Primitivism Essay free essay sample

Paul Gauguin is said to have always felt like an ‘other’, a primitive and therefore in his later years set out in search of a pure society that was close to nature and free from the corruption of civilisation. ‘Gauguin is traditionally cast as the founding father of modernist primitivism. ’ (Solomon-Godeau, A. 1989. pp314) His many works explore and express his desire to find authenticity and to ‘become a savage’. Similar to Gauguin, Emil Nolde seeks to return to a oneness with nature, in an attempt to bridge German’s past with its future. Using traditional German forms of art such as folk art and craft and combining this with that of modern images, using loose brushstrokes to create an earthy and natural feel to his works. Nolde was a part of the German Expressionism movement which sought to unshackle their civilisation and return to nature and freedom. â€Å"Primitive peoples create their works with the material itself in the artist’s hand, held in his fingers. We will write a custom essay sample on Primitivism Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page (Nolde, 1934) This statement by Nolde explores tactility and the idea of the power of expression in such simple forms, which is what Nolde explains to be a contributing factor as to why artists are so drawn to the works of the primitive peoples. These simple, natural works are intense in their expression of power and meaning thus providing artist such as Nolde and Gauguin with inspiration and direction for their works, showing them how to create simple yet expressive works of art that are moving and captivating to the viewer. Emil Nolde, ‘In the paintings by which he is best known, ‘primitive’ figure types are used to evoke emotional and religious themes. ’ (Harrison, C Wood, P. 1992. ) Emil Nolde’s works such as ‘Dance Around the Golden Calf’ (1910) and ‘St Mary of Egypt’ (1912) show this expressive form of painting, with loose brushstrokes and wide use of colour creating a very rhythmic and sensuous painting. These works are representative of Nolde’s move to a oneness with nature as it can be seen that the expression and movement within ‘Dance Around the Golden Calf‘ is very natural and flows. St Mary of Egypt’ uses a wide range of colour and loose brushstrokes to create an incredibly expressive and bold artwork. It is clear to see that Emil Nolde is influenced by the works of primitive peoples as his works are simple yet largely expressive and moving in their aesthetics. Emil Nolde was seen to be very political in his time and was very outspoken with his ideals of art. He ‘attacked the scientific approach to tribal art that ignores its aesthetic potential. While â€Å"Coptic, Early Christian, Greek terracottas and vases, Persian and Islamic art† have been admitted to the canons of high art, he complains, â€Å"Chinese and Japanese art are still classified under ethnography and primitive art is ignored altogether†(Lloyd, J. 1985. pp. 46) This statement shows that the art of primitive people was yet to be considered ‘art’ by the society at that time, therefore by such well known artists as Emil Nolde and Paul Gauguin using non-European cultures as inspiration for their works would have lead to the change in attitudes towards the art of the primitive peoples. Perhaps informing people of its true artistic qualities and lending society to the idea that primitive art should indeed be considered art. Nolde was very political in his manners and rejected any mixing of races, in art as well as in life. ‘The Roman Empire, he tells us, never produced art of real value since it was an amalgam of nations. To this remarkable statement he adds the following observation: ‘England in many respects to be compared with the Roman Empire like all Germanic people once had great art, poetry, and wonderful music. But after the immigration of Spanish Jews the country became materialistic, concerned only with power and possessions. Its interests spanned the whole world and went all directions, and what remains now is a nation almost impotent in the arts. ’ (Ettlinger, L. 1968. pp. 200) Although these were his views and opinions, Nolde was still heavily influenced by non-European cultures weaving many references to these cultures throughout his works. Paul Gauguin, like Emil Nolde, used a vast range of colours and wove a flowing feel throughout his works symbolic of the freedom and natural qualities found amongst these non-European cultures they so highly treasured. ‘The Polynesian titles he gave most of his Tahitian works were intended to represent himself to his European market, as well as his friends, as one who had wholly assimilated the native culture. In fact, and despite his lengthy residence, Gauguin never learned to speak the language, and most of his titles were either colonial pidgin or grammatically incorrect. ’ (Godeau. pp. 325) This statement by Solomon-Godeau shows that although Paul Gauguin has set out to return to his primitive ways and ‘become a savage’, he was still programmed to thinking like that of someone from the bourgeois society, unable to fully comprehend the traditions and culture of these primitive people. Gauguin’s works such as ‘Two Women on a Beach’ (1891) and ‘Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Ancestors)’ (1893) both explore this natural and pure lifestyle that Gauguin sort to find amongst the Tahitians, whilst also juxtaposing the French impression of their culture and their influence with the use of the European clothes that these women wear. Within the work ‘Two Women on a Beach’ Gauguin’s use of loose, free brushstrokes emphasises the fact that the women are close to nature, they look as though they are carved out of wood. However, these women are also seen to be out of place in their environment as their stances seem somewhat awkward and uncomfortable and the image has been cropped making it feel as though they don’t fit in the image. Both are seen to be wearing missionary dresses/European clothes and are weaving, representing the French’s view of the Tahitian women, lazy, close to nature and savage. Gauguin’s work ‘Tehamana Has Many Ancestors’, similar to that of ‘Two Women on a Beach’, depicts a girl (Tehamana) seated wearing European clothes, holding a woven fan with flowers threaded throughout her hair. Tehamana, like the women in ‘Two Women on a Beach’, also seems somewhat out of place and as though she does not fit within this image. The references to her savage lineage, through the use of the paintings on the wall behind her and the petrogliphs reinforces the fact that like many other Tahitians, Tehamana ‘had no relation to her former traditions. ’ (Godeau. pp. 326) The images of Tahitian women wearing European clothing emphasises and makes reference to the Catholic, Mormon and Calvinist missionaries that had been at work in Tahiti for many years before Gauguin had travelled over to Tahiti. The authenticity that Gauguin had set out to discover had diminished, therefore ‘Gauguin did not paint Tahiti, but his Tahitian dream. ’ (Staszak, J. 2004. pp. 353) These images highlighted the fact that the Tahitian’s ‘pre-European culture had been effectively destroyed. ’ (Godeau. pp. 324) ‘Not only had the indigenous religion been eradicated, but the handicrafts, barkcloth production, art of tattoo and music had equally succumbed to the interdiction of the missionaries or the penetration of European Products. The bright-coloured cloth used for clothing, bedding and curtains that Gauguin depicted was of European design and manufacture. ’ (Godeau. pp. 324) Paul Gauguin, Emil Nolde and many artists alike have been vastly influenced by the works of primitive peoples, borrowing certain aspects of their culture and art in order to gain inspiration for their own works and expand their expressive capabilities within their art works. The fact that these artists are well known for their works relating to the primitive that have drawn inspiration from non-European, ‘savage’ cultures emphasises this notion that indeed art by primitive peoples should be considered a true art form. Reference List Ettlinger, L. D. â€Å"German Expressionism and Primitive Art,† The Burlington Magazine Vol. 110 No. 781 (1968): pp. 200, accessed May 8, 2012. http://www. jstor. org. wwwproxy0. library. unsw. edu. au/stable/pdfplus/875584. pdf? acceptTC=true Lloyd, J. â€Å"Emil Noldes Still Lifes, 1911-1912: Modernism, Myth, and Gesture,† Anthropology and Aesthetics No. (1985): pp. 46, accessed May 8, 2012. http://www. jstor. org. wwwproxy0. library. unsw. edu. au/stable/pdfplus/20166722. pdf Harrison, C. , Wood, P. Eds. , â€Å"Emil Nolde ‘On Primitive Art’,† Art in Theory 1900-1990, 1992. Solomon-Godeau, A. â€Å"Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism,† Art in America , July 1989. (pp. 314,325,326,342) Staszak, J. F. â€Å"Primitivism and the other. History of art and cultural geography,† GeoJournal Vol. 60 No. 4 (2004): pp. 353, accessed May 8, 2012. http://www. jstor. org. wwwproxy0. library. unsw. edu. au/stable/pdfplus/41147901. pd

Polonius is an interesting Essays

Polonius is an interesting Essays Polonius is an interesting Paper Polonius is an interesting Paper Essay Topic: Interesting The characters play important roles in Shakespeares Hamlet. Each character is unique in his of her contribution to the entire play. Without certain characters, the play would not have the same effect. Polonius is an interesting and complicated character who plays an important part in Hamlet. Although he is not one of the main characters, Polonius serves as the nosy chief counselor to King Claudius. Poloniuss destructive personality and meddling behavior leads to his fatal end. Poloniuss first extended speaking scene is in Act I, Scene 3. In this scene, Laertes is speaking to his sister Ophelia about Hamlets attention towards her. He warns her to protect her virtues. Polonius arrives and reminds his son that he should be on his way to Paris. Right after Laertes leaves, Polonius turns to his daughter and asks her what they were discussing before he entered the room. Although it may be common for a father to be concern with his daughters life, Polonius did not act concerned- just ignorant and criticizing. The lack of Poloniuss concern can be read in his responses to Ophelia. Right after she reveals that they were talking about Hamlet, Polonius criticized her. When Ophelia explains to her father that Laertes was concerned about Hamlets late made many tenders (1. 3. 