Characteristics of Gothic Literature Essay

The Gothic In 1798 an anonymous author published a commentary that revealed exactly how some writers received the Gothic during this time: â€Å" Take—An old castle, half of it ruinous A long gallery, with a great many doors, some secret ones. Three murdered bodies, quite fresh. As many skeletons, in chests and presses. An old woman hanging by the neck; with her throat cut. Assassins and desperadoes, quant. suff. Noises, whispers, and groans, threescore at least. † (1-7) After reading many of the selections in the anthology, I found this poem on a Gothic’s â€Å"recipe† to be quite true (602). However, in the case of this anonymous writer, he considers all of these characteristics to be negative. I, on the other hand, find it very intriguing that this type of novel developed in a time ruled by writers whose main focus was politics and poetry. Many influential writers including Coleridge and Wordsworth criticized the characteristics, morality, purpose, and significance of these novels; however, I believe many of the features they disliked actually broadened the scope of literature. The Gothic novel was often attacked for being too formulaic. Although the specifics of the plot changed from novel to novel, the characteristics were often similar, which is something that is pointed out repeatedly by the Gothic’s critics. The similarities encountered in the characteristics of these novels include the setting, mystery, and characters to name a few. The setting of this type of novel is usually in a castle of sorts, or in some other mysterious place that produces suspense and terror within the reader. Although these settings were often alike, they â€Å"exist to convey the atmosphere† and are used â€Å"for ends that are fundamentally psychological† (Hume 286). This characteristic is one that set up the entire feeling of the novel, one of suspense, horror, and mystery. The setting of various novels was not uniform because it was the easy or obvious choice like many critics believed, but because it created a certain atmosphere that was needed for the plot. If the story had been set on a sunny beach, the atmosphere would have been much different and the reader would not get the same affect. Like the settings, the mysteries that develop within Gothic novels are usually somewhat similar. From what I have come across, many include a murder or deep, dark secret that is unraveled by an ordinary person. While this may support Wordsworth’s claim that these novels are â€Å"sickly and stupid German tragedies† because of their straightforward plot, I find them to be quite interesting (266). These mysteries create suspense, and were the first â€Å"page-turners† that were ever written. Readers no longer had to decipher long and complicated meanings from pieces such as the â€Å"Lucy Gray† poems; instead, they could sit back, relax, and enjoy these novels that created an escape into a mysterious world. Another piece of the â€Å"formula† that was important to the genre were the characters that were used throughout the novels. The characters were often simple people who were thrown into a situation that required extraordinary actions. While the simplicity of the characters was often criticized by writers who considered themselves to be â€Å"high culture,† these characters had the ability to â€Å"involve the reader in special circumstances† (Hume 286). Unlike the pieces that came before them, the Gothic novel had the capacity to draw the reader in, and put them in the shoes of the main character. For me, it was very hard to feel for the personas in earlier poems that we came across. I think the main reason for this is that the characters tended to be somewhat generic, but interesting. They allowed for anyone to understand the character and immerse themselves within the character’s thoughts. They also allowed for people to sink in to a particular character and feel the terror that they were feeling. Another aspect of the Gothic that was often called into question was the morality of the characters and authors. There are many instances in which these novels incorporated grotesque scenes that included rape and murder among many other things. In The Monk by Matthew Lewis the main character, Ambrosia, is a virtuous and ethical man who seduced by the demon Matilda. In one scene â€Å"his desires were raised to that frantic height by which brutes are agitated†¦ and [he] hastily proceeded to tear off those garments which impeded the gratification of his lust† (598). Ambrosia is obviously an immoral character, and he is criticized for not being so. To me, it seems like critics were getting to the point where they were trying to find anything and everything to criticize about the Gothic novel. While this genre may involve some unseemly characters, they are needed in order to create an interesting plot. Having some sort of villain is necessary in any type of writing that has a mystery or murder involved. Without villains, we cannot have heroes, and both are very important aspects of literature. Coleridge, for example, not only attacked The Monk as a novel but also attacked Lewis as a person for having the ability to create such an immoral character. He believed that â€Å"the merit of a novelist is in proportion†¦ to the pleasurable effect which he produces (604). I highly disagree with this statement because I believe controversy affects