Tale of Two Cities Character Analysis Essay Example for Free

Tale of Two Cities Character Analysis Essay The sacrifice of one’s own life for the person they love is by far the ultimate sacrifice any human being can make. In A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, Sydney Carton, a despondent and inebriate man, did exactly that. Through his sacrifice, he became the most memorable and dynamic character in this book. Sydney Carton was an unmotivated alcoholic who transformed his wasted and useless life by performing a selfless act of heroism. I am a disappointed drudge. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me, (Page 71). That was Sydney Carton’s abridged explanation for his disposition when he meets Charles Darnay. In the beginning, Carton is a lazy, alcoholic attorney who cares about nothing in life. He is self-undermining in that he has no confidence or volition and believes his life is an extreme waste. He is crude, frequently drunk, and melancholy. He feels he is stuck in the disappointed course of his once promising life, and has nothing worth giving anymore. Around the middle of the book, Sydney Carton makes a remarkable transformation into a man of profound merit. He professes his love to Lucie saying, For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you, (page 128). This scene marks a vital transition for Carton and lays the foundation and foreshadows the supreme sacrifice that he makes at the end of the novel. Lucie was the only one who thought there was a good person in Carton, and inadvertently succeeded in transforming him from depressed and dejected into a caring and altruistic man. Sydney Cartons promise to Lucie took him to the guillotine at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. He died for Darnay, which he believes is the greatest thing he could do to make his life significant. His death lets the woman he loves be happy. He quotes a verse from the bible saying, I am the resurrection and then life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall never die; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. This verse becomes almost his theme of the rest of Carton’s changed outlook of life. Sydney Cartons resurrection from his concealed life by his love for Lucie is gained by giving up his life for her happiness. He goes to death with the satisfaction of knowing that his life now has meaning, which is what Carton was searching for throughout the novel. During his life he was unable to act in his own self-interest, but, paradoxically, he’s completely willing to sacrifice his own life so that another man may live to please the one he loves. Sydney Carton sacrificed his life for Lucie, the only person who made him feel his life had meaning—just like he had promised to her. He began as a drunken man with no purpose, but only in the sacrifice of his life did Carton establish his greatest worth. Essentially what makes him the most memorable and dynamic character of A Tale of Two Cities is this predominant resurrection. In that all that was good in him and his love for Lucie lives on in Darnay, and he is now defined not for what he was, but by his single greatest act.

Essay on the Tyrant in Richard III and Macbeth -- comparison compare c

The Tyrant in Richard III and Macbeth  Ã‚   In Richard III and Macbeth Shakespeare used the title characters to reveal the typical characteristics of the tyrant such as limited foresight, mental instability, paranoia, the alienation of allies, and a clearly defined persona of evilness. Both Richard III and Macbeth are noblemen that usurp the crown through treachery, deceitfulness, and murder. Their rule is short-lived, though, because the reign with fear and terror. This clearly sets them up as tyrants, however, Shakespeare elaborated on this subject and revealed the typical characteristics of the tyrant through their actions, their climb to power, and the way they reigned. In the first act of Richard III the audience sees that Richard has developed an elaborate plan to become king (1.1.28-35). His plan is well thought out and looks to the future, not just the present. At the end of act 1 scene 1 Richard describes his plan and begins to get ahead of himself. Then he remembers the plan as a whole and realizes he must execute it in order to succeed. "But yet I run before my horse to market. / Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns; / When they are gone, then must I count my gains" (1.1.160-163). Through this opening act we see that Richard poses considerable foresight and even acts upon it. By the end of the play, however, this foresight has disappeared. Richard totally ignores Buckingham and refuses to compensate Buckingham for his help in usurping the throne (4.2.119-122). Richard fails to foresee that this action will cause Buckingham to turn against him. This lack or decrease of foresight is one of the principal characteristics of the tyrant. We see in Macbeth that foresight was a quality that Mac... ...mental instability, paranoia, the alienation of allies, and a clearly defined persona of evil in the title characters of two of his most famous plays, Richard III and Macbeth.    Works Cited and Consulted Eccles, Mark. "Richard III on Stage and Screen." Richard III. New York: Signet Classic, 1988. 265-78. Hallett, Charles A. and Elaine S. Hallett. The Revenger's Madness. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1980. (Epigraph) Ornstein, Richard. "Richard III." Richard III. New York: Signet Classic, 1988. 239-264. Shakespeare, William. Richard III. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997 Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997 Spivack, Charlotte. The Comedy of Evil on Shakespeare's Stage. London: Associated UPs, 1978.

