Sunday, March 8, 2020

Duke TIP ACT Score Requirements

Duke TIP ACT Score Requirements SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Maybe you’ve read our article about Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP), maybe you’ve heard about it from other students, or maybe you did your own research. You've heard vague hints of "score requirements," but don't know exactly what that means- do you have to take the ACT in order to take part in TIP? How well do you have to do on the ACT in order to become a TIPster? (I refuse to believe that students who participate in TIP do not go by this name.) There are ACT (or SAT) score requirements for the Duke TIP: specifically, there are score requirements for Summer Studies programs and eStudies courses. I'm going to cover this complicated topic in exhaustive detail, explaining what the programs are, what the ACT score requirements are, and giving you some tips on how to meet these requirements. These requirements all refer to the regular ACT, not the ACT Aspire or ACT EXPLORE. Feature image credit: Ilyse Whitney/Flickr The Lay of the Land: Duke TIP Programs and Eligibility Of all the Duke TIP programs with SAT/ACT score requirements, the eStudies program has the lowest score requirements, followed by the Academy for Summer Studies, which falls in the middle, and the Center for Summer Studies, which is the most stringent when it comes to score requirements. These are not the same as the test requirements for the 7th Grade Talent Search, which you can find more about here. How do you figure out if you are eligible for Summer Studies programs or eStudies courses? TIP determines your eligibility based on your SAT or ACT scores. If you participate(d) in the 7th Grade Talent Search, you will take (or took) the SAT or ACT as part of that program (read more about this in my complete guide to the talent search). It is the score from this testing that will qualify you for Summer Studies and/or eStudies courses. Don't worry- you can always retest if your scores aren’t high enough to get you into the program(s) you want. If you’ve already taken the SAT or ACT as a 7th grader, you can still enroll in the 7th Grade Talent Search- you just have to do it using the paper application and include an official SAT/ACT score report. If you didn’t participate in the 7th Grade Talent Search, you can still participate in Summer Studies and eStudies courses using 8th-10th Grade Option, but I'll cover that in another article. For now, I’ll only be talking about the ACT score requirements for 7th and 8th-10th graders who did participate (or will be participating) in the 7th Grade Talent Search and are interested in attending Duke TIP Summer Studies and/or eStudies courses. A Word of Warning Currently, Duke TIP does not require participants to take the Writing portion of the ACT (that is, the essay). It’s always possible, though, that Duke TIP may update its ACT score requirements. But don't worry- as more information becomes available, we’ll be sure to update this article to reflect current knowledge. Duke TIP Scores: The Particulars The Talent Identification Program has its ACT requirements for all Summer Studies courses in a table here and for eStudies courses over here. To be honest, I found the tables veryconfusing, especially when it came to figuring out Center for Summer Studies eligibility. To make it easier for any one in the future trying to figure out the score requirements, I’ve separated out the requirements for what you need to get into the Academy for Summer Studies, the Center for Summer Studies, and eStudies courses and ordered them from lowest to highest score requirements. Hopefully, since all the scores will be in one blog post, rather than spread out over a website, it will be less tricky to read and understand. To find specifics of the program you care about, just scroll down. As you will see below, there’s a difference in the requirements you have to meet if you take the ACT during 7th grade, as part of the 7th Grade Talent Search, or if you take it again later on (between 8th and 10th grades). ACT Requirements: eStudies What are Duke TIP eStudies courses? According to the Duke TIP website, the eStudies program offers online courses in a variety of different subjects, open to â€Å"seventh through eleventh graders who have achieved certain qualifying scores on theACT or SAT.† Out of all the Duke TIP courses, the eStudies courses have the lowest score requirements. The specific courses you can take, however, depends on your score on particular sections of the ACT. So what eStudies courses are you eligible for? Use this handy table to find out! If you took the ACT in†¦ And scored†¦ You are eligible for... 7th grade ≠¥ 17 on Math or ≠¥ 19 on Science eStudies Math* ≠¥ 18 on English or ≠¥ 19 on Reading eStudies Verbal** 8th grade ≠¥ 20 on Math or ≠¥ 21 on Science eStudies Math ≠¥ 21 on English or Reading eStudies Verbal 9th grade ≠¥ 23 on Math or Science eStudies Math ≠¥ 23 on English or ≠¥ 24 on Reading eStudies Verbal 10th grade ≠¥ 25 on Math or Science eStudies Math ≠¥ 25 on English or ≠¥ 27 on Reading eStudies Verbal *eStudies Math subjects include Fine Arts, Mathematics, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Technology. You do not qualify for Humanities courses unless either your ACT Math or Science score also reaches the threshold.