Madame Sosostris in T.S. Eliots The Wasteland Essay Example

Madame Sosostris in T.S. Eliots The Wasteland Paper Madame Sosostris Lines 43-59 of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land present Madame Sosostris as the Tarot card-reading psychic who bears bad news. While this stanza has been interpreted in a myriad of ways, two important features are commonly regarded as Eliot’s intent. (1) The clairvoyant is considered â€Å"the wisest woman in Europe† because the world is a tattered wasteland where everyone is in search of answers – a fortuneteller provides false security with her seemingly absolute understanding of destiny, and everyone is desperate enough to believe her. 2) Because Eliot regards fortunetelling as little more than empty consolation for the desperate, he writes with levity to poke fun at the concept. These two points comprise the general gist of the stanza, but the allusive way in which he elucidates this is what makes The Waste Land a remarkable poem. Like the rest of the poem, this stanza is a hailstorm of allusions that reference previous literary works, and these literary sources were often playing with the words from their sources. For example, Eliot derives very name â€Å"Sosostris† from â€Å"Sesostris, the Sorceress of Ectabana,† a woman who plays a fortunetelling gypsy at a fair in Aldous Huxley’s novel Chrome Yellow. While the Norton Anthology simply states, â€Å"Sesostris was a 12th-dynasty Egyptian king,† other sources say the name Sesostris is a corruption of the name of that dynasty, â€Å"Senwosret† (Silverman 29). Sesostris was also the name used by Herodotus in tales about a 19th -dynasty Pharaoh, and Herodotus is notorious for avoiding accuracy in favor of flamboyance. My point is, for the sake of succinctness, I will analyze this stanza shallowly in order to support the two aforementioned intents of Eliot’s portrayal and avoid further digressions. 1 The speaker of the stanza is a soldier’s wife who, out of the desperation of her circumstances, has come to the fortuneteller to discover what may have happened to her husband in the war. Madame Sosostris logically deduces that he has died, and she gives this conjecture in the form of elaborately construed predictions from a pack of Tarot cards. We will write a custom essay sample on Madame Sosostris in T.S. Eliots The Wasteland specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Madame Sosostris in T.S. Eliots The Wasteland specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Madame Sosostris in T.S. Eliots The Wasteland specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This is when Eliot begins to poke fun at the concept of clairvoyance. The following section of this paper will breakdown the stanza devoted to this psychic by analyzing some lines of Eliot’s jesting intent: Line 43. Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante, The pseudo-Egyptian name, Sosostris, is relevant because it is a knockoff of a woman in a fiction novel, who pretended to be a fortuneteller. In other words, the name is a knockoff of an untrue woman who used the name to feign legitimacy. In this way, Eliot begins the stanza by introducing Madame Sosostris as a pretender who is famous via her profound ability to copy the appearance of a cliched fortuneteller. The preposterousness of Sosostris and her position is further emphasized with the intentional misspelling of â€Å"clairvoyant. † Line 45. Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, This is a slight to war torn Europe and fortunetellers alike. It indicates that the country is so lost and dumbfounded that it has stooped to the level of regarding a lowly fortuneteller as the wisest in the land. Line 46. With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, This described pack of Tarot cards can mean two things: (1) it is wicked because they are outside of religion and, (2) more obviously, it is wicked because she inevitably predicts death. Lines 47 – 48. Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, / (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look! ) This is not, nor has it ever been an actual card within a Tarot deck. Line 48 is a quote from Shakespeare’s Tempest, when a girl sings of a man who has been dead so long that his bones have turned to coral, and his eyes to pearls (1. . 398): â€Å"Of his bones are coral made: Those are pearls that were his eyes. † It becomes obvious that Madame’s deck is pointedly wicked because it includes false cards that indicate certain death. Line 49. Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks, The Belladonna is also a card that has never appeared in Tarot decks. Her naming of this card is convenient to Madame’s morbid purposes because it is also the name of a deadly plant, the poisonous nightshade. However, Sosostris could be referring incorrectly to the Queen of Cups, which shows an attractive woman near cliffs. The Queen of Cups card is supposed to be indicative of one of two things: (1) a woman who is gifted with a high imagination, or (2) a woman who is unreliable and cannot be depended on. Both of these points seem to describe Madame Sosostris accurately. Line 50. The lady of situations. This description is comically vague. Eliot uses unclear language to show that predictions can be accurate regardless of outcome. Situations are bound to happen. Line 51. Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel, The man with three staves card is properly referred to as the â€Å"Three of wands. † Not only does Madame describe this card with the improper language of a novice, she completely fails to address the fortune the card is meant to signify: strength and enterprise, or economic failure due to too overly ambitious plans. Despite Eliot’s commentary, â€Å"the Wheel† is not a card in any Tarot deck, unless he is referring to the Wheel of Fortune card, which can signify good or bad luck, depending on whether the card is drawn upright or upside down. Nevertheless, Sosostris never acknowledges the fortune indications of the card but merely mentions it with an incorrect name and moves along. Line 52. And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card, ¬ Some reproduction designs of the Six of Pentacles present a merchant whose face is seen in profile. â€Å"He is thus, in the parlance of American card-players, ‘one-eyed’† (Gibbons 563). That she refers to the card as â€Å"the one-eyed merchant† is relevant because it further emphasizes her unfamiliarity of her Americanized perspective on European tarot reading. Lines 52– 54. †¦And this card / Which is blank, is something he carries on his back, / Which I am forbidden to see. There are no blank cards within Tarot decks. This is an additional instance I which Madame’s wicked cards present another morbid trick. Lines 54 – 55. I do not find / The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. Though she does not draw a particular card that signifies death, she does not abandon the prediction of death but merely assumes a manner of death that the cards are not indicating. In this way, Eliot is emphasizes the absurdity of card-reading. Eliot’s stanza about Madame Sosostris pokes fun at the concept of a clairvoyant as well as the desperate situation people could have potentially faced in a post apocalyptic atmosphere after World War II. His allusive style provides a depth of meaning that adds to this message while simultaneously paying tribute to the authors before him. When research of his allusions brings few results that seem relevant to the context of the poem, one can assume that Eliot is using his language while making some arbitrary connection in his mind; this connection gains significance by its mere inclusion in the poem – The Waste Land is that groundbreaking. Notes 1. The vast majority of Eliot’s allusions are references to other literary works, not to the historical events and distortions with endless depths as I have noted. This was his style: â€Å"No poet†¦has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poet s and artists† (Norton 1582). However, these allusions are frequently played with in whatever way Eliot sees fit, and his notes indicate his word playing when he relates his seemingly random associations to readers by explaining: â€Å"I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience† (Norton 1588). In the case of Madame Sosostris, his convenience is often to provide supporting predictions for the remaining stanzas within The Waste Land. ? Works Cited Gibbons, Tom. The Waste Land Tarot Identified. † Journal of Modern Literature 2. 4 (Nov. 1972): 560-65. Print. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Seventh Edition: Volume D 1914-1945 (Norton Anthology of American Literature). Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol. D. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. Print. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Silverman, David P. Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford UP, USA, 2003. Print.

