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I was 18 years old when I got married and I belong to a very conservative family, a family where good daughters never say “NO” to their parents. My father wants to me to get married and all I said was if that makes you happy I’II say yes. And of course, It was never a happy marriage. Just about after two years of getting married, about nine years ago I am in a car accident.
Get original essaySomehow my husband fell asleep, and the car fell in the ditch. He managed to jump out, save himself. I am happy for him, but I stayed inside the car, and I sustained a lot of injuries, list is a bit long. The radius ulna of my rights arm were fractured, the wrist was fractured, shoulder bone and collarbone were fractured, my whole ribcage got fractured. But that injury changed me and my life completely was the spine injury. Many people came to rescue, they gave me CPR. They dragged me out the car and while they were dragging me out, I got the complete transaction of my spinal cord. Those two and a half months in the hospital were dreadful. I was at the verge of despair. One day doctor to me and he said, “Well, I heard that you wanted to be an artist but you ended up being a housewife. I have bad news for you. You won’t be able to paint again”. Next day doctor came to me and said, “Your spine is really so bad, you won’t be able to walk again. “I took a deep breath and decide it’s all right. Next day doctor came to me and said, “Because of your spine injury and the fixation that you in your back, you won’t be able to give birth to a child again. “That day I was devastated. I started to question my existence that why am I even alive? So what kept me going was, One day I asked my brothers, I know I have a deformed hand but I’m tired of looking at these white walls in the hospital and wearing these white scrubs. Bring me some colors, bring me some small canvas, I want to paint.
So the very first painting I made was on my deathbed, where I painted for the very first time. What an amazing therapy it was, without uttering a single word, I could paint my heart out. I could share my story. People used to come and say, What lovely painting, so much color. Nobody could see the grief in it, only I could. And that day I decided that I a going to live long life for myself. I am not going to be that perfect person for someone. I am just to take this moment and I will make it perfect for myself, that I am going to fight my fears. So I wrote down one by one all those fears and I decided that I’m going to overcome these fears one at a time. You know what my biggest fear? “Divorce” But the day I decided that this is nothing but my fear, I liberated myself by setting him free and I made myself emotionally so strong that the day I got the news that he’s getting married, I sent him a text, that I am so happy for you and I wish you all the best and he knows that I pray for him today. Number two was I won’t be able to be a mother again and that was quite devastating for me but then I realized there are so many children in the world, all they want is acceptance.
So there is no point of crying just fo and adopt one and That’s what I did and gave my name I different organization, different orphanages, I waited patiently. Two years later I got this call from a very small city in Pakistan. I got a call and they said, “Are you Muniba Mazari? There is a baby boy and would you like to adopt?” I could literally feel the labor pain and I said, “Yes, Yes, I am going to adopt him. I am coming to take him home. “And that day, he was two days old and today he’s six. You know, when you end up being on the wheelchair, what’s the most painful thing? People think that they will not be accepted by the people because we in the world perfect people are imperfect. So I decided to appear more in public I started to paint. I have done a lot of modeling campaigns and decided that I’m going to join the National TV of Pakistan as an anchor person. I became the National Goodwill Ambassador for UN women Pakistan and now I speak for the right of women and children. I was featured in BBC 100 Women for 2015, I’m one of Forbes 30 under 30 for 2016.
So when you accept yourself the way you are, the world recognizes you. It all starts from within we have this amazing fantasy about life, this is how things should work. This is my plan, it should go as per my plan. If that doesn’t happen, we give up. I never wanted to be on the wheelchair, never thoughts of being on the wheelchair. This life is a test and a trail and tests are never supposed to be easy s when you are expecting ease from life and life gives you lemons, then you make the lemonade, and then do not blame life for that. It is OK to be scared. It is OK to be cry. Everything is OKay but giving up should not be an option.
They always say that failure is not an option. Failure should be an option because when you fail you get up, and then you fail and then you get up and that keeps you going. Embrace each and every breath that you are taking, Celebrate your life. Live it, don’t die before your death. Real happiness lies in gratitude, so be grateful, be live, and live every moment.
I believe that it takes failure to make a successful person. Everyone makes mistakes but after you make the mistake you know what not to do. Failure is the key to success, each mistake teaches us something. Everyone wants success and wants to reach success but not everyone accepts failure and learn from the mistake and move on. Failure teaches how to change into a better person for yourself and the people who love you. We all make mistakes daily, some of them larger than others, but mistakes are mistakes. We fail at finishing our homework on time or fail a test. People think others that are failing makes them losers, when it actually helps us grow and learn more about ourselves and even others. Sure, failing at doing something can hurt and make us upset, but it’s how we react to that failure that makes us and who we are. Every part of who I am today is based on the failures that I have went through in my past and what I have made of my mistakes. Without failure no one would understand what it means to succeed, since every action would just be seen as nothing happened.
Get original essayMy biggest achievement in life so far is learning how to accept my failures and learn from them and change for the better then move on. Learning how to accept failure makes me wiser in choosing actions I will and have taken and it makes me strive more to do better in my life for myself and others. There were times I failed at being a good daughter, being a best friend, being a good student, being a good sister and even being the best version of myself. Before I accepted failure it made me feel that I am not smart enough and I am not capable of doing things. It also has made me feel like people will judge me easier because of my mistakes. I thought that people would dislike me because of my mistakes. I started to realize that I was scared of failure and started thinking about how “perfect” life would be if no one made mistakes.
Failure is a way for people to learn from their mistakes. In fact, failure is a mechanism created to force people into figuring out where they went wrong and then get back up and striving to succeed the next time. No one can win every time, and if people can learn to accept their mistakes and move on, they will also realize how strong they truly are just like I did. I realized that you can not just sit there, you have to get back up. When success is reached through suffering, the result is far greater than that of just being given an award. Learning the hard way is probably the best way to learn in any situation. Failure is a part of life and just as important as success. Think of a mistake you have made in your life or times you wish you could’ve done something differently. There’s a chance you won't make the same mistake again as long as you learn from your past and move on and try again and never give up. We fail so we learn how to grow, we fail so we know the feeling of regret and we fail so when we succeed.
The fair use copyright law enables people to use portions of material that is copyrighted for the purposes of criticism or as commentary. The hard part for many people is understanding what is permissible under the fair use copyright law and what is not permissible. Anyone who writes or publishes should brush up on what is allowed and what is not allowed.
Get original essayUsing another person’s words to make news reports, to use as a comment or criticism or to use for research, scholarship, or for educational uses that are nonprofit are generally considered fair use.In these instances, the fair use copyright law allows one person or author to make use of another person or author’s work without asking permission to do so. In situations that do not fall within these specifications you are probably violating someone’s copyright if you use their work – especially if you are using another person’s work for economic or commercial gain. When you are trying to see if you can use another’s words, you should keep a few things in mind. The answer to the following questions will help you gage whether you would be violating a copyright.
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First, are you transforming someone else’s work or are you copying it? Second, are you going to be making any financial gains from your work that would compete with the original copyright holder? Third, do you have the author’s permission to quote their work?Just because you list the author and give credit to him or her does not protect you from infringing upon someone’s copyright. Fourth, how much of the original author’s work are you using? If you are using a substantial amount of another’s work, you are probably in direct violation of their copyright.
