Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Approaches to Counselling Essay Example

Approaches to Counselling Essay Example Approaches to Counselling Paper Approaches to Counselling Paper Essay Topic: Rogerian Relationships play an important role in everyday life. You or I may define a relationship with a person in many different ways depending on the context with whom the relationship is with, whether this be peers, colleagues or loved ones. So is it possible to have a relationship with someone who you don’t know, someone such as a therapist? It may be possible; however this is not the type of relationship that is being described within counselling therapy. The client-counsellor relationship is unlike these day to day relationships that you may form with peers or loved ones, it is highly specialised; depending on the approach, it is usually informal in a structured manner, with boundaries and rules to dictate where the relationship may or may not go. These boundaries can have a powerful effect on the degree of the relationship; for instance the provision of confidentiality can help the client self-disclose more easily, and this confidentiality in turn creates and provides an atmosphere of trust which has been described as an aspect of an intimate relationship (Monsour, 1992). This essay will focus on the relationship process in different counselling approaches; namely Existential counselling, Psychodynamic counselling and Person-Centred counselling. It will aim to understand the process and therapeutic approach used in counselling and how the relationship between client-counsellor evolves and what effect this will have on the outcome. Throughout history, support has been seen to be a key aspect of recovery from illness. Iroquois Indians believed the cause of ill health to be unfulfilled wishes (Wallace, 1958 [cited in McLeod, 2009]); diviners would discover these unfulfilled wishes which were seen to be unconscious, and organise a festival of wishes where by neighbours, loved ones and the community would help to fulfil these wishes. In countries such as India the prevalence of mental health counselling is relatively low; the notion that western counselling theories and can be transported across from individualistic societies to collectivistic society may be seen as inappropriate. In India family support, even today, is still seen as being used as the first point of contact for illness; culture and religion plays a significant role in the day to day lives. Western society was not so different to this before industrialisation. Religion played an important role in the western societies, where mild emotional and interpersonal problems were dealt with by priests (McNeil, 1951 [cited in McLeod, 2009]), and a shift from â€Å"tradition centred† (Riesman, 1950 [cited in McLeod, 2009]) to â€Å"inner-direction† approach was seen with the rise of Freudian and Rogerian counselling. According to Burnard (1992) â€Å"the main point of working in the health care field is to communicate†. Communication is broad, and the form of communication that takes place is as varied as those in the relationship. The positioning of people and body language all contribute to revealing the feelings of one person to another (Argyle, 1983); this is because non-verbal communication, unlike verbal communication can not be effectively withheld. Morrison Burnard (1997) say that listening and attending are â€Å"by far the most important aspects involved in counselling†, and that clients would lose faith in a counsellor who stares out of the window or fiddles with a pen. If a counsellor uses Rogers’ (1957) core conditions, the counsellor will be exhibiting a presence which is inviting and warm, and allows for an effective therapeutic relationship. Rogers is seen as the founder of ‘client-centred approach’ (often referred to as person-centred). The approach involves the counsellor helping the client find their own solutions to problems, without the counsellor giving direct advice (Morrison Burnard, 1997). The person-centred approach believes the client is the best authority on themselves and their experiences, however that achieving this potential requires favourable conditions and that poor conditions may disrupt personal development. Rogers (1957) believes the client often comes to a counsellor because of incongruence between the client’s self image and their ideal self, and the role of the counsellor is to facilitate the client to resolve this incongruence. One reason that incongruence may occur is because individuals often cope by accepting views of others and gradually incorporating these into their own views about themselves. Overtime an individual’s intrinsic sense of their own identity, evaluations of their own experiences and attributions of value may be replaced due to conditional acceptance from others. This is the basis for the first of the three core conditions (1. Unconditional positive regard/acceptance; 2. Empathic understanding; 3. Congruence), maintained by the person-centred approach. The first condition allows the client to freely explore all thoughts and feelings without danger of rejection, and crucially the client is free to explore these without having to meet any standards of behaviour to earn positive regard. The second, empathic understanding, is so that the counsellor can accurately understand the clients thoughts, feelings and meaning, from the clients perspective. Burnard (1992) cites Kalisch as defining empathy as â€Å"the ability to perceive accurately the feelings of another person and to communicate this understanding to him†. The final condition, congruence, is for the counsellor to be authentic and genuine, and not to present a facade, where the client is free to understand the counsellor as much as the counsellor understands the client. Rogers states that if a counsellor is being congruent then this may lead to the counsellor self-disclosing, however that this is not so that the counsellor can talk about their own feelings, but to ensure that a client is not deceived by a facade (Corey, 1991). Rogers believed these three conditions were both necessary and sufficient for therapeutic progress to occur, and that there is nothing essentially unique about the relationship, and that a healthy relationship with others may manifest the core conditions in them. However a frequent criticism is that delivering the core conditions is what all good therapists do anyway before applying their individual therapeutic approaches. Bowers and Clum (1988) reviewed studies which compared therapies with a technique focus, therapies with a relationship focus (placebo therapy), and therapies with both. They found that both contribute to the effectiveness of psychotherapy, and that the therapeutic relationship contributes a unique piece of variance to the effectiveness of therapy. In addition, Bolstad (1992) found that using closed questions or too many questions at all was found