**eStudies Verbal subjects include Fine Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Technology. You do not qualify for Mathematics courses unless either your ACT English or Reading score also reaches the threshold. What If I Just Barely Don’t Make It? On their site, Duke TIP states students who narrowly missed qualifying, are too old, orwho missed the enrollment period for Duke TIP's 7th Grade Talent Search can still join Duke TIP through 8th-10th Grade Option. Unfortunately, they don't define "narrowly," so it's hard to say when you should consider 8th-10th Grade Option. What is clear is that you can always retest on your own if you don’t meet the score qualifications for eStudies courses, or if you need a higher score to attend the Academy or Center for Summer Studies. We have more information about the application process in our article about the Duke TIP 7th Grade Talent Search. ACT Score Requirement: Academy for Summer Studies The Academy for Summer Studies at Duke TIP offers high-achieving students in grades 7-10 summer classes and interaction with similarly gifted peers. How do you know if your ACT scores qualify you for the Academy for Summer Studies? You're eligible for the Duke TIP Academy for Summer Studies Math classes if you... Took the ACT in... And on Math scored between... Or on Science scored between... 7th grade 19-22 20-22 8th grade 23-24 9th grade 25-26 10th grade 27-28 You're eligible for the Duke TIP Academy for Summer Studies Verbal classes if you... Took the ACT in... And on English scored between... Or on Reading scored between... 7th grade 20-22 20-23 8th grade 23-24 24-25 9th grade 25-27 26-29 10th grade 28-30 30-31 Note: while you can take Academy classes in all subject areas if you have an eligible ACT Math or Science score, if you only have an eligible ACT English or Reading score, then you may only take classes in Fine Arts, Humanities, Sciences, or Social Sciences- you are not eligible to take Mathematics or Technology courses. SCORE logo by Score, in the Public Domain. ACT Score Requirement: Center for Summer Studies The Center for Summer Studies is another summer program offered by Duke TIP; the difference between the Center and the Academy is in the intensity of the courses and the stringency and specificity of the score requirements. Again, we’ve compiled the information from the TIP website into a simpler, easier-to-understand form, dividing up information for 7th-10th graders and 8th-10th graders into two separate tables (one for Center Math classes and one for Center Verbal classes). You're eligible for the Duke TIP Center for Summer Studies Math classes if you... Took the ACT in... And on Math or Science scored... 7th grade ≠¥ 23 8th grade ≠¥ 25 9th grade ≠¥ 27 10th grade ≠¥ 29 You're eligible for the Duke TIP Center for Summer Studies Verbal classes if you... Took the ACT in... And on English scored... Or on Reading scored... 7th grade ≠¥ 23 ≠¥ 24 8th grade ≠¥ 25 ≠¥ 26 9th grade ≠¥ 28 ≠¥ 28 10th grade ≠¥ 31 ≠¥ 30 Duke TIP Score Requirements: A Few Final Notes For Summer Studies courses, you may only apply to the level for which you are qualified. This not only means that you can't apply to the Center for Summer Studies if your score only qualifies you for Academy courses (which makes sense), but that you can't apply to the Academy for Summer Studies if your score is higher than their score requirements- instead, you may only apply to the Center for Summer Studies. On their Test Prep page, Duke TIP has the following to say about their score requirements: â€Å"We do not recommend that students spend a lot of time preparing for the test. Above-grade-level testing is meant to be diagnostic, and many test prep programs just make students anxious.We think the best way to prepare is to be familiar with the structure of the test and the timing of each section, and to review the practice questions we provide so that you know what to expect and are at east on test day.† [Source: Test Prep | Duke TIP. Accessed 2019-07-19.] And look, when you’re taking the ACT as a 7th or 8th grader, you don't need to worry about getting an ACT score that will get you into college. In fact, we have a series of articles about what a good ACT score for a 7th grader and an 8th grader might be, based on extrapolations from data from Duke TIP and John Hopkins CTY. We also have information about what a good score for a 9th and 10th grader might be, but if you're taking the ACT in high school, you'll want to check to see if you're interested in any schools that require all scores sent, and if so, what score target you want to be aiming for. How Do I Meet The Requirements? 4...TIPS (you knew that was coming) #1: Spend time prepping. Yes, I know I just quoted the Duke TIP site, which advises the opposite, but let's be realistic: you'll need at least some test prep. This in no way means that you should invest in any kind of ACT prep course- just that, at the bare minimum, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the ACT's structure and timing. You should take a practice test to gauge where you are, then use this information to determine the amount you have to improve to meet the qualifications for your desired program. Know how much time you have to study so you can plan your prep accordingly. If you only have a few weeks before the ACT, you'll want to study more hours per week than if you have several months left. For more advice, read our articles about taking the ACT in 7th and 8th grade. #2: Take the ACT as early as you can and still feel prepared. If you take the