Assessment Questionnaire and Summary Essay Example for Free

Assessment Questionnaire and Summary Essay Business General Business You have been assigned the task of creating an assessment to measure the competency of caseworkers who are being considered for a position in your family counseling practice. Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Questionnaire form located on the student website. Complete the Questionnaire form by creating 10 questions, which you believe will determine the competencies of these caseworkers. Questions should address the following:  · Question(s) concerning the caseworker’s method for handling ethical issues.  · Questions(s) concerning the caseworker’s plan for staying current in their area of expertise and for receiving continuing education.  · Question(s) concerning the caseworker’s procedure for maintaining accurate and complete client records.  · A specific question or scenario that requires the caseworker to determine whether to abide by â€Å"duty to warn† or â€Å"duty to protect†. Complete the questionnaire as if you were applying for the position. Write a 350-to 500-word summary for your superior explaining why this person should be considered for the position in your family counseling practice. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. Post the questionnaire and the summary as two separate documents to your assignment forum. Surely the advice youve just read has left you feeling more confident and better prepared to face college. If so, you certainly arent the only one. It is a popular thing for adults to return to school when their children get older. Do not be afraid. If you work hard, you will be a success in college.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Qualified Nurse

Roles and Responsibilities of a Qualified Nurse Professional Role Development The aim of this essay is to explore and discuss important aspects of the roles and responsibilities of the newly qualified nurse. It will look at and abroad discuss on different type of roles and responsibilities including transition. The roles and responsibilities of a qualified nurse include essential professional skills such as leading in care management and care delivery situations as well as maintaining standards of care. The focus of the essay will be discussing in detail two particular roles of the newly qualified nurse (delegation and patient group direction). It will discuss the meaning of these concepts and their importance for nurses and provide some practical contextual examples. It will also discuss the rational of chosen roles A new qualified nurse expected to be competent to work in all environments and situations. This emerging health care system requires a registered nurse workforce at all levels post initial registration capable of critical reflective thinking in order to create this system. Lofmark A (2006) claim that with registration comes a shift in professional accountability together with wider clinical management and teaching responsibilities. On becoming a qualified nurse, the expectations and dynamics of relationships changes fundamentally. Suddenly the newly qualified nurse is the one who must know the answer whether it is a query from a patient, a career, a work colleague or a student. The newly qualified nurse will encounter many challenging situations where she or he must lead care delivery. This includes dealing with care management within the team, dealing with patients/service users, dealing with other professionals and dealing with the required needs of the whole workplace environment. The NMC requires a student nurse to demonstrate professional and ethical practice, be competent in care delivery and care management and show personal and professional development in order to join the register NMC (2010). It is recognized that nurses should be provided with some form of preceptorship and supervision in their role for a period of four months time NMC (2006)) once qualified. Even in this period of preceptorship, there are new expectations and challenges faced by the newly qualified nurse. Mooney (2007) found that newly qualified nurses were faced with assumptions from others that they should know everything. This was also a high expectation they had of themselves. In meeting the NMC standards of proficiency, the nurse should have demonstrated the relevant knowledge and skills in order to practise in their career. However, it is important to recognise that not every nurse knows everything about everything in their career especially if they are practising in highly specialized fields. What they need is to be able to develop and adapt to changing situations. Therefore, for the nurse it is impossible to know everything but they should have developed the skills to find out relevant information, reflect on it, and apply this to their practice. In essence they should have learnt how to learn. There is a great deal to be learnt once qualified especially related to a nurses new area of work and a good deal of the development needs to take place on the job Lofmark A (2006). The study by Jackson. K (2005) suggested that a successful transition requires the nurse to develop a self-image relevant to the change in status to be able to do the job and that they meet the expectations with others with appropriate support. Mooney (2007) also points out that the duties faced by most newly qualified nurses were not patient contact centred. There were a lot of duties related to contacting and dealing with other professionals and services. These brought anxieties related to the responsibilities that might be faced as the nurses would become increasingly senior in their roles with others expecting them to provide the actions and the answers in complex situations. This highlights how the experience of nursing of transition from student to newly qualified nurse can be daunting. In the current environment there is an expectation that nurses have a preceptor one qualifying for aid in these transitions but the literature still suggests there is a difficulty in the transit ion process for such professionals. Hole. J, (2009) found that individual