The Spring Of 1692 Salem Witch Trials - 1698 Words

In the spring of 1692 the Salem witch trials began. During this time in history women accused of being witches often faced being torture, testing, and trials. Most of the time witches experienced executions if not that, put in jail. The townspeople tortured the accused witches in the most inhumane ways. This is considered a very dark and eerie time of the Puritans in Salem, Massachusetts (P., Shaunak). A group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts told the people of their town they had been possessed by the devil and accused several women from their town of possessing them. The ringleader of the girls, Abigail Williams, niece of Samuel Paris the town’s priest and her cousin Elizabeth Paris started having irrational fits and violent outburst. Since the girls kept having these violent outbursts Samuel Paris called for doctor William Griggs. Griggs examined the girls and diagnosed them with being bewitched. Soon a whole group of girls started acting as if they had been possessed as well, including; Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren. This group of girls kept up this horrible act all because Tituba Paris’ slave saw them doing witchcraft in the woods late one night. This became a problem for Tituba being a slave; she knew her word would not be considered reliable. The girls prank got even worse when their accusations caused warrants for arrests on Tituba, along with Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn, Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, Bridget Bishop,Show MoreRelatedThe Salem Witch Trial During The Spring Of 16921533 Words   |  7 PagesAustin walls mrs barker salem witch trial the infomous salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in salem village massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. as a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial massachusetts, a spread court convened in salem to hear the cases; the first convened witch birdget bishop , was hanged that some more men,women and chileren were accused over the next several monthsRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials Of 16921281 Words   |  6 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials were a sequence of hearings, prosecutions, and hangings of people who were thought to be involved in witchcraft in Massachusetts. These trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693(The Salem Witch Trials, 1692. ). The Trials resulted in the execution of twenty people, in fact, most of them were women. The first of the trials began in several towns in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, such as Salem Village (currently known as Danvers), Salem Town, Ipswich, and Andover(SalemRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials Of Colonial Massachusetts1473 Words   |  6 PagesThe infamous Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts took place between 1692 and 1693. They involved the execution of fourteen women and five men within the brief time period. What is now the New England region had been established by a homogenous Puritan population, which emigrated from England. Abiding by a strict set of beliefs, the Puritans did not accept people of other backgrounds,therefore it might follow that the Salem Witch Trials of New England were a result of the strict Puritan societyRead MoreThe Causes of the Salem Witch Hunt Essay925 Words   |  4 PagesThe Causes of the Salem Witch Hunt Many American colonists brought with them from Europe a notion in witches and an intrigue with alleged manipulation with the devil. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for witchcraft all over the colonies, chiefly in Massachusetts. Various of the accused were women, inducing some recent historians to recommend that charges of witchcraft were a way of dominating women who endangered the present economic and social orderRead MoreThe Crucible By John Proctor895 Words   |  4 Pagesboth the Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible, was tried and executed for witchcraft in 1692. When the witchcraft hysteria first began in Salem village in the winter of 1692, Proctor became an outspoken opponent of the trials and stated to many that the afflicted girls, who had been accusing many of the villagers of witchcraft, were frauds and liars (Brooks). There were many parallels between John Proctor and his character in The Crucible, including his vocal opposition towards the trials and hisRead MoreWhat Were The Salem Witch Trials1449 Words   |  6 PagesWere the Salem Witch Trials and What Were its Aftermaths? START OF WITCHCRAFT HYSTERIA A considerable lot of the American settlers carried with them, from Europe, a faith in witches and the devil. Amid the seventeenth century, individuals were often executed for being witches and worshiper of Satan. The Puritan town of Salem was home to where many executions of witches took place, more commonly known as the Salem witch trials. A scandalous scene in American history, the Salem witch trials of 1692Read MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials1069 Words   |  5 PagesEven though the Salem witch trials were made to seem formal, they were actually subjective and not based on fact. Since there were multiple people being accused of witchcraft, the trials were short and quick to sentence. The witch trials lasted less than a year. The first arrests were made on March 1, 1692, and the final hanging day was September 22, 1692. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved in October of 1692. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in the spring of 1692, when a group ofRead MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials Essay1267 Words   |  6 PagesThe notorious witch trials in Salem began in Spring of 1692. This started after a young group of girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, professed they were possessed by the devil. These young girls even went as far as accusing some local women of practicing witchcraft. As a frenzy spreaded throughout colonial Massachusetts, a specific court was summoned to hear cases. Bridget Bishop was the first convicted witch and she was hung in that June following her trial. Eighteen other people followed BishopRead MoreTruth and Reality597 Words   |  3 Pageshistorical period in which it exists.   An example that came to mind is the Salem witch trials. The witch hunt occurred in Massachusetts between the years 1692 and 1693. During this time people believed that the Devil could give give others special powers. The Salem which trials came about shortly after thousands of accused witches in Europe were executed in their own witch hunt. Throughout the entire Salem witch trials over 200 people (mostly women) were accused of being witches influenced byRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials : The Causes Of The Deadly Accusations912 Words   |  4 PagesPeriod 1 11 April 2015 The Salem Witch Trials: The Causes of the Deadly Accusations In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he writes, â€Å"We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!† (Miller 77). This partially fictionalized tale of the Salem Witch Trials points to one of the causes of the trials, vengeance, but the over dramatized tale s early stages were quiet. The Salem Witch Episode had humble beginnings

Advancing The People and Strengthening a Nation Four...

The ending of Reconstruction and the period known as the Redemption gave birth to the â€Å"new Negro.† Gene Jarrett, a CAS associate professor of English at Boston University, defines the â€Å"new Negro† as a time â€Å"when African Americans were hoping to represent themselves in fresh, progressive ways, whether dealing with politics or culture alone.† He goes on to say, â€Å"There was a transition from the old Negro, the plantation slave, to the new Negro, African-Americans who were considered more refined, educated, sophisticated, and involved in the political process† (Ullian 2008). Although there was an overabundance of civil rights activists at the time, there were four men who individually stand out from the rest. Though these four men may not have†¦show more content†¦Upon completion of his academics Washington returned home as a teacher until the founding of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. It is in this position that Washington was abl e to enlighten the people on his idea of how to obtain equality. Washington’s idea of equality lied behind the idea of accommodation. He believed that social equality and political rights would come only if blacks first became independent and enhanced their economic foundation, accepting the notion of separate but equal. It was then, he argued, that respect from the white community would follow. Tuskegee was built on these beliefs, becoming an institute that taught blacks primarily how to work and trained them to be permanent second-class citizens. In the words of Washington, â€Å"In all things social we can be a separate as the fingers, but as one as the hand on all things essential to mutual progress.† Nevertheless there was one man, influenced by Washington’s â€Å"Up From Slavery,† who believed that the only way to be equal was to be separate. Marcus Garvey unlike the three gentlemen aforementioned was born outside of the United States, in Jamaica. Although he was not raised in a place where segregation was a problem, Garvey dealt with racism at a young age. In 1912 Garvey ventured to London to take classes in law and philosophy at Birkbeck College. In 1914 Garvey moved back to Jamaica and formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association,

The Effect of Stress on University Students free essay sample

The effects of stress on university students. What is the stress? Stress is very common in everyones life is one thing, because the stress of life changes challenging. but also be able to struggle and contradictions from the peoples inner world. In addition, the stress also plays a very important role in the lives of students. Good stress on students self to a higher level. Stress can also lead to the physical health of students affected, academic, and dealing with people has also been seriously affected, especially university students. The five main causes of stress among university students are the new university environment, the new relationship, the competitive circumstances and exams, a lack of proper time-management techniques and parental pressure. The above five factors leading to university students emotional, behavioural and physiological be severely affected. The changes of emotional is one of effect of these stress. The emotion will change anytime. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Stress on University Students or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For example , the student felt emotionally and the emotion will stop he or she from studying, because of this, examination results will be disastrous, . If they felt very stress on their study , they will yelled at family or friends. This factor will lead to the relations of family and friends misunderstanding. They felt that their work suddenly built up so much so that they felt like crying, and this will caused cannot hand in homework on time. They also felt emotionally drained by university and let them feel that their future is a confusion. Furthermore, the behavioural of the student also affected. They felt they were lazy when it came to university work and they procrastinated on assignments. After that , they were distracted in class and unable to study. They had trouble concentrating in the class and tried to avoid the class The attendance rate of less than cause unable to attend the year-end examination and . They also have trouble to remember the notes given by lecturer and always failed in the exam. They started to use alcohol or drugs to reduce the stress they faced and it will also damage the health of the body. In addition, they couldn’t breathe when they felt stress. They had difficulty eating when the examination is coming. They couldn’t sleep at night