change, and change is needed in order to forward society. Novelists and poets were no longer writing poems that had the sole purpose of making a person feel good or empowered; instead, they were writing for entertainment. Also, many of the writers before The Monk addressed political issues that were not considered pleasurable, but controversial and hard to confront. Coleridge’s statement seems to contradict everything that literature stands for. Authors and the literature they create are unpleasant at times, and that is not wrong—it is merely a necessity for the forward movement of society and evolution of literature. Another important issue to address when it comes to these novels is their specific purpose. It seems that every literary movement in history had some sort of motive or driving force behind them. For the Gothic, this driving force or purpose seems to be to induce terror while entertaining. Before this movement, we never really encountered works of literature that were straightforward, suspenseful, and enjoyable all at the same time. In an essay by Aikin and Aikin, they claimed that people would â€Å"rather chuse to suffer the smart pang of a violent emotion than the uneasy craving of an unsatisfied desire† (584). By this, they mean that terror is pleasurable, and that is exactly what these novels delivered to their readers. It was not an emotion that was regularly produced when readers came into contact with the typical works of this time. For a piece of literature to induce such error was something novel and interesting that affected many of their readers. Because terror is an emotion that is hard to come by, these novels were, like I said, an escape for readers. Terror is not something that a person wants to encounter in their real life, but is something they can enjoy and acquire through reading these novels. Their purpose was not to confuse the reader with complicated meanings full of allusions. Instead, these terrifying novels have the ability to â€Å"render the poorest and most insipid narrative interesting when once we get fairly into it† (584). Although many of the authors of Gothic novels may not have been the best composers compared to standards during this time, they were still able to draw in a huge audience because they gave the people what they wanted. I would not consider the narratives â€Å"insipid,† but compared to the works that came before them, they were much simpler and used language that was not considered to be as articulate. This simplicity that is encountered when reading a piece of Gothic work, though criticized, says much about how society was changing during this time. These novels significantly altered the way in which literature was composed and whom it was available to. Instead of being read by the elite few, it was accessible to pretty much anyone who could read. During this time, the percent of literate people was rising rapidly, especially in the middle class. These books appealed to these people, and sold millions upon millions of copies because of this. I think that much of the distaste that so-called â€Å"high culture† writers had for these novels is because of their success. They were extremely popular, more so than the most popular of the poets during this time. For example, Wordsworth was said to be a commercialized version of â€Å"real† poetry because it was easier to understand than many other pieces out during this time. However, he never even came close to selling as many copies of Lyrical Ballads as the Gothic writers did with their own works. For Wordsworth to criticize a genre that feeds off of the readers’ ability to comprehend seems to be extremely hypocritical of him. Also, I think that when something appeals to the masses, it is a good thing. Change cannot occur unless everyone is on the same page, and that is what the Gothic provided to the people. Finally, I would like to confront just how significant this movement is to the literature we have today. This was the first time we encounter a genre that is similar to the types of genres we see today. The Gothic genre was criticized because the novels were too alike—but that is exactly what a genre is, according to today’s standards. One could argue that the novels that are published today are not of the same caliber as novels published 50, 100, or 200 years ago. And maybe that is true, but is it necessarily bad? In my opinion, having novels that are more accessible to more people makes for a better, more unified society. Having works of literature that are too complicated, wordy, or abstract leads to more ambiguity, and eventually creates a divide among social classes. I am not saying that all written works should be easy to understand, but I do think that the Gothic novel was the first in a wave of works of literature that helped society grow more literate. Finally, scholars and everyday people were able to read and talk about the same kinds of things. Although scholars who thought they were better writers were constantly criticizing it, they could not appeal to the masses. Gothic literature had the ability to do this, and you can still see its influence in novels on shelves today. It has a definite place in literary history, and should not be overlooked. It may not have had the deepest plots or the most complicated characters, but the genre had an impact during the 18th century, and continues to have an impact today.

