Illusions Realities Ibsen Essay Example for Free

Illusions Realities Ibsen Essay Introduction In Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, illusions and reality are set into a conflict within the story of a son’s personal desire to confront idealism. Throughout much of the play, the son, Greger, argues the value of truth with the reluctant Dr. Relling. Relling insists on the importance of illusions, but fails to discourage Greger’s intentions and a play that begins as a comedy quickly turns into a tragedy because of these conflicts. At the heart of the illusions in this play are the ways that people assume many roles in a family, impersonating multiple ideals as ways for managing their relationships. This theme of impersonation is also developed in Ibsen’s Ghosts, where family relations are slowly undone as the illusions and deceptions are stripped away. In both plays, deceptions are strategic and designed to protect the children from the pains and struggles of their families’ histories. Ultimately, in these plays, families are held together by illusions, yet torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children. Illusions and Realism In The Wild Duck, as Relling continues to discourage Greger from revealing damaging truths about family secrets, Relling insists, If you take away make-believe from the average man, you take away happiness as well (Ibsen, 294). Relling is referring to the ways the Ekdal family is structured on particular deceptions; however, these are designed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. Hedvig, the fourteen year old daughter, represents one of the innocents, and Greger’s father, Old Werle, represents a part of the guilty side. The key to these dualisms of false and truth, innocent and guilty, illusion and reality, lies in Ibsen’s art of realism, which was a staging of the complicated threads that hold ordinary lives together. Within the ordinary lives of the families in Ghosts and The Wild Duck are tales of infidelity, corruption, greed, lust, disease, and other afflictions that characterize family secrets. For example, in Ghosts, the mother, Mrs. Alving, reveals the ways she has protected her son Oswald from the truths of her unhappy marriage. She tells her friend and priest, Manders, â€Å"†¦Yes, I was always swayed by duty and consideration for others; that was why I lied to my son, year in and year out. Oh, what a coward I have been† (315). Manders responds, â€Å"You have built up a happy illusion in your son’s mind, Mrs. Alving – and that is a thing you certainly ought not to undervalue,† (315) echoing Dr. Relling’s belief that illusions are sometimes more than a question of reality. In both plays, the deeper questions are about whose reality matters, and who may determine another person’s reality. Relling accuses Greger of having a plague of â€Å"†¦integrity-fever; and then whats worse you are always in a delirium of hero-worship; you must always have something to adore, outside yourself,† which Greger agrees to, without considering the consequences of this claim (297). In fact, Greger’s certainty about the dangers of illusions provokes the young Hedvig into an emotional despair, and she kills herself. The issues presented in this play are not about what is true, or false, but about the ways people build their lives on the past. Hedvig’s father, Hialmar, protects his daughter from truths that concern the actions of others, with consequences that have indirectly affected her life. In Ghosts, Mrs. Alving is protecting her son from truths that, in the end, have consequences on Oswald’s life, as he has inherited syphilis from his philandering father. The climaxes of these two stories result in the deaths of Hedvig, and Oswald and both deaths come about as a result of their learning the truths of their pasts. In each of these plays, the reality is what destroys the characters. Once the life illusions are taken away, there is nothing for the individuals to hold onto. As the illusions are shattered, reality becomes impossible to endure. Ultimately, by using realism to portray the value of illusions, Ibsen produces complicated questions about what is real and what is sometimes a necessary illusion. Conclusion Both The Wild Duck, and Ghosts are tragedies that involve what might be understood as â€Å"the sins of the fathers;† however, Ibsen seems to suggest that some truths are better maintained as illusions. In both plays, the truth destroys the lives of those who have been protected from the past and in both cases the past involves relationships that have indirect consequences on the children’s understandings of their lives. In the end, whether it is right or wrong to maintain the illusions is not as significant as the question of who has the right to determine what is real, and what is true for others. Works Cited Henrik Ibsen, â€Å"The Wild Duck,† Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen, NY: Bantam Books. Henrik Ibsen, â€Å"Ghosts,† Playreader’s Repertory, M. R. White and F. Whiting, Eds. , London: Foresom and Company.

