Friday, January 24, 2020

The Destruction of Macbeth Essay -- Macbeth essays

The Destruction of Macbeth      Ã‚   In the beginning of the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth is merely a nobleman and a Scottish general in King Duncan's army. Macbeth later becomes the deserving Thane of Glamis and Cawdor and the undeserving King of Scotland (Dominic 255). In the beginning Macbeth is a man with good intentions and a good heart; sometimes he just has a hard time following his good instincts and heart. Macbeth's ambition and the persuasion of his wife lead him to commit several horrible deeds. Macbeth is brave, good-hearted, disobeying, easily persuaded, overly-ambitious, and literal-minded and unimaginative (Scott 281).      Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the play, Macbeth is a character who shows extreme bravery. The reader can see his bravery through his efforts and victories on the battle field. The Captain speaks of Macbeth's bravery when he is describing Macbeth's triumph over Macdonald and his strong forces, "But all's too weak,/For brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name-/Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel/Which smoked with bloody execution,/Like Valour's minion carved out his passage" . . .(I.i.5). The captain then goes on to tell how Macbeth and Banquo fought successfully through an assault of fresh Norwegian troops. Macbeth is obviously a loyal general who fights hard and with courage for his country. Macbeth displays his bravery when he kills Duncan and Duncan's two guards. Killing someone is in itself a brave act. In order to actually go through with the act of murdering somebody takes much courage. Murdering a person is an act which requires bravery to commit, but it also requires bra very to face the consequences if one is caught. Another instance of Macbeth's bravery is when Macbeth fights... ...l him. Just because three witches tell Macbeth of his future, does not mean it is a true prophesy (Scott 281).      Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, Macbeth is a good man who is too easily persuaded by his wife to commit several awful deeds. Macbeth's ambition and disobedience gets him killed. It is true that Macbeth is given a prophesy to be King, and it is true that pressure is applied by his wife, but his ambition is what kills him in the end. Macbeth is a brave, good hearted man, who possesses a weak mind which allows his ambition and the persuasion of his wife to lead him down the wrong paths, ultimately leading to his destruction.    Works Cited Dominic, C. Catherine. Shakespeare's Characters for Students. Detroit - New York - Toronto - London: Gale Research, 1997. Scott, W. Mark, ed. Shakespeare for Students. Detroit - Washington, D.C.: Gale Research, 1992.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Essay

Good morning, dobry den, dobry den, Guten Tag, bonjour, buenos dias, these are examples of my native Slovak and five other languages that I can partly understand and speak. I used to think this was a significant number, but I found that there were approximately 4000 languages spoken in the world. It is obvious that we could spend the whole life studying foreign languages and never master all of them. So how do we overcome this barrier? The next part will give a complete summary of the possible solutions according to three authors and will also include my own reflections. The most comprehensive approach to the topic can be found in the book titled â€Å"Intercultural communication in the global workplace† by Linda Beamer and Iris Varner. Linda Beamer is a full professor in the Department of Marketing at California State University, Los Angeles where she teaches marketing courses as well as business communication, intercultural communication and many others. Iris Varner is a professor in the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods, College of Business at Illinois State University, where she teaches the cultural environment of international business. Varner is the author of numerous articles in the area of intercultural managerial communication, and she is also president of the Association for Business Communication. The whole chapter in the book is dedicated to the role of language in the intercultural communication. They believe that language and culture are shaping each other and are intertwined. They show that identical words can have different meanings in different cultures. â€Å"Both the French and the Americans use the word force majeure, but the phrase carries very different meanings. Literally the term means superior or irresistible force. In U. S. legal language, the term refers generally to forces of nature or possible war. The implications are that the terms of a contract may be changed because the risk was not allocated in either the expressed or implied terms of the contract. In European law the term has a broader meaning. It also includes changes in the economic conditions or other circumstances that were not reasonably anticipated when the contract was drawn up. The implication is that when Americans make agreements with Europeans that include discussions of unforeseen circumstances and use the term force majeure, they need to clarify what they mean and spell out what that term covers† (Beamer, Varner, 2008, para. 6). According to Beamer and Varner following points may help in communicating with non-native speakers: Enunciate, speak slowly, avoid slang and colloquialism, be careful about jokes, be sincere, be culturally sensitive, and keep a sense of humor (Beamer, Varner, 2008)Speaking clearly and slowly is helpful. Avoiding slang is necessary because unless the speaker has lived in the country for a long time, there is small chance that he or she will understand. The problem with jokes is that they do not translate well and if they have to be accompanied by lengthy explanations, they usually lose their funniness. Being sincere, culturally sensitive, and keeping sense of humor also affects communication in the positive way. On the other hand, I personally prefer new phenomenon called â€Å"World English† that is described in the work of two authors. According to Smith, â€Å"The geographical spread of English is unique among the languages of the world, throughout history. Countries using English as either a first or a second language are located on all five continents, and the total population of these countries amounts to about 49% of the world’s population† (Smith, 2006). He recognizes six types of World English: US English, Canadian English, Australian, New Zealand English, South African English, Indian English, and West Indian English (Smith, 2006).

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Writing News Public Lending Rights is Being Transferred to the British Library

Public Lending Rights, or PLR, is an interesting initiative which allows authors to receive regular payments according to PLR legislation for every occasion when their books are loaned by public libraries. The fact that it is being transferred to the British Library can hardly be called news – after all, it has been announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in March that the PLR will no longer exist as an independent organization and will become part of the British Library. However, the very act of transfer was completed only on 1 October 2013. What does it entail for those who have already contributed their books to PLR? Actually, not that much. The team that worked on PLR remains intact and was transferred to the British Library along with the initiative. In future it will most likely work in about the same fashion as before. Payments will still be made annually, on the basis of loans data received from the British public libraries. The reason for the transfer is pretty simple – DCMS decided to reduce the number of publicly funded organizations and transferred the Registrar of Public Lending Right to another publicly funded body. This will, in the long run, allow them to save on PLR’s maintenance and improve its functioning. In fact, there will not even be any noticeable change in management – all the operations of the PLR will be still administered from the current PLR offices in Stockton-on-Tees. The same goes for payments – they will be done in the same way as always. The next Irish and UK PLR Statements will be posted in November 2013 and January 2014 correspondingly. If you have contributed to a book which is currently lent out by public libraries in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, it is probably a good idea to register for the PLR scheme. If you have already applied for it, you don’t have to do anything – all the current registrations will remain unchanged and the changes in management won’t affect those who receive payments according to the PLR policies. The staff encourages both the current and potential participants of the PLR scheme to address all their queries to the same office: 1st Floor, Richard House, Sorbonne Close, Stockton-on-Tees TS17 6DA. The only change will be in e-mail and website addresses of the scheme.