Biometrics Term Paper

Biometrics Meredith Thomas Strayer University 1 Biometrics, according to Foster, â€Å"is the science of using technology to automatically identify an individual based on physical, biological, and behavioral characteristics. † There are two classification systems in biometrics and they are: physiological and behavioral. Physiological characteristics pertain to fingerprints, facial recognition, DNA, hand geometry, the shape of your body, iris recognition, etc. Behavioral characteristics pertain to voice recognition, handwriting, the way that you walk, etc.There are also two categories for the use of this biometric information and they are: access control, and remote identification. Access control pertains to the prevention of others from gaining access to information. Remote identification helps to identify a person through fingerprints or hand geometry. According to globalsecurity. org (2000-2010) they have given biometric technologies the following characteristics: Universali ty: Every person should have the characteristic. People who are mute or without fingerprints will need to be accommodated in some way.Uniqueness: Generally, no two people have identical characteristics. However, identical twins are hard to distinguish. Permanence: The characteristics should not vary with time. A person’s face, for example, may change with age. Collectability: The characteristics must be easily collectible and measurable. Performance: The method must deliver accurate results under varied environmental circumstances. Acceptability: The general public must accept the sample collection routines. Nonintrusive methods are more acceptable. Circumvention: The technology should be difficult to deceive. Now let’s get more into biometrics! Fingerprinting is one of the most popular physiological characteristics in biometrics. No two people on this earth have the exact same fingerprint, which helps in distinguishing where a person has been, and what they have touch ed. Once a criminals fingerprints have been recorded in IAFIS (the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System), then they are permanently recorded and easily traced. Another physiological characteristic is facial recognition, which is newer to the scene than fingerprints.While it may be one of the easiest to use, the environment in which it is used definitely controls it. A mug-shot is the ideal way to capture facial recognition, because it is a controlled environment. One of my favorite physiological characteristics is the use of the iris for identification. According to globalsecurity. org (2000-2010), â€Å"The technology is based upon the fact that no two iris patterns are alike (the probability is higher than that of fingerprints). The iris is a protected organ which makes the identification possibilities lifelong. Criminals may be able to duplicate fingerprints, but not irises. Some behavioral characteristics associated with biometrics are, handwriting and voice r ecognition. Every person has their own unique handwriting, it is measured by the rhythm, pressure, and flow that one applies to the paper while writing. Voice verification is tough to analyze, because a person’s voice changes if they have a cold, or if they are over-excited, anxious, nervous, afraid. Background noise is also a factor. All of the above mentioned characteristics can be used in access control and remote identification.Iris identification is used more and more often for security purposes in passports, hospitals, high profile building access, etc. 3 There are new and emerging technologies in the biometrics field such as: vein scan, facial thermography, DNA matching, blood pulse, skin elements, nailbed identification, gait recognition, and ear shape. Vein scan is a non intrusive scan of the veins on the back of one’s hands hand, they are very unique patterns that are formed before birth, and only change in size throughout one’s lifetime.Facial thermog raphy is very similar to facial recognition, except an infrared camera is used. Skin elements are an interesting biometric technology because just like fingerprints or irises everyone’s skin makeup is different. Gait recognition is one technology that I would have never thought of, but it makes a lot of sense. According to globalsecurity. org, â€Å"A person’s musculature essentially limits the variation of motion, and measuring requires no contact with the person. One disadvantage to gait recognition could be loose fitting clothing, the body is hidden and you don’t have much to compare. Everyday new and different technologies are emerging in the biometrics field. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next ten years, and what I will have to look forward to working with in the future. 4 Foster, Raymond E. (2005). Police Technology. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. http://www. globalsecurity. org/security/systems/biometrics. htm Sit e monitored by John Pike.

Organisation and Service Management in Financial Services Essay

Organisation and Service Management in Financial Services - Essay Example guided by my instructors on how to undertake a research and come up with adequate information that would help the fund managers to make proper decisions that relates to the investment portfolio that they manage. While some investment analysts undertake their responsibilities in the investment management companies where they provide financial information to the fund managers, others are hired by investment banks and stock brokers to make their own investment ideas. Basically, investment analyst key roles include evaluating investment potential and studying economic trends (Leon, 2012). Thus, as an investment analyst, one need to ensure that he or she understands financial information including company accounts, data as well as financial statements. Similarly, they should be aware of the political events and current economic data including the trend of stock market (Orman, 1997). Major skills that the investment analyst must posses includes skills related to examining and interpreting data retrieved form various sources and identifying the impact of such information on the investment decisions (Thorp, 2010). As mentioned earlier, investment analysts are hired by various types of employers. These include banks, investment companies, public and private companies among others (Trinder, 2000). Additionally, social groups that have opened bank accounts to save their annual or monthly contribution may hire the services of investment analysts in order to guide them on how to effectively invest their funds. In UK and other countries investment analyst jobs can be found in pension funds, hedge funds and real estate firms, charitable organizations, large corporation as well as wealthy individuals. As finance students, we were trained on the various skills that are needed by an investment analyst. Most importantly, the course has exposed me on how to conduct extensive research on companies’ market data as well as reading their financial statements. By identifying their

