Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Analysis

Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Analysis Were transported to seventeenth century Spain for what has been called the greatest opera ever composed Don Giovanni! From the initial thundering chords of the breathtaking overture, this opera is filled with sexual heat, thrilling music and dramatic action. Indeed more action takes place in scene one of Don Giovanni, than that of most operas. Within the first fifteen minutes alone; a disgruntled servant, an attempted rape, a dual, a murder, a grieving daughter, and an oath of vengeance ensnare the audience! Our story properly begins in the early seventeenth century, when the character Don Juan made his stage debut in a three act play titled El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) the play was first performed in Madrid around 1624, but published in 1630. It appears under the name of a playwright named Tirso de Molina; however this was actually the pseudonym of a Roman Catholic monk named Gabriel Tà ©llez. It was most likely written to present the issue of morality in relation to Don Juans amorous excesses. In seventeenth century Italy, it was a favorite story of the commedia dellarte. Molià ¨re wrote a play on the subject in Paris in 1655. And rather go on decade be decade, well hop forward to 1787. A key year, not for Mozarts Don Giovanni, but for the first performance in the city of Venice of an opera called Don Giovanni Tenorio, o sia Il convitato di pietra (Don Giovanni and the Stone Guest) the composer of this 1787 version was Gi useppe Gazzaniga and the Libretto was by Giovanni Bertati. The next person Id like to introduce to this picture is Lorenzo da Ponte; the great court poet in Vienna. Mozart had known of Da Ponte for a while. Four years earlier in 1783, when Mozart was relatively new in Vienna, he writes home to his father from Vienna that hes after Da Ponte to write a libretto for him, but he is so busy writing original opera libretti for some composers and adapting pre-existing libretti for other composers, it would be actually more than two years before Mozart could pin down Da Ponte to work with him. When he did, Da Ponte provided him with the libretto for their first collaboration the Marriage of Figaro. It was composed between October of 1785 and April 1786 and was premiered in Vienna. It received success for a limited time, before other productions came to take its place. But as interest in Figaro waned in Vienna, there was another city that was crazy about the Marriage of Figaro and that city is Prague. (Which at that time, it was the second most impor tant musical centre in Europe) Mozart went to Prague in January of 1787; it marked the beginning of a passionate relationship between him and Prague. Among other things Mozart conducted a performance of Figaro at the Opera house during his stay. On the seventeenth of January he writes to his friend and student Baron Gottfried von Jacquin he says; I saw with the greatest pleasure all the people in the ballroom dancing with such delight to the music of my Figaro. For here in Prague nothing is talked of but Figaro, nothing is played sung or whistled but Figaro No opera is drawing like Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro. Certainly a great honor for me! On foot of the success of Figaro, comes a commission of an opera for the following season (nine months time). That opera would be Don Giovanni, which was written to be premiered in Prague as part of the celebrations for the marriage of the Archduchess Maria Theresa (niece of the Emperor Joseph II) to Prince Anton Clemens of Saxony. Mozart was delighted to accept this new commission and, naturally asked Da Ponte to join him on the project. As it happened, Da Ponte was already heavily committed, working on two librettos Tarare (for Salieri) and Larbore di Diana (for Martin y Soler). But he too was greatly attracted by the occasion and he was strongly drawn to the subject matter (his friendship with Casanova, was now about to pay dividends) this is what Da Ponte himself says about his choice of subject for Mozart For Mozart I chose Don Giovanni a theme which appealed to me enormously. In working on Don Giovanni, I shall think of Dantes hell This is a wonderful image, the great Lorenzo da Ponte, court poet of Vienna, the great operatic librettist. You picture him sitting, inspired by, reflecting on, and plunging into the depths and the mysteries of Dante. The very simple fact is, he was probably thinking a lot more about the libretto that Bertati had written for Gazzaniga in Venice. Da Ponte knows about that libretto and its very clear that he draws very freely from it, hes not about to write something from scratch if he doesnt have to. But in fairness to Da Ponte everything he touches gets better, which in artistic circles is what you like to see happening he borrows and repays the debt with interest. So back to the chronicle of Don Giovanni and its main character; this is a particularly concise sketch of the quintessential Don Juan character; he is the epitome of the modern age, an expansive type who is determined to enjoy the world, Immeasurably self aware, defiant of all forms of authority and opposed to all higher order he is in effect a corporate C.E.O.! Beethoven although he greatly admired the music of this opera, he very famously stated the he could not bring himself to write an opera on a subject so immoral as either Figaro or Don Giovanni .However. this is not to say that Mozart shared Don Giovannis moral values. In a letter Mozart writes to his father shortly after he arrives in Vienna he says the voice of nature speaks as loud in me as it does in others, louder perhaps, but I simply cannot live as most men do these days, in the first place; I have too much religion, in the second place; too great a love of my neighbor and too high a feeling of honor to seduce an innocent girl and then in the third place; I have too much horror and disgust, too much dread and fear of diseases Mozart; an eighteenth century practitioner of safe sex.who knew? Now, taking a look at the opera, theres been a lot of critical discussion over the years. Musicologists and critics of all types have written extensively about Don Giovanni and one central issue that always seems to appear is the question Is it a tragic opera? (opera Seria) or is it a comic opera?