Dracula Essay

Texts such as the novel Dracula, and the film Interview with the Vampire, are often shaped by the values and attitudes within society at the particular time in which it was created. As a result, the context plays a major role in the construction of a text. In Dracula, a novel in epistolary format set and published in 1897 by Bram Stoker, not only do the concepts of sexuality, religion, family, technology, class and gender roles reflect the way they were viewed in the Victorian era, but the actual form of the text itself, a long novel in a book form, mirrors the style of Victorian texts due to the limited technology available. Similarly, in the film Interview with the Vampire directed by Neil Jordan, the different and changing concepts of religion, sexuality, class, family and gender roles from the four different contexts; the 1791 slave period, the 1870s in France, the 1980s in America and the 1994 context, are reflected in the film in a DVD format. In Dracula, the representation of woman as belittled and with limited roles mirrors the rigid expectations of the Victorian era. During the 1800s, women were confined to narrow gender roles, as represented by the virgin/whore dichotomy substantiated through two of Dracula’s key characters, Mina and Lucy. The figure of Mina displays the innocence, loyalty and purity expected from women of the time: â€Å"she is one of Gods women†¦ † (P. 226), whilst Lucy’s character illustrated the non-virtuous figure as she appears as flirtatious: â€Å"you will think me a horrid flirt†¦ † (P. 70), and gives us the subtle impression that she has a hidden desire to break out of the social constraints of the Victorian period: â€Å"why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all the trouble? †(P. 70). Due to Lucy’s desire to break out, she must be punished in order to restore Victorian standards: â€Å"Arthur took the stake and the hammer†¦ hen he struck with all his might†¦ there, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing†¦ † (P. 259/60). This use of imagery implies that Arthur returns Lucy to a state of purity, passivity and innocence, as well as signifies the power and dominance males had over females at this particular time due to the patriarchal tendencies and views of the Victorian society. The actions of Dracula constantly using his powers to fulfil his desires also symbolizes this male dominance and superiority over women: â€Å"his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom†¦ terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink. † (P. 340) Stocker uses strong imagery to evoke this. Comparably, in Interview with the Vampire, the positioning of an African American woman as a maid, as exemplified by the close up shot of Yvette’s hand clearing away Louis’ plate, reflects the gender roles in the 1800s slavery period. During this period, white men had great power over their African American slaves. As a result, many took advantage of them. The panning camera shot progressing up Yvette’s body from Louis point of view reflects the temptation many men endured to satisfy their sexual urges. In this case, Louis could not resist and took a bite, symbolizing penetration. The extreme close up shot of Yvette’s face exposes the pain and suffering many belittled African American women experienced, whilst the act of Louis putting his hand over her mouth and killing her due to her screaming symbolizes the concern of other people becoming knowledgeable about such a dirty action of a prosperous, well respected white man. Conversely, the involvement of two men, Louis and Lestat, in the growth of Claudia’s vampirism reflects the contemporary context of the increasing role of males in society as well as in their children’s life: â€Å"you became my mother, and my father†¦ †. The freely expressed conversation between Yvette and Louis also mirrors the contemporary context, as back in the 1800s, a slave would never talk to their master without been spoken to first. In Dracula, the constant mentioning of religious phrases and religious symbols, such as the crucifix and wafer indicates the importance of religion in the Victorian culture even though the introduction of various forms technology began to change this. This change in Victorian values is represented by the conflict between Dracula and the four men; Jonathan, Quincey, Dr. Seward and Dr. Van Helsing. The character of Dracula symbolizes the changes commencing, whilst the men symbolize Victorian sensibilities- belief in the power of God:â€Å"The Professor stood up and, after laying his golden crucifix on the table†¦ Dr. Helsing went on†¦ †but we, too, are not without strength†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ † (P. 286). This battle between good and evil ends with the defeat of Dracula, allowing the return of the important ideals of the Victorian culture: â€Å"after all, these things- traditions†¦ are everything†¦ † (P. 287) The importance of religion and the idea of the vulnerability to evil of those not religious in the Victorian era is emphasised when an old women offers a crucifix to Jonathan after learning he was going to meet Count Dracula: â€Å"she then rose and dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me†¦ (P. 6). Throughout the text, the demonic figure of Dracula is conveyed to be the opposite of Christ as exemplified when he creates â€Å"one of the greatest and suddenest storms†¦ † (P. 91) to aid his arrival into the harbor. This is the complete opposite to the act of Jesus quietening the storm when he was at sea with his disc iples. Similarly to Dracula, the representation of religion in Interview with the Vampire also reflects the way it was viewed its various contexts. The close up shot of Armade saying â€Å"I know nothing of God, or the Devil†¦ illustrates how the belief and understanding of religion has significantly dropped in the 1994 contemporary context. The mid shot of Louis saying â€Å"actually I’m quite fond of looking at crucifixes† elucidates the lack of power religion has in today’s society. The practising of Voodoo as shown in a mid shot of the African Americans waving dolls near a fire accompanied by yelling and chanting, symbolizes the importance of religion and warning off evil during the slave trade in a still highly religious society. Likewise, the use of a religious symbol