Growing up in Korea Essay Example for Free

Growing up in Korea Essay Growing up in Korea and attending high school in the United States has taught me that in many ways people from different countries can be very similar. One thing that seems universal in my experience is that everyone hates politicians and jokes about the work the do. This is a bit awkward for me because my dream has always been to become a politician and a strong leader in the future of Korea, and to me that is not joke. My father teases that when I was little I would constantly ask him to tell me stories about famous politicians. My favorite politician was always Margaret Thatcher. I especially respected the way she led the successful recovery of England’s economy after the Great Depression. Her story stuck me even more deeply because I first heard it during a time of economic hardship in South Korea. Since then, I have always dreamt about becoming a wise and upright politician, leading Korea in prosperity as Margaret Thatcher did for England, and this goal has be very important in shaping my educational decisions to this point. When I was eleven, I visited my sister’s high school in Colorado. During this, my first time visiting an American school, I was impressed at the variety of students and how they appreciated the differences in each other. To me, the school seemed filled with opportunities to learn about other cultures and make friends with people from diverse backgrounds. I thought the experience I would gain in working with diverse groups of people in a school like this would be very important to my future as a politician because we live in such an international society with every nation and its people interacting with one another. I felt that the leader of the future would need to have an international mind and a sense of diversity in order to understand the world better, so I decided to attend high school in the U. S. I now attend a small private Catholic high school where am the only Korean student. Being the first Korean student in the history of the school has been an exciting for me. The students and faculty have shown great interest in Korean history and culture, and I have made sure to take advantage of their curiosity and shared information about my country and myself. On Korean national holidays such as New Year’s Day and Full Moon Festival, I often share traditional Korean food and decorations with my friends and teachers. I have also volunteered to prepare presentations about Korea and Asia for my history classes. I always remind myself that I am very fortunate to be able to be the representative of Korea in this community, and in turn I try to learn as much about American culture as I possibly can. I think that these experiences of cultural exchange are the start of my future as a representative for Korea. Now it is time for me to take the next step toward my dream. I imagine myself learning about political science, international relations, or economics in college, and look forward to the new insights the lectures and discussions will bring. I am excited to share my culture with a larger community and one that includes many other international students. I also look forward to continuing to learn about the U. S. At XXX University, I would not only study hard, but I would also join clubs that would help me develop social and political skills that will be necessary for me to succeed in my future as a politician. I believe that XXX University would provide me a great opportunity to gain the knowledge and experience that will enable me to realize my dream and become a strong leader for Korea.

McDonaldization in Modern Culture Essay -- Social Studies

Today’s society and culture is becoming more and more McDonaldized. This paper will illustrate what the process of McDonaldization is. In addition, this paper will show how today’s society has adapted to this process along with using the theories from Max Weber. The McDonaldization theory defines the process of which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world (Ritzer 1). Within McDonaldization there are five different concepts embedded into this theory, which are efficiency, calculability, predictability, control and lastly irrationality of rationality. These concepts are not just used in fast-food restaurants, but are becoming more popular with in malls, health care, religion, and even education (Aldredge, Lectures on McDonaldization of Society). Efficiency is the optimum method for getting from one point to another (Ritzer 13). By controlling a method or process this also allows a business to become more efficient. Henry Ford found that assembly lines are a way to control how much one can do and get the job done faster (Ritzer 32). Streamlining happens when a business or society cuts out the unimportant to make something more simplistic. When one simplifies the process this makes the employee go even faster or makes the customer choose what they want even faster. The second step in McDonaldization is calculability. Calculability is the importance of numbers on the sold products (Ritzer 79). Calculability makes it easier to determine efficiency by making steps that can be clocked and ensuring one can do a step at a faster rate (Ritzer 79). The three basic elements one would will find in calculability are replacing qua... ...ontinue down the path off McDonaldization, our society will be walking robots living about each other. In conclusion, McDonaldization is a process that today’s society has consumed and adapted as a norm. Blinded by efficiency, calculability, control, predictability and the irrationality of rationality, consumers and employers play into the theories of McDonaldization. As seen, McDonaldization is not just in fast food establishments. One can see this theory played out in shopping malls, health care, dating sites and casinos. Bibliography Aldredge, Marcus. Culture Lecture Amy Schumaker. 19 11 2009. Aldredge, Marcus. Lectures on McDonaldization of Society Amy Schumaker. 29 9 2009. Ritzer, George. The McDonalization of Society. 5th. Los Angeles: Pine Forge Press, 2008. Tischler, Henery L. Introduction to Sociology. 9th. Belmont: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2007.

