“Merchant of Venice” Feminist Perspective Essay

The feminist critical perspective examines the roles that women play in literary works and their true significance to the text. Their roles are usually decided on by the society or time period in which the story is set. In â€Å"The Merchant of Venice,† females were suppressed by the societal ideals of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era, which is portrayed through the characters of Portia and Jessica, who could not establish their own powerful identities because they were women. Portia and Jessica are the main female characters in the play. If they had been given a chance to show their skills, they undoubtedly would’ve been extremely strong women. However, they had to mask their abilities in order to appeal to their male counterparts. Their positions in the story were to show what it was to be the ideal Elizabethan woman. Time and time again, Portia and Jessica were shown to be mere objects that were owned by the male characters in the story. They could not shine or b ecome powerful characters, when they had every capability to. According to Maggi Ros’ â€Å"Life in Elizabethan England: A Compendium of Common Knowledge,† a woman was nothing more than property in Elizabethan society. It states that, â€Å"Children are the property of their parents, and give them the respect a servant gives his master†¦Wives are the property of their husbands†¦Some women are more independent than others. However, every woman expects to be married, and to depend on her male relatives throughout her life.† Throughout the story, we see that Jessica and Portia fit perfectly into this description of Elizabethan women. Jessica was the property of her father. Shylock did not care for his daughter nearly enough as the fact that he owned her. When Jessica eloped with her lover, Lorenzo, Shylock cared only about two things: that his daughter had eloped with a Christian and that she had stolen his money. The reader can see this when Salanio, while gossiping with Salerio, mocks Shylock: â€Å"I never heard a passion so confused / So strange, outrageous, and so variable / As the dog Jew did utter in the streets: / ‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! / Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! / Justice! the law! †¦ A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, †¦ Stol’n by my daughter! Justice! Find the girl!'† (II.viii.13). Jessica’s eloping with Lorenzo signified that Shylock’s source of pride, his Jewish religion, would end  after his death. There would be no continuance of the tradition because Jessica had betrayed him and married a Christian. She could no longer bear him a Jewish heir. After his religion, money was the second most important thing in Shylock’s life. Jessica had taken some of his ducats and precious stones. He begged the law to condemn Jessica, who had stolen his hard-earned money. It was obvious that the loss of his daughter did not affect him one bit. But rather, it was the loss of his money and Jewish bloodline which infuriated him. Sadly, this showed that Jessica’s worth was limited to nothing more than mere property. Portia was, like Jessica, bound by her father. She says: â€Å"If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father’s will† (I.ii.98). Her deceased father had left behind a will, which contained a riddle. There were three caskets, made of gold, silver, and lead. The man who can correctly choose the casket containing Portia’s picture would become her husband. If Portia had not remained loyal to her father, she could have easily chosen any man to be her husband. However, this shows the power of the male guardian in Elizabethan times. Portia did not dare to be disobedient to her father, even after his death. â€Å"O me, the word ‘choose’! I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike, so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father (I.ii.19). Instead, she grudgingly accepted the riddle as the ultimate decider in her fate and love life. In another aspect of Elizabethan society, women were mere objects that belonged to their husbands after ownership was transferred from their fathers. The suitors lasciviously desired Portia for her beauty and wealth. If they could win her as a wife, their reputations and futures would be set. The first suitor to try his luck at the riddle of the caskets was the Prince of Morocco. He chose the gold casket which had an inscription that read: â€Å"Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire† (II.vii.5). This shows that Morocco was a greedy man who desired Portia for materialistic reasons, just like many other men who would desire the gold too. The second suitor to attempt the riddle was the Prince of Arragon, who chose the silver casket. Like Morrocco, Arragon was quite superficial. â€Å"I will assume desert. Give me  a key for this / And instantly unlock my fortunes here† (II.ix.52). He saw Portia as merely a free ride to financial security. He didn’t want her because he loved or cared for her. He only wanted her for her money and power. Women were a prize which men displayed and flaunted. A woman had no true value as a person. A recurring event in the play was the women disguising themselves as men. This is symbolic of the suppression of the women by their male counterparts. They had to mask their true abilities under the guise of men. There was no way in Elizabethan society for a woman to be successful in any field other than wifehood or motherhood. In Act II, Jessica was finally rebelling against the strict rules of Shylock. She was taking extreme measures in order to elope with Lorenzo. â€Å"I am glad ’tis night, you do not look on me / For I am much ashamed of my exchange / But love is blind and lovers cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves commit / For if they could, Cupid himself would blush / To see me thus transformed to a boy† (II.vi.34). Escaping from her father should have empowered her character, but in fact, it didn’t. She had to disguise herself as a pageboy, thus, taking away any feeling of female empowerment that the act of eloping should have brought. She was defying in the costume of a male and this showed that only males had the power to rebel or to be strong. At the end of Act III, Portia and Nerissa dressed up as a male lawyer and clerk and traveled to Venice to defend Antonio. Portia was the most intellectual character in the play and that was made evident by the skill with which she executed Antonio’s defense. When the evidence was clearly stacked against Antonio, using her wit and intelligence, Portia turned the tables on Shylock and made him the victim. Portia’s cleverness was shown when she said: â€Å"This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood / The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh:’ / Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh / But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed / One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods / Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate Unto the state of Venice† (IV.i.309). Portia knew that Shylock had every right to cut Antonio’s flesh–the law gave him that right. But, she also knew that the law stated that if an attempt was made at a Venetian’s life, the perpetrator  would have his property confiscated. This was a brilliant twist of events that greatly affected the case. Shylock had now turned into the victim and Antonio was completely off the hook. Portia was an utterly brilliant lawyer, which everyone in the courtroom could distinguish. However, Antonio’s defense and the infamous â€Å"quality of mercy speech† were made under the disguise of a male lawyer. No one would ever see the true intelligence that Portia actually beheld, simply because an intelligent female was unfathomable in Shakespeare’s time. Women in Shakespeare’s Elizabethan society were greatly undermined. This is made quite evident in The Merchant of Venice, through the feminist critical perspective. Societal ideals forced Jessica and Portia to mask their abilities and talents. They could not show their true identities or else they would break the mold of a proper Elizabethan woman, which was absolutely unthinkable. Portia and Jessica were both the property by their fathers and could never really break free from that ownership. Also, Portia was desired by men for her wealth and beauty, rather than her intelligence and personality. Women were merely a prize that should be flaunted. Their inner-value was worthless; it was their material value that mattered. Finally, both women had to disguise themselves as men in order to express the independence and power they possessed. The female characters in the story were inferior to the males because of the social stigmas which had existed during Shakespeare’s time period.