ACT earlier on, you have a lower score threshold to meet (compare the 7th grade vs 8th-10th grade requirements for eStudies, Academy, and Center courses). In general, older students know more than younger students (stop rolling your eyes, younger siblings), but if you've spent time prepping, it's worth it to take it sooner rather than later. #3: If you have a standout test section, focus on it. Duke TIP is unlike most colleges and universities in that you can get in to its various programs even if you only do well on one section of the ACT. If you find that you're getting in practice scores of around 16 for English and Math but 25 for Reading and Science, own it. In the above example, you're better off putting in the time to make sure you can consistently get above the score threshold for Reading and/or Science (depending on whether you want to take Humanities or Math/Science courses) than you are trying to bring up all four of your section scores. #4: Know the ACT strategies that are appropriate for your level. Advice for getting a 36 on a section will not necessarily be relevant if you only need to get above a 26. One example of this is that if you’re aiming for a 26, you can skip the hardest 20% of questions entirely and just focus on answering as many of the easier questions correctly as possible (although since the ACT does not penalize for wrong answers, make sure to leave no space blank, even if you end up choosing â€Å"B† every time). We have more useful information like this in our article on how to guess correctly on the ACT. Handshake by Quinn Dombrowski, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. Hello, ACT Score Requirements, nice to finally meet you. I hope this article helped clarify the mystery of what the ACT score requirements for Duke TIP are. If you'd rather take the SAT, be sure to read our SAT edition of this article. What’s Next? Curious about what the Duke TIP 7th Grade Talent Search is? I demystify Duke TIP in this complete guide. Delve into our trove of ACT strategies by reading through our collection of blog posts on that very topic. What's a good 7th grade ACT score in general? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Restoring Capital Punishment in the United Kingdom Essay

Restoring Capital Punishment in the United Kingdom - Essay Example In certain countries that retain capital punishment, the delay between the actual verdict given and the execution carried out could go for many years as the convicted person would be allowed to go through many tribunals although excessive delay can also lead to basic human rights violation3. Most prisoners appeal against the death sentence due to the survival instinct although such a struggle may itself be a basic human rights violation that would prohibit cruelty in any form4. The death row phenomenon as this is called could pressurize states to modify their procedures or even abandon capital punishment. Supporters of capital punishment argue that such form of punishment would deter crime and would be an appropriate punishment for murder. As Murray notes, a major justification for capital punishment is the perceived public support although the complexity of the death penalty may not be generally understood by most people5. Murray aimed to examine the stability of the attitudes on the fair application of the death penalty and what are the public opinions regarding the fairness and administration of capital punishment. The complexity of these attitudes was analyzed with a telephone survey and the results indicated instability in attitudes regarding the application of capital punishment although many seem to think that the application of the death penalty is not fair in many cases. Murray concluded his study by suggesting that, 'the justification for capital punishment may rest on oversimplified conceptions of attitudes toward the death penalty and its application'6.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

The Critical Review EssayOn the Titanic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Critical Review EssayOn the Titanic - Essay Example This essay declares that the theme of trust is the underpinning them in the film is the theme of sacrifice presented as an evolving phenomenon that coils itself around romance. Cameron uses romance to bring the theme of sacrifice and he illustrates this by the relationship between Jack and Rose. These two very young people each other and starting having something common that developed into friendship. This friendship grows into trust. Trust is the lifeline to any romantic relationship, and this trust does not have to be based on anything, it can be just about people who trust each other, not because they know each other too well, but because they are yearning for love and companionship. This paper makes a conclusion that the best way to test trust is sacrifice; if you are trustworthy, you would do anything for me. This becomes more evident at the end of the film. Rose sacrifices her freedom and even endangers her life by going to the bottom of the ship where jack is shackled (which is dangerous considering that the ship was sinking and the last place anyone would like to be is at the bottom deck). The theme of sacrifice is further depicted when Jack chooses to sacrifice his life so as Rose would carry one. At this point, their love and romance is sealed, there is no doubt beyond this that they are on love, to the point of willing to die for each other.