Divine intervention dealing with Greek myths Essay

Divine intervention is a feature of ancient Greek literature. One is amazed and even dumbfounded by the magical myths so frequently referred to. In Greek literature, the gods play an immense role in the lives and fates of the mortal dwellers of the earth. As one examines the gods throughout the myths and epic poems of the Greeks, one recieves a strong impression that the gods â€Å"play† with and manipulate mortals and each other. One goddess who exemplifies this is the great goddess Athena. This daughter of Zeus impacted everyone that she came across. The character Athena is â€Å"splashed† over Greek works. However, there are specific pieces of Greek literature that tell a great deal about this fiery goddess. This is not a passive goddess. This is an active, involved goddess who, in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, assumes divine leadership and challenges even Zeus himself. In The Odyssey and other Greek myths, Athena is an essential character and contributes many elem ents of her complex mythological personality to Greek writing. Athena is one of the most important goddesses in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology she became identified with the goddess Minerva. Also known as Pallas Athena. Athena sprang full-grown and armored from the forehead of the god Zeus and was his favorite child. He entrusted her with his shield, adorned with the hideous head of Medusa the Gorgon, his buckler, and his principal weapon, the thunderbolt. A virgin goddess, she was called Parthenos (â€Å"the maiden†). Her major temple, the Parthenon, was in Athens, which, according to legend, became hers as a result of her gift of the olive tree to the Athenian people. Athena was primarily the goddess of the Greek cities, of industry and the arts, and, in later mythology, of wisdom; she was also goddess of war. Athena was the strongest supporter, among the gods, of the Greek side in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, however, the Greeks failed to respect the sanctity of an altar to Athena at which the Trojan prophet Cassandra sought shelter. As punishment, storms sent by the god of the sea, Poseidon, at Athena’s request destroyed most of the Greek ships returning from Troy. Athena was also a patron of the agricultural arts and of the crafts of women, especially spinning and weaving. Among her gifts to man were the inventions of the plow and the flute and the arts of taming animals, building ships, and making shoes. She was often associated with birds, especially the owl. Through an explanation of Athena’s distinct  personality, her relationships are more easily understood The names and titles associated with this mythical goddess reflect her role as a person of action and leadership. Athena, also spelled Athene, is said to be the goddess of wisdom, battle and war, and certian crafts. Athena is frequently known as â€Å"Pallas† or â€Å"Pallas Athena.† According to Sawyer, Athena took on the extra name to commemorate the death of her friend, Pallas. She had accidentally killed Pallas while they were practicing spears. To show her deep grief, Athena added this name to all of her distinguishing titles. In the Odyssey Athena is given the title â€Å"Hope of Soliders† because she is so active in war (416). Athena, the patron of the city of Athens, is commonly linked with the subject of war. She is always depicted in armor and is said to be the keeper of Zeus’s shield, the Aegis, and his helmet (Sawyer). Athena was even born wearing armor. There are several different versions of the birth story of Athena. However, they all are basically similar. Zeus was supposedly in love with Metis, the Titaniss of wisdom, who was to have Zeus’s baby. Zeus had heard that any baby that Metis had would be greater than the father. So, Zeus turned Metis into a fly and swallowed her. After some time, Zeus developed a sharp headache and asked Hephaesios, the blacksmith god, to split his head open with an axe. When he did, Athena â€Å"popped out† fully grown and fully armed (Sawyer). The fully grown woman carried many names during her life, although they did not change the way she thought or acted. Mortals recognized Athena’s active role as an influence and intercessor with others. This is what made Athena so â€Å"popular† with the Greek people. In the Odyssey by Homer, Athena has an incredible relationship with Odysseus. After reading the epic poem, one can witness the very complete, very extensive bond she develops with not only Odysseus but with the other characters as well. At the opening of the book, Athena begs her father Zeus to allow her to aid Odysseus, so he can go home to his family (Odyssey 1-2). She says,†My own heart is broken for Odysseus† (Odyssey 3). Athena goes as far as enhancing his appearance so that Princess Nausikaa will be sure to help him reach home (Odyssey 105). Once Odysseus reaches the city that Nausikaa leads him to, Athena â€Å"pours a sea fog† around him to protect him, and she takes on  the form of a small girl in order to show him the way to the palace (Odyssey 111-112). Once Athena leads Odysseus home to Ithaka, she disguises herself as a sheperd boy and makes conversation with her beloved Odysseus (Odyssey 238). However, she eventually transforms herself into her natural state and says: Two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both. Of all the men alive you are the best in plots and story telling. My own fame is for wisdom among the gods – deceptions too. Would even you have guessed that I am Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, I that am always with you in times od trial, a shield to you in battle† (Odyssey 240). Athena demonstrates throughout the Odyssey and in her relationship with Odysseus that she is a goddess of action just as Odysseus is a man of action. She states, â€Å"I am here again to counsel with you† (Odyssey 240). It is Athena who plots and plans the fall of the suitors in Odysseus’ house. To follow her plan, Athena disguises Odysseus into a beggar and leads him to the swineherd, a faithful servant. There they unite with Telemakhos, Odysseus’ son, to carry out the plot of doom (Odyssey Books 13 and 14). Once they go to the palace, the goddess of war and her followers destroy and cast revenge upon the suitors of Penelope. Athena flaunts her warlike qualities creating battle in which her â€Å"side† was undoubtedly the victor (Odyssey Book 22). Throught the mist of confusion and blood, Athena makes sure to keep Odysseus and Telemakhos safe. The goddess even â€Å"held the night† so that Odysseus and Penelope could have longer to get reacquainted . Homer comments that â€Å"she held Dawn’s horses† (437). Athena demonstrates her role as an active leader in her protection of Telemakhos. In the beginning of the epic poem, the Odyssey, she â€Å"flies† to him in the shape of Mentes, a Taphian captian, to talk to him and urge him to look for his father, Odysseus. While with him, she sits, drinks, dines, and carries on conversation (Odyssey 415). Later, she also takes on Mentor’s figure to talk to him. At the end of the Odyssey, the war goddess enhances Laertes’ looks for his reunion with his son Odysseus (Odyssey Book 24). In the final scene, she takes up the form of Mentor once more to bring peace to the bickering people (Odyssey 460). It is elementary to see how intensly Athena makes contact with mortals  by just few examples. Other gods and goddesses are involved in these works, but none are so explicit and immense as the deeds of Athena. From reading the Odyssey, one can begin to form an image of Athena’s relationships with her peers, the other gods and goddessess of ancient Greece. Through the interactions between this goddess and other supreme beings, one can witnessAthena’s beliefs that she is superior to the other. Athena assumes leadership by taking action, making decisions, and intervening for good and evil. In the Odyssey, Athena begs Zeus to allow her to give Odysseus aid on his passage home, against the efforts and wishes of Poseidon, the Sea god (Odyssey 4). One can see that Athena does what she thinks gives the best result, even if she is faced with stiff opposition from her peers. The goddess Athena is definitely a dominant figure, accepting no authority except perhaps Zeus. When thinking of this outstanding goddess, one thinks of her relationships and extensive contact with many mortals. The Greeks favored her because she was a woman goddess of rare quality. Women were never protrayed with the masculine characteristics of Athena, such as her need for dominance and passion for war. This makes her more appealing and puts her in a class above all the rest. By reading both the Ilaid and the Odyssey, one can recieve a clear, precise view of Athena.

