As Nature Made Him the Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl

As Nature Made Him the Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl Introduction Written by Colapinto, As Nature Made Him: the Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, scores high in sexuality matters. It talks of one David Reimer, whom after a bungled circumcision and eventual emasculation, lived as a girl; Brenda, until age fifteen. Tackling different issues on sexuality, this book offers the reader the opportunity to think critically, evaluate sexual information contained in it, and postulate future research areas.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on As Nature Made Him: the Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Colapinto arouses many questions concerning the popular thought that circumcision makes someone better. Being a journalist, Colapinto highlights sexuality issues from an objective point of view, something that a sexologist would not do. He gives facts about Brenda’s case without bias, something a clinician or a sexologist would find hard to accomplish. He p rovides useful analysis of this aspect of personality by making convincing arguments. Synopsis In 1965, Janet Reimer, wife to Ron Reimer gave birth to twin boys, Bruce and his brother. After eight month, these couple took their babies for mundane circumcision. Unfortunately, Bruce lost his penis to an electric burning machine. This tragedy left Bruce critically damaged such that his parents did not know what to do. Fortunately, one night as they were watching television in 1967, the Reimers saw Dr. Money explaining how successful he had carried out sexual surgery in the past. Dr. Money indicated that he had helped people change their sexuality and their response was compelling. Given the fact that Bruce had lost his penis, Ron observed that it would be better for him to face life as a girl than face manhood as a man minus penis. Therefore, the Reimers contacted Dr. Money for an operation. However, this operation brought more problems than solutions to baby Bruce and the family as th ey were caught in culture wars that prevailed in the 1980s. Brenda grew up a shy and reluctant girl. She never associated with any girlish play things like dolls; no, she found her comfort and joy in trucks, which she shared with her brother. In spite of these growing masculine behaviors, Dr. Money insisted that the Reimers should continue treating Brenda as a girl. Unfortunately, Dr. Money turned out to be a pervert. He would ask Brenda and his brother to play sex; at one point, he asked the Reimers to have sex in front of the children though they refused. Unwittingly, the Reimers continued following Dr. Money’s suggestions; however, the worst was still to come.Advertising Looking for report on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Emotional and behavioral issues began to arise; Brenda could not go to school with ease; Ron became alcoholic while Janet developed depression problems. Fortunately, at the a ge of thirteen, Brenda started seeing another therapist who convinced the Reimers to explain to Brenda what had really happened. In March 1980, the Reimers explained to Brenda her misfortunes and renamed him David. Analysis As aforementioned, the author of this book provides useful analysis of this aspect of personality. For instance, as the book opens, the author makes it clear that, â€Å"no dialogue or scenes have been invented for the purposes of `narrative flow, atmosphere, or any other quasi-novelistic purpose (Colapinto, 2000, p. ix). This proves the credibility of the analysis given. Most of the information contained in the book came from different psychologists who interacted with Brenda during her childhood and adolescence. Brenda’s family played key role in writing of this book for they offered primary information about Brenda’s case. Therefore, from these grounds, the book is authentic. Colapinto offers useful analysis by using credible sources to write th is book. Bearing in mind that he is not a clinician but a journalist, he involves clinicians to authenticate his claims. For instance, he analyses John Money’s views on pedigrees of sexual individuality development, which differs with the views of Milton Diamond. Colapinto notes that these differences have been a point of contention amongst psychologists and clinicians. By offering this factual analysis concerning this aspect of personality, the author provides the reader with in-depth analysis concerning the same. As aforementioned, this book presents important information about critical thinking and provides rich grounds for exploring the relationship between clinical practice, research, and theory. According to Kaplan (2009), â€Å"the book illuminates the fact that the sociopolitical zeitgeist exerts a tremendous influence not only on how research questions are answered and how those answers translate into policy and practice, but on the very questions that are asked.