Monday, January 27, 2020

Family Support in Mental Illness

Family Support in Mental Illness Family is an important and inevitable part of an individual and its uninterrupted presence gives us a psychological support and courage to courageously deal with any kind of trouble.It provides a strong and long lasting shelter to a person and every one looks toward his family for primary care. Although family’s role is necessary in physical illness but in psychiatric illness it has an undeniable and imperative part in treatment exercise and it is indeed one of the mental health promoting practice. So we can say that family plays an integral role in alleviating the significance of mental illness because only medical intervention is ineffective. The support of family for an individual with mental illness is crucial in Asian Indian culture. The involvement of the family is so imperative, that often it becomes a prerequisite of seeking help for psychiatric illness (Stanhope, 2002 as cited in Cook Tarnovetskaia, 2008). Studies have concluded that the rate of recovery from schizophrenia is greater and mortality of people with schizophrenia is lower in the developing world than in the developed countries and the key positive factor that bring that change is the involvement of families in the course of treatment (Warner, 2009). Let’s view this aspect in a sense that what difference it will make if family is not involved in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses in cases where people living alone without any family support during the course of their illness. Maladaptive parental behavior is associated with an increased risk in offspring for anxiety, depression, disruptive personality, and substance use disorders during late adolescence and early adulthood. (Ajit Avasthi,2010) Childhood exposure to parental verbal aggression is associated, by itself, with moderate to large effects on measures of dissociation, irritability, depression and anger-hostility.According to studies, lack of family and social relationship cause homelessness and badly effect the quality of life (Pinikahana, Happell, Hope Keks,2009). . This causes too much frustration to the patient and instead of reducing mental illness it enhances much pain and suffering to the patient. Thus it has been found that when family support is absent the severity in the mental disorder keep increasing and any sort of medication often failed to produce good result. Resultantly family support is very vital and has a big impact to a patient suffering from mental illness.. Families have valuable information and knowledge about their relatives. They also have expertise, acquired through sometimes painful experience.They know about approaches that work and those that do not. Consumers, service providers and families beneà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ t greatly when family members are involved as full partners in the care and support of people with mental health and addiction problems. When family support is not provided to an individual suffering from a mental illness, he endures a lot of setbacks and it has a direct impact on him. Mostly he confused about his parents changed behavior and feels embarrassing for being in the affected persons company. A 50 years old male patient Noor Ali Hussain was in Nizari Senior Citizen, suffering from mental illness for the last ten years. The patient has a history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and odd behavior. On clinical day, I interviewed him about his family history. He told me that his family leaves in America and they have left him in senior citizen. Moreover, he explained that his family doesn’t come to meet him, they just call him only on some special occasion. He stated that he feels happy when he talk to family and he want to live with them. However his family doesn’t take him with them to America because he is illiterate and aged.Further stated family told him that we are busy in our work no one is here to take care of you and left me in senior citizen. After carefully assessing this pathetic situation I decided to choose this topic that is family support in mental illness. In my patient multiple disorders were present and in such cases family suppor t is very important in rehabilitation and recovery of mental illness. But, in my patient case, unfortunately the family support ceased to exist. Care giving literature has illustrated that the prominent role in the provision of support for individuals with mental illness falls on family members, especially on women (Saunders 2003, Zauszniewski et al. 2008, Huang et al. 2009). Evidence linking caring for a member with mental illness to increased levels of burden for the family caregiver is compelling and consistent. Family caregivers have widely identified burden as ‘any individual whose presence and performance aroused either fear or shame must be burdensome and could not be living within a supportive environment’ (Thompson Doll 1982, p. 380). Studies have concluded that mostly people consider taking care of a mentally ill person as a burden. The family care giving burden framework best define my patient case because it distinguishes between the objective and subjective burden (Hoening and Hamilton,1996). Objective burden emerge in the form of disruption in everyday life in the household, financial constraint, breakdown in daily activities and social