The Great Depression Essay Example for Free

The Great Depression Essay In a Bull Market, the stock market experiences a general rise in prices and stock trading volume for shares over a period of time. While in a Bear Market, the Stock market experiences a general decline in prices of stock. Not all stocks experience a decline in value, but most do. 2) Stock Market Crash- (1929) Plunge in stock market prices that marked the beginning of the Great Depression. 3) New Deal- the historic period (1933-1940) in the U. S. during which President Franklin Roosevelts economic policies were implemented. Three components of the New Deal. The first R was the effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression, ; included social security and unemployment insurance. The second R was the effort in numerous programs to restore the economy to normal health, achieved by 1937. Finally, the third R let government intervention stabilize the economy by balancing the interests of farmers, business and labor. There was no major anti-trust program. 4) 100 Days- FDR began sending bill after bill to Congress. Between March 9 and June 16, 1933 which came to be called the HUNDRED DAYS. Congress passed 15 major acts to meet the economic crisis setting a pace for new legislation that has never been equaled. Later became known as 1st New Deal. 5) Bank Holiday- closing of banks for four days during the Great Depression, March 6-10. Roosevelt declared this holiday to prelude opening banks on a sounder basis. 6) Dust Bowl- Late in 1933 a prolonged drought struck the states of the trans-Mississippi Great Plains. The resulting dust storms were caused by drought, wind, and dry-farming techniques and mechanization. Tens of thousands of refugees fled their ruined acres. ) Brain Trust- Group of expert policy advisers who worked with FDR in the 1930s to end the great depression. 8) Social Security- guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health 9) Court Packing- Roosevelts proposal in 1937 to reform the Supreme Court by appointing an additional justice for every justice over age 70; following the Courts actions in striking down major New Deal laws, FDR came to believe that some justices were out of touch with the nations needs. Congress believed Roosevelts proposal endangered the Courts independence and said no. 10) NRA/ â€Å"Blue Eagle†- The National Recovery Administration was designed to assist industry, labor, and the unemployed. Labor, under the NRA, was granted additional benefits. Workers were guaranteed the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. A blue eagle was described as the symbol of the NRA. 11) SEC- In 1934, Congress took further steps to protect the public against fraud, deception, and inside manipulations. It authorized the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was designed as a watchdog administrative agency. 12) WPA- New Deal program that provided relief to the unemployed in fields such as theater, literature, entertainment, and art. One of the largest alphabet agencies. 13) Herbert Hoover- President of the United States from 1929 to 1933. Republican candidate who assumed the presidency in March 1929 promising the American people prosperity and attempted to first deal with the Depression by trying to restore public faith in the community. 4) Franklin Roosevelt- He was president from 1933-1945 and was elected four times, he led the countrys recovery from the Depression and to victory in World War II. He died in office, however, just weeks before Germanys surrender. He is generally considered the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln. 15) Eleanor Roosevelt- FDRs Wife and New Deal supporter. She was a great supporter of civil rights and opposed the Jim Crow laws. She also worked for birth control and better conditions for working women. 16) Huey Long- Senator of Louisiana, who was said to have more brass than a government mule. He used his abundant rabble-rousing talents to publicize his â€Å"Share Our Wealth† program, which promised to make â€Å"Every Man a King. Every family was to receive $5000, supposedly at the expense of the prosperous. Fear of Long’s becoming a fascist dictator ended when he was shot by an assassin in the Louisiana state capitol in 1935. 17) Isolationism- Abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations. American foreign policy. It’s what America strives to do in order to keep out of European problems and wars. 8) Appeasement- Policy pursued by the Western democracies towards Nazi Germany, consenting to concessions in which Hitlers demands to annex the German-inhabited Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia were acquiesced to in hopes of achieving peace in our time; although Hitler promised the Sudetenland would be his last territorial claim, he broke this vow only a few months later. 19) Fascism vs. Communism- Fascism is a political s ystem headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and no tolerance of opposition. Communism is a political system characterized by a centrally planned economy with all economic and political power resting in the hands of the central government. 20) Blitzkrieg- Tactics used by Germany in invasion of Poland in 1939. Also called lightning war. Involved a surprise attack, and then overwhelming with force! 21) Pearl Harbor- was the site of an unexpected attack on an American naval fleet by Japanese bombers on December 7, 1941. The United States suffered 3,000 casualties and the loss of several naval and aircrafts. And Congress declared war on Japan the following day, and Italy and France soon after. 2) Midway- (battle) It was a U. S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet in June 1942, in which the Japanese lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II. 23) D-Day- June 6, 1944 Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. It was the turning point of World War II. 24) Japanese Internment- Carried out through Executive Order 9066, which took many Japanese families away from their homes and into internment camp. Motivated (somewhat) by racism and fear of spies. 5) Hiroshima/Nagasaki- The first dropped on August 6, 1945 and the second dropped on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only active deployments of nuclear weapons in war to date. For six months, the United States had made use of intense strategic fire-bombing of 67 Japanese cities. US clued for surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum. By executive order of President Harry S. Truman, the U. S. dropped the nuclear weapon Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed by the detonation of Fat Man over Nagasaki on August 9. 6) Occupation of Japan- Occupied by American army under MacArthur, he carried out his program for the democratization of japan with stunning success. Top Japanese war criminals were tried in Tokyo . The Japanese cooperated to astonishing degree when they saw that good behavior and the adoption of democracy would speed the end of the occupation. a MacArthur-dictated constitution renounced militarism and introduced western-style democratic government paving the way for a phenomenal economic recovery that within a few decades made japan one of worlds mightiest industrial powers. Occupation of Germany- Four zones France in the southwest, Russia in the east, us in the south, and UK in the northeast. Likewise, berlin was split into east and west. This maintained that Germany would be nonaggressive while rebuilding and under allied and Russian control. 28) Douglas MacArthur- (1880-1964), U. S. general. Commander of U. S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japans surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman. 29) Dwight D. Eisenhower- Supreme Commander of the US Forces in Europe during World War II; became president and during his two terms presided over the economically prosperous 1950s. He was praised for his dignity and decency, though criticized for not being more assertive on civil rights 30) Admiral Yamamoto- Japanese admiral who planned Pearl Harbor Attack. Japan stealthily came in from the North.

