Priestleys purpose Essay Example for Free

Priestleys purpose Essay Unlike Gerald, Priestley describes Eric in the opening stage directions as not quite at ease. He has been expensively educated, and yet he is a disappointment to Birling: he and Gerald joke behind his back (p.10), and his father patronises him (p.12). He is kept out of the information about his fathers possible knighthood, and when he really needed help he felt his father was not the kind of father a chap could go to when hes in trouble (p. 54). His drinking is an open secret within the family (though Mrs Birling chooses not to admit it to herself), and suggests that he lacks self-discipline. This is borne out by the behaviour that is revealed in the course of the play: he forced himself into the girls lodgings despite her protests, drunk and in that state when a chap easily turns nasty (p.52), has made her pregnant, and has stolen money from his father. But he also has an honesty that others lack. He is the only one to respond spontaneously to details of the girls death (p.11), and when he is forced to admit how he behaved towards her he has a strong sense of guilt because the consequences of what he did are so serious. We also believe him when he tells Birling that he would have let the girl stay at the factory (p.16) but Eric throughout the play is shown to be naive, even if his heart is often in the right place. (Stealing Birlings money, even though a crime in law, might be another example of this.) He does not have the realistic outlook necessary to make a success of his life. He is also shown to be immature, regarding the girl as a good sport (p.52), although she treated him as a child. Like every character accused by the Inspector, he is shown to be a hypocrite he is disgusted by the fat old tarts round the town (p.52), yet by this stage in her life, the girl is also a prostitute, though it is not clear whether Eric realises this.  He appears to have learnt very little from his privileged education, yet he has been impressed by the Inspector. At the end, like Sheila, he refuses to pretend things are like they were before, and is frightened by the fact that the older generation appear not to have learnt anything. He wants his parents to admit their mistakes as freely as he has admitted his. Though he is not a particularly pleasant character, we may feel that he is sincerely ashamed of his behaviour and is capable of changing for the better. Sheila  Priestley describes Sheila in the opening stage directions as a pretty girl and very pleased with life later, however, her prettiness is revealed as vanity and her happiness is shown to be selfish, bought at the price of the girls job.  Her first reaction to the news of the girls death is superficial she seems upset that it has spoiled her evening and Ive been so happy tonight (p.17), and is interested only in whether she was young and pretty. But, unlike her parents, she quickly comes to see her as an individual: these girls arent cheap labour theyre people (p.19), she tells Birling. She becomes agitated (p.20) as she realizes her own part in the girls death, and like Gerald later in the play runs out of the room. However, unlike her fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, she returns to accept her guilt rather than to find a way round it. We sense at the start of the play that there is an unresolved tension in her relationship with Gerald; they are actually very different people. But it is Sheila who grows up in the course of the play: at the start she is playful and attention-seeking; at the end, she is thoughtful and reflective. By contrast, Gerald is revealed to be a moral coward, unable to accept the wrongness of his behaviour and taking comfort from the fact that no-one seems to have died after all. Like Birling, she readily admits to having met the girl. But her father admits this because he is unable to see that he has done anything wrong; Sheila, on the other hand, admits this because she is genuinely ashamed (p.23) and is trying to tell the truth (p.23). Of all the characters, hers is the only confession that does her credit Mrs Birling is first obstructive then defiant, and Gerald and Eric both confess at a point when they know they have been already found out. She is guilty of the sins of pride and envy she complained about the girl because she thought she was laughing at her, and because she was a very pretty girl too I couldnt be sorry for her (p.24). Although she asks how could I know what would happen afterwards (p.24), she does not try to escape from the blame. Priestley uses her as an example of someone who is vain and thoughtless, but not heartless: she is genuine when she says if I could help her now I would (p.24). But he intends the audience to learn the lesson that good intentions are no good if they come too late; Sheilas predicament is a warning to us.  Sheila herself warns both Gerald and Mrs Birling not to try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl (p.30). Once she has admitted her own guilt, her rà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½le in the rest of the play is to show others the importance of admitting the truth. She becomes disillusioned and hurt by what she learns about the rest of her family particularly Gerald, whom she now addresses bitterly (p.33) and with sharp sarcasm and irony (p.38) but when he has finally told the truth, she respects him rathermore than Ive ever done before (p.40). Facing up to our faults, Priestley suggests through Sheila, is painful, but not to do so makes things worse in the long run, as she says. This is part of Priestleys purpose in the play: to make us feel the urgency of rethinking the responsibility we bear towards our fellow men before it is too late.  Sheila emphasizes the importance of everyone learning from the Inspectors visit. She and Eric are the only characters who are not concerned whether Goole was a real Inspector she says it doesnt make any real difference (p.59), because she acknowledges her behaviour was morally wrong, whether or not it was legally wrong and whether or not it actually resulted in a girls death. By the end of the play, she has begun to have some understanding of what the Inspector is doing, so that she is able to see the world, and her responsibility, according to his values instead of those of her family. This is why she can see the trap her mothers arrogance is creating, and why she tries to stop her mother from exposing and condemning the childs father. It is only she and Eric, the two youngest and more impressionable characters (p.30) who, in Priestleys eyes, have profited sufficiently from the lessons on stage in front of them not to repeat their mistakes a second time as he hopes the audience will have too