interaction and these are observe by the caregiver. Subjective burden are the caregivers feelings, attitude and emotions that reflects that he carries a burden(Bull, 1990; Hoening Hamilton,1966; MaurinBoyd, 1990; Reinhard, 1994). Therefore it is necessary to minimize the sense of burden felt by caregivers. Some strategies and interventions that could be help when families are involved in order to promote mental health are discussed briefly. Skilled Training and Health Management(STHM) intervention was developed with the aim of enhancing independent functioning and health care outcomes for older adults with SMI (primarily schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder) (Bartels et al., 2004).moreover HM consisted of health care preventive measures to identify and monitor acute and chronic medical problems. Moreover family interventions should focus on expanding training to patient and key relatives about mental illness recovery, skills training, task sharing of household and self-care. A positive change in these areas is likely to improve the quality of life of people with mental illness and their families. Other effective strategies include discussion, debriefing session and family therapy that are good practices to involve family in care. Family therapy is also useful Psychotherapy that teaches families and their members to resolve the issue effectively and improve their understanding. According to psychiatric mental health nursing book(2006) Psychoeducation family therapy has been more successful in treatment of patient with schizophrenia and it reduces long term hospitalization as well(Dixon, 2001). According to psychiatric mental nursing book(2006),Self-help group are best position to help clients and families find additional support and information. Family support in mental illness can’t be ignored and it has a lasting role in the recovery of a mentally disorder individual. But sometime family considers burden and feels embarrassed and frustrated. In such crucial time, I think nurse can play a positive role by educating and counseling the family and his close relative about the intensity of the case and teach them strategies and skill to tackle the issue. By concluding, it can be said that family is an important source in promoting mental health but at the same time it is also necessary for the care professional to avoid commenting any mistake which may restrain the family from their beloved one who suffer from mental illness.Lastly, through assessing the identified framework and effective strategies we can play a role in alleviating the burden of mental illness that may bring a positive change in the patient who is diagnosed with mental illness. The prerequisite to promote mental health is to deal the patient holisticall y and make family involvement in treatment an integral part.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Privatization Essay -- Prisons Government Papers

Privatization In Taft, California, with a perimeter of razor wire, armed prison guards, supervise hundreds of medium security level federal inmates. Welcome to one of America's newest and fastest growing trends in the area of corrections. This new phenomenon is termed, The Corporation of Modern Corrections. Faced with an increase in prison overcrowding and aging institutions, court orders demanding immediate reform coupled with a straining budget, mandatory minimum sentences, and the public's attitude toward "getting tough on crime", America's justice system is in need of an overhaul. Thus, government leaders are ready to consider different options to help reduce the strain, while still meeting is legal responsibility to provide services. The option to emerge to the forefront is Prison Privatization - " the transfer of asset's and of production of public goods and services from government to the private sector."1 in other words, private interest is being given the opportunity to help alleviate the strain of taking care of a growing population more economically and efficiently than the government. The expansion of the private sector into the prison system began to generate considerable interest and controversy in the mid - 1980's. Currently, almost all prisons' contract some type of service from the private sector to provide support, such as, construction, medical and religious services. However, the concept of relinquishing controls of adult offenders to profit seeking companies fuels a very controversial and heated debate. Most arguments center on whether private companies can truly provide a more efficient service at a lower cost than public institutions while not sacrificing quality. While others focus on the philoso... ...hn D. The Privatization Decision, Public Ends, Private Means, New York, 1989 (INGLEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY) Smith, Phil. Private Prison : Profits of Crime,1993 Fall Issue Covert Action Quarterly. (Internet:http://mediafilter.org/MFF/Prison.html) Logan, Charles. Prison Privatization: Objections and Refutations (Internet:http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~wwwsoci/fraser.html) Kicenski, Karyl L. The Corporate Prison: The Production of Crime and The Sale of Discipline, 1998 (Internet:http://speech.csun.edu/ben/news/kessay.html) Hunzeker, Donna. Private Cells, Public Prisoners, 1991 State Legislatures (Inglewood Library) Lemov, Penelope. Jailhouse Inc., 1993 Governing Magazine (Inglewood Library) Unknown Author. Assessing the Issue: The Pros and Cons of Prison Privatization. 1996 (Internet:wysiwyg://24/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/6465/assess.html)