The Taming of the Shrew The Mirror of Film Essay Example For Students

The Taming of the Shrew: The Mirror of Film Essay In the late twentieth century, it is not unusual for audience members to come away from productions of The Taming of the Shrew with the impression that they have just witnessed the story of a dynamic woman turned into a Stepford wife.1 There are also Shakespearean critics who hold such views. G. I. Duthie, for instance, describes Katherina as a spirited woman who is cowed into abject submission by the violence of an egregious bully (147). John Fletchers 1611 play The Womans Prize, or the Tamer Tamed, in which Petruchios second wife treats him as he had treated Kate,2 suggests that even during Shakespeares lifetime the battle of the sexes within the play had become a battle of the critics outside it.3Shakespearean scholars on the other side argue, as Charles Boyce does, that far from being a tale of domination, the plays main plot concerns the development of character and of love in a particular sort of personality (626). Boyce goes on to say that The violence in The Shrewexcept for t he beatings of servants is limited to Katherinas own assaults on Bianca and Petruchio (626). Nor is Boyce alone in his belief that Petruchio is physically kind to Kate; as Robert Speaight writes, It is only to others that he is rough (59). We will write a custom essay on The Taming of the Shrew: The Mirror of Film specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Much of the confusion comes from a simultaneous idealization of the twentieth century4 and denigration of the sixteenth, a glorification of the sensibilities of modern critics, directors, and audiences coupled with a condemnation of the medieval insensitivity of the playwright. For example, Jonathan Miller, director of the 1980 BBC Shrew, says, Shakespeare is extolling the virtues of the obedient wife in accordance with the sixteenth-century belief that for the orderly running of society, some sort of sacrifice of personal freedom is necessary. He defends his position with an attack, arguing that If we wish to make all plays from the past conform to our ideals were simply rewriting all plays and turning them into modern ones, a practice he calls historical suburbanism (140). However, he is himself engaging in a procedure which might be called historical blurring, allowing certain historical trends to obscure individuals and their divergent opinions.5 No period can be correctly characterized as homogeneous, certainly not a time as tendentious as the Renaissance. To maintain that womens rights were not hotly debated by Shakespeare and his contemporaries is ignorance coupled with arrogance, and to fit the creator of Portia, Rosalind, and Viola into the company of male supremacists requires an adept mental contortionist.6 One need look no further than John Fletchers epilogue to The Tamer Tamed for a flat contradiction of Jonathan Millers implied Renaissance world picture. In the epilogue, Fletcher claims his play is meant/ To teach both Sexes due equality; And as they stand bound, to love mutually (148). Those critics who acquit Shakespeare of male chauvinism often accuse him of bad craftsmanship. Thus H. J. Oliver writes in his introduction to the Oxford edition of the play, In The Taming of the Shrew he Shakespeare was dramatizing material from unrealistic literature that was perfectly acceptable on the level of the Punch and Judy show but ran the risk of embarrassing as soon as it rose above that level (51). He has previously said, We sympathize with Katherineand as soon as we do, farce becomes impossible (51). But rather than assuming that Shrew should therefore be played as comedy and not farce, Oliver decides that Shakespeare has been led astray by his low comedy source. Directors of stage and film versions of the play must also participate in this long-running and complex controversy, choosing sides and making critical judgements as they make their artistic choices. If the five film versions of the play which are currently available are not likely to give a definitive answer, they certainly provide a representative sample, a set of performance texts with which to explore Shakespeares blueprint. They include a live television production with Charlton Heston, a full-scale movie version directed by Franco Zeffirelli, a filmed stage production from the 1982 Stratford, Ontario Shakespeare Festival, the BBCs television studio version made for the thirty-seven play Canon in the Can, and, finally, Bards made-for-videocassette version filmed on a replica Shakespearean stage without the audience. Those directors who see the play as a mans violent domination of a woman have manipulated the text in two main ways. One is to foreground the violence a la Charles Marowitz, who declares that The modern technique of brainwashing is, almost to the letter, what Petruchio makes Katherine undergo (18). Keith Digbys 1980 Stratford, Ontario, production, for instance, characterized Petruchios ministrations as brutality in a concerted application to destroy Kates individuality through her total subjugation (Loudon 678).7Another and more popular means of not dealing directly with the main story has been as Tice L. Miller writes, to mock it by turning the production into knockabout farce (662). This was the strategy of the 1991 Utah Shakespearean Festival production, a strategy which, as usual, pleased most audience members while infuriating those who felt that Kate or Shakespeare or both had been violated.8 Nancy Mellich wrote in her Salt Lake Tribune review, As interpreted by director Kathle en Conlin, Petruchio is a muscle-flexing bully, Kate a groveling, shrieking victim, and poor Will Shakespeare a male chauvinist. What a pity, because that is a grave disservice to these witty, feisty, intelligent and immensely appealing characters.Both the Charlton Heston live television Shrew and the Bard versions employ comic violence and clearly signal Petruchios physical domination of Kate. The sparse, sixty- minute production starring Charlton Heston emphasizes the comic violence and eliminates much of the wit combat. Kate first enters at the beginning of Act 2, dressed for equestrian exercise and beating Bianca with a riding crop at 2.1.22.9 Perhaps this is an indication of the horseplay to come. Because the first scene between Petruchio and Kate is so abbreviated, the physical action therein is concentrated, and the sparring seems more physical than intellectual; of the 88 lines in the text, 34 have been cut. The combat becomes heated when Kate threatens, best beware my sting (2.1.210) and bites Petruchios hand. When he moves to grab her bottom on the line Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?/ In his tail (2.1.213-14), she slaps his hand. After Petruchio proclaims himself a gentleman (2.1.217), Kate lustily exclaims, That Ill try and slaps his face, finally provoking him to anger. His response, after Kate declares, If you strike me you are no gentleman (2.1.220), is to slap her twice (not, however, as hard as she slapped him). He holds her wrists behind her back with one arm as he compliments her from 2.1.236-244, and Kate stamps on his foot at Thou art pleasant, gamesome (2.1.239). Then, just before he says, Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk (2.1.243), P etruchio puts his hand over her mouth to prevent her from speaking, and she promptly bites it. Kate has escaped his grasp by 2.1.251, and she begins throwing bric-a-brac and potted plants at him; she then tries to beat him with the broken lute when he says, be thou Dian and let her be Kate (2.1.254), but she misses and falls over his lap in a spanking position. And Petruchio does just that on line 260. The Bard production too includes much horseplay but moves even further in the direction of farce. Throughout the performance, everyone on stage sighs when Bianca is mentioned, and the entire cast leans whenever anyone says Pisa. Additional instances of the Bards shtick are Lucentios unsuccessful attempt to quote a Shakespearean sonnet, Shall I compare thee to a. Shall I compare thee to a. just before 1.1.14; the playing out of the lute-smashing scene on screen; and Petruchios and Hortensios apparent fear of being struck by lightning after the former says, though she chide as loud/ As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack (1.2.94-5), and again after Hortensio says, Her name is Katherina Minola (1.2.98). Katherine and Petruchio dive into the violence enthusiastically if not immediately, and when they do, the text becomes subordinate to the action, despite the fact that all the lines in this encounter are intact. The first truly violent action comes at 2.1.217, when Kate punches her suitor in the jaw and knocks him to the ground. Petruchio jumps up, looking as though hes going to punch her back, but he controls the urge. Some of the most noteworthy bits of roughhousing occur from lines 236-65, during which Petruchio grabs Kate from behind (236), and Kate flips him over her back (237). At line 239, Petruchio grabs her from behind again, lifts her from the floor, then, as he says, slow in speech (240), he puts his hand over her mouth. Kate, of course, takes this opportunity to bite his hand (243), after which he lets her go. When Petruchio speaks of gentle conference (245), she jumps on his back and grabs his face. Later, at 2.1.255, Kate lunges at him and falls to the floor, giving Petruchio the opportunity to seize her ankle and bend her knee so she cant get up. After line 257, It is extempore from my mother wit, Petruchio bites her toe; she screams, shakes Petruchio off, pins him on the floor and bends his knee into the same awkward position, before she replies, A witty mother! Witless else her son (258). Finally, Petruchio twists around and pushes Katherine to the floor at Marry, so I mean, sweet Katherine, in your bed (2.1.260). He kneels between her legs, catches her wrists, and holds her down while he forcefully insists that they will be married.10Although most productions of Shrew cut the Induction (as four of these five films have done) the play within the play is still part of Shakespeares text and his intent, and this pointedly artificial structure can show the actors in the main plot as role players whose actions shift with their situations. Further, inside the play within the play are yet other productions which may be used to distract from any unpleasantness (real or imagined) in the main plot. Biancas suitorsLucentio and Hortensiodisguise themselves to woo her, and Lucentio, who pretends to be the emissary of Gremio, directs his own actorsTranio and a chance-met Pedantin a comedy designed to end with Lucentios wedding to Bianca. Meanwhile, Petruchio and his servants play out a drama which might be called Petruchio the Shrew. .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .postImageUrl , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:hover , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:visited , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:active { border:0!important; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:active , .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u15ca406ac23594418c6bab59bcb5e72a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Sumerian Views On Death EssayIndeed, there is scarcely a scene which does not involve a deceptive performance for an on-stage audience. The Induction draws attention to the tricks of actors and to the acting that others do, And if the boy have not a womans gift/ To rain a shower of commanded tears,/ An onion will do well for such a shift (1.124-6). Preceded by those lines, Kates words to Bianca, A pretty peat! It is best/ Put finger in the eye, and she knew why (1.1.78-79), show Bianca as a boy actor who plays the role of a girl who pretends to cry. Kate accuses her sister of playing fathers pet, and much of Kates shrewish behavior may be attributed to her frustration with the success of Biancas role playing. Enter Petruchio to act many partsfortune hunter, wealthy suitor, swaggering master, true lover, shrew tamer, andin the pursuit of this lastshrew. In this shifting, indeed very opal of a context it is hard to take Petruchio seriously as an advocate of the right rule of the sixteenth century male and yet the Induction and its implications are Shakespeares. By including the Induction and emphasizing the play-within-a-play aspect of Shrew, the Stratford Festival has foregrounded the kind of performance which a stage production can do best. As H. R. Coursen declared, The productions outstanding quality was its theatricality (286). In fact, the Stratford film goes beyond the lines and stage directions included in most texts of the play to achieve that theatricality. The Shrew players bow, for example, in recognition of Christopher Sly and company and allow Sly to act out the part of Biondello. Later on in the play, Sly takes on directorial authority, demanding from his seat in the balcony that Vincentio not be taken to prison. In addition, Petruchio and Kate, on their way to the bed chamber, walk past and acknowledge their onstage audience, and Petruchios taming soliloquy of 4.1.182-205 is delivered on the balcony in their midst.11 The film concludes with lines from The Taming of A Shrew, in which Christopher Sly, waking to find that he is not a lord, decides that he must have dreamt the play and declares that he is going home to tame his own wife. The violence was minimized in this production, giving more attention to the combat of wits. This reduction did not, of course, please everyone. Ralph Berry complained, To see the Shrew assimilated into homiletic drama is hard for those of us who regard its vital essences as brutality and sexuality (200).12 It is, perhaps, significant that Berry links those two words and lists brutality first, but like so much Shakespeare criticism, it says more about the psychology of the critic than the reality of the play. Nevertheless, not all physical confrontation was eliminated. Petruchio says, In sooth, you scape not so and chases Kate when she tries to leave; he then grabs her from behind, lifts her off the floor, carries her to a chair, and places her on his lap. Kate bites him when he tells her she is passing courteous and thus escapes from his lap, but Petruchio recaptures her by reaching across the table and pulling her up onto it. There is indeed much fighting over and even kicking of tables. For this production, the end result of Petruchios behavior modification was not a broken or even subdued Kate but a Kate who has seen through the layers of role playing to reality. After Petruchio exits on what oclock I say it is and Hortensio says, this gallant