Reflections Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Reflections - Assignment Example Personally, I agree with Lewis’s saying that the ultimate price that we pay for losing those we love is pain and grief (Tesiik, 2001). I saw my mother, G.M struggling with the pain of losing my stepfather. Thus, she was paying a price for the commitment and love that she accorded my stepfather. Connection to saying. The saying relates well to the scenario of my mother, G.M. As pointed by Lewis, one can go through a series of pain if she loses the object of her love. G.M was indeed in deep love with my stepfather. She went through series of pain and episodes of depression attributable to cognitive response. As a result, she is suffering from Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases. Description of manifestations of grief. Grief manifests itself in four different ways including feelings, physical sensations, cognitions, and behaviors. Feelings are often diverse and take different turns. Sadness is a feeling that many individuals experience after losing the persons that they love or have a close attachment (Loos, Willetts, & Kempe, 2014). My mother, G.M experienced this when she lost my stepfather. Individuals often demonstrate sadness by crying. Crying is a gesture that arouses a protective or sympathetic reaction from other individuals. Complicated grief may result if individuals fail to express sadness with or without the accompaniment of tears. I felt sad when I watched G.M writhing in pain. Anxiety is a common feeling that relates to the loss and it often originates from the fear that the bereaved may not be in a position to take care of themselves. There are different ranges of anxiety and can extend from mild to extreme forms of panic attacks. Grief also manifests itself through cognition. In most cases, a cognitive response often occurs after an individual develops varied feelings. As I have outlined above, my mother G.M experienced different feelings of sadness, and anxiety after the loss of my stepfather. It is through this happening that I realized

The Research Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

The Research Project - Assignment Example s a global state of change. The average tourist has different expectations and desires when traveling today than they did in previous generations, and this greatly impacts the way the tourist industry must adapt across various sectors (Hamzah & Hampton, 2011). One area of particular interest in the young traveler. Young people are choosing to spend a considerable portion of their traveling internationally in record numbers. Many of these individuals will choose to spend extended periods of time in lone geographical region, becoming immersed in the culture and providing a potentially positive source of tourism related revenue to the region. These individuals most commonly travel as ‘backpackers’, and they are more interested in local culture and the way of life of indigenous people than they are in staying in resorts or going to more traditional holiday designations (Allon, 2004). The rationale for this study, therefore, is to look at the country of Thailand and determine how the revitalized backpacker industry is reshaping the way the tourism industry is viewing the young traveler today. While backpackers have been around for generations, they have not typically made the impact on this hospitality industry in large numbers as they are today. As such, more information is needed in order to capitalize of this part of the industry, which well positions a research study of this scope. 1.3 Critical Review of Key References It might be plausible to think of backpacking today in the same vein as it was decades ago. Current research into the discipline, however, reveals a completely different story. While the time was not along ago that young people were expected go from secondary school right into the university, or to launch their own career, that is no longer necessarily the case today. Whereas there was no time afforded to this particular demographic to get out and see the world, that option is now available today. The concept of a ‘gap’ y ear, by way of example, has recently been introduced into hospitality and tourism vocabulary to describe the idea of taking a year or two off, as a young person, to explore and broaden horizons before embarking on a career or educational path (Arnett, 2000). Some young people have opted to turn their adventures during this time into a working holiday, or to simply backpack a particular region of the world for an extended period of time. Backpackers truly desire to encounter and learn from different cultures, and experience different ways of life that they have never encountered before. This gives young people a unique perspective of life that was previously unavailable to them (Arnett, 2000). This new phenomenon, particularly in the context of Southeast Asian tourism, is certainly worthy of further study in order to determine the true impact of backpackers on the industry moving forward. There are positive market trends being demonstrated today in the backpacker segment of the touri sm industry around the world. Some areas of the global are reporting record numbers of