Beowulf The Epic Hero :: essays research papers

Beowulf the Epic Hero What does it mean to be a hero? Like anything else in this world, the definition of the word hero can be argued. Some may say that a hero can be passive, that is if he or she refrains from doing a certain action it makes them heroic. Others would argue that to be truly heroic the character must never turn tail and always face the obstacle head on even though he or she may die in the process. So is Beowulf a hero? Yes, Beowulf is a great epic hero, but his greatness comes only from his sword and not from his mind. In order to be a hero in an epic poem there were certain qualities you had to possess. First of all you had to be a male. It is rare to see any woman in epic poems taking on the role as hero. Women were usually only minor characters who are often not even named. Second of all you had to be a man of noble birth. Meaning that the hero had to be either a king, prince, knight or some other high-ranking person in society. Beowulf satisfies all of these requirements. He is the nephew of the king of the Geats, and son of a great warrior. As was common in literature up until recently, Beowulf’s mother was not named as well as Grendel’s mother. The slave character was not named too, which in my mind would indicate that women had little more status than slaves or property during the times of the Vikings. Fittingly enough, Beowulf’s sword even got a name, for it is by his sword that he earns his eternal fame and glory. However, besides the fact that Beowulf was of noble lineage and that he was a great warrior, he has some other noble qualities. On the plus side for Beowulf we can say that he was a pious warrior. Although he was from being a modest warrior, for he was anything but modest when it came to his great deeds of valor on the battlefield, he did credit Jesus for every success he has come across. This is not really a revolutionary idea for epic heroes, as we see the heroes of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aenied constantly praying to the gods for glory on the battlefield. The main difference is that they are pagans, and Beowulf is a Christian, which does not even really make sense because he was a Viking warrior and the Vikings were not Christians.

