The Influence of Society Essay Example for Free

The Influence of Society Essay Without society we don’t have some form of structure to keep us from overcoming selfishness. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the obsession for power and knowledge is well brought forth in the characters of the text. In the beginning Macbeth and Victor Frankenstein are well respected. Then, the two characters remove themselves from society causing their great obsessions to over-power them, in which they lose control. Macbeth and Frankenstein lose their original reputations when they remove themselves from society and their own identities become consumed by an obsession for power. Both Macbeth and Frankenstein are originally well-respected members of their community. Macbeth is a loyal friend to the king and was known for his bravery in fighting. â€Å"Conduct me to mine host. We love him highly/ and shall continue our graces towards him. †(I. V. 30-31). Duncan is saying how he thinks very highly of Macbeth and favors him, proving Macbeth’s honorable reputation. Victor Frankenstein is a well-known man for his knowledge and understanding in the sciences. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember. (Shelley 31). Frankenstein’s reputation was based on his fascination for science and his commitment to it. Macbeth and Victor Frankenstein were both well known in their communities and highly thought of. Soon both Macbeth and Victor lose the connection they have to society by removing themselves from it so they can focus on their individual goals. Macbeth unconsciously slowly starts to remove himself from society when his desire for ultimate power takes over as he decides he will stop at nothing to be in control and become king. â€Å"The prince of Cumberland! That is a step/on which I must fall down, or else oerleap,/for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;/let not light see my black and deep desires. /The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be/Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. †(I. IV. 50-55). Macbeth is at the point where he starts to remove himself from society and is becoming consumed with his obsession of being king and having power. Frankenstein’s love for science turns into an obsession when he gets to the point where he attempts to play god. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter. (Shelley 30). Frankenstein has cut himself out from the world and is consumed in his obsession to give life. Macbeth and Frankenstein seclude themselves from society because of Macbeth’s obsession for power and to have control, and Frankenstein’s obsession to be god and create life to prove his knowledge. Both Macbeth and Frankenstein ev entually lose their identities in society when they give in to their obsessions for power. Macbeth loses his identity after giving into his obsession of being king and killing Duncan and Banquo. â€Å"Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo! How say you? /Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. /if charnel houses and our graves must send/those that we bury back, our monuments/shall be the maws of kites. †(III. iv. 72-76). Macbeth has officially lost his identity when he sees Banquo’s ghost and starts acting crazy infront of his guests and they are starting to question if Macbeth is guilty for Duncan’s death. Victor Frankenstein has a loss of identity when he becomes a mad scientist and digs up graves for corpse, sew pieces together, and then brought the results to life. )We can see how a person who lives within a society, interacting on a regular basis with others, tends to follow and respect the standards, morals and cultural traditions of their society. When a person removes themselves from society because they have become obsessed with singular or private pursuit, and that obsession is greater than everything and everyone else in their life, they can become very selfish, self-cent ered, self-serving, and in the case of Frankenstein and Macbeth, evil. In the case of Frankenstein, he came from a loving family, who supported him and was a good man until he became obsessed with creating a monster and isolated himself from his family and others as he built his monster. In the end Frankenstein realizes that he has disrupted the balance of nature and confesses to it: â€Å"How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow. †(Shelley, 87). In the case of Macbeth, he had a pretty good life. He had a good marriage and was good friends with the king, until he became obsessed with being king and ruined his marriage and his life. Macbeth and Frankenstein obsession for power results in the removal from society, which makes them lose their original reputation. The two characters go from having a good reputation in society to being consumed by their obsessions for power of control and power of giving and creating life. This caused Macbeth and Frankenstein to lose their identities.

