In Shakespeares Macbeth various devices are used to present the weird sisters as integral to the plot Essay Example for Free

In Shakespeares Macbeth various devices are used to present the weird sisters as integral to the plot Essay In Shakespeares Macbeth various devices are used to present the weird sisters as integral to the plot. In a modern context, are they still plausible figures? So witherd and so wild in their attire, that look not like thinhabitants othearth, and yet are ont? This description of the three weird sisters given by Banquo on first setting eyes on them creates an illusion of hell like hags; decayed and disfigured creatures. They are unnatural: they seem to be women but are not. It is Banquo who thinks they are evil: What! Can the devil speak true? Macbeth does not. Macbeth is intrigued by the sisters and later tells Lady Macbeth that he burned in desire to question them further. Macbeth asks the witches to stay showing he is interested in their predictions; Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. The sisters speak dangerous thoughts, the same perhaps already plaguing his mind. If their predictions were already thoughts in the back of Macbeths mind, then the sisters lack power over him at this point. By examining the first conversation he has with Lady Macbeth on first returning home from battle, And when goes hence, tomorrow as he purposes this could be seen as evidence of couple having discussed the downfall of Duncan on an earlier date. If this is true then the sisters could be seen as mere triggers; they release the fiery evil within Macbeth. The fact that the sisters are in the first scene of the play confirms that they are important characters and from what they say, When the hurlyburlys done, when the battles lost and won gives the impression they know what is going to pass in the rest of the play. They meet in foul weather and talk of thunder, lightening and the fog and filthy air, giving the audience a first impression that Macbeth is a dark, dangerous play in which the theme of evil is central. They embody a malign and demonic intelligence. Their information does tempt Macbeth-but it is crucial to remember: they do not invite him to murder Duncan or even suggest a thing. Information is morally neutral until human beings begin to interpret it. The three hags prophecy that Macbeth will be king, they make no inclination whatsoever how he will come about this regal title. A lingering question still remains; had Macbeth given thought to killing Duncan before, and if the sisters had not made their prophecy, would Macbeth have murdered Duncan that night at the castle? In fact this is an unanswerable question but at the same time also very crucial. For if the answer is yes, the sisters would no longer be integral to the plot but be there just for the means of a supernatural subplot. On the other hand taking it as is given in the play, the implications of this are that Macbeth relies wholly on the sisters to spur him on. Macbeth is not a fool he realises that the prophecies cannot be ill, cannot be good and the forecasts of the future must come at a cost. Later on though, Macbeth no doubt driven by the success of his murdering of Duncan, seems to forget the sisters haunt that none of woman born shall harm Macbeth and the movement of Birnam Wood. Banquos warning to Macbeth concerning the instruments of darkness might also be seen as prophetical; Macbeth is betrayed as a result of believing these truths, and he comes to realise this in his final confrontation with Macduff. As the play goes on Macbeth is mixing his conscious life with his subconscious and the weird sisters become like a drug for him; the more you get, the better you feel, the more you want. The weird sisters prophecies draw out the evil within Macbeth; everyone has the basis to be truly wicked but not all of us have the trigger to pull it off, most of us are too full of the milk of human kindness. Regarding Macbeth, the weird sisters were his trigger. The evil does not come from anywhere else other than human nature. The sisters have not completely managed to corrupt Macbeth though. Both before and after Duncans murder Macbeth shows signs that his own natural feelings are still present in his character and that the witches do not have total power over him. He is foul for the things that he has done but is somewhat fair as he still has a natural human conscience. Before the murder Macbeth thinks that it would be cruel to kill innocent Duncan: Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, Had I but died an hour before this chance I had lived a blessed time. His feelings about Duncans murder are very similar to those about Banquos murder although he only acted out the first himself. He is sick with worry and guilt about Banquos murder, so much so he is turned to near madness by the bloody ghost of Banquo haunting him. On stage, Shakespeare sought to make the Witches actable and recognisable to his audience.In Britain we either rationalise Witchcraft or mock it and we have the added problem of an audience having seen Macbeth a countless number of times, often in very