Hamlet Critical Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hamlet Critical Perspectives - Essay Example This was almost a requirement, because England was under fire from many nations, including Rome and the Catholic church, due to Henry VIII (her father) breaking with the Vatican during his reign. Yet by the start of the seventeenth century, the queen was in her late sixties and to quote the French ambassador De Maisse â€Å"She kept the front of her dress open, and one could see the whole of her bosom†¦and†¦ Her bosom is somewhat wrinkled†. As such Doctor Lavery draws the comparison of her and the elderly Gertrude, with whom Hamlet cannot hide his disgust when she marries Claudius (Lavery). Another contemporary viewpoint that Lavery believes Shakespeare used as a main theme for the play was revenge, especially when it pertained to corruption in government. True Hamlet sought true blood revenge for his father the king was murdered by his own brother in order to seize the throne. But he also grappled with an even bigger problem in that the government should be toppled, with violence if necessary, if it is deemed to be unworkable. Perhaps the founding fathers of the United States learned well from Hamlet and used his ideas when they decided to secede from England well over a century later. Then again it has been said by others that the inspiration for Hamlet was a Latin work from the thirteenth century called Vita Amlethi, well before Elisabeth’s Tudor monarchy had been established. Hamlet uses many mythological references in the work, along with historical figures interspersed to mythological status. For instance, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (who was a central figure in many of Shakespeare’s works) was mentioned in three times in the play, mostly as part of Hamlet’s play within a play. Speaking of his uncle Claudius, Hamlet refers to him as a satyr, the drunken buffoon in Roman mythology from which we get the word satire. Of course figures from the Judaic Christian belief system is heavily referenced from the obvious refe rences to Cain and Abel (Claudius slew his brother), the beggar Lazarus, Saints Peter, Patrick and James, to Jesus Christ himself. Even the madness of Hercules from Greek mythology is borrowed from, to reference the entire theme of insanity in the play. In his work Teaching Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Douglas Grudzina argues that the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and his protege Carl Jung looked heavily at the mythological aspects of Hamlet when Jung said â€Å"some myths are repeated throughout history in cultures and eras that could not possibly have had any contact with one another† as in the Greeks and Chinese having basically the same stories. Jung believed that this concept was especially true in relation to religious beliefs. Every culture basically believes in creation and some sort of life after death. Based upon Shakespeare’s own beliefs, that would therefore explain the ghostly appearance of Hamlet’s father, asking that his son avenge him ( Grudzina). The feminism of Hamlet, or lack of it, has been well documented, especially in the late twentieth century and one of the most famous of those was the tragic Ophelia, whose eventual madness was caused by her maltreatment from most if not all of the males she encountered. For a character so well written about by so many scholars, she appears

Review of the Article Development Opportunity Essay

Review of the Article Development Opportunity - Essay Example The article gives some guidelines in toning down what is necessary in learning and development (L & D) programs. An approach called RAM is suggested. R stands for relevance, which asks, â€Å"What is it for? Why are we doing it? Has the work changed? Has the business changed?†. A stands for alignment, which asks consults the stakeholders who will benefit from it. Lastly, M stands for measurement, which looks into the impact and value of the L & D (Scott, 2010). Since options to save up on L & D expenses have been cut short, online training services have been made available by a few groups where employees can log on to the company’s learning management server and choose a program they believe will help them in an area they need training for. Such service conducts an impact and learning study to monitor how they improved from the training. When people want to learn more to improve themselves, the article said they should not be controlled but instead given freedom and opp ortunity to do so. Social learning is one option. People can work across the company to network, â€Å"share knowledge and experience, collaborate and learn for their benefit and that of the company (Butler as mentioned in Scott, 2010, p. 25). Learning from colleagues could be an effective way of improving skills and experience while keeping company costs down. Leaders may also avail of outside training first and then cascade their new knowledge and skills from the training down to their employees. It is one way of imparting the culture of the organization to its people. In any case, the training expert should keep in mind the goals of the training – to improve the business and not only the people, so it yields a return on investment. L & D should focus more on practical strategies and not just theories. Review of Related Literature The global financial crisis has turned some companies to scrimp on their budgets just keep them afloat in these difficult times. Many people hav e lost their jobs as a result of the budget cuts. For employees left to work to help their companies rise above the economic crunch, training and development are ensured in the expectation that it will contribute towards the betterment of not only the individual employee but of the whole organization as well. Employee development has been identified as key to improving overall organizational effectiveness. Jones and Washington (2003) have defined it as: â€Å"Employee development refers to an integrated set of planned programs, provided over a period of time, to help assure that all individuals have the competence necessary to perform to their fullest potential in support of the organization’s goals† ( 344). Like what the article indicated, nowadays, people have more access to learning. More and more training courses are developed and offered in schools and online for people who want to go further in what they know to gain skills and knowledge in their