The Perfect Knight Essay Example for Free

The Perfect Knight Essay We are made to believe that there are still knights in shining armor out there. That adage was probably rooted from English Literature. Stories of King Arthur and his knights were legendary that it even reached our time. It influences us on how the modern man should act towards the contemporary woman. But what are the characteristics of the perfect knight? How should he feel about love? How does he handle the honor bestowed on him by his king? Was there such a thing as a perfect knight then? The perfect knight being the counterpart of the perfect gentleman of today. We can discuss this by studying four knights: Sir Gawain from the Arthurian stories, Sir Topas from Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"Tale of Sir Topas† and Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon in â€Å"The Knight’s Tale†, also by Chaucer. Sir Gawain is the nephew of King Arthur. He is also a Knight of the Round Table. He is said to be the greatest knights. He is the daughter of King Arthur’s sister Morgause and King Lot of Orkney and Lothian. Gawain is often described as a great warrior. He is formidable but he can be brash. He is very loyal to his king and his family. He is friendly to the younger knights. He defends the poor. He is quite the ladies’ man. He is a great healer because he acquires vast knowledge of herbs. If Gawain’s story were made into a movie, there would be versions wherein he is the hero and there would be other versions where he is the best friend of the hero. There are even some stories where he is the provider of the gentle comedy. However, if a reader who is studying Sir Gawain wants to see him in the best possible light, the best literature would be his search for the holy grail. On his quest, his intentions are pure. However, he is only human. He failed to use God’s grace to see his mistakes. In the Arthurian legends, he stopped his brothers Agravain and Mordred from exposing the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. When Guinevere was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Gawain nobly refused to be deployed in guarding the execution. His loyalty to his friend Lancelot ended when his brothers were killed in the battle between the knight and King Arthur. Their friendship turned into hatred. However, when he was mortally wounded in the battle against Mordred’s armies, Gawain apologized to Lancelot for his actions. He asked for his help to defeat Mordred. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† there is a story entitled â€Å"Sir Topas. † It is about a handsome and young knight who is a hunter, archer and wrestler. Every maiden wants to be loved by him but he’s not interested. He rests beside a watering place where he dreams of an Elf Queen. When he awakes, he is determined to find her. He meets a three-headed giant who challenges him in a battle. He accepts it. He goes home, enjoys a feast and prepares for the battle with his finest weapons and excellent armor. Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon, also from Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† are good friends. They were imprisoned by Theseus, the Duke of Athens. While they were there, they both fell in love with Emily, the sister of Duchess Hippolyta. After Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon both saw Emily, they fell madly in love with her which brewed up a competition between them. Their love for the same woman resulted to their despise of one another.. They were eventually released from the prison. Both Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon tried their best to win Emily’s love in whichever way necessary. They almost killed each other during the process. This is where Theseus stepped in. He arranged a battle for Emily. Palamon prayed for Emily to be his wife, Emily prayed that she married the one who really loved her and Arcite prayed for victory. All prayers were answered. Arcite won the tournament but died before he could marry Emily. Therefore, Palamon married her. All through out the introductions presented in the paper, the views on courtly love and ethical dilemmas can be seen. First off, Sir Gawain. As a knight, he was true to his word. He pleged allegiance to his king (which he did) and to his country (which he also did. ) However, his ethical dilemma was with Guinevere. When he was asked to be on guard as she burned at the stake, he couldn’t do it. As a knight, he respected women. He chose to be true to this promise rather than obey his king’s command. He was a loyal subject to Arthur and a loyal friend to Lancelot. It would have been the case had not his brothers been killed in the battle. That was when he turned against Lancelot. Again, we see an ethical dilemma in Sir Gawain. This time, he chose family over his duties as a knight. He wanted to avenge the death of his brothers. His final ethical dilemma was plotting against his brother Mordred. Camelot was in danger. The only way for Sir Gawain to save his kingdom was to ask Lancelot to kill Mordred. In his remaining hours, he was loyal to his country and kept his honor as a knight. Meanwhile Sir Topas reflects courtly love. He also mirrors the contemporary man which is the hunter. Men prefer to do the pursuing and the courting. Sir Topas had a liege of women pining over him but he ignored every one of them. He sought out the Elf Queen instead. The Elf Queen represents the girl of his dreams. Finally, Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon, like Sir Topas, also show what men of today are when it comes to courtly love. They will do anything to get the heart of the lady they desire. Even today, we hear stories, be it real or in movies, of men who used to be friends but became enemies because they were after the same girl. This only comes to show that Sir Gawain, Sir Topas, Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon view honor and love as motivations behind their actions. Some of the traits reflected in their stories can be seen in the contemporary man. One can therefore say that when a man is a gentlemen, he can pretty much be the perfect knight. The contemporary man, like Sir Gawain, is loyal to his country and to his duties. He respects women and makes sure that they are taken care of. He, like Sir Topas, prefers to be the one doing the chasing, instead of the other way around. True that some guys like aggressive girls but in the end, these girls will not be taken seriously. They will not be respected like that of those girls who were pursued by the men themselves. As for today’s men being like Sir Arcite and Sir Palamon when it comes to falling for the same girl, there are exceptions. Some men give way. They let the other guy have the girl in order for the friendship to not get affected. This is a reflection of honor today. Perhaps there are still knights in shining armor. Men who will put ladies first before themselves. Men who are true to their word and to the promises they made. Men who can be brash at times because of their emotions but will eventually maintain their composure once their logical reasoning kicks in. Honor and love are two qualities every knight take seriously. They pride being honorable and loving to their duties, their country, their families and their women. That is exactly what the modern man is.