(opera Buffa) and the simple fact is that what it really comes down to is that it is both! And the strength is that it can be both of them, the juxtaposition of the tragic and the comic heightens the effect of both. This said, its not simply the alternation between tragic and comic but the fact that Mozart is often able to have both facets displayed simultaneously. In this regard he has the ideal collaborator in the form of Lorenzo Da Ponte, because Da Ponte is often praised by his admirers for his ability to interweave the tragic and the comic elements. Its interesting to note that Mozart himself labeled this opera as a drama giocoso (Playful drama) which reflects what he understands the op era to be. To give an example of the juxtaposition between the tragic and the comic I first have to give you a sense of Mozarts gifts of characterization, because that is what a great opera composer has to have at his or her disposal. The ability not only to delineate a character in music, sometimes in the instrumental music even before they open their mouths to sing, but also the ability to somehow express different emotional states of that character in the course of the opera. So to give an example of a contrast of emotional states; the duet that follows the death of the Commendatore, his daughter Donna Anna is quite understandably upset and agitated. Her betroved Don Ottavio is much more in control and in their music you hear their emotional states she is agitated and he is calmer. Heres what they sound like in their duet: Track 1 You dont have to understand what theyre singing in Italian to realize that shes agitated and hes calmer because you hear it reflected in what they sing. If you talk about the expression of powerful emotions in music, which is something that also matters here. To begin with one thing you should know about Mozart, is that he was very much a man of the classic period; in which elegance, balance, restraint and proportion were the stock and trade of the composer. This also extended to his representation of strong emotions. Theres a famous letter that he writes to his father, when he is composing his first Viennese stage work The abduction from the soraleo in which there is a surly gate keeper at the poshes palace whose name is Ozmide, he has an aria of rage directed at a man whos trying to rescue his girlfriend form the heron and Mozart writing to his father says yes the emotions that are expressed here are extreme, but the music must never lose itself Thats one thing you have to recognise, there will be later operatic composers who will go over the top with their music, when the emotions go over the top, but the musical range within whic h Mozart operates, suggests that even at the most extreme, emotions never lose the propriety of the music that is expressing them. The musical range is different from what you might encounter in Wagner or in Twentieth century but Mozart knows exactly what hes doing and the shading of these levels is what its all about. Now in act two of Don Giovanni its Don Ottavio who swears vengeance for the death of the Commendatore he sings the aria il mio tesoro the text begins go and console my treasure and try to dry the tears from her lovely eyes. I mention this aria because I want you to hear a little of what many consider to be the finest recording of it ever made, which is interesting because it was recorded in 1916 by the great Irish tenor John McCormack: Track 2 Weve really set the stage now for what I mentioned earlier about the juxtaposition of the tragic and the comic elements. After the duet you heard earlier, Don Giovanni and Leperello (Dons Servant) return to the stage and we return to the Opera Buffa style. Donna Elvira then sings a very serious and dramatic aria, its important to note that in every aria except this one by Donna Elvira, the singer is addressing someone else on the stage. This makes her aria the operatic equivalent of a dramatic soliloquy. It is intense, and yet the intensity is undercut by the fact that the fact that Don Giovanni and Leperello are off to the side of the stage eavesdropping and making comments about what she has to say: Track 3 What makes this convention even more elegant is that the places where Don Giovanni and Leperello are making their side comments are exactly the places where you would normally have an orchestral refrain punctuating what shes saying. So hes using the conventional form, but hes twisting it slightly which again undercuts the dramatic intensity. Now back to the original play by Tirso de Molina, if you take a look at that you find that at the end Don Juan with his dying breath says that Elvira is virgo intacta (a virgin) which makes her the only woman in the original play who gets through untouched. In Da Pontes libretto