to be an inhibitory factor in the relationship, so the use of minimal prompts (such as â€Å"umm†, â€Å"yes† and even body movements like nodding [as seen in Rogerian person-centred counselling]) should be present in all counselling sessions. The existential approach views humans as continually changing and transforming, living essentially finite lives. The focus of this approach being on the client’s life and exploring the meaning and value in accordance with one’s own ideals, priorities and values. Psychological disturbance is taken as the outcome of avoiding life’s truths and working in the shadow of other people’s expectations and values. This approach places great emphasis on the therapist’s ability to be aware of, and to question their own biases and prejudices; the facilitation of the client’s beliefs and values are essential to building the therapeutic relationship, and thus the therapists is seen to being naive within the therapy. To understand the client, the therapist explores the client’s existence on four main dimensions (1. phsyical; 2. social; 3. psychological; 4. spritiual). Van Deurzen (2000) observes there are â€Å"obvious existential elements† in the person-centred approach; and in an historical context the philosopher (Soren Kerikegaard) most frequently mentioned by Rogers, also contributed significantly to existential counselling. Legg (1998) surmised that academic Psychology has advanced over the last 50 years, whereby theories (such as personality theories) have evolved, but the empirical foundations of counselling (both person-centred and existential) are virtually never addressed in current literature. The difference between person-centred and existential being that the existential approach focuses on the relationship a person has with themselves and the world around them, whereas the person-centred approach focuses on the development of the self under more or less welcoming conditions. Modern psychological therapies can trace some roots back to Freud and his methods of psychoanalysis. He strongly supported the idea of lay analysts without medical training, which was ever increasing difficult as western society moved towards medical, biological and scientific approaches to illness. Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the idea that most of mental disorders lie in the unconscious mind, and therefore the patient is unaware of them. Freud believed that in order to treat the problem, the client’s repressed desires and problems must be uncovered in order for the therapy to proceed. The psychodynamic therapist uses the here and now to determine possible explanations in everyday life (McLeod, 2009). Although modern psychodynamic therapy is still heavily influenced by Freud’s original ideas from the early 1900’s, it has been highly developed since, taking a more social relationship-oriented approach (McLeod, 2009). The core principals are for the therapist to understand the development of personality, particularly how it was shaped by early family life and environment. Freud favoured two methods of assessing a client’s unconscious thoughts and feelings; dream analysis, and free association. These were developed after Freud learnt ‘hypnosis’ from French psychologist Charcot Janet. Freud maintained the idea that a client and therapist must have a good rapport for therapy to work, however his scepticism about hypnosis lead to the development of ‘free association’, which works on the principal that the client is comfortable enough to talk freely. The relationship within a psychodynamic therapy in modern psychology allows for a more personal relationship; by having the counsellor as a ‘blank screen’ onto which the client can project their thoughts and feeling about themselves, allows for the therapist to understand how the client is feeling, this hopefully leads to the same relationship and rapport that the client is trying to overcome; this is the most commonly used method in modern psychodynamic therapy (transference). However a major criticism of psychodynamic therapy, unlike other therapies, is that the counsellor/therapist is offering his or her own opinions on the situation. Both existential and person-centred tries to get the patient to reflect on their own experiences, here in psychodynamic therapy we see that the counsellor may offer an interpretation. Researchers found that in extreme cases, such as sexual abuse in women, psychodynamic therapy may elicit more withdrawals than progressive results (Farber, 2009). This also occurred in sessions with post traumatic stress disorder patients, who withdrew considerably after a psychodynamic treatment (Markowitz, 2009). Van Denburg Van Denburg (1992) note premature termination resulted from failures in empathy; they also note that others have suggested that premature termination occurs from too strong negative transference(Mahler, 1952), fears of abandonment by and separation from the therapist, and too strong feelings regarding dependence on the therapist (transference resistance Freud). Today psychodynamic therapy is mainly used to treat problems such as personality disorders, anxiety attacks, panic and depressive disorders. Thus far this essay has looked at three approaches in counselling, and identified ways in which the therapists build relationships with the clients. But how effective is the therapeutic relationship in counselling? Research has consistently reported a positive relationship across studies between the quality of the therapeutic alliance and therapy outcome, although there are some instances where the working alliance fails to predict outcome or where associations are nonsignificant (Gaston, 2004; Hovarth, 1991, 1993, 1994; Krupnick, 1996 [cited in Knaevelsrud Maercker, 2006]). Blagys and Hilsenroth (2000, 2002) found seven interventions that stood out as distinguishing psychodynamic and interpersonal therapy from cognitive–behavioural treatment, and six techniques and interventions were identified as distinctive activities of CBT. Lambert and Ogles (2004) indicated that varying types of therapy usually yield similar results, but the possibility of differences should not be excluded. However, different approaches have been exposed to systematic evaluation to various degrees. A comparison was made between psychoanalytical psychotherapy and behaviour therapy, where both sets of therapists were rated equally on display of warmth; however the behaviour therapists were rated as more active and seemed more genuine (Sloane, Staples, Cristol, Yorkston Whipple, 1975). Research about therapeutic orientation and attachment styles has shown that having a psychodynamic orientation predicted the quality of the alliance as being less positive, and the psychodynamic therapists reported more problems in therapy, compared with cognitive– behaviour therapists, cognitive–analytic/ integrative or eclectic therapists, and humanistic therapists (Black, Hardy, Turpin, Parry, 2005).

