Comparative legal system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Comparative legal system - Essay Example In a religious legal system all the religious laws converge to one ultimate concept and that is religion. However in a secular legal system, by contrast, changes and amendments forms a necessary part of the process as the concept of the system is to continuously improve formal law and practices, and their influence on the tradition of life. People and state-welfare is given due importance and the office of jurisdiction is reinforced by guarantees of judicial independence. There are few countries where the legal system is exclusively religious, though some (mainly Islamic countries) aspire to this. It is not only the State that upholds the responsibility of implementing laws in the religious system, even the people seem to share a common ground of 1understanding that no tolerance should be practiced while dealing with violation of the religious laws. On the other hand a large number of countries have secular legal system where the laws are made and enacted with a constant effort to develop the social and financial infrastructure, human rights and freedom. This is well illustrated in the very first words of the First Amendment to the Constitution 2of the United States, which came into force in 1789: â€Å"Congress shall make no laws respecting the establishment of religion†. The United States has many constitutional and statutory guarantees of religious liberty. Most important are two sentences in the Constitution of the United States. The first is the Test Oath Clause, in Article 6, clause 3, which provides: â€Å"[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States†. England has historically required office holders to swear an oath that they believed in essential doctrines of the Church of England, or of Protestantism more generally. The Test Oath Clause prohibits

Scholarly Critique Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Scholarly Critique - Research Paper Example Purpose of the Study Williams (2005) found that the recent estimate reveals that children spend an average of 7 hours per week in video games. This is remarkable information because this finally leads him to find if violent content or frustration may be linked to a significant effect or impact. The study seeks to find out if there is potential impact of violent content and frustration with gameplay. In addition, the proponent wants to know if the interaction of violent content and frustration creates impact on aggressive personality of the players. The study therefore has a relevant purpose of investigating the effect of video games on the subjects’ personality primarily on how the violent content or frustration may provide an influence. This study is important because it will stand as a vital addition to the body of knowledge linked to the potential impact of videogame to its players. Main Hypotheses There are five hypotheses that the proponent identified in the research stud y. The first hypothesis states that there must be higher scores of state hostility measure for violent game compared to its nonviolent counterpart. The second hypothesis asserts that there must be higher scores of state hostility measure for frustrating game compared to low or non-frustrating game. The other hypothesis is about having certainty of higher scores on hostility measure if the participants will be exposed to both violent content and frustration. The fourth hypothesis suggests that participants who are having high trait in hostility should therefore score higher on a state hostility measure when they have to play violent game compared to those with low trait in hostility. The last hypothesis states that participants with high trait hostility should have a higher score in state hostility measure than those with low trait hostility during the actual play of a violent game. These are the essential hypotheses that Williams considered as vital points to consider prior to meeti ng the actual purpose or research problem of the study. In line with this, we can therefore detect the independent variable and it is the actual score in state hostility measure. The dependent variables are therefore the level of violence and frustration linked to the videogame. In addition, all of these are therefore directional hypotheses because they try to emphasize the use of a comparison term ‘higher’, which is an indication that there must be a remarkable difference between the groups that will be compared and how specifically they will differ. Design and Measurement There were one hundred fifty male college undergraduates at a large southeastern university coming from a psychology and mass communication courses who were employed in the research study. In the actual study, each of the participants was given the opportunity to play one of the four video games, which include violent and frustrating, violent and low/non-frustrating, nonviolent but frustrating, and n onviolent and low/non-frustrating. The participants were asked for their consent to participate in the study, which took place in more than one phase. This is to ensure that all of the respondents will turn out not forced to join in the research, but they have their consent to participate. To test the hypothesis, the proponent of the study relied on the response of the subjects on the given questionnaires and the use of statistical analysis like the analysis of covariance

The Operational Management Of The Hsbc Marketing Essay

The Operational Management Of The Hsbc Marketing Essay This paper aims to explain the operational management of the HSBC and how to develop and apply the concept of operational management, which refers to the operational routines that shape the way the firms strategic path is developed over time. There are total four task of analysis in this paper. The first task is to analysis the orientation of it organization and how this orientation affects the ability to deliver the key operational components for its survival such as speed, quality and flexibility. The second task is to identify the key changes within the organization. The third task, is to argue the case for or against to maintaining its orientation in the organization. At the last task is to discuss the important of new product development and how the operation can input in the development hence to reduce the risk of failure of products and services in the market. Outside the stakeholders are taking an increasing interest in the activity of the organization. Mainly look to the outer circle what the organizations has actually done such as: good or bad, in terms of its products and services, in terms of its impact on the environment and on local communities, or how it treats and develops its workforce. Out of the various stakeholders, the financial analysts who are predominantly focused as well as past financial performance on quality of management as an indicator of likely future performance. Flexibility- HSBC continues to enhance certain products development which the core to the companys customer group offering and some products will be managed or coordinated globally. These products include the HSBC cards, which exploits the experience and platforms provided by the Insurance, Cash Management, Household, for scale and international reach, Asset Management, Custody and Funds Administration, and Retirement Benefits. Quality- Besides that, improving the products, HSBC will