Macbeth Essay -- essays research papers

Macbeth is an epic tragedy inspiring pity and remorse because the hero, though flawed, is also shown to be human. The play portrays a journey of self-discovery and awareness as both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth pass from happiness to misery. Their punishment is well deserved but the retributive price is enormous. Evil, both internal and external corrupts their minds, distorting their positive traits and exaggerating their worst. Both fall victim to ‘vaulting ambition’, pride and greed, tempting them to acts of treason and betrayal of friends, kinsman and the nation itself. Warfare on the battlefield mirrors the metaphorical warfare being played out between the forces of good and evil within them. Spurred by ambition, supernatural solicitation and by the taunting of his wife, Macbeth deliberately chooses to embark on what he knows to be an evil course. From the moment he listens with ‘rapt’ attention to the witches, he allows himself to be drawn further and further into a vision of hell. The audience accompanies him into a morass of nightmares, ghosts, bloody visions and false prophecies. Abnormal conditions of mind such as insanity, sleep walking and hallucinations demonstrate his moral and emotional decline. We are given insight into their feelings of agitation, anxiety, fear, determination and regret which minimises the horror of the murder. Macbeth’s soliloquies voice his inner thoughts, making him an object of pity as well as a fascinating portrait of evil. A psychological change takes place as we witness the valiant general become a ruthless murderer. Although conscious of this evil transformation, he cannot resist the process. Ambition has become a powerful drug, usurping his reason and will as he lurches towards personal disaster. Brutality hardens him and his misrule brings suffering and chaos to Scotland. Macbeth Macbeth exhibits many of the traditional attributes of a tragic hero. Courage, determination, intelligence and moral awareness are clearly evident in his actions in the early scenes. His reputation is high and he holds a noble, aristocratic position of power and influence. He is introduced as a courageous general, worthy of respect and honour, brave, valiant, noble, imaginative, kind, ambitious, loving and artless. ‘Brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name.’ He is ambitious for public acclaim, recognition and wants to appear great and adm... ...cating Macbeth with his first words "So foul and fair a day I have not seen". His actions unsettle the moral and natural order, consequently his authority is repudiated and overthrown. Macbeth's usurpation is not rewarded "upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, / And put a barren sceptre in my gripe" (III.i.60), he committed an unnatural act. Lady Macbeth's precipitation of these actions is punished accordingly, ironically after the murder of Duncan she suggests that "These deeds must not be thought / After these ways: so, it will make us mad" (II.ii.33). The entire mood of the play is effected by the disruption of nature. Repeated images of darkness, blood, and violence contribute to this tone The vision of the dagger, the murder of Duncan, the murder of Banquo, the sleep-walking of Lady Macbeth, all occur in the darkness of night and evoke for Macbeth a feeling of fear and horror . Again the dramatic verse intertwines the language and themes. The theme of transformation was apparent in Macbeth, the hero esteemed by his peers, however through his desire for power he transformed into a man obsessed with his desires, his tragedy was his downfall

Leadership Structure in the Local Church

Structure for Church Ministry By Geraldine Rowe A Paper Presented to Professor Dr. Epps In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Research for Scholarly Writing College of Biblical Studies Houston, Texas October 14, 2010 ? Leadership Structure for Church Ministry The local church has not exhibited consistent patterns of lay leadership. Most denominations articulate the Reformation principle of a universal priesthood, while vacillating with changing times and pressures.At both the local and denominational levels organizations have expanded the role of lay persons which may or may not require them to be educated clergy. Organization structure of the local church whether modern or traditional empowers themselves to announce the word, administer the sacraments and to call and discipline ministers and laity. Believers in Christ connect simultaneously as a congregation to manage the work that Jesus requested. The general values that can be acclimatized to fit the features of â€Å"th e local church† were established by the early church to do ministry.These values can be directed to the constitution or bylaws of a localized place of worship in modern times. Concentration should be given to the reason and objective of the local church preventing them from dropping into the complacency of just â€Å"doing church. † In architecture, one of the most significant notions is that the church balances between covenant theology and proliferated leadership roles. To explore this notion a closer look is given to church models and their leadership philosophies, beginning with the authority or â€Å"head† of the church.The first and most significant part of the church’s structure is the Head Shepherd who is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:15-16). Underneath the Head Shepherd, there is an assembly of under shepherds (overseers, elders or pastors). Historically, from the perspective of Anglicans, Puritans, and Presbyterians all early Baptist preache rs were lay, meaning they did not receive Episcopal or Presbyterian ordination. One example was Thomas Collier, who joined one of the seven London churches and served as an itinerant evangelist.He, through the use of the press gained great influence of Particular Baptists. Lay preachers were the chief means for the advancement of Baptist in the American frontier. Today, however the Pastor no longer functions merely as preachers, chief administrators or ordinances, counselors, and general leaders. They have become executives or administrators who perform numerous functions. They interface disillusionment when they discover that it requires something very different. They become the â€Å"hired hands† instead of God-called ministers.The common options for handling this issue seems to be emphasize the equipping role of the pastor and other professionals while seeking to acknowledge an array of