The Sinister Duke in Robert Brownings My Last Duchess Essay example --

The Sinister Duke in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess In Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," a portrait of the egocentric and power loving Duke of Ferrara is painted for us. Although the duke's monologue appears on the surface to be about his late wife, a close reading will show that the mention of his last duchess is merely a side note in his self-important speech. Browning uses the dramatic monologue form very skillfully to show us the controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits the duke possessed without ever mentioning them explicitly. The first two lines of the poem introduce us to the main topic of the duke's speech, a painting of his late wife: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/Looking as if she were alive." We immediately begin to suspect that the duchess is no longer alive, but are not sure. The clever language Browning chose suggested that something was wrong, but left enough ambiguity to quickly capture our attention as readers. Also in these lines, we are given our first hint that the duchess really not all that important to the duke; he speaks of the painting as if it was the duchess, suggesting that his late wife was nothing more than her external appearance. Instead of the painting looking as if it were alive, the duchess looks as if she were alive. Again, this seemingly small detail gives a significant hint about what lies ahead in the poem. While the duke describes the history of the painting, he mentions the artist's name, Frà   Pandolf, three times (lines 3, 6, 16). The first mention of the name was all that was necessary to let the listener know who painted the work. The words the painter or the artist could easily have been substituted for the second two. The way in which the duke repeated... ...g with what he was trying to say. The duke knows that he has great skill in speech and he also knows that the emissary knows this. He is only saying that he does not possess skill in speech because he knows that his audience will not believe him. His show of modesty is merely an illusion, not true modesty. The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his dark and sinister qualities. By giving us the Duke of Ferrara as an example, Robert Browning subtly condemns the nobility for their poor character. Works Cited Browning, Robert. â€Å"My Last Duchess.† Making Literature Matter. Ed. John Schilb, and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford, 2000. 1376-1378. The Sinister Duke in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess Essay example -- The Sinister Duke in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess In Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," a portrait of the egocentric and power loving Duke of Ferrara is painted for us. Although the duke's monologue appears on the surface to be about his late wife, a close reading will show that the mention of his last duchess is merely a side note in his self-important speech. Browning uses the dramatic monologue form very skillfully to show us the controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits the duke possessed without ever mentioning them explicitly. The first two lines of the poem introduce us to the main topic of the duke's speech, a painting of his late wife: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/Looking as if she were alive." We immediately begin to suspect that the duchess is no longer alive, but are not sure. The clever language Browning chose suggested that something was wrong, but left enough ambiguity to quickly capture our attention as readers. Also in these lines, we are given our first hint that the duchess really not all that important to the duke; he speaks of the painting as if it was the duchess, suggesting that his late wife was nothing more than her external appearance. Instead of the painting looking as if it were alive, the duchess looks as if she were alive. Again, this seemingly small detail gives a significant hint about what lies ahead in the poem. While the duke describes the history of the painting, he mentions the artist's name, Frà   Pandolf, three times (lines 3, 6, 16). The first mention of the name was all that was necessary to let the listener know who painted the work. The words the painter or the artist could easily have been substituted for the second two. The way in which the duke repeated... ...g with what he was trying to say. The duke knows that he has great skill in speech and he also knows that the emissary knows this. He is only saying that he does not possess skill in speech because he knows that his audience will not believe him. His show of modesty is merely an illusion, not true modesty. The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his dark and sinister qualities. By giving us the Duke of Ferrara as an example, Robert Browning subtly condemns the nobility for their poor character. Works Cited Browning, Robert. â€Å"My Last Duchess.† Making Literature Matter. Ed. John Schilb, and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford, 2000. 1376-1378.

