Two Unlikely Women in British Literature Free Essays

Two Unlikely Women in British Literature Rachael Haines British Literature Summer Term Critical Essay Allison, the Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, are two bold women in literature who abandon the expectations of society on women of the time and instead use manipulation to gain power and control. These two women, Allison and Lady Macbeth are significant female characters because they represent upheaval in their respective societies both in their behavior and in their expected societal roles. Allison, a cloth-maker, lives in a time following the Norman Invasion. We will write a custom essay sample on Two Unlikely Women in British Literature or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Anglo-Saxon ways including the more even playing field between sexes gave way to â€Å"frenchified†, male-dominant way of life. Women were expected to serve their husbands yet Allison expects her men to serve her. Lady Macbeth also acts unexpectedly when she takes things into her own hands and doesn’t act as a submissive and noble woman should. Following the delivery of the three witches’ message to Macbeth regarding his fate, Lady Macbeth instantly realized what is being threatened and desperately wants to change his fate. Instead of acting honorably and as a servant to her husband, she devises a plan in which she will commit regicide and kill Duncan herself. She instead decides to convince Macbeth to commit the murder himself. At first glance, the Wife of Bath may seem to be in support of feminism yet Chaucer describes her in explicit ways when he writes about her headdress, her scarlet dress, her hips and particularly her gapped teeth which were commonly associated with lust during her time. Allison comes off as experienced and knowledgeable about men because she has had five husbands. Unlike the women of her time, Allison is dominant. She uses her body and sexuality to manipulate and gain control over her men. During her fifth marriage even a traumatic blow to the head at the hands of her husband doesn’t stop her controlling behavior and she lies on the floor as if she is dead. She dramatically pretends to be dead from the blow in order to incite concern with her husband. Lady Macbeth quickly jumps into the thick of things when she learns about her husband’s predicted fate. She and her husband both want the wealth and power. Lady Macbeth devises a plan to murder the king so that fulfillment of the witches’ message might not be met. Lady Macbeth is desperate. She feels her husband is too loyal and not ruthless enough; too weak. Lady Macbeth, although bold and ambitious recognizes that she isn’t really capable in her current state of carrying out murder. Instead she asks for the supernatural ability to be unsexed; to rid herself of feminine qualities so that she can murder the king. Instead of gaining supernatural power, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to commit the murder†¦freeing her from the burden of actually committing the crime. Lady Macbeth becomes merely the catalyst for her husband’s out of control murderous behavior. Both women use manipulation to get what they want and both women live outside the societal norms of their time. However, Allison ultimately is a much more durable character. Allison presents herself as a promoter of sexual freedom and not a promoter of feminism. She uses her sexual skill and her body to gain what she purports that women want most; sovereignty over their husbands at a time when servitude by the woman was expected. For Allison, her sexuality was her biggest shock factor. At first meet, Lady Macbeth paints an image of herself as a villainous queen; both strong and ambitious to retain her power. Yet it isn’t long before we realize that Lady Macbeth cannot handle the guilt associated with being a murder and committing regicide even though her hands didn’t actually commit the murder, she pushed and supported her husband in completing the acts. Before long, the power hungry spree begins to take its toll on the ambitious Lady Macbeth. The audience witnesses her deteriorating health and mental stability as she fruitlessly tries to wash her hands of the guilt. In this comparison, I find that while both women were women outside of the norms of society they did convey an upheaval. They may have represented the frustration that women and men might have felt over the ever-changing society that both writers endured. However, regarding our leading ladies, Allison is a much stronger character who is able to endure the ill effects of her manipulation, while Lady Macbeth falls victim to them in her quick demise. Neither of these bold, unforgettable ladies were typical ladies of their time. How to cite Two Unlikely Women in British Literature, Papers