The Pragmatic Theory Of Truth William James

The Pragmatic Theory Of Truth William James The Pragmatic theory of truth is made up of the accounts, definitions, and theories of the concept truth that distinguish the philosophies of pragmatism and pragmaticism. This concept of truth is the subject of many great thinkers ideas, who influenced this area of philosophy and whose theories, though different have common features. These thinkers were Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and John Dewey. Some of the most characteristic features can be identified as a relying on the pragmatic maxim to clarify meanings of difficult concepts, and also an emphasis, that belief, knowledge and truth are actually a product of the process: inquiry. As most pragmatic theories, this one has roots in the minds of earlier philosophers and their philosophies, especially the Golden Age, the Scholastics and Immanuel Kant. They provide a solid background for an invaluable insight into the twist and twirl of ideas that developed in the more modern time. Due to the fact that truth through the pragmatic prism is quite often confused with a number of other notions, I believe that underlining these will put the subject matter into the proper context to contrast. Truth is a term used to describe those beliefs that are capable of reliably guiding action to an expected outcome. We call a belief true when it successfully leads us to an anticipated experience. For example, my belief that there will be a full moon on the 30th of this month counts as true when, sure enough, I look at the sky that night and see a full moon. When that happens, we can certainly say this belief is now true, but we are naturally tempted to wonder if this belief was true a few weeks ago, when I first wrote these words. A classical conception of truth is that it is the good of logic, in a case in which logic is a normative science that is an examination into a good, or a value that looks for knowledge and ways to reach it. Most explorations of the very character of truth commence with the evaluation of the elements that make up that truth. In judging whether the carrier of information, meaning and significance are undeniably truth-bearers. If we take things into consideration in a very general matter, there are slim chances that the judgment of a work, proving to be either true or false, will become set in stone; it will most probably always remain a judgment call, as it is more commonly referred to. Nevertheless there are many properly delineated areas in which it is indeed useful to consider disciplined forms of evaluation and the observation of these leads to and permits the method to come into existence and further judge truth and falsity. Theories of truth can be depicted taking into account the several aspects of description that affect the quality of what is true. The truth predicates used in various theories can be classified by the number of things that condition the proper judgment of a sign, the sign being one of the very first things to be looked at. Formal logic calls this the arity of the predicate. Another division can be made in accordance with the subdivision of any number of more specific characters that theorists consider crucial A mondiac truth predicate is one that applies to its main subject typically a concrete representation or its abstract content independently of reference to anything else. In this case a truthbearer is true in and of itself. A dyadic truth predicate applies to its main subject only in reference to something else, a second subject. Most commonly, the auxiliary subject is either an object, an interpreter, or a language to which the representation bears some relation. The third form of truth predicate is the triadic one, which applies to its main subject only in reference to a second and third subject. In a pragmatic theory of truth, for example, one has to state clearly both the object of the sign, and either its interpreter or another sign called the interpretant, before it can be said that the sign is true of its object to its interpreting agent. Numerous requirements must regarded with respect to any fundamentally simple scheme of classification, as real practice rarely has any pure types, and there are circumstances in which it is useful to mention of a theory of truth that is almost k-adic, or that would be k-adic if specific features could be abstract away and neglected in a certain framework of discussion. William James was an original thinker in and between the disciplines of physiology, psychology and philosophy. His twelve-hundred page masterwork, The Principles of Psychology (1890), is a rich blend of physiology, psychology, philosophy, and personal reflection that has given us such ideas as the stream of thought and the babys impression of the world as one great blooming, buzzing confusion (PP 462). It contains seeds of pragmatism and phenomenology, and influenced generations of thinkers in Europe and America, including Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. James studied at Harvards Lawrence Scientific School and the School of Medicine, but his writings were from the outset as much philosophical as scientific. Some Remarks on Spencers Notion of Mind as Correspondence (1878) and The Sentiment of Rationality (1879, 1882) presage his future pragmatism and pluralism, and contain the first statements of his view that philosophical theories are reflectio ns of a philosophers temperament. William James argued a century ago for a conception of truth that establishes a clear middle way between the rigid logicism of contemporary analytical philosophy and the relativity of contemporary hermeneutics and deconstructionism. James argued for a humanistic and practical conception of truth, rooted in human experience and indexed to available