How Current Issues Affect Our Economy Essay Example for Free

How Current Issues Affect Our Economy Essay It has been a common notion that current issues affect a country’s economy. Particularly, in the U. S. , issues such as election, war, and immigration are often pointed out to cause the economy to rise or fall. Also, there is a speculation tying up the economy with the prices of stocks, in that the rise in the prices indicates an improving economy and vice versa. Although existing studies have not established a sure claim that current issues truly affect the economy (Socioeconomic Foundation Website), we can point out reasons how such issues can make the economy rise or fall. First, let us consider how elections can improve or pull down our economy. As what we may hear during election periods, the success of our economy is somehow dependent on whoever wins. On the one hand, if the incumbent government stays in power, the economy, with all its budget appropriations, would be sustained. Therefore, there is a tendency that our economy could maintain its present status and there would be no fear of decline. On the other hand, if a new regime takes over, a new set of budget will be proposed, and there could be an economic recession, which could eventually lead to some losses. In the same way, war can affect the economy in two ways. It can have positive implications, as well as negative ones. On the positive side, involvement in war could make a country more powerful and prominent. In addition, it promises future alliances, which assure us of additional areas for investment. As such, the countrys power and territory widens, and this leads to developing trust of other nations on the countrys stability. This development of trust to the U. S. power could later mean more investments and alliances. On the negative side, involvement in war could also imply a lot of drawbacks. For instance, recipient countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan receive a funding of USD 1. 3 billion for their infrastructure, community action, and other local projects. As such, involvement in war could lead to economic slur or upsurge. Aside from election and involvement in war, immigration is another issue affecting the US economy. As Croddy Hayes (2007) note, the issue of illegal or unauthorized immigration has existed for the last thirty years. Illegal immigrants include all people who have been overstaying in the country, and those without proper documentation. While some of them may have jobs to support themselves and their family, a lot of these people do not have a livelihood and literally rely on what the US government can provide. Specifically, the government spends for their childrens education in public schools, medical benefits, and other projects that they benefit from such as infrastructure, telecommunication, etc. Similarly, these people contribute in depleting the countrys natural resources, and utilize energy, water, and air. Another issue that may be affecting the U. S. economy is the problem with HIV victims. As the fight against AIDS continues, the government keeps on spending a lot of money to discover the cure for the said disease. This also implies that as the cure for AIDS has not been found, the government will continue its effort to allocate some of its budget to inventions and researches. References Croddy, Marshall and Hayes, Bill.â€Å"Current Issues of Immigration, 2007. † 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2008 http://www. crf-usa. org/immigration/Current_Issues_of_Immigration_2007. pdf. . â€Å"Key Aspects of Socionomic Theory. † Socioeconomic Foundation. Retrieved 5 February 2008 http://www. socionomics. org/about/key_aspects. htm#contents. Lancaster, Carol. â€Å"U. S. Foreign Economic Aid in 2008: Winners and Losers in President Bushs Proposed Budget. † Retrieved 4 February 2008 http://blogs. cgdev. org/globaldevelopment/2007/02/us_foreign_economic_aid_in_200. php.

