Holding On to Reality :: Albert Borgmann Philosophy Technology Essays

Holding On to Reality Professor and philosopher Albert Borgmann proposes a respectful balance between current technology and the way it interacts with society in his recent book, Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium. Like many technological theorists, Borgmann ponders, "the deeper question of whether the recent and imminent flood of information is good for anybody" (4). In response to this uncertainty, the author devises a theory and ethics of information with the intention of rectifying society's often-troubling relationship with science and technology. Borgmann's theory divides information into three distinct parts based on the way they affect reality - natural information illuminates reality, cultural information transforms reality, and technological information displaces reality. To understand these categories, and how they highlight key developments in information technology, it is important to know what the author means when using the term "information." In Borgmann's theory, information is ordered around the relationship between a person, a sign, and a thing. A person uses his or her intelligence - both native and acquired mental ability - to place a framework of context around a messenger or signal, known as a sign, in order to understand the message, or thing, which is presented to them (38). To provide an illustration: Imagine yourself on the shore of your local beach. As you are putting down your towel, you notice a trail of deep marks in the sand, stretching a great distance down the shoreline. Since you have been to the beach before, you know that these marks are footprints. You also know that if these were old footprints, the tide would have washed them away. After a moment of thought, you interpret this trail to mean that other human beings are present farther along the beach. In this case, the sign (footprints) communicates to us the presence of a thing (humans). Since the recipient of the sign (you), has the intelligence f rom previous experience or education to know what footprints are and what happens to them, you are able to place the sign in its proper context, and understand the signal of footprints to mean the presence of human beings. If we could not formulate a relationship between the footprints in the previous example and the presence of human beings, the footprints would be just another piece of formless matter and energy. The meanings we construct out of the signs and messages that we receive are important because they help us to make sense of our environments, identities, and realities.

Bally?s Total Fitness :: essays research papers fc

Bally total fitness originated as an average health and tennis club in 1962. Who would have thought they would be where they are today. Like many other major companies sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. Today they are one of the major companies in a 14 billion dollar health club industry. â€Å"They are the third biggest health care chain behind Curves for women and the YMCA†.Currently they have around four million members and 420 facilities. They currently have operations in 29 states including Asia, the Caribbean, and Canada. You may be wondering why you don’t see that many Bally Fitness Clubs; the reason for this is because they run the business under 6 different names. The other clubs they own include â€Å"Bally Total Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Sports Clubs of Canada, Pinnacle Fitness, Bally Sports Clubs, and Gorilla Sports†. Bally total fitness currently employs 23,500 staff members, 6,700 group instructors, and 3,500 personal trai ners. These numbers are including the clubs they own that are under different names.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What many people don’t realize is Bally’s Sports clubs is only apart of the company. Along with fitness centers they also have their own products. They have an extensive line of exercise equipment ranging from medicine balls to free weights. However it does not end there they also have a full line of supplements including weight management products, performance supplements, and energy enhancers. There exercise equipment is only available for sale online however there supplements can be purchased at super markets and nutrition stores.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not uncommon today to see companies misstate their earnings. As we know this is an illegal activity that has put companies under such as Enron. This is not something that makes your company look good and is not worth getting caught for. Well â€Å"Bally’s got into the mix in early 2003 when they were forced to restate their earnings for the current period†. Their stock price collapsed and needed help in a hurry. They decided to get a new CEO which was a well traveled man known for reviving companies. That man was Paul Toback , he knew something had to be done quickly, so he decided to come up with new advertising efforts in 2004. Those advertisements proved to be extremely successful and they will continue these same types of advertisements in 2005. During this time they have also created strong partnerships with some of the biggest companies in the world.