Economic Cycle From 1984 To 1986 Essay

We can first define economic cycles as the reoccurrence of the expansion or contraction of a countries economy. We still have to look at the view of Wesley Mitchell who is the most famous in the research on economic cycles. He defined business cycle as; Business cycles are a type of fluctuation found in the aggregate economic activity of nations that organize their work mainly in business enterprises; a cycle consists of expansions occurring at about the same time in many economic activities, followed by similarly general recessions, contractions, and revivals which merge into the expansion phase of the next cycle; this sequence of changes is recurrent but not periodic; in duration business cycles vary from more than one year to ten or twelve years; they are not divisible into shorter cycles of similar character with amplitudes approximately their own. (Burns and Mitchell, 1946, p. 3) In this paper, we would be looking at the economic cycle of the U. S economy between 1984 to 986. Nevertheless, before going into the economic cycle that existed from 1984 to 1986, it is clear that in our present time the economy of now pulls the same trends with that of the 1980s. The present fiscal states bears the same tends too, with the borrowing made by government to come down following the substantial years of borrowing. The PSBR declined and surpluses were reached as the 1980s progressed. Surpluses were projected to continue on the grounds of unchanged policies. __________________ 1. Bruce T. Grimm, â€Å"Alternative Measures of U. S. Economic Activity in Business Cycles and Business Cycle Dating,† BEA Working Papers 0024, Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2005. Nevertheless, this was not the same in the early 1990s, as public finances had deteriorated markedly with the deficit reaching 7 per cent of GDP in 1993-94. Not withstanding we have to look at the topic on board and discuss on the cycles of 1984-1986. ECONOMIC CYCLE IN 1984 The economy of the United State rocketed at a fast pace for nearly two decades as the wallets of consumers went fat and it was all about shopping spree . This was all about the recession of the 1980s with specification to the year 1984. The increased pace of growth did not only reflect on the mode of shopping but on the spending done on business. From 1984 to 1986, there was a rapid increase in employment. The increase was so rapid that many analysts to term the United States economy as the American job machine. However, as the rate of employment increased, many still did not benefit from the expansion. Among the less educated young men, unemployment rose and the rate of labor force participating decreased. Though there were enough jobs, many still argued the quality and measurement of the American job in terms of wage, benefits, and job security was decreasing. There was a decrease in high paying jobs in the manufacturing sector and there were more of low paying jobs. There was a growth in part-time and temporary jobs and the less skilled workers were like an erosion of job quality. By the early part of 1984, America experienced the new period of sustained growth since World War II. The tax cut made by government increased the rate of spending done by consumers. ______________________ 2. Burns, Arthur, and Mitchell, Wesley. Measuring Business Cycles. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research. (1946). GNP increased at an annual rate of 4. 2 percent except for the decline in 1986 to fewer than 2 percent. This was the lowest in the decade. The rate of inflation was between three to five percent and the economy produced 13 million jobs. ECONOMIC CYCLE 1985 The economy of the United States continued in an upward trend from 1984 to 1986. This continued in 1985 though in a slow trend in the early year. Nevertheless, as the economic growth continued due to healthy growth and the demand for goods and services, the domestic production suffered because most goods available where imports. The second half of the year was also accompanied with steady growth that lead to the expectation of a continued growth into 1986. Now, looking into the economy in 1985, it was noticed that the first half of the year had a sluggish growth. The GNP of the last half of 1984 rose by 3 percent but that of the first half of 1985 was rose only by 1%. The worsening of the export sector and the decline in inventory investment in first half largely offset a moderately strong increase in the purchase of domestic product goods and services. These included government purchases, business fixed investment, consumption expenditures and residential constructions. Most of the strength in purchases where provided by U. S households. This is due to the strong growth in consumption and the increase in spending done on residential projects. By the second half of the year in 1985, the economic growth has quickened with a 4. 3 percent rise in the GNP at third quarter. The domestic final purchase increased more than that of the first half and the was a decline the rate of export. Because of the sharp _____________________ 3. Balke, Nathan S & Gordon, Robert J. â€Å"The Estimation of Prewar Gross National Product: Methodology and New Evidence†. February 1989. Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(1), pages 38-92. rundown in the domestic stocks for automobile, inventory investment, decline more than that of the first half. The government’s purchases of goods and services in the third quarter were also a sharp contributor to the purchase of domestic final products. The rise in government purchase was because of the increased use of Commodity Credit Corporation Loans by farmers and large increase in defense purchases. Residential fixed investment also increased and while nonresidential fixed investments declined. Expenditures done on personal consumption products increased strongly in third quarter of 1985. The economic growth pace in 1985 was a steady one and it was about 2. 5 percent. This was lower than that of 1984. The growth in domestic purchase increase because of the demand for personal consumption was high. Resource use and Inflation In 1985, the growth in output was not strong enough to reduce the underuse of resources. The rate of unemployment for the civilians fell from 7. 2 percent to 7 percent in November. Manufacturing employment declined and the payroll for nonfarm jobs increased moderately. The rate of capacity utilization in industries, which was another measure of resources use declined at about one percent point. This reflected the greater slack present in the industrial sector than in the social economy. The inflation rate was checked by the slack in the economy this was combined with the strong dollar prices on import and imports competing goods. There was a moderate in increase in the rate of labor cost and the favorable performance for food and energy prices contributed to the level of inflation in 1985. The broadest general price index _____________________ 4. Cacy, J. A. , Glenn, H. M. , and Dan, H. H. â€Å"Economic Review: The U. S. Economy in 1985 and 1986†. December 1985. increased by 3. 75 percent annual rate over the first three quarters of 1985. the price of finished goods sold at wholesale rose by 1. 5 percent in November. This was higher in than that of 1984. The prices of food product declined significantly and there was a slight drop in energy prices. In summary, the year 1985 saw moderate U. S. demand growth being changed to a sluggish out put growth. This was because of the worsening rate of export and inventory investment. The sluggish output growth kept a large amount of resource idle. The total slack experienced in the economy, the direct influence of strong dollar, the weak food prices, and the weak energy prices restrained the rate of price inflation.

Interpersonal Communication in Social Network Essay

The movie â€Å"Social Network† is about the ideas and the development behind the creation of the very popular social networking site â€Å"Facebook†. Mark Zuckerberg is the main character in the movie and also the actual creator of Facebook. There are multiple instances, where various components of interpersonal communication are used throughout this movie. For instance, in the very beginning of the movie Zuckerberg is speaking to his girlfriend Erika, about school, which appears to be a relationship of both circumstance and choice, but uses a bit of sarcasm and conversational narcissism when speaking with her. His girlfriend in return uses the direct termination strategy, justification, by telling Zuckerberg, â€Å"we are not dating anymore, I am†¦show more content†¦She suggests that female-male communication is cross-cultural communication, with all of the challenges of communicating with people who are different from us (p. 88). Hence, the same information can affect each gender in a different way. â€Å"Men often communicate to report; women often communicate to establish rapport. So the point of difference isn’t in the way the sexes actually communicate but in their motivations or reasons for comm unicating† (p. 88). The guys that received the two pictures of the girls were excited and all voted on who they considered â€Å"hotter.† The girls on the other hand couldn’t believe that it was being sent around and were offended. Females tend to take things more literally and are likely to be more emotional than men, which should be taken in to consideration, when any interpersonal communication is taking place. During Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook he came up with the idea of â€Å"relationship status†, stating that â€Å"this is what drives life in college. Are you having sex or aren’t you? 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