King Lear: Lear The Tragic Hero Essay -- essays research papers

King Lear: Lear The Tragic Hero The definition of tragedy in the Oxford dictionary is, "drama of elevated theme and diction and with unhappy ending; sad event, serious accident, calamity." However, the application of this terminology in Shakespearean Tragedy is more expressive. Tragedy does not only mean death or calamity, but in fact, it refers to a series of steps which leads to the downfall of the tragic hero and eventually to his tragic death. Lear, the main character in King Lear was affirmed as the tragic hero because the play meets all the requirements of a tragedy. In order for a character to be qualified as a tragic hero, he must be in a high status on the social chain and the hero also possesses a tragic flaw which initiates the tragedy. The fall of the hero is not felt by him alone but creates a chain reaction which affects everyone around him. Besides, the hero must experience suffering and calamity slowly which would contrast his happier times. The suffering and calamity instantaneously caused chaos in his life and eventually leads to his death. Finally, the sense of fear and pity to the tragic hero must appear in the play as well. This makes men scared of blindness to truths which prevents them from knowing when fortune or something else would happen on them. Lear, the king of England would be the tragic hero because he held the highest position in the social chain at the very beginning of the play. His social position gave him pride as he remarked himself as "Jupiter" and "Apollo". Lear out of pride and anger has banished Cordelia and Kent and divided his Kingdom in halves to Goneril and Regan. Lear's hamartia which is his obstinate pride and anger overrides his judgment, thus, prevents him to see the true faces of people. As in Act One, although Cordelia said "nothing", she really means everything she loves to his father. However, Lear only believed in the beautiful words said by Regan and Goneril. Although Kent, his loyal advisor begged Lear to see closer to the true faces of his daughters, he ignored him and became even more angry because Kent hurt Lear's pride by disobeying his order to stay out of his and Cordelia's way Lear had already warned him, "The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft." ( I, I, 145). Kent still disob... ...our horrible please..." ( Lear, III, ii, 15-20) Here, the feeling of fear appears as well because in a short period of time, Lear fell from the position of King to a normal peasant. His weak, unconfident and mad mind overrules his strong, prideful and sane character. However, in looking deep down, the real fear implied here is, no matter how great things appear now; men do not hold them long and you can sink to the very bottom just as fast as Lear fell from the top of the chain to the lowest. In Shakespeare's tragic play King Lear, Lear the main character demonstrated all the necessary requirements of being a tragic hero. His high social status nourishes his hamartia which is hubris, and the tragedy is initiated by the banishment of Kent and Cordelia. Lear's pride not only altered his live alone, instead, it affected everyone around him down to the bottom of the social chain. Moreover, the realization of his true quality, pains and sufferings eventually leads to his tragic death which the most obvious element in a tragedy. Because Lear fulfills the "formula" of Shakespearean Tragedy, he could be firmly proven as tragic hero in the play.

