Plot Summary of A Midsummer Nights Dream :: A Midsummer Nights Dream, William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a romantic play about love-struck relationships that deal with lust, jealousy, and revenge. Key characters are Theseus, Hippolyta, Lysander, Hermia, Egeus, Demetrius, Helena, Oberon, Titantia, Puck, and Nick Bottom. Theseus is the king of Athens, who is engaged with his fiancà ©, Hippolyta, the queen of Amazon. Lysander is an Athenian man who is in love with Hermia, the daughter of Egeus. Hermia is also in love with Lysander. Demetrius is an Athenian man who also loves Hermia, and wishes to wed with her. Helena is Demetrius’s old lover, and a close friend of Hermia. Oberon is the king of fairies, and Titantia is the queen of fairies. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a fairy who makes love potions for Oberon. Lastly, Nick Bottom is a weaver whose head is turned into an ass for his ridiculous mistakes and foolishness. The setting takes place in Athens and in the forest. The time period is approximately around ancient Greece. There are three conflicts throughout the play, which are: the dilemma between Lysander and Demetrius both falling in love with Hermia, Helena’s plan to regain the relationship with Demetrius, and the decision of whether the Indian prince should be knighted or not. Lysander and Hermia wishes to wed together but Egeus wants her to wed with Demetrius. They both eloped to the forest, in order to get married at Lysander’s aunt’s house. Helena is, however, still in love with Demetrius. Demetrius cruelly left her for Hermia. For revenge, Helena overheard the news of elopement and told Demetrius, who follows her to the forest to hunt for Lysander and Hermia. The problem of Indian prince is that Oberon wishes to have him knighted, but Titantia is against it. Key events are: when Oberon sees the trouble between the love-triangle of Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetrius, he decided to help. Oberon sends Puck to make love potions and powders on Demetrius’s eyelids, so he can fall in love with the first person he sees, supposedly Helena. However, Puck mistaken Lysander for Demetrius, and instead puts on Lysander. As a result, both Lysander and Demetrius are in love with Helena. Oberon also demanded revenge for Titantia, and makes Puck use his love potion on Titantia.