Taylorism Paper Essay Example for Free

Taylorism Paper Essay The American Frederick W. Taylor (1856–1915) pioneered the scientific management approach to work organization, hence the term Taylorism. Taylor developed his ideas on work organization while working as superintendent at the Midvale Steel Company in Pennsylvania, USA. Taylorism represents both a set of management practices and a system of ideological assumptions. The autonomy (freedom from control) of craft workers was potentially a threat to managerial control. For the craft worker, the exercise of control over work practices was closely linked to his personality, as this description of ‘craft pride’, taken from the trade journal Machinery in 1915, suggests: As a first-line manager, Taylor not surprisingly viewed the position of skilled shop-floor workers differently. He was appalled by what he regarded as inefficient working practices and the tendency of his subordinates not to put in a full day’s work, what Taylor called ‘natural soldiering’. He believed that workers who did manual work were motivated solely by money – the image of the ‘greedy robot’ – and were too stupid to develop the most efficient way of performing a task – the ‘one best way’. The role of management was to analyse ‘scientifically’ all the tasks to be undertaken, and then to design jobs to eliminate time and motion waste. Taylor’s approach to work organization and employment relations was based on the following five principles: †¢maximum job fragmentation †¢separate planning and doing †¢separate ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ labour †¢a minimization of skill requirements †¢a minimization of handling component parts and material. The centrepiece of scientific management is the separation of tasks into their simplest constituent elements – ‘routinization of work’ (the first principle). Most manual workers were viewed as sinful and stupid, and therefore all decision-making functions had to be removed from their hands (the second principle). All prepa-ration and servicing tasks should be taken away from the skilled worker (direct labour), and, drawing on Charles Babbage’s principle, performed by unskilled and cheaper labour (indirect labour, in the third principle). Minimizing the skill requirements to perform a task would reduce the worker’s control over work activities or the labour process (the fourth principle). Finally, management should ensure that the layout of the machines on the factory floor minimized the movement of people and materials to shorten the time taken (the fifth principle).While the logic of work fragmentation and routinization is simple and compelling, the principles of Taylorism reflect the class antagonism that is found in employment relations. When Taylor’s principles were applied to work organization, they led to the intensification of work: to ‘speeding up’, ‘deskilling’ and new techniques to control workers, as shown in Figure 3.2. And since gender, as we have dis-cussed, is both a system of classification and a structure of power relations, it should not surprise us that Taylorism contributed to the shift in the gender composition of engineering firms. As millions of men were recruited into the armed forces for the First World War (1914–18), job fragmentation and the production of standardized items such as rifles, guns and munitions enabled women ‘dilutees’ to be employed in what had previously been skilled jobs reserved exclusively for men. Some writers argue that Taylorism was a relatively short-lived phenomenon, which died in the economic depression of the 1930s. However, others have argued that this view underestimates the spread and influence of Taylor’s principles: ‘the popular notion that Taylorism has been â€Å"superseded† by later schools of â€Å"human relations†, that it â€Å"failed† †¦ represents a woeful misreading of the actual dynamics of the development of management’. Similarly, others have made a persuasive case that, ‘In general the direct and indirect influence of Taylorism on factory jobs has been extensive, so that in Britain job design and technology design have become imbued with neo-Taylorism’ (ref. 10, p. 73).

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis A literature review in chronological order from past 5 years Introduction The blanket term Psychotherapy covers a multifaceted pluralistic enterprise in which a range of therapies is required to meet a patient’s various needs (Holmes J 2002). The National Service Framework cites cognitive behaviour therapy as being the psychotherapeutic method of choice for conditions that include â€Å"depression, eating disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and deliberate self harm.† (Rouse et al. 2001) Literature review The first article we shall consider is a letter to the editor of the BMJ by Van Meer (R 2003). It is comparatively unusual since it is a clinician referring to clinical matters which are both intuitive and experience based. The author refers to the fact that many psychiatrists and related healthcare professionals actually avoid talking about the content of psychotic symptoms. The generally accepted rationale being that these are diagnostically of no significance and therefore therapeutically irrelevant. Van Meer contrasts this view with the basic concepts of cognitive behaviour therapy. He suggests that in his experience, the patient actually often will want to talk about issues that are central to their experience and are distressed when they are kept out of the conversation. He suggests that this is one of the reasons why cognitive behaviour therapy is popular with psychotic patients is that they have the opportunity to discuss with sympathetic professionals