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Anyone Can Learn to Play This Guitar in Minutes

Anyone Can Learn to Play This Guitar in Minutes Practice, practice, practice. If you want to become good at anything, theres no getting  around those three words. Musicians, of course, know this all too well. Research has shown that trained violinists and pianists typically put in an average of 10,000 hours before they can be considered elite performers. For the rest of us with far less lofty aspirations, there are popular rhythm-based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band that are much easier to pick up. The games also allow players to quickly get accustomed to rhythmic timing, notes as well as some of the dexterity necessary to play drums, bass, and other instruments. Still, making the leap over to, say, actually playing the guitar, is entirely different. There’s just simply no substitute for the hours upon hours of practice necessary to master the finer subtleties of things like finger positioning and different picking techniques. The learning curve can often feel so steep that about 90 percent of beginners quit within the first year, according to Fender, a leading guitar brand.    That’s where technologically-enhanced instruments such as the MI Guitar comes in. Pitched as the guitar anyone can learn to play in mere minutes, the rhythmic guitar is something of a novice’s dream. Similar to Guitar Hero, it features a tactile electronic interface along the fretboard but is capable of expressing a wide range of chords. At the top, the guitar’s force-sensitive strings also allow users to generate chords with varying degrees of loudness, much like a real guitar. The Crowdfunding Project That Could Originally launched as a crowdfunding project on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, the campaign raised a total of $412,286. The final product isn’t due to ship until late 2017, but early hands-on reviews of the latest prototype have generally been positive. A reviewer at Wired magazine praised the guitar as â€Å"totally fun and shockingly simple to use.† The Next Web echoed a similar sentiment, describing it as â€Å"great for quick jam sessions with friends, or using it to master the strumming portion first.† Brian Fan, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based startup Magic Instruments, came up with the idea after spending an entire summer trying to learn the guitar, with little progress. This despite having played the piano as a child and all the way through his musical training at The Juilliard School, one of the world’s most prestigious music conservatories. â€Å"I tried everything [to learn the guitar]. YouTube videos, learning guitars, gimmicks you name it,† he said. â€Å"The thing is you have to develop the motor skills and muscle memory for that particular instrument, which takes a lot of time. A lot of the time it felt like playing hand twister.† The first thing to know about the rhythmic guitar is that it bears only a superficial resemblance to a traditional string instrument. Like other sampler devices, users are limited to a series of pre-recorded digital sounds that play through the speaker. You won’t be able to perform hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato, string bending, slides and other advanced techniques that are used to shape the sound and give it that distinction. â€Å"Intentionally, it’s geared towards people like me with limited or no experience and who want to just play, rather than guitar players,† Fan said. â€Å"So it behaves nothing like a guitar, but it’s still so much easier to play music since it’s not bound by the physics of vibrating strings.† Review of the MI Guitar Cradling the latest version on my lap, it did have the look and feel of an actual guitar, though lighter and admittedly much less intimidating. Despite not having much of a musical background beyond a piano class in high school, it still lends the player an air of confidence with its buttons in addition to strings considering we all press buttons on a computer keyboard every day, how can it not be intuitive? It also comes with an iOS app that displays the lyrics and chords to various songs. Sync it with the guitar and it’ll carefully guide you along Karaoke-style, scrolling forth as you play each chord. Its not hard to flub my first couple attempts at a Green Day song, either by pressing the wrong cord button or hesitating a beat too many. But by the third go around, its easier to pick up the pace a bit, stringing them together until lo and behold music. Joe Gore, a guitar player, music software developer and former editor for Guitar Player magazine, who has yet to try out the technology says that while he likes the notion of a guitar for that anyone can play, he doesn’t expect it to be well-received by those who’ve long put in their dues. â€Å"The guitar community is very conservative,† he explained. â€Å"And because theres a certain work ethic that goes into honing your craft, it’s natural to feel a bit scorned when they see someone cheat and take a shortcut instead of investing the time into something their completely passionate about.† And while Fan says he understands where the criticism comes from, particularly the barrage of â€Å"hate posts† his team has received on social media, he doesn’t see any reason for guitar purists to feel threatened. â€Å"We are not replacing the guitar, especially the expressiveness and sound,† Fan said. â€Å"But for those who’ve never learned it when they were young and have less time now, we’re saying here’s something that you can pick up and enjoy playing right away.† Where to Purchase Anyone interested in pricing information and purchasing the Rhythmic Guitar on pre-order can do so  by visiting ​Magic Instruments website.​

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Incarceration Rates Disparity in Provincial and Federal Prisons Essay

Incarceration Rates Disparity in Provincial and Federal Prisons - Essay Example Less representation is registered among the white boys and other ethnic groups. Among girls, only the aboriginal communities have registered increased misrepresentation in the jails which are rated at 10 percent higher than other ethnic groups in the Ontario prisons. Statistics have indicated that indicated that over-representation of the Aboriginal people in the prisons has been on the increasing trend over the past 30 years. The statistics escalated after the Second World War and the trend has accelerated over the years. If the current trend is to continue, then the number of Aboriginal people under incarceration is likely to be higher than those out of prisons which are indeed a worrying trend. Despite the introduction of the Youth Criminal Justice Act of 2003 that has seen a steady decrease in the number of incarcerations among the youths; the trend has not been witnessed among the aboriginal boys and girls. The provincial jails must rise and act on the increased number of deaths of black youths that has been witnessed lately through gunshots by police and other security agencies. This calls for a change of tactics on how security issues are to be handled in the country and that massive incarcerations is not the solution. International bodies such as the United Nations have expressed their concern about the need to reduce the increased overrepresentation of aboriginal and black races in the federal and provincial prisons. In Manitoba, similar situations seem to exist based on how the Aboriginal people are treated in relation to incarcerations. Despite the fact that they only form 12% of the entire province population, they dominate the jails and account for more than 0ne-half of the people who are incarcerated in the correctional centers at any given time. It is indeed very shocking that in a nation where justice is expected to be blind to racial differences only one ethnic group seem to dominate the prisons.  