though, things are very different. As a matter of fact another recurring theme in the critical analyses of this opera is; overwhelming lack of success on behalf of the title character. Legendary loverà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.wheres it happening? Heres a compilation of comments on this subject made through the years: 1924 The action portrays anything but a successful sexual adventurer 1867 The cheerful tone that runs through the whole opera depends chiefly on the repulses with which the hero is continually made on the field of the heroic deeds 1954 Of all the Don Juans of literature and of drama, that of Da Ponte is professionally the most futile Irvin Singer You can understand Don Giovanni as a professional Athlete with a very high batting average. That he encounters frustrations within the opera, simple shows how difficult the sport is 1967 Every time Don Giovanni is absent from the stage you should consider a conquest is taking place. We are accustomed to crime detection in prose; this is sin detection with all the major clues in the music and plenty of others in the Italian It would seem like the last authors interpretation is at odds with the intentions of our librettist Mr. Da Ponte, I say that because in that libretto that Giovanni Bertati wrote for Gazzaniga the conquests are explicit and overt. Lorenzo da Ponte decides that he will tone down the obviousness of the amorous conquests in his version of the story. We believe in his seductive powers by virtue of what he says and how he sings it, which of course is what opera is all about. The duet la ci darem la mano is an example of Don Giovannis seductive capabilities: Track 4 A man named Edward Dent (Who wrote a famous book on Mozart Operas) he says After Don Giovanni himself, by far the most interesting character would be Donna Elvira One of her finest moments is very interesting musically because it is Mozart specifically stepping out of the style of his time and stepping back to the style of Handel. Often you would find a composer in any period to be somewhat conservative in their musical style if theyre writing sacred music; the idea of reaching back and evoking a certain timelessness and archaic quality that serves the text. Well here were in the course of an opera, but its clear that he probably wants to make this come across like a sermon because what shes singing is flea the traitor, dont listen to what he says, his lips are lying ones, his eyes deceiving and he crafts it in the style of a Handel aria: Track 5 And then just another indication of the music variety you find here a very simple tune Batti Batti (Beat me, beat me) is rendered less trivial by an obligato solo cello: Track 6 The effectiveness of that cello leads us into the whole question of orchestral colour. When we think of the drama and the power of Mozarts music the first thing of course that comes to mind of course is melody, the most inescapable part of an operas score. But then theres the harmony which we sometimes dont think about as much as the melody but also exerts a powerful influence, but also orchestration; the use of varying colours in varying situations, which even if were not thinking about consciously exerts a very powerful subliminal effect on us. Heres a very nice example; orchestral colour used to literally paint an island of repose in the trio proteggia if giusto cielo (may just heaven protect my determined heart) the strings drop out and the singers are accompanied only by the winds. You can really get the sense that you are somewhere else: Track 7 But the most important instrumental point of interest has to do with trombones. In Mozarts time, trombones generally belonged to church music and not to the theatre. As far as their use in symphonic music it is not until Beethovens fifth symphony (twenty one years later) that the trombone made its first appearance in a symphony. So to put yourself in the shoes of the Prague audience I know trombones but I think of them as belonging to the church so how does he use them here? Mozart associates them with the statue of the commendatore, the statue that is going to come to life, and when it comes to life in the graveyard scene thats when the trombones appear. You can be sure the audience in those days were terrified: Track 8 And when the statue comes to Don Giovannis banquet he brings his trombones: Track 9 When the statue that has come to life shows up with his trombones, the music is not new to us because weve already heard it in the overture, and what is very, very significant about this; it is the only time in Mozarts entire operatic career that he writes an overture that begins with a slow introduction. The obvious reason why he does it in this case is because he wants to give us a taste of that terrifying music at the very beginning: Track 10 Its interesting to note that the night before the premiere of Don Giovanni; Mozart had to stay up all night to write the overture which according to a member of his orchestra had not even been sketched! Another wonderful point of interest, a very famous passage in Don Giovanni, which is a reflection of Mozarts experience writing dance music for the ballrooms of imperial Vienna that is where he simultaneously gives us three different dances representing three different levels of society. Mozart who we all know could work things out in his head and spew it out on the paper without effort actually made sketches for this, it was something he actually had to think about. Its the same effect that Charles Ives is going to create somewhat later. The idea of standing in