as shown the mid shot of Armade holding the young girl’s arm up in a similar way to Jesus on the cross whilst performing on stage, is used to signify that death and the resurrection, though as a vampire, is about to occur. In Dracula, the exemplification of sexuality reflects the controversial topics of the rigid Victorian era. During this period, women were belittled and suppressed. If a woman was to be sexually assertive, it was deeply frowned upon by society as there was a great emphasis on the importance of encouraging chastity and innocence of ladies. At the commencement of the novel Lucy is evidently a sexual women: â€Å"My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we are so little worthy of them? † (P. 70), however her full expression of sexuality is released when she is transformed into a vampire: â€Å"Come to me Arthur†¦ my arms are hungry for you. Come and we can rest together†¦ †. As aforementioned, punishing Lucy for being sexually forward will restore Victorian order and put her back in her rightful place: â€Å"She is not a grinning devil now- not anymore a foul thing for all eternity†¦ † (P. 261). During the Victorian period, homosexuality was considered a serious matter, thought to be evil and wrong, and was often punished by time in jail or even death. In Dracula, there are many metaphoric references to homosexuality, the first incident being when Jonathan cuts his cheek shaving: â€Å"I felt a hand on my shoulder†¦ the man was close to me†¦ the cut bled a little†¦ his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat†¦ † (P. 30). This sees Dracula tempted to take a bite, therefore symbolizing the temptation of penetration. Analogously to Dracula, the film Interview with the Vampire also conveys the sexual attitudes of its various contexts. The close up shot showing the homoerotic tensions between Louis and Armade accompanied by emotional classical music reflects the 1990s context in which people were beginning to openly express their homosexuality during the Gay Rights Movement. During this period, many gay couples also began to adopt with the intention of creating a family. This is evoked in the novel when Lestat revives Claudia and turns her into a vampire: â€Å"you’re mine and Louis’ daughter now†¦ †, with the purpose of creating â€Å"one happy family†¦ . During the 18th century in America, the discussion and about sexuality and the act of kissing in public was beginning to be socially accepted as symbolized by the mid shot of Louis and Lestat kissing a girl on a chair whilst in the public’s view. Through analysing the novel Dracula and the film Interview wit h the Vampire, it is evident that the context plays a major role in the construction of a text. Many of the social meanings of a text reflect not only the values and attitudes of society at a particular time, but also the concerns and fears as exemplified through the studied texts.

What Moral Guidance Does Jane Austen Offer in Her Novels †Book Reviews

What Moral Guidance Does Jane Austen Offer in Her Novels – Book Reviews Free Online Research Papers What Moral Guidance Does Jane Austen Offer in Her Novels Book Reviews Writing at such a time when works such as ** were being written with the express purpose of educating a young lady in the behanviour appropriate to her, Austen is writing in a climate in which there are clear and strict rules guiding young womens comportment. Moreover, essays laying down these laws were not uncommon. Perhaps suggesting the rules would be going too far, the presence of literature on the subject is indicative of a debate surrounding the precise requirements of a young lady entertaining a gentlema, or considering marriage. It would not, then, be unreasonable to suppose that Austen, whose subject matter is almost exclusively the behaviour of these young ladies who are the object of the tracts attentions, she is herself then contributing to the debate. Not unreasonable to suppose this, but neither is it immediately entirely obvious if this is even th case. When looking at her works themselves, let alone what it is that she is suggesting. The scope of Jane Austens work is not broad, the six completed novels focus the attentions almost exclusively on the social manoeuverings of the gentry, in a selected group of families. Many of the novels are set in simolar physical locations, such as Bath, in part because of its social implications as a spar town for the gentry to congregate and socialize. The Bath season was marked on the social calendar. As well as this, the parlours, drawing rooms and dinign tables which punctuate the narative are shared among them, emblems of the strata, *the interest of the novels*. The protagonist of Persuasion is a middle-aged woman, Anne Elliot, but she is unusual among Jane Austens heroines, who are young women emerging into society and looking for a way to establish themselves. *and their position* When looking into the moral guidance, Jane Austenss novels my or may not have to offer this as a vital consideration. The themes and ideas which arise as considerations for the characetrs in the different novels often have much in common. The young protagonists share concerns and face similar moral dilemmas, when looking to the moral teaching Jane Austen offers in the novels, one must recognise a narrowness also in the range of issues which arise, or which Austen makes pertinent to the characters. This situation, then, might prompt an investigator into Jane Austens didacticism to look to her readership. The moral guidance offered by the books, given this narrow scope may unavoidably be irrelevant to an audience which cannot identify with the problems discussed in the novel. While, for example Mansfield Park has a complexity of perspective which distributes the moral issues confronted among a relatively broad selection of characetsr, others, for example Emma, are written from a single perspective. The description Jane Austen offers of the context of the novels, the details of the life style and interests and activities of the spectrum of society they portray are widely accepted as very accurate descriptions of Jane Austens own social experience. The dances and walks, the lovemaking of her characters are the very same that Austen herself might have experienced in life, and by extension the very same being offered