Different Cultural Identities Dilemma Essay

The memoir Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, tells of her experience at Manzanar internment camp after the Pacific War broke out. During the internment of Japanese-Americans, their living standards fell drastically; moreover, they faced Japanese and American values and identity conflicts. It was hard for these Japanese Americans to maintain two different cultural identities for several reasons. In the first place, they suffered from racial discrimination. In the 1940s, mainstream society and the government discriminated against Japanese Americans who were viewed as potentially dangerous people who might betray the US. Thus, Japanese Americans found it was hard to be accepted by others in America. In addition, they largely insisted on their own cultural identities. They were not willing to give up Japanese identities after arriving in America. Chinese immigrants would like to get together and formed Chinatown for the same reason. In the article, â€Å"Two wor lds, one family,† Jen Maldonado was imposed on pressure by her Taiwanese friends who insisted on Chinese culture, when she wanted to develop a cross-cultural relationship with an American. It is hard to successfully balance two different cultural identities because of racial discrimination and the adherence to people’s former culture as will be shown using evidence from Farewell to Manzanar, â€Å"Two worlds, one family† and my personal observations. In the 1940s, Japanese-Americans suffered from racial discrimination; thus, they had a hard time getting into mainstream society and balancing their cultural identities. The government never showed full trust towards these immigrants who were viewed as threats to American national security. In order to supervise Japanese-Americans and prevent any potential danger, the government relocated Japanese Americans to internment camps, which exacerbated cultural conflicts and undermined basic human rights. The racist decision that the government made led Japanese Americans to feel that they were incompatible with American culture. Because of the racial discrimination the government initialized, many Japanese immigran ts thought they were insulted, and so they struggled to accept their American identities. Some of them even wanted to get rid of American identities and went back to Japan. As a result, racial discrimination threatened their American identities. Houston and her friend Radine shared many qualities in common and became the best friends. Although they were socially equal, they were treated in completely different ways because of racism. Houston was not culturally accepted by mainstream society as Radine was. Boys were more likely to ask Radine to the dances, even though they flirted with Houston. Houston was barred from sororities, but Radine was admitted to join them. Houston said that, â€Å"Watching, I am simply emptied, and in the dream I want to cry out, because she is something I can never be†(172). Houston never stopped attempting to retain American identity; however, prejudice of her oriental characteristics obstructed her effort. She looked forward to fulfilling her American identity, but she was too helpless and powerless to challenge enormous racial discrimination, Other than prejudice against Japanese-Americans, another reason that caused people from different cultures to struggle to balance two cultural iden tities was adherence to their own culture. After arriving at the continent and staying there for years, many Japanese immigrants still considered that they were more Japanese than American. They were not willing to give up their own culture, and so they confronted cultural conflicts. A minority of people in the camps labeled members of the Japanese American Citizens League â€Å"inu† for â€Å"having helped the army arrange a peaceful and orderly evacuation†(67). â€Å"Inu† meant collaborator or informer in Japanese. The hatred towards these pro-American Japanese immigrants and disrespectful insult words revealed their strong belief in Japan and hostility towards America. To people’s surprise, the author’s father who stood up to defend the point of view that immigrants should be loyal to American government was assaulted and condemned by his peers. Although these pro-Japan immigrants had been in America for many years, they still insisted that they were more Japanese. It was the thought that some Japanese Americans were not capable of integrating into American culture and balancing two identities. Chinatown exemplified that Chinese immigrants insisted on their own culture. Chinese immigrants were viewed as a group of conservative and un-American people after they first came to America. They showed keen interests in preserving Chinese culture, but they would not adapt themselves to American society. Therefore, their refusal to give up Chinese identity led to their isolation and failure to balance two cultural identities Their adherence promoted the formation of Chinatown, a Chinese world in alien countries. In the article, â€Å"Two worlds, one family,† â€Å"Jen’s Taiwanese friends started giving her grief for dating an American.† They were strict about Chinese culture and rejected the cross-cultural marriage. Jen was also warned that she â€Å"‘needed to stick with someone from her own culture.'† By this, her friends hoped that Jen could retain her Chinese identity by narrowing down her dating range. However, many cases had proven that the cross-cultural marriage played an important role in balancing different cultura l identities. When people with different cultural backgrounds decide to form cross-cultural families, they build a bridge of cultural communication. Thus, her friends’ thoughts undermined cultural exchange. To conclude, it is hard to successfully balance two different cultural identities. Racial discrimination stopped Japanese Americans from balancing their cultural identities. In the wartime, the mainstream society held hostility towards these immigrants, and so they were isolated by the majority. Moreover, some people’s adherence to their former culture became the obstacle of integrating into American society. Chinese always struggled to have cross-cultural communications proceed effectively and successfully due to their insistence on Chinese identity. In the article, â€Å"Two worlds, one family,† Jen was hoped that she could date Chinese persons by her friends. However, their insistence seemed to be stubborn because it blocked effective communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. In order to balance two different cultural identities, people should be more lenient with newcomers and more open to new culture.

Does Language Shape Culture?

Csecsei Luca 12. IB Does language shape culture? Most questions of whether and how language shapes thought start with the simple observation that languages differ from one another. And a lot! Just look at the way people talk, they might say. Certainly, speakers of different languages must attend to strikingly different aspects of the world just so they can use their language properly. The word order can be completely different among languages. And also there are tenses in some languages that we do not have, use or do not know what it really means. Such as the subjunctive in spanish language. It is a tense which is the hardest to learn while learning spanish, because such a tense that has so many meanings does not exist nor in hungarian, neither in english. I had the chance to spend a year in the U. K. and i also to take spanish there, i experinced that to learn this tense is just as hard for the english as it was for me when I learned spanish in my previous school, which was a spanish-hungarian bilingual school. Culture is learned, but taught through the language. Language is never the entity which has been invented in isolation. It certainly has evolved gradually with the continuous development of a culture. A culture being a building made of different beliefs in supernatural, social behaviors, human emotions, or way of expressing feelings, the language has continually adapted accordingly to accommodate these identified notion and gesture of human activity. Finding a symbolism every time to register it in the language, thus contributing to its growth. A language has always been a weapon to express one's ideas and feelings. And the reason enough to make this weapon more efficient to handle one's need of expressing things with intended accuracy. It has been tuned-up with each new finding, getting honed up continually to get its flawless shape with developing culture. Culture is determined by the language it uses with a great extent. The first thing that comes to my mind is always slang. Language clearly shows where people belong, if someone speaks really mincing his words that shows he is educated nd nor grown up on the streets like most of the people who use slang words and developed a whole new language between them. We are all members of a social group and members of `society? as a whole. People interact in many ways and communication is just about the most common and among the most important. Whatever is meaningful to a group, from their everyday life to their traditions constitutes their very own culture and is generally respec ted by all group members. Language is only one of such items. For ethnic minority groups that may have a language of their own, their language is a cornerstone in their culture. Take a look at dialects anywhere int he world. It clearly shows different customs, not just in language or communication. There a lots of dialects in South-America, for instance. Spanish in Latinamerica differs a lot from nations to nations, or we can also say, from culture to culture. There are dialects also in our country, Hungary. And people on the north of the country speak in a different way, like pronounce sounds so much different. Use words and expressions that we do not use at all. They also have differently built, constructed and decorated houses, songs, tales and wear different clothes as their costume. Taken together I do think linguistic processes are obtrusive in most fundamental domains of thought, unconsciously shaping us from the nuts and bolts of observation and perception to major life decisions. Language is central to our experience of being human and is central to our beliefs, and the languages we speak profoundly shape our culture.

