Wudi

Abby 1/8/13 Global EssayPeriod 7 The Han Emperor Wudi accomplished many things and his life was important to China's history for many reasons. Wudi did many things to improve China's civilization itself. He ruled from 141-87 B. C. Wudi was the sixth emperor of the Han Dynasty. He became emperor when he was 16. He was a very fierce ruler. Wudi lived from 156-87 B. C. In that length of time that he was alive, Wudi did many things. Wudi had many accomplishments. He used his army to expand the empire. He also used his army to capture southern China, Korea, and Vietnam.Wudi sent Zhang Qian to explore the West and the information he brought back about his discoveries led to trade along the silk road. Wudi made Confucianism his religion during his reign. Wudi had harsh, but effective punishments. He also offered gifts of silk, cattle, gold and other items to Western diplomats. So as you can see, Wudi had many accomplishments. Wudi's life was important to China's history. Wudi joined the Yel low River to Chang'an and connected two main centers of trade in china. He created a network of granaries. He enhanced China's civilization in different ways. Wudi constructed the Great Wall, which was a major success.The Great Wall wouldn't be the way it is today if it wasn't for Wudi. He also held the military campaign against Xiongnu. He did much to enhance China's civilization. He expanded territory, and provided means in which economy and trade could flourish. So as you can see, Wudi's life was very important to China's history. So as you can see, Wudi accomplished many things and his life was important to China's history. Some thought highly of Wudi and others did not think he was an effective ruler in the Han Dynasty. Wudi had a lot of ups and downs while ruling in the Han Dynasty. He turned out to be a very successful ruler in many areas.

Core Elements in Business Process Managment

Learner Log Book LLB Learner Log Book LLB |I. INSTRUCTIONS | The purpose of the Learner's Log Book (LLB) is to document the achievements of the learner in a central repository that will be considered as evidence on the effectiveness of the learning process. It is a ‘monitoring tool' that e-tutors use to report on individual learners' progress and it is a way of ensuring that learners: Are engaged in their learning process. They are experimenting by doing the tasks subscribed to them by the e-tutor.Avoid plagiarism because learners have to be engaged on a continuous basis and the informal assessment can therefore be used to ensure consistency with the main formal assessment. Provide e-Tutors with the opportunity to get to know the learners evaluate them and mentor them properly. There are templates which will reflect whether learners read, whether they understand, whether they assimilate the knowledge, whether they develop enquiry ability, whether they have the potential to con duct critical thinking and whether they can reflect on the knowledge accumulated by relating to real situations.The onus is mainly on learners to furnish the required information in the templates after each unit based on the Read and Analyze Activity. After filling the information in the template they need to e-mail it back to the e-Tutor. e-Tutor will then comments on the work done and the involvement that takes place and give overall impressions on the learners at the end of the module. |II. GENERAL INFORMATION | Learner Name: ID Number: Course Title: Business Process ManagementArticle Title: Rosemann and Brocke Date of Submission: 19 Oct 2011, 2pm Date of Received Feedback: ———————————————— |III. SUMMARY (100-200 words) | Provide a summary in your own words on the article you requested to read and analyze in the following space. The article introduces a brief overview o f the six core elements in business process management. Also, it states the reasons behind working hard to identify these core elements.A BPM framework that outlines the different elements of BPM is an essential guide for many purposes such as project and program management, vendor management, complexity management, standards management and strategy management. There is a need to identify the BPM framework because it can guide decision makers in all previously mentioned challenges. The BPM maturity models were used for the framework identification. However, Rosemann and de Bruin's BPM maturity model was selected as the base for identifying the core elements because of some reasons.One of these reasons is that the model was applied in a number of organizations where it proved to be of practical relevance in real life projects. Finally, the six core elements and their subcomponents were identified. The critical BPM elements are strategic alignment, governance, methods, information tec hnology, people and culture. BPM must be linked to the organizational strategy. It should establish clear responsibilities and guide decision making processes. BPM adapts a set of methods and IT solutions that supports activities along the process lifecycle like modeling, implementation, monitoring and improvement.People and culture as core elements include individuals as well as groups and their values and beliefs in regards to process-centered organization. |IV. CRITICAL ANALYSIS | This is the most important section in your analysis. To complete it successfully, the learner is to consider the following guiding steps: ? Present arguments coherently, supported by evidence and facts to substantiate on why you may take a particular stance and/ or position towards a particular approach whether against or in support of it; ?Where applicable, attempt to bridge the gap between the theory and conceptual work and the application under consideration. I believe that the identified BPM core el ements are an essential tool for the organization success. BPM elements established a clear guide for decision makers seeking organizational excellence. I strongly agree that the performance of individuals and groups and the business processes must be linked to the organizational strategic goals. Process measures are necessary for continuous identifying, measuring and developing of the actual business processes performance.Process measures may clarify the organizational goals and facilitate changes towards better customer satisfaction. Furthermore, I believe that having a clear definition of roles and responsibilities is an essential success factor. This definition clearly states the critical tasks, what is expected from employees and groups, how to meet the expectations and how to improve the business. Therefore, it provides a linkage of process performance with strategic goals. I agree that methods and IT solutions must be part of the core elements.They provide essential tools and techniques that facilitate redesigning of the business processes in order to achieve performance improvement. Finally, culture has a strong impact on the business and its performance because cultural beliefs and values set the negotiation and communication style. People attitudes and behaviors may improve business processes and may delay the improvement. It depends on their willingness to adapt new changes. |V. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS |How could you apply the subject matter from the article in a real business case? The core elements must be applied in all business cases to enable improvement in the operative efficiency. This can be done by strongly linking the organizational goals with business performance. All job descriptions and duties must be defined in accordance to the organizational mission and goals. Ensure that governance is applied by providing each employee with a clear and specific definition of the activities, tasks and processes.Employees will be aware of what's expec ted from them and how to meet the expectation by applying governance element. Apply methods and IT techniques to facilitate process modeling and analysis instead of using traditional methods. For example, oil and gas industries use HYSYS program to model the processing plant and simulate any future changes to study the change impact on the industry before implementing it in reality. This how IT implementation facilitates business processes. People whether individuals or groups play a vital role in organizational success.On-going training that aligns with the strategic goals must be provided to employees to enhance their skills and knowledge. Individuals must be encouraged to take responsibilities and be accountable for major tasks. This can be done by delegation of a major task of the leader to the employee where the employee will be responsible for delivering the desired outcomes. After delivering a major task in the desired results, the employee will gain confidence and willingnes s to lead in future jobs.People within one organization must adapt similar values and beliefs and must be linked to each other. Organizing communities and networks at work will help creating a culture. For example, having an organizational day out will facilitate communication among various people in the organization. |VI. LEARNING REFLECTIONS | What have you learnt? Identify the key learning points and the lessons learnt. Critical thinking is about the lessons learnt to be drawn from the analysis. BPM framework can serve many vital purposes such as project management, vendor management, complexity management, standards management and strategy management ? BPM framework comprehensively structures BPM as an organizational capability and not only as the execution of tasks in the process lifecycle ? BPM consists of six core elements that represent its success factors ? BPM core elements are strategic alignment, governance, methods, IT, people and culture ? BPM must be linked to the or ganizational strategies and goals where all processes are designed in accordance to strategic priorities ?Governance defines clear responsibilities and focuses on the design of decision-making processes ? Methods and IT tools must be applied to facilitate process modeling, execution, monitoring, control, improvement and project management ? Human capital of the organization is an important factor for improving business processes |IX. e-TUTOR COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK | |Mark: | [pic][pic]

Of Mice and Men Question “Lennie’s big fingers fell to stroking her hair” Essay

The pathetic figure of Lennie seems to symbolise mankind in its search for love. Do you agree? How does Steinbeck treat this theme in Of Mice and Men? In the book, Of Mice and Men, Lennie an opposite extreme to George; George is quite smart but not very tall or exceptionally strong, Lennie on the other hand is extremely stupid and very tall with exceptional strength. The way Steinbeck writes about Lennie, the audience feels great pity for him; the dialogue is very basic and he has trouble remembering simple tasks like keeping silent. The way he speaks can be related to the same way a three year old speaks; Lennie has the same sort of mind as a three year and is pleased by the same things. He has an affinity to touch everything and that is how he came to be stroking the lady’s hair. The way Lennie acts, speaks and looks creates a strong sympathy for him in the readers mind and Steinbeck plays on this to give the overall plot of the story. The idea that Lennie symbolises mankind in its search for love is what I believe is not a very good theory. The main basis for this is because Lennie does not understand what love is and the idea that man’s job in life is to look for love does not appeal to me. I do not think that a man goes around looking for love but love finds him, George did not ask to be loved by Lennie or to even take him on, he was offered and he made a promise. The only way which I believe that a man looks for love is through what he enjoys doing. If you love playing football then you are in search of your chance to be a footballer, you are in search of your love. This is the only in which I think this theme works in Of Mice and Men. Lennie loves George in a way which he does not understand, but George has grown to love him through their escapades together. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses love in a lot of ways; one way is George’s love of his dream. George fantasizes about owning his own little cottage with land he can farm on, he loves his dream and wishes it to come true. Lennie loves all creatures be it mice or puppies, he adores them and just loves to pet them and stroke them like a toddler loves to touch anything it can lay it’s hands on. Candy loved his dog and spent all his time with it, Curley loves boxing and spends most of his time practicing with his fists, Curley’s wife loves acting and deeply regrets missing her chance. Love plays a great part in Of Mice and Men, but nothing is as strong as the love between Lenny and George, George only realises how much he loves Lennie when Lennie is under the death sentence. George risks his own life to save Lennie and he realises that he will thoroughly miss Lennie. The theme that man is in search of love is also incorporated into Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck’s pen. George is in search of his dream cottage and every possible way to get it, the cottage is his love and he would go to no extreme to reach it. Lennie’s love is of keeping a heard of rabbits, he is constantly referring to them in the book and would love to have them. However he is letting George pursue the search to get them for him because he is completely incapable of getting them himself. Crooks is in search of finding friends to sit and talk with or being accepted by the other men on the ranch. His love is gain friends and become one of the â€Å"gang† and be allowed to play cards with them in the bunkhouse. Curley is in search of becoming a boxer, he loves using his fists and he is searching for his chance to become a boxer again. Curley’s Wife is constantly searching for her chance to escape from Curley and become and actress, she loves acting so she is in search for a career in acting. The idea of searching for love is incorporated a lot into Of Mice and Men; every main character is in search of his or her love whether it be human, animal or even a career.

Heathrow Airport - Terminal 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Heathrow Airport - Terminal 5 - Assignment Example The operations are a special department in an organization that deals with the scrutiny of the activities to be done in the company. The strategies to be adopted by an organization are guided, planned and crafted by the higher executive officers in the organization. The strategies adopted in business are actually the long term planning of the business firms. A business strategy can be adopted by a company for a period of 3 to 5 years, or sometimes even longer than that (Honda Motor Company, 2007). The major resource issues related to an organization are also solved by a business strategy like, the issue of raising funds for a new manufacturing plant. The resource allocation to be adopted in an organization is also decided according to its business strategies. The business strategies are majorly of two types. These are generic and competitive in nature (Dale, 2003). The generic strategies adopted by a business organization deals with its growth opportunities. Decisions related to new acquisitions or purchases made by a business firm are taken according to the established generic business strategies of the firm. After the emergence of globalization, most of the corporate firms have turned out to be multinational firms. However, the decisions of internationalization of the firms are also undertaken according to the generic strategies adopted by the organization. The retrenchment activities of a business firm are also carried out as per the generic strategies. Thus, it can be analyzed that the generic strategies adopted by a business firm are the factors that ultimately influence the growth of the firms (Alkhafaji, 2003). In the contemporary business world, the degree of competition among the firms is excessively high. Thus, following the views of David Ricardo, the firms try to focus on their competitive advantages. The competitive strategy helps a business firm to operate as per its core competences. For example, the strategy of differentiation (in terms of price or qualitative aspects of products), adopted by the corporate firms is a type of competitive business strategy. The modern firms take the decision to produce on the basis of economies of scale in production. This is also a form of the competitive strategy adopted by the business firms. In short, a business strategy explains the manner through which a company would be approaching the marketplaces. There lies a strategic link between the business strategies and operational strategies. Operational strategies are the ones that are mainly concerned with the process through which a corporate organization can translate its business strategies into a form of practical and cohesive implementation plan (Porter, 1998). The operational strategies adopted by a business firm enumerate the technology to be used in the organization. These strategies also assure that a company possesses the desired manpower. The operational strategy adopted in a business firm also observes and takes active initiati ves to improve certain departments that are not well developed. According to the views of some scholars, operational strategy is actually an extended form of business strategy. For instance, a firm must have an objective to augment its gross operating income by 10% in every three years. This is a kind of a business strategy that is adopted by the firm. Suppose in order to assure the above

Own question about the book Attitudes toward Sex in Antebellum America Essay

Own question about the book Attitudes toward Sex in Antebellum America - Essay Example Intimate issues are approached diligently and therefore many people had experienced sexuality based on racial, gender difference and cultural perspectives. All these contribute to the views that sex as an activity was rejected but ironically taking place.2 The main deterrent for premarital sex in Antebellum US was the fear of women and girls getting pregnant. However, sexual desire always existed between the men and the women. This occurs regardless of social class, position, slave or not slave. At some point, control of casual sex was basically done by the families and the superiors in the society. In away, even these facilities were also under control by the superiors. However, premarital sex was totally not allowed for anybody. This is very concerning because it is the same people who are not allowing to have sex but they are in need of the same. However, the sexual taboo majorly applied to women in practice.3 This reflects gender bias in this issue of discussion. Men had many opt ions as far as sex was concerned. They were enforcing the rules effectively. Unfair treatment and discrimination made Margaret Sanger who was born in 1883 fumed in search of reasonable means of birth control. Women were pressed and needed ways of having freedom by looking for birth control measures. The fear of getting pregnant was very high. The Comstock laws had put her under several arrest warrant. The pioneer woman nurse had to fly to Europe having built a strong backing from several friends and other associates to spearhead the need for birth control measures.4 Through persistence of this particular nurse, the court offered opportunity through other activists and birth control measures were ensured in Antebellum. Sexuality as away of exploitation was the only way that the women could fight for liberty. The men on the other hand were enjoying freedom on sexual matters. Birth control mechanisms for women were also ironically geared towards freedom in having sex just as men were d oing. The limitation on right for women movement could be ended through this birth control move. This reflects much study on gender equality from endurance on sexual exploitation and deterring movement of women. In addition, it is claimed that the purpose of sexual intercourse and general meaning of marriage shapes most of the families in Antebellum. 5 It would be the right explanation why women were on the argumentative end when their rights were ignored. They had to champion it by themselves to achieve the hard found freedom. The question is that why were they championing on this freedom? More explanations from the book show that there was commercialization of sex. Women wanted to be like men and move around once they succeeded in birth control option they were geared towards. The author states, â€Å"Women could now enjoy sex outside the marriage† It is very ironical because through sex, they were exploited. Sexual repression stereotype in 1800’s impacted diverse pu blic argument. All the professionals, including the doctors and religious leaders all had to contribute in the debate about sexual exploitation and experience in Antebellum. Sexual exploitation however called for reforms and internalization of values of middle class. These reforms included chastity, hard work and thrift. Many honest citizens were able to indulge in crimes, sinful activities and implicit sexual behaviors.