accountability, delegating duties without appearing bossy and some challenging clinical situations such as death and dying and specialised technological roles were found to be stressful by qualifying nurses. Issues of the preceptorship of newly qualified nurses become apparent and important in dealing with the transition from supervised student to autonomous practitioner. The approach taken throughout the rest of this essay will be to provide a discussion of the main theories, concepts, and issues related to the roles and responsibilities of delegation and PGD for newly qualified nurses. It will discuss the meaning of these concepts and their importance for nurses, and provide some practical contextual examples. The rational of choosing these two roles are because: Firstly delegation is a huge newly qualified nurses concern. According Hole. J, (2005) newly qualified nurses are not capable to delegate tasks to someone else and they end up overloading themselves. This is because an accountability issue or not knowing the staffs well as they is new to the ward. Secondly, it is a legal requirement that newly qualified nurses need to have knowledge of PGDs in order to work within legal and ethical frameworks that underpin safe and effective medicines management NMC (2010). For this reason, I personally was interested and picked them to discuss in order to develop my understanding and prepare me to successfully make the transition from student nurse to a registered professional. Delegation is a major function of an effective manager of patient care and is an essential skill when directing the activities of others at all levels in an organization. It is the means by which an individual is able to accomplish needed tasks with and through others. Although the delegator remains accountable for the task, the delegate is also accountable to the delegator for the responsibilities assumed. Delegation can help others to develop or enhance their skills, promotes teamwork and improves productivity Sollivan.E.J et al (2009). Therefore, delegation is the area where newly qualified staff experience huge difficulties. Often they do not feel confident enough to ask someone else to do something for them. Consequently, they try to do all of the work themselves and end up leaving late or providing less than adequate standards of care. Other members of staff will not mind if they delegate tasks to them as long as they apply the basic rules such as ensuring that it is something they are competent to do. When delegating, the delegator remain responsible for that care if he/she do not delegate appropriately as stated by NMC (2008). It is also important that the delegator explained clearly what it is he/she want them to do and why because he/she might genuinely busy or is it just something that he/she does not want to do. Hole.J, (2005) point out that as long as he/she asks the other member of staff in a courteous manner and stick to the rules, there will be few problems. However, there may always be someone who has the potential to react in a negative way to his/her request. These people are often known for this type of behaviour and it should be dealt with swiftly by the manager. This type of reaction experience should be discussed with the member of staff or if he/she not feels confident enough to do this, he/she should talk to the manager. As mention above this will be a difficult skill for a newly qualified nurse especially at first. They will need to get to know the other staff before they will feel truly comfortable delegating to others in the team. They may feel guilty about asking others to do tasks which they feel that they should be doing themselves. What they need to realise is that they cannot possibly do everything themselves and that they will need to work as a team in order to deliver good patient care. The new qualified nurses may well feel that they cannot ask others especially HCAs who have worked on the ward for years to do things for them. The nurse will probably feel self-conscious and embarrassed. The answer is that it is not what the nurse asks them to do that are important. It is how he/she asks them. Good communication is the key to successful delegation. The nurse should take a few minutes to discuss with the HCA/student with whom he/she is working who will be doing what during that shift. Share the workload and be realistic. Therefore the newly qualified nurses must not overload themselves with care they do not really think they can give. The member of staff would rather know what their workload is at the beginning of the shift so that they can organise their time effectively. If the delegator has to ask them to take on extra work during the shift, they will find this difficult Ellis, J.R. and Hartley, C.L, (2005). So the delegator should keep communicating with them during the shift, and if he/she is held up with relatives or an acutely ill patient, he/she should tell them and explain that he/she will try to help them as soon as possible. According to Hole.J, (2005) when the new qualified nurses are delegating, it is important to ensure that this is appropriate as it is their responsibility to ensure that the member of staff to whom they delegate is competent to perform the task. This means that if they delegate a task to a member of staff who is not competent and they perform the task wrongly, they are accountable for the harm caused to the patient. Although the member of staff responsible, they remain accountable. For example, they cannot assume that the HCA/student with whom they are working is competent in the skill of measuring and recording a patients blood pressure. Just because the member of staff has worked on that ward for a period of time, this does not mean that they have been taught correctly. They must assess their competence to perform the task before they allow them to do this independently. They can then justify their delegation of that skill if necessary. A Patient Group Direction (PGD) is a written instruction for the supply and/or administration of a licensed medicine (medicines) in an identified clinical situation signed by a doctor or a dentist