10 of the biggest workplace time wasters

10 of the biggest workplace time wasters Office  distractions are endless at work. We spend a lot  of time surfing the web, checking in on social media, while still holding small talk at the water cooler. These â€Å"little† breaks throughout the day can add up in time you are supposed to be getting work done and it can waste productivity in the office. These workplace time wasters can affect your work ethic and quality of work you produce. It’s time to cut out these time wasters and focus on the task ahead. Here are 10 of the biggest workplace time wasters. How many of these are you guilty of doing throughout the day?Source [Yast]

Eleemosynary, A Full-Length Play by Lee Blessing

Eleemosynary, A Full-Length Play by Lee Blessing It might be best to begin your approach to this play by learning how to pronounce the title and understanding the meaning of this vocabulary word. In this dramatic work by Lee Blessing, three generations of highly intelligent and freethinking women attempt to reconcile years of family dysfunction. Dorothea was a repressed housewife and mother of three sons and a daughter, Artemis (Artie), whom she favored. She discovered that being an eccentric suited her perfectly and spent a lifetime thrusting her wild ideas and beliefs onto an unappreciative and doubting Artemis. Artemis ran away from Dorothea as soon as she could and kept on the move until she married and had a daughter of her own. She named her Barbara, but Dorothea renamed the child Echo and began to teach her everything from Ancient Greek to calculus. What Echo loves most is words and spelling. The title of the show comes from the winning word that Echo spelled correctly at the National Spelling Bee. The play jumps backward and forward in time. As one character relives a memory, the other two play themselves as they were during that time. In one memory, Echo portrays herself as a three-month-old. At the beginning of the play, Dorothea has suffered a stroke and is bedridden and catatonic for several scenes. Throughout the play, however, she takes part in her memories and then transitions back to the present, trapped in her minimally responsive body. The director and actors in Eleemosynary have the challenge of making these memory scenes feel authentic with smooth transitions and blocking. Production Details The production notes for Eleemosynary are specific regarding set and props. The stage needs to be filled with an abundance of books (signifying the sheer brilliance of these women), a pair of homemade wings, and perhaps a real pair of scissors. The rest of the props may be mimed or suggested. Furniture and sets should be as minimal as possible. The notes suggest only a few chairs, platforms, and stools. Lighting should consist of   â€Å"ever shifting areas of light and darkness.† The minimal set and the stress on lighting serve to assist the characters in moving between memories and the present time, allowing focus to be on their stories. Setting: Various rooms and locales Time: Now and then Cast size: This play can accommodate 3 female actors. Roles Dorothea is a self-acknowledged eccentric. She uses her eccentricity as a means to escape the judgment and pressures of a life she didn’t choose. Her desire was to influence her daughter to embrace her way of life, but when her daughter runs from her, she refocuses her attention on her granddaughter. Artemis has a perfect memory. She can remember anything and everything with total accuracy. She has two desires in life. The first is to research and find out everything she possibly can about this world. The second is to be as far away from her mother (in both body and spirit) as possible. She believes in her heart that she failed Echo and that failure can never be undone, just as she can never forget a single detail of her life. Echo has a mind to equal both her mother’s and grandmother’s. She is fiercely competitive. She loves her grandmother and wants to love her mother. By the end of the play, she is determined to use her competitive nature to mend her relationship with her elusive mother. She will no longer accept Artemis’s excuses for failing to be a mother to her. Content issues: Abortion, abandonment Resources You can watch a director and some actors discuss and rehearse the play.The  Dramatist Play Service holds the production rights for Eleemosynary.