ensure the customers that the company has the best capabilities, and will be able to offer a comprehensive service to their product expertise globally. Developing and improving their product is important because always aside from the trust of the consumers of the bank, this is also a good source of their profit for with good products and services, the HSBC can attract more customers and maintain old ones, and in turn, determine their success in the market, and maintain their reputation being the worlds local bank. Dependability- Through improving and developing their products and their services, the HSBC can deliver growth by enhancing their revenue generation culture, and this involves four aspects. These aspects including strengthening use of marketing as a key management tool of the business lines, rewarding revenue performance and penalizing mediocrity, focusing investment on businesses and geographies with largest growth potential, and benchmarking growth targets and achievement rigorously against peer group. Growth can continuously be achieved if these aspects will be implemented effectively and efficiency in the market. 1.3.2 The marketing strategic of HSBC HSBC launch the managing for growth program, which is a strategic plan that provides the company with a blueprint for growth and development the company business. The strategy builds on the companys strengths and addresses the areas where further improvement is considered both attractive and attainable. Its core values are integral to its strategy, and communicating them to their customers, shareholders and staffs is deemed as intrinsic to the plan. These values comprise an emphasis on long-term, high productivity through teamwork, ethical client relationship, a confident and ambitious sense of excellence, being international in outlook and character; prudence; creativity and customer focused marketing. The key marketing and business strategy for HSBC is as follows: Brand: make HSBC and its hexagon symbol one of the worlds leading brands for customer experience and corporate social responsibility. Personal Financial Services: drive growth in key markets and through appropriate channels to make HSBC the strongest global player in personal financial services. Consumer Finance: extend the reach of this business to existing customers through a wider product range and penetrate new markets Commercial Banking: make the most of HSBCs international customer base through effective relationship management and improved product offerings in all the Groups markets. Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets: accelerate growth by enhancing capital markets and advisory capabilities focused on client service in defined sectors where HSBC has critical relevance and strength. Private Banking: serve the Groups highest value personal clients around the world. People: attract, develop and motivate HSBCs people, rewarding success and rejecting mediocrity. TSR: fulfil HSBCs TSR target by achieving strong competitive performances in earnings per share growth and efficiency. 1.3.3 The marketing strategic perspective of HSBC The basis for HSBC to develop their strategies is aim to maintain their global competitiveness and reputation. The marketing strategic of HSBC delivery the following key operational components of: Speed- In order to effectiveness the fast product or service delivery and client relationships, the HR team would retain their individual specialist responsibilities and knowledge base on each business area would have a specific individual in the team to act as their client relationship manager (CRM). This is a simple change given that each team member based on their expertise, developed deeper relationships with certain business areas than others. The CRM give the team an up to date overview of all activities in several business area, the businesses challenges, needs and wishes at any point in time. This created a situation that often occurs in small HR teams with competent and enthusiastic members, namely over utilization by specific business areas and a focus on operational delivery. This is again a product of the way the business and team have grown. Team members keen to deliver good quality development to the business have jump at the opportunity to create a positive relationshi p where a need have to identify. Quality- HSBC is to maintain their position as the worlds local bank, which enables them to approach each country uniquely, blending local knowledge with a worldwide operation platform. This is a good approach for each of these regions are distinct from each other, having different culture and beliefs, making it difficult to implement a single project for all client around the world. The difference in this approach is to addressing the different needs of their customers, which is a good basis from the improvement of customer service at the business organization, and their aim is to find good solutions and techniques in the development and improvement of their rendered products and services. Dependability- Different geographies will provide different products or services to different customers. HSBC will concentrate activities on geographies where growth and critical mass and located. Such activities include global outsourcing strategy, which was also implemented by the company in several countries including in Philippines. The company was able to establish itself in call centers to provide their services in relation to sales and checking of accounts. Outsourcing contributes is to aim of HSBC to focus on the needs of their customers, for these all call centres are responsible for providing their customers with an information regarding their accounts. Call centres agents are also take responsible for answering the queries of customers regarding the company. Flexibility- Usually design or innovate new products or services to their customers, provide various products or flexibility services to fit different customers needs and ability to change the timing of delivery of its product and services to customers. 1.3.4 Comparison of orientation affect operational performance objective in HSBC Operational performance objectives Definition Product orientation Marketing orientation Quality Quality is consistent conformance to customer expectation. By providing high quality product and error free transaction of services to customers. Finding what customers want and expect by using research such as: survey, focus group for interview and other techniques that integrated customers voice. And research must reveal what the customers view of quality and whether customers are getting it. Speed The elapsed time between customers requesting products and services and their receiving them. Provide fast delivering products or fast transaction services to customers. Fast decision to change to improve customers satisfaction. Dependability Delivery or making available, products or services when they were promised to the customers. Different part of countries might deliver different type products or services. Different part of countries might have their own marketing strategy to its customers needs. Flexibility The degree to which an operations process can change what it does, how it is doing it or when it is doing it. Ability to introduce new or modified products and services to customers. -Ability to produce a wide range or mix of products and services. -Ability to change the level of output or activity to produce different quantities or volume of products and services over time. Ability to change the timing of delivery of its product and services. Cost One major operations objective, especially where companies compete with prices is cost. Low price is a universal attractive objective to customers, which can be achieved by producing goods at lower costs. Offer a reasonable price for a product and services that customers can afford to paid. In order to gain competitive advantage, the cost will be identifying through market condition and competitors performance. Task 2 2.0 Market Orientation Market orientation is generally regarded as the implementation of the marketing concept. The marketing concept is a philosophy of doing business, which puts the customers needs at the central of the organisation. In terms of the HSBC bank, the marketing concept starts with the customers needs as the top function of banking purpose. The HSBC must identify these needs and then decide which ones it should try to satisfy. The opportunity to meet bank objectives will occur through the banks efforts to determine customers satisfaction. 