The History and Impact of the Printing Press Essay -- Technology

Everyday people read newspapers and books, but where did printing begin? The movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg made this all possible. Johannes first conceived of this idea of the printing press in the 15th century in order to speed up the slow process of producing books (Bantwal). The movable type printing press, the first real technology of its kind, helped to solve problems, but in turn also caused problems. This technology did influence many areas of life in its lifespan. This includes challenging the church and poisoning people with the increased toxins from mass products of materials. Depending on one’s point of view, this invention could be the best or worst thing to happen during the 15th century. Regardless of that, the printing press’s influence was widespread and therefore, was a great invention for the machine’s time. Despite the negative repercussions of Gutenberg’s movable printing press, the machine is a positive technology. Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in the year 1452. Four other technologies that were more or less common to different parts of the world, made the printing press possible. The first technology was a wine/olive in the screw-press, which areas of Asia and Europe used to obtain oils and create wines. The second invention was block-print technology that Marco Polo originally brought to Europe. A third technology is oil-based ink that was invented in the eleven hundreds. Since this ink smears on vellum, printing did not use this ink. Vellum was costly, but durable so books that took awhile to make utilized this material. Finally, the fourth material was paper, which many process make different forms of all over the globe (Bantwal). Gutenberg used these old technologies ... ...to thank. Everyone should know the origins of many of the technologies in the world and many of those do lead straight back to the printing press. Without this invention, the world would have stayed in the dark ages for generations. People, as a species would not be anywhere close to what we have achieved. Works Cited Bantwal, Natasha. "History of the Printing Pres." Buzzle.com: Intelligent Life on the Web. Buzzle.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. Beach, Justin. "Pros of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. Jensen, Carolyn. "Jensen Review." Rev. of The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Lore. San Diego State University. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. "Printing Press." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Ross, Tiffany. "Negative Effects of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.

Interventions for Maternal and Child Health in Nepal Essay

Macro- and micro-nutrient malnutrition is a major public health problem and a key factor in determining morbidity and mortality. Its underlying determinants include poverty, education, sanitation, climate, food production, cultural norms, and accessibility and quality of health care. Pregnant women and young children are particularly at risk owing to the extra nutritional demands of rapid growth. Malnutrition is the direct cause of approximately 300,000 deaths per year (Muller & Krawinkel, 2005), and a contributing factor in over a third— 3.5 million—of all child deaths annually (Horton, 2008). These deaths are largely preventable. For infants, there is a â€Å"golden interval† for intervention from pregnancy to 2 years, during which improvements in nutritional status can have long-lasting benefits (Horton, 2008). Strong associations exist between maternal and child undernutrition and reduced adult economic productivity and other negative outcomes (Victoria et al., 2008). While Nepal has recently demonstrated progress toward improving general maternal and child health (MCH), there are still opportunities to further improve nutritional status of mothers and children. This paper examines and makes recommendations about interventions that have the potential to improve maternal and child nutritional status in Nepal. The interventions discussed in this paper address the underlying causes of nutrition-related maternal and child mortality and morbidity, as outlined by the UNICEF Conceptual framework for maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity (UNICEF, 2008), and are organized based on the period of intervention, including antenatal care, delivery care, and post-partum and early childhood care. Antenatal care: Within the antenatal period of development, maternal supplementation has been one of the most studied interventions. Evidence is strongest in support of maternal supplementation of multiple micronutrients, calcium, and iron-folic acid. Given the staggering rates of micronutrient deficiencies among pregnant Nepali women and the low cost of supplementation, maternal supplementation of multiple micronutrients, calcium and iron-folic acid is highly recommended. These micronutrients have a range of benefits, including reduction of maternal anemia, maternal mortality, pre-eclampsia, hypertension, puerperal infection, and low birthweight (LBW). This paper also examines the evidence around maternal smoking cessation interventions because of the extraordinary potential for impact of such programs in a population where smoking rates among women are high and knowledge about negative outcomes associated with smoking is low and because maternal smoking cessation appears to have not been a focus of government and other programs in Nepal. However, there is a lack Executive Summary i of solid evidence to suggest that a particular intervention to reduce maternal smoking could be both effective and efficient in developing countries. Delivery care: This paper also examines interventions during delivery that can have an impact on nutritional status. Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) play a crucial role in decreasing nenonatal and maternal mortality during delivery. They also dispense advice regarding antenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care, including nutrition and diet, breastfeeding, and immunizations. One important aspect of training for TBAs, as well as other health professionals, is the promotion of delayed umbilical cord clamping. Due to the high rates of anemia and iron deficiency in children, delayed cord clamping is a critical intervention because it is a cost-effective way to improve hematologic status, increase blood volume, and decrease anemia in infancy. Post-partum and early childhood care: Finally, nutritional interventions in the post-partum and early childhood period can reduce childhood morbidity and mortality and ensure that children are developing in a healthy way. This section of the paper focuses on the promotion of breastfeeding, infant and child vitamin A supplementation and growth monitoring and promotion (GMP). There exists decades of research showing that breastfeeding is a highly effective strategy to reduce all-cause mortality, diarrheal morbidity and mortality, and the risk of gastrointestinal infections and respiratory infections. There is a wealth of empirical data supporting the promotion of breastfeeding in developed and developing countries alike. Vitamin A supplementation for infants and young children has already been successful in Nepal, and it should remain a priority there. Vitamin A supplementation is associated with reductions in night-blindness, Bitot’s spots, xerophthalmia, and severe morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases, and when given before certain immunizations, it can enhance the immune response to the immunizations, making them more effective. Also, the use of GMP, measuring and charting the growth of children and using this information to counsel parents to motivate behaviors that promote growth, provides a cost-effective opportunity to identify growth issues before severe malnutrition manifests. For summary information on recommended interventions, refer to the one-page briefs after this Executive Summary. The interventions examined in this paper collectively have an enormous potential for impact in Nepal. At the same time, it is important to consider some of the challenges and feasibility concerns that these interventions may face. These may Executive Summary include: access to and utilization of antenatal care and other health services; the status of the health system infrastructure; financial resource availability, and cultural considerations. Also, while these recommended interventions can be successful in addressing the underlying causes of malnutrition-related morbidity and mortality, long-term solutions for improving maternal and child nutritional status must address the basic causes, such as political, economic and social conditions. While challenges and other considerations exist, the interventions recommended have the potential to make a real and lasting impact in Nepal by reducing the burden of nutrition-related morbidity and mortality. These interventions are cost-effective tools that should be central to any plan to create a bright and healthy future generation in Nepal.

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-Six

â€Å"Are you sure you don't want us to cal your parents, miss?† The campus security officer's voice was gruff but kind, and his eyes were worried. For a second, Meredith let herself picture having the kind of parents he must be imagining: ones who would swoop in to rescue their daughter, wrap her up and take her home until the horrible images of her friend's death faded. Her parents would just tel her to get on with the job. Tel her that any other reaction was a failure. If she let herself be weak, more people would die. More so because Samantha had been a hunter, from a family of hunters, like Meredith. Meredith knew exactly what her father would have said if she had cal ed him. â€Å"Let this be a lesson to you. You are never safe.† â€Å"I'l be okay,† she told the security guard. â€Å"My roommates are upstairs.† He let her go, watching her climb the stairs with a distressed expression. â€Å"Don't worry, miss,† he cal ed. â€Å"The police wil get this guy.† Meredith bit back her first reply, which was that he seemed to be putting a lot of faith in a police force that had yet to find any clues as to the whereabouts of the missing people or to solve Christopher's murder. He was only trying to comfort her. She nodded to him and gave a little wave. She hadn't been any more successful than the police, not even with Samantha's help. She hadn't been trying hard enough, had been too distracted by the new place, the new people. Why now? Meredith wondered suddenly. It hadn't occurred to her before, but this was the first death, attack, or disappearance that took place in a dorm room instead of out on the quad or paths of the campus. Whatever this was, it came after Samantha specifical y. Meredith remembered the dark figure she chased away after it attacked a girl, a girl who said she didn't remember anything. Meredith recal ed the flash of pale hair as the figure turned away. Did Samantha die because they got too close to the kil er? Her parents were right. No one was ever safe. She needed to work harder, needed to get on with the job and fol ow up on every lead. Upstairs, Bonnie's bed was empty. Elena looked up from where she was lying, curled up on her bed. Part of Meredith noted that Elena's face was wet with tears and knew that usual y she would have dropped everything to comfort her friend, but now she had to focus on finding Samantha's kil er. Meredith crossed to her own closet, opened it, and pul ed out a heavy black satchel and the case for her hunter's stave. â€Å"Where's Bonnie?