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

What was the ideal female image projected by mass media in the 1950s Essay

What was the ideal female image projected by mass media in the 1950s Was this ideal also the reality Why, or why not - Essay Example While the husband was away, the ideal woman would clean the house, make porridge for the babies and bake cookies for the children returning from schools. The family seemed to offer a psychological fortress, a buffer against both internal and foreign threats. In this ideological climate, independent women threatened the social order. Under cultural pressure and with limited options for work outside the home, women, contained and constrained, donned their domestic harness. (Meyerowitz, 1994). The ideal image was not quite real because many women did not feel comfortable restrained into the boundaries of their home. They felt that their rights were subdued and they did want things to change for good. Women of 1950s wanted to play their role in social development along with men and yet maintain a balance between their professional and domestic life. Their constant effort improved their lifestyle in the 1960s when more women joined schools and entered the workplaces than ever

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Research Investigation Essay Example for Free

Research Investigation Essay A research investigation on what specific skills an actor would need learn in order to convincingly portray the role of Silvio in Carlo Goldoni’s, A Servant of Two Masters. Carlo Goldoni wrote the comedy â€Å"Arlecchino servitore di due padroni†, which translates into modern English as The Servant of Two Masters, a commedia dell’Arte-style play. The performers of Commedia were often illiterate, and as such there was no point to write down scripts and record the performance, it was improvised and modified, preserving the aspects the audience found amusing and excluding those that were less successful. In this way, Carlo Goldoni’s writing down of the play strictly goes against commedia traditions, as it is not the way things were done when it was originally staged. Despite performing all their plays in Italian for the first twenty or so years, Commedia troops had phenomenal success, perhaps because the slapstick nature of their comedy mingled with its vulgar humor was relatively easy to follow. The themes of the play, including love, romance, deception and the status between masters and servants, combine to create an enjoyable and greatly comical performance. The play also scrutinizes social boundaries that were once present. Such as, the idea of a woman being dressed as a man this was much more controversial in the 1700’s and especially a woman who defeats a man in combat, as Beatrice (comes to Venice dressed as a man in search of her beloved Florindo, She is also a part of the first lover couple along with Florindo) defeats Silvio. Smereldina (the maid of Clarice, she is an extremely feisty and slightly bitter character who wants more than anything to find a man and get married) also confronts Silvio and scorns him, which is something unparalleled in that time, a woman of the serving class reprimanding a man of status. The play also explores the lengths people will go to for the sake of love, the hopelessness of Florindo (a man banished from his home in Turin for his murder of Federigo Rasponi, and the lover of Beatrice who comes in search of him) and Beatrice’s relationship to find each other, as well as commenting on the importance of never giving up hope, because as they are about to kill themselves they find each other again. This is also reflected in the many difficult predicaments Truffaldino (the servant of both Florindo and Beatrice, he is a mischievous, hungry man who is seeking ways to better himself, he is comic relief and also the main protagonist) finds himself in, as no matter how hopeless his situation looks, he keeps on envisaging himself getting out of his tricky situations and eventually he does get out of trouble. The behavior by those of the dominant class of the servants is a very noticeable theme of the time period, and an important social observation. The serving class of Truffaldino, Smereldina and the Porter (she carries the bags places at different times during the play and has a fairly rough time of it, carrying very heavy loads only to be ridiculed and left unrewarded for her labor) are regarded with little respect and trust throughout the entirety of the play. As the early performers of this play were more than likely lower class individuals, this play is an insightful parody of their own difficulties. Commedia dell’Arte is an Italian theater style, characterized by masked performers and improvised scenes based on simplistic scenarios. Carlo Goldoni categorized four elemental types of stock characters in Italian comedy: Pantaloon, a miserly Venetian merchant, easy to anger, disrespected by everyone and a born loser; Dottore, a pedantic lawyer-type from Bologna; Brighella, a serenading servant who enjoys thieving, and bragging; and Arlecchino, a basically thoughtless servant permanently in despair over unreturned love. A Servant of Two Masters is set in Venice in the 1700’s, and would have been performed by a travelling troop of commedia actors. As such, they would have had very limited set facilities, and their performances staged outdoors, meaning they would have to allow for surrounding noises such as wind when performing. Throughout this research investigation it will be delving into what specific skills I must learn in order to convincingly portray the role of Silvio in Carlo Goldoni’s, A Servant of Two Masters. There is a catch when one decides to take on the task and portray the role of Silvio in The Servant of Two Masters and that is that the comic instincts of a skilled actor need to conquer a tendency to be a servant to the text. It has been said that commedia is the riskiest form of comedy. That being said, it is worth the risk. When the flash of inspired improvisation hits an actor it is like a whirlwind and time seems to be in a complete interruption while a phenomenon takes place. Fortunately Goldoni’s writing is so perfectly composed and clinging to fundamental Commedia dell’Arte form that it allows one to understand how to perform below, within and around the text itself. Focusing on the lovers, they are the sons and daughters of characters who are also high on the social ladder; this is where Silvio finds himself in The Servant of Two Masters. The lovers in this play (Silvio and Clarice) are not only infatuated with each other they are extraordinarily infatuated with themselves. More often than not, they are only with one another because the other person makes them look better. They argue often, making a big melodramatic show out of their blubbering and attempting to top the others grief; yet they immediately make amends when they receive a flattering remark about their appearance. They speak in a distinguished, pretentious and flowery language: â€Å"If I could think that you desired my blood to avenge my supposed cruelty, I give it you with all my heart. But, oh God! Instead of the blood of my veins, accept, I beg you, that which gushes from my eyes.