Marketing activities Essay Example for Free

Marketing activities Essay Jeans are just an ordinary piece of clothing to many people. To others, however, they are a powerful means of self-expression. This fact is confirmed by the sheer number of companies that produce jeans, including Levis, Gap, Old Navy, Calvin Klein, Armani, Guess, Miss Sixty, Tommy Hilfiger and many others. Jeans are one of many ways in which a person can send a message to other people concerning various aspects of one’s character, an easy and understandable way at that. Given the large scale of marketing activities of clothing manufacturers nowadays, if jeans did not send a message, the producing companies would invent a message for them. It is just so fascinating to impart a twist of meaning to a couple of pants so that the pubic can identify them with a particular style or trend. This is the age of individualisation and customization, and clothing manufacturers do not want to stay behind. They want to make their product specific and readily recognizable – and they do everything they can to appeal to their target audience with a specific message. For instance, Levis are now seen as a traditional American outfit, something that brings one back to the times of life on the frontier or something that our grandparents wore. Gap, on the contrary, is a more youthful, girlish look, and so is Miss Sixty. This process can be described as branding, a concept familiar to every marketer who knows that if a piece of clothing does not send a message, it is the job of the marketer to invent this message and make sure the potential buyers are able to recognise it. The marketers’ task is to plant in the mind of the consumer the idea that carrying a certain brand is linked to a philosophy, that a company does not stand merely for a set of machines with workers as appendages, that it can develop and sustain an ideology embodied in a simple pair of jeans. What kind of messages can jeans send out? First, a person can opt for a traditional or a modern design, underscoring the level of commitment to modernity and change. It is most often natural for older people to choose traditional fashion, classical fits that will last for many years without violating the norms of fashion. The young, on the contrary, will most often wear the fashions of this very season in order to underscore that they are at the forefront of fashion. When, for instance, an older person may opt for a more modern cut going to a youth venue for some reason. This can send out a message to the younger crowd that this person wants to be in many ways like them and share their experiences in different possible ways. Then there is the question to be solved as to how much sex appeal the jeans should hold. We all remember very well this trend towards super-tight men’s jeans that mostly young guys wore partly because it was fashionable and partly because they wanted to demonstrate their attractions to the opposite sex. Girls can also wear tight jeans or choose those that are very low-cut to emphasize their appeal. As with revealing clothing in general, a person wearing such clothing demonstrates that he or she is very confident of one’s ability to attract other people and happy or at least not shameful of one’s figure. This is not always the case, and those who think their bodies are distasteful are not likely to choose jeans that will reveal a large part of it. Another message linked to wearing sexy jeans is the manifestation of the desire to be liked by the opposite sex. Surely we all or almost all have this desire, but not everybody would dare to reveal it in public, either in words or in clothing. Many people are wary of being too open about this inner drive and try to suppress it as something indecent. The individual who chooses to demonstrate this natural instinct is sending a message to representatives of the opposite sex: â€Å"Look at me, I want you to appreciate me. Am I not good-looking? † Tight jeans will almost surely make guys inspect a girl’s figure more closely than that of her more modest friends even if those look like top models. She will then attract more suitors – but at the same time risks incurring girls’ anger as they recognize that she is out on a hunt and will grab a fair share of what could have been their prey. Thus, wearing provocative jeans can also be a sign of daring, ability to defy social norms and to disregard the opinion of other people. Since in most cultures flirting is reserved for informal surroundings, a person who puts on a sexy-looking pair indicates that he or she believes to be in a setting where flirting is acceptable and one can expect to find a partner. Few people would seriously consider putting on provocative jeans on a corporate outing since this would send the wrong message to the colleagues. Besides, jeans can look either sophisticated or sloppy, and this distinction, too, is meaningful. A person may choose to look sloppy in order to underscore the informality of the situation and to make others feel at ease. This effect can occur when, for instance, an official or top-level executive invents a little outing with subordinates and wants to appear in the image of a simple, down-to-earth man attentive to their needs and feelings. Choice of an upscale-looking, elegant pair of jeans may not be quite the right choice since this will remind the inferiors once again about the difference in the social status between them and their boss. A casual, sloppy pair will be more acceptable.

Black Power Movement Essay

Black Power Movement Essay ZAHRAA JAINODIEN INTRODUCTION The failures of the Civil Rights Movement resulted in the Black Power Movement. Members of the party felt that passive resistance was unrealistic and that for real change to occur, violent direct action would need to happen. Leaders like Malcolm X felt that passive resistance was not effective. Not only did Black Power promote black beauty is also unified African Americans. Why did the BPM come into existence? The Civil Rights Movement achieved many great things, their powerful protests created an immense amount of awareness for the oppression of black people in America. Protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, The sit-ins in 1960, the March on Lincoln Memorial, the Birmingham Campaign in 1963, Freedom summer of 1964, and the Selma-Montgomery marches, attained: the passing of the Civil Rights Act by the American Congress in 1964. This outlawed discrimination based on racial, ethnic, national, religious and gender identity, and the passing of the Voting Rights Act by the American Congress in 1965. In addition to these acts being passed black people gained a new self-confidence as the result of The CRM. Black people also gained a new sympathy for the things that they had lost during the CRM from their fellow white citizens of America. Despite the achievements of the CRM by 1965 the general economic conditions of African Americans were poor. They lived in ghettos which were crowded and diseases would often arise due to the lack of facilities, the ghettos were often in bad conditions and most of the time unkempt[1]. Apart from the living conditions, most of these people were unemployed or paid very low wages as job opportunities were lacking. This resulted in poverty and crime and to many the achievements of the CRM were in vain, they had lost all hope. Although they had achieved civil rights they were still subject to copious amounts of discrimination often racial abuse and violent attacks with this the police provided little protection and sometimes were guilty of these brutal attacks. The African Americans had no solution to this problem as they were taught by previous leaders like Martin Luther King that passive resistance and civil disobedience were commendable ways of disapproving authority but many felt that this ideology was inadequate and so they turned to more forceful ways of resistance[2]. Black power promoted black interests and this appealed to many frustrated African Americans. Black power grew out of black dissatisfaction of the CRM. Although the achievements of the CRM were praiseworthy it was not good enough. A Ghetto during the 1960s What Influence did Malcolm X have on the development of the BPM? Malcolm X was an African American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. Malcom X joined the Nation of Islam, which believed that blacks were superior to whites. They also believed in black self-reliance and that African Americans should return to where they originated from, Africa, as they believed that they would never be abundantly accepted in American society. Malcolm X became one of their best outspoken speakers. After his time as part of the Nation of Islam his relationship with the leader of the movement Elijah Muhammad grew hostile [3] and he decided to leave the movement. Malcolm X believed that blacks had the right to defend themselves violently in the face of a violent attack if necessary to achieve their freedom and equality. He did not believe in integration between blacks and whites making him an early proponent of Black Nationalism. Thus he didn’t believe in Martin Luther King’s ideology of passive resistance, their lack of power was the foundation of Malcolm X’s duty to encourage that protests be more assertive.