a certain place with different ensembles playing, you hear them simultaneously and the soundscape is the composite of three different elements. This is what it sounds like in Don Giovanni: Track 11 Now thats simultaneous combination, Id like to also tell you about a kind of consecutive juxtaposition of things which is very interesting, it represents a little of the in humour of whats going on here; we are almost at the end of the opera, and were in the banquet hall of Don Giovanni whose own personal orchestra is playing. The first tune they play is the act one finale of Martin y Solers (one of Mozart contemporaries, and another composer asking Da Ponte for a liberetto) opera Una cosa rara so youll hear the acknowledgement of cosa rara: Track 12 Then they play an excerpt from an opera of another one of his contemporaries named i due littiganti by Sarti. Leperello cheers the selection, Don Giovanni simply tells him to pour more wine: Track 13 There is a basic rule of humour or comedy writing that is; set up, set up and punch line, Mozart knows how to do that! We have something by Martin, something by Sarti, the third thing that Don Giovannis orchestra plays is non piu andrai from the Marriage of Figaro. Now of course every single person in that audience in Prague would have immediately recognised it from the first few notes because as we know these were the tunes to which they were singing, whistling, humming, dancing etc. these were the tunes that took over Prague before Don Giovanni! How does Leperello respond he says I know that tune troppo (too well): Track 14 Since Ive already given away the ending of the opera, I will play some of the music that accompanies Don Giovannis descent into hell.through a trap door in the stage, which is a lesson to all of us to beware of trap doors in stages, because you know where they lead! Again with orchestral effects and an offstage chorus, it absolutely terrified the audiences of Mozarts time: Track 15 Theres a famous story told of a somewhat out of shape Don who got stuck in the trap door on the way down, and no matter what he did, he couldnt push himself either way, at which point someone in the audience yelled out Hurray boys, hells full! Id like to close by posing and answering a question, obvious in the light of the history that Ive provided you with, and that is; after it was performed in Prague, how did Don Giovanni fair in Vienna? Well seven months after the triumphant performances in Prague, it premiered in Vienna, but unfortunately the reception was somewhat cool. The Emperor said to Da Ponte The opera is divine, I would even venture that it is more beautiful that Figaro but such music is not meat to the teeth of my Viennese and the story goes that Da Ponte relayed this message back to Mozart and his reply was well let them chew on it. So Happy Chewing!

Suffering and Salvation in Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov Essays

Suffering and Salvation in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov  Ã‚   Condemned to be shot by a firing squad for radical ideas, the author of The Brothers Karamazov once found himself seconds away from death, only to be granted a reprieve moments before the firing. Although only a method intended to teach him a lesson, the trick had quite a harrowing effect on Dostoevsky. After his close encounter with death, Dostoevsky underwent a total change, and so all of his new notions became a part of "The Brothers Karamazov", which he wrote at the end of his life. For example, once he reexamined his values he began to reject the blindly accepted Russian beliefs. Spiritually, he altered so much that he emerged with the prophetic belief that the world's salvation relied upon the people of Russia. He believed Russia would dominate the world and thus felt that her children needed to be harbored with this theory. Also, he began to develop theories about the role of suffering as man's sole means of salvation. All of these beliefs, through either characters or events, are reflected in this 19th century classic. Even before this firing squad incident, when his father was slaughtered by serfs, Dostoevsky was haunted by and obsessed with the idea of death, which became the subject of all his novels, including his masterpiece, "The Brothers Karamazov". From the first page of the novel, Fyodor is presented as a vulgar beast, which dissolves any sympathy for him when he is murdered. Although the father of Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha, he is a true father to neither of them; in fact, the only person to whom he is any sort of parental figure is his bastard son Smerdyakov. Dmitri, the fierce sensualist, is an impulsive man who quarrels with Fyodor reg... ...inty, and so the strength of his beliefs is doubled, perhaps even tripled. Like the personalities of "The Brothers Karamazov", the characters of any well-written piece become extremely significant to the reader. In that case, it becomes vital for the reader to know the fates of these characters, who are known almost intimately, and their destinies[1] are highly anticipated. In "The Brothers Karamazov", the reader wants to know, for example, if Ivan will ever answer his questions, how Alyosha will lead his life, and if Dmitri will be convicted for a crime he didn't commit. By having these fates determined through cognitive events, these occurrences become some of the most memorable of Dostoevsky's novel, which itself becomes psychoanalogical. Thus, "The Brothers Karamazov" has become one of the greatest novels ever written and a true psychological masterpiece.