† she asked, tossing the satchel onto her bed and unbuckling it. â€Å"She left before I got up,† Elena answered, her voice shaky. â€Å"I think she had a study group this morning. Meredith, what's going on?† Meredith flipped the satchel open and began to pul out her knives and throwing stars. â€Å"What's going on?† Elena asked again, more insistently, her eyes wide. â€Å"Samantha's dead,† Meredith said, testing the edge of a knife against her thumb. â€Å"She was murdered in her bed by whatever's been stalking this campus, and we need to stop it.† The knife could be sharper – Meredith had been letting her weapons maintenance slide – and she dug in the bag for a whetstone. â€Å"What?† Elena said. â€Å"Oh, no, oh, Meredith, I'm so sorry.† Tears began to run down her face again, and Meredith looked over at her, holding out the bag with the stave in it. â€Å"There's a smal black box in my desk with little bottles of different poison extracts inside it,† she said. â€Å"Wolfsbane, vervain, snake venoms. We don't know what we're dealing with exactly, so you'd better fil the hypodermics with a variety of things. Be careful,† she added. Elena's mouth dropped open, and then, after a few seconds, she closed it firmly and nodded, wiping her cheeks with the backs of her hands. Meredith knew that her message – mourn later, act now – had been received and that Elena, as always, would work with her. Elena put the stave on her bed and found the box of poisons in Meredith's desk. Meredith watched as Elena figured out how to fil the tiny hypodermics inset in the ironwood of the stave, her steady fingers pul ing them out and working them cautiously open. Once she was sure Elena knew what she was doing, Meredith went back to sharpening her knife. â€Å"They must have come after Samantha on purpose. She wasn't a chance victim,† Meredith said, her eyes on the knife as she drew it rhythmical y against the whetstone. â€Å"I think we need to assume that whoever this is knows we're hunting him, and that therefore we're in danger.† She shuddered, remembering her friend's body. â€Å"Samantha's death was brutal.† â€Å"A car tried to run me and Damon down last night,† Elena said. â€Å"We had been trying to investigate something weird in the library, but I don't know if that's why. I couldn't get a look at the driver.† Meredith paused in her knife sharpening. â€Å"I told you that Samantha and I chased away someone attacking a girl on campus,† she said thoughtful y, â€Å"but I didn't tel you one thing, because I wasn't sure. I'm stil not sure.† She told Elena about her impressions of the black-clad figure, including the momentary impression of paleness below the hoodie, of almost white hair. Elena frowned, her fingers faltering on the staff. â€Å"Zander?† she asked. They both looked at Bonnie's unmade bed. â€Å"She real y likes him,† Meredith said slowly. â€Å"Wouldn't she know if there was something wrong with him? You know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She made a vague gesture around her head, trying to indicate Bonnie's history of visions. â€Å"We can't count on that,† Elena said, frowning. â€Å"And she doesn't remember the things she sees. I don't think he's right for Bonnie,† she continued. â€Å"He's so – I mean, he's good-looking, and friendly, but he seems off somehow, doesn't he? And his friends are jerks. I know it's a long way from having terrible friends to being dangerous enough to do something like this, but I don't trust him.† â€Å"Can you ask Stefan to watch him?† Meredith asked. â€Å"I know you're taking a break from dating, but this is important, and a vampire would be the best one to keep an eye on him.† Stefan looked so sad the other night, she thought distantly. Why shouldn't Elena cal him? Life was short. She felt the blade of the knife against her thumb again. Better. Putting the sharpened knife down, she reached for another. Elena wasn't answering, and Meredith looked up to see her staring hard at the stave, her mouth trembling. â€Å"I – Stefan isn't talking to me,† she said in a little burst. â€Å"I don't think – I don't know if he'd help us.† She closed her mouth firmly, clearly not wanting to talk about it. â€Å"Oh,† Meredith said. It was hard to imagine Stefan not doing what Elena wanted, but it was also clear that Elena didn't want to ask him. â€Å"Should I cal Damon?† she suggested reluctantly. The older vampire was a pain, and she didn't real y trust him, but he was certainly good at being sneaky. Elena sucked in a breath and then nodded briskly, her mouth set. â€Å"No, I'l cal him,† she said. â€Å"I'l ask Damon to investigate Zander.† Meredith sighed and leaned back against the wal , letting the knife drop onto her bed. Suddenly, she was terribly tired. Waiting for Samantha in the gym that morning seemed like a mil ion years ago, but it stil wasn't even lunchtime. She and Elena both looked at Bonnie's bed again. â€Å"We have to talk to her about Zander, don't we?† Elena asked quietly. â€Å"We have to ask her whether he was with her al last night. And we have to warn her.† Meredith nodded and closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the coolness of the wal , then opened them again. Tired as she was, she knew the images of Samantha's death would come back to her if she let herself pause for even a moment. She didn't have time to rest, not while the kil er was out there. â€Å"She's not going to be happy about it.†

