Prison Health Care Agency Essay

There are many facets in the health care industry. Examples include hospitals, urgent care centers, physicians’ offices, medical labs, and more. One not really spoken about, is the prison health care system. Prison health care is the medical treatment of inmates in the United States Correctional Facilities (Means & Cochran, 2012) this is according to the report. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) is a federal agency that oversees the medical needs of prisoners. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, â€Å"In 2012, the number of admissions to state and federal prison in the United States was 609,800 offenders (Carson & Golinelli, 2013). With these prison inmate statistics, clearly there is a need for health care in the prison system. The NCCHC is a federal agency that was constructed to improve the quality of health care in the prison setting. The NCCHC was founded in the early 1970’s. The American Medical Association (AMA) executed a study on the conditions of jails. The AMA found â€Å"inadequate, disorganized health services, and a lack of national standards† (National Commission on Correctional Health Care, 2013). The National Commission on Correctional Health Care states their mission is to improve the quality of health care in jails, prisons, and juvenile confinement facilities. They support their mission with the help of other national organizations, mirroring the fields of health, and law and corrections, examples include The American Bar Association, The American Medical Association, The Academy of Pediatrics, and The American Dental Association. The NCCHC cannot fulfill its’ mission without the proper structure within the agency. This organization is comprised of accreditation and facility services, health professional certification, education and conferences, standards and guidelines, and a board of directors from supporting organizations. These supporting organizations play a role in helping the NCCHC fulfill its’ mission and roles for the prison health care system. The board of directors role is ensuring all guidelines are adhered to and assessing the overall direction and strategy of the organization. The NCCHC  has many roles and standards for their organization. One of the most important is patient safety. Put in place are patient safety systems to ensure prisoners are receiving proper care. Another role of NCCHC is continuous quality improvement. Continuous quality improvement is the process of requiring each prison facility to complete a process study on inmates needing health care services. â€Å"Process studies examine the effectiveness of the health care delivery process. Outcome quality improvement studies examine whether expected outcomes of patient care were achieved† (Rechtine, D., 2008). There must be a review in the event of a patient’s death. Proper procedures must be followed. The NCCHC requires health care professionals to continue their education by completing annual certification classes. Initial health assessments must be performed on each new inmate within 7 days of arrival to the facility. These health assessments are to be given by board certified and trained registered nurses or midlevel practitioners, followed by a physician’s review. If a prisoner is at risk for suicide, there is a prevention program in place with treatment plans. Any inmate with special needs requires an individualized treatment plan provided by a doctor. The NCCHC has put in place a chronic disease program for inmates, which requires the physicians to document in a patient’s medical chart, making sure they are following the correct disease procedures. The impact that NCCHC have on health care is one that relates to their mission. The mission, role, and impact has a direct association with each other. Providing quality health care for incarcerated individuals. The commitment to continually improve health care in confinement facilities, to help these correctional facilities in improving their inmate’s health and the communities that they will return to, increase the efficiency of health services delivery, strengthen organizational effectiveness, and reduce the risk of adverse legal judgments (NCCHC, n.d.). â€Å"NCCHC offers a broad range of services and resources to help correctional health care systems provide efficient, effective, and high-quality care† (NCCHC, n.d.). An example of the National Commission on Corrective Health Care carrying out a duty is the commitment to treating inmates in a humane manner. The NCCHC, in partnership with supporting organizations, including the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Nursing Association, the American Bar Association, the American Psychological Association, the  American Psych iatric Association, and the American Public Health Association. Through the standards the NCCHC has set, has persistently declared the components of a policy against mistreatment. â€Å"The Standards for Health Services in Prisons (2008) preclude, for example, health staff participation in non-clinically ordered restraint and seclusion, except to monitor health status (P-I-01 Restraint and Seclusion), or in the collection of forensic information (P-I-03 Forensic Information). They require informed consent of the patient for â€Å"all examinations, treatments, and procedures† and recognize the patient’s right to refuse treatment (P-I-05 Informed Consent and Right to Refuse), and protect inmates as subjects in human research (P-I-06 Medical and Other Research)† (NCCHC, 2012). â€Å"Other standards require medical autonomy in clinical decision making (P-A-03 Medical Autonomy), maintenance of confidentiality of health information (P-H-02 Confidentiality of Health Records), and patient privacy (P-A-09 Privacy of Care). NCCHC standards require documentation of patients’ health status at each encounter (P-H-04 Management of Health Records), with special attention to the medical and mental health of inmates under close confinement (P-E-09 Segregated Inmates)† (NCCHC. 2012). In regard to health care, the NCCHC has the best standards of care and are the most recognized and accepted. Medical personnel for the prison system must follow the policies and procedures set in each facility. These policies and procedures allow guidance, standardization, and consistency in practices, a nonfulfillment to comply with these rules and regulations places the nurses, patients, and institutions at risk. The NCCHC has the authority to establish that these policies and procedures are followed by all correctional medical personnel. â€Å"Policy topics are wide ranging. Applicable laws and standards should be incorporated into institutional policies, procedures and protocols for the correctional nurse. For example, they should reflect federal and state regulations for reporting public health concerns, conditions of abuse, rape, communicable diseases, trauma, unexpected and expected deaths and care of the mentally ill. Regarding standards, NCCHC standards address topics such as access to care, quality improvement, grievance mechanisms, patient and staff safety, medication services, screening and assessment, patient restraint and much more† (NCCHC, 2012). The NCCHC has a process for accreditation, certification, and authorization. The NCCHC offers a  voluntary accreditation health services program. They have offered this program since the 1970’s. The NCCHC has standards in place as a guide for any correctional facility to follow. The process of accreditation involves an external peer review to determine if the correctional institutions can meet the standards in their provision of health services. â€Å"The NCCHC renders a professional judgment and assists in the improvement of services provided† (NCCHC, 2012). NCCHC provides an Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) for accreditation. OTP accreditation allows OTPs to achieve legally required certification from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. â€Å"The only SAMHSA authorized accrediting body that focuses on corrections, NCCHC has developed standards that are based on federal regulations but tailored for this field† (NCCHC, 2012). The NCCHC has accreditation surveyors that are formed of nurses, experienced doctors, health administrators and other health care professionals who have knowledge of the correctional system. The survey team reviews any medical records, including policies and procedures, interviewing of staff personnel, and inmates are included, along with touring the facility. There is an exit conference conducted at the end of the survey to talk over the primary outcomes. Specially trained surveyors visit correctional facilities seeking accreditation to measure compliance with NCCHC standards. These individuals share their time and knowledge because they are committed to the cause of improved quality in correctional health care (NCCHC, 2012). To become an NCCHC surveyor, one must complete 5 years of experience in correctional health care, a CCHP certification (or receiving one in a year), and the drive to participate in preparatory and follow on training. Surveyors must be health care professionals. Examples include, Medical Doctor (MD), Doctor of Optometry (DO), Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), Nurse Practitioner (NP), Physician Assistant (PA), and Registered Nurse (RN), or have a Master’s degree. The utmost important requirement of a NCCHC surveyor is the need of devotion and obligation to improving the quality of correctional health care. References Carson, A., & Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners in 2012: Trends in Admissions and Releases, 1991- 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm National Commission for Correctional Health Care. (2012). Promoting Excellence in Health Care: About NCCHC. Retrieved from: http://www.ncchc.org/about/index.html Rechtine, D. (2008). NCCHC’s New Standards and the Role of the Physician. Retrieved from: http://societyofcorrectionalphysicians.org/corrdocs/corrdocs-archives/summer-2008/ ncchcs-new-standards-and-the-role-of-the-physician U.S. Department of Justice. (2012). About the Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved from: http://www.bop.gov/about/index.jsp

Medicine and City Life

In addition, in a big city you can enjoy the best service and entertainment. Because there are many rich people here, they can invest much money to get the best for them. Lives in a big city are quite luxurius but you don't have to be worried when you are sick or suffer a disease because there you can find good doctors for you, as long as you have much money. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Village Life and City Life Sometime you may be think, the city life is better than village life. However there are so many advantages and disadvantages in city life and village life. Actually the city life is more comfortable. As well as there are more opportunities for people to progress in their lives. There are a lot of facilities for people in the city and they have more opportunities for making money. When a person falls ill there are good government and private hospital in the city to get treatment. There are large shop complexions, banks, offices, cinemas, hostels, clubs, hospitals etc. in and around the city. People in the city have better transport facilities than the village. More and better medical facilities: In a city people get more and better medical facilities than the people of village. In a city there are more hospitals and clinics . there are more qualified doctors in a city. In city you can find different health facilities like different government and private hospitals , but in village you cannot find more health facilities. ’ the town areas provide people with better facilities as far as health services are concerned. Cities also provide ample medical facilities. In every city, there are good hospitals in which the poor get free medicines and treatment. Many well-qualified private doctors are also there to serve the sick and the suffering. Lack of such medical arrangement is a drawback of villages. the city to be better in the long run as there is better access to health care facilities and quick availability of round the clock emergency services. However, the kind of health

Identifying a Researchable Problem Research Paper - 2

Identifying a Researchable Problem - Research Paper Example Cultural differences my influence eating behavior and undermine universal effectiveness of an intervention approach. Understanding benefits of Evidence Based Practice and Evidence Based Research and leading change among nurses towards these can therefore improve efficiency of care and is my area of interest. Incidence and prevalence of a health problem suggest inefficiency of applied intervention strategies and the case of hypertension among adults in the United States illustrates this. High incidence and prevalence rates of hypertension in the nation is therefore the problem and an understanding of factors such as causes, gaps in current practices, and possible effective practices is necessary for prevention and management. High incidence and prevalence rate of hypertension in the United States, which suggest ineffectiveness of prevention and management measures, establish significance of the problem. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), about 29 percent of American adults suffer from hypertension and the high blood pressures are only controlled in less that 50 percent of the affected population. In addition, about 33 percent of the remaining American population have pre-hypertension and are therefore at high risk of developing hypertension. With the current annual expenditure of $ 46 billion due to incidence of hypertension, the rate of pre-hypertension implies greater future expenditure, and prevention and management are necessary. High mortality rate, about 1000 deaths per day, which can be attributed to hypertension, also identifies significance because of the emotional pain on the bereaved and economic loss due to reduced labor force. The economic loss also exists whe n a hypertension patient is unable to report to work or work efficiently. High blood pressure also increases an