evidence, and the perspective of human individuals or groups. His conception of the pragmatic theory is often summarized by his statement, that: the true is only is only the expedient in our way of thinking, just as the right is only the expedient in our way of behaving. Jamess take on truth and knowledge is a quite unique one. He separates two ways of knowing things, one being an intuitive knowledge, in direct experience, as a person would see an apple on the table, which he describes as an all around embracing of the object by thought, or one could know through an outer chain of physical or mental intermediaries connecting thought and thing as Europeans know the rainforests. James held that the intuitive form of knowledge was direct understanding, unmediated by anything, and truth for intuitive knowledge was a matter of direct consciousness in the flow of experience. For theoretical or representative knowledge, to know that a belief was true was to lead to it through a context which the world supplies Speaking about the truth and some theoretical representations of reality, it can be stated that a person has not the freedom to hypothesize any theories or facts he pleases, because of the complexity of the process: in direct experience of either an immediate and intuitive kind, or of an intellectual kind meaning processes within the circumstances the world supplies. These circumstances for creating rational ideas comprise processes in nature, representational systems, social world, and a connection between the stream of consciousness and all of the beforehand mentioned elements. These intellectual experiences offer a verification process and are integrated in the verification process of future truths as well. Beliefs at any time are so much experience funded. But the beliefs are themselves parts of the sum total of the worlds experience, and become matter, therefore, for the next days funding operations. So far as reality means experienceable reality, both it and the truths men gain about it are everlastingly in process of mutation-mutation towards a definite goal, it may be-but still mutation. Jamess metaphor linking the value of true knowledge with those of banking operations underlines the fact that truth must be advantageous. Experiences creating the basis of a truth must be interconnected themselves, thus theories and facts must be repeatedly modified if changes in circumstance occur. In Jamess words, the pragmatic theory of truth is True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate and verify. False ideas are those we cannot. That is the practical difference it makes to us to have true ideas; that, therefore is the meaning of truth, for it is all that truth is known-as. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The truth of an idea is not a stagnant property inherent in it. Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process, the process namely of its verifying itself, its verification. Its validity is the process of its validation. Starting from this idea, to James the truth and contexts of conscious experience, interaction with processes of the surrounding world, connection between things and ideas, also theories we have of the world and its mechanisms were inseparable. According to James there are on occasion two different explanations are in equal measure compatible with the facts, though there usually are not. Finding enough unruly facts will lead to a revision of theories, which will make people search for innovative facts and ideas. To obtain the notion of absolute truth one must look backward to the history of development of the notion and the history of corrections it suffered through the process of formation. Euclidean Geometry, Ptolemaic Physics and Astronomy, and Scholastic Logic and Metaphysics have all been replaced through the development of new systems of fact and theories. On the other hand, if we look into the future and see before our spiritual eyes an absolute truth toward which we are heading, we are clearly making a mistake and James said that new truth can exist only as consequences of new theories. For truths surface from facts, but they also move forward and add to them, out of which repeatedly new facts and new truths come into existence. James views rationalists conception that truth has no connection with practical reasoning as a mistake, just like the sentimentalist myth about morality. Kant argued that morality was a question of abstract, general truths discovered from pure reason through a categorical imperative. This suggests that acts can only be morel if they succumb to a logical rule and never because of certain feelings or positive consequences they will result in. In Kants point of view, only logical coherence with a categorical imperative counts in establishing morality, and that experience is irrelevant. Jamess take on this is that he holds that Kantian moralists could define and theoreticise about justice, but could not identify it in real life. He said both truth and morality have to be matters of practice in experience, otherwise they are basically meaningless. James also considered truth-seeking a form of humanistic endeavor, rooted in human life. The moral, emotional and knowledge-seeking functions of human life can not be as radically divorced from one another as the Platonism inherent in math and science sometimes misleads abstractly-oriented people to believe. James said that all true processes must lead to the face of directly verifying sensible experiences somewhere. He also extended his pragmatic theory well beyond the scope of scientific verifiability, and even into the realm of the mystical: On pragmatic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, then it is true. True ideas are copies if their realities. Jamess other idea is that truth is not