†(Goldoni 53) Silvio is traditionally costumed in the latest Italian fashions (since Italy is where Commedia originated) The Lovers elegant costumes were usually of the same color, just in case another couple of lovers was in the play too. This only reaffirms how much they were made for each other. Just like couples who wear matching outfits today. Given that Silvio is wealthy, he wears expensive clothes and jewelry, made of luxurious fabrics. Both Silvio and Clarice usually hold some kind of prop in their hand, most likely a letter to swoon over, or a handkerchief but this is of course the director’s choice. There is always a mirror somewhere on their body, being in a purse or pocket, or even hanging as a necklace around the actor’s throat. This is useful for admiring oneself, or in Silvio’s case for seeking out Clarice and adorning her through it. Unlike what most know Commedia dell’Arte to be known for the lovers do not wear masks. Rather, they wear quite a bit of makeup which in turn subsidizes as their mask. The term dreamer is a key way to understanding the lovers movement. Their feet are firmly on the ground, in a somewhat Ballet style position, but they lack firm contact with the earth because they lead with their chest and are heart heavy. Their arms are held out to their sides and curved. Their whole manner is very elegant and balletic, as they do not walk so much as glide. They never touch; to do so would cause them both to faint and or run away. It is sexually arousing for them to get very close without touching. They aren’t the brightest individuals so walking is somewhat of a challenge causing them to wobble, due to the uncertainty of their lack of contact with the ground. The posture that Silvio undertakes is that of compelling pride. His chest is naturally expanded and thrust out so that his heart essentially leads him, sometimes seeming to literally pull him across the stage. He points his toes while standing (like that of a ballet dancer), and when moving, he takes light, quick steps, giving himself a floating appearance. Overall, they simply lack contact with the ground. Their hand movements and gestures are very grand, expansive and expressive. Actors use the same dancing trainers as the wealthy individuals whom they are imitating in order to put emphasis on the absurdity of melodramatic behavior. There can be two sets of lovers in a Commedia dellArte play. The First set of lovers, usually more intelligent and serious, and the Second Lovers which in A Servant of Two Masters is Silvio and Clarice, usually whimsical and slightly silly. The second lovers in Goldonis A Servant of Two Masters are Clarice and Silvio. In research of the lovers when things are not going their way, they throw tantrums, pout, hurl insults while crying and whining. Their manner of dress and movement is highly stylized (more so than the First Lovers), making Silvio quite a narcissus. Silvio exists very much in his own world- and in his own world within that world. Self-obsessed and very selfish, he is more interested in what he is saying himself and how it sounds than in what his beloved Clarice is saying. He is primarily in love with himself, secondarily in love with love, and only without any doubt in love with his beloved. What he learns, if anything, from the tribulations of A Servant of Two Masters is the need to reverse these sickening priorities. Even though most of Silvio’s declarations would melt a heart of stone, there always seems to be a comic side to everything he says. One wonders if the explanation does not lie in the fact that love often robs the lover of all sense of his own logic, even though he may be the most rational of living men under ordinary circumstances. He does, however, come off better than most other Commedia characters: there is no viciousness in him, and less to be accused of – except for his vanity and narcissism. He represents the human potential for happiness, which is something that everyone is striving for. â€Å"Sir, I beg you, let everyone do as they will; do not be so put out about it. Now that I am happy, I want all the world to b e happy too. Is anyone else going to be married? Let them all get married†! (Goldoni 54) I have become conscious of the fact that the character of Silvio must be played as one that is over confident. He is very certain of himself and of his actions. He believes he is entitled to Clarice and is willing to fight to protect his property. Silvio is also quite protective, or even overprotective of those things which are important to him, or that he sees as belonging to him. He wishes to keep Clarice all to his own and have her within an area he feels he can keep safe. While he is protective of others, he himself shows little regard when placing himself in jeopardy. This is shows how dim witted his character truly is. The idea of defeat does not enter his mind and he is always on the front foot, unwilling to let others determine his actions, he is a very rash character. Patience is a virtue, apparently. Silvio often lacks any sense of patience which makes him a very irritable, anxious, angry and difficult to be around type of character. His shortage of patience makes him a rat her ignorant character. Silvio is always quick to act and often makes mistakes because of his unwillingness to listen to the advice or opinions of others. He is a man of action, and he needs for things to be occurring or he quickly loses any potential interest. He is quick to do battle regardless of the consequences, which shows how stupidly in love he truly is. His unwillingness to listen to an entire situation and process his next appropriate action, often get him into irresponsible situations. â€Å"†¦That wretch shall die, and my ungrateful Clarice shall see her lover wallowing in his own gore†. (Goldoni 26) Despite his quick anger and his tendency to solve his problems with violence, he is inconspicuously charming. Even though his unwillingness to listen too much besides the sound of his own voice, he is really just eager to please his lover Clarice. He has swept Clarice off of her feet and is the heartthrob of Venetian women. Some people settle down, and some people are just settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than the feeling of butterflies, which is exactly how Silvio feels towards Clarice. He is never slow to put himself in harm’s way. He is quick to action and has little caution for his own well-being when engaging in any sort of fight, or in anything else he does. He is a man to be admired when he is at his finest, even though he is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. â€Å"I don’t care how old you are’ I have a mind to run you straight through the body†. (Goldoni 24) Through researching the character of Silvio it would be necessary to portray him as a man who struggles to hold himself in the position in which his status in society places him. He strives to be suave, cool and collected, but somewhat fights to maintain focus and is very quick to act, his actions usually end in anger and much turmoil. He is a powerful physical presence, and is one of formidable fighting skill, but is emotionally immature on many levels. His love for Clarice is one of his few genuinely mature emotions, and it is his motivation through the play. He is prone to rash, spontaneous actions, as well as to throwing tantrums such as a moody child would when things don’t go his way. This effectively suited the comedic aspect of the play while not deteriorating from the romantic story between Clarice and Silvio. â€Å"When we love we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too†. (Jeaulo Coelho)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Perspectives of Marriage in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre :: Jane Eyre Essays