Analysis of Contemporary Health Care Issue Term Paper

Analysis of Contemporary Health Care Issue - Term Paper Example It has forced several individuals to work two or more job to sustain themselves. Most of these jobs are two to three hours long, which has forced people to seek multiple jobs to cover costs. With the current job situation, it is becoming difficult for individuals to pay for medical insurance. The loophole that firms have adopted is employment on a short-term basis. This allows companies to have employees on a temporary basis; hence, they do not provide any medical cover. This pushes the responsibility onto the employees to pay for their own health care, which is why the health care act is under scrutiny. The nature of the medical insurance mandate is forcing individuals to tighten up their budgets. This factor is more evident in the tax structure and the underserved population in the US economy. The general structure of the US system highlights that the richer (high earnings) you are, the less tax an individual will pay. This illustrates that high income earners have more disposable income to pay for quality medical insurance, which amounts to approximately 10% of the American population. Therefore, 90% are left to struggle with the constraints of the tax system and the deteriorating state of the employment state in the US. (BLS, 2012) The health care act has generated a lot of debate, attributed to the mandatory nature of each individual having to pay for medical insurance. The current conditions of the profit-oriented industry have made it difficult for employees to purchase or obtain medical cover on their own salaries. It has become increasingly difficult to sustain or keep a job, because organizations are focused on reducing costs, which is catalyzed by low revenue and sales (Wessling, 2012). it has caused a cycle in which a lack of money is causing unemployment and underperformance from companies in the US. On average, firms are making losses of about 10%, which has

The Implementation of the Critical Success Factors Case Study

The Implementation of the Critical Success Factors - Case Study Example After original implementation, a stabilization stage happens when implementation challenges are predetermined and organizational performance gets better. Ross comments that nearly all organizations stay in the stabilization stage for many months and occasionally years. The constant improvement of the procedure follows and lastly major process transformation is facilitated. Few organizations get to the transformation stage even though most prepare to. Ross observes that big ERP system implementations might engage different series through the procedure model for every separate unit in the ERP system. In another case study, Markus and Tanis designed a four-stage ERP implementation procedure model. The stages are chartering, plan, shakedown, and onward and upward. The chartering stage comprises expansion of the business case, the assortment of the ERP package, classification of a project executive, and endorsement of the financial plan and to-do list. The project and shakedown stages are very alike to the implementation and stabilization stage in the Ross model above. The onward and upward stage entails the continuous business development and transformation consequent to the very last two stages of Ross’s model. Environmental and cultural issues play a significant part in the ERP implementation achievement.Without a doubt, ERPs have also shown challenging to put into practice, even in Western organizations, frequently due to an underrated requirement for change management and the relocation of roles and their significance for actors. Most organizational practices are subjective not only by societal features but as well as by the reflections suitable within an organizational sector, public or private. Private organizations are different from public organizations at three separate levels.

Multicultueral issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Multicultueral issues - Essay Example Why? What did you learn about yourself from the assessment on p. 228+ of the text – Four Building Blocks of Diversity-Conscious Leadership? The results of the self-assessment test revealed that I am culturally intelligent as most responses indicate one’s understanding of meeting people from diverse cultural backgrounds. There is therefore strengths in the areas of understanding diversity in culture from the experiences in previous travels in different countries. I met many people while studying in the USA. Among my friends are people with Eastern Europe, Asian, Hispanic backgrounds. I understand that different cultures have different ways of doing things or saying something, and I respect this. I am therefore satisfied with generating a high ranking for my CQ since it is an indicator of greater understanding, awareness, and skills in communicating, both verbally and non-verbally, with people from various cultural backgrounds. Finally, I learned that the four building blocks of diversity-consciousness leadership are understanding, awareness, skills, and commitment; where I have strengths in all three: understandin g, awareness and skills and would need to develop the building block on commitment ensure being a more diversity-conscious leader. In Chapter 1, my knowledge on the topic of diversity was significantly enhanced as it discussed topics that range from diversity, culture, diversity consciousness, and presented a number of different reactions to our changing cultural landscape. As such, my appreciation for different perspectives, preferences, and points of views of people from diverse walks of life was strengthened. I learned to deepen my consciousness in terms of disputing identified myths in diversity and in ways to assimilate in a new culture to prevent conflicts and to enhance communication and interpersonal relationships. 4. Based on what you

City of Santa Anas Purpose, Vision, Values and Goals Essay

City of Santa Anas Purpose, Vision, Values and Goals - Essay Example Each element of the vision is translated into measurable goals. For example, one element of the visions is â€Å"investment in children† (1). The goals set to realize this vision include ensuring a safe community and being a catalyst for the positive development of young people. It also has a vision of â€Å"appreciation of diversity† (2). This vision can be realized by the formulation of a specific goal which is â€Å"recruit and retain a highly-skilled and diverse workforce† (2). From these examples, it is clear that goals flow from vision. After setting the goals, the implementation process begins. This involves translating the goals into actions or formulating strategies to ensure the goals are achieved. For the organization purpose to be achieved, every department in the organization should work towards a common goal since each department has specific actions to perform that flow from the goals. For example, to â€Å"ensure a safe community† the commu nity development agency is required to â€Å"develop and implement programs to deter and alleviate the effects of illegal behavior† (2). ... However, for these actions to be enacted, the support in terms of funds, equipment, and manpower is needed; thus, the budgetary allocation is crucial. Through the roles assigned, each department in the city is made aware of what is expected if the council is successful in its endeavor. Identification of vision, goals, and actions is vital in strengthening the government’s budgeting process. From the vision, achievable goals are set, and in order to achieve the goals, some actions must be performed. In this case, if the actions are performed as expected, it means the vision, as well as the purpose of the organization, will be achieved. For this to happen, resources in terms of finance, materials and equipment, and manpower with required skills are needed. Where do the resources come from? The government has to provide the resources needed for successful implementation of goals, but it cannot just give out resources without a plan. It has to establish how much is needed in order to achieve each goal and allocate resources accordingly. Some goals which are more important are given more priority than others. Some actions can also enhance the implementation process by these means reducing the need for financial allocation. For example, by employing a highly skilled diverse workforce continuously, there is a possibility to ensure improved systems and high-quality services to customers and to develop the required programs. Thus, it is crucial for the government to have vision and objectives, so as to allocate resources efficiently for the overall success of government services and economic growth.  

State budget cuts influence on students Research Paper

State budget cuts influence on students - Research Paper Example of education, factors that influence college choice, factors that contribute to college dropouts and students opinions on the effects of cuts in the state budget to education. -Many of the respondents surveyed were in their third year of study (60%), while a significant 24% were in their third year of study with the remaining proportion covering freshmen students and second year students. -The email response from the questionnaires indicated that the average cost of education, including tuition, room and board added up to $16,000 at least for all public state colleges while that of private colleges added up to $37,000 -Nearly 10 out of the 15 students interviewed responded relying on loans to assist them with college financing costs. Equally, a third of the respondents relied on part time jobs to help cater for college costs, that was often complemented by parent’s support with 11 out of 15 getting regular support from their parents. A similar number also relies on college scholarship and financial aid to clear their college bills. -13 out 15 of all the participants interviewed reported being always concerned about having enough financial resources to utilize while still in college in providing for daily expenditures. Economizing was reported as a tradition employed for the college years, occasioned by tough economic times in the real world. -In the age bracket of 18-25 sampled for this survey, many of the participants, 76% cited difficulties associated with money as the driving force for college drop out. Other issues as bad grades and peer influence also emerged as strong reasons for college drop out. -Many of the college students surveyed reported feeling uncomfortable with borrowing to finance their education. This they say becomes unbearable as they are unable to pay the money borrowed within the appropriate period and as such loans accrue to longer periods of time attracting higher fines and interest rates that accrue. -Despite high costs associated

Market and Bank Financial Lending Systems Essay

Market and Bank Financial Lending Systems - Essay Example Banks, however, may no longer be the most reliable and best way to go about getting these loans though. Credit unions and privately held financial groups are beginning to make a huge emergence. We will analyze why this is happening and the differences between the lending structure of banks and private groups. Issues dealing with private reputation to company advertising, as well as government regulations on loaning will also be touched upon. A lot has changed and a new wave of economic development is slowly building up. Before we can begin to fully analyze the differences between the two economic structures, we must begin to learn a bit of history between the two methods. Banks have been one of the most popular methods of savings and lines of credit. Although, all of this has changed slightly since the Great Depression. During the Great Depression was one of the best examples of a bank run. A bank run is when people hear that a certain bank or institution is going to fail and all immediately head towards the bank or institution to withdraw all of their assets as quickly as possible. Of course, this created huge problems and created a time of economic disparity. However, since then, many regulations and organizations have been developed to prevent this from happening once again. The FDIC currently has the assets to insure any account within nearly any qualifying bank account up to the first $100,000. In this way, if something were to happen, the government would simply match the person's lost assets up to the first $100,000. This has helped to rebuild the trust between the common man and the banking system. But this is only the checking and savings side of the story. A lot of faith has been lost and for good reason in the banking system for credit. Even application processes have become long, tedious, and often uneventful when trying to receive a loan from a bank. And if you fail to receive a loan, it is marked against your credit score, which makes it more difficult in the future to attempt to get a loan. Government regulations are rather relaxed on the banks for their credit loaning. However, banks generally dislike entering into any high risk or highly volatile loan agreements. As such, it has become increasingly difficult for businesses and regular people to receive loans from banks 1. Processes must be backed by the banks assets, and although many banks have a large amount of assets, many just cannot compete with the assets of some large corporation who hold private financing groups. Not to mention that banks benefit less from issuing loans out to people and businesses. Sure they can extract a high interest rate and make a lot of money, but it one of the primary methods for a bank to earn its money, so it doesn't help any other factors other than to solely improve the cash-flow of a bank. There are several benefits for private firms to issue loans out to people though. Another problem with banks in recent years have been banks knowledge of how weak people have become to their regulations. Your credit score can now rule who you are, and people will do anything it takes to maintain this. In consequence to this, however, many banks have begun methods of "predatory loaning" where they offer an initial interest rate and set amount which must be

