Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Passage Analysis: First Morning in the Green Castle Sir Gawain plays a significant role in many Arthurian legends in the Middle Ages. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight he is the main hero, a warrior, with the concentration on the upcoming battle, rather than a seducing knight. During Gawain's visit to Bercilak's castle, the host's wife makes three advances to seduce Gawain into an adulterous relationship. With all his will power he tries to ignore advances of the Bercilak's wife. Some of the chivalric values, courage, respect for hospitality, honesty, pride, nobility and courtly love, help Sir Gawain in his query. The latter scenes explore the world of men and the appropriate environment for male chivalric actions. The lord is in the lead, the courageous and most active of the hunters. The bedroom scenes show another world of male-female relationship, where again, the knight proves his noble standing and devotion to true knighthood. Before the daylight, in the morning, the host and his huntsmen set out after the boar. The poet describes in detail how cheerful the all-day-long hunt is, using a lot of details and images: there are men with "mighty bows," brave knights and their flying arrows, a lot of horns and barking hounds. Many hunters fear for their lives but the lord, the bravest of them all and a true knight, shows the example by leading the chase for the boar because it is his duty to be a shining example to his people. "And many feared for their lives, and fell back a little. But the lord on a lively horse leads the chase." [Norton, 1463-1464] In the next scene, the poet turns away from the hunting scene to the Sir Gawain's bedroom in the castle, where he peacefully awakens from sleep. It seems that the poet intentionally positions the bedroom scenes within the hunting scenes: the symbolic hunt juxtaposed with the literal hunt. The lady, the host's wife, carefully enters the room. She sits beside him on the bed and he pretends to be surprised at seeing her here. The passage revolves around the host's wife attempts to seduce Sir Gawain, and he tries to avoid the consequences of such thing happening. She is a real temptress, tests his courtesy, virtue, decency, and a real object of courtly love, but he acts in accord with court's rules of love.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death Essay

The poem is generally about death and the thoughts going on in the mind of the person nearing it. In simple and short phrases, the persona of the poem is expressing his feelings towards the end of his life on earth and the beginning of his immortality in eternity. The poem basically treats death not a negative thing but something that cannot be avoided and everyone shall face in the future. Although the persona in the poem is sad because he has to leave behind the earthly realm he loved and got used to, he cannot deny death and saw something positive in the process of embrasing it. The poem was developed in a way that it incorporated both the aesthetic and rational sense. It has six (6) stanzas. The lines of the poem’s stanzas have alternating eight (8) and six (6) syllables. There is no specific rhyming scheme in the construction of the poem making it a free verse. Even so, the combination of words, especially the descriptions elaborately shows connection with each other. Be/cause/ I/ could/ not/ stop/ for/ Death — 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 He/ kind/ly/ stopped/ for/ me – 1 2 3 4 5 6 The/ Ca/rriage/ held/ but/ just/ Our/selves – 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 And/ i/mmor/ta/li/ty. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (All succeeding stanzas have similar syllabic pattern. ) The first stanza of the poem is a clear introduction of what death is. The opening lines Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me means that the persona doesn’t want death. However, he has to face it. And when he is taken by death, there is nothing in the physical world that he can bring with him aside from his immortality. It is a declaration how powerful and divine death is. After the poem’s heavy introduction, it is then followed and supported by stanzas with lines grouped in a way to best describe the event. The reader of the poem is taken to a trance that will show him the best picture of death and what it does. There are descriptions of what the things that will be left behind are and what waits. The real meaning of the poem may not be understood by single reading because of the very obscure diction. Nevertheless, a close look will reveal the great imagery that is contained in the poem. In the fifth (5th) stanza of the poem We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground – the imagery is very impressive. The author used the above phrases and lines to describe the end point of every one who dies. Anyone who reads through the lines will realize that the burial place is just a stop-over or a pit stop for a more interesting journey – and that is the journey to eternity. Meaning, there is more than just the dying and the ceremony when it happens. People should look forward on eternity and the possible beauty and joy we may find there. The poem does not have a rhyming scheme but the words are in harmony with each other. Moreover, the way each stanza was developed is consistent with the previous and the next. Because of the aforementioned writing strategy, the picture of the poem all fell into place making it like a mini-movie once read. The idea is successfully extended to the readers because of the very interesting way words are put together. Usually, death is pictured as something tragic, thus, something that should be scared about. But the author Emily Dickinson successfully depicted death in such a way that it uplifts one’s spirit. It is almost positive that Emily Dickinson wrote this piece during her last days on Earth. And in an artistic way, Emily Dickinson converted her experience into a masterpiece that will inspire readers for generations.