the significance of the ir experiences and this is capable of giving them a mechanism of dealing with what may be otherwise unexplainable to them. This publication is selected because of its counterintuitive thrust to support cognitive behaviour therapy against the â€Å"mainstream† of current clinical psychiatric practice and is written by an experienced practising clinician. This area of consideration is given a further twist with a different insight from Moorhead (S 2003). He agrees that psychiatric professionals tend to try to avoid engagement with psychotic patients on the subject of their psychosis and â€Å"thereby unwittingly add to the prejudice that blights the lives of people who live with psychosis† . He points, very succinctly, to the fact (and cites Brabban A et al. 2000) that the central tenet of cognitive behaviour therapy is that the therapist should endeavour to show a clear linkage between â€Å"personal experience, core beliefs (schemas), and emergence of psychotic symptoms†. The significance of this publication is that it is unusual insofar as it outlines the benefit of cognitive behaviour therapy for the staff as much as the benefit for the patient, by suggesting that staff trained in the techniques of cognitive behaviour therapy are able to empathise on a much deeper level with the patient and this, in itself, has a â €Å"remarkable remoralising effect of developing a meaningful understanding of the psychotic phenomenon with a patient†. This point is echoed in the discussion of the Craig paper. The Craig paper (Craig T K J et al. 2004) is a carefully constructed, but badly reported, randomised controlled trail of the current efficacy of specialised care modalities for cases of early psychosis. (Vickers, A. J et al. 2001). It is presented here as a case study in critical analysis. The interventions were delivered in two groups. The entry cohort was allocated to a standard care group (the control) or the intervention group (specialised care group). Both sets of treatment were delivered by the community mental health teams. The outcomes for both groups were rates of relapse or readmission to hospital. (Friedman GD. 1994) We present this paper to illustrate a common problem with this type of trial. On first appreciation, it demonstrates the fact that the intervention group did better than the control group. The difficulty in critical analysis comes in trying to decide which of the treatment modalities actually produced this beneficial effect. (Mohammed, D et al. 2003) The entry cohort was quite impressive for a study of this type with 319 presenting with psychotic illness over an 18 month period and 144 of these meeting the inclusion criteria. 94% of these were remained in the trial over the 18 months of follow up. We note that, although the programme of interventions did include cognitive behaviour therapy, it also included other treatment options such as low dose atypical antipsychotic regimens, cognitive behaviour therapy based on manualised protocols, and family counselling and vocational strategies based on established protocols (Jackson H et al. 1998). From the point of view of our considerations here, on the one hand the results appeared to be good insofar as the study showed that the intervention group had fewer readmissions to hospital in the study period and also they had fewer psychotic relapses (although this was of low statistical significance). On the other hand the paper tells us that all patients had medication and the ultimate choice of treatment pathway was decided by the intervention clinician, so although cognitive behaviour therapy was used, we have no absolute idea of its effectiveness from this trial. (Green J et al. 1998). All we can say with confidence is that, as part of a total package, cognitive behaviour therapy appeared to have helped to contribute to a beneficial outcome for a significant number of psychotic patients. A completely analytical and minimalist approach to this particular trial could suggest that it is indeed possible that cognitive behaviour therapy is actually ineffective per se. other than it served to keep the patient in closer contact with the clinicians. (Piantadosi S. 1997) In this respect this is an instance of a trial which is seemingly supportive but does not contribute greatly to the evidence base On first sight this particular view might be considered pedantic, but it is echoed by Yates (DH 2005) in a letter in the BMJ, where he specifically takes up this very point. He points to the fact that there is very little description of the regimes of cognitive behaviour therapy and the degree that it’s impact can be isolated from the overall effect. He also refers to the fact that a breakdown of the various therapies offered and the degree that each was helpful would have improved the paper tremendously. We have to agree. We will next consider a high profile paper by Morrison (A P et al. 2004) which has been widely cited. This paper took the pioneering work of Yung (et al. 1996) who identified a high risk group of patients who would develop psychosis and studied the effect of cognitive behaviour therapy on the prevention of the development of the clinical state. Morrison et al. identified the fact that other studies (McGorry, P. D et al. 2002) had demonstrated that it was possible to reduce the incidence of psychosis development with a multifaceted approach, like that of Craig, which included elements of cognitive behaviour therapy. Morrison however, elected to carry out a study that used cognitive behaviour therapy as a single strand approach in this high risk population. (Leaverton P E. 1995) The results from this study convincingly demonstrated that cognitive behaviour therapy alone â€Å"significantly reduced the likelihood of making progression to psychosis as defined on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale over 12 months.