will command the sun, Kate suddenly realizes what Petruchio is up to. Her enlightenment consists of a small oh, then a larger one followed by quiet laughter. If the Stratford Festival emphasized that part of Shrew which is best played on a stage, Zeffirellis retelling of Shakespeares story provided the maximum number of opportunities for a movie camera. Petruchios wooing of and confrontation with Katherine becomes a chase scene through Baptistas house and over the rooftop with opportunities for swinging on ropes, smashing wooden structures, and repeatedly falling into a large pile of wool. Kate in her turn becomes the pursuer after the wedding, tracking her new husband over rough country during a storm. As a result of this filmic revision, Zeffirellis Shrew avoided the direct violence usually included in 2.1 by turning the scene into a series of chases through Baptistas house. After he says Ill crave the day/ When I shall ask the banns and when be married (2.1.179-80), Petruchio rolls up his sleeves and enters a room to find Kate destroying a music stand. She throws a small lute at him when he says he has heard her mildness praised in every town (191), and she kicks Petruchios stool out from under him at line 198. But after she insists that she is Too light for such a swain as you to catch, she pretends Baptista has entered the room and says, Father, this man and, when Petruchio turns round to look for Baptista, she slips out of the room, initiating a chase through the household. This Petruchio is, initially, obsessed with money and not much else. When Hortensio says, in lines which exist in the screenplay but not in Shakespeares text, Now Petruchio, if I do plot thy match with Katherine, there is a favor I would ask of thee to help me woo her younger sister, Bianca, Petruchio responds, Ask it, and so it be not gold, tis granted. In addition, when he enters Baptistas home, he eagerly inspects a silver serving set which is on a table. Zeffirelli has shifted lines so that the first thing Petruchio says to his future father-in-law is, What dowry shall I have with her as wife? He repeats the question in its rightful place (2.1.119-20), and when Baptista tells him he shall have twenty thousand crowns, he utters an Ah! of pleasure, and smiles. Also, after he tells Kate, Will you, nill you, I will marry you, she says, Id rather die and jumps out a high window (onto a roof, we soon discover); he shows no concern for Katherine personally at this point, but mutters anx iously, My twenty thousand crowns, looking exceedingly relieved when he finds that he has not lost her dowry. While this production is less violent than one might expect from a director as concerned with physical action as Zeffirelli,13 Petruchios characterization is considerably darker than Shakespeares play indicates. After the marriage, Petruchio puts Kate on a mule, and he and Grumio gallop off toward his house without waiting for her. Kate chases after them in the rain and finds a shortcut over a mountain; when she gets to the other side, however, her mule is startled by Petruchios horse and throws her into a pond. Petruchio chortles and rides on without offering assistance, leaving her to survive the rain (which soon turns to snow) on her own. When Petruchio reaches his home, he celebrates by throwing gold to his servants. He looks disappointed and disgruntled when Kate walks through the door, as though he had hoped she was dead and the dowry his with no further trouble, and his complaints to his servants concerning the lack of preparation for his brides arrival seem a desperate attempt to cover his surprise and excuse his boorishness. But despite this unpromising (and unShakespearean beginning), by the end of the film, this Petruchio and Kate have realized the love which their first glimpses of each other suggested they might find. As Jack Jorgens says, Their struggle, really a mutual taming, is the old gamethey test each other, school each other (68). If this Petruchio is not a conscious improver of Kate, he does change her (as she changes him) for the better, a message of hope which the rainbows and syrupy music have been foreshadowing all along. Except for its omission of the Induction, the BBC Shrew is the truest to the text of the five films. It is also the one version which foregrounds the words rather than the comedic business of the play. Petruchios confiding of his strategy to the audience is given full weight both before his first encounter with Katherine and at his own home. Suddenly, the extended hawk-taming metaphor in 4.1 leaps out as, if not the center of the play, at least the central explanation for Petruchios behavior. In his soliloquy, he explains the theory of his taming, using an image that nearly everyone in Shakespeares audience would have understood and that few people in modern audiences do. The comparison with the art of falconry is especially significant, since the falconer undertakes only to redirect the hawks natural impulses; it is impossible to break such a birds spirit. As T. H. White writes in The Goshawk, Any cruelty, being immediately resented, was worse than useless (16). Petruchio speaks of a way to kill a wife with kindness (4.1.197), and his words to Katherine are almost always gentle. He praises her wit and beauty in phrases that must ring in her ears with a refreshing strangeness. .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .postImageUrl , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:hover , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:visited , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:active { border:0!important; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:active , .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2391371ced0e47f00ce2cb18b0ef039b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Segregation and The Civil Rights Movement EssayThis is, of course, precisely the wrong way to break her. If that were his intention, he would be better advised to make her worthlessness clear to her, until in very weariness and despair she does as she is told. Instead, he treats her as a lady who deserves the best of everything, while acting himself as the very mirror of her shrewishness. In no other production is this as clear as in the BBC. John Cleeses clever glances out at the television audience make it plain that his own shrewishness is mere performance. Indeed the sole blow between Katherine and Petruchio comes at 2.1.217 when the plays stage directions indicate that Kate strikes him. The only other physical clashes between the two occur at 2.1.234 when Petruchio grabs her arm to restrain her from leaving the room; at 2.1.314 when he twists her arm behind her back and leads her out of the room; and at 2.1.317 when Kate pushes him away. They even manage to maintain a civilized (though sarcastic) tone of voice throughout most of the episode, communicating through the meaning rather than the volume of their words. The BBC is the only film where Petruchio does not carry Katherine off stage after the wedding scene, and the only film in which Petruchios pretense of rescuing Kate from the wedding guests is even mildly convincing. As in the Stratford, Ontario production, when the newlyweds arrive at Petruchios house, Petruchio behaves abominably toward his servants, but, when he speaks to Kate, he is all mildness and manners. For instance, after he scolds and kicks the servant who is removing his boots, saying, Take that, and mend the plucking of the other, he exclaims with the greatest gusto, Be merry, Kate (4.1.142-3). In addition, it is clear that this taming is just as rough on Petruchio as it is on Kate when he wearily reveals his strategy at the end of 4.1; also, he sounds discouraged when he tells Kate, Look what I speak or do or think to do,/ You are still crossing it (4.3.190-91). A particularly amusing instance of Petruchios imitation of Kates behavior (and his deliberate ignoring of her wishes) comes when she throws a tearful fit because Petruchio has rejected the new hat at 4.3.73-80. He responds by throwing the same sort of tantrum, whimpering, A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie./ I love thee well in that thou likst it not (4.3.81-3). Kate sees through and decides to play along with Petruchios game at 4.5.12, agreeing that the sun is moon or sun or what you please and addressing Vincentio as a young budding virgin; it seems that she has learned marital cooperation and equality. However, Kates speech concerning womans place is not more playacting, but is delivered in earnest, recommending submission rather than equality, a message that is emphasized by the psalm which the dinner guests sing at the end of the play. It is unfortunate that Jonathan Miller has used subtext to subvert what is otherwise an excellent version of Shakespeares text. Having established an intellectual and physical equality between Kate and Petruchio from the opening scenes, he takes it away by sleight of hand at the conclusion.14 And surely the creator of those ludicrous Puritans Angelo, Jacques, and Malvolio deserves better than to have their creed substituted for his own. If it is not finally possible to point out or even imagine a definitive production of Shrew, it is possible to separate Shakespeares play from some of the misunderstandings and misapprehensions that have collected round it like cobwebs. The play does not demand brutality, nor is it a sixteenth century tract for the subjugation of women. As usual, Shakespeare is subtler than his interpreters and more modern than the historians and pseudo-historians who seek to place him in an imagined past with which they themselves are more comfortable. Shakespeares great strength is his understanding of human beings, and until actors, directors and critics can better that understanding, theyand wewould be better advised to learn from Shakespeare than to try to give him lessons in the form of revisions. NOTES1The term comes from Ira Levins 1972 novel, The Stepford Wives and the film of the same name that was made from it in 1975. In both, women are replaced by docile android replicas with limited vocabularies and insatiable desires to clean house. Return to text.2It is worth noting in this context that shrew was a title which initially belonged to men anyway, the word appearing first (the Oxford English Dictionary indicates) in 1250 and not being applied to women until 1386. Return to text.3However, Fletchers association with Shakespeares company and his later collaboration on Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen give credence to Ann Thompsons contention that by writing The Tamer Tamed, Fletcher was putting the play into its traditional context of the war of the sexes, a context in which normally a story about a husband outwitting his wife is capped by one in which a wife outwits her husband, the overall moral being that the best marriages are based on equality and mutual respe ct (18). Given Shakespeares pre-eminence as a playwright for the Kings Men, his financial share in the company, and the theatrical failure of Fletchers The Faithful Shepherdess (published in 1610), it is hard to imagine Fletchers sequel to Shrew as anything other than a compliment to its author and a continuation of his themes. Return to text.4See, for instance, chapter five of Susan Faludis Backlash, Fatal and Fetal Visions: The Backlash in the Movies (112-139). Return to text.5As Willcox and Arnstein write in The Age of Aristocracy, A society, past or present, can be described only in generalizations, which by their nature are unsatisfactory (47). Return to text.6If it is objected that these women wear male attire and thus take on male characteristics, one might point to the many women in Shakespeares plays who exhibit masculine traits without adopting male attire or becoming monsters: Cordelia leads an army in King Lear; Helena, though a right maid for her cowardice, chases her l over through the forest night in Midsummer; another Helena outwits and ultimately catches Bertram in marriage in Alls Well, in part because of her skill in the masculine profession of physician; Beatrice expresses a desire to eat Claudios heart in the market place in Much Ado; and Paulina is the only member of Leontes court courageous enough to call the King mad in The Winters Tale. Return to text.7Interestingly, Sherry Flett played Katherine in this Stratford Shrew and in the very different 1982 Stratford Festival production which we will examine later. Return to text.8In addition to the knockabout elements, the USF played down the Kate-Petruchio problem by treating the play as an opportunity for ensemble performance, giving the Bianca subplot and even Hortensios widow a prominence they seldom attain. Return to text.9All act, scene and line references are to the Signet Classic Shakespeare, Sylvan Barnet, editor. Return to text.10If this is to be taken as a comic threat of rape, it is more in the spirit of the twentieth century and, for example, the 1991 Kevin Costner Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves than of anything Shakespearean. Return to text.11Performance is emphasized in another way at Petruchios home in Act 4 where Petruchio demonstrates how foolish Kates shrewish behavior looks to others by playing it himself. He behaves like an outraged monster with his servants, as when he calls a servingman A whoreson, beetle-headed, flap-eared knave (4.1.151), but is the very epitome of courtesy when he addresses Kate. For instance, just after he curses the servingman, he calmly invites, Come, Kate, sit down; I know you have a stomach (4.1.152). Return to text.12Berry objected to the Stratford Festivals program notes which suggested Petruchio frees her from this role of shrew by enacting a calculated plan of behaviour modification' (200). Berry was taken to task by H. R. Coursen, who said, While I am no fan of a directors program notes, good actors overcome concepts. And this concept does have textual support. Petruchio is holding a mirror up to Kate (287). Return to text.13However, as Jack Jorgens points out, the physical has not been abandoned or even subordinated, Apart from sentimental romance, Zeffirellis major emphasis is upon farce. The film delights in harmless violence and festive destruction (71). Return to text.14Scott McMillan sees Millers production as more deadly, in fact, a straightforward piece of shrew bashing. Casting John Cleese as Petruchio was first greeted as a sign of zaniness, but the anti-feminist inheritance from Monty Python was here being turned to explicit purpose. Kates concluding speech about the simplicity of women is the most centered and valorized speech in all of Millers productions (80). Return to text.