to those subjects, and objects, of her novels; those young w ome emerging into their own social arenas. The narrow scope of the narrative may then be seen as ainguarly relevant to an audience which it directly addresses, the guidanceoffered, a genuine code to live by, just as ** in the essay mentioned earlier set out to direct young women. There are two streams of morality already emerging to be considered, howevere. Jane Austen was the daughter of a rector, and a rectors daughter. There is a strict moral code bound into her upbringing, and according to the biographical work offered about her, was a code by which she continued always to live her own life. It is possible for an author to live their own set of values, indeed to allow these to inform the creation of their literary works, without any requirment or unavoidable necessity for this to be passed on to their reader. Thus while our author lived by a specific set of values, is she concerned with passing these on to her reader in such a way as to urge their adoption by that readership. Indeed, to what depth might this go? Emma, in the novel bearing her name, ** like many of the girls in the novels, is concerned with her own movement in society, finding and making a proper match, and the particular and rigorous demands of the societys code of conduct, the intr icacies and subtleties of polite society.** Yet our author shows frequently he disparity between an outwards appearance of exemplary behaviour and character, and the motivation behind it. Henry James has been recorded as commenting thus on Jane Austens work. Jane Austen; leaves us hardly more curious of her own process.than the brown thrush who tells his story from the garden bough. Which would suggest that Austen failed to impress him with the lack of subtelty he perceives in her work. Indeed, this seems a plausible conclusion. The novels all finish with a happy resoluiton of the dilemmas which have caused so much anxiety thorughout; the matches are made to the ultimae satisfaction of the significant characters, and our virtuous heroines prove their sufferance to have been worthwhile, emerging victorious. This, however, is a very simplistic way of looking at novels, a tempting trap to to fal into, but one which does the complexity and sublety of Jane usts work no credit., and indeed misses many of the nuances which make her work so intriguing. It is difficult to believe that such simple anduninspiring a situation would have been so enduring as the popularity of austens work proves her. It is necessary, then, to address these subtelties and complexities to determine first of all what they are and how they are communicated to the reader. Jane Austen wrote in a etter to her siser, Cassandra, explaining that; I do not write for such dull elves/ As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves. This is a sentiment ***** picked up, describing Austens acute awareness of a critical audience lible to pounce. Ths may have been been the case, but it seems no great puzzle why such ideas should be pertinent to a whole swathe of critical work on the novel Emma. Ingeneous is one word which recurs in such critical works, and seems a reasonable starting point for an examination of Jane Austens desire for an alert readership. In recent year, such thinkers as her have published much on the interaction of ext reader and author, andthe three way collaboration involved in the actual writing of the text itself. These thoughts have emerged from study of literature, although the authors themselves may not have been fully conscious of the situation while writing their texts, such theories are pertinent to Jane Austens work whilst examining the moral guidance she offers thorugh this tertiary relationship. T he ingenuity she requires of her reader is bacuse of the active involvement she seeks them to take in the act of reading her novels. Indeed an active reading is both encouraged as part of the didactic process , and necessary for the process to occur at all. *** Attention is drawn throughout Emma to a pairing of guessing and judgment. This happens relatively early on in Mr. Knightleys response to Emmas lucky guess concerning the match of the Westons. He suggests that any two such characters would have rationaly found a match in each other by their own devices. Suggesting Emma has not shown the particular insight into the situation that she imagines. In this way, Jane Austen consciously brings up the correlation of two such indefinite acts as judgment and guessing, bringing them to the readers attention. Winding their way through the development of the text, such an uneasy pairing strike a warning chord in the readers aproach to the text. Having been alerted to the possibility of such an inadvisable ellision, *** the reader is warned to step back from the text. The reader, thus, is encouraged by the writer herself through the narrative not to accept blindly what it says, but to recognize the difference between these two terms. ; guess in and judgment, subsequently confront the text with an awareness of it. Jane Auten is encouraging th reader to develop their powers of judgment, or atleast to use those they have, rather than simply reading. Helping them to come this conclusion themselves but with enough hints to reassre them this is what is required. Such skills, she implies, are necessary outside of the text also, however. In the reading of the text, nothing is at stake, such that poor judgment on the part of the readership has no dire consequences, it can thus form a safe environment in which to test skills applicable in real life where such things as a misjudgement of a character may have more sinister consequeces. Indeed, our author presents the readerof Emma such a complex heroine that their powres of judgement are truly tested. She is a charming, witty, and intelligent young woman, and singularly persuasive. She is shown with a particular talent for getting her own way with her governess, and she works this wiley way on the reader also/ The reader, having been alerted, must remain vigilat at all times; passivity is too much of a risk and yet even once she has been exposed as fallible, the reader is once again persuaded by her remorse, and the frnk honesty of her self-appraisals. It is difficult to know if Jane Austens is asking a particular