The Revolution in Russia Essay -- Russian Russia History

The Revolution in Russia In the last years of World War I a Revolution in Russia overthrew the Tsar and eventually led to the establishment of the world's first avowedly Communist state. The Soviet Union that rose out of the ashes of the Russian Empire would play a critical role in the events of the remainder of the century. A useful way of understanding the course of the Russian Revolution in 1917 is to compare it to a wildfire. In this metaphor, the instability of late Imperial Russia and the deep dissatisfaction of large segments of its population provided plentiful fuel for the fire that was sparked by the disastrous course of the First World War. Although the vast majority of the population was initially cheered when the Imperial government went up in flames, moderates soon began to worry that they too would be consumed if the blaze was allowed to spread. Their caution backfired, however, as they gradually lost the respect and trust of the population. As their authority broke down, the inferno spread out of control, benefiting radicals willing to go along with the growing anarchy and support the demands of the people. The militant Bolshevik Party was the group best able to ride the firestorm into power, which they seized in the famous October Revolution. They went along with the revolution until it burned itself out, and were then able to consolidate their position as the absolute rulers of the country. Dead Wood Despite being one of the world's largest, most powerful and most feared nations, late Imperial Russia rested on unstable foundations. The peasantry, the industrial workers and progressives were all deeply dissatisfied. Moreover, they had little hope of improving their situation through peaceful means. ... ...206. 12 Figes, People's Tragedy, 360. 13 Ibid., 430. 14 This phrase is often attributed to either Lenin or his associate Leon Trotsky. 15 1917 god v derevne Vospominaniia krestian (Moscow, 1967), 3 16 Except for a temporary decline during the harvest period. See Lazar Volin, A Century of Russian Agriculture: From Alexander II to Khrushev (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970), 125. 17 1917 god v derevne, 3 18 Ibid., 4. 19 Figes, People's Tragedy, 433-434. 20 N. N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution, ed. Joel Carmichael (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 470. 21 See David Schaich, The Bolsheviks, the Masses, and October for further discussion. 22 History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1960), 260-261. 23 See David Schaich, The Bolsheviks, the Masses, and October for further discussion.

Joseph Stalin :: essays research papers

Joseph Stalin’s official reign of terror ended with his death in 1953, but the effects of his autocratic rule continued for many years to follow. His lasting hold on the people of the former Soviet Union still lingers in a few brainwashed minds. In the article "Stalin’s Afterlife" and the movie "Russia’s War - Blood Upon the Snow", Stalin is portrayed as the monster really was and should be remembered as. It said in "Stalin’s Afterlife" that "Stalin’s policies created a holocaust greater than Hitler’s.", which unbelievably is true. The horror of the crimes Joseph Stalin committed against his own people is appalling. For example, Stalin’s plan for collectivization resulted in the death of twenty million people. The great five-year plan to turn the peasant farmers into one, huge farming community brought on famine, starvation and eventually death to twenty million peasant farmers. Another atrocity that Stalin was responsible for was the forced labor camps known as Gulags. "...the murderous forced labor camps of the Gulag archipelago - victimized tens of millions of innocent men, women, and children for more than 20 years." Millions of people were sent to the Gulag camps from 1939 through 1953, for the crime of doing absolutely nothing. There were "...eight million souls (a conservative estimate) who languished in Soviet concentration camps every year between 1939 and 1953." under the horrible conditions at the Gulags. Every year Stalin, in his paranoia sent millions of people off to their deaths. "Russia’s War - Blood Upon the Snow" brought into view a more detailed, personal account of Stalin’s atrocities. People recalling memories they had of what it was like to live under Stalin’s paranoid rule. During his five-year plans to become a more industrialized nation, Stalin had thousands of people forced into building the White Sea Canal. They were made to continue working until they dropped from exhaustion. When it was completed in 1933 the workers who were still left were drowned in the canal. Another paranoid act Stalin ordered to be carried out was the murder of over a thousand members of the seventeenth congress. When Stalin held a vote to elect who the general secretary would be, three hundred votes were against him. He feared that he would be overthrown by Sergei Kirov, who only received three votes against him. Joseph Stalin, over a short period had Kirov murdered as well as one thousand out of nineteen hundred sixty-six committee membe rs and ninety-eight out of one hundred and thirty-nine central committee members.