Domestic Marketing And International Marketing Marketing Essay

Domestic Marketing And International Marketing Marketing Essay Tesco operates globally; in addition to UK it operates in Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey and Poland. Tesco also operates in Asian market which includes; South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan. Tesco performance is highly influenced by the above countries government legislations including EU. For operating in these countries, Tesco has to develop the job opportunities for the local people in order to grow the business in these countries. Economic: Like any other organisation the Tesco is also influenced by economic factors, one of the most influential factors is a high unemployment level in the market, which has effectively decreases the demand for many products. These economic factors are externally generated and is not in companys control, but the effect of these economic factors are on performance and marketing mix of the organisation. Tesco is expanding internationally and expecting to contribute great amount to tescos profit but still highly dependent on UK market. Social/Cultural factors: Due to current trends of market customers have moved to One-Stop and bulk shopping practice which is in response of variety of social changes. In result of this change Tesco has increased the amount of non-food products available for sale. The existing demographic changes where there is an increase in female workers and result in decline the home meal preparation the Tesco focused on added value products and services for the customers. Customers are becoming more health conscious and their attitude towards the food is constantly changing, the example is increase demand of organic products. Technological: Technology is a major macro-environmental factor which has influenced the production and development of many products of Tesco. This benefits both customer and the organisation in shape of goods are readily available, personalised services and convenient shopping experience. Due to launch of Efficient Consumer Response the Tesco stores are utilising the following technologies; Wireless devices Intelligent scale Electronic shelf labelling Self checkout machine Radio frequency identification Environment: One of the main societal issue which has affected and threatening the food retailers was environmental issues, the core area for the organisation to act in a social responsible way. Due to these ethical stance Tesco social responsibility is concerned with the ways that an organisation exceeds the minimum stakeholders specified obligations by regulation and corporate governance. Tesco focuses on the strategy for sustainable consumption and production of cut waste and reduce the consumption of resources to minimise the environmental damage. Legislative: Like any other organisation Tesco is not free of Governments various legislations and policies which directly influence the Tesco performance. For example The Food Retailing Commission, has suggested the enforcement of Code of Practice has banned many current practices of Tesco. In order to apply the politically correct pricing policies, Tesco offers consumers price reduction on fuel purchases based on the amount spent on groceries at its stores. Segmentation, targeting and positioning model of Tesco: Market Segmentation: It is process through which the organisations identify the different portions of the market according to how the market will respond to various products and services features. Segmenting any market is a vital part for any organisation to identify their customer needs and wants. Tesco has entered the market with a range of segmented products and services based on demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural. The reason for dividing the market into small segments is to address the needs and wants of smaller groups based on various factors and to produce according the consuming habits of the buyers. Tesco has segmented the market in such a way, which covers all kind of population regardless of social, aging, gender and environment. Tesco has segmented the market by providing food and non-food products to the buyers to give options to everyone. Targeting: Tesco entered to the market with the range of options including targeted to the richer (Tesco finest) and poorer end (Tesco value) ends of the market, which has taken significant number of customers from Sainsbury. Tesco has also targeted to the multi-cultural customers; for instance, by providing Indian currys food which has increased the number of customers in Tesco by having an option of food variety. Positioning: Positioning plays an important role when attracting customers, this is a process where customers build an image of the brand and are able to understand the uniqueness of the particular brand or product when compare to the other brands or products. Tesco has positioned its markets through different ways; for instance, Tesco Extra larger market, Tesco supermarket sized standard large supermarket, Tesco metro in between Tesco express and Tesco supermarket, Tesco Express neighbourhood convenience store. Tesco is large organisation providing every kind of product to the customers and opened in every town that is convenient for everyone. Select two products in different markets and make justified recommendations for which market segments should be targeted. There are number of alternate products that consumer buy due to their cultural and religion reasons. If we take an example of meat and halal meat to justify why market segments should be targeted. Taking into account that there are many multinationals lives in the UK from different cultural and religion background. Tesco is providing a wide range of food products which also includes the meat. Considering the segmentation when we divide the market into small segments to justify and fulfil the needs of consumers its very important to look into what type of markets organisations are targeting based on the demographic and behavioural aspect. Some of the markets targeted are based on muslim community who do not eat pork and the meat providing the stores are not halal, considering the fact that not every customer is buying a meat just due to the religious reasons the organisations should target the local market where they segment the products. If Tesco segment the market in such a way that fulfil the locals requirement it will be more effective to the organisation to target the market. The prime example is Asda, inspite that it is also one of the superstore it provides the halal meat for those who can not buy meat because of religious reasons. They feel comfortable to go to Asda and do the meat purchase. Considering this example the organisations should target the markets through segmentation. Select two different buying situations and explain how buyer behaviour affects the marketing activities. Explaining the situation where buyer behaviour affects the marketing activities the tobacco is a prime example of certain situations where customers prohibits the smoking and banned the advertisement which influences the youngsters. The buying behaviour has changed the marketing activities since the policies about the sale of tobacco came into effect. In any store the tobacco is not sold unless the consumer is above 16 years old. This restriction has changed the marketing terminologies for the suppliers. Propose new positioning for a selected product/service. Launching