Othello Essays (982 words) - Othello, Film, Fiction,

Othello I am not what I am. An essay on Othello, question No 4. I will discuss this quote in relation to Lacan's ideas about language as the symbolic order. My aim is to show how Othello finds his identity threatened by Desdemona's reaction to his tales. In order to explain Lacan's ideas very briefly I will quote from Pam Morris: Literature and Feminism, (Blackwell, 1993) where she discusses the resolution of the Oedipal crisis. For Freud the outcome of the child's fear of castration is its submission to the reality principle and hence its entry into the social order. For Lacan this must coincide with the child's entry into the language system.....Language is thus the Law of the father; a linguistic system within which our social and gender identity is always already structured. (p. 104) Othello's identity in the Venetian society is his role as the Moor. Few people use his real name when talking about him. When speaking the given quote, Othello is telling the Venetians how he won Desdemona's heart by telling her the story of his life, and he now retells it to the Venetians. This tale-telling is a way of employing the linguistic system to reshape for himself a new identity with more positive connotations than the Moor can offer. The Moor is an expression the Venetians connect to other expressions in the linguistic system which all have a negative value. Examples are such expressions as old black ram, a Barbary horse, lascivious, and a devil. The negative overtone of these words will reflect back on Othello. He can't change his origins but he can try to change the connotations of the Moor. He can fill the expression with a new content and thereby give himself an identity he can be more comfortable with. This is what Othello is doing when he is retelling his history. Othello is obviously a good narrator; Desdemona can't get enough of his story. Expressions like seriously incline, with haste and greedy ear show Desdemona's eagerness for his storytelling. And ever..../She'ld come again shows that this has been happening over a period of time without Desdemona growing tired of his tales. The given quote implies that Othello feels he has been too clever for his own benefit. Desdemona's craving for his autobiography is felt as a threat; it may jeopardize his new identity. Othello says that she would: Devour up my discourse. It is in this discourse that his identity exists. If she devours up his discourse, she devours up his identity and leaves him where he started; as the Moor. Desdemona may represent the all-engulfing mother of the pre-Oedipal stage. This is a stage without structure, language or identity, an opposite to the linguistic system, the Law of the father. It is with a greedy ear she devours up my discourse. An ear is sometimes used to symbolize female genitalia and will here emphasize the fact that Othello feels the threat to be feminine. That he, through his discourse, is devoured shows that this feminine threat is all-engulfing. If Othello refuses to accept his old role as the Moor he will either be without an identity or be dragged by his self-fashioned identity back into the pre-Oedipal stage. These options are two sides of the same coin, he will lose himself either way. To give up one's self is the same as suicide. Both death and the pre-Oedipal stage are spheres without language, structure, intention or identity. To give way to the one or the other will have the same result for Othello; he will no longer be a conscious being. To save himself, Othello must get control over this greedy ear. Female sexuality was considered something scary which could best be controlled through marriage. A loose tongue was a sign of loose sexuality. Othello extends this notion to include Desdemona's greedy ear. He marries Desdemona and all is well until Iago implies that Desdemona is unfaithful. Unfaithfulness in a woman will reflect back on her husband. A cuckold is a ridiculous figure in other people's eyes. He must be seriously lacking in person for his wife to run after other men. Othello sees himself in the same situation as before the marriage. Instead of using her ears she is now using her sexuality to destroy the identity he has built up for himself. I

Ancient Summeria essays

Ancient Summeria essays During the time of ancient Egypt there lived many civilizations similar to the Egyptians. One of them being the Sumerians. This civilization lived in Western Asia in a place called Sumer. The people of Sumer had accomplished many things such as writing, a form of religion, and architecture. The type of writing the Sumerians used was called Cuneiform meaning wedged cuneus. Cuneiform, like hieroglyphics was made up of symbols and markings. Unlike the Egyptians though, the Sumerians didnt use papyrus to record their writing because papyrus did not grow in their environment. Instead they used sharp sticks called stylus to make their markings on soft clay, which would then dry. This method had its advantages because the writing would last longer and permanent. Like the Egyptians the Sumerians believed in polytheism, the belief in many gods. These gods resembled humans and like humans, Sumerians believed that the gods at one point suffered from human emotions: love, lust, hatred, anger and regret. They believed that the gods thought their biggest regret was the creation of human life. As a punishment these gods would send floods, which would destroy the Sumerians crops. Since the gods were unpredictable the Sumerians created astrology, which helped them predict what moves the gods, were going to make next. Sumerians did not believe in punishment or reward after death like the Egyptians did they believed that they Would live in a shadowy under world. The Sumerians had structures of worship called ziggurats. Ziggurats resembled Egyptian pyramids but were not used to burry people. A ziggurat where built in layer and on the tope layer there was a shine in which the people of the civilization went to worship the god that they believed in. On these ziggurats there were paintings of stories about the gods themselves. The Sumerians might have been trying to build a bridge between heaven and earth (Eimen and Rober...