unconvincing renditions of Double, double toil and trouble it has even become some what of a comic joke book. With hooked nosed women dressed in black with pointed hats chanting round a cauldron; not quite a depiction of three terrifying, blood curdling, residents of hell. Shakespeare himself had to make adjustments to keep up with stage fashion. Originally he had three devils in place of the weird sisters, but the theatrical currency of devils was already starting to devalue through overuse, and they were more likely to induce laughter than fear. James I who was on the throne when Macbeth was written, famously believed in witches, he even wrote the novel, Daemonologie on the subject. Yet, during the lifetime of the king, attitudes to stage witches shifted and they started down the same comic route as the devils before them. This might be why no one in the text of Macbeth uses the word witch. When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, weird characters were deemed capable of prophecy. Macbeth makes the association when he asks why the sisters stop our way, with such prophetic greeting. The modern mind, though, hear the modern denotation of weird, which incidentally, is used to describe those bearded ladies who vanish into the air. Formerly, weird ladies; those who endowed prophetic powers, were presumed to have magical powers as well. Now, ladies who think they have magical powers are presumed to be weird or peculiar Therefore it is becoming increasingly more difficult to make a contemporary western materialistic audience believe in them. Directors struggle to think of new interpretations of how to represent them. Are they young or old, male or female, disfigured or beautiful? Or even to represent them with the appearance of normal human beings, for that in itself is probably the most frightening understanding. Robert Cohen, in his 1982 Colorado Shakespeare Festival production, cast three beautiful women as the witches. Dressed in topless gowns they seduced Macbeth into a life of crime and corruption; here the weird sisters were depicted as real women more psychic than supernatural. Perhaps they too like Macbeth had morality, but had all the goodness sucked away and the evil human nature was dragged out of them and they were left even more corrupt than Macbeth is, at least he has the next life; hell we assume, they have to spend eternity festering in this world. This of course would be going against Shakespeares description of them but in my opinion in order to create three plausible figures in a modern context it is essential to create three characters; if they do even have any character that will make todays critical and realistic mind really believe that they are looking upon true forces of evil, rather than three women in black cloaks chanting round a cauldron. Personally it would not be plausible in my mind that they would be able to take the evil out of a man, who could do such terrible deeds. Perhaps a modern interpretation might be that it is genetics which control the way people make decisions; for if a director were to stage a futuristic Macbeth with the weird sisters as genetic engineers controlling the future, this would gain the desired effect on the audience; pure fear. Also, at the same time keeping up with stage fashions, test tube babies; the idea of creating humans unnaturally. For all our scientific rationality, modern society still acknowledges that there are forces we cannot explain. Some people believe in supernatural phenomenon; ghosts witches, evil forces; others would explain everything as from within the human mind; for example Lady Macbeth who generates the evil is already within Macbeth, therefore are just plot devices, there to release it from him. Even though they cause no first hand evil themselves, they evil that they thus create by delivering their riddle like prophecies is integral to the tragedy of Macbeth and without them fair would not be foul and foul would not be fair.

ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 3 Final Essay examp

Final Exam Questions -- Economics 4131, Spring 2006 1. Explain how the gold standard operated in the classical period (1870-1914). What were the advantages and disadvantages? Some say the gold standard sacrificed internal balance to external balance. How? What were the â€Å"rules of the game† and what would happen when they were violated? What would happen when the demand for monetary gold rose faster than the supply, and why was this a problem? 2. Explain the functioning of the Bretton Woods currency arrangement. Why was it designed as it was? What strains appeared over time, and what factors led to its collapse? What was â€Å"Triffin’s dilemma†? 3. Use the national income accounting identity to explain the phenomenon of â€Å"twin deficits.† Explain how the surge in the U.S. fiscal deficit has spilled into a need for international finance. What are the current sources of this finance? Describe the dilemma facing the Asian central banks. Describe the â€Å"hard landing† scenario. What needs to be done to ensure a â€Å"soft landing†? 4. Explain step-by-step why and how a central bank might w...

