Managing strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing strategy - Case Study Example Starbucks Corporation is a global coffee retailing organisation headquartered in Seattle of United States (US). It was established in the year 1985 by three English partners named Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker (Smith, 2007). It is one of the leading coffee house conglomerates in the world with a substantial reputation and corporate brand image (Bigboardnews.Com, 2012; Thompson & Shah 2010). Apart from beverage sector, it also deals in restaurants and entertainment division. Starbucks is the market leader in beverage sector in global market with annual revenue of $10.7 billion at the end of the year 2010 (Starbucks Corporation, 2009). Starbucks mainly attempts to offer most delicious coffee to its customers in order to inspire individuals in the targeted market (Starbucks Corporation, 2011). Hence, from the SWOT analysis, it can be clearly depicted that even though Starbucks is a renowned organisation with a sustainable corporate image in international market, it includes certain limitations as mentioned above. Besides, it can also lead to varied threats as well due to alternative market trends and preferences amid the targeted customers. This might also result due to globalisation. Hence, from the above PESTEL analysis, a detail overview about varied external factors which are most likely to have a substantial impact over Starbucks’ international operations can be evaluated in an appropriate way in order to understand the impact of these aspects on Starbucks. Thus, from this investigation, it can be clearly determined that there are higher prospects of expansion and development of Starbucks in future years. With reference to the PESTLE analysis, the prime factors which can offer a significant impact on Starbucks can be identified which is described below: Starbucks is one of the leading coffee retailing brands in the global context which positions itself as the market leader in food and beverage sector.

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay Information technology is an exciting and emerging day by day technology which requires communication systems for data and services exchange. As nowadays every services and products uses computer and internet as a medium to interchange data or money in an open internet, hence prone to vulnerabilities. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attack to the availability of the resources available, so that authenticated users do not use those resources. This paper intended to explore the existing threats and vulnerabilities of DDoS with possible solutions and recommendations plus overview and architecture methodology of this kind of attack. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability are the three main features of the any computer network communication systems. DDoS which is a subset of Denial of service (DoS) attack, which result in overwhelming the victim machine and deny the services to its legitimate users results in Unavailability of the resources and services for concern clients. Some examples are smurf attack, SYN UDP floods and ping of death. DDoS is a type of DoS attack but uses distributed computers from different location to attack on a particular victim may be a server or client which results into the stopping of its functionality to provide services, hence unavailability of the server ultimately results loss in monetary plus status of the organization. It works by flooding all the network of the given organization with unwanted traffic, the first well known DDoS was identified in 2000 on yahoo.com which goes down to around two hours. The DDoS is a result of weakness of internet which prone to several vulne rabilities as internet was designed only for functionality but not concern about any security. As internet is an open network everything is open and is shared among authenticated users. Another big problem is that it is not centralized network different organization, different countries have their own rules and regulation regarding internet. DDoS Layer Involved The DDoS attack mainly occurs in three layers of the OSI model which are layer 3 (Network) layer 4 (transport) and layer 7 (application). In transport layer what exactly happens is that attacker uses a forged IP address to request for connection so in typical connection, 3 way TCP handshake is done but in this attack it does not complete 3 way handshake but send connection request over and over server reserves resources for each attempt and results in out of connection requires for the legitimate users. In network layer it includes ping of death and ICMP requests, where as in application layer is kind of effective DDoS attack and hard to detect because it passes the 3 way handshake and treated as authenticated user to the concern server, so attacker requests a large amount of data continuously through HTTP and results in avoiding its legitimate users as got busy with those false requests. In DDoS attack a combination of those three layers results in an effective attack that results i n some really drastic effects. Application Layer Presentation Layer Session Layer Transport Layer Network Layer Data link Layer Physical Layer Fig: 1-Layers Involved in DDoS DDoS Architecture The main purpose of DDoS attack is to overwhelm the related server and makes it down, it can be for benefit or for fun only but in both case legitimate clients suffered as bandwidth, resources, memory and CPU got wasted. DDoS attack architecture consists of hierarchy pattern to attack; the four main components of DDoS are as follows: Attacker Master Machines/Handler Zombie Machines Victim First of all attacker scans thousands of computers on the internet independent of the origin of the systems for known vulnerabilities that is which have minimum security aspect on the computer and makes Master machines or handlers, its consists of more than two systems to many depends upon how sophisticated is attack, after making handlers rest scans for the vulnerable systems is done by these handlers, which results in thousands of zombies across the globe without knowledge of concern users and when these zombies are ready attacker can execute for attack and makes the victim down. Attacker Master Machines/Handlers Zombie Machines Victim Fig: 2- DDoS Architecture As seen from the above figure attacker takes control of one or more than one masters which then take control over thousands zombies and when triggered at a specific time these zombies flood the victim. These attack results with the use of some tools (software or malware) which to be install on the masters and zombies so that attacker can take controls through these tools and monopoly the systems. Here above the communication between attacker and master machines is done through TCP protocol whereas between master machines to zombie and zombie machines to victim use UDP protocol for communication, as UDP is unreliable protocol so does not hold any state and results in no trace back, it uses TCP for initial communication because it needs to organize other subordinates with master machines. DDoS Tools The tools used by DDoS attack are very sophisticated as it runs in background or in foreground with the systems program name and is not visible or very hard to detect by administrators. Trin00, tribal flood network, stacheldraht, tribal flood network 2000, trinity, wintrin00, MStream and etc are the examples of such kind of tools used in DDoS attack, by this tools attacker installed and executes accordingly. It also helps him to facilitates co ordination between masters and zombie, and execute timer also to bombards at a fixed time, so that all zombies attacks the victim. Trin00 scans for buffer overflows in systems and install attack shell daemon through remote shell, it communicate through unencrypted UDP. In tribal flood network, it installs the daemon which carries out the multiple attacks like ICMP flood, UDP flood, SYN flood, communication done through ICMP ECHO and REPLY. List of zombies daemon IP address is encrypted in later version of TFN. Stacheldraht uses the combination of trin00 and TFN. Encryption takes place between attacker and masterà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s communication and attacks are similar to TFN. Trinity floods through UDP, SYN, and ACK through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has a backdoor program which monitors TCP port. MStream uses forged TCP packets with ACK flag set, it uses TCP and UDP floods with no encryption in between but master machines are kept password protected. Beside these tools various other program and tools are readily available for such kind of attack which leaves no residue to trace back. DDoS Types DDoS are acts differently but mainly classified in two main categories according to their attack pattern which are as follows: Bandwidth Depletion attack Resource Depletion attack In bandwidth depletion attack the main targeted area is the bandwidth of the concern victim by overwhelming with unwanted traffic more than 10 Gbps (It depends) and prevents the legitimate users from gaining access for the services. Some examples of such attacks are UDP flood, ping flood, Smurf and reflection attacks which bombards with unwanted traffic to make unavailability of the services. Whereas in resource depletion attack, the main concern area are the resources available. This attack leads to the out of resource available for the concern users by TCP SYN attack, PUSH ACK attack, Teardrop attack. These attacks through the requests like SYN to the concern server which in return reserves resources for this request, but attacker bombards the same again and again and hence server goes out resources. DDoS Detection The very first question about this attack is that, how to know if DDoS attack happened in any organization or in any machine. So following are some ways to know if it occurs: Performance of CPU, Memory and bandwidth degrades abnormally. Services become unavailable or partially available. Cannot access given resources properly. These above are preliminary steps to know the DDoS attack. It can be monitor through the continuously analyzing of the systems. DDoS Defense Practically speaking it is impossible to prevent DDoS attack but what we can do is to reduce its effect or tries to make security strong as much as possible. The following are very basic defense mechanism against DDoS attacks are: Prevention Detection Classification Justifying Tracing back The first phase called prevention which means to prevent from DDoS attack as much as possible that is to prevent itself to be part of the attack architecture, so not to become handler. It is done through the continuous monitor of the systems but every user is not aware of the security issues. The second phase describes to know that if the systems are under attack by verifying abnormal activities like CPU or bandwidth uses, it can done through firewalls or routers. The third phase is classification of the detected attack according to its prototypes like IP Addresses, protocol used and packet type used; it can be done through the use of Intrusion Detection System for future countermeasure. The fourth mechanism is justifying the detected attack that is how to deal with the known or detected attack one way is to block the whole traffic from those addresses by using access control list on gateways or react accordingly another approach is to trace back the detected packet so that source ca n be identified. The final part of our defense mechanism is trace back which will be covered in later section of this paper. DDoS trace back DDoS trace back is possible to zombies only but may be if done in proper way can leads to the attacker, chances are very rare as it is independent of the location. Some of the methods are as follows: Link Testing Controlled Flooding ICMP Trace back IP Trace back In link testing, when attack is in progress routers can co ordinates with each other to determines which router originated the attack traffic and can trace to the upstream but requires inter ISP co operations as different connections are maintained by different ISP. Whereas in controlled flooding it floods each incoming links of the router to determines the source but needs router co operation and better network map, similarly in ICMP and IP trace back a reverse path is generated to identify the source but path can be long and packet format space is limited to cope. DDoS Security measures As currently various research are going on to stop DDoS attack and it may takes time but DDoS becoming deadly day by day and is considered second in financial losses due to attack after viruses but comparison to virus it is very new and have vast effect with no remedy. So only option we got is to make it harder for attacker to penetrate into the systems, and following are some security precaution we should follow: Install and update continuously antivirus and spyware software from trusted authority and run regularly. Patches the security components of the systems continuously and be always ready for up gradation of systems. A well set network infrastructure with proper installation of firewalls and routers with appropriate policies, so that unwanted traffic and organization traffic can be separated clearly. Filters incoming traffic on routers or rate-limit certain types of traffic like ICMP and SYN packets. Monitors continuously incoming and outgoing packets and if some abnormality seen then react accordingly. Use Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide internal IP addresses. Use Intrusion detection systems (IDS) implement host based IDS plus network based IDS in a mix pattern to filter and detect abnormalities in the network. Egress and Ingress filtering, these are filtering mechanism implement on IP traffic. Egress sets the ranges of IPs leaving the organizationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s network whereas in ingress a set of IP address ranges are allowed to move into the network. Using of SYN and RST cookies to verifies both communication parties with the help of cookies, so that legitimate clients can access the resources. Use a proxy server in between the network so that a request goes via proxy to server and proxy filters it according the rules implemented on it. Implement Honeypots systems, these are the systems in an organization with open security and are separated with internal network to know the attack pattern. At last but not least literate the users or clients about the security concerns. Conclusion DDoS Attack is an attack on availability of the resources and services which results in financial losses, loss of organization reputation, and disturbance in work flow environment. The bitter truth is that the security technologies like firewall, routers and IDS are very week to prevent DDoS as it cannot differentiate between original and fake traffic. Another factor is that it uses IP spoofing, difficult to verify with original packets plus the routing involved is stateless. Hence results in very strong attack. In this paper we have gone through the DDoS overview with its architecture layouts plus types and tools involved in DDoS attack. We have highlighted the DDoS detection part and visualize the security aspects and implementation to safeguard the assets against such attack plus a brief summary to how to trace back. To compete with DDoS one way effort cannot prevent or defeat it, it needs all round support to tackle with it like among different internet communities, different countries to enforce such laws and regulation strictly to cope with it. suggestions DDoS is a newer and disastrous attack, so to prevent it I would suggest that very carefully implement DDoS security measures which are defined above. Beside these IPSec and SSL/TLS protocols implementation can helps a lot to prevent. VPNs can be added for secure channel communications. Use Mozilla Firefox as browser instead of others.

Toms Character in the Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

Tom Buchanan’s moral character can be quesitoned due to his dispicable and patheic nature when it comes to his actions throughout the novel. Even though he was born into a wealthy family and thus inherited the wealth he has in the novel, no signs of moral teachings by his family were evident. The actions he took in the book were due to him being a conceited and ignorant man. His ignorance was a result of the easy access he had to power and wealth. He feels that because he has wealth and power in society, he is given the acquiescence to be as arrogant and immoral as he so chooses and society cannot do anything about it. Because of this he looks down upon people that he feels are lower in the social and financial ladder. An example of this is when Nick is talking to tom about his accomplice in adultery and Nick says â€Å"Doesn’t her(Myrtle Wilson) husband object?† and Tom replies with â€Å"Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive† (Gatsby 26). This indicates that Tom is very cocky and ignorant. Tom’s immoral acts in the novel stem from his overconfidence and ignorance due to his wealth and power. This is further proved by the fact that when his first and only child was born, he left Daisy without any support only one hour after the birth of their daughter. This is shown in the novel when Daisy says â€Å"Well she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where† (Gatsby 22). For most, the birth of a child would be a joyous occasion and a reason for celebration but as for Tom’s case, he had no love for Daisy at that time. If he had love for her, he would not commit a sin and perpetrate adultery with Myrtle Wilson. A man with strong morals would never commit the sin of betraying their spouse and then cause the other person to do the same in the process. Moreover, he uses his accomplice in the adultery as an object and has no care or consideration for her whatsoever. An example of this is an altercation between Myrtle and Tom : â€Å"Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!† shouted Mrs. Wilson. â€Å"I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy!

Determining the Concentration of Calcium Carbonate in an Unknown Substance through the Methods of Titration Aim Essay

Determine the concentration of the unknown ethanoic acid solution by titrating with a known concentration of sodium hydroxide Equipment and Materials * Unknown ethanoic acid * 50cm3 burette * 250cm3 Erlenmeyer flask * 100cm3 beaker (for CH3COOH) * 200cm3 beaker (for NaOH) * 100cm3 beaker (for waste) * Standardized sodium hydroxide solution * Burette clamp * Retort stand * Phenolphthalein indicator * 50cm3 graduated cylinder * Distilled water (to rinse the flask) Procedure: To begin with, obtain approximately 200 cm3 of sodium hydroxide solution. Then, set up the retort stand and burette clamp as indicated in the diagram below. Using two 10 cm3 aliquots of the NaOH solution, rinse the burette twice. Next, fill to above the 0.00cm3 mark and drain down to below the 0.00cm3 mark in order to remove any air bubbles. After that, transfer 50 cm3 of the unknown acid into the 250cm3 flask. Into the same flask, place 2 drops of the phenolphthalein indicator. Finally, add sodium hydroxide from the burette until you reach the endpoint. Procedural Notes To accommodate for the sodium hydroxide that splashes to the sides of the flask, distilled water was used. Using the distilled water on the sides of the flask was rinsed down to bring the sodium hydroxide to the rest of the solution in the flask. Also, when dropping a half-drop into the flask, the following procedure was used: First, a half-drop was made at the tip of the burette. Then, using the flask, the half-drop was collected to the flask’s side. Finally, using the distilled water, the half-drop was rinsed down to the rest of the solution. To make it easier to recognize the endpoint of the reaction, a white paper was put under the flask. This way, it was easier to see when the solution changed color. Observation (Data Collection): Quantitative Data Measurements Recorded During the Experiment Trial 1 2 3* 4* Initial Burette Reading (ml?0.02ml) 0.20 0.42 0.10 0.23 Final Burette Reading (ml?0.02ml) 45.70 45.93 45.39 45.30 Volume of Ethanoic Acid Used (ml?0.04ml) 50.00 50.00 50.00 50.00 *To increase the results, trial 3 and 4 was taken from another group to get more data, thereby increasing the accuracy of the data. Qualitative Data Descriptions of the Substances Used and Produced Sodium Hydroxide Clear solution, low viscosity, slippery Ethanoic acid Clear solution, acidic, Phenolphthalein indicator Clear solution, comes in bottle, add as drops Solution Produced (NaCH3COO(aq) + H2O) Clear/pink throughout, trail 4 was the most successful as it was closest to clear than all other trails. Volume of trial 1 was greatest as a lot of water was used in order to wash down the sodium hydroxide stuck to the side of the flask. Data Analysis The neutralization reaction between sodium hydroxide and ethanoic acid is Sodium Hydroxide + Ethanoic acid –> Sodium Ehthanoate + Water Therefore, the molar ratio is 1 mole of sodium hydroxide to 1 mole of ethanoic acid. Sodium hydroxide is known to have a concentration of 1.003 mol dm-3à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.004 mol dm-3. Consequently, the following represents the calculations to determine the concentration of ethanoic acid in trial 1: Using similar calculations, the concentration of ethanoic acid for trials 2,3, and 4 were calculated as well. The following table represents the results. Results for the calculations of the concentration of ethanoic acid used in each trial Trial Concentration of CH3COOH / mol dm-3 CH3COOH Uncertainties / % 1 0.913 1.3 2 0.913 1.3 3 0.909 1.3 4 0.904 1.3 Average 0.910 1.3 Conclusion: In conclusion, the result of this lab indicates that the concentration of CH3COOH is 0.910 mol dm-3. Using this value, and the actual value of ethnoic acid, 0.9190 mol dm-3 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½0.0004 mol dm-3, percent error was calculated as follows: With this, we see that the percent of uncertainties is greater than the percent error. The percent of uncertainties represents the random errors, in which the measured value can either be bigger or smaller than the accepted value, due to an imprecise measurement. To improve these random errors, it is necessary to use more precise equipment and/or repeat measurements. One example of this would be to use a pipette instead of a graduated cylinder, especially because ?0.4 cm3 is a relatively large uncertainty. Consequently, the use of such equipment led to the percent of uncertainties being greater than the percent error. This means that the random errors cover for the errors in this lab. However, there are a couple potential systematic errors that should be appointed in this lab. The biggest one would be that it is hard to get to the endpoint, where the solution is barely pink. In all trials, the solution became clear pink. However, it was only in trial 4 that the solution was truly ambiguous to whether it was slightly pink. The difficulty of getting to this ambiguous clear pink is definitely a systematic error as it always leads to a larger volume of sodium hydroxide used to react. One way to improve this may be to perform the lab in a longer time span. When I performed the lab, I felt pressured to get a sufficient amount of trials done within the class period. By stretching the time span of the lab, it may be possible to take more time and get better quality results. A more realistic improvement may be to record measurements more frequently when approaching the endpoint. This would give us two measurements that the endpoint lies within, helping us estimate where the endpoint actually is. However, improving this error would lead to a smaller volume of sodium hydroxide, a smaller value for the concentration of ethanoic acid, which would make the observed value further from the true value. Another systematic error in this lab is the sodium hydroxide splashing to the sides of the flask. Although using water to rinse the sodium hydroxide down was aimed to cover this, another way to improve this may be to use equipment with a wider mouth, such as a beaker, instead of a flask. Once again, improving this error would lead to a greater percent error for the same reasons as the difficulty of getting an ambiguous pink color. Next, although it most likely did not affect the results in this lab, there is a question to whether rinsing the burette two times is sufficient. To improve this, it may be suggested that rinsing the burette 4 times is more sensible, even though it is time consuming. A final systematic error comes when transferring the ethanoic acid from the graduated cylinder. When this happens, some of the ethanoic acid may be retained in the graduated cylinder. This is a systematic error as this always leads to a smaller volume of ethanoic acid than measured. To improve this error, one may pour a tiny bit more than 50 ml of ethanoic acid, and measure that as 50 ml of ethanoic acid. Improving this error leads to a larger volume of ethanoic acid, a lower concentration of ethanoic acid, and once again, an increase in percent error. All in all, it is very interesting how knowing the amount of one substance can help determine the amount of another substance, although it is a topic that appears frequently in chemistry. In this case, knowing the number of moles of sodium hydroxide enabled us to know the concentration of the ethanoic acid. Furthermore, this lab helps one enhance their knowledge on the difficulty of setting up a lab. By reviewing and understanding the errors to a lab, one can relate the improvements to future labs. In a nutshell, this lab exemplified the process of titration, and how useful it can be.

How does Shakespeare invoke a sense of evil in Macbeth? Essay

Narrating the climactic downfall and eventual death of a Scottish thane, â€Å"Macbeth† is widely regarded as one of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, alongside â€Å"Hamlet†, â€Å"Othello† and â€Å"King Lear†. â€Å"Macbeth† is typical of the other three tragedies through several key factors, the first of which is the qualities of the protagonist. As with the other tragedies, Macbeth is a notable man of high status who bears many heroic qualities, including extreme valour and honour. However, much like with Othello and his jealousy, Macbeth is undone by his greed and ambition, his fatal flaw, or â€Å"harmartia† in the Greek. These flaws play a role in the hero’s fall from grace and eventual death, and these occurrences imbue the audience with a sense of loss and waste; thus the genre is deemed a ‘tragedy’. If the protagonist was solely brought down by his own flaws the piece would cease to be a tragedy, as there would be no sense of loss or waste upon the hero’s demise, as they would appear to be malevolent and deserving of their downfall. Instead, Shakespeare also incorporates external factors contributing to the downfall; in the case of â€Å"Macbeth†, Lady Macbeth and the Witches are used, coaxing Macbeth into regicide. If the protagonist were to be influenced too heavily by the separate circumstance then the hero would begin to appear as a puppet, completely corrupted and controlled. A fine balance is found during Shakespeare’s four great tragedies between character-based flaws and external circumstances’ influencing the hero’s actions, and subsequently the feeling of tragedy is massive. This is perhaps a defining factor as to why these four tragedies have received so much acclaim, after all a tragedy is defined by the effect it has on the audience. â€Å"Macbeth† however makes one large departure from the generic formulae in that throughout the play Shakespeare conveys a sense of concentrated evil, not seen in the other tragedies. Concentrated evil is achieved through various characters in the play including the witches, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Indeed, evil is commonplace throughout â€Å"Macbeth†, with children being slaughtered and various assassinations. Shakespeare’s acclaimed inclusion of the witches is a prominent factor in the suggestion of evil throughout the piece. Indeed, immediately in the first scene, you are instantly submerged into this dire, supernaturally influenced world, plagued by the presence of these malevolent witches. Consequently, the sense of evil is evoked right from the opening of the curtains. An aspect of the witches which grabs our attention immediately is the intermittent rhyme and riddle of their dialogue. As the second witch answers â€Å"when the hurley-burley’s done, when the battles lost and won† this unconventional rhyming speech supplements the witches’ already alien nature, as well as adding confusion as to what these riddles portend. Also, as the witches chant in unison â€Å"†¦hover through the fog and filthy air† it seems they share a magical link by which they may indulge in the same evil thoughts. This, for the audience of the time, would be a disturbing piece of imagery. At times what the witches say may be paradoxical, adding to the dialogue’s riddling nature, for example when they drone â€Å"fair is foul and foul is fair†. The aberrant speech style of the witches is used by them throughout the play, with the exception of ‘Act 3, Scene 5’ which will be discussed later. It is also evident from this first scene that the witches have an unholy alliance or affiliation with the future and time. The third witch proclaims â€Å"that will be ‘ere the set of sun† displaying her knowledge of future events, and so augmenting the witches already supernatural, malevolent image. With this development the sisters seem all the more potent as with their knowledge of the future comes also the ability to meddle and pervert it. Displayed also is the witches’ association with the elements as the first witch questions â€Å"in thunder, lightning or in rain?†, as though they have a slight mastery over the elements. The thunder and lightning of the scene is more evidence of their power over the elements. We see the witches’ use of familiars when the first witch says â€Å"I come, Graymalkin†, a tool with which the sisters may communicate to the devil. Again, the application of this familiar, in this case a cat, adds further to the witches’ malevolent aura, and the sense of concentrated evil. Over the years, different directors have added various features in order to maintain the scene’s originality. For example, Polanski’s version saw the witches on a beach burying a severed arm, whilst, in contrast Frain’s version depicted the witches as children on a council estate. As the play progresses, the witches’ spiteful, vindictive nature becomes ever more apparent, as they display their malevolence during various scenes. Notable for exhibition of evil is Act 1, Scene 3 in which the sisters describe how they deprived the hapless sailor of sleep, stating â€Å"sleep shall neither night nor day, hang upon his penthouse lid†. This shocking image is made doubly repulsive by how the witches seem to be thoroughly enjoying the whole scenario. Moreover, in the same scene, the witches brandish a severed â€Å"pilot’s thumb†, another revolting image, which is indeed evident of their malicious nature. An example of them dabbling in the dark arts is seen in Act 4, Scene 1 where they brew the vile potion, chanting the theatrically legendary lines â€Å"double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble†. With repulsive detail, they describe the ingredients of the potion, one such being a â€Å"liver of blaspheming Jewâ €  and a â€Å"finger of birth-strangled babe†. This horrific concoction is indicative of their very nature: vile and against society and nature. Due to these malevolent acts, the witches are often referred to as and associated with, agents of evil, for example in Act 4, Scene 1 Macbeth refers to them as â€Å"you secret, black, and midnight hags!†. Another example can be found in Act 1, Scene 3 where Banquo calls the witches â€Å"the instruments of darkness†. They influence the characters to such an extent that they refer to them with such titles; this is further evidence of the witches’ concentrated malevolence. It must not be forgotten also that the witches were the ones who originally ensnared Macbeth with promises of greatness, which were partially accountable for him committing regicide. This can be seen in Act 1, Scene 3 as the third witch greets Macbeth, saying â€Å"All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter†. Had the witches not tainted the noble Macbeth, he may have never fallen and so the evil of the witches can be held partially responsible. The witches can be seen meddling once more during Act 4, Scene 1 where they blind Macbeth into believing he is nigh on invincible with several prophecies. And so, Macbeth becomes complacent, fooled by the witches’ misleading prophecies. Their malevolence is clear to see through their misguiding of Macbeth, as well as the other example given. The witches are depicted as having a haunting physical presence, both through their actual physical appearance and through their chilling language. In terms of their physicality, the witches are only described once during the play by Banquo in Act 1, Scene 3. He describes them as being â€Å"withered and so wild in their attire†, telling directly of their abnormal manifestation. Also, Banquo tells of how the witches â€Å"look not like the inhabitants of the earth†, showing how they are supernatural to such an extent that even their appearance makes us question whether they of this world. Disturbingly, the witches’ appearance is so distorted that their very gender is ambiguous, as Banquo describes how their sex â€Å"man may question†. Their strangeness in appearance would immediately show to the audience the witch’s malevolence, as well as encouraging a sense of foreboding towards them. Along with their appalling appearance is their unorthodox and seemingly corrupting language. As discussed before, their language generally is spoken like a rhyming chant, further supporting their supernatural image. Implementing this chant-like dialogue enhances the threat which the witches impose on the audience, such as during Act 4, Scene 1 where a witch drones â€Å"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes† , far more chilling then a non-rhyming alternative. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s mind seems to be defiled by the witches, so far that at times even his language seems tainted and so echoes theirs at regular intervals. For example, during Act 3, Scene 4 Macbeth cries â€Å"It will have blood they say, blood will have blood† and in Act 4, Scene 1 he declares â€Å"I conjure you by which you profess†. Both these quotations bear a resemblance to the dialogue adopted by the witches and as such it seems as though Macbeth is either tainted by their influence or just obsessed with them. This is further suggestion of their evil, as their malevolence is such that their influence seems to have corrupted Macbeth’s mind. In complete contrast, during the scene of ‘dubious authorship’ (or Act 3, Scene 5), the suggestion of evil through the language is comparatively tame and the established speech conventions adopted by the witches are neglected. Shakespeare cleverly omits the witches’ usual language style in order to highlight their angst at having angered Hecate. Rather then using the typical chanted rhyming style, instead what little the witches do say is blunt and concise, as when a witch says â€Å"come, lets make haste; she’ll soon be back again†. Aside from the lack of rhyming, the witches’ speech lacks its usual dark and evil content; for example a witch simply questions â€Å"why how now, Hecate, you look angerly?† This is heavily altered from their previous dialogue, for example during Act 1, Scene 3 when a witch declares â€Å"like a rat without a tail, I’ll do, I’ll do and I’ll do†. This quotation contains various dark themes, for example the disfigured rat, and is vastly different from the dialogue seen in Act 3, Scene 5. The speech in this scene also lacks the usual complexity used in other scenes, instead adopting a far more concise and simple language. However, because the witches make no reference to evil during this scene, this does not mean that their characters become less malevolent in nature. This is because they make no reference to evil as they are so fearful for their own safety, thus they still seem as vindictive and malicious as ever, only with self-preservation as a priority. â€Å"Macbeth† includes various themes which were relevant to the audience at the time; thus the play bore a higher significance to them, one such being the inclusion of the weird sisters. James I, King of England at the time, had a particular obsession with the hunting and executing of witches, caused by having nearly been killed during a storm, which he believed to have been caused by witches. This hate for witches filtered through the kingdom, meaning the persecution of witches or witch sympathisers was commonplace. James’s paranoia went so deep that he even wrote a book entitled â€Å"Daemonologie† inciting hate towards witches and other like creatures. Thus witches were widely regarded as a threat to the contemporary Renaissance audience and so when Shakespeare included the â€Å"three weird sisters† in â€Å"Macbeth† the audience became more emotionally invested in the performance. Also, the prevailing theme of regicide, central to the play, w ould hold significance to the somewhat paranoid king, thus further immersing him in the drama. Although the witches are certainly responsible for triggering the eventual decision to commit regicide, it must be acknowledged that Macbeth himself is culpable and so may be considered partly malevolent. Highlighting his drastic choice of evil is his initial potential and heroic virtues described in Act 1, Scene 2. The Captain exclaims â€Å"brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name† telling us how his comrades admire his valour and respect his courage. We are then told how Macbeth fought â€Å"disdaining fortune†, thus fighting unafraid against the odds. Macbeth is then likened to â€Å"valour’s minion†, symbolising just how courageous and brave he is; that he is the darling or minion of courage. And so with these references, we expect great things from this protagonist when he arrives on stage. It is because of this description that Macbeth’s fall into darkness and evil seems all the more pronounced; that a celebrated soldier, of such audacity, c an fall into such a concentrated crucible of evil, killing a virtuous king, his best friend and even a helpless family. Also augmenting the perceived concentration of evil in â€Å"Macbeth† is the fact that he knows full-well the evil of his actions. Indeed, just before killing Duncan during Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he no longer wishes to kill Duncan, stating â€Å"we will proceed no further in this business†. Therefore, it is