2.1 Key features of market Orientation According to Narver and Slater (1990) market orientation composed of three behavioral characteristics: Customer Orientation: understanding the potential customer needs in order to create an added value for him on a continuance basis. Competitor Orientation: knowing the strength and weaknesses as well as capabilities and strategies of key competitors. Inter Functional Coordination: coordinating use of the firm resources for creating high added value to target customers. Figure 1: Narver and Slaters view on market orientation. Source: Narver and Slater (1990). 2.1.1 Customer orientation The vital of this characteristic is to demonstration the understanding and commitment that results in enhanced value to the clients. The key behaviours of a customer approach include such as: providing services of values, researching customer needs, concentrating on needs, committing to customers, focusing on customers satisfaction; reporting and measuring satisfaction, and augmenting existing services. In order to focus customer orientation, HSBC should analyse the behaviour of their customers and using research such as survey, group focus interview and other technique that integrated customers voice to their expectation. 2.1.2 Competitor orientation This characteristic meets with the most resistance, who believe that competition amongst banks is unhealthy and counterproductive. But competition needs to be defined more broadly to include generic competition. Competition, from the viewpoint of the customer, is whatever will directly or indirectly satisfy a need. To understand the market, the HSBC must recognise that there is competition and that it is advantageous to benchmark the bank against other quantity programs and facilities that are offered by other banks as well evaluate the offerings from other generic competition. Key behaviours are open discussion of competitors; evaluating competitor behaviour; assessing competitor strategies; and examining opportunities for improvement. 2.1.3 Inter-functional Coordination The key indicator of this characteristic is the total commitment of all members to a marketing philosophy and the integration of marketing activities to provide value to the customer. Typical behaviours in HSBC should include those aspects: teams and departments working together to meet up customers needs, teams and departments sharing market information, teams and departments are integrating strategies, all sections working together to offer great value to customers, and the teams willing to share the resources. 2.1.4 Long-term Growth Focus HSBC normally regard a five year cycle as long term, claiming that the environment is too uncertain to plan beyond this time frame. Despite this, research indicates that organisations should develop a strategic plans, or strategic intentions, that go well beyond a five year cycle. Behaviours associated with this aspect include: adopting a long term focus in matters of expansion or survival, attempting to service all customers (shareholders, suppliers, staff and so on)in the long run, aiming for effective organisational performance in the marketplace, implementing and identify new value added services, and identifying the overcoming deficiencies in banking services. Task 3 3.0 Where Industry Life Cycle comes from? The industry life cycle imitates the human life cycle. The stages of industry lifecycle include fragmentation, shake out, maturity and decline. (Kotler, 2003) 3.1 Current industry life cycle in UK retail banking Figure 2: the banking industry life cycle (Source: from FSA website)1987 2009 Growth in UK bank has increased dramatically, and the rate of return on equity substantially exceeds the cost capital. UK banking has been a high growth, high return business and leading UK banks show some of the highest market capitalization in the EU. In the past twenty years the proportion of UK households with a bank account has risen dramatically (from 60% in 1980 to 94% in 2009). The number of service that a bank sells to a typical customer has also increased dramatically. In 2009, a bank typically cross-sells the current-account customer to a variety of other services, including likes mortgage, credit cards, personal loans, life and general insurance, car insurance and investment product such as mutual trust and unit trust. Besides that, technology has enabled banks to perform their retail business more efficiency. Advances in communication and information technology have driven down the cost of processing and made it feasible to perform this processing remotely from the banks branches. The introduction of cash machine, internet and phone banking has driven the cost per transaction. So did the consolidation of banking enterprises via merger and acquisition. Together, the expansion in revenue and the reduction in unit cost have lead to dramatic increase in profits from UK retail banking. 3.3 The reason to maintain its orientation in HSBC It enables continuous learning and knowledge accumulation through continuous collection of information about customers and competitors and using information to create superior customer value and competitive advantage. Will confuse customers if bank keep changing its orientation. High risk to change its orientation most of them might face failure in changing a new orientation. Changing may be costly and wasteful of resources such as time to re-training staff into new orientations, RD costs, switching costs, increase advertisement cost and marketing cost. Changing orientation will affect the organization in culture, management, leadership and operational. The operational efficiency and effectiveness is improved if orientation maintained. 