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Everyday of our lives, we are exposed to dozens of advertisements, whether it be on television, the radio, in magazines, on billboards or signs, or anywhere else that companies try to reach us in an effort to promote the products they sell. Advertisers appeal to our hopes, dreams, wants and desires, and exploit our insecurities in an effort to sell us a product, ranging from cars, to household appliances, to a bottle of shampoo. Advertising affects everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not, and it often promotes something that is out of reach to the average person, such as great wealth, or a perfect body. Advertising often carries an overload or excess of meaning, such as statements of power, wealth, leisure, and sexual allure, and they also convey meanings of race and gender. (â€Å"Introduction: Media Studies†) As this paper will demonstrate, advertising is an extremely powerful tool which has the ability to change the way we perceive ourselves. Of particular interest is the effect that advertising has on women. Women are continually bombarded by advertisements in which they are told, directly or indirectly, that they must be thin in order to be beautiful, and they are marketed products that they are led to believe will help them achieve their desired body image of being thin. Women become convinced that they must look like sexy all the time, when in reality, it is almost impossible. Women often begin dieting in order to attain the perfect body that they are striving for, and they occasionally undertake more extreme measures to lose weight, such as bulimia or anorexia, all because they are led to believe, by advertising, that they must have a perfect body. Women are also sexually objectified in advertising, and viewed as merely sexual objects. This paper will explore in depth how women are portrayed in advertising and, more importantly, the impact which it has on them. In western culture, a slender physique has come to be regarded as the standard of feminine beauty; although it is an unrealistic benchmark for nearly all women. The average woman has a seven percent chance that she will be as slim as a catwalk model, and an even lesser chance that she will be as thin as a supermodel. (Konrad, 2008) A 2000 study found that the body fat of models and actresses is, on average, 10 percent less than that of a typical active, healthy woman. (â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The models that companies use in advertising are also getting thinner relative to the average population. Twenty years ago, models weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, they weigh 23% less than the average female population. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) However, these truths do not stop women from trying to attain the perfection they see in every day advertisements. Since advertising continually implies that women should be slender, those who do not have this particular body type often suffer from low self esteem and hold a negative self image of their body. After a study in which women viewed sexual and non-sexual ads, the women who viewed the sexual ads rated themselves as being larger, on average, than the women who viewed the non-sexual ads, and women who viewed the sexual ads also expressed greater dissatisfaction over their current physique than the women who watched the non-sexual ads. (Tygart) George Lipsitz has argued that consumer culture and media representations play a greater role than ever in defining identities. (â€Å"Just Do It†) When women see thinness represented in advertising, they would like to look like the models they see and have that same identity that is being shown to them. In addition to women feeling pressure to conform to the desired body type due to their constant exposure to it in advertising, they also are under pressure to attain the perfect body because they believe it is what men feel they must look like. According to a study published in American Behavioural Scientist (Choi et al. , 2008), women are able to realize that the images of supermodels that they see in advertisements are unrealistic and they recognize that they will not be able to attain the body of a supermodel. However, these same women feel that men who view these advertisements will not be able to ascertain the fact that the body types shown are unrealistic. Since women feel that men cannot discern the unrealistic nature of the female body that is presented in advertisements, they feel that men will expect them to meet the standards of beauty portrayed in these ads. Consequently, this leads women to desire to look like the models they see in advertisements, not necessarily because they want to, but because they believe that men view it as realistic and attainable. As stated by Choi, et al. (2008), â€Å"Women are influenced by unrealistic media imagery because they are well aware that men will view those images as real, and value them. † It is argued that, although women know the images shown to them in advertising are unrealistic, they are unable to ignore them, because of the threat of men judging their bodies. Since advertising has the effect of making women desire a thin, slender body that is almost impossible to attain, they frequently make radical efforts in an attempt to get it. An astonishing 75 percent of women who are a normal weight feel that they are in fact overweight. The Anorexia Nervosa Related Eating Disorders research group states that one in four college aged women undertakes unhealthy methods of weight control, ranging from skipping meals and laxative abuse, to self induced vomiting. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) It has also been estimated that magazines directed to a female audience contain over ten times as many advertisements promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, advocating a variety of solutions, from diet pills to cosmetic surgery. Researchers have shown that this advertising has led to an increase in eating disorders. (Choi, et al. , 2008) Teenage girls who already claimed to be dissatisfied with their body image showed a higher tendency towards dieting and bulimic behaviours after prolonged exposure to advertisements in a teen girl magazine. (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) Self-image is often affected in teenage girls because they cannot escape the message that their bodies are imperfect. â€Å"A Girl of Many Parts†) Many researchers believe that advertisers want women to feel insecure and disappointed with their body shape, since this will create the desire for an unattainable body that will increase the consumption of products that companies are trying to sell, such as skin care creams, weight loss supplements, and others. Paul Hamburg, a professor at Harvard Medical School, states: â€Å"The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line w ith what real bodies do look like, the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear. † (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) In terms of sexual objectification, women agreed that they were sexually objectified in advertising, however, contrary to popular belief, younger women appear to no longer have an issue with it. The â€Å"third wave† of feminism today embraces sexuality, and views sex as power. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Many feminists now believe it is acceptable for women to use their glamour to their advantage, as long as they are doing it out of their own free will. According to a recent study, young, educated women are not offended by the sexual objectification of women in advertising, which may be a product of the highly sexualized culture we live in today. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Although women are deeply affected by how models appear in advertisements, by their desire to want to look like them, the women of today no longer appear to be affected by the sexuality in advertising, and in many cases, they are embracing it. To conclude the efforts, if any, which are being made to change the portrayal of women in advertising should be examined. Although advertising on the whole is still relatively unchanged with respect to its portrayal of women, some companies have altered the message they send about beauty and changed their advertising to reflect this change. An example is Dove, and its Real Beauty advertising campaign. Dove launched the Real Beauty campaign in response to a study it undertook among females aged 18 to 64, the majority of whom felt that advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty for women that is nearly impossible to achieve. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The ads featured the use of everyday women instead of professional models, and images that were not airbrushed in any way. The campaign has been well-received and led to an 11. 4% increase in Dove’s sales in early 2005, although, some critics stated that the campaign promotes obesity in a time when many Americans are struggling with weight issues. Since Dove introduced the â€Å"Real Beauty† advert ising campaign, both Nike and Levi’s released similar campaigns, featuring everyday people as opposed to models. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the future, but at the very least it demonstrates that companies are beginning to provide an alternative to the advertising they had used in the past. In summation, advertising plays a considerable role in how women regard themselves and in their perceptions of how they should look. Advertisers use models with a physique that all but the few, most genetically gifted women could ever attain. As previously stated, he average model has a body fat percentage which is 10 percent less than that of a typical healthy, active woman, and supermodels, on average, weigh 23 percent less than the average woman. After viewing advertisements featuring supermodels, women often feel worse about themselves and begin to suffer from poor self-image and low self-esteem. Even a small amount of exposure to advertising has been demonstrated to make this occur; although women are exposed to hundreds of advertisements on a weekly basis. However, women no longer appear to be affected by the sexual objectification they see in advertising, which has been attributed to the third wave of feminism and the sexually charged culture that we live in. Women also feel pressure to look like a supermodel because, although, they often realize that what is advertised to them is not realistic, they believe that men do not realize this and want regular women to look like the models they see in advertisements. This leads women to seek out that body type, since they feel that men expect it from them. Women undertake everything from common methods of weight loss such as dieting to extreme measures such as anorexia to achieve the body that advertisers tell them they must have. The dissatisfaction they have with their bodies leads them to consume the products that advertisers are marketing to them. One company, Dove has taken a major step forward in its advertising, by using everyday people who have a normal body type in its â€Å"Real Beauty† campaign, and other companies have followed suit with similar advertising, but the majority of advertising still promotes an unrealistic body type as being ideal and desired. Until this changes, women will continue to hold on to the desire to look like a supermodel, however unrealistic that may be, they will continue to go to great distances to turn that farfetched dream into a reality.

