Male culture disadvantages boys in education Essay Example for Free

Male culture disadvantages boys in education Essay Until the late 1980s, most sociological literature focused on the underachievement of girls. Girls were less likely to pursue A levels and consequently to enter higher education. However, in the early 1990s, it was argued that girls had begun to outperform boys at most levels of the education system. The main sociological focus today therefore is on the underachievement of boys. Epstein et al.(1999) state that boys underachievement is not something new, but in the past was not a worrying trend for two reasons: working-class boys used to move easily into jobs without good qualifications in the days when sons followed fathers into mines, factories, etc. And the structural and cultural barriers preventing females access to high-status jobs and the pressure on women to become wives and mothers, etc. meant that males always achieved better paid jobs in the long run. However, today Epstein notes that governments are anxious about large numbers of unemployed young men because they are a potential threat to social order. There are many reasons why boys are under-achieving in education. In some schools, the extent of boys underachievement has become so serious that twice as many girls are getting five GCSEs grades A-C. It is estimated that by the age of 16, nearly 40% of boys are lost to education. Some sociologists have suggested that the fault lies with teachers. Studies of classroom interaction and the relationship between pupils and teachers suggest that teachers are not as strict with boys as with girls. It is claimed that teachers tend to have lower expectations of boys, e. g.they expect work to be late, to be untidy and boys to be disruptive. Emphasis in the past has been on excluding such boys rather than looking for ways to motivate them. Consequently a culture of low achievement evolved among boys and was not acted upon because the emphasis in schools for many years was to make education more relevant and interesting for girls. Boys performance in schools is a complex issue. This policy issue of boys underachievement can be understood in many different ways. The issue can be framed in terms of human capital, class inequality, equal opportunities or social justice. Links can be drawn between the low educational attainment of some boys and the low employment rates of some young men. There is also for some boys an antagonism between educational attainment, even attentiveness, and the performance and achievement of particular and valued masculinities. Mac An Ghaill (1996) argues that working-class boys are experiencing a crisis of masculinity. Their socialisation into traditional masculine identity has been undermined by the decline of traditional mens jobs in manufacturing and primary industries such as mining. Mass unemployment found in working-class areas means that boys are no longer sure about their future role as men. This confusion about their future role may lead working-class boys to conclude that qualifications are a waste of time because there are only limited opportunities in the job market. The future looks bleak and without purpose so they dont see the point in working hard. They may temporarily resolve this crisis by constructing delinquent or anti-school subcultures, which tend to be anti-learning. Research evidence indicates that boys appear to gain street credibility and status in such cultures for not working. In 1994 Panoramas The Future is Female by Hannon suggested that with more opportunities for women in the work place, a change in the female ideology and with a fairer education system women simply passed the boys. Boys are not actually doing worse than they have done in the past, they are improving, but girls improvement outstrips boys Hannon, The Future is Female, 1994. With father opportunities of women it is easy to realise the origins of the current masculinity crisis, as there is no set role. Boys are no longer thought of as maturing later and comfortably walking into sustainable education. Instead men are expected to work hard throughout education to reap the rewards later but this is against the gender stereotype portrayed through the agents of socialisation. With this problem the new man was created producing a crisis for men on which to evolve into. Both published in socialisation agents boys have the problem of evolving into fulfilling the laddish stereotype or one in which they draw away from the idea that it is not male to work hard in education. Other sociologists have pointed to the feminine culture, which surrounds younger children as a possible influence on male under- achievement. Children, both male and female, may equate learning and therefore schooling with femininity. As boys grow up, they identify with more masculine role models and may reject academic learning and skills such as presentation and reading as feminine. Boys and reading and boys and literature are frequently mentioned by teachers as trouble spots in educating boys. Many young boys belong to anti-learning sub-cultures and they would therefore be deemed as un-cool if they achieved well in school especially in a girly subject such as English. Many boys dont try to achieve at school simply to conform to their groups norms and values. If their group doesnt value education then they wont. They believe it is more valuable to be popular and in with the right crowd as opposed to achieving in school and education.

Revenue Recognition and Corporate Governance

Revenue Recognition and Corporate Governance Revenue recognition is one of the most important accounting concepts to organisations across the globe. Basically, there are two main ways in which an organisation can account for revenue as part of their financial accounts. A company can either use cash based accounting or accruals based accounting. Cash based accounting requires the company to recognise the revenue and to put the figure into their accounts at the point when the cash is received, regardless of how or when the money has been earned. On the other hand, with accruals based accounting the figures will feature in the accounts when the revenues are realised, or when the amount is earned, not necessarily when the cash actually enters the company[1]. Countries across the world deal with the issue of revenue recognition very differently and, as such, it is particularly difficult to compare international businesses. The way in which revenue is recognised will have an impact on the perceived financial health of an organisation and different approaches can make it extremely difficult for analysts and investors to make a fair comparison. In October 2002, the International Accounting Systems Board (â€Å"IASB†) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (â€Å"FASB†) began a joint project to deal with these differences. The original overall aim of the revenue recognition project was to establish a single coherent way of revenue recognition that can be used, globally. Fundamentally, this required the convergence of US GAAP and international standards. One of the main problems facing FASB and IASB is that the US does not have a general accounting standard relating to revenue recognition. Instead, different sectors and industries have developed their own ways of dealing with revenue recognition in line with their individual requirements[2]. As a result, there is no consistency. Moreover, revenue recognition in the US is seen as particularly complex and is based largely on the discretion of the individual finance teams. Originally, the project suggested that a fair value asset based approach should be followed. However, it is currently thought that it will not be possible to establish one universal approach. The basic concept of the fair value asset and liability approach is that when a company enters into a contract, it creates rights (assets) and obligations (liabilities). The difference between these assets and liabilities at any point in the contract is the revenue generated by this contract and should be the figures used at the point in which the accounts are drawn up. This started as a fair value approach to the difference in assets and liabilities, but has now shifted more towards the customer consideration approach to valuing the difference between assets and liabilities[3]. The FASB and IASB have since recognised that enforcing one standard on a global level will be impossible and have, since 2006, decided to take a more bottom-up approach by conducting an international study of how the above model would work and the way in which it would interact with the cultural differences across the globe[4]. It is this cultural difference and historical freedom that presents the greatest challenge to the success of the project. Without a detailed understanding of how the proposed models will work, practically, with reference to the various different families of transactions, it will be impossible for the project to reach any definitive conclusion. For this reason, gaining a greater understanding has now become the first and most important priority of the FASB and the IASB when conducting their study relating to revenue recognition. Corporate governance is absolutely vital in the administration and control of companies. Essentially, corporate governance refers to the principles, policies, customs, laws and any other factors that deal with the way in which a company is managed. It is key in the way that the relationship with the company directors and the stakeholders in the company interacts. As a general rule, strong corporate governance results in a good level of confidence in the company itself and the wider industry[5]. The aims of corporate governance are multiple but are mainly in relation to accountability of the