3.3.1 The important of maintain marketing orientation and product orientation in HSBC Marketing Orientation Product orientation Is an organizational culture that most effectively and efficiency creates the necessary behaviours for the creation of superior value for buyer and thus, continuous superior performance business (Narver and Slater, 1990). The important to maintain marketing orientation because it usually focus the following advantages aspects: Increased profit through improved customer satisfaction. New opportunities occur due to greater understanding of markets, customers and competitors. Tapping into the knowledge of employees and directors more effectively. Improved understanding of customer requirement. Product and service development strategies greatly improved. Increase level of employee satisfaction Systems to raise both customer retention and customer acquisition. Development of a learning culture. Besides that, marketing orientation can facilitate the HSBC to compete by following sustainable competitive advantage: Creating a link between customer wants and organizational strengths Consider the competition from the customer perspective Creating and maintaining superior value through effective application of the marketing mix. A product orientation leads to marketing myopia (Levitt 1960), by focusing on the product rather than the customers needs. The advantages to maintain product orientation are as follows: Quality should be guaranteed. The product is consistent (any changes are progressive). Future activities are more predictable. 3.4 The reasons against maintaining its orientation in HSBC The environment (such as technologies) keeps changing, and maintaining the orientation may keep the bank off-track with competition. Operations need adjustment to keep with the changes. To attract new customers and sustainable competitive advantage. Where, organization will faced lost confidence or lost attractive by customers with current orientation. Customers have become more demanding to improved services such as: Shorter waiting time, 24/7 services, reduced lending rates, shorter loan approval period, etc. Bank may have to adjust its operations to take note of the changes. To improve reputation- by changing new orientation might help organization to improve well known reputation. To keep growth of product or services in its all market. Task 4 4.0 The new product development process The new product development process (NPD process) can be defined as a disciplined and unambiguous set of tasks and steps that describe the normal means by which an organization repetitively converts embryonic into saleable products or services. Two commonly used NPD process models are described as follows: A five-stage framework linking new product development opportunity to design, testing, information, and profit management. The stage-gate system that recognize the importance of cross-functional teams, parallel processing in activities, and up-front predevelopment activities in the NPD process. Testing Introduction Profit management Design Opportunity identification Stage 1 Preliminary assessment Stage 2 Business case preparation Stage 5 Full Production/ market launch Stage 4 Testing and validation Stage 3 Development Figure3: Two commonly used NPD process Models Primarily (Source: World Class Theory and Practice (International Edition) 4.1 The importance of new product development NPD is typically important for an organization. The importance for ongoing innovation is discussed by Lancaster and Massingham (1993,p. 128) is today, most organizations must either innovate or go out of business. Clearly, then, innovation and the new product development which such innovation gives rise to is not just desirable but is essential to long-term market and competitive success. 4.1.1 Sources of Competitive Advantage HSBC innovate and develop new products or services are because the new products or services offer them unique opportunities for competitive advantage. For example: HSBC was the first bank to launch TV banking and has returned to profitability. The early movers also have the advantage of taking a leading role in setting HSBCs standards for the emerging product categories. 4.1.2 Market Share Gain New product introduced in the marketplace provide additional first mover advantages to the organizations. By developing new products, HSBC can quickly capture a big share of the market before competitive products are introduced. For example HSBC creation of a joint-venture with Merrill-Lynch to create a new Internet based global banking service. 4.1.3 Higher profitability During the early stages, a new product faces less competition than a product in a mature; therefore, its profitability tends to be higher. As the market becomes saturated with several competitive products, prices start falling and profit margin decrease. This general trend is observed in HSBC. 4.1.4 Enhancement corporate image and Brand Name The development of innovative and creative new products will create HSBC in very powerful source of goodwill and creates a positive of corporate image. It is not easy to assign a monetary value to the goodwill associated with enhance corporate image results from new product development. At the same time, brand equity measures used in marketing show that organizations with more successful new product development efforts command higher respect from customers, which leads to enhanced long-term profitability. 4.1.5 Operating Cost and Capacity Utilization HSBC constantly innovate also identify better approaches for producing products. The product development effort is often closely linked with process development. Therefore, over a period of time, production cost is reduced, leading to enhance profitability. Furthermore, new products provide the opportunity for enhance sales, as the demand or older products decreases over time. Therefore, HSBC can continue to operate at a similar capacity id it continues to innovate and introduce new products. 4.2 The operational input into the development of TV banking in HSBC Research found that different development presents different strategic and operations types of actions in HSBC. An example to development TV banking in HSBC, this project involved the development of a new technological capability to manage transactions by TV remote control. Figure 4: The initiative development characteristics Initiative Exploration vs. exploitation The major issue of the initiative Capital investment Decision making style successful Life span (years) TV banking Exploration Technology Medium Top-down Yes 3 The operational inputs into the development are base on 3 stages such as follows: 4.2.1 The First Stage Idea Generation Primarily focus on the initial stage of the initiative and examine the factors that shape the idea as it emerges. This section has two main themes. The first themes is focuses on the origin of each of the initiatives; and the second themes is focuses on the way in which the initiative gains initial approval. In HSBC the major source of initiatives came from senior managers who were following an idea of their departmental mission. The other factors in Harts (1992) categorization were not found to be significant. They are the ways in which the initiatives initials ideas were spark: The investment in TV banking: The first contact came when the other party in the venture approached the bank. At primary, the decision was not to invest in the firm, since the project did not fit the banks requirements. Six months later SKY and BT approached the Head of Strategy, who took the lead. Since the other party changed their requirement for a bank partner, it was possible for the bank to accept the offer. According to Burgelman (1983) the ideas for initiatives in his research cases came from the line managers and was based on technological development possibilities. But my opinion reveals different sources. In my opinion the idea for each initiative emerged from the senior level of management, based on a view of the departmental mission. In order to development TV banking in HSBC, the first step was to organise an informal meeting between a senior member of the top team and the initiator. Without this initial approval, the initiator cannot continue with this project. The development of TV banking projects was presented to the GM of Marketing, who decided to adopt the idea, and the department will began to plan the project in detail. The beginning of the working project involved collaboration with different departments. After finished the concept creation part of the project the marketing department started to think about implementation. And the next steps, the marketing department will took it to implementation planning. 