108), Polonius just scoffs at the idea of Hamlet being attentive towards her. His words are blunt and unkind. He calls Ophelia a woodcock (1. 3. 124), which is a gullible bird. Polonius does not consider his daughters feelings for Hamlet. He continues to warn her to conduct herself well so she does not make him appear a fool. He forbids her from seeing Hamlet for the wrong, selfish reasons. In this scene, Poloniuss character displays a selfish nature where he only cares about his image. His rudeness to his daughter shows that he does not care about her. Instead, he is suspicious that she might ruin his reputation and that Hamlet has the worst intentions for Ophelia. Polonius is selfish, suspicious, and uncaring. The suspicious trait later plays a part in Claudiuss death when he is trying to find out the reason behind Hamlets insanity. Polonius is meddling in his sons life in Act II, Scene 1. Before Laertes departs to Paris, Polonius gave him some last words of advice. Polonius reminds him thou canst not be false to any man (1. 3. 83) and to thine own self be true (1.3. 84). Polonius is asking his son to be honorable and virtuous. Polonius is hypocritical for giving his son this advice because he is not trusting of his own son. After his son leaves, he sends Reynaldo to follow Laertes to Paris to find out how he is conducting himself. Polonius does not trust his son and does the dishonorable thing of sending a spy. Why would Polonius give Laertes fatherly advice and still not trust his son? This shows another weakness of Polonius. He cannot learn to trust others. He is a hypocrite for asking his son to be honorable when he cannot listen to his own advice. Polonius is proven not to be an honorable man and this ironically is how he was killed. Polonius did the unthinkable act of spying and eavesdropping on a private conversation and is killed. If Polonius had listen to his own advice to his son, Polonius would have never mettle in Hamlets life and continually spy on him. Poloniuss job is to be King Claudiuss chief counselor. Part of the job description is to help Claudius sort out information and make wise decisions. But there are moments when it seems as though Polonius wants to make the final word, as oppose to letting Claudius make the final decision. This shows that Polonius likes to meddle in other peoples business, including his own kings life. Polonius does not let other people live their lives without his words. Being nosy is the reason why Polonius got involved with Hamlets sanity issue and leads Polonius to his death later in the play. In Act II, Scene 2, Polonius suggests a reason for Hamlets sudden lunacy. He believes the reason is that Ophelia refuses to see Hamlet and that alone has driven Hamlet into madness. Polonius devises a plan where he will let Ophelia talk to Hamlet. During their encounter, Polonius and Claudius will observe the situation from a hidden area. From this encounter, Polonius ensures Claudius that they will find the true reason for Hamlets madness. Poloniuss insensitivity towards Ophelias situation is shown when he uses her for his personal plans. He does not take her feelings into consideration and uses her as a prop to impress Claudius. But Poloniuss plan did not please Claudius. After watching the couple interacts, Claudius is now convinced that love is not the cause of Hamlets craziness. Dissatisfied that the King did not agree with his theory, Polonius urges one last attempt to find out Hamlets secret. Polonius is desperate to convince the King that his theory is right. Polonius wants to please Claudius, but he also does not want to be wrong. As a counselor, he should be obedient to the King. Instead, he tries to control Claudius by ignoring Claudiuss theory and convinces him to give one last attempt to find the whole truth. Little did he know his last meddling in Hamlets life would be a fatal one. Poloniuss life ends tragically. While hiding behind the arras and eavesdropping on Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, Polonius is convinced the truth would be revealed. Polonius is meddling in Hamlets life by getting involved in a situation that has nothing to do with him. During Hamlets and Gertrudes conversation, she is frightened by Hamlet which prompts Polonius to echo a cry out for help. Thinking Polonius was the king, Hamlet thrusts his rapier into the arras and kills him, whom Hamlet describes as a fool (3. 4. 38). Even Hamlet recognizes that Poloniuss death is avoidable if only he had stayed out of everyones personal business. Poloniuss sudden death is caused by his nosy, meddling ways. He is out to seek the truth about Hamlet and, ironically, is killed by Hamlet. If Polonius stopped meddling in Hamlets life in Act II, Scene 1, he would still be alive to be by the Kings side. Instead, he forces his way into finding secrets that do not involves him and ends up dead. Poloniuss destructive and prying personality is what kills him. Polonius plays an important role in Shakespeares play Hamlet. He meddles in other characters lives. He also sticks his nose into others situations. He is a selfish, suspicious, dishonorable, and nosy. These qualities are destructive and that is why his life ended so tragically. Poloniuss early death foreshadows the other characters deaths later in the play.