† (Kay, S. R et al. 1987) The authors were also able to demonstrate that cognitive behaviour therapy also reduced the likelihood of a patient being prescribes antipsychotic medication. Other criteria of analysis demonstrated that cognitive behaviour therapy â€Å"significantly improved the positive symptoms of psychosis â€Å" in the target population. This is an important study as it is one of the first to provide a reasonably secure evidence base that cognitive behaviour therapy works in the psychotic patient. It also shows that it works in the high risk group and has the possibility of a prophylactic effect by minimising the likelihood of psychotic relapse. A critical analysis would observe that the intervention cohort was comparatively small and a disproportionately small number were entered in the control group (37 and 23 respectively). High risk psychotic patients are comparatively rare and therefore one has to appreciate the practical difficulties involved in accumulating a sufficiently large sample to study. (Grimes D A et al. 2002), The last publication that we shall consider is that by Trower (P et al. 2004). It was published at the same time as the Morrison paper and is notable for the fact that, like the Morrison paper it recognises the shortfalls of the previous multi-modality studies and isolates cognitive behaviour therapy in its analysis. It also specifically targets a notoriously treatment-resistant group of psychotics, those who suffer from command hallucinations. (Haddock, G et al. 1999) This was a single blind randomised trial with 38 patients. The trial was complex in structure but, in essence, it was able to show, with convincing statistical significance that cognitive behaviour therapy interventions alone was able to reduce the patient’s compliance rate with the psychotic commands. The authors noted that this reduction in compliance was associated with a reduction in levels of both anxiety and depression. In conclusion we would like to commend the book by Eisenman (R 2004) â€Å"The Case Study Guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of Psychosis† as a particularly authoritative and clinically useful overview. It cites a number of clinical case studies and analyses them in depth. It supports the view that cognitive behaviour therapy, by attempting to confront the patient’s distorted thinking and allowing them to appreciate their thoughts in a more rational and realistic way, can have beneficial results and it places cognitive behaviour therapy in a clinical context amongst the other, generally accepted modes of psychotherapy. It is not a peer reviewed publication so we shall not consider it further than that. References Brabban A, Turkington D. 2000  The search for meaning: detecting congruence between life-events, underlying schema and psychotic symptoms. Formulation-driven and schema focussed CBT for a neuroleptic-resistant schizophrenic patient with a delusional memory. In: Morrison T, ed.  A casebook of cognitive therapy for psychosis.  Brighton : Psychology Press, 2000. Craig T K L, Philippa Garety, Paddy Power, Nikola Rahaman, Susannah Colbert, Miriam Fornells-Ambrojo, and Graham Dunn 2004 The Lambeth Early Onset (LEO) Team : randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of specialised care for early psychosis BMJ, Nov 2004 ; 329 : 1067 ; Eisenman R 2004 The Case Study Guide to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy of Psychosis Am J Psychiatry, Jul 2004 ; 161 : 1318. Friedman G D. 1994  Primer of Epidemiology. 4th ed.  New York : Mc-Graw-Hill, 1994. Green J, Britten N. 1998  Qualitative research and evidence based medicine.  BMJ 1998 ; 316 : 1230-1233 Grimes D A, Schulz K F.2002  Cohort studies: marching towards outcomes.  Lancet 2002 ; 359 : 341-5 Haddock, G., McCarron, J., Tarrier, N., et al (1999)  Scales to measure dimensions of hallucinations and delusions: the psychotic symptom rating scales (PSYRATS).  Psychological Medicine, 39, 879 –889. Holmes J 2002  All you need is cognitive behaviour therapy?  BMJ, Feb 2002 ; 324 : 288 294 ; Jackson H, McGorry P, Edwards J, Hulbert C, Henry L, Francey S, et al. 1998 Cognitively orientated psychotherapy for early psychosis (COPE).  Br J Psychiatry 1998 ; 172 (Suppl 33) : 93-100.  Kay, S. R. Opler, L. A. (1987) The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 13, 507 -518. Leaverton PE. 1995  A Review of Biostatistics. 5th ed.  Boston: Little, Brown, 1995 McGorry, P. D., Yung, A. R., Phillips, L. J., et al (2002)  Randomized controlled trial of interventions designed to reduce the risk of progression to first-episode psychosis first-episode in a clinical sample with subthreshold symptoms.  Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 921 -928. Mohammed, D Braunholtz, and T P Hofer 2003 The measurement of active errors: methodological issues Qual. Saf. Health Care, Dec 2003 ; 12: 8 12. Moorhead S 2003  Cognitive behaviour therapy can help end alienation of psychosis  BMJ 2003 ; 326 : 549 Morrison A P , Paul French, Lara Walford, Shà ´n W. Lewis, Aoiffe Kilcommons, Joanne Green, Sophie Parker, and Richard P. Bentall 2004 Cognitive therapy for the prevention of psychosis in people at ultra-high risk: Randomised controlled trial Br. J. Psychiatry, Oct 2004 ; 185 : 291 297. Piantadosi S. 1997  Clinical Trials: A Methodologic Perspective.  New York: John Wiley, 1997.   Rouse, Jolley, and Read 2001 National service frameworks BMJ, Dec 2001 ; 323 : 1429. Rower P, MAX BIRCHWOOD, ALAN MEADEN, SARAH BYRNE, ANGELA NELSON, and KERRY ROSS 2004 Cognitive therapy for command hallucinations: randomised controlled trial Br. J. Psychiatry, Apr 2004; 184: 312 320. van Meer R 2003  To listen or not to listen  BMJ 2003 ; 326 : 549 Vickers, A. J. Altman, D. G. (2001)  Analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements.  BMJ, 323, 1123–1124 Yates D H 2005 Specialised care for early psychosis: More detail is needed BMJ, Jan 2005 ; 330 : 197 Yung, A., McGorry, P. D., McFarlane, C. A., et al (1996)  Monitoring and care of young people at incipient risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 283 -303. 5.5.06 PDG Word count 2,313