The Image of Fool in King Lear: from Page to Sage

The Fool – from text to screen. The concept of a fool in Shakespearean plays is nearly as popular as the very figure of a fool used to be in Middle Ages at royal courts and some private households of aristocrats. The characters that could be described as fools appear in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Feste) and As You Like It (Touchstone). And there is of course the most famous of the fools, named simply The Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear – the one with reference to whom this essay is created. A fool, according to Encyclop? ia Britannica was a person, often retarded, handicapped, dwarfed or mad, kept on court for luck and amusement of his patron. Due to his questionable mental abilities he was given license to mock persons of nobility, even the king himself. The origins of his function are sought for in the tribal scapegoat, who served as a sacrifice alternative for the king. Probably for that reason he was endowed with some attributes prescribed to a king such as a bauble (mock scepter) and a motley coat. His entertaining function was marked by other attributes in his possession such as a coxcomb, bells and a horny or ass-eared hood.All those gadgets, apart from arousing amusement, served one more purpose – they made a jester stand out from all the other individuals. Even though some critics tend to perceive the Fool in King Lear as a character crucial to understanding of the play and the significance of particular characters, others are more inclined to categorize him as one of the minor characters. At some stage of King Lear’s development the figure of the Fool was even altogether removed from the play, which may constitute some indication of how different were the attitudes towards the importance of his presence in the play within the course of time.As far as transposition of the text of the play into the film script is concerned, it is particularly worth noticing that cinematic space juxtaposed to theatrical space s hows some vital dissimilarities, among which are different attitude of a producer towards presumable reactions of the audience, the supremacy of the camera’s angle over spectator’s inclination to see what takes their fancy and the possibility of creating more articulate spatial setting. Also G.Wilson Knight considers the screening of any play an outstandingly challenging quest and warns against two main failures that may occur in the production. The first one may be described as mechanical failure, when the director is trying to put the main emphasis on the melodrama, into which the play is turned, while the second one is described by the author as ‘the would-be ‘symbolical’ production’, in which some significant enigmatic and sometimes supernatural values are blurred or not displayed at all.He reports to have heard Juliet’s potion speech, which he found, by the cause of a thunder introduced arbitrarily by the scriptwriter, utterly dist urbed and demolished. He expressed a conviction, that Shakespeare would have arranged a thunder in that place, if that had been what he had intended to. Knight argues also that ‘the sounds – words and additional effects – are (.. ) given’ and all that a director or a screenwriter or particular actors are expected to do is to pour life into them and arrange a proper setting for them.So much for the possible area of scrutiny as far as some comparison between the text and the screen versions is put to question. Of course some temporal or verbal ellipses are inevitable as they are undeniably a part of producer’s license, as well as a kind of a landmark in every screen production, though the vital parts of the play should not be omitted in order to preserve the original character of the artwork.Having still some features of the analysed productions left to scrutinize, the focus may be put on the extratextual and non-verbal factors such as the costumes, t he age of the actors playing Fools, their sex, the overall attitude towards the outer world as well as their demeanour towards other characters in the play that is not strictly implied by the original text. Some leaps in text as far as they are not dictated by thrift in time of production may also prove indicatory for the moulding of the character of the Fool.If the text strays slightly from the original, this might also constitute an evidence of some deliberate interference within the character’s creation. Questions has been long posed what might be the actual age of the Fool. Maggie Williams is one of the advocates of the thesis that he ought to be presented as a young boy, which she justifies by Lear’s frequently addressing him as ‘boy’ and also by his vulnerability to poor weather conditions during the tempest, his fear at the sight of Edgar disguised as Poor Tom as well as his extraordinary attachment to Cordelia which proved itself in his pining afte r her departure .Williams’ conviction, though not isolated, is not entirely shared by some circles of literary critics and a number of producers, who tend to bestow the role of the Fool to more experienced and aged actors. Such is the case with both productions: King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller released in 1982 and King Lear, directed by Trevor Nunn released in 2008. The character of the Fool is played in both of them by middle-aged actors: in Miller’s film it is Frank Middlemass born in 1919 and in Nunn’s film it is Sylvester McCoy born in 1943.Both actors were at their 60s at the time of each film being shot. In actuality the fool could not have been intended as a child (due to his frequent bawdy innuendos and banters), neither could he be equated to an old man, as it