Examine the use of the dramatic monologue Essay Example for Free

Examine the use of the dramatic monologue Essay Examine the use of the dramatic monologue in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy Unlike the soliloquy, the dramatic monologue speaks directly to the reader and voices a single character or personas thoughts, this offers a better understanding of the ideas and message the poet is trying to express. The dramatic monologue is used to form a bond or relationship between the speaker and the reader, taking the poem to a personal level, and in turn more effective in conveying a certain message. This essay will explore the way the dramatic monologue is used in both Demeter and Mrs. Midas by Carol Ann Duffy, taken from her collection of poems The Worlds Wife. The phrase, Behind every great man there is said to be a great woman comes to mind when reading The Worlds Wife. The title of this collection reveals much about its content and Duffys intentions. The Worlds Wife places emphasis on the wife, giving the woman the centre stage and allowing her the chance to speak through the medium of the dramatic monologue. From Mrs. Midas to Mrs. Beast, Duffy explores the thoughts and feelings of the women behind famous men, be it through history or through myth or fairytale, Duffy makes it very clear that every woman has a tale to tell. Mrs. Midas tells the untold story of the well-known Greek myth King Midas, who is miraculously, granted the wish of turning everything he touches into gold. As with all the poems in The Worlds Wife, the title is a clear giveaway of what the poem is about to entail, and this is no different. Mrs. Midas, the wife of King Midas is the persona of this particular monologue and here she voices her thoughts on her husbands newfound ability. The kitchen filled with the smell of itself. This personification continues through the first stanza of Mrs. Midas. Its steamy breath and wiped the others glass like a brow, personifies the kitchen Mrs. Midas is in to help you relate to the familiar homely setting that surrounds her. The effect of this is that you feel how she feels at that time, safe, happy and without a care in the world. The lines begun to unwind and the imagery of her relaxing to a glass of wine enforce this feeling. The use of dramatic monologue helps to dramatise the final line of the stanza, He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig, the descriptive lines before this contrasts with the abrupt change of topic, this prepares you for the turning point in her story, where the twist to her tale begins. Within the next few stanzas Mrs. Midass tone dramatically changes from feeling relaxed and happy to shocked and horrified at what her husband has done. He came into the house. The doorknobs gleamed. He drew the blinds. The short sentences evoke a feeling of everything happening too fast, supporting the shocked and horrified mood, which continues to the next stanzas. The first point of the poem in which you hear of her husbands reaction is where he laughs in reply to her question, What in the name of God is going on? Duffy has intended his initial reaction to be laughter instead of explaining himself to portray the stereotypical man that doesnt show consideration or take the situation or his wife seriously when she clearly needs it. The poem is set out in a structure of eleven stanzas consisting of six lines where only two exceptions of this rule is made. He toyed with his spoon, then mine, then with the knives, the forks. The word forks takes a line by itself to help you imagine the way in which Mrs. Midas is speaking to you, she is clearly still in a state of shock and this new line marks a short pause in her speech where she is struggling to stay calm. You see, we were passionate then, where then is on a line by itself it is as though Mrs. Midas has taken a short moment to imagine those happy times when they were passionate, appreciating them as those days are now long gone. I locked the cat in the cellar, The toilet I didnt mind. Like in much of her work, Duffy implements short spouts of humour throughout the poem, the effect of this is that the colloquial language engages the reader and helps to support the idea that Mrs. Midas is actually voicing her tale to the reader personally. Mrs. Midas speaks bitterly about the fatal consequences her husband has bought to their marriage, Separate beds. In fact, I put a chair against my door, near petrified, she also reminisces of the days when they were happy and uses words such as unwrapping which connotes the excitement she once felt. Contrasting the good times they had together with the breakdowns of their marriage they are experiencing now highlights the selfishness and lack of thought her husband had for their relationship. The poem ends with Mrs. Midas being forced to separate from her husband. He is left secluded on his own in the wilds away from people he can potentially harm. The irony of this is that he had hoped the power of the golden touch would win him prosperity, popularity and love and respect by all, and yet it has forced him to live alone for the rest of his life, unable to ever be intimate with his wife again, and unable to enjoy the things he had hoped money would buy him. but the lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness.