and pharmacist. It applies to a group of patients who may not be individually identified before presenting for treatment NPC (2009), page 11. In simple terms, a PGD is the supply and/or administration of a specified medicine or medicines by named authorised health professionals for a group of patients requiring treatment for the condition described in the PGD. Conversely the health professional must be registered. RCN (2004) state that implementing PGDs may be appropriate both in circumstances where groups of patients may not have been previously identified for example, minor injuries and first contact services and in services where assessment and treatment follows a clearly predictable pattern such as immunisation, family planning and so on. Professionals using a PGD must be registered or equivalent members of their profession and act within their appropriate code of professional conduct. This differs from supplementary prescribers and independent prescribers who must also successfully complete specific prescribing training and be appropriately registered before they may prescribe. However, organisations using PGDs must designate an appropriate person within the organisation. For example, a clinical supervisor, line manager or General Practitioner to ensure that only fully competent, qualified and trained healthcare professionals use PGDs. Individual practitioners using a PGD must be named NP C (2009). A Patient Group Direction allows specified registered health care professionals to supply or administer a medicine directly to a patient with an identified clinical condition without him/her necessarily seeing a prescriber. For example, patients may present directly to health care professionals using PGDs in their services without seeing a doctor. Alternatively, the patient may have been referred by a doctor to another service. Whichever way the patient presents, the healthcare professional who works under the PGD is responsible for assessing the patient to ensure that patient fits the criteria set out in the PGD. In general, a PGD is not meant to be a long-term means of managing a patients clinical condition. This is best achieved by a health care professional prescribing for an individual patient on a one-to-one basis NPC (2009). The use of PGDs is widespread throughout the NHS and since April 2003, some non-NHS organisations have been able to use them suggested by NPC (2009). Organisations must ensure that staff responsible for the development / implementation of PGDs and those authorised to work under PGDs have the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to do so. However, different supplementary prescribers, nurse independent prescribers and healthcare professionals using PGDs do not have to become specifically qualified to do so. Alternatively, they must be assessed by their organisations as fully competent, qualified and trained to operate within a PGD. A suitably competent and experienced health care professional who will be working under the PGD should be involved in the writing of the PGD to ensure that the PGD meets the needs of the service. NPC (2009) suggests that there is no specific national training for healthcare professionals producing PGDs. Therefore, the role by RCN (2004) for nurse proposes that the registered nurse must be assessed as competent in medicines administration, must be trained to operate within a PGD and must follow the 6 Rs of medicines administration. Also In order to work under the PGD, register nurses need to be qualified for at least 6 months. They must assess the patients to ensure they fit the criteria as detailed in the PGD as well as ensuring the PGD meets the necessary legal requirements. Importantly, the supplying/dispensing or administration stage cannot delegate to another registered nurse or student nurse. The newly qualified nurses are not expected to be able to operate under a PGD until competent in medicines administration. However, they need to have knowledge of PGDs for their patient safety. For example, if patient under PGD admitted to the ward, the nurse must ensure that the medicines not stopped. The NMC (2010) code of conduct outline that newly qualified nurses to be fully understood all methods of supplying medicines. This includes Medicines Act exemptions, patient group directions (PGDs), clinical management plans and other forms of prescribing. They are expected to demonstrate knowledge and application of the principles required for safe and effective supply and administration via a patient group direction including an understanding of role and accountability. And also demonstrate how to supply and administer via a patient group direction. The newly qualified nurses may be involved with PGDs such as assisting and identifying areas where a PGD would offer more benefits than a PSD, understand the principles and processes of PGDs and be fully conversant with all the principles associated with dispensing and administering medicines they may also be working in a variety of settings where PGDs are used for example prison health care setting, nurse led service, walk in centres In my conclusion, I have learnt the roles and responsibilities of newly qualified nurses and I have developed skills and professional knowledge to work effectively with others. The Patient Group Direction helped me how the laws and policies are set up to ensure safe and effective delivery of care given to service users under a patient group direction. I am now prepared for the challenges I will face on being a newly qualified nurse by providing the knowledge and skills required to become effective and accountable practitioners. Clinical decisions will still have to be made in relation to meeting the needs of the people within my care. However, becoming a qualified nurse brings with its wider responsibilities in making and taking decisions related to the nursing team, other staff, and the work environment as a whole. These changes require a large shift from the experience of being a student and a mentored supervised learner, so it is essential that I am equipped with all the skills re quired to successfully make the transition.

