The Black Death and the World it Made Essay Example for Free

The Black Death and the World it Made Essay The Black Death or The Black Plague, as it is known in history, was the worst disaster in medical history to date considering it proportionately (more than 40 percent mortality rate). It was so devastating in its effect that within 3 years time (1347-1350) the whole Europe was made aware of its dark presence in spite of the disadvantages of that period in terms of media coverage. The Plague had proven itself to be no respecter of person when it visited and touched every family from those of the highest in the ladder of society to the lowest – royal families, monasteries, and farms. This medieval history is highly significant especially when looked at through the lenses of high technology twenty first century. The threat of mass killings as posed by Bio-Chemical warfare, Mad-Cow-Disease (MCD), Bird-Flu-Virus (BFV), etc. , is so pertinent that a close look once again at the historic Black Plague merits anybody’s concern especially those bothered by the threat. What everybody knows about this event in man’s history is only mere fraction of what really occurred. Cantor dug deep into what are new scientific discoveries and the aid of historical research to give a wide-angled and more panoramic vista on the experience of the people of their day. Overview Well-known medievalist Norman Cantor relates the story of the renowned Black Death afresh with an eye of a Chronicler. In his book In the Wake of the Plague, Cantor narrates the story of the pandemic and its widespread effects with an intention, not only to retell and revive what happened during the spread of the plague, but to inform and quicken the modern reader of the possibility of it happening again in the same proportion that it transpired in the 14th century, or maybe exceeding the mortality rate it has incurred then, if the world behaves indifferently to the prospect. In the Book, the Black Death was viewed from its wide-ranged effect (in Europe’s population) to its effect to families and individuals. The usual memory etched in the minds of people with regards to this medical disaster is that of gloomy period where the whole population just dropping dead for reasons which no man could ever explain in rational or understandable terms. The issue instilled, because of lack of scholarly approach to this episode in the history of medieval Europe, was the survival aspect. That all the people at that time needed to do was to keep themselves alive. Although this was part of the overall picture, this isn’t complete leaving some important details untouched. Norman Cantor, on the other hand, is so keen, in that, he not only has given the overall scenario of the Plague in his book but also the important and compelling details of it. For example, he narrated the early death of princess Joan of England who died at a very young age. He also tells of the death of the newly consecrated archbishop Thomas Bradwardine of Canterbury. As told in the Book, the archbishop’s rather untimely death had deep ramifications especially to the improvement of religion and science. This is compelling in that it opened the eyes of the then world to all of the possibilities of how the plague was being transmitted, from serpents to cosmic dusts. The many repercussions such as, to the economy, the overall psyche of the people in their respective locale during this period is suggested by Cantor to have their lasting effect that have reached as far as to our generation today. He suggested that it might have made the world what it is in these days of technological advances. True, scholars today have keener minds in their different fields in particular the medical field. In the very first chapter, the conference of medical practitioners and specialists was used by Cantor to jumpstart the flow of his thesis on the wide-ranging effects of the plague. Many incidents come to life. Cantor talked about Abbot Thomas, for instance, who plays a part in the historical accounts. Thomas of Birmingham or Abbot Thomas (1349), who was then at the time of the Plague, the abbot of Halesowen, was a local resident of the town whose family was native and well-known to the place; well-known enough to have named after them the city of Birmingham. The epidemic’s impact on the abbey managed by Thomas can be seen when he referred to the â€Å"harm† on the abbey’s income brought about by the â€Å"recent events† in his petition to the bishop. In spite of all these, Abbot Thomas was fortunate and had some advantages from the other lords because the abbey and the lands in Halesowen that he was managing were mostly of high quality. What is amazing of all is the argument of the author that in spite of the colossal devastation and the terrifying effects of the Plague, it had resulted in some beneficial outcome which created a new world of possibilities bigger than the destruction itself. Cantor asserted that, as often was the case in the past, the termination of the old order meant the beginning of the new generation which is more scientific in its thinking. After the Black Death, there arose an intellectual revolution. There were explosions and breakthroughs in different fields: artists had invented window protection with beautiful art designs which was calculated to block the supposed airborne virus, painters responded and painted their great paintings, and the peasants that survived the Plague flourished where they started all over again; in fact, they were Europe’s first class farmers. By and large, Black Death marked an economic change throughout Europe. It triggered what Cantor referred to as â€Å"turbo-capitalism. † Indeed, from ashes comes beauty. If what