Generalized Cross Correlation With Phase Transform Information Technology Essay

Generalized Cross Correlation With Phase Transform Information Technology Essay The sound signal from a source is captured by a pair of microphones. The analog signal from the microphone must be amplified and converted into digital for further processing. Hence, an analog to digital converter external to the FPGA is used. After the analog signal is digitized, the signal is fed into FPGA for source localization. The digital signals are first saved into input buffer. In our case, we have used First in First out (FIFO) as a memory controller. The signals in time domain are then converted into frequency domain by using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Generalized cross correlation (GCC) is used for the estimation of time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the sound signals from the microphone pair. After TDOA is estimated, we then calculate the direction from which the sound signal is arriving which we refer to as direction of arrival (DOA). The appropriate degree is used by the stepper motor controller module which controls the rotation and speed of the stepper motor. The signal from stepper motor controller module is fed into stepper motor driver circuit which is responsible in energizing the appropriate coils of the stepper motor in particular sequence so as to rotate the stepper motor to the direction of the sound source. 4.2 Time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation: Consider a sound source and a pair of microphones located at some distance from the source. As sound travels through air with constant speed, it takes time to arrive from source to the microphone location. The farther a microphone is located from the sound source, the longer it will take for the sound to reach the microphone. Two microphones located at different places will receive the same sound (plus noise) at a different time. The TDOA method takes advantage of this delayed arrival to estimate the location of the source. [ref mediatech4] For a source signal s(t) propagated through a noisy and reverberant environment, the sensor signals of two spatially separated microphones and and can be expressed as: (4.1) (4.2) where is the attenuation factor, and are the time delays, and the additive term includes the channel noise in the microphone system as well as any ambient noise for the sensor. This noise is assumed to be uncorrelated with . The TDOA estimation calculates the relative delay of the time delays and of the two recorded microphone signals and defined as: [ref 10.1.1.9.3680] (4.3) Now formulae (4.1) and (4.2) can be written as (4.4) (4.5) The Fourier transform of captured signal from microphones and is expressed as: (4.6) (4.7) HELLO!! I am here! Fourier Transform GCC-PHAT Inverse Fourier Transform Max value to give TDOA xi(t) xj(t) Fig 4.2 Block for estimating TDOA Cross correlation between the two signals is calculated to estimate the time difference of arrival. The cross correlation of signals and is (4.8) The cross correlation, reaches its maximum at the time delay (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  t). is the fourier transform of the cross correlation spectrum and is obtained from the individual spectra of and : (4.9) where is the Fourier transform of and is the complex conjugate of the Fourier transform of . And may be expanded using equation (4.6) (4.10) It is assumed that the average energy of the captured signals is significantly greater than the interfering noise, such that (4.11) The last three terms of equation (4.10) are negligible compared to first term based on the above assumption. Expression (4.10) now reduces to: (4.12) The can be found by evaluating (4.13) where IFT stands for inverse Fourier transform Generalized Cross Correlation with Phase Transform (GCC-PHAT) A major limitation of the approach is that it is highly influenced by noise and reverberation. To minimize its influence on TDOA estimation, we need to whiten the cross correlation by using Generalized Cross Correlation with Phase Transform (GCC-PHAT) (4.14) And its time domain counterpart is: (4.15) Where FT stands for Fourier transform and IFT stands for inverse Fourier transform The output of the GCCPHAT function is delta like with peak at . The above analysis is based on analog signals and stationary . For digital processing, the are sampled and become discrete sequences . Also the are not stationary as the source of sound is liable to change location. For analysis, finite frames are also required due to computational constraints. Hence the usual windowing techniques are applied and the sampled signals are broken into analysis frames. [10.1.1.43.5850] After conversion into the discrete finite sequence domain, equation (4.15) becomes: (4.16) Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation It is possible to compute the position of the source through geometrical calculation once TDOA is estimated. We consider a simple model based on far field assumption. Microphone i Microphone j source direction  Ã‚ ¦  Ã‚ ± Figure 4.3 Computing source direction from TDOA Consider the Figure 4.3, which illustrates the case of 2 microphone array with a source in the far field. Using cosine law, we state that: (4.16) where is a unit vector pointing in the direction of the source and is the vector that goes from microphone i to microphone j. It can also be stated that: (4.17) where c is the velocity of sound. Taking microphone i as reference, we place stepper motor in the position of microphone i. The angle of sound signal arrival is given by (90- Ã‚ ¦) as shown in Figure 4.4. Also, from the figure, (90- Ã‚ ¦) =  Ã‚ ±.  Ã‚ ¦  Ã‚ ± stepper motor position 90- Ã‚ ¦ Microphone i Microphone j source direction Figure 4.4 Stepper motor position and estimation of direction of sound source. Fast Fourier Transform: Frequency analysis of discrete time signals is usually and most suitably performed on a digital signal processor, which may be a specially designed digital hardware or a general purpose digital computer. We convert the time-domain sequence to an equivalent frequency domain representation to perform frequency analysis on a discrete-time signal {x[n]}. We consider the representation of a sequence {x[n]} by samples of its spectrum X( Ã‚ ·). Such a frequency domain representation leads to the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), which is a powerful computational tool for performing frequency analysis of discrete time signals. In the view of the importance of the DFT in various digital signal processing applications, such as correlation analysis, linear filtering, spectrum analysis, its efficient computation is a topic that has received considerable attention by many mathematicians, engineers, and applied scientists[ ]. The number of complex multiplication and addition operations required by the simple forms both the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) is of order N2 as there are N data points to calculate, each of which requires N complex arithmetic operations. For length n input vector x, the DFT is a length n vector X, with n elements: (4.18) Basically, DFT computes the sequence {X(k)} of N complex valued numbers given another sequence of data {x(n)} of length N, according to the formula (4.19) Where, Similarly, Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) is given by, (4.20) The DFT and IDFT involve essentially the same type of computations. Therefore, efficient computational algorithms for the DFT also apply to the efficient computation of the IDFT. Direct computation of X(k) involves N complex multiplications or each value of k, 4N real multiplications and N-1 complex additions (4N-2 real additions). Hence to compute all N values of the DFT requires N2 complex multiplications and N2-N complex additions. We may say they have algorithmic complexity O(N2) and hence is not a very efficient method. Hence, DFT will not be very useful for the majority of practical DSP applications if we cant do any better than this. However, there are a number of different Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithms that enable the calculation the Fourier transform of a signal