seems, but actually some screen versions of a play managed to picture him as one quite successfully. What can be inferred from the very text of the play is the fact that the Fool was the cl osest companion of the King.The evidence of that could be the fact of Lear’s desperate need for the Fool’s company, when he asks his servants to summon him four times in the act I scene 4 intermittently amid occupying himself with other affairs (interviewing Kent, then Oswald, then a Knight and at the end Oswald again), although, as he claims, he haven’t seen him for two days, which is not an extraordinarily long period of time. He also accompanies King from then on in every venture even in the worst conditions of the tempest until the end of act III scene 6, when he mysteriously disappears.Moreover, the text makes it evident, that the King and the Fool are in close intimacy, the indication of which is Lear’s constant addressing Fool as ‘my boy’, ‘lad’, ‘my pretty knave’ as also this line of his spoken during the storm: ‘Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart/ That’s sorry yet for thee. â€℠¢(3. 2. 70-71). Another clue derived from the text pertains to the Fool’s mental disposition. He is probably neither mad nor retarded in any way, which is marked by Kent’s words: ‘This is not altogether fool, my Lord’ after Fool had made it clear to the King that he had no more titles left but this of a fool.Also Gonerill seems not to underestimate Fool’s power in his actions taken against her in his many quips. She calls him ‘more knave than fool’ (I. 4. 269), which may imply that she lets him know that she can see through his witticisms and reveal his real intentions which basically come to dissuading King from trusting his daughters. This and other functions in the play, such as comforting Lear and presaging him from superfluous faith and expectations put in his daughters with aid of ‘folk-wisdom’ are ascribed to the Fool by S.L. Goldberg, who highlights also Fool’s passivity in the course of action and his pathos expressed by his loyalty and heightened feelings, being the spur of his actions. But Goldberg foreworns from over‘sentimentalizing’ Fool, as he is also ‘clear-eyed’ and knows that ‘facts and ideals are always and always will be at odds’, which he tries to express in his wry witticisms, for which Lear calls him a ‘bitter fool’ (I. 4. 119).His figure can be also perceived as a relic of ancient Greek chorus, commenting on other characters and the plot, but presumably his main function comes down to making exertions to entertain the king, or ,as Kent calls it in some moment of the play, ‘to out-jest his heart-struck injuries’. Some of these functions were amplified in particular cinematic productions and others were diminished or even expunged. This is to be analysed with reference to the abovementioned cinematic productions. Apparently in Miller’s King Lear the character of the Fool is more accentuated than in the other production.He is a kind of an old fellow, loyal to his master, who cares for his fate and is not able to come to terms with his fatal misstep of giving away his royal authority and his land to his ungrateful daughters and even worse error of disinheriting and repelling Cordelia. He acts as though he had a strong feeling of responsibility for the king and his providence and as he was striving for something more than just a mere profession of court jester. All his behaviour gives the impression that he assumes the pose of a fool solely in order to remain beside the king regardless the changeable circumstances.Being a court jester allows him to reproach the king, sometimes in extremely harsh words, which make the king look like an idiot. However, what is worth highlighting is the fact that he never does it to impress the king’s escort and other surrounding him people, but he addresses the king directly as though he was his personal counsellor. His own jokes do not amuse h im, what can be easily deduced from the fact of his ability of assuming a grave facial expression almost instantly after making some jests and fooling about.Perchance this alongside with uttering some statements unpleasant to king’s ears earns him an opinion of a ‘bitter fool’, as Lear calls him (I. 4. 119). Given this one may come to a conclusion that he forces himself to play the role of the fool as this seems to be the only way to rebuke the king and talk him through to common sense without falling out of favour as Kant did after speaking the words of truth to his seigneur. The case is utterly different with another Fool – the one played by Sylvester McCoy in Nunn’s film. He is by no means a sedate adviser caged in the uncomfortable disguise of a fool.He is a ‘fool-blooded’ fool, who actually enjoys his position on the court and aspires for nothing more. His confidentiality with the king is verily striking, especially when the specta tors see him sitting in Lear’s lap, patting his face, sleeking his hair or kissing him in a childlike manner. If the title ‘nuncle’ customarily used by court jesters in addressing the king sounds derisively spoken by Middlemass’ Fool, the same word articulated by McCoy sounds as though a child was addressing his real uncle. His jovial and at times childish behaviour contrasts with his bawdy innuendos and gestures.Unlike Middlemass’ Fool, he enjoys being the life and soul of a party, entertaining king’s escort and jesting with them. He is fond of making fool of himself, playing the spoons using them as castanets, singing and cheering others up. Moreover, he is not eager to put himself at risk. As he speaks to Goneril, he quiets himself down in order not to utter an offence. Also the last words, that Fool was meant to speak about