4.2.2 The second stage- Concept development In the second stage, the initiatives basic concept that was permitted by one of the top team is developed into a concrete plan. This plan will be executed in the third stage of development- the implementation stage. This section is discussing two main issues: The development of the concept The preparation for implementation During this stage the bank forms two-layer management style for concept development and implementation. In this management structure, each project has a steering committee and an operational committee that collaborate on the concepts development of the concept and implementation. Looking to the concept development, the process is separated into two parts: Focuses on forming the concept-The initial work on the initiatives concept the study is done by the initiator by using external and internal sources. In the TV banking project the project manager began to form organizational support for the project only after the investment decision and a six-month period of planning and studying the projects needs in the SDU offices. Then, the whole implementations design was conducted by the Marketing Department. Focuses on extending the concept and developing the role of each department in the development of the initiative- By explore the implications for the perceived success of initiatives. In the TV banking project, the planners included more scope for benefits then were initially thought possible. 4.2.3 The Third Stage-Implementation In the third stage of the development is implemented. The main concern of this section is to look at the administrative system through which implementation is achieved. The bank has to develop a particular system through which it conducts its projects. This involves two-layer management structure. The first layer of the management structure is the steering committee, which is headed by the project sponsor, who is usually a senior general manager in the department responsible for the project. The other members of the steering committee are managers from project-related departments. The second management body is the working committee. Figure 4 portrays the structure of development TV banking. The solid line arrow represents the chain of command for the project, and the black down arrow indicates that the steering committee consists of the managers or their department representatives in the working group. When the project is particularly complex, as in the TV banking project, the project itself is divided into many sub-projects, and each may having its own operations committee. However, the whole project has one coordinating operations committee. The project manager, who heads the co-ordination committee, reports to the project sponsor on the development of this committee. Thus, the whole project has one steering committee and one coordinating operations committee. Normally, the steering committee meets once a month (but this can vary according to need) and the operation committee meets once a week. The steering committee includes in the management level of the department, while the operation committee includes in the members of staff who actually conduct the project. The steering committee needs to solve and support the operation committee in all the problems it faces. These could be external or internal in the firm. External in the firm such as: the choice of technologies and the market. Whereas, internal in the firm they could be such as: internal communication and negotiation to priorities objectives between departments. The project sponsor The steering Group The project manager The working Group Figure 5: The two layered management structure 4.3 Step to reduce Failure on new development In order to reduce the risk of failure of products or services in the market, HSBC can utilize marketing research. At the heart of any product success by truly understanding of consumer wants and needs, and how HSBC new product could fill those needs in a meaningful way. There are four steps to follows: Step one: Market understanding HSBC can use tools such as qualitative research, category assessment, and segmentation to understand the competitive landscape, why consumers buy certain products, how they use those products, and what unmet needs they may have. Step 2: Apply that insight in concept development Here HSBC can use brainstorming, concept testing, and volumetric forecasting to generate new product ideas, identify areas for improvement, and determine which products are most promising. Step 3: Building on that knowledge, HSBC can move to product development In this step HSBC can use marketing research tools such as product testing, packaging research, pricing research, and claim substantiation help them to understand how their product performs in real-world conditions, how it compares to competing products, and what competitive claims HSBC can make. Step 4: After product launch, HSBC move to product management. HSBC can use tools such as customer satisfaction research, tracking research and promotion assessment to determine key metrics related to competitor comparisons, product awareness, consumer usage, and optimum marketing approaches. While theres no sure-fire way to ensure product success, marketing research is cruci

Roman History Essay -- essays research papers

Death In Rome when you died it was very important that you were buried properly and the correct procedure was followed. If something didn’t go right the funeral would start again. The Romans believed in life after death, and the souls of the dead could help the living or make life hard for them. To insure that the souls of the dead rested in peace a gold coin would be placed under the tongue, this was to pay the ferryman Charon to cross the river Styx. If you didn’t have a coin or you drowned you had to wait for 100 years. Once across the river your soul would be judged. If you had a good life you would be sent to Elysia or the Elysian Fields. If you didn’t you would be sent to Tartaurs where you would be tortured for all eternity. The bodies of the dead were cremated. The cremations were held outside the city. The body would then be placed into the ground. The rich were put into sarcophagi. Some people would have an epitaph on there tomb. This was a brief description of the person how they lived and died. On the birthdays of the dead the family would have a meal in there honor. Most tombstones had a chute where food could be dropped into, this was thought to nourish the soul. Some Mausoleums had kitchen facilities and eating areas for these occasions. Most Romans belonged to a funeral club. These were clubs that a Roman would join and pay into over there life to pay for there funeral. The only class that had trouble paying into it were the unskilled plebs, they were usually...