much faster than a DFT. FFT exploits the symmetry and periodicity properties of the phase factor WN. In particular these two properties are: Symmetry property: (4.21) Periodicity property: (4.22) As the name suggests, FFTs are algorithms for quick calculation of discrete Fourier transform of a data vector. The FFT is a DFT algorithm which reduces the number of computations needed for N points from O(N 2) to O(N log2 N). The response of an FFT looks like a sinc function (sinx) / x, if the function to be transformed is not harmonically related to the sampling frequency, Radix 2 algorithm: It is one of the commonly used FFT algorithms. The Radix 2 algorithms are useful if N is a regular power of 2 (N=2p). If we assume that algorithmic complexity provides a direct measure of execution time and that the relevant logarithm base is 2 then as shown in Table 4.1, ratio of execution times for the (DFT) vs. (Radix 2 FFT) (denoted as Speed Improvement Factor) increases tremendously with increase in N. [fft.pdf] Number of points, N Complex multiplications in direct computation N2 Complex multiplications in FFT algorithm (N/2)log2N Speed improvement factor 4 16 4 4.0 8 64 12 5.3 16 256 32 8.0 32 1024 80 12.8 64 4096 192 21.3 128 16384 448 36.6 256 65536 1024 64.0 512 262144 2304 113.8 1024 1048576 5120 204.8 Table 4.1 Comparison of execution times, DFT and Radix -2 FFT There are two different radix 2 algorithms, Decimation in Time (DIT) and Decimation in frequency (DIF) algorithm. They both rely on the recursive decomposition of an N point transform into 2 (N/2) point transforms. This decomposition process can be applied to any composite (non prime) N. The method is particularly simple if N is divisible by 2 and if N is a regular power of 2, the decomposition can be applied repeatedly until the trivial 1 point transform is reached. Divide and conquer method is used to obtain the radix -2 decimation in frequency FFT. Figure 4.5 shows the first stage of the 8 point DIF algorithm. The decimation causes shuffling in data. -1 -1 -1 -1 x[0] x[1] x[2] x[4] x[3] x[5] x[6] x[7] X[0] X[1] X[2] X[3] X[5] X[4] X[6] X[7] N/2 Point DFT N/2 Point DFT g[0] g[2] g[1] g[3] h[0] h[1] h[2] h[3] WN0 WN1 WN2 WN3 Figure 4.5 First stage of 8 point Decimation in Frequency Algorithm The entire process involves v = log2N stages of decimation, where each stage involves N/2 butterflies of the type shown in the Figure 4.6. Here is the Twiddle factor. a b A=a+b B=(a-b)WN WN Figure 4.6 Butterfly scheme Consequently, the computation of N-point DFT via this algorithm requires (N/2) log2N complex multiplications. For illustrative purposes, the eight-point decimation-in frequency algorithm is shown in the Figure 4.7 below. We observe that the output sequence occurs in bit-reversed order with respect to the input. X[0] X[1] X[2] X[3] X[4] X[5] X[6] X[7] -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 WN0 WN0 WN0 WN0 WN0 WN2 WN0 WN2 WN0 WN1 WN2 WN3 x[0] x[1] x[2] x[3] x[4] x[5] x[6] x[7] Figure 4.7 8 point decimation in frequency algorithm Matlab Simulation Figure 4.8 Simulink model for verification of TDOA algorithm Simulink model is used to verify the algorithm for calculating the time difference of arrival (TDOA). Samples of audio signal is read from a wave file hello_8000.wav at 8kHz Windowing is done to take certain number of samples of the signal each time for further processing in order to estimate the TDOA . Audio signals are taken through two channels, where each channel assumes to be the signal from each microphone with certain delay samples added to one channel. From Figure 4.8 we can observe that 25 delay samples have been considered. Noise has been added externally using Gaussian Noise Generator block to check the resistance of the system against ambient noise. Our system showes good resistance to noise after analyzing with different noise conditions added to two channels. Figure 4.9 Plot of samples of time delay as viewed in scope The plot for samples of time delay obtained for simulation time of 20 sec is shown in figure 4.9. We see that a straight line is obtained at delay sample of 25. But, we can also see variations in between, with maximum value of delay samples shooting to 128. But the maximum probability we obtained is of 25 delay samples. Figure 4.10 Plot of time delay (secs) as viewed in scope Corresponding to the delay samples, we then calculate the time delay in seconds between the signals in the two channels. For 25 delay samples, we obtain the time delay as 0.003125 sec. The plot for the time delay obtained is shown in figure 4.10. Figure 4.11 Stepper motor drive model Figure 4.11 shows a Simulink model of stepper motor drive using 2 phase hybrid stepper motor. The motor phases are fed by two H-bridge MOSFET PWM converters. 28 V DC voltage source provides the voltage required for the driver module. The movement of stepper motor drive is controlled by the STEP and DIR signals generated from the Signal Builder block. Square-wave current references are generated using the current amplitude and the step frequency parameters specified in the dialog window of the Signal Builder block. The STEP signal from the Signal Builder block controls the movement of the stepper motor. A positive value of STEP signal will rotate the motor whereas a zero value will stop the rotation. The DIR signal controls the direction in which the motor rotates. A positive value of DIR rotates the motor is one direction while a negative value will impose the reverse direction. Consider simulation time of 0.25 sec. The STEP and DIR input is shown in figure 4.12. The resulting waveforms are given in figure 4.13. The stepper motor rotates in positive direction for 0.1 sec, stops for 0.05 sec and then rotates in the opposite direction for 0.05 sec and then stops. Figure 4.12 Signal Builder for generating the STEP and DIR signals Figure 4.13 Waveforms as viewed in the scope STEPPER MOTOR A stepper motor is an electromechanical device which converts electrical pulses into discrete mechanical movements. The shaft or spindle of a stepper motor rotates in discrete step increments when electrical command pulses are applied to it in the proper sequence. The motors rotation has several direct relationships to these applied input pulses. The sequence of the applied pulses is directly related to the direction of motor shafts rotation. The speed of the motor shafts rotation is directly related to the frequency of the input pulses and the length of rotation is directly related to the number of input pulses applied. [motorbas.pdf] Figure 3.13 Stepper motor Whenever controlled movement is required, stepper motor can be a good choice. They are effective in applications where you need to control rotation angle, position, speed and synchronism. Stepper motors have found their place in different applications like printers, plotters, medical equipment, hard disk drives, automotive and many more. One of the most important advantages of a stepper motor is that it can be accurately controlled in an open loop system. Open loop control means no feedback information about position is needed. The position is known simply back tracking the input step pulses. Hence, taking into account these advantages, we have used a stepper motor for pointing to the direction of a sound source. A magnetic flux is developed in the stator when a phase winding of a stepper motor is energized with current. The direction of this flux is determined by the right hand rule. Consider figure , when phase B is energized with winding current in the direction shown, rotor aligns itself to minimize the flux opposition. In this case the motor would rotate clockwise so that its south pole aligns with the north pole of the stator B at position 2 and its north pole aligns with the south pole of stator B at position 6. Hence, in order to rotate the motor, we must provide a sequence of energizing the stator windings providing a rotating magnetic flux which the rotor follows due to magnetic attraction. [motorbas.pdf] Figure 3.14 Stator and rotor of stepper motor showing the current direction We have used a stepper motor with half step drive stepping mode has. In this case, every second step only one phase is energized and during