Goneril at her court and within her presence were cut out. So were many other lines originally spoken by the Fool. T his omission sometimes results in Fool’s appearing to be talking nonsense.Passing over Fool’s lines may also have another effect: the Fool appears in the whole play as a character of secondary importance, whose only purpose is to entertain the king and his comrades. And he does it, deriving pleasure from it. As it has been illustrated, the approaches towards the Fool in literary critique and cinematography were numerous and sundry, some of them conventional and others more innovative, but definitely each one of them bore some intrinsic artistic values, which cannot be fully apprehended without scrupulous scrutiny, which couldn’t have been contained within the volume of these few pages.Nevertheless the character of the Fool in two analysed above productions was given a closer insight. Two actors performing the role of the Fool in collaboration with the directors of each production created two different images of this figure. One of them was an image of a wise old man, whose role of a king’s personal adviser and tutor required a disguise of a court jester; a ‘bitter fool’, whose witticisms were wry, acute, sardonical, but whose exertions were aimed at only one goal – to save the king: from ill-advised decisions, from madness, from despair.The other one was a full-blooded fool, whose fondness of playing for laughs and entertaining others was tangible and whose, sometimes shocking, intimacy with the king could be explained only by mental impairment. This proved that the creation of a character is not entirely and solely dependent on the source text of a play, but is largely affected by the artistic vision and the license of a producer as well as by the original and individual skills of an actor. Works cited: 1. Davies Anthony, Filming Shakespeare’s Plays.The Adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Wells, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Oakleigh 1994. 2. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online, s. v. â€Å"fool†, accessed May 27, 2012,http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/212748/fool. 3. Goldberg S. L. , An Essay on King Lear, Cambridge University Press, London, New York 1974. 4. King Lear, DVD, directed by Jonathan Miller (1982; British Broadcasting Corporation, Time-Life Television Productions) 5. King Lear, DVD, directed by Trevor Nunn (2008; Richard Price TV Associates Ltd. 6. Knight G. Wilson, Shakespearean Production with Especial Reference to the Tragedies, Faber and Faber LTD, London 1964. 7. Shakespeare William, The Tragedy of King Lear, Halio Jay L. ed. , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Oakleigh 1997. 8. Williams, Maggie. Shakespeare Examinations. Ed. William Taylor Thom, M. A. Boston: Ginn and Co. , 1888. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (27. 05. 2012) . Sara Wilczynska ——————————————– 1 ]. See for exampl e: Williams, Maggie. Shakespeare Examinations. Ed. William Taylor Thom, M. A. Boston: Ginn and Co. , 1888. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (27. 05. 2012) . [ 2 ]. See for example: Goldberg S. L. , An Essay on King Lear, Cambridge University Press, London, New York 1974, pp. 84-92. [ 3 ]. i. e. in Nahum Tate’s amended version of King Lear from 1681; see: Introduction to: Shakespeare William, The Tragedy of King Lear, Halio Jay L. ed. , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Oakleigh 1997, p. 36. [ 4 ].See: Davies Anthony, Filming Shakespeare’s Plays. The Adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Wells, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Oakleigh 1994, p. 8. [ 5 ]. Ibidem. [ 6 ]. Knight G. Wilson, Shakespearean Production with Especial Reference to the Tragedies, Faber and Faber LTD, London 1964, p. 47. [ 7 ]. Ibidem, p. 54. [ 8 ]. Ibidem, p. 48. [ 9 ]. Op. cit. Williams, Maggie. Shakespeare Examinations†¦ [ 10 ]. See: Shakespeare William, The Tragedy of King Lear: ‘Where’s my knave? my fool?Go you and call my fool hither’ (I. 4. 38); ‘Where’s my fool’ (I. 4. 42); ‘But where’s my fool? ’ (I,4. 60-61); ‘Go you, call hither my fool’ (I. 4. 66) [ 11 ]. Op. cit. Goldberg S. L. , An Essay on King Lear†¦ , pp 90-91. [ 12 ]. Ibidem, p. 90. [ 13 ]. Ibidem. [ 14 ]. Ibidem. [ 15 ]. It becomes particularly visible when the Fool says to the king: ‘If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I’d have thee beaten for being old before thy time. ’. When Lear asks for the explanation, Fool replies: ‘Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise’ (I. 5. 33-36) [ 16 ].As in the case when he complains at being whipped for holding his ‘peace’ (meaning being silent in contradistinction to telling truth or telling lies as his earlier words suggest), speaking which he reaches to his crotch, as if he was peeing . [ 17 ]. The words that spoken by the Fool could have enraged Goneril were such: ‘A fox, when one has caught her,/ And such a daughter,/ Should sure to the slaughter,/ If my cap can buy a halter’ – McCoy’s Fool does not speak these words, as he probably is intended by the director as a harmless and joyful character. [ 18 ].Like when he says : ‘All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking’ (2. 4. 63-65) as an explanation for why Kent should be put in the stocks for asking for the reason of King’s escort being so diminished. The rest of the lines from this speech is simply left out, so that it may look like the Fool was talking poppycock. The same situation occurs a while earlier when Fool declares with a blank stare: ‘Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way’ (2. 4. 43). Similarly the rest of the lines is left out.