Lady Macbeth is one of the most striking characters in the play Essay

Lady Macbeth is one of the most striking characters in the play. What are your feelings toward this character and how do they change as the play progresses? What makes Lady Macbeth so striking in her first few scenes is her manipulative, vindictive nature. She is a very controlling character yet we see her troubled mind reveal itself as the play progresses. Her most famous scene, Act 5 scene 1, allows the audience to see how she has truly been affected by the murders in which she had been involved. She is sleep walking and revealing unconsciously her emotions toward the untimely deaths of King Duncan, Banquo and the Macduff household. I have little sympathy for this character because if it were not for her driving Macbeth to the murder of Duncan, he most probably would not have become so obsessed with his infatuation of becoming king. As we see in Act 1 scene 5 she is extremely ambitious about the prospect of Macbeth’s power increasing. She talks of murder without an ounce of guilt and merely worries over her husband being too gentle to actually commit the execution of the king. She refers to him being â€Å"too full o’the’milk of human kindness† and states that he is in fact ‘without ambition’ and so would not carry out the deed properly. Her personality could, however, be extremely ambitious regardless of the state of power that her husband is in, the situation could have brought out the most of her desire. In each of her scenes we see a new side to her personality. During Act 1 scene 5 we see her praying to evil spirits in her soliloquy for her to become more masculine and evil, with any feminine attributes and natures to be stripped from her, implying that she also may need a little push to make her ambitious enough to commit the murders. This also suggests to the audience that her conscious would probably not let her commit those crimes alone. She asks the evil spirits to â€Å"Come to my woman’s breasts/And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.† However, when Macbeth arrives home, he refers to her as â€Å"my dearest love† she then immediately sets about manipulating him and goading him into the murder. When she learns of Duncan coming to dinner, she administrates ideas of looking above suspicion. She tells him â€Å"look like th’innocent flower/But be the serpent under’t.† Shakespeare uses very expressive language here with contrasting imagery of a flower (which represents good) and a serpent (which represents evil). This could also be interpreted as a metaphor for Macbeth’s relationship with his wife in that when Lady Macbeth is plotting murderous schemes and manipulating her husband, Macbeth is presented in a good and vulnerable light. The same applies for when Macbeth decides to take the murders further and the audience gains sympathy for his wife. Macbeth is left with little to say and is interrupted by his wife on several occasions in that scene, providing the audience with a clear insight into Shakespeare’s intentions for the hierarchy within the relationship. That hierarchy being where Macbeth is more or less controlled by what Lady Macbeth tells him to do, almost like a spell of her own. This provides strong evidence for those who believe that Lady Macbeth herself is a witch of some kind. In Act 1 scene 6 Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle with other various guests and originally comments on the pleasant air that it gives off, referring to it as â€Å"Nimbly and sweet†. This presents the audience with a dose of dramatic irony as they know that what really lies inside the castle itself is as evil and twisted as it’s inhabitants. He also refers to Lady Macbeth as â€Å"Our honoured hostess.- The love/That follows us sometime is our trouble†. The problem with Lady Macbeth in this scene is that she is elaborately polite and good natured that it could easily appear to be insincere. She tells Duncan that she has checked and double checked that everything is sufficiently in order. She tells him she will pray for him constantly and speaks of loyalty and gratitude for past kind deeds. Shakespeare is rather repetitive when it comes to Lady Macbeth’s lines, she speaks continuously of her homage to him and the effort they are making for him. This is in an obvious bid for her to gain their trust and it does indeed work. Duncan reacts graciously towards this most probably due to his age and gratitude for the effort made. Act 1 scene 7 sees Lady Macbeth belittling her husband in an attempt for him to agree whole heartedly to killing the king of Scotland. She uses foul phrases with appalling imagery such as telling Macbeth that while she was breast feeding her baby she would: â€Å"while it was smiling in my face/Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn.† She tries to come over as very menacing and heartless at this point in the play, making a point of the fact that if she had promised to kill her own child she would do so, however, after the murder of Duncan, she contradicts herself rather strongly as she comments on being able to kill her father. In Act 2 scene 2, Macbeth returns from killing the king to discuss the event with his wife. Shakespeare uses this as an opportunity for the audience to feel sympathy as we see his grief and guilt. We also get to see a very new side to Lady Macbeth, she admits that if he had not looked like her own father she would have done the deed herself, showing that underneath her hard exterior, there are elements of compassion and guilt that though she expresses little, she still feels them just like any other human being. The audience then sees her snap out of her sensitive phase and channel her emotions into reassuring and controlling her husband. She tells him to dismiss his hallucinations about the dagger and to return them to frame the guards who were guarding Duncan’s room. â€Å"These deeds must not be thought/After these ways; so, it will make us mad.† The audience could consider this as foreshadowing of what occurs as the play progresses as both Lady Macbeth and her husband experience mental disturbances because of the horrific crimes they committed. Hands are used as a metaphor throughout this scene and as an extended metaphor throughout the play. Macbeth refers to his as â€Å"hangman’s hands† and uses phrases such as â€Å"ravelled sleeve of care†, whereas Lady Macbeth is far more literal and tells him to â€Å"wash this filthy witness from your hand.† This could be interpreted as the hands representing guilt and so each character handles the guilt in different ways; Macbeth is very open about his guilt and remorse by using dramatic devices such as personification and metaphors, for example: â€Å"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more. † Lady Macbeth, however, deals with her culpability in a different way in that she pretends to feel nothing towards the situation but it obviously haunts her as we see in her final scene in Act 5 scene 1 where she sleep walks and hallucinates. Shakespeare illustrates this well when Lady Macbeth mocks Macbeth for being so gentle: â€Å"My hands are of your colour, but I shame/To wear a heart so white.† She also says rather flippantly, â€Å"A little water clears us of this deed./How easy is it then! Your constancy/Hath left you unattended.† Shakespeare’s intention for this scene, I think, was to show us that there is a sensitive, guilty side underneath her shell of ambition and malevolence. Act 2 scene 3 sees Macduff discovering Duncan’s murder with great astonishment. He alerts the whole castle including Banquo, Malcolm and Donaldbain of the king’s death and so Lady Macbeth enters. She acts very much â€Å"like th’innocent flower† by pretending to be oblivious to what had happened in the previous scene, â€Å"What’s the business/That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley/The sleepers of the house?† Then with immense dramatic irony, Macduff replies calling her â€Å"gentle lady† and commenting on the fact that the talk of murderous deeds is too tender for a woman’s ears. The audience would find this somewhat amusing as they know that Lady Macbeth is solely responsible for the murder of Duncan and so would not in any way find the subject too sensitive or painful. She reacts in a way similar to that when she was attending to Duncan in Act 1 scene 6, where she is very elaborate in her efforts to help, creating a suspiciously false air about her. She then dramatically faints and is carried out, she is lucky that the people around her are so affected by the murder that they do not overtly notice her over the top antics. Lady Macbeth experiences a loss of power and control in Act 3 scene 2, where Macbeth arranges his next murder without her involvement. Shakespeare has her character showing compassion to her husband’s ‘sorriest fancies’ when he complains of insecurity about his dangerous thoughts and deeds. She tries to make him forget what has happened by instructing him: â€Å"Using those thoughts which should indeed have died/With them think on? Things without all remedy/Should be without regard; what’s done, is done.† The audience at this moment does not know that Lady Macbeth doesn’t practice these ideas herself and in fact reveals her guilt subconsciously. My feelings toward Lady Macbeth at this time are cold and my sympathy leans toward Macbeth as we see him feeling very remorseful and suicidal. He mentions, â€Å"Better be with the dead/Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,/Than on the torture of the mind to lie/In restless ecstasy.† However as we see a new side to Macbeth where he is plotting murders without her it does make me wonder would he have killed Duncan without her influence? Lady Macbeth presents herself as the gracious hostess once more as she invites the lords to dinner in Act 3 scene 4. At the beginning of the scene the audience is presented with the news of Banquo’s slaughter. Lady Macbeth suspects this but is not directly informed as her husband has somewhat distanced himself from her, implying that he does not need her influences for villainous thoughts any more, he can do it all by himself now. This scene manages to arouse some sympathy for Lady Macbeth as we see her power lessening downfall. This could be what ultimately leads to her suspected suicide. The audience gets to understand that Shakespeare did not want to present Lady Macbeth as a character who takes