Macbeth and R+J Essay Example for Free

Macbeth and R+J Essay Shakespeare communicates many moods in Macbeth and Romeo Juliet; the main moods are love, and hate fuelled betrayal, and in my work these are the themes I will analyse. In Romeo Juliet and Macbeth, vital characters have had to betray in order to achieve love, for example; In Romeo and Juliet; Juliet has to betray the authority of her father in order to fulfil her affection for Romeo. In terms of love this would mean that: The Storge (unconditional love, shared amongst family) that Juliet once felt for her father was met by misogyny (Hatred for Women) upon his realisation of Juliet’s Eros (love between two people) towards Romeo. Despite her subdued character, Juliet is adamant on not marrying Paris and betraying her family for Romeo. A quote to support this is; If all else fail, myself have power to die This signifies that Juliet would rather die than enter something that it not right. A quote from Juliet’s Father; â€Å"How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this? † – His use of repetition emphasises his fury in response to Juliet’s new found aggression in character, and his rhetorical question presents his dominance and highlights the hierarchy that was in place at the time to allocate superiority to male’s in a family, in this scene; the breakdown of Juliet’s Father and Mother’s relationship is most apparent. Furthermore this is a point where Juliet is most isolated from her family and becomes closer to Romeo. My alternate interpretation is that Juliet did not betray her family, but her family were betrayed by there own pride, Pride was the cataclysmic barrier between acceptance and condemnation. The most potent character development is Juliet’s, throughout the play she matures and becomes a lot more retaliant to authority and starts to become herself rather than obedient to thers, this process is strengthened because of the speed she has had to become responsible; due to the mandatory pressures she is expected to comply with and the swift 7 day time period in which the story is conveyed, this development in character gives her the willpower to betray her family; which also ultimately supports my point. The dramatic techniques used in Romeo and Juliet create a hastily strong impact due to the play being condensed into a week and an ambience of anxiety. In Macbeth there are several similarities that also support my point; Macbeth has to betray King Duncan despite his loyalty and Philia (The love of Friendship) has to betray him in order to acquire the Eros from the ever superior Lady Macbeth, this situation contradicts all convention as society was heavily patriarchal which suggests that women should be submissive to men; however in this occurrence Macbeth conforms with Lady Macbeths demands to murder King Duncan, this is the main contrast between Macbeth and Romeo Juliet. A quote that coincides with this is; â€Å"But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and well not fail† – Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to murder King Duncan, presenting her dominance and ambition over Macbeth. A quote from Macbeth after when placing the blame on the guards for King Duncan’s murder; Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood†¦ the murderers, steeped in the colors of their trade – This illustrates the betrayal that Macbeth has committed, as his use of alliteration strengthens the deviation of this line and the fact that he is further betraying King Duncan post his death by laying the culpability on the guards; simultaneously justifying there execution. Additionally an alternative interpretation of betrayal is explained using this quote; â€Å"Who can be wise, amazed, temprate, and furious† – Macbeths use of antithesis (underlined) displays how he has slowly become contradictory since his brutal murder of King Duncan which I believe indicates he has betrayed his own nature. The main dramatic technique used in Macbeth is dramatic irony, dramatic irony is where something that is indicated at the start of the play will either become true or change at the end of the play or furthermore could mean the opposite of hat might happen. An example of this is that; â€Å"This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses. † – This is a significant use of dramatic irony, the description of the environment is pleasant; however unbeknown to King Duncan, this is where he will be murdered, and this also links in to betrayal. Moreover, at the start of the play, Macbeth describes Banquo to be a â€Å"Friend† however later in the play we know that Banquo becomes his enemy and has to be killed due to the fact he is a great threat to Macbeth’s throne; which is a further deception that Macbeth has carried out. Conclusively; I believe Shakespeare’s whole use of dramatic irony links in to betrayal directly, because the constant use of dramatic irony means that the plot keeps changing; effectively displaying that the plot betrays itself continually. This constantly conveys a mood of false anticipation and an eerie sense of the unknown. Reading more in depth into both plays, there are further comparisons; Such as the use of fate, when Romeo and Juliet fall in love we know that because of their backgrounds; it will lead to death, and similarly in Macbeth the witches tell a prophecy in which Macbeth becomes king and then dies both plays contain different forms of tragedy however both plays meet the same end. Evidence to support this in Romeo and Juliet is: â€Å"A pair of star-crossd lovers take their life† – Meaning that two different sided (Montague/Capulet) lovers take their life. And for Macbeth: â€Å"All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! † – This is the prophecy of Macbeth becoming king and then dying. Furthermore, in Romeo ; Juliet and Macbeth, death is a necessary price to be paid for peace, for example, Romeo and Juliet have to die in order for the Capulet’s and Montague’s to live in tranquillity, to support this, a quote from the beginning soliloquy: â€Å"What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend† – This means that where we have failed before we will strive to succeed now, signifying that Romeo and Juliet’s death were essential to the ‘Fair Verona’ achieving peace, likewise in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s death was also fundamental to harmony being restored to the ingdom, an additional quote to support this is: â€Å"The usurpers cursed head: the time is free† – the quote is about Macbeth’s severed head, and diverts attention to the fact that with his death ‘the time is free’ which implies it is peaceful. However contrary there are many differences, for example the types of love/relationship between the two couples in each play; In Macbeth there relationship is very unstable and Lady Macbeth is very domineering over Macbeth; also there love for each other is not through passion; but through the lust for greed and power as Lady Macbeth is desperate for Macbeth to become king by killing King Duncan and betraying his loyalty to him: â€Å"And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers† – This suggests she will do anything to become Queen and accentuates her ruthless nature; it also underlines the imbalanced relationship in which the position of superiority continuously changes dramatically. At the start Macbeth is a brave and noble hero and he is superior however as the play goes on and when Macbeth’s manhood is questioned by Lady Macbeth â€Å"are you not a man? † he then becomes submissive and is dictated by Lady Macbeth. In Romeo and Juliet