Sociological Methods Of Research

Sociological Methods Of Research Sociology studies the social structures and influences society has on people, their experiences and interpretations of the world around them. Sociology provides information on how human societies are constructed, where our belief system may stem from, our daily routines and how social identities are formed. This essay will cover a small fraction of sociology; Quantitative and Qualitative methodology, its advantages and limitations. What will also be covered is quantitative approach to suicide by Emile Durkheim (1897) and his critic, J.D Douglas qualitative approach to suicide. (Tutor2U 2010) Emile Durkheim (1938) advocated Comtes methodology and agreed that social factors should be studied rather than what goes on internally; his rule was to consider social facts as things, he believed social facts make individuals behave in a certain ways (Haralambous). Sociologists use different methodologies to reach their conclusion; ways of producing and analyzing data so the theories can be tested which are then accepted or rejected. Durkheim adopted the methods of natural science by applying the use of quantitative methods in his suicide study. There are two ways in conducting a research, primary and secondary research. Primary research is where sociologist has to start from scratch as there is no data available, for it to be taken from. In order to do this the researcher needs to design they method of collecting data and analyze the results. Primary research is only validated if the research gives true measurement, descriptions or explanation of what was being studied. Unfortunately there is a likely hood that these finding may not be actually explain peoples everyday settings or actions. (Haralambous p815-16) Secondary research is data that has already been produced by a previous researcher(s); Organizations such as companies, charities, trade unions are useful sources of data as well as documents such as letters, autobiographies and dairies. Secondary research may not be specific enough for researchers needs which in that case means they may have to look at more than one source to come to a conclusion and not only that but more than necessary time is taken up, also information given by the secondary data are sometimes questionable which is why the research has to be aware of this disadvantage (Haralambous 838-9) Quantitative research, in sociology, contains measurements of variables within society; people and groups. In order to get peoples opinions, a survey may be carried out; fieldwork, experiments or documentary research. When these methods are carried out, the researchers are usually avoiding being biased. In order to be unbiased as possible questions that are asked in a closed question form, so the participants replies are very limited or generalised observations are then conducted. Researchers who carrying out quantitative research do not want to get distracted from the intent of the research; they know exactly what they are looking for so their researches are controlled, with closed questions or only statistical information (McGuigan 2010). Alternatively, qualitative research, in sociology, attempts to gather more in depth understanding of individuals or groups actions in the context of social life (Giddens 2009). There usually is no scientific evidence and if there is, its very little evidence. When using qualitative methods of research the investigator is more interested in deeper truths; they prefer to observe things in their natural settings, make sense of things and interpret the information gained; in order to gain information they may interview people or observe them in non artificial settings. Qualitative is more theoretical rather than statistical. Information gained explores deeper into their interest and then data is collected by either observing or interviewing and from the data gain helps generate a hypothesis. Qualitative research digs deeper into reasons of why people may act the way they do. A survey is a method used by researchers to gather information from a sample of individuals whether its from a certain gender, age, race etc where the researchers interest is at and changes depending on the purpose of the study. These samples of individuals are questioned on their information that will help the sociologist conclude, questions can be very much closed questions or open, they are sent out to participants or administered directly; surveys can have a variety of purposes and questions are asked in standardized procedures so the same questions are asked; Surveys help obtain a composite profile of the population. In all reputable survey organizations, organisers should present their results anonymously (Scheuren). Surveys are an advantage for generalizing a big group by getting smaller groups to answer the questions once there is an efficient amount of results. Unfortunately there is a risk of answers to the questions being answered falsely, may not actually reflect their tr ue feelings or may even seem superficial. Surveys can be used to either get quantitative or qualitative data, solely relies on the wording of the question, whether its a open question or a closed question. Field work is when the investigator hangs out, works or lives with a group, organization or community and lives the realism of the environment by taking direct part in their activities; in other words real world experience. Investigators who take part in this are likely to have a better understanding of those who actually are a part of what they are investigating. This method is more likely to be used to have a qualitative outcome. There are two types of experiments, one being laboratory and the other being field experiment. Experiments are used to test the hypothesis and the relationships between the two variables are tested. It is conducted in a controlled environment where the variables are isolated and the correlation between things can be discovered. In sociology laboratory experiments are barely used as they believed variables cannot be controlled, the environment people are put in are artificial which will lead to the actions of people being artificial too and they do not believe its right to put laboratories just to measure the effect of variables. Field experiments have been proved to be more used and affective in sociology as they are conducted in normal everyday situations and environments; variables cannot be controlled. Although field experiments arent conducted in laboratory they are still