Athenian audience Essay

Examine and compare the motives and actions of Orestes and Electra. To what extent will an Athenian audience admire and approve of them?  Electra is the central character in the play. Her main purpose in this play is to achieve the motive of a typical Greek person, which is to be noble to the gods, family and cherish their homeland. This is why tries as much as possible to kill the murderers of her father and why she thinks by doing this, she is obeying the gods. These murderers happen to be her mother and her lover; Aegisthus.This makes her hate her mother without considering the circumstances to which she was subjected to before killing Agamemnon. Electra describes her as ‘the queen of falsehood†. Pg 77. And a â€Å"worthless slot†. She expresses the hatred for her mother freely. She also hates Aegisthus as he has taken the place of her father. â€Å"Aegisthus sitting in my father’s chair, wearing the clothes he wore, pouring the same libations at the altar where he killed him’. Pg 76. This shows Aegisthus’ lack of respect for Agamemnon, the tradition of the Greeks and the Gods. As a result of the situation she denies herself of the privileges and luxuries of being a princess because she doesn’t want to live of f the means of her worst enemies. She describes herself as ‘an alien slave, a menial†¦dressed like a slattern in coarse and ugly garments’. The death of her Father and the exile of her brother, Orestes makes her mourn helplessly and continuously, as she cannot do anything. â€Å"So I can do nothing but wait in misery†. Pg 77. Mourning in the ancient Greek sense here meant tearing off your hair, crying and all sorts of self-harm. ‘I bring my sad s ongs here and tear my breast till it bleeds†. Pg 71. In addition, Electra also loves her father very much. Her love for him is more of an obsession, which has been seriously affected, as he is now dead. She is subjective to him and is ready to do anything for his sake though he is dead. † I will fall, if need be, for my father’s sake†. Pg 80.She also loves her brother, Orestes who has been exiled. She refers to him as â€Å"her darling† and her â€Å"darling’s own son†. Pg 92 &107.Her feelings towards her sister Chrysothemis is ambiguous as it changes according her actions. At a particular time she can adopt a harsh tone when addressing Chrysothemis â€Å"You ought to be ashamed, if you’re our father’s daughter†. Pg 78. Later on, she refers to her with a much more caring approach. † Listen to me my dear†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Pg 81. Furthermore, Electra has an aggressive approach towards issues. She lacks patience and is unable to consider the consequences of her actions before s he does them â€Å"Prepare fit punishments and turn their pomp to ashes!† This portrays her aggressiveness’ Pg 75. On the other hand we have Orestes who is one of the main male characters. He is the son of Agamemnon and his main aim is also to revenge the death of his father who has been killed by his mother and her lover, Aegithus as explained earlier, as he feels it his responsibility to the gods, which he is trying by all means not to disobey. â€Å"I would not have come back but in the gods’ good time; they brought me back to you†. Pg 108.It is important I note that Orestes expresses a bit of doubt after killing Clytaemnestra. â€Å"All right†¦if Apollo was right†. Pg 114. Also, unlike Electra, Orestes is a more calm and reserved. He does not pour out all his emotions and is more cautious in his actions. He is coordinated and plans his actions before carrying them out. For example, he tells the tutor to deceive his mother, Clytaemnestra and sister, Electra that he is dead in order to set a calm mood in the palace for his mother and also to make his sister lose all hopes that he’ll be coming back to revenge the death of their father. The result of this will be that Electra will calm down. Even when she eventually finds out he is her brother he cautions her. † I would not curb you; but there is danger in too much happiness†. Pg 108. He then comes disguised to kill the murderers of his father. In addition, Orestes contributes to the use of irony. For example â€Å"Which of you, I wonder, would be so good as to tell them within that a long expected visitor is here?† Pg 102. This is an irony as it is true that he has been long expected. Electra also makes use of ironies in the play. â€Å"Yes I see†¦you have it there in your hands†¦there is no doubt, then†¦O my brother†. Pg 103.This is an irony as she is actually talking to her brother. Lastly, Orestes main objective is more of justice and duty than personal hatred for the murderers of his father, Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus or his great love for his father unlike Electra .He believes that killing his father’s murderers is a responsibility given to him by the gods. â€Å"I could not have come but in the gods’ good time; they brought me back†. Pg 108. One can still say that Electra believes it is her duty but her motives still have an implement of her personal love and affection for her father. â€Å"You admit you killed my father; and that is the most monstrous admission you could make, whether you had justice on your side or not†. In conclusion, I personally think that the Greek audience would have sympathised with both Electra and her brother, Orestes as they both present the actions of a Greek person if he or she was in a similar situation, though it might be in different styles. In Electra, I think the audience would have loved the way she cherished the main priorities of a typical Greek person which, is to be loyal to your family and homeland. They would also have admired this in Orestes as he also does the same. The Greek audience would have also loved how she portrayed the regular tradition and culture through her mourning. In Orestes, I think the Greeks would have admired his ability to think of good ideas and his ability to make good use of his sense, as it was regarded as a very important characteristic in the society. They would also have loved the use of irony used by the two characters. The main shortcoming of this play is that the intrigue and suspense is limited, as it would have been more if the audience did not know the story..