What Do You Do for Good Health free essay sample

Health is Wealth is very much true. One must try hard to remain healthy we are healthy ,we can easily fight with other problems of life. people do many different things to remain healthy . some go for healthy diet, other recommended exercise, and rest thinks health awareness is important ,after all Prevention is better than cure. A healthy diet is very necessary to remain healthy. People must take care of their diet. Everybody should read the ingredients before buying any eatables as well as how any vitamins it contains Americans are facing a very big problem of obesity. This is due to their unhealthy diet ,mostly people used to eat in fast food restaurants. Obesity leads to many health problems like heart attack, blood pressure, Cholesterol problem. Fat people can work less and with less efficiency. Balance diet which contains fruits, green vegetable Juices fibre are healthier choices for your regular die . We will write a custom essay sample on What Do You Do for Good Health or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page roper diet plan is always helpful for better health like less oily and sugary ood . Sticking to healthy diet keep you in great shape and in a healthy life style. Exercise is helpful to maintain our healthy lifestyle. Few minutes of exercise can make lot difference. While exercising, your body releases chemicals called endorphins that can improve your mood and the way you feel about yourself . Another source of exercise is yoga. Yoga not only gives physical exercise but also mental relaxation. Meditation is another source of exercise and realising stress this helps you in North- western University say sleep problems affect millions of adults, who could likely improve their quality of sleep, vitality, and mood with regular aerobic exercise. Health awareness is factor that people are living longer. Regular medical checkup, clean and tidy life style ,nutritious food are few examples. Everybody should read the ingredients before buying any eatables as well as how many vitamins it contains. People

Death Essays (1395 words) - English-language Films, Films, Neo-noir

Death Death: Good for the Dead, Bad for the Dying, and Worse for Those It Leaves Behind My whole life, death has been a distant thing to me. It is not even really a thing, but more of an idea. I have heard about death millions of times with the media. Everyday in the news, people are dying left and right with disease in the foreign countries, famine in distant lands, and even murder in the suburbs. I even heard about it a few times from my friends when they told me about their recent loses. With all of these stories of tragedy and awful accidents, I never felt any emotion. The news reporter's sympathy for these victims was not convincing enough to make me think that something tragic had happened, or my elementary school friend did not understand the situation himself in order to feel pain. If something was truly awful about the story, it was too far away for me to consider it a reality. When I was about eight years old, I experienced the first death in my family. My father's sister had died and my he got a call soon after. I was in the room when the phone rang and my dad answered the phone. He first sounded excited to hear the voice on the other end, but that happiness soon turned to devastation. His only sister had passed away and he began to cry. My father is not a crying man, and he soon regained his composure and finished the conversation. He was able to put his sadness aside and tend to business. This was a very small event, but it had a large impact on me and helped shape my ideas about the idea of death. The way that I saw my father handle this so-called tragedy gave me the impression that life was almost like a movie. What goes on in the movie might be sad or scary or whatever, but it is not a big deal. We just need to get over the emotion because the movie is still playing and something different is happening now. The reason that this event was not a traged y to me is that it was extremely distant from me and in reality, it had very little to do with me. My aunt lived very far away from my home, so we rarely visited and I have no memories of her except for a very fuzzy mental picture. We did not attend the funeral because of the distance, but my father flew to pay his last respects to his sister. He was gone for a couple of days and was a little shaky when he returned, but all-in-all things were just like normal. Moral of the story: Death is a small speed bump, which should not be adjusted for, but should not be a big deal. When death occurs in a person's life, they put down what they are doing and tend to the matter, they come back to continue their business, and make like normal. They, with good reason, take off of school or work. They make up for the things that they missed and everything is fine again. They do not want to bring their emotions because they do not want to show their pain to others. They repress their feelings for the benefit of others. When I see this, I see a person who has experienced this thing called death, but they are not sad. This just reinforces the ideas that I have made for myself about death and its place in life. About four years ago, I had my first realization of the power of death. This was a slight taste of what death really meant, but it came at a huge cost for others. It all started one day in the middle of summer. I was downstairs watching the television while my older sister and her friend were hanging out upstairs. We all heard a few pops that sounded a lot like small firecrackers that came from outside. I disregarded this noise as neighborhood children messing around, but my sister and her friend went outside to investigate. The sight that they found would change their lives. On