not exact but are more valid than lab experiments as the actions from the people are real; less artificial. B ut if people are aware that they are taking part in a experiment their actions can become artificial, for an example workers may work harder in normal conditions because they know they are being observed. Emile Durkheim (1897) did a socially confusing study on suicide based on the hypothesis; as the individuals social unity decreased it was found there was an increase of suicide rates. Durkheim (1897) did not believe that reasoning for suicide was an individual act, he believed suicide was a social fact that can be proved by other social facts; the larger social forces can account for social facts. Durkheim (1897) employed quantitative research to his study of suicide, to make it have a scientific backbone as he believed it to be more rich and valid, by examining the official suicide statistics in France; these official statistics were secondary sources produced by the government. He believed that patterns of suicide were linked to the way which individuals were integrated and regulated by society and how they controlled them, he identified there were four types of suicide, and he generalized these four types of suicide to everyone; the four were Egoistic, Anomic, Altruistic and Fatal istic suicide. Egoistic suicide is when an individual is isolated or their ties to a group is broken or weakened; Catholics and Protestants. Anomic suicide is when an individual feels his life has a lack of meaning and feels as they are worthless, this can be a result of a divorce. Altruistic suicide is when an individual values others more for an example a mother who pushes their child out the way of a oncoming car and hurts herself or a suicide bomber. Fatalistic suicide is when an individual feels hopeless about their fate or feels excessively restraint for an example an individual may take their own life before the police arrest them to avoid being in a cell for the rest of their life or many years. Egotistic and Anomic are the two most common occurred, of the four. In contrast to Durkheims study of suicide Douglas (1967) is one of the many interpretive sociologists; interpretive approach strongly advocate qualitative data as they believe sociologists should be able to understand and interpret the meanings and motives of actions and quantitative data does not help discover meanings and motives. Interpretative sociologists reject studying social facts as things, they say natural sciences deal with matter and matter does not have a mind which in that case has no consciousness which in that case there is no meaning in behaviour. Interpretive approach acknowledges that people have consciousness, it is believed that people will interpret the meaning of a stimulus and then react to it; meaning is attached to the stimulus. J.D Douglas (1967) conducted his study Social meanings of Suicide, he believed that the official statistics were systematically biased and could have been made up by friends, families, and coroners. He disputed that Durkheim (YEAR) neglected other meanings attached to why an individual may commit suicide, he believed it to be wrong that Durkheim (YEAR) would treat all suicides the same without investigating other reasonings. Douglas was concerned with meanings of suicide and believed there to be different reasons behind a suicide than the four generalisations Durkheim (YEAR) had made. In Douglass (1967) study of social meanings for suicide he believed there to be four different meanings of suicide. Douglas (1967) believed in qualitative research methods to find his answers to why an individual would commit suicide; his methods were conducting case studies, unstructured interviews and diaries, from his investigations he found four types of suicide, the four are Transformation of the s oul, this is where it is used as a way of getting into heaven, transformation of self, this is where the individual would want others to think differently of them, suicide where an individual wants sympathy and suicide where the individual tries to get revenge by leaving the other person feeling guilty.

William Carlos Williams This is Just to Say Essay -- Poem Williams Th

William Carlos Williams' This is Just to Say poem (p m) – noun: 1. A verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter, metaphor, and rhyme. 2. A composition in verse rather than in prose. 3. A literary composition written with an intensity or beauty of language more characteristic of poetry than of prose. -- The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright  © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, there are three different definitions of a poem. William Carlos Williams’ highly anthologized poem, â€Å"This Is Just to Say,† fits only one of those descriptions. The single reason it can be classified as a poem is that it is written in verse. In all else, â€Å"This Is Just to Say† fails not only as a poem, but as an interesting work of writing. â€Å"This Is Just to Say† makes absolutely no use of any literary techniques. It lacks rhyme, meter, metaphor, simile, symbol, analogy, allusion and any other device one can think of. The only alliteration present is in the second to last line and is otherwise so sparse as to make that bit seem accidental. Any person attempting to read the poem as a â€Å"metaphor for a variety of larger conflicts,† as the opponent of this particular paper claims, is making it up out of whole cloth and giving Williams far too much credit. True, there are three stanzas, each composed of four lines, but that hardly qualifies a piece as a genuine poem. There is no discernable pattern of syl... ...had been fooled. It’s about time that somebody called the emperor’s bluff. Not even Williams himself originally intended â€Å"This Is Just to Say† to be read as a poem, so any attempt to defend it as one is doomed to fail. Unless, of course, the person defending that position is of the belief that any set of words strung together with the proper line breaks is magically transformed into a poem. In that case, everyone with a Magnetic Poetry Kit deserves to be as famous. William Carlos Williams simply took two ordinary sentences, chopped them up into lines and stanzas, and called it poetry. The so-called poem â€Å"This Is Just to Say† is in reality nothing more than two thinly disguised, unremarkable lines of prose. The name of all poetry is cheapened when people call notes such as these â€Å"poems.† The truth is, â€Å"This Is Just to Say† says very little indeed.