Barosaurus - Facts and Figures

Barosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Barosaurus (Greek for heavy lizard); pronounced BAH-roe-SORE-us Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Period: Late Jurassic (155-145 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 80 feet long and 20 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Extremely long neck and tail; tiny head; relatively slender build About Barosaurus A close relative of Diplodocus, Barosaurus is virtually indistinguishable from its harder-to-pronounce cousin, save for its 30-foot-long neck (one of the longest of any dinosaur, with the exception of the eastern Asian Mamenchisaurus). Like the other sauropods of the late Jurassic period, Barosaurus wasnt the brainiest dinosaur that ever livedits head was unusually small for its massive body, and easily detached from its skeleton after deathand it probably spent its entire life foraging the tops of trees, protected from predators by its sheer bulk. The sheer length of Barosaurus neck raises some interesting questions. If this sauropod reared up to its full height, it would have been as tall as a five-story buildingwhich would have placed enormous demands on its heart and overall physiology. Evolutionary biologists have calculated that the ticker of a such a long-necked dinosaur would have had to weigh a whopping 1.5 tons, which has prompted speculation about alternate body plans (say, additional, subsidiary hearts lining Barosaurus neck, or a posture in which Barosaurus held its neck parallel to the ground, like the hose of a vacuum cleaner). One interesting, and little-known, fact about Barosaurus is that two women were involved in its discovery, at a time when American paleontology was in the grips of the testosterone-fueled Bone Wars. The type specimen of this sauropod was discovered by the postmistress of Pottsville, South Dakota, Ms. E.R. Ellerman (who subsequently alerted the Yale paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh), and a South Dakota landowner, Rachel Hatch, guarded the remainder of the skeleton until it was eventually excavated, years later, by one of Marshs assistants. One of the most famous reconstructions of Barosaurus resides in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where an adult Barosaurus rears up on its hind legs to defend its young from an approaching Allosaurus (one of this sauropods natural antagonists during the late Jurassic period). The trouble is, this posture would almost certainly have been impossible for the 20-ton Barosaurus; the dinosaur would probably have toppled over backward, broken its neck, and nourished that Allosaurus and its packmates for an entire month!

Whos for the Game and Recruiting Essay Example

Whos for the Game and Recruiting Essay Example Whos for the Game and Recruiting Paper Whos for the Game and Recruiting Paper women at home would hand out white feathers to the men at home, like Pope women wouldnt have much respect for healthy men not joining up for the war. Mackintosh, like Pope uses language which would be understood by everyone, he uses phrases the men would be used to Lads, youre wanted, go and help' and then compares it to the realistic image of the trenches with Lads, youre wanted! Over there. He follows the tradition of simple propaganda. He reveals how tragic an existence in the trenches is with More poor devils like yourselves waiting to be killed by you. His simple and regular poem conveys to the reader that war is not a game but a very horrific event. Mackintosh singles out journalists in his poem Help to make the columns stuff for the blasted journalists since they are making profits out of the misery of war. Pope however does not appear to think that the journalists are doing any harm since her poem has been written for a newspaper. Mackintosh has respect for all the men in the war come and learn to live and die with honest men but he does not insult the men not joining the war effort like Pope does making them sound lazy taking a seat in the stand. Pope makes the war sound like a huge source of entertainment, referring to it as fun, with the added bonus of fighting for your country. Mackintosh keeps to his anti war status throughout the poem and regards signing up for the war as helping to swell the names in the causality list. Mackintosh ends his poem on a rather sinister but truthful note come and die. Joining the war was not as Pope described and the sad truth was Mackintoshs description was probably accurate. Jessie Pope ends her poem on a positive note making the reader feel their country actually needs them and are calling for you. Both these poems are effective in studying the literature of the First World War as they both present such different pictures. Mackintoshs poem is an excellent example of poetry portraying the realism of war whereas Popes poem is an admirable model of the unfortunate attitude cultivated on the home front. The contrast between the two allows the reader to see the reality of the First World War from two different perspectives.