[4] Although he was a firm believer of the promotion of black interests, black self-esteem, black self-pride and black self-defence against racial oppression his views began to change after his pilgrimage to mecca. He discovered that Muslims preach equality of the races. After returning to America he remained convinced that racism ruined the spirit of America and that only black people could free themselves. Malcom X What were the main beliefs and aims of the BPM? The Black Power Movement was interpreted in various ways and had many beliefs but ultimately a common objective, Black Nationalism. Black power promoted black interests, self-sufficient black economy, Black self-pride and self-esteem. They believed that black people and white people should not be integrated therefore they fostered a distinctive black culture. [5] These ideas caused friction with leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as the CRM worked towards social equality whereas Black Power believed in black separation. Not all parties were in favour of Black Nationalism, The Black Panther party believed in Self-defence against racial oppression. They also believed that the structure of power in America was imbalanced [6] and that majority of the people in power in America were white thus making it unfair, they believed that people of colour were economically exploited and that it needed to be rectified. Black power believed in black control of their communities, they didn’t believe in nonviolent protests as they believed that direct action was more effective. Supporters of the Black Power Movement began adopting distinctive ways of dressing, especially women who then decided that their wardrobe would be more uniformed inspired than European. They coined a term â€Å"Black is Beautiful†[7] and this became their mantra, men and women were asked to stop straightening their hair and bleaching their skin, as in American culture it was believed that certain black characteristics were undesirable, thus men and women donned an afro hairstyle to display their new found confidence in being black. They believed that time was not to be wasted on proving to the white people that they were equal but rather that, that time to be spent on educating the black community of black power , building institutions and providing protection to fellow black citizens. What methods did the BPM employ? There were various methods that were employed by the members of the BPM. During the Civil Rights Movement, an organisation called the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was a non-violent committee that would participate in sit-ins and freedom rides, protesting against the inequality between white and black people. It started out non-violently but later on in the 60s it fell under the leadership of a passionate Stokely Carmichael and this organisation became a predecessor of the BPM. The Black Panther Party carried out most of the procedures when it came to educating the black people of black power. The Black Panther Party was initially formed to protect black people from police brutality but under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael the Black Panther Party adopted Black Nationalism. Many of the members of the party carried firearms with them; this was thought to protect the black people from the police but also made them look very intimidating displaying their clear contrary to the Civil Rights Movement. Majority of the black people were illiterate and this created a problem for the party as leaflets could not be made therefore it was pointless if no one could read them, so the leaders made decisions to incorporate awareness in less literal way. â€Å"They could have leafleted the community and they could have written books, but the people would not respond. They had to act and the people could see and hear about it and therefore become educated on how to respond to oppression.†[8] They decided that crime and poverty in the ghettos could be decreased if they employed people who were interested in conveying radical change. Apart from being responsible for various criminal activities the BBP formed armed groups for self-defence against the police, this was their strategy to protect themselves and idea of Black Nationalism. Under this party the main focus was that black people would be free from white people completely, and that they only relied on themselves and other people falling under the black nation. Members of the BBP How successful was the BPM? It is suggested that Black Power made positive, lasting contributions to the African American lifestyle.[9] It created greater racial pride amongst the black people in America. Black people became more accepting of their American heritage, they noted that they would be stronger as country than as segregated races. African Americans were now taken care of, ghettos decreased as well as crime and poverty. Black voters were endowed to support their black candidates[10]. The Black Power Movement also formed a path; black students were now given the opportunity to study at university without any racial oppression or discrimination. Although we like to believe that racial discrimination no longer existed in America, it did and it still does. The Black Power Movement also created a strong black culture for African Americans, this was something that they could relate to, and this culture consisted of soulful music, eccentric fashion and heartfelt literature. The BPM also formed a platform for cultural tolerance in America, as different cultures were now accepted amongst people of the country. What is the legacy of the BPM today? The Black Power Movement set down a fundamental platform for the advancement of African Americans. Black Power was not the only contributing factor, but the Civil Rights Movement also played a big role in achieving equality for African Americans. Under the Civil Rights Movement, Civil Rights Acts were passed, race discrimination became illegal and this gave African Americans a new kind of self-esteem and self-confidence in who they were as Americans. Although the Black Power Movement â€Å"ended† the spirit today still does exist, not only in America but in all parts of the world. If we look at America today, there are many successful African Americans in the country. The dream of many African Americans was achieved in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected as America’s first black president. This could not be made possible if black power did not exist. It was the strength and power of the many activists in the 1960s and 1970s that fashioned an important part in history today. â€Å"Black powers impact thus remains powerfully resonant — however fraught and contentious — as a generation of black politicians, artists, and intellectuals have channelled the new black identity it first articulated in diverse and varied ways†[11] with this said the writer makes a very crucial point, that Black Power was the basis of the accomplishments of African Americans today and that it should remain as a token that A frican Americans should remember of the struggle. Conclusion It is suggested that the failures of the Civil Rights Movement subsequently lead to the rise of Black Power. The methods used during the Civil Rights Movement like passive resistance and civil disobedience felt inadequate to the black people therefore it appeared that was a need for alternative methods to achieve equality. Timeline of the BP 1952 Malcolm X joins The Nation of Islam 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott 1960 The first Sit-in occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina 1963 The March on Washington (Lincoln Memorial) 1963 Birmingham Campaign 1964 Freedom Summer Campaign 1964 Civil Rights Act was signed 1964 Malcolm X breaks with the Nation Of Islam 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed 1966 The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale 1966 Stokeley Carmichael becomes ‘Honorary Prime Minister’ of the BBP 1967 Stokeley Carmichael is removed From BBP 1972 National Black Political Convention was held 1980 BBP started to dissipate 1983 Martin Luther King Jr Day was created Illustrations A protest of Asians showing their support of Black Power, they’re protesting for the release of Huey Newton who was imprisoned for murdering a policeman in 1967. A Black panthers poster with their mantra â€Å"Move on over or we’ll move on over you† which basically meant that they were not afraid for fighting for their rights. Bibliography Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics written by Cederic Johnson Black theology and black power written by James H. Cone http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080312215601AA8bRSr http://prasadokurian.blogspot.com/2011/10/paradox-of-passive-resistance.