Clinical Trial and Nucleon Assignment Notes

Nucleon Assignment Notes Porter’s 5 Forces Industry Analysis †¢Competition: Intense †¢Buyer Power: Moderate to High oBig pharma companies likely have a lot of power, although as a small firm, your power increases once you clear phases of drug trials. †¢Supplier Power: Unsure, Moderate? oThe case makes it sound like there’s not many manufacturers out there for contracting purposes. Not sure what power suppliers of raw materials have. †¢Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to High oLots of firms racing to create the next blockbuster drug or treatment for big money illnesses.However, most drugs fail, so the likelihood of a substitute is probably only moderate. †¢Threat of New Entrants: Moderate oRelatively easy to start a new small drug research firm. Just need some smart scientists. Funding is currently difficult to come by, however. Nucleon †¢Competition: Moderate to Low oThe case mentioned they were in a pretty niche area of biotech. †¢Buye r Power: Moderate to High oBig pharma companies likely have a lot of power. But if Nucleon clears phase II their power increases substantially. †¢Supplier Power: Unsure, Moderate? The case makes it sound like there’s not many manufacturers out there for contracting purposes. Not sure what power suppliers of raw materials have. †¢Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to Low oI don’t think there’s much out there in the way of burn treatments (need to check on that). †¢Threat of New Entrants: Moderate to Low oThe drug research process is slow, so any new entrant in this specific area is going to be significantly behind with little to no way to catch up. Resource Based View VRIO Value:There’s definitely value in a successful drug for burn treatment; it also presents itself as a possible cure for other ailments as well (i. . kidney failure) Rarity:Not many alternatives for burn victim treatment (assumption based on the case’s voice); large mole cule research is still new and rare, tough to get into. Imitability: Not very imitable, especially if Nucleon can gain strong patent protection. Also, the slow development time means that even if another firm could mimic a similar drug, it would take time. Organization:Nucleon is currently not organized to begin trials and manufacturing of this drug. They also don’t have a significant amount of financial backing at this point.Transaction Based Economics Hold-ups †¢Contract manufacturer could hold up Nucleon for more money if drug passes phases and becomes more likely to be successful. †¢Contract manufacturer could increase manufacturing costs, slow production, or create problems in quality in order to hold up Nucleon. Options Going Forward Option 1: Build Pilot Plant Pros †¢Nucleon keeps tighter control of IP †¢Can retain ownership of product rights through phase I and II †¢More flexibility †¢Can begin to develop staff for in-house manufacturing, making scaling later easier Cons Expensive (likely need more financial backing/don’t have enough as is) †¢Risky oDrug could fail in clinical trials (which statistically is likely) oProcess uncertainty; bacterial vs. mammalian cells †¢Distracts Nucleon’s financial and human capital away from their core, the drug R&D Option 2: Contract Manufacturing Pros †¢No major upfront capital investment †¢Access to experienced manufacturing facilities and staff immediately †¢Retain ownership of product rights through phase I and II Cons †¢Still not cheap; doesn’t save Nucleon much money over Option 1 †¢Risk of IP issues Contract specifics are very difficult to hash out due to the nature of biotech †¢No faster than building their own plant due to slow process of negotiating, knowledge transfer, then scale-up Option 3: Licensing Pros †¢No capital investment †¢Little to no risk †¢Simple; allows Nucleon to focus on the R&D à ¢â‚¬ ¢Immediate cash flow †¢Keep rights for CRP-1 for other uses (other than for burn treatment) Cons †¢Much less share in the profits if drug is successful (mortgage the company’s success) †¢Would likely lower employee morale, which could in turn decrease likelihood of success of drug †¢Risk of IP issues