The Fall of Two Great Men Essay Example for Free

The Fall of Two Great Men Essay In many stories, the role of protagonist is to endure hardship and losses but regardless, the resolution in these stories tends to be a happy ending. However, some writers such as William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller prefer more tragic endings for their protagonists. Although the protagonists enjoy a happy life in the beginning of both King Lear and Death of a Salesman, we quickly see their uprising hardship, loss, and their inevitable destruction. Not only the destruction of their surroundings but of their civilization, their family, and most importantly of themselves. In the beginning of the Shakespeares play King Lear, we see Lear as a strong and dominant ruler of the kingdom. His temper shows arrogance and that he is of strict judgment, which is first seen against Cordelia and Kent as they had both unpleased Lear by saying something he did not wish to hear. CORDELIA [ASIDE]: What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent.(Shakespeare, Act I,i, 62-63). This marks the beginning of the downfall of social order. This begins the collapse the great chain of being. Once the king surrenders the kingdom to his corrupted daughters, Goneril and Regan (whom he finds loyal), its only matter of time before social order ceases to exist. This also shows the breakdown of family as Cordelia was to marry the king of France due to her banishment set forth by Lear himself. Goneril and Regan plot the end of Lears kingdom by totally removing his title as king from the kingdom. Although set hundreds of years apart, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, faces a similar crisis. Although initially seen as a happy family, we soon learn that Willy Loman has had as affair with another woman. We also find out through one of his constant flashbacks that his older son Biff finds out about the affair and begins to distance from his father. Willy always forced his son Biff to become a successful in life but that became impossible as Willy slowly started to go insane. As a result of the affair and Willys  insanity, Biff decides to leave his father and Willy, now heartbroken, desires to commit suicide. And consequently, this results in the breakdown of their once happy family. Near the climax of the story, Willy also realizes that he himself is primarily at fault for Biffs struggles in life. Due to his lack of encouragement to help improve his sons school grades (math specifically), Biff must endure such hardships later on in life. Willy Loman and King Lear are both very different characters in terms of status but are yet very alike as they are both perfect examples of tragedy in each play. Willy Loman, who believed himself to be a big shot, and well liked, got fired from his job where he had worked for many years and lost respect from those around him. Thus, the social order in the story begins to collapse. The loss of his job creates financial problems for Willy, making it impossible for him unable to pay off his debts. His friend Charlie offers him a job but Willy refuses because of his pride. Furthermore, his belongings, be it furniture or electronics begin to break down. According to the common conception at the time that an item becomes useless by the time it is paid off also contributes to Willys stress, leading to his insanity, which tragically led to his death. Lear suffers a similar struggle as he becomes fed up with the drastic overturn in his life, that he has been betrayed and treated like dirt by his own daughters. What strikes him hardest is at the climax of the story, when Lear realizes Cordelias loyalty to him. In the resolution, Lear finds not her beloved daughter but only a lifeless corpse of her. Lear, heartbroken, sheds tears of sorrow and dies from that broken heart. Its very clear that such sufferings and unfortunate experiences create very tragic situations that can lead to the downfall of the protagonist. Both Willy Loman and King Lear made crucial errors because of their overweening pride, which lead them to their inevitable destruction. Their faults led them from one crisis to another, creating such tragic endings for them. In the end, all they were left with was pain and destruction. They caused harm to those around them, their family and most importantly, themselves. Bibliography 1. King Lear Shakespeare, William. _King Lear_ England: Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd., 1964. 2. Death of a Salesman Miller, Arthur. _Death of a Salesman._ Toronto: Penguin Books Ltd., 1977.

Richard III as a Successful Politician Essay -- Papers

Richard III as a Successful Politician Shakespeare's Richard III is set in England after the War of the Roses. Richard, the megalomanic eponymous character, is desperate for the throne of England. He tells us that he seeks the crown to compensate for his deformity (he was a hunchback from birth). Richard has his own brother killed and later has former allies and those who still stood in his way killed also. When Richard eventually gains the throne he finds his conscience and begins to feel insecure, he has the two Princes he has locked away killed. Nobles are horrified by his actions and establish a rebel force lead by Richmond. During the Battle of Bosworth FieldRichard is defeated and killed in hand to hand combat with Richmond, who then takes the throne and becomes King of England. The word 'political' can have more than one meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary has a few definitions of political and politician: 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state. 2. Relating to, involving, or characteristic of politics or politicians: 3. Interested or active in politics. 4. Having or influenced by partisan interests: The court should never become a political institution. 5. Based on or motivated by partisan or self-serving objectives: a purely political decision. 1. One who is actively involved in politics, especially party politics. 2. One who seeks personal or partisan gain, often by scheming and by manoeuvring Richard has shown several of these characteristics and so can be described as a political character.... ...d, therefore, that Richard was not a success as he was killed although he failed militarily rather than politically and had succeeded up to that point. As Richard failed as a soldier, he could still be called a successful politician. Political could also mean artful, ingenious, unscrupulous and cunning all of which can be applied to Richard at some point during the play. Richard is sly and gets away with treason, a crime punishable with death, he manages to put the blame on other people and avoid punishment himself. This could be considered successful, as he was never caught. Going back to the criteria for a politician it can be said that Richard is definitely a politician "one who seeks personal or partisan gain, often by scheming and by manoeuvring" but it is difficult to say whether he was successful or not.