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/peopleevents/e_noi.html http://marnielangeroodiblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/malcom-x-black-power/ http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo3633780.html http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/fhamptonspeech.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_is_beautiful http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/fhamptonspeech.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_is_beautiful [1] http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080312215601AA8bRSr [2] http://prasadokurian.blogspot.com/2011/10/paradox-of-passive-resistance.html [3] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/peopleevents/e_noi.html [4] Adapted from http://marnielangeroodiblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/malcom-x-black-power/ [5] http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo3633780.html and adapted from New day in Babylon the BPM movement and American culture written by William l. van Deburg, ISBN: 9780226847153 Published November 1993 [6] http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/fhamptonspeech.html [7] Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_is_beautiful [8] Quote by Black Panther leader, Huey Newton 1968 [9] adapted from New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975By William L. Van Deburg [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965 [11] Quote from an article http://www.penielejoseph.com/legacy.html

Shakira is a Pop Poet :: essays research papers

The poem, Hips Don't Lie, represent for me, pop poetry of the highest quality: Hips Don't Lie Ladies up in here tonight No fighting, no fighting We got the refugees up in here No fighting, no fighting Shakira, Shakira I never really knew that she could dance like this She makes a man want to speak Spanish Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa Shakira, Shakira Oh baby when you talk like that You make a woman go mad So be wise and keep on Reading the signs of my body And I'm on tonight You know my hips don't lie And I'm starting to feel it's right All the attraction, the tension Don't you see baby, this is perfection Hey Girl, I can see your body moving And it's driving me crazy And I didn't have the slightest idea Until I saw you dancing And when you walk up on the dance floor Nobody cannot ignore the way you move your body, girl And everything so unexpected - the way you right and left it So you can keep on taking it I never really knew that she could dance like this She makes a man want to speak Spanish Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa Shakira, Shakira Oh baby when you talk like that You make a woman go mad So be wise and keep on Reading the signs of my body And I'm on tonight You know my hips don't lie And I am starting to feel you boy Come on let's go, real slow Don't you see baby asi es perfecto Oh I know I am on tonight my hips don't lie And I'm starting to feel it's right All the attraction, the tension Don't you see baby, this is perfection Shakira, Shakira Oh boy, I can see your body moving Half animal, half man I don't, don't really know what I'm doing But you see to have a plan My will and self restraint Have come to fail now, fail now See, I am doing what I can, but I can't so you know That's a bit too hard to explain Baila en la calle de noche Baila en la calle de dia Baila en la calle de noche Baila en la calle de dia I never really knew that she could dance like this She makes a man want to speak Spanish Como se llama, bonita, mi casa, su casa

Heaneys Mid-Term Break, Clarkes Baby Sitting and Jonsons On My First

Heaney's Mid-Term Break, Clarke's Baby Sitting and Jonson's On My First Sonne all deal with unhappy reflections about human loss, isolation distress and the harsh reality of life. The poems concerned in this essay mirror notions of human importance and bonds. Heaney's 'Mid-Term Break', Clarke's 'Baby Sitting' and Jonson's 'On My First Sonne' all deal with unhappy reflections about human loss, isolation distress and the harsh reality of life. All of these poems are written in first person narrative voice, with honest blunt diction, allowing us to understand their pain by the relation some people have with the issues raised in each of the poems. The main themes of the poems are Parental roles, childhood and relationships. The triplet of poems all deal with unhappy reflections about human loss, isolation and distress and are written in the first person narrative which allows us to make their pain seem very real by a creation of Pathos. Thematically, Heaney and Jonson explore the abrupt and painful loss of a family member. Heaney is forced to grow up and endure th...

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Edgar Allan Poe once said, "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." The 13 years that I have spent attending school have quickly passed through my life as if a dream, much as I imagine it did Edgar Allan Poe. I can still remember my first day of school in Vietnam when I was five years old. Timid and scared, I held my mother's hand tightly, frightened that if I let go, I would lose her forever. My mother looked at me and said gently in Vietnamese: "Su hoc nhu thuyen tren dong nuoc nguoc. Khong tien at se lui" Translated into English it means: "Education is like a boat heading upstream against the river's current. If it is not going forward, it will be left drifting behind." Now, years later, I stand among fellow students who have also bravely faced the challenge of that upstream river of knowledge. We are gathered here tonight for a very special and important occasion. It will be a night for all of us to remember, a night of wonderful memories, a night that celebrates the end of one journey and the beginning of another. I would like to welcome all of you here today -- faculty, family, friends, fellow Phi Theta Kappans, and of course, the one, the only Harding Community College graduating Class of 2006. Thank you for giving me the honor of speaking to you on this very special occasion in our lives. Giving a commencement speech is a very challenging task. The faculty would like a speaker with a substantive message. The parents would appreciate a sentimental tone, and the graduates would like the speech to be brief! Two years ago, we came to this institution with great enthusiasm and determination to build a bridge to the future for ourselves and for the next generation. We brought with us impressive... ...e has given us, to work together to translate the abstract into reality. In closing, and rather than saying good-bye to all of you, I ask the Class of 2006 to please rise. Let us give a grateful applause to Harding Community College for all that it has done and continues to do to help students like us in our quest for success. Let us thank you, our distinguished faculty, for believing in us, compelling us, and teaching us to explore the fullness and strength that lie within ourselves. Let us thank our family and friends for loving us, supporting us, and encouraging us to pass through the challenges of that upstream river of knowledge. And, let us celebrate this day with cheerful applause and congratulations to each other for being wonderful companions along this journey. Class of 2006, I wish you all a bright future and may another journey begin here.