key individuals within the organisation and, in particular, the way in which the company deals with the principal – agent problem[6]. It is also about establishing economic efficiency and ensuring the best and most appropriate use of available resources. As the way in which companies are run varies so dramatically from country to country, it is unsurprising that the way corporate governance is managed is equally diverse. In 2002, the United States took the approach of regulating the way in which corporate governance should work with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This Act was drawn up as a rule based approach to corporate governance, following several accounting scandals which hit the headlines in the US, the most notable being the collapse of ENRON. As part of the legislation, eleven heads of rules were created and the Securities and Exchange Commission was required to make compliance a condition of admission to the exchange. The rules have been criticised as being highly prescriptive and not allowing for flexibility based on organisational differences[7]. Contrast this with the principles based approach taken in the UK and the US. Although both countries follow the Anglo-American approach, which is considered liberal and as giving priority to shareholders, the way they go about achieving this aim is substantially different. The UK takes a principle based approach with a ‘comply or explain’ policy[8]. This means that a list of principles and best practices has been developed in relation to corporate governance whereby public listed companies must either comply with this best practice or explain why it is not thought necessary in their particular circumstances. In the US, there are statutory rules with which all accompanies must comply. The UK government felt that it was not possible to create one set of rules that would capture the needs and issues of every type of company; for this reason, it has continued to favour this principle based approach. Divergences in the way that corporate governance is dealt with across the globe and even across sectors and industries is a natural part of the way business is conducted. All companies have their own issues and structures which require different approaches to control and accountability. The level of prescription that the US government has placed on corporate governance has resulted in a one size fits all approach which is simply impractical. Failure to allow a degree of flexibility and adaptability will result in a difficult to manage and ineffective system of corporate governance. Footnotes [1] Sondhi, Ashwinpaul C., Taub, Scott, Revenue Recognition Guide, Cch Inc, 2006 [2] Benston, George J., Bromwich, Michael, Litan, Robert E., Wagenhofer, Alfred ,Worldwide Financial Reporting: The Development and Future of Accounting Standards, Oxford University Press US, 2006 [3] Sondhi, Ashwinpaul C., Taub, Scott, Revenue Recognition Guide, Cch Inc, 2006 [4] Glover, Jonathan C., Ijiri, Yuji, Levine, Carolyn B., Jinghong Liang, Pierre, Separating Facts from Forecasts in Financial Statements, Accounting Horizons, Vol. 19, 2005 [5] Colley, J., Doyle, J., Logan, G., Stettinius, W., What is Corporate Governance ? McGraw-Hill, December 2004 [6] Clarke, Thomas (ed.), Theories of Corporate Governance: The Philosophical Foundations of Corporate Governance, London and New York: Routledge, 2004 [7] Monks, Robert A.G, Minow, Nell, Corporate Governance, Blackwell, 2004 [8] Arcot, Sridhar, Bruno, Valentina,d Faure-Grimaud, Antoine, Corporate Governance in the U.K.: is the comply-or-explain working?, FMG CG Working Paper 001, December 2005

Questions on management leadership and motivation

Questions on management leadership and motivation Organization is generally considered a grouping of activities in a coordinated way to obtain maximum benefits. Thus, the organization is the relationship between the various objectives and factors. Culture is the way in overall life of the people. Culture includes the language, religion and ideas, clothing, customs, codes, institutions, government, law, work of art, morality, rituals, ceremonies so on. Organizational culture is a set of shared values and norms that govern the interactions between members of the organization among them and with suppliers, customers and people outside the organizations. The organizational culture of values means that attempts to create unity, coordination, cooperation between these so within the organization. It could be in the form of assumptions, company logo, etc through these organizational objectives or goals could be achieved by the company. An organizational structure is essentially hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and help serve a common goal. Examples: GlobalNokia, Pepsi, Coca-Colaetc. Innovative Risk Taking: The Degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative take risks. Generates innovative solutions, assesses risks, makes decisions accepts the consequences. Thus, innovation risk taking is one of the main characteristics of organizational culture defining how much it is important to allowing a business innovation. Attention to Details : means to give close attention to what you are doing. It means being careful or paying attention to what you are doing. Outcome Orientation: The degree to which management will focus on results or other than the techniques processes used to achieve those outcomes. People Orientation: The Degree in which management decisions are taken into consideration. Team Orientation: Means working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal rather than working individually Aggressive: Means trying to spread quickly Stability: It is something when organization activity emphasize maintenance will be in contract growth. TASK-1.2 How Organization Culture is maintained use examples to illustrate how a new member is Introduced to the culture how it affects the business performance? Management of any organization has the responsibility of setting out the goals and objectives. It also watches out how employees are supposed to behave in various situations. As such, it outlines the overall organization culture. For culture to be effectively maintained in an organization, managers and leaders must act as followers and also leaders. Commitment and enthusiasm towards a person or an organization differentiate effective and ineffective followers as well as leaders. A healthy organizational culture is based on mutual understanding and cooperation between the employees and the management. For a healthy organizational culture to be maintained, leaders and managers learn role decision making and law of cash plays in an organization. Normally, when a person is recruited selected after a long procedure he will be taken around the organization and introduced to his colleagues, superiors subordinates. He will be made familiar with firm norms, goals his duties. This will be known as Orientation training. Through this the employees performance is increased and through the increment in his performance organizational performance is also increased. Through orientation training unity, cooperation, etc. will be increased. Through this employees performance will be increased and organizations productivity will be increased. So, this is how organizational climate is maintained. In Pepsi co. organizational culture is maintained through unity. Here leaders employees get together and perform planning, decision making, controlling etc. which are managerial functions of a company. This is the secret of their firms growth development. Training and Development helps to develop and improve the organizational health culture and effectiveness. It helps in creating the learning culture within the organization. Induction training also helps an employee to maintain organization culture and increase his/her performance. Selection is the process of identifying and choosing the best person out of a number of prospective candidates for a job. The candidates are required to take a series of employment tests and interviews. Each stage many are eliminated and some move on to the next stage. THE PROCESS OF SELECTION: Preliminary Screening Selection Tests- This includes intelligence test, Aptitude test, Personality test, Trade test, Interest test. Employment Interview Reference Background Checks Selection Decision Medical Examination Job Offer Contract Of Employment Top Management is a part of level of management. They consist of the senior-most executives of the organization by whatever name they are called. They are usually referred to as the chairman, chief operating officer, president, and vice president. Top management is a team consisting of managers from different functional levels. The basic task is to integrate diverse elements and coordinate the activities of different departments according to the overall objectives of organization. These top level managers are responsible for the welfare and survival of the organization. They analyze the business environment and its implications for the survival of the firm. They formulate overall organizational goals and strategies for their achievement. They are responsible for all the activities of the business and for its impact on society. Socialization No matter how the organizations recruits select, talented qualified employees. If new employees are not fully indoctrinated in the organizations culture. Because they are unfamiliar with the organizations culture, new employees are potentially likely to Disturb the beliefs customs that are in place. The organization will, therefore, want to help new employees adapt to its culture. This adaptation process is called SOCIALIZATION.