Personal Values Development Paper - Free Essay Example

Personal Values Development Paper PHL/323 Melinda Cunningham July 12, 2010 The purpose of this paper is to examine my personal values, and the ground rules as they relate to the development of my ethics. Throughout the paper, I will define what my values are, the sources (e. g. , people, institutions, events) that helped me to shape my values, the criteria and decision-making factors I use to revise them. I will also touch on how the values I use daily impact my performance in my workplace. I never thought about my personal values, how I developed them, when I developed them, and in which I learned them, until now. I would think that people start to develop and learn personal values at an early age. At birth, we have no concept of what personal values are, so as we begin to grow up and understand the difference between right and wrong; we learn these values from our parents, peers, and the community. My personal definition of values is a high standard, trait, or quality that is the driving force behind our priorities, and our decision-making process. Values determine our actions, how we handle situations, and are the belief system in which every person lives by. We tend to develop our values based on events that have happened in our lives, and from outside influences, like our parents and family, religious affiliations, friends, peers, different reading material, and educational resources. I am constantly learning how to identify and develop clear, concise and meaningful values, beliefs, and priorities every day, so that I can instill the same values that I learn into my son. As I examine my personal value system, how and when I developed these values, my earliest memory is my childhood. I can remember my grandmother and mother sharing little â€Å"tidbits† of information with me and my sisters about the lessons of life and how to survive in this crude world. These â€Å"life lessons† touched on a variety of subjects like, the importance of a strong value system based on trust, honesty, integrity, respect for others, a belief that God can do all things, and the importance of family love. As an adult with a child of my own, I can appreciate that sound advice that I received as a child and young adult. This wisdom and advice has molded me into the person who I am today and as an adult I like to surround myself around people who have the same values as I. My values guide me to be the best person who I can be and I take my values to heart and try to implement them in every detail of my life, no matter how small. I know that when I follow these values, accomplishments, and success are sure to follow. I aspire to make every effort to implement the values I subscribe to because they are meaningful to me. The first personal value that I live by is trust. Trusting someone can be an emotionally draining act because it makes us vulnerable to other people. When we trust other people, we expose ourselves to the possibility of being taken advantage of. During my teenage years, whenever I wanted to go out with my friends, my parents will always say to me â€Å"we trust you, so do not disappoint us. † As a teenager, the last thing that I wanted to do was disappoint my parents. Although my son is only 9, I am trying to instill this value in him because being able to trust people is a very important aspect of life. I have a strong faith in God and accepting Gods will in my life, enable me to release any feelings of distrust that I may have against someone. When I trust in God and let God lead my life, it lightens my load because I know that he is in control. Honest and integrity is also an important value in my life. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (n. d. ), Honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal deceive in any way. Without honesty, we really have nothing. Honesty is simple, but is not always easy. It is the negative side of honesty that often prevents us from trusting people because there is often rejection, hurt feelings, jealousy, and animosity. What inspires me to be honest is my belief that people will be honest with me. When I face a situation, I give the real facts, as I see it. Honesty is a test because it sometimes involves telling another person the truth about his or her faults, and also helps me to face up to my own truths. I believe that every act of honesty is always rewarded. On the other hand, there is integrity. Integrity supports my values, morals, and ethics. Integrity goes hand-in-hand with honesty because integrity is what compels us to do the right thing all the time, regardless of the situation. Working in a hospital, integrity keeps me free of any malpractices because I treat others with humanism. I find that in today’s society, many people do not possess a characteristic of integrity. If people practice integrity, the world would definitely be a better place. This is the very reason why my parents taught me that people will only respect those who have sound beliefs and values. Integrity is a good character trait to possess, but unfortunately, not too many people do. We live in a time when respect for others is lacking. In today’s society, I find that the youth show no deference to the aged, or those in authority. As a Christian, it is my duty to