discernable that he knows the consequences of his actions and so when he does eventually commit the crime it seems all the more malevolent; he knows what he is doing yet he continues nonetheless. Furthermore, throughout the play, particularly at the beginning when he is less corrupted, Macbeth uses euphemisms to hide the shocking alternative word and to an extent to stop himself hearing the reality. In Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth says in a soliloquy â€Å"if it were done when it is done, then ’twere well† referring to the murder of Duncan as ‘it’. Again, this adds to the evil of the final crime as it is clear Macbeth knows exactly what he is doing, and the malevolent significance the murder bears. Macbeth shows, through these two media, that he has a conscience which he is choosing to ignore and so more responsibility for the crime can be placed on him, as the witches clearly didn’t influence him to the extent where he didn’t know what he was doing. Another contributor to the evil present in â€Å"Macbeth† is the heinous nature of all of the murders; first a gracious and fair king, then his long standing best friend and comrade (Banquo), then an attempted assassination on Banquo’s helpless son, and finally the murder of Macduff’s innocent family. A sensational aspect is present in each of these murders making them seem all the more shocking and repulsive. Due to the vile nature of each of these murders, the concentrated evil present in â€Å"Macbeth† becomes all the more obvious. Also, the necessity of some of the murders is questionable; for example, what was the need to murder Macduff’s innocent family? The murder of Macduff’s family seems entirely out of spite, rather than an actual requirement. With these grim murders, Macbeth is perceived to be host to an even greater concentration of evil, especially in the later stages of the play were he is arguably unaffected by his malicious ac tions. An inner evil is conveyed through the mental torture Macbeth experiences in the later stages of the performance, which defiles his mind and his sanity. Evidence of the inner torture Macbeth experiences is seen in Act 3, Scene 4 where the ghost of Macbeth’s former friend Banquo haunts him, unseen to all else. Gory to behold, this apparition is most likely an embodiment of Macbeth’s guilt at having killed his former friend, as we see Macbeth shout; â€Å"thou canst not say I did it†. This attempt to relieve himself of the blame is really only confession of his guilt. Moreover, the evil blighting Macbeth’s mind can be seen again through his inability to sleep. In Act 2, Scene 2 Macbeth tells his wife of how â€Å"Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep†, evidence of his disability. Due to the evil things he has done, Macbeth’s mind has become contaminated and so he is tormented, to the point where he can no longer sleep. Indeed, at one point Macbeth even professes to Lady Macbeth about his inner torment, saying â€Å"full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife† in Act3, Scene 2. In any case, the change in Macbeth’s thoughts as the play progresses is easily discernable; and so an inner evil corrupting his thoughts is arguably present. Throughout the play, Macbeth always appears to be preoccupied with the witches and this may be partly the reason for the corruption of his mind. Often, in his dialogue he refers to the sisters and genuinely seems beset by their deceitful words. For example, in Act 3, Scene 1 Macbeth tells a servant of how Banquo â€Å"chid the sisters when they first put the name of king upon me†. References such as this towards the witches are commonplace in Macbeth’s speech and it seems he has developed an indissoluble link with them, resulting in his obsession with them. This link can be seen also, as mentioned previously, in Macbeth’s dialogue, which often echoes that of the witches. Even the first words Macbeth utters are akin to lines of the witches, where he remarks; â€Å"so foul and fair a day I have not seen†; paradoxical language similar to theirs. At one point, during Act 2, Scene 1, Banquo even questions Macbeth as to whether his mind still lingers over the witches and he replies â€Å"I think not of them†. Macbeth certainly seems influenced by the witches, and we even see that just before the killing of Macduff’s family he visits the sisters. It is possible that the witches are also responsible for Macbeth’s inability to sleep mentioned above, as we know that they have engaged in such acts previously on the unfortunate sailor. Further influencing and at times controlling the actions of Macbeth is his wife, Lady Macbeth. More so in the early stages of the play, she can be found cleverly manipulating her husband, playing upon his weaknesses to ensure he secures his place as king. As Macbeth tells her how he no longer wishes to kill Duncan in Act 1, Scene 7, she responds â€Å"art though afeard†, questioning his masculinity and classifying him a coward. Had she not guided Macbeth in this sequence, it is questionable whether he would have proceeded with the murder at all. In the same scene she also plans out the detestable details of the murder, and so in this case she can be considered the main agent. This is certainly indicative that there is a concentration of evil present in Lady Macbeth, even if its manifestation is less pronounced than her husband’s. Additionally, in order to provide her with the inner strength to commit the murder, during Act 1, Scene 5 she attempts to conjure up evil ministers, declaring â€Å"come you spirits that tend on moral thoughts†. This act is testimony to her evil; that she would be willing to affiliate herself with damned spirits in order to kill an innocent old man. Also, Lady Macbeth is so eager to kill the king that she is even willing to reject her femininity. In a soliloquy during Act 1, Scene 5 she utters â€Å"unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty†. This unnatural (and chilling) denial of her sex shows how willing she is to commit murder. Through all these ill plans towards Duncan and despite bearing the knowledge that his life may well end that night, in Act 1, Scene 6 Lady Macbeth shows just how devious she is as she acts the part of a welcoming hostess, telling the king â€Å"your majesty loads our house†. At this stage in the play Lady Macbeth’s subtle nature of evil is clear to see. Finally, as with her husband, it is obvious that Lady Macbeth registers the enormity of the crime through her pang of conscience before the murder and continues nonetheless. It is true that during Act 2, Scene 2 she tells Macbeth of how â€Å"had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it†. This is evidence of her conscience, although she still lets her husband kill Duncan, ignoring her inner sense of right and wrong. Because of this, Lady Macbeth gradually becomes insane and descends into a hell of her own making, famously saying during Act 5, Scene 1; â€Å"hell is murky†. Shortly after these w ords Lady Macbeth commits suicide, relinquishing her life because of the evil she is aware she has committed. Contributing in a different way to the evil atmosphere found in â€Å"Macbeth† is the adept language implemented by Shakespeare, which persistently evokes the intended malevolence. A dramatic way in which Shakespeare conveys evil is through the use of disease imagery, for example â€Å"canst thou not minister to a mind diseased†. Particularly to the audience of the era, disease was exceptionally feared as it was often fatal due to the lack of medical knowledge, and for this reason the inclusion of these references conjured markedly strong dark thoughts. The idea of disease by definition is that of spreading corruption and defilement, and this it seems is reminiscent of the spread of evil in â€Å"Macbeth†, and so such references are therefore a reminder of the irresistible contagion caused by a tyrannical king. Similarly, the theme of concealment is also used throughout, regularly conveying a distressing sense of the unknown as well as the ominous threat of hidden evil. At one point Duncan tells of how â€Å"there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face†, a chilling image of how there is no method by which a person can read another’s intentions based upon their external make-up; this is bitterly ironic given that Macbeth is tricking Duncan all along. In disguising intention, evil can remain hidden – disguise imagery therefore reminds the audience of a character’s hidden intent. Given this overlapping theme of disguise and deception, the audience are always aware of a malevolent atmosphere in â€Å"Macbeth†. Another common method of evoking the sense of evil is Shakespeare’s regular reference to night and blackness. This brand of imagery plays upon humanity’s primitive fear of the unknown; thus in making regular references to darkness Shakespeare ensures that an evil presence is always felt. The play boasts many memorable teaming references to darkness; a typical one can be found in Act 1, Scene 5 where Lady Macbeth proclaims â€Å"come thick night and pull me in the dunnest smokes of hell†. Aside from the obvious reference to hell Shakespeare cleverly refers to darkness to evoke the feeling of deception and hidden evil, as well as the primitive evil of the darkness on its own. On the same note, the theme of cancelling out light is integrated as well as when Macbeth notably says in an aside â€Å"stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires†. Perhaps the most obvious pattern in â€Å"Macbeth† in terms of sinister language is the regular reference to predatory animals. Animals can often portend omens which in â€Å"Macbeth’s† case translate into dire events; however at times in Shakespeare’s application they can also just conjure up dire images. On occasion the characters allude to animals related to ill omens; for example when Lady Macbeth says â€Å"the raven himself is hoarse†, the raven being the bird of ill omen. Or in other cases the reference may just be made in terms of sinister imagery, like when Macbeth says â€Å"full of scorpions is my mind†. At times the imagery also contains biblical-related animals; for example when Lady Macbeth tells her husband â€Å"look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it†. In this case the serpent is a sinister use of imagery as it is related with the biblical ‘fall’ and so is often an animal linked with male volence in literature. Shakespeare’s choice of regularly adding emphasis on blood further exaggerates the evil perceived by the audience, as well as darkening the image of the play. In particular, the murder of Duncan conjures many references to blood, for example Macbeth says â€Å"will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?† In this manner, emphasis is added on Macbeth’s bloody hands, questioning whether even all the ocean’s waters will clean them. Likewise, the spots of blood described on Lady Macbeth’s hand are also highlighted, to the point where she believes her hands are still blood stained several days after the murder, crying â€Å"out damned spots! Out I say!† The explicit references to blood add to the sinister content of the play through their dire implications; blood after all symbolising pain and suffering. A debatable topic within â€Å"Macbeth† is whether the main source of evil in the play extends from external supernatural sources or from Macbeth himself. However, as mentioned previously, if Macbeth is regarded as being influenced too heavily by the witches, he begins to seem like their puppet- easily manipulated. If Macbeth is seen as to be too easily manipulated this draws from his heroic status; how could such a strong character be so easily turned against his will? As such, I feel Macbeth is just as responsible for the atrocities as the witches. The tyranny brought about by this combined concentration of evil affects the whole kingdom, even at times supernaturally, for example after Duncan’s death Lennox tells of how â€Å"the night has been unruly: where we lay, our chimneys were blown down†. As you can see, the disruption brought about by the death of the king is even portrayed to affect the weather. This idea used by Shakespeare in which everything is affected by the death of the king is in conjunction with the ‘chain of being’. The concept of this was a large hierarchy in which God was placed at the top and below him was ranked king; below this was all other organic life. Regicide means that everything below Duncan in the ‘chain of being’ would be disrupted, and would only return to order once the rightful king was restored. This happens in â€Å"Macbeth†: once the rightful king, Malcolm, takes the throne, then the disruption is purged and order returns over the whole kingdom. However, in spite of the regained regime, the final impression of Shakespeare’s masterpiece is that of lingering evil; the witches are still to an extent at large and who is to say the process will not repeat itself again with them partially corrupting yet another star-crossed victim. â€Å"Macbeth† is a play in which evil reigns and flourishes throughout and so it seems only fitting that the final impression masterfully created by Shakespeare should be that of lingering evil.