made for us, instead we jointly create, make truth. In this sense truth is mutable (changeable, variable) and relative to a conceptual scheme. Truth is not predefined in pragmatism, in Jamess perspective beliefs are not true until validated by verification. He believed propositions become true over the line of continuously proving to be useful in a persons specific situation. So, with James, and also Schiller, things are made true through verification this being largely rejected by most pragmatists. Nevertheless the idea that there can be no truths without some sort of conceptual scheme to express them, is a generally accepted one. Unless we decide upon how we are going to use concepts like object, existance, etc., the question how many objects exist does not really make any sense. But once we decide the use of these concepts, the answer to the above-mentioned question within that use or version, to put in Nelson Goodmans phrase, is no more a matter of convention. (Maitra 200 p. 40) The pragmatic theory of truth is an unmistaken result of the American pragmatic philosophical thinking of the early and mid twentieth century. As I stated before, through this prism the nature of truth is identified with the principle of action. An oversimplified way of putting it would be that truth, as such, does not exist in some conceptual, theoretical area of thought independent of social relationship or actions, but rather truth is a function of a dynamic process of engagement with the world and verification. Despite the fact that this notion is associated predominantly with the work of William James and James Dewey, some traces of the pragmatic theory of truth are present in the works of Peirce too, who says that there is no distinction of meaning so fine as to consist in anything but a possible difference of practice. The gist of this is that a person cannot imagine a truth or belief, unless imagining I what way that matters in the world also. For example the truth of the idea that ice is cold cannot be comprehended or accepted without also understanding what coldness means in context with other objects too, like cold water, cold feet and so on. A consequence of this is that the discovery of truth happens only through interaction with the world. Truth cannot be found while sitting idly on a chair and thinking about things. People search for belief, not doubt, and this happens on every one of the numerous occasions we come in contact with the world, may that be while doing research or just putting ourselves out there, coming into contact with our surroundings. A number of significant changes were brought about by James in relation to a better understanding of truth. The most crucial being probably the revision of the public character of truth. William James made a number of important changes to the Pragmatist understanding of truth. He shifted the process of belief-formation, application, experimentation, and observation from the general to a more intimate level, that of the individual. In this way, a belief turned into truth, when it proved to have practical use in the life of the individual. His theory was that it took time until a person could get from pretending that a belief was true and acting as such, until it actually became useful, helpful and productive, and indeed seen and considered true. An important field of application of this theory of truth was that of religion, particularly the question of the existence of God. Taken from his book Pragmatism is a statement which is as follows: On pragmatic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true. While in The Meaning of Truth: The true is only the expedient in our way of thinking, just as the right is only the expedient in our way of behavior. Jamess theory and the pragmatic theory in general, as any other philosophical theory, can be confronted on a number of levels. Questions can be raised concerning the ambiguity of terms and of consequences and results. What does what works mean exactly, if taken as James suggests it in the widest sense of the word? Also how can one judge a complex paradigms truth value if it is not 100 percent inclining one way or the other? If we state something like It is useful to assume I will pass my exams., that is not at all the same as the statement that It is true that I will pass my exams. It doesnt work that way. True beliefs are not always useful, and vice-versa, useful ones are not always true. Nietzsche put it like this: The falseness of a judgement is not necessarily an objection to a judgment: it is here that our new language perhaps sounds strangest. The question is to what extent it is life-advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding; and our fundamental tendency is to assert that the falsest judgements (to which synthetic judgments a priori belong ) are the most indispensable to us, that without granting as true the fictions of logic, without measuring reality against the purely invented world of the unconditional and self-identical, without a continual falsification of the world by means of numbers, mankind could not live that to renounce false judgements would be to renounce life, would be to deny life. To recognize untruth as a condition of life: that, to be sure, means to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a philosophy which ventures to do so places itself , by that act alone, beyond good and evil. (Beyond Good and Evil, 333) Now, Pragmatism may be a handy means for distinguishing truth from untruth. After all, that which is true should produce predictable consequences for us in our lives. In order to determine what is real and what is unreal, it would not be unreasonable to focus primarily upon that which works. This, however, is not quite the same as the Pragmatic Theory of Truth as described by William James.