CRM Prediction and CRM Validation Approaches

CRM Prediction and CRM Validation Approaches Since CRM is underlying the regulation of gene expression in tissue-specific manner, understanding the characteristics of CRMs is helpful to determine the potential CRM candidates for further applications such as tissue-specific gene therapy. As previously discussed the influential parameters to CRM activity include the types and arrangement of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) and epigenetic modification pattern[121, 124]. Therefore, these factors are taken into account for prediction of promising CRMs. Transcription factor binding sites are described as short DNA regions (6 to 10 bp in length) which are recognized and bound by various transcription factors[149]. One CRM can contain many TFBSs depended on its functionality[150]. Several experimental studies have been performed in order to map the TFBSs in DNA genome. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay is a common method to identify the TFBSs in protein-bound DNA complexes in the solution[151, 152]. In addition, DNase footprinting, which relies on the digestion of exposed DNA region where it is not protected by target proteins, has also been used[153, 154]. The difference between these techniques is mainly involving resolution of transcription factor binding sites[155, 156]. To derive the TFBS motifs from raw data, these DNA sequences are used as the input to compute the similarity and the potential motifs are generated. To apply the information of transcription factor binding sites motifs on CRM prediction, it is relatively simple as this method requires solely genomic DNA sequences. The predicted motifs are mapped to the original genome and prospective CRMs containing clusters of TFBSs are identified[124, 157]. Due to the enormous spread of motifs in large genome, a lot of DNA regions showing the potency of being CRMs are indicated; however, only few DNA sequences are actually occupied by the target transcription factors[158]. In the erythroid cells of mouse genome showed approximately 8 million hits of GATA-binding factor1 (GATA1) binding site motifs, but only 15360 motifs were bound by GATA1 and all of bound motifs bore H3K4 monomethylation[159]. Indeed, relying on merely TFBS motifs is not sufficient to obtain the significant CRMs. The study on smaller-size genomes is one alternative to improve the quality of CRM prediction.[157] Another approach to determine the potential CRMs is the use of conservation of non-coding DNA among several species. The assumption is that the DNA sequences associate with gene expression are highly conserved in comparison to non-essential DNA after evolving through the purifying selection over time [157]. This method is not depended on the information on TFBS so that it offers another solution to prediction of CRMs in case tissue-specific enhancers have not been widely studied. At initial study about the DNA sequence alignment of more than 100 bp-long DNA between human and mouse, with the minimal conservation of 70%, was conducted and potential enhancers for certain genes such as interleukin-4, interleukin-13 and interleukin-5 were identified[160]. Later on this approach shows the promising results due to high validation rates in transgenic mouse embryo by using rigorous conservation constrain[160-163]. The conservation-based prediction is also applicable to discover novel TFBSs wh ere the information is not extensively elaborated. With the DNA sequence alignment between orthologous species, the short DNA sequences conserved in many species, namely phylogenetic footprints, could be the possible binding sites for transcription factors [164, 165], and mutations of the conserved boxes can lead to the reduction of gene expression as in the example of altered effect of variant E box on ÃŽ µ-globin reporter gene induction[166]. As the approach is mainly related to the evolutionary constrain among species it means that the use of this method may overlook the potential CRMs which are lately developed and the TFBS pattern cannot be aligned to the former population[157]. For example, in the ChIP-seq study the GHP68 enhancer, located at intragenic region of mouse abhydrolase domain containing2 (Abhd2) gene, does not contain the footprint of GATA-binding factor1 (GATA1) motif which is commonly found in Abhd2 genes of other non-primate species[167]. Indeed, the GHP68 enhan cer in primate genome possesses the unique protein binding pattern[157]. Another consideration on conservation-based prediction is that even though the conservation level of selected CRMs is extremely high among orthologous species, the actual activities of CRMs possibly vary from species to species in nature[168]. Due to the limitations of previous approaches regarding false positive prediction by highly redundant presence of TFBS motifs in large genome[158], as well as lineage-specific evolution of certain CRMs in different organisms[157], epigenetic regulation is considered the promising parameter of CRM prediction as a result of the strong correlation between hypersensitivity to DNA treatment/histone modification and enhancer activity[169-171]. Many CRMs have been found to localize at genome region where the response to DNase activity is very sensitive[153, 172]. In addition biochemical patterns of modification at enhancer are showed including histone acetylation[169], high H3K4me1 as well as low H3K4me3 modification[170], and occupancy of histone acetyltransferase p300[171, 173]. For active promoter, in contrast to usual enhancers, the major characteristic is the presence of nucleosome-free and high level of H3K3me3 modification[174, 175]. By using the reference genome database containing epigenetic as well as DNase hypersensitivity regions, where the information is obtained from ChIP seq [176], and DNase seq experiments, the substantial rate of validation of selected CRMs from 43 to 100% in many study models[169-171, 176, 177] indicates the robustness of the epigenetic-based approach. The idea is this method is optimized that the predicted conditions is not too stringent as evolutionary conservation method and the number of output is not too enormous as TFBS-based prediction[157]. Still, some potential CRMs can be overlooked using biochemical features[173, 178]. For instance, the study of heart enhancer identification showed that three different predictions yielded various amount of outputs. The possible CRMs were hardly obtained through comparative genomic DNA alignment while the use of p300 occupancy to identify the potential sequences gave rise to 130 output sequences with 75% validation rate[173]. In another TFBS-based study in heart by Narlikar and colleagues, the classifier, where its database relied on predicted and validated TFBS, was generated to select the putative CRMs from the non-functional DNA[178]. This prediction allowed them to distinguish 40,000 CRMs from genome and the validation rate was relatively considerable in comparison to the epigenetic approach[178]. This suggests the need of additional further study on biochemical pattern prediction to cover the missing CRMs. Using experimental and computational study, scientists are able to collect the extensive information about TFBSs, epigenetic modification and conservation of DNA among species. This data has been widely deposited in many open-access database websites, which become the significant information resources for further CRM identification[179]. The Ensembl Regulatory Build is recently developed to integrate the previous discovery of epigenetic marks and occupancy of transcription factors from different projects and build the better-defined regulatory regions in human genome[180]. Another commonly used database website is the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser Database, which provide all aspects of information for CRM prediction including experimental (DNase hypersensitivity clusters, epigenetic marks of histone proteins, and binding of transcription factors from ChIP seq) as well as computational (conservation level among vertebrates from DNA sequence alignment) study [181]. This aids the feasibility of enhancer prediction since the use combinatorial information would suggest more significant CRM outputs with higher validation rate[182-184]. For example, the sophisticated protocol designed by Nair and team to identify the liver-specific CRM was derived from the integration of experimental study from UCSC genome browser and the putative TFBS motifs from computational analysis[182]. To obtain predicted liver-specific TFBS motifs, the presumptive promoters, which are 1000-bp DNA sequences located upstream of transcription start sites, from highly-expressed genes were initially compared to ones from low-expressed genes in the liver, followed by computing the potential TFBS motifs which are likely to associate with liver-targeted gene induction based on distance difference matrix (DDM) and multidimensional scaling (MDS)[182, 185]. The DDM was primarily used to identify the difference between two protein structures by calculating the distance differenc e values from low distance matrices[186]. Ultimately the predicted TFBS motifs were mapped to the corresponding DNA sequences of liver-specific genes in UCSC genome browser where the experimental data of such genes was previously described[182]. The ideal CRMs were expected to show the coexistence of predicted motifs together with dense DNase clusters, high conservation level in vertebrates, and explicit histone modification patterns. In addition, the putative motifs should be consistent to the transcription factor lists from ChIP-seq experiment. The promising liver-specific transcriptional module from prediction was further validated and showed the remarkable activity to up-regulate hFIX expression up to 15 fold compared to control, reflecting the robustness of the prediction method[182]. The same approach has also been applied to design the CRMs targeting other target cells such as cardiomyocytes, and the 10-fold augmented expression of cardiac genes was noted upon validation in m ouse model[183]. Taken together, this suggests the increased power of using multiple parameters to determine transcriptional modules, and the combined data provided in UCSC genome browser is valid; the integrated data is nicely standardized so that the summary of information is reliable. However, the feasibility of combinatorial approach, relying on both computational data and previous experimental study, is the major concern due to the requirement of strong expertise on bioinformatics knowledge for computation of TFBS motifs. One possible alternative to circumvent this limitation would be the direct use of available information on UCSC Genome Browser for CRM selection by taking associated determinants (DNase hypersensitivity, transcription factor binding, histone modification, and conservation level among vertebrate) into consideration. There are several validation assays that have been performed to investigate the potency of CRMs to enhance gene expression. In general, the plasmids containing minimal core promoters and reporter genes such as lacZ, encoding ÃŽ ²-galactosidase, luciferase, and green fluorescence protein (GFP), are the backbone constructs, and the predicted CRM are cloned into certain position based on the validation methods[149]. Usually CRM sequences are inserted at the upstream of the promoters and the increased strength of overall construct expression is assessed after transfection or integration of plasmids[187-196]. In order to develop the downstream process to identify the target cells where CRMs are active, the use of heterologous barcode has been done so that the number of CRM high-throughput screening is up to hundreds or thousands [191-194, 196]. In some studies, the need of barcode is eliminated by targeting at enhancers directly, and the method is called self-transcribing active regulator y region sequencing (STARR-seq) [197]. Both transgenic animal embryos and specific cell lines [187-191, 193-196] are commonly used to study CRM activity. For example, transgenic mouse or fly (D.melanogaster) containing putative CRMs as well as reporter genes are initially generated, and the development of reporter gene signals later observed at the certain parts of embryos is identified depended on tissue specificity of CRMs[198]. To improve time and cost-effectiveness of the current approach, Gisselbrecht and colleagues developed the technique called enhancer-FACS-Seq (eFS), which makes use of the distribution of GFP signaling based on the tissue-specific CRM enhancement, to sort out the GFP-positive cells from the negative population using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)[190]. Validation of the effect of CRMs on gene expression has also been reported in animal models and the delivery methods of CRMs are adjusted to be tissue-specific. AAV is the example of tissue-target ed delivery system since its tropism is relied on the serotype[182-184]. The use of AAV vectors to carry the predicted CRMs to the specific organs has been done in heart and liver enhancers by using AAV9, and the follow-up process was achieved through the reporter hFIX protein expression in the blood. In murine models, to reduce the cost of virus production, HD injection of plasmids containing CRMs in mice can be primarily done for initial screening[182]. This method is distinctive since the model simulates the actual situation of CRM activity in animal body for gene therapy application[182-184]. In addition, another advantage of using this approach is the longevity and the expression level can be observed continuously for long-term study as the mouse sacrifice is not required. Biology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one type of liver cancers which is highly prevalent in many regions such as East Asia, Africa, and United State[199]. Even though the incidence of HCC ranks the sixth in comparison to other cancers the rate of mortality is relatively high[200]. There are several etiological factors describing HCC development including Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HBC) infection, aflatoxin-directed induction, alcohol consumption, accumulation of fat in the liver resulting in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), sex-related influence, unbalance of microbes in gastrointestinal tract, and type II diabetes[201]. Each factor has specific mechanism to cause HCC, but in general most of factors ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis formation and subsequently HCC[202]. A number of staging system to classify HCC disease development stage have been designed for diagnosis; however, the gold-standard for staging remains challenging due to heterogeneity of HCC population[203]. To study the molecular mechanism underlying HCC development, copy number genomic[204-206], exomic[207, 208], whole-genome sequencing[209, 210], and transcriptomic[211, 212] studies have been conducted in liver cancer tissues. In copy number alteration analysis, both deletion (i.e. TNFAIP3, CDKN2C, WRN, PTEN, BRCA2) and duplication (MDM4, BCL9, ARNT, MET) of specific genes are found in HCC genomes[213]. Exome and whole-genome sequencing in HCC allow detailed investigation of genome structures at the levels of mutation in both coding and non-coding regions[213, 214]. For example, mutation of NFE2L2-KEAP1 and MLL genes were identified from 87 cases with HCC development using exomic approach[214]. Transcriptomic study gives another insight into HCC regarding the change of expression profiling compared to normal hepatocytes. Using in combination with whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome revealed the RNA editing mechanism implicating in up-regulation of gene expression in cancer developm ent[215, 216]. Taken together, the aberrant genes found in HCC are mapped to cellular pathways to explain the molecular mechanisms underlying disease development. The pathways which are postulated as the keys for hepatocarcinogenesis include cell cycle regulation (i.e RB[217], CDKN2A[218]), WNT pathway (i.e. APC[219], AXIN1[220, 221]), chromatin remodeling (i.e. ARID2[208, 210], MLL[222]), tyrosine kinase signaling (i.e. SOCS-1[223], IGF[224]), and NOTCH[225, 226] pathways. Apart from structural genes, miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs which control gene expression at post-transcriptional level through hybridization with the mRNA templates and subsequently leading to translation inhibition or RNA degradation[227], are implicated in HCC progression due to the evidences on differential miRNA expression between HCC and normal hepatocytes[228, 229]. In general, miR-92, miR-18 and miR-20 are significant in HCC stage progression[229]. Some altered miRNA expression is associated with etiological factors. For[MC1] instance, there is correlation between miR-126 down regulation and alcohol consumption[230]. The functions of miRNA in HCC pathogenesis are divided into two groups; oncogenic miRNAs and tumor-suppressor miRNAs. For oncogenenic miRNAs, three miRNAs including miR-221, miR-224 and miR-21 have been showed to enhance hepatocarcinogenesis. The miR-221 plays role in cancer invasion using two mechanisms; increasing cell proliferation targeting CDKN1B/p27 expressi on[231], and enhancing cell migration through AKT signaling[232]. The invasion of HCC is also supported by miR-224, but its mechanism of action is involved with homeobox D10 downregulation and induction of inflammatory pathway[233]. Another oncogenic miRNA miR-21 is reported to suppress expression of program cell death 4 (PCD4) [234, 235]protein which functions as tumor suppressor protein, and to increases cell proliferation through the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase-kinase 3 (MAP2K3) activity[236]. Apart from individual miRNAs, certain clusters of miRNA have been identified to contribute to HCC progression. For instance, the up-regulation of miR-17-92 cluster, which is composed of miR-17, miR-18a, miR-19a, miR-20a, miR-19b-1, and miR-92a-1[237], was found in HCC, and the attenuation of its expression diminished the ability of malignancy transformation[238]. The activity of miR-17-92 cluster affects the expressions of certain genes usually found in HCC such as PTEN, E2F1, and E-cadherin[239]. However, the individual miRNA members may function in the different ways. For example, up-regulation of miR-19 suppressed the formation of liver fibrogenesis through TFF-ÃŽ ² signaling[240]. A number of tumor suppressive miRNAs have also been discovered to diminish HCC development. The miR-122 function is to control the genes associated with tumor formation and metastasis including VEGF[241], RHOA[241], PKM[242] whereas miR-375 exerts its activity by suppression of ATG7 expression to block autophagy[243], the essential mechanism of cancerous cells to survive under hypoxic environment. The miR-125b prevents cancer proliferation by activation of p21(WAF1/Cip1) G1/S cell cycle arrest as well as repression of SIRT7 gene induction[244]. G1/S transition of cancer cells is also controlled by miR-26a activity[235]. The overall functions of HCC-associated miRNAs are implicated in STAT3, by modulating Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 functions, and NF-ÃŽ ºB inflammatory pathways, le ading to hepatocacinogenesis[245].

