An analyss of The Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou Essay

An analyss of The Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou - Essay Example The Pearl River city is China’s economic pillar because it performs better economically in China. Ideally, this hotel’s location is a breathtaking cite as it offers a perfect view of the Pearl River Delta. The hotel also occupies the seventy-fourth to the ninety-eight floors totaling to almost thirty floors. Remarkably, the hotel boasts of having a twenty-four hour operational centre with executive club lounge facilities. With all these attributes in mind, the objective of this paper will be to analyze and evaluate the Strategic decision making for the Four Seasons Hotel. It will illustrate the design of the strategy, the implementation of the proposed strategy by factoring in the implications of the intended management change. Finally, it will evaluate the risks of the strategically choice and its performance. Various analysis models to ascertain the company’s current position 1. The PEST analysis The PEST analysis in business is the entails the Political, the E conomic, the Social, and the Technological factors that influence the external components of strategic management and market research (Griffin, 2010, p. 127). It helps a business to understand its market growth and potential in order for it to make advancements in its finances (Kayne, 2005, p. 227). Therefore, this part of the report will give explanations on the entire four components concerning Guangzhou Hotel. a) Political factor Essentially, the political factors refer to the level of government participation in its economy. These factors include taxes, labor laws, and trade regulations. In this case, China’s greatest political factor is being among the few remaining communist states in the world. China is a single party state in that property ownership is public. This is the fundamental rule in the communist form of leadership. This serves an advantage to the hotel since the chances of the hotel running bankrupt are relatively low. For instance, the government has the ri ght s to intervene in all financial aspects of the hotel enabling it to continue being the best performer in the hospitality market. Secondly, the Guangzhou Four Seasons hotel enjoys the government policy on taxation for foreign companies where they were to pay twenty-five percent income taxes (Brown, 2010, p. 16). The foreign company policy mentioned that they had to pay a twenty-five percent income. The fact that this tax implementation plan was gradual meant that Four Seasons hotel had adequate time to administer the government policy. b) Economic factors This is the second factor, which encompasses economic development, currency rates, and interest rates (Kayne, 2005, p. 231). The basic aspect of this factor is the ability to influence business functions and decision-making. As per this hotel’s setting, the economic factors crucially make them inevitable. In this regard, China’s economic growth dwindled in a scope of three years making the rates of investments bein g substantially low. This meant that the hospitality industry felt the strain, as there was little access to hotel facilities by both foreigners and locals. The business cycle dropped to a low of almost eight percent (BBC, 2012). The demands by the consumers decreased drastically as the main target for the Hotel were the foreign business guests who frequented the hotel. In addition, the exchange rate policy imposed by the government translated

Corporate Social Responsibility Practices Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility Practices - Essay Example This essay stresses that intense competition plays a crucial role in creation of sustainable development practices and enhancement of the quality of products and services. Corporate responsibility is regarded as the degree to which an organisation complies with the legal guidelines and looks after the welfare of the society. The contemporary business practices show significant levels of understanding between the responsible and good corporate practices. Stakeholders and shareholders have understood the value of CSR and are focused on integrating business activities with huge societal concerns that can lead to good management practices. CSR is regarded as a technique which helps the organisation in evaluation of the business activities and its impact on the society and environment through ethical and transparent decision making. This paper declares that the World Business Council for Sustainable Development states that the CSR approach is a ‘business contribution to the sustainable economic development’. CSR includes activities such as health and safety, corporate governance and ethics, environmental stewardship, human rights and sustainable development. It focuses on aspects such as community and societal involvement, development and investment, corporate philanthropy, employee volunteering, customer satisfaction, anti-bribery, anti-corruption measures and adherence to the principles of fair competition. Business activities play a pivotal role in wealth and job creation, but the central management concern of CSR would be efficient utilisation of natural capital. (Halal, 2000). CSR activities help in efficient utilisation of human resources and capital and increasing the employee retention rate. The brand image of the company is enhanced because of the CSR activities performed by the organisatio n. Companies which recycle their products can effectively lower their expenditure. Customers are attracted towards companies which perform CSR activities efficiently. Whether or not a company implements CSR tools and techniques, the way it performs its business activities signifies clear intentions of the company. According to Hopkins (1999 cited in Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001), business organisations need to perform commercial and non-commercial responsibilities with an equal amount of importance. The non-commercial responsibilities undertaken by the company should include the well-being of the society, community, environment, government etc. The stakeholder’

Jc Penny Essay Example for Free