Love as Joyous Essay

Both Plath and the Metaphysical Poets show love as joyous by suggesting a strong physical intimacy between themselves and their lovers. Donne, known for his hedonistic ways tried to seduce his lady in the poem ‘To his mistress going to bed† by relating her undressing to a holy analogy. â€Å"Hallowed temple†¦ heaven†¦ paradise†¦ Angels† gives a sense of purity about the relationship and emphasises the innocence in that the love they are about to share is purely between them. Along with this, in order to fortify the intimacy felt during love making Donne uses polysemic terms such as â€Å"My mine of precious stones† which not only displays mine as a first person possessive pronoun- perhaps showing pride in the possession he has over his mistress- but also the mine that is her genitals- the new land he is yet to discover. Similarly Plath uses polysemantic terms as a way of showing the exclusivity in her relationships in the poem ‘Ariel , specifically referring to the apparent lesbian affair she had soon after her and Ted Hughes split ‘ – † The child’s cry melts in the wall† not only suggests that when with her alleged lesbian partner she’s free for the burden of motherhood and can just focus on their passion but also that when being in a homosexual relationship the possibilities of conceiving a child are none an therefore there is no-one else to detract from the bond and overwhelming desire that the 2 have for each other. Plath also represents this intimacy by using metaphorical imagery such as â€Å"White Godiva† which indicates the female naked freedom while also subtly protesting against her husband by portraying this great female symbol. Plath also uses imagery to intensify the passion she feels in love making with another woman – † The brown arc of the neck† and † into the red eye† suggest the vagina and feminists would argue that Plath portrays the orgasm as † Foam to the wheat glitter of seas† which exaggerates the intimacy experienced when the 2 are at their most vulnerable naked states. Along with this both Plath and the Metaphysicals display the joyous love by the overwhelming of emotions that it creates. In Donne’s poem † To his Mistress Going To Bed† the whole poem is written in one stanza with its contents being ridden with enjambment â€Å"we easily know By this these Angels from an evil sprite:†. This shows the feelings Donne has as not being able to express them fast enough as, as he’s seducing her, so many emotions are being created – at the foremost frustration and lust. At the time, Donne was known for being debauched and this excitement and unable to contain his feeling emphasises how much he risked in order to sleep with the woman. The use of plosives such as â€Å"Behind before, above, between, below† represent the transactional and heightening strength of the emotion whilst the caesura in the line suggests Donne needs to pause after the words to try and calm himself down from all the overwhelming urges and desires he has for his mistress. As Donne was a child genius and was working in law by the time he was 17 he was popular with the ladies, and so when a woman such as the one he’s addressing in the poem doesn’t succumb to his epicurean ways so easily, his emotions flair and overwhelm him into an almost plea for her to make love with him. Plath also uses linguistic features in portraying the overbearing love and excitement she has for her first child to be born. â€Å"You’re† is a poem written during her pregnancy of her first child Frieda. She uses the phrase â€Å"Vague as fog and looked for like mail† to represent the anticipation and urgency she has to meet her new child. However, this is a homophone and mail could also mean â€Å"male† as in the absence of her husband Ted Hughes who was rarely around. At the time she was having relationship issues with Ted and building a new everlasting love bond with her new child and so the conflict in positive and negative emotions at the time would have certainly been overwhelming. The fog in this phrase represents the uncertainty and space between the mother and the gestating baby which may also be ironic of the disbelief she has that she can love a person so much without having met them yet. Finally both the metaphysical poets and Plath display love as joyous by seeing it as an opportunity for a new start. Donne sees this new start being one as starting from the pure naked state in the relationship – † to enter in these bonds is to be free† is an oxymoron as the bond of marriage incarcerates two people in a relationship eternally. However Donne is expressing that by having this new start of marriage they will have a sense of freedom and self completion making love even more joyous. Whether Donne actually meant to marry the woman is questionable, after his strong womanising reputation however if he is then the new start he would have in actually committing himself in a marriage shows the strength of the love he feels. Plath, in â€Å"Ariel† sees the birth of her first child as a new start for herself. The metaphor of the last 2 lines â€Å"Right, like a well-done sum. A clean slate, with your own face on† shows the positivity she already sees in this new being â€Å"well-done sum† and â€Å"clean slate†. At the time she was going through hardships in her marriage with Ted Hughes and so the new child could be a source for a new start of optimistic love and a positive source to project happiness onto. The compound words in â€Å"Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode. † Represents the new life and thus new beginning Plath will receive from the new baby whilst the assonance of the ‘o’ sound fortifies this by showing certainty and stability she sees in that this undoubtedly will give her the release and new start that she’s needed for so long

