From the study of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is shylock presented as a villain or victim? To what extent will this view have changed from that of the original audience?

From the study of 'The Merchant of Venice' is shylock presented as a villain or victim? To what extent will this view have changed from that of the original audience? The play is set in the late 15th century and is mainly about the character of shylock a money lending Jew; he is trying to live a simplistic life as a simplistic character in Venice a country that would have despised and alienated Jewish people. Christians very much believed in their religion/faith and would have disliked any Jewish person. Therefore the original audience would have hated shylock because of his religious beliefs and his job of money lending, as Christians wouldn't have been able to this job, as it would disagree with their belief. Shakespeare captured the way Jews were portrayed in this play well and managed to display it in a certain way, which wouldn't offend, but captured both sympathy and understanding from the audience at the time. Shakespeare play would be looked at in a very different way in a modern performance as the audience wouldn't discriminate towards Jews/ shylock as Christians are taught differently to when the play was originally written and children would have learnt about different religions and cultures and could cope with a Jewish character. Shylock's first appearance in the play is in act 1 scene 3 and his first line is; " Three thousand ducats", this could be taken by

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  • Word count: 1857
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Outline and evaluate one Social Learning Theory explanation of personality development

Outline and evaluate one Social Learning Theory explanation of personality development Bandura believed that an individual's personality was developed as a result of interaction between the individual and their environment. He called this interaction reciprocal determinism, and suggested that people play an active role in determining their behaviour in an environment: they will behave in a certain way that is appropriate for the setting that they are in, but their behaviour may also change that setting. This, according to Bandura's social-cognitive theory, occurs by means of a process of observation and imitation, known as modelling. Modelling is spontaneous and requires no deliberate effort on the part of the learner or the model (the person whose behaviour is to be observed and imitated), and reinforcement is not necessary for such learning to occur. This means that the study explains what the Behaviourist explanation of behaviour could not: the ability to produce or reproduce behaviour without reinforcement. However, although unnecessary, reinforcement will affect the performance of the behaviour; this is known as vicarious reinforcement. Bandura's theory incorporates cognitive factors into its explanation, and for a model's behaviour to be imitated, there must be some internal mental representation of the model. There are five steps to the modelling process. The first

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  • Word count: 978
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Psychology
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The World of words in Wilfred Owens Anthem For Doomed Youth and Dulce Et Decorum Est

The World of words in Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' and 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' Good morning everyone/teacher. Today im going to talk about the world of words in Wilfred owen's anthem for doomed youth and ducle et decorum est. Words are nothing but the voice of human feelings and emotions. They depict anger, love, despise, acceptance, optimism, pessimism and the list goes on but for a poet, a writer, it is an outpour of his sensitivity. The poet under consideration here has his own special way with words and he expresses an entire galaxy of emotion through well chosen and with arranged words Wilfred Owen was a poet who was widely regarded as one of the best poets of the World War one period. The war poetry, written between 1793 and 1815, was idealistic and also patriotic. Owen started writing anti-war poetry but later he too became a firm supporter of war. The two poems which I am going to be comparing and contrasting are all inspired by war. The poems are Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum est. Wilfred Owen's poetry has expressed his outrage of war and the sheer pity of the sacrifices of young soldiers made in battle. The patriotic view of war and religion are questioned repeatedly in his poems. He also ponders the purpose for the existence of the human race. Techniques such as juxtaposition, similes and metaphors are also employed into the poems to

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  • Word count: 3520
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Evaluate the strategies that a business can adopt during a recession

Evaluate the strategies that a business can adopt during a recession A recession, two negative quarters of GDP in an economy, is inevitably going to lead to a business getting less customers. Its overhead costs will be the same, but its unit costs will be higher because it will not be producing as many products but will still have these fixed costs. This will make the business less profitable in the short-term and so strategies must be implemented to try to improve the business's short-term and long-term prosperity. Such strategies might include improving its cash flow position, downsizing, decreasing its costs, decreasing its gearing and managing its receivables and payables more carefully. A strategy of improving cash flow will involve many aspects. They will need to decrease their fixed costs so that their unit costs will decrease and it will be easier to make a profit in the difficult economic climate. This may involve selling off excess machinery or ordering less inventories, or it may involve increasing its operational efficiency by holding less inventories and thus lowering its storage costs. Ultimately, improving its cash flow will enable the business to remain more liquid in hard times, where investors (e.g. banks) will be less financially lenient, in the way of loaning money to businesses, during a recession. Thus it is more crucial than ever for a business to

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  • Word count: 1902
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Business Studies
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1984 - What does Orwell do in the opening two pages of the novel to unsettle the reader?

