The Life of Christ Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Life of Christ - Term Paper Example Luke stated that Christ’s ministry was instigated by John the Baptist in the 15th year of the sovereignty of Tiberius Caesar, who became the emperor after King Augustus1. Emphasising on the various biblical specifications, the discussion henceforth intends to briefly outline the life of Christ, taking into consideration the three years of his ministry. Christ’s Birth Luke 2:1-7: History of Christ’s Birth The history of Christ’s birth has roots in the social context of the then Roman dynasty, which was strongly influenced by social segregations, brutal and inhuman treatments of slavery, and replication of dominion powers over the weak. As per the Synoptic Gospels, it was during the reign of King Augustus that Jesus was born in the midst of conflicts between emperors and various social classes. Jesus was the child of Mary and Joseph, who were peasants belonging to the tribe of Judah and were the citizens under the lordship of King Herod2. It was during this period that social conflicts began within the region due to taxation imposed by King Augustus and the reluctance of Jewish community to abide by such norms. Consequently, the Jewish community members were asked to travel to Bethlehem, where the register was located to perform census of the Jewish people and make them entitled to the taxation charges3. Thus, Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. At that time, Mary was expecting a child, owing to which the long journey to Bethlehem imposed a vast suffering upon her. Irrespective of the physical weakness, the couple had to travel as per the decree of King Augustus. However, the actual reason for Mary and Joseph enduring such suffering was the verdict of God ordering that the child should be born in Bethlehem. After the weary travel, when the couple learnt that all the inns had been already filled with travellers from Nazareth and other regions of the realm of King Herod, they lodged in an animal shed. It was in this shed that Mother Mary gave birth to Lord Jesus Christ, which was known to only few people in the village. The circumcision and the naming of the child had been arranged when he was 8 days old, according to the Hebrew Law, and he was formally given the name of Jesus. Therefore, the word of God was conveyed by Gabriel, who said, â€Å"You shall call his name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins†4. Christ’s Ministry Similar to the history of the birth of Holy Christ, the instigation of His ministry can also be observed as enlightened with spirituality and chronology of mesmerizing events. The historical content depicts that Christ’s ministry began during the period of AD 27 and continued till his crucifixion. However, contradictions have been persisting concerning the duration of His ministry, which has often been deliberated as a period of 3 years, 2 years, and even 3 and a half years. However, most of the testaments obtained affirmed that Christâ₠¬â„¢s ministry continued for 3 years5. Christ’s ministry began with His baptism, which was performed by John the Baptist and which led Holy Spirit to â€Å"come on Him in a special way†. As per the predicaments, Christ had to fast for 40 days following His baptism in order to defeat the ‘Satan’, a spirit who dared to challenge the religious beliefs of Hebrews. However, as per the true meaning, the word ‘Satan’ refers to the fallen angel who was entitled by the God Himself to test the strength of human

Barclays Bank Essay Example for Free

Barclays Bank Essay Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs nearly 147,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests, protects money for more than 48 million customers and clients worldwide. (Barclays 2009) Barclays currently owns more stock (3.9%) than any other stockholder in the largest company on the planet, Exxon Mobil. The fundamental principal to Barclay’s philosophy is to include the interests of all of their shareholders from customers, employees, shareholders and the wider community in route to providing a valued and prosperous circumference of satisfied stakeholders. (thebanker.com, 2009) A high priority is placed on dealing with three lines of operations. Firstly, the banking division that provides up front service and customer attention to United Kingdom retail and business banking customers. The UK retail banking side courts some for 14 million accounts, servicing around 566,000 customers, while the business side lends service to primarily middle to larger sized businesses of around 180,000 customers. A second major focus for Barclays is Private Clients. Barclays stands today as the largest retail stockbroker in the United Kingdom, with clients mainly in the UK and the continental Europe. The gist of the client makeup is high net worth and clients of corporate billing. Third is the International Retail and Commercial Banking sector of Barclay’s business. Barclays has some 800 international branches placed throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which provide a large array of services including current accounts, savings, mortgages and loans. (thebanker .com 2009) Others smaller areas of focus for Barclays are Barclays Capital, Barclaycard, Barclay Global Investors and Woolwich. It is within these areas that Barclay is placing a larger focus towards growing throughout the international markets. Barclays Capital is a global investment bank which provides advice and solutions to the financial and risk management needs of corporate, institutional and government clients.Barclaycard has some 11.2 million UK customers with 2.9 million cards issued internationally. This happens to have been the UKs first credit card and also the leader in card services provided over the internet 800,000 customers using the online account services. Barclaycard operates internationally throughout Europe, the United States and Africa and has recently made efforts to expand even more into the United States with the acquisition of the US credit card, Juniper Financial Corporation in December 2004. Barclays Global Investors is a world leader in providing investment management products and services and is also a global leading asset manager. In 1971 Barclays Global Investors created the first index strategy and followed this in 1978 with the first quantitative active strategy. Barclays Global Investors holds some 68 million British pounds in Exchange Traded Funds with over 100 funds in ten international markets for individual and institutional investors. Lastly, Woolwich is a mortgage business that was acquired by Barclays in 2000. It has been transformed into a division that deals largely with home financing and lends its branding