What Does Democracy Signifies

If firms were not in a competitive environment, they would be able to control the market. Still, there are other factors, which stop firms from controlling the market. Namely the fact that firms do not have perfect information, issues about its objectives or firms may not even know how to maximise profits. This is due to the fact that companies use different pieces of information or interpret it differently. Firms can use different tasks in order to achieve the same aim. Companies often set themselves in mission statement; or they try to set goals by which the statement will be achieved; or a specific objective. A firm aims to maximise profits, and that is what this essay will focus on. First, it will give a brief definition of firm and define its objectives. Second, it will examine the assumption of profit maximisation. Third it will confirm whether firms really maximise their profits. Then it will follow by mentioning other alternatives to profit maximisation. Finally in the conclusion, it will include the results of this essay. It is understood by firm ‘ an organisation consisting of one or more individuals working as a decision-making unit to produce goods or services† (Atkinson, B. & R. Miller â€Å"Business Economics†). The firm†s objectives are to maximise profits. The amount that the company receives for the sale of its output is called its total revenue. The amount that the firm pays to buy inputs is called its total cost. We, then, define profit as a firm†s total revenue minus its total cost. Thus, if a firm gets  £10,000 from selling its output and spends  £90,000 producing this output, its profit is  £10,000. The above diagram shows how costs, revenue and profit interact with each other. Costs go up with output as well as revenue, but just till a certain point. Revenue falls due to the firm†s necessity to lower its costs in order to rise selling. In other words, in the cost curve firms will experience increasing returns, followed by decreased returns. Revenue will rise, as price falls and quantity goes up. Profits will occur between the two points were the curves intersect. The slope of the two curves are the same and they are given by the marginal value (marginal revenue and marginal cost). Hence, to maximise profit, marginal revenue must equals marginal cost. In order to achieve this, firms must have all the details on the demanded product. Profit maximisation plays an important role within a firm, as it makes innovation possible as well as the payment of higher wages and greater job offers. Moreover, profits create incentives as it is rewarding for entrepreneurs, whose time and skills contributed to the firm†s success. Increasing profits leads to a rise in output and with it consumers also get more satisfied. Thus, it can be said that it is also beneficial to society to raise profits. Profits provide a source of revenue, which reverts in favour of new factories and machinery. In addition, profits encourage innovation again society benefits from it. However, there are still motives for companies to refuse to have high levels of profit. Companies will just be able to maximise profits if owners are in control of the firms. However, in big companies such as Coca-Cola or Shell where, probably, there are many shareholders, it is more difficult to maximise profits. As, in this case managers are more likely to run the business. This leads us to do so called ‘principal-agent problem†. Where owners† objectives may be different from the managers. Hence, due to the rise of the joint-stock company there has developed a split between ownership and control. Ownership belongs now to shareholders, while managers exerce the power of controling. Still, there are motives to choose to maximise profits. Firstly, profit maximisation is still a sign of power, so in a competitive environment firms will opt to maximise profit to ensure its survival; Secondly, both the principal and agent, when confroting a situation of no option, they would prefer to maximise profits rather than lower them; Most important, due to profit maximisation it became possible for economists to study the output and the price of companies and, consequently, study the market. In analysing the managerial approach, it can be noticed that managers will then aim to take precedents over the objectives of the owner. In this case the primary goal of a firm is to maximise its revenue. This will occur because managers† remuneration is more likely to be linked to revenue than to profitability. For example, bank†s tend to regard growing sales positive as well as financial markets, who likes to see growing sales revenue. Most important, sales revenue is still seen as an indication of success. The same occurs to firms that have their main aim to maximise growth. Just like raising revenue, raising growth also leads to higher bonuses. Managers also benefit from it because their status gets better, as the firm has more prestige. Such theory, also suggests that managers try to maximise their own profit benefits. In other words, use firms to get their objectives. Still, there is other theory that states that managers in fact do not maximise anything at all, but they attend to satisfactory levels, theory developed by H. Simon. Here, managers will set a minimum level of profit, keeping shareholders satisfied. This type of approach is probably used by small firms, which are not able to take the big risks that profit maximisation can lead to. Moreover, managers try to keep all members of the firm satisfied, so profit maximisation becames a hard task to achieve. In general, conditions of uncertainty difficults the achievement of sales and profit maximisation. In practise management tries to obtain growth in output and assets from one year to the next and achieve satisfactory growth. On one hand, it is true to say that there is a separation of ownership and control, consequently, this stresses the importance of managers. On the other hand, it is difficult to describe how the different objectives of management and shareholders interact to produce the goals and objectives of the company.