How Should We Treat The Homeless? :: essays research papers

How Should We Treat the Homeless? I think that to treat all homeless people in one certain way would be hard for me to do because there are many reasons for a person to be homeless, and some of them should be treated differently from others. I feel that the runaways and drug addicts don't deserve as much as the unemployed and war veteran types. But I feel in my heart that all people with no homes, or lives for that matter, should get some sort of help to survive and get back on their feet so that they can become a pro-ductive member of society. Lars Eighner, a homeless man, wrote a book entitled "Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets" in which he describes in one chapter "the process of scavenging Dumsters for food and other necessities." Eighner states that even though he is homeless with not much money, he still eats and sometimes finds money from scavenging Dumpsters. This seems like a form of self-reliance for him. In his story, Eighner tells us what is safe to eat, how to tell if it is safe, and where to get the food. He states that a lot of people throw away perfectly good food, and when they do he finds it. Eighner says the food "can be evaluated with some confidence largely on the basis of appearance." In my opinion, I don't care if the food looks perfect, I wouldn't eat garbage unless I was dying from hunger. But eating is only one problem facing the homeless. Their second priority should be shelter. Where will they go if it is freezing or something? Many large cities have homeless shelters, but sometimes they get full and the last to arrive might not be allowed in due to overcrowding according to fire laws. I wish that they would let these people sleep on the floor or something rather than sleep outside and freeze to death. I think that if the government can't help these people get back on their feet, then they should build larger shelters to house all of them. They could even serve more food at the shelters

Measure for Measure Essay

What evidence is there in the play to support both views? What interests and engages you in the play? There are many aspects of the play that engage and interest the audience, two main aspects being comedy and trickery. There are many characters in the play which contribute to the comedy and trickery which is abundant in the play; in particular Lucio is a character who is often seen as comical due to his lack of restraint in his speech and his ignorance of other characters. He is often associated with bawdy humour but is also associated with noblemen; which brings his character into debate. The main source of trickery which engages the audience is the ‘bed trick’ which is cunningly devised by the Duke, which again brings his and also Isabella’s character into debate. Lucio is one of the main sources of comedy in ‘Measure for Measure’, his humour and almost careless speech engages the audience which will result in the audience liking his character. His speech on occasions appears to possess no restraint which is evident from his conversation with the two gentlemen when he proudly proclaims ‘I have purchased as many diseases under her roof as come to’. Lucio’s tone suggests the he is proud of this achievement which in turn results in the audience being humoured by Lucio. However Lucio’s proclamation also gives the audience reason for concern as it shows that there is a problem in Vienna with widespread disease. This relates to the outskirts in London in Shakespeare’s era as there were a large number of brothels which resulted in widespread disease. Lucio also humours the audience when he slanders the Duke in the presence of Friar Lodowick who is ironically the Duke. Lucio describes the Duke as being ‘A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow’. There is dramatic irony throughout act three scene two as the audience know that Friar Lodowick is indeed the Duke, therefore will be constantly humoured as Lucio unknowingly slanders the Duke without a care. Lucio’s use of ‘ignorant’ to describe the Duke is very ironic as Lucio himself is ignorant to the fact the Friar Lodowick is the Duke. As of yet Lucio is painted as being a bawdy character solely to humour the audience with his ridiculous imagery ‘some say a sea maid spawned him’. However he is often associated with noblemen such as Claudio ‘One word good friend. Lucio, a word with you’. Therefore Lucio can be seen as representing both noble and the low culture societies, therefore the audience will have to judge Lucio and decide. I find Lucio interesting as he is presented as a random and spontaneous character, he also confesses that he will never change his attitude ‘I am a kind of burr, I shall stick’. Lucio’s character appears to contradict puritan ideas and I believe Shakespeare uses Lucio as a tool to get his message across. Using Lucio is a great example Shakespeare is stating that we need variety in life in order to function ‘Why, ‘twas a commandment to command captain and all the rest from their functions’. Shakespeare is saying everyone has a role in life which only ‘God’ can change; this again puts emphasis on the variety of people. This idea relates to the theme of equilibrium, in this diverse society there will be equilibrium between people. The main source of trickery in the play is the ‘bed trick’ which has been cunningly planned and devised by the Duke ‘we shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place’. Thus exposing Angelo as a result, the trickery will also give insight to the Duke being deceptive. However the reader will question Isabella’s actions as she appears to be a keen accomplice in the trick ‘The image of it gives me content already’. This painted image of Isabella conflicts with that the audience has been accustomed to, Isabella is often seen as excessively pious as she ‘rather wishes a more strict restraint on the sisterhood’. The audience will therefore gain a different perspective of Isabella as well as being sceptical on her position in the sisterhood, she appears to show no insight to the effect(s) this trick will have on Angelo and Mariana as well as her own reputation; instead she seems to immediately agree with the decision without hesitation. The audience will believe Isabella is thinking only about herself, as she wants to exposes and humiliate Angelo for his earlier refused proposal to Isabella. The use of ‘content already’ shows that Isabella appears to be excited and eager about this proposal, the tone also appears to be joyful again emphasising her eagerness. To summarise, comedy and trickery are both key aspects of the play which engage the audience into debate. The audience will gain insight of the characters and will be able to judge the characters on a number of occasions by considering the arguments for and against the decisions these characters make. The play on a whole I found very interesting and engaging, as a problem play many of the decisions made by the characters can be argued for and against, hence the audiences’ judgements on these characters will be diverse as everyone will perceive character’s decisions in a different manner.