Many publishing companies have set rules on how much material they will allow to be quoted in other sources. Some of these ranges start at 100 words or less. However, there are truly no standards to go by, so be careful. You can not assume that keeping your copying fewer than 50 words will allow you to pass under the radar – especially if the original piece is hovering around 125 words itself! Lastly, what portion of another’s work are you using? If it is the meat of the book and the most important part of the book, you are probably in direct violation of the owner’s copyright. With a little common sense it is not hard to decide if you are violating someone’s copyright.
People who are truly interested in staying within the guidelines of the fair use copyright law usually do a good job of doing so. Many people push the fair use copyright law right up to the line, while others will blatantly cross over it without giving a second thought to the repercussions. When these people are summoned to court to answer for their vagrant disregard for the property and copyright of another they are usually sorry.Sorry they got caught! It is very important that people who take advantage of the fair use copyright law are held accountable for their actions. Without accountability many more people would follow in their footsteps and use another’s works as their own.
Look at the world around you and check what you see; there is chaos and unrest all around, if only we could show some love to one another, the world around us is sure going to experience an ultimate transformation into a better place.aHowever, have you ever thought about the act of showing love in the world of sports? Have you ever one time or the other heard that word "fairplay" in sports?
Get original essayEvery religion in the world has their own holy books and for as far I have read about these books, they all preach love. And in my own world, sports is a religion, so it preaches love too. The only virtue the world needs to stay in order and be chaos-free is love; if only we can ignore, tribalism, racism, class and status, religious and political differences; our world will be a better place.
Fair play is simply the act of showing love in the course of the game, on and off the pitch of play. Fairplay is the word used when sportsmen and women show love, tolerance and respect to one another even when one party does not deserve it. Fairplay is the phrase used when maturity, patience and perseverance is displayed in sports. Fairplay means leaving one's comfort zone to put things right in the game. Fairplay is fairness in sports. Fairplay: Lionel Messi and Cristiano RonaldoWell I don't have much to say about this simple word, but I'll butress my point on fairplay with my best fairplay scenario as an example. You can continue the trend by sharing your own fairplay scene, irrespective of the sport; it's just about love in sports.
Dnipro's Jaba Kankava clearing Dynamo Kiev captain, Oleg Gusev's blocked airways. In 2014, Dnipro's Jaba Kankava saved his opponent's life by providing some swift and fast first aid procedure on his blocked airways. After contesting from an aerial ball, Dnipro's goalkeeper unintentionally hit his knee on Dynamo Kiev captain, Oleg Gusev's head that left him unconscious.
Jaba's quick intervention of dipping his hand into his opponent's mouth to avoid his tongue blocking his throat saved the player's life. This simple act is regarded as one of the best fairplay scenes in the world of football from a player to an opponent. Since he was an opponent, he could have ignored the helpless player but he did not, even at the detriment of his own hand. May the God of Football be with Jaba Kankava
Emily Dickinson's poetry covers a broad range of topics, including poetic vision, love, nature, prayer, death, God, Christ, and immortality. There is a unity in her poetry, however, in that it focuses primarily on religion. Full of contradictions and varying moods and perspectives, her poems offer a glimpse into a complex and intelligent mind that struggled for a lifetime with religious belief. Clearly, she resisted conforming to the expectations of her church and school that she publicly identify with the community of believers and accept their traditional doctrines without question. She chose to define her own beliefs rather than accept the "limitations" of a structured religion's mold: an issue that she struggled with until her death. This struggle is characterized in her poetry by a constant questioning of God's goodness, an identification with the sufferings of Christ, and, ultimately, by the lack of a connection between a suffering Christ and a loving God, and between a triumphant Christ and hope for humanity.
Get original essayAlthough Dickinson's struggle was deeply internal, external influences played a significant role, particularly in the realms of science, philosophy, religion, and literature. The traditional Protestant worldview was being challenged by a gradual shift towards naturalism, due in part to Darwin's publication of "The Origin of Species" in 1850 (when Dickinson was twenty years old). Dickinson poses questions and raises doubts about accepted knowledge and worldviews that sound almost ahead of her time. She maintains an unshakeable confidence that absolute truth exists, but with keen observations of realistic detail, her deep insight into human psychology, and unique gift of poetic expression, she frames questions that still continue to be debated in literature today.
Closer to home, the religious climate in Amherst was hardly harsh and puritanical, as is commonly supposed, but was rather characterized by a "curious mix of Whig republicanism and evangelical moralism" (Lundin 13). The strict Calvinism of the Puritans had blended with the American culture to produce a religion of inner reform, self-restraint and service to an orderly, pious society. Some of Dickinson's poetry reveals her disdain for religious hypocrisy and outward attempts to appear righteous. Poems like "401" and "324" are examples of this rejection, not only of hypocrisy, but of conformation to those outward standards that supposedly constituted righteousness and spirituality according to society and the church. In "401", she pokes fun of "These Gentlewomen" (2) who appear as "Soft - Cherubic Creatures" (1). Underneath the outward and exaggerated facade of perfection, however, they are really only "A Horror so refined" (6). They are shallow, with no deep-rooted convictions, and have the blemishes of "freckled Human Nature" (7) like everyone else. Poem "324" is also a playful jab at religious people, and has a self-exultant tone: she keeps the Sabbath her own way. She is not bound by church walls or by time, and especially not by the expectations of the established church of her day. It is important to recognize and distinguish between Dickinson's rebellion against these kinds of societal and religious expectations and her questions and doubts about God Himself.
Dickinson was also influenced by leading transcendentalist poets such as Emerson, but she never fully embraced transcendentalist philosophies. The romantic emphasis on the self and intuition and on nature as a spiritual emblem is evident in her poetry, but she does not share the transcendentalists' strong faith in nature's power to reveal God or spiritual truth. She focuses much more on the hidden and paradoxical nature of God and on the seemingly unexplainable suffering and death in the natural world. In between the literary ages of romanticism and realism, she speaks "with a new voice that combined enduring elements from both ages, the old and the new" (Perkins 872).
All of these factors and more, no doubt, influenced Dickinson's decision to turn inward, to retreat from the limitations and uncertainties of the outside world into the realm of infinite possibilities her mind provided. "I dwell in possibility" (657, 1), she asserts in a poem
Celebrating her freedom as a poet. She is not limited - the "Hands" of her "occupation" reach out "To gather Paradise" (657, 12). Dickinson, "With Will to choose, or to reject" (508, 18), deliberately chose her path in life, and in turn, rejected another. At Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, she steadfastly refused to publicly declare faith in Christ as her Savior. She did not pretend to be unaffected by the pressure and later expressed regret over her missed opportunities, indicating that she really was experiencing a strong, internal inclination to become a Christian (Habbegar 202). Poem "576" is similar to "508", in that she is looking back on a childhood during which religious expressions were forced on her. In "508", she exalts the baptism of her own choosing, considering her first one as trivial as her dolls and "stings of spools". Poem "576" has a far different attitude toward her childlike prayers. This poem, along with the general tenor of her entire life and works, demonstrates a consistent desire to overcome doubt and believe:
And often since, in Danger I count the force t'would be To have a God so strong as that To hold my life for me. (576, 14-17)
As she entered adulthood, her simple child's world became complex, filled with ongoing doubts and struggles to understand "parts of his far plan/ That baffled me" (576, 10-11). The strict religious environment in which Dickinson was raised likely left little room for doubt, and probably required complete acceptance of the church's dogma. Perhaps she thought that total confidence would be desirable, and would ensure great security. However, her doubts do not allow this confidence: "How would prayer feel - to me - / If I believed" (576, 4-5), she wonders. She eventually came to believe that "her critical consciousness had shut her out from the innocence of childhood and had somehow made the assurances of Christian belief unavailable to her in conventional form" (Lundin 47). She longed for a simple faith that would sustain her with joy and hope, but the failure of her critical mind to understand her suffering, along with a stubborn refusal to trade her independence for identification with the community of believers, made such faith impossible.