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  TASK-1.3 What Is The Managements Role In Developing An Organizations Culture? The managers role is to efficiently predict, explain and manage the behavior that occurs in organizations. Specifically, managers are interested in determining why people are a bit more motivated and satisfied. Managers must have an ability to observe and understand the behavior of individuals, groups and organizations to predict what the response will be determined by administrative measures and, finally, to use this understanding and predictions can be effectively managed employees. Behavior can be examined at three levels: individual, group, organization as a whole. Managers seek to learn more about the fact that people, individually or collectively, to behave as they do in organizational settings. What motivates people? This is not some managers and other employees? How people communicate and make decisions? How can organizations respond to changes in their external environment? Management role in the development of organizational culture are developing and implementing management principles, the development of unity among the employees, maintenance-friendly environment with staff managers. Example: Dialogs director came up with latest principles when most of the customers and workers left and joined Airtel. Through his latest master blaster MY10 packages his customers were held and through his vacation packages to employees coordination, unity, productivity attachment with the firm strengthened. TASK-1.4 Is It Possible To Change An Organizations Culture Structure ? If So How? The organizational structure allows the distribution of responsibilities expressed for various functions and processes to different entities such as department, work group and individual. Yes, it is possible to change the culture of an organization. The individuals in an organizational structure are usually hired under employment contracts of limited duration or work orders, or contract of indefinite duration or commands of the program. You cannot change the organizational culture; not knowing where your organization wants to be or what elements of the current organizational culture needs to change. What are the cultural elements that support the success of your organization, or not? For example, your team decides that you spend too much time in agreement with each other rather than to challenge the assumptions and predictions of his team, who have generally been wrong. It is harder to change the culture of an existing organization than to create a culture in a whole new organization. When a culture is already established, people need to unlearn the old values, assumptions and behaviors before they can learn the news. The two most important elements to create organizational cultural change are management support and training. ADDITIONAL ways to change the organizational culture: Practice effective communication- Keeping all employees informed about the organizational culture change process ensures commitment and success. Telling employees what is expected of them is critical for effective organizational culture change. Review organizational structure- Changing the physical structure of the company to align it with the desired organizational culture may be necessary. These units are unlikely to align to support the overall success of the business. Redesign your approach to rewards and recognition- You will likely need to change the reward system to encourage the behaviors vital to the desired organizational culture TASK 2.1 Are Leadership Management Different From One Another? If So How? Give Examples. DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP Leadership is a process of getting things done through people. (Causing others to want what you are doing to accomplish the work of the organization. Proactive leadership 21 st century) Leadership is the art of getting others to do something you want done because they want to do it. Abraham Zaleznik, Harvard Business Review DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT Management is a very popular term and has been used extensively for all types of activities and mainly for taking charge of different activities in any enterprise. Management comprises of planning, organizing, staffing, decision making controlling. Management has also been defined as a process of getting things done with the aim of achieving goals effectively efficiently. Objectives of management: Organizational objectives Social objectives Personal objectives Management helps in: Achieving group goals Increase efficiency Creating a dynamic organization Achieving personal objectives Development of society There are three levels of management. They are: Top level management Middle level management Operational level management BASIS MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP Meaning Management has also been defined as a process of getting things done with the aim of achieving goals effectively efficiently. Leadership is a process of getting things done through people. Goals Managements goal is to achieve their profit margin or to provide certain services. Leadership doesnt have certain goals to achieve unless until the leader creates. Person Required Managers to lead workers to achieve the goals. Leaders to lead followers to follow their principles. Concept Management concept is complex large concept. Leadership concept is a part of management. Rules / Principles There are certain business laws principles to be followed by the organization to achieve the goals. Here if the manager is wrong workers can pinpoint the managers wrongthness. There are no rules to be followed. So if the leader is wrong then all followers follow the wrong path. Needance The concept of management is very much needed in the organization to achieve their goals. Leadership concept is not required compulsorily in organization and it is only required among labors or labor union. Coordination Coordination among worker depends on principles, managers, etc. Coordination in management is higher compared to leadership. Coordination among followers are managed by leaders. Coordination in leadership is low compared to management. Communication Here communication sent can be reaching very slowly but it is very reliable. Here communication sent can be reaching very quickly but it is not very reliable. TASK-2.2 what is Charismatic Leadership How Does It Work In An Organization? Illustrate With Examples Charismatic leadership is leadership based on the leaders ability to communicate and behave in ways that reach fans in a basic way, emotionally, to inspire and motivate. A charismatic leader is one that provides an environment full of energy and positive reinforcement. If you are naturally charismatic, they are very lucky! This is a feature that is not as easy to learn. Charismatic leaders inspire others and encourage them to be their best. Employees and members of the group want to impress a charismatic leader, so work hard and strive to succeed. Charismatic leaders, which are building a group, whether it is a political party, a sect or a business team, often focus primarily on making the very clear and distinct group, which separates it from other groups. Then base the groups image, particularly in the minds of his followers, is far superior to all others. Charismatic leaders use a wide range of methods to manage their image and, if they are not naturally charismatic, you can practice regularly to develop their skills. They can build confidence through self-sacrifice visible and take personal risks in the name of their beliefs. They show great confidence in his followers. They are very persuasive and make very effective use of body language and verbal language. What is charismatic leadership? Description Charismatic leadership is defined by Max Weber as resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual, and the normative patterns or revealed or ordained by him. He defines charisma as a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which differs from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. It is not accessible to the ordinary person but are considered of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the grounds that it treats the person as a leader in quality (). How concerned ultimately, taking into account the factors ethical, aesthetic, or other point of view as it is, of course, charismatic people irrelevant to the definition. Has a remarkable ability to distill complex ideas into simple messages ( I have a dream ) are communicated using symbols, analogies, metaphors and stories. He also enjoyed the risk and feels empty without him, are great opti mists, who are rebels fighting against the convention, and that may seem idiosyncratic. Charismatic leaders are portrayed as heroes or magic organizational leaders have a base of social power to orchestrate turnarounds, launching new businesses, inspire organizational renewal, and get a special performance by members of the organization. These leaders inspire trust, faith and belief in them. Of course none of this is a guarantee that the mission will be correct, ethical, or successful. Charismatic leadership model (History) German sociologist Max Weber in the 1920 distinguished three ideal types of leadership, domination and authority: 1. charismatic domination (familial and religious) 2. Feudal / traditional domination (patriarchs, patrimonial, feudalism), and 3. Bureaucratic /Legal domination (law and modern state, bureaucracy). Robert House (1977) used four sentences to define charismatic leadership: 1. Dominant. 2. Strong desire to influence others. 3. Self-confident. 4. A strong sense of moral values them. Conger and Kananga (1998) describe five behavioral attributes of charismatic leaders: 1. Vision and articulation. 2. The sensitivity to the environment. 3. The sensitivity to the needs of the member. 4. Personal risk taking. 