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway, which took place in the Pacific from June 4-7, 1942, is considered to be the most decisive battle between the American and the Japanese naval forces during the Second World War. The stunning defeat suffered by the Japanese Navy resulted to the loss of four of its large carriers and effectively loosened Japan’s stranglehold over the Pacific region. This development enabled the Allied Forces to seize the initiative in the region (Naval Historical Center 2005).The decision to attack and capture Midway was part of the Japanese campaign in the region which started in December 1941 with the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, the purpose of which was to seize American, British, and Dutch territories located in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (Naval Historical Center 2005). Japan first surprised the American Fleet which was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Then on December 10, the Japanese forces occupied Guam. Wake was the next to fall, on December 23, 1941. On February 15, 1942, Singapore also fell to Japanese hands (Geocities.com). Then the Japanese also seized Malaysia, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and other groups of islands located in the western and central Pacific. It was only the first phase of the Japanese campaign in Asia and the Pacific and it was easily completed without much opposition from the surprised Allies by March 1942 (Naval Historical Center 2005). On January 23, 1942, the second phase of the Japanese campaign was planned by order of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters. Its objective was to effectively isolate India and Australia from the war.For this phase to be completed, the Japanese forces planned to launch offensives aimed at capturing vital bases located in the Solomon Islands and Papua-New Guinea. Their intention was to utilize these bases to support their planned campaign against Samoa, Fiji, and New Caledonia. During the first half of March, after successfully occupying the northern coa st of Papua-New Guinea, the next objective of the Japanese forces was to seize Port Moresby which was nearer Australia, being situated in the southern coast.Their plan was to launch an amphibious assault in order to capture the Port (Naval Historical Center 2005). At the outset, however, phase two of the plan of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters which was to occupy the islands of Fiji and Samoa was opposed by the Commander-in-Chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto Isoruku, who believed that the two islands were not strategic enough to merit Japan’s attention and resources. Instead of Samoa and Fiji, Admiral Yamamoto Isoruku wanted to seize the island of Midway located in the Central Pacific.Although the General Staff of the Japanese Armed Forces was inclined to decide in his favor, the plan of attack which was presented by his staff did not prove plausible enough for the General Staff, thereby eliciting objections from some of its members. Because of these objections, Admiral Yamamoto threatened to resign his commission if his plan was not approved (Microworks. net). However, Yamamoto’s plan suddenly became acceptable to the General Staff after the Imperial Japanese Navy, whose primary task was to protect the Home Islands, suffered what was considered to be its most humiliating defeat of the war.The date was April 18, 1942 and the occasion was the attack on several Japanese cities and towns, including Tokyo and Yokosuka, which was carried out by â€Å"eighteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers† which took off from the U. S. carrier Hornet. Although the bombers, which were commanded by Lt. -Col. James H. Doolittle, were not able to inflict considerable damage, the attack left the Japanese in fear of similar occurrences in the future which might result to the Emperor’s palace being hit.The attack also demoralized the members of the Japanese Armed Forces. Because of this, Admiral Yamamoto’s threat of resignation wa s treated seriously and his plan of attacking Midway was accepted in full by the General Staff (Microworks. net). Admiral Yamamoto’s plan, as presented and approved by the Naval General Staff for implementation on May 5, would involve the whole Combined Fleet. It consisted of â€Å"seven battleships, ten carriers, some two dozen cruisers, and more than seventy destroyers† which, at the time, were distributed among six fleets.According to Yamamoto’s plan, he would lead the â€Å"main body† of the force which would consist of three of Japan’s most powerful battleships: the Nagato, Yamato, and Mutsu. Hosho, a light carrier with eight attack planes on board for anti-submarine duties, would be supporting the three battleships. Several destroyers would serve as a screening force for the â€Å"main body† (Microworks. net). The second element would be the â€Å"Aleutians Strike Force† under Vice-Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro. It was composed of th e light carrier Ryujo and Junyo, a cruise liner which was converted into a carrier.This force, which also included the battleships Hyuga, Yamashiro, Fuso, and Ise, would be protected by a number of destroyers and cruisers. Another element of the Combined Fleet, the Second Fleet, was commanded by Admiral Kondo Nobutake. Aside from the battleships Haruna and Kongo, Admiral Kondo Nobutake, whose primary responsibility was to provide protection for Rear-Admiral Tanaka Raizo’s â€Å"Invasion Force,† also had at his disposal the light carrier Zuiho and a big complement of cruisers and destroyers (Microworks. net).The pride of the Combined Fleet was, however, Vice-Admiral Nagumo Chuichi’s â€Å"First Air Fleet. † According to historians, this fleet was already known to sow fear among the enemy ranks because of its role in the attack of Pearl Harbor and in every major operation since conducted by the Japanese Navy. This imposing force consisted of two heavy cruis ers, two