Financial Market

International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management Emerald Article: Financial market risk and gold investment in an emerging market: the case of Malaysia Mansor H. Ibrahim Article information: To cite this document: Mansor H. Ibrahim, (2012),†Financial market risk and gold investment in an emerging market: the case of Malaysia†, International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 5 Iss: 1 pp. 25 – 34 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17538391211216802 Downloaded on: 26-09-2012References: This document contains references to 13 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] com This document has been downloaded 335 times since 2012. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Mohamed Hisham Yahya, Junaina Muhammad, Abdul Razak Abdul Hadi, (2012),†A comparative study on the level of efficiency between Islamic and conventional banking systems in Malaysia†, International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 5 Iss: 1 pp. 48 – 62 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17538391211216820Muhamad Abduh, Mohd Azmi Omar, (2012),†Islamic banking and economic growth: the Indonesian experience†, International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 5 Iss: 1 pp. 35 – 47 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17538391211216811 Samy Nathan Garas, (2012),†The control of the Shari'a Supervisory Board in the Islamic financial institutions†, International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Vol. 5 Iss: 1 pp. 8 – 24 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/17538391211216794 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided y ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY OF THAILAND For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which pub lication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education.In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1753-8394. htm Financial market risk and gold investment in an emerging market: the case of MalaysiaMansor H. Ibrahim Mar ket risk and gold investment 25 Department of Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between gold return and stock market return and whether its relation changes in times of consecutive negative market returns for an emerging market, Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies the autoregressive distributed model to link gold returns to stock returns with TGARCH/EGARCH error speci? cation using daily data from August 1, 2001 to March 31, 2010, a total of 2,261 observations.Findings – A signi? cant positive but low correlation is found between gold and once-lagged stock returns. Moreover, consecutive negative market returns do not seem to intensify the co-movement between the gold and stock markets as normally documented among national stock markets in times of ? nancial turbulences. Indeed, there is some evidence that the gold market surges when faced with cons ecutive market declines. Practical implications – Based on these results, there are potential bene? ts of gold investment during periods of stock market slumps. The ? ndings should prove useful for designing ? ancial investment portfolios. Originality/value – The paper evaluates the role of gold from a domestic perspective, which should be more relevant to domestic investors in guarding against recurring heightened stock market risk. Keywords Malaysia, Emerging markets, Gold, Returns, Investments, Stock markets, Gold investment, Market return, Correlations, Market risk Paper type Research paper Introduction Over the past decades, the global ? nancial markets have witnessed a string of ? nancial crises, among them include the Mexican peso crisis in 1994, the Asian ? nancial ? in 1997/1998, the Russian crisis in 1998, the Brazilian crisis in 1999, the Argentine ? nancial crisis in 2001/2002 and most recently the US subprime crisis in 2007 and the Greece ? nancial crisis in 2009. Mentioning of these crises is likely to conjure up in the mind of many the images of excessive risk in stock market investment and to bring back interest in gold as an alternative investment asset. This interest is well-placed as gold used to be a standard of value, is still considered as a store of value and is universally accepted. Moreover, there seems to be a trong belief that gold can provide protection, as a hedge or a safe haven, against this heightened risk in the ? nancial markets. As noted by Baur and McDermott (2010), gold differs from other assets in that it reacts positively to adverse market shocks. As they mention, real gold value reached its historic high roughly in 1980 when the global economy faced the threat of stag? ation due to oil crises in 1970s. Likewise, at the time the US subprime crisis intensi? ed in September 2008, gold has responded with a surge in its value (Baur and McDermott, 2010). International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance andManagement Vol. 5 No. 1, 2012 pp. 25-34 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-8394 DOI 10. 1108/17538391211216802 IMEFM 5,1 26 Against a backdrop of recurring ? nancial crises and contagion as well as emerging interest in gold, several studies have attempted empirical investigation of gold hedging property. Notable among these studies are recent works by Capie et al. (2005), Hillier et al. (2006), Baur and Lucey (2010) and Baur and McDermott (2010). Capie et al. (2005) investigate an exchange rate hedge of gold using weekly data of gold price and sterling-dollar and yen-dollar exchange rates from January 1971 to February 2004.They ? nd supportive evidence for exchange rate hedging property of gold, although the strength of hedging tends to vary over time. Hillier et al. (2006) assesses the investment role of precious metals, namely gold, platinum and silver for the US market. They note low correlations between these three metals and stock market returns, which suggests diversi ? cation bene? ts of gold investment. Baur and Lucey (2010) examines whether gold is a safe haven, i. e. maintaining its value in times of market stress or turmoil, for the US, UK and German markets.They document evidence suggesting the ability of gold to hedge against ? nancial risks and to serve as a safe haven in extreme market conditions for these markets. Most recently, Baur and McDermott (2010) extend the work of Baur and Lucey (2010) to a larger number of markets, which include both major developed and emerging markets. They analyze the relations between gold return and returns of world and emerging market indexes, various regional market indexes, and 13 individual market indexes. Their results demonstrate the ability of gold to provide a hedge and a strong safe haven for European and US markets.Thus, for developed markets, gold provides protection against losses during extreme market conditions. As they explain, investors in these markets sell stocks and buy gold when faced with heightened ? nancial risk. By contrast, the emerging markets seem to lack these properties indicating that investors tend to react differently to adverse shocks in emerging markets. Namely, they shift the composition of their portfolios by selling shares of emerging markets and seeking shelter in the developed markets, which are viewed to be relatively safe.In the present paper, we take lead from these studies and examine the investment role of gold for an emerging Asian market, Malaysia. We attempt to contribute to this line of inquiry in several aspects. First, in Baur and McDermott (2010), the investment role of gold for emerging markets is examined by looking at the relation between gold return and emerging market index return and individual market returns of four largest emerging markets, i. e. Brazil, Russia, India and China. We add to their study by looking at a smaller emerging market.Second, while the present study looks at gold investment from an international perspec tive, we look at the issue from a domestic perspective. All aforementioned studies employ gold price in US dollar in