The Harlem Renaissance Essay -- Culture

The Harlem Renaissance In Harlem between the 1920’s and 1930’s the African American culture flourished, especially in areas such as music, art, literature, dance, and even in film. This soon became known as the Harlem Renaissance. With the entire positive and the negative situations of this time period the African Americans still seemed to have it all. The Harlem Renaissance came about because of the changes that had taken place in the African American community after the abolition of slavery because of World War I and the social and cultural changes in early 20th century in the United States. After harsh conditions for African Americans after the Plessy vs. Ferguson Trial many of them decided to move to the North to New York. By staying in the South they became more and more economically depressed and there was less of a demand for labor. Moving to the North became one of the best things African Americans did for themselves. There, men could vote and there was a better education system fo r children. As a result of World War I and the Industrial Revolution there were better job opportunities for African Americans as well. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 many free African Americans searched for a place with education and employment opportunities. They ended up finding this place in Harlem, New York. This was where the first black middle class was created. In the early 1900’s the African American middle class began to publicize for racial equality. During this time W.E.B DuBois was the head of the civil rights movement. Soon after, he began to work closely together with other civil rights workers and activists. Together they discovered the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also known as t... ...issance applauded the appreciation of the African American roots and culture. For example, literature written during this time showed artistic and imaginative ideas freeing black people from their past life and what happened to their ancestors just years before. Since these cultural experiences were now shared the African Americans celebrated this and today it gives us just a little bit of an outlook on some of our history. Works Cited http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom/harlem-renaissance Wallington, D. (2006) Harlem Renaissance Wiseman, G. (2008) How the Harlem Renaissance inspired a national community of black writers Watson, Steven. (1995) The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African American Culture (1920-1930) Baker, Houston. (1992) Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance.

The Western Subjectivity Thought :: Philosophy Papers

The Western Subjectivity Thought Since modern times subjectivity thought has been one of the fundamental contents and the significant achievements of western philosophy. It is faced with many difficulties in its development process and has been declared to "have died", but I think that it indeed still has bright prospects of development. 1. Historical Development of Western Subjectivity Thought The word "subject" comes from the Latin word " subjectum ", which means something in front, or something constituting the foundations of other things. In Greek philosophy, at least in Aristotle's philosophy, "subject" is not a philosophical category which belongs specially to human being or a person, but something which is opposite to attribute or contingency, and is opposite to predicate of a sentence. Such a subject is also a substance in Aristotle's philosophy. For Aristotle, Socrates is a subject, a dog or a stone also is a subject. Up to Descartes' age, the conception of subject as a philosophy category belonging to human being does not project over the general conception of substance. In Descartes' philosophy, what is called subject means ego, soul or mind. Ego, soul or mind, like a material body, is a kind of substance, but is different from the latter in essence. The essence of material substance is extension, whereas the essence of ego, soul or mind is thinking. Ego is not only different from the material substance in essence, but also does not come from the latter. What does he call "I think, therefore I am" does mean that. It clearly puts forward the subjectivity question of human being. However because Descartes puts forward his theory of the subjectivity of human being within the framework of his mind-body dualism, his conception of the subjectivity of human being as such can not possibly contain any further and deeper intention. They are Leibniz, Kant and Husserl and so on who endow it some further and deeper intention. The monadology of Leibniz not only calls monad as "soul" or "entelechy", and considers the perceptive activity as the essential content of a monad, but also clearly declares that a manod is a center of metaphysical force, it has no any windows but intrinsically possesses a kind of appetition force which promotes the transition of a monad from the state of less clear perception to the state of clearer perception , and it is a mirror of the whole universe. All of these enable the ego (the subject) in Descartes' philosophy to get a kind of new active quality.

