The Epic Poem, Beowulf - Vengeance and Revenge in Beowulf Essay

Vengeance and Revenge in Beowulf    The oldest of the great lengthy poems written in English and perhaps the lone survivor of a genre of Anglo-Saxon epics, Beowulf, was written by an unknown Christian author at a date that is only estimated.   Even so, it is a remarkable narrative story in which the poet reinvigorates the heroic language, style, and values of Germanic oral poetry.   He intertwines a number of themes including good and evil, youth and old age, paganism and Christianity and the heroic ideal code, into his principal narrative and numerous digressions and episodes; all of which were extremely important to his audience at the time.   Vengeance, part of the heroic code, was regarded differently by the two distinct religions.   Christianity teaches to forgive those who trespass against us, whereas in the pagan world, revenge is typical and not considered an evil act.   In Beowulf, the ancient German proverb "revenge does not long remain unrevenged" is strictly adhered to and verifies that revenge is part of pagan tradition. Two human relationships were deeply significant to the Germanic society.   The most important, the relationship between the warrior and his lord was based on a common trust and respect.   The warrior vows loyalty to his lord and serves and defends him and in turn the lord takes care of the warrior and rewards him lavishly for his valour.   The second human relationship was between kinsmen.   As Baker and Ogilvy suggest, a special form of loyalty was involved in the blood feud. (P.107)   If one of his kinsmen had been slain, a man had an ethical obligation either to kill the slayer or to exact the payment of wergild in compensation.   The price was determined upon the rank or social status of the victim... ... view was "an eye for an eye," if a man kills your kinsmen you exact revenge.   On the contrary, the Christian view was more like as Mohandas Gandhi said "An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind."   Christians believed God would inevitability do what is right and would rather turn the other cheek then have it result in more blood and murder.   Throughout the poem, the poet strives to accommodate these two sets of values.   Though he is Christian, he cannot negate the fundamental pagan values of the narrative story. Works Cited and Consulted: Abrams, M.H., ed.   Beowulf: The Norton Anthology of English Literature.   New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.   Baker, Donald C. and J.D.A. Ogilvy.   Reading Beowulf.   Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. Earl, James W.   Thinking About Beowulf.   Stanford: Stanford University Press: 1994.

Euro Disney: from Dream to Nightmare (1987-1994)

For years, the Disney Theme Park Empire was built upon three crown jewels located in California, Florida, and Japan. Combining the familiar, family-friendly characters and images upon which the Disney reputation was built. With clean and well-operated theme parks helped Disney set new standards for efficient, friendly customer service in the theme park industry. Its parks became major international tourist attractions. However, when Euro Disney opened in Paris in 1992, the standard model of Disney theme parks ran into trouble.Tackling the many problems faced by Euro Disney operations has posed many new challenges to Disney, forcing them to reconsider their standard model for success. Disney must find ways to adapt their theme park model in a manner which preserves the best of Disney. 9. 1 The challenges facing Euro Disney Early hopes for a similar success soured soon after Euro Disney opened, and the experience of opening Euro Disney delivered unexpected surprises to Disney managemen t. The park soon encountered several major problems: AttendanceDisney’s consulting firm has projected first year park attendance to range between 11. 7 and 17. 8 million attendees. To be cautious, Disney used the littlest figures and predicted eleven million attendees. While initial hotel bookings at the theme park during the summer looked promising, as the theme park entered its first winter, bookings dropped to twenty percent or less of monthly projects. Staffing Staffing shortages created a negative cycle in which extra workloads on employees resulted in increased turnover, which in turn hurt Disney’s ability to retain and develop its employees.Poor union relations caused by reactions to Disney’s exacting requirements for dress and appearance, such as a ban on facial hair and colored stockings, as well as to Disney’s high standards of customer service, further hurt their ability to attract employees. Customer Service Euro Disney was failing to deliver the high level of customer service standard to Disney theme parks, as well as failing to provide the service needs that were unique to the European market.Many employees failed to conform to the high standards of customer service that were expected in Disney theme parks. Lack of local management and autonomy Walt Disney Company owned a 49% share in Euro Disney. This resulted in management by remote control, in which decisions were often made by people who were far removed from the day-to-day operations of the park, and who did not have a strong understanding of the culture and the market. 9. 2 Recommendations Upon reviewing the key problems faced by Euro Disney, there are several issues which require attention.These include: Improving customer service Accommodations and services should be made to better fit the needs and desires of the multi-lingual and multi-cultural European customer base. Greater efforts should be made to identify and retain employees that are compatible with the corporate values of Disney with regards to customer service. Decentralize management Disney should hire local consultants to provide insight of local governmental ordinances, as well as customs that the business should follow.Decision making should be more decentralized, away from the U. S. parent company. Procedures should be made specifically for France. Communications with its employees and the overall morale among employees have to be improved. Options to overcome the housing shortage should be explored to allow workers to live closer to the theme park. In addition, Disney should make a greater effort to increase the diversity of its workforce, to provide a better level of service for visitors from outside of France.Better culture adaptation and understanding of the European market Disney must better understand and meet the different habits, expectations, and needs of the European theme park visitors. In addition, a greater role should be given to European investors in planning and decision making, to provide more of a European perspective in managing the operations of the theme park. Maintain operational flexibility As the organization is still dealing with a large range of unknowns, flexible problem-solving attitudes should be encouraged to help allow Disney to learn and adapt to its new environment.Disney has achieved a strong market position in other locations, and there is no reason to believe the organization cannot achieve a similar success in Europe, provided it is willing to make the same long-term commitment. Develop more realistic planning Plans for a second phase should not have been allowed to advance until such time that the problems facing the first phase were corrected, giving them a more secure base of knowledge upon which plans and decisions could be made. Otherwise, the company risks duplicating and compounding the problems encountered with its first phase.

What Should I Write a Book About

What to Write About in a Book If you were to write a book, on what theme or subject matter would it be based, and why? In this day and age of economic recession caused by speculative markets activity, big businesses and banks failure, which cannot be sustained due to dwindling disposable income, people should learn how to run their small business enterprises. I would like to bring a proof to the others that they, actually, can become business people, even if there are no prerequisites to achieve this goal. Moreover, I would like to inspire everyone with the thought that their respective efforts at organization of business would actually be a force for progress that any underdeveloped economy needs. Small business enterprises can fuel the economy, bringing it up to its former dynamic state. Through the book, I would like to share with the biggest benefits of entrepreneurship, such as the potential to actually make more money than traditional employment-based efforts. There is a great advantage behind working for personal business model instead of someone else’s. Entrepreneurship gives one the chance to write their own story of success, determine their own legacy and climb up the career ladder. For newbies, personal inspiration and determination to succeed is priceless. This stimulation is spurred by the tremendous feeling of freedom an entrepreneur could have while making the way towards success. Entrepreneurship is probably the best equal-opportunity employer option. The owner of the business practices fairness all throughout. Being a part of the revenue generation, the entrepreneur learns the art of sustainability. Running a small personal business enterprise is economically manageable and viable, as well. Business tools, such as teleconferencing, email, and a host of Web communication tools that an entrepreneur would need, are relatively cheap nowadays. These are the very reasons for me to write a book on entrepreneurship. I would like to teach and inspire people about its benefits and relatively easy processes to follow.