opinion of the readers, while she may have faults, Emmas virtues are also presented to the reader such that he must recognise that a clear, black and white condemnation or commendation of Emma is an immature and inappropriate conclusion to make. However, wound throughtout the novel is the idea of the charade. The many layers of appearance and realit y which shift and change to unsettle and confuse. The development then, of a fine and precise nuance of judgement, but also having come to a conclusion which is defensible rational and secure, the reader must remain firm. This need for a firm self-belief is constantly re-cited as the debates occuring throughout test the reader. Both sides of the arguments are resented in such a way that they seem plausible, thus in chapter five, Mr. Knightley presents a strong, if ill-humoured case against Emmas friendship with Harriet. Later he concedes that she has perhaps done Harriet some good. In this way Jane Austen leaves the reader to make their own conclusions, having established a mode of reasoning for themselves in which they have conviction. Thus in chapter eighteen, when Mr. Knightley and Emma are again in discussion, this time in relation to Franks failure to appear, Jane Austen leaves the reader with her inconclusive offering spoken by Emma, we are both prejudiced; you against, and I for him. There is noone for the reader to turn to give them assurance in their opinion. Austen was not alone in using her writing as something more than just a novel. Many of her contemporaries were writing morally improving novels themselves, for example Maria Edgeworth, who is particularly widely recognised for her very explicitly didactic work. The tradition of educative fiction was well established, and this was something that Austen was able to use to involve the reader in a relationship wth the writer. Many of her novels, for example Mansfield Park, begin in much the same way as the genre dictates. Already established outside of the particular novel, then, is the general relationshp of reader to text. The reader thought he knew what to explect, and Jane Austen had a clear tradition to follow. This, then, is an irresistable forcein the writing of the novels. And yet our author feels no compunction to stick rigidly to ths; the very twists and turns she makes are those aspects she uses in the communication of her particular instruction. Neither does she shy away from an acknowledgement that she is concerned with the education of the reader. Such ideas of education and instruction are a theme within the novels themselves. Mansfield Park shows clearly how the differing educations of the young women who populate it shape them, their voices, motivations and decisions. This does not refer to an education in the sense of learning maths and gegraphy, ratherit is the education that all these young lasdies and those of similarsocial standing for whom Austen wrote, were concerned with. The accumulation of attribtes such as singing dancing, learning the proper modes of behaviour in many social situations, preparing oneself for the best possible match. In Mansfield Park, the Crawfords have been eucatedby their uncle who who has passed onto them his material values amidst the table mannres and small talk. Their values are contrasted with the infinitely less worldly, though aspiring, Bertram sisters, and of course, Fanny. Perhaps then the reader should not be surprised by Henry Crawfords deliberate attempt to seduce the Bertram gilrs, ad their naive readiness to accepthis advances. Fanny, slightly on the perimeter, can recognise Henrys plan, and remains immune. Directly addressing the issue in this way, although the connection is not spelt out, raises the readers awareness, if nothing else, of the role of education in a persons development as propounded in the narrative, and perhaps by Austen herself. It has been suggested that Austen, aware of the subjective interpretation the reader will make of her protagonists, and the implications the novels have for morality, desired of her reader not an intimate recreation of the protagonists particularities and peculiarities, rather an identificaiton with the general role she fulfills. Austen seeks to aid the readers dependence on her for instruction, encouraging the indiviual instead to develop their own strategies and systems. To this end, she holds back from the reader. The shifts and charads of Emma are one tool she uses to achieve this. Such guise and disguise are no more absent from Mansfield Park. Yet here there is a slightly different emphasis of construction. The characters gather together to perform a play, an interesting juxtaposition thus occurs of the habitual performances the characters offer according to their social roles and relative positioning, and the stage performance, itself supposed to be the example of artifice. Aus ten has the characters take on pars in the playwhich make explicit, exaggerate or highlight the reality of the roles in life.So, Edmund has the part of a love-lorn clergyman, Mary thatof a fallen woman. The play removes the usual social bindings and gives vent to a liberated cast. The play itself, Kotzebues Lovers Vows, as evidence from the time suggests, was particularly notorious and widely banned. This, then to a contempoary audience would have set alarm bells ringing. At the same time this reader recognises what it is that the play has uncovered in the charcters. It allows them to act as they never could in the drawing room and presents a reality which, to Austen and the reader is distinctly plausible. In the midst of the cast is one voice raising doubts, that of Fanny. Fanny is the only one of the cast who has read the play through to the end and having considered it as a whole, feels uncomfortable with it. This is particularyl revealing. The other characters raise objections, make changes, but to their own parts, which they look straight o tin isolation, and in relation to its reflecion on them. The vanity which Austen repeatedly highlights among the cast ofcharactersincludes in it sdefinition both an exclusive self-interest and the pursuit of worldly goals. The theologiacal edge o this central vice in the novel ontrasts with the tint of religious colouringgiven to Fanny. Her credentials include Christianity, and as such an awareness of herself