The Beatles :: Essay on The Beatles

The Beatles are even today known as the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. They introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century. Moreover, they were among the few artists of any genre that were simultaneously the best at what they did, and the most popular at what they did. They were also the first British rock group to achieve worldwide prominence, launching a British Invasion that made rock truly an international phenomenon. Guitarist and teenage rebel John Lennon got hooked on rock & roll in the mid-'50s, and formed a band, the Quarrymen, at his high school. Around mid-1957, the Quarrymen were joined by another guitarist, Paul McCartney. A bit later they were joined by another guitarist, George Harrison, a friend of McCartney's. As the line up of the Quarrymen grew and depleted, the Quarrymen were eventually reduced to the trio of guitarists: Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. The Quarrymen changed their name to the Silver Beatles in 1960, quickly dropping the "Silver" to become just the Beatles. Lennon's college friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass, but finding a permanent drummer was a problem until Pete Best joined in 1960. Although the Beatles had "artfully combin[ed] the best of American musical influences , the vocal style of black rhythm and blues groups from the 1950s, the primitive excitement of rock 'n' roll, the flair of Elvis, and the slickness of the American "hit parade"" (Assayas, 26) they hadn't fully developed , and some of their early recordings were issued only after the band's rise to fame. Near the end of 1961, the Beatles' exploding local popularity caught the attention of local record store manager Brian Epstein, who was soon managing the band as well. He used his contacts to acquire a January 1, 1962, audition at Decca Records. After weeks of deliberation, Decca turned them down, as did several other British labels. Epstein's perseverance was finally rewarded with an audition for producer George Martin at Parlophone, an EMI subsidiary; Martin signed the Beatles in mid-1962. By this time, Epstein was grooming the band for national success by influencing them to get rid of their leather jackets and throw on a suit and tie.One more major change was kicking Pete Best out of the band. Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. As each of the groups singles sold over a million copies in the U.

Sunset Boulevard

Yes, Norma Is That Crazy Sunset Boulevard constantly and persistently advances the theme that Hollywood creates movie stars that become engrossed with their own fame and then abandons them, leaving behind only their outlandish and outdated fantasies. The case of Norma Desmond is no different. Her out-of-touch relationship with reality is given form through her desire to make her â€Å"greatest picture yet. † The segment of Sunset Boulevard that will be analyzed in this essay is significant because, through the use and interplay of cinematography, editing, elements of Mise-en-Scene, and the dialogue, Norma’s delusions are highlighted and magnified.The first few moments of part one of the segment use specific elements of Mise-en-Scene and the dialogue to begin the reinforcement of Norma’s delusions. As her lavish and fanciful car pulls up to the studio door, Norma asks Joe if he would like to accompany her into the studio to meet with Cecil B. DeMille, but Joe refu ses. Joe is dressed fairly normally whereas Norma is wearing a fancy coat and hat to match her equally fancy car. This use of the costumes and makeup suggest that Norma is somehow out of place or out of time because her clothes do not match the occasion.When Joe declines to join Norma in the studio, he explicitly states, â€Å"It’s your script, it’s your show. † This part of the dialogue seems to suggest a separation between Norma and Joe. Norma is excited to meet with DeMille and discuss her movie whereas Joe is content to wait outside with Max and the car – Norma is alone. The next few moments of part one also contain some key lines of dialogue that seem to emphasize the anachronism of Norma Desmond and her fantasies. As she is hugged and greeted by DeMille, she recalls the last time the two had been together.She describes the time as â€Å"very gay,† suggesting that it is a very happy memory. She also remembers waving to DeMille and dancing on a table. It would seem that Norma still associates her relationship with DeMille, and consequently her career as a movie star, with fantastic memories of the past. DeMille mentions that many other people were dancing on tables as well, since Charles Lindbergh had just landed in Paris. This seems to suggest that Norma’s experience (and consequently, her past) is not s special and unique as she would like to believe, but Norma seems ignorant to this subtle suggestion because she is still engrossed by that memory. In the next section of part one, the dialogue between and the behavior of Norma and DeMille heightens the disparity of understanding between the two Hollywood greats. Norma behaves like classic Norma – pretentious with an inflated sense of self-importance. DeMille seems to be walking a line between careful respect and impatience.When Norma asks if he has read her script, DeMille waits for her to break eye contact before looking down and admitting in a rather exas perated and annoyed tone, â€Å"Yes, I did. † DeMille’s facial expression as he says this is key to understanding the distance between him and Norma. He is somewhere between anger, impatience, and confusion, whereas Norma is looking off-screen, seeming quite pleased with herself. DeMille leaves Norma in his director’s chair as he tells one of his assistants to get him on the phone with Gordon Cole, whose calls lead to Norma’s arrival at the studio.The difference