Drawing on the literature, critically discuss the positive and Essay

Drawing on the literature, critically discuss the positive and negative factors that may directly or indirectly influence services workers job performance - Essay Example This is because; the potential buyers formulate their own perceptions regarding the organization and its service quality on grounds of its staff efficiency and service performance (Brown, et al., 2002). This research paper aims to critically analyze the positive and negative impacts of service worker’s job performance. It is highly rational to conduct this critical analysis because it aims to estimate the factors that might both directly and indirectly influence the quality of working within a service providing organization. In this era of â€Å"consumerism†, the firms aim to maximize utility of its potential buyers and hence their business revenue. However, it should be noted that customers satisfaction derived from the products or services of an organization considerably depends on the quality of services provided by the employees of the company. Thus, from the analysis and implications of this essay, managerial authorities of different companies can eradicate the pot ential problems faced by them in human resource management and hence improve the quality of their working in long run (Brown, et al., 2002). Economists treat labour resource of an organization as a type of capital. This is because a worker earns money with the help of acquired education, work experience and knowledge. Originally human capital was perceived to be a microeconomic concept but over time its implications are also linked up with the field of macroeconomics. Lucas introduced the â€Å"New Growth Theory† of economics and claimed that human capital productivity and economic growth is directly proportional to each other (Brown, et al., 2002). A rise in the efficiency level of human capital helps to augment economic surplus procured by the profit making firms within a country and finally leads to growth of its national domestic productivity level. Researchers have stated that quality of schooling, educational level of parents, before and on-the-job training significantly influences the

Information System Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Information System Development - Essay Example System developers can create new systems according to the needs of users on request or they can have foresight and anticipate users’ needs then create systems with this in mind (Whetten 2002, p. 45-71,). As systems are created by human beings, they cannot be entirely perfect, but trying to reach perfection and minimizing errors should be priority when creating systems. This is because users tend to move on fast from systems that are prone to failures, errors and mistakes, thus running the reputation of firms creating such systems and wasting time and money. With this in mind, system developers should strive to get as many details as possible about users’ needs in order to create systems in line with their needs, and one that works efficiently to meet these needs and requirements. Development of systems usually follows a systematic set of steps in order to ensure that systems produced work in accordance with the way they were supposed to. Missing any step in the developm ent might lead to errors that could easily be avoided. These steps also make it easy to pinpoint where mistakes have been made, hence it is easy to go back and rectify the errors, rather than tearing down the whole system to find the error. The order of steps in system development begins with a feasibility study to determine if the system is worth creating in the first place or not. After the worthiness of the project has been established, the planning process is next. Planning involves setting goals, timelines and determining all the necessities required in order for the project to be carried out successfully. Planning also involves coming up with a budget, creation of a team that will be in charge of the project, assigning of duties to the various team members, determining the chain of commands and to whom progress of the project will be reported, determining external; players and partners and the parts they will be playing in the project and sorting out other details. Failing to plan on any aspect touching the development of a system will have disastrous effects on the whole project (Blanchard & Fabrycky 2006). Systems analysis is a step that involves looking into the current systems in order to determine what users want that is not in these systems, then going ahead to create systems that give users what they need and require. After this has been determined, the system has to be designed, with the needs of users in mind and other anticipated needs (Caspi et al. 2005). In the designing of the system, several aspects are considered including detailed descriptions of its main features and how they work, screen layouts, business principles, legalities involved and other forms of documentation. This part is where the load of the work lies. After this is the implementation stage. Here, the code that is unique to the system being built is written. Code writing involves various numerical, alphabets and symbols that should not be easy to crack or identify by unauth orized users or authorities. Next is the integration of all the various separate parts of the system, as developed by the different people in the team, in order to make a whole part. The integration step involves the setting up of the system and testing it in order to determine if the end product is as required, to check for errors and potential weak points that might lead to the system not operating. Any errors found are rectified at this stage, and the