The Importance of Literature in Education free essay sample

Admittedly, based on findings approached in this study, the occidental Europe, at the time of Goethe, bitterly suffered from the absence of a remedial philosophy to make up for the ethical disadvantages befell upon the Europeans then. The researcher accordingly asserts that Goethe intelligently took Hafez’s oriental and Islamic tenets and values and had them frankly and furtively included in his mystical and transcendental expectations in poetry. He efficiently worked them out as a healing remedy for the losses and damages incurred upon the fellow-Europeans due to some utilitarian wars almost ravaged the whole continent. On the whole, exponent gurus such as Hafez and Goethe are undeniably privileged to be the inevitable product of some historical, cultural and social exigencies. They themselves have been indispensably trapped into such a narrow shave to eventually emerge in the scene as a couple of unforeseen sublimes consecutively matching up each other in every true sense of the word and practice. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Literature in Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Never was the saying â€Å"great men think alike† more aptly rendered applicable than it is of the immortal Hafez of Persia (Iran) and Goethe, the multi-dimensional genius of Germany. Hafez was born about the year A. H. 720/C. E. 13201 in the city of Shiraz the capital of Pars (from which the name of Persia itself is derived) at a distance of about 38 miles (about 57 Kilometers) from the ancient Achaemenian Capital, Perspolis (Takht-e-Jamshid). He then lived there all his life of above 70 years till his death about the year A. H. 792/ C. E. 1390. Goethe, on the other hand, was born in 1749 (28th August) at Frankfurt-am-Main and died in 1832 (22nd March) at Weimar, formerly in East Germany. Although there is a time gap- distance of about four and quarter centuries between the two, there is a remarkable likeness of thinking amongst them. Further, the circumstances of their life-spans are also notably similar. For instance: 1- Both Hafez and Goethe lived during periods of great political turmoil and disturbance. About half a century earlier Shiraz, and for that matter, the whole of Iran 1 The abbreviation C. E. stands for the Christian Era Baroudy: A Consecutive Study of Hafez and Goethe 214 Nebula4. 3 September 2007 ad seen the devastations of the Mongol invasions, and their wars of consolidation. Even the local dynasty (the Injus) had indulged in much fratricidal wars, and his patron Shah Shuja to whom he has made references in his poetry, was himself the product of much intrigue, crime and bloodshed. Then the vicinity of Shiraz was infested by bands of ferocious and heartless robbers who presented a great problem of law and order to the local rulers. To crown, above all, hardly had Shah Shuja settled down to a peaceful life when the country had to face the ravages of the invasions of the world conqueror, Timure-Lang. Goethe, in this respect, was far more fortunate than his ‘twin’ Hafez, whose began when he was about 45 (in 1364 A. D. ), and ended nearly twenty years later when his patron Shah Shuja was deterred by the expanding empire of Timur (early 1380s). Based on poems and anecdotal accounts during Shah Shuja’s reign, Hafez served as a teacher at the local madrasa, to provide a modest living for himself, and some additional revenue from the panegyric in his oeuvre. Thus, similar to Goethe, he enjoyed a reasonably stable pattern of occupation. Hafez and Goethe both enjoyed considerable international reputation in their own lifetime, and the privilege with which he was sought after by rulers as far abroad as Baghdad and India. Equally tumultuous were the conditions in Europe during Goethe’s age and the boundaries of the countries were constantly changing. There had been wars of the Polish succession, the Restoration of large territories to the Turkish Sultan, the bloody consequences of the claims of the stubborn Maria Theresa which dragged on till seven years in Europe (1756-63): Russian troops invaded East Prussia; and Hanover (North Germany) was attacked and occupied by France. In the mean time, the storm of the French Revolution was brewing and although it brought ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity amongst educated classes in Germany, but it brought it also tiding of untold horror, across their border and of slaughter; guillotine and bloodshed in France, which tended to propagate anarchical ideas in the rest of Europe and which seemed to present serious problems of law and order. Force let loose in consequence of the French Revolution culminated in another force which enveloped the whole of Europe in the shape of Napoleonic Wars. It has been observed that great epochs in literature, so rare in their occurrence, have had a peculiar relationship to periods of extra ordinary political commotion. Both Hafez and Goethe were not only inheritors of sublime literary tradition but themselves became the culminating points in their respective literary achievements unsurpassed by Baroudy: A Consecutive Study of Hafez and Goethe 215 Nebula4. 3, September 2007 posterity. Hafez as preceded by the luminous stars of the unmitigated glory in the galaxy of the Persian sky like, Anwary, Sa’adi, Attar, Sanai, and the towering personality of Rumi. Moreover, the atmosphere of Shiraz in which he was born and bred was itself permeated with literary genius. Western scholars, during the enlightenment phase, endeavored to impartially view east to prove that the world of east is no longer a world of war and bloodshed, violence and invasion, and anti-Christian or anti-European. On the contrary, they invited their audiences to review their position and discern east as a world of beauties, narratives, expectations as well as wonders (Schimmel, 1990). In the same vein, Goethe who was a sublime close to the versatile and fertile genius of Renaissance Period lived and moved in a highly intellectual atmosphere. His direct constant with classical culture during his Italian sojourn of 1786 deeply influenced him. A part expression f this can be seen in the shaping of his plays ‘Iphigenic auf Tauris’ (1793) and ‘Ttorquato Tasso’ (1790) and the poems ‘Romische Elegian’ (published in 1793). His friendship and correspondence with the poet Schiller sharpened his aesthetic theories, heightened further by his sensitive mind so amenable to female beauty. In addition, far more important, was his receptivity to foreign literature including the English poet Shakespeare and many Iranian poets out of whom the great Hafez of Shiraz cast a peculiar spell on him and resulted in the production of the immortal ‘West-Ostlicher Divan. Moreover the influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Edward Young and James McPherson were also profound influence over him. But the chief impetus came from the oracular utterances of Johann George Hamann (1770-88)2, the â€Å"Magus in Norden† wherein he observed that the basic varieties of existence are to be apprehended through faith and the experience of senses and pointed out the value of primitive poetry. Poetry, he declared, was the mother tongue of the human race and not product of learning and precept. Similarly, Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803)3 who 2 Hamann had a profound influence on the German ‘Storm and Stress’ movement ,and on other contemporaries such as Herder and Jacobi; he impressed Hegel and Goethe (who called him the brightest head of his time) and was a major influence on Kierkegaard. His influence continued on twentieth century German thinkers ,particularly those interested in language. His popularity has increased dramatically in the last few decades amongst philosophers, theologians, and German studies scholars around the world. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) German philosopher, critic, and clergyman, b. East Prussia. Herder was an enormously influential literary critic and a leader in the Sturm und Drang movement. After an impoverished childhood ,he studied theology at Konigsberg and came under the influence of Kant. During an appointment at Riga, Herder gained attention with his Fragmente uber die neuere deutsche Literatur ]fragments concerning current German literature (1767). In 1776 he became court preacher at Weimar through the influence of Goethe, whose work was reatly affected by Herders ideas, particularly by his Uber den Ursprung der Sprache] on the origin of language] (1772). In this treatise Herder held that language and poetry are spontaneous necessities of human nature, rather than supernatural endowments. At Weimar, Herder became the leading theorist of German romanticism and a contributor to the most brilliant court of the era. There he produced his anthology of foreign folk songs ,Stimmen der Volker (79–1778) and a lso made some of the earliest studies of comparative philology, comparative religion, and mythology. His vast work Ideen zur Philosophie Baroudy: A Consecutive Study of Hafez and Goethe 216 Nebula4. 3, September 2007 regarded, and no thinker before him, the idea of historical evolution, likewise interested Goethe in foreign literature including that of the East. Thus, Goethe’s intelligence, so free, insatiable and unconfined, set the ideal for comparative study and he predicted a Welt-literature in which all nations have a voice. 3- Both Hafez and Goethe deeply impressed the powerful conquerors of their times. Thus, Hafez impressed Timur-e Lang while Goethe impressed Napoleon.