any new product or service it is very important that the organisation has done the marketing process. Understanding the customer needs and wants is very important to conduct the research and design the strategies to fulfil the market demand. When positioning any product of service there are number of factors involve to consider, from which the cultural and religion factors are key areas. When position any product in the market it is very important to understand the cultural and social values of the targeting market. For example as we have discussed earlier that muslim community go for halal food, similar to successfully positioning the market in India the organisation needs to make sure that providing the vegetarian products to the consumers. Task 3 The extended marketing mix: The marketing mix model is used as a tool to assist in defining the marketing strategies to the marketers. Some marketing mix models follow the 7 Ps but we consider only 4 Ps which are most common variables used in constructing a marketing mix that includes; price, product, place and promotion. In context of Tesco, its entry in Chinese market should adapt to the culture of the customers in the China. However, the company should keep itself on the organisations own policies and grounds. Product: considering the Chinese market, once the Tesco take control of their shops the management should set off their strategies by marketing their products in such a way to boost the companys market presentation and market share. Tesco needs to consider revising their strategies and models of their products to provide Chinese customers what they need and want. By developing such strategies to customise the products to fulfil local requirements Tesco will build its image in Chinese territory. Price: by looking at Tesco situation, as its an established super store but launching in Chinese market one way is to acquire the cost advantages by enhancing the efficiencies process, expanding the large suppliers contacts on lower cost materials. If the rival super markets will be incapable to lower their costs of products by a comparable quantity, the chances for Tesco to sustain a competitive advantage anchored cost leadership. Place: placing the product with attractive price is very important for an organisation. since Tesco is placing its products in Chinese market to develop its successful operations it should make an investments in store expansions in low-income areas. Through this the Tesco will be able to open sites in economically disadvantage areas in China and this will enable the company to gain the trust of local luminaries favour from the local government by providing employment to the locals. Promotion: Tesco should constitute the approach, which is based on long-term strategic plan that centres on generating value to expand the loyalty of their customers. Tesco should not only strapping in non-food as food products and services but also establishing and extending the long-term good relationship with the consumers by ensuring a competent provision of its products and services. Task 4: Plan marketing mix for two different segments in consumer markets: As market segmentation is the process of dividing a total market into market groups consisting of people who have relatively similar product need. The market mix of various market segments sometime vary. The organisations have to customise the prices and features of the products according to the needs and wants of the target market segments. The 4 Ps are the parameters of marketing that the manager has to control, depend on internal and external constraints of the marketing environment. Applying the marketing mix into two different segments is one of marketing managers role. Through applying the customise marketing mix according to the market segments give an organisation a competitive advantage to attract the local buyers. The objective of marketing mix is to make a decision that centres the four Ps on the customers in the target market in order to create perceived value and generate a positive response. Segmenting Indian market: If we segment Indian market, we have to consider all the variable factors involved in making marketing mix decisions, as India is one of the emerging markets in the economy the marketing mix decisions will be base on all the pestle factors as well as swot analysis. Product decision: Product refers to tangible or physical product as well as services. When taking the product decision to segment Indian market one should consider the following: Brand name Functionality Quality Packaging Warrantly Styling Above are some of factors to be consider while making product decision. When segmenting an Indian market, we should consider the cultural and social environment of the country also the localities where we open the stores. What kind of audience we are targeting to segment the product. Is it based on age, cultural or belief factors. Price decision: Pricing is also one of the important element, when segmenting the Indian market the marketing manager has to consider following aspects; Pricing strategy Suggested retail price Cash and early payment discounts Bundling Price flexibility Price discrimination When look at Indian market, we should consider the fact either introduce the pricing strategy based on skimming or penetration, again depends on what type of audience we are the targeting. Place decision: Distribution is about getting the products to the customer. When targeting Indian market we need to consider the following channels; Distribution channels Market coverage Inventory management Warehouse Distribution centres Transportation Order processing Promotion decision; Promotion represents the various aspects of marketing communication that circulates the information about the product with the objective of generating a positive customer response. Making decisions to do product promotion in India one need to consider what strategy should be adopted. It includes: Promotional strategy Advertising Personal selling and sales force Sales promotions Publicity Marketing communication budget The differences in marketing products and services to business rather than consumers: The difference between the two concepts is that business marketing tends to concentrate on the sales of goods and services between businesses on the other hand consumer marketing is to concentrate on the sale of goods and services to the end consumers. The way reaching the business customers needs to be different than approaching consumers. Business to business usually use the direct marketing methods where as end consumers uses indirect method of marketing; Business to Business marketing approach: Networking Selling Tenders/proposal Presentation Seminars Telemarketing Consumers marketing approach: Advertising Signs Media relations Sponsorship Website Word of mouth The difference between domestic marketing and international marketing: International marketing is facing more complex environment. Domestic marketing is conducted in the country of resident and faced corresponding structure of market environment is relatively simple, which consist of the familiar factors to companies, such as domestic political, economic, legal, cultural, environmental and legal issues. However international marketing is facing more complex environments, its a market with multi-level structure and inevitably be subjected to the world market environment including worlds political, military, economic, technological and other aspects.