The Native Son essays

The Native Son essays The novel Native Son, written by Richard Wright, is a book that deals with a poor, black man named Bigger Thomas growing up in a rat-infested one-bedroom apartment on the South Side in Chicago during the Depression. It deals with the racism between blacks and whites, the poor and the rich. This man Bigger Thomas feels like that he is trapped and doomed to a destiny of constantly being on the bottom of the social ladder because of the whites. He does not like the whites because he thinks of them as being masters or as being people who tell the blacks what to do and where to go. He works as a chauffeur for a family named the Daltons. But one night, as he is driving one of the Daltons, Mary, the daughter, to go meet her Communist boyfriend Jan, the three of them end up drinking and becoming drunk. Bigger drives Mary home and while she is putting Mary into bed, Marys blind mother walks in to the room, and Bigger becomes scared that Mary is gonna reveal Biggers presence so he smothers her face with a pillow to make her be silent. But as he is doing that, he accidentally kills her so he ends up burning her body in the furnace. He tries to cover up the whole incident by trying to frame a kidnapping and ransom by signing it Red to try to frame Jan, the boyfriend of Mary. But the family ends up finding the bones in the furnace so they find Bigger, and the town sentences him to death. Bigger was doomed from the beginning. He was a black man growing up in a rich, white society. He knew that he was not going to become anything. What I did not like about this book was how the author wrote from such a pessimistic view of the whole blacks versus whites issue. He made is seem as if you were black growing up in Chicago, that you were not ever going to become anything, that you were doomed to say poor and live like rats. What I did like is that, the author really showed how it was during ...