Iconography :: Essays Papers

Iconography Iconography, in art history, the study of subject matter in art. The meaning of works of art is often conveyed by the specific objects or figures that the artist chooses to portray; the purpose of iconography is to identify, classify, and explain these objects. Iconography is particularly important in the study of religious and allegorical painting, where many of the objects that are pictured—crosses, skulls, books, or candles, for example—have special significance, which is often obscure or symbolic. The use of iconographic symbols in art began as early as 3000 BC, when the Neolithic civilizations of the Middle East used nonhuman or animal figures to represent their gods. Thus, the Egyptian mother goddess Hathor was associated with the cow and usually appeared in relief sculpture and wall paintings as a cow-headed woman. The sun god Ra had a hawk's head, and the creator Ptah appeared as a bull. In ancient Greece and Rome, each of the gods was associated with specific objects. Zeus (Jupiter), the father of the gods, was often accompanied by an eagle or a thunderbolt; Apollo, the god of art, by a lyre; Artemis (Diana), the hunter, by a bow and quiver. In addition, the Romans perfected the use of secular allegorical symbols. For example, a woman surrounded by bunches of grapes and sheaves of wheat would be readily understood as a representation of the bounties of the earth. Early Christian art during the period of Roman persecution was highly circumspect, and innocuous objects—the fish and the dove—were used to symbolize Christ and the Holy Spirit. Later Christian art, however, became replete with iconographic symbols. In particular, many of the saints became associated with specific objects—Saint Peter with two keys, for instance, or Saint Catherine with a broken wheel. During the Renaissance and through the 18th century, allegorical paintings were especially popular, as artists constructed elaborate symbolic schemes to illustrate such themes as the vanity of human existence.

Coke Business Study :: essays research papers

Business Summary Coca Cola is the world's largest producer of soft drink concentrates and syrups, as well as the worlds's largest producer ofjuice and juice-drink products, The company holds a 45% interest in Coca Cola Enterprises, its largest bottler. The Beverages division primarily manufactures soft drink and non-carbonated beverages and syrups, which are sold to independent and company-owned bottling and canning operations, as well as, fountain wholesalers. Brands include Coca-Cola classic ( best selling soft drink in the world), Caffeine free Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke ( sold as Coke light in foreign markets), Cherry Coke, diet Cherry Coke, Fanta, Sprite, diet Sprite, Barq's, Mr. PIBB, Mello Yello, Tab, Fresca, Power Aide, Minute Maid, Fruitopia and other products developed for specific markets, including Georgia ready to drink coffees. The Foods division is the world's largest maker and distributor ofjuice and juice-drink products. Brands include Minute Maid, Five Alive, Bright & Early, Hi-C And Bacardi. History Coke was invented in 1886, by Atlanta pharmacist John S. Pemberton, It was named by Frank- Robinson (Pemberton's bookkeeper), after it's two main ingredients, coca leaves and Kola nuts, In 1891 the company was sold to druggist Asa Candler for $2.300, and by 1895 the soda fountain drink was available in all US states, and expanded to Candia and Mexico by 1898, Candier sold most of the US bottling rights in 1899 to Benjamin Thomas and John Whitehead of Chattanooga for $1.00. With the backing of John Lupton, Thomas and Whitehead developed a regional franchise bottling system, expanding to over 1,000 bottlers within 20 years. The bottlers used the contoured bottle designed by the C.J. Root Glass Company in 1916, In 1916 Candler retired to become Atianta's mayor; his family sold the company to Atlanta banker Ernest Woodruff for $25 million in 1919, that same year Coca-Cola went public. In 1923 Wooddruff appointed his son Robert president. Robert continued as chairman until 1942 and remained influential until his death in 1985 at the age of 95- Robert Woodruffs contribution were in adverting and overseas expansion. During NnrWIl Woodrtiff decreed that every soldier would have access to a 5-cent bottle of Coke. With government assistance Coca-Cola built 64 overseas bottling plants during WKVII. Also during this period the company accepted "Coke" as an official brand name. In 1960 Coca-Cola brought Ntinute Maid and introduced Sprite in 1961, Tab in 1963 and Diet Coke in 1882. In 1981 Woodruff was succeeded by Roberto Goizueta, a Yale educated chemical engineer, who rose through the ranks.

A Comparison between Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Vladimir Paral’s Essay