DICOM VS Captiva Case Study Essay

1. What are the key business success factors and risks for DICOM and Captiva? DICOM is a Swiss company that has sales in Europe, Asia, and the United States. They provide services ranging from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured information capture products. DICOM also sells hardware, primarily scanners, through its group sales force. DICOM has differentiated their product offering for the different regions that it operates. And the products that are provided are developed through research and development and also acquisitions. This allows DICOM to provide a diverse set of products that can cover many markets and many different users. DICOM operates in the U.S. under Kofax capture software that was bought in 2004 and primarily offers the information capture software’s to their consumers. There are risks in this industry. DICOM operates in many different markets and is subject to inflation, interest, and foreign currency risks. DICOM operates in three different geographic segments that are managed independently of each other. Each market has their own inherent risks and DICOM needs to be aware of every possible circumstance in order to remain prosperous. Captiva Corporation is a U.S. based company that provides similar services as DICOM. Captiva sells structure, semi-structured, and unstructured information capture products, but also sells hardware. Captiva uses its own research and development, as well as strategic acquisitions to provide customers with the different types of information capture products. Captiva sells primarily in the United States, but is able to sell in the areas of insurance, financial services, technology, government, and manufacturing. Involvement in so many distinct markets allows Captiva to hedge their risks better against harsh economic times and different interest rate risks. Additionally, Captiva has a large chain of resellers, which accounts for nearly 39% of revenues. Future profits will best be achieved by leveraging to existing customer base, increase reseller sales, moving into new markets, and broadening the product offering. But like DICOM, Captiva has business risks that they need to be aware of in their industry. Captiva has 80% of their sales in the United and States and cannot hedge their risks if a crisis develops in that country. Captiva has a large amount of revenues coming from resellers and a drop in this segment could lose the company millions. 2. Do the financial statements for the two firms enable you to compare their performance? If not, what changes need to be made to ensure comparability? The financial statements are for two different governmental requirements from two different countries. DICOM operates under the European system of IFRS and Captiva operates under GAAP. With this said, just looking at the financial statements makes it extremely difficult to determine performance. To be able to make a comparison between the two companies easier, their needs to be a reconciliation of the two different accounting systems. IFRS and GAAP need to be put together to form one individual accounting entity. What exactly need to be changed are the standards. When looking at the balance sheet, you are able to see just how different the systems operate. In GAAP, cash is the first line, but in IFRS Fixed assets are the first line. Changing to a consolidated system would allow for the best way to make an accurate comparison between t wo firms in different geographical regions. 3. What financial ratios would you use to judge performance of DICOM and Captiva? How do they compare on these dimensions? The financial ratio used to give us a better assessment of performance is return on equity. Return on equity is the amount of income earned from shareholder investments. And this gives us a look at how much money a company is able to generate from their shareholders. Return on equity is profit margin X asset turnover X financial leverage. The table below shows the ROE for the two companies in the periods of 2003 and 2004. As we can tell from the chart, Captiva earns more money per dollar of shareholder investment than DICOM. To further get a better understanding of the companies, we can use financial, liquidity, and debt ratios to measure performance. DICOM has a better return on assets than Captiva, but not by much. So, we can determine that they both are similar in this area. Captiva has higher gross margins and lower debt than DICOM. So, it is predictable that Captiva has access to money faster and can leverage this pool of resources to invest in R&D and acquiring new companies. 4. Which company do you rate as the better investment? WHY? Both companies are in a fast paced, technology based industry. Before investing, you need to do the proper due diligence into all functions of the business before investing. In this case, it is decided that we would invest in Captiva. Captiva is a U.S. based company that is diversified into many different sectors. They sell to government, insurance, technology, and manufacturing. This would help them hedge against economic risks. Captiva is also not as affected by inflation, currency, and interest rate risk as DICOM. Captiva also is currently providing a higher return on equity on their investments. This shows that the money that is provided is being used efficiently. Captiva seems to be doing well in the U.S. domestic market and has a secondary reseller section that provides stability and consistent revenues. Captiva seems to be the company that can provide the growth and sufficient returns on investments that we are currently look for.