How to Write a Communications Essay Full Guide

How to Write a Communications Essay Full Guide Communication is something we all do every day – it is something that doesn’t seem to be complex or complicated enough to require its own academic discipline to be studied. Nevertheless, there is one, and it can show your communication from many angles you haven’t considered before – which is why writing a communications essay is always such a novel and challenging experience for students irrespectively of their academic level. A good communications essay combines data from the fields of sociology, anthropology, ethics, performance studies and a number of other fields. To make matters more complicated, communications isn’t a homogenous field by itself – it can be further subdivided into rhetoric, business, interpersonal, media, organizational and other types of communications, each complete with its own set of principles, authorities and research methods. Normally you should concentrate on a single field in your work, but keep in mind that none of them exists in complete isolation from the others. Selecting Your Topic The choice of topic for you to write about mostly depends on whether you are allowed some degree of freedom or your topic is assigned to you by your instructor. For the purpose of this guide, we presume that you are free to write about whatever you want – however, be aware that even when your choice of topics is limited, usually you can alter your assignment enough to make it more palatable. If you come to your instructor with intelligent questions and suggestions, he will usually agree to meet you halfway and make some alterations to the original topic. As for the choice of topic as it is, here are some suggestions that can make this process easier: Choose a topic that is interesting and thought-provoking both for you and your intended audience. This way you will be able to write about it without internal resistance, and it will be easier to grasp the attention of the readers; Choose a topic you have a personal opinion about. This doesn’t mean that you can be subjective in your writing – quite the contrary, you have to present all points of view as equally viable. Nevertheless, this will make the process of writing easier and its results more engaging than if you write about something you don’t care about. It will be easier to introduce your individual findings into the body of the text, and it is less likely to end up as a compilation of other people’s ideas; Read as much as possible on the subject before you commit to any particular topic. This way you won’t suddenly find yourself lacking a sufficient number of information sources you can use or supporting an obviously wrong point of view; Communications is a multi-faceted discipline full of contradictions, mostly emerging from the dynamics between traditional face-to-face interactions and new methods of communications, involving smartphones, social media and the like. Using these subjects to compare and contrast between themselves is an abundant source of first-rate and not yet over-researched topics. Here are some good suggestions to give you perspective: Intercultural Communication as a Driving Force behind Societal and Cultural Evolution; Evolution of Media, Propaganda and Censorship; Pragmatic Aspects of TV Discourse; Characteristic Features of Triggering Topics; Social Media as the Main Method of Communication in Modern Society. How to Gather Sources for Your Essay: Tricks of Our Writers Sources are everything in academic writing. Even if you have a strong argument, perfectly researched topic, and sufficient statistics and data to back up your findings but cannot find existing academic papers, books and other sources to support your point, your essay is going to be rejected as not having enough evidence. Academic writing cannot exist in isolation – every academic paper is not a thing in itself but a continuation of a discourse, with everybody who researched this topic in the past being its other participants. However, it is not enough to simply find a source and quote it. You have to pay attention to what you quote. Here are some suggestions you may find useful when looking for data sources for your communications essay: Online academic databases (JSTOR, Google Books, Science.gov) are a good place to start. There you can find both links to individual works and how many each of them was quoted in other academic sources, giving you an immediate indication of how valuable this or that source is; Your instructor, librarians, and digital media specialists are the first people you have to ask for suggestions. Don’t worry, it is their job, and they have plenty of experience in working with both the sources and the subject matter. If your college is big enough, there may be even individual librarians specializing in particular areas of knowledge – find out if there are such experts in your college, they can be of immense help; Study academic journals. They are the best source of the latest research on your topic and are in general considered to be top-quality sources. Each quotation from a high-profile academic journal adds credibility and professional feel to your essay, so make sure the majority of your sources come from them; Look through books on your subject. They are almost as good a source of information as academic journals, but a bit more likely to contain biased information. Writing the Introduction Any communications essay should start with a proof of why you consider your topic to be worthy of research in general and why you believe your own findings concerning the subject matter important enough to write about them. The first few sentences constitute the hook – especially interesting facts or correlations of them to attract the reader’s attention. Writing Your Thesis Statement Thesis statement is, simply said, the gist of your essay, its main idea boiled down to a single sentence (two at most). In it, you state the most important thought behind your entire text – what you want to prove, what you consider to be the most crucial part of your research. It is somewhat similar to the topic of your communications essay, but there is an important difference. The topic points out what