The Impact of Values on the Workforce Essay -- Business Organizational

The Impact of Personal Values, Organizational Values, and Cultural Values on the Workforce When we are called upon to make decisions, several factors are taken into consideration before this decision can be made. Depending on the type of decision, such factors could be cultural beliefs, personal beliefs, and organizational beliefs. We have come to realize that there are fundamental challenges in trying to apply ethical principles in a cultural and organizational environment. Each culture has unique distinctions in values, which may or may not be considered ethical by each individual within society. These differences in culture and personal beliefs influence any decision, whether personal or professional, of any individual. Certain cultures within the work force may decide not to adhere to organizational codes of conduct because of not only personal feelings, but also because of the varying differences in cultural backgrounds. The intent of this paper is to identify values that are important to me personally, organizationally, and culturally, and the effects that these v alues have on decision making in regards to my personal and professional life. Personal values are most important to me since these values define individuality. David Peters (2003) said it best when he said â€Å"an examination of our beliefs can offer valuable insights into our character and help us determine a clear pathway to a more satisfying life.† Honesty, integrity, loyalty, and respect are highly valued and these values are present in my everyday life. However, this does not necessarily mean that each individual within my society share these same personal values, thus creating an environment filled with varying personal beliefs, expectations, and philosophies that may not be logically connected with the society’s culture or ethics. Nonis (2001) states: â€Å"Values reflect the most basic characteristics of adaptation that guides individuals in deciding which situations they should enter and what they should do in them (Kahle 1980). According to Williams (1979), explicit and fully conceptualized values become the criteria for judgemen t, preferences and choices† (p. ---). My decisions whether personal or professional, are dependent on my values and the environment that I am in. Before accepting my current position, I made sure that the company had similar ethical beliefs as m... ...ead of forcing our beliefs unto others we need to respect the practices and traditions and get a better understanding why certain practices are done. Chris Jenks states: â€Å"Westerners, convinced that they are morally superior, have failed in their attempts to stop local practices because they did not take into consideration the culture and the reason for the practice† (p. 22). In relations to the work force, organizations are diversifying their workforce. They are realizing the importance of diversity and how it can benefit the organization, given that diversity brings different point of views and values to light. As an organization, we should not simply proclaim a set of values. Instead we should immerse both managers and employees in the organization’s ideology. Any disconnect in behavior between mangers and employees will strongly undermine the values of the organization. The undermining of these cultural values creates uncertainty in the minds of employees thus leading to potential conflicts. Work Cited Gardner, John W. "On Leadership" New York: The Free Press, 1990 Jenks, Chris. "Western Culture: An Introduction." Culture. Ed. Chris Jenks. London: Routledge, 1995