Analytical Essay on Frankenstein Perceptions of the Character

Analytical Essay on Frankenstein Perceptions of the Character In 1818, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein was published and since then, it has become a tale that lives on in everybody. Beginning in the 1900s, comic books, movies, jokes, television shows, cartoons, and even cereal has been made because of Frankenstein. Since the very first film was made, in 1910 by Thomas Edison, several other movies have been created about this legend. In this essay, I will examine a few of the many popular films made and I will compare and contrast them to Mary Shelleys 1831 edition of Frankenstein. In the 19th century, there have been roughly 400 films that use the characters of Frankenstein and/or his monster(Carter 354). The first film adaptation consists of four scenes on one reel and is only a 16 minute silent film(Carter 355). Produced by Thomas Edison and Directed by Searle Dawley, the film has a very interesting scene. On Victor and Elizabeths wedding night the monster goes into the brides room where Elizabeth faints at the sight of him. The monster is seen looking into the mirror but the image gradually fades away. Victor is so overpowered by his love of Elizabeth that the monster cannot exist. Victor comes in and looks into the same mirror, but instead of seeing himself, he sees the reflection of the monster. As Victor focuses on the good in him, the reflection gradually changes back into Victor. The film ends with the embrace of Victor and Elizabeth, both relieved that the forces of evil have been conquered. Thomas Edison seen Shelleys novel as the forces between good and evil. Like most movies, the good guys always prevail. She did not have a typical, forces of goodness win, Victor and Elizabeth live happily ever after, ending. The only people that survive in her novel are Walton and the monster. Mary Shelley obviously was not trying to show us that the good outweighs the bad in every situation. In 1931, Universal Pictures presented us with not only Dracula but also Frankenstein. Director, James Whale, based this film on Mary Shelleys Frankenstein but it does not follow it very well. He makes us feel sympathy for the monster as Shelleys novel does also. Shelley has the monster strangle his victims after he realizes that he cannot live normally in society and wants to get revenge on Victor. He knows exactly what he is doing. In Whales film, he hangs Fritz, the hunchback assistant that taunts him with fire, and he strangles the Doctor after he tries killing him. He is only killing out of self-defense. Then, he drowns Maria in the pond only to see if she would float like the flowers did. She did not. It is odd though that in the book he actually saves a drowning girl and strangles everyone else, and in the movie he breaks peoples neck, hangs them, and drowns them. James Whale decides to keep Walton out of the film but he adds a Dr. Waldman. Walton/Waldman, sounds a lot alike. He also has Victor as the friend and Henry as the mad scientist that creates the monster. Boris Karloff plays the monster in Frankenstein. In the opening credits of the film, he is uncredited as the monster (Young). In the beginning credits titled The Players the monster is listed fourth, with a question mark after its name. Then, in the end credits where the cast list is prefaced by Ð £a good cast is worth repeating (Frankenstein), the monster is listed fourth with Boris Karloffs name following. Why does Whale decide to do this? This is the series that really launched Karloffs acting career (Young). Like the monster, no one really gave him any credit. That was until he played the gruesome monster in Frankenstein. So, at the beginning they do not include him as an actor. Then, they question his ability with a question mark, and finally, they give him credit at the end. In 1935, Whale makes a sequel to Frankenstein, and names it the Bride of Frankenstein. At the end of Frankenstein, Henry Frankenstein ends up burning the windmill with the monster in it, but in the sequel they tell it differently. It starts out with Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron discussing the novel Shelley wrote. Mary Shelley says, The publishers did not see that my purpose was to write a moral lesson: the punishment that befell on mortal men who dared to emilate god (Bride of Frankenstein). James Whale tries to put Mary Shelley into this movie as much as he can. He even gives the Frankenstein family a servant names Mary in the movie. The thirst for knowledge was definitely a major theme in Shelleys novel, and in Kennith Branaghs 1997 film, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, he makes it very evident. Unlike Whale, Branagh decides to keep Walton in the movie. At the beginning, Walton is portrayed as a man who is so set on getting what he wants. He does not care if he risks everyones lives on the ship as long as he proceeds north with his accomplishments (Branagh). Only after Victor tells him his story does he decide to turn around and go home. Branagh is faithful to Shelleys novel more so than the other movies but still goes off track a lot. He has Victors mother die giving birth to her child. This is very ironic since Mary Shelleys own mother dies giving birth to her. That very same day Elizabeth is introduced into the plotline. Branagh noticed Victors obsession with replacing his mother with Elizabeth in Shelleys novel. He does it again when, like the novel, he has a dream that he is kissing Elizabeth but instead holds the corpse of his mother (Zakharieva 421). In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, Victor does not attempt to make a creature for the monster, but for himself. He makes a creature out of Justine and Elizabeth both of whom love Frankenstein and are desired by the creature (Zakharieva 429). She must choose between them but she does not. Instead she kills herself so she does not have to choose at all. So, not only was Victor acting as god by creating her without a woman, but the creature he created was too by taking her own life, and deciding her own fate. In Whales the Bride of Frankenstein, the bride is terrified by the monster and chooses Henry Frankenstein before he burns the place down. This brings up Elizabeth Youngs argument about the gender triangle between two rivalrous men and one woman. Young argues that Whales film Characteristically invokes its third (female) term only in the interests of the original rivalry and works finally to get rid of the woman (Young). To simplify it she says that Elizabeth is Henry Frankensteins bride. But, Dr. Praetorious triumphantly names the female monster as the Bride of Frankenstein (Bride of Frankenstein). So, there are now two brides of Frankenstein. Also, actress Elsa Lanchester, plays both Mary Shelley at the beginning with Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, and she plays the bride. Here, she is not two women, but only one. So, Mary Shelley, Elsa Lanchester, Elizabeth Frankenstein, and the monsters mate are all Mrs. Frankenstein (Young). Young argues that the role of women therefore is not interchangeable in Bride of Frankenstein, but it is no one at all. The Mad Scientist theme is apparent in James Whales film. Henry Frankenstein is determined to create a human being. In the book Victor is so dedicated to his work that he does not tell a single soul about his experiments except for Walton, and that is only so he will continue in hunting the monster down and killing it. In the movies though, directors have given him assistants such as Fritz in the 1931, Frankenstein, and Igor in the 1974, Young Frankenstein. Shelley does not let Victor tell anyone, and no one even knows where he is half the time. In Kenneth Branaghs film, Victor does not meet Henry until he is away at school. Most of the time Henry knows everything that Victor is doing. Elizabeth actually travels to where Victor is and sees his laboratory that he is working in. She tells him that he cannot stay there, and Victor says that he has to. Elizabeth says, Even if it means you will die? and Victor says Yes (Branagh). Victor chooses death over his own life and better yet, over the monster not being created. In 1974 Mel Brooks directs the movie Young Frankenstein. He believes that scientists will never give up their attempts at bigger and better things and will always strive to do better than the last (Woodridge). Brooks has a young brain surgeon, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, inherit his grandfathers castle, which just happens to be Victor Frankenstein. He meets up with his assistant Igor, and together they create a human being after Frederick finds Victors diary in the castle. Mel Brooks really is not that far off the mark on scientists though. They kind of have to be like that in order to achieve everything they have so far. No one knows the exact risks that come with experimenting and in order to live life better we have to experiment. If we want to find a cure for cancer a few rats might have to die first and thousands of humans will die of cancer until some scientist out there finds a cure. Hundreds of astronauts had to risk their lives and crash their aircrafts before we finally bui lt one that would make it to the moon. Granted, this stuff has nothing to do with creating humans, but scientists are already trying to clone people. How does this make them any different from Victor Frankenstein? In the book titled Frankensteins Footsteps, author Jon Turney stresses that from its very first appearance in the 1818, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, it has taken on a life beyond the original book by being constantly retold in a variety of ways (Carter354). Frankenstein has been made into comedies such as the 1948, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and Al Adamsons 1971, Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Some directors have gone completely off track of the novel and created films like, Frankenstein: The College Years, Frankenweenie, and Frankenstein Island. In fact, Frankenstein is not even recognized as the last name of Victor anymore. The name Frankenstein is given to the monster now. No matter how many movies are created and how many translators try to translate Mary Shelleys classic novel, only one person holds the truth and that person has been dead for a very long time now. Im sure she is rolling in her grave now laughing at all the ways people have interpreted her book.