HR Practice in A.J. Robinsons and Sons Ltd Essay

HR Practice in A.J. Robinsons and Sons Ltd - Essay Example There is also need for reorientation of the employees through training and it has also been recommended that there should be effective communication in order to create understanding among the workmates. It has been recommended that there is need to clearly outline the structure of the organization for it to be effective as well as improve its performance which is internally based at the expense of the customers. Â  In the given case scenario, the key issues affecting performance levels at A.J. Robinsons and Sons Ltd particularly in the Sales Office (Jackie) scenario, the Bought Ledger (Karen) department and The Transport (Melvin) department can be attributed to overriding of the functions of the First Line Managers (FLM) by John Jones who is the Customer Services and Administrative Manager. In order to gain a clear understanding of the concept of FLM, it is imperative to begin by outlining some of the basic functions of First Line management. Basically, first line managers are directly responsible for the production of goods and services. The employees who directly report to them do the organization’s basic production work (Jackson et al 2001). For instance, a sales manager like Jackie should be responsible for supervising the people who sell different chemical things in the organization. It can be noted that this level of management is the link between the operations of each departm ent and the rest of the organization. Â  

Management Accounting & Activity Based Costing Essay

Management Accounting & Activity Based Costing - Essay Example production process encompasses various activities such as operation of machines, maintaining the machinery, as well as supervising the production process. Operators operate the machines; maintenance mechanics perform the machine set ups and maintain machines when molding and the supervisors provide supervision for the maintenance mechanics and machine operators. Other activities include building, administration and sales. The resources used include energy for the set-up and molding process by the molding machines. Machines consume 6.3KW of energy on an hourly basis. Also, other consumable shop supplies like lubricants and hoses form the major resources within the company. A cost driver refers to characteristics of events or activities which results in business incurring costs. Activity based costing have the products consuming activities and the activities consume the resources (Kallunki& Hanna 2008, p. 62-79). In the case study above, the production process has the number of orders and number of set up machines as the cost drivers.The Cost drivers for machine operation include the number of the operators and machines available. Machine maintenance cost drivers include the number of machines to be maintained and the number of technicians. The supervision cost drivers include the number of supervisors and number of people to supervise. Cost drivers for the building include insurance and rent costs. Number of machine hour in production may be used in calculating the rate of machine hour relating to repair, depreciation and maintenance processes. Also, the production process will have the number of inspections as the cost drivers. In making of the product, inspection for quality evaluation requires the appointment of experts who consume money in terms of salary, travel, electricity, as well as the depreciation of the equipment. The overheads may be calculated based on the number of tests. Each batch requires 4 tests, and suppose the available batches are 200,

To what extent does Karl von Clausewitz explain the changing nature of Essay

To what extent does Karl von Clausewitz explain the changing nature of warfare after 1798 - Essay Example Clausewitz’s main claim in his book ‘On War’ published in 1831 revolves around the fact that in order to understand warfare, it must be considered as a social phenomenon. War comes from deliberate circumstances and these circumstances make wars easier to understand. This statement was considered in the light of two conceptions of war at that time, first, that war is capable of linear solutions, and secondly, that war is basically chaotic and cannot be rationally evaluated (Gat, 1989). This view of war led to the perception that it is merely an offshoot of politics, mixed is with violence. This perception hid a more complex phenomenon. First and foremost, war has changed over time. Since social organizations have changed over the years, the nature of parties competing has also changed. Secondly, in seeking a better understanding of what is happening in conflicts, there is no longer a need to consider the military events in a political setting. Third, there is a nor mative element in the formula. Clausewitz was of the belief that force was more acceptable when it was considered as a tool for state policy. Considering the suffering caused by war, this was the justifiable reason utilized in the use of violence; however a normative failure would not negate the analytical process. (Clausewitz, eds, Howard and Paret, 1979, p. 586). In order to establish a practical understanding of war, there was a need to evaluate the relationship between military activities and the political climate of these events. On the outset, there was a direct linear link between the scale of the goal sought and the extent of force required to fulfill it. In a conflict which was carried out to conquer an opponent who aimed to totally conquer and annex a country, one is almost always certain to expect significant efforts to defeat the aggressor. On the other hand, where a smaller objective was sought, a smaller consequent action would be seen. Clausewitz was of the understand ing that events on the battlefield and in the political arena are very much related to each other. A battlefield victory might prevent other nations from being embroiled in any conflict, it may also convince them of the fact that a victor has become a threat to them (Szabo, 2008). A victory may also convince a nation that its competitor is weak and that it needs to improve its objectives. The consideration of a country deciding to intervene or step away from a conflict would

Abortion in United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Abortion in United States - Essay Example Conservatives tend to view the fetus as a human life.Undeniably, abortion is an old societal issue. The legality of abortion, however, is a different story. Abortion in any form was not legal in the United Kingdom in the 1800s (Josephine, 19). The Infant Life Preservation Act of 1929 was passed in May of that year, intending to protect children's rights to life. It did have one small provision, though. It allowed a doctor to decide if the pregnant woman's health were in danger. If it were, then the abortion could be performed (Herring, 161). Thus, it can well be stated that abortion can only be permissible under the parameters of medical ground and logically enough all other causes of abortion should be systematically banned and considered illegal. One important reason why women tend to be more sexually conservative than males is the possibility of pregnancy. Pregnancy and child rearing require enormous resources; therefore, females do not want to risk unwanted pregnancies. This tran slates into a general reluctance to engage in casual sexual relationships because of the fear of abortion. This fear is important because abortion is an act of inhuman indulgence and at the same time it is immoral and a sacrilege in the eyes of religion.

Discussion-MODULE 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion-MODULE 5 - Essay Example The Chinese rivers fostered agricultural development and population growth while the Chinese coastline and the Grand Canal unified China by promoting communication and integration. The Chinese history entailed Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties that developed early ideologies. The Confucian ideology promoted the Xia dynasty. The Shang dynasty promoted the development of Bronze technology and written language as well as ancestral beliefs. The Zhou dynasty established a strong centralized government that manifested how heaven delegates authority to strong and wise rulers and condemns failed leaders. From the primary source readings, we derive the Confucian philosophy that valued universal order, respect of children for their parents, moral cultivation of men, social harmony, state service, and ethical and competent leadership. The Confucian philosophy asserts that a virtuous person should know their place in the society and offer their best. Daoism addressed violence, arbitrary laws, and strict social hierarchy by valuing a simple and individual life. Daoism asserts that a virtuous person should cultivate harmony with nature and with other individuals by living a simple life and fostering unity of purpose. Legalism values strict laws and harsh punishments to maintain centralized leadership. It also values the head of state as a divine leader who should derive respect and authority from a virtuous person. From the video "Engineering an Empire,† Qin Shih Huang Di came to power after defeating the last Warring State in 221 BC and declaring himself the first Sovereign Emperor of Qin. Qin Shih Huang Di brought stability and unity to China after the Warring States Period by introducing a new currency, standardizing the Chinese units of measurements, abolishing Confucianism and feudalism, and using military power to enhance state unity. Indeed, Qin Shih Huang Di manifested extensive power by relying on military power, abolishing feudal holdings, forcing

My Dream Essay Example for Free

My Dream Essay Hello everybody, im Doan Phuong Ly and i have been studied at Saigontech since 2012. My main major is Business Management. And i will have 2 more semesters to finish this program. I do really enjoy the business so that after graduating from this college , i hope that i can afford myself to attend the higher business program like MBA or rather , i will attend some Advanced Diploma certification which is necessary to my business in the future. As a person who are interested in business, i need to know the essential needs and basics of business so when i joined this course i feel it seems very useful and necessary to achieve my goals in my work life now and in the future. Eventhough, this course is short but it includes alot of content about the business such as the business environment, how to creating financing marketing and managing a business. In my life now, i have quite a lot of problems when i want to open my own business, such as opening my fashion shop, ive met quite a lots of trouble to identify and find out the best way to reach to my purpose. Fortunately, when participating in this course, there are too many things in books and also my instructor support a lots of business knowledge. It helps me to apply to my business work now, and if i can go further, i can understand the economic situation so that i may manage my business more effectively and i will achieve much success in my future.

Improving mathematics Essay Example for Free

Improving mathematics Essay It is important for Mathematics teachers to create an atmosphere in which the subject is not seen to be outside of the student’s sphere of involvement and therefore irrelevant. Mathematics techniques that relate the subjects to things in the everyday world will more readily grasp the student’s attention and get him or her fully involved in the learning process. Mathematics can become more powerful and engaging if it is built â€Å"into an extended inquiry on a topic of importance for [the] subject, for students, and for the world at large† (Daniels Zemelman, 2004). Since the techniques practiced in the subject are used by people from retailers to engineers, teachers should take real life situations to the classroom and connect them to each lesson. For example, since the world’s population has been growing exponentially, it is possible to illustrate a lesson on exponents using such an example (2004). The constructivist idea that learning should be predominantly an active and social experience should be applied to the teaching of mathematics (Crowther, 1997). Although it is easier to ascertain the level of achievement of a given student via individual work, it is possible for students to gain much more from learning sessions if they are allowed to interact with their peers while completing tasks. This has several advantages, but two very important ones are these: It gives students the opportunity to gain different perspectives on the problem as well as the chance to have the theory explained in a novel way. Since students are more in tune with the way other students think, those who understand the problem will be able to re-present it to their fellow struggling students and to reveal the nuances of their understanding possibly in ways that the teacher had never considered. The other benefit of allowing interaction is that it gives the teacher time and space to visit—not just individual students, which would take the entire class period, but groups. Within the groups, salient issues will likely have already come up, and will most likely be revealed more readily by the students, as the group setting reduces the embarrassment that generally attends airing one’s ignorance on a topic. It is often during working and not teaching that students â€Å"realize† that their understanding of the topic is limited. Creating an atmosphere in which questions will arise and will be easier for the student to ask is a general teaching method that will improve the mathematics learning. A very important and unnerving part of mathematics teaching is the assessment. Assessment has generally been used as a tool for screening and separating students who have an aptitude for mathematics from those who do not (Linchevski et al. , 1998). However, this use of assessment (along with ineffective teaching methods) has contributed to the hatred that many have of the subject (Cock Pickard). Instead, if assessment were used consciously as a tool to determine what students need to learn, it would become a more effective tool in teaching (Linchevski Kutcher, 1998). Inevitably, some (if not most) students in a class will attack at least one problem and come up with the wrong answer. However, during assessment it is necessary for the teacher to scrutinize the process. Mathematics problems can be considered similar to an essay in that the student allows the teacher a glimpse into his or her mental processes via the different steps taken to get from one level in the answer to another. The faulty reasoning that leads to these erroneous steps is the area in which students need help. Planning is a very important part of teaching mathematics, and it can be used in conjunction with this kind of assessment to benefit the students (Linchevski Kutcher, 1998). It might be found that several students make similar errors. In such cases, the teacher has the opportunity to plan general lessons to address the areas in which students have shown weakness. If only a few make similar errors, for one class period following the assessment students could be grouped according to the areas in which they demonstrated weakness. The teacher would then be able to move around to each groups and explain where the members went wrong. References Cock, S. P. Pickard. â€Å"Improving student learning on entry level mathematics courses through course design. † University of North London. http://homepages. north. londonmet. ac. uk/~pickardp/oxbrk696. htm Crowther, D. T.(1997). â€Å"The Constructivist Zone. † Electronic Journal of Science Education. Vol. 2(2). Daniels, H. S. Zemelman. (2004). Subjects matter: every teacher’s guide to content-area reading. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Linchevski, L. and Kutcher, B. (1998). â€Å"Tell me with whom you’re learning and I’ll tell you how much you’ve learned: Mixed-ability versus same-ability grouping in mathematics. † Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. November. Linchevski, L. , R. Liebenberg, M. Sasman A. Olivier. (1998). Assessme.