Cultural values and Personal Ethics Essay

Ethics can be described as the codes of conduct that guide on how one should behave regarding moral duties and virtues. These moral principles, guide a person in determining what is wrong or right. Personal ethics on the other hand can be termed as morality. This is because personal ethics reflect the expectations of people of all works in the society (www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm). Ethics has got two aspects; the ability to determine right from wrong, propriety from impropriety and good from evil and the second perspective concerns the commitment to perform an action that is proper, right and good. The principles of personal ethics include; trust, worthiness, preventing harm, refusing to take unfair advantage, respect for the autonomy of others and basic justice (www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm). a) Personal Ethics Statement Values are the things that a person learns from an early age, from our parents and the immediate surrounding. Morals on the other hand are beliefs on how a person should behave at any one time in any given situation. Ethics is how a person actually behaves when faced with a difficult situation that requires testing of the moral fiber (www. ethics. ubc. ca/papers/invited/colero. html). The following is my personal ethics statement that identifies my personal ethics, values, morals and beliefs: I will give my all and my best to all I; will also serve mankind with the utmost extreme use of my body, spirit and mind, in the creation of peace and harmony among people through community service programs and performing other humanitarian programs. b) How these values were formed I acquired these values from my parents and my religion. My parents are generous people with open minds and they are very understanding. During my adolescent period they helped me through it and even encouraged me to explore the world but with great caution. I have great respect for them for they taught me about trust, generosity, empathy and that, honesty is the best policy. This has made me apply this knowledge to date. My religion also played a great role in instilling these virtues in me. It encouraged me to love all people and other creatures of the earth and always share and help those in need. c) The theories that seem to express my personal belief system. The major theories that have influenced modern thinking include: Utilitarianism which believes in the greatest good, Rawlsian Ethics concerning justice and fairness, Aristotelian ethics that believes in duties and rights and the Kantian Ethics. All of the above mentioned theories of ethics have played a great role in expressing my personal belief system. Utilitarian theory of ethics argues that the result of an action determines if that action is moral or immoral and a beneficial action is moral or right whereas an action that results to harmful impacts is wrong or immoral. This theory calls for the greatest good for everyone; and this greatest good is happiness and reduced unhappiness (www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf). Kantian ethics on the other hand suggest that an action that is morally right is that one which is carried out for the sense of duty since one undertakes it because they feel doing it is the right thing and right move. This arises from the logical reasoning of human beings. It calls for the treatment of all human being with moral worthiness. Rawlsian Ethics is an ethical standard that involves the protection of individual rights by preventing any injustice to the individual. It calls for fairly treating people equally without any discrimination. Lastly, the Aristotelian ethics argues that the task of ethics involves giving us knowledge regarding the right type of a person, or a good person. These theories are a congruent to my personal belief system (www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf). d) Written and unwritten codes of ethics Codes of ethics can be defined as the efforts which are systematic in nature and are used in defining the right conduct. They also provide guidance and help the installation of confidence in various aspects of life from the government and all organizations. The main guidance is reflected in the decision making process especially where values seem to conflict. Codes may be unwritten or written. Written codes of ethics provide a measure of accountability hence enforceable. Written codes of ethics can be made known by an organization, profession or jurisdiction (Shaw 2004). On the other hand, the unwritten codes that exist and that help us in our lives are more effective than the written ones. Unwritten codes of ethics include roles such as honesty security, loyalty among others. These unwritten codes of ethics mostly arise from family and cultural tradition and can also be found in workplace. These written and unwritten codes of ethics are found in the society and they help in establishing personal belief systems (Shaw 2004). e) How my personal ethics were developed I got my personal ethics from my parents. Both of them are business people and since my childhood they have always tried to give me all the good things in life and made sure that I do not lack anything. My values include generosity and empathy. I have learned these attributes from my parents who always do not miss out on helping the needy and those other people who are suffering. I also acquired these values from the various ethical theories that I learnt from class and life events that I once experienced. I particularly remember this one event when I sported a poor man by the road side and he actually confessed to me that he had not had any meal for the past two days. The man looked rugged and totally out of place from the way he dressed and his health was not good. He also confessed that he did not have any immediate relations. I helped him with the little money I had and from that day, I felt I needed to do more for poor people out there and the others who are suffering without any help. f) Determining whether the ethics of an organization or profession are congruent with my personal ethics and its importance Every organization has got its own rules and obligations that it abides to. These are the business codes of ethics that determine the running and management of these organizations. Business ethics can be described as the ethical principles and rules that exist in a commercial context. It also includes the various problems arising in a business entity and the obligations applying to these persons engaged in business (Shaw 2004). Business ethics and personal ethics do conflict most of the time and therefore it is important that individuals know how to handle these two. In determining whether the ethics of an organization or profession are congruent with my personal ethics, my first step will be to observe whether these organizational ethics are such that they will eventually make me to abandon my values so that I can remain in my employment position. If these values exist, it means that because these codes of ethics will eat away my personal values. Therefore I would rather leave work to remain with an undisturbed soul and peace of mind. Individual and group ethics are similar in that they both govern on the behavior of people and they both follow the same ethical principles in the work place. However, individual and group ethics do differ a lot. This can be seen in their processes and effects such as decision making processes (Shaw 2004). g) Roles played by individual and group ethics in managerial decision-making Individual and group ethics do play a number of roles in decision making. The ethics in most organizations are influenced by the group ethics as compared to the individual ethics. This is because these group ethics could have a more profound effect on the behavior of an organization. Group ethics also play a greater role in the case of poor performance in an organization since there are various comparative reasoning that occur from individuals (Shaw 2004). Individual ethics on the other hand play the role of guiding and guarding an individual’s moral values. In decision making process of an organization, individual ethics play the roles of moral creativity from the individual change of policies among other things (Shaw 2004). References. A Framework for Universal Principles of Ethics. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. ethics. ubc. ca/papers/invited/colero. html Major Ethical Theories. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf Personal Ethics and Life. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm. Shaw, H. , (2004). Business Ethics. Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 053461972x