Coming to America Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Coming to America - Coursework Example Assimilation though is not so much of a problem with the second or third generations of immigrants as compared to the first generation immigrants because they seem to be all too willing to adapt with gusto the American culture, sometimes to the dismay of their immigrant grandparents. 2. What does it mean to be Americanized? The AudioEnglish.net website describes being Americanized as "an assimilation into American culture† (Americanization, n.d.). 3. Is this something that immigrants should strive for or avoid? I think that immigrants should try to be Americanized but not to the extent of totally abandoning their own cultures. 4. Why? Immigrants should not â€Å"give up† their cultures in exchange of the â€Å"American way† because their â€Å"culture represents their economic and political power in the United States, and, hence, culture becomes a weapon in helping them struggle to attain self-esteem and empowerment† (Park, 1999). However, it is important t o note that in deciding to become an immigrant, one should have already been prepared to yield to the American culture because at some point, it becomes a necessity if one wants to succeed and prosper in the United States. Discussion II 1. How does being an immigrant complicate or enhances the life experience of being an American woman? Being a woman immigrant in America has its advantages and disadvantages.

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry Music industry has been most significantly affected by such revolution of technology during the past few decades. The most significant innovation in the music industry has undoubtedly been the digitalization of music. Digital music technology has completely changed the underlying dynamics and economics of the music industry. From time to time, this has been an issue of debate and has seen many legal actions and sanctions (Matsuura, nd). Along with innovations in music technology, the issue of piracy has become the single most challenging and threatening problem in the music industry which has from time to time raised serious concerns and warned of the consequences on the industry. Music piracy can be formally defined as any form of duplication along with distribution of music without the formal permission from the entity holding the copyrights to that particular music. Directly interlinked with music piracy is the role of internet and related phenomenon such as file sharing or peer-to-peer sharing (P2P). Internet growth and innovation are largely to be blamed and held responsible for the crisis in the music industry circles that affects its three major players including recording companies, artists and consumers (Patokos, 2008). Not only the music industry is facing losses but the quality of music is also threatened by piracy. According to Hull (1998), the music industry profits from its three major revenue streams: Purchase of recorded music. Broadcasting recorded music. Industry for attending live performances. Here is the music industry vale chain as described in Meisel and Sullivan. (2002). The Music Industry Value Chain Source: Meisel et al. (2002), p.18. We all know how easy it is to gain access to the authentic and copyrighted music through duplicated CDs and file sharing (without paying any royalty to the owners of music) on internet (Bozina, Dumancic and Knezevic, 2007). Research Purpose The major purpose of carrying out this research is the importance of significant technological developments on the music industry circles and the ways in which issues such as copyright, authenticity, illegal production and distribution of music affect the various participants of the music industry circle. It will bring into focus the particular technological changes over the past two decades and evolution that has come to impact the way music is produced and distributed. It will also help the readers understand the legal implications of the issue. Finally the research will investigate the major problem areas that threaten the music industry, particularly emphasizing on the revolution of MP3 technology and Compact Discs and it will conclude with quantitative and qualitative analysis of the relevant variables that influence the revenues of music industry. Research Questions Is the modern music industry suffering from pervasive effects of internet theft, piracy and flouting of copyright rules? How important it is to critically analyse the legal and technological implications of the MP3 technology on the business of music? Importance of Research The issue of piracy needs the special attention of industry and law experts as we cannot let the phenomenon continue to wreck the music business. The MP3 effect influences the sales of music albums, though the law can spur legal actions in favour of ban the MP3 use but it is not a practical solution. On the one end technology eases and improves the production and distribution of music and on the other it should provide the end listeners easy and cheaper access to high quality authentic music. Brief Literature Review Until the 1990, music business was correctly anticipated but soon after this period, the forces shaping the business began to change. The first ever music cassette was introduced in 1963 by PhilipsÂÂ ©. It became a very popular mode of entertainment exploited by the car makers (Morton, 2004). The year of 1979 revolutionized by SonyÂÂ © which the first hand held music player device. It came to be known as Sony WalkmanÂÂ © (Thomas, 2006). Both Philips and Sony collaboratively brought in the most advanced technology (still remains so with more advanced variants such as DVD and Blu-RayÂÂ © technology) called as Compact Discs (CDs) and the players used to play the media known as CD players. By 1988, the CDs became the most popular technology for distributing music in standardized format which became universally accepted by the music industry and CDs outsold Long Playing record albums (LP) (University of Minnesota, 2008). The technology called Digital Audio Tape (DAT) w as introduced by Sony the next year. It remained the most popular recording technology for professionals during the 1990s (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The other leader in musical innovation PhilipsÂÂ © launched Digital Compact Cassette to counter SonysÂÂ © DAT technology. SonyÂÂ © released the Mini Disk (MD) in response to DCC. MD provided with professional high quality recording to the professionals (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The music was most dramatically distributed on the CDs and hence their use was most widespread. CDs were used by all of the major recording labels due to persistent decrease in the prices of CDs (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The following Table 2.2 presents the change in the prices of CDs in the US music market between 1983 and 2006. Table 2.1. Decline in the prices of CDs from 1983 through 2006. Source: RIAA, 2007 The technology called CD- Recordable (CD-R) was introduced in 1990 and it was the first opportunity for the consumers to successfully duplicate the contents of the music albums without compromising on the quality of music and this allowed for piracy to be practised by consumers and other players such as illegal music uploading sites (OMalley, 1998). In US, 288 million CDs were sold only in one year, 1990 (Amoah, 2005). The role of computing and internet technology proved instrumental in spreading the crisis in the music industry. It was only