The Birth Control Of Margaret Sanger Essay - 951 Words

In 1917, Margaret Sanger was arrested for distributing contraception pessirie to a immigrant women. Margaret Sanger, was a nurse, mother, sex educator, writer and most importantly an activist. Sanger, fought for women’s rights which one of the main one was to legalize birth control in America. During the process of fighting Sanger establish the American Birth Control League, now called Planned Parenthood. Sanger fund money to Grisworld the created of the hormonal birth control pill the dream of Sanger. Sanger, â€Å"wanted to have it all, and was birth control as the necessary condition for the resolution of their often conflicting needs.† (Chesler 25). Birth control has always been a colossal issue since it was invention in the 1960s by Griswold and has remained and extraordinarily controversial topic since. Therefore, if teenagers get their parent’s consent for birth control, teens will still manage to get their way and have sex, parent will think they are unhe althy, and last some parent would want their female teenager conserve until marriage. Meanwhile, if they do not get the parental consent, teenage will be encouraged to be more sexually active, female teenage will know they are safe on not getting pregnant, and it will encourage female be promiscuous. This world is now in the 21 century, teenage have a bigger mentality then parent. When it comes to sex teenage will find their way to be active even thought they are at an early age consider them immature, but some parentShow MoreRelatedMargaret Sanger And Birth Control1060 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Sanger, Also known for being a feminist and womens rights activist, and coined birth control to become legalised. Margaret started her mission to legalise birth control in 1916, she was know as a racist for the reason she wanted to have birth control was to â€Å"get rid of black babies†, but she had also believed in womens rights. In a 1921 article, she wrote that, â€Å"the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.† whichRead MoreThe Birth Control Of Margaret Sanger2106 Words   |  9 Pagescreation and use of birth control. Birth control not only gives women rights as to whether or not they want to bear children but it also helps women with menstrual cycles. Women at one point had no contraception or information on birth control. Imagine the world today without knowledge on contraception. Imagine how middle to lower class citizens would survive. Most of the children would be lucky to be fed yet alone college educated. This is all because one woman, Margaret Sanger, devoted her life toRead MoreMargaret Sanger : A Birth Control Activist1508 Words   |  7 PagesMargaret Sanger was not only a birth control activist, she was also an author, a nurse and a sex educator and many of her influences for being an activist come from her family. Born on September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York, she was the sixth of eleven children born into a poor Roman Catholic family (Sanger 14). Her mother had various miscarriages, which Sanger believed affected her mother’s health, and was a devoted Roman Catholic who believed one should conform to the rules while her father wasRead Mor eBirth Control Movement : Margaret Sanger1980 Words   |  8 PagesThe birth control movement was created in early 20th century by Progressive and Socialist reformers like Margaret Sanger. She and other birth control activists would fight for women’s access to birth control through the 20th century which has gone on to affect American women today. In order to analyze the affect that birth control has had on America, it is necessary to look at the works of Margaret Sanger and the birth control movement of the progressive era. A good primary source with informationRead MoreMargaret Sanger And The Birth Control Movement Highlighted1187 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement highlighted a variety of important issues. These issues include women’s right to make decisions privately versus the right of a community to regulate moral behavior; the ethnic demographics of the American people; the ability of women to control their own physical destini es by limiting family size; and the idea that small families were the way to keep the American dream alive. The debate over birth control spoke to personal and political issues, whichRead MoreMargaret Sanger s The First Birth Control Movement1288 Words   |  6 PagesMargaret Sanger revolutionized the world in a important way. Margaret Sanger was known for leading the birth control movement. She financed the research needed to develop â€Å"the pill†, an easy form of birth control that women could take themselves. She also founded the Planned Parenthood Federation Of America continuing her legacy of authoritative work to allow parenthood and birth control to be much easier. Margaret Sanger left a legacy of leading the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was bornRead MoreMargaret Sanger s A Moral Necessity For Birth Control1531 Words   |  7 PagesPublic discussions of birth control were criminalized under the Comstock Act of 1873 because people believed it was immoral. Margaret Sanger, who had opened the first birth control clinic in 1916 despite the Comstock Act of 1873, was a feminist and advocate. After serving prison time, Sanger returned publicly and illegally with drive to present a strong argument that defended the moral use of birth control. Prior to her morally controversial 1921 speech, Sanger was arrested in New York for her intentRead MoreMargaret Sanger And Birth Control During The Industrial Revolution979 Words   |  4 Pagesgiving birth.Women began to want to control their own bodies. Margaret Sanger took notice of the problems that women had to face and decided to do something about it. Margaret Sanger encountered many conflicts while she was fighting for legal use of contraception. Sanger believ ed that birth control gave women a choice to become a mother when she believed was ready. Birth control also gave women knowledge about their bodies and helped control the human population. Sanger was determined to reach a compromiseRead MoreMargaret Sanger s Stand Up For Birth Control Rights1513 Words   |  7 Pagesgiving birth multiple times and you are desperate to know of a way to prevent yourself from having more children. This was the exact case for millions of women in the twentieth century. Women had no rights as a person, nor did they have any rights to their own bodies. In this era, the topics of sexuality, sex and birth control were all taboo subject matters and never discussed between married or unmarried couples. It wasn’t until the year of 1912 that a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger startedRead MoreRhetorical Strategies Used in The Morality of Birth Control Speech by Margaret Sanger970 Words   |  4 Pagesaware or not, your strategies more than likely f all under ethos, pathos, or logos, that of which, I would like to uncover in the speech of Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger was, at large, a birth control activist, but this speech was more about the questioning of birth control corrupting morality in women. People must remember, in the day and age where Sanger presented this speech, November 1921, women were considered very far from equal and much closer to servants or maids. In her speech, I saw that