Qatar Airways Marketing Strategy

Qatar Airways Marketing Strategy Abstract The airline industry has been known to be volatile and competitive. It is volatile in the sense that any negative news either from the services such as air mishap, economic downturn, perceived threat of terrorism, the potential outbreak of the birdflu virus or the factors of production like rise in prices of crude oil impacts negatively on the strategic position of each of the players in the industry be it market leader, follower or challenger. The case of Gulf States (Countries) such as Bahrain, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia to mention just a few calls for closer attention. This is because the so Gulf states are have the resources and capabilities to compete in all the four fronts of marketing mix which is often referred as the 4Ps of People, Price, Place, Promotion. In order to wean their economies away from declining oil reserves some Middle Eastern countries pursue substantial investments into their aviation sector. The bulk of these investments concentrates on the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and comprises fleet expansions stoked by massive airport extensions and development projects. The million dollar question is how Qatar airways can turn its fortune from being a market follower in the Gulf airline industry to a leader. In this academic work also, we would use the following framework for evaluating and writing Customers: Who are the organizations customers? Products/services: What are the organizations major products or services? Location/markets: Where does the organization compete? Technology: Is technology a primary concern of the organization? Concern for survival, growth and profitability: Is the organization committed to economic objectives? Philosophy: What are the basic beliefs, values, aspirations, and philosophical priorities of the firm? Self-concept: What is the organizations distinctive competence or major competitive advantage? 1.0 Introduction The airline industry has grown to be one of be one of the largest industries in half century of its existence. Its origin could be deduced from the end of World War l but it was not until World War II that saw peace restored worldwide that accounted for the burgeoning of the business. Statistics have it that the industry often airlift more than 1.5 billion industry worldwide and generates more than $ 300 billion in revenue and employ 1.7 million people worldwide (Hanlon Pg 1,2006). Good to note is the fact that the post World War II airline industry are dominated by state owned airlines known as Flag Carriers and the government which owned them often used them as instruments to further their mercantilist interests or to promote their countries status, power and prestige. Airline business in the Gulf States is often associated with government (Hanlon Pg 2, 2006). Government desire to protect flag carriers often lead to artificial market, in which the profitability of the airlines wer e determined more by the competitors that are allowed to fly the route rather the forces of quality and pricing. Airlines suited in the Middle East currently hold 9% of long haul capacity worldwide. They will be responsible for about 25% of all global long haul aircraft deliveries over the next decade (Flagnagan, 2006). Dubai based emirates airlines accounts for the largest buyer, which approximately 70% of all new long-haul aircraft orders in the Middle East. Some airline commentators predict that come 2012, the airline would double its fleet (Flagnagan, 2006). After Emirates come Qatar airlines. The airline has placed an order of 140 wide body aircraft. The expansion plans of the gulf airline operators are shown in Fig 1 within Qatar airways just like other airlines in the Gulf States is part of the government strategy to diversify its revenue base, economies, commerce, tourism and global transport importance. The airline has a rich mission statement which is Excellence in everything we do. According to a survey carried out by Pearce and David (1987) to analyze the mission contents of airline companies, the mission, it showed that Qatars mission statement is one of the best in the world. Amongst 9 points, it has 6 points. Fleet expansion plans of Middle Eastern carriers (as March 2008). Source Journal of Transport Geography 18 (2008) 388-394 3.0 Current Marketing Mix of Qatar Airways 3.1.1 Product Strategy: New Products Existing ProductsServices is defined as involving one party offering something that is essentially intangible and where the interaction does not result in ownership of anything (Kotler, 2008). Applying Ansoff product grid matrix, it can be said that Qatar airlines is still in market penetration. This is because the airline as was shown in the introductory section of the work, has projected the number of aircraft it wish to buy before 2012. The attributes of a company in growth stage of company life cycle is expansionary qualities. Existing Market Market Penetration Product Development New Market Market Development Diversification ansoffs product / market matrix The attributes of market penetration strategy in which Qatar airways are using include Maintain or increase the market share of current products this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling As part of this growth plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003. It has recently added Manchester and Rome to its increasing route network. It will soon be adding Shanghai, Seoul and Tripoli to its route network. (Airhighways Magazine, 2005, p. 1). Secure dominance of growth markets. Qatar airlines have been known to dominate the ever busy African- Middle east air routes. The company always has some flights available from any part of Africa to the Gulf States. The topology of the area has encouraged the airline to operate in product penetration strategy of Ansoff product grid. Its sparsely populated area has encouraged travelling by air for intra-regional transport. Furthermore, a high per capita income that is still increasing quickly, offers a base for a strong aviation industry. But there are socio-economic constraints, limiting both domestic leisure and business travel potential. Increase usage by existing customers for example by introducing loyalty schemes .A market penetration marketing strategy is very much about business as usual. The business is focusing on markets and products it knows well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on customer needs. It is unlikely, therefore, that this strategy will require much investment in new market research. There is no evidence that Qatar airways is investing on market research because they are not expanding into unknown routes such as Kula-lumpur Sydney route. 3.1.2 Pricing Strategy: Going-rate-pricing strategy Presently Qatar airline practice what is called Going-rate-pricing strategy. The market leader in the middle- east airline industry remains Emirates. Qatar charges its fare based on the price of Emirates which is slightly higher. This is because being the market follower, Qatar does not need to disturb the established market dynamism because it might not be able to compete on the same level with Emirates. Comparing the price of Qatar and Emirates, on the same route of Kuala-lumpur (Malaysia) Johannesburg ( South Africa) Price of Qatar on 21st Nov returning on 23rd Dec from Kuala-Lumpur to Johannesburg Price of Qatar on 21st Nov returning on 23rd Dec from Kuala-Lumpur to Johannesburg 3.1.3 Promotion Strategy: Qatar airlines are not practicing product differentiation but it is practicing promotion differentiation. According to its chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker he said that Qatar By offering a variety of entertainment options, we are able to differentiate our passenger service through live entertainment programming while also setting new standards of comfort to ensure we are the airline of choice (Rockwell Collins, 2005, p. 1). Some of their promotion strategies are as listed below and experienced by its passengers are as Biggest and best business class in the Middle East Interactive Audio, Video on Demand Entertainment System Largest personal TV screens in the Middle East Electronic seat controls In-seat back massage First Middle East airline in First Class with flat beds Qatar has engaged the services of Global media industries to help spread the good news. Such internal media include TV Corporate Videos BBC Campaign to position it as a premium carrier CNN testimonials from airline staff Sky News reports as a sponsor of the weather service Sponsors a travel show through Al-Jazeera Qatar is a major sponsor of high profile sporting activities such as World Tourism Day, World Travel and Tourism Council Summit, World Economic Forum, Leading International sports events. Qatar airlines was the official sponsor of 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006. The company has come up with a new product called Flying Oryx Newsletter that it distributes to travel agents. The newsletter is also available through its websites. More links could be established to the newsletter through the Internet. The airlines also give away products to passengers that promote the logo of the Burgundy Oryx and Taking you personally, such as watches, computermice and hand towels. 3.1.3 Place Strategy: This places a little impact on the business strategy of Qatar. Qatar airways like any other airways have developed a system of getting their ticket. Unlike the normal businesses, whose distribution channel goes from the manufacturer wholesaler-retailer-consumer. The normal business cycle Qatar airline and other airways are from the airline operators to consumers when online booking is done or through traveler agent. Airline operator Airline operator Manufacturer Wholesaler Consumer Travelling Agent Retailer Consumer Consumer Traditional Supply channel Online booking channel intermediary booking channel 4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS 4.1 Qatar current market Qatar airways is one of the leading airline industry in the gulf states. There is no hiding from the fact that Qatar airways is building on the booming market of Dubai to feed the ever busy Dubai route. Qatar currently targets those customers who considers Emirates too expensive. Those that want a little bit high quality and class at an affordable price. Qatar market can be divided into two as follows Geographic Segmentation: Qatar Airways is currently operating in most of the regions of the world.They are presently hoping to expand their routes to include the south pacific routes of Australia and its neighbouring countries. Qatar Airways is a dynamic, high service carrier, which utilises the geographic location of its Middle Eastern hub to link 72 international cities. From the UK the airline operates regular services from London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester to Doha. Onward connections are available to cities including Dhaka, Ahmedabad (coming soon), Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin, Mumbai, Nagpur (coming soon), Trivandrum, Malà ©, Kathmandu, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Colombo, Denpasar, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar, Yangon, Cebu, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Bahrain, Mashad, Tehran, Amman, Kuwait City, Beirut, Muscat, Dammam/Dhahran, Jeddah, Riyadh, Damascus, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sanaa,Bangkok,Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Cebu, Nairobi, Johanne sburg and the Seychelles. Qatar Airways entering the US market with flights to New York and Washington, DC direct from the airlines hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar Demographic Segmentation: Below is the demographic basis for the market segmentation for Qatar airways: Demographic Variables Breakdown Sex Male; Female Age Under 12; 13-25; 26-40; 41-55; 55 + Income (monthly) USD 300.00 and over Religion Muslims (Halal status); Non-Muslims (Non-Halal status) Education Designed for 5.0 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS (SWOT analysis) SWOT analysis helps to explore the internal and external environmental factors affecting Qatar Airways and hence enable us to make strategic decisions (Aaker, 2005). The recommended strategies that would be adopted in this paper would be based on the on the SWOT analysis of the company. External Analysis Strategic decisions Where to compete? How to compete? Identification Trends/Future events Threats/Opportunities Strategic uncertainties How to compete? Analysis Information-Need areas Scenario Analysis Internal Analysis Source: Adapted and modified from Aaker, D. A (1998), Strategic Market Management, 5th Edition, John Wiley Sons, Inc., USA, p 40 5.1 INTERNAL ANALYSIS Strength Weakness Brand Recognition The airline has been able to build a strong brand that was described by Kelly Kaur, Marketing Director, as getting to know the audience and using communication to build loyalty, stimulate desire, create confidence and build awareness. Consistency The airline has been noted for offering consistence services which was one of the criteria that enabled it to get a FIVE STAR RATING. FIVE STAR RATING Qatar Airways is just one of the few airlines in the world ranked Five Star by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. The same organization Skytrax also named Qatar Airways cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the third year running and fifth best in the world, following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide. (World Economic Forum, n.d., p. 1). Qatar Airways are the proud winners of the TTG Travel Awards 2009 Airline of the year. In recognition of the world class service and their commitment to offer only the best to over 80 destinations worldwide Numerous Flights The airline currently operates a fleet of 42 all-Airbus aircraft, which is expected to triple in size to 110 aircraft by 2015. Qatar Airways recently made an agreement to buy up to 60 of the new generation Airbus A350s. The airline also plans to acquire 20 Boeing 777s,with a total value for both orders set to be worth US$ 15.2 billion Age Many still believe that Qatar cannot maintain their high standard for a very long time because they are not too experienced in the industry. Arabization Many people still believe that the airline is Arab based because of their Logo. Qatar Airways logo uses an animal (Arabian oryx) that may be familiar to people in the Arabian Gulf, but not to people outside the region. National Carrier History has shown that most national does not last and they are often abused by the government. People would love to invest so that they can control or have shares in the business but thats not the case here. 5.2 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Booming tourism industry The present surge in tourism in the gulf states is plus for the company to expand its business capacity. Image The Airlines has gained some reputation in the region and in Europe and its other sites Strategic alliances The airline has the reputation of forming strategic alliances with some airline operators in the pacific rim. This can be done either via bilateral with the respective government. Terrorism The incident of 9/11 is a wheel in the spanner of most airline industry. It has greatly reduced the ability of airline operators to attract many frequent fliers. New Entrants There is possibility of new entrants to the market especially Etihad. Etihad has the financial capacity to compete on the same level with Qatar Volatility The industry itself is known to exhibit high volatility. This may be in the form of fuel price, technology change or epidemic and natural disasters. 6.0 PROJECT RECOMMENDATION STRATEGIES 6.1. Market penetration via new products: Low cost Qatar airways have the leverage to engage in more competitive prices that what they are offering presently. They should borrow a leave from what Qantas did. Qantas came up with a low cost carrier called JETSTAR. The low cost strategy can compete in the low cost flight category of the airline industry while the parent company keeps their normal standard. Alliances Qatar airways have the brand image to form strategic alliances with many similar airlines where they can get the benefits of economics of scale. This might come in the form choosing one airline company in the continent to form a loop. They might borrow a look from what Singapore airlines deed as shown below. Singapore Airlines Air New Zealand Star Alliance Dinners Club Avis Singapore Airlines alliance network; strategic alliance, follower ( Kotler Pg 812, 2008) 6.2 Maximizing sales revenue Reduction of booking agents Commissions and other incentives to sales staff add to the operational cost of the company. These costs either passed on to the customers or absorbed by the organization lowers the margins of the company. The company should come up with a structure of appointing GSA (General Sales Agent) in major cities and towns. They might even pass it to the post office to sale for them since they post office has their fixed cost already running. Web Friendly Site The company should as a matter of urgency design a friendly user web site. Their current web site is not user friendly. They should borrow a cue at Airasia website. Airasia website is fast, user friendly and updates every minutes. This has greatly encouraged customers to use the web more frequently than physical office space thereby limiting people or place contacts to the barest minimum. 7.0 Conclusion In its relatively few years of operation has shown that they can ranked amongst the best in service delivery. They have grown from a small company to a major player in the airline industry. They have put in place sound management principle and good chief executive Akbar Al Baker believed his airline was leaking significant amounts of revenue. A series of short diagnostic exercises confirmed his hunches needs continuous improvement. The company has adopted a relatively moderate marketing mix by targeting its customers, positioning the company World Class Young, but growing fast Forward Thinking, open-minded On-time, Clean image Friendly/helpful/warm/hospitable airline. The People is good, Price affordable, Place great and Promotion best.

Leadership Essay -- essays research papers

Leadership comes in many different forms but they all are heading toward the same goal; and that is to communicate with people. Some people are silent leaders and lead by example some are more vocal. Nevertheless, whatever type of leader you are, there are certain criteria that must be met. For example being a good role model, being dependable, being trust worthy, these are all things that a true leader must possess. However, all leaders have their strengths and weakness and these are a few areas in which men and woman striving to become leaders often have trouble dealing with. All to often leaders become over defensive and it beings to tear away at the seams of a cohesive unit. A little defensiveness is healthy self-protection...like your immune system. Excessive defensiveness will prevent you from learning from your mistakes after all, why do anything different, if all your mistakes are someone else's fault? Feeling angry because of changes imposed from above? Attack the stupidity of your bosses and you will feel better! This move can be self-defeating if it stops you from understanding their rationale and coming to terms with your own resistance to change. If you have healthy self-esteem, you should be able to admit your mistakes if you have low self-esteem you will either be too hard on yourself for even small mistakes, or you will overreact and defensively never admit them! When you anticipate the failure of one of your projects, do you start telling people why it will fail? You are setting up your defenses in advance so you will not have to create the m after the fact. Advance defensiveness can even facilitate failure. Some people will even sabotage their own projects, when they start to think they will fail, if they can do so in a way that ensures their getting off the hook. Recognizing and avoiding your own excessive defensiveness is not easy if you have developed a pattern of protecting a fragile self esteem in this way. However, you will not keep up with the demand in today's competitive market to learn faster if you do not confront this issue for yourself. Assertiveness - you may think you are assertive just because you rant and rave at times. Maybe you often give in to others, kidding yourself that you are just being reasonable. So how can you say "no" to your boss or others without incurring their wrath? Say "Yes, but"...... ...create a learning organization, first focus on creating a more entrepreneurial culture Fostering continuous employee development is complementary to a learning culture. However, an organization can learn in an entrepreneurial sense without a lot of employee development. You could have a fast learning organization that continually imported fresh talent with little emphasis on employee development. This is not to downplay the value of employee development - just to clearly separate it from organizational learning. Being a leader is never an easy task, and only a select few have the ability to lead. Not many people can take an organization, a team, or their local neighborhood and get them to work together toward a single goal. They have to be stern but at the same time sympathetic, they have to be able to delegate power without causing uproar. So many things go into being a leader that when everything is said and done, most people shy away from being a leader and feel as though they need to follow. However, that is the difference between a leader and a follower. When crunch time comes, the true leader will stand forward and guide his/her team, organization, or what have to victory.