Bharatnatyam

Introduction to Semiotics Bharatanatyam A journey from temples to the proscenium An introduction Bharatanatyam is a Sanskrit word, which means the dance of Bharata (India). True to its name, it is one of the oldest and most popular dance forms of India. It originated in the temples of Southern India and was later codified and documented as a performing art by the Tanjore Quartet. It is now the most popular Indian classical dance and is appreciated worldwide. Bharatanatyam is a language in itself. Like Sanskrit language, bharatanatyam follows strict rules and is technically sound. The grammar of the steps is followed rigorously. It is danced to Carnatic music and the mathematical precision of the dance equals the Carnatic music measure of measure. The three significant ingredients of bharatanatyam are: bhava (emotion), raga (music) and taal (rhythm); governed by Bharata muni’s Natya Shastra and Nandikeshwar’s Abhinaya Darpana. Hence, the interpretation BHAva +  RAga (music) +  TAla+  NATYAM(dance) =  Bharatanatyam. The technique and presentation â€Å"Bharatanatyam in its highest moment, is the embodiment of music in a visual form† -Balasaraswati The three major attributes of a Bharatanatyam performance are Nritta (technique), Nritya and Natya (drama). Nritta is pure dance. It is the movement of hands and feet on the rhythm and speed. It is a collage of rhythmic lines, forms and shapes. The movements, mudras or gestures do not signify anything. Then why nritta? Indian music and dance forms are based on the concept of cyclic rhythm or taal. Various musical patterns are woven with the musical notes and rhythmic patterns which can be beautifully executed through nritta. Nritya is interpretative dance. It is used to exhibit the underlying meaning of the song and the emotion attached with it. It is a combination of nritta and abhinaya or expressions. The meaning of the song is expressed systematic gesture language and facial expressions. Natya is equivalent to dance-drama. It is a language of gestures, poses, dialogues and mime. It depicts a story usually from the Indian mythology like Ramayan or Mahabharata. Here, the emphasis is majorly on abhinaya or expression rather than the rhythmic movements. The Abinaya is divided as: Angikabhinaya:  Expression through the limbs and body like the Head, Hands, and Legs. Vachikabhinaya:  Expression through narrations and voice. Aharyabhinaya:  Expression through dress, ornaments and other aids. Satvikabhinaya: Mental expression of feeling and emotion by facial expression and use of eyes. Bharatanatyam: The Journey The journey of bharatnatyam from the temples of south India to the proscenium of the world is a very exciting one. Dasi-attam (Origin and decline) Bharatnatyam as a very ancient and traditional art form has been associated with the temples of South India. It is believed that Bharatnatyam used to be known as the â€Å"temple dance†. Bharatnatyam was also known as the dasi-attam (dance performed by the dasis – the servants of God) or the sadir-attam (court dance). It was choreographed to be performed solo by the devadasis in the temples as an offering to the deities. These women, called devadasis, are said to have devoted their lives to God. They were considered to be united with the Gods. Infact, they were considered so close to the gods and so pure, that a pearl form their necklace was considered auspicious for the mangalsutra of a woman. They performed useful functions at temples like cleaning, lighting lamps, dressing the deities etc. They also sang devotional songs and danced in devotion to the deities. Apart from this, they taught music and dance to young girls. These devadasis were accomplished artistes who could play many musical instruments. They were well versed in Sanskrit and other languages, which helped them to interpret the compositions that they would perform. They were instrumental in developing a tradition of classical music and dance in South India. The devadasis were celibate and were not allowed to have a family as they were considered to be married to the Gods. Therefore, initially most of the dances in Bharatnatyam were choreographed to be in praise of God. Many padams (narrative pieces) depicted the love story of a nayak (hero) and a nayika (heroine). In most cases, the nayak was in the form of Lord Krishna, or Shiva or any other mythological hero. While Shiva was said to be serious, Krishna was full of pathos and love. Thus, the choreographies mainly concentrated on Sringara rasa (love). Gradually the devadasi system started getting plagued with several notorious ills. Around this time, it was customary for the Indian people hailing from royal or aristocratic families to invite a devadasi to a celebration, to sing and dance and perform. The best dancers were invited to the royal courts to perform, in return which they were provided with a shelter. In this period, the position of the devadasis could be compared to that of an apsara (celestial nymph) who danced in the courts of the Gods in order to please them. Eventually, the rich men and the aristocrats attracted the devadasis with good money and luxurious lifestyles and lured them into being their mistresses. The devadasis were easily enticed to the kind of lifestyle offered to them. Thus, the sringara rasa in their choreographies converted into eroticism and they danced merely to appease the rich men. As consequence of which, these devadasis who were held at par with the temple priests lost their respect in the society. By this time, the Europeans had arrived to India. Their advent was like addition of fuel to the fire of the already deteriorating dance form. The Europeans ridiculed this entire system of dancing to please the lords and considered this to be no better than prostitution. Under the British rule, propaganda prevailed to against Indian art, misinterpreting it as crude and immoral. Also other factors like loss of patronage due to the unstable political conditions, lack of recognition in the education system and lack of appreciation as compared to that given to ballet ; played a major role in the set back of the dance form. Due to the degenerated status of the devadasis, the Indian reformers started a movement against the devadasis. Thus the devadasi tradition was banned. The government started working