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic, Crime and Punishment, and Vladimir Paral’s Lovers and Murderers describe a world of murder, dejection and profound human unhappiness. The two authors explore moral abjection and the destiny of mankind, as ruled by lust, jealousy and immoral instincts. As it shall be seen however, the two novels differ considerably in the way in which they treat the subject of crime, as well as in their point of view and the tone of the narrative. Thus, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is centered on the idea of moral ambiguity. The Russian author uses an omniscient point of view in order to recount Rodyon Raskolnikov’s experiences before and after he commits the murder. The tone of the narrative is serious and meditative, as questions of morality and justice are interspersed throughout the events and dialogues in the novel. Vladimir Paral’s Lovers and Murderers treats the theme of murder in conjunction with that of love. The narrative enters a world full of promiscuity and violence, focusing on a great number of characters and the interactions among them. Unlike Dostoevsky’s book that focuses on the portrait and experiences of the main character, Paral’s work is concerned with the plurality of voices. Moreover, the point of view shifts frequently from the omniscient narrator to the first person narrative, sometimes within the same phrase. Lovers and Murderers is a grotesque mosaic, with a discontinuous narrative and a satiric tone. While Dostoevsky’s work raises questions of morality and social justice, Paral’s novel represents the spectacle of human life with resignation. There is no ethical conclusion to Paral’s analysis of human life and character: he chooses to describe the dynamic of humanity in its bleakest and most ironic aspects. For Dostoevsky, human life is also full of coincidences and accidents. Although, the limit between right and wrong is relative, ultimately, the novel emphasizes the belief in punishment and redemption. In Paral’s novel, there is no clear delimitation between innocence and guilt: the characters are all fanatics, consumed by passions, jealousy and greedy cravings. Significantly, love and violence intermingle throughout the novel, marking the majority of the relationships among different characters. Paral shows therefore that human interaction is never completely innocent: people devour and are devoured sadistically by destructive relationships. Instead of ending in union and harmony, each affair ends in destruction and crime. In Crime and Punishment there is the possibility of salvation and the triumph of love. Lovers and Murderers shows murder to be the companion of love, with no possibility for moral cleansing. Both novels therefore analyze morality in the context of the dynamics of society, emphasizing the interactions among different characters but with different conclusions. Sin and morality are seen as paradoxes in Dostoevsky’s work, but, ultimately sins can be redeemed after having been committed. Paral’s novel illuminates the tableau of human relationships and the relativity of moral principles very differently: all the characters are fallen men and women, who abuse or are abused by others. Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is concerned primarily with moral paradoxes, exemplified through the stories of various characters. The central story, that of Raskolnikov, is paradoxical. The protagonist is an extremely poor student, who struggles with his enormous debts to his landlady and with constant hunger and misery. A proud and noble character, Raskolnikov is tormented by his unjust and humiliating social standing. Despite his intelligence, he lives poorly and is constantly besieged by material concerns. As the novel opens, Raskolnikov has already developed the philosophy that would lead him to murder: he muses that there are superior men who should be able to punish others for their sins. Interestingly therefore, the murder is intended as a punishment of the mean pawnbroker, in the name of social justice. The first part of the novel captures Raskolnikov’s inner tension as he struggles to discern right from wrong. There follows the critical moment of the actual, double murder and afterwards his punishment and final redemption. The cyclical nature of his experience is symbolic: Dostoevsky points here to the paradoxes of morality. Raskolnikov’s act of murder is in itself meant as a punishment and may seem right in its context. To enhance the ambiguity however, Dostoevsky arranges for a double murder: the circumstances force the protagonist to kill Lizaveta as well, the pawnbroker’s innocent sister. The novel offers yet other instances of moral ambiguity, such as the saintly and innocent Sonia who is forced to become a prostitute in order to earn money and save her hungered family: â€Å"And then I saw, young man, I saw Katerina Ivanovna, in the same silence go up to Sonia’s little bed; she was on her knees all the evening kissing Sonia’s feet, and would not get up, and then they both fell asleep in each other’s arms †¦ together, together†¦ yes †¦ and I †¦ lay drunk† (Dostoevsky 30). Her mother in law, who had previously maltreated her, is now grateful and reverent towards the girl. Sacrifice and generosity are therefore accepted and appreciated in the novel. Her father, Marmeladov, is another example of moral equivocalness: a hopeless drunk, he is a good man who loves his family yet cannot conquer his own vice in order to save them. Marmeladov’s employer also acts generously, although he does so in vain: he offers him his job back, despite his dependence on alcohol, out of pity for his family. Throughout the novel, morality is questioned, but there is sufficient evidence of the existence of good alongside with evil. The ambiguity that Crime and Punishment describes is one of form rather than substance. In Paral’s Lovers and Murderers morality is permanently mixed with sin. Women and men, coming from the dregs of society as well as from its highest ranks, live in utter disorder and promiscuity. Innocence and guilt are neither relative nor circumstantial. Significantly, the book is divided in numerous fragments bearing two alternative titles: â€Å"Conquerors† and â€Å"Besieged†. In Paral’s vision, the world is not divided in right and wrong, but rather in abusers and abused. These basic roles are moreover easily interchangeable. The relationships seemed to be weighed on a scale, which always tips in favor of one of the partners. The relationship between Alex Serafin and Dasa is a relevant example: Alex conquers and even enslaves the rich woman but he is eventually rejected by the same woman that seemed totally dependent on him. The world of the inhabitants of building 2000 is devoid of moral principles and reasoning. The men and women are driven only by impulses of self-gratification. Their affairs are violent and each partner, either abused or abusive, derives selfish pleasure from the communion. Love is rapacious, lustful and possessive: â€Å"Love is prey and everyone longs for his own destruction – let’s not want them to expose the necks themselves†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Paral 187). If Raskolnikov’s world is marked by sin and punishment, Paral’s characters pursue their own pleasure and interests without having to pay for their deeds. Raskolnikov murders the two women in his pursuit of justice, without deriving any personal gain from the deed, despite having found a considerable fortune in the ladies’ flat. In Paral’s novel, murder is only perpetrated as a crime of passion. In the case of Borek and Zita, murder is even gratuitous. The comparison between their story and that of Julien Sorel and Madame de Renal in Stendhal’s Red and Black, is extremely significant. While in Stendhal’s morality is extensively explored, Borek and Zita’s affair is devoid of any compunctions of guilt despite the fact that Zita is a married woman. The line between love and murder is very thin: one of the partners is always the hunter who chases his victim. The moment when Borek finally conquers Zita and possesses her body is very relevant. The man feels that, instead of loving thoughts he develops murderous ones, without being able to discern between the two categories anymore: â€Å"I realized I was standing there like a murderer, insane because as a murderer I could not act otherwise, even though I had come as a lover, like a murderer or a lover, insane because I no longer saw any difference† (Paral 188). If Crime and Punishment discusses moral ambiguity, Lovers and Murderers comments on the ambiguity of love and murder. Sexuality is always mixed with sadism and violence in Paral’s novel, so as to emphasize the fact that love is in fact abusive and possessive rather than disciplined and saintly. Marriage itself is a failure in the novel. An early scene in the novel points to the ultimate moral degradation of the characters. Thus, the poor working woman Madda pays a visit to Frank in his rich and sumptuous apartment. When he asks her to put on a wedding dress as part of the ritual of lovemaking, the woman muses on her previous sexual degradation: â€Å"†¦and you don’t have to apologize for madman anything, my earlier lovers wouldn’t even take my clothes off, or even their own, a white wedding dress to church; I’ve made love with the dirty strap of contemptible overalls between our bodies† (Paral 32). Ironically however, her romantic hopes are bitterly deceived by her heartless partner. Instead of offering the wedding dress as a symbol for love and purity, he uses it as part of a humiliating trick: when Madda is dressed and kneeling before him, Frank’s wife enters the room and it becomes clear that the woman was only used as amusement by the rich couple. In Paral’s world the beautiful dreams disintegrate very fast. Lovers and Murderers shows that moral choices and principles have to be settled among people and thus no intention or action is definitely pure. Raskolnikov acts in the name of a higher principles, which he sees as commanding: â€Å"I didn’t kill a human being, but a principle! I killed the principle, but I didn’t overstep, I stopped on this side†¦. I was only capable of killing† (Dostoevsky 389). Raving with a guilty conscience, Raskolnikov tries to convince himself of the moral justifications of his deed. He didn’t kill another human being, his violence was directed solely against an erroneous principle. Besides Raskolnikov, the novel abounds in generous characters. For instance, Dounia, Raskolnikov’s sister is willing to sacrifice her own happiness in a marriage she does not desire, in order to help her family. When the same Dounia is accused of trying to attract her employer and make him commit adultery, she escapes by her own generosity and nobility. Moreover, it is the employer’s wife that actually mends the girl’s reputation after having marred it, by showing the proof of her innocence to the world. There is no redemption and generosity in Paral’s novel. The characters act upon their personal interests, without considering each others’ feelings. The life that the characters lead is the life of a jungle, where there are no rules other than personal survival and gratification: â€Å"They live only for the fulfillment of their eternal appetites: like animals running free in a jungle. For pleasure alone: like the courtiers of Louis XV† (Paral 164). People are not concerned with judgments of value and with ethical principles. Paral introduces his readers to the psychological jungle of humanity, where people follow only their instincts. In Crime and Punishment, on the other hand, Dostoevsky explores sin and crime from a religious and ethical perspective. As critic Alfred Bem notes, Dostoevsky proceeds from the idea of a feeling of the original sin present in all minds: â€Å"To understand Dostoevsky’s thought one must allow for the presence in the human psyche of a feeling of sinfulness as such, independent of the existence of any concrete crime–what we might call the feeling of original sin. †¦ We can assume, then, that the feeling of sin, of guilt can be present in the psyche unaccompanied by any consciousness of crime† (Bem 59). Hence comes the moral ambiguity of the characters: however saintly in their morality and character, they can succumb to sin because the seed is already planted in the human psyche. Paral’s world is also dominated by sinfulness, but, in this case, the characters lose their nobility. They are all fallen, abject people, who live by their instincts rather than by principles. Moreover, Raskolnikov performs an experiment more than an actual murder. He wants to apply his philosophical theory to reality and see its effects. Dostoevsky captures here the essence of humanity and its inherent rejection of murder. Ultimately, Raskolnikov is unable to commit his crime in complete cold bloodedness, despite the solidness of his arguments and theory: â€Å"Perhaps no work of literature presents so graphically a man testing and living, psychologically and even physiologically, a theory. Raskol’nikov’s theory, it will be remembered, is that crime is accompanied by sickness, by a loss of willpower and self-control, unless it is committed for sufficient reason by an ‘extraordinary man,’ in which case it is ‘no crime. ’† (Shaw 142). It is not so with Paral’s murderers: they virtually live in a jungle, where, besides instincts and passions, there is only pathos without real substance. The point of view and the tone chosen by the two authors are also relevant. Raskolnikov’s story is told objectively, from an omniscient perspective. This narrative technique does not obscure the character’s inner turmoil, however. Dostoevsky pairs his omniscience with indirect speech, a device which helps to reveal the hero’s thoughts and emotions. Raskolnikov often speaks to himself and, in this way, Dostoevsky gives us access to his unmediated reflections. For instance, he muses on his motivation for committing the murder, wavering between the feeling of guilty and the excuse he finds for his behavior: â€Å"I am putting my little brick into the happiness of all and so my heart is at peace. Ha-ha! Why have you let me slip? I only live once, I too want†¦. Ech, I am an ? sthetic louse and nothing more,’ he added suddenly, laughing like a† (Dostoevsky 389). Raskolnikov is indeed a criminal and an aesthete at the same time. While his crime is horrendous, his purpose gives it meaning to a certain extent. As Julian Connolly remarks, the way in which Dostoevsky decided to use the point of view in the novel is very significant: â€Å"Dostoyevsky had originally intended to write an account of murder from the perspective of the murderer himself. As he worked on the project in November 1865, however, he concluded that such a perspective might be too limited, so he chose an omniscient, third-person narrative mode instead. Yet traces of the original design remain: much of the novel offers direct insight into Raskolnikov’s impressions and experiences. † (Connolly 144). Thus, the author’s decision to mingle omniscience and first person narrative shows that he was preoccupied to investigate the moral dimension of his characters as well as the psychological one. His technique ultimately merges psychology with philosophy. In Paral’s case, the frequent shifts of viewpoint, allow for a curious exploration of the stories from the inside and outside simultaneously. Moreover, Paral’s story is told fragmentarily, with an alternation of voices and points of view. The narrative shifts from the author to an interior monologue of one of the characters without warning, in the course of the same phrase. This provides readers with marks as to actual events and also to the thoughts of the characters at the same time. The novel features a great number of different narrative voices, as each of the characters introduced is also given a monologue. This technique enhances the novel’s mosaic structure and its grotesqueness. The characters’ interior monologues moreover show them to be egoistical and impulsive. Most of their speeches are delirious and self-centered. The tones of the two works also differ and influence the reader’s perception of the stories. Dostoevsky’s tone is serious and restrained, focusing on the events, the psychology of the main character and the numerous implications of the experiences described. Paral, on the other hand, uses irony, black humor and pathos is order to describe the events in his book. Lovers and Murderers is therefore written as a black comedy, transmitting the author purpose of satirizing humanity in its pettiness and abjection. The two novels deal with the common themes of murder and punishment, but do so in very different ways. Crime and Punishment investigates ethical, religious and psychological consequences of a crime, with an emphasis of humans’ liability to sin and moral ambiguity in the context of a society. Lovers and Murderers, on the other hand, emphasizes the human world as a grotesque spectacle, driven by the uncontrolled instincts and petty interests of men. Dostoevsky’s work analyzes and questions, while Paral’s observes and mocks. Works Cited: Alfred L. Bem, â€Å"Guilt in Crime and Punishment. † Readings on Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Ed. Tamara Johnson. Trans. Robert Louis Jackson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 58 64. Connolly, Julian. â€Å"An Overview of ‘Crime and Punishment’. † Exploring Novels. Gale, 1998. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. New York: Vintage Classics, 2008. Paral, Vladimir. Lovers and Murderers. Trans. Craig Stephen Stevens. New York: Catbird Press, 2002. Shaw, J. Thomas. â€Å"Raskol’nikov’s Dreams. † Slavic and East European Journal 17, no. 2 (1973): 131-45.