Perhaps the most threatening stumbling block to her faith was what she perceived as the distance and silence of God. One of her poems begins:
I know that He exists, Somewhere - in Silence - He has hid his rare life From our gross eyes. (338, 1-4)
That God seems hidden or silent is not the most disturbing of Dickinson's charges. Poem "724" is a rather shocking indictment of God's use of His power and authority. Overall, the poem questions God's purpose for his creation and for the suffering of man. Does He even have a plan, or is He playing some sort of game? Are His actions fair to man? Did He just create the world as a show of His authority and might? God seems to be acting spontaneously, almost haphazardly, in this poem - "inserting Here - a Sun - / There - leaving out a man - " (11-12). It is easy for him to invent a life, but just as easy to "efface it" (5). Death seems to be a quick-fix solution to this spontaneous creation of life:
It's easy to efface it - The thrifty Deity Could scarce afford Eternity To spontaneity - (5-8)
Hinting that the blame for death rests ultimately on God reveals her questioning of the doctrine of man's depravity. Though we may "murmur" against it, His "Perturbless Plan" (10) proceeds.
Dickinson is convinced that "This world is not Conclusion" (501, 1), that ultimate truth lays beyond the visible and temporal world. It is "Invisible, as Music - / But positive, as Sound - " (501, 3-4). Exactly what this truth is, however, remains largely a mystery to her, and thus "her thematic sense of religion lies not in her assurance, but in her continual questioning of God, in her attempt to define his nature and that of his world" (Magill 805). This mystery "beckons and it baffles" (501, 5), but escapes the grasp of philosophy and sagacity of men. The crucifixion of Christ showed it to us, but faith is still not satisfied and blushes to be seen searching for "a twig of Evidence" (501, 15). Even the "Narcotics" (501, 19) of religion cannot satisfy the yearning of the soul. Dickinson identifies with the human desire for visible evidence, for clear answers to questions about God and His plan for humanity. This poem contains evidence that she ultimately found the revelation of the natural world (commonly thought of as God's general revelation) to be limited. But more importantly, she reveals her dissatisfaction with God's special revelation, the person of Jesus Christ.
That the crucifixion is included in a list of unsatisfying and disappointing avenues toward truth is an idea echoed in another poem: Embarrassment of one another And God Is Revelations limit (662, 1-3)
God's revelations to man have limits; this is why those who have chosen faith must blush and feel ashamed of their fellow believers and of God. Dickinson's attempts to seek God seem to meet with limitations as well. Prayer is often a source of frustration in her poems: "Of course - I prayed - / And did God care?" (376, 1-2). She also writes in her letters about her frustration with prayer: "I seek and don't find, and knock and it is not opened" (Johnson 107), and "We pray to Him, and He answers 'No.' Then we pray to Him to rescind the 'No' and He don't answer at all yet 'Seek and ye shall find' is the boon of faith" (Johnson 290). Dickinson truly believed she was a seeker, but echoes of frustration in her poetry (and letters) indicate that she had not found what faith had promised.
Dickinson explores the relationship between the Father and the Son in poem "357" by using a metaphor of the legendary courtship of Miles Standish. God, at home in His distant heaven, sends his Son to "woo" humanity. It is as if God fears that, like Priscilla, mankind will "Choose the Envoy - and spurn the Groom - " by not realizing that they are one. Dickinson certainly seems to be wrestling with complex questions about Jesus' origin and identity. Could she trust that Jesus had really come from God? Is Jesus really the answer to all her questions about the Father? Although it is a difficult concept, the Scriptures are clear that the mission of Christ was to reveal the great love of the Father. God is love, and Christ was His ultimate manifestation of that love to humanity: "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (I John 4.9). Dickinson surely had no problem understanding this from the Bible, but something in her own experience kept her from believing it without hesitation. Somehow, her identification with the suffering Christ was not adequate to dispel her doubts about His Father. So, in her poetry, the Father remains "a God who does not answer, an unrevealed God whom one cannot confidently approach through Nature or through doctrine" (Wilbur 130) - or, as I would add, through the life and revelation of Christ.
The suffering that drew her to Jesus was usually brought on by death. Although she lived a reclusive life from about age thirty on, she maintained very active correspondence with quite a few friends. In a letter, she responded this way to the death of a friend's daughter: "I can't stay any longer in a world of death" (Johnson 145). She even notices the cruelty of death in nature:
The Frost beheads it the flower at its play - In accidental power - The blonde Assasin passes on - (1624, 3-5)
As the critic, Alfred Kazin, writes: "She never got over the impermanence of everything she saw, the fragility of human relationships, the flight of the seasons, the taste of death in winter" (143). This problem of death, especially the deaths of her close friends and family members, haunted Dickinson, so she turned from a silent, distant Father to the fellow human sufferer, His Son.
In poem "698", Christ spans the distance between God and humanity. Although for man the uncertainties of death remain, Christ's death justifies him:
Death - We do not know - Christ's acquaintance with Him Justify Him - though - (2-4) Christ was not only acquainted with death, but with all aspects of earthly life:
All the other Distance He hath traversed first - No New Mile remaineth - Far as Paradise - (9-12)
"I like a look of Agony / Because I know it's true - " (241, 1-2), she writes in another poem. While many people pretend optimism, Dickinson rejects the romantic view and chooses instead to see death as it really is - a stark reality that renders life meaningless without explanation. The life of Jesus, therefore, held great appeal for her; forsaking heaven to experience undeserved suffering and death made him true, genuine, and trustworthy:
The Savior must have been A docile Gentleman - To come so far so cold a Day For little Fellowmen - (1487, 1-4)
Over and over in her poems about Jesus, he is the solution for the distance between God and humanity. Another poem describing the incarnation of Christ brings out his divinity and worthiness: although humans' weak faith may cause the "Bridge" to "totter" or seem "brittle", God "sent His Son to test the Plank / And he pronounced it firm" (1433, 7-8). The fact that Jesus came and that he was sent by God reveals his divinity and his love, and this is a strong basis for faith.