to Barclays mortgages. Barclays has placed a great deal of interest in international growth beginning as far back as 1925 with the merger that began the formation of Barclays International Operations of three banks: the Colonial Bank, the Anglo Egyptian Bank and the National Bank of South Africa. This pushed Barclays into Africa, the Middle East and the West Indies. By the 1980s Barclays became the first bank to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. and by 1986 was the first British bank to be listed on the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges. Barclays Capital formed around the same time establishing an investment banking operation that today manages larger corporations and institutional businesses. In the mid-1990s Barclays formed Barclays Global Investors through the purchase of Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisers which was combined with Barclays BZW Investment Management. Barclays has also kept pace with innovation with concepts such as online customized servicing through Barclay s Private Bank and Premiere Banking. These steps have kept Barclays competitive in the banking industry and guided them towards a promising path in international growth. (thebanker.com) Foremost to continually compete internationally, Barclays must strive to perform customer service at an utmost level of excellence. This will promote Barclays worldwide as a business that can be relied upon time after time for small individual accounts as well as huge corporate accounts. To accomplish this, Barclays must identify their customer groups and the needs associated with each particular group and develop products and services that will be of great value to their customers. The practices that have worked in the past must be reconfigured to work for years to come and keep Barclays updated with the high changing IT world. This will call for new investments into new levels of technology that can help offer higher levels of service to its customers. Along with the apparent increase in speed that IT will allow Barclay to accomplish routine tasks, technology will also reduce risk of errors and fraud. (www.thebanker.com) this leads straight into a second integral point of interest for Barclays. The need to place major investments into the most modern and efficient IT systems available that enables top of the line business transactions to transpire unhinged. IT will allow up to date information to be at the fingertips of Barclay’s managers, giving managers a huge advantage when it comes to making decisions and in pin pointing groups of customers that can have a high added value to Barclays. The fine-tuning of IT will also eliminate weaknesses within Barclays practices, preventing failures that effect customers and thus reducing excessive and unnecessary costs.(thebanker.com)

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation

A Health Promotion Initiative for Smoking Cessation Many health promotion initiatives had been undertaken everywhere. However, the most important is that such initiatives should establish certain aspects of characteristics based on best practice in order to be described as successful. This means that the initiative must be consistent with health promotion values, theories, evidence and understating of the environment (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Although the definition of health promotion practice is broadly accepted, it is not fixed to any rigorously defined discipline, and is said to be practised by individuals in diverse organizations, trained in a multiplicity of disciplines (Boutilier et al. 2000). Generally speaking, health promotion initiatives emphasize elements of empowerment, participation, multidisciplinary collaboration, capacity building, equity and sustainable development (Judd et al. 2001). The Ottawa Charter is considered to be the backbone of any health promotion practice and it is acting as the wheel that guides all heal th professionals into an ideal and best practice of health promotion related issues. In addition, the best practice is provided through effective planning and evaluation. A working guide to help in successfully achieving the goal is by an approach focusing on the following points: identifying the issue, gaining support and forming a working group, conducting a needs assessment and get to knowing your community, developing an action plan, encouraging participation, communicating with the public through the media, implementing change, monitoring, evaluation and adjustments (NLHHP 2003). In this assay, I will critically review a health promotion initiative by comparing the characteristics of this initiative against the principles of best practice. The initiative example: (Attention: the abstract is attached at the end of the assignment). Secker-Walker, Roger H ; Flynn, Brian S. ; Solomon, Laura J. ; Skelly, Joan M. ; Dorwaldt, Anne L.; Ashikaga, Takamaru (2000) Helping Women Quit Smoking: Results of a Community Intervention Program, American Public Health Association, Inc. Volume 90(6), June 2000, pp 940-946. Smoking lends to health promotion solution: Smoking is a challenging health problem world-wide and it is considered to be the second major cause of death. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults (WHO 2005). It is clear that smoking cessation is a priority for preventing many diseases and reducing their burden. There is a real need to expand the implementation of strategies to reduce tobacco use such as increasing the cost of cigarettes and implementing comprehensive tobacco-useprevention and cessation programs. (CDC 2003). Consequently, promoting smoking cessation can have a great impact in reducing the burden of diseases and improving the population health (Ezzati Lopez 2003). However, the health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life styles to well being (WHO 2005). As a result, a lot of efforts at different levels are needed in order to control smoking. This could be achieved well only through proper health promotion intervention. Moreover, the hea lth promotion is defined as a set of activities designed to achieve optimal health for all by monitoring and enhancing the heath of everyone and facilitating individual control over the determinants of health (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The definition itself sounds a logical solution for the high smoking prevalence among women. This is because of that in order to solve such problem, the women themselves should be actively involved and the community should be empowered. In addition, the physical and social supportive environment should be ensured in order to maintain smoking cessation. This is only ensured through a health promotion initiative. The best way