Saladin and Jerusalem

Saladin and the Capture of Jerusalem Saladin stands out in Western accounts of the Middle Ages because his beliefs and actions reflected supposedly Christian characteristics: honesty, piety, magnanimity, and chivalry. Unlike many Muslim rulers, he was not cruel to his subordinates; Saladin believed deeply in the Koranic standard that all men are equal before the law. He set a high moral tone; for example, he distributed war proceeds carefully to help maintain discipline in the ranks. As an administrator, Saladin showed great vision. He altered the tax structure in Egypt and elsewhere to conform to Koranic instructions, and he supported higher education. It was his vision—together with luck and military skill—that enabled him to begin a quest for Muslim unification that would bear fruit many years later. Saladin was born in 1138 in Tikrit, Mesopotamia (now modern-day Iraq). His formal name was Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub. Salah al-Din was an honorary title that translates as â€Å"Righteousness of Faith. † His father, Ayyub, and his uncle, Shirkuh, were both generals in the army of Zengi, the Muslim leader who captured the County of Edessa from the crusaders in 1144. When Zengi died in 1146, Saladin moved with his father and uncle to Damascus in Syria, the main city of Zengi’s empire. Zengi’s son, Nur-ad-din, had taken over Damascus after his father’s death, and Saladin began work for Nur-ad-din, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle. The Muslim world was rent by religious differences. The Seljuk caliphate, ruled by Nur al-Din, was of the more liberal Sunni sect and had its seat of power in Baghdad. The Fatimid caliphate of Egypt, which had embraced the more orthodox Shict, was a volatile agglomeration with weak rulers. Like a splinter between them was the Latin Kingdom, a Christian stronghold along the eastern Mediterranean coast, ruled by a Frank, Amalric I. Nur al-Din believed that if Amalric were able to join forces with the Byzantine emperor to conquer Egypt, the whole Islamic world would be threatened. The stakes were great: Rich trade routes to the Orient, religious and educational centers, and plentiful agricultural lands could be lost. Saladin, as one of Nur al-Din’s primary advisers, helped plan three Syrian invasions of Egypt between 1164 and 1169 to conquer the Fatimid caliphate. During part of this period, Amalric had a treaty to defend Cairo against Syrian invaders. Saladin’s first command came at Alexandria, where he was in charge of one thousand men under difficult conditions. After a short time back in Damascus, Saladin returned on Nur al-Din’s orders to Egypt after the Fatimid alliance with Amalric broke down. Saladin had solemn uncertainties about returning to Egypt, in part because he distrusted the motives of his powerful uncle Shirkuh, who was leading the return. The political situation there was dangerous and unstable. When Shirkuh suddenly died, however, Saladin was well placed to assume Shirkuh’s place as vizier of Egypt commanding Nur al-Din’s forces there; in this case, he was the compromise candidate among many factions. At the age of 30, Saladin drew strength from Koranic exhortations to fulfill God’s purpose. Saladin, like Nur al-Din, was pious. He kept little money, acting instead as caretaker for the whole Muslim community; the proper function of wealth, he believed, was to further the aims of Islam. Both men saw stable leadership in Egypt as a key to preserving Muslim unity. Still, Nur al-Din was suspicious when Saladin insisted on independence to do this—including lessened payments of tribute. Not only did Saladin have military bases on the Egyptian front, but he also had to fight political battles at his rear. Saladin consolidated power in Egypt by getting rid of Fatimid commanders and substituting loyalists; uprisings continued in the provinces for some years, but finally Fatimid rule was abolished. Now Saladin built up the military and raided nearby areas. His strength was growing just when Ayyub, Nur al-Din, and Amalric died in quick succession. Both Nur al-Din’s and Amalric’s successors were young boys; thus, both kingdoms were weakened. Saladin quickly moved to consolidate the empire under his own rule, citing the need for a unified Islam. He struck quickly at the Frankish Kingdom, taking a string of small towns, but the important town of Aleppo did not fall and remained a refuge for al-Salih. Mosul, too, was a holdout, but with other victories Saladin became Sultan of Syria, succeeding Nur al-Din. The Damascus-Cairo axis was all-important to Saladin as he set out on a jihad to drive the Franks from the region. After 1176, he undertook major public works, religious, and educational projects in Egypt, but at the same time he needed military action to convince his critics that the jihad was not a fraud merely intended to further his personal power. After a serious reverse at the strategic outpost of Ascalon, he quickly returned to the attack. Angered by the Franks’ breaking of a truce, Saladin was successful against them in southern Lebanon, and he consolidated troops from Syria and Egypt in order to destroy the fort at Jacob’s Mill. In capturing Frankish defenses, Saladin often destroyed them so they could not be recaptured. He hoped to win strategic territory in Mesopotamia as a base from which to move against Christian-held Jerusalem, his ultimate target. Saladin was keen to get the war with the Christians underway, but there was one main stumbling block. In 1183, Saladin had signed a treaty with the leader of the Christians, Guy of Lusignan. Saladin being an honorable man, felt bound by the truce, disregarding his desire to start the war. Fortunately for him, and unfortunate for the crusaders, the truce was broken in 1187 by a crusader called Reynald of Chatillon. Reynald attacked a group of Muslims and held them as prisoners of war. Despite being angry at this