Phonics Definition and Examples in English

Phonics Definition and Examples in English A method of teaching reading based on the sounds of letters, groups of letters, and syllables  is known as phonics. This method of teaching reading is commonly contrasted with whole language approaches, which emphasize learning whole words in meaningful contexts. During the 19th century, phonics was commonly used as a synonym for phonetics. In the 20th century, phonics acquired its present meaning as a method of teaching reading. In practice,  phonics  refers to several different but generally overlapping methods of instruction. Four of those methods are summarized below. Analytic(al) Phonics During the 1960s, numerous basal reading series included a manual outlining how to teach each story. The manual included a program for ​analytical phonics instruction that recommended that the teacher use known words and ask children to analyze the phonetic elements in these words. . . .Analytic phonics relies on readers knowing a large number of words at sight. Drawing from known sight words, teachers directed students to make inferences about the phonic relationships within words containing the same letter combinations. In other words, the student matched the sounds in a known word with the sounds in the new word (Walker, 2008). . . .However, in the 1960s, some reading programs differed from the mainstream basal readers that used analytic phonics. A few basal readers included instruction using linguistic units that had recurring patterns. The linguistic-phonics system used the idea that the English language had recurring written patterns that were systematic to develop their program.(Barbara J. Walker, History of Phonics Instruction. An Essential History of Current Reading Practices, ed. by Mary Jo Fresch. International Reading Association, 2008) Linguistic Phonics In linguistic phonics, beginning instruction usually focuses on the word patterns found in words like cat, rat, mat, and bat. These selected words are presented to the students. Children need to make generalizations about the short a sound by learning these words in print. Consequently, linguistic phonics lessons are based on decodable books that present repetitions of a single pattern (Mat saw a cat and a rat). . . . Linguistic phonics . . . is like analytic phonics in that it emphasizes word patterns rather than individual letter sounds. However, linguistic phonics is not typically espoused by top-down advocates, because it does not emphasize naturally occurring text.(Ann Maria Pazos Rago, The Alphabetic Principle, Phonics, and Spelling: Teaching Students the Code. Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners, ed. by Jeanne Shay Schumm. Guilford Press, 2006) Synthetic Phonics The sounding-out-and-blending approach to decoding is known as synthetic phonics. In a synthetic phonics program, students are taught to decode new words by retrieving from memory the sound that each letter, or combination of letters, in a word represents and blending the sounds into a recognizable word (National Reading Panel, 2000). It is a parts-to-whole approach (Strickland, 1998).(Irene W. Gaskins, Interventions to Develop Decoding Proficiencies. Handbook of Reading Disability Research, ed. by Richa Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen. Routledge, 2011) Embedded Phonics Embedded approaches to teaching  phonics involve students in learning phonics skills by reading authentic texts. This approach may be compared to whole language; however, embedded phonics involves planned skills taught within the context of authentic literature. Embedded phonics formed in response to the intense criticism experienced by the whole language movement, and highlights the role of phonics instructions within the context of authentic literature. (Mark-Kate Sableski, Phonics. Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent, ed. by Thomas C. Hunt, James Carper, Thomas J. Lasley, and C. Daniel Raisch. Sage, 2010) Summary In summary, deep and thorough knowledge of letters, spelling patterns, and words, and of the phonological translations of all three, are of inescapable importance to both skillful reading and its acquisition. By extension, instruction designed to develop childrens sensitivity to spellings and their reactions to pronunciations should be of paramount importance in the development of reading skills. This is, of course, precisely what is intended of good phonic instruction.(Marilyn Jager Adams, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print. MIT Press, 1994)

Entrepreneurship joint venture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurship joint venture - Assignment Example Contents Abstract 1 Contents 2 Introduction 3 Importance of venture and Working capital 4 Forms of business finance 4 Advantages and disadvantages of Venture Capital as source of finance 5 Salient issues around venture capitalists 6 Conclusion and recommendations 7 References 7 Introduction Venture capital is a form of financing that is widely used by small, medium, and large enterprises in economy. Venture capital is also referred to as equity financing owing to the fact that it addresses the financing needs of a firm in exchange of stake in the firm in question. This form of equity financing is often pursued by firms, which do not have the capacity to seek financing from other traditional financing modes like those sourced through the banks and public markets. It is worth noting that there are other forms of financing options, which the business can decide to explore to cater for its growth strategy and other operations (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). Such options include loans from bank s, debentures, owner’s capital, and grant finance. Importance of venture and Working capital Venture and working capital are critical for any form of business that is starting up. The business under focus in this case is a beverage company known as Thasta (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). The company by its nature needs both venture and working capital to realize increased business performance. ... sound working capital, it is important that the business possess an aggressive credit policy besides ensuring that there is operational efficiency at the facility (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). On the other hand, it is important to take note that venture capital is equally important for the startup of the business because it does not affect the liquidity of a business. A business that is just starting operations rarely has revenue hence may not be able to afford loans or debenture leaving venture capital option as the best option for the company since it does not involve any financial obligations. It is worth noting that with regard to venture capital the various operations and projects of the company are financed in exchange for the shares of the company. Forms of business finance Apart from the venture capital, there exist other forms of capital, which include loans, debentures, owner’s capital, and grants. Loans are funds, which are advanced to the business by financial institut ions such as Banks. According to Mclaney and Atrill (2006), it is worth noting that loans attract interest over and above the principal amount. The business must therefore ensure that it regularly repays the principal amount and accruing interest. A debenture is yet another form of business financing option, which is available to the business. According to Mclaney and Atrill (2006), debentures are loan stocks, which are given subject to a trust deed. The debentures can be either redeemable or irredeemable. The firms can also raise capital for the expansion projects of the firm through equity shares. The only downside to equity shares is that it reduces the shareholding capacity of the company. Mclaney and Atrill (2006) say that grant is another form of financing option, which the firm can