to reduce the prevalence of smoking may be to use community-wide programs because smoking behavior is determined by social context. A community approach will remain an important part of health promotion activities (Secker-Walker et al. 2002). It has been proved that health promotion initiative will encourage smoking cessation and could prevent substantial numbers of deaths in the UK (Lewis et al. 2005). Needs assessment and its accountability for population wishes: It is crucial, first of all, to identify the issue through the need assessment. This is done by collecting the necessary information that specifies the needs that are considered as priority by the community. This provides an opportunity for the community to become involved in the planning from the beginning (Territory Health Services 2005). The health needs are defined as those states, conditions or factors in the community that, if absent, will prevent people from achieving complete physical, mental and social health (Ritchie et al. 2004). In this project, the need assessment is not well conducted and the different needs were not well assessed. It is not mentioned in this article whether the community profile was analyzed or not. However, the project investigators sat with local people, conducted interviews with key informants and shared information with them. Nevertheless, the following needs could be figured out: The decline in smoking prevalence among United States women was lagging behind that of men. This necessities the need of research on strategies to accomplish smoking cessation among women. There is real womens needs for social support while quitting In addition, their need for assistance with coping with negative affect in the absence of smoking, and their concerns about weight gain following quitting. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The smoking is a major health problem that can cause death. Many community based programs have been conducted to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, including cigarette smoking. Some of these programs showed the intervention effects on smoking behavior are effective. After analyzing this article, it is obvious that the need assessment indicates that smoking reduction among women is a priority public health in United States. This is a normative need. The best practice of health promotion emphasizing the sharing of need assessment with local people in order to improve the chance of success of any intervention. In this way, the success is ensured because sharing the results of the needs assessment will raise community awareness about the issues and possible underlying causes, stimulate discussion about ways to address the issues and get the community more involved in planning and decision-making (Territory Health Services 2005). There is clear information in the article that the community members were involved in the planning and implementation of the intervention throughout the five years period. On the other hand, it is not mentioned clearly how they assess the felt needs (i.e. whether the community groups say what they want, or address the proble ms that they think are important (Territory Health Services 2005)). Nevertheless, the participatory community organization was used to plan and provide widespread support to women smokers as they tried to change their smoking behavior. The comparative and expressed needs were not assessed. Goals and objectives of the initiative: It is essential after the needs assessment is over, to set up appropriate goals and objectives. The first step in critical analysis of goal and objectives is whether these had been stated clearly. The goal of this intervention was to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable and includes the nature of change expected. It will be more comprehensive if it was mentioned that it was limited to five years, which is the duration of the project and to specify the amount of smoking prevalence reduction in order to know exactly what intervention success means. However, this goal does identify the broad long term changed that was expected to be achieved ultimately (Hawe et al. 1990). The objective is not mentioned in this article. Instead they mentioned the sub-objectives. However, by analyzing the article I feel the objective should closely serve the goal. This means that achieving reduction in the smoking prevalence through a positive change in the women smoking behavior. As a result, the objective should be stated as to increase the number of serious quit attempts among women aged 18 to 64 years old in Vermont and New Hampshire by 20% for example. So the objectives will be also specific, measurable, achievable, includes the nature of change expected and time limited (SACHRU 2005). The sub-objectives were clearly mentioned. These were to increase motivation and intention to quit smoking and confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect, to increase awareness of cessation activities and to strengthen perceived norms and available support to help women quit smoking. It is known that a sub-objective should happen before the objective in the pathway and it might create a change in favour of the objective (Hawe et al. 1990). Keeping this in mind, there is a clear description task of these sub-objectives and they closely serve the objective by taking in account how to overcome womens negative feeling affect and thus create a change in the behavior. On the contrary, they were not time limited and some of them seems be difficult to be measured like increase confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect and also perceptions of norms. It is essential for any good health promotion planning to focus on underlying causes and factors that could possibly contribute or lead to the problem (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). Therefore, development of clear and organized goal and objectives based on a critical analysis of the problem in terms of contributing and risk factors is essential (Territory Health Services 2005). It is not mentioned clearly in this article about the underlying causes of or contributing factors to smoking among women. However, specific health related behavioral and environmental factors linked to smoking were mentioned. It was stated that the smoking was most prevalent among lower income class. This implicates that poverty play an important role as an underlying cause of smoking. It sound logic that one of the sub-objectives should be stated clearly to take care of improving socio-economic situation or more accurately to tackle poverty related issues. It is also mentioned that the womens concerns about weight gain following quitting act as a barrier to stop smoking. Luckily, More than one sub-objective took