the other steps, one phase on each stator is energized. The stator is energized according to the sequence: and the rotor steps from position: Table: Excitation sequences for different drive modes Stepper motor driver circuit: Q1 + R2 R3 D3 D5 D2 Q2 D1 D4 B1 R4 D6 GND2 GND1 R1 Stepper Coil Figure. Driver Circuit for stepper motor coil Components: Resistors: R1=330 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ R2=2.2 kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ R3=2.2 kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ R4=2.2 kà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ Q1 is optoisolator, PC 817 Diodes D1, D4 are 1N 4007 Diodes D2, D3 are 15 volt zener diode Diodes D5 and D6 are LEDs Q2 is IRF540N n-channel MOSFET B1 is 12 V supply for motor GND1 is FPGA ground GND2 is motor supply ground Operation: The MOSFET generally remains off due to the pull down of the gate voltage by the series connection of the resistor R3 and LED D5. When the input from FPGA is of high logic the diode of the optoisolator is turned on biasing the transistor, increasing the gate voltage which turns the MOSFET on. This way the winding of the stepper motor is energized. When the input from the FPGA is of low logic, the MOSFET is turned off, which de-energizes the winding. MOSFET is highly sensitive to high voltage and gets damaged if the gate to source voltage exceeds 20V. Hence, for protection 15V zener diode is used. The protection for high reverse voltage is obtained by using diodes D1 and D4. MULTIPLIER Figure The Multiplier core can be configured in either parallel architecture or constant-coefficient architecture. In parallel architecture, the multiplier accepts inputs on buses A and B and generates the product of these two values. While in constant-coefficient architecture, the multiplier accepts the data on the A input bus and multiplies it by a user defined constant value. The multiplier core generates fixed point parallel multipliers and constant coefficient multipliers for twos complement signed or unsigned data. It supports input ranging from 1 to 64 bits wide and outputs ranging from 1 to 128 bits wide. Input signal: A[17:0] : A operand input bus, 18 bits wide B[17:0] : B operand input bus, 18 bits wide (parallel multipliers only) CLK: Rising edge clock input Output signal: P[35:0]: Product output bit 35 downto bit 0 6. EPILOGUE 6.1 System Required To deploy any system, both supporting hardware and software must be good enough to make the system work properly. The major requirements in our system are mainly FPGA, microphones, audio amplifiers, stepper motor, MOSFETs and the necessary software for VHDL coding and simulation. Hardware: Microphones Audio amplifiers Connectors and cables Proto board Resistors, capacitors MOSFETs Power supply Software: Xilinx ISE Modelsim Matlab Proteus Windows XP, Vista COST INCURRED We have presented here, the cost incurred during the undertaking of the project. Input section: S.No. Component Quantity Rate (NRs) Cost (NRs) 1 Microphone 2 10 20 2 ADC (0808 CCN) 1 450 450 3 Buffer (HEF4050BP) 2 50 100 4 Audio Amplifier (LM 386) 2 25 50 5 Resistor 1 pack 50 50 6 Capacitor 1 pack 200 200 7 Miscellaneous 400 Total 1,270 Output section: S.No. Component Quantity Rate (NRs) Cost (NRs) 1 Stepper motor 1 500 500 2 12 V battery 1 1000 1,100 3 Optoisolator (PC 817) 4 25 100 4 MOSFET (IRF540N) 4 45 180 5 15 V zener diode 8 5 40 6 Resistor 1 pack 50 50 7 Diode 20 1 20 8 Miscellaneous 250 Total 2,240 TOTAL COST (NRs) = 3,510 Note: Spartan 3E starter kit was provided by the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering. Communication and transportation cost has not been included.

The communist ideology

The communist ideology The main events of the latter half of the 20th Century remain a topic of intense debate with the reasoning behind these events still a source of speculation. This essay will examine the key events in Soviet Foreign policy through the four leaders of the period between 1945-1991; Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev and will be contrasted against the teachings of Communist ideology in an effort to determine whether ideology had greater influence in the foreign policy decisions made by said leaders or if state interests played a more significant role. Marxism-Leninism was the ideology of the Soviet Union. Thus, Marxist-Leninist ideas influenced foreign policy. For a Marxist-Leninist, the world is divided into classes rather than individual states and in strict Communist doctrine, the key objective of foreign policy was the ultimate achievement of world revolution by the proletariat. As a result, Marxist-Leninism has no theory of international relations. It was well expressed by Trotsky[1] when he was appointed Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs in 1917, I will issue a few revolutionary proclamations to the peoples of the world and then shut up shop. Revolution would displace the state system and end the need for diplomacy. On the other hand, failure of a world-wide revolution to take place meant that the sate interests of the USSR quickly acquired great importance for Soviet foreign policy-makers. The Soviet Union increasingly turned to building a Communist society at home, believing that strengthening Communism within the USSR was the way to ensure a Communist society outside of its borders: Socialism in One Country, and that once strengthened, the Soviet Union would prove strong enough to lead the whole world to Socialism. There are other Marxist-Leninist ideas that strongly influenced foreign policy, one of which was the necessary antagonistic nature of Communism towards Capitalist states, which Stalin strongly believed would inevitably lead to war[2]. Related to this idea was the concept of correlation of forces the Russian equivalent to our balance of power- where the overall strength of capitalism was measured against communism. The idea that capitalism suffered from such profound contradictions; states competing for resources, economic problems, led Communists to believe that their system would prevail and therefore were always on the look out for the correlation of forces to change in their favour. It also reinforced the effect of the Leninist conception of imperialism. Lenin held the view that war would bring the prospect of revolution as the ruling classes became demoralised by the burdens placed by war on the states concerned and the working classes plummeted into misery. As previously mentioned, communism was not adverse to war if the outcome would be revolution. This was a belief strongly held by Lenin. Alternatively, Stalin, was more interested in war that served his interest. An example of which is the Second World War officially known in the Soviet Union as The Second Great Patriotic War. He reasoned that World War I was brought about by capitalists, who inflicted damage and destruction on each other, but is seen as positive as it led to the emergence of the USSR. After the Second World War, the USSR was left absolutely devastated, the class struggle also had to be balanced with the desire of the Soviet population for peace so that they and their country could recover. Soviet leaders were aware of this desire, which tempered any revolutionary ardour they may have felt. Nevertheless the years to follow were also years of great triumph for the USSR. The destruction of the German army meant the USSR was the only great European military power, had b ecome a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and it had broken out of the capitalist encirclement of having allied states on its borders. Stalin sought to increase Soviet power beyond what the Tzars had accomplished now that he had Communist ideology driving him. He was the dominant creator of Soviet foreign policy, the subject of which remains under dispute by several historians. One such historian, LeFeber entertained the notion that (Stalin) displayed a realism, a careful calculation of forces, and a diplomatic finesse that undercut any attempt to explain away his actions as paranoia[3], while another criticises Stalins foreign policy as inexplicable in its parts as incoherent in its whole[4]. It has been argued that Stalins foreign policy