The Imjin War, Japanese Invasions of Korea

The Imjin War, Japanese Invasions of Korea Dates: May 23, 1592 - December 24, 1598 Adversaries:  Japan versus Joseon Korea and Ming China Troop strength:   Korea - 172,000 national army and navy, 20,000 insurgent fighters Ming China - 43,000 imperial troops (1592 deployment); 75,000 to 90,000 (1597 deployment) Japan - 158,000 samurai and sailors (1592 invasion); 141,000 samurai and sailors (1597 invasion) Outcome:  Victory for Korea and China, led by Korean naval successes. Defeat for Japan. In 1592, the Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched his samurai armies against the Korean Peninsula. It was the opening move in the Imjin War (1592-98). Hideyoshi envisioned this as the first step in a campaign to conquer Ming China; he expected to roll over Korea quickly, and even dreamed of going on to India once China had fallen. However, the invasion did not go as Hideyoshi planned. Build-up to the First Invasion    As early as 1577, Toyotomi Hideyoshi wrote in a letter that he had dreams of conquering China. At the time, he was just one of Oda Nobunagas generals. Japan itself was still in the throes of the Sengoku or Warring States period, a century-long era of chaos and civil war among the different domains. By 1591, Nobunaga was dead and Hideyoshi was in charge of a much more unified Japan, with northern Honshu the last major region to fall to his armies.   Having accomplished so much, Hideyoshi began to give serious thought once more to his old dream of taking on China, the major power of East Asia.   A victory would prove the might of reunified Japan, and bring her immense glory. Hideyoshi first sent emissaries to the court of Joseon Koreas King Seonjo in 1591, requesting permission to send a Japanese army through Korea on its way to attack China. The Korean king refused.   Korea had long been a tributary state of Ming China, while relations with Sengoku Japan had seriously deteriorated thanks to incessant Japanese pirate attacks all along Koreas coast.   There was simply no way that the Koreans would allow Japanese troops to use their country as a staging ground for an assault on China. King Seonjo sent his own embassies to Japan in turn, to try and learn what Hideyoshis intentions were. The different ambassadors returned with different reports, and Seonjo chose to believe those who said that Japan would not attack. He made no military preparations. Hideyoshi, however, was busy gathering an army of 225,000 men. Its officers and most of the troops were samurai, both mounted and foot soldiers, under the leadership of some major daimyo from Japans most powerful domains.   Some of the troops were also from the common classes, farmers or craftsmen, who were conscripted to fight. In addition, Japanese workers built a huge naval base on western Kyushu, just across the Tsushima Strait from Korea. The naval force that would ferry this enormous army across the strait consisted of both men-of-war and requisitioned pirate boats, manned by a total of 9,000 sailors. Japan Attacks The first wave of Japanese troops arrived at Busan, on Koreas southeast corner, on April 13, 1592. Some 700 boats offloaded three divisions of samurai soldiers, who rushed Busans unprepared defenses and captured this major port in a matter of hours. The few Korean soldiers who survived the onslaught sent messengers running to King Seonjos court in Seoul, while the rest retreated inland to try to regroup. Armed with muskets, against Koreans with bows and swords, the Japanese troops quickly swept toward Seoul. About 100 kilometers from their target, they met the first real resistance on April 28 - a Korean army of about 100,000 men at Chungju. Not trusting his green recruits to stay on the field, Korean general Shin Rip staged his forces in a swampy y-shaped area between the Han and Talcheon Rivers.   The Koreans had to stand and fight or die.   Unfortunately for them, the 8,000 Korean cavalry riders bogged down in flooded rice paddies and Korean arrows had a much shorter range than the Japanese muskets. The Battle of Chungju soon turned into a massacre. General Shin led two charges against the Japanese, but couldnt break through their lines. Panicking, the Korean troops fled and jumped into the rivers where they drowned, or got hacked down and decapitated by samurai swords.   General Shin and the other officers committed suicide by drowning themselves in the Han River. When King Seonjo heard that his army was destroyed, and the hero of the Jurchen Wars, General Shin Rip, was dead, he packed up his court and fled north. Angry that their king was deserting them, people along his flight path stole all of the horses from the royal party. Seonjo didnt stop until he reached Uiju, on the Yalu River, which is now the border between North Korea and China. Just three weeks after they landed at Busan, the Japanese captured the Korean capital of Seoul (then called Hanseong). It was a grim moment for Korea. Admiral Yi and the Turtle Ship Unlike King Seonjo and the army commanders, the admiral who was in charge of defending Koreas southwest coast had taken the threat of a Japanese invasion seriously, and had begun to prepare for it.   Admiral Yi Sun-shin, the Left Navy Commander of Cholla Province, had spent the previous couple of years building up Koreas naval strength.   