Moon and the Sun Essay

Moon and the Sun Essay Moon and the Sun Essay The Moon and The Sun Imagine a time when you were happily eating dinner with your family. Now imagine if in an instant, that being stripped away from your life. War during Ca. 400BC, the time period constantly exemplified an unsure notion of personal safety and safety of your loved ones. The famous playwright, Euripides (485 B.C.-406 B.C.), artistically attacks his own government for their involvement with the Peloponnesian War (499-449 B.C.), which â€Å"left Athens bankrupt, exhausted and demoralized.† (Kagen). Consequently Euripides used his magnificent talent of playwriting to publicly criticize the society in which he lived. In his two famous plays, The Women of Troy and Helen, he uses the Queen of Sparta, Helen, as a pawn piece to exemplify the horrible affects that war possesses. Euripides uses his two different Helen characters to describe to his audience that there are always two sides of â€Å"innocence† and â€Å"complicity† imbedded in war. Two years before Euripides’ second play, Women of Troy, Athens attacked an island off the coast of Greece called Melos. The small island was ransacked, slaughtered, and enslaved simply because the islanders refused to support Athens’ role in the Peloponnese War. During this siege, Euripides would have witnessed the mass number of enslaved women and children. Subsequently, he wrote his second brilliant play: Women of Troy, which strongly disapproved of Athens actions. In this dark tragedy, Euripides grants voice to the normally silenced women and thusly explores the innocence of war. The play contains numerous monologues of pure detriment. Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, is the character who expresses such atrocities. Euripides negatively accuses Helen to be the cause of devastation of war through Hecuba’s spoken words, such as the destruction of Troy and the slaughter of the men who fought for the great empire. Hecuba plays a key role in cataloguing Helen as â€Å"a bitch-whore† (Hughes 263). â€Å"I’ve done, Menelaus, kill her. For you, For Greece! Let her death teach all unfaithful wives† (Women of Troy, pg. 26). Hecuba, truly the innocent, the brave, the disgraced Queen of Troy, spits on Helen’s name when speaking to Menelaus because Helen doomed her beloved home. Out of pure anger, Hecuba savagely wants Helen dead for bringing destruction upon her monumental empire. Euripides uses his play Women of Troy to represent Helen as â€Å"a bitch-whore† solely for the purpose to show that in the Trojan War, she is guilty for countless murders. In Women of Troy, Menelaus wants Helen dead for running off and sleeping with Paris. Helen fights with strong conviction for her life. Constantly throughout history, the ten excruciating years of the Trojan War are blamed repeatedly on Helen. â€Å"On that adulterous whore a ten years’ hate† (Brooke. Line 3). However, we learn a different egotistical side of our sweet Helen in Women of Troy. Throughout Women of Troy, the audience is constantly slapped in the face by her short, arrogant remarks that defile her own rebuttals to why she should be spared. â€Å"I should be wearing a victor’s crown. Instead, I’m sold for my beauty, Spat upon† (Women of Troy, pg. 24). Helen makes blatant remarks of her importance that manifest a negative aspect of her character. â€Å"All I a nd Paris did, Was to benefit Greece, not Troy† (Women of Troy, pg. 24). Euripides magnifies that when Helen is faced with the pertinent threat of death, Helen roughly blames all fault on the gods. Many may argue that Helen indeed was innocent in Women of Troy, and that she is simply just trying to fight for her life. However, Helen uses pompous language and sarcastic statements throughout her plead to Menelaus that result in nothing but feelings of utter disgust toward the begging Helen. â€Å"How could I win? The gods did this. Do you challenge their will, their power? Are you so foolish?† (Women of

Noise and Interference in Various Types of Communication

Noise and Interference in Various Types of Communication In communication studies and information theory, noise  refers to anything that interferes with the communication process between a speaker and an audience. It is also called interference. Noise can be external (a physical sound) or internal (a mental disturbance), and it can disrupt the communication process at any point. Another way to think of noise, says Alan Jay Zaremba, is as a factor that reduces the chances of successful communication but does not guarantee failure. (Crisis Communication: Theory and Practice, 2010) Noise is like second-hand smoke, says Craig E. Carroll, having negative impacts on people without anyones consent. (The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Reputation, 2015) Examples and Observations External noises are sights, sounds and other stimuli that draw peoples attention away from the message. For instance, a pop-up advertisement may draw your attention away from a web page or blog. Likewise, static or service interruptions can play havoc in cell phone conversations, the sound of a fire engine may distract you from a professors lecture or the smell of donuts may interfere with your train of thought during a conversation with a friend. (Kathleen Verderber, Rudolph Verderber, and Deanna Sellnows, Communicate! 14th ed. Wadsworth Cengage 2014) Kinds of Noise There are four kinds of noise. Physiological noise is a distraction caused by hunger, fatigue, headaches, medication and other factors that affect how we feel and think. Physical noise is interference in our environments, such as noises made by others, overly dim or bright lights, spam and pop-up ads, extreme temperatures, and crowded conditions. Psychological noise refers to qualities in us that affect how we communicate and interpret others. For instance, if you are preoccupied with a problem, you may be inattentive at a team meeting. Likewise, prejudice and defensive feelings can interfere with communication. Finally, semantic noise exists when words themselves are not mutually understood. Authors sometimes create semantic  noise by using jargon  or unnecessarily technical language. (Julia T. Wood, Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters, 6th ed. Wadsworth 2010) Noise in Rhetorical Communication Noise...refers to any element that interferes  with the generation of the intended meaning in the mind of the receiver...Noise may arise in the source, in the channel; or in the receiver. This factor of  noise  is not an essential part of the rhetorical  communication process. The  communication process  is always hampered to some degree if noise is present. Unfortunately, noise is almost always present. As a cause of failure in rhetorical communication, noise in the receiver is second only to noise in the source. Receivers of rhetorical communication are people, and no two people are exactly alike. Consequently, it is impossible for the source to determine the exact effect that a message will have upon a given receiver...The noise within the receiver- the psychology of the receiver- will determine to a great extent what the receiver will perceive. (James C McCroskey, An Introduction to Rhetorical Communication: A Western Rhetorical Perspective, 9th ed.; Routledge, 2016) Noise in Intercultural Communication For effective communication in an intercultural interaction, participants must rely on a common language, which usually means that one or more individuals will not be using their native tongue. Native fluency in a second language is difficult, especially when nonverbal behaviors are considered. People who use another language will often have an accent or might misuse a word or phrase, which can adversely affect the receivers understanding of the message. This type of distraction referred to as semantic noise, also encompasses jargon, slang  and even specialized professional terminology. (Edwin R. McDaniel et al., Understanding Intercultural Communication: The Working Principles. Intercultural Communication: A Reader, 12th ed., ed. by Larry A Samovar, Richard E Porter and Edwin R McDaniel, Wadsworth, 2009)