Yet Dickinson's faith in Christ still seems to waver. She questions Jesus in "217", but not in the same way that she questions God. Her questioning of God is often accusatory in tone, but in this poem she seems timid and childlike, hoping that Jesus can help her, yet fearful that he cannot. Will he remember her, and will her heart be too heavy for him? Jesus is her fellow sufferer, but what can he do about her suffering? Sometimes he, too, seems to be unreachable, or perhaps not able to reach her. In another poem she is praying, "knocking - everywhere - " (502, 4), but is still unable to find him. His hand is in creation, but "Hast thou no Arm for Me (502, 8)?" she asks. These poems evidence a childlike timidity and fear, unlike the bold independence she asserts in other poems. Perhaps her most disconcerting fear was that Christ would offer no comfort in death. As she envisions herself "Dying! Dying in the night" (158, 1)! she frantically asks,
And "Jesus"! Where is Jesus gone? They said that Jesus - always came - Perhaps he doesn't know the House -
She wrote the following to her friend, Abiah Root: "when trial grows more, and more . . . whose is the hand to help us, and to lead, and forever guide us, they talk of a 'Jesus of Nazareth' will you tell me if it be he" (Johnson 39)? She believes in the divinity of Christ, but as Lundin notes, "When theology turns into anthropology, Jesus becomes merely a pioneer in the endless process of bearing pain . . . [He becomes] trapped with us in our finitude" (5). Dickinson's poetry dwells heavily on Christ the sufferer, but pays very little attention to Christ the risen Savior. His triumph in the resurrection does not seem important in her poetry, perhaps because she could not identify with that part of his experience as she could with his suffering. Times of doubt are not uncommon, even in a believer's life, but Dickinson never seemed to rise above the anguish of her suffering. She longed for the joy she saw in others when they accepted Christ as their Savior, but never seemed to experience it herself. The presence of Christ in one's life does bring about a radical new perspective on suffering that Dickinson does not seem to have - the perspective the Apostle Paul writes about in Romans:
We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (5. 3-5)
God turns the result of evil - suffering - into a way to work "for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8. 28). In Dickinson's poetry, suffering seems only to frustrate her desire to know and understand God's love, and any comfort she has lies in her shared sufferings with Christ instead of his healing power and promise of a new life through his resurrection.
Having come to this conclusion, however, it would be unfair to ignore the poems that seem to contradict it. As one critic states, "In Dickinson's poetry, God himself is paradoxical: he is both attached and detached, near and far, compassionate and indifferent, generous and jealous" (167). If this is true, then Dickinson herself is paradoxical, clinging stubbornly to faith and hope even while expressing rebellion and fear. While the dominant tone in the overtly religious poems seems to be one of doubt, at times she does evidence a simple but sure faith: "Christ will explain each separate anguish / In the fair schoolroom of the sky" (193, 3-4), she writes hopefully. Her ride with Death in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" includes Immortality as his companion, and their final destination is "Eternity" (24). Another poem uses a simple illustration from nature to demonstrate her confidence in God and an afterlife. Just as she knows what a moor and the sea look like without having actually seen them, she says:
I never spoke with God Nor visited in Heaven - Yet certain am I of the spot As if the Checks were given - (1052, 4-8)
That such simple assurance and hope can be expressed by a critical mind so keenly aware of mystery, so prone to doubts and fears, and so bruised by disappointments and death reveals Dickinson's inner strength and courage, and the power of the human imagination.
It is difficult, and probably impossible, to definitively discern the underlying message of some of Dickinson's poems. The contradictions - the various expressions of both doubt and belief, joy and pain, peace and turmoil - may simply be reflective of her emotional distress, or may be evidence of a lack of true spiritual commitment, or a refusal to trust completely in God. The mind of Dickinson may remain a mystery, but her poetry still offers us access into a mind that sought independence and individuality and struggled to "still the Tooth" of doubt and suffering "That nibbles at the soul" (501, 19-20) with belief that hope lay beyond the cruelty of death.
Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960.
Habbegger, Alfred. My Wars are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Random House, 2001.
Johnson, Thomas H., ed. Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters. The Belknap P of Harvard U P: Cambridge, 1971.
Kazin, Alfred. God and the American Writer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Kher, Inder Nath. The Landscape of Absence: Emily Dickinson's Poetry. New Haven: Yale U P, 1974.
Lundin, Roger. Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief. Wm. B. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1998.
Magill, Frank N., ed. Critical Survey of Poetry. Vol. 2. Englewood Cliffs: Salem P, 1982.
Perkins, George and Barbara M. Perkins, Eds. The American Tradition in Literature. 9th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999.
The Holy Bible, King James Version.
Wilbur, Richard. "Sumptuous Destitution." Emily Dickinson: Three Views. Amherst: Amherst College P, 1960.
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Get custom essayBy Richard Wilbur, Louise Bogan, and Archibald MacLeish. Rpt. in Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Richard B. Sewall. Englewood Cliffs: Salem P, 1982.
Nowadays spread of the Internet, press media and social media all over the world let people access all the informat?on and news every day. Social network and media have been changing the world in terms of globalization and international relations, while TV and press media facilitates people’s life. However, due to the vast amount of the news and information people cannot decide whichever to believe. N. R. Portnow who is an American music industry executive agrees with this idea when he claims “We live in a time of fake news - things that are made up and manufactured”. As a result of deceptive experience, people became confused with social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as TV and press media. Thus, serious problems such as failure of big companies, political misinformation, and lack of capacity to separate fact from fiction are real and negative consequences of fake news; however, fiction is the best way to bring people together and create unity.
Get original essayCurrently, the bankruptcy of big and important companies is one of the serious impacts of fake news. According to C. Binham (2019) who is a journalist at Financial Times it is claimed that the spread of misinformation on social media has become a big headache and inconvenience for all companies all over the world. Binham (2019) argues that for the first time the global survey which is especially about social media threats and fake news polled among 13 countries from 588 large companies, and it is revealed that 84 percent of the companies suffer from rumors on social media, and feel inconvenient. Furthermore, even companies themselves ought to be careful about whatever they publish and press. Giving an example from my own experience, I may introduce last week’s project “YUKSEL” which was a lecture about public relations. It was held in Baku Book Center by Nigar Arpadarai (2019) who is the Head of the Marketing and Communications in Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Arpadarai mentioned numerous cases about the temporary failure of the companies such as Coca Cola, BP, and Cadbury due to denials and misinformation. These companies denied the fact that they had guilt over botulism, over The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and over the decayed chocolates. Denials made public angry instead of accepting their fault and being transparent. Therefore, these companies had lost their fame and revenue for a long time; however, the heads of firms confessed the responsibility and pressed transparent news. All in all, companies themselves should consider that even denials and misinformation may cost their status as well as fake news on social media.
Political lies and strategies are other main sources of fake news. It is obvious that politicians care about power and leadership rather than transparency; however, it again leads to political tension among politicians as well as the public. Referring to Y. N. Harari (2018), who is an Israeli historian, it is mentioned, “As a species, humans prefer power to truth”/ As he mentioned it is the best way to make the world easier to be controlled rather than easier to be understood. Moreover, the desire for power is not an excuse for politicians to lie because it hurts public’s political perspective and ideas, as well as leaders, they may face with legal problems which might cost their status. As a result, when it comes to politics, people feel confused and insecure because Harari says “Underneath all the fake news, there are real facts and real suffering”.