functions and leadership in the churches today. The leadership of the church depends la rgely upon its doctrine and how closely the pastor is to follow its bylaws. One view is that of the church as a covenant community which has deep roots in biblical as well as free-church traditions. Max Stackhouse wrote on â€Å"free church Calvinism† which had a strong influence on the Puritans who left the Church of England.He describes it like this: â€Å"A covenantal people live under the law of God, and find themselves empowered to live together by the love of God. God is the source and sustainer of the covenant ecclesia. Though the initiator of the covenant of God, the church also in a sense a voluntary community. The covenant is voluntary in the sense that it is not a community given by birth in a family, class or nation. People must choose to be an active member. This is so even if, in another sense, it is not voluntary at all. God initiates the covenant, humans only receive it, as signified by baptism. This doctrine if properly adopted eliminates the temptation of s elf-interest, isolation and the disregard for the claims of others. Statistic show however that among Southern Baptist Churches the denomination has been restricted by geography and economist to the South, and by racism. Additionally, many southern Baptist have embraced the pluralistic value of urban life and advance education. Covenantalism, in its original intent could guide a system which recognizes different influences and authorities, and to give a voice to diverse groups and individuals.A church is both an organism and an organization. According to New Testament writers the church is defined as the â€Å"body of Christ† (1 Corinthians 12) also â€Å"the bride of Christ† (Revelation 19). These scriptures personify the church as a living organism. This organism lives under the leadership of the spirit of Christ as it works in the life of believers which prompts them to begin a congregation. An effective leader strives to keep the congregation attached to its source of energy thereby keeping people focused on the One who corporately gives them strength and direction.This organism can be dynamic or it can become weak and sickly. As an organism its life and energy must be cared for much liken to one who would care for a living being. The Church is also an organization as defined by Webster. It is â€Å"any unified, consolidated group of elements; systematized whole; a) a body of persons organized for some specific purpose†. As an organization the Church has form, structure, a mission to perform, clientele, constituents, programs, a way of doing business, financial systems, a corporate culture, and many other attributes of any other organization whether secular or sacred.The effective leader needs to understand the nature of its organization and attempt to lead the church carrying out its mission. Leaders of the Bible like Moses, Joshua, David, Nehemiah, Jesus, Paul and others had goals and envisioned the end results as they pushed themsel ves and led others. Any effective leader can enlist people around them to commit to common purpose. They motivate others to dream the dreams, see the visions, and work toward the goals that have been set. This servant leader strives to build trust between leader and effective balance so that leadership compliments one another.This frees him up to preach the gospel. When a leader is overly task oriented he will do whatever it takes to accomplish the task at hand. People are not very important. The danger here is that the leader directs more attention to the organization than the organism. The most consistent lay leadership role in ministry in Baptist Churches has been that of Deacon. The work of the Deacon is to serve tables, providing the Lord Supper. They are to partner with the Pastor as bond servants and overseers according to Phil 1:1.Likewise his attributes should reconcile with the description of overseer given in 1Tim 3:1-13. The position of Deacon and other church officers a nd ministries are accountable when heading up a successful church organization. Patterson makes this point clear in his writings about leading from the second chair. A second chair leader may be defined as â€Å"anyone in a subordinate whole whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization. It could refer to the second or the fourth or fifth person of the organization chart.According to this writer the second chair leader should learn from the paradoxes from the reflection on the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. If the overseers are out of order and dysfunctional, the entire congregation suffers from confusion and strife that eventually weakens the church preventing it to function according to its original purpose. The biblical purpose of the church is the Great Commission as stated in Matthew 28:19-20. Its mission, or the way in which its purpose is carried out, is stated in Acts 2:42-47 as evangelism, discipleship, worship, ministry, prayer, and fellowship .The leader of the second chair understands the mission of the church and has developed a vision of what the purpose of the church is and is committed to that mission and vision. In conclusion, many changes have taken place in the local church since its Reformation principals. Some of these changes have raised the awareness of social injustices and much progress has been made in the areas of diversity. Many of the post modern adjustments that were made in order to accommodate a diverse society however have proven to weaken its effectiveness in a dying world.Over a period of time the church has become stagnate and content with the way things are being done been under the umbrella of â€Å"the church†. Distractions such as church membership, financial budgets, and annual programs have taken the forefront of too many local congregations. They exist to survive or survive to exist and totally lose sight of its mandate to teach the Word of God, win people to a saving knowledge of C hrist, grow people in Christ- likeness, and minister to one another.The Leaders and Overseers should re-evaluate their agenda. They should nurture the passion for work to which they have been called and keep their eyes on the mission and purpose of the church or whatever group/organization they are leading. This will eradicate confusion, hostility, misunderstandings, controversy and selfish agendas. They should be determined to lead the church to develop strong, positive Kingdom agendas that clearly contributes to the advancement of the cause of Christ in the world.