Perspectives of Marriage in Jane Eyre          Many novels speak of love and indulging in passion, but few speak of the dynamics that actually make a marriage work. Jane Eyre is one of these novels. It doesn't display the fleeing passions of a Romeo and Juliet. This is due entirely to Bronte's views on marriage and love. The first exception to the traditional couple the reader is shown is Rochester's marriage to Bertha. This example shows the consequences of indulging in passion. The opposite side is shown through another unlikely would-be couple, Rosamund and St. John. Through this pair, Bronte reveals the consequences of indulging in duty. Another view of marriage is also present in the book, through the character Jane Eyre and her actions.    The first example of Bronte's view on the role of passion is in Rochester's marriage to Bertha. This marriage is based entirely on passion. Rochester does nothing to either restrain or question his passion. Because of his impulsive passion, he entraps himself in an unfufilling marriage. He thought nothing of his duty and his consequence of this was he becomes the pride owner of a marriage based entirely on duty. Through Rochester's choices and consequences of those choices, the reader can see that Bronte asserts that marriage decisions based on passion and ignoring the role of duty will bring more than the loss of passion, it will bring an abundance of what you failed to factor into the decision, duty. People have to take care of responsibilities if they want to have fun and happiness later.    In case the reader failed to recognize the opportunity the Rochester marriage gives her to see Bronte's views, she puts in the book the could-be St. John marriage. St. John decides not to marry Rosamund Oliver based on his passion for her. He completely shuns his passion, the opposite extreme of Rochester. In doing this and basing his marriage decision on his duty to God, he looses a genuine chance to gain true happiness. Through this example in Jane Eyre, Bronte is trying to show the reader that the opposite end of the spectrum is also wrong in making a marriage decision.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

How is Benedick presented in the scenes leading up to this point?