most of the advances in the west today were generated and can be traced back to one of the darkest of Europe’s history – the Plague, one may say with all truthfulness that even in natural disasters where no person has the power to control, a change for the better might be brewing. Critique Since In the Wake of the Plague was written by Norman Cantor with the advantages of the 21st century scholarship, it has the understanding and the insights that the medieval years were primarily deprived of. The calculations of Norman Cantor are all possible and can be explained, as he had done in the Book, through scientifically proven facts especially that we have all the benefits of latest discoveries in medicine. To see the Plague through the kind of perspective that the author has narrated in his book is exactly something that one can expect from a 21st century medieval scholar. In spite of some negative feedbacks that some critics have given to the book, I will give generously my two thumbs up. The Book certainly deserves to receive a five star category. It is written in a totally different approach than the former works on the Black Death. Cantor has endeavored to share his knowledge of the period and has given us details which otherwise cannot be known had it not been for the fact that a real historian has divulged them. Cantor turned from one topic to another in this book and thus able to keep those without thorough knowledge of the Plague interested till the end. Though his style of jumping from topic to topic may be viewed by some critics to be disorderly in terms of format or arrangement, they are incidental and may be looked at as his personal style. He began with the disease’s biomedical survey and pointed to the many problems with the prevailing beliefs about the Black Death’s cause, its nature and transmission. He even went to suggest that the likely cause of death was anthrax, as in many cases the same and similar symptoms were present. Indiscriminately, the Plague hit the different classes of people in many regions. In the Book, there were stories of families and individuals, making the overall narrative more personal, intimate and gripping. Looking at it in a nuclear point of view, the Plague is the 14th century counterpart or equivalent of imminent nuclear war. It makes us think seriously of the global threat of nuclear hoarding of some nations. If the calculations of Cantor in the book was accurate, then the threat of some renegade nations hoarding and multiplying anthrax and other biological/chemical materials are imminent and dangerous. In the Wake of the Plague is a book that can free many who until now view the Black Death through the mist of the many superstitions that primitive minds have made out of it. Cantor’s approach in this book is to make the past history relevant. He saw the outbreak of Mad-Cow-Disease, Foot and Mouth Disease, AIDS, and the Bird-Flu Virus happened in the middle of the 14th century when the Plague ravaged Europe. The author even believes that our world today might face a similar catastrophe in the near future. In a prophetic sense, the book has given us information and a warning. The threat of another pandemic is not far since the symptoms of what the medical world has been seeing in the recent outbreaks of diseases were the same signs that 14th century people had seen. Even the manner of transmission is deemed somewhat similar by the author. The author indirectly warned and indicated that if there will ever be another plague as devastating as the Black Death of the Medieval period, it will happen only through one of the possible causes which Cantor identified; it will be whether brought on by natural causes, or by bio-terrorism. Reference: 1. Cantor, Norman F. 2001. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made. HarperCollins Publishers

The Character of Iago in Shakespeares Othello Essay -- GCSE Coursewor

The Character of Iago in Othello   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the play Othello, the character Iago plays a paramount role in the destruction of Othello and all of those around him.   Some critics state that Iago's actions are motiveless and that he is a purely evil character.   However, during the course of this paper, certain motives for Iago's actions will be discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For the first motive to be understood the reader must become knowledgeable of Othello's heritage and the setting of the play.   Othello is a Moslem from North Africa.   He is living in Venice.   He is the leader of the Venetian forces.   Anthony Burgess, a Shakespearean critic, believes that Othello's color has nothing to do with Iago's actions.      "Othello's color had no connotations of the enslavable inferiority.   There were many great Negroes in those days like that Antonio de Vunth, who was King of Congo's ambassador to the Holy See."(Shakespeare, pp.200)      Ã‚  Ã‚   There may have been many great Negroes around in those days but there were none in Venice.   Othello was the only member of his race in Venice.   Many of the people who lived in Venice had never seen a Moor.   To the people of Venice, Moors were different and feared, they were seen as an evil spirit.   Some people thought that they were witches or devils that walked the earth.   Included in a text written by Stephen Greenblatt, Roderigo and Barbanizo believed that "Othello used magic to win Desdemona."(Norton Shakespeare, pp. 2091).   You also see many references in the play where a character will refer to Othello as being a devil or beast.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was no secret to the reader of the play that Iago possessed a hatred for Othello.   In fact, in act one of the plays the reader s... ...nced by motives and he was not just evil.   There must be motive to spark evil and in Iago's case the fact that he was losing what seemed to be respect and accountability from the people of Venice and his friends, drove him to hate.    Works Cited and Consulted Bayley, John. Shakespeare and Tragedy. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1981. Bradley, A. C.. Shakespearean Tragedy. New York: Penguin, 1991. Campbell, Lily B. Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1970. Di Yanni, Robert. "Character Revealed Through Dialogue." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Literature. N. p.: Random House, 1986. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Case for Repositioning a Bank Essay