Jc Penny Essay This is not the first time that this company has been faced with adversity. The first time was in the 1960’s when shopping went from downtown locations to more uptown locations in malls. The company transitioned to mall locations to cope with the change. This time the change did not come easy to the company. In fact this change has cost the company millions. This time JC Penney’s was faced with a challenge that they wanted to change. They wanted to transition the public’s perception of them. They no longer wanted to be viewed as an old fashioned department store. The company no longer wanted sales or clearance racks. They wanted to change the whole retail climate. They called it fair and square pricing (Baskin, 2013). This came off a lot like Wal-Mart’s always low prices campaign. This sounds like a great idea to me. However, it failed for many reasons. The main reason because it was confusing to consumers. While the other main reason being poor marketing. Many people sat in anticipation of this new campaign by JCPenney’s. There were just as many supporters in the beginning as well. When I heard of this I thought of an upscale Wal-Mart. Low prices I do not have to shop for sales anymore because these should be low prices every day. However, very shortly after this I found myself not shopping there at all. Consumers want a deal, and they do not feel that deal when they shop there anymore. It is the thrill of the hunt for consumers. Not only that but the sales ad and clearance racks used to change. They are no longer changing prices so there is no need to go daily, weekly, or even monthly. Customers may check there as a way to show case, but they are not buying. Without the sales and without the sale advertisements the company is not bringing in nearly the amount of people that were coming into the store to score the best deal. Next the advertisements they are sending out are worded poorly. They are no longer doing sales but they do mail out what they called month long value. Customers did not understand the wording of it. It was never broken down for them. Ideally they had sales, but they were not called the standard name. Therefore, customers missed out on them and they were not bringing in the clientele like a â€Å"sale† probably would have. They were not able to embrace JC Penney’s new tactic. Another problem with this campaign is that the average consumer does not know what the clothing costs. Therefore they think it should be or could be marked down. They have no idea if they were getting a good deal or not. Again the thrill of the hunt is gone, and still makes the customers confused. It was confusing to customers and that means there is a problem in marketing. When a place makes changes that could potentially be confusing marketing is the key. However, there advertisements were so irreverent that they made even less sense to begin with. They came up with a campaign after their numbers dropped called â€Å"do the math. † It was supposed to show how much easier it is to just get a low price in the beginning rather than use a coupon. This action failed for the company. The CEO Ron Johnson came out and reported later that â€Å"it was confusing† to some of their consumers (Baskin, 2013). It’s no wonder that they lost customers. They did not target other competitors about their prices just what the company was trying to do. Last but not least they attempted to open little stores inside their stores. It was a Martha Stewart collection like IKEA. Even that failed because Martha Stewart was not able to put her name on it, because she was still in litigation over her brand. So, it was still branded as JC Penney’s. Not that the name would have made much difference, but it was not thoroughly hought out within the company. Also, this is not a new tactic stores have been doing this for years. The renovation of the stores to add in this small store was costly. It has cost the company millions of dollars. It has depleted their cash, and has also caused their credit rating to drop (Baskin, 2013). This was a costly decision to make when sale s were already down. Here is the largest problem that they had they wanted become a high end store in a low end economy. If I were the CEO of JC Penney I would make quite a few changes. My first change would have been to go back to traditional wording for now. These are the words that customers are the most familiar with. I understand that some companies like to do all their changes at once because it is cheaper. However, when you are changing familiar terms it is wise to do it slowly. Or at least explain it as thoroughly as possible. Change is needed as a society, but no one likes change, because of this I feel that they should be done slowly and over a period of time. I would also have changed the price tags on their merchandise. In order to make someone feel like they are getting a deal I would change how they were priced. I would put a suggested retail price and then put â€Å"our† price on the label. This would appear to customers that they were getting a deal. Sales are because the prices are higher than what they need to be. The advertising is all about â€Å"trickery† to pull people in. In reality they were still doing sales but they were not called sales, and people did not buy into it. By changing the price tags on the items the customers are still getting the thrill of the buy. They can see what their item is going for at their competitor’s location, and impulse buy. This helps eliminate â€Å"showroom† shopping. Or leaving to check their prices somewhere else. If it is a matter of a few dollars they will not go back to purchase. However, if they can see the deal they will buy. Instead of focusing on expanding a business inside of an already expanding business I would have spent the money elsewhere. Imagine if they could have established new rules for buyers. Gone back to JC Penney’s original roots and prove their claims. It could have created new financing and lay-away policies that communicated value, and used social media to create meaningful communities of consumers who wanted to track and participate in conversations about prices. Employees could have been recruited and trained to offer a fundamentally new customer experience based on integrity. They could have changed the way Americans shop and feel they should stop. I would not have wasted money on an advertisement that was bewildering. I would have spent money marketing on calling competitors out on their prices. Sharing the news on how Penney’s was