According to D. Stecula (2017) who is a PhD candidate in political science, the University of British Columbian, another essential and serious impact of fake news is that public cannot differ quality information from fake information. To be sure he tested 700 undergraduate students at the University of British Columbian and revealed that students have difficulties to separate fake news. He showed different screenshots of fake and original websites especially including political content, and he said that it is terrible that even they gave more legitimacy to fake news and websites. It shows that even fabricated and unreal things also look like real and gain the interest of the public. Thus, people, especially the young generation have difficulty to separate fiction from fake.
Although, opponents may claim that fiction is one of the effective ways of creating unity and gaining easy cash. For instance, Harari (2018) claims that in terms of religion fiction can create huge cooperation among people, and it can inspire them to design significant architectures such as bridges, churches and cathedrals. Furthermore, creating fake websites and contents brings attraction and easy money for people who engage in creating and managing these fiction and fake news. Thus, it is an inevitable truth that fake news is a questionable topic in terms of its positive sides.
To conclude the essay, I can deduce that the decline of large firms, change of political views, and realization of fake news are only visible negative sides of the fake news. My own experiences through class discussion and different lectures interact with Harrari’s (2018) arguments, and I strongly advocate his idea that if we want to get reliable sources and news we have to pay sufficient money for it. Moreover, another useful solution is that it would be better if we refer to scientific literature and articles instead of skeptical websites.
Reducing the amount of harm and errors to patient can help improve patient safety. We as nurses are required to comply with the principles of patient safety so that the patient safety goal can be achieved. Why is it that most hospitals hammer on the point that we should make sure that beds are in the lowest position, locked, side rails are up *2 or *3, call light is in reach and every patient has non-skid footwear. All these precautions are not in place just for fun, but they are all in place for the safety of our patients. So, if an institution has it main goal to be the patient safety, improved patient outcomes will be achieved. A lot of falls seen on our units has taken the turn for worst, which is why I choose to write about falls in this research essay.
Get original essayMost of the falls are seen in the elderly and then sometimes seen within the middle aged. I remember one time a middle-aged man who was on our unit for a TAVR (tricuspid aortic valve repair) work up ended up falling after his procedure. So, this man had his procedure and all post TAVR patients are at a high risk for pauses in their EKG’s. Since these patient’s are at a higher risk for pauses it makes them a high fall risk patient. He was constipated after his procedure due to the pain medicine and he wanted some privacy to use the toilet. He was on the toilet for a while and whiles he was on the toilet one of his pacemaker leads failed and he ended up falling on the floor once he tried to get up. This patient ended up with a neck fracture that needed surgery which the hospital was charged for. His life was never the same again after this incident. Imagine the impact this would have on his family.
I chose this clinical guideline because I think we as nurses are responsible for keeping our patients’ safe. By keeping patients safe I mean we need to keep all patients free of any additional injuries throughout their stay in the hospital. Research from recent studies shows that there are many strategies which can help reduce the number of falls in a healthcare setting.
The participants included both males and females with an average age of 73years. It included people from Cologne, Valencia, Sydney and Sregan. Purpose The purpose of the study was to increase older adults’ motivation in participating and using the iStoppFalls prevention measures. Research design A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was used in this study. Also, descriptive analyses were conducted. Sample studied Some participants used iStoppFalls program through the TV set for 16 weeks and others did the same exercise and setup for 24 weeks. I don’t think the instruments used to measure the variable were reliable because the long term like the 24 weeks requires long term evaluations.
The results of the study suggested that the iStoppFalls system has good usability, user experience and user acceptance.
I think the limitation to this study was the sample size because I think the sample size of this study was too small to allow for detailed statistical analysis in terms of user acceptance. Level of Evidence and Justification for Level. I think the level evidence in this research suggest that elderly people at a higher risk for falls.
Are Findings Valid?
I think that the findings of this research are valid in the sense that the results of the study suggested that the iStoppFalls system has good usability, user experience and user acceptance.
The importance of the findings helps us link the iStoppFalls system to the elderly fall rate.
The project was conducted on a six-bed pediatric and pediatric intensive care unit staffed only by registered nurses (RNs) in a mid-size hospital in the southeastern United States. Purpose The purpose of this project was to implement a pediatric fall prevention program and policy on an inpatient pediatric unit with a goal to decrease pediatric falls.
This QI project had multiple initial components that involved evaluating the problem of falls. This included existing fall risk data at the project site and the development of a policy and subsequent plan for fall prevention where nothing specifically designed for pediatrics was previously in place. Sample studied The project included all patients, newborn to 18 years of age, admitted to the six-bed pediatric unit, including both general pediatric patients and pediatric intensive care patients.
There were no falls on the pediatric unit between January and June 2016, resulting in the fall rate per 1, 000 patient days at 0%, compared with a 4. 5% per 1, 000 days for the unit between January and June 2015.
The program and policy were not accepted hospital wide. Level of Evidence and Justification for Level. I think this is going to be a level 1 because of evidence for a systematic review of all relevant RCT’s were used.
I think the findings are valid because no falls between January and June are the best results a hospital can have.
These findings are very relevant to strategies to prevent falls.
408 beds divided in 13 adult medical surgical rehab unit.
The purpose was to help detect patterns that was related to unassisted falls. It was also to establish a process in maintaining consistency of identifying risk factors and develop appropriate solutions. Research design Data was collected from the internal reporting system with analysis of all falls. Sample studied The sample involved were divided into two groups which were; one group below 65years and the other group was above 65 years. The age group below 65 years accounted for an average of 20% more admissions than those over 65years.
Patient education was effective and showed steady improvement as patients became more compliable to the fall prevention strategies.
One limitation that was identified was family members. Some family members take measures into their own hands and by deactivating bed alarms and helping patients out of bed to the bathroom or into the chair.
Because patients were compliable to fall prevention strategies. Therefore, the best practice for keeping our patients safe is going to be using the Morse fall risk assessment on every patient that is being admitted into the hospital. So anyone with a Morse fall score greater than 35 must be on high fall risk precautions. Every patient on the floor must be under general fall precautions which includes locked bed, bed in lowest position, non-skid footwear and so on. Patients with a Morse fall score greater 35 will be under high fall risk precaution; this includes all general fall risk precautions but with a yellow non-skid sock, yellow fall risk armband and bed alarm activated.
I believe high fall risk precautions should be implemented for patients who are at a high risk for fall because it will reduce the number of falls, hence providing patient safety. The nursing actions will include the nurse educating the patient about the purpose of the yellow socks, yellow armband and bed alarm. Some patients will refuse the alarm but, in this case, it is the duty of the nurse to convince the patient as to why we need to implement these measures, so the patient could understand.
I would suggest that modules about safety should be assigned to every employee so that they can complete the education and get to know the plan on patient safety. Also, a one hour always safe class can be assigned to every employee to attend. Some barriers will be encountered for sure. For instance, some employees might not do the modules and they will expire. Managers and unit educators can prevent situations like these by keeping track of people who have done the modules and attended the class. They can also email out friendly reminders to those who haven’t completed it yet. Daily reminders can be added to the daily huddle for the unit.