Autobiography of Peter Rackley

I came into the world on the 15th of October nineteen-eighty nine at Queen Mary's hospital at 9-17 in the evening. I weighed 5lb's and 8 1/2 oz. My name is Peter Rackley and I got my name because of Greek meaning â€Å"Rock† and if you didn't already know I'm half Greek, my Mum is from Cyprus. In my immediately family I obviously have my Mum and Dad and my older brother, who just turned eighteen and my twin sister Natasha, who is four minutes older than me so I'm the youngest in the family. Before I started playschool I used to live in Plumsted, which I can't remember at all and because of me being a twin we moved so we had a four bedroom house in Bexleyheath. Just after we moved I started at Pelham playschool. It was great, all day I would play with train sets and at break play on the tricycles around the playground. Those days were great, how did I know that in a few years time I would actually be working. Then I started St Thomas more primary school, I even remember a bit of the first day which was my Mum saying â€Å"Goodbye† and me getting into a strop about not leaving me but once I got inside I was fine. One of my first memories was shortly after playschool, it was in reception, when I got my first telling off, it's still a bit vague, and all I can remember is writing water on a bit of paper wrong and the teacher started telling me off and the reason is that water was spelt in huge bubble writing on the wall. I used to go through primary school in a dream I wouldn't take anything in so I was dumb. It was only in year five when I started working, that's when we were put into sets, I was bottom for everything so my Mum got me a tutor and she was great, her name was Mrs Driscal and than with the help of her I moved forward into the top groups just into for the SATS which I got all fives in so that was good and I owe a lot of that to Mrs Driscal. My clearest and best memory of Primary school is the year six football team, we were great I think we only lost one game and we won the double (cup and league). We even played the final at my playschool. Since I'm on the subject of football I joined Kingfisher when I was five or six, I can't remember, and have played there for most of my life but it didn't work out, here's what happened I broke my first metatarsal on my right foot playing in a school game and I was out for the season. Then when I came back kingfisher changed to Bromley F.C in the Kent league which is one higher than the one I was playing in(A), it is the highest standard I can be at my age, except for playing for a professional side. But this didn't work for me because it was too quick I couldn't play at that standard yet, I needed to take my time with getting fit again and so I moved to long lane who will be moving to the Kent next year. Before I started boring you with my football history I was talking about completing my SATS and the next step was for me to leave my primary school. Everyone has a leaving party where everyone can Say goodbye but I was already taking in the sun in Spain. Even though I would prefer to be in Spain it was still a night I wanted to go to. Then because my brother went to St Columba's I went too. It was pretty nervous starting a new school but as soon as we started a lesson I liked it. We started with something I was good at, P.E and it was high jump with my most favourite P.E teacher, Mr Coker, shame he left. Secondary school has been good with the exceptions of starting coursework in year nine and studying Shakespeare. He may have been a great man but studying him and some of his plays where boring. And that's my life so far. My future will hopefully go something like this; do extremely well in G.C.S.E's and in 6th form I shall study for A levels especially P.E and get them then I don't know exactly what I want to do but I might go sports collage and get a degree in sports/science and get a job from that, but not a P.E teacher, and it will be a high paid job and I will get married and have kids and that's it, I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Literacy in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay

Literacy in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Essay Example The paper discusses the value of narrative. Douglass’s narrative is important since it debunks many of the theories that had currency during the period of slavery and it also, makes clear the importance of literacy in the movement against slavery. The ability to read is continually held up as the magic wand that would enable African-Americans to lead lives of dignity and respect. The instruction that Douglass received from the mistress of the household where he was a slave in the knowledge of language is a turning point in his life. He is able to expand his horizon of knowledge through reading. As is the case with education that was introduced in colonies by colonial powers, this education that Douglass receives makes him want to learn more. Moreover, the knowledge that he receives also awakens in him a thirst for freedom. It is literacy that impels him to question the ways of the world and the organizing structures of southern society that believed in the inherent inferiority of African Americans. The people of these parts were characterized by an urge to retain the structures of slavery even after it had been abolished in the north. This was for economic reasons, since the labor on the cotton plantations that sustained the economy of the old south was almost entirely black. The immense profitability of the plantations depended a great deal, on the almost free labor that was extracted from the black slaves who were also subjected o inhuman torture on the plantations. The need for documentation is what the production of the book stands for. A documentation of the sufferings of the black slaves of America was necessary for a solution to the problem to be found out. This was however, not in the best interests of the people who drew their livelihoods and their luxurious lifestyles by exploiting the poor slaves. This is the reason why Mr. Auld is always critical of the efforts that Mrs. Auld puts in into helping the education of Frederick Douglass. He fears that Douglass too would attempt to escape to the north in search of his freedom. This betrays an understanding of the cruel and exploitative nature of the institution of slavery on the part of white landowners who employed black slaves under conditions that were extremely inhumane. When Mr. Auld denies Douglass the permission to learn how to read, Douglass reflects, Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master (Douglass, 45). The â€Å"invaluable instruction† of knowing the value of literacy and the associations of freedom that literacy carried changes the way in which Douglass looks at the manner in which he led his life. The knowledge sows in him the seeds of rebellion and makes him want to escape to the north. Behind this urge is the love for freedom which Douglass feels is a natural impulse on the part of any human being whose senses have not been deadened by the yoke of slavery for ages. This impulse leads him