in 1991 that computers came with the technology that played its users to play and listen to music. This development was attributed to Ad Lib and Creative Labs who introduced the technology of sound cards integrated into personal computers during manufacturing stage (Dixon, 2010). It heightened the interest of consumers to reproduce the authentic contents on CDs, CD-Rs and more advanced recording media such as DVDÂÂ © and Blu-RayÂÂ ©. However the real trouble was the introduction of the technology that made it possible to encode music as digital files on the computers, the most critical one was MPEG3 or MP3 (Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3). MP3 was introduced on 26 November 1996 (Belis, 2010). MP3 became so critical because it allowed users to create copies of music albums to near perfection. The fact that MP3 files could be stored on computers and handled as any other file stored on it, the exchange of such music files was facilitated with an extreme ease. With MP3 came the MP3 players to play them on standalone basis. Elger Labs was the first one to develop and commercially release the MP3 player known as MPman and was priced at whopping $250 only to store some eight songs. The revolution in MP3 players was brought about by Creative Labs in the year 2001 when it released an MP Player with much higher storage capability of 6 Gigabytes in comparison to MPman. But this was just a phase of development and it saw the launch of the worlds most foremost technology in MP3 players, it was the release of the device called IPOD by Apple (Menta, 2004). In todays time most of the youth carry an MP3 player and IPOD remains the most favourite among all the options available. The problem would not get aggravated if mp3 files were restricted in the hands of individual users but the use of internet provided a platform that allowed sharing of music through online modes. The pioneer of music sharing technology was a website known as Napster (Patokos, 2008). This was a platform for various internet users for sharing of music files stored on the computers hard drives between the users. This is known as peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of files. Napster assumed profuse growth in P2P sharing market until it was successfully busted down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2000 with the help of judicial order (Riedel, 2006). The most recent and devastating innovation in the recent years has been the illegal use of a collection of files known as torrents. These torrents are downloadable through applications known as torrent downloader. There are sites such as Pirate Bay and BT Junkie which provide a collection of torrents downloadable by using applications such as Azureus and ÂÂ µtorrent. The torrent era is most destructive because sharing is not confined to sharing of music files. Such sites are now being used for sharing anything from music files, audio books, movies, software and other miscellaneous files. It has almost become a social networking cult among the youth and value of such networks increases as they become larger and more extensive. While the RIAA was successful in cracking down Napsters services, they have been unsuccessful in preventing the expansion of torrent based programs as mentioned ahead in the report. Since the conception of P2P the sale of physical CDs has been steadily declining every year (Powell and Smith-Doerr, 1994). Table 2.3 clearly represents the huge growth in the digital modes of music access and significant declines in the sales of physical music media. The newer and more devastating impact has been inflicted on music industry by applications like torrent downloaders as such networks differ from Napster like technology because they do not rely on a single centralized server but the download is carried out by a user from various servers or seeding points/seeders. Even the law becomes impotent in such situations because no single entity can be blamed for legal action. Manufacturers Unit Shipments and Retail Dollar Value Data Collection The data for the research will be collected from the Consumer Expenditure Survey tables available from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. It is an extensive database which provides minute details about the buying habits of the US consumers, their income and various household characteristics. It also provides survey micro data for individual consumers demographic and expenditure patterns (CES, 2010). I will also consult a range of websites for the purpose of collecting information and statistics related to the music industry. Music industry websites- The Nielsen Company, www.soundscan.com, Recording industry Association of America, http://www.riaa.com, Sony Music, http://www.sonymusic.co.uk, Universal, http://www.universalrecords.com, Warner Brothers Music, http://www.warnerbros.com/music. Audio technology sites- Diamond, http://www.diamonthrun.com, Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com, Music Match, http://www.musicmatch.com, Real Networks, http://www.real.com. Internet industry sites- Amazon, http://www.amazon.com, CD Baby, http://www.cdbaby.com, Emusic, http://www.emusic.com, MPEG, http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/, Napster, http://www.napster.com. Broadcast sites- BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk, Broadcast.com, http://www.broadcast.com, Cyberville Radio, http://www.cyberville.co.uk. Marketing sites- ViralMarketers.com, http://www.viralmarketer.com, Musicpromotion.net, http://www.musicpromotion.net. Another major database that I will gain access to is the comprehensive statistical analysis known as the Shipment Statistics Database available from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). I will need to contact RIAA through email to inform then regarding them my projects vital features and they will decide whether to permit access to the database. In the event of permission not being granted I will subscribe to it by paying a nominal fee (RIAA, 2010) Methodology This particular research work will focus on utilizing a research model that enables to exploit the benefits of methods such as qualitative analysis through behavioural questionnaire and interviews with the industry experts. Since the research fundamentally proposes that MP3 CDs and internet file sharing technologies impact the sales of original works of music. It is important to keep in mind the argument that such facilities decreased the CDs sales. To effectively deal with this question of importance, I will collect micro-level data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) available from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). It will certainly provide the answer to the debatable question whether file sharing has decreased the CDs sales figures. Similar studies have been carried out by experts such as Liebowitz (2004). I will also examine the connection between ownership of computers by households and figures for expenditures on music. It will help me analyse whether increase in computer ownership increases file sharing by consumers and subsequent decreases CD sales. Thus this study will constitute a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the mentioned research questions. Is there a solution? The diagram 5.1 below proposes the possible go-ahead for the music industry to survive profitably in the coming future. The first file sharing site, Napster was legally challenged in the court and was finally forced to shut down its illegitimate activity. Source: Bized, (nd).