Public Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Public Relations - Essay Example Corporate social responsibility will always be given the emphasis that it richly deserves because it makes or breaks an organization in the sheer sense of the word1. To start with, public relations aim to focus on the aspect of building credibility for the sake of the organization in the eyes of the publics so that they can think, act and feel positive about the organization, the individual or an entity for that matter. The public relations are usually given importance because the organizations know that they will be able to derive a great amount of mileage from the intended publics as they aim to touch upon new avenues and explore the novel pathways upon which these publics can be reached in essence. What is most important is the fact that ethical manifestations start making the rounds of the discussions which center on the premise of public relations and the related corporate social responsibility2. ... Since public relations are all about understanding how the organization should be viewed by the public in terms of its important dealings, it will never afford to have a negative word about its own self. The role of public relations within the corporate social responsibility ranks is all the more necessary to gain an insight from. This is because public relations have always been forthright about the organization’s corrective stance no matter how difficult it is to reveal to the varied publics. This gains importance with the changing times since people are now properly realizing how they must be treated at the hands of these organizations and what kind of attitudes rule the roost at the end of the day. Public relations will always assist in building up a corporate social responsibility understanding as it takes care of the problems which arise every now and then, and assures one of complete responsibility and commitment to an organizational cause. The role of the public relati ons at improving and enhancing the levels of corporate social responsibility should be such that there is empathy within the related ranks, and this shall mean success for the organizations in the long run. If corporate social responsibility understandings are properly managed, then this would immense success for the organization because these are run parallel with the public relations domains4. The management regimes of the organizations always look at addressing the grey areas so that these weaknesses could be plugged and turned into strengths in a very free flowing manner5. Since the corporate social responsibility measures take care of the ethical look of the organization and thus it creates harmony amongst the aegis of the organization, it would always