from 1945 onwards was a direct result of material interests and power play with the United States of America, that the USA was now perceived as Glavny Protivnik (greatest adversary) and that Stalin was scared of war because of its strength. The exact origins of the Cold War remain under dispute, even with new archival evidence from former Eastern-bloc states. The role to which Stalins foreign policy played in the build up to the Cold War can be categorised in a small number of groups. The orthodox view, which entertained Stalins aggressive and expansionist policy, his desired expansion along all of the USSRs borders from the Pacific to the Atlantic, which can be argued to be in following with Marxist-Leninist theories of expansion[5], even though he permitted discussion on what governments could be formed within newly acquired states. It is interesting to note that Stalins aggressive and expansionist policy has been attributed to his own declining mental health. He had even been diagnosed, albeit incorrectly, in 1927 as a paranoid schizophrenic nevertheless this diagnosis was proved to be inaccurate. The revisionist view, perceived by Marxist and Marxist-Leninist historians, depicted the USA as an aggressive power, to t heir own people and others around the globe, imposing its empire on an unwilling world, ignoring the security interests of the Soviet Union and conforming to the classic Leninist model of Imperialism.[6] This view gained credibility later in the 1960s, partly owing to the Vietnam War. Other historians, not Marxist in inspiration, claim that the USA wanted to establish an economic system across the globe which would promote trade and economic growth from which the USA would benefit. Separate to the ideological views is the notion that the conflict was inevitable and thus both superpowers were responsible for it. That the Cold War was the natural result of a situation in which two superpowers with differing ideologies remained. Tactically speaking, the USSR had only three strategic enemies, of which Japan and Germany had been defeated and China was embroiled in a civil war. In addition, the Soviet Union had the largest army with mobilised resources, it was also geographically the larg est country in the world. The USA on the other hand was a massive economic power and its population had not been morally exhausted by recent war nor were they at odds with their own government. The resulting clash between the two would turn into a global disaster. At this time, it appears Stalin preferred to avoid a military confrontation with the USA and having determined that military probes into Europe would be too hazardous, Stalin sought to expand Soviet influence into regions where there would be less risk of confrontation with the USA and so he turned to Asia[7]. After repeatedly denying approval of North Korean leader Kim Il Sungs proposed military attack of South Korea, the Soviet Union unexpectedly began secretly providing large technological and military assistance to North Korea. This U-turn decision has been cited by both Gaddis and Westad to support their assertion that Marxism-Leninism was of crucial importance in Soviet foreign policy[8]. Westad also provided another theory to Stalins unexpected decision change in that Stalin had seen Mao Zedongs Chinese Communist victory and had been unnerved by it. Stalin therefore gave approval for the attack on South Korean when he realised his rival in Mao would support North Korea with Stalin or without and Stalin did not want to appear less revolutionary than Mao[9]. Regardless of the ideological reasons, be it enthusiasm in response to Maos ambitions or jealousy and an attempt to outmanoeuvre Mao by condoning North Korea, even an avoidance of the USA to prevent a catastrophic war, it is indic ated that ideology was a factor in Stalins foreign policy involvement in Asia. Stalin died in March 1953. He was succeeded by a collective leadership with Nikita Khrushchev soon emerging as the main figure. The new leaders quickly realised that changes in foreign policy were necessary; the main reason for this being the arms race which was now becoming more prominent in world events. In 1952, the USA had detonated the worlds first thermonuclear device followed in 1953 with the USSR testing its first hydrogen bomb. In the years that followed, both powers created and tested various delivery systems for these new weapons that resulted for the USSR in the creation of Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) which had the range to strike the USA. Khrushchev called these weapons the Gods of War[10]. The realisation of the enormous power of these new weapons caused Stalins successors to abandon key principles of Marxist-Leninist ideology. The precept of the inevitability of war between capitalism and communism, which in Stalins eyes, would be won by communism, had t o be discarded as a conflict would result in the mutual assured destruction of both the capitalist and communist states. In addition, the principle of revolution that, although perceived as inevitable and the only way to a Communist society according to Marxist-Leninist doctrine, could now be the cause of a war that would also end in complete devastation for the warring states and thus it was at the 20th Party Congress in 1956 that a set of initiatives were launched which came to be known as destalinization which established a policy of long-term peaceful cooperation with the capitalist world. The superpowers had inadvertently become partners, with the incentive to prevent thermonuclear war. Although there initially appeared to be a change of direction from Marxist-Leninist doctrine there were still elements of it that were pursued even with the new initiatives in place. The Party leadership was quick to introduce the idea that a peaceful transition to Socialism was still very much possible. The changes to foreign policy included the commencement of armistice talks in areas of conflict, for example, the Korean war. The Soviet regime also attempted to strengthen its satellite states in the bloc and draw them closer to the USSR. This all culminated in 1955 with the creation of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation. In addition, a massive amount of economic and technical assistance was given to the communist nation of the Peoples Republic of China. This assistance has been described as the greatest transfer of technology in world history[11]. The regime also encouraged trading and other forms of communication with the Western world, it opened up to tourism, Soviet citizens were pe rmitted for the first time to visit other states not in the Eastern bloc of which the reverse was also the same. Stalin, would have avoided this as, in his view, it would have potentially opened up the USSR to hostile foreign influences. Competing ideological tendencies and institutional interests allied with Khrushchevs own over-ambition in foreign policy were the prime factors resulting in his fall from power in 1964[12]. During the Khrushchev years, Brezhnev had supported the process of destalinisation but as soon as he became leader, Brezhnev changed direction and reverted to a more regressive, Stalin-type attitude, even taking the title General Secretary, which Stalins held until 1952. Brezhnevs overriding aims were to ensure the primacy of the USSR in the world communist movement. Establish strategic parity in the US and on that basis, to secure western acceptance of the post-war order in Europe while extending Soviet power in the developing world[13]. The first foreign policy crisis of the Brezhnev regime occurred in 1968 when reforms began sweeping through Czechoslovakia, initiated by leader Alexander Dubcek, that posed the reduction of importance of the ruling Communist party. The Soviet leadership attempted to limit the impact of Dubceks reforms through negotiation but their efforts proved in vain. Soon after, Soviet and Eastern bloc troops invaded Czechoslovakia tasked with restoring it to Marxist-Leninist doctrine. This became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.