care of this factor. Description of the intervention: A good description of the intervention is provided in the article under specific headings. It was directed to two pairs of demographically matched counties in Vermont and New Hampshire in United States which were assessed preintervention and postintervention during the period 1989 to 1994. The project was initiated by organizing community planning groups and the program was called Breath Easy. Each countys planning group formed a coalition, and each coalition formed 5 working groups. The planning process was taken up by the local planning group along with its coalition with very little input from the investigators except for the first year. Different activities were conducted during each year after the starting of the program. In the first year, the focus was to develop support systems to help women quit smoking through individual proactive telephone peer support. During the second year, videotape showing the process of quitting smoking was produced and distributed at no cost. In the third year, free smoking cessation classes were organized with a focus on dealing with negative affect. Later, the health professionals were involved in the Breath Easy program. Also, workplaces initiatives included presentations to businesses and worksites and assistance with smoking policies were started. Moreover, there was involvement of media initiatives included newsprint and radio (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). The conceptual frame work and underlying theories and values: The conceptual framework and underlying theories are not described in details in this article. It is only mentioned that they used social cognitive theory, the transtheoretical model of behavior change, diffusion of innovation theory, and communications theory. It was stated in the article that the project intervention was based on the proven effectiveness of this type of community intervention in promoting smoking cessation among women in Smoke Free North Side study. However, as I am reading the article it becomes clearer to me how well these theories could be fit into a community based health promotion project. The five basic stages of a behavior change as identified by the transtheoretical model of behavior change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, determination or preparation, action and maintenance (Nutbeam Harris 2004). These stages could be applied to explain the change of smoking behavior among women especially ensuring maintenance through peer support. According to the social cognitive theory an individual, the environment and behavior are continuously interacting and influence each other (Nutbeam Harris 2004). This is clearly noticed in the modifications of community norms concerning women smoking. The people decision to smoke is made within a broad context and influence by the surrounding environment which shapes the health behaviors such as smoking. In addition, diffusion of innovations refers to the spread of new ideas, techniques, behaviors or products throughout a population (Ferrence 1996) and this is exactly what had happened in this project where the message of smoking cessation was spread through mass media, videos and classes. Lastly, the communications theory is also applicable to this project. The values are important things because they affect which issues we choose to address and how we are going to address them (Kahan Goodstadt 2005). The values of community intervention and development were not mentioned in this article. After literature review, it became obvious that some of these values are respect, equity, participation and meaningful process (http://www.wrha.mb.ca/howcare/commdev/). The process of community participation allows removal of inequality barrier and ensures fair distribution of resources. Moreover, respecting of local people and their involvement in determining their own health problems resulted in a positive outcome of this project. Application of Ottawa Charter action areas: There are many social factors that affect the diseases risk factors such as smoking and thus affecting the health. This includes low levels of social support and lack of personal control. These issues were well addressed in this initiative through the proper applications of Ottawa charter action areas. It is well stated that the achievement of the project objectives is through community members participation in planning and implementation. The community action is strengthened by involving local people to participate actively in order to improve their own health. The community organization is set up by forming local planning groups and from each group, the annual plans are drawn up. The supportive environment is provided through the supportive telephone communications networks which were arranged to encourage women to stop smoking. In addition, a healthy and supportive environment was ensured in workplaces, community college and high schools. Moreover, the organization of free smoking classes that focus on dealing with negative affect following quitting played an important role to maintain the quitting process. Healthy public policies were built in the community. An example is that smoking cessation policies were introduced into the workplaces. Another example was the active involvement of media which included newsprint and radio and made use of paid advertisements and thus information for quitting were available in each community. The personal skills of targeted females were developed. This was by training the female ex-smokers to provide support to current smokers to quit smoking through proactive telephone support. In addition, they were involved in the production of videos showing their own process of quitting smoking. Re-orientation of health services took place to some extent. This was by mobilizing the health workers towards focusing on smoking cessation activities rather than providing the medical care only. This was through making referrals to the telephone peer support system and they were trained in a brief smoking cessation protocol. It is quit obvious that by analyzing the interventions of the project, the Ottawa charter definition of health promotion is clear. This is because the project interventions could be understood as a process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health (WHO 2005). Evaluation: The evaluation process plays an essential role in ensuring the best achievement of any given program as it will affect the way in which the program will be conducted and the amount of effort needed (Ewles Simnett 1999). For the evaluation to be accepted, it should consist of process, impact and outcome evaluation. It is important to have the three parts otherwise it will be difficult