Macbeth Blood Essays -- Essays Papers

Macbeth Blood Blood is essential to every human beings survival. It is a fluid circulating throughout the body that carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues in exchange for life and if this was somehow lost then the life would also be lost. It represents life, death, and injury. It is an essential part of life. Without it, we would not live. As a symbol and major theme in Macbeth, Blood is used most often to represent injury and death, but also life. In Macbeth, he uses blood to represents impurity. Shakespeare often accompanies the image of water with the image of blood. The water represents cleansing and purity. Imagery is any piece of language that provokes the readers mind to form a mental picture or image. Shakespeare’s plays are well known for the richness of their imagery. Macbeth in particular has numerous vivid examples. Macbeth is also particularly rich in repeated images, such as the image of blood. In the beginning of the story, blood is symbolic of bravery, how he fought bravely, and how he won. Bloodshed for a noble cause is good blood. However, Macbeth's character changes throughout the play. The changes are characterized by the symbolism in the blood he sheds. As these images of blood occur frequently, they often portray the horror of the central action, Duncan’s murder. The brilliant images of blood and water also symbolize the unrelenting guilt of the two protagonists, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The blood and water represents their inability to erase the memory of Duncan’s murder. The blood of King Duncan clings to their hands and makes them unable to fo rget the repulsive crimes they committed. In the beginning, blood is used to show bravery. â€Å"For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name-- Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution,† (I, ii, 18-20) This passage is revering to Macbeth's braveness in which his sword is covered in the blood of the enemy. After these few references to honor, the symbol of blood now changes to show a theme of treachery and treason. Before Duncan's murder, Macbeth imagines seeing a dagger floating in the air before him. He describes it, "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There's no such thing: It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes." (II, i, 57-60) ... ...ain Than terms can give thee out!" (V, viii, 8-10) Macbeth and Macduff then engage in a fight to the death with Macduff eventually emerging victorious. After Macbeth is slain, the symbolic theme of blood swings back to what it was at the beginning of the play. Macduff presents Macbeth’s bloody head to the crowd and to the new King of Scotland, Malcolm, and the people rejoice. The death of Macbeth is honored and the symbolism of blood has returned to its original meaning; the bloodiest are the ones most honored. Macduff is congratulated as he proudly walks in covered with blood and with Macbeth’s head. Ironically, it was blood that brought Macbeth to power and blood that brought him to death. The play successfully illustrates the complete transformation of Macbeth. He begins as a noble, a just and brave person, to becoming evil, ambitious, and treacherous, to his final feelings of remorse for his crime. Throughout the play, Shakespeare effectively conveys theme of death, murder and treason through the symbol of blood. The reader understands the meaning Shakespeare is trying to convey. The symbol of blood in Macbeth is an effective symbol that is used well.

The Fat Lady Essay -- Character Analysis, Dr. Yalom, Betty

The Fat Lady Book Report In the third story of Loves Executioner: â€Å"The Fat lady† , Dr.Yalom decides to treat a twenty-seven year old overweight woman named, Betty. Though Dr. Yalom was reluctant to treat Betty at first due to her being obese, Dr. Yalom decides to put aside his counter-transference issues and views treating Betty as a way to improve his skills as a therapist. Not only does Dr.Yalom learn throughout treating Betty that there was more substance to her than he had initially anticipated, but he connects with betty while overcoming his counter-transference issues,helping Betty uncover the pathology of her depression and discovering her identity. First and foremost is Dr.Yaloms first meeting and reactions toward Betty. During first initial meeting, Dr. Yalom is taken back by Betties physical appearance as Dr.Yalom goes into explicit detail for his distaste for fat woman as he states, â€Å"I always been repelled by fat women. I find them disgusting: their absurd sidewise waddle, their absence of body contour,breasts,laps,buttock,shoulders,jawlines,cheekbones, everything I like to see in a woman obscured in an avalanche of flesh.† (Yalom, 2000 p. 94) Dr. Yalom proceeds asking the the typical questions what is troubling her as Betty tells Dr.Yalom that she is depressed and her eating has been out of control. Dr. Yalom, realizing his counter transference issues may make it hard for him to relate or even treat Betty, instead he views Betty as a challenge of being able to overcome his aversion toward fat women as a way of better helping future patients. In the next few sessions Dr.Yalom finds Betties endless chatter about her life extremely unmoving. Dr.Yalom describes their talks as, â€Å"cocktail chatter† with no real substa... ...Yalom, 2000) Betty then inquires about those changes as Dr.Yalom embarrassing admits he did not feel comfortable with obese people. Betty berates Dr.Yalom telling him that he never once touched her in the whole therapy session, let alone look at her directly for the first six months. Betty also tells Dr.Yalom, Ironically, Betty tells him how she cant stand fat people either and thats why she has a distaste for groups. Dr.Yalom then gives her a hug, surprised that he is able to put his arms around the once obese two hundred and fifty pound woman. Not only in the end did Dr.Yalom learn to move past his counter-transferense issues he had with fat women, but he grew with his patient as they both took something away from therapy, Dr.Yalom being empathetic and moving past Bettys intital obese appearance, and Betty appreciating life in the now and becoming a real identity.

Of Mice and Men: Critical Analysis Essay

It has been once said that, â€Å"all literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates character in literature† this quote can be interpreted to mean that all books show us the power of feeling. It is feeling not reasoning that drives characters in it literatures. To fulfill whatever they want in the story. Feelings drive characters to succeed in every possible scenario. The validity of this interpretation can be seen as true by examining the literary elements conflict and characterization in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. See more: how to write a critical analysis outline Steinbeck, in Of Mice and Men, uses the literary element characterization to show the power of interpretation. George and Lenny as well as all the other farm hands dealing with the depression of the early 1900’s are forced to labor intensively for room, board and meager earnings. In order to survive during this difficult time. The reader recognizes George’s sacrifice of his own emotional state by enduring guilt and loneliness. In the story curley lashes out in feeling because he is small and he picks fights with everyone that’s why he hits lenny he has no specific reason.lenny also has emotion like back in weed when he wanted to feel the girls dress and his strong feeling got the best of him and ripped the girls dress in half. All of the characters in Of Mice and Men are different but they all portray strong emotions to fulfill their desires. Steinbeck uses other literary elements to demonstrate the interpretations validity. Steinbeck also uses conflict to validate the interpretation. Lenny accidently kills curlys wife out of his emotional desire to feel soft things that leads to their dream falling out of reach Man vs. Man conflict. George’s dreams of owning his own farm is to unrealistic with lenny and there job landscape Man vs society man vs man. George killing lenny is strictly out of emotion because he did what was best for lenny Man vs. Self. The characters internal and external conflicts are based off emotions and they put each other in different emotions. Remarque in All Quiet on the Western Front uses the same literary element validate the interpretation, Remarque uses characterization to explain the interpretation Corporal himmelstoss is noncommissioned training officer who was a power hungry man to fulfill his need to be in some type of authority. Paul trying to do his duty in the field the enemy soldier jumps in his ditch and Paul’s reaction was to stab him out of emotion. Kemmerich dyeing was a sign of his will to live because he was crying cause he wanted to live so badly. The characterization was really positive and showed their true colors. Remarque also uses the literary element conflict further analyze the interpretation The lost generation was fighting a war they think is wrong for world man vs. society. Fighting purely out of emotion and no reason because they dislike the war man vs. self. Paul telling kemmenrichs mom that kemmerich had a quick and painless death, which was not the case man vs. self. All the conflicts are to meet the goods to survive they need to get food and energy All book do show us the power of feelings not reasoning that drives characters in literatures. To fulfill whatever they want in the story. Feelings drive characters to succeed. Characterization and conflict show validity to the interpretation and provide reasoning for it. They to success are up to the individual.

Global Society Essay

The world we are in today has seen the end of bipolarity that has been brought about by wars that divided. Every day we see the world grow smaller and people are brought together by common issues and concerns. States become interdependent and connected through globalization. Global actors include along with the state, non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations. These global actors have diverse and divergent, often conflicting, interests that must be met. States, such as the developing countries, need a level playing field in the global arena. The non-governmental organizations are people oriented, and often seeking to improve their quality of life. Multinational businesses are profit and expansion driven. Multinational corporations play a big role in economic globalization. They fuel economies by the investment they bring in that create jobs and allow the exchange of technology through skills and knowledge. MNCs are also seen as having insatiable greed for wealth, which create and dictate markets, displace small enterprises and dislocate people. Corporate Social Responsibility is when business interests are met along with the other interests of society as a whole. CSR has four integral parts, which are: (1) profit generation, (2) observing human rights, payment of taxes, cooperation with the government, promoting health and safety, and supporting workers, (3) doing the right, fair and just thing, and (4) sharing resources and profits to improve lives especially in the areas of education, health and the arts. The UN Global Compact attempts to develop Corporate Social Responsibility globally. The Global Compact provides the mechanism that covers all directions of the social spectrum such as horizontal and vertical, formal and informal, state and non-state. The approach is from all dimensions, diverse, multi-level and a network structure. UN agencies like UNDP, UNHCR and UNESCO partner with many philanthropic foundations in many CSR activities showing that MNCs can both be profit-motivated and socially-responsible. References Fritsch, Stefan. (January 2008). The UN Global Compact and the Global Governance of Corporate Social Responsibility: Complex Multilateralism for a more Human Globalization. Global Society, Vol. 22, No. 1.