Clinical Trial and Nucleon Assignment Notes Nucleon Assignment Notes Porter’s 5 Forces Industry Analysis †¢Competition: Intense †¢Buyer Power: Moderate to High oBig pharma companies likely have a lot of power, although as a small firm, your power increases once you clear phases of drug trials. †¢Supplier Power: Unsure, Moderate? oThe case makes it sound like there’s not many manufacturers out there for contracting purposes. Not sure what power suppliers of raw materials have. †¢Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to High oLots of firms racing to create the next blockbuster drug or treatment for big money illnesses.However, most drugs fail, so the likelihood of a substitute is probably only moderate. †¢Threat of New Entrants: Moderate oRelatively easy to start a new small drug research firm. Just need some smart scientists. Funding is currently difficult to come by, however. Nucleon †¢Competition: Moderate to Low oThe case mentioned they were in a pretty niche area of biotech. †¢Buye r Power: Moderate to High oBig pharma companies likely have a lot of power. But if Nucleon clears phase II their power increases substantially. †¢Supplier Power: Unsure, Moderate? The case makes it sound like there’s not many manufacturers out there for contracting purposes. Not sure what power suppliers of raw materials have. †¢Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to Low oI don’t think there’s much out there in the way of burn treatments (need to check on that). †¢Threat of New Entrants: Moderate to Low oThe drug research process is slow, so any new entrant in this specific area is going to be significantly behind with little to no way to catch up. Resource Based View VRIO Value:There’s definitely value in a successful drug for burn treatment; it also presents itself as a possible cure for other ailments as well (i. . kidney failure) Rarity:Not many alternatives for burn victim treatment (assumption based on the case’s voice); large mole cule research is still new and rare, tough to get into. Imitability: Not very imitable, especially if Nucleon can gain strong patent protection. Also, the slow development time means that even if another firm could mimic a similar drug, it would take time. Organization:Nucleon is currently not organized to begin trials and manufacturing of this drug. They also don’t have a significant amount of financial backing at this point.Transaction Based Economics Hold-ups †¢Contract manufacturer could hold up Nucleon for more money if drug passes phases and becomes more likely to be successful. †¢Contract manufacturer could increase manufacturing costs, slow production, or create problems in quality in order to hold up Nucleon. Options Going Forward Option 1: Build Pilot Plant Pros †¢Nucleon keeps tighter control of IP †¢Can retain ownership of product rights through phase I and II †¢More flexibility †¢Can begin to develop staff for in-house manufacturing, making scaling later easier Cons Expensive (likely need more financial backing/don’t have enough as is) †¢Risky oDrug could fail in clinical trials (which statistically is likely) oProcess uncertainty; bacterial vs. mammalian cells †¢Distracts Nucleon’s financial and human capital away from their core, the drug R&D Option 2: Contract Manufacturing Pros †¢No major upfront capital investment †¢Access to experienced manufacturing facilities and staff immediately †¢Retain ownership of product rights through phase I and II Cons †¢Still not cheap; doesn’t save Nucleon much money over Option 1 †¢Risk of IP issues Contract specifics are very difficult to hash out due to the nature of biotech †¢No faster than building their own plant due to slow process of negotiating, knowledge transfer, then scale-up Option 3: Licensing Pros †¢No capital investment †¢Little to no risk †¢Simple; allows Nucleon to focus on the R&D à ¢â‚¬ ¢Immediate cash flow †¢Keep rights for CRP-1 for other uses (other than for burn treatment) Cons †¢Much less share in the profits if drug is successful (mortgage the company’s success) †¢Would likely lower employee morale, which could in turn decrease likelihood of success of drug †¢Risk of IP issues