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Is Rosalind the Perfect Heroine? Essay

â€Å"As You Like It†, is yet another Shakespearian play that pities nature against civilisation, masculinity against femininity, idealism against cynicism, youth against age, child against parent, time against timelessness, and love against hate. It’s both a gentle, pastoral comedy of love, and a dark and sexually ambiguous comment on gender construction. Rosalind as a character is both a heroine and a portrayal of feminism. The evolution of feminine identity within a patriarchal system of power informs both the setting and characterization of this play. Rosalind dominates the play. As the audience we fully realise the complexity of her character. We understand her emotions, her subtle thoughts, and the fullness of her character that no other character in the play can match. She is successful as a knowledgeable and charming critic of herself and others â€Å"I would give him some good counsel for himself, for he seems to have the quotidian of love above him.† The definition of a heroine looked up in a dictionary is: a woman possessing heroic qualities or a woman who has performed heroic deeds. This definition can be subjective however depending on the context and the time in which the heroine’s character was portrayed. The definition of a heroine changes and evolves over time which is why what a modern audience would class a heroine characterisations is different to the definition of a heroine during the Elizabethan times. The traditional method takes the idea that all characters are real and have lives of their own. This is very different to the modern method as it is structured around the idea that characters are only functions that portray Shakespeare’s ideas. They are all part of Shakespeare’s stage craft. They reflect the bigger aspect of the play. They all have particular dramatic functions, and are set in a social and political world with particular values and beliefs. Looking at a play from a traditional approach is a more imaginative and less academic, however this does allow the audience to become involved and emotionally attached to the characters. This way of approaching a play was used in the time of Shakespeare as plays were made purely for performance. Features of a 17th century heroine differs from a modern day heroine. In the Elizabethan times, beauty, innocence, intelligence, wit and independence would have been classed as heroine qualities. A modern day heroine is thought to be a person that has strength of character, a courageous and original person. Nowadays facial features and beauty does not really count as a heroic quality. However perceptions and ideas of heroines differ from one person to another and this needs to be kept in mind. The portrayal of Rosalind is open to interpretations. It has been interpreted differently by different versions of performances and films. It has also been interpreted differently by different characters in the play. Celia sees Rosalind (Ganymede) as someone who has â€Å"misused our sex†. Other characters like phebe fall in love with (Ganymede) â€Å"I love Ganymede†. In Elizabethan times Rosalind would be viewed as a very feminine character who was at liberty when dressed as a male. This is because in the Elizabethan era, women were viewed as being weak and men as being in control and powerful. Therefore when a woman was dressed as a man she was at more liberty and could do things that she couldn’t have done if she was in form of a woman. Nowadays Rosalind can be viewed a tomboy. Rosalind is a particular favourite amongst the feminist critics, who admire her ability to subvert the limitations that the society imposes on her as a woman. With boldness and imagina tion she disguises herself as a young man for most of the play in order to woo the man she loves and instructs him in how to be a more accomplished and attentive lover, a tutorship which would not be welcome to her as a woman. â€Å"You shall never take her without her answer, unless you take her without her tongue. O that woman cannot make her fault her husband’s occasion, let her nurse hr child herself, for she’ll breed it like a fool.† Rosalind and Celia develop into women. In the court these are inexperienced girls, yet as the comic action moves forward, they are forced to take on disguises and discover what it means to be a woman. Rosalind derives her power from her masculine disguise, and much of her humour is antifeminine. It can be said that this detracts her from being a perfect heroine. She can not exercise such power and control when being simply herself. It’s Celia who actually makes the first step into adult heterosexual womanhood. She’s angry over Rosalind’s boorish behaviour as Ganymede, Celia berates her cousin and says â€Å"we must have your doublet and hose plucked over your head, and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest.† As mentioned before Rosalind’s character is open to a myriad of readings. Harold Bloom describes her as a character that â€Å"is at once so accomplished in wit, and so little interested in the power that great wit can bring if properly exercised.