Vocal awareness

Language and vocal awareness Language Is a key element to be explored In drama. An Important characteristic of dramatic language Is the way it indicates the mood of a scene. It does this, by Incorporating stage directions Into the dialogue. We can often tell the mood of a character by the language that is used. For example the repetitions of the noun ‘Laurence' suggest that Beverly was annoyed with the fact that Laurence wasn't doing what she asked him to do. The way in which a play is written can inform us of the time period, the setting and it also helps to give each individual character an identity.Dramatic language is also able to indicate how actors should be grouped together upon the stage, for example the character of Beverly as a host of the dinner party she has to be up and serving drinks to make sure her guests are comfortable and satisfied. Altogether language helps the actors/actress to convey a naturalistic performance. The technique I found particularly useful whe n exploring my character has been language. This technique really developed my characterization as well as improved my knowledge and understanding of my character Beverly as she uses a range variety of punctuation.An example of this Is with the rhetorical question ‘dya know what I mean' this may suggest that Beverly Is the sort of person that Ilkes to be understood. Secondly, Beverly also uses a lot of question marks: ‘Dya get something to eat? ‘Dya get those larger? as the play was written in 1977 and the traditional role of women's changed in the 1 920's can suggest that Beverly abuses the freedom of not having to follow the traditional role of a women (cook and clean and providing) although she doesn't work but she still doesn't cook (that's why Laurence eats a lot of fast-food).We used an exercise in class where we walked around the room reading our monologues aloud and when we got to a punctuation marking such as a full stop or question mark we had to turn 90 degrees and then carry on. This told us where all the breaks where In the monologue and by doing this helped us get a better understanding of where the tension was In the piece. For example my character was Beverly; she's a very demanding character so the first scene starts off with lots of explanation marks: ‘Laurence! ‘ ‘No! this tells me that my character is quite angry and he tension would be high in this part of the monologue. As we continuously repeated this exercise which included the turning around and round (bearing in mind Beverly is the host of the party so she has to do a lot of talking, this was a disadvantage for me) which made me feel dizzy and as if the room was spinning around. This was relevant to my role because the whole dizzy effect can be used to portray a naturalistic performance as In the play Beverly drinks a lot so the dizziness can be a result of the alcohol.This can change her use in language as she is drunk. Vocal Awareness using my mon ologue piece I had to vocalise the vowels the consonants and the consonant only. My character was Beverly, I had to read act 1 scene 1 on all of Beverlys line reading only the consonant without pronouncing the vowels. This exercise seemed a bit weird at first as but I then realised that the character of demanding as she's always asking him to do things and she's always nagging constantly, she doesn't keep to the rural traditional wife law of having children, cooking and cleaning and expect Laurence to always eat takeaway and ‘pizza'.This technique really helped me to learn more about my character also using this technique helped me noticed that my character uses a lot of â€Å"Irnc† which kind of sounds like the word ‘drink this is significant as in the play Beverly continuously offers her guests drink Sue in particular as she declined most time but was forced by Beverly to have some more this also links with Beverleys super objective which is to keep her guest oc cupied and comfortable by offering them drinks as her way of being a good host as she's always trying to make a good impression.

McDonald’s and Crespiano’s Restaurants Essay

McDonald’s and KFC’s are two famous restaurants in Doha city. But even though they both serve delicious chicken meals in the same town, they don’t have anything else in common. They have differences in aspects of service speed, meals’ prices, and types of customers. McDonald’s serves meals at high speed as the staff who work there use computers in taking orders, radio headsets to communicate, and automatic timers to help with cooking. Unlikely, Crespiano’s is not as quick as McDonald’s because Crespiano’s staff number is less than McDonald’s. In addition, Crespiano’s system in taking orders is a manual system, no computers used, there is only one person who works as a cashier and takes orders in handwriting. In terms of meals’ prices, McDonald’s meals, are very expensive due to the fact that McDonald’s serves Pepsi and chips with every meal, while Crespiano’s meals are cheaper as they are served without these extras. However, Crispiano’s offers its customers a free home delivery. Unlike McDonald’s, Crespiano’s customers are of the local residents who live nearby the restaurant only because there is one main branch of Crispiano’s in the whole city. On the other hand, McDonald’s has more than one branch all over the city so it serves a bigger number of people and different types of customers. In conclusion, McDonald’s and Crespiano’s serve delicious meals. While they both have a different style in handling their business, customers have an opportunity to choose which style is preferable for them.

Assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society essays

Assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society essays "Based on a study of both ancient and modern sources, assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society" In Spartan society, religion and festivals played a pivotal part of everyday life for both men and women. The very system by which they lived, decreed in the Great Rhetra, was "Delphic-oracle-given", delivered by the celebrated Lycurgus. The Spartans, famed for their military-based lifestyle, were in fact dependant on military divination to advise them whether or not to go into war - if the signs were not right then even an essential military engagement may be delayed or abandoned totally. Similarly, they sometimes missed or did not fully participate in certain battles if there was a religious festival on at the same time. Another significant element of Spartan life - unions between young Spartan boys still in training and adult Spartan warriors - has been attributed to the relationship between the mythological Apollo and the adolescent boy Hyacinthus. Religion and festivals were also noteworthy aspects when it came to the lives of women; they relied upon the gods for fertility, bea uty and health. Thus, we can deduce that religion and festivals played a very important role in Spartan society, affecting their society politically, militarily and even shaping their values, attitudes and outlooks on life. The ancient Spartans life was governed by the oracle brought from Delphi, by Lycurgus. This oracle, known as the "Great Rhetra" detailed the laws of Sparta, in a place where there were no written laws. Paul Cartledge, in his book, The Spartans ¹, states that, "myth, religion and politics coalesced to produce the first glimmerings of a political history ... of the Spartan polis or state". He is saying that religion and politics in ancient Sparta are so tightly linked that it is impossible to consider one aspect without addressing the other at the same time. In fact, the very founder of the Spartan way of life, Lycurgus, ...