to understand how the evaluation took place (Springett et al. 1995). The evaluation starts by evaluating the process including measuring the strategies, the activities and the quality of the project. Then, measuring the immediate effect of the project and this is called impact evaluation. At the end, it should measure the outcome or long term effect (Territory Health Services 2005). The evaluation was well planned and was well in place for this project. They used PRECEDE frame work to integrate the overall objectives of the program with the evaluation plan. This model takes into account multiple factors that determine health and quality of life and generates specific objectives and criteria for evaluation (Green Kreuter 1999). The design of the study was non-randomized with two pairs of demographically matched countries assessed peintervention and postintervension. This established a relationship between the intervention and observed outcome by comparing the situation before and after the intervention. In addition, they have set specific measurable objectives for each working group to be accomplished or initiated during the following 12 months. The stages of evaluation were done as follows: Process evaluation: Specific factors were set to evaluate predisposing, reinforcing and enabling factors. These includes attitudes and beliefs towards quitting smoking, perceptions of norms and social supports, availability of smoking cessation materials and services, program recognition and media coverage. Suitable indicators were used to measure the above factors such as social support scale, measures of confidence in being able to stop smoking and confidence in being able to control weight gain after quitting smoking and measures for availability of smoking cessation resources. Impact evaluation: The impact was evaluated through a change in the smokers behavior. The indicators which were used are average daily cigarette consumption and average number of serious quit attempts. Outcome evaluation: This was evaluated by measuring the smoking prevalence among women aged 18 to 46 years old. It was found that the prevalence had declined significantly. This indicates the effectiveness of this project through achieving its main goal. Summative evaluation: It is the last step to be done and it involves considering the project as a whole, from beginning to end (SACHRU 2005). The investigators did not evaluate all different aspects of the project. However, they mentioned about strengths, limitations, response rate and their recommendations. The strengths of the study were small size and rural nature of these communities. On the other hand, the major limitations were nonrandomized design, the inclusion of only two counties in each condition, lack of prior measures of smoking prevalence in these counties and lack of ethnic diversity in the study population which limit the generalizability of the results. The overall sample size was 6436 with response rates of 89.9%. Their recommendations were that any future community interventions designed to effect reductions in smoking should place greater emphasis on the provision of a broad range of support for quitting smoking that is readily accessible to all smokers (Secker-Walker et al. 2000). Conclusion: Adoption of health promotion best practice is the only way to ensure effective and successful results of any intervention. However, this practice is not an easy mission. It requires a lot of augmentive efforts. The application of Ottawa charter and the reliance on justifying theories and values is essential. Moreover, the quality of the initiative is based on effective planning and evaluation from the initial stages. The community involvement in promoting smoking cessation was ensured in this project from the initial stages. Also, the evaluation process was proceeding well with PRECEDE framework. In conclusion, this initiative was about to be an excellent example of best practice except improper statement of objective, values behind the intervention and insufficient statement of needs assessment

Differences Between Men and Women Essay -- Compare Contrast Gender Ess

Anytime anyone is about to have a baby the first question is "Is it a boy or a girl?" People ask this question because there is a difference between the two genders. Several are curious to know whether the baby will turn out to be a sweet young lady or a strong young man. Even as children, the distinctions are obvious and stand apart. A young girl may ask a boy "What's that?" A young boy may ask a girl "Where's yours?" This is their first step towards self discovery. Everyone knows there is a difference but no one ever stops to see how many there truly are. There are numerous reasons why someone has become the gender they are, which is why the two appear different. Various people have been in the fight for equality over the years, they argue that even though we are all so different we can all be treated in the same way. In spite of the need for equality among men and women, there are still many differences, such as, body image, mate selection, sexuality, and ste reotypes. In selecting a mate, women look at different attractions than a man would. According to Rachel Herz, women are greatly attracted to the way a man smells and is typically one of the first things a woman looks for when selecting a mate. As a first impression, women want to be put into a daze or mesmerized by the individual they have come into contact with. Gender is not the only factor that a woman looks for when selecting a mate. Many women go deeper and search for things, such as, race, ethnicity, age, and good providers (Our Bodies 186). These affect many women by the importance they bring to a relationship. Typically women are looking for someone that they can spend their lives with, therefore they look for the qualit... ...each gender; it all depends on how those viewpoints are used that determine the kind of person that is developed. Works Cited Eagly, Alice H. Social Role Theory of Sex Differences and Similarities. San Diego, California: London, 2001. Herz, Rachel. "Sex Differences in Response to Physical and Social Factors Involved in Human Mate Selection: The Importance of Smell for Women." Evolution and Human Behavior 23 (2002): 359-64. <http://ucolk2.olk.uc.edu/search/i10905138/i1090+5138/1,1,2,B/frameset&FF=i1090+ 5138&1,,2>. Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century: A Book by and for Women. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1998. Sherman, Julia A. Ph.D. On the Psychology of Women: A Survey of Empirical Studies. Springfield, Illinois: Thomas, 1971. Williams, Juanita H. Psychology of Women: Behavior in a Biosocial Context. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1974.