[14] The doctrine was used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and also used to put an end to liberalisation efforts that had the potential to disrupt Soviet control within the Eastern bloc. The concerns of the Soviet Union fit an ideology based explanation of Soviet actions. It is interesting to note that while the western states heavily criticised the invasion, they were unable to challenge the Soviet military force in Europe without risking nuclear war. The events surrounding the collapse of Communism and the relatively quiet dissolution of the Soviet Union can be attributed to the euphemistically named Sinatra Doctrine. It was the name that the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev used to describe his new policy of allowing the eastern bloc Warsaw Pact nations to determine their own affairs. This was a complete change of direction from the Brezhnev Doctrine which tightly monitored and controlled the internal affairs of the satellite states. For Wohlforth, once Gorbachev was in office, his perception of the USSRs relative decline grew steadily more pessimistic. He had to accept retreat after retreat from the Soviets great power commitments, which let to the sudden end of the Cold War[15]. Gorbachev had many issues facing him, one of which was the prevention of anti-Soviet violence from breaking out. Previously, any dissident uprising would have been resolved by military intervention, however if a crisis erupted now, then a massive amount of military intervention would be necessary. It was decided that Soviet policy should aim to achieve two basic goals: avoid direct military intervention at any cost[16] and for the rapid transition to a new political order to be achieved peacefully. Gorbachev obviously could not see that the changes he initiated would lead to the demise of the Soviet bloc, it can be argued that he was depending on like-minded leaders to emerge from the Communist groups in Eastern Europe.[17] The question of whether communist ideology played a role in the transformation of Soviet policy still remains. If Gorbachev had decided to maintain the orthodox Communist rule in the Soviet bloc and enforce the Brezhnev doctrine, the Soviet army would have ensured his success. It appears that it was Gorbachevs own choices, on domestic priorities and a desire to lay to rest all remnants of Stalinism'[18] that led the Soviet Union down the path to disintegration. While it is undeniable that the ideological differences of Capitalism and Marxism-Leninism provided the Cold War with a catalyst, it is not outside the realm of possibility that differences between the two superpowers left in the power vacuum after the Second World War would not have provided the fuel to ignite the conflict themselves. Some of the specific policies adopted by the Soviet leaders could have just as easily been pursued by a non-communist government responding to a tense global situation, however that does not mean ideology had no relevance. It appears that the USSRs state interests were themselves influenced by Communist ideology and thus influenced the foreign policy decisions of the leadership. Bibliography Craig Nation, R. Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1921 (1992) Fink, C., Junker, D. Gassert, P. (eds) The World Transformed :1968 (1998) Gaddis, J.L. The Emerging Post-Revisionist Synthesis on the Origins of the Cold War (1983) Khrushchev, S. N Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev Volume 1: Commissar, 1918-1945 (2000) Kramer, M. Ideology and the Cold War Review of International Studies (1999) Kramer, M. (ed.) The Collapse of the Soviet Union (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, (2000) LaFeber, W America, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-1992. Rosser, R.F. Introduction to Soviet Foreign Policy (1969) Taubman, W, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2003) Tompson, W. The Soviet Union under Brezhnev (2003) K zasedaniyu Politbyuro 6/X-88 g. 6 October 1988 (secret), reproduced in Tsena svobody: Refornatsiya Gorbacheva glazami ego pomoshchnika (Moscow: Rossika-Zevs, 1993) Westad, O.A. Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944-1946 Wohlforth, W. Realism and the End of the Cold War. International Security, 19:3 (1994/5) Craig Nation, R. Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1921 (1992) p.1 Rosser, R.F. Introduction to Soviet Foreign Policy (1969) p.74 LaFeber, W America, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-1992. p.20. Westad, O.A. Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944-1946, p.55 Rosser, Introduction p.80 Gaddis, J.L. The Emerging Post-Revisionist Synthesis on the Origins of the Cold War (1983) p.172 Kramer, M. Ideology and the Cold War Review of International Studies (1999) p.542-543 Kramer, Ideology p.541 Kramer, Ideology p.542 Khrushchev, S. N Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev Volume 1: Commissar, 1918-1945 (2000) Taubman, W, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2003) p.337 Tompson, W. The Soviet Union under Brezhnev (2003) p.28 Tompson, W. The Soviet Union under Brezhnev (2003) p.28 Fink, C., Junker, D. Gassert, P. (eds) The World Transformed :1968 (1998) p.163-8 Wohlforth, W. Realism and the End of the Cold War. International Security, 19:3 (1994/5) p.109 K zasedaniyu Politbyuro 6/X-88 g. 6 October 1988 (secret), reproduced in Tsena svobody: Refornatsiya Gorbacheva glazami ego pomoshchnika (Moscow: Rossika-Zevs, 1993) p.368 Kramer, Ideology p.569 Kramer, M. (ed.) The Collapse of the Soviet Union (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000)

Exposing the Human Soul in Lord of the Flies Essays -- Lord Flies Essa

Exposing the Human Soul in Lord of the Flies      William Golding in his novel Lord of the Flies symbolically describes the degeneration of a civilized society in three stages. Embedded within this story of a group of young boys struggling to survive alone on a deserted island are insights to the capacity of evil within the human soul and how it can completely destroy society. After a plane crash that results in their inhabitation of the island, the boys establish a democratic society that thrives on order, necessity, and unity. Slowly, however, the peaceful society that they create shatters through a path of hatred, disrespect, murder, and the release of the true human soul.    Upon a desolate tropical island, the lost boys begin to organize themselves to gain a sense of stability, order, and brotherhood. They elect Ralph, the oldest boy at twelve years of age, as leader and use a conch found in the lagoon as a symbol of democracy and respect. Two other children, Jack, the head of a choir group, and Simon, a small but intellectual boy, accompany Ralph on an expedition to determine whether the land is truly an island. They find that it is indeed true, and compose a plan to light a fire on the beach to create smoke; their only hope of rescue. After they obtain the glasses of an intelligent and rather fat child called "Piggy," they make a fire using the sunlight and glass lenses. However, the fire spreads to the forest quickly and destroys the group's supply of firewood. The boys shrug this off as an accident and Ralph and Simon commence work on shelters.    They begin to build a society that contains rules and government. "'I agree with Ralph,' states Jack. 'We've got to have rules and obey them. After a... ...tegrate in the evil within themselves.    They start in peace and end in hatred and murder. With the exception of Ralph and Piggy, the boys completely abandon reason, civilization, and the thought of rescue. They fight the harmless "beast" that terrifies them, not knowing that something so much more fearful, deadly, and destructive lie within themselves. Being human, they have a capacity for evil inside of their soul that is immeasurable and can destroy the life of everyone around them, including their own. They never realize this and continue to break their "morals," which were simply superficial rules of society that were fed to them unwillingly. They act upon these morals despite their own thoughts and emotions. The latter is the definition of civilization. As it wears away layer after layer in this book, the true human soul is bared, naked and fearless.  Ã‚  

Essay --