In conclusion, this has been a very interesting essay for me to write because safety is a big issue in almost every healthcare facility. We as nurses should take our time and asses each and every patient to determine their risk for falls, so the necessary fall precautionary measures can be put in place.
Singapore is a Southeast Asian city-state with a population of approximately 5.7 million. Over the past few decades, Singapore’s population demographics have been backward shifting as birth and mortality rates have been rapidly declining, leading to a great increase in the average age of her population. Since the 1970s, Singapore’s birth rate has been below a replacement rate of roughly two children per women over her childbearing years. For a small nation that relies largely on manpower as a major resource, the low replacement birth rate is a great cause of concern for both Singapore’s government and her people. Ultimately, falling fertility rates and rising singlehood have become a detrimental norm. The fertility rate is the main topic for this paper that analyse the state’s response to the population predicament and critically analyse the capability of these interventions.
Get original essaySingapore has had its reputable record of sustained economic growth over the past five decades. From 1965-2000, Singapore’s per capita GDP rose on a high yearly average of 5.8 percent, making it to be one of the top countries to have the highest economic growth rates in the world. Undoubtedly, as Singapore thrived to be an economic powerhouse in Asia, her economic and social policy involved a high degree of government orchestration as it moulded the “every-day” life of Singaporeans. Progressing from a third-world nation to the first world, Singapore’s population trends strictly followed suit. Singapore’s post-independence period between the years of 1965 and 1975 saw the government heading towards urban renewal, socioeconomic planning and extensive industrialization. Unfortunately, at that time, the country was tormented with its large-scale unemployment, increase in population and shortage of urban housing.
As a solution to the country’s widespread unemployment, the government created economic opportunities through its expansion in manufacturing industries and the conversion of agricultural space to industrial parks. With more jobs created and high demand for a skilled labour force, formal education and vocational training was accessible to all – regardless of race or gender and were considered as the only means of social promotion to join the labour force. Women were trained, and soon became an indispensable part of the nation’s labour force. The participation rate of the female labour force rose steadily, from 28.2 percent in 1970 to 44.8 percent in 1984. Men and women alike found themselves with no choice but to adhere to the government’s anti-welfare philosophy.
Family policies implemented by the government were largely focused on population control. The government saw that it was imperative to restrict population growth in order to efficiently utilize its human resources on the country’s economic spreads. In their attempts to do so, the Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB) was formed in 1966, established to be responsible for decreasing Singapore’s birth and net reproduction rate, and in hopes of achieving the ultimate goal of zero-population growth for Singapore. Through the FPFB, a variety of family-planning events were launched and promoted to garner public support for the policy. Among the most prominent activities were the publicity movements that carried slogans such as “Small families, brighter future – Two is enough” and “The more you have, the less they get – Two is enough”. By convincing their people to have smaller families and lesser children, the government believed that it could effectively mitigate the problem of poor-health and overcrowding. In addition, financial incentives, such as free education and health care benefits, were introduced for smaller families whereas financial support stopped for those who had larger families. Singapore’s fertility rate in the years when population control policies were implemented can be seen to have steadily decreased, from 4.46 in 1966 to 2.35 in 1974, indicating that the family policies the government had implemented were successful and had shown fruitful results.
With the shortage of urban housing in Singapore, many were living in unhygienic slums and crowded squatter settlements. The futuristic government deemed it necessary to address the housing crisis as they saw its likelihood in harmfully influencing the people’s productivity. Therefore, in 1960, the Housing & Development Board (HDB) was set up and tasked to solve the housing predicament. HDB aimed to provide “modern homes that were fully equipped with amenities for all who needed them”. From 1964, the HDB began to offer the housing units for sale below their market prices, on a 99-year leasehold basis. Housing units were made affordable for households with lesser incomes and loans too made available to owners. With the attractive “Home Ownership for the People” scheme, many Singaporeans found themselves moving into the HDB flats and enjoying its positive returns of a hygienic and modern standard of living.
Social and cultural factors governing the nation-state at its period of development acted as catalysts for population control. The policies implemented were highly effective but devastating for the nation’s fertility trends. By 1975, replacement-level fertility was reached and by the earlier 1980s, the total fertility rate (TFR) had fallen to below-replacement level. For a small nation, a continuous decline in TFR would eventually translate to a shrinking population. The fall in marriage rates and TFR was most common among women with tertiary education. As a result, it was inevitable that the current population control polices had to be revamped. An attuned approach to population growth was soon introduced where new policies targeted to entice those with better means of living to expand their family size. The motivation behind — that those with higher education would be endowed with better genes, so the union of two graduates should result in “brighter” children.
This period, commonly referred to as the “Eugenics Phase” was unpopular, especially among its target group - the graduate community. New pro-natalist family policies were soon introduced to encourage tertiary educated women to marry and have more children. In 1984, the Social Development Unit (SDU) was set up to provide matchmaking services to single graduates. On the other hand, less educated mothers had been rewarded an SGD$10,000 cash handout if they were to undergo sterilization. In short, during this phase, a two-pronged policy was in place: those who were deemed as capable and able parents were encouraged to have more children and those who were not, were encouraged to stop at two. Unfortunately, the population did not take too well to the new policies, therefore the nation’s TFR continued to dip further. Another notable factor to the decline in TFR was changes in family structure. Extended family arrangements that were ubiquitous in the decade before began to diminish as families relocated from large communal living arrangements to public housing units. Consequently, the nuclearization of Singapore families can be seen as a “natural” consequence of the country’s chase for economic growth and industrialisation.
Following the failure of the social eugenics programme - the number of higher-educated females preferred to remain single or have fewer or no children, new pro-natalist policies were introduced in 1987. The government’s creation of the key slogan, “Have Three Or More Children If You Can Afford It”, was an attempt to avoid the discriminatory tone of the eugenics era, setting a new measure of “affordability”, and concurrently superseding their previous emphasis on education qualifications in the eugenics era. Still, the new policies continued to give benefits to higher-educated mothers, though its primary goal was to provide incentives to married couples to produce more children. The promotion of the new policy came with numerous benefits and policy changes, just like the anti-natalist policies, the government made use of extensive media coverage to campaign in hopes of persuading the public to appreciate the new returns of having more children. The main targets of the campaign were married couples and unmarried singles. Popular slogans such as “Children – Life would be empty without them”; and “The most precious gift you can give your child is a brother or sister” were often accompanied with pictures depicting a happy family, enticing the majority. On the contrary, unmarried singles would often be bombarded with reminders to not leave out building a family for themselves while on their pursuit of career advancement. The government introduced income tax relief for children, childcare subsidies for working mothers, and granting of income tax relief on foreign maid levy for working mothers. In addition to various subsidies, the baby bonus scheme - a two-tier payment involving outright cash and contributions to the Child Development Account was introduced by the government to lighten the financial costs of raising a child.
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Get custom essayFertility has not responded as many hoped, and this may well echo the fact that baby bonuses and tax concessions for children are not substantially adequate to make much of a change in the high monetary costs of raising children. Moreover, the culture in many Singapore workplaces remain unfriendly to those who prioritise family over responsibilities to their company, and this could strongly discourage women from having a child that may tarnish their career prospects and relationships with colleagues. A conceivable solution in the present day would be to possibly rely on migration and foreign talents, in hoping they could aid in increasing the net population.