your essay is about, e.g., ‘Communication between Representatives of Different Cultures as a Driving Force behind Cultural Development’. The thesis statement is a statement you make about this topic, e.g., ‘Communication between representatives of different cultures invariably leads to cultural diffusion and changes in both cultures taking part in the communication process’. The most important characteristics of the thesis statement is that it should be short, to the point and focused on a single idea. If there is more than one idea to be gleaned out of it, you are likely doing things wrong and weren’t able to make it focused enough. Writing Body Paragraphs: Style Peculiarities Communication essays have to be written in the formal style. Even if the contents of your essay are all right and deserve an excellent grade, you can seriously harm your prospects if you fail to meet the stylistic requirements. You may find full information in your style guide, but here are some of the most important things to consider: Use proper punctuation. Don’t use exclamation marks (to avoid giving your writing an emotional overtone) and ampersand (it is not used in formal writing, except in names of organizations); Avoid colloquialisms. These include all the words marked as so in the dictionary and many expressions used in everyday speech but unacceptable in academic writing, like ‘You know’ or ‘You may be thinking’, as well as the adverb â€Å"pretty† in the meaning â€Å"quite, relatively†. Always check words you are about to use when in doubt; Avoid first and second person pronouns as they can make your writing too personal or emotional. Don’t use expressions like ‘We should’ or ‘I think’ – they don’t mean anything in the academic discourse. Instead, provide viable reasons for certain behavior and persuading arguments in favor of your point of view; Avoid clichà ©s. Some students, in their attempt to be more formal, turn to clichà ©s, which is a wrong approach. Clichà ©s make your writing bland and unoriginal and have to be avoided in any writing style; Don’t use stage directions. Don’t start your essay (or any part of it) with sentences like ‘In my essay, I am going to discuss’ or ‘This essay deals with such ideas as†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Such introductions immediately put your writing on the middle-school level if not lower; Eliminate words with vague meanings. Words like â€Å"good†, â€Å"bad† (good for what? Why?), â€Å"a few† (exactly how many?), â€Å"enough† (for what?) don’t contain any meaning of their own and can mean almost anything in a proper context. When you say something, make sure what you say is direct, definite and devoid of ambiguity; Use proper grammar. While always a good rule to follow, when writing in the academic style you should avoid some things that are normal in more colloquial writing. Some examples are split infinitives (â€Å"to quickly say†), terminal prepositions (â€Å"Whom did you mention it to?†) and sentences starting with conjunctions like â€Å"and† or â€Å"but†. Conclusion The conclusion gives the reader a summary of everything the essay presented up to this point. Here you more or less repeat everything you said in the introduction and see if it all turned out the way you supposed it to do. Did your ideas turn out to be true? Did the findings in the course of research change your original point of view? Do you consider your topic to be a good prospect for further and additional research by other scientists? What avenues of research would you recommend? Why do you consider the results of your work important, what do they change in the field? Revising for Typical Mistakes Here are some of the mistakes students are especially prone to as well as the communications essay tips on how to avoid them. Compiling information from other sources without contributing anything of your own – relying on other authors can be very helpful, especially if you don’t have much to say, but it won’t take you all the way to your destination. You have to possess a healthy balance between your own findings and information borrowed from sources. If your instructor notices that your essay doesn’t contain much in terms of original thought, you won’t receive a good grade; Grammar and spelling mistakes – this goes without saying. Your mastery of English contributes a lot towards your grade, so make sure you proofread your essay carefully. Consider using services of a professional proofreader; Use of colloquial language. Remember, you are writing an academic work, not an email to your friend. There is much more to this rule than just avoiding to use slang and jargon – for example, contractions (‘don’t’, ‘won’t’) and phrasal verbs (â€Å"keep up†, â€Å"put down†) are considered to be attributes of colloquial speech and are to be avoided in formal writing; ‘Dangling’ theories – i.e., any statements that aren’t backed up with facts or statistical data from reliable sources. Always check your essay for these as a part of the revision process; Subjectivity – both in general, if you make it obvious that you support a particular point of view and, for example, omit obvious evidence that would be to its detriment, and in specifics, if you use superlatives and emotionally charged words (â€Å"good†, â€Å"bad†, â€Å"obvious solution†); Skipping the conclusion – you may think that your point is already obvious from everything you’ve said, and as conclusion merely sums up the contents of the rest of the paper it can safely be omitted. However, it is a traditional part of a communications essay, and your assignment won’t be complete without it. After you finish writing, don’t forget to reread your entire paper and see how different parts work together. Rewrite whole paragraphs if necessary; Letting yourself wander off the subject – when you reread your essay during revision, make sure that everything you say is related to your thesis statement and supports your argument. If you find yourself steering away from the main points of discussion, cut these parts mercilessly, no matter how interesting they are. Communications isn’t an easy topic to write about; we hope that this communications essay guide will improve your chances of successfully completing your assignment.