salem witch trials essays

salem witch trials essays During the witch trial, of 1692, people of Salem, Massachusetts were not looking to cleanse the town of spirits or devils, but to clear the city of their enemies. People of this era were willing to do anything for what they wanted, even killing. The judge, Danforth, of the witch trials was an arrogant judge. He would believe any story that was brought to his attention., and even if he did not believe it, he would not take the time to tell anyone or to dissect the investigation and prove the defendant innocent. The worst of all the people of Salem Massachusetts was Abigail Williams who betrayed her friends time and time again to obtain the desire of her heart, John Procter. "You drank blood Abby! You didnt tell them that!"-Betty Parris, pg19. The story begins when Abigail Williams and her friends go out into the forest to make spells and wishes. They all made a wish to get the men which the desired for themselves. Abby made a spell by drinking chicken blood to make John Proctor lover her. The big problem with that though is John Proctor is already married to Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail Williams is in my opinion the entire reason the Salem witch trials had begun. Abby had once been the servant to John Proctor. However, Elizabeth thought John to not be holding loyal to her. During a long argument at home between Elizabeth and John over the subject of he not being truthful, Elizabeth says "Youll tear it free - when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well." Elizabeth has a conversation with John about how he still feels something passionate about Abigail Williams and if he does not stop thinking of Abby, Elizabeth will leave him. After the incident of Abigail being fired from her job, she always wanted to get back at the Proctor name. When she would see John in the church or ...