Leading Strategies Change at Davita

Project: Leading Strategies change at DaVita: The Integration of the Gambro Acquisition Course: MGT 215 Submitted: 7thDecember, 2011 Acknowledgement †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 8 Synopsis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9-20 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 23 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 24 Acknowledgement I would like to thank God fo r the strength he gave me to do this course. It was a challenge but through it all he brought me to the end of twelve weeks of studies.I would like to thank Mr. Veron Johnson for the patience and time he took to impart his knowledge to me. Thanks to everyone who assisted in any way. Introduction DaVita Inc. , a FORTUNE 500 company, is  a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. DaVita strives to improve patients’ quality of life innovating clinical care, and by offering integrated treatment plans, personalized care teams and convenient health-management services.As of  September 30, 2011, DaVita operated or provided administrative services at 1,777 dialysis facilities, serving approximately 138,000 patients. DaVita supports numerous programs dedicated to creating positive, sustainable change in communities around the world. DaVita Medical Mission Statement: †Å"To be the Provider, Partner and Employer of Choice We are becoming the greatest dialysis company the world has ever seen through our commitment DaVita Medical Mission Statement: â€Å"To be the Provider, Partner and Employer of Choice We are becoming the greatest dialysis company the world has ever seen through ur commitment to upholding our Mission and Values every day, in everything we our Mission and Values every day, in DaVita Medical Mission Statement: â€Å"To be the Provider, Partner and Employer of Choice We are becoming the greatest dialysis company the world has ever seen through our commitment to upholding our Mission and Values every day, in everything we wed† Synopsis Total Renal Care (TRC) a company founded by Victor Chatiel in 1994, offered renal services. One of his strategies was to apply strict business principles and reap rewards upon entering the traditionally non-profit domain of Kidney Dialysis centers.He focused on growth through acquisition through the 1990’s. Unfortunately, chatiel and his team failed to integrate their acquisition leading to some operational incoherence. Firstly, there was no uniformity to a critical patient data form used to record and monitor patient care during dialysis. Secondly, there was little standardization in reporting work methods across centers, this absence made routine management activities, such as transferring personnel and patient across, much more difficult if not impossible.Thirdly, cash flow issues created serious problems like operational weakness in insurance reimbursements – a critical problem for a company whose revenue was entirely dependent on it. Insurers and government would frequently question charges and demand additional documentation. They would occasionally unilaterally reduce the reimbursement amount and delay payment until they received answers to queries and requested documentation.Finally, senior’s executives paid very little attention to the dialysis centers themselves, which were seen more as an avenue of corporate growth where patient and caregivers were economic units in a bigger financial structure. This headquarters- centric, financially oriented operating culture did not win friends among the health care practioners who worked hard in the field to deliver quality care. In 1999 Total Renal Care (TRC) ran into severe financial difficulties. The board of directors turned to Kent Thiry, who worked at another dialysis center in 1997.Kent Thiry is a Harvard MBA graduate and an ex-brain consultant. Before accepting the job offer he reached out to a set of people who had been with him in his previous dialysis venture, people whom he trusted, liked and respected. He recruited Harlan clever, to be the chief technology officer, David Barry to be COO (chief operating officer) and Doug Vlchek to lead the organizational change and culture building efforts. When he came to lead the company October of 1999, the organization was in a mess . It had financial operational regulatory and moral difficulties. They were technically bankrupt, and being investigated by SEC, they were sued by shareholders, had turnovers at twice our current level, was almost out of cash and in general, wasn’t the happiest of place. †(Thiry) Thiry and his colleagues begin assessing the talent in the company, moving people who could not perform and hiring people who could â€Å"get stuff done† (GSD remained a popular acronym in the company; being considered â€Å"good at GSD† was the highest compliment a teammate could receive) persons were sent to the billing office, to work on collections and to fix the cash flow problem.In May 2000 more than 400 clinic managers, plus people from corporate headquarters assembled in Phoenix Arizona, for the first of what has become an annual ,corporate-wide meeting. At this first meeting suggestions for a new name for the company were presented. The company’s teammates, the boa rd of directors and senior management collectively voted to chose the new name â€Å"DaVita† which in Italian phrase which means â€Å"to give life or he/she gives life. † At this meeting groups discussed, debated and voted on proposal for the core values and a mission statement was presented.A few persons were sent to Tacoma’s billing office to work on billing and collections and to fix cash flow problems. The situation became severe when the government stopped paying DaVita for laboratory tests because of records and document issues. The company had to decide what to do with the patients whose lab tests were not being reimbursed, however the company decided to continue performing tests that it felt were essential in delivery of care and to appeal the decision to an administrative law judge to attempt to obtain the denied funds. Four (4) years later after winning successive judgments, the government paid them over $90 million.The issue of outstanding debt was d ealt with under much constraint. The banks wanted the company to sell parts of the business to honor debts. The management group did not buckle, and after long and difficult discussions, the loans were restructured and financial penalties for default were discontinued. Eventually the company sold the dialysis centers that were outside the United States to direct it focused in a geographically area. In the area of technology, the chief information officer introduced an automated patient registration and to incorporate all the clinical records and activities, an electric file cabinet was also created.It was the first step to standardize the paper-based system used to keep track of patient care in the various centers. Continuous improvement and teammate education was critical at this point, so a change process was initiated using continuous quality improvement (CQI). Each center manager attended these training sessions and was expected to train their own staff at the various centers in quality improvement techniques. They were on the road to a new philosophy where patients care was delivered and where most DaVita teammates work were important to the company’s success.To emphasize the importance of the centers, Thiry and his senior manager â€Å"adopt† a center and drop by occasionally. They later replaced the adopt-a-center program with the practice of having everyone hired in or promoted to the vice president level or above go through â€Å"Reality 101†, which entailed spending a week in a center helping to do the day-to- day-work. DaVita’s strategy was characterized by their attention to detail; they took painstaking attention to operational details and compliance with government regulations.Also managing financial outcomes rested largely on small but important behaviors and decisions. One such activity was carefully using supplies to avoid waste and maintaining appropriate stock levels so that inventory costs were unnecessarily high , yet avoiding emergency ordering. Another was achieving good clinical outcomes, it was important to take care while putting the patient on the machine, monitoring the treatment as it was occurring and taking the patient off the machine at the end of the session.The final strategy which was used was employees attraction and retention, this was important because turnovers was costly, entailing finding replacement people and possibly paying overtime labor rate if a center was temporarily short- staff. There strategy can be characterized in organization development and change as leading and managing change where after they diagnosed the causes of the problem, management took a leading role in implementing the change. They created a vision, develop a political support, manage the transition and sustained the momentum. With the increased focus and attention to perational detail, the commitment of the company’s teammates and the bank negotiation behind it, DaVita embarked on a rema rkable transformation in its performance. Achieving great financial result and was consistent over the years in improvements in clinical outcomes and reduction in turnover. The organizational culture at DaVita was a result of what Thiry call â€Å"purposeful action† that â€Å"articulated and demonstrated† what a company could be. His approach took the form of a clear concise mission- that was quickly turned into a song. He then got his colleagues to come to consensus on core values, he also use benchmark questions.Employees became teammates and if they â€Å"cross the bridge† of believing the company could be special, they become â€Å"citizen of the village† (not the company) with Thiry as â€Å"mayor. †A general synergy of teammates and executives brought the organizational change concept to life. A closer look at DaVita’s culture and leadership showed that the management team’s focus had been on creating a strong and positive valu e-based organization where levels of the organization had an emotional commitment to its success. The foundation was Mission and Values, created at the first meeting in 2000 and now widely practiced throughout the company.To the management team, the company’s rebirth strategy was based on the belief that they had to create something larger than themselves in order to be successful. DaVita offered a comprehensive benefit and pay package that was somewhat unusual for a company that had a reasonably large number of relatively low-paid, hourly employees. Pay was pegged against competitive benchmarks. There was a broad- based profit-sharing program that covered virtually all team members, based on the idea of sharing the village’s good times and success with all citizens.There were also benefits that provided people an opportunity to invest in professional and personal growth. Health and welfare benefits included a comprehensive package of medical, dental and vision benefit s, extended illness leave, both short-term and long-term disability insurance, life insurance and flexible spending account to set aside pre-tax dollars for health or childcare expenses, and an employee assistance program Another incentive offered by DaVita to encourage the teammates to be fully involved in their work and to be present in the company, not just physically but also emotionally was â€Å"we are here awards. This was a $1000 in vacation expenses given to a randomly selected non-exempt teammate who had perfect attendance during a 90 – day period. There was also the â€Å"shining star award,† for people who not only perform their job with exceptional proficiency but who also exemplified the DaVita’s values and who contributed to the well-being of the team. DaVita have many training program within the organization to assist teammates in their development.DaVita University started within a year of Thiry arrival in the company and offers program in cont inuous quality improvement (a two day program required for newly hired facility administrators, managers and vice presidents that had not taken the class previously) presentation skills, leadership development, team skills and programs for vice presidents. There are also numerous courses on clinical subjects. Two of the most important programs that reach the people directly or indirectly were the DaVita Academy (more recently called Academy 11) and a program called F.A. S. T (Facility Training Administrator Survival Training) Academy11 was a newer program attended by all teammates from a specific region, designed to â€Å"take facility performance to the next level by fostering mutual accountability amongst the team. † By emphasizing how to hold difficult and honest conversations among the teams to resolve interpersonal issues, the course fostered better and more productive interaction. It also contained numerous team building activities and joint planning for operational imp rovement at the facilities. F. A. S.T (Facility Training Administrator Survival Training) is a five day program taken by all new clinic managers. The program consist of training in managerial skills such as time management, communication, providing coaching and feedback to team members, and interviewing, as well as material on DaVita culture ( DaVita Way and One for All). The company integrated programs to give back to the community; they introduced a program â€Å"one for all, all for one. † This program the DaVita village Network is where teammates make contributions and the company matched this with its profit.These funds were used to assist persons in the communities where centers are located who use their services and have difficulties in meeting their financial obligations. In 2005, Thiry and his senior executive team met to discuss the next step the company should take to continue its organizational development and strategies evolution. Their special focused was how to manage several looming challenges because they were just in the process of completing a $3. 1 billion purchase of Gambro, a large competitor. The acquisition would nearly double its size from 700 to more than 1200 dialysis centers and from 13, 000 to 25,000 people.As such it would cement its position as the second largest Kidney Dialysis centers in the United States. Their task immediately entailed integrating Gambro into the DaVita’s way of managing and its culture. Gambro was significantly more hierarchical and formal than DaVita, and did not have a strong people- oriented culture. Gambro had purchased Vivara in 1997 , a small publicly traded dialysis company led and transformed by Thiry during the 1990’s, now as leader of the combined organization, his goal is to be respectful of Gambro, its people and its capabilities, while maintaining DaVita’s unique culture and way of management.Gambro is a global medical technology company and a leader in developing, ma nufacturing and supplying products and therapies for Kidney and Liver dialysis, Myeloma Kidney Therapy, and other extracorporeal therapies for Chronic and Acute patients. Kidney (renal) dialysis was the world’s first extracorporeal therapy (i. e. a therapy that treats organ failure outside the body). Dialysis saves the lives of a growing number of patients every year, and innovation in the field is essential.The only current alternative to renal dialysis – kidney transplantation – is not an available option for most patients, due to a shortage of donor organs. Dialysis technology is now being developed for new applications such as liver dialysis and an emerging field of other extracorporeal therapies, to remove different fluids and toxins from chronically and acutely ill patients. For decades, Gambro has been first to market many groundbreaking innovations. By designing and delivering solutions to dialysis clinics and intensive care units, they offer not just im proved treatment quality, but also improved efficiency.Gambro was founded in 1964, and had 8 000 employees, production facilities in 9 countries, and sales in more than 100 countries. Their purpose and culture unified as a company and remind us as individuals of how we can make a difference for patients and their families. Customer focus  was always strived to exceed customer expectations and they keep patient safety and quality as a key priority. They hold themselves accountable to their customers, team members and partners by delivering on their commitments. People are the biggest asset of the company and teamwork is important for success.They conducted business in an ethical manner with courage to do the right thing and continuously seek ways to improve their business. The Gambro Healthcare acquisition is the largest acquisition we have made to date. There is a risk that, due to the size of the acquisition, we will be unable to integrate Gambro Healthcare into our operations as effectively as we have with prior acquisitions, which would result in fewer benefits to us from the acquisition than currently anticipated as well as increased costs.The integration of the Gambro Healthcare operations will require implementation of appropriate operations, management and financial reporting systems and controls as well as integration of the clinical policies and procedures of both companies, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our revenues and operating results. In addition, it requires the focused attention of our management team, including a significant commitment of their time and resources. The need for management to focus on integration matters could have a material and adverse impact on our revenues and operating results.I would advice Thiry to design a team to lead in managing the integration. This team should include the (COO) the chief operational officer, the chief technology officer and the structure design manager. I would share the effe ctive change management program with him, which include four phases. The first is to motivating change this includes creating the readiness for change among organization members and helping to address the resistance to change. The second would be creating a vision in providing a purpose and reason for change and describe the desired state.The third would be developing a political support for change where there can be powerful individuals and groups that can either block or promote change, they you need to gain their support. The fourth would be managing the transition from the current state to the desired future state and finally you should sustain the momentum for change so that it will be carried to completion. The team should relate to individuals, interpersonal relations and group dynamics. The individual approach should be aimed at coaching and training.Coaching attempts to improve one’s ability to set and meet goals and improve interpersonal relations. Training and deve lopment aimed at transferring knowledge and skills to individuals. Interpersonal and group process approach includes process consultation, third party intervention and team building. Process consultation help group members understand, diagnose and improve behavior, the third party intervention focus directly on dysfunctional interpersonal conflict and team building is aimed at doth helping teams perform its tasks better and at satisfying ndividual needs. The first 100 days action plan should include recommendation for the organizational structure the organization should implement. The new structure and action plan need to be communicated to the organization. The design team will conduct its initial activities in a relatively easy manner and follow it by implementing a monitoring, correcting and evaluation process. As the plan is implemented new information, changes in the environment and other issues will arise that required adaptation and adjustment.The team is charged with the mon itoring implementation by collecting implementation feedback to find out if the plan is working. The data collected would be analyzed and if they are feasible would be implemented. To preserve the DaVita’s culture I would suggest training in the various program areas such of team building, communication skills and clinical areas. DaVita has Academy11 for all teammates to improve team building amongst workers. It hast F. A. S.T a program for 5 days in the various management skills and also DaVita University for quality improvement for newly hired managers DaVita’s culture and leadership showed that the management team’s focus had been on creating a strong and positive value-based organization where levels of the organization had an emotional commitment to its success. Their mission â€Å"to be the provider, partner and employer of choice† had made an impact on the organization and the core value had kept them in second place in the dialysis industry.Their financial position has been exceptional over the years Mission Statement Kent Thiry Conclusion I have learned a lot about Kidney Dialysis and the time and patience that caregivers give to save a life on a daily basis. DaVita’s team led by Kent Thiry made the organization a village community rather than a company and in doing so working became a part of their life style. I realized that an organization with a strong culture can be a leading company. Bibliography Organizational Development and change 8th Edition by Cummings & Worley The internet