the gathering Essay examples -- essays research papers

Ernest J. Gaines was born on January 15, 1933, in Oscar, Louisiana. Many of his stories and characters are set in the swamplands of Louisiana. His target audience is Black southern youth; his goal is to give them a sense of pride in their heritage. Recently, Gaines participated in the conference "Black and White Perspectives on the American South," which intended to examine how the two races view themselves and the relations to one another. In the book A Gathering of old men, there was lots of symbolism throughout the scenes. Tthe book describes the transaction from the old south to the new south, a south that depends on the the co-existence of blacks and whites. In order for this too take place some old black men are going to have to stand up for themselves when a white cajun farmer by the name of Beau is murdered. The old black men in the story will have to face up to a racist sherriff by the name of Mapes.Beau Boutans brother Gil, who plays fullback for Louisiana State University, and depends on a black running back, is getting tired of his family violent name. He comes home to confront his dad Fix Boutan. By doing this Gil represents a new southern way. The man who murdered Beau, Charlie, was a very large man. He had been running away from his fears since he was a kid, but on this fateful day all that would change. It was finally time for Charlie to become a man after so many years. In one of the scenes from the book A Gathering of Old Men, the old men gathered around the Sheriff Mapes who symbolized white power with his gigantic size and his authority . Mapes was trying to figure out who had killed Beau Boutan. Their stories all came down to the same conclusion as the next mans story. They were fed up with verbal and physical abuse of from the Boutans. Mapes in all his years never seen such a sight or better yet a boldness in the eyes and mouths of the old black men. Even though he cursed them and hit them to get the truth, the old black men kept their stories, that they were all guilty of the murder of Beau Boutan. Before Mat left his house, one of the old black men, he and his wife got into an argument. She did not want him to be involved in what was going on. With tears of past hurt coming down his face he told her how for many years he has helped the white man get richer and the black man get poorer. He told her he was going down there f... ...ted to have written some short stories. He was criticized in his stories because he felt that poor white people will except the new south, which is built on the interracial cooperation, with some or none violent rejection (Summers 93). William faulkner, a black author, said Gaines fails to see the lingering tradition of the old south, that he does not see that white people will always be white people (Vinson 93). But I fell that faulkner fails too see the character Candy was. Even though she was on the side of the old black men, when they wanted to meet without her. She did not respect there request on the basis she thought she was still the leader or the head. Also Mapes character did respect Mathu and Charlie, but at the same time he referred to them at one points as â€Å"niggers†.Gaines story depicts the coming of a south that will tolerate the co-existence of blacks and white, but he was a little to far ahead the timeline in this book, in those days there would have been a lynching without a doubt(Wertheim123). In conclusion, Gaines touched up well on all the attitudes and stereotypes of the southern way of life, and on its objection of the co-existing between whites and blacks.