give honor to whom honor is due, and it is also my responsibility and obligation to train my child to render this same respect. The church is the one institution that helps to shape my values and teaches me the importance of setting values for myself. The Bible speaks of the respect that children should have for his or her parents because of the sacrifices that parents have endured for their children. Growing up I was taught to honor God because failure to do so, disrespected the kingdom of God. I know that when I do as God commands and show respect to others, this will bring me success in life. In my adult years, one of the most difficulty lessons to learn in life is that we are oftentimes disappointed by those whom we have come to respect. The last and final value that I hold true to my heart is my love for family. Family is very important to me and when I think of family, I think of love. Love is very strong in my family and it is that unconditional love that my family shows me; I am most appreciative of. I have a strong family support system despite all my wrongdoings. I have the type of family members who make sacrifices for each other unselfishly, and this unselfish act is a display of love and respect. I know that my parents had to make sacrifice after sacrifice, so that me and my siblings would have the necessities we needed. My family bond carries a great deal of love; and that bond is the driving force behind what we do for our family members, which we would not even consider doing for anyone else. As an adult, with a child of my own, I find myself making some of the same sacrifices for my child. I use these values as criteria for making decisions in everyday life and in every situation that I face. Life brings about many experiences that can force us to revise or rethink our values because of the dilemmas that will test our values, faith, and beliefs. The values that I follow are what drive me to do what is ethically right. On a personal level and in the workplace, I have to constantly to do what is right in a particular situation so that it is consistent with my personal and organization’s value system. I have developed certain ethics and ground rules as the foundation for my ethical behavior. Rules like respecting autonomy and allowing people the privacy that he or she deserves during a hospital stay. I do no harm to others; I do things to benefit others, I am fair, and treat people equal; keeping my promises, being loyal, and always telling the truth. My organization has a Code of Ethics that as an employee, I must follow and my leaders are responsible for knowing these rules, so that he or she can share them when appropriate. Conclusion Personal values develop in many ways. We all have values that determine our decisions and guide our lives. As an individual, I have the responsibility of acting with self-respect. I value my friendships and family and do not mind making sacrifices for the good of others. I value goodness too much to do something that I know is wrong and I dedicate my entire life to pursue the values that I believe in, and I hope in the end, my son will embrace the values and move forward in society with great success. References Honesty. (n. d. ). In Merriam-Webster dictionary online. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from https://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/honesty

Rôle playing, character, transformation, and disguise in Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair - Literature Essay Samples

I have considered our whole life is like a Play: wherein every man, forgetfull of himselfe, is in travail with expression of another. Nay, wee so insiste in imitating others, as wee cannot (when it is necessary) returne to ourselves (Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries).Write about rÃÆ'Â ´le playing, character, transformation, and disguise in Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair.Jonson saturates his plays Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair with the themes of rÃÆ'Â ´le playing, character, transformation and disguise, grounding the plays firmly in mimicry. The above quotation seems to imply a negative, impoverishing transformation and a deterioration of character by imitation. However, as the master of masque, the examples of Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair do not completely align themselves with this idea. Whilst some characters do appear to be debased by their obsession with mimicry, these plays are rooted in ideas of mask, or what might appear or seem to b e true. This ambiguity makes the audience unsure, at any given time, about the original nature of a particular character. As a result, the audience is not able to discern whether the character has transformed negatively, positively, or even at all. It highlights the possibility that the characters final appearance is actually only the realisation and representation of the characters true nature. J A Banish contends that mimicry causes the mimic to forfeit the making of himself, but perhaps instead the rÃÆ'Â ´le playing simply serves to draw out manifestations of the true character after all, most characters have been in a state of imitation for most of the play.When we remember that this is a play, and therefore an audience and