The role of process modeling for Knowledge Management Essay

The role of process modeling for Knowledge Management - Essay Example he other accomplishments of the human mind today, rest on a wide foundation of previous knowledge that were â€Å"managed† or organized so it could be shared, studied further, and improved. This four-part paper explains and connects the key concepts in these initial considerations. The first three parts discuss how knowledge is managed and how it is transmitted. The fourth part is a simple case study that illustrates how these three esoteric concepts are put together to come up with useful products. The world is full of what are called â€Å"processes1†, which could be defined as a set of activities, events, or mechanisms expressed as a sequence of steps that must be performed to achieve some goal. Some processes are natural, such as the weather; others are human, such as writing an essay like this one. Anyone who wants to understand the process needs only to look at the sequence of steps or interrelated events. If the process is useful, the set of activities, their sequences, and the goal or goals achieved must be represented in a way that it could be learned by others. This representation is what is referred to as the Process Model. Examples of process models are: (1) the equation that show the behavior of a gas in an enclosed space; (2) a simple sketch by a soccer coach showing how the team will mount an offensive; and, (3) a flowchart that maps a complex piece of software. All these models represent a simple or complex process in ways that others can understand. This is why modeling the process is useful, because by describing, representing, and simulating the process, it would be easier to explain how it works, behaves, and reacts, what it’s characteristics are, where it comes from, and where it can go. Process modeling is applicable to all phenomena, from simple ones like tying a knot to complex ones such as sending people to Mars. Models are simplified abstractions of reality representing or describing its most important driving elements and

USE OF PATIENT PORTAL Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

USE OF PATIENT PORTAL - Article Example The patient can reach the receptionist or a medical practitioner through confidential emails. This is convenient all the time as the modern activities are taking the online perspective of operations. The patient’s portals also offer a convenient way to pay and receive revenues for customers and medical providers. It is also quick and relatively cheaper to pay the bills on line. There are e-prescriptions software’s affected in the EMR systems making requests for prescription easy. It also enables easy operation for medical officers to manage prescription requests in the portals (Osborn et al., 2013). A person looking for a good and serious patient portal need to consider several think. Essential, the person may want to look for a portal that facilitates integration of a secure credit card and an efficient bill handling process. There is also an emerging need to look for a portal that has the ability to hand of the EMR data of the patient to Continuity of Care Record (CCR). Another necessity in portals is the availability of e-visits as well as the ability for patients update personal EMR records. This is the ideal model of a good patient portal. Osborn, C. Y., Mayberry, L. S., Wallston, K. A., & Johnson, K. B. (2013). Understanding Patient Portal Use: Implications for Medication Management. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15 (7),

Dream Vacation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dream Vacation - Essay Example Hawaii is a place that millions of people around the world dream of visiting but we’re actually going to do it. For the first time in a long time, we have the means and the willpower (I hope!) to take a much needed vacation abroad. It’s winter at home and the sunny shores of Waikiki are within our reach. Why Hawaii, you ask? As the eastern-most portion of the United States, Hawaii has also had a mythical hold over my imagination since I was young. Hawaii is a series of islands which have a distinct history, culture and language from the rest of the United States. Hawaiians are also very proud of their way of life and have taken many steps to preserve their unique and fascinating culture. Think of it, we can go spend time on Waikiki beach or go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, just on the other side of the Diamond Head volcano. We’ll also go hiking up Diamond Head and take in a luau or two while we are there. Did you know that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu? Yes, the first African-American President in the history of the United States was born just off the coast of Waikiki beach and spent his formative early years growing up on the tropical island of Hawaii. We can also visit the Pearl Harbor memorial to the east of the island or visit the Palace of King Kahemahema back when Hawa ii was a kingdom and it was governed by monarchs for centuries. Hawaii has so much history, so much to see, read and learn about. We really all deserve a vacation and now is the time to get away from the winter, kick back and have a pina colda on the beach. Who needs snow when we could be on the beach? (Tabrah, 1984). The sunny tropical conditions of Waikiki are calling us. Let’s go away for the winter. Instead of permanent snow and walking through slush every morning to get to work, lets go spend a few weeks on the beach. The time has come to take our long overdue holiday before the kids leave