The Industrial Revolution in Late 19th Century Essay

The Industrial Revolution in Late 19th Century - Essay Example National Labour Unions were formed to respond to the manner in which people were being evacuated from their farms and an increase in industries led to a misunderstanding between labor and capital.Conversely, there was a rise of numerous challenges that led the state to implement some policies. Social Darwinism took center stage and it was survival of the fittest. The authority of wealthy business firms such as Rockefellers had a great influence on how the government made its policies. The rich had influence in the running of the government because their argument was that they contributed a lot to state revenue as compared to the poor. At first, markets were free, but soon it got complicated because well-established companies stamped authority on markets to the extent that small ones were being phased out. After an extensive investigation on the â€Å"robber barons,† the Sherman antitrust act was passed which focused on implementation of free trade. Though the act was poorly do cumented, it regulated the activities of worker's unions instead of countering monopolies practiced by the well-established firms. The act faced serious criticism and civil unrest until it was later amended to serve its intended purpose (Barney, 2007).The current economic prosperity and agricultural stability are as a result of a long journey the country has undergone to reach such heights. Much credit has been given to Abraham Lincoln who created the basis of the current democratic stability of the nation.

Discuss the relationships of the daughters to their fathers in Slyvia Essay

Discuss the relationships of the daughters to their fathers in Slyvia Plath's Daddy and Sharon Olds' The Chute - Essay Example ted by Sylvia Plath as expressed in her poem â€Å"Daddy† and Sharon Olds as seen in her poem â€Å"The Chute† struggle instead to communicate the complicated love/hate emotions they had for their fathers to very different effect. Plath’s â€Å"Daddy† is written in first person as a letter to her father, who has been dead for 20 years. Although it is not clear who the dominating figure of verse 1 has been, his identity and the concept that this is a letter emerges in the second verse, â€Å"Daddy, I have had to kill you, / You died before I had time† (6-7). The story that emerges in the subsequent lines is of a woman who has lived in fear and awe of her father for as long as she can remember. The fear is evident in her metaphor of him as â€Å"Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, / Ghastly statue with one gray toe / Big as a Frisco seal† (8-10). Later, she compares her fear of her father to the fear the Jews felt for the Nazis, seeing herself as being shipped off to the concentration camps and describing her father’s appearance in terms of the perfect Aryan. â€Å"But no less a devil for that, no not / Any less the black man who / Bit my pretty red heart in two† (54-56). Finally, her description of the man she married as the model of her father indicates his deep cruelty because he has a â€Å"love of the rack and the screw† (66). She ends the poem by indicating her father has been an evil vampire, sucking her life dry and finally buried with a stake in his heart to the delight of the villagers. Her beginning and end of the poem, each expressed in terms of anger and fear, leave no doubt that her fear outweighed any other emotions she had of her father. However, Plath also provides plenty of clues that her love for her father was almost as strong as her fear of him. Although she is writing against him, defying her fear of him, she seems almost breathless as she allows the thoughts of the poem to be interrupted by line breaks and allows one thought to blend almost

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 12

Sociology - Essay Example This globalization process has been strongly debated in the media, political and social circles for the past several years. If one includes colonialism as an ancestor of the process, one could say the debate has raged for generations. The International Monetary Fund defines globalization as â€Å"a historical process† involving â€Å"the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and financial flows† (International Monetary Staff 2002). Globalization is typically considered a necessary and unavoidable process leading to future world economic development. However, many have criticized the process because it tends to exacerbate present inequalities that exist within and between nations, threatens the employment and living standards of individuals in all countries and prevents the natural social progress with which each of these countries have been engaged. It seems clear that even though the process is unlikely to change or to reverse , very few people are likely to benefit from the process called globalization. The ways in which many organizations conduct business have changed dramatically under the concept of globalization. It is the survival strategy of the marketplace to continuously strive to increase efficiency within the workplace by producing the greatest quantity of products with the least expenditure of resources. As globalization continues, this is also changing the way in which companies conduct business, such as through the concept of the value-added chain. â€Å"In its most basic form, a value-added chain is ‘the process by which technology is combined with material and labor inputs, and the processed inputs are assembled, marketed, and distributed† (Gereffi, Humphrey & Sturgeon, 2005). By outsourcing many activities and production processes to less developed countries and marketing to more developed countries, many corporations have also