Perspectives on the French Revolution

Perspectives on the French revolution. This essay will examine the ideologies of the French revolution of 1789. Two perspectives on the French revolution were held by the conservatives’ elite and the educated philosophers. The educated philosophers believed that a revolution was the only way that the middle and lower class were to have a say in matters of state, and obtain their rights. Their goal in the revolution was to turn the absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy.The conservatives believed that the absolute monarchy should stay intact to preserve their heritage, and that the revolutionary changes brought more problems than they solved. The French revolution started in 1789 and officially lasted 10 years, finishing in 1799. Although according to public opinion, many events after the official end of the revolution are considered to be included in revolution for example the rein of Napoleon Bonaparte. The revolutions started as a result of rising food prices and t he states bankruptcy. The rising food prices were primarily caused by an immense and volatile hailstorm.The food shortage may have ended there, however the hailstorm was followed by a long drought, likely caused by the El Nino effect. After the drought there was an uncharacteristically cold winter rivers and roads froze over, stopping flour from being ground by watermills, and the little food that was produced couldn’t get to the market because the roads were blocked. When spring came around and the snow finally thawed it caused floods destroying an abundance of farmland. There is also speculation that volcanic activity of Laki and Grimsvoth had a hand in the food crisis.In addition to rising food prices, the states bankruptcy, caused in part by Frances involvement in the American revolutionary war, put the monarchy in a difficult financial position. To pay its debts the state would either have to borrow money or raise the already high taxes on the third estate (Adcock, pg. 4 0). Both decisions were unfavourable as they would cause upheaval in civilian life. The taxes were already high, having been raised to pay for the many wars King Louis XIV had waged, leaving the state in debt (Neely, pg. 29).In august 1786 king Louis XVI’s minister of finance informed him of the seriousness of the financial situation. France had been in debt for about 100 years. They waged 4 separate wars between 1733 and 1783, and borrowed more than ? 1250 million since 1776. These were the major contributions to Frances debt (Adcock pg. 41, Brooman pg. 19). The king had two options, either borrow more money or raise the taxes higher than they’ve ever been. He soon discovered he couldn’t borrow more money because he was in too much debt, so he tried to introduce a new tax.This tax was called the land tax, all land owners had to pay this tax to keep the land they owned. This included the first, second and third estates land but excluded the king. All new taxes a nd laws had to be registered and approved at the law courts, or parliament in Paris. King Louis tried to pass the new tax without the estates generals’ approval. When the law courts wouldn’t allow him to introduce the new tax without their approval he exiled the entire parliament from Paris. People everywhere in France protested against this, sometimes violently, for six months until King Louis gave in and reappointed them.As a result of these main problems the people felt that the monarchy was not doing its job and that the French people needed a constitutional government to rule over them fairly. Although the philosophes did not always agree on political issues they did agree that the scientific discoveries made in the 17th century were important to all aspects of life (Neely pg. 16). Most philosophes were not traditional Christians, but rather deists. Deists believed that â€Å"knowledge of god came through study of the nature that he created† and did not bel ieve in things such as miracles (Neely pg. 7). Before the revolution the philosophes achieved the publication of the encyclopedie, a collection of knowledge with contributions from many philosophes. The first volume was published in 1751(Neely pg. 18). These encyclopedie have been blamed by some historians for the revolution. They do at least play a small role in the revolution. â€Å"what helped to bring on the revolution were not radical ideas, but rather that more and more people were now discussing public policy and taking a lively interest in political and governmental matters†(Neely pg. 1) these books were the reason people were able to be informed enough to create their own opinions. The governing of the country was no longer in the hands of just a few noble men, but majority of the population. One of the most famous philosophes was Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. He wrote a variety of philosophical works on many topics and in many forms. In 1725 he wa s exiled to Britain for three years after offending a nobleman. In Britain he learnt about the constitutional monarchy, which appeared far better than his own country’s monarchy.During this exile he wrote letter philosophiqes sur les anglais (philosophical letters on the English). He published these when he returned to France. These letters recommended the constitutional monarchy over the absolute monarchy, and sparked outrage in most people throughout the country. It is likely that these works had a hand in the revolution, once people had time to process the information. The edict of Nantes was signed in Nantes, France by Henri IV on April 15th 1598. Henri was a protestant who converted to Catholicism 4 years after succeeding the throne.The edict gave Protestants the freedom to worship as they please, made their marriages valid, allowed their priests to be paid by the state and gave full immunity for all crimes committed by both sides during the religious wars. The edict pro ved only to be a temporary solution to the religious wars and rivalry between the Protestants and Catholics. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the edict of Nantes, declaring all protestant marriages invalid, and causing mass migration to England (Cavandish, history today).Voltaire, who had a protestant wife, wrote about the Protestants and what they were going through during this time of turmoil (Neely pg. 18). Voltaire especially had an interest in the callas case. He believed that the case showed what was wrong with the French society including religious intolerance. Jean Callas was convicted of killing his son for trying to convert to Catholicism. He was tortured and killed in public. In 3 years Voltaire cleared his name. Although the edict was revoked almost 100 years before the revolution, some historians believe it may have had a part in causing it. Enlightenment led people astray by weakening their faith in tradition and religion by placing entirely too much confidence in the abiliti es of human beings to reason and improve the world† (Neely pg. 16). The conservatives believed that the revolution would cause more problems than it would solve. Although they admit that the monarchy had its flaws, they believed it was immoral to attack the government and the church (Neely, pg. 16). It was common belief that the king was appointed by god, which meant he had the divine right to rule.Therefore, â€Å"to criticise the king was to criticise god†. Public belief in the kings’ competence to rule was largely reinforced by large oil paintings of the king at work (Adcock pg. 7). The second estate or nobility did not have to pay certain taxes (and dodged paying many others), got special treatment in law courts, had the right to carry a sword, and did not have to do military service (Brooman pg. 7). Because most of the conservatives were nobility of the second estate (upperclassmen) it is believed that there may have been a more selfish reason for their beli efs.The conservatives did not want to give up their estates, slaves, titles, and privileges (Neely pg. 16). On the 26th of august 1789 the declaration of rights of man and citizen was introduced provisionally by the parliament (Neely pg. 86). It outlined that all men were equal and free and that power did not solely belong to the king but to the people as well (Brooman pg. 33). Its main purpose was to acknowledge that these rights already exist, no to create new ones. It was merely an affirmation of the philosophes writings about the people’s rights.The document did not mention that the state had a responsibility to help the poor and unemployed. Although it was a victory for the philosophes and the third estate, they only got half of what they wanted (Adcock pg. 89). King Louis XVI or â€Å"Louis Capet† as the people insisted on calling him, was found guilty of conspiracy against the state on 7th of January 1793 (Adcock pg. 136). On the 15th of January they voted as to what punishment the king would receive. The votes were very close with 361 people who voted for death without conditions and 360 people who voted against it.Out of those 286 people voted for imprisonment or banishment and 46 people voted for death when peace time came (Neely pg. 170). On the 21st of January he was taken to place de revolution to be executed with a guillotine. Later the place de revolution was renamed to place de la Concorde to try and abate the memory and blame surrounding the place. King Louis XVI was thought of as a rallying point for the conservatives as he was part of the royalty they wished to protect. Once he was executed the conservatives had lost majority of their reason to fight.The revolution officially ended in 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte came into power. When this happened, both the conservatives and the philosophes lost. Their separate ideals were torn apart as napoleon declared himself emperor, abolishing both the monarchy and the people voice (Adco ck pg. 193). During the revolution the French people had 4 separate national assemblies and 3 different constitutions. Many historians believe that without the help of the philosophes the French revolution may never have happened while others argue that dissatisfaction in the system causes criticism and animosity and the revolution still would ave happened eventualy. Bibliography Adcock, M 2004, Analysing the French revolution, Cambridge University Press. Brooman, J 1992, Revolution in France, Longman Group. Cavendish, R 1998, The edict of Nantes, viewed 12th September 2012 <http://www. historytoday. com/richard-cavendish/edict-nantes>3 Hampson, N 1963, A social history of the French revolution, T. J press. Neely, S 2008, A concise history of the French revolution, Rowman and Littlefield publishers.