pleasure in the sight of bloodshed and gore, but one who craves power and enforces her ambitions upon those she can manipulate. We also see a role reversal here for the second time in the play. She already has upset the natural order of marital hierarchy from the beginning of the play where she presents herself in the dominant role which was extremely uncommon for that period. Then as the play progresses she becomes part of a downward spiral where she loses power and the status within the marriage as she becomes the more recessive figure next to her now dominant husband. The ghost of Banquo makes an appearance at the dinner table in this scene but of course only Macbeth can see (another one of his deluded hallucinations). He becomes extremely unsettled by this and begins to shout at the ghost with a fiery passion that stuns the rest of his guests. â€Å"Thou canst not say I did it; never shake/Thy gory locks at me!† Ross initiates the lords standing up and leaving their new king in peace to rest and collect himself but Lady Macbeth being â€Å"th’innocent flower† that she pretends to be assures the lords that he is fine and is just unwell. The audience feel some sort of consideration for her as we can see her husband’s mental health deteriorates and her power disintegrate. She snaps at Macbeth â€Å"Are you a man?† as she quite obviously feels utterly embarrassed by his reactions to the ghost. She tries to use this as an opportunity to regain her status above Macbeth which is understandable as she feels defeated but is selfish considering her husband’s state. In the most dramatic scene in Lady Macbeth’s presence on stage, the audience is given the opportunity to see the REAL Lady Macbeth as her subconscious takes over her physical state. At the beginning of her last scene, Act 5 scene 1, the doctor and gentlewoman are analysing her recent behaviour, â€Å"She has light by her continually, ’tis her command.† As light is a common metaphor for purity this insinuates that she doesn’t want to be considered evil and wants to redeem herself but can’t because she is too involved to dig herself out now and so her subconscious speaks the words she cannot. â€Å"Out damned spot! Out, I say! One, two. Why then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear? Who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?† This is one of the most remembered speeches in Shakespeare’s literature and is so because of its quirky formation. Shakespeare has used very disjointed language with punctuation separating every short phrase. This translates to her being very edgy and emotionally unstable. She then reels off a list of other people for which she feels responsible for their deaths as well as her husband. She refers back to the common theme of hands which has occurred throughout the play. â€Å"What, will these hands ne’er be clean?† â€Å"All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O.† She still refers to her hands as being â€Å"little† and the need for them to be ‘sweetened’ and so this indicates the want for her to be filled with good and that she is feeling genuine guilt and mental anguish. This anguish finally leads to her suicide by unspecified means. Shakespeare probably chose not to present the death of Lady Macbeth on stag e to add to the impact of her exit and last scene and also to be slightly ambiguous. I think a dying scene would have been effective for Lady Macbeth’s last scene, she could perhaps have given a soliloquy explaining how she truly was feeling. To conclude, it is evident that Shakespeare had Lady Macbeth’s emotional state disintegrate as the play proceeded to in effect show the downfall of a control freak. It is undecided whether or not she is pretending to be the controlling evil person which her persona appears to be but that is in a way irrelevant as it was certainly influential enough to drive her husband to multiple homicides. She was certainly a brave character for going against the ‘Chain of Being’ in which God was considered to be ultimately at the top with monarchs under that and other members of society such as lords and townsfolk following after, but at the bottom were women and so she was courageous to consider herself to be above even monarchy! Though wrong it is admirable, especially considering what was said if the chain of being was to be disrupted, that chaos would arise, disrupting the natural order of life on earth and in the heavens which is seen as inexcusable. I personally think that Lady Macbeth was blamed for a lot that wasn’t entirely her fault. It is implied that because Macbeth ended Banquo’s life and slaughtered Macduff’s wife and children in a desperate bid for the throne, he was emotionally capable of murdering Duncan all by himself. In the first two acts we have little sympathy for Lady Macbeth as Shakespeare only provides the audience with her vindictive exterior, at this time we cannot see what she is truly thinking and feeling. It is only as the play progresses that we understand WHY she turns out to be the way that she is, that she has a very ambitious character and so enforces that upon her husband. She feels that Macbeth becoming king will benefit them both and sees killing the existing king as the fastest way to get to the throne. She then becomes gradually defeated as Macbeth’s ambition and obsession with becoming king begins to soar and spiral. She is then over-ridden with guilt and eventually feels that she cannot bear the guilt that torments her troubled mind and so decides to end it all.