Receiver Paper -- Ted Youth Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Receiver Paper -- Ted Youth Speech - Essay Example â€Å"Leading Miami† was formed with the main objective of teaching the local youths in Miami about the values of leaderships, empathy, and self realization. According to Koenig, active leadership presents the best solution towards changing the way young people engage in civic activities in the city. He said that he believed leadership is the best avenue to changing the state of low civic activities not only in Miami but across the world as well. Koenig’s speech was a rallying call to the youths in Miami to take action towards changing Miami for better. The greatest lesson that the speech carried was on leadership and how it can be used to drive personal and communities ambitions to higher levels of achievement. Philip Koenig was very articulate about the subject of leadership. He said that teaching about leadership was a great opportunity for the youths in Miami to â€Å"create change within a broad spectrum on all sides.† He further gave examples of some of the world’s greatest leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi who took active role in civic activities. He said that empathy was the greatest personal value behind the passions of Mandela and Gandhi in leading to change the world for better place. Koenig was speaking to a group of mostly the youths that had assembled for the TEDx speech presentation in Miami in November 2013. Members of the auditorium had assembled to exchange experiences and also learn from others, what it would mean to change Miami to statuses of cities like Minneapolis a very active civic life. Speaker after speaker was a youth perhaps to authentic the fact that the speech presentations on the day was as forum for the youths of Miami. The audience was also representative of the American multiracial diversities. Speakers were also from different racial backgrounds. Philip entered the stage just moments after an African-American youth had just finished making his presentation. The occasion was specificall y dedicated to youths of Miami to learn about what they could do to change their city for a better place. The rallying call that Philip made was for the youth to rise above the below average ratings of their city and compete with the likes of Minneapolis where civic engagement by the populace was way above. The audience applauded the speaker in appreciation after he finished his presentation. Koenig was an effective speaker and being a member of the audience, I found him very articulate in presenting his views. His major objectives were to call upon the youth to take an active role in engaging in civic activities. He also wanted to tell the youths to inculcate the spirit of empathy in them as they learn of leadership skills and self development. On the other hand, the speaker wanted the audience to know of various ways through which they could engage actively in civic activities in the city. The speaker created an impression that he is an authority worth listening to early in the sp eech. He stated that he has been running â€Å"Leading Miami†, an organization that has been in the forefront of educating and inculcating leadership values in the youths of Miami. He thus came forth as someone that has been in the fore when it comes to civic activities in the city of Miami. The speaker also employed the use of emotional appeal to capture the audience’s emotions. He said that taking part in civic activiti

Garabology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Garabology - Essay Example This is my weekly routine before I go to the supermarket for shopping foodstuffs. A rough estimate of this waste equated to $12 which is about eight percent the grocery bill I handle every week. Another inclination on the same is the waste of textiles. I realized that my family would throw away several clothes every week and sometimes it included shoes, beddings and curtains. I realized that I threw away at least one cloth every week and that makes my expenditure on the same rise even though am comfortable with the same. There has also been waste associated with paper. This originates mainly from the used paper towels, packaging material, cut-outs of magazines and newspapers. I realized with the kind of artwork my younger sister is in to, we throw away such waste amounting to about 4 kg per week. This is regardless of other biodegradable substances she uses when drawing or painting. Polythene materials and plastic such as packaging material also form part of the materials that are thrown away. Since I do most of the grocery shopping during the weekend and most of the stuff I buy is packed using this material, it came to my attention that this was the main reason why I do collect a lot of polythene material for disposal every week. Glass can also be accounted as waste though it is not consistent. This may include breakage of cups or tumblers. My parents always complain how we are poor eaters and they would always try and tell us stories referencing to their days. They would at least not take one meal out of the typical three in a day because of the economic status of their parents at the time. This kind of garbage insinuates the idea that the family has more than enough to eat and spare. This is despite the fact the family does not maximize these products. This may portray the household as either a middle class or a high class family because the children therein are able to dispose at least