In these two extracts, Shakespeare provides two very different presentations of Benedick. The first: misogynistic, marriage-fearing Benedick which he projects to his audience. Second: the warm-hearted, love-sick Benedick who, despite his fiery demeanour, is very much in love with Beatrice. In the first part, Benedick soliloquises about the man who â€Å"dedicates his behaviours to love† is a fool, and the irony of becoming the â€Å"argument of his own scorn.† This pre-empts the drastic change in Benedick's behaviour later in the scene. Already we see a confident flurry of long, complex declaratives, signalling a kind of gusto to Benedick's emotions: he clearly feels strongly about this issue. However, the fact that he must say these things to himself may serve to highlight his insecurity with himself. It is quite obvious from earlier points in the play that Benedick is wholly uncomfortable with his feelings towards Beatrice and tries (unsuccessfully) to hide these feelings. In the next few lines, Benedick contrasts battle imagery such as â€Å"good armour† with softer, more romantic objects, such as a â€Å"new doublet.† This serves to illustrate his contempt for Claudio's utter turnaround. His tripling in this section further emphasises both Benedick's views, and indeed his own issues. The fact that he must use persuasive techniques such as parallelism suggests that he himself cannot truly bring himself to believe his apparent viewpoint. Benedick ends with a long list of characteristics which he wishes to see in his dream woman. Although utterly fantastic in terms of realistic prospects, it nevertheless contrasts with Benedick's view earlier in the narrative, where he insists that he will â€Å"die a bachelor.† His dogmatic disposition is obviously being broken down in small steps. The comment suggests that Benedick is not as opposed to the notion of taking a woman as he may be trying to convey; it is more a reluctance to settle for less, as it were. As we shall see, Beatrice proves to be this catalyst for his transformation. The second extract follows the planting of the idea that Beatrice is in love with Benedick into his mind, by Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato. Once again, Benedick launches into an excitable monologues, consisting of a few very long declaratives. This certainly displays a lot of excitement on his part, and the fact that he uses an interrogative, a rhetorical question (â€Å"love me?†), shows a disbelieving sense of glee and does much to counteract the pessimistic Benedick from a few lines earlier. In conjunction with his earlier soliloquy, Benedick attempts to dismiss his earlier ideas, stating that â€Å"a man loves the meat in his youth, that he cannot endure in his age.† He seems to think that it is acceptable that he can change his views drastically over the space of a few minutes without any sort of continual repercussions. His metaphor serves as a hyperbolic piece of irony, the imagery not befitting the very short space of time that Benedick is describing. As Beatrice enters, we see Benedick misinterpreting her words in a very optimistic manner. He believes that her words truly confirm her feelings for him and fails to see the absurdity of his thoughts. The transformation, if you will, is complete. Benedick even goes so far as to recite some of the qualities listed and how they are apparent in Beatrice. Again, the use of tripling is effective, but here instead to show a rush of revelationary excitement that his slim hopes have been realised. Overall, the second extract serves to prove the insecurity conveyed in the first. Shakespeare presents Benedick as unsure and unnecessarily dogmatic, and this is confirmed by his behaviour in the second part. In the scenes leading up to this, we see the establishment of Benedick as the witty cynic, at odds with traditional values. I believe that Shakespeare's initial presentation of Benedick goes in stark contrast to his true character. In the first scene, he is called â€Å"a good soldier.† The later war of wits with Beatrice, and his misogynistic advice to Claudio and Don Pedro very much establishes Benedick as a â€Å"man's man,† if such a thing existed in Elizabethan times. However, I believe that this is merely a faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade, and that he does have a pretty clear motive. It seems to me like the reason for Benedick's disposition is, put simply, Beatrice. He is confused and frustrated at his feelings towards Beatrice, and attempts to counteract them through his words of scorn. Quite clearly, the other characters see through this, and this is what leads them to trick him later. Another aspect of Benedick's personality, his insecurity, also seems to stem from Beatrice. At the party scene, he shows exasperation at her description of him as a â€Å"jester† and â€Å"dull as a great thaw.† Benedick clearly cares about Beatrice's opinion of him, no matter what his exterior may suggest. His short monologue at the end of that scene is once again one where interrogatives are used in order for Benedick to reassure himself. Benedick is seen to have a sharp-tongued speaking style interspersed with witty metaphors and riddles. This singles Benedick out of someone with a high level of intelligence, but it also immediately identifies him as a counterpart to Beatrice. His militant anti-marriage stance is mirrored by hers, and his words of advice to Claudio convey his emotions in flowery prose, perhaps suggesting a reluctance to disclose any true information about himself. Overall, Benedick is presented as someone who is heavily influenced by Beatrice, and it seems that it is her actions that shape his personality, and define him as a character. Obviously, this is consistent with the narrative, and goes a long way to explain Benedick's sudden change of heart in Act 2 Scene 3.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The fires of jubilee by Stephen Oates

This is a book seeks to explain the rebellion of black slaves in the Southampton city in Virginia. Before this rebellion, the slaves had been subjected to poverty and were being treated with a lot of cruelty by their masters. The author brings to light all the sufferings which the blacks were subjected to by their masters and as a result of these sufferings, there rose a feeling of hopelessness among the blacks and this led to the rise of a rebellion . In fighting for the rights that had been denied, the blacks took the law into their hands and the writer tries to make acceptable the disgust and desperation that led to these rash measures. In all this, the author intends to justify the course of action that was taken by the slaves in fighting for their rights. It brings into light the bloody results of the rebellion and death which came afterwards. From the first paragraph, the historian Stephen B. Oates  Ã‚   tries to bring into light the sufferings which the black slaves were subjected to by their white masters in the Southampton county of Virginia. He clearly gives a detailed description of the object poverty experienced by the slaves as well as cruelty of their and also the feelings of hopelessness felt by the slaves. He clearly sets the stage for the introduction of the main character of the book; Nat Turner becomes the root or the leader of the rebellion of the slaves. He is able to show clearly or demonstrate the level of oppression suffered by the blacks and goes on to show how they develop the feeling that they had no other option left for them other than to take the law into their own hands. All these resulted into the rise of a revolt and its clear that the writer succeeds in laying the foundation as well as making the readers understand the kind of sufferings that the slaves suffered and hence the need for the rash measures taken by the slaves. References 1. William Styron   (1966) , The Confessions of Nat Turner , (New York: Random House)

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Storing Record Data in a BLOB Field in Delphi