their analysis. Instead of using the dollar-denominated gold price and converting it into domestic currency unit as in Baur and Lucey (2010), we use domestic gold price instead. While we acknowledge that the Malaysian gold price may have depended on the global gold price, the use of gold price quoted domestically in ringgit screens out potential confounding effect of exchange rate movement and currency onversion. Finally, we bring out a new empirical perspective in evaluating the investment role of gold. Namely, we examine whether gold maintains its value or its relation with market returns when faced with consecutive negative daily returns. We focus on Malaysia due to deep interest in gold shown by Malaysian policymakers and academics in the face of 1997/1998 Asian ? nancial crisis. Tun Mahathir Mohamad, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, voiced interest in this un iversally accepted asset and proposed the use of gold particularly in international trade settlement The News Strait Times, 2001). A series of international conferences have been organized on the subject of gold and gold Dinar[1], among them include International Conference on Stable and Just Monetary System and International Conference on the Gold Dinar in Multilateral Trade in 2002, International Conference on Gold in International Trade in 2003 and International Conference on Gold Dinar Economy in 2007. In July 2001, Malaysia became the 12th country in the world to have its own gold bullion coins through the launching of the gold bullion coins known as Kijang Emas by the Royal Mint Malaysia.This is followed by the issuance of Royal Mint gold Dinar in 2003 and Kelantan State gold Dinar in 2006. While the introduction of these gold coins is to serve primarily as a store of value or an alternative ? nancial asset for investment, the gold investment performance for the case of Malays ia has hardly received any empirical attention. The availability of daily domestic gold bullion price since 2001 provides us an opportunity to examine the investment role of gold from a domestic market perspective and, at the same time, widens the literature on emerging markets. The rest of the paper is structured as follows.In the next section, we provides the empirical framework used in the analysis. Then, we describes the data and present estimation results. Finally, we conclude with the main ? ndings and some concluding remarks. Empirical framework We specify our empirical model using an autoregressive distributed lag model along the line of Capie et al. (2005). Thus, we have: RG;t ? a ? rRG;t21 ? b1 RS;t ? b2 RS;t21 ? 1t ?1? where RG is the daily return of gold investment and RS is the corresponding return of stock investment. The lagged dependent is included to allow for autocorrelation structure in gold return.Meanwhile, the incorporation of once-lagged stock return is based on our presumption that, in emerging markets, the transmission of information among markets may take time. That is, the changes in stock return may be impounded into the gold return with lag. The total sensitivity of gold return to stock market ? uctuations is based on the sum of stock market coef? cients, i. e. b1 ? b2. If this sum is signi? cantly positive and is far from unity or the model explanatory is close to zero, we may conclude that gold serves as a diversi? cation asset (Hillier et al. , 2006).Meanwhile, if it is not signi? cant or is signi? cantly negative, then gold investment can provide a hedge against ? nancial market risk (Baur and Lucey, 2010; Baur and McDermott, 2010). We refer to equation (1) as our basic model. Based on equation (1), we ask further whether gold return dynamics remain similar under conditions of consecutive negative market returns. To this end, we adapt the framework used by Nam et al. (2005) in their analysis of stock return asymmetry by modifyi ng equation (1) as: RG;t ? a0 ? a1 Nmt ? rRG;t21 ? ?b10 ? b11 Nmt ? ? RS;t ? ?b20 ? b21 Nmt ? ? RS;t21 ? 1t ?2? here Nmt is a dummy variable representing consecutive negative market returns. Five alternative dummies corresponding to days of consecutive negative returns are considered and they are de? ned as: Market risk and gold investment 27 IMEFM 5,1 N0 ? 28 † N1 ? N4 ? † † 1 if RS;t , 0 0 otherwise 1 if RS;t , 0; RS;t21 , 0 0 otherwise ?3? ?4? . . . 1 if RS;t , 0; 0 otherwise RS;t21 , 0; :::; RS;t24 , 0 ?5? Note that we include Nm as both intercept and interactive dummies. The intercept dummy is intended to capture the level effect of m ? 1 consecutive negative market returns, current return and the returns of last m days, on gold return.Meanwhile, the interactive dummy is to capture the changing relations between stock return and gold return under conditions of consecutive negative market returns, the main interest of the paper. In the paper, we denote these mo dels with alternative de? nition of dummies, respectively, as model N0, N1, N2, N3 and N4. In equation (2), the sum b10 ? b20 captures the relation between the two markets under normal market conditions while b10 ? b20 ? b11 ? b21 measures their relation when the stock market experiences m ? 1 days of consecutive negative returns. Accordingly, the signi? cance of b11 and b21 re? cts the changing relations between gold return and market return in times of market downturns. If they are signi? cantly positive, then the gold return tends to move in closer tandem to stock market movement, weakening gold investment role as a diversi? cation asset. However, if they are signi? cantly negative, then gold investment is said to provide at least a hedge against ? nancial losses during market downturns. Finally, if they are insigni? cantly different from 0, the dynamics of gold return tends to resist the slumps in stock prices and preserves its relation to the stock market regardless of the mark et conditions.We believe that this perspective that we bring provides a nice complementary empirical exercise to the works of Baur and Lucey (2010) and Baur and McDermott (2010) that look at the relations between the two during extreme market conditions. In the implementation of equations (1) and (2), we take note of ample evidence that high-frequency asset returns tend to exhibit leptokurtic property or volatility clustering, the so-called autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) effect. In ? nance literature, various error distributions have been assumed and variance equation speci? cations have been suggested.The error distribution is assumed to be distributed according to either the normal distribution (N), t-distribution (T), or generalized error distribution (G). Among the time-varying variance speci? cations include the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH), threshold ARCH (TARCH), and exponentional GARCH (EGARCH). The latter two allow for asymmetric responses of volatility to positive and negative shocks. To avoid arbitrary model selection, we follow Capie et al. (2005) by basing on the maximum of log likelihood as a selection criterion. We ? nd asymmetric volatility speci? cation (TARCH or EGARCH) to best ? the gold return dynamics and generalized error distribution to best describe the error distribution. The suitability of asymmetric volatility modeling for gold return is in conformity with the behavior of other asset returns (Lobo, 2000; Koutmos and Martin, 2003). Data We employ 2,261 daily observations spanning from August 1, 2001 to March 31, 2010. The beginning date is dictated by data availability of gold bullion price. The selling prices of one troy ounce domestic gold bullion are used to represent domestic gold prices while the Kuala Lumpur composite index is used to represent aggregate prices of stock market investment.The data on the two prices are sourced, respectively, from Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, and Data Stream International. We compute gold and stock market returns as the ? rst difference of the natural log of respective series. Table I provides descriptive statistics of the two returns. We also plot these series in level and ? rst-differenced forms in Figure 1. Both gold and stock prices experience an upward trend over the sample period. While the daily average gold return is relatively higher than the daily average stock market return (i. e. 0. 