with various non-governmental organizations to help reinstate these women into the society, as well as raise public awareness of the demeaning nature of their life work Thus, the devadasi tradition and with it the performing art (bharatanatyam) took a back seat in the history of Indian art and culture. Revival Against all odds, a few families preserved the knowledge of this dance form. These included individuals from varied backgrounds: Indian freedom fighters, Westerners interested in Indian arts, people outside the  devadasi  class who learnt Bharatanatyam, and  devadasis  themselves. The pioneers in reviving this art for are: E. Krishna Iyer, Rukmini Devi, Balasaraswati etc. Bharatanatyam now attracted young artists from respectable  Brahmin  families. Initially met with shock, their participation ultimately helped to shift public opinion in favor of reviving the art. An association of  devadasis  joined the effort to revive Bharatanatyam. Its ranks included an eventual teacher of Rukmini Devi’s, as well as the family of the legendary dancer Balasaraswati. Rukmini Devi’s debut performance in 1935 was a milestone. Her efforts won over much of the orthodox community of Madras. Her reforms of costume, stage setting, repertoire, introduction of dance drama,musical accompaniment, and thematic content, overcame the objections of conservatives that Bharatanatyam was vulgar. She went on to found the Kalakshetra institute, to which she attracted many great artists and musicians, with whom she trained generations of dancers. Balasaraswati promoted the traditional art of the  devadasis, maintaining that reforms were unnecessary and detracted from the art. Staying true to her  devadasi  lineage, she achieved great renown for her excellence. The renewed awareness of Bharatanatyam in Indian society allowed many nattuvanars  to resume their training activities, and many artists to enter the field of classical dance. Rukmini Devi’s desire to restore the full spiritual potential of the dance motivated reforms that led to what was known as the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam. Bharatanatyam soon became the most widespread and popular of the Indian classical dance forms. It wasn’t long before it achieved international recognition as one of India’s treasures. Rukmini Devi versus Balasaraswati Differences in the similarity of trying to revive the Indian traditional art form The two towering figures that played a major role in the revival of das-attam as bharatantyam: Tanjore Balasaraswati and Rukmini Devi. Balasaraswati was affiliated with the school known as Tanjore court style while Rukmini devi was associated with a style that she developed at Kalakshetra. By focusing on these two dancers, we can throw light on the historical event of the upgradation of bharatanatyam. They were contemporaries. Balasaraswati gave her first performance in 1925 in a temple and Rukmini Devi gave her first performance in 1935 for the Theosophical Society’s anniversary celebration. Both performed Bharatanatyam regularly on concert stage and considered it a means of salvaging the endangered dance form. In the Indian dance world, both of them are legendary figures. Their names have become synonymous to classicism and traditionalism. Around both of them instructional communities have developed, which led to idea of development of various styles in Bharatnatyam. They led on to take Bharatnatyam on a whole new international level, in their own way. Despite the similarities and the oneness in the agenda of working for the up gradation of the lost dance form, the difference in their ideologies held them in opposition – which has affected the background of Bharatanatyam ever since. Rukmini Devi was a Brahmin who was married to an English Theosophist, George Arundale at the age of sixteen. She came in contact with the famous ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova who accepted her as a student. Pavlova later suggested Rukmini Devi to train in her ‘own dance from’. Following her advice, Rukmini Devi returned to Madras and trained under a traditional guru in the classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She defied the orthodox custom that upper and middle class girls should not learn dance and set up Kalakshetra to train dancers from the upper and middle class families. The establishment of Kalakshetra played an important role in bringing Bharatanatyam from the temples to the concert stage. Balasaraswati on the other hand hailed from a family of devadasis. She was born in a lineage of women who were associated with the Tanjore music and dance since generations. Her mother and grandmother wanted her to become musician considering the social stigma linked to dance at that time but she decided to become a dancer against all odds. She gave her first performance, arangetram at the temple of Ammanakshi in Kanchipuram, marking the beginning of her legendary career. Rukmini Devi Rukmini Devi entered and Balasaraswati had carved their positions in the world of dance with a radically different perspectives. Rukmini Devi had a very clear goal of purifying the dance form. According to her, the dance form was precious but degraded because its reigns were in the hands of people with ‘ill repute’. She wanted to eradicate the stigma associated with it by passing it on to the hands of people from the upper or middle class. She thought that everything about Bharatnatyam needed to be purified so that it could regain its respectable position in the society. Also, she believed that the main reason for the degradation of this art form was the fact that sringara rasa (love) was the centre of the choreographies. The sringara rasa had led to the degeneration of the art form as introduced eroticism and sexuality in the art to the extent to make it vulgar. â€Å"To depict such things is unthinkable for me†, she said. She was not against the sringara rasa as such (she had performed love poems by jayadeva and kalidasa in her natya), but against the choreographies performed by the devadasi. The actions, mudras and movements included by them in their choreographies had become earthy from beautiful. She strived hard to replace the sringara rasa by bhakti rasa or ‘devotionalism’; devoid of any sexual referrant. Bhakti Rasa Rukmini Devi held Bharatnatyam as a national art