Gender Roles in Ancient Greek Society Essay -- Greek Gender Roles

Gender Roles in Ancient Greek Society Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive. For an example, it was quite acceptable for a man to commit adultery- however a woman was to remain chaste. The only exception to this was if the lover in question was a god. For some odd reason, it seemed that men were allowed to be philanderers while their wives stayed at home. This is evidenced in the Odyssey quite well- Odysseus the ?hero? is free to sample all the pretty ladies he cares to, whereareas Penelope his wife is expected to fend off all the suitors at home. Predictably, Penelope melts into his arms when she realizes it is her long lost husband without pausing to consider what he has done in his absence. This reaction portrays the unequal morals of Greek society regarding gender. Euripides?s Medea portrays women who are not quite as lucky as Penelope: ?Oh, unfortunate one, Oh cruel! Where will you turn? Who will help you? What house or what land to preserve you from ill can you find? Medea, a god has thrown suffering upon you in waves of despair.? In this play, Medea?s husband Jason has left her and their children to fend fo... ...ing his daughter is excusable. Men and women lived in completely dissimilar spheres, until the time of marriage. Even after marriage, they still retained strong ties to their own spheres by Achilles and Patrocleus. This is aspect of young life is depicted by Sappho in her poems. Apparently alternative lifestyles were commonly accepted in youth and continued throughout adulthood. This passive encouragement of homosexuality further strengthened ties between the separate genders and emphasizing the differences. Human society does not really change. The roles each gender plays in society has not changed drastically since the time of the ancient Greeks, and this goes to suggest that these roles are deeply rooted and possibly genetic. However chauvinistic Greek myths are telling the truth, which explains why they have influenced modern culture to the extent it has.

Comparing Daisy and Countess Olenska in Daisy Miller and The Age of Inn

The story â€Å"Daisy Miller† is a romance of a love that can never be. The character Annie P. Miller (known as Daisy Miller) is portrayed as a young naive wild yet, innocent girl who want to do nothing more but have fun with the company she please. The story â€Å"Daisy Miller† is a lot like The Age of Innocence. In both the movie and the book the leading lady was shunned from society because of their behavior. Both Daisy and the Countess Olenska were misunderstood and out-casted because they were saw as different. These women did not want to conform to what the society thought was proper and good, they had their own opinion and was bold in their time to state it. Daisy thought it was okay, even nice to have many gentlemen friends. She did not find it to mean she was of recklessness. Daisy thought the more gentlemen and even lady friends she had proved her to be more sociable. She was a bold young lady who said what she felt and did what she wanted. When Daisy enjoyed the companionship of a gentleman she freely says so, and publicly complements the fellow. Daisy knew that people did not thi...