6 percent against 0. 03 percent), it is more volatile than the market return as re? ected their respective standard deviations. This is accounted by the more extreme positive values of gold return (0. 1246) than the stock market return (0. 0426). Meanwhile, the extreme negative value of stock market return (2 0. 9997) is only slightly higher than the corresponding value of gold return (2 0. 0782). From the plots, we also note marked reduction of stock market prices around years of the Argentine ? nanci al crisis in 2001/2002 and of the US subprime crisis in 2007/2008.While the gold return is positively skewed, the market return demonstrates a negative skewness. Both return series are characterized by excess peakness having kurtosis statistics to be substantially higher than 3. This suggests volatility clustering in the return series, which is apparent in the graphical plots. The Jarge-Bera statistics reported at the bottom of Table I soundly rejects the null of normality for both returns. These characteristics in the data seem to justify the use of GARCH-type models for model speci? cation. As a preliminary analysis, we report the cross-correlations between RG,t and RS,t for up to ? e lags. With the standard error in the order of 0. 021 in absolute value, the correlation of roughly 0. 042 and higher suggests signi? cance correlation between the two returns. We note very low and mostly positive correlations between gold return and contemporaneous and lagged stock returns. Among the se correlations, only the DG Mean Median Maximum Minimum SD Skewness Kurtosis Jarque-Bera Probability Observations 0. 000305 8. 72 ? 102 5 0. 042587 2 0. 099785 0. 008518 2 0. 999659 15. 06466 14,082. 94 0. 000000 2,260 29 DS 0. 000561 0. 000000 0. 124645 2 0. 078182 0. 011909 0. 092587 12. 8588 8,656. 123 0. 000000 2,260 Market risk and gold investment Table I. Descriptive statistics IMEFM 5,1 8. 4 0. 15 0. 10 8. 0 0. 05 30 7. 6 0. 00 7. 2 6. 8 –0. 05 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 –0. 10 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 08 09 (b) Gold Return (a) Natural Log of Gold Price 7. 4 0. 08 7. 2 0. 04 7. 0 0. 00 6. 8 –0. 04 6. 6 Figure 1. Graphical plots of gold and stock prices and returns –0. 08 6. 4 6. 2 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 –0. 12 (c) Natural Log of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index 02 03 04 05 06 07 (d) Stock Market Return correlation between gold return and once-lagged stock return is signi? ant. Its correlation is positive, suggesting that the gold market tends to f ollow the stock market with one-day lag. The cross-correlations between gold return and lead stock returns indicate the absence of signi? cation correlations. Accordingly, the gold market does not lead the stock market. This preliminary analysis seems to provide a basis for our one-equation empirical approach with no feedback from gold return to stock return and with the inclusion of once-lagged stock return in the mean equation of gold return. As regards to our main interest, it indicates at best the diversi? ation property of gold investment since its noted positive correlation is far from unity. However, this ? nding is only suggestive and must be subject to a formal analysis, which we turn next (Table II). Estimation results This section conducts a formal analysis of gold return and its relation to stock market return as speci? ed in equations (1) and (2) using GARCH-type models. We experiment with various error distribution assumption and variance speci? cation and choose the o ne that maximizes the log likelihood. The values of log likelihood functions for alternative models are given in Table III.This log likelihood criterion unequivocally suggests the generalized error distribution of error terms. It also suggests either TARCH or EGARCH speci? cation to best describe variance speci? cation. TARCH speci? cation is chosen for basic model, model N0 and model N1 while EGARCH speci? cation for other models. Note that the differences in the log likelihood values between the two speci? cations are marginal. Estimation of the TARCH (1, 1) model for the basic mean equation yields the following results (numbers in parentheses are p-values): RG;t ? ht ? 0:0004 20:0344RG;t21 20:0111RS;t ?0:016? ?0:046? 0:582? 0:0000014 ?0:008? ?0:07721221 t 31 ?0:0502RS;t21 ?0:014? 20:05351221 I t21 t ?0:000? Market risk and gold investment ?0:003? ?0:9413ht21 ?0:000? N ? 2; 259; GED Parameter ? 1:7025 ? 0:000? ; Log Likelihood ? 7; 168:42 where It ? 1 if 1t , 0 and 0 otherwise. Th e use of TARCH model implies that previous shocks have asymmetric effects on volatility. Since the coef? cient of 1221 I t21 is negative, t bad news (1t , 0) tends to dampen market volatility. In other words, once-lagged positive news (1t2 1 . 0) exerts a greater impact on gold return volatility than negative news does, which conforms to the ? ding of Capie et al. (2005). Moreover, gold return volatility tends to be highly persistent as suggested by large coef? cient of lagged volatility. Turning to our main theme, we note the signi? cance of only once-lagged stock return. This conforms to the correlation structure observed in the previous section. However, its coef? cient is small, in the order of 0. 05. Thus, a 10 percentage point k RG,t, RS,t-k RG,t, RS,t? k 0 1 2 3 4 5 0. 0032 0. 0579 2 0. 0224 0. 0127 2 0. 0085 0. 0173 0. 0032 0. 0240 0. 0151 0. 0254 0. 0258 2 0. 0167 GARCH Speci? cation Basic N0 N1 N2 N3 N4GARCH-N GARCH-T GARCH-G TGARCH-N TGARCH-T TGARCH-G EGARCH-N EGARCH-T EG ARCH-G 7,035. 569 7,146. 246 7,163. 378 7,046. 186 7,153. 767 7,168. 421 7,026. 377 7,158. 247 7,168. 083 7,035. 893 7,146. 520 7,165. 204 7,046. 458 7,154. 348 7,170. 701 7,026. 710 7,158. 82 7,170. 554 7,036. 291 7,146. 26 7,163. 645 7,046. 785 7,153. 782 7,168. 730 7,027. 169 7,158. 361 7,168. 641 7,034. 568 7,142. 140 7,159. 647 7,045. 231 7,149. 472 7,164. 399 7,031. 521 7,154. 147 7,164. 628 7,031. 221 7,138. 171 7,156. 706 7,043. 397 7,146. 017 7,162. 170 7,030. 436 7,151. 064 7,163. 104 7,030. 379 ,134. 302 7,152. 533 7,042. 447 7,141. 644 7,157. 886 7,031. 285 7,146. 542 7,159. 008 Table II. Estimated cross-correlations Model Table III. Log likelihood of alternative GARCH speci? cations IMEFM 5,1 32 reduction in stock returns is associated the decrease in stock return by 0. 50 percentage point on average and likewise for the stock market increase. Note that the coef? cient of lagged gold return is negative. This suggests that the gold return tends to exhibit a reversal patt ern and that the long run impact on gold return of stock market variations is even smaller.In order to evaluate the dynamics of gold return during times of consecutive negative market returns, we estimate the chosen GARCH models (Table III) for the consecutive negative returns ranging from one to ? ve days (equation (2)). Results of the estimation are provided in Table IV. Note from the table that there are no changes in the results for the variance equation. Gold return volatility depends mostly on its past volatility and positive shocks tend to propel higher volatility. In the mean equation, we generally observe no level effect of consecutive negative market returns on gold return except for model 3.Similar to the basic model, we note signi? cant positive coef? cient of lagged stock return in all models except one, i. e. model N0. More importantly, there seems to be no changes in the relations between gold and stock returns in times of consecutive negative market returns. The coef ? cients of interactive dummies are all indistinguishable from 0 except one, i. e. the N3 model. In the case of N3 model, the investment role of gold is further enhanced. In responses to four consecutive Estimated coef? cients Mean equation a0 a1 r b10 b11 b20 b21 Variance equation u0 u1 u2 u3 N0 (TARCH) 0. 