Assignment #1 Ethics Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities LLP was part of what is considered to be one of the largest financial frauds in U.S history. The Wall Street investment firm was used as an elaborate â€Å"Ponzi Scheme† that extorted upwards of $65 billion from unsuspecting investors. The Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays earnings to older investors using the money generated from newer investors. The Ponzi scheme was perpetrated by founder Bernie Madoff and was carried out for a number of years until 2008 when he was finally convicted. Bernie L Madoff Investment Securities LLP was founded in 1960 by Chairman Bernie Madoff and was one of the top market-maker businesses primarily serving as the middleman between buyers and sellers of shares. Bernie Madoff first started his firm as a penny stock trader using the $5,000 he saved up from his job as a lifeguard and sprinkler installer. As time went on he was able to build up his firm with the help of his father-in-law, Saul Alpern who referred him to a large circle of friends and families which further helped expand his business (Biography.com). The firm eventually became so successful that by the 1980s, the firm handled up to 5% of the trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm also helped develop the National Association for Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), a computer technology information platform which the firm used to broadcast stock quotes. In the 1990s Bernie Madoff was eventually named chairman of NASDAQ (DeGrace, 2011). Alongside B ernie Madoff was his brother Peter Madoff who was the firm’s chief compliance officer and senior managing director. Bernie also hired his two sons Mark and Andrew Madoff at his firm. ... .... According to the nytimes.com, it is required under the SOX that brokerage firms such as Madoff Securities are required to be audited by firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Board. However, the S.E.C issued a rule to waive that requirement for privately held brokerage firms. This again allowed Friehling & Horowitz who weren’t registered with the board to continue on doing the audits for Madoff Securities. (Norris, 2009) It’s obvious that Bernie Madoff was highly respected among his peers for his knowledge and experience in stock trading and he used that leverage to manipulate hundreds of investors. His returns despite seeming suspicious left his investors wanting more. There’s no doubt greed was the driving force behind Madoff’s unethical behaviour but it could also be said greed was also the reason Madoff was able to get away with it for so long.

Oscar Romero Essay -- essays research papers

Remembering a Hero   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You can only describe him as a man of determination. Someone who demonstrates extraordinary courage in the face of injustice and inhumanity. He had a resolute intent to do what is right, true, and just, which made him the Archbishop that people remember and make movies about. Because of him, the world was informed about basic human rights and dignities and how this was being ignored in his country of El Salvador. He took it upon himself to use the church as a light of hope to the oppressed and a challenge to the oppressors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oscar Romero was born in 1917 and taken away in 1980. He was appointed Archbishop in 1977. Before he served his term, the Church in Central America was being protested by two political ideals. One was those priests who wanted non-confrontation with the Church and the state. And those who thought the Church should have say in the government and what it was doing. Romero was chosen because he was thought to be a â€Å"middle man† whom all could agree with. Although, soon after being appointed Romero’s close, personal friend Father Rutillo Grande was assassinated by the government’s soldiers. Obviously, this had a significant and intense effect on his life, changing him from a moderate and equal lookout to a ferocious and impetuous activist against injustice. His dramatic and passionate change in view shows how if you put your mind behind...

How does Macbeth change between Act one scene three and act three scene one Essay

Shakespeare is definitely the most influential writer of all English literature and the author of many comedies, history plays, poems and tragedies. Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedy was Macbeth. It is a dark tragedy that tells of ambition and guilt in a background of violence and supernatural. It has been described as â€Å"not Shakespeare’s most complex play, but †¦certainly one of his most powerful and emotionally intense†1. It tells the story of a man that changes from a noble warrior to a murderer and a cruel ‘abhorred tyrant’. In this essay I will analyse how Macbeth changes through the play and who is to blame for his changes. It is very important to state that Drama plays are usually created to be performed on stage and seldom created to be read. There is a great difference between reading a play and watching it performed; the performed play is performed the way the director and the actors themselves imagine the characters and the scenes. Hence we get a good idea of what characters are like. On the other hand, when reading a play, we have no description of the characters or places available and therefore we have to recreate the characters in our heads, only using the stage directions and the dialogue of the characters -the rest is up to our vivid imagination. The stage directions are a vital thing in understanding the characters, their emotions and of course in understanding the whole play. The opening of this play is very short but very meaningful-however the stage directions give us our fill of details: the place of the action, the mood and weather conditions and the characters that are present in this scene. Further understanding follows as we start reading the play. The weather in the first scene is hostile to men; the ‘fog and filthy air’ suggests unusual darkness but it also tells us a lot about the play as a whole. We understand that the play will be filled by lies, betrayal and unclearness. Additionally we meet the ‘weird sisters’ talking about a battle being ‘lost and won’. The quotations ‘ the battle is lost and won’ and ‘ Fair is foul and foul is fair’ chanted by the witches during Act 1 scene 1 are considered to be curious paradoxes since their words contradict themselves. Furthermore Macbeth’s personality will contradict itself during the play also as he starts off as a noble warrior and ends up as a cruel tyrant. This very first scene is on the whole a prologue of the evil present throughout the play, evil that is somehow connected to Macbeth from the very beginning. In the next scene we are give a lot of valuable knowledge about Macbeth, although he is not yet present on the scene. We learn that he was a ‘good and hardy soldier’, was called ‘brave’ by the captain and ‘valiant cousin, worthy gentleman’ by Duncan the king of Scotland. After hearing all this praise we expect Macbeth to be a noble warrior and a loyal subject to the king. However we are still knowledgeable that the three evil witches present in the first scene were somehow connected to Macbeth. The first time he meets the witches (Act I Scene 3) he is with Banquo who is amused by them. He asks them if they are really women since he exclaims that their ‘beards forbid me to interpret that you are so’. The witches hail Macbeth as thane of Glamis and as thane of Cawdor and finally they say that Macbeth is fated to be king of Scotland one day. Perturbed, frightened and amazed, Macbeth asks the witches for more information but they were now predicting Banquo’s future and declaring that he is somehow â€Å"lesser than Macbeth, and greater,† and â€Å"not so happy, yet much happier†. Then they state that he will never be king but that his children will rule Scotland. Macbeth tries to make the witches explain what they meant by calling him thane of Cawdor, but they disappear as quickly as they came leaving him in total confusion. The paradox appears once more since Banquo is clearly aware of the witches’ nature while Macbeth, only focused on