within a wider moral universe. It requires of her also a self-knowledge which is not indulgent or false, rather is encouraged by her honesty and uninflated awaerness of herself. It is such sef-knowledge that Austen desires to foster in her readers. In contrasdt with the Bertram sisters, Fanny is not led ast ray, her self-awareness enables amature firmness in her and facilitates a honed power of judgement. Austen illustrates in the maturing of Fanny across the three books how the kernal of self-knowledge present at the beginning which urges her to hold back and examine the situation around her adnd what it requires of her. Thu in the first book she i very much a peripheral observer, instinctually waiting in lieu of certainty and illustrating the struggle that it is to develop judgement. The characters occupying central stage at the time are neglecting such contemplation and establishmnt of foundations, something which Austen later illustrates is woefully neglectful and foolish as Fanny comes to the fore. In astens last novel, Persuasion the reader meets a character who is more mature than any of Austens others, and whohas pased through this perod of learning and establishing already. Anne Elliot, having been persuaded by a friend to break off her engagement witht he amn he loves, and is alone now in the world in which she is nothing without her husbands name, a fear reinforced by her fathers book Baronetage which has space only for her with a husband. And yet, as the novel develops, it is revealed to the reader as Anne herself recognises the extent to which she feels relief at the fate he hsa escaped. The world she inhabits is one nwhich she is expected to be a reflection of what others want from her. This is explicitly illustrated by her fathers mirrored dressing room, and recurrs elsewhere in the text. She comes to recognise in Mary and Louisa the person she could have become, and thus the imprisonment she has escape in the cage of male authority she would then have inhabited. A r eflection is only a superficial image, something the characters in the text dwell on, and indeed honour, for example Sir Walter, whose only concerns are the physical harmony and attractiveness of those around him and it is according to these standards he allocates value. The deeper self-knowledge that Anne comes to, her recognition of her love for Captain Wentworth, and ultimately her rejection of Lady Russell and her method of valuing the superfiial over more profoundemotion reresents her ultimate act of belief and self-knowledge. Much emphasis is given to the physical in Persuasion. Its settig for the most part is Bath, a place where people go seeking a cure for physical ailments. Moreover, scattered throughout the text are invalid, damaged and ill people. The superficiality of value based on appearance is constantly covertly attacked through the novel. The illness and decay whoich surround the main characters acts as a reminder of the fragility of the physical, and more imporatantly, of its temporality and the fleeting time it will last. Set against this is the firm, unchanging strength of emotion Anne feels for Captain Wentworth, and it is this which ultimate endures, and is in fact rewarded. Moreover Anne, external to the superficial concerns and currency of the sociey around is cast as nurse. It is she who has the tools and power to regenerate and restore. And so Austen can be seen to run together both a seemingly simple triumph of virtue over vice in all of these texts, with the more complexprocess by which this is achieved. The virtuous characters are the heroines, and those from whom the reader should learn by example how to do good. Yet, the less-than-virtuous characters of th enovels are equally as clearly protrayed, their vices rarely make them detestabe, indeed, often their enthusiasm is distinctly redeeming. In contrast, the heroine of Mansfield Park, Fanny, was even described by Austens own mother as insipid, and this si among th epolite criticism. Surely, it could be argued, by depicting vice so clearly, Austen is taking a risk? It is, of course, in keeping with what this essay has argued so far, Austen wants her reader to come to his own comclusions. Thus while giving examples of the virtuous, it would perhaps be neglectful or naive to exclude illustarions of the unvirtuous. Moreover, virtue then has something to be determin ed by. But, then there is another consideration to be made which sheds a deifferent light on the affection shown for the rebellious, bichy foils to the virtuous heroine. Austen, desptite the intricacies ad efort in volved in these novels designed to offer an eduaction to her audience of youngladies, lives a life which thoroughly contradicts what it is she offers as an ideal. Superficially she is an old maid, living within the close family circle of her aprents andsiblings, not seeking the advantages of marriage or the pursuits of a refined young lady. Yet to hold this up as hpocrisy would be missing the very essence of the points Austen is trying to communicate. She is after all trying to assert the more integral values of a firm morality and clear judgement over the trimmings of civilised life among the getility. Yet her identification with the rebellious charcters does seem to jar slighly with the life she suggests as an ideal. There seem to be indications that Austen herself is not enti rely convinced. There is a clear element shared by all the texts, but particularaly Persuasion, which explores the submission of women to male authority. It has been said of Anne that she has renounced her own life story, perhaps the ones that are being played out in the mirrors she sees around her. Austen expresses a sense of female maturity which constitues a fall from freedom and independence into a debilitating, ladylike dependence. This is something Anne has directly escaped, but suffers indirectly because the parameters of the world in which she lives define women only in terms of their position in relaionto men. The striong women figuring in the novel are absent forces: banished or dead, or widows, who have survived the male authority which previously defined them. This resistance to the common trends of social tradition which Austen acknowledges as almost irresistable forces in her own novesl is also played out in Ausetens own life by