battleships, and a squadron of destroyers (Microworks. net). However, what really made this fleet a force to reckon with were the Japanese Navy’s six heavy carriers, namely: Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, Hiryu, Zuikaku, and Shokaku.For this particular mission, however, the carriers Zuikaky and Shokaku could not participate in the action because of the heavy damage which they suffered during the earlier â€Å"Battle of the Coral Sea† (Geocities. com). The plan called for a diversionary attack against the Dutch Harbor facilities of the United States Navy in the Aleutian Islands so that the American forces, especially their carriers, would be forced to leave the vicinity of Midway in order to defend Alaska.This diversionary attack would be conducted by the â€Å"Aleutians Strike Force† under Vice-Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro. After luring the Americans away, the planes from the carriers of the Combined Fleet would conduct an air strike against the American defenses in M idway. At the same time, the forces of the Combined Fleet would prepare to ambush the American ships once they go back to defend Midway. After sinking the American ships, the Japanese, using their seaplanes, would immediately occupy some parts of Aleutian Islands such as Kiska and Attu, including Kure Island, and Midway itself.Admiral Yamamoto also wanted to decimate the American naval forces by putting in place a submarine cordon near the islands of Hawaii so that a weaker American fleet would make contact with his â€Å"main body. † This plan was approved by the Naval General Staff under the leadership of Admiral Nagano (Microworks. net). Historical observers, however, noted two significant defects in Admiral Yamamoto’s plan. The first defect was his failure to appreciate the true worth of the aircraft carrier in the conduct of naval operations.He did not realize that his carriers could be devastating without getting dangerously near the enemy ships by simply dispatc hing their aircraft complement. Since he was not convinced of the carrier’s importance, Yamamoto considered his battleships to be more valuable than the carriers relegating the latter to a supporting status. In addition, because of the slowness of his big battleships, the other ships which composed the Combined Fleet were forced to keep pace, effectively affecting their maneuverability (History Learning Site 2009).The other, more significant and consequently more fatal, defect of Yamamoto’s plan was the fact that his diversionary attack against the American facilities in the Aleutian islands was bound to fail because the Americans were already aware of it and in fact, knew that his real objective was Midway. Because of this knowledge, American ships were not lured to the defense of Alaska and instead waited to ambush Admiral Yamamoto’s fleet (History Learning Site 2009).The Americans knew of Yamamoto’s plan to attack Midway through two naval intelligence stations. One was operating out of Melbourne, Australia while the other was based at Pearl Harbor. These intelligence facilities were able to intercept radio communications which helped them not only to pinpoint the locations of the major fleets of the Japanese navy but also to study their operational patterns. Based on these, the Americans were able to predict the future operations of the Japanese forces (Naval Historical Center 2005).As early as May 25, the Americans were already aware of Yamamoto’s intentions and prepared accordingly. Their three carriers which were at sea at the time were immediately ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. The carriers USS Hornet and USS Enterprise which comprised Task Force 16 (TF 16) arrived on May 26. USS Enterprise of Task Force 17, on the other hand, came back on May 27. However, since it suffered major damage during the â€Å"Battle of the Coral Sea,† USS Yorktown had to undergo urgent repair to prepare it for another battle.The r epair that was supposed to be completed in three months was rushed in only three days to enable the carrier to participate in the â€Å"Battle of Midway† (Geocities. com). Meanwhile, over in Midway, the Americans scrambled to strengthen their defenses. Six brand-new â€Å"Avenger† torpedo planes which missed their mother carrier (USS Hornet) were deployed to Midway. Then seven F4F-3 and another twenty F2A-3 Marine fighter planes were also added to Midway defense, in addition to 27 dive-bombers, 23 army bomber planes, and 32 reconnaissance planes (Geocities.com). On May 29, TF 16 under the overall command of Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance sailed out of Pearl Harbor to prepare for the battle. It was composed of the carriers Enterprise and Hornet, with a screening force composed of four heavy cruisers (Minneapolis, Pensacola, New Orleans, and Northampton), two light cruisers (Vincennes and Atlanta), and a total of nine destroyers. On the other hand, TF 17, which was under the command of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, was not able to sail until after the completion of the repair of USS Yorktown on May 30.The screening force of TF 17 was composed of Portland, which was a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser (Astoria), and six destroyers. The mission of TFs 16 and 17 was to lie in wait for the Japanese naval fleet (Geocities. com). The diversionary attack on Dutch Harbor was launched by the â€Å"Aleutians Strike Force† under Vice-Admiral Hosogaya Moshiro at 0243 hours on June 3. The attacking force consisted of a total of 35 planes: twelve dive-bombers and six Zero fighter planes from the light carrier Junyo and eleven torpedo bombers and six Zero fighters from the light carrier Ryujo.Although the Americans defended with heavy anti-aircraft fire, the Japanese attackers were able to kill more than twenty American sailors and soldiers in the course of shooting up their army barracks, a radio station, and a tank farm. The â€Å"Aleutians Strike Force,â₠¬  however, did not succeed in its actual mission which was to lure the American naval forces present in the area away from Midway. What happened was that one Zero fighter plane which made an emergency landing was later recovered by Americans who later discovered the one weakness of the plane: â€Å"a very light armor protection.