What does Orwell do in the opening two pages of the novel to unsettle the reader? In the novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', the author, George Orwell employs a range of different techniques such as similes, metaphors and symbolism to unnerve and keep the reader in anticipation, impelling them to read on. The novel is in a third-person narrative style, this technique employed by Orwell creates a distance between the central character, Winston Smith and the reader. This vagueness adds tension and mystery to Orwell's depiction, only allowing the characters emotion to be revealed through dialogue. The narrative viewpoint also allows the reader to grasp an unbiased view of the character and his circumstances. Throughout these first couple of pages Orwell purposefully refuses to expand on things which confuse the reader. For instance, "The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats", and simply doesn't give an explanation why. This deliberate omission is employed to purely keep the reader on edge and impel him/her to read on. Another example of this is towards the end of the second page, "The Patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered". This line immediately grabs attention and creates suspense, but Orwell leaves it here. The reader is now left feeling insecure and leaves us questioning ourselves through mere confusion of what may be happening in this

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Healthy Living German Coursework

Healthy Living - German Coursework Vor allem, nicht rauchen. Zigarettenrauch ist eine giftige Cocktail aus 70 krebserregende Chemikalien und hunderte von anderen Giften. Rauchen ist die häufigste Ursache von Krebs weltweit. Im Vereinigten Königreich, in Kombination Rauchen allein für ein Viertel der Todesfälle durch Krebs und sterben fünf Mal mehr Menschen als Verkehrsunfälle, Überdosierungen, Mord, Selbstmord und AIDS. Essen Sie ungefähr zur gleichen Zeit jeden Tag. Das kann zwei, drei oder mehrere Male, aber eine Routine fordert eine angemessene Gewicht. Schauen Sie sich Ihre Anteile. Don't Heap-Essen auf dem Teller (außer Gemüse) und zweimal überlegen, bevor er ein zweites Service. Versuchen Sie, fünf Portionen Obst und Gemüse pro Tag. Ein Teil wird über 80 g Obst und Gemüse. Dies ist in etwa gleich ein Apfel, Orange, Banane oder ähnlicher Größe Obst oder zwei Vorlegelöffel von gekochtem Gemüse wie Brokkoli oder Karotten. Lebensmittel verzehren, weniger Fett. Wählen Sie "fettreduziert Versionen von Lebensmitteln wie Milchprodukten, Aufstriche und Salatsaucen. Trim Fett aus Fleisch. Essen Lebensmittel niedriger Salz. Zu viel Salz kann Ihren Blutdruck und das Risiko von Herzerkrankungen und Schlaganfall erhöhen. Essen gesündere Snacks. Wenn Sie Hunger zwischen den Mahlzeiten haben, wählen Sie eine gesündere Option wie Obst oder

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Modern Foreign Languages
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The greatest obstacle to solving the Irish question in the years 1874 - 1886 was the issue of land: assess the validity of this view.

"THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO SOLVING THE IRISH QUESTION IN THE YEARS 1874 - 1886 WAS THE ISSUE OF LAND": ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THIS VIEW There can be little doubt that question of land, with specific regards to tenant farmers and absentee landlords, was a major obstacle for the British government as they attempted to 'solve the Irish Question'. However, in addition to the fact that there were other issues within Ireland which also formed obstacles to resolution, such as Home Rule, one must also consider the actions of the Disraeli and Gladstone administrations in this period and assess whether they too acted as obstacles to their own attempts to deal with Ireland. The interpretation that the issue of land was the greatest obstacle has much to commend it. Some of the most serious crises in 19th Century Britain had come about as a result of 'knife and fork' issues (including the Chartist movement and the Plug Riots); the disastrous harvests of 1877-79 in Ireland which meant that many famers unable to pay the rent for their land and were subsequently evicted by the landowners resulted in similar 'knife and fork' issues and caused great Irish unrest. This unrest manifested itself in violence, most notably in Connaught and in Phoenix Park in 1882, as the immediate threat to Irish people's wellbeing sparked 'direct action' in such a way that issues such as a religion could. The

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Write an essay on electrode potentials.