changing. How they were forward looking. Instead of making confusing ads with no sales just to avoid the word sale I wouldn’t have tried to stay away from it. Since they were still doing sales but not doing sales on certain items. Limiting the sales options were not the problem the problem was using unfamiliar wording. Measuring some of these techniques could be hard to do. Going back to traditional wording would be one way that is hard to track. However, I believe it would go hand in hand with how you would track the new price tags. That would be sales. With these new changes and advertisements I would think that sales would increase. I would not look at the actual accounting book but do a twelve month comparison on the sales on each individual store. This is time consuming and costly but I think it is the only way to see how each store is doing in comparison to how they were doing the previous month and year. During high sale times I would make sure I would have as much staff as possible on the floor to assist our customers. Maybe they do not need help but a casual conversation can lead into why they came into this department store and not the one across the way. Along with this I would like to institute team meetings once a week where department heads meet with their front line employees on all shifts. To find out their ideas and where they are hearing concerns are. Then I would have them write them up and do a teleconference with each store head to hear these ideas, questions, or concerns. I feel this is an open door policy. I would also include suggestion boxes not only in the store, but in the break room for employees so they could bring these up anonymously if they felt the need to. Also, I would work on getting the contact information to employees for everyone in charge. Change can happen and many great ideas come from the front line, because they see and do it every day. However, their voices are not often heard. To measure the effectiveness of advertising I would do a few things. I would add a survey at the end of their receipt to figure out what they thought about the advertisement. I would also add a quick questionnaire in the store that the customer could fill out. I would also make it known that there is a number they can call at any time with questions. I would make it so that they could be heard with questions and concerns. Before I launched a campaign I would have a test market so that we could see what people could recall from the add, as well as find out if there was any confusion on what may have been advertised. The sales would play a large part also in whether it was an effective campaign. A company that has been operating for 100 years is struggling. JC Penney ’s was once a fashion icon to children, young adults, and teens. Beginning in 1913 it currently operates over 1000 stores. Growing up my sister and I waited to go through their catalogue. However, in the last few years something has changed. The company didn’t look far enough ahead to the future to predict these changes. They tried to become a higher end boutique like store in an economy that could not support it. Poor marketing and too many changes has made this one booming store one of the top ten stores that are predicted to be out of business in the next year. Works Cited Baskin, J. (2013, January 2). Lessons From JC Penneys Doomed Marketing Makeover. Retrieved May 12, 2013 , from Forbes: http://www. forbes. com/sites/jonathansalembaskin/2013/01/02/lessons-from-j-c-penneys-doomed-marketing-makeover/ Tuttle, B. (2012, June 19). More Troubles for JCPenney: Top Executive Departs Amid Sales Slump. Retrieved May 12, 2013, from Time Magazine: http://business. time. com/2012/06/19/more-troubles-for-jcpenney-top-executive-departs-amid-sales-slump/

Historical Account of Tragedy in Literature

Historical Account of Tragedy in Literature The chorus in Aeschylus Agamemnon clearly elucidates the Aristotelian principle of tragedy: Zeus, whose will has marked for man the sole way where wisdom lies, ordered one eternal plan: Man must suffer to be wise. Elizabethan tragedy is derived from this moralised model of tragedy as depicted by Aristotle in his Poetics. As a genre, Elizabethan tragedy is distinguished from that of Shakespeare, although Shakespeares tragedies are often held as the epitome of the tragic form. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary cites only two quotations from the Renaissance under the entry for tragedy, both of which are from Shakespeare. There appears to be a deliberate judgment in including Shakespeare in the dramatic cannon to the exclusion of such influential playwrights as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Heywood and John Webster. Although it is clear that Shakespeare made an important contribution to the development of modern tragedy, derived from classical models, contemporary dramatists were much more formative in negotiating Aristotelian models of tragedy with the new philosophical, social and political climate of the Renaissance. Philips Sidneys defence of the tragic form in An Apologie for Poetrie (1595) articulates the moral and didactic purpose of poetry. So that the right vse of Comedy will (I thinke) by no body be blamed, and much lesse of the high and excellent Tragedy; that openeth the greatest wounds, and sheweth forth the Vlcers, that are couered with Tissues: that maketh Kinges feare to be Tyrants, and Tyrants manifest their tirannicall humors: that with stirring the affects of admiration and commiseration, teacheth, the vncertainety of this world, and vpon howe weake foundations guilden roofes are built (Sidney F3v-F4) The emphasis on moral instruction is clear, and informed the tragic form in the both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean dramas. Tragedy, according to Aristotle, is noble and concerned with lofty matters, as opposed to the flippant and crude nature of comedy. Sidney defines the function of tragedy as uncovering the greatest wounds of the inherently weake foundations of the world. Tragedy, therefore, produces an emotional response in the audience by exposing human flaws, which allows them to participate in a form of moral regeneration. Thomas Heywoods An Apology for Actors (1612) also cites the classical model of tragedy in order to elevate English drama in general by accentuating the morally instructive nature of tragedy, as