Sometimes, you hear a song and immediately fall in love with the artist, even if you may never have heard of them before that moment. A band that I have experienced this with is Lunatic Wolf, a six-piece folk band from South Africa. Despite being completely unknown to me, I heard one of their songs on a playlist on 8tracks and was immediately struck by the melody and layering of instruments. Their music is a folk-rock mixture, and their songs use big productions of instruments to create songs which still sound gentle and soft. According to their website, the band was originally a duo, but expanded to a six-member group later on. However, you can still hear the beginnings of the band in their intricate guitar melodies that would have worked together beautifully even as a simple two-person act. The first song that I heard by them was a perfect example of all of this, which is why I was so intrigued by the band. The song is called “The Tallest Tree,” and it is about growing older and no longer being able to do all of the things that you used to, and not feeling as free and innocent anymore. It is one of my favorite recordings because of how thoughtfully it is arranged and recorded.
Get original essayThe introduction of the song and first chorus have two acoustic guitars and an acoustic piano with sustain. However, the instruments are panned out almost completely to the sides, with the piano and lead guitar to the left, and the other guitar strumming to the right. The effect is a very full sound, which still delicately compliment the clear vocals. The recording of the acoustic guitars still contains the sounds of the strumming, making it feel very organic despite the production.
The opening for any song is important because it is the first thing that the listener hears, so it has to draw them into the song. It works perfectly in this instance, because the instruments all fit together perfectly, despite their intricate melodies and rhythms. The panning of the two acoustic guitars to opposite sides of the recording also creates an interesting sound, allowing the two very different guitar parts to play off of each other but still sound distinct. The instrumental introduction creates all of this compelling music, but is mixed very well to allow the vocals to be the foremost part of the recording when they enter as the first verse begins without becoming muddy.
Before the first chorus comes in, the music quiets down a little bit before a crescendo to transition into new instrumentation. The acoustic guitars, which had been very prominent before, drop back to allow the piano to accompany the vocal melody. However, instead of the piano playing a melody like it did in the verse, it is playing only chords during the chorus. The guitars also become muted strumming instead of the picking that had been more noticeable during the verse. A synth playing chords repetitively is also added to the mix, although it stays in the back of the recording.
The transition into the chorus creates a huge contrast between the two sections. When the music becomes quiet, it is almost as if it is showing disappointment and fear to go along with the lyrics: “Why did this happen/How did I grow so tall?” This creates emphasis on this part of the lyrics, which reveal the point of what the singer was talking about in the first verse. The quiet synth creates an almost shiny quality to the music. Although there isn’t much going on in the chorus, which is the opposite of many songs, it perfectly reflects the meaning of the song and fits well with its structure.
After the first chorus, more instruments come in, bringing the song to the next level. In the foreground is an electric guitar with a lot of reverb. Percussion is also added in, by way of a drum set and a shaker of some kind, and bass, although the bass is very mixed in. The piano is also prominent, and the synth and strummed acoustic guitar are still audible as well, although the guitar is pushed all the way to the back. When the vocals come back in, the electric guitar drops out, and the vocals now have multiple harmonic voices during important parts of each line of lyrics, adding an extra layer to the performance which emphasizes the words which are most relevant to the overall meaning.
This section of the song is where it really reaches its full emotional power because of the full sound and mix of instruments. The sliding notes of the electric guitar, which are then replaced by the harmonic vocals, play over a chorus of seemingly independent rhythms which actually accompany each other perfectly. If you listen to this part of the recording carefully, you will hear the different rhythms, especially with respect to the melody played by the electric guitar and vocals, the piano, and the synth. The introduction of percussion in this section also creates a completely different feel to the song, whereas before it was a soft, gentle song, but after the drums are added in it seems more agitated, and the addition of more voices in the vocal part gives it a fuller quality.
Following the second chorus, which is the same as the first except that it also has drums, there is an instrumental interlude, with muted guitars, synth, drums, and a shaker, but which focuses on a piano melody. In addition to this, however, every so often there are additional piano or guitar notes, mixed in so thoroughly that you would hardly notice unless you were listening carefully. There are very high piano notes panned to the right, and guitar notes panned to the left, making it seem as though they are not only in the background, but coming from far away. After the final vocal section, the song partially repeats the instrumental section from after the first chorus, and then fades out to only muted acoustic guitars, piano, and percussion, finishing on a final piano chord.
The second chorus is mostly the same as the first, except for the adding in of the drums. The drums serve to continue the more agitated feeling of the second half of the song that began after the first chorus ended, and it works very well in the chorus by playing short drum rhythms with brushes and the bass drum. Although the drums in the second chorus are not as big as they are in the preceding section, they do their job exactly the way that they need to, giving it that added structure and energy.
The instrumental bridge and final vocal section are some of the most deliberate sections of the recording, in my opinion. When it begins, it adds in only a new piano melody and percussion from a shaker instrument in addition to the drums, creating a very subtle but noticeable difference from the chorus, which only had piano chords instead of a melody. This is also very different from the last instrumental interlude following the first chorus, which added in many different instruments and had a big sound – the opposite of this section. Even more subtly, the added-in piano and guitar notes add a new texture to the music despite being so soft. The fact that they are panned all the way to the left or right emphasizes this added element. Then, the final vocal section is similar to the choruses in that it marks a decrescendo, beginning with only the vocals, piano chords, and synth. At the end, it adds in a short piano melody and muted acoustic guitars to transition into a repeat of the first instrumental section. Ending on a single piano chord creates a slightly abrupt feeling, but the sustain on the piano keeps it fading it softly for a while, allowing the notes to ring and let the listener feel that the meaning of the song has been fulfilled.
Despite such a mix of instruments throughout this song, the recording still has a good dynamic range. This is especially noticeable during the transitions between sections of the song. Between the verse and chorus, the instruments get quiet and then crescendo into the chorus, which drops down in volume quickly to contrast the sections. Having a good dynamic range is especially important for a mostly-acoustic song like this which has a lot of emotion in it, because those dynamics are an important part of showing the feeling in a song. The recording of this song does this very well.
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Get custom essayThis recording is one of my favorites because of the precise way in which the instruments are layered together and complement each other perfectly. The rhythms and melodies of the guitars and piano, and the subtleties of the other instruments, meld together to form a complete piece thanks to the careful, delicate mixing. The recording also matches the emotions in the lyrics, which I think is important for any song to show real feeling. I feel that the mixing in this song is done very well because of the way that the instruments work together so well and still are able to have dynamic range without becoming muddy, as you can still hear clearly every single instrumental piece of the song. “The Tallest Tree” makes it easy to see why Lunatic Wolf is a talented band that is easy to fall in love with.
Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV is one of the most outrageous and memorable characters in the entire Shakespearean Canon. His charisma that ensnared even Queen Elizabeth. In fact, the character of Falstaff inspired Shakespeare to write another play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, at the request of the Queen. Falstaff later became the subject for many operas, sculptures, films, symphonies, and novels (Pilkington). His persona is unlike any other character Shakespeare created. From the time the audience first meets the defamed knight, it is clear that Falstaff is a rowdy, big-talking drunk with few morals and no discernable sense of honor and it is unclear why so many, including the Queen, became endeared to this blustering troublemaker. In fact, Shakespeare exploited several of Falstaff’s characteristics while still being true to his deplorable nature, which ensured that the audiences of Henry IV would embrace him. Some of Falstaff's memorable traits include his propensity with words, his oblivious penchant for the selfish pleasures of life instead of the virtues, and his helplessness which inspires pity and consequently forces the audience to side with the scoundrel in certain situations. Even with Falstaff's negative traits, Shakespeare manages to make him a comical rascal whom an audience can’t help but develop a fondness for.
Get original essayFalstaff’s shortcomings often reference his darker side. First of all, he is an unrepentant thief. In Act I, Scene II, Falstaff readily admits that stealing purses is his main source of income. When Hal dryly that Falstaff has gone from being virtuous to becoming a villain, Falstaff replies matter-of-factly, “Why, Hal, ‘tis my vocation. Hal, ‘tis no sin/ for a man to labor in his vocation” (1.2.104-105). With such snarky and darkly humorous responses, Falstaff often inspires great audience reactions during performances of Henry IV. However, Falstaff’s stoop to thievery goes deeper than noble womens' handbags, though. In Act II, Scene II, Falstaff shows that he would rob even the King's men by planning and describing the robbery at length. Shakespeare makes this scene comical, however, instead of shameful. Besides the fact that Prince Hal tricks Falstaff during the ordeal, Shakespeare leaves the victims of the robbery anonymous, making it difficult for the audience to sympathize with their plight, whereas there is familiarity with the robbers themselves. Also, it is clear that, although Falstaff does many reprehensible deeds, he never intends to hurt others. He is simply oblivious to the circumstances around him, seeing the world from a childlike perspective. He naively believes that he is entitled to take advantage of everything and everyone around him. The audience immediately picks up on this fact through the mix of Falstaff's innocent answers and his blundering old age.
After the botched attempt at robbery and the subsequent retreat back to the tavern, Shakespeare offers a glimpse of another of Falstaff’s ignoble qualities: dishonesty. Prince Hal has set up Falstaff in order to garner a few laughs at his expense, and Falstaff falls into the trap perfectly, describing how large a troop of men befell the robbers when they trying to steal from the King’s men. Falstaff boasts of his fighting prowess, while Hal laughs at him, clearly knowing the extent of his falsehoods (2.4.). Yet Falstaff’s attempt to make himself appear competent by lying does not set the audience up against Falstaff. Instead, Shakespeare's deft comic hand makes the audience pity him as he tries to save face in front of the people who have made him a laughingstock.
Pity serves as one of the central emotions that Shakespeare uses to align the audience with Falstaff, despite his many demonstrated faults. Another instance of this mechanism is when Hal and Falstaff act out a scene between Hal and his father, King Henry IV. Hal plays himself, while Falstaff plays Hal's father. Then Hal switches roles with Falstaff and pretends to be King Henry IV while Falstaff plays Hal. The exchange starts out with a humorous tone, but when the two men switch roles, Hal begins to insult Falstaff with cruel stabs at his honor and his disgusting personal habits (2.4.445-481). Falstaff tries to keep up with Hal’s insults, but it is clear that the old knight is outmaneuvered in the conversation. As observers, the audience finds it impossible not to feel sorry for the paunchy old man as he is verbally stripped bare in front of his friends. Again, even as his faults are listed, the audience hopes that Falstaff can restore his dignity and humor.
The most questionable actions of Sir John Falstaff occur during the final battle at the end of the play. Falstaff pretends to be dead in order to survive the battle and to hear Hal speak about him as if he were dead. He also desecrates Hotspur's body and claims that he killed the leader of the rebellion (5.4). These dishonorable acts are decidedly villainous, but the way in which the events occur is so comical that there Shakespeare leaves the audience no option to judge Falstaff’s choices. Shakespeare uses humor and farcical action to keep Falstaff as a loveable scoundrel in [the audience's] heart (Levenson).
Another aspect of Falstaff’s character that would have garnered an Elizabethan audience’s approval is the fact that he is based on a real person. Sir John Oldcastle was a knight who had really served in battle with Henry V and was a very popular member of Parliament as well. After a brilliant military career, however, he was persecuted for his religious beliefs, which were decidedly unpopular at the time. Oldcastle was a firm believer in Lollard’s teachings, which were a precursor to contemporary Protestantism. Although King Henry gave Oldcastle a chance to escape, the once-beloved knight was eventually caught and executed for trying to start a rebellion against the king (Tuma and Hazell). An Elizabethan audience would have been very receptive to a character that was based on Oldcastle for several reasons. Firstly, he was a popular knight that when he was in favor with the monarch and served his country in many noble ways. Secondly, Queen Elizabeth, who was raised Protestant herself (Hickman), had made the Protestant faith acceptable during her reign, and as a result, it had become immensely more fashionable than Catholicism. Therefore, a character based on a man who had become a martyr for the sect that had recently come into favor in England would have been very well-received by an audience of that time. Furthermore, the change in Falstaff’s character from a respected knight to a carousing, rebellious old man would have been seen as a sort of courageous mutiny against the intolerant monarchy. This would not have offended Queen Elizabeth, however, because she was a remarkably tolerant ruler compared to her predecessors, at least in the area of religion.
Whether or not an audience or reader agrees with Falstaff’s choices in Henry IV, Shakespeare has made it almost impossible not to like the happy-go-lucky knight with his comical antics and witty rejoinders. Sir John Falstaff is yet another example of Shakespeare’s gift for rhetoric and humor. He is a contrary character if ever there was one.
Works Cited
Hickman, David. "Religious Belief and Pious Practice Among London's Elizabethan Elite." The Historical Journal 4th ser. 42 (1999): 941-60. JStor. Cambridge University Press. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/3020931>.
Levenson, Jill L. "Shakespeare's Falstaff: 'The cause that wit is in other men'" University of Toronto Quarterly 74.2 (Spring 2005): 722-28. University of Alaska Goldmine. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.uaf.edu/ehost/detail?vid=12&hid=11&sid=2747a8f0-c08d-4137-ac6-4da0b3e6e899%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=16500437>.
Pilkington, Ace G. "The John Falstaff of the Merry Wives of Windsor." Midsummer Magazine, Summer (1992). Dixie College, 1997. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://dsc.dixie.edu/shakespeare/henry4ess.htm>.
Pilkington, Ace G. "1 Henry IV." Insights, Summer (1996). Dixie College, 1997. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://dsc.dixie.edu/shakespeare/henry4ess.htm>.
"THE WICKED AGE: MIDDLE ENGLISH COMPLAINT LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION- Address to Sir John Oldcastle." Medieval Forum. Ed. George W. Tuma and Dinah Hazell. San Francisco State University. Web. 6 Sept. 2009. <http://www.sfsu.edu/~medieval/complaintlit/oldcastle.html>.
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