that he does not wish to partake in the proposed deed, having realised that he does not want to risk anything. Lady Macbeth, however, has her mind made up, and uses her husbands sense of masculinity, male independence and power to push him manipulatively towards committing murder. Macbeth finally agrees, fully aware of future consequences and the callousness of the deed. There is no compelling force driving him he will kill a man for selfish, materialistic reasons. He is to commit an indefensible crime, since there is no moral, political or personal reason for it that is justifiable. He is a tragic hero because he knows what he is doing is wrong, yet he fails to realise that his future happiness will rest on the outcome of that fatal night. Macbeth is waiting for the signal to murder Duncan at the outset of the second scene. Speaking with Banquo, whom he encounters, Macbeth is nervous and jittery in both speech and manner. He begins to hallucinate, seeing a dagger in his hand, proving that his imagination is beyond control. He wonders if the vision proceeds from the heat-oppressed brain, showing that he is both feverish and under pressure. Macbeth is dealing in ambiguous terms. Part of Macbeths soliloquy is as so: Now oer the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtaind sleep; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecates offerings; and witherd murder, Alarumd by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howls his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquins ravishing strides, toward his design Move like a ghost. All the images in the above extract come from the world of the occult and the supernatural, showing that Macbeth is indeed possessed by the idea of kingship, and is set on fulfilling the third prophecy. He is adopting a machiavellian attitude, believing that the end justifies the means. Shakespeare is rapidly revealing the murder in its full horror, with the emphasis being on the despicable nature of the act. The moment after the murder is the beginning of the aftermath. Macbeth has committed the deed, because Lady Macbeth says that Had he not resembled/[Her] father as he slept, [she] had donet. Macbeth has undergone a horrifying, haunting and harrowing experience that will leave him emotionally scarred for life. Macbeth says of himself: I had most need of blessing, and Amen/Stuck in my throat. He is beyond forgiveness and redemption. Glamis hath murderd sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more! These words, uttered by Macbeth, are a prediction of the insomnia he shall suffer as a result of what he has done. By killing Duncan, Macbeth has also killed his own conscience and peace of mind, and so gained a guilt-ridden conscience. Macbeth has forfeited all chances of happiness. Sleep is innocence; therefore, Macbeth covets sleep because when you sleep, you do not think. Being awake makes him relive that fatal night repeatedly in his mind to the point of madness. He wishes only for his death, so he can be rid of his sins. Macbeth has lost his zest for life life is hollow and meaningless after the murder and until his own death. At this point, Macbeth is rapidly falling from grace. He will become ignoble, cynical and ruthless, stopping at nothing to hide his crime. Macbeth goes on to murder many more possibly innocent men in order to determine that the blame for Duncans death should not fall upon him. The honest, noble, morally upright hero we were introduced to at the start of the play is now an unrecognisable monster set on keeping the one thing which has destroyed his life and those of many others. Macbeths perception of the magnitude of the crime is such that he thinks his hands will stain the waters of the sea with his blood. Yet Lady Macbeth states that A little water clears us of this deed; showing that she is confident and is unrepentant. Her husband, in stark contrast, says of the knocking at the castle entrance, Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I wish thou couldst! This reflects the level of Macbeths regret he has discovered a side of himself he wishes had remained undiscovered. The Porters oration in the third scene is a revealing and interesting one. By mentioning a hell-gate, he subconsciously creates a parallel between Dunsinane and hell. Macbeth initiates many atrocities there, which makes hell a fitting label for Dunsinane. He refers to a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty a story which is parallel to Macbeths life. The Porter also identifies greed and avarice as destructive forces, and he shows how easily man can be equivocated. Macbeth should know that he can equivocate people on earth, but never in heaven. Lennoxs description of storms, wind and strange screams of death reinforces the Elizabethan concept of hierarchy, where the king, is divine, holy and infallible. If regicide is committed, then it will shake the foundations of Nature itself. The unruly weather is due to Nature manifesting itself because of this perversion of order. When Macduff comes with news of the murder, it profoundly affects Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had livd a blessed time; for, from this instant, Theres nothing serious in mortality, All is but toys; renown and grace is dead, The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of. Macbeth believes that if he had died an hour before the murder, his life would have been blessed; as it is, he shall be tormented for all his living days thereafter. He compares the earth to a wine cellar from which the best wine has been drawn, so that it can boast only of the dregs. Further on, we find that Macbeth is quite inept at lying and covering up, since he unnecessarily goes on about what a good man Duncan was, and how unjust and cruel the killer must be. He speaks so unconvincingly that Lady Macbeth finds herself being forced to faint to take the attention away from her spouse. As the scene closes, and Malcolm and Donalbain are considering fleeing the country, the latter utters a perceptive and intensely relevant metaphorical truth: Theres daggers in mens smiles. We then arrive at an ominously frightening prologue to Macbeths reign. He has committed a metaphysical crime, so Nature is topsy-turvy, and chaos reigns. Ross tells us that by the clock tis day, /And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp [the sun]. For the rest of the play, Scotland will be in a state of perpetual darkness, which brings home the abominable nature of Macbeths deed. The roles of predator and prey have been reversed, with news of a falcon having been eaten by an owl. Horses have become carnivorous and have begun to eat each other. It is ironic that the hero who saved Scotland at the start of the play is now the one who is bringing about its destruction. The third act opens with Banquo pondering the recent mysterious event, in particular how the witches prophecies all came true, yet he suspects