Analysis of the Housing Market in the UK

Analysis of the Housing Market in the UK Introduction For most people in the UK, as in other countries, the purchase of a house is the single largest expenditure they ever make. In contrast with other purchases, a house is not only something that provides highly desirable services – convenient and independent housing – but it is also the single largest element of household wealth. For homeowners, this asset motive for buying a house is becoming increasingly important. As a store of value, houses are increasingly becoming both a critical component in households’ long term financial planning as well as a basis for raising consumption. Just like possessing a portfolio of valuable stocks and bonds, owning a house whose market price amounts to greater wealth. It follows, then, that a change in the market value of a house will change the owner’s wealth, and, consequently, the owner’s consumption expenditure. While the housing market in the U.K. has experienced several dramatic phases in the past three decades[1], its behavior in the last decade or so is not only without precedence but it is also a reflection of a fundamental transformation in the economy’s financial system. Whether being labeled as the product of ‘irrational exuberance’[2] or being described as a ‘bubble’, housing market developments have spawned a wide body of thinking that is increasingly taking on a nervous tone – especially among economists. A quick survey of the macroeconomic literature related to the housing market reveals that the period from the late 1990’s to around 2004 saw a confluence of several phenomena that seem to be related via a series of strong theoretical linkages. Key among these are historically high levels of home-ownership and housing wealth, an extreme housing-price boom, a generously liberal credit regime, unanticipated levels of borrowing, the lowest interest rates in generations, massive consumption expenditures/dangerously low savings rates, general economic prosperity, and, a rising trend in bankruptcies and house possessions. The objective of this project is to highlight the linkage between housing wealth and consumption expenditures with special focus on the events of the last decade. Given the nature of macroeconomic linkages, it turns out that in order to study this relationship in the context of UK, it is necessary to tell an economic tale that incorporates all of the phenomena mentioned above. While there are rather straightforward theoretical reasons as to how and why the national housing wealth affects aggregate consumption, the historical and institutional realities of the financial industry, the changing consumer behavior with respect to credit, the evolving demography etc. have played an important role in shaping this relationship in the UK. Over two-thirds of UK households owned their home and it is typcially their biggest investment they make. At the aggregate level, housing wealth is now greater than the size of their financial holdings[3]) and it is distributed in a considerably more equitable manner across socioeconomic and demographic segments as compared to the latter. Such investments bring reasonable returns over the long term, and in the last five years house price appreciation has more than doubled the value of the stock. It follows, then, that changes in housing wealth have the potential, in theory, to have sizeable effects on consumption, GDP, unemployment etc. The theoretical mechanism by which changes in housing wealth are transmitted into consumer demand, called the ‘wealth effect’ (discussed in detail later in the paper), is of critical importance to the economy because its impulses also affect an array of other macroeconomic variables and processes. Clearly, the ability to draw on this major store of purchasing power has serious implications for the financial health and prosperity of homeowners and, hence, the economy. With respect to access to the ‘frozen’ housing equity, the UK experience has been uniquely successful as compared to those of almost all other OECD countries. A series of policy moves to deregulate and ‘liberalize’ lending practices resulted in democratizing the credit market such that loan products once provided to the privileged, became common-place. Households that had faced credit barriers could now affordably borrow large amounts thus unleashing the power of the wealth effect. Therefore, the ways in which UK households obtain and dispose off the equity is of particular interest to this study.[4] This paper is organized as follows: the next section lays out the key issues involved in this study; the third section discusses the theoretical and analytical matters concerning the wealth effect in the context of the recent UK housing boom; the fourth section surveys the empirical research in this area; the fifth section presents the empirical work done for the study, including a description of the findings from regression analysis using Microfit; and the last section offers some conclusions from the work. (There are graphs and figures associated with the text and they are appended at the end.) A Review of the Peculiar Issues and Macroeconomics of the UK Housing Market Nature of the boom With focus on the 1995-2004 period, this section lays out the key issues involved in understanding of the structure and strength of the relationship between housing wealth and consumption. At the outset it is necessary to have an overview of developments in UK’s housing market during the pertinent period to highlight the generation of housing wealth, the manner in which it is accessed in the form of equity, and channels of disbursement of the equity. The UK housing market became truly energized in the mid-to-late 1990’s, beginning with a property boom in the London area and then gradually spreading to virtually every region. Homeownership levels reached historic levels and so did the share of ‘buy-to-let’ residential investments in the country’s portfolio. Using data published by Halifax-Bank of Scotland, Graph 1 provides the salient market metrics: the price boom accelerated to push the price of the typical house from around  £61,000 in 1995 to over  £161,000 by 2004 – an increase of over 160%; not only was the speed and tenacity of housing prices unprecedented, the annualized percentage growth rate seem to rise with the level of prices. Far from being a localized phenomenon, this housing boom covered the entire UK, as Graph 2 demonstrates. While, the origin of the boom was in Greater London and the Southeast in the mid 1990’s, it quickly enveloped East Anglia and the Southwest. However, by 2001 the boom entered its most vigorous phase as it spread to the peripheral regions with prices almost doubling in a five-year period. Since most of the home purchases are financed through mortgages, the two variables that shape housing demand decisions are the interest rate and property prices. As it turned out, with historically low nominal lending rates (see discussion later), the home prices was the chief determinant behind purchases. The feeding frenzy that was the housing market pumped prices to such a level that placed typical accommodations out of reach of most would-be buyers. The Affordability Index, calculated as the ratio of housing prices to household disposable income, rose from 3.09 in 1995 to 5.45 in 2004. It is useful to note that higher aggregate housing wealth can be a product of a rise in housing prices and/or a growth in the stock of housing. As is displayed in Graph 3, the early 1980’s saw housing wealth grow due to a steady rise in prices while in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s we see stability in it despite declining prices. There was rising home ownership during all three intervals; in the early 1980’s it was engendered by the privatization of some public housing [5, p. 12] while the late 1980’s and early 1990’s it was due to stimulated demand spurred by declining prices and interest rates. With housing prices rising at around 20% per annum, vast slices of society saw the value of their homes reach unseen levels as the market injected equity. This store of equity was virtually a battery filled with purchasing power that was steadily getting charged by the market and that could be tapped into, if needed, to finance purchases. Halifax (2005) reports on it website that at the end of 2005, UK’s housing wealth reached a historic peak at  £3,408 billion which amounts to triple the figure in 1995 with the last five years seeing a 60% increase. As Graph 3 illustrates, since the mid-1990’s the unprecedented spurt in housing wealth can be attributed mainly to rising prices. Clearly, an index of housing prices is an excellent proxy for housing wealth. [5] What generated the price boom? As compared to the preceding 15 years, the last decade saw the housing market subjected to a variety of macroeconomic and financial forces. Following Her Majesty’s Treasury (2003) and Farlow (2004), one can identify demand- and supply-side factors responsible for shaping the current housing market. On the demand side, the key market forces were: According to Her Majesty’s Treasury (2003) the early 1980’s saw a sustained campaign of liberalization of the credit market that led to increased competition among banks and non-traditional lenders, rampant development of new credit products, and enhanced capacity of banks to create liquidity; all of which made obtaining housing loans easier and a more egalitarian process by lowering transaction costs. [6] Low and declining interest rates pushed down the cost of mortgage credit thereby stimulating housing demand; Macroeconomic prosperity with higher disposable income and lowered unemployment rates allowed for more purchasing power; Expectations of continuous expansion and future employment created an optimism among households Despite an ageing population, members of typical home-buying age-cohort (especially baby-boomers) saw their households grow, thus creating a greater demand for family housing; And lastly, the explosion in ‘buy-to-let’ purchases led to a massive speculative demand fueled by expectations of sustained housing price increases. On the supply side, the major market forces according to Farlow (2004) and Her Majesty’s Treasury (2003)were: a low price-elasticity of supply due to a combination of policy regulations, regional scarcity of land, and lags in obtaining licence/local approval; Scarcity of existing housing available for purchase i.e. low vacancy rate; Rising costs of construction, especially due to labour shortage and rising prices of materials. When a strong level of demand and a limited and inelastic housing supply are combined, one can see why prices have risen so quickly. Housing wealth vs. Financial Wealth To understand the rising significance of the recently acquired housing wealth, it is interesting to compare it with the ownership of financial assets in UK. Housing remains UK’s greatest asset with the total of shares, bonds, and cash amounting to  £1.6 trillion. In the past, financial assets pensions and holdings of shares, bonds, and bank accounts accounted for bulk of the nation’s wealth. However, recent history has created housing as the asset that is held more widely and equitably – across geographic regions, age cohorts, and income groups – than financial wealth. Pensions were clearly concentrated among the older age groups and the bulk of other financial assets were held largely by a small opulent minority. Data provided by National Statistics (www.statistics.gov.uk) and Her Majesty’s Treasury (2004) describe UK’s home ownership as widespread across all income and age categories with older segments having a larger rate. Whereas shares and bonds are owned largely by people in higher income groups – for obvious reasons – the housing boom has proved to be a moderating or equalizing force as all homeowners have benefited from rising property values.[7] The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2002) provides some supporting evidence in this respect. The study finds that because of the relatively even distribution of recent gains, housing wealth has become more important than non-pension financial wealth, especially in the 50+ age group. The following table shows that not only is the typical size of housing wealth ownership greater than net financial wealth (non-pension), but that it is far less concentrated across society as reflected by the lower inter-quartile ratio and lower Gini coefficient. Table 1. Net Housing Wealth approx. Net Financial Wealth – approx. Mean  £73,000  £44,000 Median  £52,000  £12,000 Inter-quartile ratio 5.14 69.3 Gini Coefficient 0.575 0.761 Source: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2002), IFS. The data shown in Graph 4 reveals though financial wealth had dominated all through the 1990’s, the rapid growth of housing wealth since the mid 1990’s coupled with the stock market bust has again placed the two neck and neck. Even with parity in value, the prominence that housing wealth commands in the national balance sheet is the consequence of its relatively equitable distribution and the fact that in spite of recent volatility in housing prices, it is historically far more reliable as an investment than the market value of corporate shares – the dominant component of financial assets. With growth in house prices outstripping the growth in mortgage debt, mortgage equity has increased from  £700 billion in 1995 to  £2.4 trillion at the end of 2005 – a 250% increase. In real terms, the last five years have seen the value of housing stock rise by over 60%. Thanks to housing values rising faster than mortgage debt in each of the last ten years, UK homeowners now have a greater financial buffer for leaner times. Ten years ago, the typical home was worth 2.8 times as much as the typical mortgage; at the end of 2005, this ratio had increased to 3.5, underlining the fact that the country has more equity than a decade ago. Tapping into housing wealth A survey of related literature from Bridges et al (2004), Davey (2001), Farlow (2004), Nickell (2004), and Salt and Macdonald (2004) reveals a variety of ways in households can access the equity stored in the residences. The manner in which a particular household harvests equity depends on the circumstances under which the action is taken. Table 2 below has categorized the possible scenarios. The table explains that households that continue to occupy their home can draw equity by re-mortgaging, i.e. borrow by treating their property as collateral. Households who move could access equity either by over-mortgaging the new home, or by buying a cheaper house in the new location, or by selling their house move to a rental unit (thereby liquidating their asset and obtaining the entire stock of equity). The last possibility covers cases where the owner id deceased or leaves the country, leading to the final sale of the house and the release of 100% of the equity. Table 