well as to tie his own works to the legitimate tradition of tragedy. If we present a Tragedy, we include the fatall and abortiue ends of such as commit notorious murders, which is aggrauated and acted with all the Art that may be, to terrifie men from the like ab horred practises (Heywood F3v). Heywood thus believes that the tragic downfall of the moral, but flawed, hero is a terrifying lesson to the audience through the pity and fear evoked by watching the play itself, a notion described by Aristotle and termed by modern scholars as catharsis. Despite Heywoods belief in the moral power of tragedy, Renaissance tragedy, for the most part, does not live up to the Aristotelean model. For Stephen Greenblatt (1980), Renaissance theatre, named after a queen whose power is constituted in theatrical celebrations of royal glory and theatrical violence visited upon the enemies of that glory, replays the process of provoking subversion central to the states authorization of its own power: the form itself, as a primary expression of Renaissance power, contains the radical doubts it continually produces (297). Thus, any echo of Aristotelian notions of tragedy in the works of playwrights such as Heywood, Marlowe, Webster, and even Shakespeare, can be seen not as a insistence upon the dramatic perfection of classical forms, but as a means of lending legitimacy to the challenge to political and cultural structures. As Moretti (1982) observed in respect of English Renaissance tragedy one of the decisive influences in the creation of a â€Å"public† that for the first time in history assumed the right to bring a king to justice †¦ Tragedy disentitled the absolute mo narch to all ethical and rational legitimation. Having deconsecrated the king, it thus made it possible to decapitate him (7-8). Rather than reinforcing the social order and legitimizing divine ordination, tragedy opened up the political elite to the possibility of human frailty. Renaissance tragedy can be defined as a violent series of events that is built upon the murder and revenge, concerning characters primarily motivated by jealousy, greed, and anger. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be of noble stature, and while his greatness is readily apparent, he is not perfect. Tragedies often concern the aristocratic elite and thus personal tragedies extend to tragedies of state. The tone of the play is sombre, clearly relating the grief and sorrow of the characters themselves. This â€Å"language of lamentation† serves as a warning against the destructive potential of vice and depravity, and can be linked to the Medieval morality plays. Although the presence of othe r non-dramatic sources conceives a national tradition of tragedy which was established on the English stage as early as 1587, with the performance of Thomas Kyds The Spanish Tragedy. Both The Spanish Tragedy and Marlowes Tamburlaine, performed in the late 1580s, exhibit the beginnings of true Renaissance tragedy. Derived from the revenge plays of Seneca, The Spanish Tragedy is a play which satisfied the Aristotelian need for a binary model of moral order, which is complicated by the relations of individual justice to the social and divine order. Tamburlaine, however, moves away from the reductive moralising of earlier poetry and reflects the influence of the Reformation on the dramatic arts, as the theatre established a new place where human possibilities could be envisioned with new freedom. Marlowe is fully aware that he is making the stage the vehicle of a new consciousness: Onely this (Gentlemen) we must performe, The form of Faustus fortunes good or bad. To patient Iudgements we appeale our plaude. (Marlowe, Faustus, 7-9) This appeal to the moral purpose of the play is misleading, for neither Faustus nor Tamberlaine are characters directed by their moral choices. Tamberlaine, it is arguable, is an agent of God while at the same time exercising his free will with no apparent consequence. Marlowe appears to be addressing familiar issues of blasphemous defiance, tyranny, cruelty and arrogance in Tamburlaine, but ironically he presents these issues as the glory of the tragic hero. Unlike traditional tragedies, there is no stable moral framework, with the result that the audience is left feeling uneasy with the divine implications of the heros downfall. Tamburlaine, rather than submit to his pre-ordained fate, boasts of his own dynamic power: I hold the Fates bound fast in yron chaines, And with my hand turne Fortunes wheel about (369-70) Fate and Fortune, two of the most conventional symbols of human limitation, are here manipulated by the hero not as a sign of his hubris, but rather as a heroic achievement. Marlowe uses this gross inversion as a reflection of the changing values in Renaissance society. As Stephen Greenblatt (1980) says, Marlowe writes in the period in which European man embarked on his extraordinary career of consumption, his eager pursuit of knowledge, with one intellectual model after another seized, squeezed dry, and discarded, and his frenzied exhaustion of the worlds resources (199). The Enlightenment saw the questioning of fundamental assumptions about mans place in the world, a uncertainty reflected in the ambiguous relation between the tragic hero and his divinely ordained fate. C. L. Barber (1988) has commented on the way in which the audience engages with such egotistic individualism of the tragic hero, noting the role of the triumphal individual in the Renaissance and the significance of individualistic prophesying as a disruptive form of expression that challenged the authority and legitimacy of the Church and state. Marlowe writes at a time of religious transition and new philosophical notions of self-consciousness, and appropriates religious language and symbolism to launch an attack on the Church. Tamburlaine rebels against divine, political and social order, and in doing so sets himself beyond limitation and definition, alwaiies moouing as the restles Spheares (876). Tamburlaines rebellion is an uneasy one, for there is no possibility of reconciliation and restoration of order. Theridama, the Chiefest Captain of Mycetes hoste, reveals this as he says: Tamburlaine? A Scythian Shepheard, so imbelished With Natures pride, and richest furniture, His looks do menace heauen an dare the Gods †¦ What stronge enchantments tice my yielding soule? †¦ Won with they words, conquered with thy looks, I yield my selfe, my men horse to thee (350-52, 419, 423-4) Liberation is here figured as one of two choices: to reject the divine or to take it over. In Tamburlaines case, he alternatively threatens heaven and dares the gods, or claims identity with the divine to sanction his violence: til by vision, or by speech I heare / Immortall Ioue say, Cease my Tamburlaine, / I will persist a terrour to the world †¦ (3873-75). Tamburlaine self-aggrandizement is given divine legitimacy: Tamburlaine believes that his tyranny and martial lust are condoned through the gods through their silence. The two-part Tamburlaine is based on the historical figure of Timur, a bloody conqueror of Asia, whose greed for power and extravagance culminates with his inevitable downfall. Tamburlaine deviates from the tragic norm in his depiction of the tragic hero; Tamburlaine is not humbled by his dramatic fall, and no moral lesson is learned and repentance achieved. Tamburlaine does not conform to the model of the tragic hero set out in Poetics. The tragic hero is fated to make a serious error which will cause his fall and tragic death, usually caused by hubris, or prideful arrogance, but he remains likeable to the audience for his inherent goodness. Tamburlaine, in contrast, is a character whose goodness is notably absent. In contrast the Aristotlean model, in which the tragic hero is noble from birth, Tamburlaine is an obscure Scythian shepherd in the opening of part 1. He quickly ascends through his bravery and his eloquent speech, and his ferocity on the battlefield. Tamburlaine sees him self as the scourge of God and even dreams of leading his armies in war against the divine army in heaven. In a scene in which Tamburlaine has defeated Cosroe, he responds to Cosroes demands for the reasons behind his treachery. Nature, that framd us of four elements Warring within our breasts for regiment, Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds: Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planets course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Wills us to wear ourselves and never rest, Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown. (I.iv. 13-29) With this final line Tamburlaine snatches the crown from dying Cosroes head and places it on his own head, assuming the power of divine legitimacy for himself. Reordering the humours as in constant opposition, rather than harmonious order, is to legitimize his own militaristic behaviour as part of the natural world. He is, in essence, creating himself out of nothing, as he became an emperor from a shepherd, and as such is taking over the divine role of creation. In doing so, he upsets the authority of the moral order, and even his death does not resolve the moral hierarchy. Thomas Heywoods A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603) is described as a domestic tragedy as it deals not with the tragic downfall of the elite, but on the relationship between a husband and wife. Domesticity is the theme of the play, and the language is correspondingly straightforward and unadorned. In contrast with tragedies such as Hamlet or Tamburlaine, Heywoods play does not concern the intrigues and actions of the aristocratic elite or ruling order. A Woman Killed with Kindness is a morality play, concerned with the infidelity of Anne and her likely punishment. She herself expects only death upon her husbands discovery of her affair: Though I deserve a thousand thousand fold More than you can inflict, yet, once my husband, For womanhood – to which I am a shame, Though once an ornament – even for His sake That hath redeemd our couls, mark not my face Nor hack me with your sword, but let me go Perfect and undeformed to my tomb. (xiii.94-100) Her opinion is born out by the tradition of revenge in tragedies as well as in contemporary practice; indeed, by law husbands reserved the right to kill unfaithful wives (Powell 204). However, despite the clear Christian moralizing, Heywoods play departs drastically from the traditional structure of moral tragedy in that the tragic end of the main character results not from divine judgment and retribution, but from the effects of her wrongdoing on her own consciousness. Before the discovery of her betrayal by her husband, her guilt and remorse are apparent. You have tempted me to mischief, Master Wendoll; I have done I know not what. Well, you plead custom; That which for want of wit I granted erst I now must yield through fear. Come, come, lets in. Once oer shoes, we are straight oer head in sin (xi. 110-14) Her repentance is genuine, and carries forward her tragic end. Anne chooses to starve herself to death, thereby taking control both of her sin and her punishment. Heywood puts into dramatic form †¦ the punishment which arises from the erring characters consciousness of their guilt in the place of the punishment of an exterior physical revenge (Bowers 225). Annes emotional torment is meant as a lesson to the audience, and she makes of herself an exemplary figure, breaking away from the domestic thrust of the play towards the universal. Derived from the classical models of comedy and tragedy set out by Aristotle and envisaged by Seneca, Webseters The White Devil (1612) expands the classical tragic structure by adding elements associated with comedy: ironic repetition, theatrical self-consciousness, and inverted tragic situations. There is a repeated pattern in The White Devil of serious action followed by parody, working to undermine the dramatic tradition of tragedy to create what would become the genre of tragicomedy. Tragicomedy is a distinctly non-Aristotelian genre in which the action and subject of the play demand a tragic ending, but this ending is denied in an ironic reversal which produces the happy ending of a traditional comedy. Aristotle did, in fact, depict a kind of tragedy with a happy ending, which would later become tragicomedy, but it was not until the Renaissance that the genre was seen as a legitimate dramatic form. In The White Devil, the Duke of Florence comments on the popular dislike of the c lassically inspired plays which strictly conform to the structure of tragedy and comedy: My tragedy must have some idle mirth int, Else it will never pass (IV.i.119-20) The Dukes comment suggests that an increasingly demanding audience will no longer accept