† Completely contradicting this, Camille Paglia writes â€Å"Rosalind and Ganymede pretend to be a rakish lady killer and, at her assumption of that sexual persona, actually becomes one. She is all sex and power.† Such critical disagreements are not uncommon for plays such as â€Å"As You like It†. In my opinion both of these critics are right in what they say. However Paglia is a bit too unfair and biased. I understand her point about Rosalind being all â€Å"sex and power†, but I disagree with her saying that she’s a â€Å"radish lady killer.† In my opinion Rosalind is a character that challenges feminism. When dressed as Ganymede she portrays the thoughts of men at the time. Shakespeare uses Rosalind to put this point across. That is the fact that at the time men misrepresented and repressed women. This is quite ironic as Rosalind is herself a female and the fact that at some points during the play, she puts females down is due to the fact that she’s trying to act like a man and the men at the time had these types of approach and attitudes towards females. In my opinion she’s not acting the way she does to put women down, but to show the audience how ridiculous it is for men to behave that way towards women and to introduce dramatic irony into the play. In my opinion Rosalind is a perfect heroine, however like any character or any other human being she has fatal flows which in this case has been sheltered by her virtues of character. I completely agree with Bloom on his describing of Rosalind. He also says that she’s â€Å"harmoniously balanced and beautifully sane†, which again I consent with. However he says that Rosalind is not interested in the power that her wit brings her. I think that Rosalind as a character is well aware of the power that she has as Ganymede and the power that her wit brings her. I do also think that she’s interested in the power that being dressed as a man gives her and she enjoys using that supremacy. In my opinion Rosalind is a manipulative character (in a positive way) and can be described as a heroine in most cases. When Orlando asks her if she is a native of the forest, Rosalind makes an ambiguous remark about being as much of a native as a rabbit is to the place where it is born. Here we see how she uses her wit to protect her disguise. In other words, she never quite answers the question directly. She uses this kind of verbal sidestepping again in act V, scene2, when she says that she is in love with no woman and that she’ll marry phebe if she is going to marry any woman at all. She also makes phebe promise that if she refuses to marry her, she’ll marry silvius. Rosalind manipulates the other characters through her use of language, but she does so far one purpose and that is to ensure a happy ending to the play. In my opinion this makes her a genuine heroine. As mentioned before Rosalind subverts the typical role of women in the Elizabethan period. She has great wit and wordplay and this is subversive of Shakespeare to bequeath a female with such qualities. One of the reasons that this play would have been counted as a comedy is the fact that the audience would have found Rosalind’s courage and wit quite funny and they would not have taken it seriously. However Shakespeare would perhaps have wanted to get a very serious and important point across. Some people believe that Shakespeare was a feminist and this is the point to prove it. He could’ have chosen to endow these qualities to another male character, but he chose a female character to reflect on all of these points. Some feminists are keen to stress the utter oppression of women in Elizabethan society in all areas of life; economic, domestic, sexual, familial and personal. Whilst it is certainly true that women were in no way regarded as equal to men in official aspects of life, the plays have an important part to play as pieces of evidence as about the status of women in this period. They are not separate from their background but part of our understanding about women’s lives in this period. This plays has a strong emphasis on the importance of gender at the time and the limitations that females were under due to this. Shakespeare uses Rosalind to undermine this and to illustrate that women can be as witty as men. However significantly and in a sense ironically she is only able to show this to the audience when she is disguised as a male. She is the supreme representation of the possibilities of human personality if there is freedom and if oppression can be overcome. She also shows the p ossibilities of female ability once liberated which in Rosalind’s case is liberty in disguise. At court Rosalind’s status was lower than Celia’s, for Celia was the daughter of the ruling duke â€Å"within ten days if that thou beest found so near our public court as twenty miles, thou diest for it.