The Roman Empire and Classical Greece

The Roman Empire and Classical Greece were undeniably two of the greatest societies in history. As far as the political and cultural developments of the two civilizations, the Roman Empire's (approximately the first five centuries of the Common Era) form of government contrasted with that of Classical Greece (approximately 500 B. C. E to 300 B. C. E. ), however the two societies shared similar enthusiasm for literature as well as almost identical religious beliefs.An extremely prominent characteristic of Classical Greece was its decentralized form of government. There, the nation was divided into several polises, or city-states. Each polis had its own government system – which could be a monarchy (the most common), a Tyranny, an Oligarchy, or a Democracy (Athens being the world's first). This is very strange compared to the government of Rome. The Roman Empire was centralized and ruled by one solitary man: the Emperor. Although the senate had some influence of the Roman govern ment, the Emperor held absolute power.Centralization and absolute power was necessary in the large Roman Empire because the vast amount of land being controlled was too much for Rome as a republic to handle. This was not the case in Classical Greece, which was much smaller, and could allow its polises to make their own decisions to keep the people happy. For this reason, we see a difference in the styles of governments of the two societies. Despite this difference though, Classical Greece and The Roman Empire still shared love and support of literature. Several great works of literature came from Classical Greece.During the classical era, many genres of western literature became more prominent. This includes lyrical poetry, odes, pastorals, dramatic presentations of comedy and tragedy, histories, philosophical writings, government writings, and more. Many works from this time became classics in our world today. The Romans also had a strong emphasis on literature and they wrote almos t everything of significance down. It was essential for the Romans to keep extensive written government records on order for them to organize their extremely large empire.Literature was able to strive in both the Roman Empire and Classical Greece because of the emphasis both societies had on education. Without this, neither would have the educated authors, poets, and philosophers needed to produce the great literature that they did. Furthermore, Classical Athens and the Roman Empire shared almost identical religious beliefs. For almost every Greek God, there is a corresponding Roman God. For example, for Zeus there is Jupiter, for Aphrodite there is Venus, Poseidon there is Neptune, and for Hades there is Pluto.The list goes on to include more of the major as well as minor gods, although some gods, such as Apollo, have the same name in each religion. In Rome, despite the change of name, the gods play the same role and have indistinguishable powers to their Greek counterparts. The re ason behind this similarity is that when Rome was developing into a strong civilization, leaders saw the accomplishments of the Greece, especially Athens, and decided to adopt their gods in hopes of reaching the same success.To make them their own, they simply changed the names. Unmistakably similar in their belief systems and love of literature, and at the same time clearly diverse in their forms of government, Classical Greece and the Roman Empire were able to share similarities as well as differences in their cultural and political developments that enabled them to become the prominent and strong civilizations that they did.