Helper Client Confidentiality Essay -- Psychology

Informed consent and confidentiality play a very important role in the helping profession. The helper needs to clearly communicate to the client that the information shared with them is confidential, meaning that it is not reused for any other purpose other than to assist the client with what they are there to work on (Hill, p.65). The professional must also communicate the three exceptions in which the information shared is not kept confidential. Those exceptions are: 1) When information regarding child, adult, or elder abuse is revealed. 2) When the client reports information that he or she is in danger of harming oneself or others. 3) When the client has authorized in writing that information from ones file can be released. It is also important to share with the client that a supervisor within the organization may also be made aware of the client’s information as sometimes cases need to be discussed for guidance and to ensure quality of services delivered. Discussing confidentiality with a client provides great benefits for the client/helper relationship. The client should feel informed about the therapeutic process, and providing them with such information at the beginning can help to ease the client’s concerns about what can and cannot be done with their information. The client should feel at ease when the helper informs him or her that their information is strictly confidential except given the circumstance noted above. It is also an opportunity for the client to ask question for clarification and feel empowered from the beginning. It is possible that a client could have some discomfort with the confidentiality and informed consent process and as a result choose not to proceed with therapy. The loss of a client’s p... ...sitive information with his family members and close friends, he cannot approach the counseling process like that. Each client has the right to choose who they wish to confide in, even if he believes that by sharing the information would result in a better quality of life for the client. Without a clear intent of harm to oneself, the therapist should honor the client’s wishes while still trying to provide a therapeutic setting. As time passes, it is possible for the client to change her view of the situation, and perhaps even her course of action after more time is spent gaining insight. Works Cited Hill, C.E. (2009). Helping skills: Facilitating Exploration, Insight, and Action, 3rd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Sharf, R.S. (2012). Theories of Psychotherapy and Counseling: Concepts and Cases, 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

University Foundation :: University Foundation Education Essays

University Foundation The presentation I choose to summarize is Greg Gissendanner’s presentation on the university foundation. Like most of the other presentations in class, Greg used the standard outline of presenting the unit’s history, mission, organizational structure, funding and financial concerns, and current issues. History. Greg showed that while many foundations look fairly similar today, the history of foundation development took on many different forms at different institutions. Greg’s primary examples of Harvard and Rutgers compared stories of how each foundation got its start with early donations (in a foreign currency!) as well as donations of other types – those that we might call in-kind today. These donations of materials and labor were instrumental in getting these two institutions the boost they needed for their continuing growth. Mission. Greg went on to define a â€Å"shared† mission statement of university foundations in general. This shared mission, securing gifts and grants, maximizing donor interest and commitment, and distribution of gifts to the university community, came from five specific mission statements which Greg then shared with the class. These individual mission statements while variable, all seemed to contain this shared definition within them even though they came from a variety of large public institutions. It would have been interesting to compare these with the mission of some smaller publics and also private institutions. Organizational Structure. Greg used a nice technique to discuss the organization structures of university foundations. Instead of just showing several examples, he asked the class to take a look at two universities which he had outlined some basic characteristics such as enrollment, location, cost of tuition, age of institution and endowment. He then asked us how we thought each of their foundations would be organized. It was a good tactic to make us think about what factors might affect the organization of a foundation and why. He went on to give details and his own explanation of why the foundations were organized the way they were. Funding and Financial Concerns. Next Greg discussed how the university foundation is typically funded. He explained that the foundation typically has five funding streams, endowment management fees, unrestricted gifts, gift fee, investment income fee, and a university services fee.