â⠂¬  Continuing with the analytical element of this book, there emerges critical information about sexuality. For instance, the author points out that Dr. Money vulgarized his â€Å"neutrality-at-birth† hypothesis. According to John Hopkins’ studies, Colapinto notes that, Dr. Money overlooked important issues in concluding that sexuality is acquired, not innate. More sexuality issues arise because of Dr. Money’s beliefs as presented in the book.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on As Nature Made Him: the Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the greatest questions that readers get answer from this book is the question of nature vs. nurture in sexuality matters. Dr. Money popularized the notion that at birth, children are sexually neutral and they could be nurtured to be of any sex. This was contained in Dr. Money’s theory of neutrality-at-birth. This explains w hy the Reimers were quick in trusting this self-proclaimed ‘sex missionary’ with Brenda’s problem. Moreover, this book is strongly analytical given the nature of its elaborate analysis of empirical studies on sexuality, especially Diamond’s studies. Colapinto utilizes â€Å"Concepts such as experimental controls and analogue designs providing students with an excellent framework for understanding the underlying logic of the famous twin study, one method used by researchers to tease out the relative contributions of nature and nurture† (Kaplan, 2009). Hence, this book stands out as a pedagogical tool in different areas of sexuality studies. Concerning the issue of ethics, this book arouses the question of just how and to what extent, should professionals like Dr. Money be involved in growth of inter-sex children. As the book ends, Colapinto talks of Intersex Society of North America, giving its objectives and its future role in society. This informat ion is critical concerning this aspect of sexuality. This book â€Å"provides a wealth of material related to research ethics in a broad sense, including how, when, and where research findings are published in scholarly journals and the manner in which these findings are disseminated to the general public† (Kaplan, 2009). Moreover, readers get to understand that science or research does not take place in vacuity; however, for a publication to be made there has to be a process of reviewing and ascertaining the subject under study. The authors argument is convincing looked at, from two different perspectives. First, the authenticity of the argument evidenced by the extensive consultations of primary sources makes Colapinto’s argument convincing. Secondly, given Colapinto’s nature as a journalist, he makes compelling arguments with well-constructed sentences that bring flow in the story making it enjoyable to read. He describes characters figuratively, something th at makes the reader draw a mental picture of what is happening. For instance, he describes Dr. Money and Diamond as, â€Å"suavely charismatic individual with the long, elegantly cut features of a matinee idol†¦.Diamond is a very objective, reasonable, almost mild-mannered scientist†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Colapinto, 2000, p. 18).Advertising Looking for report on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is very convincing and it makes Kaplan (2009), to note that, â€Å"it is in Colapintos exploration of Moneys and Diamonds respective characters that As Nature Made Him reads more like a juicy novel than an objective report. John Money†¦a truly chilling figure; unabashed hubris, is matched only by his Machiavellian need for power, control, and recognition.† This journalistic nature of the story makes it convincing and compelling. Nevertheless, few areas can be addressed in future research. For instance, there is need to explore a balanced and accurate understanding of sex research on ethical concerns raised by this book. Conclusion Colapinto explored different issues on sexuality in his book; As Nature Made Him; the Boy Who Lived as a Girl. Bruce suffered a sexual tragedy in the process of circumcision after which he lived as a girl for fifteen years. Dr. Money’s theories coupled with the Reimers gullibility kept Bruce as a baby girl named Brenda for fifteen y ears before telling him the truth. The author provides useful analysis about sexuality by using credible sources and referring to research to expound sexual issues presented in Bruce’s case. Given the fact that, the author is a journalist, he uses compelling language to convince the reader about his arguments. The ethical issues raised by the author of this book offer rich grounds for future research. References List Colapinto, J. (2000). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl. New York: HarperCollins. Kaplan, B. (2009). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl By John  Colapinto. Transgender Mental Health. Retrieved from https://tgmentalhealth.com/.