Aristotle as a Critic Essay

Aristotle (384-322 B. C. E. ), the son of a physician, was the student of Plato from approximately 367 B. C. until his mentor’s death in 348/347. After carrying on philosophical and scientific investigations elsewhere in the Greek world and serving as the tutor to Alexander the Great, he returned to Athens in 335 B. C. E. to found the Lyceum, a major philosophical center, which he used as his base for prolific investigations into many areas of philosophy. Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theatre. As a prolific writer and polymath, Aristotle radically transformed most, if not all, areas of knowledge he touched. It is no wonder that Aquinas referred to him simply as â€Å"The Philosopher. † In his lifetime, Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises, of which only 31 survive. Unfortunately for us, these works are in the form of lecture notes and draft manuscripts never intended for general readership, so they do not demonstrate his reputed polished prose style which attracted many great followers, including the Roman Cicero. Aristotle was the first to classify areas of human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and ethics. Some of these classifications are still used today. [There has been long speculation that the original Poetics comprised two books, our extant Poetics and a lost second book that supposedly dealt with comedy and catharsis. No firm evidence for the existence of this second book has been adduced. Our (knowledge of the text of the Poetics depends principally on a manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century and a second manuscript dating from the fourteenth century. ] (not to write in notes)*. Aristotle could be considered the first popular literary critic. Unlike Plato, who all but condemned written verse, Aristotle breaks it down and analyses it so as to separate the good from the bad. On a number of subjects Aristotle developed positions that significantly differed from those of his teacher. We very clearly note this profound difference of opinion with Plato and, indeed, observe the overt correction of his erstwhile master in Aristotle’s literary and aesthetic theories. Aristotelian aesthetics directly contradicts Plato’s negative view of art by establishing a potent intellectual role. The principal source of our knowledge of Aristotle’s aesthetic and literary theory is the Poetics, but important supplementary information is found in other treatises, chiefly the Rhetoric, the Politics, and the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle’s main contribution to criticism may well be the idea that poetry is after all an art with an object of its own, that it can be rationally understood and reduced to an intelligible set of rules (that is, it is an â€Å"art,† according to the definition in the Ethics). The main concern of the rules of the Poetics, however, is not with the composition of literary works; it is rather with their critical evaluation. Consequently, criticism can be a science, and not a mass of random principles and intuitions. Aristotle speaks of the educative value of visual, musical and verbal arts. Both the Rhetoric and the Poetics can be considered –to be expansions of this view. We might say that Aristotle sets literature free from Plato’s radical moralism and didacticism, while he still expects it to be conformable to a moral understanding of the world. For him, literature is a rational and beneficial activity, and not an irrational and dangerous one, as it was for Plato. Aristotle? s approach to literature is mainly philosophical: he is more concerned with the nature and the structure of poetry than with its origin. The origins of poetry had been grounded on the instinct of imitation which is natural to man. The first poetical works were spontaneous improvisations. The origins of the different genres is justified by Aristotle thus: â€Å"Poetry soon branched into two channels, according to the temperaments of individual poets. The more serious-minded among them represented noble actions and the doings of noble persons, while the more trivial wrote about the meaner sort of people; thus, while the one type wrote hymns and panegyrics, these others began by writing invectives. (Poetics II). † The development goes through serious or comic epic poems such as those written by Homer to comedy and tragedy; â€Å"these new forms were both grander and more highly regarded than the earlier† (Poetics II). Aristotle does not, however, decide on whether tragedy (and by implication, literature) has already developed as far as it can; but he does assert that it has come to a standstill. Aristotle makes a brief outline of the history of tragedy: â€Å"At first the poets had used the tetrameter because they were writing satyr-poetry, which was more closely related to the dance; but once dialogue had been introduced, by its very nature it hit upon the right measure, for the iambic is of all measures the one best suited to speech . . . . Another change was the increased number of episodes, or acts. (Poetics II). † Aristotle also deals briefly with the rise of comedy: â€Å"the early history of comedy. . . is obscure, because it was not taken seriously. Comedy had already acquired certain clear-cut forms before there is any mention of those who are named as its poets. Nor is it known who introduced masks, or prologues, or a plurality of actors, and other things of that kind. Of Athenian poets Crates was the first to discard the lampoon pattern and to adopt stories and plots of a more general nature. (Poetics II). † The work of Aristotle as a whole may be considered to be an attempt to develop a structural and metalinguistic approach to literature. Although it preserves a concern with valuation, its main thrust is towards the definition of theoretical possibilities and general laws. Some critics have spoken of Aristotle’s sin of omission in relationship with lyric poetry and the inspirational element in literature. This is a fact. But it does not seem so important when we look at what Aristotle does say and the principles he establishes. We can barely recognize the aspect of criticism after Aristotle’s work, if we compare it to its previous state. His is the most important single contribution to criticism in the whole history of the discipline.

A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand Assignment - 5

A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand - Assignment Example In this report, we find that there are on-going developments that are supporting the bicycle sale business. The major one is the will by the government to support plans leading to use of bikes for short trips within towns and also by students to go to school. This is meant to promote a healthy lifestyle among the citizenry. The residents have also accepted the bikes as they are flexible and can be used to go to other areas that cannot be accessed by vehicles. In Powerbike’s move to change its production base to Bangkok, the company is faced with stiff competition from other well-established industry players, for instance, K.C.I Bicycle & Part Company. However, by focusing on customer needs and developing on its strengths, our company will manage to stay ahead of the competition and remain profitable in this urban market. Thailand is one of the rising Asian countries experiencing rapid economic expansion because of improved governance and high rates of foreign direct investment (FDI). This expansion brings with it pressures on social amenities as more people move from the rural areas to look for gainful employment in towns. The boom years made Bangkok one of the most active and heavily congested cities. The major pressure exerted by this population explosion is on public transport as the locals have to commute daily from residential areas to their places of work. This then necessitates adoption of other modes of transport to ease pressure on vehicular transport. This report focuses on the Thai bicycle market taking a deeper analysis of the consumer behaviour, demographics and psychographics. It gives advice on appropriate ways to maintain market share and weighs the likelihood of entry to the Bangkok market which is characterised by dense population and chaotic public transport. This is done by analysing both external and internal business environment on factors supporting or discouraging expansion programs, for instance, competitive forces analysis. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning are used to give a picture of the specific products Bangkok consumer market demand from bike manufactures.