An Overview of Freedom Greeting Card Company Inc

Freedom Greeting Card Company Inc. (www.freedomgreetings.com) is a greeting card company that recently decided to create a website that would provide wholesale and retail customers with online services (Aspin, 2005). In the past, the company relied entirely on fax and phone orders. It grew into a multi-billion dollar business without even having a web site. However, as customer began demanding faster service and the industry expanded, Freedom†s leaders realized that they would be eliminated by the competition if they failed to give the customers what they wanted (Aspin, 2005). The Internet seemed to be the offered a viable solution to keep in contact with a large customer base. Jay Levitt, president of Freedom Greeting, aimed to create a solution that would be easy to use and effectively boost productivity, while saving money on traditional methods of reacting to increases in demand such as staff and infrastructure expansion. Levitt looked into the possibility of extending his existing business applications. Since 1999, the company was a customer of Aspin Management Systems, a software house based in the United Kingdom (Aspin, 2005). Freedom had invested in AMSolveâ„ ¢, an accounting and back office system which the company produces. The system handles many area of Freedom†s operation, including account ledgers, stock control, order processing and fulfillment. Levitt decided to extend the company†s services to the Internet. The company found a solution that would give trade customers an easy to use method of quickly ordering products, without the need for customers to invest in expensive applications to interface with the company†s server (Aspin, 2005). This solution is a website that provides a catalogue of over five thousand products that can be ordered by industry customers. Customers login and browse the products, adding items or requesting stock through the Grid Ordering process. According to Aspin Intercative (2005): â€Å"The customer or agent specifies the grids and pocket to re-order and the system displays the available stock for pockets as specified in AMSolve. The user then reviews the order, makes any adjustment to quantity and clicks a button to place the order. There is no need to enter any payment details and the order is encrypted and sent directly to Freedom†s AMSolve server for processing. Once the order is placed notification is sent via email, however, an agent representing a client or the customer themselves can log into the website at any time and place, and check that the order is in the system and once shipped, they can check its delivery status.†

Relationship to Background Research Essay

Researchers Dunbar and Waynforth (1995) carried out research into human differences in mate selection by focusing on 900 different lonely-hearts ads taken from four different American newspapers. The investigation aimed to see what characteristics males and females looked for in potential mates by analysing each ad and recording how each person described themselves and what characteristics they looked for in a partner. It was found that women were more likely to advertise themselves as physically attractive, whereas males tended to highlight their economic status, displaying their potential ability to provide. Darwin’s theory supports this, as stereotypically good looking women will be good child bearers and provide ample food and care for children, and therefore will be more likely to produce healthy children with good genes for the next generation. Similarly, by highlighting their economic status men label themselves as good providers for children and will be able to care and help throughout the child’s life, meaning chance of survival is higher. Furthermore, stereotypically good-looking men (big, muscley etc) will have a higher chance of survival and therefore pass on these good genes to their offspring. I am going to investigate Darwin’s sexual strategy theory similarly to Dunbar’s methods, by looking into the way in which people advertise themselves in personal advertisements and seeing if they relate with Darwin’s, Andersson and Cunningham’s ideas about physical appearance and also pervious research done by Dunbar. I would be interested in finding out if Dunbar’s results done in America are similar to results that I will find in Macclesfield (England). I would further be interested in seeing if results have changed over time as men and women’s perceptions of each other may have differed in the last few years. His research led to my directional hypothesis which is â€Å"Men will describe their resources more than youth and looks in personal advertisements, women will describe their looks and youth more than resources. â€Å"The aim of the experiment is to find out what characteristics men and women offer when advertising himself or herself as a potential mate and to investigate if there are gender differences between the way men and women make themselves attractive to the opposite sex through lonely hearts advertisements. inspiration My directional hypothesis therefore, as influenced by Dunbar, is that heterosexual men will be more likely to offer resources such as wealth and financial stability. Heterosexual women, however, are more likely to offer youth and physical attractiveness. The null hypothesis would be as follows: there will be no significant difference between how men and women advertise themselves to the opposite sex.