The Difference Between a Control Variable and Control Group

The Difference Between a Control Variable and Control Group In experiments, controls are factors that you hold constant or dont expose to the condition you are testing. By creating a control, you make it possible to determine whether the variables alone are responsible for an outcome. Although control variables and the control group serve the same purpose, the terms refer to two different types of controls which are used for different kinds of experiments. Why Experimental Controls Are Necessary A student places a seedling in a dark closet, and the seedling dies. The student now knows what happened to the seedling, but he doesnt know why. Perhaps the seedling died from lack of light, but it might also have died because it was already sickly, or because  of a chemical kept in the closet, or for any number of other reasons.   In order to determine why the seedling died, it is necessary to compare that seedlings outcomes to another identical seedling outside the closet. If the closeted seedling died while the seedling kept in sunshine stayed alive, its reasonable to hypothesize that darkness killed the closeted seedling.   Even if the closeted seedling died while the seedling placed in sunshine lived, the student would still have unresolved questions about her experiment. Might there be something about the particular seedlings that caused the results she saw? For example, might one seedling have been healthier than the other to start with? To answer all of her questions, the student might choose to put several identical seedlings in a closet and several in the sunshine. If at the end of a week, all of the closeted seedlings are dead while all of the seedlings kept in​ the sunshine are alive, it is reasonable to conclude that the darkness killed the seedlings. Definition of a Control Variable A control variable is any factor you control or hold constant during an experiment. A control variable is also called a controlled variable or constant variable.   If you are studying the effect of the amount of water on seed germination, control variables might include temperature, light, and type of seed. In contrast, there may be variables you cant easily control, such as humidity, noise, vibration, and magnetic fields. Ideally, a researcher wants to control every variable, but this isnt always possible. Its a good idea to note all recognizable variables in a lab notebook for reference. Definition of a Control Group A control group is a set of experimental samples or subjects that are kept separate and arent exposed to the independent variable. In an experiment to determine whether zinc helps people recover faster from a cold, the experimental group would be people taking zinc, while the control group would be people taking a placebo (not exposed to extra zinc, the independent variable). A controlled experiment is one in which every parameter is held constant except for the experimental (independent) variable. Usually, controlled experiments have control groups. Sometimes a controlled experiment compares a variable against a standard.

Incident manegment process at Catholic University of America Essay

Incident manegment process at Catholic University of America - Essay Example This could include the use of a service desk which acts as a link between the end users and the technical staff diagnosing the incident. The service desk updates the users on the progress of issue being resolved. Incident Management Cycle Incident life cycle involves discovery and listing, grouping and preliminary intervention, inspection and analysis, solution and revival, incident closure, incident ownership, follow up and evaluation, tracking and communication. To avoid IT business disruptions as a result of system failures, it is important to plan and implement programs to optimize IT service management. This begins with the analysis and alignment of the current and future business requirements and appropriate IT services provided. More serious incidents must be given precedence/priority where there are a number of incidents to be dealt with at the same time, where the user must be consulted and reference made to the Service Level Agreement (SLA). To prioritize, urgency and impac t of the incident to the user and the business must be evaluated (Office of Government Commerce 31). An incident that may not be resolved by first line support staff should be escalated to more expertise or authority. This could be either functional (horizontal) or Hierarchical (vertical) escalation. 1. Listing of Accepted Incidents Any section of the IT infrastructure may cause incidents to happen including computer operations, networking, service desk itself, procedures etc but these are usually reported by users. Detection systems can however be used to trap events taking place with the IT infrastructure. Incident management is related to other processes such as configuration management, problem management, change management, service level management, availability management, and capacity management (Office of Government Commerce 33). 2. Incident Grouping and Preliminary Intervention This involves grouping the incidents in some identified criteria. Services related to the inciden t are identified with due regard to the SLA. A support group is selected if support staff cannot resolve the incident issue; a support group is determined as part of functional escalation and based on incident categorization. An aspect of timelines here is critical involving informing the affected business user about the estimated amount of time expected to resolve the issue, with due updates on progress also provided. Incidents are also matched to determine whether similar ones occurred previously, thus helping on diagnosis and solution turnaround. 3. Solution and Revival Following an incident resolution, a record is made in the system for a Request for Change (RFC) submission to change management where necessary or/and appropriate. The RFC should usually lead to a solution (Office of Government Commerce 35). 4. Closure With a solution in place, the incident is routed back to the service desk by the support group. Service desk then informs the user to check if indeed the incident h as been resolved thereby closing the incident and incident record updated to show final category and priority, affected users and components which have been identified as causes of the incident. If user is not comfortable with the solution, the process can be reinitiated at the appropriate stage. 5. Incident Monitoring and Evaluation Service desk