The Cobb-Douglas Production Function

The Cobb-Douglas Production Function In economics, a production function is an equation that describes the relationship between input and output, or what goes into making a certain product, and a Cobb-Douglas production function is a specific standard equation that is applied to describe how much output two or more inputs into a production process make, with capital and labor being the typical inputs described. Developed by economist Paul Douglas and mathematician Charles Cobb, Cobb-Douglas production functions are commonly used in both macroeconomics and microeconomics models because they have a number of convenient and realistic properties. The equation for the Cobb-Douglas production formula, wherein K represents capital, L represents labor input and a, b, and c represent non-negative constants, is as follows: f(K,L) bKaLc If ac1 this  production function  has constant returns to scale, and it would thus be considered linearly homogeneous. As this is a standard case, one often writes (1-a) in place of c. Its also important to note that technically a Cobb-Douglas production function could have more than two inputs, and the functional form, in this case, is analogous to what is shown above. The Elements of Cobb-Douglas: Capital and Labor When Douglas and Cobb were conducting research on mathematics and economies from 1927 to 1947, they observed sparse statistical data sets from that time period and came to a conclusion about economies in developed countries around the world: there was a direct correlation between capital and labor and the real value of all goods produced within a timeframe. Its important to understand how capital and labor are defined in these terms, as the assumption by Douglas and Cobb make sense in the context of economic theory and rhetoric. Here, capital indicates the real value of all machinery, parts, equipment, facilities, and buildings while labor accounts for the total number of hours worked within a timeframe by employees. Basically, this theory then posits that the value of the machinery and the number of person-hours worked directly relate to the gross output of production. Although this concept is reasonably sound on the surface, there were a number of criticisms Cobb-Douglas production functions received when first published in 1947. The Importance of Cobb-Douglas Production Functions Fortunately, most early criticism of the Cobb-Douglas functions was based on their methodology of research into the matter- essentially economists argued that the pair did not have enough statistical evidence to observe at the time as it related to true production business capital, labor hours worked, or complete total production outputs at the time. With the introduction of this unifying theory on national economies, Cobb and Douglas shifted the global discourse at it related to micro- and macroeconomic perspective. Furthermore, the theory stood true after 20 years of research when the 1947 United States Census data came out and the Cobb-Douglas model was applied to its data. Since then, a number of other similar aggregate and economy-wide theories, functions, and formulas have been developed to ease the process of statistical correlation; the Cobb-Douglas production functions are still used in analyses of economies of modern, developed, and stable nations around the world.

Impact Of Be True To Your School On Different Persons Essay

Impact Of Be True To Your School On Different Persons - Essay Example The narrative included Greene and his peers getting summer jobs, drinking liquor, finding the latest hits of the day and earning marks for their teams, among others. These events were faithfully chronicled in a daily diary, which for its frequency could tend to become tedious at times. But this is quite rare and to be expected since the diary involved every single day of the entire year. What Greene has accomplished in this particular narrative, however, is the transformation of the seemingly banal and ordinary American teen life into something compelling, entertaining and memorable. Grown-ups would find it easy to forget what transpired in their youth, having more serious concerns and real-life troubles to occupy their minds. Greene will teach them to look back and marvel at those days when everything was simple when the most challenging events include getting at least a score of B and pursuing a romantic interest. These things - within the context of Greene's narrative - assume an entirely new utility: they serve as a reminder. For some, it would be a reminder of what shaped them into what they are now. For others, it would about the things that made them happy or the time when the seeds of their dreams began germinating. Greene articulated this best when he, at the beginning of the story, wrote: â€Å"When I look at the diary after years had passed, I realized that what I had here was something money could not buy: time preserved† (vii). Perhaps this was the reason why Lindy met Greene several years later when he flew to where she lived in Ohio. She met him for dinner and went as far as going up with Greene to his room (46).