Global Financial Crisis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Financial Crisis - Coursework Example The intention of this study is a financial crisis as a situation where economic markets are interrupted because of controlled credit to businesses and households and the real markets of services and goods are unfavourably affected. There are immense causes or roots available for a financial crisis irrespective of any nation. Basically, the structural factors like confusion arising between the free and the continuous deregulation of markets, a remarkable rise in the role of investment markets prevailing in both banking and non-banking economic organisations, rapid use of new global monetary mechanisms, declining transparency of the free markets, increasingly spreading out high business risks, inequality in a particular businesses origination and distribution factors among others are a few of the major causes or roots of a financial crisis. Also the general factors like regular conflicts regarding the market interests among the free and capital market contributors, deviation between in dividual bank interest rates with central bank’s policy rates, extremely minimum risk-free interest rates in major economies like the US and Japan among others, growing gap between maximum capital profits and low cost of capital, spreading out unfavourable low credit difficulty across all mechanisms also constitute a few of the crucial roots of a financial crisis that are prevailing in a particular organisation or in a particular nation. (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, 2008). In the paper, the regulatory failures that especially the western industrialised countries faced and which led to the universal economic crisis in the year 2008-09, is examined along with the findings about the causes or roots of the arising financial crisis along with certain immediate tasks that should be followed in order to cope up with the financial crisis has also been discussed. Evolution of the Financial Crisis The international financial crisis was originated with the ‘sub- prime mortgage’ crisis and was eventually faced especially by the western industrialised countries during 2008-09. With the result of increase in rate of interests along with decline in home prices, there was a sharp jump in non-payment and foreclosures. In that particular period, there arose certain doubts regarding the liquidity of those assets and eventually became tough to fetch adequate price (Rangarajan, 2009). As a result of raising this crucial doubt, it gradually started to affect the prevailing institutions for their enormous investments made in their respective products. Thus, the entire financial system of the western industrialised countries was recognised to be in an acute crisis. There was a mutual distrust among the financial institutions in the western countries which led to freezing up of several markets including the inter-bank market. This crisis in a financial system had moved to affect the real sectors in various significant methodologies (Rangarajan, 20 09). Due to the evolution of financial crisis during 2008-2009 in the western industrialised countries, the emerging market risks, the bank lending flows, the foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and the export volumes among others had turned negative. The economic activities were contracted rapidly and particularly the western industrialised countries experienced large decline in their respective industrial production which weakened their credit growth (Berglof, 2010). Causes of the Financial Crisis in Western Industrialised Countries The financial crisis has been brought about by a combination of unsuitable monetary policies, extreme risk taking of certain financial organisations and

Data Execercise for Priciples of Macroeconomics Assignment

Data Execercise for Priciples of Macroeconomics - Assignment Example The Real GDP between these two periods reduces by 3.5%. Inflation and changes in prices of products causes a significant difference between nominal and real GDP percentages (Bea.gov, 2015). With nominal GDP and real GDP values, one can derive an index of the price level in the year. This index is referred to as GDP deflator and its formula is given by: Real GDP values are not impacted by changes in prices; it is only affected if there are changes in the quantity. To determine the purchasing power of an economy with price adjustments real GDP values are used. Nominal GDP values are used to determine the total value of services or products produced in an economy within one year (Bea.gov, 2015). Gross Domestic Product is an approximated value of the total amount of a country’s products and services, within its boundary, by its citizens and foreigners, calculated over a one-year period. Whereas Gross National Product is an approximated value of the total amount of services and products, by citizens of the country, within its lands or on foreign territories, computed over the course of one year (Bea.gov, 2015). GDP is used to assess the strength of a country’s economy, whereas GNP is used to assess the economic performance of citizens of a certain country. Both these values can also be used in analyzing the distribution of wealth in the economy or also calculating average purchasing power of a person in a country (Bea.gov, 2015). National income is the total value of a countrys output production of new services and goods produced in one year. It measures the monetary value of the production output of services and goods produced in an economy over a period (Bea.gov, 2015). The National income was higher than GNP. To determine NI from GNP you use the following formula, GNP= GDP + NR (Net income from assets abroad (income receipts). Depending on the factors, GNP can be either lower or higher than GDP. The ratio of domestic to