Essay --

A Feminist Approach to Susan Glaspell’s â€Å"Trifles† The approach being used for Susan Glaspell’s play is feminist criticism. Glaspell’s play was written in 1916. In the 1900s women were expected to stay home, clean, cook, and take care of the family. Men were the providers of the household, smarter, and in control. Today women are more independent. They are running businesses and taking on more masculine jobs such as, firefighters and police officers. Women are even working and raising families. In some households the wife works while the husband stays home. A woman can do a man’s job and maybe sometimes better. Linda Napikoski explains, â€Å"Feminist criticism is the analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory and/or feminist politics. Feminist literary criticism suggest that women in literature were historically presented as objects seen from a male perspective. Feminist literary criticism actively supports including women’s knowledge in literature and valuing women’s experience. It has since intertwined with postmodernism and increasingly complex question of gender and social roles.† â€Å"Trifles was based on true events. In 1900, a man named John Hossack was murdered with an ax while he slept. His wife, Margaret claims to have slept through the murder. The Jury did not believe her story and found her guilty of murder. Susan Glaspell, who was a journalist with Des Moines Daily News, covered the trial for her newspaper. Even though she did not have any criminal justice background, Glaspell acted like a true detective. She investigated the murder by visiting the farmhouse where Hossack and his wife Margaret lived. She also interviewed attorneys and studied testimonies. Glaspell became very impressed with the st... ...what his life was like behind closed doors. He could have been abusive and angry towards his wife causing her to snap. â€Å"She – come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself – real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and – fluttery. How – she – did – change† (1074). Mrs. Wright did change. She felt trapped in her marriage and she needed to escape. Her life was stolen from her. She strangled her husband and took his life. She probably felt that her life was already over and it wouldn’t matter if she were put in prison or not. Women might see things in a different light than men. They want to please the man in their life, but at the same time they want to be respected and seen as a human beings with feelings. Women today are stronger and more in charge and they don’t allow for a man to come into their life and destroy what they have built for themselves.

Project Sustainability

Executive summary This module is not a detailed study of all aspects of sustainability. The goal of this module is a general introduction into sustainability with a focus on the impact and the effect on projects  © University of Southern Queensland 2 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management throughout their life span. With this knowledge it should be possible for you to identify, understand and address the key issues related to definition and delivery of projects that adhere to current concepts of sustainability, and how to plan for the sustainment of those projects throughout their life span.The concept of sustainability is explored in terms of consumption of resources – this can apply to inputs that are required to the project ‘system’ in order to deliver the project outcomes, the processes by which the project is managed, and the nature of the outputs and their need for resources throughout their useful life span. A range of project sectors is consi dered in order to understand the different implications for each sector. Also, it must be remembered that sustainability works inside of a closed loop system.In all of your deliberations about sustainability and project management you must remember the need to maintain a systems approach. 1. 1 Sustainability issues in a project environment Sustainability is a term that evokes emotion in people about certain events or practices that affect our long term survival of ourselves and all other aspects of our planet. We need to be able to work through this emotion and focus on what is important in an objective and reflective way. By their very nature projects use and affect many resources throughout the life of the project.Some of these resources are consumed or adversely affected by the project. For example, if there was a project to build a new major airport, there would be many issues to consider, and the issue is can their resolution be sustained for the life of the airport? So, the qu estion we need to ask when addressing the project is ‘Can this project be sustained and for how long? ’ The resources required to sustain the project may be physical (natural resources) or they might simply be people (human resources). They could also include local resources as well as imported resources.As a result there are many dimensions of sustainability to consider in a project environment. In 1983 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) convened under Gro Harlem Brundtland a commission to address the growing concern about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development. This became known as the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development in its 1987 Report titled Our Common Future as:Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abil ity of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987) A full copy of the report is available