The Working Poor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Working Poor - Essay Example In a book written by Collins and Yeskel entitled â€Å"Economic Apartheid in America,† attention is focused on the widening gap between a few ultrawealthy individuals and the greater majority of people in the United States. The segregation spawns a culture of haves and have-nots. Those who struggle to attain a decent living wage for their families remain impoverished because the culture is skewed against them and fosters a poverty that is self-propagating. â€Å"This economic inequality comes from a mechanistic view of the world devoid of deep spiritual meaning, soul searching, and egalitarian human connection. It leaves little room for prioritizing fulfilling human relationships, nurturing the environment, or appreciating the sacred.† (Brettschneider, 2001) Despite the nation’s growing prosperity, real wages – that is, the money people can actually use from their paychecks – to stagnate or fall for more than half of the population. Inequality in wages between the highest and lowest paid workers is at its highest. The bottom 95 percent of the U.S. populace has less wealth than the top one percent of households. Seventy-five percent of workers have suffered some loss at work, such as loss of full-time employment, lack of retirement security, lack of health insurance, and loss of other similar benefits. 5. The United Nations Development Program reported in 1999 that the world’s 225 richest people have a combined wealth of $1 trillion, which is equivalent to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorest people. 6. The richest ten per cent of the world’s population receive about half (49.6%) of the total world income, while the bottom sixty percent (more than half) of the world’s population receive little more than one-tenth (13.9%) of the world’s income. In his book â€Å"The Working Poor†, David Shipler gave life

Total Quality Management in Hospital Pharmacy Term Paper

Total Quality Management in Hospital Pharmacy - Term Paper Example Despite these many different functions being discharged by the pharmacists, hospitals find it difficult to recruit pharmacists (Smith). At the same time many of the hospitals take initiatives like staff reductions due to lower patient concentration, reorganization of the hospital facilities, carrying out recommendations of external consultants, implementing automation in drug distribution and mergers and acquisitions of hospitals. In this context, a methodological review of the operations of a hospital becomes necessary for improving the efficiency and functioning of the healthcare settings. One of the recommendations is to apply Total Quality Management (TQM) for improving the performance of pharmacies in the hospitals. Although TQM has been practiced in manufacturing industries for quite some time, it is relatively a newer concept in the healthcare industry. Interest in the idea of TQM in healthcare settings started to take off during late 1980s. Even though all the hospitals that introduced the system of TQM have not proved successful many of the institutions could streamline their functions applying the concept (Zablocki). In this context this paper describes the application of Total Quality Management in the hospital pharmacies to improve the performance of the pharmacies as well as the overall performance of the hospitals. No other sector than the healthcare is best suited for the a... Another issue that healthcare industry is facing is the deterioration in the service quality with numerous complaints from the patients and other stakeholders. In addition employee turnover and shortage of nurses and pharmacists is a major concern at most large and medium sized hospitals. This situation leads to more number of deaths which otherwise could have been avoided with proper systems and procedures in place to deliver quality medical service to the patients (Institute of Medicine). This makes the healthcare industry to respond with an appropriate mechanism to ensure an all round improvement in the efficiency of operations and to provide better and efficient healthcare service to the patients. Since hospital pharmacy happens to be an important constituent of any healthcare setting, revamping the department with the introduction of newer systems and procedures has become imminent. One of the suggested techniques to improve the performance of hospital pharmacies is the Total Qu ality Management that is applied to meet/exceed customer satisfaction. Most of the hospitals have established quality improvement programs and departments, in order to implement and follow up the quality initiatives not only in the hospital pharmacies but in every department of the hospitals. The quality initiatives taken by these specialized departments have been found to be successful in increasing the awareness of the employees about the customers and patients of the hospital, and the initiatives also helped in error reduction and improving patient satisfaction (Herzlinger). Even though the methods employed focused generally on improving the care, they do not address the issue of improving the organizational systems in total and therefore are not responsive to the needs of the