† Inn the forest of Arden, Rosalind dressed as a man, has higher status and Celia’s role almost fades away. The play has been under a lot of political criticism. It is possible that Shakespeare wrote the play for political reasons. It is a play that describes character like Rosalind and Celia fleeing from the oppression and coercion that they had to deal with when they were at court. Duke Fredrick has been Associated with Queen Elizabeth for his vindictive deeds towards his own daughter and Rosalind. The play is about power and social structure. The court is seen as being the place of higher classed people, whereas the Forest of Arden is supposed to be for the undersides of the society (at the time) like women, exiles, outcasts and people in lower status. The play describes the court as being a patriarchal society and the forest as being a place of justice and equality. However we find out that this is not the case as there are wealthy landowners that enrich themselves of the poor. Phebe and Silvius are examples of these as they are shepherds that work for a rich and cruel man. This goes to show that the forest has the same hierarchy structure as the court. Shakespeare could have been trying to portray the fact that there’s always injustice in â€Å"enclosures†. The end of the play is very significant to the irony of the play. Rosalind loses her independence, autonomy and freedom when she gets married to Orlando and when she takes off Ganymede’s clothes â€Å"to you I give myself, for I am yours†. This is so ironic as after all of Rosalind’s efforts and all of Shakespeare’s efforts to portray her as a witty, intelligent character and a Feminist, she has gone back to being her old powerless self. I think that Shakespeare did this to show the audience that things like antifeminism had to be established and dealt with properly. I think that Shakespeare wanted to bring to light the fact that it wasn’t good enough that Rosalind did all the things that she did, as at the end of the day, Orlando had more power over her and he was in control and she dedicated herself to him. Shakespeare was telling the women n the audience that they would never have rights if they didn’t stick up for themselves and if they didn’t manage to get feminism established. Shakespeare transforms Rosalind’s character throughout the play. From a love struck powerless girl to a dignified, aloof woman who managed to manipulate and influence other characters like Orland (the hero) and Phebe (Ganymede’s lover). Rosalind becomes a very sardonic, scathing and witty character to show that women can be as derisive and satirical as men if they were given the opportunity to be. She fulfils a very important role and a very significant dramatic function. Then he allows her to mould back to her original, immobilized character to show that there had to be a vital change in society otherwise women are never going to get the respect that they truly deserve if the society wasn’t revolutionised and modified.

Friday, January 3, 2020

The Third Estate During the French Revolution

In early modern Europe, the Estates were a theoretical division of a countrys population, and the Third Estate referred to the mass of normal, everyday people. They played a vital role in the early days of the French Revolution, which also ended the common use of the division. The Three Estates Sometimes, in late medieval and early France, a gathering termed  an Estates General was called. This was a representative body designed to rubber-stamp the decisions of the king. It was not a parliament as the English would understand it, and it often didnt do what the monarch was hoping for, and by the late eighteenth century had fallen out of royal favor. This Estates General divided the representatives who came to it into three, and this division was often applied to French society as a whole. The First Estate was comprised of the clergy, the Second Estate the nobility, and the Third Estate everyone else. Makeup of the Estates The Third Estate was thus a vastly larger proportion of the population than the other two estates, but in the Estates General, they only had one vote, the same as the other two estates had each. Equally, the representatives who went to the Estates General werent drawn evenly across all of society: they tended to be the well to do clergy and nobles, such as the middle class. When the Estates General was called in the late 1980s, many of the Third Estates representatives were lawyers and other professionals, rather than anyone in what would be considered in socialist theory lower class. The Third Estate Makes History The Third Estate would become a very important early part of the French Revolution. In the aftermath of Frances decisive aid to the colonists in the American War of Independence, the French crown found itself in a terrible financial position. Experts on finance  came and went, but nothing was resolving the issue, and the French king accepted appeals for an Estates General to be called and for this to rubber-stamp financial reform. However, from a royal point of view, it went terribly wrong. The Estates was called, the votes were had, and representatives arrived to form the Estates General. But the dramatic inequality in voting—the Third Estate represented more people, but only had the same voting power as the clergy or the nobility—led to the Third Estate demanding more voting power, and as things developed, more rights. The king mishandled events, and so did his advisors, while members of both the clergy and the nobility went over (physically) to the Third Estate to support their demands. In 1789, this led to the creation of a new National Assembly that better represented those not part of the clergy or nobility. In turn, they also effectively started the French Revolution, which would sweep away not just the king and the old laws but the whole Estates system in favor of citizenship. The Third Estate had therefore  left a major mark on history when it effectively gained the power to dissolve itself.