Destiny as a Fictive Device in Cats Cradle, Mother Night, and Jailbird

The literary genius of Kurt Vonnegut is evidenced by his ability to weave a story from the most mundane of characters and circumstances into an intricate web of possibilities for his stories by using literary tools such as cause and effect, congruence and destiny. Here we will examine Vonnegut's use of one of these literary tools, destiny as a fictive device, which serves to propel the three following books: Cat's Cradle, Mother Night, and Jailbird. Kurt Vonnegut is a master of fictive devices because he uses them to construct an intricate web of possibilities for his stories to proceed on. Destiny, as the dictionary tells us, is "a predetermined course of events often held to be a resistless power or agency," and in these three novels, Kurt Vonnegut implies that destiny is just the way things are bound to be. Some of the many forms of destiny used by Vonnegut to guide his characters and to shove his stories into the right direction include: destiny for people who don't believe in destiny; such as religious persons, anti-destiny; the idea of what might have been, and predestination; the idea that what happens to you is already decided. In Jailbird, Vonnegut uses a particularly obscure main character named Walter F. Starbuck. Walter F. Starbuck was a normal, law-abiding citizen in his fifties, with a wife and a son who didn't like him, but, by using destiny as a fictive device, Kurt Vonnegut creates an amazing story filled with adventure, love, and betrayal. In the novel Mother Night Vonnegut lays out the life of his main character, Howard W Campbell, Jr., from when he was ... ... "And, inwardly, I sarooned, which is to say that I aquiesed to the seeming demands of my vin-dit."(p137 Cat's Cradle). A vin-dit is "...a Bokononist word meaning a sudden, very personal shove in the direction of Bokononism,..."(p53 Cat's Cradle). By making the character of John believe in destiny, anything that happens, which sounds like destiny, the character will react to. This gives the author more to write about. Kurt Vonnegut is a great author of American literature because of how he uses literary tools to write his exciting stories. Destiny used as a fictive device is the easiest tool Kurt Vonnegut uses to fertilise the lives of his characters, but it is also the most effective. If more teachers taught about how destiny is used as a fictive device, then we would all benefit, as writers and readers.

How is Brutus portrayed as a tragic hero?