Macbeth of receiving the crown through dishonest means. Macbeths once good name is in disrepute. Macbeths ambition is insatiable, and therefore he wants to control time and destiny. He feels inferior to Banquo, as he tells Lady Macbeth: There is none but he Whose being I do fear; and under him My genius is rebukd, as, it is said, Mark Antonys was by Caesar. Speaking of the witches, Macbeth says, Upon my head they placd a fruitless crown / And put a barren sceptre in my gripe. He feels that his kingship is worthless if it is to be that Banquos children will inherit the crown, and not his own. His ambition keeps him yearning for more when he has already achieved his objective. Evidence of Macbeths blind ambition is the notion that he believes that he cannot change the witches prophecies; yet, he believes that he can change those given to Banquo. He will twist the prophecy round to suit himself, and so further upset the balance. At this point, Macbeth is increasingly becoming a lonesome, solitary creature. Perhaps we, the audience, could have removed some blame from Macbeth for Duncans murder, since Lady Macbeth was the driving force, and pushed her husband into committing regicide. Macbeth, however, cannot be forgiven for Banquos murder because it is he who initiates it, without any help from Lady Macbeth. In fact, Lady Macbeth knows nothing of her husbands scheme. Ironically, Macbeth uses the same intimidation tactics that his wife used on him in order to convince the murderers that Banquos murder would be a beneficial one to them all. At this stage, it may occur to us that we have yet to see a scene where Macbeth is happy. He has obtained the one thing that he desired the most, yet he is miserable because of it. He blames Banquo for his problems, yet he should be blaming himself. Macbeth is sick, unhappy and spiralling into the realms of evil. This is clearly evinced by his making use of low-life characters for his dirty work. A particularly cruel move on the central characters part is ordering that Fleance, along with his father, also be killed. Macbeth despot, tyrant and dictator is sending ruthless adults to kill an innocent child. What little heart there was in this man is now practically extinguished. The second scene is there to show us how far apart Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have grown. Macbeth has an empty title; he is unpopular and unloved. Lady Macbeth, addressing her spouse, realises that Noughts had, alls spent, /Where our desire is got without content. They have both spent their happiness, marriage, peace of mind, sleep and friends in exchange for nothing. She continues: Tis safer to be that which we destroy /Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. She has declared that the devil you know is better than the one you dont. There has been a breakdown in communication between the pair, as Lady Macbeth asks why her husband keeps alone so much. In his reply, is the following: Better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave; After lifes fitful fever he sleeps well; Treason has done its worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing Can touch him further. He envies Duncan, his predecessor because he is in an eternal slumber. He now sees life as a succession of obstacles, something to be endured, and not enjoyed. Ironically, he tells Lady Macbeth: We must make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are. There has been a role reversal, since this is what Lady Macbeth used to say to him. They must have hard, impenetrable looks. Macbeth also tells her: Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill /So, prithee, go with me. He has convinced his wife by telling her that deeds that are started by evil become stronger with more evil. Macbeth is now in possession of a contaminated mind that has been poisoned by the witches. In what he thinks and says are references to the world of the occult and the supernatural, such as scorpions. He is obsessed with crime and evil. Banquos murder does not tell us much of Macbeth, only that he has sent another murderer to make sure that the job is done. He trusts no one. Fleances escape creates yet another problem for the unhappy king. Subsequently, upon hearing the news of the boys escape, Macbeth says: But now I am cabind, cribbd, confind, bound in To saucy doubts and fears. He feels trapped in by intruding thoughts, those that he has created himself. Macbeth is afraid of consequence, which is why he becomes distracted at the news. The murderer tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead, with twenty trenched gashes on his head. Banquo has been hacked and torn apart brutally and extremely violently. This horrendous picture shows the violent and ruthless nature Macbeth has developed of late. Then we witness the second time Macbeths imagination plays tricks on him, when he sees the ghost of Banquo sitting at the dinner table. In Shakespeare, ghosts are seen when the main character has a guilty conscience. Lady Macbeth chastises and mocks her spouse to rouse him out of his stupor, again asking him, Are you a man? More evidence of Macbeths poisoned mind surfaces when he says, If charnel-houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites. Shortly afterwards, Macbeth toasts Banquo thus: I drink to the general joy of the whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, And all to all. He is being hypocritical and lying through his teeth, yet he still manages to keep face after Banquos murder, unlike during the aftermath of Duncans murder. When he sees the ghost again Lady Macbeth mocks him, but he replies, What man dare, I dare, meaning that he is not afraid of physical danger, but he is afraid of the supernatural. Macbeth is a dictator who is paranoid, insecure and apprehensive. He suspects everyone, and trusts no one. He feels as if he is constantly under threat, yet if Macbeth fears no physical danger, then occult forces intimidate Macbeth. He has sunk so low that he has a spy in every mans house. He is losing all the humanity that he ever had inside of him. He is also worried about Macduff, as evinced in these lines: For mine own good All causes shall give way: I am in blood Steppd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go oer. He resolves to visit the witches, and in the closing line of the scene, he utters a frighteningly ominous assertion: We are yet but young in deed. The former Thane of Cawdor has just begun his catalogue of horrors. Succeeding this declaration, we behold Hecate and the witches, who are on the moor To trade and traffic with Macbeth / In riddles and affairs of death. This is yet another example of their cold and unfeeling nature they are toying with Macbeth. However, Hecate makes an astute comment describing Macbeths character, saying that he Loves for his own ends. That is to say, that he does not love evil for its own sake, but only for what it can do for him.