Storing Record Data in a BLOB Field in Delphi In Delphi, a record data type is a special kind of user-defined data type. A record is a container for a mixture of related variables of diverse types, referred to as fields, collected into one type. In database applications, data is stored in fields of various types: integer, string, bit (boolean), etc. While most data can be represented with simple data types, there are situations when you need to store images, rich documents or custom data types in a database. When this is the case you will use the BLOB (Binary Large Object) data type (memo, ntext, image, etc. - the name of the data type depends on the database you work with). Record as Blob Heres how to store (and retrieve) a record (structure) value into a blob field in a database. TUser record ...Suppose you have defined your custom record type as: TUser packed record   Ã‚   Name : string[50];   Ã‚   CanAsk : boolean;   Ã‚   NumberOfQuestions : integer; end; Record.SaveAsBlobTo insert a new row (database record) in a database table with a BLOB field named data, use the following code: var   Ã‚   User : TUser;   Ã‚   blobF : TBlobField;   Ã‚   bs : TStream; begin   Ã‚   User.Name : edName.Text;   Ã‚   User.NumberOfQuestions : StrToInt(edNOQ.Text) ;   Ã‚   User.CanAsk : chkCanAsk.Checked;   Ã‚   myTable.Insert;   Ã‚   blobF : myTable.FieldByName(data) as TBlobField;   Ã‚   bs : myTable.CreateBlobStream(blobF, bmWrite) ;   Ã‚   try   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bs.Write(User,SizeOf(User)) ;   Ã‚   finally   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bs.Free;   Ã‚   end; end; In the code above: myTable is the name of the TDataSet component you are using (TTable, TQuery, ADOTable, TClientDataSet, etc).The name of the blob field is data.The User variable (TUser record) is filled using 2 edit boxes (edName and edNOQ)and a check box (chkCanAsk)The CreateBlobStream method creates a TStream object for writing to the blob field. Record.ReadFromBlobOnce you have saved the record (TUser) data to a blob type field, heres how to transform binary data to a TUser value: var   Ã‚   User : TUser;   Ã‚   blobF : TBlobField;   Ã‚   bs : TStream; begin   Ã‚   if myTable.FieldByName(data).IsBlob then   Ã‚   begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   blobF : DataSet.FieldByName(data) as TBlobField;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bs : myTable.CreateBlobStream(blobF, bmRead) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   try   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bs.Read(user,sizeof(TUser)) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   finally   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bs.Free;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   end;   Ã‚   end;   Ã‚   edName.Text : User.Name;   Ã‚   edNOQ.Text : IntToStr(User.NumberOfQuestions) ;   Ã‚   chkCanAsk.Checked : User.CanAsk; end; Note: the code above should go inside the OnAfterScroll event handler of the myTable dataset. Thats it. Make sure you download the sample Record2Blob code.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Spasmodic

Spasmodic Spasmodic Spasmodic By Maeve Maddox The adjective spasmodic means of the nature of a spasm; characterized by spasms or convulsive twitches; marked by jerkiness or suddenness of muscular movement.   In medical terms, a spasm is a sudden and violent muscular contraction of a convulsive or painful character. Both words are used figuratively. For example, inconsistent or occasional efforts at political reform are said to be spasmodic in the sense of: Occurring or proceeding by fits and starts; irregular, intermittent; not sustained or kept up. A speaking style, such as that of Milla Jovavich in The Messenger, is spasmodic in the sense of Agitated, excited; emotional, high-strung; given to outbursts of excitement; characterized by a disjointed or unequal style of expression. Here are some examples of the use of spasmodic on the web: To a roomful of adoring gays, a spasmodic Pelosi said, Dont ask dont tell†¦will be a memory come Christmas. Spasmodic reform and a little effort before elections will not accomplish much. †¦the electoral parties, always embarked in the rhythmic and spasmodic succession of seductive promises†¦ Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. †¦there is the most horrendous spasmodic knocking noise coming from inside the [1.2 nova] engine]. Sometimes its possible to reach for the word spasmodic and not quite make it, as in this complaint from another unhappy car owner whose Mini-Cooper engine had been knocking for weeks before the incident described: †¦[the man at the dealership] said that I could have the vehicle towed in at my expense (his estimate was $600 for the towing). I declined due to the cost and the spermatic knocking. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational WritingTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?25 Idioms About Bread and Dessert

Sunday, November 3, 2019

The Great Railroad Strike 1877 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Great Railroad Strike 1877 - Research Paper Example strike failed to a considerable level, but it evoked labour upheaval, social change, political mainstream and organization among the American labourers. The workers at Ohio and Baltimore railroad went on strike because their wages were reduced twice over the previous year. The striking workers refused to let the trains run until all the pay cut were returned to respective employees affected.1 Following the civil war, railway industry was the leading sector in industrial growth. The development of several railway lines was fuelled by the government grants and subsidies during 1870s, making the railroad become the largest commercial sector in USA. The Chicago Tribune termed it as â€Å"the very heart and life of the modern system of commercial existence.† As the expansion of the railway continued, their economic and political power grew dramatically. In contrast, the workers in the railroad industry lacked political as well as an economic power. An increasing influx of workers from Europe and rural areas to the city meant that labour supply surpassed demand. Since an individual worker was not considered as valuable commodity, several companies rarely had a good incentive to respond to the workers needs. In addition, there were little ideologies of solidarity among workers and labour unions were being viewed as criminal gang organizations. Some existing unions were u npopular with the public and were not able to execute their duties because they feared facing legal challenges. The problem faced by some labour movement intensified in 1873 when economic panic erupted. The unemployment rate was at 25% and the value of an individual worker dropped considerably. Moreover, as the government continued cutting the wages, the unions and workers revolted and fought back. Railroad workers faced the harsh working environment and were not able to collectively respond to the persistent wage cut. As corporations suffered consistently, reduced revenues and economic depression

Friday, November 1, 2019

Business Manangement Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Manangement - Coursework Example Social responsibility improves public relations, companies that are socially responsible tend to be more prolific as they can attract productive employees and retain quality workers, reduce bad publicity and risk from government litigation. However, social responsibility can also harm the business by interfering in the quest of profit maximization. This usually occurs because socially responsible actions can carry a very high cost, paid by the businesses indulging in corporate social responsibility. Business Ethics Business owners frequently make decisions involving ethical considerations. Contrasting decisions are made in similar situations by different managers, depending on their particular moral development, individual characteristics and the culture of their organization. In the case of â€Å"Who To Lay Off?† a questions approach can be employed according to Robbins, Coulter, and Vohra (2008) to identify ethical considerations. If the business owner asks himself questions such as â€Å"have you defined the problem accurately?† Robbins, Coulter, and Vohra (2008,p.108) He can decide as to whether or not terminating an employee is the most ethical decision.