He even invented a new kind of ship unlike anything known before. This new ship was called the kobuk-son, or turtle ship, and it was the worlds first iron-clad warship. The kobuk-sons deck was covered with hexagonal iron plates, as was the hull, to prevent enemy cannon shot from damaging the planking and to ward off fire from flaming arrows. It had 20 oars, for maneuverability and speed in battle. On the deck, iron spikes jutted up to discourage boarding attempts by enemy fighters. A dragons head figurehead on the bow concealed four cannon that fired iron shrapnel at the enemy. Historians believe that Yi Sun-shin himself was responsible for this innovative design. With a much smaller fleet than Japans, Admiral Yi racked up 10 crushing naval victories in a row through use of his turtle ships, and his brilliant battle tactics. In the first six battles, the Japanese lost 114 ships and many hundreds of their sailors. Korea, in contrast, lost zero ships and 11 sailors. In part, this amazing record was also due to the fact that most of Japans sailors were poorly-trained former pirates, while Admiral Yi had been carefully training a professional naval force for years. The Korean Navys tenth victory brought Admiral Yi an appointment as the Commander of the Three Southern Provinces. On July 8, 1592, Japan suffered its worst defeat yet at the hands of Admiral Yi and the Korean navy. In the Battle of Hansan-do, Admiral Yis fleet of 56 met a Japanese fleet of 73 ships. The Koreans managed to encircle the larger fleet, destroying 47 of them and capturing 12 more. Approximately 9,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were killed.   Korean lost none of its ships, and just 19 Korean sailors died. Admiral Yis victories at sea were not simply an embarrassment for Japan. The Korean naval actions cut off the Japanese army from the home islands, leaving it stranded in the middle of Korea without supplies, reinforcements, or a communication route. Although the Japanese were able to capture the old northern capital at Pyongyang on July 20, 1592, their northward movement soon bogged down.   Rebels and Ming With the tattered remnants of the Korean army hard-pressed, but filled with hope thanks to Koreas naval victories, the ordinary people of Korea rose up and began a guerrilla war against the Japanese invaders. Tens of thousands of farmers and slaves picked off small groups of Japanese soldiers, set fire to Japanese camps, and generally harried the invading force in every possible way. By the end of the invasion, they were organizing themselves into formidable fighting forces, and winning set battles against the samurai. In February, 1593, the Ming government finally realized that the Japanese invasion of Korea posed a serious threat to China as well. By this time, some Japanese divisions were battling with the Jurchens in what is now Manchuria, northern China. The Ming sent an army of 50,000 which quickly routed the Japanese from Pyongyang, pushing them south to Seoul.   Japan Retreats China threatened to send a much larger force, some 400,000 strong, if the Japanese didnt withdraw from Korea. The Japanese generals on the ground agreed to withdraw to the area around Busan while peace talks were held. By May of 1593, most of the Korean Peninsula had been liberated, and the Japanese were all concentrated in a narrow coastal strip on the southwestern corner of the country. Japan and China chose to hold peace talks without inviting any Koreans to the table. In the end, these would drag on for four years, and emissaries for both sides brought false reports back to their rulers. Hideyoshis generals, who feared his increasingly erratic behavior and his habit of having people boiled alive, gave him the impression that they had won the Imjin War. As a result, Hideyoshi issued a series of demands: China would allow Japan to annex the four southern provinces of Korea; one of the Chinese emperors daughters would be married to the Japanese emperors son; and Japan would receive a Korean prince and other nobles as hostages to guarantee Koreas compliance with Japanese demands. The Chinese delegation feared for their own lives if they presented such an outrageous treaty to the Wanli Emperor, so they forged a much more humble letter in which Hideyoshi begged China to accept Japan as a tributary state. Predictably,  Hideyoshi was incensed  when the Chinese emperor replied to this forgery late in 1596 by granting Hideyoshi the bogus title King of Japan, and giving Japan status as a vassal state of China. The Japanese leader ordered preparations for a second invasion of Korea. Second Invasion On August 27, 1597, Hideyoshi sent an armada of 1000 ships carrying 100,000 troops to reinforce the 50,000 who remained at Busan. This invasion had a more modest goal - simply to occupy Korea, rather than to conquer China. However, the Korean army was much better prepared this time, and the Japanese invaders had a tough slog ahead of them. The second round of the Imjin War also began with a novelty - the Japanese navy defeated the Korean navy at the Battle of Chilcheollyang, in which all but 13 Korean ships were destroyed. In large part, this defeat was due to the fact that Admiral Yi Sun-shin had been the victim of a whispered smear campaign at court, and had been removed from his command and imprisoned by King Seonjo.  After the disaster of Chilcheollyang, the king quickly pardoned and reinstated Admiral Yi.   Ã‚   Japan planned to seize the entire southern coast of Korea, then march for Seoul once more. This time, however, they met a joint Joseon and Ming army at Jiksan (now Cheonan), which held them off from the capital and even began to push them back toward Busan. Meanwhile, the reinstated Admiral Yi Sun-shin led the Korean navy in its most astonishing victory yet at the Battle of Myongnyang in October of 1597. The Koreans were still trying to rebuild after the Chilcheollyang fiasco; Admiral Yi had just 12 ships under his command.   He managed to lure 133 Japanese vessels in to a narrow channel, where the Korean ships, strong currents, and rocky coastline destroyed them all. Unbeknownst to the Japanese troops and sailors, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had died back in Japan on September 18, 1598. With him died all will to continue this grinding, pointless war. Three months after the warlords death, the Japanese leadership ordered a general retreat from Korea. As the Japanese began to withdraw, the two navies fought one last great battle at the Noryang Sea. Tragically, in the midst of another stunning victory, Admiral Yi was hit by a stray Japanese bullet and died on the deck of his flagship.   In the end, Korea lost an estimated 1 million soldiers and civilians in the two invasions, while Japan lost more than 100,000 troops. It was a senseless war, but it did give Korea a great national hero and a new naval technology - the famous turtle ship.