0000 2 0. 0007 2 0. 315 * 0. 0465 2 0. 0602 0. 0352 0. 0254 N1 (TARCH) 0. 0003 2 0. 0004 2 0. 0320 * 2 0. 0054 0. 0263 0. 0545 * * 2 0. 0114 Model N2 (EGARCH) N3 (EGARCH) N4 (EGARCH) 0. 0004 * * 0. 0001 2 0. 0341 * * 2 0. 0093 0. 0110 0. 0474 * * 0. 0150 0. 0004 * * 2 0. 0025 * * 2 0. 0265 2 0. 0034 2 0. 0979 0. 0549 * 2 0. 2243 * * 0. 0004 * * 2 0. 0008 2 0. 0284 * 2 0. 0036 2 0. 0146 0. 0507 * * 2 0. 2640 0. 000001 * * * 0. 000001 * * * 2 0. 1156 * * * 2 0. 1064 * * * 2 0. 1261 * * * 0. 0809 * * * 0. 0776 * * * 0. 0858 * * * 0. 0830 * * * 0. 0923 * * * 2 0. 0575 * * * 2 0. 0539 * * * 0. 0595 * * * 0. 0603 * * * 0. 0592 * * * . 9402 * * * 0. 9410 * * * 0. 9942 * * * 0. 9950 * * * 0. 9936 * * * Notes: Signi? cant at: *10, * *5 and * * *1 percent, respectively; the estimated models are: Mean equation: RG;t ? a0 ? a1 Nmt ? rRG;t21 ? ?b10 ? b11 Nmt ? ? RS;t ? ?b20 ? b21 Nmt ? ? RS;t21 ? 1t Variance equations: TARCH: Table IV. Estimation results of extended models ht ? u0 ? u1 1221 ? u2 1221 ? I t21 ? u3 ht21 t t GARCH: p log ht ? u0 ? u1 j1t21 = ht21 j ? u2 1t21 =ht21 ? u3 log ht21 negative market returns, current and last three-day returns, the gold market tends to move in the opposite direction of stock market slumps.The coef? cient of interactive dummy-lagged stock return in the N3 model is signi? cantly negative and its magnitude (in absolute term) is substantially higher than the coef? cient of lagged stock return. Thus, there seems to be a movement of the gold market away from downward trend in the stock market. The evidence that we uncover, thus, supports strong resistance of the gold market to stock market downturns. This is in sharp contrast to the we ll-documented ? nding that national stock markets tend to have strong co-movements during times of market decline and turmoil, which limit potential diversi? cation bene? across national stock markets. The heightened reaction of domestic stock markets to downturns in other markets have been documented by Pagan and Soydemir (2001) and Bahng and Shin (2003) for several emerging markets. Moreover, the ? nancial crises are noted to propagate shocks more strongly through the contagion or domino effect (Dornbusch et al. , 2000; Hasman and Samartin, 2008; Markwat et al. , 2009). Thus, a ? ight to other markets for shelter during times of ? nancial crises may not help. In the case of gold investment, its diversi? cation bene? ts are not restrained in times of market downturns.Indeed, there is some evidence that the stock market may surge in value when the stock market posts a negative trend. Conclusion A series of ? nancial crises that erupted in different parts of the world and their accom panying excessive risk have raised serious concern over investment in stock markets and are likely to bring back interest in gold as an alternative investment asset. In light of this, we examine the relation between gold and stock returns and investigate whether it changes during times of consecutive negative market returns for an emerging market, Malaysia.Applying GARCH-type models to daily gold and stock returns over the period August 2001-March 2010, we uncover evidence indicating signi? cant positive relation between gold return and once-lagged stock return. However, the coef? cient of the once-lagged stock return in gold return equation is small and far from unity. We further note that, their relation has not strengthened during times of consecutive days of market declines. To the contrary, we ? nd some evidence that gold return tends to break from its positive relation with stock market return following four consecutive stock market returns. These ? dings are in sharp contrast to the observed strong co-movements among national stock markets in periods of market downturns, which are attributed to contagion or domino effect. Based on these results, we incline to suggest the favorable property of gold as an investment asset for the Malaysian emerging market. At least, gold provides a diversi? cation bene? t to investors in the Malaysian market. The domestic Malaysian gold market tends to have resistance to heightened risk in the stock market as its preserve its low positive relation with stock market variations regardless of the market conditions.At best, with evidence pointing to the negative relation between gold return and stock market return after four consecutive negative market returns, gold tends to possess a hedging property in times of market declines. In short, our results seem to support the initiative by Malaysia in introducing various gold coins, namely Kijang Emas, Royal Mint gold Dinar and Kelantan State gold Dinar, as a vehicle for preservin g wealth in the midst of recurring ? nancial turbulences during the present time. Market risk and gold investment 33 IMEFM 5,1 34 Note 1. Dinar refers to the name of gold coin used in Islamic history.The interest in gold Dinar during the Asian ? nancial crisis is not only limited to its store of value role and its use in international trade settlement but also to the adoption of gold as a payment standard. References Bahng, J. S. and Shin, S. -M. (2003), â€Å"Do stock price indices respond asymmetrically? Evidence from China, Japan, and South Korea†, Journal of Asian Economics, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 541-63. Baur, D. G. and Lucey, B. M (2010), â€Å"Is gold a hedge or a safe haven? An analysis of stocks, bonds, and gold†, The Financial Review, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 217-29. Baur, D. G. and McDermott, T. K. (2010), â€Å"Is gold a safe haven?International evidence†, Journal of Banking & Finance, Vol. 34 No. 8, pp. 1886-98. Capie, F. , Mills, T. C. and Wood, G. (2005), à ¢â‚¬Å"Gold as a hedge against the dollar†, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 343-52. Dornbusch, R. , Park, Y. and Claessens, S. (2000), â€Å"Contagion: how it spreads and how it can be stopped†, World Bank Research Observer, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 177-97. Hasman, A. and Samartin, M. (2008), â€Å"Information acquisition and ? nancial contagion†, Journal of Banking & Finance, Vol. 32 No. 10, pp. 2136-47. Hillier, D. , Draper, P. and Faff, R. 2006), â€Å"Do precious metals shine? An investment perspective†, Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. 62 No. 2, pp. 98-106. Koutmos, G. and Martin, A. D. (2003), â€Å"Asymmetric exchange rate exposure: theory and evidence†, International Journal of Money and Finance, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 365-83. Lobo, B. J. (2000), â€Å"Asymmetric effects of interest rate changes on stock prices†, The Financial Review, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 125-44. Markwat, T. , Kole, E. and van Dijk, D. (2009), â€Å"Contagion as a dom? no effect in global stock markets†, Journal of Banking & Finance, Vol. 33 No. 11, pp. 996-2012. Nam, K. , Washer, K. M. and Chu, Q. C. 2005), â€Å"Asymmetric return dynamics and technical trading strategies†, Journal of Banking & Finance, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 391-418. (The) News Strait Times (2001), â€Å"Practices in Islamic banking†, News Strait Times, June, p. 26. Pagan, J. A. and Soydemir, G. A. (2001), â€Å"Response asymmetries in the Latin American equity markets†, International Review of Financial Analysis, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 175-85. Corresponding author Mansor H. Ibrahim can be contacted at: [email  protected] com To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints

Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff Essay