a response are always implicated in any action, it is possible to say that in watching actors play out the apparent outcomes of imitation onstage (even if that outcome is a more honest representation of a characters true nature) the audience members themse lves undergo a positive transformation. This seems to contradict the negative implications of J A Barishs assertion that Mimicryis the symptom of a universal disease. Whilst the mimic may well remain trapped in a vocabulary, a syntax, and a whole idiom, it does not necessarily follow that all mimicry has a negative effect on all people. Indeed, as already indicated, we should investigate the possibility that the mimicry brings out the true character. Jonson surely wished the audience to learn from what it saw onstage, as in the prologue of Volpone he denotes that the play will educate as well as entertain To mix profit with your pleasure (line 8) and so it might be suggested that audience members too cannot return to [themselves]. Sidney, in his Defence of Poesy, expounded the idea that imitation can teach and delight and Jonson certainly seems to agree. In watching actors imitate characters that are imitating others, the audience will leave the theatre not only entertained but al so transformed by this double level of rÃÆ'Â ´le play, a sort of binary remove. One of the most intriguing elements of all three plays is the way that Jonson uses irony to invert and transform the very ideas of rÃÆ'Â ´le play and disguise and their theatrical functions. In Bartholomew Fair, Adam Overdos attempt to uphold justice by disguising himself as a madman in order to investigate the fairs corruption is loaded with irony. Overdos self-righteous arrogance is evident in his soliloquy beginning Act II: Well, in Justice name, and the Kings, and for the Commonwealth! defy all the world, Adam Overdo, for a disguise, and all story; for thou hast fitted thyself (Act II, scene I, lines 1-3). By seeming to act for Justice,the King and even the Commonwealth, increasing the preposterousness and presumption of the examples as the line progresses, Overdo sets himself up for failure or rather, the playwright sets Overdo up for failure. Jonson compounds the irony as Overdo says They may have seen many a fool in the habit of a Justice; but never til now, a Justice in the habit of a fool (lines 8 10). This line is doubly ironic, not only because Overdo will eventually be thrown into the stocks and laughed at due to his meddling and disguise, but also because it is easy to see that Overdo is, certainly at the beginning of the play, a fool in the habit of a Justice. Dramatic irony is also reflected in the mere fact that Overdo uses the deceitful method of disguise in order to pursue justice, and so to the audience his mission seems doomed from the start. He heightens the humour by actually facilitating injustice as his sermon promoting justice acts as a distraction that enables Edgworth to pick Cokes pocket, as well as his being accused of thieving in Act III. However, the impression Jonson gives is not that Overdo becomes a self-important fool, but instead that he was always a self-important fool. The disguises Overdo takes one simply serve to expose this quality, ve ry visually in this case when he is put in the stocks. Similarly, in Volpone, Jonson complicates the ideas of disguise not only with the multiplicity of characters trying to deceive each other, but also the various levels on which this takes place, and the overlap between these levels. There is dramatic irony in the way that Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino are all seeking to ingratiate themselves with Volpone (thus trying to deceive him) in hope of securing his legacy, whilst in fact he is not unwell and ironically is making them look ridiculous by deceiving them. That their hypocrisy is exposed by an even more audacious and talented liar is comical, and whilst greed is presented as endemic in society all the characters display it at least Volpone is honest with himself about his vice. Indeed, the audience gets the sense that he gains pleasure in revelling in his disguise and exposing them, making a talent out of deception: Yet I glory more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession (Act I, scene I, lines 30 32). However, the dramatic irony takes a rather sharply dramatic twist when Volpones rÃÆ'Â ´le-playing begins to take to physical manifestations: Some power has struck me With a dead palsy (Act V, scene I, lines 6 7). Some of the physical signs of sickness that Volpone was imitating earlier in the play are now overcoming him, serving as metaphors for his inability to distinguish between truth and deceit, reality and disguise. sickness represents the destructive effect of disguise. However, one might also consider that disguises do not just conceal the outward appearance of someone, they also reveal to us something about the inward person (one has to ask what sort of a character would choose to deceive people in the way Volpone does). Therefore the Volpone the audience sees at the end of the play (in the metaphor of his sickness, representing his immorality) may not be the product of transformation in his period of disguise, but i nstead may simply exposed as the true Volpone. In The Alchemist, Jonson implies rÃÆ'Â ´le