5. The realization of unconventional behavior. More recently, charisma is the state theater (Gardner Alvolio, 1998): Charismatic leadership is a management process enacted theatrically printing to processing, scripting, staging, and acting. Using the charismatic leadership style Applications: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In difficult times or circumstances, such as changing the organization of emergency. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Note that, according to Weber, a charismatic leader does not have to be a positive force. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler could be reasonably considered charismatic leaders. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ See groups of basic character of the theory of some of the mechanisms behind a charismatic leadership. Steps in the Process charismatic leadership approach Jay Conger (1989) proposes the following four-stage model of charismatic leadership: 1. Continuous assessment of the environment and the formulation of a vision. 2. Communication of vision, with arguments of motivation and persuasion. 3. Building trust and commitment. The subordinates must desire and support the goals of the leader and is likely to be achieved on coercion, but the leader to gain the confidence in the leader and the feasibility of the objectives; it is likely that this is done by taking personal risks unconventional experience, and sacrifice. 4. To achieve this goal by using role models, empowerment, and unusual tactics. Strengths of the benefits charismatic leadership style à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ the relatively strong levels of unquestioning obedience. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ It is useful in difficult times or circumstances, such as changing the organization of emergency. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cash. If the charismatic leaders vision is correct, this style of leadership can be extremely effective. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Rhetorical skill. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Energy clarity, interior, visionary, unconventional, and exemplary. MOTHER TERESA Real Name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu DATE OF BIRTH: August 27 Th, 1910   PLACE OF BIRTH: Yugoslavia Mother Teresa decided to spend the rest of her life to help the poor and needies when she was twelve years old. When she thought that her vocation is to help the poor, decided to train for missionary work. At eighteen she joined the Irish nuns, the Sisters of Loreto. After training in Dublin for a few months she went to India. In 1928 she took initial vows as a nun. 1929-1948 she taught at St. Marys High School in Calcutta. Seeing the suffering outside the school created a big impression on her to leave school and help the poor in 1949. She started a school outdoor homeless, without funds. Voluntary helpers soon joined her. She also received financial support. On October 7, 1950 received permission to start their own Missionaries of Charity, who cared and loved the people that nobody else cared. Mother Teresa began fifty projects underway in India. Its projects include helping the people of the slums, childrens homes, homes for the dying, clinics and a leper colony. Her projects have been extended to other countries such as Africa, Asia, Latin America, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States. For all the work that Mother Teresa has received the following awards: 1971 Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, 1972 Nehur Prize for International Peace and Understanding, and 1979 Balzan Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Brotherhood United Nations. Shes a good charismatic leader. She did a wonderful job of saving those people who were like dying. www.myhero.com TASK-3.1 What are The Early Theories of Motivation, How Well Have They Been Supported by Research? Meaning: Motivation means incitement or inducement to act or move. In relevant to organization context, it means the process of making subordinates to act in a desired manner to achieve a certain goal. Motivation distinguishes the sufficient reason of Becoming, of Knowledge, of being and of Action.(From the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer) Abraham Maslows Need Hierarchy Theory: One of the most frequently mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forward by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest, and concluded that when a set of needs is satisfied, this needs no longer a motivator. According to his theory, these needs are: Physiological needs: These are important needs for sustaining human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and education are basic physiological needs, which are included in the main list of needs satisfaction. Maslow was views that until these needs are met in a level to sustain life, no other motivating factor to work. (Ii) Security or Safety needs: These are the needs to be free from physical danger and the fear of losing a job, goods, food or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm. (Iii) Social needs: Since people are social beings, need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship. (Iv) Esteem needs: According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in high esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as power, prestige and self-confidence status. This includes both internal factors such as the self esteem, autonomy and achievement and external factors as the states of the esteem, recognition and attention. (V) The need for self actualization: Maslow believes that this is the greatest need in their hierarchy. It is the desire to be what one is capable of becoming; it includes growth, achieving their potential and self-realization. Is to maximize their potential and to accomplish something. Motivation2 As each of these needs is substantially satisfied the next need becomes dominant. From the standpoint of motivation, the theory would say that although it is not necessary always fully satisfied, satisfied need no longer motivates substantially. So if you want to motivate someone, you need to understand what is the level of the hierarchy of that person is on and focus on fulfilling the needs or the needs above that level. Maslows need theory has received wide recognition, especially among practicing managers. This can be attributed to the intuitive logic of the theory and ease of understanding. However, research does not validate these theories. Maslow provided no empirical evidence and other studies attempting to validate the theory found no support. OPINION: Such type of motivational technique helps the organization to fulfill the needs of employees and motivate them to work for their organization. Through this organizational goal as well as employee goals can be achieved. Theory X and Theory by Douglas McGregor: McGregor, in his book The Human Side of Enterprise provides that persons within the organization can be managed in two ways. The first is basically negative, corresponding to the category X and the other is basically positive, corresponding to the category Y. After seeing the way the manager treated employees, McGregor concluded that a manager view of the nature of human beings is based on a particular group of cases and that he or she tends to shape their behavior toward subordinates According to these assumptions. Under the assumptions of the theory X: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Employees inherently dislike work and whenever possible, try to avoid it. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Because employees dislike work, have to be forced, coerced or threatened with punishment to achieve the goals. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Employees avoid responsibilities and works to fill official guidelines are issued. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Most workers place greater emphasis on safety above all other factors and show little ambition. In contrast to the assumptions of Theory Y: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Physical and mental stress at work is as natural as rest or play. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ People will exercise self-control and self-direction and if they are committed to these goals. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The average human being is willing to take responsibility and exercise the imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organizational problems. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The way in which things are organized, the intelligence of the average human being is only partially. In the analysis of the assumptions that can detect that the Theory X assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals and Theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals. An organization that runs on the Theory X lines tends to be authoritarian in nature, the word authoritarian suggests ideas like the power to compel obedience and right to rule. In contrast to Theory Y organizations can be described as participatory, where the objectives of the organization and individuals that are integrated, people can achieve their own goals by directing their efforts towards the success of the organization. However, this theory has been widely criticized for the widespread job and human behavior. OPINION: According to McGregor, he says all drawbacks faced by employees. He creates a picture where employees are punished using negative motivational technique and where managers get full use out of employee without any fulfillment of employee needs. Such picture also shows that manager as devil for employees. Such practices are not prevailing very much in our society. The theory of Frederick Herzbergs motivation hygiene: Federico has sought to modify the theory of Maslow need hierarchy. His theory is also known as the theory of two factors or hygiene theory. He stated that there are certain satisfactions and dissatisfaction of employees at work. In-intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with dissatisfaction. He devised his theory on the question: What people want from their jobs? He asked people to describe in detail, this type of situation when they felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. From the responses received, he concluded that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Feature extraction of unsatisfactory work, not necessarily do the job more satisfying. Affirms that the presence of certain factors in the organization is natural and the presence of the same does not lead to motivation. However, their non-presence leads to demonization. Similarly, there are certain factors, without which causes dissatisfaction, but their prese nce has a motivational impact. Examples of hygiene factors are: Safety, status, relationship with subordinates, personal life, salary, working conditions, the relationship with the supervisor and company policy and administration. Examples of motivating factors are: Brochure promoting the growth of employment, responsibility, challenges, recognition and achievement. OPINION: Here, he says that opposite to satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. He also says that an employee dislike to perform a particular job because he doesnt get the likes through his job. This could be got through the motivations done by managers in form of recognition, achievement encouragement, etc. Theory McClellands Needs: David McClelland has developed a theory in three types of motivating needs: 1. Need for Power 2. Need for Affiliation 3. Need for achievement Basically people need to be high lean toward influence and control. They like to be in the center and are good speakers. They are demanding in nature, forceful in the customs and ambitious in life. They may be motivated to perform if given key positions or positions of power. In the second category are people who are social in nature. They try to join individuals and groups. They are driven by love and faith. They like to create a pleasant environment around them. Social recognition and affiliation with others provides motivation. The people of the third area are governed by the challenge of success and fear of failure. Their need for achievement is moderate and they set moderately difficult tasks. They are analytical and take calculated risks. These people are motivated to perform when they see at least some chance of success. McClelland noted that with the advancement in the hierarchy of the need for greater power and performance rather than affiliation. He also noted that people who were at the top, later ceased to be motivated by this unit. OPINION: McClelland is almost similar to Hertzberg Abraham Maslow. His idea is also given in the form of hierarchy mode. He presents those three levels from where employee needs are very much needed to be fulfilled to motivate them. Through this need are settled from higher to lower needs. According to him a person could be motivated by giving more power, through recognition of achievement, job security, autonomy, etc. TASK-3.2 How Do The Contemporary Theories Of Work Motivation Complement One Another? Definition of contemporary theories A set of statements or principles set out to explain a set of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena that belong to the same age who live or occur in the same period. Equity Theory: According to equity theory by J. Stacey Adams, people are motivated by their beliefs about the structure of rewards to be fair or unfair, in relation to these entries. People have a tendency to follow a subjective criterion to balance the outcomes and inputs in relation to comparisons between different individuals. Therefore, if people feel they have the same reward that will reduce the quantity or quality of work or move to another organization. However, if people perceive that rewards are higher, may be motivated to work harder. OPINION: Equity theory helps to ignore social problems between subordinates supervisors in organization. This is because this principle clearly states that there is no different treatment within people working in an organization. Such type of principle should prevail in certain environment like political area. This principle helps another motivational principle known as Goal setting theory. If there is a goal to be achieved with the help of groups then employees in the group should maintain equality. Though they have more power compared to other group members they cannot punish them with stressed job. It will lead to slavery revolution resulting in close down o

Civil Disobedience: Are We Morally Obliged to Obey Unjust Laws? Essay

Are we morally obliged to obey even unjust laws? This moral question addresses what we commonly know as civil disobedience. In order to properly discuss civil disobedience and whether or not it is moral to disobey laws, we must first characterize civil disobedience. In Peter Singer's book, Practical Ethics he begins to characterize civil disobedience as arising from "ethical disagreement" and raising the question of whether "to uphold the law, even if the law protects and sanctions things we hold utterly wrong?" (Singer 292). Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay entitled Civil Disobedience that was published in 1854 in the collection of essays called Walden; or Life in the Woods. Thoreau first wrote of civil disobedience in opposition to the Mexican War, but his words still hold truth and meaning for us today. In Civil Disobedience Thoreau explains his ideas about government and whether or not we should obey laws that do not appear to the individual to be moral. Thoreau recognizes that there can be abuse to government, and simply because something is passed as law, does not make it right. He says: The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it (Thoreau 1). With civil disobedience, we are discussing government and the law, and if we should uphold laws, even when they are not morally right and how, if we are to go against the law, should we do that? We should not have to obey laws that are unjust, but we also must look at each individual instance where injustice is occurring and carefully determine how to act. Civil disobedience must remain civil and not become violent. If disobedi... ...ly enough said, that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made a man a whit more just; and by means of respect for it, even the well disposed are made the agents of injustice (Thoreau 2). Violence is hard to justify when discussing civil disobedience. The whole idea behind civil disobedience is that it is a way to bring attention to an injustice without causing harm to others. Bibliography # Singer, Peter.Practical Ethics. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. 1993. # Thoreau, Henry David.Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. Dover Publications, Inc. Dover Thrift Editions. 1993 # The Sevagram Ashram. http://www.mkgandhi.org/sevagram/default.htm # People v Pitts. Michigan No. 186260. LC No. 95-003317. 1997. http://www.milawyersweekly.com/micoa/186260.HTM

The fall of absolutism in Sweden :: essays research papers

THE FALL OF ABSOLUTISM IN SWEDEN It was a typical November night with a light cold breeze in the air. The time was nine o clock in the evening and the date 30th of November 1718. The King was standing firm at his place on the parapet that was facing the fortress of Fredriksten. It was the second military campaign against Norway and the siege had only lasted for ten days, until an unexpected event changed the situation dramatically. While heavy firing was commencing from the fortifications, Charles XII stood there, on the very front line, gazing beyond the surroundings with his head out, uncovered by the parapet, as projectiles were swarming overhead. In close vicinity stood Bengt Vilhelm Carlberg, who served as fortification officer during the siege. This is his eye witness account of the event that followed: â€Å"It was now when the unfortunate time had come, the time that ended everything. Barely a quarter of an hour had passed before His Majesty the King, who had been standing above and beside several high officers, was shot from nowhere. It was a shot that pierced through the left side of His Majesty The King’s head, leaving him motionless and dead .† Charles XII efforts to strengthen the Swedish empire ultimately led to its fall and the rise of parliamentary reforms in Sweden This was the end, and not only the end for Charles XII King of Sweden. But also the beginning of the end of the Great Northern War, and ultimately the end of the Swedish Empire. Sweden had fought two decades of constant war against Poland, Russia, Denmark and Norway. The outcome was over 200 000 casualties and an economy that was crippled. Charles XII had been ruling Sweden as a divine right monarch. Absolutism brought him total power and with it responsibility. The responsibility to protect his people and strengthen the glory and greatness of Sweden, but both these responsibilities he failed to comply, and left was a poor, betrayed, miserable people with nothing but despise towards the state, and in particular absolutism as a form of government. The time of absolutism in Sweden was over, while the beginning of parliamentary reforms was taking its course. What efforts did Charles XII make to strengthen the Swedish Empire? How did these efforts lead to the fall of Absolutism in Sweden, and finally what was the reason for reforming the parliamentary climate in Sweden?