See below Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

See below - Term Paper Example On the third part of the paper, the impact of the great power and the attitude of the corporation were also discussed. The documentary entitled â€Å"The Garden† was used in this discussion. It displayed the attitude shown by the corporation. And the last part is the conclusion which is the idea and the opinion of the writer were written. On January 1, 2002, an article was published by The Washington Post written by Michael Grunwald which was entitled â€Å"Monsanto Hid Decades of Pollution: PCB’s Drenched Ala. Town, But No One Was Ever Told.† This article is regarding the contamination of a nearby creek from an area of wet lands where the Monsanto Factory hid PCB toxins. It was said on the article that some scientists tested the said creek from toxicity by releasing fish and in three and a half minutes, most of the fish died. A lawsuit had been filed against the corporation but on January 5th the corporation issued a clarification regarding the article stating that the Monsanto Corporation had no involvement in the ongoing lawsuit concerning PCB pollution which was made by the old Monsanto Corporation in Anniston Alabama Solutia Incorporated. The corporation said that the Monsanto Corporation’s chemical operation had been spun off in the year 1997 into a Solutia Incorporated which is responsible for the issue and which is the defendant of the lawsuit. The above example is just one of the happenings that showed the power and attitude of the Monsanto Corporation. The growing power, attitude and global control of Monsanto Corporation lead to the violation of the essence of â€Å"dirt,† leading to the farmers to become slaves and the risk of human and animal’s health. Monsanto Corporation was founded in the year 1901 at St. Louis Missouri. John F. Queeny, an Irish immigrant and a 42-year-old who is a purchaser of a Drug Company of the Meyer brothers, started this kind of

Primus Sales Force Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Primus Sales Force - Case Study Example If the researcher gets the questions wrong, chances are that the respondents will get it wrong too and this means that the credibility of the findings will be compromised (Babbie, 2001). In order to eradicate this problem, it is imperative that the questions are asked with utmost clarity and efficiency. The following is an analysis of the quality of the survey questions administered to the sales representatives and managers of Primus Financial Company. It will analyze the issues that pertain to phrasing, the extent to which the questions measure the impact on the attitudes and behaviors and the extent to which they are actionable. Phrasing of the survey questions is as important as the content of the question. The phrasing should enhance the respondent’s understanding (Crossman, 2014). Therefore, the question should be phrased in the simplest and clearest way possible. To that end, these questions did not err a bit. The questions are very simple, clear and objective. For example, question number 2, which asks whether the intranet portal provides useful information in helping the employee do their job. It is simple and straightforward. All the seven questions that were employed asked for one piece of information, using simple wording and avoiding technical jargon. But despite being simple, these questions are vague. For example, question 1 and 2 which ask whether the monthly sales magazines and the intranet portal provide ‘useful’ information to the employees which aids in the performance of their jobs. The term ‘useful’ is vague. Coupled by the fact that the scale method is us ed to rate the answers, it becomes subjective as what level is useful to one employee may not be useful to another. Also, the amount the sales representative may find useful may not be the same for a sales manager. There is therefore an element of vagueness and ambiguity which if not addressed will compromise the validity