An Analysis of Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences Essay

The purpose of this paper is to explore Howard Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences. I will focus on spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences and how linguistic intelligence has an underlying effect on the other intelligences. Spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences would seem to be very distant from linguistic intelligence, however I believe that they are more similar then one might expect. Spatial intelligence can be loosely defined as the ability to manipulate and recreated the physical work in ones mind. Artists often use this intelligence as they take an actual object and are able to manipulate it onto a canvas or piece of paper. Many IQ tests have a section that tests the ability of a person in their use of block design. Students who excel in spatial intelligence have the ability to recreate within their mind the things that they see visually. Gardner states, â€Å"The left hemisphere of the brain has, over the course of evolution, been selected as the pre-eminent site for linguistic processing, the right hemisphere of the brain, and in particular the posterior portions of the right hemisphere, proves to be the site most crucial for special processing† (Gardner, p. 181). Gardner is trying to show how separate in the brain spatial and linguistic intelligence really are. By isolating the intelligences, Gardner focuses on the idea of savants and brain damage to prove his theory that the intelligences are totally separate. Eliminating part of the brain would still allow for someone to be successful and intelligent at spatial abilities. His idea is that even if a person lost their ability to speak or the ability to use their hands, that their other intelligences could possibly still work at a high level. I agree with his theory, however I think the intelligences overlap more then he may believe. Linguistic intelligence seems to have a basis in spatial intelligence also. Many students might do just fine being able to read a word problem and then form the design in their head. Gardner gives an example, â€Å"Take a square piece of paper, fold it in one half, then fold it twice again in half. How many squares exist after this final fold? † (Gardner, p. 171). This idea shows how linguistic intelligence can be used when dealing with a student who has a greater spatial intelligence. Even without the student physically being able to fold the piece of paper they could still solve the problem due to their linguistic intelligence. Gardner shows this idea as he talks about people having distinct separate intelligences, but that each intelligence has the ability to overlap with another. I also decided to talk about his theory of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence because I feel this intelligence goes together well with spatial intelligence. Both of these intelligences are educated best by going away from the traditional teaching methods of reading and writing. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is the ability for a person to use their body to solve a problem. This can be seen in many athletes and other people who are very active. Some people are born with a higher bodily-kinesthetic intelligence then others. Tests on reaction time have shown that some people are born with almost superhuman reaction time ability. This reaction time allows them to hit a baseball with such success that cannot be taught. Parts of this intelligence can be learned by studying similar to some of the more the academic intelligences, however bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is not viewed as an academic intelligence. Wayne Gretzky said, â€Å"Nine out of ten people think what I do is instinct†¦. It isn’t. Nobody would ever say a doctor had learned had profession by instinct: yet in my own way I’ve spent almost as much time studying hockey as a med student puts in studying medicine† (Gardner, p. 231). Both a hockey player and a surgeon rely on their body to perform at a high level. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is just not brute force but the ability to read what is happening, and then adapt. In football, a player will tackle another player, although before that happens the tackling player must read the play to get a path take on the ball carrier. A surgeon can have perfect skills in using their hands to operate but they also need the ability to learn the correct procedures. These ideas show that a person can be above average in more then one intelligence and that is in fact fairly common. The traditional way of teaching is through reading and writing that puts an emphasis on linguistic intelligence. Gardner’s theory is to separate the intelligences by showing that even a person who loses the ability to use part of their brain will still be able to function at a high level at some other intelligences. Gardner points out that he believes the intelligences are separate, but that they rarely operate separately and more often then not there are several intelligences working together. This is how linguistic intelligence is so important to the overall learning of a student. Most tests such as IQ tests put an emphasis on how well a person does on verbal section of the test. Gardner said, â€Å"I have already noted that many retarded children display a surprising ability to master language†¦ Even more striking are those rare children who, despite retardation or autism, prove able to read at an astonishingly early age† (Gardner, p. 84-85). This is apparent when talking about a surgeon who loses the ability to use their hands and so they cannot operate on patients anymore. They may not have the ability to physically do the operation anymore but they can still instruct someone else to do the surgery. This surgeon has lost their ability to use their hands but their brain is still intact so they can use their linguistic intelligence to instruct another person to perform the operation. Gardner does not think linguistic intelligence is more important than any of the other intelligences, but I believe that linguistic intelligence sets the basis for the other intelligences. Without this intelligence the student will not be able to understand what that teacher is trying to convey in class. Language is important for the student to get through school, however a student could get though school without fully realizing their full spatial intelligence. Linguistic intelligence allows a student to gain the ability to study the concepts and then apply them to the other intelligences such as bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. One cannot expect someone to just learn all the intricate details of boxing and then to go into the ring and win a title. This can only happen with some intelligence that is born within the person. Intelligences are within everyone but it is hard for a person to know exactly what intelligence they posses the strongest. Howard Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences stems from his belief that each person has different intelligences that they posses. These intelligences are inherently separate due to the fact that because of brain damage, a person can lose an intelligence while still being able to perform at a high level on other intelligences. Gardner does not believe that linguistic intelligence is more important then the others, however in our society we put such a great emphasis on linguistic intelligence. A student can fall behind in their linguistic development and due to our societies testing and basis in teaching the student might not attain high grades. This does not mean the student is not smart, it just means that they might excel at a different type of intelligence. Overall, Gardner explains how each person has many different forms of intelligence that they could be above average in.