Comparing Hamlets Treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude :: comparison compare contrast essays

Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Modern folklore suggests women look at a man's relationship with his mother to predict how they will treat other women in their life.  Ã‚   Hamlet is a good example of a son's treatment of his mother reflecting how he will treat the woman he loves because when considering Hamlet's attitude and treatment of the Ophelia in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, one must first consider how Hamlet treated his mother.   A characteristic of Hamlet's personality is to make broad, sweeping generalizations and nowhere is this more evident than in his treatment toward women.   Very early in the play, while discussing his mother's transgressions, he comments, â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman. (Hoy, 11).†Ã‚   Hamlet appears to believe all women act in the same manner as his mother.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first time the audience meets Hamlet, he is angry and upset at Queen Gertrude, his mother, for remarrying his uncle so soon after the death of his father.   In his first soliloquy he comments on the speed of her remarriage      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Within a month,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   She married.   O, most wicked speed, to post   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not, nor it cannot come to good.   (Hoy, 11)    It is understandable Hamlet is upset with his mother for forgetting about his father and marrying his uncle, Claudius.   In Hamlet's eyes, his father deserves more than one month of mourning and by remarrying so quickly, the queen has sullied King Hamlet's memory. This remarriage is a sin and illegal, however special dispensation was made because she is queen.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's opinion of his mother worsens as the play progresses because his father, who appears as a ghost, tells him of his mother's adulterous behavior and his uncle's shrewd and unconscionable murder.   Although Hamlet promises to seek revenge on King Claudius for murdering his father, he is initially more concerned with the ghost's revelations regarding his mother. King Hamlet tells Hamlet not to be concerned with his mother but after the apparition leaves, it is the first thing Hamlet speaks of.   Before vowing to avenge his father's death, he comments on the sins his mother committed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although Hamlet decides to pretend to be insane in order to plot against the King, it is clear, he really does go mad.   His madness seems to amplify his anger toward his mother.   During the play scene, he openly embarrasses her and acted terribly toward her in the closet scene.   The closet scene explains much Comparing Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude :: comparison compare contrast essays Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Modern folklore suggests women look at a man's relationship with his mother to predict how they will treat other women in their life.  Ã‚   Hamlet is a good example of a son's treatment of his mother reflecting how he will treat the woman he loves because when considering Hamlet's attitude and treatment of the Ophelia in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, one must first consider how Hamlet treated his mother.   A characteristic of Hamlet's personality is to make broad, sweeping generalizations and nowhere is this more evident than in his treatment toward women.   Very early in the play, while discussing his mother's transgressions, he comments, â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman. (Hoy, 11).†Ã‚   Hamlet appears to believe all women act in the same manner as his mother.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first time the audience meets Hamlet, he is angry and upset at Queen Gertrude, his mother, for remarrying his uncle so soon after the death of his father.   In his first soliloquy he comments on the speed of her remarriage      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Within a month,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   She married.   O, most wicked speed, to post   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not, nor it cannot come to good.   (Hoy, 11)    It is understandable Hamlet is upset with his mother for forgetting about his father and marrying his uncle, Claudius.   In Hamlet's eyes, his father deserves more than one month of mourning and by remarrying so quickly, the queen has sullied King Hamlet's memory. This remarriage is a sin and illegal, however special dispensation was made because she is queen.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's opinion of his mother worsens as the play progresses because his father, who appears as a ghost, tells him of his mother's adulterous behavior and his uncle's shrewd and unconscionable murder.   Although Hamlet promises to seek revenge on King Claudius for murdering his father, he is initially more concerned with the ghost's revelations regarding his mother. King Hamlet tells Hamlet not to be concerned with his mother but after the apparition leaves, it is the first thing Hamlet speaks of.   Before vowing to avenge his father's death, he comments on the sins his mother committed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although Hamlet decides to pretend to be insane in order to plot against the King, it is clear, he really does go mad.   His madness seems to amplify his anger toward his mother.   During the play scene, he openly embarrasses her and acted terribly toward her in the closet scene.   The closet scene explains much

Paradise Lost

Strictly following the tradition of classical epic, Milton made his Paradise Lost, a work that roused the interest of all men in all ages. We can even claim that by his creative genius, he has modified and ennobled that tradition. Though its form is classical, its content tends to be on the scriptural side. The very opening lines exhort its central theme –â€Å"Of man’s disobedience†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The bone of contention between the critics of all ages is about whom the hero of this epic is –God, Satan or Adam. Undoubtedly we are forced to say that a good number of passages, especially in the first two books of Paradise Lost, give a heroic stature to Satan, the major among the fallen angels. Gradual diminution of Satan’s glory and grandeur is an integral part of Milton’s epic-design. The Satan of Books I and II is a creature of such dynamic energy and colorful splendor that many of the epic’s readers are tempted to consider him as the hero of the poem. That Milton did not so regard him and that, in rejecting the Satan of the earlier part of the epic, Milton was not being false to his poetic self, is clear from Satan’s opening soliloquy in Book IV, at least the first ten lines of which were written before Books I and II. In this and subsequent soliloquies Milton is able to present the character of Satan more fully and in a partly dramatic form, by placing him in a situation which denies him an outlet for his rhetoric and invites introspective self-examination. Milton, no doubt, intended Satan – at least in the early books – to be representative of the old heroic values which were to be superseded by ‘the better fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom’. Unfortunately for Milton, readers of Paradise Lost have not been able to shake off the heroic qualities of Satan in the first two books. Along with that, three other factors contributed to the result. In English, the word ‘hero’ has the meaning of a ‘central figure’, and this Satan is definitely in these early books. Milton was strong and fresh creatively when he characterized Satan in these early books; and he never succeeded in producing a rival hero of similar stature but opposed ideals. Milton lavished all his power, all his skill, and the greater part of his sympathy on the splendid figure of Satan. Many critics have agreed to the fact that the epic value of the whole epic is centered in the achievements and characterization of Satan. His unyielding agony represents the insightful antinomy of the modern consciousness. Satan expresses, as no other character in the epic does, something in which Milton believed strongly, that is, heroic energy. It is through Satan that Milton’s own heroic energy has been so powerfully shown forth. This is expressed through conflict and endurance. The odds are against him, he has to wage war against the Omnipotent, but still he persists and struggles, and wins our profoundest admiration and sympathy. No doubt, his energy is unreasoning, no doubt it is devoted to his wicked passion for revenge, and certainly he is carried away by hate and envy, but still we cannot help admiring him for the heroic energy with which he persistently struggles against heavy odds to achieve his aims. Milton’s Satan is not a comic or grotesque figure like the Devil or Vice of medieval writers or the demons of other epic poets. Being a principal figure of an epic, if a certain amount of grotesqueness was drawn in the character of Satan, it would have definitely impaired the dignity of the poem. Many predecessors of Milton have done the same but in this respect too Milton was daringly original. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that by attempting at proving himself ‘self-begotten’, Satan‘s behavior tends to the comic and contradictory. Moreover, only a fool would pit himself against omnipotence and thus invite certain disaster. But Milton’s Satan is neither a fool nor a clown. He definitely has the beauty of sublimity and the grandeur and majesty and dignity of bearing. The poet drives home this nobility and greatness of his bearing in wonderfully mentored fine passages which can be hailed as the best among those that have been ever written. The following passage confirms the point: â€Å"†¦Black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart, what seemed his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand, and from his seat The monster moving onward came as fast With horrid strides: Hell trembled as he strode. †(II 495-501) Courteously and fearlessly Satan addresses himself to the monarch of the nethermost abyss. His speech contains no threats; he asks for guidance in his quest; and, with politic fore-thought, promises that quest, if successful, shall restore an outlying lost province to Chaos. In the war on the plains of Heaven, Satan ranges up and down the fighting line, like Cromwell; he fortifies his comrades to endurance, and encourages them to attack. In Hell he stands like a tower: â€Å"His form had yet not lost All its original brightness, nor appeared Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I (591-4) In his contests with Michael in heaven and with Gabriel on earth, he never falls below himself: â€Å"If I must contend†, said he, â€Å"Best with the best – the sender, not the sent; Or all at once. † IV (851-3) His followers are devotedly attached to him; they admire him ‘that for the general safety he despised his own’; and the only scene of rejoicing recorded in the annals of Hell, before the Fall of Man, is at the dissolution of Stygian Council, when the devils come forth â€Å"rejoicing in their matchless chief†. The allure of free will is where the attractiveness and power of Satan's character lies. Satan may be quite useless when it comes to fighting the ten thousand thunders of Christ's fury, but in his will he is free and in his mind he is supreme: ‘What though the field be lost? | All is not lost; the unconquerable will' (I. 105). † (Zen g, Nicholas http://www. christs. cam. ac. uk/darknessvisible/about_us/nicholas_zeng. html) As if to set purpose to raise Satan high above the heads of other archangels, Milton devises a pair of similar scenes in Heaven and in Hell. In the one Satan takes upon himself the unknown dangers of the enterprise that has been approved by the assembly. In the other, which occurs in the very next book, the Heavenly powers are addressed from the Throne, and asked – â€Å"Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem Man’s mortal crime, and just, the unjust to save? III (214-5) None in heaven is ready to take the risk; but Satan takes upon himself the dangerous task of traveling through Chaos and seducing Man. There is no doubt in the fact that Satan’s over-mastering passions are hate, ambition and desire for revenge, but he is not presented as a monster of wickedness or an unredeemed villain. Milton has skillfully humanized his character. Hence, though Satan in the enemy of God and Man alike, he is not entirely devoid of gentler characteristics. He is deeply remorseful at the thought of the ruin in which he has involved his followers and this remorse actually brings tears to his eyes. In the second book, we see him showing forth a noble sense of the duty of self-sacrifice incumbent on him owing to his position as king of hell, by sacrificing his own safety for the general cause and as a result, undertaking alone the difficult enterprise which daunted the courage of the mightiest of his followers. This trait of Satan’s character is maintained in the later books. We see him twice melted with compassion seeing the harmless innocence of Adam and Eve whose ruin he is plotting in book IV (389. 462-66). These softer feelings are to be seen as only occasional touches introduced to relieve the grandeur of a character essentially terrible, a character who is, though not totally devoid of gentle traits, on the whole most like a mighty tempest, or an avalanche, or any other force of nature that is a harmonious blending of beauty of sublimity and immense destructive power. With due sympathy and dramatic power, Satan’s character has been drawn which further revealed Milton’s proud spirit of independence and superiority to the utmost. Satan is certainly a self-portrait, a rebel against tyranny and injustice like Milton himself. The sentiment which he expresses – ‘courage never to submit or yield’; â€Å"better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven’, raises his stature to that of an epic hero. Satan is such a magnificently drawn character and such is the fascination he has exercised on the readers of the great epic of all times, paradise lost, that ever since Dryden has christened Satan as ‘Milton’s hero’, critic after critic has taken him to be the hero of the epic. There is no doubt that he dominates Books I and II of the epic in which he towers head and shoulders above his followers, but after that there is a progressive degradation and shrinkage in his character. His gradual loss of physical brightness is accompanied by a corresponding deterioration of character. The audience, however, does find someplace to invest its sympathy, and that place is in the character of Satan. The audience first sees Satan waking in Hell where he and the other fallen angels despair. Through his despair, however, Satan claims, â€Å"All is not lost — the unconquerable will,// And study of revenge, immortal hate,// And courage never to submit or yield — . . . That glory never shall his wrath or might// Extort from me† (I. 104- 111). † (http://www. essortment. com/all/satanparadisel_rsng. htm) It is by his own will that he becomes a serpent in Book IX. In Book X, he is a serpent whenever he wants to wear its garb. This degradation that is progressive is drawn home most effectively. His beginning is shown as fighting for liberty, however it is misconceived. But very soon his stature goes down as he starts fighting for â€Å"Honour, Dominion, glorie, and renounce’. But it is seen that he is defeated in this in no time. Then he resorts to the great plotting that forms the essence of the epic – the ruining of two creatures that are in no way harmful to him, but this is not at all keeping in front a serious expectation of triumph, but only to annoy the enemy who is beyond his reach for a direct encounter. This makes him stoop to the level of a spy coming into the universe, that too as a low level spy who peeps into the privacy of a man and wife, and it is there that he is described for the first time as ‘Devil’, not the fallen Archangel nor the dreaded emperor of Hell. If we take into account not merely Books I and II, but the epic as a whole, Satan cannot be regarded as the hero. As he is carried away by his passion for revenge, envy and hatred, to use ‘guile’ and cunning to achieve his end, Satan is the villain of the piece and not the hero. Closely woven with the story of the fall of man is the story of the fall of Satan and his followers. Their fall also bears out that the theme of the epic is the victory of passion over reason and its terrible consequence. Satan falls not because he is a lesser being, but due to his giving priority to passion over reason. He is proud and is carried away by inordinate ambition and lust for power. He claims absolute equality, foolishly imagines that he is self-created, regards god’s rule as tyrannous, rebels against him and is consequently overthrown and hurled into hell. He is the very embodiment of unrestrained passions which ultimately bring no satisfaction. Debates are still going on about the fact that Satan is such a driving force within the great epic. It ranges from William Blake’s comment that Milton â€Å"wrote in fetters when wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it† (Black 2007, p. 996) to the plea that this poem is nothing more than a christian tale in which milton is unsuccessful in portraying what he intended to do. (Marshal 1961, p. 19) Paradise Lost Strictly following the tradition of classical epic, Milton made his Paradise Lost, a work that roused the interest of all men in all ages. We can even claim that by his creative genius, he has modified and ennobled that tradition. Though its form is classical, its content tends to be on the scriptural side. The very opening lines exhort its central theme –â€Å"Of man’s disobedience†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The bone of contention between the critics of all ages is about whom the hero of this epic is –God, Satan or Adam. Undoubtedly we are forced to say that a good number of passages, especially in the first two books of Paradise Lost, give a heroic stature to Satan, the major among the fallen angels. Gradual diminution of Satan’s glory and grandeur is an integral part of Milton’s epic-design. The Satan of Books I and II is a creature of such dynamic energy and colorful splendor that many of the epic’s readers are tempted to consider him as the hero of the poem. That Milton did not so regard him and that, in rejecting the Satan of the earlier part of the epic, Milton was not being false to his poetic self, is clear from Satan’s opening soliloquy in Book IV, at least the first ten lines of which were written before Books I and II. In this and subsequent soliloquies Milton is able to present the character of Satan more fully and in a partly dramatic form, by placing him in a situation which denies him an outlet for his rhetoric and invites introspective self-examination. Milton, no doubt, intended Satan – at least in the early books – to be representative of the old heroic values which were to be superseded by ‘the better fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom’. Unfortunately for Milton, readers of Paradise Lost have not been able to shake off the heroic qualities of Satan in the first two books. Along with that, three other factors contributed to the result. In English, the word ‘hero’ has the meaning of a ‘central figure’, and this Satan is definitely in these early