Introduction to Business Assignment Essay

AIM: I have been requested by Peter Eskesen to look at two contrasting business organisations and one of who must operate in the secondary/manufacturing industry and the other corporation must be a service provider from the tertiary sector. I must then look at the activities that each of them fulfil and look at the effectiveness of them within each organisation. I have decided to look at the activities of G. E lighting which is an American company and a direct division of the biggest company in the world G. E and the second company of which I have decided to look at is Sainsbury’s who is amongst some of the most dominant market leading companies operating in the U. K in the supermarket sector. Both of the companies that I have decided to look at are both owned by shareholders which means that people have bought shares into them. However having said that, as G. E lighting is an American company it means that it will not be listed on the London Stock Exchange but will alternatively be listed upon the New York stock exchange market. If a person wanted to buy shares in GE lighting then they would have to contact a broker. Furthermore, Sainsbury’s is also a Public Limited Company because it is like before, listed upon the London Stock Exchange. Today General Electric is made up of many departments/divisions. For example G. E Lighting in Enfield is part of a Global Business, which operates in over 100 worldwide countries and also holds work for over 300,000 people worldwide too. Television programming, Plastics and G. E Aircraft Engines for example, is the biggest engine maker and supplier in the world with operations in over 40 different countries. 1 On the next page you will find GE’s product portfolio. Sainsbury’s supermarkets employ over 145,000 people (including Savacentre). Of these 145,000 people, 60% are part – time based workers and 40% are full – time workers. 62% of the labour forces are women which show that since the 19th Century equal opportunities have shifted and women have the same rights as men – to be able to work. Furthermore, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets serves well over 11 million customers a week and as from May 2003, had 535 stores open throughout the UK. Nearly 60% of their stores are located upon town centres and others built on the edge of centre locations – in the greenbelt areas where land is cheaper and have better connections. Like GE, Sainsburys also have sub divisions or Subsidiary companies that they own. For example the other activities that they operate or run besides Groceries, include a chain of Sainsbury’s Banks, Shaw’s, JS Development and Sainsbury’s Property Development. Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. has been a completely owned Subsidiary of J Sainsbury’s plc since 1987 and partly owned since 1983. Shaw’s serves over four million customers a week, and as at May 2003 had 193 stores open in New England, USA. In June 1999, J Sainsbury’s plc acquired the entire share capital of Star Markets for a total consideration of $497 million dollars which is the equivalent to i 313 million British pounds. Star Markets operates in the Metropolitan Boston area, Washington DC. The acquisition took Shaw’s Supermarkets to the number 2 position in New England and as the dominant market leader in Houston, Massachusetts. Like Sainsbury’s Supermarkets, the US operations place an emphasis on high quality food at value for money prices, and are persistently recuperating and improving their range of fresh foods. The corporation offers approximately 50,000 different lines, up to 35,000 per store at any one time. Some 5,000 popular brand products account for 40 per cent sales and as at June 2003, Shaw’s employs some 28,400 associates.

Analysis of Meditation IV by John Donne Essay

The opening statement of John Donnes Meditation IV sets a disposition for the whole article. ..Except God, Man is a diminutive to nothing (Donne 23) is saying man is bigger than the world; excluding the fact that God conquers and controls all. Man is in control of his own life, but God controls his fate. It is also stating that the world is nothing in comparison to man and is not as complex. Donnes numerous comparisons between human anatomy and nature shows how mans complexity overcomes the world and is therefore considered bigger than it. Mans veins are used in comparison to simple rivers and muscles to hills to justify his complexity over the world. This analogy is used to show just how closely related humans are to nature, yet still closer in comparison and controlled by God. God is the puppet master of all, and has fixed the order of nature (Aquinas 79) . He has made man the only species with direct connection to Him. The Lord says, The works that I do, he also shall do, and grea ter than these shall he do (87). Donne continues his comparison by stating as the whole world hath nothing, to which something in man doth not answere, so hath man many pieces, of which the whole world hath no representation (Donne 23). This means that man can relate to anything in the world, but the world does not have the capacity to do the same. He goes on to state that even though Gods creatures are everywhere, not just in the sea, and are born giants physically in comparison to humans, their mental competence is nothing in contrast to man. Donne states that Gods creatures reach everywhere; land and sea, Earth to Heaven, but his thoughts are comprehended by all. Donne writes of two different worlds where monsters and diseases coexist and live with one another. The world in which there are monsters is a representation of the Earth. Animals are able to cure themselves, so they are able to survive and live