The United States Needs a Terrorism Czar :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The United States Needs a Terrorism Czar Introduction Drug trafficking activity and terrorism activity have much in common. Both drugs and terrorism have strong national security and law enforcement components, they have military components, border control components, economic and trade components, medical components, and agricultural components. Today there are some 50 federal agencies with some degree of counterdrug responsibilities and at least 12 federal agencies with important counterterrorism responsibilities. This paper examines one model for unifying them under an executive branch, White House director's office, as outlined below. Drug trafficking and terrorism are illegal clandestine activities with strong national security and law enforcement threat components and operational similarities. Terrorists like drug traffickers, need weapons and engage in violence to achieve goals. Terrorists, like drug traffickers, are often involved in hiding and laundering sources of funds. Both terrorists and drug traffickers operate transnationally, and often get logistical and operational support from local ethnic satellite communities. Both groups often rely on the criminal community for support: they may need smuggled weapons, forged documents and safe houses to operate effectively. Finally, both groups need a steady cash flow to operate. In the case of terrorists, where state sources of funding are rapidly diminishing, drug trafficking is an attractive funding option. Increasingly, terrorist organizations are looking to criminal activity and specifically the drug trade as a source of funding. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces, a guerilla force) in Colombia are but one of many cases in point. Some experts have looked to the "drug czar" model in seeking to reform government structures to fight terrorism. Counternarcotics efforts have forced local, state and federal agencies to build operable, cooperative, inter-agency relationships. The need to build and maximize similar relationships to deal with terrorism exists and some have suggested that the "Drug Czar" [White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)] model may have applicability to the counterterrorism arena. Legislation is currently before Congress on this issue [H.R. 4210]. It appears that the bill will not be enacted this year but will likely be reintroduced next term. Another structural option might require that federal departments and agencies make their counterterrorism capabilities available for the efforts of the terrorism director.

