Nora in Ibsens A Dolls House Essay Example for Free

Nora in Ibsens A Dolls House Essay Throughout history, the role of gender equality has been viewed with varying degrees of importance by societies. People are quick to identify and label a rebel as the one who goes against all the moral convictions and different normalities of each society. The definition of rebel is listed as someone or something that resists any authority or control. In the context of society, the control which is resisted by the rebel can be no other than the stereotypes of that particular society, a feature which can be directly linked to the oppression of women and their desires and aspirations under standardised conditions and circumstances. Can the rebellious attitudes of women be condemned, ignoring the discontent of these women? Also, should their happiness become repressed, giving way to self-sacrifice and the forfeiting of their desires? It is these issues which Medea and Nora are faced with, and in each case we can see that their decision to go against the stereotypes of the eras are perhaps indicative of the predominance of their own desires and dreams over the notion of self-sacrifice. Thus we can see that both Medea and Nora can be characterised as rebels against the societies they live in. To begin with, Nora has fit into her society quite appropriately. She has married Torvald Helmer, and has three small children. She fulfills her duties as mother and wife with no apparent constraints from happiness. She does indeed thrive on keeping her home as best she can with the limited money she has at her disposal. One example of this is where she has bought Christmas presents for Torvald, all of her children, and even the maids; however she buys nothing for herself. 1 She endures Torvalds condescending stance towards her, and does not retaliate when he criticizes both her and her father by saying that Nora is just like your father always on the look-out for all the money you can get, but the moment you have it, it seems to slip through your fingers 2 The impression we are left with after these first pages is that of Nora being extremely nai ve, and having to be put in her place by Helmer, who does so almost instinctively.

Oedipus the King: Oedipus And The Gods :: essays research papers fc

In Ancient Greece the existence of gods and fate prevailed. In the Greek tragedy King Oedipus by the playwright Sophocles these topics are heavily involved. We receive a clear insight into their roles in the play such as they both control man's actions and that challenging their authority leads to a fall. The concepts of the gods and fate were created to explain things. In Ancient Greece there was a lot that was not understood; science was in its infancy and everything that happened could be explained by the will of the gods or fate. The gods were the height of power; they supposedly existed since the beginning of time. They were immortal, omnipresent and omnipotent. However, the different gods had different personalities. In this sense they were anthropomorphic. Having such mastery of the world would enable them to control man's behavior, as is shown in King Oedipus. The idea of fate has existed for a long time and exists even today. Fate revolves around the idea that people's lives are predetermined and that no matter what is done it cannot be changed. With the gods it was used to explain events that seemed strange. Sophocles expands on this idea by introducing Oedipus' fate. The thought of fate is strong considering no matter how hard he struggles he still receives what was predetermined. As a baby he survived the elements on Mount Cithaeron. As Oedipus was destined to live, it shows the dominance of fate. Having fate play such a large part of the play is certainly an insight into the Greek's idea that fate controls us no matter how hard we struggle against it. In the play the dominance of the gods is shown again and again. In the second stasimon after Tiresias leaves the chorus chants "Zeus and Apollo know, they know, the great masters of all the dark and depth of human life", reasserting the belief in the god's power. At the very opening of the play, the priest who converses with Oedipus says ". . . You cannot equal the gods, your children know that. . . ", proving again the Greek belief that the gods are the height of power. However, it is not only the people that revere the gods. After Oedipus blinds himself, Creon takes control of Thebes. When Oedipus asks to be banished, Creon replies "Not I. Only the gods can give you that", again acknowledging the higher authority of the gods.

Selling to Cynics

Summary – Shock advertising Generation X is society’s trendiest group, it is realistic and under the age of thirty. Advertisers have recently discovered this segment and are willing to sell directly to them now, but also would like to start a relationship that goes beyond this generation. The problem is that Generation X doesn’t trust advertisers, they are aware of the fact that there are companies willing to sell them products they don’t want. These companies are desperate to reach this new segment with the help of advertisement agencies who speak â€Å"their language†.Tim Delaney made the advertisement for Pepe jeans, which is an advertisement with the darker values of generation X, as it shows disturbing images and alienated teenagers. Pepe Jeans wants to dissociate itself from the corporate culture. They think their advertisement did not offend their targeted audience, as the idea of how negative or dark these thoughts are, are in the eye (or mi nd) of the beholder. Jiro Ejaife from â€Å"don’t tell it magazine† wanted an advertisement based on the â€Å"amusing† violence in cult movies. Their advertisement shows a teenager being shot repeatedly.He made the advertisement intentionally over the top, and thinks the question of morality should lie with the church, family and schools. The test viewing shows that teenagers disagree about the violence used in this advertisement. Some think the advertisement is unacceptable, others are not offended, as nowadays there is much more violence in movies. The advertisement industry is disputing the use of â€Å"Shock advertising†, and the moral cause of this new tactic, as advertising doesn’t only sell a product, but also sells behavior and attitude with the same efficiency.Adrian Holmes of Howard-Spink advertising is one of the acceptable advertisers, he thinks it is in the moral interest of the country and the commercial interest of the industry that these â€Å"shock advertisers† should be brought into line. These types of advertisements give ammunition to the anti-advertising lobby, which will use it against all advertisers and curtail whatever creator freedom they still have. Christopher Ogden of the advertising standards authority relies on the self regulation system where advertisers themselves behave responsibly. The authority itself however would act hard if the advertisers use anti-social advertisements.The idea of Professor Malcolm Mc Donald of the Cranfield School of management is that advertisers who chose for short term sensational game always lose in the long run, as there are not only the shareholders to please but also other stakeholders like employees, pressure groups, etc. Finally Geoffrey Ellerton of midland bank thinks the more you target and advertisement very specifically for a particular market niche like the teenage audience, the greater the risk that you give any other audience the idea that the o rganization is not for them but for a younger aged group.Midland bank uses an advertisement which shows an adolescent person leaving his parents to live on his own. Test viewing has shown that teenagers are indifferent to this kind of advertisement as it did not make an impact on them. We can conclude that the advertisement business is caught between two worlds, the moralists and the mainstream on the one hand and a young market with entirely different ethical ideas on the other hand. Generation X might just turn their backs to the advertisers.

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