between DeMille’s and Norma’s facial expressions and tone reinforce the idea that Norma is living in a fantasy and is separated from reality. The next section of part one uses costumes, lighting, and specific shot angles to reinforce Norma’s delusions about her current importance. A high angle shot of Norma in DeMille’s director’s chair is combined with the use of a spotlight to further Norma’s fantasies about her current importance. When the lighting man puts the spotlight on Norma and exclaims that it’s Norma Desmond for everyone in the studio to hear, the people in the studio surround Norma.Most are dressed for the picture that is being made by DeMille, but there are also a few policemen and normal people as well. The crowd around Norma that is showering her with affection is almost entirely comprised of people in strange clothes. This would seem to suggest that Norma’s sense of self-importance isn’t based in reality. Rather, it is a product of the fantasy world she lives in. In the final moments of part one, non-diegetic music is combined with the dialogue to show that Norma has no idea why she was being called by Gordon Cole.While DeMille is on the telephone with Cole, non-diegetic music is used to heighten the tension and suggest that a revelation is about to be made about the true purpose of the calls to Norma. When Gordon reveals that he was only interested in renting Norma’s luxurious car for a pi cture that is being made, a sudden burst of non-diegetic music is inserted. This music accentuates the difference between Norma Desmond’s reality and actual reality. DeMille pops the fantasy bubble Norma is in by breaking up the crowd of her fans around her and getting the spotlight taken off her.Norma’s fantasy is contrasted with DeMille’s reality when he tries to explain the mix up. She begins weeping out of gratitude for her fans whereas DeMille is trying to let her down as easily as possible. He highlights how detached Norma is when he says that pictures have changed quite a bit since she had been a star. The first half of part two uses cinematography to contrast the Norma’s past and the present. As Max tells Joe about Norma’s old dressing rooms, the camera remains on the car. Joe doesn’t look up at the offices. He doesn’t even seem all that interested in Max’s story.Only when Joe notices Betty does the shot cut away from t he car. Max is still talking but Joe is much more interested in Betty. This use of shot control seems to suggest that Norma and Max’s past is irrelevant to Joe – all he cares about is Betty. The second half of part two uses dialogue to reveal to Max the true nature of the Paramount visit, which shows just how deluded Norma is. Two studio workers walk up to the car as Max is waiting for Joe and Norma to return and ask if they can take a look at the â€Å"funny old car Gordon Cole was talking about. † Max defensively asks what is so funny about the car.He cannot seem to notice how very out-of-place and out-of-time the car is, just as Norma is. The first section of part three uses lighting to contrast with part one. In part one, the inside of the studio is very dark, whereas part three is lighted very well. Betty’s office is well-lit through the open windows and doors, which seems to suggest an air of new life and positivity. DeMille’s studio is quite dark while Norma is present. This contrast seems to highlight the difference between reality and fantasy. Joe and Betty are living in reality – their lives are healthy and growing towards the future, hereas Norma is still living in her past fantasy. Throughout part three, the cinematography and editing, the choice between reality with Betty and fantasy with Norma for Joe is highlighted. Whenever there is a significant portion of Betty’s window visible in the shot, Norma’s car is also visible through the window. As Betty and Joe discuss how to fix up Betty’s script, we can still see the studio workers walking around the car, examining it. Part three also makes significant use of diegetic sound and dialogue to contrast fantasy with reality.As Betty asks Joe to meet with her to work on the script, a car horn begins to honk, calling Joe back to Norma’s fantasy world. Joe takes heed and tries to wrap up the meeting with Betty as soon as possible. Betty , however, is quite insistent and pesters Joe to meet with her. The longer she keeps Joe waiting, the longer and louder the car horn honking becomes. This seems to suggest that Norma’s fantasy world is calling Joe back, keeping him from fully engaging with the present reality. Part four mostly uses non-diegetic sound and music to finish the contrast between reality and Norma’s fantasy.After Max explains to Joe the true reason for the Paramount calls, the camera immediately cuts to Norma and DeMille exiting the studio through the same door they entered earlier in the segment. As Norma insists she isn’t worried about anything and DeMille tries to ship her off without indicating his knowledge of the situation, dark and mysterious music plays. Everyone knows except Norma – not that she cares. Norma is stuck in her fantasy world, convinced that it will become reality. She never picks up on the subtle clues that DeMille gives throughout their interaction that h e has no intention of making a movie with her again.Sunset Boulevard’s theme that Hollywood creates movie stars that become engrossed with their own fame and then abandons them, leaving behind only their outlandish and outdated fantasies, is excellently exemplified through Norma Desmond. Her out-of-touch relationship with reality is given form through her desire to make her â€Å"greatest picture yet. † This segment of Sunset Boulevard is significant because, through the use and interplay of cinematography, editing, elements of Mise-en-Scene, and the dialogue, Norma’s delusions are highlighted and magnified.