her. She acts, in writing, to liberate herself from the binds which weave themselves around the characters. Anne, in Persuasion, describes her distrust of literature, saying she will not allow books to prove anything because they were all written by men, just as her fathers Baronetage is, in which her role is seemingly defined. Anne feels at the mercy of such a tool which in her society seems to be weilded by men who govern what is recorded. Austen is un-writing this fear she describes in the novel by the very process of writing herself. Austen could use the novel form to re-write a reality in which she would not have to fight against such a dominant patriarchy. It is interesting that she does not choose to do this. Instead she writes of the society she experiences around her, and of potential experiences of ind ividuals within that society. Inthis sense, even if she doesnt address head on the issue of a moral negotiation of contemporary society, she does offer tactics for surviving it. So far, however, this essay has only addressed the mral guidance Austen has to offer the original audience, and has really only considered in depth hat the novels offer the specific details of comportment in every day society, indeed in teresting for the insight they offer. The rituals of, for example, an afternoon promenade, or an evening at the ball, or the definition of whether or not a young lady has come out is not relevant to us. Yet, as we have repeatedly identified in the process of this essay, this is not the focus of Austens attention, nor does it address the many depths at hich this essay functions. Thus do the novels offer anything of this type to a modern audience? Such values as a developed power of judgement and the ability of an individual to perceive themselves as part of a broader whole are things which are universally desirable. Despite the passage of thime, the humanit a modern audience shares with Austens original means the novels still have a relevance today. Th is is subject to the same conditions as Austens original audience received the works under; namely, she offers no dictatorial exposition of definite rules, rather novels require the same of the modern reader as of the original: an active involvement in the text in rder to develop fo himself that framework of values which is aspired to . Austen does not set up a polarity of right and wrong, although her life and writing were informed by a specific moral code, she is not interested in inflicting a narrow, over-simplified morality on her readership, rather Austen is in terested in the process by which morality is developed by and within the individual reader. She leads by exaple, offering illusrations both positive and negative. Though it can be argued that the continued, almost ridiculous, rushed endings in which everything climaxes happily ever after undermine the positive endorsement of the virtuous heroine and the conseueces of her decisions and choices, it is perhaps dangerous to take too simplistic and singular a view. As a proponent of moral frameworks, even if the minutiae of exactly what are difficult to pinpoint, it seems reasonable for Austen to expect tirumph for a moral person. She does not offer specific incentives to the reader for adopting a moral standpoint, this would undermine all the efforts involve d in creating a space in which the reader is free to choose. And yet it does make sense that for her this is seen as the logical conclusion. Rarely does Austen outright condemn a whole character, although her heroine may not come to a wholly favourable conclusion relating to them. While she advocates morality in a person, she proposes the possibility that there are variations within this remit. Perhaps this is because the parameters are imperfect, which makes a pure morality unlikely. The disparity between what it is that Austen advocates in her novels, and her own life raises interesting questions, perhaps she realises that an upstanding moral life is something to aspire to. It is certain that her focus is on the process, rather than the actual goal throughout the novels. This also is a principle which applies as much today as it did to the original audience. Thus her treatment of moral didacticism in her novels can be seen as offering universal principles for the on-going develop ment of an individuals moral wel-being, an idea which is bound into the teaching and worship of Christianity. It is also temporal, such that some of the considerations she has are subject to the specific confines of her own space and time. These are interesting, though less relevant ot a modern audience, but for Ausetn form the basis of an exploration and critique of the society in which she lives. Moralit is often talked of in terms of a set of values or a moral framework, the concept of morality is very much contained in the english language, and by extension, finite. Morality is not the only containing force present in the novels, but the expressions of it permeate. Persuasion for example, is set in Bath, which in the eighteenth century was a city of squares and circuses; neat, sterile containers, within which the gentry were protected from contaminating elements; the uncontolled wilds of nature, te dirt and defilement of the working ad lower classes. In part this is the effect of Austens desire to demarcate her subject matter, isolating it from the workings of society which do not concern them. This in itself may be a reflection on the narrow scope of the characters themselves, emphasising perhaps an unreality or dislocation of their lives which has implications for the validity of their claims. Emmas visit to the squalid labourers house seems charitable ad altruistic, yet wlaking roud the bend on the road away from the house she is able to leave such thoughts behind her, running straight back into present concerns of her own life. Bath is not the only confined space available. The drawing rooms and parlours of the various houses, though they may be large and sumptuous, still represent a form of imprisonment, the space the men allow the women and in which all of thier buisness is done. The idea of containment does not have positive association, and indeed it can be looked at in terms of bringing the situation under control. If everyone knows their place, and space, within the shared framework, the risk of anarchy or the unexpected is reduced. Austen knowing the limitationsin which the women live does not demand, she suggests and advises. She does not seek to impose another set of limits on her female audience. Anne, in Persuasion, through her circumstances, has broken throught the confines she is free to act on instinct and emotion, rather than leaving these considerations exclided; an assertion of the identifiably female within the patriarchy. In contrasst, Mrs Smith has been paralyzed by the circumstances she finds herself in; trapped by her impotence as a woman. Research Papers on What Moral Guidance Does Jane Austen Offer in Her Novels - Book ReviewsComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Fifth HorsemanRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThree Concepts of PsychodynamicEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenHip-Hop is ArtHonest Iagos Truth through Deception