at http://www. un-documents. net/wced-ocf. htm There are other definitions but this one is often used as the baseline definition. The question that needs to be proactively addressed as we look at the resources required to construct and sustain a project, ‘will it be possible to sustain current and future resources? ’ There are two aspects of sustainability to a project.In the design and construction phases of the project, resources of all kinds are consumed. Similarly, during its operational life there is a need to  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 3 provide resources so that the project can continue to operate profitably and efficiently throughout its life. This through life provision of resources is also known as the sustainment phase. This term is used by Defence, but it is also being used in the wider commercial areas. Blanchard (p. 350) provides a short description about sustaining system maintenance and support functions.But, to sustain these functions requires a capability to provide the range and depth of services for the expected life of the project, including extensions. We often think of project life in terms of years, but, more than likely, it will be decades or in the case of dams, centuries. So, it is important in terms of the project to understand the life of the project as well as the sustaining events for it. When dealing with terms that can have meanings depending upon the context of the situation as well as the potential for emotion, it is important to have a sound base on which to use the word, and to be able to defend its usage.A search of the Oxford English Dictionary shows that sustainability first appeared in the mid-1960s in a form that is consistent with contemporary usage. Its usage in the context of sustainable development is first referenced in 1972. So, it is a relatively new word. The On-Line Oxford English Dictionary defines sustainable development as follows: sustainable development n. (a) Econ. economic development which can be sustained in the long term; (b) Ecol. utilization and development of natural resources in ways which are compatible with the maintenance of these resources, and with the conservation of the environment, for future generations.When developing a project it is necessary to be able to determine the current and future needs of the project and the ability of the providers of the future to meet those needs. To carry out the sustainment work of maintenance will require facilities and workshops of different sources. Although these are technical designs, they are controlled by other factors such as planning laws. Therefore, to start developing a definition for sustainability we need to start by considering the wider meaning of sustainable development. Reading activity 1. 1 Selected reading 1. is the Sustainable Development Guidelines for the Brisbane City Council which is a large local government body in Queensland Australia (Brisbane City Council 2005). This reading will provide more indepth detail about sustainable development as required by a local government authority. On completion of this reading, carry out research to find out what your local government authority requires in terms of sustainable development. Compare the two approaches. Selected reading 1. 2 is a paper based on the work done by the Western Australia government on sustainability (Hartz-Karp & Newman 2006).Governments at all levels have an interest in sustainable development, and this paper describes the issues in setting up a sustainability program from first principles. After completing these readings, reflect on the wider issues of sustainability and the sustaining outcomes described by Blanchard. Can you identify the links between the different needs?  © University of Southern Queen sland 4 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 1. 2 Reporting sustainability Given the diverse industries involved in projects, it would be difficult to have comparative and transparent reporting without some form of consistent process.This is achieved though the Global Reporting Initiativeâ„ ¢ (GRI) (Global Reporting Initiative 2008). The GRI is the world de facto standard on sustainability reporting. This is achieved though a set of guidelines, currently known as the G3. The purpose of these guidelines is for organizations to report their social, economic and environmental performance as routinely and with the same discipline as the financial reports. Many organizations routinely report on their sustainability credentials using the GRI G3 guidelines as the reporting standard.Reading activity 1. 2 Log onto www. globalreporting. org and familiarize yourself with the general content of the site. Read the G3 Guidelines to appreciate the range and depth of issues address ed in sustainability reporting. As can be seen from the G3 Guidelines, reporting imposes a significant workload on an organization. Also, as this is an important communication document for the organization, some industries can expect to have their sustainability report critically evaluated by groups within the community. Reading activity 1. 3Log onto websites for large organizations such as those suggested below and do internal searches for sustainability. Read these approaches and reports and see the extent to which this work is done. Now, if you were on a project within an organization such as this, with these reporting requirements, how would you approach this work? ? BHP Billiton at www. bhpbilliton. com ? Rio Tinto at www. riotinto. com ? Hydro Tasmania at www. hydro. com. au 1. 