ANZ bank is over 170 years old providing a range of banking and financial products and services to more than 5.7 million retail customers on a global scale (case). . Offering 817 branches and 2600 automated teller machines (ATMs) all over Australia, ANZ is ranked in the top 4 banks in Australia along with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corporation. This report will identify the current position of ANZ, and how they are attempting to reposition themselves in the financial services industry. The case highlights the strengths and weaknesses of ANZ and how effective their current marketing strategy is. The strengths of ANZ which have been identified in the case are their highly customised bankcards, their trustworthy image and reputation, knowledgeable staff and the size of the firm. ANZ’s weaknesses are that their products are quite easy to imitate due to such intangibility, they are at the bottom compared to their competitors, the communication gap occurring through the reposition of their new brand and the inflexibility due to the large structure of the bank. This paper will explore two of ANZ’s main strategic issues which are the communication gap of through the repositioning and rebranding as well as ANZ’s competition in the financial industry. Key Strategic Marketing Issues The banking industry is very well established and has a limited selection of different products. Due to few substitute products, firms in the industry will find it hard to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Chenet, Dagger, & O’Sullivan (2010) state that, differentiation is important because firms uniqueness is linked to target market focus, client-perceived value and competitive advantage. In result of ANZ’s lack of communicating their service quality, limited product diversity and lack of unadaptable strategies they are ranked number four of the top four banks. ANZ needs to address the amount of ATMs it has throughout the country. Compared to its major competitors, ANZ is one of the banks with the least amount of ATMs available to its customers with almost half the amount of ATMs compared to NAB. Theory ANZ is rebranding and repositioning itself it the market to appear more appealing to customers. They are moving from an  outdated brand and position of ‘ANZ Now’ to a new brand identity and positioning strategy of ‘We live in your world’ implying a modern and fresh new feel to the company. Throughout the rebranding and repositioning process, ANZ is using a customer-led marketing approach by trying to find what customers want and giving it to them (Hooley, Piercy & Nicoulaud, 2012). However, ANZ is a very large firm which affects rebranding, creating a gap in the communication between the firm and their consumers. The slogan ‘We live in your world’ has been adapted to try and differentiate ANZ from its competitors in terms of customer satisfaction; however it has not been aimed consistently across all ANZ’s communication activities. This has resulted in confusion of the customers as well as a lack of awareness of ANZ’s message. Mayer (1975) found that larger firms can generally find it harder than a smaller firm to implement change across the whole organisation effectively and efficiently. Resources and Capabilities A resource is anything that is considered to be thought of as a strength or weakness of a firm and may be defined as those tangible and intangible assets that are tied to the firm (Wernerfelt, 1984). ANZ’s resources include the products they offer, size of the firm, the knowledgeable staff and the strong trust with their customers. ANZ seeks to â€Å"attract and develop the best connected and most respected people to be a part of the ANZ team† (ANZ, 2014). Having knowledgeable and highly skilled staff allows for a financial institution to create superior returns, thus a competitive advantage (lulow, V., Gerstman, J., & Barry, C. 2003). The size of ANZ allows ease of access to funds which will appeal to their customers through providing loans, insurance, small business and corporate. Having a strong brand image and a good reputation, ANZ have had the opportunity to build trust with their customers. The large size of a firm can be a strength; however in turn can be a weakness. Mayer, T. (1975) identified that large banks have the potential to fail if customer service is overlooked. Due to the large amount of customers ANZ has, there is the possibility that relationships with customers may diminish. Furthermore, due to the large size of the firm ANZ may appear as inflexible and changes within the organisation may take a long time, such as the current repositioning of the firm. Creating confusing amongst consumers as the message is not being communicated effectively  across all of ANZ. Competitive Advantage ANZs major competitive advantage over their main competitors is this highly customised bankcards they currently offer to their customers. ANZ have used a customer-led