harmoniously; each animal is able to coexist and live independently. The world of disease is one which has been created by the humans and representing the human body. They are so consumed with conquering everything and everyone; they have acquired diseases for which there is no name because there are so many within the world. The diseases have become entangled and have formed new ones. Donne is saddened by the separation of the worlds and the humans dependency on animals and various  remedies. He cannot understand how we can have so many diseases without names and remedies. Donnes analogy of Hercules and a Physician does give a physician heroic characteristics, but also can be perceived negatively. The over exaggeration of the physicians position makes it seem like he is fighting monsters instead of disease and as if he existed on Earth instead of within his own human body. The line, †¦hee musters up al the forces of the other world, to succor this; all Nature to relieve Man (24), explains the previous statement by saying that the physician uses the knowledge of Earth to cure the human body of disease. Donne feels like the physicians need to take from the monsters world is degrading and humans should be able to exist without the need of animals. Donne then tries to separate himself from the physician and say the physician is different than the typical man. We have the phisician, but we are not the physician (24). He will not be considered in the same hierarchy as the physician, even though a physician is human. Because the physician must resort to animalistic means to cure disease, he is considered lesser in Donnes eyes; even though he previously believed God placed all of human kind on the same level. He goes on to state that we shrink back to Gods set standards for us, sink into our dignity and respect for other creatures, and have the physician do all the dirty work. Donne then goes on to list different animals that do cure themselves of ailments. The Hart can distinguish which herbs can deceive a predator and make it vomit up the poison. A dog that is attacked knows he can be cured by eating grass. Donne mentions the Drugger, which is the closest creature to Man, because he simply supplies the medicine. The Drugger, unlike the physician, does not find the cures or have to consult the animal world. Because the Drugger cannot cure himself of disease, he must seek advice from the physician to be healed. Donne speaks of the innate instinct to cure oneself that humans do not have and infers that creatures with that instinct are superior to those without.  This contradicts his previous stance that humans are superior to all and are Gods gift to the world. It seems now he believes that animals are the superior beings and God is working through them instead. He is disappointed by his own species and tries to separate himself from human beings. By his analysis of the physician, he is able to make himself feel superior and less inadequate for not being able to cure himself. Donne then refers back to his previous stance of human position and discredits it completely. He proposes the question, whats become of mans great extent and proportion, when himself shrinkes himselfe, and consumes himselfe to a handfull of dust?(25) It seems as if he is trying to figure out what will happen if humans become so dependent upon animals for all aspects of life. What will be left for humans to do if animals become superior and take over everything? The comparison to a handful of dust may be an overstatement, but a metaphor to the humans usefulness at the very least. The question, whats become of his soaring thoughts, his compassing thoughts, when himself brings himself to the ignorance, to the thoughtlessnesse of the Grave? (25) puts man at the animalistic level and says they have the thought capacity of a simple animal. The reference to the Grave lowers humans even more to the afterlife and a corpses inability to do anything. This reference refers back to Donnes previous statement that humans will eventually be useless, but takes it a step further and makes them as useful as a corpse. The Grave also is an allusion to God and his ability to control life and the fate of everything. Donne ends his meditation with a restatement on his final stance on Earth vs. the human body. He believes humans are able to live within world of disease, but do not have the capacity to heal themselves like animals do. They are therefore inferior and the physician is even lower because he is a human that must heal other humans, but still cannot heal himself like animals are. Animals are able to live independently and do not rely upon one another to survive. If one species died, they have to ability to adapt and overcome any problems. Donne feels that humans would not be able to do this. At first he believes God made humans strong and able to conquer all, but he contradicted himself and talked his way out of that belief. Bruce Boehrer states that,  [relative anthropocentrism] associates large and variable subsets of the human community to a greater or lesser extent with the realm of nature, while reserving full human statues only for specific, arbitrarily defined social groups (Boehrer 17) . Boehrer may be inferring that humans choose when to use the talents God specifically gave them, which would not make them inferior as Donne states, but rather superior for not wasting energy on characteristics not given to them, but using inferior creatures to cure them. Works Cited: Donne, John. Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. Ann Arbor, MI: U of Michigan P, 1990. Aquinas, St. Thomas. Summa Theologiae. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Boehrer, Bruce. Shakespeare Among the Animals: How To Do Things With Animals. Palgrave.