† This weakness was later exploited by the Americans to defeat the Zeros which earlier terrorized the skies over the Pacific (Geocities. com). Meanwhile, the attack on Midway took place early morning of June 4 – the first day of the Battle of Midway. A total of 108 planes took part in the first attack. Thirty-six were fighter planes (nine each from the four carriers) while the remaining 72 were bombers. The other Japanese bombers were kept in reserve in the four carriers just in case a second attack would be needed or if American ships showed up.While the attack on Midway was ongoing, the Japanese fleet also dispatched three reconnaissance pla nes to search around in case American naval fleets showed up to intervene. At almost the same time, the American defenders in Midway launched six â€Å"Wildcat† fighters to patrol the skies and 11 reconnaissance planes to search for the Japanese fleet. Two of the reconnaissance planes of the Americans spotted the Japanese fleet at around 0530 hours and 0552 hours, respectively. By 0600 hours, Midway dispatched all of its bombers to launch an attack against the Japanese carriers.The Americans, however, were almost annihilated by the anti-aircraft guns of the carriers and the more superior Zero fighters of the Japanese (Geocities. com). In the end, the Americans were aided by their more superior intelligence. While the Japanese reconnaissance planes finally spotted the American fleet, they were not able to identify the kinds of ships composing the American fleet. In other words, the Japanese commanders did not know whether carriers were part of them. In contrast, the Americans knew with certainty that the four heavy carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy were in the Japanese fleet.In the final analysis, the defeat of the Japanese came as a result of their indecision whether to arm their planes with bombs for the Midway attack or torpedoes needed to attack the American ships, especially their carriers (Geocities. com). In the absence of an intelligence regarding the composition of the American fleet, Vice-Admiral Nagumo Chuichi, the commander of the â€Å"First Air Fleet,† decided to load his planes with bombs so that the second attack on Midway could be launched. He thought that if the American fleet did not have any carrier with it, the attack on Midway should take precedence.When the report from their reconnaissance planes came in at 0820 hour stating that the American fleet included a carrier, Vice-Admiral Nagumo Chuichi changed his decision and ordered that the bombs be replaced with torpedoes so that an attack against the American fleet could be launched. Unfortunately, he could not immediately dispatch his planes because he still had to wait for the planes from the Midway attack to return safely to the carriers, otherwise all the returning planes would have to ditch because they could not land on the carriers.This moment of confusion left the Japanese fleet without any aerial defense and allowed the Americans to attack the Japanese carriers. In the end, all four heavy carriers of the Japanese were sunk, while the Americans lost only USS Yorktown. The Japanese never recovered from their loss in the Battle of Midway after which, they lost the supremacy that they were enjoying in the Pacific and ultimately lost the Pacific War (Geocities. com). Bibliography Geocities. com. â€Å"The Battle of Midway. † http://www.geocities. com/Athens/Rhodes/8384/midway. html (accessed April 15, 2009). Microworks. net. â€Å"Stopping the Tide: The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942. † http://www. microworks. net/PACIFIC/battles/ midway. htm (accessed April 15, 2009). Naval Historical Center. 2005. â€Å"Battle of Midway: 4-7 June 1942. † http://www. history. navy. mil/faqs/faq81-1. htm (accessed April 15, 2009). Trueman, Chris. 2009. â€Å"Battle of Midway. † http://www. historylearningsite. co. uk/battle_of_midway. htm (accessed April 15, 2009).

Lufthansa Airlines Study to Offer Cheap Flights for the Business Travelers Free Essay Example, 2500 words

As already mentioned the number of companies establishing their set-ups in foreign countries has grown over the years. This has increased the number of travelers traveling for business purposes. This has been a primary reason why the business travelers segment has been chosen by Lufthansa Airlines. The frequency of such travels has increased and this provides a prospective market for the company to exploit. The number of high wealth individuals has also been increasing over the years. Very often, these establishments require their personnel to fly to the foreign branches for official purposes. This trend has been showing a significant rise in the Information technology sector across the world. Often personnel in the less developed and developing nations want to travel to foreign nations for work purposes. This is because, as they move to a wealthier nation, their salaries are automatically increased according to the currency of the developed nation. Such types of personnel are incr easing with the increase in the number of multinational establishments. Thus it would be beneficial for this company to tap this market. As the conditions of a wealth of individuals are improving, so are their chances and possibilities of spending on business travel. We will write a custom essay sample on Lufthansa Airlines' Study to Offer Cheap Flights for the Business Travelers or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Thus taking this venture showed prospects for future success. Most importantly, the European market has been demonstrating an increase in the number of business trips than most continents. This has been shown in the results of recent surveys.