Fair Value Accounting Essay

This paper attempts to answer the question: â€Å"Is it reasonable to blame fair value accounting for any of the Wall Street mess? † This paper in effect settle whether the use of fair value accounting by listed companies in the major stock exchanges in the US, particularly those found in Wall Street, which the caused fall in prices of the stocks of these companies, was required of companies without justification; hence, it should be blamed for the mess. 2. Analysis and Discussion Any mess in the Wall Street is defined for this paper as one causing the stock prices of companies list in major stock exchanges of the US to fall and that it resulted to losses to investors. To have reasonable basis to blame fair value accounting for any Wall Street mess, does not simply mean that fair value accounting was the necessary cause of fall in the prices of corporate stocks but that the requirement of fair value accounting must not be fair. The question that must be decided therefore is whether fair value accounting is fair as basis of valuing corporate assets, liabilities and equity. A situation or condition is fair if it gives what is due to a person. If the concept of fair value is used in the context of an asset purchased or liability assumed in business, fair value implies that said asset or liability must neither be overpriced nor underpriced whether perceived or otherwise. The law of economics would have fair value as one representing that market price or that equilibrium price of a product or service (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1992) which is also the value of something from a seller that is not forced to sell or from a buyer that is not forced to buy. Investors, creditors, and other persons expect to be treated fairly as they enter into transactions in terms of value that they will give in exchange to what they will receive. To illustrate, a person or company planning to invest in stocks will appreciate what is fair if the said person or company will earn sufficient return above cost of capital in exchange for the risks being faced by such person or company (Brigham, 2002). To have what is fair, the investors must know the accurate and reliable information about of the company to guide them about their chances of gaining or losing money. These users deserve to have the opportunity to have the true or accurate value of asset, liability or equity being dealt with in a business transaction as basis for valuing the stocks that they will invest with. Financial reports prepared companies, as guided by Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) accounting standard under fair value accounting, will provide these users the opportunity. Specifically, fair value accounting was made pursuant to FAS 157 as issued by US FASB for companies to reflect the accounting information on the real values of assets, liabilities and equity in the balance sheet as contrasted with presenting the information using the historical cost accounting (Meigs and Meigs, 1995). A group of analysts and portfolio managers actually formed part of those who influenced the passage of the fair value accounting for more relevant information in decision making (Chasan, 2008). Under FAS 157 defines fair value is defined as the price that would be received â€Å"to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants in a measurement date† (Sortur, 2007). If companies have restated their financial statements from historical cost accounting to fair value accounting, the purpose was laudable since in simple terms, the intention is to make the information more relevant, more accurate and more reliable for decision makers. If stockholders got affected in terms of lower price of stocks as a result of restatement of financial statements, the error was when they were made the purchase of their investments under the historical cost accounting. Since fair value accounting may also increase the value of the stocks if fair value is higher than cost, it could not be asserted that it should be blamed for the fall of prices but not praised for increased in price increase of stock prices. 3. Conclusion It can be concluded that it is not reasonable to blame fair value accounting for any of the Wall Street mess since fair value accounting is only bringing out what is fair to investors who deserved to know accurate and reliable information for making decisions. Fair value accounting is an accounting standard made by FASB that was made as a requirement from the corporation which must present truthful and reliable information for investors. As an alternative to historical value of accounting, fair value is expected to have present company more reliable information about their assets and liabilities in accordance with market prices. Its implementation may have caused companies to present their financial information and if the information presented were more truthful, the consequence of causing problems to companies should only be secondary to the purpose of providing objective and more reliable financial information. Any fall in stock prices from Wall Street may in fact have been caused by companies having to restate their financial statement pursuant to fair value accounting but the intention was to reflect to truer value of assets and liabilities of the corporations whose stocks got affected. Losers should not blame fair value accounting since the latter is just a guide to have more truthful information and they would have a change also of higher stock prices under fair value if warranted by market forces. If there was no basis for such more truthful information, then restatements of financial information using fair value would not have been made in the first place. If buyers and sellers are not being compelled to complete their transaction, fair value accounting must be held as fair and cannot be blamed for the mess. In fact, fair value accounting should have been introduced years ago for it could have saved some abuse and a lot of problems (Rees-Mogg, 2007). References: Brigham and Houston (2002), Introduction to Financial Management, Thomson-South Western, USA, 2002 Chasan, Emily (2008), Is fair value accounting really fair? {www document} URL, http://www. reuters. com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1546484120080226, Accessed November 21, 2008 Meigs and Meigs (1995), Financial Accounting, McGraw-Hill, Inc, London, UK Rees-Mogg (2007), Why FAS 157 strikes dread into bankers, {www document} URL http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article2852547. ece, Accessed November 21, 2008. Samuelson and Nordhaus (1992), Economics, McGraw-Hill, Inc, London, UK Sortur (2007) Fair Value Measurement, The Chartered Accountant {www document} URL, http://icai. org/resource_file/96471564-1574. pdf, Accessed November 21, 2008

Characterization Of Paradise Lost By John Milton And Dr....

Discuss the ways in which characterisation is explored in Paradise Lost by John Milton and Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Humanity s pursuit of knowledge is an intergral part of our society, our drive to discover has supplied some of the most advance scientific breakthroughs in existence. During the time Paradise Lost and Dr Faustus were written however, the pursuit of knowledge not readily available from the Bible was considered sinful, much like Eve and then Adam s eating of the forbidden fruit. Paradise Lost references this overtly, but in Dr Faustus this idea is portrayed more covertly, in the form of dark magic and the blasphemous denouncing of God. Paradise Lost also deals with the attempted rise to power by Satan, creating in both texts the final message that the pursuit of knowledge that has been forbidden is dangerous and will only end in downfall. This essay will discuss the transgressive characterisation of Satan in Paradise Lost and compare him to the characterisation of Dr Faustus. The similarities between the two are striking; both seek to attain knowledge that will lead to power, but ulti mately ends in their downfall.Adam s character differs the the expected protrayal from Milton and therefore the reasoning and effect of this will be discussed. The character of Eve will also be compared to Dr Faustus and how they are conflicting examples of why they want to gain forbidden knowledge. Finally the characterisation of Mephastophilis will be explored and