An Exploration of the ways Shakespeare dramatises Essay

Shakespeare’s portrayal of teenage experience in Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well known and often imitated in existence, and this is because of how well he captures some of it’s aspects – the idea of first love, isolation and rebellion – but with enough melodrama and exaggeration to make it the basis for entertainment on stage. Despite being written nearly half a millennia ago, Shakespeare’s play is still studied in schools today because so much of the subject matter is still relevant – the star crossed lovers are as much at home in modern Miami in Baz Luhrman’s film adaptation as they are in feudal Verona – and while the details may have changed, Romeo and Juliet would lead us to conclude that teenage experience in particular has many of the same elements now as it did in Shakespearean times. Romeo and Juliet are a pair of love-struck teenagers trapped between their desire to be together and the long and bloody feud between their families. However the play begins as Romeo is pining for another girl he professes to be in love with, Rosaline. She represents the petrarchan ideal; an unattainable woman Romeo idolises and rarefies, who his love for is unrequited – a direct contrast with the immediate mutual amorousness he and Juliet share. Here, Shakespeare chooses to depict teenage love as melodramatic, superficial and fickle. Romeo seems to almost obsess over Rosaline, though only upon her good looks and the fact that she has decided to ‘remain chaste’ despite his advances upon her. In scene one of Act one, Romeo bombards Benvolio with a torrent of oxymorons – â€Å"O brawling love, O loving hate! † – to describe the depression and emotional turmoil his love for Rosaline is causing inside him, a girl whom he barely knows but says is â€Å"†¦ rich in beauty†. Romeo describes being in love as being a weight upon him, in act one scene one love is a â€Å"heavy lightness† and a â€Å"feather of lead†, and then in scene four before entering the Capulet’s masked ball he says he has â€Å"a soul of lead†. In spite of this, later when he sneaks into the Capulet’s garden to see Juliet, he describes himself as having â€Å"love’s light wings† further contrasting his love for Juliet against his previous feelings for Rosaline, showing this is a different, higher form of love. In a moment of male camaraderie, Mercutio jokes with Romeo, implying the heavy weight he feels is that which lovers feel on each other during intercourse, and suggests he â€Å"borrow cupid’s wings†. After he meets Juliet the language he uses changes, and becomes far less coarse and less fraught with innuendo – later, they talk in sonnet and rhyme each other’s lines in order to show there is a deeper connection between them. As they share their first kiss, both Romeo and Juliet’s speech becomes rich with religious imagery â€Å"For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss† presenting their love here as something spiritual and sacred, and after the kiss Romeo even says â€Å"my sin is purged†, likening it to a divine and religious experience. The idea of love is shown from a completely different perspective in act one scene two, as Capulet and Count Paris discuss arranging a marriage between him and Juliet. Capulet shows a level of kindness and understanding which he seems to lose later in the play, as he says it is Juliet’s decision whether she marries and that it would be a mistake for her to marry so young, â€Å"too soon marred are those early made† although this could mean spoiled by childbirth, increasing the degree to which Juliet is treated like an object in the conversation. Paris comes off as being rather shamelessly lecherous, as he protests Capulet stating that Juliet is a child and too young to be married by saying â€Å"Younger than she are happy mothers made†. Even without the war between their families, it is clear that there are heavy societal constraints burdening both Romeo and Juliet, especially regarding their relationships with their parents. Juliet doesn’t get along with her mother, and when in the play she is told she must marry Paris she pleads with her mother to try and stop it she is met with a withering verbal blow, â€Å"Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word†¦ I have done with thee. † Clearly her relationship with her mother isn’t very strong, unlike her relationship with her nurse. In Act three scene one Lady Capulet asks the nurse to fetch Juliet so she may broach the subject of marriage with her, and it is obvious from the nurse’s fawning over Juliet and the way she talks about her that they are much closer than Juliet and her mother, and the nurse says â€Å"I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish. † – vocalising an ambition usually held by a mother to see her own daughter married, making the disparity between Lady Capulet’s cold and clinical appraisal of the situation and the nurses bawdy, vulgar one even more noticeable. The nurse is genial and kind and has a penchant for making coarse remarks and often makes them without realising it, when Lady Capulet says marrying Paris will make Juliet â€Å"no less† the nurse agrees saying â€Å"No less? Nay, bigger! Women grow by men. † She is a role model for Juliet and gives her advice and counsel, but her irresponsibility is shown when after goading Juliet on with her relationship with Romeo and facilitating their marriage, following Romeo’s exile she completely changes her mind and advises Juliet to marry Paris: â€Å"Since the case stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the County† She realises she has made a mistake encouraging Juliet and had not fully thought about the consequences. Romeo shares a similar relationship with Friar Lawrence, except more of one of two close friends than a father and son. Romeo is never on stage with either of his parents at any time during the play; his absence demonstrates both an inability to communicate and show of teenage rebellion. He rejects them and the society and responsibilities they represent in favour of the Friar’s advice – which while often more sensible than the Nurse’s and driven by his naiveti in hoping to unite the families by encouraging Romeo and Juliet to marry, is still irresponsible.