the single-minded classical plays of strict comedy or tragedy, but demand a sophistication of genre. The White Devil is not unique in its admission of tragicomedy, but it is treated as an expression of doubt about the tragic absolutes and as part of a critical double-vision. Incidents are repeated an parodied throughout Websters play, and this system of parallels is used to undermine the tragic status of the patrician characters. In the final scene the tragic hero Flamineo acts out a grotesque fiction of his own death, which is ironically followed by real murder. The farcical ending is paralleled with the authentic tragic image. With its elaborate system of repetition and parody, its ironic contrasts between interpretations of events, and the insistence that every incident is intimately connected with other incidents, The White Devil emphasises the shifting values and ironic double-visions of tragicomedy into the tragic framework of aspiration, failure, and ultimately death, depicting the double standard of the new society. The action of the play is confined to the relatively narrow setting of Rome and the court at Padua, hinting to the world beyond that of stage. Critics have often found the number of characters in The White Devil problematic, citing di fficulties in staging a production with so many bodies on stage. However, John Russell Brown (1940) has called attention to Websters power of using violent and crowded scenes for sudden and, therefore, striking manifestations of an individuals lies or hypocrisy, the â€Å"variety† of a â€Å"busy trade of life† (Brown 453). In the final act, the presence of so many members of the courtly society emphasises Flamineos fall from power, defining the extent of the competition for the Dukes favour and the uncertainty of Flamineos future now that his relationship with his master is ruined. As a young lord reports to Flamineo concerning Bracciano, A new vp-start: one that swears like a Falckner, and will lye in the Dukes eare day by day like a maker of Almanacks (V.i. 138-9). The White Devil deals with private behaviour made public, and public behaviour motivated by questionable private interests. Vittorias trial reveals her illicit liaison with Bracciano and the murderous consequences, but it is this public censure which results in private revenge. In comparison with Shakespearean tragedies such as Hamlet, or classical tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, the play is extremely social and emphasises Websters preoccupation with the intertwined spheres of public probity and private corruption. The White Devil focuses on the individuals freedom of choice between good and evil, human dignity and the fall from grace, binaries which appear to conform to the traditional Christian morality. Lodovico is accused by Antonelli and Gasparo: Worse then these, / You have acted certaine Murders here in Rome, / Bloody and full of horror (I.i.31-32), and Gasparo continues O my Lord / The law doth sometimes mediate, thinkes it good / Not ever to steepe violent sinnes in blood, / This gentle penance may both end your crimes, / And in the example better these bad times (I.i.33-37). Ludovico is presented a choice, but instead turns to criminality and revenge. His crimes have been presented, the possibility of reform and exoneration provided, and yet he wilfully chooses his course of conduct in spite of this. He exercises his free will, but unlike the Aristotelian tragic hero his destructive path is not redemptive in bringing out moral responsibility. The conclusion of The White Devil is ambig uous, fulfilling the catastrophic ending required of tragedy but without the suggestion of the nobility and greatness of man. Flamineo dies in despair of his worldly goods, wealth and advancement rather than in despair of his worthiness before God. There is the possibility of Flamineo accepting moral responsibility directly before his death as he reflects, While we looke up to heaven wee confound / Knowledge with knowledge (V.vi.259-60), and yet immediately before this he said , I doe not looke / Who went before, nor who shall follow mee; / Noe, at my self I will begin and end (V.vi.256-58). Although the play ends with the death of the tragic hero, as tradition dictates, this is not the satisfactory ending of classical tragedies. There is no remorse, no retraction of arrogance and greed in the face of the divine. As A.L. Kistner (1993) wondered, Where does it lie – in the triumph of will, in grabbing for every expression of self that this world has to offer or in the calm dis cipline of self-denial for a higher picture of man? (267). Webster leaves the audience with an unsatisfactory portrait of free choice and the capacity for moral responsibility. The emergence in the 1580s of an Elizabethan tragic tradition which manipulated the limitations of classical generic boundaries points toward the developing self-consciousness of a modern culture. As evidenced in such works as Tamburlaine and The White Devil, the theatre was the site of an evolving culture in conflict with the older, traditional forms of expression. Marlowe, Webster and Heywood used the stage for the assertion and defense of an ego which †¦ was constantly threatened by powerful forces of desire and conscience, forces which [they] coped with as best as [they] could by making them conscious, by finding a form for them which would command social understanding and the control of shared social attitudes (Barber 37). The new tragic genre was a way of registering an experience of change and di slocation, a shift from the Classical tradition of moral order and stability. Works Cited Aristotle, (1953) Aristotle on the Art of Fiction: an English translation of Aristotles Poetics. Trans. by L. J. Potts. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Barber, C. L. (1988) Creating Elizabethan Tragedy: the theatre of Marlowe and Kyd. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Bowers, F. T. (1940) Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy 1587-1642. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Brown, J. R. (1962) Theater research and the Criticism of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries Shakespeare Quarterly, 13 Falco, R. (2000) Charismatic Authority in Early Modern English Tragedy. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. Goldberg, D. (1987) Between Worlds: A study of the plays of John Webster, Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Greenblatt, S. (1985) Invisible Bullets: Renaissance Authority and Its Subversion, Henry IV and Henry V in J. Dollimore and A. Sinfield, (eds.), Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism , pp. 18-47. Manchester: Manchester University Press. - (1980) Renaissance Self-Fashioning: from More to Shakespeare. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Heywood, T. (1973) An Apology for Actors (1612). New York: Garland. (1961) A Woman Killed with Kindness. R. W. Van Fossen (ed). London: Mentheun Co. Kistner, A.L. and Kistner, M.K (1993) Free Choice in The White Devil English Studies, 74, no. 3: 258-267 Marlowe, C. (1993) Doctor Faustus. D. Bevington and E. Rasmussen (eds). Manchester: Manchester University Press. -(1995) Tamburlaine. D. Bevington and E. Rasmussen (eds). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Moretti, F. (1982) †A Huge Eclipse†: Tragic Form and the Deconsecration of Sovereignty, in The Power of Forms in the English Renaissance, S. Greenblatt (ed). Norman, Oklahoma: Pilgrim Books. Powell, C.L. (1917) English Domestic Relations 1487-1653. New York: Columbia University Press. Sidney, P. (1971) An Apologie for Poetrie. New York: De Capo Press. Webster, J. (1983) The Selected Play of John Webster. J. Dollimore and A. Sinfield (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Internet - A Blessing or a Curse? :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Internet - A Blessing or a Curse? I saw something shocking painted on the roof of a barn as I was driving through the heart of Yolo County’s farmland. It was an advertisement for the upcoming Dixon May Fair. What caught my attention was the last line of copy, painted in thin red letters, down by the edge of the roof: http://www.dixonmayfair.com. It’s finally everywhere, I thought, as I continued down the deserted, dusty road. No place is safe. Not even the country. Over the last couple of years, those tiny, mysterious clusters of letters have snuck up on us, like a sneaky race of aliens preparing a world takeover. First they crawled from a computer and found their way onto the bottoms of billboards and magazine ads, cleverly hidden away from the casual glance, amidst the small print. Once you had to have sharp eyes to notice them. But the little things grew and multiplied and now you have to be blind to miss them. They’re on our books, our newspapers, our cereal boxes, our CDs, our clothing, our dairy products, our garden supplies, and our movies. It’s hard to go anywhere or do anything without bumping into our new friends â€Å"http† and â€Å"www.† But do they come in peace? Or do they have something else up their cyber-sleeves? Are they a blessing or a curse? For anyone with a strong computer phobia, like my father, or even with a mild techno-aversion, like the one I’ve inherited from him, it’s easy to read conspiracies and invasion plots into every new computer advancement. It’s also easy to feel that we’re caught in a dangerous tug-of-war, and that the machines are winning. My father, Vernon, is the head of the chemistry department at West Virginia State College, and he refuses to use computers any more than the bare minimum his job requires. While the rest of his department (and the rest of the world) fire off quick e-mail notes and memos to one another, he still writes with pencil and paper and licks just as many stamps and envelopes as he ever did. Except for the letters I send to my dad, most of my outgoing mail these days is electronic.

Master Engravers of Fifteenth Century Germany Essay -- Master of the P

When thinking of early artistic prints, perhaps one of the few things that come to mind would be playing cards. In modernity, playing cards are not really considered â€Å"artistic† items. However, during the earliest days of print, playing cards were the original media made by the printing process. Even before the printing press, Europe had a love of cards and, whether they were actually intended to be used for play or for show, the people wanted to get their hands on them. Because of the wide spread popularity of cards, it is no surprise that this early print media featured elements that are visually present in other printed media, even to this day. Through the influence of printmakers’ works on each other, these men honed their craft and helped develop printing as a proper art form. The Master of the Playing Cards and the Master E.S. of 1466 were both major engravers in Germany during the fifteenth century. Distinct subject matter, technique, and prevalence in their field has marked them as â€Å"Masters† of their art – a label which has outlived any other identifying information about them. This paper discusses the introduction of printing into Europe and the development of the technique under the influence of these two Masters. The Master of the Playing Cards introduced new subject matter and techniques in his cards, which through his pupil, the Master E.S. of 1466, who replicated and altered these learned skills, went on to spread into other areas of printed medium and marked a path of influence for all who would come after them. Markedly one of the most important developments in the history of visual media was that of the printing press. Brought about by German goldsmith, Johannes Gutenberg, in the mid-fifteenth ... .... "Manuscript Sources for the Playing-Card Master's Number Cards." The Art Bulletin 64, no. 4 (1982): 587-600. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3050270 (accessed April 13, 2014). Wright, Harold J.L.. "Some Masters of Engraving: Lecture II: German and Netherlands Engravers (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century)." Journal of the Royal Society of the Arts 85, no. 4529 (1939): 1079-1095. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41359422 . (accessed May 9, 2014). Wynne, Marjorie G., and A. Hyatt Mayor. "The Art of the Playing Card." The Yale University Library Gazette 47, no. 3 (1973): 137-184. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40859489 (accessed April 14, 2014). van Buren, Anne H. , and Sheila Edmunds. "Playing Cards and Manuscripts: Some Widely Disseminated Fifteenth-Century Model Sheets." The Art Bulletin 56, no. 1 (1974): 12-30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049193 (accessed April 13, 2014).

Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Essay

In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the author depicts a transformation she undergoes during her captivity at the hands of the Indians. While her first inclination in captivity is to end her suffering as quickly as possible by giving up on her life, Rowlandson quickly takes up the role of survivalist, determined to stay alive long enough to be released and returned back to civilization. Along the way, however, Rowlandson compromises on aspects of her life in order to achieve this survival. As a means of surviving the ordeal of a constantly changing environment, Rowlandson adapts her opinions regarding food, the Native Americans, and even the land around her to take on the perspective of a savage, similar to that of her captors, as a means of compensating with her perceived savage environment. When Rowlandson is first captured, she makes it her objective to survive the ordeal as best as she can, but one of her earliest struggles comes with the subject of food. Rowlandson reflects on the progression of her eating habits and how she went through a fundamental change in her opinion towards the food in order to sustain herself: â€Å"But now that was savory to me that one would think was enough to turn the stomach of a brute creature.† (153) Here Rowlandson succinctly compares her own tastes to that of a brute creature, the sort of description she would normally reserve for one of the Native Americans. T his quote comes on the heels of stories of Rowlandson eating horse liver and different nuts and meats that were completely alien to her tastes. In her desperation, however, Rowlandson begins to consider anything that brings her nourishment and sustenance as â€Å"savory,† and in her starving and desperate state she separates herself from the presumably civilized reader by labeling them as â€Å"one.† From Rowlandson’s perspective, it is not a given that the food she was forced to eat would be unfit to eat, but that opinion would only stem from the perspective of â€Å"one† who was living in civilization. Another example of how we see Rowlandson’s perspective shift to be more savage is the way she perceives her Native American captors, particularly the master to which she belongs. When first captured she witnesses the Indians destroying her village and murdering her family, and so perceives them to be â€Å"barbarous creatures.† (141) However, we see a surprising turnaround of sentiments towards them when she later references her master in the Twelfth Remove. â€Å"But a sore time of trial, I concluded, I had to go through, my master being gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of an Indian†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (155) Rowlandson goes so far as to actually call one of the Indians her friend. The same people who she constantly refers to as base and uncivilized, she claims to have developed a relationship with. She also notably refers to â€Å"a sore time of trial,† an illusion to the struggles she has undergone in crafting this relationship, in developing this m indset. Rowlandson points out the process that transformed her opinions at that time. Rowlandson’s final, and perhaps most clear, transformation comes in the form of her perception of the wilderness and the environment in which she is traveling. At the onset of her captivity, she refers to the â€Å"wilderness† as â€Å"desolate† and â€Å"vast.† She laments the journey and leaving her home and civilization as she describes the â€Å"bitterness of [her] spirit that [she] had at this departure.† (142) However, shortly after she departs, her opinion once again changes. Upon hearing that the Indians buried her dead son, she describes her feelings upon visiting his burial spot. â€Å"Then they went and showed me where it was, where I saw the ground was newly digger, and there they told me they had buried it. There I left that child in the wilderness, and must commit it, and myself also in this wilderness-condition, to Him who is above all.† (144) Here Rowlandson explicitly describes the altered state she can tell that she is in, this â€Å"wilderness-condition,† and the way that she rationalizes the death of her infant and leaving him buried in the middle of nowhere as a product of her â€Å"wilderness-condition.† The very same sentence demonstrates a product of this condition, referring to her very son as â€Å"that† child. The impersonal, no-relationship way she refers to her own flesh and blood is how she compensates with her situation, and it’s this condition that makes her react the way she does. The changes that Rowlandson undergoes during her travels transform her views and opinions to be more in line with those of the Native Americans with whom she is a captive, and she uses this transformation of views as a coping mechanism throughout her journey. Rowlandson, whether knowingly or not, identifies that the people who are so adept at handling the harsh conditions of constant travel and living in an uncivilized land are the Native Americans themselves, and so her views change to be more like theirs. She begins to accept the foods they eat as tasteful, the Natives themselves as people instead of simply savages, and the harsh realities of the environment and the detachment of nature’s cruelty regarding the death of her son with a detached manner. It is interesting to note that her religious side only gets stronger throughout her captivity, and she never loses her faith. This results in an interesting dichotomy between her gradual adaptation to a survivalist lifestyle and her strongly rooted faith, only further showing how remarkable her continued faith was.