form and worked towards its purification and propagating this art form in India and the rest of the world. She established the Kalakshetra – international school of performing arts, to fulfil her goals. Here, students from various upper and middle classes were trained in Bharatnataym and also some other dance forms. She also set up a theatre which gave a platform to her students and also to her innovations in the dance form. Thus, she made reforms to take Bharatnatyam to a whole new international level. Balasaraswati Balsaraswati on the other hand, was very proud of her mother, grandmother and her devadasi ancestors. She was very proud of the achievements of the devadasis in the world of Bharatnatyam. Unlike Devi, she fore grounded the South Indian nativity and stood by the Tamil roots associated with the dance form. She advocated preserving the tradition, and also keeping it in the hands of the  devadasi  community. Her argument was that the art would die if separated from the caste. She believed that Bharatnatyam was in its purest form and it required no modernization or reformation. At many occasions she reprobated efforts to purify the dance form saying. â€Å"Indeed the effort to purify bharatanatyam is like putting gloss on a burnished gold or painting a lotus†. This proves how high Balasaraswati’s respect and love for Bharatanatyam (in its existing form) was. She urged to adhere to the custom of Bharatnatyam being performed in temples and courts. She also urged taking Bharatnatyam on the concert stage. This gave a new dimension to the revival of the dance form. She also defended the maintenance of originality of the dance form, by supporting the long, solo performances being an important component of the dance form. She emphasized the importance of such elements in to context to maintain classicism, integrity and aestheticism of the dance form. She also believed that abiding by the Tanjore Quartet’s format was an important way of honouring the contributions of the court practitioners. Sringara Rasa Balasaraswati was particularly critical of the reformers who believed in transforming the sringara rasa of the form. She was quoted as saying, â€Å"Sringara is bhakti and bhakti is sringara†. She believed that there is an intricate relationship between the expression of love (sringara) and feeling of devotion (bhakti). She believed that sringara is the supreme emotion and that no other emotion could express so beautifully the mystic union of atma (soul) and the paramatma (The almighty). This rasa gives the dancer a wide scope of introducing artistic innovation from within herself. Balasarswati thus, believed that she was entrusted with the task of safeguarding the dance form by not allowing it to be modernized and easily accessible for corruption. In spite of all the discouragement faced from the world, she continued to protect the dance form, the purity and the originality of the dance form. A similarity in the differences In spite of all the difference and such radically opposite perspectives, both Rukmini Devi and Balasaraswati had the same agenda- of saving the dying dance form. They both strived in their own way to protect the dance form and to take it to a whole new level. Their efforts in bringing Bharatnatyam to the concert stage or proscenium against all the opposition and hurdles from the society are commendable. A choreographer should be thankful to the endeavours of these two torchbearers towards the revival of the Bharatnatyam. History was therefore selective. Rukmini Devi and Balasaraswati presented their understandings by emphasizing on some aspects and eschewing the others.

Exploring the Theme of Love in Duffy’s Havisham Essay

Duffy, writing from the twentieth century perspective, revisits the well known character from Great Expectations in a dramatic monologue, where she assumes the persona of Havisham to explore the innermost thoughts and feelings of a bitter woman destroyed by unrequited love and humiliation. Havisham appears to be written in the style of a Shakespearean sonnet, but does not end in a rhyming couplet, only continues in this style. This symbolises that there is no happy ending for Havisham and thoughts of her lover’s betrayal will haunt her throughout the rest of her life, her pain in ongoing and never ending. Duffy takes away Miss Havisham’s title; by doing this she strips her of her identity in society. Duffy’s use of an oxymoron and pejorative, ‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’, has an undercurrent of violence, and emphasises Havisham’s conflicting emotions about her ex lover. The use of dark, monosyllabic language like ‘dead’, coupled with the harsh ‘d’ sound shows how detached Havisham has become from her emotions. The metaphor ‘dark green pebbles for eyes’, reflects how her soul has been hardened to all feelings and emotions. The isolated noun ‘spinster’ reflects Havisham’s own isolation from society, through her embarrassment at being jilted at the altar. Havisham ‘stink[s] and remember[s]’, the olfactic image shows that Havisham is consumed by her past and that every part of her is tainted by it. Duffy employs an aural animalistic image, ‘cawing’ that strips Havisham of her femininity and in her wardrobe Havisham’s dress is ‘yellowing’, reflecting her own decay. Havisham is afraid to look in ‘the slewed mirror’ because she fears herself and then she questions ‘who did this to [her]’, whether she is responsible for what she has become. Duffy uses darkly erotic and sensual images as Havisham imagines emasculating her lover, and a violent plosive, ‘bite’, to emphasise her desire to emasculate him, just as her femininity was taken from her. The oxymoron ‘love’s hate’ reflects Havisham’s conflicted emotions, that her past has disturbed her present and future. Duffy employs a violent plosive, ‘red balloon bursting in my face’, with a denotation that emphasises her desire for revenge. There is a violent, isolated, onomatopoeic, aural image that represents her pain, her past and her suffering. Havisham longs for ‘a male corpse’ which implies her desire to torture and gain revenge on her ex lover. Duffy shows us that it is not only Havisham’s heart that has broken, but her mind is broken too, she has been destroyed by her ex lover and this has distorted her view on her life and herself.