Pre Existing Strategies For Youth Offending

Pre Existing Strategies For Youth Offending For over a decade Labours three successive administrations from 1997 to 2010 has left the youth justice system in a state of near permanent reform. With almost two decades prior to 1997 in opposition Labour had the opportunity to implement ready-made polices on criminal justice which started with the youth justice system by adopting a root and branch reform agenda.  [2]  This paper will critically review the policies pursued by Governments over the past fourteen years to address the social causes of crime amongst young people. The primary question this paper will ask is whether these policies have made a difference to either crime figures or recidivism amongst juveniles. The paper will initially begin by discussing the pre-existing strategies on youth crime employed before the last fourteen years which is crucial to critically reviewing the laws development over the past fourteen years. The second part of this paper will focus on the strategies employed to deal with the social ca uses of youth crime. The final section of the paper will draw the paper together by discussing the impact of the strategies employed by the various Governments to deal and manage youth justice offending by examining their impact upon youth offending. Pre-Existing Strategies for Youth Offending: Much of the twentieth-century juvenile justice system was characterised by a double taxonomy which can be best described as punishment and welfare.  [3]  The last fifty years have seen a bewildering complexity of shifts in the approach of the police, courts and various governmental agencies established to respond to youth offending and the social causes of crime.  [4]  It has been a dissected mix of governmental policies that alternate between punitive punishment and a welfare or care approach. The literature presents the 1960s as a high point in the development of welfarism in the youth justice system with a shift away from penal punishment to family councils and family courts to deal with juvenile offending and the surrounding social causes of youth crime.  [5]   The coming to power of the Conservative government in the 1970s brought a shift back to punitive punishment for youth offenders with an increasing use of juvenile courts with custodial sentences rising from 3000 in 1970 to over 7000 in 1978.  [6]  Alongside this shift towards a strong sharp punishment of youth offending in England and Wales, Scotland sought to introduce an alternative approach with the introduction of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. An underlying feature of this approach to youth offending were welfare tribunals which used lay people such as social workers, teachers and family representatives in coming together to manage youth offending in a collaborative way to tackle both the wider social causes of youth offending and the individual offence under consideration. Pratt argues that there were four major sets of criticisms of the welfare model of youth justice: firstly the treatment-orientated interventions were perceived to be ineffective.  [7]  Secondly, evidence suggested that care could become more coercive than punishment. Thirdly, professional expertise of the members of the tribunals was less important than it was perceived to be, in that members were serving with little experience of juvenile offending. Fourthly, the care model of justice was alleged to be ineffective at dealing with youth delinquency. The election of the Conservative government during the 1980s with a law and order agenda produced a mixed approach to youth offending yet again.  [8]  The 1980s brought an introduction of a multi-agency approach to youth offending and the social causes of crime, with an increased use of formal and informal cautioning of youth offenders which distinguished first offenders from repeat offenders. A distinctive feature of this approac h to youth offending was the introduction of the concept of corporatism into the youth justice system which allowed a system to produce efficient, effective justice that worked.  [9]  The focus was on delivering a youth justice framework that worked efficiently delivering value for money for the government using cheaper alternatives than the court system. The youth justice model of the 1980s enjoined the 1990s with a marriage of punitive sentencing of repeat offenders with an incoherent cautioning system for first time youth offenders which the police patrolled without any consistency.  [10]   New Labour, New Youth Justice Police? It is arguable that, amongst other issues, Labour won its first general election under the banner of its tough talk on criminal justice issues.  [11]  By taking a mixed approach between retributive justice and restorative justice Labour sought to increase the States control, regulation and mangerialism of criminal behaviour and the social causes surrounding crime.  [12]   Labour sought to formulate its youth justice policies around a development of pre-existing philosophies of restorative justice values and practice including responsibility, restoration and reintegration, which would draw upon the experience of the existing framework.  [13]  Labour presented a Third way to deal with law and order which centred upon tackling the youth crime which were premised upon making young people take responsibility for crime through the concepts of responsibility, restoration and reintegration.  [14]  The centre piece of reform manifested itself in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 which have sought to bring restorative elements and values on a formal platform within youth justice.  [15]  In essence the statutory framework represented a clear attempt at modernising youth justice based on empirical evidence.  [16]   The reform advanced by Labour to deal with the social causes of youth offending effectively represented a new youth justice system composed of a Youth Justice Board (YJB) at national level and a multi-agency Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) at local level to administer the youth justice framework.  [17]  This multi-level and multi-agency approach to youth justice redefined the architecture of the youth justice apparatus by reconfiguring the lines of power, management and responsibility.  [18]  In addition to redefining the youth justice apparatus within the criminal justice system, Labour adopted a twin track approach with a perpetual stream of legislative reform focused on reformulating the punishment framework within criminal justice. The main stay of the reforms was provided in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which established the Youth Justice Board, Youth Offending Teams and for a restructuring of the non-custodial penalties available to the Youth Court, other reforms included: anti-social behaviour orders (ASBO) and action plans, to reparation orders and parenting orders.  [19]  For offenders under 18, the system of police cautioning was replaced with a new system of reprimand and warnings, to allow young offenders to have the opportunity of at least one reprimand and one final warning prior to prosecution.  [20]   Newburn argues that the new reforms implemented sought to allow restorative values where possible within youth justice through the development of restorative cautioning, action plans and reparation orders.  [21]  The action plan represented an attempt to allow youth offenders to begin a short intensive programme of community intervention combining punishment, rehabilitation and reparation to change the offending behaviour and prevent further crime.  [22]  Although Labour sought to redraw the criminal justice agenda many of the reforms introduced echoed and resembled the multi-agency approach of the 1980s.  [23]  The crucial difference between this fresh attempt at reform was that part of the multi-agency approach this time was not to divert but rather to intervene and become involved in the process.  [24]  A central driving force in Labours restorative reforms was the influence of communitarian thinking, particularly with the introduction of reparation orders and rest orative cautioning.  [25]  The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 placed local authorities with the responsibility of formulating and implementing annual youth justice plans which dealt with the social causes of crime amongst other priorities. Gelsthorpe and Morris argue that the reforms introduced will allow restorative processes to occupy a marginal place within criminal justice until contradictory values and practices of blaming and punishing are given significantly less emphasis and restorative values and practices are given significantly more emphasis.  [26]  A potential flaw of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 presented in the literature is that significant elements inherent in the reforms are premised on the basis of proportionality which is characteristic of punitive punishment. Wasik identifies that the reparation order is subjected to the normal requirements of proportionality which is linked to the retributive justice value of responsibility of the offender for the crime.  [27]  The central concern among advocates of restorative justice is that this model will not operate with the full potential of restorative justice values and principles which could over time gradually become more punitive than restorat ive in nature. Much of the debate throughout the literature focuses on the various elements of the reforms which can be considered to have restorative ideals.  [28]  The most significant reform was the introduction of Referral Orders as part of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. Dignan and Marsh argue that Referral Orders are potentially one of the most radical aspects of the entire youth justice reform agenda where the court can divert the young offender away from the courts system to deal with the offending behaviour through restorative approaches.  [29]  Crawford and Newburn argue that the reforms implemented by Labour were heavily influenced by the what works paradigm and the language of risk factors.  [30]   Conclusion: Goldson argues that Labour introduced an unprecedented corpus of youth justice legislation both in terms of reach and volume.  [31]  Fergusson argues that the approach to youth offending became a melting pot of contradictions, ideals and ideologies where a hybrid model emerges which encompasses a dissected mix of restorative and retributive values.  [32]  Fergusson correctly identifies that the way governments present policy rhetorically, how they codify it legally, and how those policies are played out in practice are critically different facets of the policy process in the management of crime.  [33]   Successive governments have responded to the social causes of youth crime in various ways throughout the last five decades, in particular the latest strategy employed a double edged sword which leans heavily on punitive punishment for adult offenders with a more welfarist approach in dealing with youth offenders.  [34]  Restorative justice undoubtedly represents one of the most significant developments in criminal justice and criminological practice and thinking over the past two decades.  [35]  It is arguably the social movement for criminal justice reform of the 1990s and into the new millennium.  [36]   Empirical evidence emanating from America, Australia and New Zealand indicate that where the use of restorative justice is prevalent for young offenders, there has been success at reducing youth offending rates and a reduction in repeat offending resulting in greater effectiveness at dealing with youth crime and the social causes of crime.  [37]   The net effect of these new policies aimed at the reduction of youth crime and tackling the social causes of crime represent a more integrated approach by the state to manage youth offending rates. The policies acknowledge the failures of the previous strategies of strict punitive punishment as a deterrent for further offences. The approach of incorporating restorative values, although arguable only at the fringes of the youth justice system, represents a more inclusive justice system which takes into account mechanisms to address the social causes of youth offending.

Essay on Frail Ophelia of Hamlet -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Frail Ophelia of Hamlet      Ã‚   Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare makes it evident that Ophelia is very unstable. She continuously changes her mind about the way she feels. Laertes and Polonius command her to do things that she does not agree with, but she does them with no argument. Afraid to stand up for herself, she stands back and watches everyone else control her life. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is treated as a marionette with her strings in the hands of the people around her; however, Kenneth Branagh portrays her as independent and innocent, ignoring Shakespeare's representation of her as feeble-minded through complete male dominance in her thoughts and actions, her indecisiveness, and digression into madness.    It is obvious throughout the play Ophelia is ordered around by Laertes and Polonius, and obeys them without a moment's thought. They act like she has no mind of her own, but she listens and does as they wish, so it seems she cannot think for herself. Polonius and Laertes treat her as though she is worthless. Laertes urges Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet ...