Karl Swindlehurst Melancholy of the German Hussars :: English Literature

Karl Swindlehurst Melancholy of the German Hussars I have currently been studying three short stories. The first of the three short story’s The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion is one of seven stories from the â€Å"Wessex Tales† . The genre of this story is generally based around love and issues and consequences related to love, and also distresses the complications and coincidences within the love story. The story itself has three main characters in which a love triangle is formed. Phyllis, Humphrey and Mateus are the main characters in which Phyllis was engaged to Humphrey through an agreed marriage arranged by both Humphrey and her father. However that engagement breaks down when Humphrey goes to Bath on a trip which lasted longer than both Phyllis and her father had expected. In this time Phyllis had meet a man named Mateus. Mateus was a corporal in the German Hussars and both Mateus and Phyllis fall in love. The plot is based around the love of Phyllis and Mateus and also how the plan of Mateus going AWOL falling to pieces, and the build up to his death. Mateus and Humphrey are entirely different to each other in a sense of character looks, actions, and general attitude towards Phyllis. We first get a description of Humphrey around line 56, â€Å" Interests within the Court - was one Humphrey Gould a bachelor a personage neither young nor old; neither good-looking nor positively plain† The description is detailed yet vague, it leaves very much to be desired, â€Å" neither young nor old† it’s very bland, imprecise James Hardy is suggesting he is of middle age. In this short description we can devise a brief image of Humphrey. Around line 107 we are introduced with the interesting character of Mateus. â€Å" Her attention was arrested by a solitary figure walking along the path† the introduction that James Hardy has chosen is rather different to Humphrey maybe suggesting in an early stage in the story that he is more important. â€Å" It’s aspect was so striking, so handsome, and his eyes were so blue and sad, abstracted.† The description is of more beauty compared to Humphrey’s suggesting quite obviously Mateus is the better looking man. The acquaintance of Phyllis by both men were distinctively different. Humphrey approached Dr. Grove Phyllis father for her hand in marriage, Humphrey having come from a highly respected family Dr. Grove was overwhelmed, and saw this as an great opportunity for his family. Mateus’ s meeting with Phyllis differed to Humphreys. He was simply walking past and they both noticed each other, on the whole a more romantic meeting.

Сhaucer’s Use Of Biblical Material In ‘The Miller’s Tale’

The biblical references and implications in ‘The Miller's Tale' mockingly inter-relate the tale's sexual and vulgar content and its religious elements. It is a parody on and critique of the Church, mocking all sacred: the stories from the Bible, the saints, even the Holy Family. The ‘dronken' miller commences his tale in ‘Pilates voys', implying that the story will be condemning Christianity, since Pilates, according to the Bible, has condemned Jesus with his words. As the scholar clerk Nicholas and parish clerk Absolon represent St. Nicholas and Absalom, Son of David, miller sinfully compares two saints with two lustful and immoral men, who are concerned more with secular than the spiritual matters. Since carpenter John metaphorically represents Joseph and Noah, and his young wife Alison therefore represents Virgin Mary and Noah's wife, the miller this time immorally correlates Joseph/Noah and Virgin Mary/Noah's wife with a madman and a promiscuous, sly wife, when the Church forbids promiscuous behavior and implies that mad behavior is associated with the Satan. Further religious mocking is portrayed by the actions of Nicholas in the tale, as he does exact the opposite of what St. Nicholas did. While St. Nicholas was very zealous in his efforts to maintain ecclesiastical discipline and honor, especially in relation to the marriage laws, Nicholas the clerk has no concern for honor and respect toward marriage, as he is successfully pursuing a married woman. When one Countess left her husband for a paramour, St. Nicholas commanded that she should be excommunicated unless she returned to her husband. Nicholas in ‘The Miller's Tale', however, is even using religion to break the sanctity of marriage and influencing Alison to commit adultery, a sin. Nicholas, the clerk, invokes and manipulates the biblical story of Noah and the flood to convince the ignorant carpenter John of the impending flood, and further advance his own plan to sleep with Alison. By using his knowledge and religious references to invoke authority, Nicholas is successful in his deception, since the carpenter does not doubt the teaching of the Church. Furthermore, Nicholas hypocritically tells John that he and Alison must abstain from sleeping together because they will be awaiting God's grace. John believes everything Nicholas says; even that Nicholas is so knowledgeable that he knows God's business. John's knowledge, on the other hand, is limited, as he does not know there was no mention of Second Flood in the Bible, or that Noah built only one boat, not an additional one for his wife, nor does he know much about Noah's Arc, as his confusion of ‘Noees flood' and ‘Noweles flood' (line 710) shows. Carpenter John then agrees to make three boats, so that his wife Alison, Nicholas and John himself can be saved from the flood. Although Nicholas presents the story of Noah's flood as very similar to the story in the Bible, frequently calling upon ‘Goddes privetee' and ‘Goddess grace' to validate his reasoning, the story he tells contrasts greatly the story in the Bible. The original story helps to explain the power and compassion of God, since God sent Noah the flood because man had become corrupt and lecherous. These same sins are causing this fake ‘flood', thus strengthening Satan, and this time the plan is Nicholas'. In this way, Nicholas uses the sacredness of religion to pursue his private erotic-aesthetic sensual pleasures, with no sacredness attached; therefore he almost embodies Satan. Bible is degraded, in this way, being portrayed as only a tale book, one of many texts which can be played with and rewritten. Although the carpenter shows genuine fear of the flood and says it's not men's business to know about God's secret affairs, suggesting he respects and fears the power of God, by placing his complete trust in Nicholas, embodiment of Satan, he destroys his own piety. Like a joke on God, Nicholas does know God's secret affairs and what the future will bring. Nicholas further states that his plan will work because a clerk can fool a carpenter any day – a class distinction and condescension in contrast with the teachings of the Church. The entire scene encompasses several sins. First, the whole story is a lie and thus a sin. Lust, another sin, serves as the driving force behind this lie. Finally, Nicholas and Alison's intercourse out-of-wedlock for pleasure serves as the sinful result of the story. The miller therefore contorts the most holy image of Noah into a dreadful satanic scene of the tale. The fact that a man such as Nicholas sings ‘Angelus ad Virgenum' is itself mocking of the Church. Carpenter John's wife Alison portrays promiscuous behavior almost continuously throughout the tale; from the sinful encounter with Nicholas, agreement to deceit her husband to her indulge in adultery. When Nicholas tells her to sleep with him immediately, or he will ‘spille' (l. 170) so ‘God [him] save', it is another pun on religion as this ‘spille' could perhaps mean ‘waste the seed', God forbid, as opposed to depositing it with Alison's ‘mercy' (180). Right after she and Nicholas made a plan how to arrange their next adulterous encounter, Alison goes to church, juxtaposing the profane and the sacred in the same way. She is further sarcastically characterized by her name, as in Old English and German it means ‘honest', ‘noble' and most, or least, of all ‘holy'. After her husband tells her of the evacuation plan, Alison tells John she is his faithful wife – something he accepts and believes as a word of God, and John follows Nicholas' instructions just as Noah obeyed God even though everyone laughed at him. While John sleeps in the boat, Alison and Nicholas are in the bedroom until the morning church bells ring. The reference to the couple's intercourse in the same breath as the church bells is meant to perhaps show that man's plans sometimes unintentionally mirror God's order, or that their time in the bedroom ‘is up'. Their ‘doings' in the bedroom are even compared to ‘revel and melodye', music in God's praise, further mocking the Church. Absolon, who represents Absalom, Son of David, is a parish clerk who spends much time in taverns and looking at and flirting with other women, especially Alison. The miller suggests that this irreverent priest only performs his duties to engage in other secular, sinful practices. As a religious pun, Absolon in the tale has a ‘natural attraction' to women and all things secular, while Absalom, Son of David, was known for his ‘unnatural revolt'. By pursuing Alison, Absolon clearly shows that he has no intention of keeping his vow of chastity. It is emphasized that Absolon is combing his hair before going out, which is an added joke to confirm whom he represents, since Absalom, the Son of David, was also famous for his luxurious hair. Absolon knows that Alison has a husband, for she wears a head covering typical of married women, but he ignores this fact and lusts after her anyway, making his pursuit even more sinful. The head-coverings of the married women were designed to protect their hair, which St. Paul had deemed as holy. However, even this holy image is twisted into that of Satan later on in the tale. Absolon them goes to Alison's house, believing she is alone, and performs a parody of a morning prayer, asking for Alison's grace and mercy instead of God's. When he asks for her kiss, he kisses ‘beard' and realizes it was her pubic hair. In this way, Alison's pubic hair corrupts the holy hair image, because she uses it to conduct a dirty, sexual joke to combat the lustful longings of Absolon. Her ‘beard' is also perpetrated against, so it presents another pun on the holy hair image. Having vowed revenge, Absolon comes back to Alison's house with a hot ‘colter' (plowshare), which is a backward use of the Biblical adage turning swords into plowshares. Nicholas gets his punishment, and as he screams, word ‘water' triggers the double action of John cutting the rope that suspends his tub as he thinks the flood came, and Nicholas acting to soothe his pain. While the Church (Catholic Church, Jewish synagogue, etc. ) teaches respect for authority, ultimately invested in God, the Father, to whom the Jesus, the Son, submits, it regards adultery as a mortal sin, and teaches prudence and severe restraint in sexual matters. ‘The Miller's Tale' is the opposite, as the father figure, John, is overthrown by youth, Nicholas, and ironically, by the invocation of God's authority. From a pious point of view, this story laughs at the belief that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the miller is insinuating that Jesus was conceived by Mary's unfaithfulness to Joseph, not by any Holy Spirit. As an added pun, if Absolon also symbolizes the worshippers, as he worships Alison, then the wind Nicholas passes in Absolon's face is the award for any pilgrim, worshipping ‘true' beliefs in the Holy Tale of Conception and Sanctity. The miller further implies that Church's preaching against greed, blasphemy, gluttony, adultery and all things related to the Satan is hypocritical, as he parodies the sacred discipline and Church by showing characters representing the Church, behaving in all the forbidden and blasphemous manners.

Demand vs Supply Essay

The two main driving forces of the economy are supply and demand. Understanding the basic concepts of supply and demand can help an organization focus on the bottom line. According to Gretzen (2007), demand is the relationship between price and quantity. Supply refers to the amount of a good or service available at any particular price. The principle of supply and demand describes a balance that develops between the supply of an item or service and the demand for it (Kleinman, 2009). Economics plays a major role in the health care industry. As a resource, the health care workforce is a determinant of the balance between supply and demand. The health care workforce consists of nurses, physicians, and other ancillary health care workers such as certified nurses’ aides (CNA’s) and patient care associates (PCA’s). The supply of health care workers directly impacts the demand of quality care rendered to patients. SERVICE OR PRODUCT Health care organizations have specific stated missions and visions to map out their fundamental way of operation. In health care, the workforce is instrumental in assisting with the organizational delivery of services to consumers (patients). The primary issue for all health care workforce personnel is that of inadequate staffing. This paper focuses on the staffing effectiveness of supplemental staffing of health care personnel within the inpatient setting. IMPACT Nursing managers formulate staffing patterns on a daily basis. The staffing of inpatient units requires a knowledge of unit census (total bed capacity),  consideration of patient acuity (level of care required for the patient), and skill mix (nursing hours per patient per day and nurse patient ratio) (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). Often times, inadequate staffing is due to a high rate of call outs of sickness or other emergencies. Inadequate staffing directly impacts patient safety and quality of care. All health care titles render supplemental staffing coverage in one of two ways, overtime and through per-diem agencies. Overtime employment provides regular full time employees with monies set at a rate of time and half for any extra work completed over the prescribed 40 hours a week. Per-diem agencies are outside contractors capable of providing their own qualified titled personnel to fill vacancies with monies defined at a set rate. Patients are admitted to inpatient setting with varied co-morbidities may or may not indirectly increase the necessity of staff. Patients are often admitted for diagnoses of altered mental status, agitation / combativeness, risk for falls, suicidal ideation, and alcohol or drug intoxication. Many patients require a higher level of skilled care, such as turning and repositioning, and assistance with activities of daily living such as toileting and eating. It requires a higher staff to patient ratio to provide safe, effective quality care. PERSPECTIVE AND RATIONALE According to published reports there are key factors affecting the adequacy of the health care workforce. Some key factors include an aging workforce of where 40 percent of practicing physicians are older than 55, and one-third of the nursing workforce is over 50 with a majority of both professionals seeking to retire within the next 10 years (Alliance for Health Reform, 2011). The largest groups of health professionals in the United States are composed of Registered Nurses. Statistically, there is a huge decline in the numbers of nurses within all regions of the U.S. An estimated 118,000 FTE RNs will exit the workforce within the next five years (Staiger, Auerbac, & Buerhaus, 2012). This potentially leaves a major void in terms of numbers of bodies needed to fill vacated positions. Low staffing levels are associated with higher rates of adverse outcomes that are directly sensitive to nursing attention, such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, pressure ulcers, and falls (American Federation of Teachers, 2012). Unintended additional costs  associated with the development of complications in patients are greater than labor savings when units are understaffed. Acquiring pressure ulcers are estimated to cost the health care industry $8.5 billion per year (Kleinman, 2009) Overtime costs and per-diem agency costs can’t stand alone to solve the issues of staffing shortage. Their combined usage enables institutions to deliver optimal health care services to consumers/ patients. The supply of overtime and per-diem staff meets the increased demands of patients. It also assists in the delivery of quality care through services rendered. In terms of patient safety, the potentiality of the risk of injury to patients via falls, medication errors, and or sentinel events decreases. CONCLUSION The United States is a great consumer demand for health care services. The supply of such services is affected by varied factors. These factors directly influence the financial stability of health care organizations. Recessional times cause delays in career and retirement plans for health care professionals. In recessional times, there are noted changes in the supply and demand of the health care workforce. The shortage of registered nurses and providers in the workforce may inadvertently lead to a reduction in health care access for consumers. Inadequate staffing levels place heavy burdens on the nursing staff. Adverse events such as falls, hospital acquired infections and medication errors are potentially painful and life threatening events. Adverse events can result in considerable costs to be paid by the understaffed institution. For this reason alone, supplemental staffing via agency and overtime personnel provides a measure of increased patient safety. The future is trending towards the assistance in the recovery of the health care workforce shortage. It will rely heavily on the provisions made by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Alliance for health reform, 2011). Recruitment and reinvestment in health care professions especially nurses and physicians will assure sufficient supply of workforce personnel to meet the increased demands of health care economy and its’ consumers( Kaiser Foundation (2012). The Joint Commission bolsters workforce infrastructure through in-service and continuing education, supporting nursing education, and the adoption of set staffing levels based on  competency and skill mix relative to patient mix and acuity (Stanton, 2012). It also supports the establishment of financial incentives for health care organizations investing in nursing and workforce services. REFERENCES Alliance for Health Reform. (April, 2011). Health care workforce: Future Supply vs. Demand. Retrieved from http://www.allhealth.org/publications/medicare / health_care_workforce. American Federation of Teachers. (2012). Issues: Healthcare Staffing. Retrieved from http://www.aft.org/issues/healthcare/staffing/index.cfm Changes in Health Care Financing & Organization. (August, 2009). Issue brief: Impact of the economy on health care. Retrieved from http://www.academyhealth.org /files/hvfo/findings0809.pdf Getzen, T.E. (2007). Health economics and financing. (3rd ed.). John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. Kleinman, C. (2009). Health care supply & demand. Retrieved from http://www.community.advanceweb.com Staiger, D. O., Auerbach, D. I., & Buerhaus, P. I. (2012, April). Registered nurse labor supply and the recession- Are we in a bubble? New England Journal of Medicine, (366), 1463-1465. Stanton, M. (2012). Hospital nurse staffing and quality of care. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/research/nursestaffing/nursestaff.htm U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (July, 2002). Projected supply, demand, and shortages of registered nurses: 2000- 2020. Retrieved from http://hrsa.gov. The Kaiser Foundation. (2012). Nursing workforce: Background brief. Retrieved from http://www.kaiseredu.org/Issues-Modules