Financial report on bp - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2007 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? I have chosen this company because it has a universal image and British petroleum is involved in dirt free cities movement in Europe. BP took very bigger steps for addressing towards type of weather changes which is a major concern in European countries. British petroleum is trying new pioneering new solar and airstream businesses and hygienic technologies of energy and storage space of carbon dioxide from usual remnant fuels. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial report on bp" essay for you Create order Creating and deliver superior products and services that meet the needs of the society. Attract succeeding age group of people. In this report I have discussed briefly the ratio analysis of British petroleum and what are the issues the companying is facing and how the company can get back to its original position. BACKGROUND British petroleum is large-scale oil and Gas business and well familiar over the world and its main control center is in London, United Kingdom. It is fourth leading in terms of revenue it earns yearly. It has been in service over eighty countries across the world. It produces 3.8 million oil equivalents per day and has various service stations approximately 22,400 across worldwide. The recent development is that BP is not leaving United States as it has too much venture to walk away. Since the damage occurred in the Gulf of Mexico which resulted in eleven staff dead. The company had begun its trust in rebuilding process of national and state government. Huge process has been made to clean up the spills. End of the relief is a vital landmark to repair the gulf coast. The work has not yet done. However is it fully loyal for remedying the harm spill of Mexico and the atmosphere that caused the living of the people. BP is trying its best for precautionary measures such as security and working education facility that support the employees to distribute out of harms way, trustworthy and in charge function which should be the top agenda of the company to discuss in every annual general meeting. Shipping plays a vital role in for security purpose in terms of transportation. Interpretation based on the results obtained from ratio analysis 1. Profit margin: It is the size of the company industrialized and allocation competence during making method. Every company would like their company to gain more profit and should have a huge market share in the world. The profit margin will tell the shareholder the proportion of proceeds left after deducting the price tag of commodities sold. From the calculation obtained shows that there is no loss or gain. For past three years the profit margin has maintained constant in the British petroleum. Boost in manufacture will be ahead of the company anticipated long term enlargement. The main policy of the company will be deliver lucrative growth. The strategic alliance in the United States of two major gas producers will help the company to get back to huge profit if proper coordination and even cooperation like working harmony is necessary for these to gain profit. 2. Assets turn over: It will be the appraise of firms competence in generating sales or income. Companies with small profit periphery will in general have far above the ground asset turned over. Because of this reason the asset turnover is very low in this year as compared to the previous year. 3. Return on assets: It shows how the company is gainful to its total possessions. It will show clearly that how successfully the company will generate the income. Return on asset will tell what income earns from the asset which the company brought. As the calculation obtained shows that the company has not gained but has lost because of no asset turn over. BP expand its fabrication through enhanced equipment and as well as development of other countries. BP concentrated to expand its organization so it acquired more sophisticated equipment which were very expensive. In long run it can gain huge profit. 4. Debtors day: The Company which borrows something from other company is the debtors. From the calculation obtained it has borrowed around 65.8 as compared to 40 the previous year. Borrowing the products is not a good sign for the company. BP faced worst disasters in the past so it takes some time for recycle process. So it has taken very high debts for clearing the spills. 5. Creditors days: The business of giving credit to other company and providing a certain period of time to return back the amount from where the company had brought it. From the results obtained from calculation we can conclude that the company has gained lot of credit which is very high as compared to the previous year. Its not a good sign for the company and shareholder wont invest their funds in that company. 6. Stock days: Lesser the venture in stock is the better for the company. But based on the result obtained from the calculation the company has almost doubled the stock which is not a good prospect. 7. Current ratio: It will correctly give the complete picture of the company whether the company has enough resources to pay the bill yearly. As the figures shows that it is in the positive side and has enough resources to pay back. Current ratio will means volume cost of the existing resources will be accurately equal to the volume cost of the liabilities. Generally the shareholders will look for 2:1 current ratio which means two times the existing property over current liabilities. 8. Quick ratio: It is the indication of company power and limitation. The calculation shows that there are many liquidity assets that can be easily converted into cash. In the current year there is a slight increase in the quick ratio as compared to the previous year. Quick ratio is the summation of the currency, saleable securities and receivables dividend by recent liability. 