playing, character, transformation, and disguise through the theme of alchemy. Dutton argues a case paralleling alchemy with rÃÆ'Â ´le play, asserting that just as alchemy can be seen as meddling with nature, so too can imitation or disguise be seen as observing its own laws rather than the laws of nature: Till he firk nature up, in her own centre (Act II, scene I, line 28). That Face and Subtle are tricking other characters to believe that they are able to turn lead into gold is, however, part of their nature, just as it is in Moscas nature to deceive (he refers to it as his art [Act III, scene ii, line 30]). Since he makes his living out of it, Subtle may conceivably believe in the transmutation with which he tries to deceive, although it is unclear as to whether Jonson believed in alchemy. In Act II, scene iii, Subtle expounds the theory of alchemy in learned, scientific speech (lines 14 2 176) and this inclusion of Latin (Materia liquida [144] and propria materia [148]) and various elements, whilst seeming to contradict Subtles charlatan image, actually illustrates his proficiency in putting on a deceitful disguise. The perhaps obvious point that imitation is artificial and thus contrary to the rules of nature is also played out in Bartholomew Fair in Jonsons use of metatheatre. The speech of the Stage-keeper in The Induction on the Stage, and the play-within-the-play in Act V, scene IV, emphasise the artificiality of drama whilst demonstrating a self-consciousness that reminds the audience that the actors are constantly acting. The constant asides and interjections from the other characters watching the play, and the Stage-keepers sarcastic but simultaneously praising commendation of Jonsons play it is like to be a very conceited scurvy one, in plain English (Induction, line 9) serve to draw attention to the idea earlier outlined actors playing imitators onsta ge. The audience members are required to recognise this, in order that they might themselves be transformed by watching the imitation and action.The first time we see Mosca without his master, at the beginning of Act III, we see his independent streak, as never before has Jonson been able to characterise him out of the rÃÆ'Â ´le of obsequious servility. His I could skip (Act II, scene I, line 5) quite literally takes him leaping Out of [his] skin, now, like a subtle snake (line 6), and the snake symbol endows the metaphor with an additional power, since it has traditionally been used to represent temptation. The image of Mosca slipping out of his skin is a very exact one, and implies not that Mosca himself is transformation, but that, whilst remaining the same, he is changing appearance. This points to the idea that Mosca has always been resentful of his subservience. Moscas rÃÆ'Â ´le as sycophant had been seen as the archetypal parasite, but in his transformation of appearance and presentation Mosca actually transforms the image of a parasite. Whilst traditionally perceived as the stock comic and often pathetic character dependent on the rich whilst actually debased, here, the rÃÆ'Â ´le itself takes on a new meaning: Almost all the wise world is little else in nature but parasites or sub-parasites (Act III, scene ii, 11 13). By suggesting that parasitism has a universality, Mosca is also applying the label to the members of the audience, and so by the end of the play the audience itself is implicated. Having somewhat aligned ourselves with Volpone and Mosca, fascinated by the intrigue surrounding disguise and laughing at their ridiculing of the other characters, we suddenly become aware of our identification with Volpone, which sits uneasily in light of his attempted rape of Celia. Disguise in Volpone initially seems to create the impression of energy, creativity and a fascinating fluidity of character, as the audience are not completely sure of the re al Volpones identity, but on discovery the audience is forced to evaluate themselves. Jonson prompts us to think about the fact that the self-interest and greed present in Volpone is present in people universally, just as in The Alchemist, manipulates the audience into being carried away by Face and Subtles attractive rhetoric (for example, Subtles persuasive language already examined in Act II, scene i). We are momentarily swept away before we realise the folly we are condoning. As the Prologue warns us: They are so natural follies, but so shown, as even the doers may see, and yet not own (lines 23 24). The transformation appears when we recognise the irony of this audience-implication, at which point we are not implicated, because we acknowledge our own folly.As Quarlous reminds Bartholomew Cokes in the final scene of Bartholomew Fair, remember you are but Adam, flesh and blood! (Act V, scene vi, line 99) and it is this reminder that Jonson wishes his audiences to grasp throughou t all the farce and spectacle in these plays. Therefore Greenes assertion that the subject of Volpone is Protean man may therefore be deemed correct. Implicating mankind universally is Jonsons aim, and through imitation, he does this not by showing characters transform by disguise, but discover their folly and vice through disguise, and whether or not they exhibit a morally appropriate response to this, the audience is expected to by examining themselves.