marketing approach with their bankcards, as this approach finds what customers want, and give it to them (Hooley, Piercy & Nicoulaud, 2012). This fits in well with their brand image they are trying to communicate; ‘We live in your world’. Rather than just providing bank cards to their customers as the other major banks do ANZ customises their cards allowing their customers to choose what colour card they want and further using their own pictures on their bank cards. This is giving the customers the chance to create their own products. These customised bank cards have given ANZ a first mover advantage allowing them to enjoy the protection of a resource position barrier (Wernerfelt, 1984). However, Barney (1991) states that to have a ‘sustained competitive advantage’ competitors are unable to duplicate the benefits of this strategy. The customised bank cards may not last that long as a major competitive advantage due to other firms being able to easily imitate what ANZ have done. Strategic Fit Skinner (1969) suggested that for a firm to strategically fit, they need to tailor their production systems to perform the tasks that are vital to success and consistent with the firm’s strategy. The current marketing strategy of ‘We live in your world’ is ANZs new an innovative fresh outlook on branding for the organisation. The strategic planning and strategic marketing of this strategy must penetrate the whole market orientation not just small sections (Hooley, Piercy & Nicoolaud, 2012). This current strategy although isn’t fitting with the needs and requirements of the market. The failure of communication between ANZs resources and capabilities is causing the new strategy to not be implemented properly to its audience (Narver & Slater, 1990). The strategy adapted isn’t connecting with their customers their desired outlook of what they wish to be perceived as. ANZ wants their consumers to focus on them being ‘trustworthy’ and ‘traditional’ but as of now they aren’t practicing what they preach. This is shown with customers feeling confused and unaware of the new adapted strategy. As  Hooley, Piercy & Nicoolaud (2012) have found the marketing strategy needs to be aligned with the overall the relevant resources, capabilities so direction can be achieved and then the overall context of corporate strategy will be accomplished. Recommendation To ensure the repositioning of ANZ is effective, they need to communicate to their consumers more effectively. Rust, Moorman, and Dickson, (2002) found that â€Å"customers differentiate between service firms on the basis of service quality†. Therefore, ANZ need to offer superior customer service through the use of their highly skilled and knowledgeable staff. The best way for ANZ to differentiate their selves is through superior quality. Farrell, Hitchens, & Moffat (1993) found that, superior quality is an effective management strategy as it helps separate firms from competitive rivalry by creating customer loyalty.

The War in Iraq Being an Oil Currency War Essay - 4124 Words

The War in Iraq Being an Oil Currency War Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is in large part an oil currency war. One of the core reasons for this upcoming war is this administrations goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. The second coalescing factor that is driving the Iraq war is the quiet acknowledgement by respected oil geologists and possibly this administration is the impending phenomenon known as†¦show more content†¦Secondly, despite over 400 unfettered U.N inspections, there has been no evidence reported that Iraq has reconstituted its WMD program. Indeed, the Bush administrations claims about Iraqs WMD capability appear demonstrably false. [1] [2] Third, and despite President B ushs repeated claims, the CIA has not found any links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. To the contrary, some intelligence analysts believe it is more likely Al Qaeda might acquire an unsecured former Soviet Union Weapon(s) of Mass Destruction, or potentially from sympathizers within a destabilized Pakistan. Moreover, immediately following Congresss vote on the Iraq Resolution, we suddenly became informed of North Koreas nuclear program violations. Kim Jong Il is processing uranium in order to produce nuclear weapons this year. (It should be noted that just after coming into office President Bush was informed in January 2001of North Koreas suspected nuclear program). Despite the obvious contradictions, President Bush has not provided a rationale answer as to why Saddams seemingly dormant WMD program possesses a more imminent threat that North Koreas active nuclear weapons program. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world are asking the simple question: Why attack Iraq now? Well, behind all the propaganda is a simple truth -- one of the core drivers for toppling Saddam is actually the euro currency, the -- . Although apparently suppressed in theShow MoreRelatedReasons For The Country Of Iraq1505 Words   |  7 Pages This essay is going to cover the country of Iraq. Due to my experience with three deployments to this country, I have found its history very interesting. I will share knowledge and facts about the Country, culture and military. This country has an astounded religious and cultural history documented. I believe Iraq was once self sufficient because of its Dictator however a great threat to the world. Sometimes I am very puzzled how we successfully invaded the country and changed theirRead More War for all the Wrong Reasons Essay1201 Words   |  5 PagesWar for all the Wrong Reasons Why might the United States start a war with Iraq? 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