9. Gearing: It is concerned with the shareholders finance must be larger than the long period sum unpaid. The gearing ratio shows that there is no much change in the recent years. 10. Return on equity: It will show how the company has again invested so that it can get additional income. Other way is what the profit generated given the resources provided by the shareholders. From the results through calculation return on investment is less and has dropped as compared to the previous year. 11. Earnings per share: It shows the quantity of net earnings which relate to per share. Higher the value of earning per share will be better for the company. The company has less earning per share when compared to previous year which is not excellent for the company. We can say in another way like it reveals the company skill to produce profit to owner fairness. 12. Price earning ratio: It is usually calculated to know how expensive the stock may be. Usually the company having lower price earning ratio will be better. But the calculation shows that price earning ratio is slight higher in the current year as compared to previous year which is not healthy symbol for the company. The high Price earnings ratio shows that greater than before order investors look forward to earning expansion in the future. Price earning can also be designed by estimating coming year earning per share in the denominator. 13. Interest coverage ratio: It shows how the company will pay the interest for the debts it has taken. Lower the interest coverage will be better. The calculation shows that it has higher interest coverage than the previous years. It measures the company ability to its interest payments. A far above the ground ratio indicates superior economic physical condition as the company is extra capable of gathering its interest obligation from in service income. If the company has less than one which clearly tells that company has to put up for sale off some assets otherwise move up more equity in sort to pay back a quantity of balance due. 14. Dividend per share: It means whatever the company has earned has to be paid to the shareholder in the form of dividends. Dividends are a form of profit sharing to the investors. As the calculation shows that there is no change in the past years so company is not giving the dividends to the shareholders. Impact of current events One of the worst environmental disaster happened in Gulf of Mexico which tarnished the image of British petroleum. For cleaning the spills the company has to invest huge amount which led to loss in the profit margin and other things like asset turnover were low because of these situation. The financial economy has hit a very low due to the gulf spills of Mexico and the shares of the company has significantly dropped which is not a good thing to happen . The company will find it very difficult to come out of this stage because lot of venture is there in US so it has to convince the US government that the company will take proper measures to clean up the spills as quickly as possible. British petroleum has taken several strategies to cover the well which took them to finish that work for five months. The environmental disaster happens quickly but the company will have to stay positive and do all necessary steps to build the reputation once again. Its not easy to build the image all over again but sincere steps have to be taken by the chairman of the company board of directors and the employees and even investors play a major role in building the same reputation which the company had generated previously. CONCLUSION The Company at the moment is not having good mark on the minds of the people because of recent environmental disaster happened in Gulf of Mexico. But the balance sheet of the third quarter of the current year shows that it has gained profit because its operating in different parts of the world and supplying oil to other part of the world. This shows that it has making study progress and on the road to recovery. The company has alliance with the Amoco Corporation of the United States and Repsol of Spain which are the leading shareholders for supply of gas in Atlantic region and British petroleum made a strategic alliance with these companies keeping in mind and good understanding with these companies help them to have a strong market share in the world. The weakness of the company may be hike in the price of the petrol due to the disaster happened in the Gulf of Mexico so that they can recover financially. Since the company has taken good measures but still there will be leakage in th e pipeline which may occur due to human errors so that may cause life of the people. Like recently occurred in Gulf of Mexico. Processing plant flare-up may also occur which is another possibility these are all the things the company has to face and proper and accurate measures has to be taken such that these situation doesnt not happen again. Recommendations British petroleum has a strong position even after the disaster happened in Mexico. It has alliance with two leading united states gas producer they can recover from this situation. BP is top in the minor country in gas producing and these will also have a major concern for recovery of the company image. The shareholders have to be very tolerant so that they will earn a huge profit from this company. Another major plus point for this company is that other major leading companies of gas producers are fading. So the company will get back to its original position but it takes some time in long term perspective people can invest on this company and the company net income and profit will be increased as the days pass. Another major factor is that more than billion of assets will help the company to recover the debts. Due to these assets it has been fiscally well-built and in good health well thought-out so that it wont be a capture of other company which cant happen because of the assets its having. APPENDIX