Women in Culture in the 1930's-1940's VS Women in Culture Today Research Paper

Women in Culture in the 1930's-1940's VS Women in Culture Today - Research Paper Example The debates have hit the floor for some time regarding women in the past and women today. Moreover, social roles of women and girls are quite different from that of men. Workforce in early times was highly gender based which is somewhat contrary to today’s women. Today, women have much freedom and almost acquiring equal rights as men unlike in the early 1930’s. Women artist has been one of the outstanding and distinguishing activities between 1930’s – 1940’s and today. Female artists play central part in art industry, for instance textile arts and craft. In 1930’s, women artists encountered numerous challenges related to their success in art industry and these were gender based biases in the mainstream of fine art (Rosaldo, Lamphere & Bamberger, 1974). They faced challenges in training, travelling and trading of their work as well as recognition of their status in art industry. However late in 1940’s, feminist arts fought for their rig hts for them to be guaranteed the right to education and training in fine art. This impacted positively on women as they were allowed to train and acquire skills in fine industry. In the days of Great Depression (1930’s), a number of women made their own clothing. The time was so terrible that unemployment rate was very high. It was then that the fashion design made a step toward simpler lines reflecting the simpler lives of the people. Magazines displayed different kinds of clothing which customary middle women applauded (Loy, (2001). The fashions in the 1930’s were so appealing, attractive, feminine and absolutely gorgeous unlike today. The fashion took a stunning turn reflecting the austerity of the appalling economy. In the 1940’s, limited color highly characterized pictures and magazines unlike today as ink was expensive then (Rosaldo, Lamphere & Bamberger, 1974). Fashions illustrated in magazines revealed the clothing in sketch form instead of photographs. The gray outfit was a typical fashion design of 1932. Women empowerment and role assignment has taken a new picture today. This is mainly noted in factories and industries. For instance, Rosie the Riveter from the USA is highly recognized as a cultural icon. She represents the American women who worked in industries during the Second World War (Rosaldo, Lamphere & Bamberger, 1974). They took new jobs of men who were in the field of military. Rosie worked tirelessly to help the Americans who were taking part in war. During this time, women took over the male dominated trades though at the same they were required to return to their daily housework as soon as men in war came back home. Women were chiefly given the roles of housewives. They were asked to perform hard tasks which for them were hard to do. They opted to return to their traditional work basically to avoid such jobs and low payments (Loy, 2001). Rosie the Riveter finally died when her kidney failed to work after a plane ac cident. She had influenced American women to work in industries. It was evident that women proved it right that they could do and manage well the work that was mainly done by men. In 1942, the proportion of jobs acceptable to women increased tremendously. However, the payment terms of women were not favorable. Rosie had encouraged women to enter into workforce in large numbers, though women were discharged after the war to return to servicemen (Rosaldo, Lamphere & Bamberger, 1974). During the Second World War, women worked hard to take their positions. However after the wartime, they resumed domestic vocations and service work. Between 1930’

Current censorship of internet in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Current censorship of internet in China - Essay Example This essay analyses the process of media filtering in China that is by far the only country that is practicing the process very extensively. Unlike many countries, the internet censorship in China is carried out at multiple levels to ensure that no unfavorable information reaches the users through internet. The major reason behind China’s severe censorship is that unlike other countries that have been aiming at a single objectionable area to be blocked, China has listed a number of issues ranging from political to moral as objectionable and required to be censored. Internet censorship in China has its roots inveterate in times before the invention of internet. Every form of media has been censored through it various stages. Although internet censorship has its existence in almost all the states within which internet is accessible to a common man, the role of censorship in authoritarian states like China and Saudi Arabia has an increasing importance. It is because of the fact t hat the internet provides the nongovernmental organizations and citizens to reach out to the global communities, arrange global activities, express their ideas and obtain the non-conservative ideas of the non-Chinese. Since such activities pose a direct threat to the government of China, there is a continuous monitoring of internet usage and filtering of certain material from the internet to maintain the eroding governmental control. The content that is available online is censored on the basis of the ideas and thoughts expressed in them.