break in the truce, Saladin felt that he should negotiate with Reynald and keep his side of the truce, instead of attacking the crusader. Foolishly, Reynald refused to meet with Saladin and furthermore refused to release the prisoners after receiving orders from his leader Guy Lusignan. Saladin now had a reason he needed to go to war. On July 1, 1187, Saladin marched his troops to a mountain, the Horn of Hattin. The weather at the current time was extremely hot, and the crusader army that had been sent to defend Jerusalem was hot, exhausted, and dehydrated. Recognizing the crusaders’ distress, Saladin devised a plan to make the crusaders situation worse. He set fire to some nearby dry brush, whose smoke quickly mad it’s was into the crusader camp. On July 4, Saladin attacked and the crusaders were quickly defeated. Christian Jerusalem had suffered an enormous loss at the Battle of Hattin. The army had almost been destroyed and the city’s leader, Guy of Lusignan, was a prisoner of Saladin. Unfortunately, the city’s troubles did not end there. There were shortages of food in the city, since the Battle of Hattin occurred during the harvest. With the area in the enemy’s hands, all crops were lost. All of the refugees who flocked to the city to seek shelter from Saladin’s army made the shortage of food worse. Jerusalem was able to house thirty thousand people, but after the Battle of Hattin, the population doubled to sixty thousand. Most of these people were women and children who had no intentions of fighting against the invading Muslim army. By September 20, 1187, Jerusalem was under siege. Saladin first chose the western side of the city for his beginning attack. The western wall of Jerusalem was heavily fortified by the crusaders, who had built the strong citadel there around the Tower of David. Most of the crusader soldiers that were left in Jerusalem went to this tower to defend the city. While the fighting continued, Saladin looked for a superior position from which to attack the crusaders. He eventually settled outside the northeastern section of the city, between St. Mary’s Postern and Jehoshaphat Gate. Saladin used large wooden catapults to bombard the walls and towers of Jerusalem, weakening the city’s defenses and driving the crusaders away from their positions. Saladin then sent 10,000 archers to shoot at the wall’s defenders, followed by 10,000 horsemen armed with lances and bows in the north to prevent a crusader counterattack. The crusaders tried in vain to drive away the invading army, but once the wall had collapsed the end was in sight. Realizing their cause was hopeless, the city eventually surrendered on October 2, 1187. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was at an end. Two knights and ten soldiers were placed in every street in Jerusalem to keep order during the takeover. When Saladin’s victorious army had secured the city, they understood what the first act was to be completed. The most sacred Islamic monument in Jerusalem was a massive building called Quabbat as-Sakhrah, or Dome of the Rock. As soon as the Muslims entered Jerusalem, they climbed up to the top of the dome and removed the cross, immediately showing that it was the Muslims who were now in charge, not the Christians. Saladin’s troops were tired now and not easily disciplined; the European forces were regrouping for a Third Crusade, led by the dashing Richard I (the Lionhearted) of England. Muslim-held Acre, after a long siege, was finally given up in 1191. Yet the cost was high for the Crusaders, and Richard did not want to be gone too long from England. The final confrontation between Saladin and Richard came in July 1192. After a day of prayer, Saladin and his troops were ready to face the Crusaders as they poised for an attack on Jerusalem. Suddenly, the Crusaders withdrew. Saladin attributed the retreat to divine intervention, but military historians say that Richard had decided to attack Egypt instead. Such an attack, however, was not undertaken. The Third Crusade was over. Saladin retired to Damascus to spend time with his wives and children. In the winter of 1193, he rode out in bad weather to meet a group of pilgrims returning from Mecca. He became ill and died a short while later at age fifty-five, penniless by choice. Saladin’s title, al-Malik al-Nasir, or â€Å"Strong to Save the Faith,† was appropriate in his lifetime. Within a hundred years of his death, however, the many tensions beneath the Muslims’ surface unity split apart what Saladin had accomplished. Today, Saladin is remembered a great war leader who conquered an empire and drove invaders out of his homeland. He is honored as a Muslim hero, a fighter of his faith, who led jihad to recapture the city of Jerusalem and restore Muslim worship there. He is admired for his skills at organizing a vast army, planning battles and ambushes, and inspiring loyalty among his men. He is respected for his love of learning, generous gifts to charity, and personal devotion to religious beliefs. Works Cited Ehrenkreuz, Andrew S. Saladin. Albany: State University of New York, 1972. Print. Geyer, Flora. World History Biographies: Saladin The Warrior Who Defended His People (NG World History Biographies). New York: National Geographic Children's Books, 2006. Print. Gibb, H. A. The Life of Saladin. London: Oxford UP, 1973. Print. Hancock, Lee. Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem The Muslims Recapture the Holy Land in Ad 1187 (The Library of the Middle Ages). New York: Rosen Group, 2003. Print. Hindley, Geoffrey. Saladin. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1976. Print. Hodgson, Marshall G. The Venture of Islam. Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1975. Print. The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Period. Lane-Poole, Stanley. Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1898. Print. Newby, P. H. Saladin in His Time. London: Faber and Faber, 1983. Print.