Christopher Marlowe Essay

Christopher Marlowe Introduction: Drama presents fiction or fact in a form that could be acted before an audience. It is imitation by action and speech. A play has a plot, characters, atmosphere and conflict. Unlike a novel, which in read in private, a play is intended to be performed in public. Christopher Marlowe was a greatest of pre Shakespearian dramatists, poet and translator. Marlowe’s plays are known for the use of blank verse, He was known as the Father of English Tragedy Origin and development of British Drama: The Romans introduced drama to England, during the medieval period. A number of auditoriums were constructed for the performance of the art form, when it came to the country. Mummers’ plays, associated with the Morris dance, became a popular form of street theatre during the period. The performances were based on the old stories of Saint George, Robin Hood and Dragon. The artists moved from town to town, to perform these folk tales. They were given money and hospitality, in return for their performance. The mystery and morality plays, performed during medieval period – at religious festivals, carried the Christian theme. The English Renaissance, a cultural and artistic movement in England country that lasted from 16th to early-17th century, paved the way for the dominance of drama in the country. Queen Elizabeth I ruled during the period, when great poetry and drama were produced. The renowned playwrights of this time included William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, B en Jonson and John Webster. The dramatists wrote plays based on themes like history, comedy and tragedy. While most of the playwrights specialized in only one of the themes, Shakespeare emerged as an artist who produced plays based on all the three themes. Pre Shakespearian Drama: The University Wits, nearly all of whom were associated with Oxford and Cambridge, did much to found the Elizabethan school of drama. They were all more or less aquainted with each other, and most of them led irregular and stormy lives. Their plays had several features in common. There was a fondness of heroic themes, such as the lives of great figures like Mohammed and Tamburlaine.Heroic themes needed heroic treatment: great fullness and variety; splendid descriptions, long swelling speeches, the handling of violent incidents and emotions. These qualities, excellent when held in restraint, only too often led to loudness and disorder. The style also was ‘heroic’. The chief aim was to achieve strong and sounding lines, magnificient epithets, and powerful declamation. This again led to abuse and to mere bombast, mouthing, and in the worst cases to nonsense. In the best examples, such as in Marlowe, the result is quite impressive. In this connection it is to be noted that the best medium for such expression was blank verse, which was sufficiently elastic to bear the strong pressure of these expansive methods. The themes were usually tragic in nature, for the dramatists were as a rule too much in earnest to give heed to what was considered to be the lower species of comedy. The general lack of real humour in the early drama is one of its most prominent features. Humour, when it is brought in at all, is coarse and immature. Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593): Marlowe’s Early Life: Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist, the father of English tragedy, and instaurator of dramatic blank verse, the eldest son of a shoemaker at Canterbury, was born in that city on the 6th of February 1564. He was christened at St George’s Church, Canterbury, on the 26th of February, 1563/4, some two months before Shakespeare’s baptism at Stratford-on-Avon. His father, John Marlowe, is said to have been the grandson of John Morley or Marlowe, a substantial tanner of Canterbury. The father, who survived by a dozen years or so his illustrious son, married on the 22nd of May 1561 Catherine, daughter of Christopher Arthur, at one time rector of St Peter’s, Canterbury, who had been ejected by Queen Mary as a married minister. The dramatist received the rudiments of his education at the King’s School, Canterbury, which he entered at Michaelmas 1578, and where he had as his fellow-pupils Richard Boyle, afterwards known as the great Earl of Cork, and Will Lyly, t he brother of [John Lyly] the dramatist. Stephen Gosson entered the same school a little before, and William Harvey, the famous physician, a little after Marlowe. He went to Cambridge as one of Archbishop Parker’s scholars from the King’s School, and matriculated at Benet (Corpus Christi) College, on the 17th of March 1571, taking his B.A. degree in 1584, and that of M.A. three or four years later. Marlowe’s Contribution to British Drama: In a playwriting career that spanned little more than six years, Marlowe’s achievements were diverse and splendid. Perhaps before leaving Cambridge he had already written Tamburlaine the Great (in two parts, both performed by the end of 1587; published 1590). Almost certainly during his later Cambridge years, Marlowe had translated Ovid’s Amores (The Loves) and the first book of Lucan’s Pharsalia from the Latin. About this time he also wrote the play Dido, Queen of Carthage (published in 1594 as the joint work of Marlowe and Thomas Nashe). With the production of Tamburlaine he received recognition and acclaim, and playwriting became his major concern in the few years that lay ahead. Both parts of Tamburlaine were published anonymously in 1590, and the publisher omitted certain passages that he found incongruous with the play’s serious concern with history; even so, the extant Tamburlaine text can be regarded as substantially Marlowe’s. No other of his plays or poems or translations was published during his life. His unfinished but splendid poem Hero and Leander—which is almost certainly the finest nondramatic Elizabethan poem apart from those produced by Edmund Spenser—appeared in 1598. There is argument among scholars concerning the order in which the plays subsequent to Tamburlaine were written. It is not uncommonly held that Faustus quickly followed Tamburlaine and that then Marlowe turned to a more neutral, more â€Å"social† kind of writing in Edward II and The Massacre at Paris. His last play may have been The Jew of Malta, in which he signally broke new ground. It is known that Tamburlaine, Faustus, and The Jew of Malta were performed by the Admiral’s Men, a company whose outstanding actor was Edward Alleyn, who most certainly played Tamburlaine, Faustus, and Barabas the Jew. Plays of Christopher Marlowe: Marlowe’s plays, all tragedies, were written within five years (1587-92). He had no bent for comedy, and the comic parts found in some of his plays are always inferior and may be by other writers. As a dramatist Marlowe had serious limitations, though it is possible to trace a growing sense of the theatre through his plays. Dido, Queen of Carthage (1586): Dido, Queen of Carthage is a short play written by the English playwright Christopher Marlowe, with possible contributions by Thomas Nashe. The story of the play focuses on the classical figure of Dido, the Queen of Carthage. It tells an intense dramatic tale of Dido and her fanatical love for Aeneas (induced by Cupid), Aeneas’ betrayal of her and her eventual suicide on his departure for Italy. Jupiter is fondling Ganymede, who says that Jupiter’s wife Juno has been mistreating him because of her jealousy. Venus enters, and complains that Jupiter is neglecting her son Aeneas, who has left Troy with survivors of the defeated city. He was on his way to Italy, but is now lost in a storm. Jupiter tells her not to worry; he will quiet the storm. Venus travels to Libya, where she disguises herself as a mortal and meets Aeneas, who has arrived, lost, on the coast. He and a few followers have become separated from their comrades. He recognises her, but she denies her identity. She helps him meet up with Illioneus, Sergestus and Cloanthes, other surv iving Trojans who have already received generous hospitality from the local ruler Dido, Queen of Carthage. Dido meets Aeneas and promises to supply his ships. She asks him to give her the true story of the fall of Troy, which he does in detail, describing the death of Priam, the loss of his own wife and his escape with his son Ascanius and other survivors. Dido’s suitor, Iarbas, presses her to agree to marry him. She seems to favour him, but Venus has other plans. She disguises Cupid as Aeneas’s son Ascanius, so that he can get close to Dido and touch her with his arrow. He does so; Dido immediately falls in love with Aeneas and rejects Iarbas out of hand, to his horror and confusion. Dido’s sister Anna, who is in love with Iarbas, encourages Dido to pursue Aeneas. She and Aeneas meet at a cave, where Dido declares her love. They enter the cave to make love. Iarbas swears he will get revenge. Venus and Juno appear, arguing over Aeneas. Venus believes that Juno wants to harm her son, but Juno denies it, saying she has important plans for him. Aeneas’s followers say they must leave Libya, to fulfil their destiny in Italy. Aeneas seems to agree, and prepares to depart. Dido sends Anna to find out what is happening. She brings Aeneas back, who denies he intended to leave. Dido forgives him, but as a precaution r emoves all the sails and tackle from his ships. She also places Ascanius in the custody of the Nurse, believing that Aeneas will not leave without him. However, â€Å"Ascanius† is really the disguised Cupid. Dido says that Aeneas will be king of Carthage and anyone who objects will be executed. Aeneas agrees and plans to build a new city to rival Troy and strike back at the Greeks. Mercury appears with the real Ascanius and informs Aeneas that his destiny is in Italy and that he must leave on the orders of Jupiter. Aeneas reluctantly accepts the divine command. Iarbas sees the opportunity to be rid of his rival and agrees to supply Aeneas with the missing tackle. Aeneas tells Dido he must leave. She pleads with him to ignore Jupiter’s command, but he refuses to do so. He departs, leaving Dido in despair. The Nurse says that â€Å"Ascanius† has disappeared. Dido orders her to be imprisoned. She tells Iarbas and Anna that she intends to make a funeral pyre on which she will burn everything that reminds her of Aeneas. After cursing Aeneas’ progeny, she throws herself into the fire. Iarbas, horrified, kills himself too. Anna, seeing Iarbas dead, kills herself. Tamburlaine the Great (1587–1588): Tamburlaine the Great is a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur â€Å"the lame†. Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in Elizabethan public drama; it marks a turning away from the clumsy language and loose plotting of the earlier Tudor dramatists, and a new interest in fresh and vivid language, memorable action, and intellectual complexity. Along with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, it may be considered the first popular success of London’s public stage. Marlowe, generally considered the greatest of the University Wits, influenced playwrights well into the Jacobean period, and echoes of Tamburlaine’s bombast and ambition can be found in English plays all the way to the Puritan closing of the theatres in 1642. While Tamburlaineis considered inferior to the great tragedies of the late-Elizabethan and early-Jacobean period, its significance in creating a stock of themes and , especially, in demonstrating the potential of blank verse in drama, are still acknowledged. Part 1 The play opens in Persepolis. The Persian emperor, Mycetes, dispatches troops to dispose of Tamburlaine, a Scythian shepherd and at that point a nomadic bandit. In the same scene, Mycetes’ brother Cosroe plots to overthrow Mycetes and assume the throne. The scene shifts to Scythia, where Tamburlaine is shown wooing, capturing, and winning Zenocrate, the daughter of the Egyptian king. Confronted by Mycetes’ soldiers, he persuades first the soldiers and then Cosroe to join him in a fight against Mycetes. Although he promises Cosroe the Persian throne, Tamburlaine reneges on this promise and, after defeating Mycetes, takes personal control of the Persian Empire. Suddenly a powerful figure, Tamburlaine decides to pursue further conquests. A campaign against Turkey yields him the Turkish king Bajazeth and his wife Zabina as captives; he keeps them in a cage and at one point uses Bajazeth as a footstool. After conquering Africa and naming himself emperor of that continent, Tamburlaine sets his eyes on Damascus; this target places the Egyptian Sultan, his father-in-law, directly in his path. Zenocrate pleads with her husband to spare her father. He complies, instead making the Sultan a tributary king. The play ends with the wedding of Zenocrate and Tamburlaine, and the crowning of the former as Empress of Persia. Part 2 Tamburlaine grooms his sons to be conquerors in his wake as he continues to conquer his neighbouring kingdoms. His oldest son, Calyphas, preferring to stay by his mother’s side and not risk death, incurs Tamburlaine’s wrath. Meanwhile, the son of Bajazeth, Callapine, escapes from Tamburlaine’s jail and gathers a group of tributary kings to his side, planning to avenge his father. Callapine and Tamburlaine meet in battle, where Tamburlaine is victorious. But finding Calyphas remained in his tent during the battle, Tamburlaine kills him in anger. Tamburlaine then forces the defeated kings to pull his chariot to his next battlefield, declaring, Upon reaching Babylon, which holds out against him, Tamburlaine displays further acts of extravagant savagery. When the Governor of the city attempts to save his life in return for revealing the city treasury, Tamburlaine has him hung from the city walls and orders his men to shoot him to death. He orders the inhabitants â₠¬â€ men, women, and children — bound and thrown into a nearby lake. Lastly, Tamburlaine scornfully burns a copy of the Qur’an and claims to be greater than God. In the final act, he is struck ill but manages to defeat one more foe before he dies. He bids his remaining sons to conquer the remainder of the earth as he departs life. The play is often linked to Renaissance humanism which idealises the potential of human beings. Tamburlaine’s aspiration to immense power raises profound religious questions as he arrogates for himself a role as the â€Å"scourge of God† (an epithet originally applied to Attila the Hun). Some readers have linked this stance with the fact that Marlowe was accused of atheism. Others have been more concerned with a supposed anti-Muslim thread of the play, highlighted in a scene in which the main character burns the Qur’an. Jeff Dailey notes in his article â€Å"Christian Underscoring in Tamburlaine the Great, Part II† that Marlowe’s work is a direct successor to the traditional medieval morality plays,[3]and that, whether or not he is an atheist, he has inherited religious elements of content and allegorical methods of presentation. The Jew of Malta (1589): The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, probably written in 1589 or 1590. Its plot is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the island of Malta. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The play opens with a Prologue narrated by Machevill, a caricature of the author Machiavelli. This character explains that he is presenting the â€Å"tragedy of a Jew† who has become rich by following Machiavelli’s teachings. Act I opens with a Jewish merchant, called Barabas, waiting for news about the return of his ships from the east. He discovers that they have safely docked in Malta, before three Jews arrive to inform him that they must go to the senate-house to meet the governor. Once there, Barabas discovers that along with every other Jew on the island he must forfeit half of his estate to help the government pay tribute to the Turks. When the Barabas protests at this unfair treatment, the governor Ferneze confiscates all of Barabas’s wealth and decides to turn Barabas’s house into a convent. Barabas vows revenge but first attempts to recover some of the treasures he has hidden in his mansion. His daughter, Abigail, pretends to convert to Christianity in order to enter the convent. She smuggles out her father’s gold at night. Ferneze meets with Del Bosco, the Spanish Vice-Admiral, who wishes to sell Turkish slaves in the market place. Del Bosco convinces Ferneze to break his alliance with the Turks in return for Spanish protection. While viewing the slaves, Barabas meets up with Ferneze’s, Lodowick. This man has heard of Abigail’s great beauty from his friend (and Abigail’s lover) Mathias. Barabas realizes that he can use Lodowick to exact revenge on Ferneze, and so he dupes the young man into thinking Abigail will marry him. While doing this, the merchant buys a slave called Ithamore who hates Christians as much as his new master does. Mathias sees Barabas talking to Lodowick and demands to know whether they are discussing Abigail. Barabas lies to Mathias, and so Barabas deludes both young men into thinking that Abigail has been promised to them. At home, Barabas orders his reluctant daughter to get betrothed to Lodowick. At the end of the second Act, the two young men vow revenge on each other for attempting to woo Abigail behind one another’s backs. Barabas seizes on this opportunity and gets Ithamore to deliver a forged letter to Mathias, supposedly from Lodowick, challenging him to a duel. Act II I introduces the prostitute Bellamira and her pimp Pilia-Borza, who decide that they will steal some of Barabas’s gold since business has been slack. Ithamore enters and instantly falls in love with Bellamira. Mathias and Lodowick kill each other in the duel orchestrated by Barabas and are found by Ferneze and Katherine, Mathias’s mother. The bereaved parents vow revenge on the perpetrator of their sons’ murders. Abigail finds Ithamore laughing, and Ithamore tells her of Barabas’s role in the young men’s deaths. Grief-stricken, Abigail persuades a Dominican friar Jacomo to let her enter the convent, even though she lied once before about converting. When Barabas finds out what Abigail has done, he is enraged, and he decides to poison some rice and send it to the nuns. He instructs Ithamore to deliver the food. In the next scene, Ferneze meets a Turkish emissary, and Ferneze explains that he will not pay the required tribute. The Turk leaves, stating that his leader Calymath will attack the island. Jacomo and another friar Bernardine despair at the deaths of all the nuns, who have been poisoned by Barabas. Abigail enters, close to death, and confesses her fatherà ¢â‚¬â„¢s role in Mathias’s and Lodowick’s deaths to Jacomo. She knows that the priest cannot make this knowledge public because it was revealed to him in confession. Act IV shows Barabas and Ithamore delighting in the nuns’ deaths. Bernardine and Jacomo enter with the intention of confronting Barabas. Barabas realizes that Abigail has confessed his crimes to Jacomo. In order to distract the two priests from their task, Barabas pretends that he wants to convert to Christianity and give all his money to whichever monastery he joins. Jacomo and Bernardine start fighting in order to get the Jew to join their own religious houses. Barabas hatches a plan and tricks Bernardine into coming home with him. Ithamore then strangles Bernardine, and Barabas frames Jacomo for the crime. The action switches to Bellamira and her pimp, who find Ithamore and persuade him to bribe Barabas. The slave confesses his master’s crimes to Bellamira, who decides to report them to the governor after Barabas has given her his money. Barabas is maddened by the slave’s treachery and turns up at Bellamira’s home disguised as a French lute player. Barabas then poisons all three conspirators with the use of a poisoned flower. The action moves quickly in the final act. Bellamira and Pilia-Borza confess Barabas’s crimes to Ferneze, and the murderer is sent for along with Ithamore. Shortly after, Bellamira, Pilia-Borza and Ithamore die. Barabas fakes h is own death and escapes to find Calymath. Barabas tells the Turkish leader how best to storm the town. Following this event and the capture of Malta by the Turkish forces, Barabas is made governor, and Calymath prepares to leave. However, fearing for his own life and the security of his office, Barabas sends for Ferneze. Barabas tells him that he will free Malta from Turkish rule and kill Calymath in exchange for a large amount of money. Ferneze agrees and Barabas invites Calymath to a feast at his home. However, when Calymath arrives, Ferneze prevents Barabas from killing him. Ferneze and Calymath watch as Barabas dies in a cauldron that Barabas had prepared for Calymath. Ferneze tells the Turkish leader that he will be a prisoner in Malta until the Ottoman Emperor agrees to free the island. Doctor Faustus (1589-1593): Marlowe’s â€Å"The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus† stands as one of the most influential and frequently-referenced pieces of literature in history. The play is the story of Dr. Faustus, a man who considers study in the fields of logic, medicine, law, and divinity and instead chooses to forsake them all to practice black magic. He enters into a deal with Mephastophilis, a servant of the devil, in which Faustus gains the services of the demon but has to give up his soul after 24 years. The play deals with several important themes. The corrupting influence of power, sin and redemption, and the divided nature of man are interwoven throughout the piece. Absolute power corrupts Faustus thoroughly. In the beginning we are introduced to a man at the top of his game. He’s mastered several important disciplines and is seeking a further, more rewarding, challenge so he turns to black magic. Faustus dreams of the many amazing things he’ll accomplish with his new powers. He muses on sending spirits to India to fetch him gold, ponders having them â€Å"Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,† and contemplates how he will use his spirits to gain knowledge of â€Å"the secrets of all foreign kings.