Conflicts and Disputes: Causes and Types

Conflicts and Disputes: Causes and Types 1. INTRODUCTION The two key terms conflict and dispute are interchangeable, as this was supported by dictionary meanings of these terms which are as follows: conflict is a fight, struggle and disagreement and dispute is debate, argue and quarrel. Conflict is a natural and unpleasant disagreement between parties who want to achieve their independent goals. Dispute is a time consuming, expensive and unpleasant circumstance in which the claim is rejected as particularly or entirely or simply disregarded by the other party. Claim is a demand of ones right, but disagreement is the difference in opinions of the parties. The contrasts between conflicts and disputes are useful for investigating the fact whether conflict is only inevitable or both conflict and dispute are inevitable. Conflicts are categorized into two which are functional and dysfunctional conflicts. Functional conflicts are the positive, manageable and productive ones which have outcome, but dysfunctional conflicts are non progressive, destructive and insufficiently managed ones which will lead to disputes. According to this perception conflict refers to disturbance of the human interactions. Conflicts must be managed whether they become functional or dysfunctional by the methods of domination, compromise and integration. These methods used can also be defined as avoidance of disputes. Disputes need third party resolving actions in other words an independent third party should accomplish to identify and contemplate main aspects and be able to affirm that a dispute is present, but it may not be as obvious as this especially in commercial projects where one party can cautiously prevent rejecting the claim, as the party may inquire supportive information about the claim. If the parties do not agree the claimant will hold right to arbitration which this will help the claimants who aimed to proceed their claims against the other partys delay strategy. As arbitration the other dispute resolution techniques are employed to bring disputes to a concluded and resolved status. 2. CONFLICT AND DISPUTES ARE INEVITABLE ON COMMERCIAL PROJECTS 2.1 Causes of Conflicts and Disputes Causes of conflict were analyzed by Thamhain and Wileman. According to their view three main sources of conflict are project priorities, project schedules and workforce where on these extents project managers have limited control. Furthermore, technical estimations, performance trade offs and administrative and organizational contention, cost and interpersonal disparities are other sources. From one stage to another in a project life cycle the causes of conflict change. Sources of conflict in each phase of the project life cycle were summarized by Thamhain et al. on the table below. In the beginning stage of the project, the ambiguity may be high. A successful commercial project relies upon the good communication between the client and the lender which is the project sponsor. The sponsor or client in the beginning phase whether may not have definite confidence of the project or they may have the certainty, but not sufficient communication is available. Subsequently, this sort of ambiguity will contribute conflict to emerge in the initiating phase. The uncertainty and risk in a project will lead to conflict, if these circumstances come into existence: Firstly if one of the probable events of risk develops and parties are affected through the consequence of this. Secondly, when a condition emerges in which either the risk applicable for the project had not been determined by the suffering party or risk had been characterized, but inadequate proceedings were achieved to reduce its effects. Thirdly, if there is a condition which the risk distribution between the par ties was not certainly set up as a primary issue. During the time in which ambiguity characterizes the initiating phase, negotiation and communication constitute the planning process. According to the table above, priority conflicts expand from the previous phase and additional to the priorities, technical requirement issues, schedule pressures and procedures are other sources of conflict in the planning phase. Good communication between project manager and resource manager is vital at this point, as conflicts normally emerge form the underestimation of project managers. Execution and Control stages in a commercial project lifecycle are interconnected with each other. During these phases, deadlines for delivering the services become more difficult to handle and labor demands and pressures from stakeholders increase. Conflict emerges in case which the expectations from the stakeholders are not operated suitably. Lastly, in the close out phase, schedules persist to be the principal factor for conflict, because pressure meeting the goals on time increases. Besides, concerns for a new project intensifies the personality associated conflicts, as oncoming new projects and incorporation of the personal back into factional divisions generate conflicts of labor force. The causes of disputes were analyzed by Groton et al. and according to his analyses cause of disputes are under one of these headings: Project Uncertainty: Uncertainty arising from pre-existing conditions, outside forces and the complexity which cause change beyond the expectations of the parties. Process Problems: Problems in the contracting process including contracts, incomplete scope definition, unrealistic expectations with regard to cost or completion date, and poor performance in the execution of the work. People issues: Issues and problems arising between people as a result of poor inter-personal skills, poor communication, lack of responsiveness and unethical or opportunist behavior. Taking lead from the analysis of Groton et al., it is seen that conflicts lie under the main causes of disputes. When the whole process of conflict and disputes are concerned, both arise from project uncertainty and during the project lifecycle both have similar sources in causing them to emerge. Accordingly, it is necessary to mention that disputes are the combinations of dysfunctional conflicts. 2.2 Functional and Dysfunctional Conflicts Functional and dysfunctional conflicts were described by Smith. Functional conflict was named by him as conflict (with a small c) and he continued that One party contends one thing, the other something else. It requires work by both parties to resolve. This inescapable consequence of a contract is therefore a functional conflict. Furthermore, he named dysfunctional conflict as conflict (with a capital C) and commented that if two parties are in ditch having a fight and one is on top of the other, they are both in ditch and they are both suffering. Some would define this as a dysfunctional conflict. Conflict can create two possibilities in a project which it can either develop confidence, creativity, team cohesiveness or as a second possibility it can harm personal relationships and professional relationships and increase employee turnover. Functional or dysfunctional conflicts arise from these possibilities. In the early theory, conflict was designated as a disruptive matter of fact which should be prevented. Three systems of dealing with conflict which are domination, compromise and integration were analyzed by Mary Parker Follett and supported by Glasl (1999). Domination is a win- lose situation where one party have more superiority than the other. Secondly, compromise is a lose-lose situation where both parties lose things without recording gains at the end of the process. Lastly integration which can be named as positive-sum is a win-win situation where both parties gain something without losing. Domination and compromise can cause further conflict, but integration is suggested by Follett as the best method in managing functional conflict. According to Gray et al. (2002), the management of dysfunctional conflict is much more challenging assignment than stimulating the functional conflict, because uncertain, unmanageable and unsettled conflicts (dysfunctional conflicts) give rise to disputes as stated by Robbins (2008). The contrast between conflict and dispute was explained by Burton (1993) by which disputes are disagreements which are able to be solved in a short period of time and conflicts are long term non negotiable issues which oppose against resolution. Moreover, it was stated that conflicts and disputes can be formed either interdependently or independently. In short, during the project lifecycle disputes which are short term disagreements can be present in the long term conflict process which demonstrated in the diagram below. Respectively, conflicts are inevitable and disputes should be avoided in a project. This was supported by De Bono (1985) who specified that conflict is inevitable but dispute is not. Furthermore, disputes appear in such a circumstance where conflicts can not be managed. Conforming to the diagram above, the whole process starts before the disagreements come into existence. The conflicts should be avoided in order to prevent disputes from emerging by using number of interconnected techniques which are risk analysis, procurement plans and contractual arrangements. The risk involved in a commercial project can be listed as technical, schedule, organizational and financial risks. The risks in these areas should be identified and allocated properly so that conflict will be avoided.