Student survival guide personal action plan Essay

Student survival guide personal action plan - Essay Example University education requires a large amount of independent learning and often involves search for information. Information is required to construct ideas, theories, or data. A variety of sources provide such information; but the most obvious ones are the University Library and the internet. Libraries can be either paper libraries or digital ones, where the contents of books are stored in digital form. Searching for information in books consumes too much time and hence it is preferable to access digital libraries on occasions when time could be a limiting factor. Also, the information contained in a book may not be updated. Hence library searches are better conducted within digital sources. Searching through digital catalogues offers speed and convenience, with an added advantage that one can access these from remote locations. Internet is the most convenient source of information because time, space or location doesn’t constrain it. Following guidelines will provide an overview of how best to search the internet. But they are not exhaustive; the World Wide Web has such potential that people can, and need to customize it to meet their specific requirements: 2. Use a search engine that displays results from more than one source – sometimes referred to as a meta-crawler – info.com is one such, though google.com gives excellent results fast, provided the search criteria are selected properly. Advanced search options needs to be used to refine searches. Commercial sites tend to be unreliable as far as a student is concerned. University sites and sites with .org and .edu suffixes should be preferred. However, the objectivity of opinions expressed in individual sites must be assessed after careful reading, since many activist sites masquarade as authentic unbiased ones. Passing off another person’s work as one’s own is unethical, apart from being unlawful. However,

Labor laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Labor laws - Essay Example The best means of establishing a regulatory system that could protect employees against exploitation was through via the legal system that has already been established and holds valid authority on such matters. The legal system established a set of labor laws that were meant for this purpose and designed to fight for the â€Å"Average Joe† so to speak. Labor laws can be described as a set of rules that govern the relationship between an employee and their employer and have been designed to act as a baseline of what is expected from both parties (Ewing, McColgan & Collins, 2005). It can be said that these laws exist because frictionless economic efficiency can often operate to the disadvantage of the employed, even to the point of the violation of the basic civil rights of the employed. However, the role and structure of labor laws will have to be examined to determine whether the above statement contains any truth. By taking an in-depth look at the labor laws and role they pla y for both parties (that is, the employer and the employed) one is able to establish the essentiality of the existence of labor laws. Why Labor Laws Exist In order to properly understand the topic of discussion it is important for one to understand why labor laws were introduced into the legal system and the reason for their creation (Selwyn, 2008). There are a number of reasons that one can find for the existence of labor laws and by observing the main ones, one is able to visualize the need for these kind of regulation to be set in place. There can be said to be three main reasons why labor laws exist, these three reasons cover all the parties involved and the main angles that the subject can studied from. They include: 1. Employee Protection Labor laws exist to ensure that individuals working for organizations are not exploited as a result of their inability to stand up for themselves due to the size of the opposition. Labor laws are put in place to ensure that every employee is able to enjoy their basic needs and rights despite their various positions and circumstances and provides a tool that can be wielded against companies that may attempt to mistreat their employees. This can in fact be said to be the main reason behind the emergence of labor laws (Befort & Budd, 2009). The existence of these laws ensures that employees are treated fairly in their place of work and are not bullied by the large organizations in any context or form. The resources and clout that some large organizations hold in the society and business world would have meant that few individuals would have been successful fighting for their rights unless they had an equally influential backing supporting their cause. This backing has been offered by the labor laws that exist in the country (Ewing, McColgan & Collins, 2005). A good example of such protection is seen in excerpts of the existing labor laws such as the issue of Minimum Wage which entails the least amount of money that an indi vidual can be paid for their work (Keshawn & Arn, 2005). This ensures that a company does not exploit individuals in financial trouble by offering them unfair remuneration for the work that they have put in knowing that in some situations some may not have a