William Shakespeare s Beowulf Essay - 4217 Words

Tuttle 1 Beowulf- Unfit to be King of the Geats For 1000 years we have been reading of the adventures of Beowulf, and his story was told for hundreds of years before. The tale is full of trials, tribulations, adventure, great loss, great victory, and wonderful battles. But, what do we make of it? Is it a tale told to illustrate the virtues of the epic hero himself, or is it a cautionary tale, told to warn the readers of the dangers of allowing unqualified men (or women) to ascend to a position of leadership and the inevitable results of such an event? The author of Beowulf takes great care to describe the hero in detail, and we, as readers, learn about his abundant courage and strength. We are taken on a tour through his early struggles, his successes against the great monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother, and his ultimate demise during his battle with a dragon. But one needs to analyze the unstated theme in order to fully appreciate the effect that Beowulf has had on readers for generations. Stanley Greenfield, in his article â€Å"Beowulf and Epic Tragedy† writes that, in the end, â€Å"For all of Beowulf’s efforts, he is reaped only with useless gold, for a nation soon to perish† (104). This is representative of the core issue at hand in this epic. Beowulf is unfit to be a great king, despite his physical prowess. Because of his early and continuing history of foolishly taking unnecessary risks, his excessive pride and lack of humility, the diminishing quality of his personalShow MoreRelatedWilliam S hakespeare s Beowulf 793 Words   |  4 Pagesselflessness, valor, fairness, and moxie. Beowulf embodies these attributes, and they can be seen through his actions and words. Beowulf shows more care for his companions and people than for himself throughout the story, from his dive into the mere to his final battle. Before diving into the mere to fight with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf requests of Hrothgar, that â€Å"If he came to harm, his gifts should remain with the Geats and his friends should be protected.† Beowulf has no self-interest in the wealthRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Beowulf And The Genesis Of The Beowulf1321 Words   |  6 Pageswhich is a recurring theme throughout in Beowulf. In the epic, not only did Beowulf seeks wergild for the death of his friend, but Grendel’s mother looks to avenge her son’s death. The need for wergild is a constant theme in the epic. In order to understand the poem Beowulf and the importance of wergild, one must understand the time period it was written and its purpose. Leonard Neidorf discusses in the article, â€Å"VII Ethelred and the Genesis of the Beowulf Manuscript† that the English leaders inRead MoreComparing Beowulf And William Shakespeare s Macbeth1554 Words   |  7 Pagescultures, and is also corroborated in famous literary works such as Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Key characters in these epics often rose to the occasion and made a positive impact on the society with their exceptional bravery, selflessness, moral courage, and steadfastness of character. There were also instances where the same characters didn’t exercise the best judgement. Although Beowulf had many more heroic moments than Macbeth and Macduff, each of them had their virtuesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Beowulf - Noble Or Narcissistic1002 Words   |  5 Pagescourage, outst anding achievements, or noble qualities. Beowulf lacks noble qualities. Noble qualities show what he will fight for what they believe in no matter the cost or the benefits. A true hero fights for the good in the world and what they believe in their heart. In the epic poem Beowulf, fighting for glory and honor shows noble qualities, but for the wrong reasons. Beowulf has an idealistic background which provides glory for him. â€Å"Beowulf, strong and courageous, is the prince of Geats. OnceRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Beowulf And Grendel s Mother, And The Dragon 854 Words   |  4 Pagesopposing forces. These opposing forces allow for a need to choose between right or wrong. In the text presented in this course, there are villains presented in multiple text, but within one text there are three antagonists. Found in the text of Beowulf, there are three monsters Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. Grendel and his mother both were driven by inward desire that was created by an exterior force, but this does not excuse the fact they also differed from one another. Though theyRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Dream Of The Rood, Beowulf, And The Canterbury Tales Essay1414 Words   |  6 Pagesreflects such rich history and customs packed into its literature. The foundation of much British literature that integrated the convention of British civilization came during the Medieval Period. The Medieval stories of â€Å"The Dream of the Rood,† Beowulf, and The Canterbury Tales contained some of the British culture concerning gender, religion, and the view of heroes. One aspect of British culture of the Medieval times was the stereotypes of gender and certain expectations in gender roles. For exampleRead MoreWhat Central Theme Can Be Found Throughout All The Literature We Read This Semester?1088 Words   |  5 Pages1. What central theme(s) can be found in all the literature we read this semester? Throughout the stories from this semester one key interesting theme as an adult was sex. Almost all stories had some type of sexual intercourse. In the website Merriam-Webster sex is define as a physical activity in which people touch each other’s bodies, kiss each other, etc. : physical that is related to and often includes sexual intercourse. Sex its not a excellent essay to write about, but as an adult its beingRead MoreMacbeth vs Beowulf874 Words   |  4 PagesBeowulf and Macbeth Beowulf, identified as an epic hero and Macbeth, identified as a tragic hero both are very similar and different in their own ways. The epic poem, Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney and the tragic play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare both have heroes as the protagonist of the story. The stories written in two different time periods, still can be seen with many similarities and differences. A tragic hero is of high ranking and unfortunately has a flaw that they possessRead MoreLiterary Foils Of Beowulf, Julius Caesar, And Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde889 Words   |  4 Pagesin the stories of Beowulf, Julius Caesar, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Foils exist in the epic Beowulf. Beowulf is written by an unknown author and is translated by Burton Raffel in the Anglo-Saxon era. There is a force, vitality, clearness and distinctiveness in the characters, not only in Beowulf’s personality, but in all the other personalities (Brooke). Beowulf and Grendal are very contrasting characters because of their distinct personalities. Beowulf is a famous soldier s son â€Å"My father /Read MoreInfluence Of Medieval Literature On Modern Films1169 Words   |  5 Pagesin 1995’s film Judge Dredd (Simon, par. 5). Also, it shows how Macbeth was overly engaged in his desire to take over everyone, which ended with his death, as well as The Joker in the movie Dark Knight that ended with the joker being defeated (Shakespeare 379, 386, 387, â€Å"Dark Knight,† par. 8, 9). Another example of similarities influencing modern films would be in the story Beowulf when Beowulf â€Å"set sail to aid Danish King Hrothgar in his fight against the monster Grendel† (â€Å"About Beowulf†). This

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Free Essays

The term morality, according to Shaffer (1993) means â€Å"a set of principles or ideals that help the individual to distinguish right from wrong and to act on this distinction. Morality is important to society, as it would not function effectively unless there is some agreement of what is right and wrong. There are many underlying processes and environmental factors, which limit or promote social, cognitive and moral development in children. We will write a custom essay sample on Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions or any similar topic only for you Order Now In modern society, television could be considered to be one of the major influences on a child’s moral development. There are three approaches to moral development; the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the social learning theory. The Cognitive-Developmental approach of Piaget and Kohlberg studies how children become more able to reason morally and make moral judgements, whereas the Freud’s psychodynamic approach is more concerned with the development of the conscience and moral feelings such as guilt and anxiety. The social learning theory of Bandura and Mischel investigates the development of moral behaviour and how role models in the family, society and the media, influence it. The theory I am going to discuss is Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Approach. His theory of moral development is concerned with how the child’s moral knowledge and understanding change with age. Piaget saw morality as any system of rules, which governs interaction between people. The methods of investigation he used to develop his theories were, he looked at the way children imposed rules in their games. He used games to study the development of children’s moral development as he thought that by studying rules in the context of a game, he could study the child’s spontaneous though directly. He also, assessed changes in the child’s moral judgements by telling hypothetical stories about children who lied, stole or broke something. When using hypothetical stories, Piaget was generally more interested in the reasons why the children give the answers they did and not particularly the answers. Piaget identifies stages of moral development just as he identified stages with cognitive development. His theories of the way children think and their moral reasoning goes through a series of stages, as they are adapting to the world, these are also known as the processes of accommodation and assimilation. He believed that as children’s reasoning about the world changes when they grow older and gain more experience, so does their reasoning about morality. Their ability to think about the world in more complex ways is what causes them to move on from one stage to the next. This is known as cognitive development. Piaget stated that infants don’t understand much about morality until they are about three or four years of age. Their development divides into two main stages after infancy. His stages of moral development are: Pre Moral Stage (up to three or four years) Children don’t understand about rules, and so they don’t make moral judgements Stage of Heteronomous Morality (aged three – six years) Children at this stage think rules are absolute and unchangeable, and the goodness and badness of an action is judged largely on the basis of its consequences rather than by taking intent into account. Stage of Autonomous Morality (from around six or seven) Children at this stage now see rules as more changeable and intentions are taken into account. Children also start to believe that it is possible to break rules and get away with it, whereas earlier they tended to think they will always be found out and possibly punished. Researchers from Europe and America have tested some of Piaget’s theories and have concluded that distinct stages of development do seem to exist however, other research found that children do not see all rules as being equally important as Piaget thought they did. Heteronomous Morality, also known as moral realism, means when the child is subject to another’s laws or rules. Children think that rules must be obeyed no matter what the circumstances. A child at this stage will think that rules are only made by authority figures, such as, parents and teachers. Two other features that are displayed in moral reasoning at this stage are, first they expect bad behaviour to be punished in some way, they believe that the punishment should be expiatory – the wrongdoer must make amends for the crime by paying with some kind of suffering. They have the view that the amount of punishment should match the badness of the behaviour. Secondly, if the bad behaviour goes undetected then the child believes in immanent justice – where any misfortune occurring after the bad behaviour can be seen as a punishment. For example, if a child tells a lie and gets away with it, then later trips and falls, the younger child could consider this as a punis hment. In general, they believe punishment should be fair and that wrongdoing will always be punished in some way. Autonomous Morality, which means when the child is subject to one’s own laws and rules. It involves moral relativism whereby the child comes to realise that rules evolve from social relationships. Due to the child ‘decentring’ and their developed ability to think more flexibly about moral issues, they have began to realise it is important to take other people’s opinions into account. At this stage a child will have developed the understanding that sometimes rules of morality can be broken in certain reasonable circumstances. They believe in reciprocal punishment, whereby the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if a child takes another child’s sweets, the first child should be deprived of their sweets or should make it up to the victim in some other way. This is known as the principle of reciprocity. Children will also have learnt at this stage that wrongdoers often avoid punishment, diminishing any belief in immanent justice. They see punishment as a method of making the offender understand the nature of the crime and that punishment is also a deterrent. The move from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality is influenced by two factors. Children around the age of seven begin to move on from the pre operational stage of an illogical and an egocentric way of thinking to more logical and flexible way of thinking, in the operational stage. Their growing awareness that other people have different views allows them to develop more mature moral reasoning. However, moral development lags at least one to two years behind cognitive development because the whole process depends on the cognitive changes occurring first. Kohlberg expanded Piaget’s theory to form a theory that also explained the development of moral reasoning. While Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, Kohlberg’s theory outlined six stages within three different levels. Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. A study by Colby et al (1983) criticised Piaget’s assumption that children of ten and eleven years old had reached an adult level of moral reasoning. Piaget was always focusing on what an average child was capable of achieving so he neglected the idea of great variations between the individual child’s ways of thinking. In general, Piaget’s cognitive theory has been criticised for the methods of investigation not being as precise as they could have been. Methods he used were seen as complicated, leading critics to think he under estimated younger children’s capabilities of what they could and could not do. This was because later research went on to conclude that children could actually take other motives into consideration, when they understood what motives were involved. Despite criticism, Piaget’s work is still regarded as a revolutionary step forward in the way we understand how children think. It has led to a much more realistic ways of understanding children’s moral development. Many attempts to test Piaget’s theories from researchers around the world have resulted in acceptance that some of his views and methods do appear to exist. How to cite Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions, Papers

Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems

Question: Discuss about the Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems. Answer: Introduction: Nepean hospital is a biggest hospital in blue mountain region with 520 bed and covers various specialties such as medical, surgical, mental , pediatric and palliative care. I will be working Ambulatory procedure centre (APC) ward. The majority of the patient in this ward is admitted with common emergency surgical condition such as appendicitis, cholecystitis, diverticulitis and bowel obstruction and most of them are self caring. It is very fast paced ward and we have to deal with IV antibiotics and pain medication. The focus of my med-sla project is proper documentation of known allergy and patient;s adverse drug reaction in the medication chart. I will propose my project by preparing poster presentation and showing it to other health workers in the ward. Clinical evidence suggests that adverse drug reaction is one of the leading factor to increase mortality rate and increase patients length of stay in hospital. Furthermore, there has been evidence where patients allergy documentatio n is missed, and their health deteriorate by giving the drug which they are allergic to. Therefore, the outcome of SLA is to prevent such allergic and adverse drug reaction by proper documentation in medication chart. The purpose and aims of the Med-SLA Some recent cases had been reported in the ward, which had raised a large number of concerns among the higher authorities regarding the safety of the patients in the hands of the new graduate nurses. Recently a patient had been given decongestants due to allergic reactions that were not been able to be controlled by antihistamines. However, while assessing her vital signs in the later part of the day, her blood pressure was found to be higher. The nurse therefore thought that it was necessary to make her blood pressure come under control. Therefore, without thinking much, she provided the patient with an antihypertensive drug, which treats high blood pressure. However she was not aware of the consequences that there results in an intensive drug-drug interaction when decongestants and antihypertensive are taken together as it results in further increase in the blood pressure levels causing potentation. Her mentor, who immediately managed this condition, prevented any further threat to the patient. Another similar incident took place in the case of patient who was admitted due to an infection in her intestines. She was prescribes tetracycline by the doctor in order to fight the harmful bacteria in her intestines. The nurse then provided her breakfast comprising of milk, egg and fruits. The nurse was however had no idea about the interaction that calcium usually has with that of tetracycline. She did not know that calcium reduces the effects of tetracycline destroying the potential effects of tetracycline. All these had concerned the higher authorities and the patients and their family members about the safety treatments that the nurses provide which in turn are having negative effects in the patients. A drug-drug interaction is a situation when a substance as well as any other drug can affect the performance of another drug when administered together to a patient. The action that results can be of three different types. It can be either synergistic when the effect of the later drug is increased. It can also result in antagonistic effects which results in the effect of the later drug being reduced. Thirdly, it may also result in the initiation of a new kind of effect, which is completely different from the action of each of the drugs that interacted (Vallerand, Sanoski and Deglin, 2016). These types of interactions often prove to be harmful for the patient resulting in threatening the life of the patient who had come for service. Another important situation that has come to the notice of the authority is the lack of providing proper medicine to the patients. The nurses are not consulting their medical history before prescribing any drugs. This in turn is resulting in the occurrence of different allergies in some patients, which enhances the adverse situations for the patient making them suffer more (Lewis et al. 2015). Patients often require multiple medications in cases of their complex diseases or disorders that they are suffering from. However, after critically analyzing the symptom cluster of the patient, it is a duty of the nurse to jot down the medical history of the patient in order to know whether they are suffering from any previous diseases or not and the medications they take on a regular basis (Wang et al. 2016). Documentation of such medication is important so that the nurse develop a preliminary knowledge about the medications she should avoid. Besides, the nurse herself should have a detailed idea about the backgrounds and the ingredients of different medication that not only result in drug-drug interaction but may also result in allergies in the patients. These types of occurrences causes decreased therapeutic effects of the good medicines, increased adverse reaction and patient harm. It also results in an overall negative impact on the reputation of an organization serving for huma nkind (Lehne and Rosenthal, 2014). The Australian nursing and midwifery board has stated the importance of maintain safety protocols while providing medicines to the patients. It usually expects every nurse to be responsible enough to the take into account the different ingredients of the medicines so that they can evaluate whether any interaction would take place or not. Moreover, they should also consider the half-life of the ingredients in cases if they have to administer two opposite drugs so that they do not tend to react in the patient. Moreover, they also tend to consider the bioavailability and peak level of each of the medications that they are administering (Muraro et al. 2014). The standard 4 or medication safety that had been proposed by the states in point number 5 under point 4.9 in management actions of medicines and implementation strategies ensures that they provide current as well as accurate medicines information along with decision supporting tools to the nurses. These are done to help the nurses make clinical decision effectively which remains related to medicinal use. Management of dug interaction databases is also proposed by them to be an important criteria that should be maintained by the nurses. As suggested strategies, they have stated the utilization of decision support tools that accompany electronic medicine management systems like overriding of active alerts for drug interactions, contraindications, patient allergy alerts in prescribing and as well a s in dispensing systems. Therefore, the main aim of the project of the MED SLA is to develop knowledge of the different nurses about the concept of nurse interaction. Its aim would be to make the nurses aware of the different steps that they may need to reduce chances of drug interaction in their practice and make their administration safe and of high quality. The process used to complete the Med SLA: The poster had been prepared in simple language with proper headings that would help the nurses in understanding each of the points in detail. They can follow it a as guidance in order to prevent any medication error. It shows that harmful effects that their negligence may have on their career and on the patient life. It says about the steps that they can undertake to reduce harmful practices and avoid negligence. It also describes the services where they can go to seek help when they are confused or when they want to clarify any doubts. This poster is expected to help the nurses in reducing medication error and developing their skills in medication administration. The potential outcomes of the Med SLA: Different types of initiatives have been taken to make the healthcare staffs aware of the harmful consequences that may lead to the life threatening situations for patients. The patients normal course of treatment would get affected and his recovery process may be delayed. This may also hamper the quality life that a service user expects. Besides, providing inappropriate medication not only results in drug-drug interactions and causes allergies but also harm the career and reputation of the nurse involving her in legal obligations. Therefore, the poster would contain the different effects it may have on the life of the patient and on the careers of patients. Besides, it would also help them to take precautions, which would prevent them from making such mistakes and help them in critically analyzing the medicines and their ingredients according to the medical history of the patients. This poster will also help the nurse to enhance their nursing practices in case of medication administ ration by consulting with the important websites, senior mentors and even going through different evidence based articles (Rampton et al. 2014). Evaluation of the project result: The evaluation of the outcome of the project is necessary to understand whether the project had been successful in its aim of making nurses aware of the consequences of inappropriate medication administration. In order to evaluate it, the authority may conduct a clinical audit to assess the present scenario (Black and Dawood, 2014). Reduction in the number of cases of drug-drug interaction and allergies will automatically implement that the project had a positive effect on the practice of the nurses (Fernando et al. 2014). Besides, inviting reflective pieces of work from the nurses is believed to be helpful in understanding the impact so the project in the current nursing practices. Reflections of the nurses will not only make them realize their own positive and negative aspects but will also help the governing body to know about the perceptions that the nurses are harboring in them (Wheatley et al. 2015). Changes to my practice: While preparing the project for the nurses, I have been benefitted also as the different procedures have enhanced my knowledge and helped me in applying the guidelines in my practice as well. While researching the various data on the National and Quality Health Service Standard 4 (2012), I came across many research articles and journals, which helped in collecting information that would help me in providing skills that, are more expertised. This will definitely provide a better care to the patients and the patients will be satisfied (Roujeau et al., 2014). Therefore, the project of the MED SLA is a very noble initiative that will benefit each members of the healthcare team at the hospital. The nurses will be more careful while setting up intervention plan for the patient so that no drug-drug interaction and allergic reactions occur in the patients. The nurses will follow a safe practice that will be evidence based and will properly analyze the patients medical records, history of allergic reactions and others. The nurses would be expected to harbor a detailed knowledge about the ingredients of the medicines, their reactions with other components along with the allergic reactions that they may result in certain cases (Bluementhal et al. 2014). Conclusion: The project is an innovative way of guiding nurses in such a way so that the cases of inappropriate medication administration are reduced in the hospital. A nurse who would be well trained in medication and at the same time is cautious and careful with genuine feelings of providing the best care to patients would always be respected and loved both by organization and by patients. References: Black, A. and Dawood, M., 2014. A comparison in independent nurse prescribing and patient group directions by nurse practitioners in the emergency department: a cross sectional review.International emergency nursing,22(1), pp.10-17. Blumenthal, K.G., Shenoy, E.S., Hurwitz, S., Varughese, C.A., Hooper, D.C. and Banerji, A., 2014. Effect of a drug allergy educational program and antibiotic prescribing guideline on inpatient clinical providers antibiotic prescribing knowledge.The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice,2(4), pp.407-413. Fernando, B., Morrison, Z., Kalra, D., Cresswell, K. and Sheikh, A., 2014. Approaches to recording drug allergies in electronic health records: qualitative study.PloS one,9(4), p.e93047. Lehne, R.A. and Rosenthal, L., 2014.Pharmacology for nursing care. Elsevier Health Sciences. Lewis, S.L., Maltas, J., Dirksen, S.R. and Bucher, L., 2015.Study guide for medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems. Elsevier Health Sciences. Muraro, A., Agache, I., Clark, A., Sheikh, A., Roberts, G., Akdis, C.A., Borrego, L.M., Higgs, J., Hourihane, J.B., Jorgensen, P. and Mazon, A., 2014. EAACI Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Guidelines: managing patients with food allergy in the community.Allergy,69(8), pp.1046-1057. Rampton, D., Folkersen, J., Fishbane, S., Hedenus, M., Howaldt, S., Locatelli, F., Patni, S., Szebeni, J. and Weiss, G., 2014. Hypersensitivity reactions to intravenous iron: guidance for risk minimization and management.Haematologica,99(11), pp.1671-1676. Roujeau, J.C., Haddad, C., Paulmann, M. and Mockenhaupt, M., 2014. Management of nonimmediate hypersensitivity reactions to drugs.Immunology and allergy clinics of North America,34(3), pp.473-487. Vallerand, A.H., Sanoski, C.A. and Deglin, J.H., 2016.Davis's Canadian Drug Guide for Nurses. FA Davis. Wang, Y., Zhu, R., Huang, N., Li, W., Yang, L., Zhang, S. and Liu, G., 2016. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey of drug allergy among healthcare practitioners in central china: a multicenter study.Asia Pacific Allergy,6(2), p.105. Wheatley, L.M., Plaut, M., Schwaninger, J.M., Banerji, A., Castells, M., Finkelman, F.D., Gleich, G.J., Guttman-Yassky, E., Mallal, S.A., Naisbitt, D.J. and Ostrov, D.A., 2015. Report from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases workshop on drug allergy.Journal of allergy and clinical immunology,136(2), pp.262-271.