books. Milton was strong and fresh creatively when he characterized Satan in these early books; and he never succeeded in producing a rival hero of similar stature but opposed ideals. Milton lavished all his power, all his skill, and the greater part of his sympathy on the splendid figure of Satan. Many critics have agreed to the fact that the epic value of the whole epic is centered in the achievements and characterization of Satan. His unyielding agony represents the insightful antinomy of the modern consciousness. Satan expresses, as no other character in the epic does, something in which Milton believed strongly, that is, heroic energy. It is through Satan that Milton’s own heroic energy has been so powerfully shown forth. This is expressed through conflict and endurance. The odds are against him, he has to wage war against the Omnipotent, but still he persists and struggles, and wins our profoundest admiration and sympathy. No doubt, his energy is unreasoning, no doubt it is devoted to his wicked passion for revenge, and certainly he is carried away by hate and envy, but still we cannot help admiring him for the heroic energy with which he persistently struggles against heavy odds to achieve his aims. Milton’s Satan is not a comic or grotesque figure like the Devil or Vice of medieval writers or the demons of other epic poets. Being a principal figure of an epic, if a certain amount of grotesqueness was drawn in the character of Satan, it would have definitely impaired the dignity of the poem. Many predecessors of Milton have done the same but in this respect too Milton was daringly original. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that by attempting at proving himself ‘self-begotten’, Satan‘s behavior tends to the comic and contradictory. Moreover, only a fool would pit himself against omnipotence and thus invite certain disaster. But Milton’s Satan is neither a fool nor a clown. He definitely has the beauty of sublimity and the grandeur and majesty and dignity of bearing. The poet drives home this nobility and greatness of his bearing in wonderfully mentored fine passages which can be hailed as the best among those that have been ever written. The following passage confirms the point: â€Å"†¦Black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart, what seemed his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand, and from his seat The monster moving onward came as fast With horrid strides: Hell trembled as he strode. †(II 495-501) Courteously and fearlessly Satan addresses himself to the monarch of the nethermost abyss. His speech contains no threats; he asks for guidance in his quest; and, with politic fore-thought, promises that quest, if successful, shall restore an outlying lost province to Chaos. In the war on the plains of Heaven, Satan ranges up and down the fighting line, like Cromwell; he fortifies his comrades to endurance, and encourages them to attack. In Hell he stands like a tower: â€Å"His form had yet not lost All its original brightness, nor appeared Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I (591-4) In his contests with Michael in heaven and with Gabriel on earth, he never falls below himself: â€Å"If I must contend†, said he, â€Å"Best with the best – the sender, not the sent; Or all at once. † IV (851-3) His followers are devotedly attached to him; they admire him ‘that for the general safety he despised his own’; and the only scene of rejoicing recorded in the annals of Hell, before the Fall of Man, is at the dissolution of Stygian Council, when the devils come forth â€Å"rejoicing in their matchless chief†. The allure of free will is where the attractiveness and power of Satan's character lies. Satan may be quite useless when it comes to fighting the ten thousand thunders of Christ's fury, but in his will he is free and in his mind he is supreme: ‘What though the field be lost? | All is not lost; the unconquerable will' (I. 105). † (Zen g, Nicholas http://www. christs. cam. ac. uk/darknessvisible/about_us/nicholas_zeng. html) As if to set purpose to raise Satan high above the heads of other archangels, Milton devises a pair of similar scenes in Heaven and in Hell. In the one Satan takes upon himself the unknown dangers of the enterprise that has been approved by the assembly. In the other, which occurs in the very next book, the Heavenly powers are addressed from the Throne, and asked – â€Å"Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem Man’s mortal crime, and just, the unjust to save? III (214-5) None in heaven is ready to take the risk; but Satan takes upon himself the dangerous task of traveling through Chaos and seducing Man. There is no doubt in the fact that Satan’s over-mastering passions are hate, ambition and desire for revenge, but he is not presented as a monster of wickedness or an unredeemed villain. Milton has skillfully humanized his character. Hence, though Satan in the enemy of God and Man alike, he is not entirely devoid of gentler characteristics. He is deeply remorseful at the thought of the ruin in which he has involved his followers and this remorse actually brings tears to his eyes. In the second book, we see him showing forth a noble sense of the duty of self-sacrifice incumbent on him owing to his position as king of hell, by sacrificing his own safety for the general cause and as a result, undertaking alone the difficult enterprise which daunted the courage of the mightiest of his followers. This trait of Satan’s character is maintained in the later books. We see him twice melted with compassion seeing the harmless innocence of Adam and Eve whose ruin he is plotting in book IV (389. 462-66). These softer feelings are to be seen as only occasional touches introduced to relieve the grandeur of a character essentially terrible, a character who is, though not totally devoid of gentle traits, on the whole most like a mighty tempest, or an avalanche, or any other force of nature that is a harmonious blending of beauty of sublimity and immense destructive power. With due sympathy and dramatic power, Satan’s character has been drawn which further revealed Milton’s proud spirit of independence and superiority to the utmost. Satan is certainly a self-portrait, a rebel against tyranny and injustice like Milton himself. The sentiment which he expresses – ‘courage never to submit or yield’; â€Å"better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven’, raises his stature to that of an epic hero. Satan is such a magnificently drawn character and such is the fascination he has exercised on the readers of the great epic of all times, paradise lost, that ever since Dryden has christened Satan as ‘Milton’s hero’, critic after critic has taken him to be the hero of the epic. There is no doubt that he dominates Books I and II of the epic in which he towers head and shoulders above his followers, but after that there is a progressive degradation and shrinkage in his character. His gradual loss of physical brightness is accompanied by a corresponding deterioration of character. The audience, however, does find someplace to invest its sympathy, and that place is in the character of Satan. The audience first sees Satan waking in Hell where he and the other fallen angels despair. Through his despair, however, Satan claims, â€Å"All is not lost — the unconquerable will,// And study of revenge, immortal hate,// And courage never to submit or yield — . . . That glory never shall his wrath or might// Extort from me† (I. 104- 111). † (http://www. essortment. com/all/satanparadisel_rsng. htm) It is by his own will that he becomes a serpent in Book IX. In Book X, he is a serpent whenever he wants to wear its garb. This degradation that is progressive is drawn home most effectively. His beginning is shown as fighting for liberty, however it is misconceived. But very soon his stature goes down as he starts fighting for â€Å"Honour, Dominion, glorie, and renounce’. But it is seen that he is defeated in this in no time. Then he resorts to the great plotting that forms the essence of the epic – the ruining of two creatures that are in no way harmful to him, but this is not at all keeping in front a serious expectation of triumph, but only to annoy the enemy who is beyond his reach for a direct encounter. This makes him stoop to the level of a spy coming into the universe, that too as a low level spy who peeps into the privacy of a man and wife, and it is there that he is described for the first time as ‘Devil’, not the fallen Archangel nor the dreaded emperor of Hell. If we take into account not merely Books I and II, but the epic as a whole, Satan cannot be regarded as the hero. As he is carried away by his passion for revenge, envy and hatred, to use ‘guile’ and cunning to achieve his end, Satan is the villain of the piece and not the hero. Closely woven with the story of the fall of man is the story of the fall of Satan and his followers. Their fall also bears out that the theme of the epic is the victory of passion over reason and its terrible consequence. Satan falls not because he is a lesser being, but due to his giving priority to passion over reason. He is proud and is carried away by inordinate ambition and lust for power. He claims absolute equality, foolishly imagines that he is self-created, regards god’s rule as tyrannous, rebels against him and is consequently overthrown and hurled into hell. He is the very embodiment of unrestrained passions which ultimately bring no satisfaction. Debates are still going on about the fact that Satan is such a driving force within the great epic. It ranges from William Blake’s comment that Milton â€Å"wrote in fetters when wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it† (Black 2007, p. 996) to the plea that this poem is nothing more than a christian tale in which milton is unsuccessful in portraying what he intended to do. (Marshal 1961, p. 19)