Four play summaries essays

Four play summaries essays It takes place in a mental institution where a new patient has just arrived. This patient ends up messing with everyone and creating chaos in the institution. R.P. McMurphy is a new patient at the mental institution, he is a charming devil, who wants to serve a very short sentence in the mental institution instead of a long term sentence in a prison. This is a mistake, he suddenly learns, for he runs into Nurse Ratched, who can keep him institutionalized forever. He ends up taking over the ward, controlling the rest of the patients, and to the astonishment to medical professionals, he makes Chief Bromden, who was presumedly deaf and dumb, speak. He turns the other inmates into more extrovert people by doing all sorts of things, from playing games, arranging a party at midnight, or even staging a revolt so that the other patients can watch the world series. Afraid that McMurphy will become more controlling than she is, Nurse Ratched has McMurphy submitted to shock treatment. After he recovers, he is forced to undergo one of the worst 'treatments' for his final correction, a frontal lobotomy. However to save McMurphy from this, the Chief kills McMurphy, and escapes from the institution. List and Descrive the main characters in the play- R.P. McMurphy- Patient, very loud and obnoxious, very controlling and caniving Nurse Ratched- Very mean Nurse, likes to control all the patients in the institution, by any means necessary Chief Bromden- Deaf and dumb Indian, or pressumedly so. Identify and explain a key line in the play- It's not necessarily a key line during the play, its more of an instance during the play the sends everything spiraling down. During the scene in which McMurphy has finally pushed Nurse Ratched to her boiling point, and she turns him to shock treatment, then schedules a frontal labotomy for him, which causes the Chief to kill him, and get the other prisoners to escape. This is a story...

Business Plan

Business Plan Essay 1. 0 Executive SummaryThere are 3 major elements that helped incubate the idea behind Crowdz.com. The first element would be individuals, the average Joe on the street. The second, organizations that cater solely to entertainment more specifically, Clubs. Third the banning of cigarette companies from advertising direct nor indirectly in Malaysia. Crowdz.com has its total idea, image, and vision to thank for by the presences of individuals, specific age group 18 35 years old, with no idea as to where to party for the weekend or any other day for that matter. A group of four guys were sitting down at a cafe down town at Bangsar. Then the question came, Where shall we party tonight? There were silence for the next 10 minutes, serious brainstorming was at work. However none had a clue as to where to go. Hence ending up in a lousy joint where they had partied last week. Spending at a place, which cannot really give the satisfaction that, they were really looking for. Now, this is a true story. Clubbers, partygoers in general dont really know where to go for a good night out. Its boring to be venturing the same old place. There is not much advertisement for new and up coming clubs, even if there is, it doesnt really hit the market that well, as due to lack of funds to be splurged on advertising. The advertising would be minimal and hence not create a big BANG so to speak to the masses. A few questions had been thrown in for the idea behind Crowdz.com. Questions pertaining to Clubs:1)In what ways can small middle and even large scale clubs able to advertise with minimal cost?2)Why cut each other and try to slash prices of drinks with minimal effect to the masses? 3)Why dont clubs have a sense of belonging? E.g. A club that individually caters to playing House Music or Electronic Trance or Rave or Hip Hop RB or Latin Music? 4)How is a club suppose to capture a large group of audience for a certain event or special theme party? Questions pertaining to Clubbers:1)Where should I club tonight?2)Where are there promotions for drinks? / Where can I get a mug of beer for the cheapest price possible?3)Where can I go that solely plays House Music or Electronic Trance or Rave or Hip Hop RB or Latin Music? 4)Are there any theme parties for tonight? Any special events that would be different from normal clubbing nights for me to go to?Questions pertaining to Banning of Advertising for Cigarette Companies:1)How can the money that is supposed to be spent to advertising now be used?2)How cigarette companies are suppose to comply with the law and still have the luxury of advertising their product? 1. 1 ObjectivesCrowdz.com will totally change the way clubbers lead a lifestyle. Crowdz.com is not so much of an information-based site where by individuals will be able to get information on clubs. Its going to be a lifestyle that clubbers abide to. Its going to be the bible for the average Joe on the street that is out for a good time. Its a who le new lifestyle that will help give a guideline to occasional clubbers and hardcore clubbers. It is a meeting point, a melting pot, a union that will bind clubbers together to achieve a common goal, entertainment to its fullest! Crowdz.com will also revolutionize the way nightlife advertising is done. It will be able to help clubs segment the market, plan out parties and themes that will cater solely for optimum profits. Instead of clubs fighting each other to niche a small market, Crowdz.com will help coordinate each club individually so that it will not be jumping into a market segment that is already so saturated. For example, if there are too many clubs that identifies itself with Hip Hop music, Crowdz.com will be able to advise a new club to diversify into for example Latin Music, where there is a demand but not much supply in the market. Crowdz.com will be able to provide low advertising prices to clubs, with maximum impact to the target audience, via the internet. A website with the correct advertising and promotions