Nestlé Refrigerated Pizza Case

In 1990 Nestle Refrigerated Food Company, NRFC, subsidiary of Nestle S. A, had to decide about the launch of a refrigerated pizza, under the name of Contadina pizza, continuing the build of the refrigerated food category it started few years ago with the launch of the Contadina pasta and sauces, and where the satisfying results exceeded expectations, NRFC would be then the first mover in this new category product, pre empting its serious and major competitor: Kraft general food who was on his way to make a similar launch(their launch is expected within six months). The market studies consisting of the forecast of the estimated demand show that the pizza launch is recommended, and it should better be with the pizza and topping product instead of the pizza only, and that the basic business requirement $45 million(factory dollar sales) could be met with a minimum of 7% of market penetration. The opportunity is great since the Italian ethnic food market is developing very fast, but NRFC should be very careful since bad results could seriously hurt the Contadina brand name built with the success of the pasta and sauces. The price of the offering should be adjusted to lower levels and a heavy advertising support should be carried. Situation Analysis: NRFC first entered the refrigerated food market by launching the Contadina pasta and sauces . it was an undeveloped market in 1987 where fresh pasta was considered to be a premium product sold only in specialty stores. At that time refrigerated foods were responsible of 7% of Nestle global sales with very little contribution from us market. The refrigerated food was perceived as fresh, very convenient and with high quality, but in the us market it raises a serious problem of distribution because of its nature as refrigerated, for what NRFC devised a highly distribution system from the factory in Danville, Virginia, and took the option to utilize food brokers, who earned a 3%-5% commission, who acted as sales agents. The results were very satisfying, and Nestle became the established market leader: $150 million retail sales by 1990. Refrigerated pizza was the natural extension of this introduction. The threatening competition came from Kraft’s DiGiorno pasta and sauce, a 90day shelf life against the 40 days for NRFC products. Kraft was a subsidiary of Philip Morris Companies, Inc, the food division of which was one of the largest manufacturer and marketer of frozen food in the USA. Kraft’s had operating revenue of $25 billion, in the time the total Nestle sales were at 54,500 millions of Swiss francs. And beside their test for the pasta and sauce products, Kraft test-marketed a refrigerated pizza of which the rumor said the launch would take place within six months, increasing pressure over NRFC management who were looking for the first mover advantage, as they had with Contadina pasta and sauces. The pizza market in the USA, evaluated at $18,4 billion, was targeting 95. 5 million households, and was dominated by restaurants, with 88% of total sales, even if 60% of pizza were eaten at home; with a large national franchisors – such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s pizza- as well as numerous local competitors. The consumers were perceiving the pizza in general as very convenient, easy to prepare and to serve, adequate for the whole family; and the frozen pizza was seen as less valuable than the take out pizza or the Contadina kit / the assembled pizza set for evaluation ( exhibit 13 and exhibit 14). Concept tests: The main products tested by NRFC for the pizza launch were the pizza kit with the option of available toppings (pizza and topping) and the pizza kit with no additional toppings (pizza only), and they used the BASES model to forecast the estimated demand. Numerous assumptions were used in the purpose to make the tests very close to reality, such as the parent brand penetration and the total brand awareness. (-the parent penetration was estimated at 24% by the marketing staff, but MRD – the market research department-recommended to check volume projections with penetration ranging from 5 to 25%. -$18 million would be dedicated to promotion and advertising, based on what 37% of overall awareness was used in the forecast. ) The results (see exhibits A,B,C,D ) show that: at 24% user penetration the option A (pizza kit plus toppings) would allow a margin of $12,570 millions while the option B (pizza only) let a total factory sales amount of $35,137 well below the $45,000 millions basic business requirements. -the exhibit 21 shows for the â€Å"top two box† a noticeable difference between the Contadina users and non users, it gets obvious then that the amount of the percentage of brand users will heavily affect the results. Fo r that reason we set different scenarios assuming various user penetrations: 5% 10% 15% and 20%, the option A results start insuring the NRFC threshold at a minimum user penetration of 7%. So these numbers recommend the introduction of the refrigerated pizza with the toppings option. Let’s have a look on the concept test for the pizza comparing to that for the Contadina pasta and sauces: * For the pasta we can see (exhibit 6) that 26% of total surveyed persons perceive it as a fresh product, only 8% think its price is too high, and 61% found nothing dislikable in it. * About the pizza (exhibit 19) 26% found it too expensive comparing to the take out or delivery one, even among those who were favorable to the product, only 4% perceived it as natural with no preservatives, and 12% disliked the general taste. Comparing the refrigerated pizza to the other ones available on the market we can see on the exhibit 20 that the it is perceived as better tasting than the frozen pizza (9 on a ten point scale) but is rated 7. 3 on the same scale for the â€Å"tasting as good as take out or home delivered pizza†, which means that it should have excellent quality to be l ess threatened by these ones and that it will be more valuable and gets better perception than the frozen pizza. The pizza opportunity is the logical continuity of the pasta one, but in fact the context is pretty different: for both we can talk about ethnic food development, but as the time there are not too many substitute products to the pasta, the number of Italian restaurants ,pizza franchisors retail outlets, was so numerous, with the maximum freshness that makes the operation surrounded by some risks to penetrate this market, meanwhile for the pasta demand against the actual market offering made the refrigerated category grow even with the DiGiorno entry. During the development process for the pizza, from the idea generation to the commercialization, the BASES II involved a concept test combined with product test, the choice of the respondents who were given the product to test can lead to results not reflecting their real opinion about it, since they will feel treated in a special way and then can be much more favorable to the product, altering their judgment. Instead, a blind test might give better feedback. The BASES seems to be a tool to assess the market potential, and evaluate the wareness level, but a better return about the new product could be achieved by a larger testing operation, which would be expensive, and might be used by competitors in their advantage. Among the Michael porter’s five forces concerning the pizza market NFRC is aiming to penetrate, the two threats who concern them the most are: the substitutes – the large number of restaurants and outlets selling fresh pizza- , and their main competitor Di Giorno, and it is clear that this situation could make NRFC expedite the launch operation in such a way that it could make judgment mistakes. Recommendations: The market studies are favorable for the new pizza launch, but the opportunity is less interesting that the one for the pasta, the case for the pizza is surrounded by great risks that the management should seriously consider: -the opportunity is sensitive to parent brand, for that reason NRFC should take more time to fine tune the pasta product, and not hurry for the pizza in a manner that could considerably hurt the initial pasta and sauces success. proceed for a larger product testing, even if there is a risk that competitors might take profits of it, and try to target the Contadina non users in larger amounts for the test -improve the pizza taste according to feedback from the test, and cut off prices in such way that they match the customer’s expectations since they will compare it to the existing products from other suppliers. The new product should be then positioned in an intermediate range between the frozen pizza and the existing fresh pizza (restaura nts, pizza outlets, and so on) -delaying the launch could make DiGiorno launch its own pizza and then be the first mover in the refrigerated pizza market: take this as an opportunity and try to learn from his mistakes: the market risks are real and for sure that competitor will meet difficulties, learn from that and try to improve the product introduction.