Compare miss Havisham and Lady Macbeth Essay

?Compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham. Explore how Shakespeare and Dickens present them as disturbed women. Disturbed is a definition of someone who has emotional or mental problems; both Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham are presented as disturbed characters in one way or another. These two leading women both have characteristics that were not stereotypical of woman at the time periods that the play and the novel were set in; making them immediately appear strange to the audience or reader of that time. Shakespeare and Dickens both present their leading women in very different ways; however some aspects of their characters show similarities. The play Macbeth was set in Elizabethan times, where there was a patriarchal society in which men were superior to women. Women were known by their husbands’ names and were seen more as their husbands’ property than their partners. Elizabethan women were treated badly and disobedience on their behalf was a crime against religion as the society of that time believed that women were made to serve men. However, it was also believed that women were incapable of having evil thoughts or committing devilish crimes. The character of Lady Macbeth goes entirely against the typical Elizabethan woman as she is portrayed as strong and controlling over her husband Macbeth, and is the one to persuade him to commit an act of regicide. This would be shocking to an Elizabethan audience as regicide was known as the worst possible thing you could do, as they believed that their monarchs were sent from God. Miss Havisham is also the opposite of what women in her society were like; she was a spinster. This meant she was seen as a failure as in Victorian times, a woman’s proper purpose was to suitably marry; it was what they were born for. In most of Charles Dickens’ novels, the spinsters and old maids who appear are usually mad, desiccated, boring or secluded. Miss Havisham in Great Expectations is an example, a woman who fell in love and was jilted on the day of her wedding. She lived for the rest of life in her wedding dress, with one shoe on, a wedding cake uneaten on the table, and the clock stopped at the time she found out that her husband-to-be had deserted her. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is first introduced in Act 1 Scene 5. She is reading a letter from her husband, immediately the audience see her as a determined and power-hungry character. In her soliloquy she reveals that Macbeth ‘shalt be what thou art promised’ her ambition for her husband to be king and indeed perhaps for herself to be queen is evident here. Shakespeare’s use of the imperative ‘shalt’ displays her controlling nature, showing her strength and masculinity which would appear unusual to the audience of that time. Although at first Lady M/acbeth would seem to be a rather queer character, the audience would not immediately class her as disturbed. Miss Havisham, however, is portrayed as a disturbed character right from when we first meet her in Chapter 8. Dickens first describes Miss Havisham through Pips eyes as he first sets foot in Satis House. The way the house and the room in which Miss Havisham sits is described, ‘no glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it’ immediately lets the reader know that she is extremely disturbed’ the whole house is stopped, including the clocks at the exact time she turned into a spinster. The idea of showing Miss Havisham first through Pip, allows the reader to see what is wrong, however, not fully understand why this is. Miss Havisham appears to be a much weaker character when she is first introduced as Pip describes her as ‘a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress’. Dickens use of death imagery gives the reader an impression that Miss Havisham’s life is already over and she is just waiting to die. This makes the reader feel somewhat sorry for her at first and wonder why she is living in such a way. Although it is soon evident that Miss Havisham is not as weak as she first appears when she speaks to Pip for the first time; ‘â€Å"Come nearer; let me look at you. Come close. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Dickens also uses imperatives in Miss Havisham’s speech ‘come’ showing that although regarded by all in that era as a failure she still has power to make others do whatever she wants. Both Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham are both portrayed as evil characters throughout the play and the novel. Some people may argue that Miss Havisham is less evil as she does not murder anyone, however, she does ruin the lives of others, using Estella to break the hearts of men the way hers was once broken. Lady Macbeth does come across as more wicked than Miss Havisham most of the time however she might not be as evil and sinister as we are lead to believe. We realise this when she says ‘stop up the access and passage to remorse’. This shows the audience that maybe she does have some conscience because she knows she will feel guilty. However, another way to look at it is that she just wants to stop this from happening so that she can live happily as queen without guilt pulsing through her. This makes the reader think of her as a selfish woman who is used to getting exactly what she wants without any of the bad consequences that come along side it. The use of the modal verb ‘stop’ is strong and commanding and it doesn’t give the person she is talking to an option to say no. The idea of not being able to say no is repeated at the end of Act 1 Scene 5 where she tells Macbeth to ‘Leave all the rest to me’. Lady Macbeth is saying that no matter what anyone says no one will persuade her to change her mind about the murder of King Duncan. The language shows that she feels like she has the upper hand over Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses her power to manipulate Macbeth into committing an act of regicide. Miss Havisham also manipulates people into doing things that they do not wish to do. She brings Estella up to get revenge on mankind and at the same time makes it impossible for Estella to love. Miss Havisham uses Pip for Estella to practice on and is delighted when Pip falls in love with her. ‘Well you can break his heart’ she tells Estella when she does not want to play cards with a ‘common labouring boy’. Miss Havisham says this in such a calm way that it seems to the reader that breaking someone’s heart is not a big deal to her, which it isn’t since she just wants revenge on all men. Although both of these women are ‘horribly cruel’ towards the end of the play and the novel they do realise what they have done wrong and feel guilty about it. Although the way they react to the guilt differs hugely. Miss Havisham becomes more normal with guilt and tries to put her wrongs right. ‘†Oh† she cried despairingly. â€Å"What have I done? What have I done? †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ she becomes a weak, pitiable creature who begs Pip for forgiveness ‘on her knees and is desperate to do something ‘useful and good’ Her regret makes the reader feel sorry for her rather than blame her. Lady Macbeth becomes more and more disturbed with guilt, up until a point where she cannot take it anymore and commits suicide. Her grief must have been extremely bad for her to do this since she would know that she would be going to hell.

Why I Play Basketball - 675 Words

Why I Play Basketball Basketball. A great game that was originated in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891. Basketball was created by a canadian gym coach who used peach baskets when it was raining and snowing outside. Now the sport is played all over the world. One of the most popular sports in the world, and I hated it. I hated this God given sport, until 4 years ago. When something great happened to me on April 17 2010 I turned my perspective on basketball. I really hated basketball from the beginning but then I changed throughout the way. When I was really young around 4-10 I really loved soccer because it required endurance, speed, and it was really fun to play. And from that time I really didnt like basketball. I thought that this sport was the epitome to the league of sports. I thought that tennis was way better at the time. And I wasn’t a big fan of tennis. But I really didn’t like the sport at all. I was athletically gifted at the sport, like most other sports. I had the fundamentals from my father, and he tried to convince me to play, but I still refused to associate myself with basketball. I even disliked to watch basketball I would refuse to play with my siblings. And all that I encouraged other people to play was soccer. The reason that I loved soccer was because my first gift was a soccer ball. Since that time I was infatuated with soccer. I played it in my backyard and in the park. I never stopped playing for anything even when it was dark like 9 oclockShow MoreRelatedBasketball Is A Sport For The Campus Of Eastern Michigan University ( Emu )1145 Words   |  5 PagesBasketball is a sport that requires a lot of time and effort to be good at. It’s a sport that keeps some people in shape, some people involved with a community, and gives others an opportunity to meet new people. The recreation basketball community I am looking into is the one on the campus of Eastern Michigan University (EMU). 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