Death, Life and Identity :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites A classical point of departure in defining Death, seems to be Life itself. Death is perceived either as a cessation of Life - or as a "transit zone", on the way to a continuation of Life by other means. While the former presents a disjunction, the latter is a continuum, Death being nothing but a corridor into another plane of existence (the hereafter). Another, logically more rigorous approach, would be to ask "Who is Dead" when Death occurs. In other words, an identity of the Dying (=it which "commits" Death) is essential in defining Death. But what are the means to establish an unambiguous, unequivocal identity? Is an identity established through the use of quantitative parameters? Is it dependent, for instance, upon the number of discrete units which comprise the functioning whole? If so, where is the level at which useful distinctions and observations are replaced by useless scholastic mind-warps? Example: if we study a human identity - should it be defined by the number and organization of its limbs, its cells, its atoms? The cells in a human body are replaced (with the exception of the cells of the nervous system) every 5 years. Would this imply that we gain a new identity each time this cycle is completed? Adopting this course of thinking leads to absurd results: When humans die, the replacement rate of their cells is infinitely reduced. Does this mean that their identity is better and longer preserved once dead? No one would agree with this. Death is tantamount to a loss of identity - not to its preservation. So, a qualitative yardstick is required. We can start by asking will the identity change - if we change someone's' brain by another's? "He is not the same" - we say of someone with a brain injury. If a partial alteration of the brain causes such sea change (however partial) in the determinants of identity - it seems safe to assume that a replacement of one's brain by another will result in a total change of identity, to the point of its abolition and replacement by another. If the brain is the locus of identity, we should be able to assert that when (the cells of) all the other organs of the body are replaced (with the exception of the brain) - the identity will remain the same.