2. Category of Homeowners Method of Extracting Equity Houseowners retaining possession Re-mortgaging: by taking out additional mortgage(s), borrowers could access equity up to a maximum percentage of value Houseowners that move Down-grading: these households move to a cheaper home, thereby harvesting the equity that equals the difference between the value of sale and the portion of mortgage that was owed Over-mortgaging: these households move to a new residence but manage to obtain a mortgage loan that exceeds the value of the new purchase. This typically occurs in regional markets where there is strong expectations of continuous property-value appreciation Final sale with return to rental: some households sell their houses in order to move to a rental property ostensibly due to either lack of affordability (those with diminished earnings) or convenience (mostly the elderly and the infirm) Households in which the owner(s) are deceased Final sale: when the owners dies, the property is sold with the receipts being used for purposes other than purchase of a house Having harvested the equity, how a given household’s chooses to allocate it across possible uses depends on a range of socio-economic and demographic factors like income level, family size, amount and composition of wealth, age(s) of the members, their geographical location, and even their ethnicity. The following section provides a detailed discussion of the conversion of equity into a specific one use – consumption. Housing wealth and the consumption function: Theory, Analysis, and UK Evidence In this section we begin with outlining the macroeconomic theory behind the consumption function with special reference to the wealth effect. The aim is to both explain the causal relationships behind the various ways in changes in the housing market can impact consumption as well as to identify the factors and circumstances under which the wealth effect might be weakened. The issues in this discussion are with explicit reference to the specific case of the UK. The original Keynesian consumption function was presented as: C = a + bYd(1) Where C denotes real consumption, ‘a’ is the autonomous consumption expenditures, ‘b’ is the parameter symbolizing the marginal propensity to consume (hereafter, mpc) that was postulated as being a constant fraction, and Yd the real disposable income. Shifts in the consumption function are considered as being caused by ‘shocks’ or changes in variables other than Yd. Given the historical period when Keynes first conceived this relationship, it is not surprising that income was the chief driver of consumer spending. Presumably, because wealth was highly concentrated within the aristocracy and credit was a privilege for the few, Keynes decided to lump all non-income influences on consumption into the autonomous term. Over time, with growing sophistication of macroeconomic theory and of market-based economies in general, the consumption function came to be recognized as the following general formulation: C = Æ’(Yd, Real Interest Rate, Price Level, Wealth, Expectations)(2) This explicitly recognized the influence of, among other variables, wealth on consumption decisions, i.e. the wealth effect. However, the formulation stuck with the original assumption of the mpc being constant. That, after all, was acceptable because Keynes’s thinking was anchored in short run considerations and the assumption of unchanging consumers’ sensitivity to income changes was consistent with the model. However, empirical testing of the formulation revealed that not only did the mpc vary with the length of time over which the estimation was conducted (it increased with time), but that its value tended to approach one. This certainly cast a cloud over the consumption function’s relevance and reliability in terms of explaining behaviour.[8] With new thinking about consumption expenditures and about the time-horizon over which a household’s economic decisions were made, two new theories emerged. The Life Cycle Hypothesis (LCH)[9] and the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH)[10] both began from the fundamentally un-Keynesian assumption that households make decisions based on their assessment of not only the present but also the anticipated or likely future circumstances. In addition, both also held that rational spending and hence saving decisions necessarily involved long term planning – plausibly for rainy days, growth in family size, and old age. According to Miller (1996) and Gordon (2003), the LCH assumes that permanent incomes are determined over the entire lifetime of the consumer, with allowance for a transitory element that depends on the consumer’s professional status. While the lifetime-oriented income could rise or fall in response to changes in productivity and unexpected events, consumption is smoothed and maintained at an even keel with dissaving (or borrowing) making up any shortfall in spending power. Similarly, in boom periods households save and accumulate purchasing power as wealth for future use. The long term level of income is assumed to follow a smooth path. Clearly, wealth plays a critical part in this model as the household accumulates savings in periods when smoothed consumption is below income. Similarly, as needed, wealth is accessed or made liquid for spending when planned consumption exceeds earnings.[11] The theoretical significance of the LCH – which forms the basis of much of the empirical research reviewed – is easy to see because the way it explicitly incorporates the wealth effect into the household’s lifetime decision horizon with respect consumption, it makes it convenient to model housing wealth. Like the stylized household in the model that begins income-earning phase of her life with modest income and some debt (incurred because of current consumption expenditures exceeding lifetime income), the typical new homeowner is relatively young with a mortgage debt that is several times her annual income and little in terms of savings. Over time, in the absence of tumultuous booms, population and income growth in the economy lead to a steady rise in property values and mortgage equity accumulates. With growing needs for durables, the homeowner then has the possibility of ‘cashing in’ some of the stored housing wealth when current income and savings prove inadequate, much in the same way as the theoretical consumer enters a life-phase during which dissaving takes place. The key idea here is that just like the accumulated housing equity is part of purchasing power for the lifetime, the consumption decision also cannot be inconsistent with a long term budgetary process. This model also suggests that there are periods (or life phases) in the household’s lifetime when wealth is accumulated and when it is used up in the form of consumption. This clearly defines when and under what circumstances mortgage equity is spent. For a young family that continues to occupy a house, the prime motivation is to accumulate equity and harvest it for emergencies or for planned increases in spending that are in balance with expected lifetime earnings which presumably are adjusted for the debt service associated with the additional mortgage. This scenario is consistent with, say, a home improvement project that allows for a larger or growing family or with purchase of durables for a similar purpose. For older homeowners who are approaching retirement or are actually retired, withdrawing equity is consistent with their position in the ‘life-cycle’. Since the income stream is either expected to end or has ended, spending decisions warrant the use of sa vings and/or mortgage equity withdrawals (MEW). Critical to this model is how it treats the rapidly accumulated wealth gains due to a market-driven housing price boom like UK just experienced. Analyzing the housing wealth effect in the context of the LCH, Bridges et al (2004) liken the rise in housing wealth to raising the household’s lifetime budget constraint. Assuming easy access to credit, they identify two pertinent theoretical relationships: one between housing price increases and the lifetime incomes of the wealthier households and the other between housing wealth and the newly acquired debt obligations of the re-mortgaging households. In theory, then, higher housing prices generate wealth effects depending on whether or not the price change is interpreted as permanent or temporary. If households perceive the gains to be permanent or unlikely to be reversed by a sudden housing bust (like what the UK witnessed in the 1980’s and early 1990’s), then it amounts a rise in lifetime income and higher consumpti on expenditures induced by it are ‘allowed.’ On the other hand if the price (and wealth) increases are due to random market activity and will most likely be followed by a decline, then the realized buildup of mortgage equity ought to be regarded as a temporary development and no serious consumption outlays need be planned to spend it. LCH holds that households that are pleasantly surprised by equity gains and choose to borrow against it for extravagance or pleasure spending are fully aware of the future debt-service implications and have made the necessary budgetary calculations that reveal that these actions related to the wealth-effect are compatible with their lifetime income. Curiously, O’Sullivan and Hogan (2003) report that Ireland also experienced a housing boom (though not as extreme as the one in UK), but that there were no signs of a wealth effect. This was presumably because Irish consumers did not put much faith in the housing market’s longevit y and construing the recent price gains as transitory, let the accumulated equity stay ‘frozen.’ However, it is possible that there were indeed impulses related to a housing wealth effect but simultaneously counteracting forces offset it, resulting in generally unchanged aggregate consumption.[12] The above discussion opens up three related and important issues: (i) the process by which accumulated housing wealth translates into consumption expenditure, i.e. the anatomy of the wealth effect in the housing context, (ii) the implications of multiple possible uses of MEW for the strength of the wealth effect, and (iii) other macroeconomic factors that can offset the wealth effect or perhaps prevent it from materializing. Anatomy of the Housing Wealth Effect There are two channels through which homeowners are able to raise their consumption via the wealth effect. As explained above, one way for homeowners to convert their housing wealth is by harvesting mortgage equity MEW. Table 2 outlined the variety of ways in which households obtain equity. Benito and Power (2004), Bridges et al (2004), and Davey (2001) provide insight into how MEW has become a major source of consumer financing in the UK. Graph 5 clearly shows the close relationship between housing prices and MEW[13]. Throughout the last three decades, except for the 2003-2004 interval, UK’s homeowners have reacted to the housing market’s wealth rewards. As Davey (2001) explains, MEW was relatively unimportant in the 1970’s but rose sharply in the following decade. In the early 1980’s despite a recession, MEW climbed because the period coincided with the privatization of public housing. The first half of 1990’s, however, saw a steep decline in hou seholds use of withdrawn equity.In fact there was a brief period when there was a net injection of equity into the housing stock. It could be argued that this was a reflection of a rational economic behaviour on the part of homeowners’ as they assessed a downward trend in housing prices as being detrimental to their long term finances. With a declining value of their housing wealth, UK’s homeowners cut back on withdrawals. Since the mid-1990’s price boom, that downward trend in MEW was quickly reversed. This period saw MEW grow faster than housing prices hinting at the possibility of a overly optimistic body of borrowers who expected housing prices and equity accumulation to continue rising at an ever increasing rate. Since at least part of the MEW is withdrawn by homeowners re-mortgaging their houses (see Table 2), this translates into loans secured by their properties. Halifax – BOS (2005) offer compelling evidence in this respect. They report that in 2 004, total gross lending secured by dwellings was an astronomical  £291 billion – 4% more than the previous year. The figure that was a mere  £57 billion in 1995, doubled by 1999 and with growth rates sometimes exceeding 35% had risen to five times that level in 2004. This monumental withdrawal can be interpreted as a major windfall for the homeowners who suddenly found themselves swimming in an ocean of purchasing power made available by the housing market. The other channel through which housing wealth engenders greater purchasing power in the hands of homeowners is comparatively subtle mechanism. Bridges et al (2004) discuss in great detail, how even without using their property s collateral, homeowners have gained access to ever rising amounts of unsecured credit. The rising value of housing wealth was interpreted by banks and other lenders as indicative of greater borrowing ability, i.e. greater creditworthiness. Naturally, this perception of the lenders was shaped, in part, by expectations of continuous a housing boom. A side implication of this phenomenon is that homeownership in the UK had become a screening device or filter for lenders’ decisions about whom to consider for loans. It follows that this would place renters at a disadvantage with respect to access to credit. Several studies, including Bridges at al (2004) have cited evidence of homeowners being supplied credit on terms far more favorable than those offered to non-owners. It can be reasonably expected that a large portion of the unsecured borrowing was directed toward consumption. Critical to both these channels is the issue of the ease with homeowners are able to obtain credit in lieu of their housing wealth. The mere existence of mortgage equity must be complemented with an efficient system to gain access to it for the wealth effect to take place. Benito (2004), Bridges et al (2004), and Her Majesty’s Treasury (2003) all stress that the liberalization of UK’s financial system that began in 1979 (see footnote 6 in Sec. 2) has been instrumental in creating a credit market that has facilitated the historic levels of MEW. With rising competition among banks and building societies and tremendous product innovation, the lending industry has created a series of affordable and accessible ways in which homeowners can obtain credit. All three studies portray the boom in housing prices and MEW in the UK as unique as compared to all other OECD economies. The coincidence of rising housing prices created huge reserves of withdrawable mortgage equity and supply-side changes in the form of lower restrictions on lending practices and other financial reform is responsible for the explosion in MEW sin