Demonstrate the major differences between documentary and reality TV Essay

Demonstrate the major differences between documentary and reality TV programmes by comparing examples on similar subjects - Essay Example The basic assumption made by the current report is that both reality TV and documentaries are manipulative genres, which use objectivity (an impossibility in reality) as a way of excusing the purposeful arrangement of form and content to achieve a certain audience reaction. Certain other genres, including documentaries, may be said to be forerunners of reality TV. Among these are quiz shows, which had their peak of popularity in the 1950s and declined after a series of scandals. In these shows, average everyday individuals would compete against members of the scholarly and intelligence community for cash and other prizes by answering questions in a game-show format. Part of the draw of these shows, as in other reality TV shows as well as documentaries, was that the viewer was not watching an actor delivering planned lines, but rather was watching an individual who was just like them in many ways. The genre of quiz shows became wildly popular, partly as a result of this, but faded after quiz show scandals revealed that many of the so-called average everyday people were actually actors, being coached and given lines by the shows’ producers. However, the genre of game shows, which is closely related to quiz shows, survived the scandals and kept its place on network television, especially during the morning and daytime hours. â€Å"Various types of programme are believed to impart greater knowledge and â€Å"broaden the mind†: in part political programmes (which are not uniformly popular as a result of the disillusionment frequently expressed with respect to politics and politicians); to a greater extent magazine-style programmes, debates, reports and documentaries on a series of topics including society, travel, foreign countries, nature† (Attitudes, 2010). People are interested in this form of entertainment, and therefore, it

Aristotle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aristotle - Essay Example In a comparative assessment of political systems, Aristotle’s remarks on the perversions of democracy have proved to be a prominent tenet of political discussion and questioning. As a staunch realist, the Greek philosopher propagated the assumption that the idea of a government, which in essence is perfect, complete or best is one which is unattainable and utopian. Sidgwick (1892) argues that Aristotle’s categorization of the kinds of governments is not his own, but it is in fact the result of a pursuit to represent the ideas of his predecessor and teacher, Plato by stating the former’s concepts with an augmented degree of even greater disagreements for the various types of political systems to possibly avoid allegations of unoriginality or literary theft (Sidgwick 141-144). Aristotle’s primary premise is based upon his definition of the constitution which he describes as an association of positions that are reliant upon the degree of authority or power po ssessed by various social classes in their division amongst the citizens. In the philosopher’s categorization of the ultimate political system in comparison with one which is perverted, the underlying variable is the quantity of rulers in each scenario or governmental setup. Aristotle establishes that in the case of ‘rule by many’ as opposed to ‘rule by one’, democracy is a term linked with a perverted depiction of an otherwise positive concept of polity, which leads to the incidence of corruption, unequal distribution of wealth, anarchy and a consequent obliteration of the state. It should however be noted at no point does Aristotle completely discredit democracy as a hollow shell by presenting alternating scenarios where the degree of its perversion is decreased. The main criticism that Aristotle places on the system of democracy is how demagogues are able to manipulate and eventually direct the perceptions, opinions and emotions of the public such that laws begin to lose meaning and government decrees begin to hold more significance. When such situations prevail, a democratically elected leader is transformed into a monarch or a an implicit dictator who imposes a repressive rule over the people, without the people even being aware of it, as everything happens under the veil of democracy. It is also believed that when power is vested in the hands of poor people, who are illiterate and uninformed, they will not be able to execute effectively the responsibilities that come with holding esteemed positions. In stating so, however, Aristotle does agree that a complete exclusion of the lower class from the affairs of the state is not an appropriate option because taking such an action would increase animosities and discrepancies between the rich and the poor rather than bridging the differences. Capitalist democracies of today have failed to recognize that a mere label of democracy that is apparently working on the basis of equalit y and justice is not enough to claim that the workings of a political system are successful when a vast global population that lives below the poverty line is suffering so greatly. For Aristotle, democracy still stands as a form of government which has a lesser degree of perversion in comparison wit