3 Sustainability impacts on management of projects Projects do not occur in a vacuum. They occur in a business environment that is closely monitored by many people.Many of these people have no direct in volvement on the project, but they are interested in it because of the way it could affect their lifestyle or the natural environment in some way. Traditionally, we talk about the shareholders of a project. Increasingly, business is being forced to consider Triple Bottom line (TBL) reporting. In this paradigm, shareholders are replaced by stakeholders. From a project management approach it is now necessary to make sure that a broader range of stakeholders than just shareholders is clearly identified. It is now  © University of Southern QueenslandMGT8021 – Project sustainability management 5 necessary to address the needs of stakeholders other than just shareholders, and these could be competing interests. Reading activity 1. 4 Read selected reading 1. 3 on sustainability in business (Dorf 2001). Consider the added requirements that emerging sustainability issues are placing on business. How do these issues get included in the overall budget for a project? As a project has a future life, it is not good enough to reinvent the past. It is necessary that you be able to consider future issues.These may be unclear early in the life of a project; but, you need to attempt to develop some idea of what sustainability issues will impact the future of the project. For example, a project might be a suburban rail system with an expected life of 40 years. How do you plan for appropriately trained people to maintain the system over the 40 years? One of the most critical aspects of through life project sustainability is obsolescence. The obsolescence could be in the form of parts, tools, facilities, or skills. At a higher level, obsolescence could be due to the technology or societal factors.An example is the demise of society’s acceptance of coal-fired power stations over the last few years. Obsolescence management is an important aspect of project management sustainability and requires good skills in understanding technology from all aspects. You need to be a ble to anticipate the changes that are likely to happen. This anticipation will usually rely upon reading about relevant and complementary topics as well as seeking specialized opinions. The reference list includes books that provide approaches to future issues and problems.Even though it may seem unrealistic at this time, carefully crafted future thinking may position your project far ahead of anything else at that time. The book Cradle to Cradle (McDonough & Braumgart 2002) is a good example of addressing the challenges we need to address. In the classic through-life approach we talk about ‘cradle to the grave’ to reflect that at the end of its useful life, equipment is disposed of in some way. In the ‘cradle to cradle’ concept the emphasis is on designing products and their packaging so that at the end of useful life they are regenerated, rather than just discarded thoughtlessly.Remaining Useful Life (RUL) is one of the measures of performance that is of ten used to asses an asset. This is usually calculated on classical economic bases to get the most profitable life out of an asset. However, it may be that other criteria included in the G3 or Triple Bottom Line reporting are the drivers of the Remaining Useful Life of the project. When considering the sustainability impact on projects it is necessary to take a systems view and think proactively about the through-life sustainability issues of a project.Just because the issue seems unrealistic at this time, does not mean that it could not turn into a significant problem to resolve in the future. That is, significant management problems may be created for the future.  © University of Southern Queensland 6 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 1. 4 Sustainability considerations for project sectors In a practical sense, sustainability issues are driven by Environmental Impact Statements. There are two broad considerations: statutory and voluntary.In some projects (such as mining) there is a statutory requirement to perform an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and publish the findings in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Don’t get caught up in the actual terms, as there is little consensus on what constitutes an EIA or an EIA. In most cases, it will be decided by the circumstances of the project. On other projects there may not be any statutory requirement; however, given the attitude of the community towards major projects, there may be a need for voluntary consideration of the issues addressed in Environmental Impact Statement requirements.It is not possible to identify all considerations for all sectors and table 1. 1 provides a summary of the key general considerations to be addressed. Table 1. 1: Environmental considerations by project sector Sector Considerations Aviation Air worthiness, passenger comfort, passenger safety, reputation Property Physical appearance, occupant safety, public safety Engineering Design strength, mai ntenance, maintenance support, integrity Infrastructure Service provision, public safety, extremely long life Software Media, programming skills, configuration, documentationQuite often there are numerous regulations that prescribe the issues to be considered for sustainability. This is achieved through environmental investigations into a particular project. The Wyaralong Dam is a new project to build a dam near Beaudesert, south of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. This project requires an Environmental Impact Statement, the details of which are available at: http://www. deedi. qld. gov. au/cg/wyaralong-dam-project. html Log onto the URL above and skim through the scope of considerations for such a project. Now, log onto the URL below for a fact sheet on environmental impact statements: http://www. pa. qld. gov. au/register/p00320aa. pdf While at this site navigate to the various links to obtain a wider perspective of the considerations of the environmental impact statements. Focu s on the first three elements of this fact sheet.  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 7 ? assess the potential adverse and beneficial environmental, economic, and social impacts of the project; ? provide information to the public about the project and its impacts; ? obtain input from the community and stakeholders about the project, its impacts and management;These three elements address the core considerations that need to be addressed to demonstrate the sustainability of the project. Although there are many elements listed in the fact sheet, it is realistic to assume that if these three elements are not done correctly the project will find progress difficult for a number of reasons not associated with the technical aspects of the project. A significant issue that faces global organizations is to ensure that the sustainability considerations for projects that are legal in one jurisdiction are not illegal in another jurisdiction. Many larger organizations have Codes of Practice or Codes of Conduct to assure an independent legal authority that the integrity of their processes is compliant. Assuring project sustainability in your sector may fall into this realm of compliance reporting. You will need to find out to ensure that this matter is addressed otherwise it poses a significant legal and financial risk to the organization. That is, how do the governance responsibilities and accountabilities drive the requirements for sustainability considerations in your sector?To consolidate your understanding of sustainability considerations you should explore the statutory and voluntary considerations for project sustainability in your local area. 1. 5 Draft a sustainability model for a project A model is the description of reality. However, as many different people will have a diverse perception of reality, it is often difficult in a consensus environment developing a model. The risk adverse approach is to adopt a mod el developed by another group and adapt or adopt it for the group’s purpose. Sometimes this will work and sometimes it will not.Even with these difficulties it is still beneficial to consider the elements of a sustainability model. Reading activity 1. 5 Selected reading 1. 4 is a report on a national sustainability initiative. Sustainability models can take many forms and have different starting points, and an example of this is the Australian National Sustainability Initiative (ANSI) (Australian National Biocentre Inc. 2004). Look at the cover photo. It shows the interface between urban and un-developed land, with a creek as the boundary. If you look at the creek you will notice that it is a series of water holes.Now, count how many swimming pools are located in the adjoining private residences. Can our water courses sustain private swimming pools? Read through this initiative and form your own views about whether this document offers a baseline as a suitable model for susta inability? If it does: how and why; if it does not: how and why not?  © University of Southern Queensland 8 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management The basic model for sustainability is based on the balance between economics, ecology and society. Dorf (2001) paragraph 2. 3 addresses this triple bottom line approach.Figure 1. 1 provides an approach to a general model for sustainability. Figure 1. 1: The interdependence of economics, ecology and society (Source: Dorf 2001, p. 43) In this model the three elements of triple bottom line accounting are divided into four main groups of corporation, cultural values, community, and person. These groups are further subdivided into twelve components to be considered. In your current or future experience you will come across models with more than 100 components. Dorf (2001, p. 51) lists ten principles of sustainable business practices.There practices were developed by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES). In these examples from Dorf we see approaches to models based on a relatively few components. In drafting a model it is suggested that you work with 10–12 components to keep it understandable. If there are too many components it will be difficult to maintain comprehension of what is being modeled and this will make it difficult to communicate your model. Key aspects will get lost in the minutia of the detail. The twelve points proposed in figure1. are analogous to the standard twelve points of the compass, and this makes it easy to present to a wider audience. Other approaches to a model include the G3 reporting framework (Global Reporting Initiative 2008). The G3 describes how sustainability should be reported and this makes it a model in its own right. But this is a very detailed approach and is probably better approached through a more general higher model such as in Figure 1. 1. When drafting a sustainability model it is necessary to collect as many approaches to a model as is possible and to make them as inclusive as possible.The key issue is to be able to find the balance for your project that is accepted by the wider stakeholders, and does not trivialize important issues. This might mean that you have to research many aspects of the project, other than its technical components in order to draft a good model. In the supplementary reading list are several titles that provide a range of views to consider when developing project management strategies and plans.  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 9 In this module we look at sustainability as a separate issue.However, it must be seen as part of the quality management system of an organization. ISO9000 is a set of standards for quality management maintained by the International Organization for Standardization , and proposes figure 2. 1 as a model for the delivery of quality within an organization. Sustainability is part of the quality system and s hould not be treated separately from it or exclude it. In this context, the quality system should also include project management standards such as those in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) (Project Management Institute 2004).Thus, the key drivers in the project are addressed through the one paradigm of quality. Figure 1. 2: Model of a process-based quality management system (Source: ISO9000 2006, p. 3) In the quality diagram shown in figure 1. 2, the various stakeholders are clearly identified as input customers who are imposing requirements on the system. In the product realization phase, (the project) the requirements come to life and treated as part of the continuously improving aspects of the quality management systems. For those who use Six Sigma processes in their organization, the same link is made.A model for sustainability should not be seen as a separate model, but inclusive of and derived for and from the quality management system. All of the sustainability issues and considerations that we have addressed can be addressed within the quality management system model. This is probably the most powerful model to represent the commitment of the organization to sustainability. Conclusions Projects are an important mechanism to deliver the goods and services of all types that we require for living. This also includes the delivery of goods and services in the aid of others or natural disasters. University of Southern Queensland 10 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management Projects do not exist in a vacuum and impact on all aspects of society, economy and resources. This is represented by the triple bottom line approach to accounting, and this puts projects beyond the classic economic theory decision processes. There is increasing pressure on organizations to deliver projects that are more than simply good profit to the shareholders. The current and increasing requirement emphasizes the need to ensure that the project a lso brings benefits to society as a whole.To be able to consider this wider systems approach, it is necessary to proactively adopt an approach to projects that places correct emphasis on components that affect the sustainability of the project. These components could be as economically obtuse as placing high value on areas of biodiversity as the more measurable of higher levels of Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT). Being able to successfully navigate through sustainability issues is an increasingly important skill of the project manager.

The Barriers Of Multicultural Teams - 1865 Words

1. Which of the four barriers for multicultural teams (or groups) have you experienced in the past? What strategies or interventions were used in response to these barriers? After considering the interventions suggested by Brett, Behfar, and Kern (2006), explain how you might change the strategy if you encounter the barrier(s) in the future and if so, why? If you have not personally experienced any of these barriers during your education or work history, research an example of a barrier from literature, explain the intervention used in that example, and your suggestions for overcoming the barrier in the future. The world consists of many different cultures and nationalities. International business is thriving and companies need to be†¦show more content†¦Other cultures tend to use an indirect form of communication where their true response is embedded in the presentation of the message. Accents and fluency problems also cause barriers as it is hard to understand someone with a thick accent or to speak with someone who has little knowledge and working use of a foreign language that another team member might use. The group member might have an idea of how to say something in their head but can’t find the words in another language to share the idea (Brett, Behfar, and Kern, 2006). Some individuals on the team might also want to be treated according to their status in the organization. â€Å"A challenge inherent in multicultural teammates is that by design, teams have a rather flat structure. Team members from some cultures, are uncomfortable on flat teams† (Brett, Behfar, and Kern, 2006, p. 124). It is important to recognize the hierarchy structure of the country and how their citizens handle conflict before conducting business with them. Lastly, different cultures have conflicting norms when it comes to decision making. Some cultures like to make decisions quickly while others want to think about the decision and analyze it before coming to a conclusion as far as action to take (Brett, Behfar, and Kern, 2006). There are four strategies, according to Brett,