Qing Dynasty Essay

The last dynasty in China, the Qing dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1911, and there is argument to say that their failures, especially those towards the end of their rule, created the underlying tension and ideologies behind the Communist victory in China and the consequential establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). These failures can be subdivided into military failures, weaknesses of the leadership, financial disarray, political troubles, and the Qing dynasty’s failure to implement lasting, effective reforms. It can easily be argued that the Qing dynasty didn’t recognise the importance of the military until it was too late and they suffered for neglecting it. The dismissal of a key general, Yuan Shikai in 1908 can be seen as a turning point for the military in this period. The dismissal wasn’t for valid reasons, but purely a chance for Regent Prince Chun to assert his authority. However, this had disastrous consequences the Qing dynasty, as th ey had lost their only loyal general, leaving them without military protection, an issue which had already been exacerbated by the Boxer Rising in 1900-1901. The Qing dynasty then made a further mistake in putting too much trust in him when he (reluctantly) returned. This resulted in Yuan Shikai using his unarguable military strength to gain political power. In all, this left the Qing dynasty with little, if any military strength. Their army wasn’t loyal, nor was it organised and there was much internal strife. Therefore the Chinese people were left yearning for a government that was strong enough to command military as well as political power, planting the ideas of revolution in their heads. The Qing dynasty also had a lot of problems with leadership. During the â€Å"100 Days† period of attempted reform, obvious internal power struggles arose which further weakened the dynasty. Here there was the struggle between the reactionaries of the government, those that wanted China to remain traditional and to uphold the ideas of Confucian living, and progressives who were in support of bringing in reform and change to modify China . With hindsight, it can be argued that, perhaps if the progressives had won the debate over reform, there might not have even been a need for a revolution. However, at the time it is important to note that the ideas of Confucian living and social harmony were a core part of Chinese society, and because most of the Chinese public had not known any different, something as radical as what the progressives were suggesting was seen as alien and threatening.  The reactionaries outweighed the progressives in court, and led by Dowager Empress Cixi, they forced themselves into power. For a while, although Cixi was in no way a perfect leader, at least there was a constant leader who was reliable. However in 1908, upon the death of Emperor Guangxu and Dowager Empress Cixi, Pu Yi came to be emperor. However emperor Pu Yi was only a very small child at the time, so Prince Chun acted as regent. He lacked authority, and so 3 further years of inconsistent leadership followed. The Chinese public started looking for someone who was confident to lead them into a revolution and give them what they need in way of reform, opening up and opportunity for a n ew leader to step in. From the end of the Opium Wars, the Qing government had been plunged into a state of bankruptcy, leaving them without enough money to impose an industrial modernisation programme that China so desperately needed. This was made worse by the crippling penalties imposed after the Boxer Rising in 1900-01. The effect of this is most obviously highlighted with the railways crisis from 18958-1911. During this time the railway boom in China meant a great opportunity for provinces to thrive, bringing in trade and new jobs. However, the Qing government chose to nationalise the railway, and to be able to afford to do so, that meant that they had to raise taxes and rely on foreign loans. Naturally, the Chinese people in these provinces weren’t happy with the fact that not only have the government taken away a huge possibility for local investment, but were then imposing taxes on the very people who were missing out. This led to open opposition of the government for the first time in China, as well as a damaged sense of pride because they were relying on foreign investment. The Qing dynasty was widely regarded among the Chinese as old-fashioned and redundant. First of all, this was down to the simple fact that they originated from Manchuria, which wasn’t even part of China, meaning that they were out of touch with the growing popularity of nationalism. Also, their authoritarian tradition made them incapable of responding to the demands of the revolutionaries, who were inspired by Japanese and Western models of democracy. This is because, among the people, there was fear of the punishments associated with â€Å"disrupting the social harmony† (defying the government). Combined with the government’s fear of change, it can be argued that this is why it took until 1949 for China to have a revolution, compared to America or France. Finally, and most importantly, was the Qing dynasty’s  blatant disregard for the crucial need for reforms. The closest that they got to reform was during the â€Å"100 Days† in 1905, when reforms based on western models were proposed but completely ignored in courts and so therefore didn’t go through. Part of this was to do with Dowager Empress Cixi leading a strong opposition against the reform. However, she later went on to introduce some reform, for example she brought an end to tests in Confucianism for government positions and she created provincial assemblies. Many historians have argued, however, that this was just an attempt to win over the revolutionaries who were turning against the idea of an â€Å"establishment† all together. Generally, by the time of the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the revolutionaries within China were ready for change. They were fed up with having a corrupt, inconsistent central government that weren’t in touch with the modern concepts behind revolutionary thoughts. This lay the foundations for the Chinese revolution and the eventual establishment of the PRC in 1949.