How to Format a Biology Lab Report

If you are taking a general biology course or AP Biology, at some point you will have to do biology lab experiments. This means that you will also have to complete biology lab reports. The purpose of writing a lab report is to determine how well you performed your experiment, how much you understood about what happened during the experimentation process, and how well you can convey that information in an organized fashion. Lab Report Format A good lab report format includes six main sections: TitleIntroductionMaterials and MethodsResultsConclusionReferences Keep in mind that individual instructors may have a specific format that they require you to follow. Please be sure to consult your teacher about the specifics of what to include in your lab report. Title:  The title states the focus of your experiment. The title should be to the point, descriptive, accurate, and concise (ten words or less). If your instructor requires a separate title page, include the title followed by the name(s) of the project participant(s), class title, date, and instructors name. If a title page is required, consult your instructor about the specific format for the page. Introduction:  The introduction of a lab report states the purpose of your experiment. Your hypothesis should be included in the introduction, as well as a brief statement about how you intend to test your hypothesis. To be sure that you have a good understanding of your experiment, some educators suggest writing the introduction after you have completed the methods and materials, results, and conclusion sections of your lab report. Methods and Materials:  This section of your lab report involves producing a written description of the materials used and the methods involved in performing your experiment. You should not just record a list of materials, but indicate when and how they were used during the process of completing your experiment. The information you include should not be overly detailed  but should include enough detail so that someone else could perform the experiment by following your instructions. Results:  The results section should include all tabulated data from observations during your experiment. This includes charts, tables, graphs, and any other illustrations of data you have collected. You should also include a written summary of the information in your charts, tables, and/or other illustrations. Any patterns or trends observed in your experiment or indicated in your illustrations should be noted as well. Discussion and Conclusion:  This section is where you summarize what happened in your experiment. You will want to fully discuss and interpret the information. What did you learn? What were your results? Was your hypothesis correct, why or why not? Were there any errors? If there is anything about your experiment that you think could be improved upon, provide suggestions for doing so. Citation/References:  All references used should be included at the end of your lab report. That includes any books, articles, lab manuals, etc. that you used when writing your report. Example APA citation formats for referencing materials from different sources are listed below. BookName of author or authors (last name, first initial, middle initial)Year of publicationTitle of bookEdition (if more than one)Place where published (city, state) followed by a colonPublisher nameFor example: Smith, J. B. (2005). Science of Life. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Thompson Brooks.JournalName of author or authors (last name, first initial, middle initial)Year of publicationArticle titleJournal titleVolume followed by issue number (issue number is in parenthesis)Page numbersFor example: Jones, R. B. Collins, K. (2002). Creatures of the desert. National Geographic. 101(3), 235-248. Your instructor may require that you follow a specific citation format. Be sure to consult your teacher concerning the citation format that you should follow. What Is an Abstract? Some instructors also require that you include an abstract in your lab report. An abstract is a concise summary of your experiment. It should include information about the purpose of the experiment, the problem being addressed, the methods used for solving the problem, overall results from the experiment, and the conclusion drawn from your experiment. The abstract typically comes at the beginning of the lab report, after the title, but should not be composed until your written report is completed. View a sample lab report template. Do Your Own Work Remember that lab reports are individual assignments. You may have a lab partner, but the work that you do and report on should be your own. Since you may see this material again on an exam, it is best that you know it for yourself. Always give credit where credit is due on your report. You dont want to plagiarize the work of others. That means you should properly acknowledge the statements or ideas of others in your report.