† His ambitions even extend to the throne of Germany. When finally granted the power he so desires, Faustus proceeds to do very little with it. He starts out auspiciously enough with an adventure in a chariot pulled by dragons so that he may unlock the mysteries of astronomy. Faustus seeks to test the accuracy of maps of the coasts and kingdoms of the world as well and eventually ends up in Rome. Soon after, however , he basically lets his amazing power go to waste. He spends his time impressing various noblemen, playing petty tricks on people, and conjuring up specters of Alexander the Great and Helen of Troy. The underlying statement Marlowe is making is one of the basic tenets of modern psychology. People simply don’t appreciate things they didn’t have to work to gain. In the beginning, Faustus is a great man, full of ambition and at the top of his field. While he ‘earns’ his new-found power in a sense by forfeiting his soul, he has done no actual work to acquire it. Throughout the course of the play we see the formerly-ambitious Faustus reduced to a petty conjurer and celebrity because of the corrupting influence of his power. Instead of choosing to act on his lofty ambitions or, heaven forbid, use his power for unselfish reasons; he simply wastes his days amusing himself with practical jokes and beautiful women. Marlowe also comments on the nature of sin and redemption. Faustus essentially commits the ultimate sin by signing a pact with the devil. He chooses of his own free will to give up his eternal soul in exchange for an earthly reward. According to Christian mythology, one can be forgiven of any sin, one has only to repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Despite the severity of his sin, Faustus is given several opportunities to repent his sin and be saved, and is encouraged to do so both by the good angel who appears several times and by the old man in scene 12. Each time he chooses to remain loyal to Hell. He seems to consider repenting at the very end, but Mephastophilis threatens to tear his body apart, so he chooses instead to send Mephastophilis to torture the old man whose words he finds himself unable to heed. Even though an easy answer to the problem of losing his soul exists, and he is several times reminded of it, in the end his own weakness prevents him from making the choice to repent and damns him for all eternity. The divided nature of man is literally personified in the play by the good and evil angels that appear to Faustus periodically. These characters represent opposing sides of Faustus’ own psyche, as well as representing emissaries of heaven and hell. Faustus is continually undecided whether he should continue his bargain or repent and seek salvation. He is clearly afraid for his eternal soul but is unable to relinquish the amazing power his bargain has afforded him. Marlowe may have intended the two angels as literal beings, but it’s obvious he also intended them as an allegorical representation of Faustus’ own internal struggle. Themes are an integral part of the play, but Marlowe’s work has truly stood the test of time. What is it about Doctor Faustus’ story that has made it resonant to countless generations of readers since it was written? The good doctor is a character with whom readers can sympathize. This is not to necessarily say that he is a ‘sympathetic’ character, but simply that he’s a man who faces temptation and a tough choice. Human beings face tough choices every day, and like Faustus we are forced to weigh the consequences of yielding to those temptations. Every human being faces temptation almost every day of their lives. These temptations range from the miniscule, such as being tempted to eat a slice of bread in spite of your pledge to adhere strictly to the Atkins diet, to the extreme, such as your best friend’s drunken girlfriend coming on to you. The story of Faustus rings true with readers even today because of this. It speaks to every reader because there are no people who have lived without temptation. We all have our â€Å"good angel† and â€Å"bad angel,† the voices inside our heads that spell out consequences of choices we’re faced with. In most cases, people who give into temptation are aware of the consequence s of that choice. The fact that Faustus’ temptation is a far greater one than any of us is likely to face and has far greater consequences than any of us will ever be up against just makes it even more resonant. Everyone has given in to a strong temptation at some point in their lives and it makes us feel good to see someone doing the same despite the enormous consequences that follow for Faustus. Despite the fact that Faustus has committed the ultimate sin by choosing of his own free will to give up his immortal soul for an earthly reward, the possibility of salvation exists for him until the very end. We as people want to believe that the possibility of salvation and forgiveness exists for us no matter how heinous the deeds we have committed are. Marlowe’s play speaks to this desire within us, telling us that, like Faustus, the possibility of repentance and forgiveness exists for us no matter how badly we screw up. It’s a very comforting thought, especially to those living with guilt over some past transgression. Another reason that the story in â€Å"Doctor Faustus† is as relevant today as it was when Marlowe wrote it is Faustus himself. Some may see him as a tragic hero, and it’s very possible to consider him in this light, but it’s also not much of a stretch to call him a villain. Men like Faustus exist even today, people who are willing to do whatever it tak es to get what they want regardless of the consequences to themselves or to others. Ken Lay in the recent Enron scandal comes to mind as an example of this. Mr. Lay was perfectly willing to practically destroy the lives of thousands of people by taking their hard-earned money and squandering it on yachts and other expensive trifles. He, in effect, sold his soul. Faustus’ selfish deeds remind us that people like him exist in real life. When Faustus is corrupted by his power and basically squanders it we are both angry at his inability to find a way to do good with his powers and pleased that he is getting what he deserves. Society likes it when people who commit evil deeds have it blow up in their face. We want to see justice served, whether it be Faustus’ eternity in hell or Mr. Lay’s recently-handed-down prison sentence, it feels good to know that evil people are punished. â€Å"Doctor Faustus† has truly stood the test of time as a great piece of classical literature. Countless indications of its influence exist even today, ranging from the film â€Å"The Devil’s Advocate† to the good and evil angels that appear on the shoulders in Warner Brothers cartoons. Marlowe’s use of complex themes and subtle commentary on the nature of man coupled with the underlying messages that speak to the human p syche have established â€Å"Doctor Faustus† as a pinnacle of the writer’s craft and a treatise on the human condition. Edward the Second (1592): Edward II is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays. The full title of the first publication is The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer. Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II is typically applauded as an aesthetic achievement, a history play that brings form and meaning to the incoherent material of its chronicle source by retelling the king’s slightly dull, twenty-year reign as the fierce and deadly struggle of a few willful personalities. Within the development of Elizabethan drama,Edward II is granted a crucial role in bringing to the English â€Å"chronicle play†Ã¢â‚¬â€œincluding Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays and Richard III–the unity and purpose of the mature â€Å"history† play, epitomized by Shakespeare’s later, more aesthetically sophisticated tetralogy. In this narrative of literary development, the episodic chronicle play fails to show the dispar ate events of the past contributing to a single action — fails, like the chronicle, to comprehend the past — while the history play successfully makes sense of those events. Considered in context of the Marlovian oeuvre, Edward II again demonstrates the triumph of art and order over inchoate historical material: it is Marlowe’s â€Å"most perfect achievement in dramatic structure† and the â€Å"most finished and satisfactory of Marlowe’s plays, evidently carefully written, with the refractory chronicle material skillfully handled.† These readings of Edward II, however, have relied upon too superficial an understanding of the chronicle tradition, and they have kept the play’s formal success separate from the Elizabethan debates about historiography within which both play and source participated. The social and political stakes of Marlowe’s historiographical practice emerge when we reread Edward II against a conception of the chronicle not as mere â€Å"material† but as a coherent and influential projection of national identity and historical process. Such a comparative reading shows us not merely that Marlo we’s play is more aesthetically satisfying, but also that it significantly redefines the nation and the forces of historical change. In particular, Marlowe delineates and focuses on a private realm, which he sets up in opposition to the public as a volatile source of decisions affecting the state. In addition, reading Marlowe’s play with a new understanding of the chronicle foregrounds the metadiscursive elements in Edward II that, referring back to the source accounts, help to illuminate Marlowe’s sense of his own artistic refashioning. The chronicle form, as Marlowe’s principal source and one with considerable cultural authority, challenged him to set up his drama as a more â€Å"true† history and to defend his very different understanding of both political process and history writing. The assessments of Edward II that began this article define the play against the chronicle, which is in turn characterized as â€Å"material,† an apparently amorphous grouping of value-free facts for the artist to choose or reject. For the modern reader, accustomed to finding meaning in tales of causality, the disparate events recorded by the chroniclers — events only related to each other by their shared chronological structure — seem to lack meaning and purpose. But we can no longer read these important histories so carelessly. In her recent analysis of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicle, Annabel Patterson has shown that the chronicle’s form and content actually worked to address the concerns and convey the values of the citizen and artisan Londoners who were its principal readers and producers. Maintaining that the Chronicle reveals not its authors’ â€Å"incompetence† but their â€Å"different set of historiographical principles,† Patterson argues that the Chronicle’s perplexing inclusivity — the quality that brought John Donne’s scathing dismissal of chronicle content as â€Å"triviall houshold trash†Ã¢â‚¬â€œin effect creates a national history that will encompass not just king and court but also citizens and even the artisanal and laboring classes. Patterson also traces, in passages throughout the Chronicle, the authors’ recurrent, approving attention to rights theory, to the â€Å"ancient constitution,† and to the value of Parliame nt in limiting the monarch’s power. She persuasively demonstrates that they make a strong case for certain liberties of the individual and the laws that protect them. The Massacre at Paris (1593): The Massacre at Paris is an Elizabethan play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe. It concerns the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which took place in Paris in 1572, and the part played by the Duc de Guise in those events. The Lord Strange’s Men acted a play titled The Tragedy of the Guise, thought to be Marlowe’s play, on 26 January 1593. The Admiral’s Menperformed The Guise or The Massacre ten times between 21 June and 27 September 1594. The Diary of Philip Henslowe marks the play as â€Å"ne,† though scholars disagree as to whether this indicates a â€Å"new† play or a performance at the Newington Butts theatre. The Diary also indicates that Henslowe planned a revival of the play in 1602, possibly in a revised version.[1] A possible revision may have something to do with the surprising number of Shakespearean borrowings and paraphrases in the text.[2] The only surviving text is an undated quarto that is too short to represent the complete original play and in all probability it is a memorial reconstruction by the actors who performed the work.[3] It preserves a lot of the violence and stabbing jokes but deletes most of whatever social value the play may have had, except for one long soliloquy near the beginning. One clue to the original substance of the play is a page which survives in manuscript. It is known as the â€Å"Collier leaf,† after the Shakespearean scholar John Payne Collier, who is known to have been a notorious forger, although modern scholars think that this particular leaf is probably authentic. Despite including a speech where one of the characters mutters obscene jokes to himself before shooting someone, it supplies a much longer and more interesting version of a blank verse speech than appears in the quarto. This suggests that the more thoughtful parts of the play were precisely the ones that tended to be cut. This was his unfinished work. Christopher Marlowe – Father of English Tragedy: The first great thing done by Marlowe was to break away from the medieval conception of tragedy, as in medieval drama, tragedy was a thing of the princes only. It dealt with the rise and fall of kings or royal personalities. But it was left to Marlowe to evolve and create the real tragic hero. Almost all the heroes of Marlowe—Tamburlaine, Faustus or Jew of Malta—are of humble parentage, but they are endowed with great heroic qualities and they are really great men. His tragedy is, in fact, the tragedy of one man-the rise, fall and death of the hero. All other characters of a Marlovian drama pale into insignificance beside the towering personality and the glory and grandeur of the tragic hero. Even various incidents of the drama revolve round the hero. The spiritual or moral conflict takes place in the heart of man and this is of much greater-significance and much more poignant than the former. And a great tragedy most powerfully reveals the emotional conflict or moral a gony of the mighty hero. Like the heroes of ancient tragedy, Marlowe’s heroes are not helpless puppets in the hands of blind fate. The tragic flaw was in their character and the tragic action also issued out of their characters. This was really Marlowe’s greatest contribution to English tragedy. Marlowe’s Themes and Style: Though Marlowe did not care for the unity of plot, his characterization was powerful and he developed the element of soul struggle in plays like Dr. Faustus. His hero Faustus, dissatisfied with the poor results of human science sells his soul to the devil so that for 24 years he may satisfy every desire. Marlowe was fascinated by king Tamburlaine who rose from a shepherd to became a master of Asia. In the Jew of Malta Marlowe shows the Jew Barabas enjoying his riches. He takes revenge on his Christian enemies. At last Barabas fell into the pit he had dug for others. In Edward II the murder of king is one of the most poignant scenes in the drama of Renaissance. Each of the plays has behind it the driving force of this vision, which gives it an artistic and poetic unity. It is, indeed, as a poet that Marlowe excels. Though not the first to use blank verse in English drama, he was the first to exploit its possibilities and make it supreme. His verse is notable for its possibilities and makes it supreme. His verse is notable for its burning energy, its splendour of diction, its sensuous richness, its variety of pace, and its responsiveness to the demands of varying emotions. Full of bold primary colours, his poetry is crammed with imagery from the classics, from astronomy and from geography, an imagery barbaric in its wealth and splendour. Its resonance and power led Ben Jonson to coin the phrase â€Å"Marlowe’s mighty line. â€Å"but its might has often obscured its technical precision and its admirable lucidity and finish. Creator of English Blank verse in Drama: Black verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter. It was first introduced by the Earl of Surrey in the 16th century. Later it was used by Marlowe and Shakespeare in their famous plays. Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse, and also established it as the dominant verse form for English drama in the age of Elizabeth I and James I. Marlowe and then Shakespeare developed its potential greatly in the late 16th century. Marlowe was the first to exploit the potential of blank verse for powerful and involved speech. Marlowe was the real creator of the most versatile of English measures. Sackville, Norton and Surrey experimented with this metre more than twenty years before Marlowe. They failed because they worked on wrong principles and the results which they produced were of an intolerable tedious monotony. Marlowe’s achievement in developing blank verse can be illustrated by the study of â€Å"Doctor Faustus†. In the chorus passage for example, the verse seems more consistently regular in its beat. The less questionable judgment is, that Marlowe exercised a strong influence over later drama, though not himself as great a dramatist as Kyd; that he introduced several new tones into blank verse, and commenced the dissociative process which drew it farther and farther away from the rhythms of rhymed verse. Marlowe’s Poems: †¢Translation of Book One of Lucan’s Pharsalia †¢Translation of Ovid’s Elegies (1580) †¢The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (pre-1593) †¢Hero and Leander (1593, unfinished; completed by George Chapman, 1598) Christopher Marlowe, a poet known mostly for his plays rather than his verse, translated two major works of classical Latin poetry — Amores by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) and the first book of Lucan’s (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) Pharsalia. These are long Latin poems written in the first centuries before and after the Common Era. Though the poems were at least 1400 years old when Marlowe translated them, he put them into the Elizabethan English of his day with considerable verve and poetic vividness (and with the occasional error in translation.) Ovid’s poem is a three-book collection of â€Å"elegies† (Latin elegia,) which in Ovid’s day were the equivalent of personal lyric poetry. It concerns a stylized and sometimes humorous and cynical romance between a rich Roman man and his married, foolish lover Corinna. Much of Ovid’s poetry is formulaic, based on earlier poetic forms. These forms (such as stylized addresses to the mistress, a funeral elegy, apostrophes and the like) make up a large portion of Amores, and the narrative is secondary. Ovid, however, was able to imbue his characters with convincing realism, which Marlowe translated admirably. Hero and Leander, the only long original work of poetry of Marlowe’s to have survived (and possibly the only one he ever wrote, apart from his plays,) was written during a plague year when theatres in London were closed. Marlowe was thus unable to write for the stage, and set his pen again to classical subjects. Hero and Leander concerns the Greek mythical lovers of those names, separated by the Hellespont. It is thought that Marlowe took the story from the mythical Byzantine poet Musaeus, though the myth was known long before that time. â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd To His Love†, is a pastoral love poem, written in tetrameter. It is a justly famous piece, often quoted, and Ralegh (a contemporary poet) made a famous â€Å"Answer† to it. It is about a shepherd who longs to make a woman (or a nymph) his wife, and tries to lure her into the countryside with promises of rich gifts. This 24-line sweet-toned plea paints an idealized picture of rural life, with images of the finery the lover will make for his beloved from the fruits of the land. It is an homage to an old Greek form of poetry, and one of Marlowe’s mast erworks. The translation of Lucan’s First Book is a virtuoso piece by Marlowe, recounting the beginning of a long epic by the Roman poet Lucan. In it, Julius Caesar has returned from conquering Gaul, and debates on crossing the Rubicon and conquering his own city of Rome. It is a piece full of classical allusions, but is also a meditation on the folly of civil war. Marlowe may well have intended to translate all of Lucan’s ten extant books, but it is assumed that this effort was stopped by his early death. Marlowe wrote a Latin epitaph, which he translated into English, for Roger Manwood, an official and judge. It is a poem in the finest old Latin style, but with Elizabethan sensibilities. It, along with Hero and Leander and Lucan’s First Book are among Marlowe’s last works. Major Themes of his Poems: Illicit love The whole of Amores is concerned with an adulterous love affair. The lovers attempt to conceal their trysts and deceive Corinna’s husband at every turn; nor are the lovers faithful or truthful to one another. The embarkation of this affair seems to have caused the two lovers no moral misgivings. Never do Corinna and her lover wrestle with their consciences, or voice concern about Corinna’s deceived husband. The complete absence of sexual and social conventional morality is a bit surprising in a poem more than two thousand years old. These elegia were part of a Roman poetic convention; the love poetry of illicit relationships was a poetic trope that was much explored by Ovid and other writers of his day. That Marlowe chose to translate it, however, speaks somewhat of his taste in iconoclastic themes. Hero and Leander, too, a poem devised by Marlowe from the framework of an early myth, is concerned with a doomed love affair. The separation and desperation of the lovers (on a different scale of personal integrity, but still with the same sort of angst) in Hero and Leander is dwelt on the same way as Ovid expresses his striving and frustration for Corinna in Amores. Love denied is a powerful dramatic subject, and Marlowe liked to address it in his longer poems. Classical poetry translations Marlowe chose a short but nevertheless difficult poem to translate in Ovid’s Amores. Classical translations were in vogue at the time (the appearance of Henry Howard, Lord Surrey’s partial translation of Virgil’s Aeneid some years before this had made a mark in literary circles) and a task that a young poet would likely set himself to. The translation is not an easy one; classical Latin was a very mature language and many times more compact than Elizabethan English. The meanings of words in Latin were sometimes multi-layered and used in ways that Elizabethan scholars of Latin, such as Marlowe, were not always able to grasp. In addition, the putting of one style of verse (Ovid’s alternating hexameter/pentameter unrhymed lines) into another (blank verse English rhyming couplets) is a difficult task at best, and one that would have honed Marlowe’s skills in English verse as well as Latin translation. Apprenticeship of Marlowe The translations of Ovid and Lucan were made when Marlowe was very young. He was still an undergraduate student at Cambridge when he began them. The Latin translations, though at times extremely witty and apt, do contain significant errors. Marlowe, though doubtless a classical scholar, was not a complete master of Ovid’s extremely refined Latin, and Marlowe’s treatment of Lucan’s sometimes more awkward language is compounded by errors. The Amores were particularly admired in the medieval and Renaissance Europe, and the people who read them sometimes missed the cynical and playful side of Ovid’s poetry. Marlowe seems to have fewer of these illusions (for example, he often translates Ovid’s puella, â€Å"girl†, as â€Å"wench†, which had similar connotations in Marlowe’s day as it does now,) but Marlowe nevertheless was unaware of some of the Roman poetic conventions and the more polished double- and triple-meanings that the poet of the Augustan age employed in his verses. The translations of Ovid and Lucan, though ambitious and certainly telling of potential talent, were still, to some extent, schoolboy exercises. There is no doubt, however, that the studying of these ancient writers and the conversion of their Latin into English verse helped greatly to develop the ability of the future writer of Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta. Cynical view of romantic love The entire relationship between the lover and Corinna in Amores is a sophisticated, realistic, somewhat jaded, and definitely cynical one. Corinna is married, and there is no talk of her divorcing her husband (though divorce was legal and practiced in the Rome of Ovid’s day.) It is plain that at least part of Corinna’s attraction to the lover is his wealth, and Corinna, though praised for her physical charms, is continuously scolded and made to look foolish. Neither lover is shown to be in the least bit heroic or even admirable — though the feeling of passion is there, with attendant sentiments. It is clear that Ovid is chronicling a sordid adulterous affair. The lovers deceive each other and those around them. There is nothing redeeming about the relationship, and love certainly does not â€Å"conquer all.† Physical gratification, and perhaps the thrill obtained from conquest and deception, seem to be the only ends and purpose of the relationship. Hero an d Leander pursue, though not nearly as cynical, a similarly doomed and pointless love affair. They are so innocent as to not be able to consummate their love immediately, and, though the poem is unfinished, their deaths are predicted in the opening lines of the poem. Much of Renaissance romance tended toward the tragic, so it is not surprising that Marlowe chose subjects with unhappy rather than conventionally happy endings. Fate Especially in Hero and Leander, but in much of Marlowe’s oeuvre, the notion of fate is a common theme. References to the mythical Fates (or Destinies — the three Greco-Roman goddesses who decided the character and length of each human being’s life) occur often, and it is used as rhetorical device to convince that something is â€Å"meant to be†. This may or may not have been Marlowe’s own particular view of life. Since his religious views tended toward the heretical, if not outright atheism, it may be that he believed more fully in free will than the old classical idea of a fated existence. The Catholic church, too, while acknowledging free will, insisted that God’s will be the dominant one. Since much of Marlowe’s poetry is wry and tongue-in-cheek, the mentions of Fate may well be largely ironic. Folly of humanity Especially in Lucan’s First Book, but also in Amores and Hero and Leander Marlowe takes pains to point out the folly of humanity. He chooses translations and tells stories in which the faults in the main characters are obvious and usually avoidable. The poet usually tells us at the outset what the problems of the main actors are, and the tragic ending is often foretold. This kind of lack of narrative suspense was common in Classical literature, and also in the drama of the Elizabethan stage. High classical culture Marlowe translated and composed in Latin, and his reverence for the ancient world was obvious both in his choice of literature to translate, and his original work. Marlowe didn’t choose mediocre or obscure Latin poetry, but the works of Ovid and Lucan. These writers were the pinnacle of their culture, and their Latin was dense, erudite, and difficult to translate. In addition, some of the situations and stories of these authors were very far removed from types of stories told in Renaissance England. Marlowe kept the essential truths in these classical works, but he adapted them just enough to make them more accessible to his readers. Marlowe and Shakespeare: Two great names: William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe Educationally they were a great contrast. Shakespeare had had little schooling, quitting school when he was fifteen years old. Marlowe, by comparison, had two degrees including a master’s from Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University. Shakespeare had had no opportunity to learn foreign languages though Marlowe was fluent in many. Marlowe had translated Ovid’s â€Å"Amores† while in college and later had done the first translation of Cervantes’s massive classic Don Quixote from Spanish to English. Many of the plays attributed to Shakespeare have reference to foreign cities and foreign languages. In a similar manner, Shakespeare had had no opportunity to learn protocol of military life, legal matters or court manners, things in which Marlowe was proficient — things that were frequently a part of many of the Shakespearean plays. Marlowe had traveled to many countries. According to records, Shakespeare had never left England. Marlowe’s influence on Shakespeare: According to the Greek composition of tragedy, the hero should be a Man of Moment – one whose destiny is closely tied with that of our own. Marlowe makes a glaring deviation from the path trodden by the Greeks. His heroes are men with whom we have a close kinship. Tamburlaine is a Scythian Shepherd, Barabas a Mediterranean money-lender, and Faustus an ordinary German Doctor. While Shakespeare follows the Greek convention in most of his major tragedies, we notice the conspicuous exception in Othello who though he speaks of himself as â€Å"hailing etc.† is after all a moor of Venice. The Greeks insisted on the observance of the unities as an essential concomitance of tragedy. Marlowe boldly violates the rule with impunity. Tamburlaine’s conquest takes well-nigh 24 years. The action of Faustus dating from his signing of the bond to Lucifer. The duration of the exploits of the Jew, too, exceeds the limit set by the ancient. The scene, too, shifts from one country to another in Tamburlaine. Faustus travels around the globe. Shakespeare, taking the clue from Marlowe, proved conclusively that dramatic verisimilitude can never be disturbed by the violations of the unities of time and place. Quite contrary to the established Greek convention Marlowe mingled the comic and tragic elements in Faustus, even though in Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta we do not see it freely employed. Though many of the Wagner scenes are supposed to be interpolations by other hands, particularly Chapman, Marlowe cannot disown the authorship of these scenes completely. He had before him the primary aim of providing comic relief to the overtaxed minds of the auditors. But as we know, from our reaction to the Porter scene, the grave diggers scene, the appearance of the clown – and the rustic – these scenes by emphasizing the scene of contrast, only accentuate our tension. Further, with true dramatists’ insight into human life, Marlowe wants to point out that life consists in laughter and tears. To think of man’s life being burdened by unrelieved tragedy is starkly unimaginable and unreal. It was Marlowe who first presented on the English State The Titanic Struggle which rages in a man’s soul. The tempest in a soul is the very essence of Shakespearean tragedy. The struggle between the forces of good and evil in Tamburlaine, Faustus, and The Jew of Maltastands boldly in comparison with similar effects in Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Marlowe, however, did not regard heroism as synonymous with virtue. His heroes are by no means patterns of human excellence overtaken by tragic frailty as in the case of Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. They can be relegated to the category of â€Å"hero-villains† – a type popularized in Elizabethan England. But these figures move before us as grand specimens of humanity overtaken by passion for reason. Tamburlaine takes to a caree r of conquests; Faustus turns to necromancy and so defies Mammon. In Shakespeare we have the classic instance of Macbeth who is the direct descendent of Dr. Faustus and Tamburlaine, while Shylock is the dramatic foster-child of Barabas. Marlowe is an astute craftsman in the effective use of suspense – a consciousness that the fate of the hero is sealed right at the outset. When Faustus signs the bond with the devil, he is actually flirting with fate even as Macbeth does when he interviews the witches. Until the play moves to its ultimate catastrophe suspense grips us – a feature common to Shakespeare and Marlowe. Again, Marlowe’s ability to compose death scenes is almost unparalleled in modern drama. In the deaths of Faustus and Edward II Marlowe’s dramatic power reaches its highest point. Death synonymous with tragic catastrophe was revealed to the future dramatists as something more than physical horror at the end of existence. Death became the loss of active and glorious living, the negation of individual power, the expiring struggle of the drama of life, its last defiance and its most irresistible appeal to pity and horror. The death scenes in hamlet and Othello derive directly from Marlowe’s inspiration. Marlowe, however, refrained from exhibiting physical horror upon the stage. The deaths of Faustus, Barabas and Tambur laine are either implied or narrated, but not enacted. The gruesome murder of Desdemona and of Antony are related to us; but the greater genius of Shakespeare for tragic poignancy did introduce scenes of physical horror at times, as in the slapping of Desdemona by Othello, the blinding of Gloucester in Lear and the stabbing of Macduff’s children in Macbeth. Edward II is an exception: In the words of Havelock Ellis â€Å"In nothing has Marlowe shown himself so much a child of the true Renaissance as in this to touch the images of physical horror. Marlowe’s treatment of the supernatural is unique and considerably influenced Shakespeare. He gives human touches to his supernatural beings which catch our eyes. Mephistopheles is capable of human feelings. His appeal to Faustus literally to adjure the devil has a tinge of pathos about them. Marlowe, at this moment, reminds us of Ariel attempting to stir the steely heart of Prospero. Even in his portrayal of the witches in Macbeth and the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare is highly indebted to Marlowe. The device employed by Marlowe to represent the tempest of the emotions in the hero’s heart is unique and dramatically very effective . The good and the evil angels appearing as two characters to reflect the inner conflict was a bold invention on the part of the dramatist. Shakespeare frequently resorts to soliloquy in his tragedies. We hear also the incorporeal voice bidding Macbeth â€Å"sleep no more.† The dagger with its handle drawn towards Macbeth, the ghost of Banquo, and the ghost of Ceasar appearing to Brutus with the words: â€Å"I’m thy evil spirit† – all these are actually an objective mirror of the heart, but are incapable of giving a kaleidoscopic picture. By far the greatest contribution by Marlowe to the development of tragedy is the way he employs the medium of Blank verse. Blank verse is the only instrument capable of representing subtle shades of thought and feeling. Much of Shakespeare’s greatness is dependent on the poetry in his plays. Marlowe was the pioneer of blank verse in drama, Shakespeare was its complete master especially in the use of its various ramifications. We notice certain deficiencies in Marlowe’s tragic design, fortunately absent in Shakespeare. Marlowe concentrated his en tire attention on the development of a single character and so was almost indifferent to the rest. In Shakespeare every character has a positive individuality. We remember the passive Horatio as well as the turncoat Enobarbus. Marlowe was also ignorant of the feminine heart. Zenocrate is merely a shadow. Helen appears as a vision. On the contrary, Shakespeare’s acquaintance with the working’s of a woman’s mind is so profound that Ruskin, Arnold and Mrs. Jameson even contend that Shakespeare was primarily concerned with his heroines. Out of the physical activity and intellectual inquisitiveness of the Renaissance, there grew up a body of literature which was remarkable for its power and force. Marlowe was, perhaps, the truest representative of this literary and dramatic efflorescence. He embodied in his four plays, man’s inordinate love of physical power, his greed for intellectual wealth and his passion for material wealth and also his love of human passion. He devised a suitable medium to project his fiery soul and that was his well-known Blank verse. If Shakespeare had not Marlowe’s shoulders to stand upon he would not have been recognized as one of the greatest dramatist in the world. Shakespeare honoured his master both by imitation and direct quotation. Reputation among Contemporary Writers: Swinburne, a critic of the Elizabethan theatre had said that â€Å"Marlowe is a Father of English Tragedy and the creator of English blank verse and therefore also the teacher and guide of Shakespeare† Whatever the particular focus of modern critics, biographers and novelists, for his contemporaries in the literary world, Marlowe was above all an admired and influential artist. Within weeks of his death, George Peele remembered him as â€Å"Marley, the Muses’ darling†; Michael Drayton noted that he â€Å"Had in him those brave translunary things / That the first poets had†, and Ben Jonson wrote of â€Å"Marlowe’s mighty line†. Thomas Nashe wrote warmly of his friend, â€Å"poor deceased Kit Marlowe†. So too did the publisher Edward Blount, in the dedication of Hero and Leander to Sir Thomas Walsingham. Among the few contemporary dramatists to say anything negative about Marlowe was the anonymous author of the Cambridge University play The Return From Parnassus (1598) who wrote, â€Å"Pity it is that wit so ill should dwell, / Wit lent from heaven, but vices sent from hell.† The most famous tribute to Marlowe was paid by Shakespeare in As You Like It, where he not only quotes a line from Hero and Leander (â€Å"Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?'†) but also gives to the clown Touchstone the words â€Å"When a man’s verses cannot be understood, nor a man’s good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room.† This appears to be a reference to Marlowe’s murder which involved a fight over the â€Å"reckoning†, the bill, as well as to a line in Marlowe’s Jew of Malta – â€Å"Infinite riches in a little room†. Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Marlowe in his work, as can be seen in the re-using of Marlovian themes in Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II, and Macbeth (Dido, Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus respectively). In Hamlet, after meeting with the travelling actors, Hamlet requests the Player perform a speech about the Trojan War, which at 2.2.429–32 has an echo of Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. In Love’s Labour’s Lost Shakespeare brings on a character â€Å"Marcade† (three syllables) in conscious acknowledgement of Marlowe’s character â€Å"Mercury†, also attending the King of Navarre, in Massacre at Paris. The significance, to those of Shakespeare’s audience who had read Hero and Leander, was Marlowe’s identification of himself with the god Mercury. Conclusion: The interest of Marlowe’s tragedies lies not in the death of Heroes but in their soul struggle against forces which in the end proves too great for them. He raised the subject matter of Drama to a higher level and changed the concept of tragedies by introducing heroes from the common people. His heroes are meant of exceptional qualities and passion. They transcend ordinary human aspiration until they meet their tragic end. Usually in his plays there will be no antagonist, the protagonists themselves, their inner evil thoughts will be the antagonist. There is also number of morals to teach in his plays. Marlowe may died in the age of 29, but his plays are living forever.