N2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

N2 - Assignment Example The skills and talents can be honed and developed to contribute to the care of the patient, while the personality of the person has to be taken into account when making decisions of a person’s role in patient care to maximize the good that person can do. The job factor is all about finding the right task for the right people. It means matching up jobs that require certain skill to someone proficient in that skill. It makes the job easier and more effective for everyone. To do this, one must know about the person taking care of the patient as well as the patient himself/herself. Fitting the job to a person’s strengths is not just a matter of making it easier. It is a wise use of resources which would be invaluable, especially in a hospital where lives are at stake. The organization is the interactions and the standards set between the health care staff. It is composed of the health and safety culture, the leadership system, and the communications of the health care providers. This is important because even if the right people are available for the right jobs, a lack of coordination from the organization could undo such advantages. Taken as a whole, The field of Human Factors are variables that define the relationships between people, work, and the systems governing them in a specific area (Carstens, 2005, p. 83). The effective manipulation of these factors in a hospital setting is matters of life and death, thus are sound candidates for careful scrutiny and application. In the medical-surgical setting, we can see many instances where human factors contribute to the welfare of patients. Sadly, mistakes are unavoidable, and it is here where we find the limits of the human factors, as well as areas to find improvement. Surgical practice is one of the best situations wherein human factors are apparent, and the effects are immediately appreciable. The

Case Study for ODP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Case Study for ODP - Essay Example As the reporter declares "my mentor, Dr. Hughes, supervised me as I took Mary and Mrs. Silvestre through the theater admission procedures. After sometime, Mrs. Hughes resolved to speedily nip to the lavatory in the process so as to get back, and relocate the patient into theatre. He left me to complete the remaining procedures and prepare the patient for admission. During this time, I observed that the agreement form had been contracted by Mary and a comment added to the notes that Mary thought she was pregnant. I proceeded to confirm this comment setting Mary free for theater admission after completing all required procedures. After transferring Mary into theatre, my mentor attempted to supplement a cannula in Mary’s hand. To my utter amazement, Mary was startled by a sharp pain inflicted upon her by the inserted cannula. She immediately withdrew her hand resulting in the cannula becoming dislodged with some blood spillage. I privately ask Dr. Hughes why such a unique occurre nce was taking place, and she quickly confessed that she had not really attempted a cannula procedure unsupervised before. I concluded that she must have forgotten to follow certain necessary procedures resulting into the pain experienced by the patient and consequently, the blood spillage upon withdrawal." Operating department practitioners (ODPs) have a huge role to play in seeing forth the liberation of patients from the anguish of various diseases. The situations to which operating department practitioners are often exposed as health care professionals are sometimes so complex and demanding including serious issues of health and wellbeing of various patients.

Long Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Long Paper - Essay Example This implies that the world should not be concerned with reducing consumption but reducing wastage since there are adequate resources for all people. Reduction of wastage can be accomplished through saving and recycling. While wastage can be found in almost all societal aspects, the most common forms include energy wastage and water wastage. Energy wastage can be attributed to lack of efficiency, using gas-guzzlers, and other practices that people may consider irrelevant such as leaving the water running while brushing the teeth. Although people may think that they are using the resources as they should, they may be wasting and still not realize it. According to statistical data, more than half of the energy produced is wasted through inefficiency and the fuel guzzling (Natural Resources Defense Council). The power plants also lead to high levels of power wastage. According to statistical data, power plants convert a mere 30% of the overall energy input into operational electricity. This implies that almost 70% of the fuel energy is wasted during the beginning of the power production process (WWF). These companies can improve the ir efficiency if they were willing to commit more financial resources into the power production process. This process can be improved if these companies could combine both power and heat production. These companies insist on using high heat production methods and situating these plants away from where people live. If this could be improved, there could be more than enough energy for usage in industries and homes and the call for reduction of consumption would not be relevant. The automobile industry is the other high-energy wastage sector in the society. An average automobile emits an approximated three times its weight in carbon dioxide annually. A vehicle with a consumption rate of approximately 7.8 liters in every 100 km travelling 10,000 miles annually would emit an