Throughout the works of Shakespeare, tragedy has always been a vital foundation and a key to his immense successes. His fine mastery of the art became legendary amongst the audiences that watched his various plays. Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of the tragedy he could combine into a stage performance. An Irish poet named Oscar Wilde who was a novelist, dramatist and critic in the late eighteen hundreds once wrote, â€Å"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. This has an exact correlation to the play Julius Caesar where the tragedy lies in the greed of a man who wants too much. This particular play is based entirely upon dreadful choices leading to demise. The character Brutus in particular is a key personality to the structure of the play in his fall from honour. Being a man of utmost glory and loyalty becomes his biggest weakness. In Act 1 Scene 2 we are presented with the pressure that Cassius weighs upon Brutus' mind. In lines 79-80 the truth of Brutus' troubles become clear. In the heat of conversation he says â€Å"What means this shouting? I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king†. This is the turning point in the play as the stepping stones begin to fall in place and Brutus reveals to the viewers his deep down uncertainty to the decision of Caesar being crowned emperor. Cassius is a very influential force in the corruption of Brutus. The real change of heart for Brutus arrives in Act 2 Scene 1 when he receives the letter (lines 46-47). The play begins to see him question his values and reasons. The true torment of all he has lived for, the honour he based his life upon becomes clear and treachery looms close by. Though the letter is simple and only two lines, it sparks the questions needed to be raised in order to get beneath the unwavering loyalties that he is shown to carry. In the lines that read, â€Å"Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake'. Such instigations have often been dropp'd where I have took them up† (lines 48-49), and, â€Å"Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What Rome? † (line 52), it is apparent that the few words the letter carried have created doubt in Brutus' mind. The fact that Brutus is so appealing to the audience is a mixture of emotions stirred within each person watching the play. It is comprehendible and probable that Shakespeare's ambition was to connect this character to the everyday temptations and conscientious objecting that every person goes through. Although this has been extremely dramatised, people can familiarise with Brutus' predicament as they have at least once in their lives faced a temptation for which they have most probably given in to. In Act 1 Scene 2, lines 82-89 it provides the loose fibre in the strength of Brutus' loyalty, but also shows the torment inside of this character facing the brutal reality of his own thoughts and feelings, a classic example being, â€Å"I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well†. It presents the fractured reasoning of the human mind; the inability to come to a threatening conclusion against all that has been previously believed, a sympathy that everyone has subconsciously acquired through a relation to their own similar experiences. The flaw in the character of Brutus is his own deep thirst for honour. Though this is important in order for the play's theme to coincide with the historical Roman context, it is also a weakness inside the characters personality that was intentionally added to bring the play to a rise in calamity. The character Cassius uses this weakness to an advantage. The deceitful cunning that the he possesses alone pushes Brutus into seeing a whole different side to his own glory. He begins to build a frame for his motives and starts to press upon himself a false story of the higher nobility. This is entirely proven in the eulogy he gives at Caesar's funeral. He speaks of himself in such a manner that he even fools himself into believing he's done nothing wrong, specifically shown in Act 3 Scene 2, lines 20-28 where it says, â€Å"If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more†. This signifies the fact that Brutus is completely tricked into thinking he did the right thing. Although being far more intelligent than to believe that Cassius is truly trying to bring Rome to justice, he starts to consider the possibility that the treacherous character may have a point. Once again Act 2 Scene 1, line 52 comes into play where he sees a different light on Caesar. Instead of seeing him as a proud but honest ruler, he looks upon him with the eye of Cassius and sees an over ambitious ruler with a hunger for power. This weakness was a calculated imperfection on the part of Shakespeare. It is evident that his goal was to produce the suitable factor to manipulate in order to make Brutus a tragic hero and effectively utilise that status to get the audiences emotionally involved in the play. To finalise Brutus' â€Å"tragic hero† status, the last component was to have the character die a dramatic death. As most people in Shakespeare's lifetime where in the age where they began to appreciate the lifestyles and arts of Ancient Rome, they were well aware of the battle standards and were all to familiar with the classic death on the battle field when a soldier lost his honour. So it was only justice to have Brutus follow the same fate at the end of the play in order to hit home on the audiences' interests. The clarity of Brutus' misconduct becomes obvious to him when he sees the blood spilt on his behalf and realises the end is near, presented in Act 5 Scene 5, lines 1-51, especially in the line where it says, â€Å"Sit thee down, Clitus. Slaying is the word; it is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. † (lines 4-5). With this consequence, the audience will be in a deep sympathy because by this stage they have grown to like this character and feel sorry for his poor decisions if Shakespeare's methods are convincing and will be enthralled in the drama of his exit, admiring the characters honour even after his descent from valour. In conclusion, the character Brutus is shown as a tragic hero due to a range of reasons. If Shakespeare's in depth and intelligent understanding of sympathy and personal familiarities wasn't shown through the play then the audience would not feel the same emotions and therefore would not have experienced the sorrows or have empathized with Brutus' predicaments that he got himself into. Shakespeare plays on the audience's personal tragedies and faults by adding a character mislead by treachery and blinded with the pursuit of an honour that was false from the start. If the audience was not moved by the play, then the character would become wooden and the effect would be obsolete. Brutus' human faults of being vulnerable to deceit and cunning are what make this character so lifelike. The tragedy of this deluded character killing himself at the end of a series of bad consequences brought forth by deception is what makes him such a ‘tragic hero'.