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin The early 1900s was an era where society inflicted standards that suppressed women mentally and physically. From birth, women had to overcome many cultural and societal boundaries because of their gender such as being told how to converse and clothe, and even who to marry. Women in those times lacked many rights such as freedom of speech, the right to an education, and skills that would help them become employed. Every stage of their lives was controlled by a male figure, starting with their fathers from birth to their husbands during marriage. Unfortunately, a womans ideal role for men was to perform domestic duties inside the house and other duties such as sexual deeds; a womans voice and concerns were never considered priority nor were given respect. The stories of â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, by Kate Chopin and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, by Irwin Shaw, expose a dominating attitude towards women and illustrate how they could be trapped in unsatisfying marriages because of their husbands thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. The protagonists in these stories have accepted their roles in their marriages by being passive spouses. Kate Chopins â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, is a story regarding a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who is trapped in a suppressing marriage and dreadfully wants to escape. This story describes an hour of freedom that has been given to her. Although a very short story, it seems like every sentence has an intense significance and meaning to it that makes the reader think in depth. Even though her husbands full name is given to the readers, â€Å"Brently Mallard†, she is only referred to as â€Å"Mrs. Mallard†, giving the hint of the oppression she had to go through and the degradation society enforced upon women in that time period. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of the story is troubled by her heart condition and is oppressed by her husband who loves her and does not want to purposely suppress authority, but sadly, it was the society that built the peoples personality and character, and set the standards in the nineteenth century. Interestingly enough, Chopin uses the techniqu e of foreshadowing in the first sentence of the story indicating the readers that something terrible is bound to happen to Mrs. Mallard, perhaps a heart affiliated problem. The quote,†Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death.†(Chopin 1) misinforms readers in to believing that everything will be fine. Irony could be noticed from the way Mrs. Mallard acts in response to her husbands death. Normally when a widow is informed about their spouses death, they become sad and express their grief; however, when Mrs. Mallard heard the awful news from her sister Josephine, she accepted it and proceeded to her room where she could be alone. This allowed the reader to adopt a similar prospective through her point of view, a new life and a chance to live oppression free. When she proceeds to her room, she sits down on a roomy, comfortable arm chair facing the open window. The reader should instantly inquire the use of the term â€Å"Comfortable† (Chopin 1), and question the fact that she is not miserable. While looking outside the window, she observed nature carefully symbolizing her excitement for a new life. The quote, â€Å"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life†¦ the delicious breath of rain was in the air†¦ the notes of distant song†¦ countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves†¦patches of the blue sky showing here and there through the clouds† (Chopin 1) describes this scene adequately. At this point of the story the reader is puzzled by Chopins use of foreshadowing whether she is sad at all due to her observance of all the beautiful aspects of nature. While fantasizing about her new life, it seemed like her conscious was trying to put a stop to her happiness, leading her to realize that she was loved by her husband even though he was s uppressive time to time, his intentions were good; however, Chopin was trying to tell the readers she had only loved him time to time and that most of the time she had no love for him, as this quote describes, â€Å"And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often, she had not.† (Chopin 2). Chopin confuses the reader by using another method of foreshadowing making the ending even more surprising, â€Å"She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.† (Chopin 2), and that she considers herself to be a â€Å"Goddess of victory† (Chopin 2). Chopin uses an ironic ending for her story when Mrs. Mallard is surprised to death when her husband enters the house looking perfectly healthy without even knowing the accident took place. The paradox prolongs when the readers find out that she dies due to heart disease caused by joy. Earlier when she heard the agonizing news of her husbands death, she was fairly pleased of the idea of being free, having no authority figure gover ning her life; however, she was not eager to go through that life again, causing her to die once she saw her husband alive. Irwin Shaws, â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, depicts a couple whose marriage is in jeopardy due to the husbands lack of consideration for his wifes feelings. The story starts with the protagonist of the story, Frances, and her husband, Michael, enjoying a walk on a Sunday afternoon in New York City, part of Francess plans to spend the whole day alone with her husband as deliberated initially. While walking down the street, Frances caught her husband checking out a pretty girl who leads her to protest against it, â€Å"Shes not so pretty†¦Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance breaking your neck looking at her.†(Shaw 1). When confronted of his actions, Michael carelessly replies, â€Å"I look at everything†¦I look at women and men†¦I casually inspect the universe.† (Shaw 2). This statement provides the readers with an idea of Michaels character who is the dominating figure in the story, who is lacking respect for his wife and is explo iting her weakness of not ending their relationship. Divorce was uncommon in the early 1900s even when men commit adultery. Francess feelings were depicted well as the author wrote, â€Å"She began to cry†¦someday youre going to make a move†¦Michael didnt say anything. He sat watching the bartender slowly peel a lemon.† (Shaw 4). Irrationally, Michael lets Frances know that â€Å"Sometimes I [Michael] would like to be free† (Shaw 4), and that eventually one day hell â€Å"make a move† (Shaw 4). Unfortunately, Michael treated women as objects who were merely around to perform sexual favours, he even depicted his wife as a sexual object when they arrived at a bar for some drinks, as this quote describes, â€Å"She got up from the table and walked across the room†¦Michael watched her walk, thinking, what a pretty girl, what nice legs.† (Shaw 4). Interestingly enough, Michael turns everything around by stating â€Å"Its a nice day and we both feel good and theres no reason why we have to break it up.† (Shaw 4), by declaring this, Michael blames the fact that their day is turning out to be unpleasant on Frances, and due to her has low self-esteem and insecurity, she accepts the claim by saying, â€Å"All right. I dont know why I started this. Lets drop it. Lets have a good time.† (Shaw 2). By stating this, Frances portrayed herself to be a submissive individual; meanwhile, Michael was careless and disrespectful. Throughout the nineteenth century, a womans purpose was merely based on performing domestic duties in their homes, and they did not contribute to the household income in any way. Women were dishonoured and exploited by men to a point that they were simply degraded to a childs level in society. Excessive male dominance and authority guided countless women getting the sensation of feeling trapped in their household, incapable to flee from the imprisonment enforced upon them by their spouses. The stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, both depict tolerable house wives who are dominated and exploited by their husbands and have acquiesced to their role in their relationship and are submissive individuals who do not rise up and rebel against their husbands. These stories truthfully exemplify how women in the 19th century had to accept their husbands for who they were, and did not have many alternatives other than accepting to live with the repression until death did them apart.