Macbeth †Hero or “Hellhound” Essay

William Shakespeare the author of Macbeth was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He is generally regarded as the greatest playwright ever to have lived. During the time of Shakespeare (which was the Elizabethan times) the theatres in which his plays were performed were very basic. They had no scenery or sets so they used simple items such as a stool, which would represent an indoor scene. He theatres were also very small, the fortune theatre only being 80ft square. The stage had three tiers; the main stage where most of the scenes would be performed, the tiring house which was used for scenes such as the witches’ cave in Macbeth and the gallery (upper stage) which was used for scenes such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. People in the Elizabethan times were extremely religious and believed in a â€Å"chain of being†. This is a hierarchical society that is divided into three sections, Heaven, Hell and Earth. They believed that everybody was born into a level and this could not change or chaos would ensue. Due to this belief the killing of king – known as regicide was regarded as the worst crime in the world as the king was god’s messenger on Earth. Macbeth was written for King James in around 1605. Because of whom it was written for Shakespeare had to change the character of Banquo to a â€Å"good guy† as it was one of James’ ancestors (Shakespeare actually borrowed the idea for the play from Ralph Holinheads’ chronicles). The play is about a Scottish nobleman ‘Macbeth’ who becomes king by murdering the previous king. The world is then thrown into disarray until eventually ‘Macbeth’ himself is killed and the true successor to the throne is crowned when order is restored. There are many themes in Macbeth many of which recur throughout the play. These include masculinity. Lady Macbeth always questions ‘Macbeth’s’ manhood whenever he doesn’t want to go through with something, which leads to ‘Macbeth’ doing whatever she wants him to. Linking with this is femininity, during the play Lady Macbeth refers to this when she calls for the spirits to â€Å"unsex† her. There is also the theme of darkness, which creeps up a few times during the course of the play. ‘Macbeth’ says to the stars as he is about to murder Duncan, â€Å"hide your fire, let not light see my black and deep desires.† Lady Macbeth also asks for darkness when she says, â€Å"come thee thick night, and pull thee in the dunnest smoke of hell.† Evil is regularly associated with darkness and these references show that there is an evil side to ‘Macbeth’ and Lady Macbeth. Perhaps the most important theme in the whole play however, is fate. Every character except from ‘Macbeth’ accepts fate and the fact that they don’t have any control over it. In the first scene ‘Macbeth’ is said to â€Å"disdain fortune† and later on in the play the witches lead ‘Macbeth’ to believe that he can have complete control of his destiny, which, he later realises he cannot. The ‘tragic hero’ is a character used quite often by Shakespeare. The tragic hero is a character who is noble, brave and good but always has one fatal flaw. In ‘Othello’ the fatal flaw is jealousy and in Macbeth the fatal flaw is ambition. The tragic hero’s fatal flaw will inevitably result in their death, hence the name ‘fatal flaw’. I am now going to work through the play discussing the question ‘Macbeth’-Hero or â€Å"Hellhound†. The play starts with thunder and lightning, which is seen as a reference to the Gunpowder Plot, which occurred around the same time as the play. The Elizabethan audience would recognise this and see the relevance because in both the case of the Gunpowder Plot and the play the intended victim was the king. The meeting of the witches is the first scene in Macbeth. This shows that the witches are a very important part of the play and they will be very influential during its course. The audience will know to be afraid of the witches because of the society of the time. To the Elizabethans witchcraft was a fact of life. We also discover that the witches are definitely a source of evil when they say, â€Å"fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air.† This shows that the witches are trying to disrupt the natural order, which, according to the chain of being will throw the universe into chaos. In the second scene we learn of ‘Macbeth’s’ bravery in battle. This where he is said to â€Å"disdain fortune† which shows us that he doesn’t believe in fate. We also find ‘Macbeth’ is a very strong fighter and that; he and other people believe that he is unbeatable in battle. An example of this is when the captain says, â€Å"yes as sparrows eagles: or hare the lion.† This is a reference to ‘Macbeth’s’ fighting ability and the fact that he is as scared as a lion would be of a hare. When the opposition army is refreshed and with new troops the captain says, â€Å"As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks, so they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.† This shows the audience how ‘Macbeth’ but will make them wonder is he too bloody and over the top? ‘Macbeth’s’ first words in scene three are, â€Å"so foul and fair a day I have not seen.† The audience will pick up on this as it links in with what the witches say at the beginning of the play. The audience may also be a little disturbed by the way that ‘Macbeth’ seems to be acting now. The witches know what ‘Macbeth’s’ name is and this startles ‘Macbeth’ and the audience. They say â€Å"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis.† The audience will now begin to realise just how powerful the witches are as this is little known information. They then say â€Å"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor.† Of course by now the audience will know that the Thane of Cawdor is a traitor but they don’t know how the witches have this knowledge. This will scare the audience and make them wary of the witches’ behaviour. Banquo mentions to ‘Macbeth’ that he should be happy by this news, â€Å"Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear things so fair?† This shows us that the witches have also startled ‘Macbeth’. Does this mean that ‘Macbeth’ can’t be too evil as he is scared of the witches or he is just shocked because he has already thought of murdering the king? Banquo also says that ‘Macbeth’ seems â€Å"rapt withal† so we wonder if he is deep in thought or under a witches spell. If ‘Macbeth’ is in fact under the witches’ spell then his actions throughout the rest of the play can’t really be seen as his fault. Banquo seems to be aware that the witches are evil although ‘Macbeth’ isn’t. â€Å"Cannot be ill. Cannot be god.† Is he just reassuring himself or is he really not aware that the witches are bad? ‘Macbeth’ thinks of murdering the king and is scared by his thoughts: â€Å"Why do I yield to that suggestions whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, without the use of nature.† Again Banquo says, â€Å"look how our partners rapt† so again we wonder if he is under a spell or just deep in his thoughts. The way that this idea of ‘Macbeth’ being â€Å"rapt† could be Shakespeare’s way of telling the audience that ‘Macbeth’ is being controlled by something more powerful than just his mind or ambition. In the next scene Duncan announces that the successor to the throne will be his son. ‘Macbeth’ also declares his loyalty to the king when he becomes thane. The audience will already know that ‘Macbeth’ has had thoughts about killing the king and therefore will see this as ‘Macbeth’ being very two faced. ‘Macbeth’ also says in this scene: â€Å"the Prince of Cumberland: that is a step, on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap for of in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires.† This reveals a lot about ‘Macbeth’s’ current train of thought. He is basically saying that the Prince of Cumberland is in his way and must be overcome. ‘Macbeth’ also becomes quite scary in this speech when he says the part about â€Å"Stars hide your fires†. This will symbolise to the audience that he is moving into darkness from light or more worryingly from good to bad. In scene five Lady Macbeth is introduced. She offers quite a lot of insight into ‘Macbeth’s’ character that hasn’t been mentioned before. She says, â€Å"Yet I do rear thy nature is too full of the milk of human kindness.† This is a feminine quality; she is basically that ‘Macbeth’ is not masculine – bloody enough. She also says that he is, â€Å"without the illness that should attend ambition.† This means that his ambition is pure but does not having that â€Å"illness† mean that ‘Macbeth’ doesn’t have a conscience? She says that he wants to do things the right way, â€Å"holily†, â€Å"wouldst not play false† and also that ‘Macbeth’ fears to do things. This shows us that Lady Macbeth has, perhaps, a confused idea of masculinity and femininity and also good and evil. Lady Macbeth’s behaviour echoes that of the witches as she calls upon the spirits to â€Å"unsex† her. We can also links with ‘Macbeth’ when she says, â€Å"come thee thick night, And pull thee in the dunnest smoke of hell.† Here she is calling for darkness like her husband did previously. ‘Macbeth’ arrives home at their castle and tells Lady Macbeth that Duncan will be staying for a night, to which Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"O never shall sun that morrow see.† This is a clear indication that she too wants the king to die. She tells ‘Macbeth’ to â€Å"look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.† ‘Macbeth’ says â€Å"we will speak further.† This shows the audience that ‘Macbeth’ hasn’t yet decided whether or not to kill the king. In scene six the king arrives at ‘Macbeth’s’ castle. In scene seven ‘Macbeth’ argues against killing the king by saying, â€Å"he’s here in double trust.† This means that it should be ‘Macbeth’s’ duty to protect the king and not try and kill him. He also says to Lady Macbeth, â€Å"we will proceed no further in this business.† Lady Macbeth retaliates to this by saying that ‘Macbeth’ is a coward and she follows it up by saying something extremely shocking. She says that she has had children but would rather rip the baby from her and kill it then break her vow to kill the king. This shows to us that it may not just be the witches who are proving to be a bad influence on ‘Macbeth’s’ mind. This causes ‘Macbeth’ to change his mind. Lady Macbeth outlines a plan to kill the king. Her idea is to get the king’s guards so drunk they fall asleep then Duncan will be unguarded. Once Duncan has been killed she will pour blood on the guards to make it look like they murdered him. ‘Macbeth’ ends the scene by saying, â€Å"I am settled.† He has decided to kill the king. We wonder whether this was perhaps his intention all along or was it Lady Macbeth’s intervention that pushed him to do it? In Act two scene one ‘Macbeth’ starts on his mission to kill the king. A dagger appears before him. There are lots of interpretations about what this means. Is ‘Macbeth’ going mad and just imagining it? Is the dagger really there? Is it a witches’ spell making him see it? Some versions of Macbeth actually show the dagger appearing before him while some don’t, as if it is in his mind. In scene two ‘Macbeth’ kills the king and is in a terrible state. He says, â€Å"I could not say amen.† This could be evidence that he is under a spell because if he was just evil it wouldn’t bother him that he couldn’t say amen. He also says, â€Å"me thought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more.† This shows that ‘Macbeth’ is both hearing and seeing things. This will make the audience wonder if ‘Macbeth’ has truly gone mad or if he just feels guilty about it. In scene three we see the chain of being has been disrupted and chaos is ensuing when it is said, â€Å"some say the earth was feverous, and did shake.† Also in this scene Macduff finds the king dead. ‘Macbeth’ kills the servants. Is this ‘Macbeth’ being careful and cautious or just bloody? In the first scene of act three we realise that Banquo suspects ‘Macbeth’ of getting in to the position he is in more by foul play than coincidence. â€Å"I fear thou play’dst most foully for ‘t.† We wonder whether Banquo suspects ‘Macbeth’ because he knows that ‘Macbeth’ is capable of doing this. ‘Macbeth’ says, â€Å"to be this is nothing but to be safely this.† ‘Macbeth’ is pondering whether he should kill Banquo, after all he saw the witches and he knows what ‘Macbeth’ is doing. He also says, † come fate, into the list.† ‘Macbeth’ is personifying fate again, which links with when he is said to â€Å"disdain fortune.† This is very important because it shows that ‘Macbeth’ is now acting against the witches as he has decided to kill Banquo and his son. This time however ‘Macbeth’ gets â€Å"murderers† to kill Banquo. Is this because he is too scared? Does he still feel some loyalty to Banquo? Or is he just being more devious? He says to Lady Macbeth, â€Å"Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chick.† This is a huge step for ‘Macbeth’ because the murder is all his own planning and no witches or wife are persuading him. He also says, however, â€Å"O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife.† This shows that, again, ‘Macbeth’ is showing some remorse. This shows us that ‘Macbeth’ does not become purely evil immediately. In scene four Lady Macbeth says ‘Macbeth’ is â€Å"womann’d.† In Shakespeare language this means that it is good to be kind, good to be scared. Theses are all necessary parts of being a hero, not a villain. In this scene Banquo’s ghost appears before ‘Macbeth’. We wonder again, as with the dagger, is this a spell, a hallucination or just his guilty conscience playing tricks on him. ‘Macbeth’ says â€Å"I will to-morrow (And betimes I will) to the weird sisters, more shall they speak.† ‘Macbeth’ is going to see the witches. He knows that he has gone too far and cannot be good again. He has â€Å"embraced evil.† â€Å"For know I am bent to know the worst means the worst.† The audience will now wonder whether this is ‘Macbeth’ being brave or just purely evil. In scene five the queen witch says that ‘Macbeth’ isn’t linked with the witches. The audience will wonder is the witch lying? And also is this good or bad? If ‘Macbeth’ is linked with the witches then they can be blamed for his actions but, if what the witches are saying is true then ‘Macbeth’ is responsible for his own actions. Act four scene one. The witches produce apparitions as they talk to ‘Macbeth’. The audience will link this with the dagger and Banquo’s ghost and will now believe that the witches are the cause of these images. The witches’ first warning to ‘Macbeth’ is clear. â€Å"Beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife.† The second apparition is a bit more cryptic. â€Å"for none of woman born shall harm ‘Macbeth’.† The witches know that they are tricking ‘Macbeth’. At first ‘Macbeth’ decides not to Macduff as he thinks he can’t be harmed by him but then changes his mind to be on the safe side. This is another example of one of the many times ‘Macbeth’ goes a bit over the top by killing people. The third apparition tells ‘Macbeth’ that he will be safe until the wood marches up to the castle. This makes ‘Macbeth’ feel safe as he thinks, that the wood can’t march and that everyone is woman born. The audience however, will know not to trust what the witches say. In act five scene two we see some peoples’ opinions of ‘Macbeth’. â€Å"Tyrant, mad and valiant fury† are all mentioned. The audience will know that ‘Macbeth’s’ reign is likely to come to an end. In scene three ‘Macbeth’ learns that the English are marching into Scotland. ‘Macbeth’ says, â€Å"I’ll fight till from my bones, my flesh be hack’d!† This is another point in the play where ‘Macbeth’ is very bloodthirsty and over the top. In scene five ‘Macbeth’ hears a scream. Lady Macbeth has died. He says: â€Å"I have almost forgot the taste of fears, the time has been, my senses would have cool’d to hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair would at dismal treatise rouse and stir as if like were in lit.† This isn’t a good sign as it shows that ‘Macbeth’ has gone too far. He also says: â€Å"She should have died hereafter, there would have been a time for such a word, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in the pretty face from day to day.† This shows that ‘Macbeth’ is accepting that he will be defeated and wants death now. ‘Macbeth’ also learns that Burnham wood is coming to the castle. He says, â€Å"at least we’ll die with harness on our back.† The audience will wonder of this is noble and heroic or is he really mad? It also shows that ‘Macbeth’ â€Å"disdain fortune† once again. In scene seven ‘Macbeth’ realises that he has been tricked by the witches when he says, â€Å"they have tied me to a stake, I cannot fly, but bear like I must fight the course.† The audience may now feel a little bit sorry for ‘Macbeth’, as all that he can do now is fight. â€Å"Turn hell hound, turn.† Macduff yells to ‘Macbeth’ to which ‘Macbeth’ replies no. He decides that he doesn’t want to kill Macduff as he has already killed all of his family. Is this ‘Macbeth’ showing some compassion to Macduff by not fighting him or is it just arrogance? ‘Macbeth’ realises what the witches were talking about when Macduff says he was born by caesarean section – not born of a woman. Even though he now knows this he still wants to fight. The audience will wonder if this is ‘Macbeth’ trying to â€Å"disdain fortune† once again. Macduff kills ‘Macbeth’ in the fight, as the witches predicted. Malcolm says, â€Å"this dead butcher.† This isn’t really a very good description of ‘Macbeth’ as he perhaps had good reason to kill some of the people that he did and some of his other murders could be seen as ‘Macbeth’ being cautious rather than bloody and over the top. When the king’s named successor returns to the throne, the chain of being is back in order and the play ends. ‘Macbeth’ has been killed and order has been restored.