A New Era Of African Women Embracing Sexuality

A New Era Of African Women Embracing Sexuality Sexuality is a concept that varies across different cultures and/or religions in the world. Female sexuality covers not only the female sexual identity but also female sexual behavior. Perception of female sexual experiences has evolved over the years from a cultural phenomenon that is almost like a taboo to talk about, to something being more frequently discussed today. The topic of sexuality has been silence in Africa for centuries. Because of the difficulty in embracing intimate and individual emotions and preferences, most women in Africa lose their voice in discussing sexual preferences and emotions with their partners. The issue is sexuality is a gender-specific social construct in Africa. Parents discourage children growing up in Africa from any sign of sexual stimulation with the idea that masturbation is sinful and morally wrong. Critiques about these ideas are normally non-existent because when the question of morality goes into play with an African, people shy away from these things. African men do not expect women to experience sexual satisfaction thus making women in African ignorant to sexual pleasures and orgasms. They only expect African women to have sex because of childbearing. This patriarchal construct has succeeded in making its way to the tradition of female genital mutilation. Of course with this practice, the cutting off of the woman’s clitoris will ensure a woman will never experience sexual pleasure in her lifetime. These practices represent a misogynist view of what the female body is supposed to feel or give for it deprives women of the opportunity to control sexuality and personal preferences. With this, we will answer four tangible questions surrounding this subject, about the sexuality and sexual experiences of African women. How to approach the experiences of sex and other sexual activities to women in Africa? Because of the moral construct of women and the sex, the experiences of sex are often left out of sex education. Even when professionals try to educate young people about sex, sexually transmitted diseases and, family planning is usually the topic focused on. The conversation of individual experiences of sex is usually ignored or forgotten altogether. Women in Africa are shy or careful to talk about their sexual experiences with their partners with the fear of judgment of their morality. Most African men in parts of Africa often labeled women with contemporary sexual flavors as wild, immoral and women not worthy of marriages, therefore, leading women neglecting to ask for, or initiate potential triggers of pleasure in the bedroom. Because of concurrent stereotypes, it is easy to be labeled as oversexed when you are an African woman. While this is not the case, the African woman has to struggle to correct the different narratives about her sexuality. To her, sexuality encompasses everything that the wider public believes it’s not. Like any other woman from any other race that doesn’t go through the same levels of disbelief constantly thrown toward African women like a bone to a dog, sexual experiences are just that something you experience and enjoy as a woman. Most African women struggle with desires that should be natural to them because of these beliefs that hide their sexuality. With the mindset of the female body being made for sex and procreation only, pleasure for many African women is stifled if not non-existent as it is seen as something to endure rather than explore or enjoy, as past occurrences and precedents have established the need to treat their sexuality that way. How to approach the experiences of sex and other sexual activities to women in Africa? There has always been a huge difference between the messages given to African men and African women about sex and sexual experiences. Even during sex, the society cautions women to allow the man to take the lead and made to believe there are limits to what she can get from it. Pleasure is only meant for the man in these cases, so much that a huge percentage of African women didn’t realize they were just as entitled to the pleasures men have had for a long time. We can approach these experiences by providing an educational platform that talks openly about sexual experiences, and activities without cultural criticisms. This can be done by teaching both young men and women to relearn the functions of the female body. If the African society can take out the guilt of morality from a womans sexual conquest, more women will begin to freely talk about their wants and needs with their partners. This could also start from the root of the cause and work its way up. Although this tactic m ight seem ineffective for most since older African women have strong beliefs about labeling the hyper-sexual experiences of a woman as bad and the older generation would less likely accept a change in idea contrast to what they have lived by all their lives, they need to have eye-opening scenarios painted for them, which encourages them to look beyond their baseless ideologies and consider speaking more to their daughters and young women about sex. How do you think, approach, and own your own orgasm? There is a stiffness that comes with believing men should be the sole beneficiaries of pleasure that has to go. As an African woman, you are well allowed to explore your body, and mind for sexual triggers and reach your climax without the fear of being judged by someone. Be it your mother’s tiny voice in your head telling you God is mad at you for masturbating, or that person in your family who makes you feel dirty every time you feel the need to experience sexual pleasure. You can never fully experience sexual pleasure at its greatest peak if you don’t figure out how to turn yourself on. No one can give you what you can’t give yourself. Learning about your body helps to guard your partner to take you to those places you want to go or even higher. Your sexual experiences are most definitely natural and you should always answer Mother Nature when she calls! When you do reach that place, enjoy it without caring about anything else and anyone. Your sexual health sho uld be as important as everything else you care for. How does the younger generation view polygamy versus how our predecessors viewed them? For the younger generation, it boils down to religious concepts that present polygamy as an option (however with conditions). Our predecessors stayed in marriages long enough to accept polygamy. Because of societal expectations on women, wives in the past had no problem staying in abusive marriages, struggling and taking in everything however worse they might be. The younger generations have begun to question certain standards and are taking their time with marriages. Women of today are less likely to accept, polygamy and abuses than women in the past. Any sign of these things would leave a wife packing out of her home for a single life where she doesn’t have to deal with a cheating or abusive husband. In conclusion, there’s still a lot more to uncover about the African woman’s sexuality. There are more things to learn and unlearn and more conversations to engage in. One thing is for sure. This is the era of African women embracing their sexuality.

What Is Wind Energy All about Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What Is Wind Energy All about - Essay Example This essay will talk about one form of renewable energy which is wind energy. As stated earlier, wind energy is a form of renewable energy. Renewable energy sources are those that are replenished naturally on a human timescale. Examples of renewable energy are geothermal power, wind energy and sunlight. Wind energy is used to produce electricity when fast-moving air called wind, hits propeller-like blades attached to a rotor. The rotor is coupled to a dynamo-like generator to produce electricity. The generator produces electricity through electromagnetism in its coils. The propeller-like blades, the main shaft and the generator form a unit that is known as a wind turbine. Wind turbines are usually mounted on towers to harness most of the energy of the moving air. These turbines are usually erected in areas that are very windy and are usually outside towns and areas of dense populations. The energy from wind has been harnessed both residentially and commercially. People have used small wind turbines to generate electricity for their own personal use. The generation of electricity has also been done for commercial purposes but in most cases, the energy from a given wind farm is normally used to serve a specific area. Divided opinions have been witnessed by the use of wind energy. Some people have supported the increased tapping and use of wind energy. They argued that wind energy is a great idea and way of generating cheap electricity. However, there are those who have not agreed with this are a bit sceptical when it comes to wind energy. The divided opinions have been generated by the various pros and cons associated with wind energy.