their promises, forgets about the other, more important details; Banquo realizes that the witches are ‘ foul’ while Macbeth still believes the witches are ‘fair’ due to all the good they have predicted him. As an audience we can judge the witches better than Macbeth can. We know from act 1 scene 2 that Macbeth was going to be declared ‘thane of Cawdor’ because of his courage and not because of their evil magic. In act 1 scene 2 we find out that the thane of Cawdor was a villain that betrayed Duncan and therefore was executed. After his execution, noble Macbeth received this title, the title of a previous villain. This could be interpreted as a clue that Shakespeare is giving his audience that Macbeth might have the same fate as the previous Thane. It would be hard for an ambitious and noble soldier, such as Macbeth, to resist the temptation of killing Duncan, and becoming king himself, once he has such a high position. The witches appear to have washed Macbeth’s brain since soon after the meeting with them; Macbeth admits that he has some ‘horrible imaginings’ and he says the word ‘murder’ to himself. In only one scene Macbeth has already changed completely and already has in mind ‘black and deep desires’ -the killing of his king. This first change is due to the witches’ prophecy combined with his fierce ambition and we realize that the predictions please his hungry-for-power soul. Shakespeare emphasizes the terrible effects of ambition on his noble character, Macbeth. On the other hand, Macbeth remains an honest and loyal subject to his beloved wife. He sends her a letter explaining everything that happened. This is an important proof of loyalty and devotion to his subjects, weakened ever since he met the evil witches. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as ruthless and evil, a woman who is ready to give away her soul in order to reach her goal. She prepared her mind for killing the king right after reading her husband’s letter and to help her do so, she calls evil spirits to dehumanize and defeminise her. She sees Macbeth’s kindness as a crucial weakness which might be the doom of their rise to the throne of Scotland. In act 1 scene 7 Macbeth is wrestling with his conscience because he admires and respects Duncan a lot and can not bring himself to kill him. He speaks in a soliloquy explaining the audience all the duties he owes Duncan: ‘ he’s here in double trust:/first, as I am his kinsman and his subject’ and ‘ as his host /who should against his murderer shut the door/ not bear the knife myself.’ But even if Macbeth was not a host and a kinsman, killing the king would still be an unforgivable sin and he admits that the only reason for committing this horrible murder, his ambition was now not enough . The imagery in his speech ( act I scene 7 lines 1-28) is dark. We hear of ‘bloody instructions,’ ‘deep damnation,’ and a ‘poisoned chalice’. This suggests that Macbeth is aware of the seriousness of his crime. At this point Macbeth has already won a victory over himself and is prepared to give up but his ruthless wife would not let him. She asks him ‘was the hope drunk/wherein you dress’d yourself? †¦and wakes it now to look so green and pale†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ She’s shocked that he wants to give up and she asks him if his hope had a hangover. Lady Macbeth’s worst fears have come true and Macbeth can’t commit the terrible crime. She said in her first soliloquy that ‘I do fear thy nature, / it is too full o’th’milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest way.’ She knows her husband very well and she is aware of his great ambitions but she also knows how honorable he is. She knows very well that he will not want to ‘ catch the nearest way’, murder. However she’s not prepared to give up! To persuade him she calls him a coward and declares that she would rather kill her own child than break a promise as he has done. Her main argument is that Macbeth has to prove his manhood in her eyes. Lady Macbeth does not bother to contemplate failure and Macbeth is encouraged by her enthusiasm. In this scene we can see that Macbeth was not a bad person. His only fault is that he lacks strength of character and lady Macbeth uses this fault to her advantage. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth is horrified but lady Macbeth is only worried about destroying the evidence. Here we can see the difference between the two people. Macbeth feels guilty but Lady Macbeth is proud of him! She shows her good side in this scene when she confesses that she could not kill Duncan herself because he reassembled ‘my father as he slept’. However we are terrified by her evilness when she says ‘a little water clears us of this deed’. This is the hardest time for Lady Macbeth and her husband because they have to pretend that they are shocked and hurt when Macduff finds the dead body of Duncan. Because of the stress Macbeth manages to awaken the suspicion of Banquo and Macduff. From act 1 scene 3, the first scene when we meet Macbeth, he has suffered some serious character mutations. In the first scene he is described as a noble warrior and he’s prized for his courage and loyalty to King Duncan. However by the end of act 3 scene 1 he has killed his king and is planning to kill his best friend and his son in order to have Scotland’s throne for himself. However there are causes for his changes. As far as I am concerned the witches are partially responsible because they fooled Macbeth with their prophecies. On the other hand they are not to blame for the fact that Macbeth believed in their predictions. Banquo was with Macbeth the first time he met the witches but he did not fall in their trap. Thus Macbeth’s ambition is mostly to blame for his change since had it not existed in the first place none of these terrible deeds would have happened. As I explained Lady Macbeth is also greatly responsible fro her husband’s actions. She is the one who persuaded him too kill the king when he was ready to give up. She made Macbeth want to prove himself a man in her eyes by killing the king and rising to the throne himself. Despite what he has done, Macbeth is a good man. He proves this before and after the murder of Duncan. After the murder he feels very guilty and realizes that he has committed a terrible crime. However Shakespeare shows us how Macbeth becomes hardened to his crimes and yet the guilt and fears bring him imaginings. Another proof that he feels guilty for his actions is at the end of act 3 scene 1 when he talks to the murderers. He tries to show them that he is a good king and he tries to make them think that Banquo is their enemy, in order to get the burden of the deaths off his own soul. In conclusion Macbeth has changed from a noble warrior to a murderer due to his ambition, his lack of character and of course the persuasion of his wife. The message Shakespeare tries to convey to his audience is that ambition is the doom of the Victorian and modern society, and will always manage to end lives of good and innocent people. The quotations ‘ the battle is lost and won’ and ‘ Fair is foul and foul is fair’ chanted by the witches during Act 1 scene 1 are considered to be paradoxes since their words contradict themselves; a concept that can be easily applied about the perception of Macbeth’s character and his actual personality during the play. During Act 1 scene 2 , he is described by the Captain and King Duncan to be a ‘ worthy gentleman’ and ‘valiant’- adjectives which lead the audience to believe that Macbeth is a loyal warrior and a very correct person; while in Act 1 scene 3 ( when he officially steps into the play) he proves to be easily manipulated and swayed by the prospect of power after the witches exclaim their prophecies and disappear. His erroneous judgment, which eventually leads to his downfall and the mutation in his personality, is further displayed since Banquo is clearly aware of the witches’ nature while Macbeth, only focused on their promises, looses focus over the other , more important details; banquo realizes that the witches are ‘ foul’ while Macbeth still mistakenly believes the witches are ‘fair’ due to all the good they have brought upon him.