F7 Essay Writing (Electrode Potentials) Q. Write an essay on electrode potentials. Outlines: (I) What are electrode potentials? (a) associated with equilibria of redox systems (half cells): e.g. metal / metal ion system ; non-metal / ion system ; ion / ion system; (b) reactivity, tendency for reduction to occur (losing electrons) and potential difference; (c) the potential difference of a half cell cannot be measured alone, but a relative value could be measured with another reference half cell / reference electrode; (d) a standard hydrogen electrode [SHE] (in which the emf is defined as zero) is used as the reference electrode; (II) How are electrode potentials measured? (a) concentration, temperature and pressure affect the emf of SHE, and the standard electrode potentials are obtained under conditions of 298K, 1 atm and conc. of 1M. (b) set up a cell with SHE and a salt bridge of electrolyte (e.g. KNO3); (c) a potentiometer is used to measure the cell emf (maximum potential difference), and the sign of cell emf = polarity of the right hand electrode. (III) How are electrode potentials used? / Application of electrode potentials? (a) calculation of cell emf ; (b) prediction of reaction feasibility and limitations. ~ Sample Essay ~ An electrode potential is the difference in an potential between an electrode and its surrounding electrolyte. It is

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Science
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Creative Writing - Gratuitous Vengeance

Gratuitous Vengeance "Son, hurry up, you're going to be late for school." "Yeh whatever dad, it's nothing new." "But it's your first day!" Yes - it was my first day at school and no - I wasn't nervous, I wasn't scared, and I wasn't worried, I was ready. What's the big deal anyway? Constantly, consistently moving house and schools, you kind of adapt to it, like an animal adapting to its conditions, you know? Here we were. Shattering, scratched, small windows; crumbling, decaying, aged bricks; inexpensive, inert sheds and lots of helpless, dim morons to use for my liking. Dominating this school will be as easy as A.B.C. It wasn't exactly the best looking school but no matter, I'd be gone within a week... Okay, by my second glance, this school had some pretty mischievous competition. My main worry was Derrick Hopkins; Derrick is the guy to go to when you want to know something or need permission for something else. He controls everything in this school. I guess that'll have to change... I went up to him. "Derrick, I'm Bradley Crewe, new here, I heard about a party going on this weekend, I was wondering if I can come along? We can get acquainted." "It's not that easy kid. So no, you can't just 'come along'. Get out of here you weasel faced low life." "Weasel faced? Low life? Who do you think you are?" "I'm Derrick, but nobody cares who you are." He walked up to me and

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Law of Evidence - R v Kearley

Law of Evidence - Assessed Work (No.2) by Simon Wolman R v Kearley Essentially this piece concerns whether the House of Lords correctly decided the case of R v Kearley1. The majority decided allowing the appeal, that the evidence concerned in this case was either irrelevant, and therefore inadmissible (unless part of the res gestae) or was inadmissible as hearsay in the form of an implied assertion. The facts of Kearley will be discussed, followed by an analysis of the decision by their Lordships, finally considering the issues of relevance and implied assertions in relation to the decision in Kearley. The facts of Kearley are well known. The disputed evidence was that the police officers whilst on the raid answered a number of callers to the flats, both by telephone and by visitors. The police officers testified that the callers were seeking to buy drugs in place of the original callers who were unwilling or unable to attend court. The appellant objected to the evidence on the ground that it was hearsay, but this was overruled. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal and certified a question to the House of Lords. Condensing the certified question, it was whether a person not called as a witness, for the purpose of not establishing the truth of any fact narrated by the words, but of inviting the jury to draw an inference from the fact that the words were spoken ? 2 On

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Law
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