Naked Essay -- essays research papers

Naked David Sedaris; Little Brown & co. 1997 â€Å" The women’s open† 1. Throughout the essay â€Å" The women’s open† David’s father obsession for golf is shown. The power of his obsession leads him to forget what should be important to him. 2. Sedaris expresses the lack of heart his father shows towards people and even his children when it comes down to golf. For example the first day Lisa ever got her period was out on the golf course while her dad was watching a professional tournament, at first while she complained about her back pains he just simply brushed her off. At the moment he realized the problem he asked a women just as devoted to golf as he to accompany her to the ladies room for a sanitary napkin. He kept David with him so he could run after the thin tees that usually flew 20 feet away from the golfers swing, just so he could keep them for good luck. On another occasion Lisa’s mother had recorded a video of movies that they enjoy watching together. After her mother had passed away Lisa searched everywhere for the video her mother had made for her. She found it in her fathers basement along with all his golf videos. As she began to watch the video memories began to arise until a man bending down on a golf course appeared on the screen. Her father had recorded a golf tournament over her mothers memories. Sedaris succeeded in letting the reader know how obsessed his father was with golf and the pain it put the family through. 3. Sedaris begins with a short passage foreshadowing an event that will occur that day. He begins this way to let the reader know that there is importance behind the story. After his foreshadowing he commences with the story. 4. Sedaris uses descriptive sets of paragraphs followed by dialogue to express what is going on. For example, returning from the tournament they find Lisa lying in the back seat of his Porsche. the first word out of Lisa’s mouth were not too pleasant . â€Å" My father sighed and shook his head in disappointment. This was the same way he reacted to my mother when anger and frustration caused her to forget herself. Lisa was not a daughter now but just another female unable to control her wildly shifting emotions. â€Å" Don’t mind her,† he said wiping a thin coat of pollen of the wind shield. â€Å" She’s just having lady problems.† † 5. I think Sedaris was very effective in his writing. I don’t like g... ...fe to what I believe he wished it was. But when it comes down it, his family has as many money problems as an average family. 3. Beginning his first line of his first essay in his book with a command he would like to give one of his servants is misleading. Sedaris structures his essay in a way that makes the reader believe that he is rich. But he expresses how he was far from being rich. 4. Sedaris language is beyond effective, his sentences are full of considedness and snobby comments. â€Å"When asked most people say my greatest asset is my skin, which glows it really does! I have to tie a sock over my eyes in order to sleep at night. Other’s like my eyes or my perfect ,gleaming teeth my thick head of hair or my imposing stature, but if you want my opinion, I think my most outstanding feature is my ability to accept a compliment.† His conclusion to the story makes up for all the nonsense he had mentioned before. 5. I thought Sedaris’s first essay â€Å"chipped beef† was a hilarious arrangement of considedness and make believe. Although this essay is not arranged with the perverted humor featured in some of his other essays, he had a very effective way in making the readers laugh