Shakespeare cleverly creates sorrow for Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff through various techniques such as order of their scenes, their company on stage and most importantly by their circumstances. In the case of Lady Macbeth we know her from the start of the play while in the case of Lady Macduff we are introduced to her with no prior knowledge only in Act 4 scene 2. Moreover with the use of dramatic irony Shakespeare lets the audience know certain events about to happen which naturally influence the emotions of viewers. Even though we feel sorrow for both the ladies there is a considerable difference in the range and type of sorrow. The basic similarity in their situation is that they cannot be helped. Shakespeare uses the basic human tendencies such as the urge to help the helpless, who in this case are both the Ladies, to amplify the feelings of sorrow and pity. We see lady Macduff first time in act 4 scene 2 talking with her cousin Ross a high ranking nobleman. She is angry with her husband for fleeing the land without them as can be inferred from lines 8-16. She feels that he has left them in mortal danger. Thus we know that the overriding emotion she experiences is fear. The fact that he ran away without any obvious reason scares her more. The audience already knows through Macbeths words- the castle of Macduff I will surprise..,give to the edge of sword his wifes, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line (act4 sc1 171-174) that he is going to massacre Lady Macduff and her children. We come to know a lot about this woman through the company of people that Shakespeare places with her. First of all we have Ross who clearly as her cousin does her the honor of visiting her and comforting her. His replies to all of her questions are short and terse. They do not give any new information but do the task of soothing her fee lings. His words in lines 25-30 I take my leave of youTo what they were before.-My pretty cousin, Blessing upon you indicate that she is a woman of honor and he does not wish to stain that honor by staying longer with her considering that she is alone. Next we have her conversation with her son which reveals that she is aware that it is not her sons fault that his father has fled and that she will not blame him for Macduffs mistakes. Lady Macduffs jokes with her son are based on reality, yet are pleasing and tell of a loving relationship between her and her son. Moreover by using the weakest group of people that  is woman and children Shakespeare creates an added feeling of sorrow. The entry of the messenger increases the tension and heightens emotions as it is right after a jolly and normal dialogue. His words are the harbinger of evil acts and they warn lady Macduff and advise her to run swiftly to safety. The very fact that the messenger is willing to put his life in jeopardy in order to try to save her life is testimony to her character. Specifically his lines 76-78 To fright you thusis too nigh your person. tell us that he not telling her this cruel truth would be more evil than telling it to her as she was a person of high stature in his eyes. Her response Whither should I fly? I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly.Do I put that womanly defense To say that I have done no harm? (Lines 81-87) to the warning shows political awareness and wisdom. At this point she knows that she is about to die and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Her end also tells the audience that she is a loyal wife for in lines 90-91 she says I hope in no place so unsanctified where such as thou mayst find him. . Her son dies so as to give his mother time to run and save herself. Thus Shakespeare creates the ultimate concept of Good vs Evil but instead of allowing good to triumph he lets evil rule. Lady Macduffs death is that of an scared, confused, loyal, loving, honorable, wise and defenseless woman dying a savage death for no reason whatsoever. On the other hand we have Lady Macbeth with whom the audience has been acquainted for a long time. Till act 5 sc 1 we have always seen Lady Macbeth as an forceful, ruthless and intelligent woman who has no remorse. In this act we see her through the eyes of a doctor and an gentlewoman. It is obvious that she is ill for a long time. Her company is not an jolly one, they are a doctor and a gentlewoman who after hearing and seeing her state of mind pity and feel sorrow for her. The gentlewoman has seen her in this state before whereas the doctor who sees her for the first time is clearly shocked. All her torments and troubles are within her mentally which is why no doctor can cure her. The words spoken by lady Macbeth speak of such darkness and blood that the doctor and the gentlewoman dare not repeat them to anyone else. All of her words in lines 37-42 refer to her past murders and crimes except for the sentence Hell is murky. Her diction and sentence structure is terse and tense. It is almost as if she reporting all her  deeds. It is very different from the loud convincing diction of the lady Macbeth we see in previous acts of the play. Even though she talks of her crimes, she never even once confesses or accepts her crimes. She is also scared and fears the blood spots on her hands will never be cleaned (lines 53-55). She is also extremely afraid of the darkness which is why she has commanded that she always have light beside her. She fears her past actions and that she always pushed Macbeth when he hesitated in murdering. Macbeth had not confided in her about the murder of lady Macduff which suggests that Macbeths taste for murder has outgrown hers. These fears are shown symbolically through her fear of darkness which compares with evil and her fear of dirty and bloody hands which compares with guilt. What is however heartbreaking and is the greatest factor in creating sorrow for her is that her suffering cannot end. She is locked in a circle of pain and only she can break out of it, no one can help her. The only way out of this circle would be by asking for forgiveness, by redeeming herself in the eyes of god. But to show remorse one needs to be sane and sadly as seen from her sleepwalking and other unnatural acts she is clearly mentally ill. Her pain is never-ending and everlasting. She is bound for hell and she cannot escape it. There are several similarities and contrasts between the two woman and the sorrow we feel for them. I personally felt more sorrow for Lady Macbeth than Lady Macduff since the suffering of Lady Macduff was short and painful while Lady Macbeth is never ending and painful. Lady Macduff suffered externally though physical pain while lady Macbeth suffered mentally. In case of Lady Macduff she was innocent and the suffering was brought upon her by Macbeth while in case of Lady Macbeth she herself had brought his suffering upon themselves. Lady Macbeth had a grim past and faces a grim future while Lady Macduff had a loving past and faces a heavenly future. Even though everyone wanted to help Lady Macduff they could not, similarly even though the doctor and gentlewoman wanted to help Lady Macbeth they could not. When death came Lady Macduff faced it by growing stronger but Lady Macbeth grew weaker. The diction of Lady Macduff drew out fear while Lady Macbeths diction imbibed it. Both the woman undergo intense emotional suffering before they die. Both of them are helpless and isolated. Though people would like to help them they cannot. Both of their husbands are not with them. Macduff went to  England thinking that his wife and children would be safe while Macbeth has probably grown so addicted to murder that he has forgotten his wifes suffering. As an audience the impact of these two sorry tragedies is huge and they come right after each other thus amplifying the impact. By playing upon natural human tendencies, cleverly placing the right characters and creating a sense of helplessness for both women Shakespeare leaves the audience with deep sorrow. Shakespeare also cleverly places brief interludes between intense scenes to increase the overall effect. The emotions depicted are intense and break the hearts of the audience. The death of Lady Macduff is unwarranted while the death of lady Macbeth is too painful and horrific. The main ideas that Shakespeare uses are that we empathise with the weak and helpless, we want to see good triumph evil and that no one wants to give anyone everlasting suffering without a ray of hope. He uses these instinctive human feelings to create sorrow for Lady Macduff and Lady Macbeth.