What are Sensitivity Readers (And Should Authors Use Them)

What are Sensitivity Readers (And Should Authors Use Them) What are Sensitivity Readers? (And Should Authors Use Them?) A conversation is raging in the writing world and it’s not about the latest Harry Potter â€Å"backstory† that J.K. Rowling revealed on Twitter. Sensitivity readers lie at the heart of the debate - and the controversy has hit such heights that it has drawn attention from media outlets ranging from Literary Hub to the New York Times.For an author, the argument over the correct use of sensitivity readers might be smothering what they actually do. This post will clear the fog and uncover exactly what this kind of reader is - and what you can expect when you work with one. Hopefully, by the end, you’ll have a better idea of whether you need one. What are sensitivity readers?Sensitivity readers are a subset of beta readers who review unpublished manuscripts with the express purpose of spotting cultural inaccuracies, representation issues, bias, stereotypes, or problematic language.While these readers are not new to the publishing landscape, they have recently risen to prominence. Thanks to encouragement from organizations like We Need Diverse Books, there has been an earnest push to include more diverse characters in published literature, though some of these good-faith efforts have met with mixed reception.Such readers particularly became a hot topic in 2016, when the pre-release of the young adult novel The Continent was quickly met with online reviews pointing out problematic portrayals of people of color. The book’s release date was pushed back and galley copies were sent off to sensitivity readers, which resulted in numerous changes. Which brings us to both the case for them - and against them. Asked and answered: What are sensitivity readers? Discover more inside this post The case for sensitivity readersPublishing has a diversity problem: not only is the industry predominantly white and middle-class, but the stories overwhelmingly feature white characters. In recent years, the tide has shown signs of turning as inclusion and equity have become increasingly sought-after in an effort to represent the variety of cultures and diverse backgrounds that make up the world.However, the reality is that while more diverse books are being published now, many of them are written by white authors. Writers, like all human beings, are the products of their upbringing and often have little real-world context for writing about a culture outside their own - hence where the skills of such specialized readers come into play. Feedback from such readers can:Ensure better representation on the page. As diversity in literature becomes increasingly in-demand, it’s important that characters are represented accurately, without perpetuating stereotypes. This kind of reade r helps by pointing out unintentionally insensitive or incorrect portrayals of race, sexuality, religion, and physical disabilities.Improve the quality of the book. All books benefit hugely from a multidimensional, rich, and nuanced cast of characters - something that the use of sensitivity readers will encourage, as the feedback can steer characters away from being one-note cardboard cutouts.Moreover, in today’s real-time and divisive online environment - spurred on by such sites as Twitter - this kind of reader helps prevent the worst-case scenario: backlash which results in a book being withdrawn from publication. For publishers, these readers can avert the embarrassing predicament of canceling a book launch on the back of a public apology. The Continent was far from the only book that sunk because of a turbulent online reaction to its representation of diversity: Amà ©lie Wen Zhao initially called off the summer 2019 publication of Blood Heir due to criticism of the w ay that her novel dealt with indentured labor and slavery.Zhao only recently announced that Blood Heir is back on schedule for publication - after editing the novel and â€Å"taking the time to make sure the hallmarks of human trafficking were being incisively drawn.†The case against sensitivity readersCensorship is generally at the heart of every argument against these readers. Their detractors are concerned that these readers police expression of thought, resulting in homogenous stories that are afraid to touch complex topics - and a sterilized world of books in which controversial language can’t be used.Though one of the most common pieces of advice you’ll hear for an author is to â€Å"write what you know,† some also argue that the increasingly looming need for such readers discourages authors from experimenting and writing outside of their own perspectives. As Francine Prose wrote in an article for the NY Books: â€Å"Should we dismiss Madame Bova ry because Flaubert lacked â€Å"lived experience† of what it meant to be a restless provincial housewife? Can we no longer read Othello because Shakespeare wasn’t black?†From this point of view, sensitivity readers monitor freedom of thought, which is antithetical to what creative writing should be all about.What can you expect from a sensitivity reader?With all of the debate around the topic, what actually goes into a reader’s work can easily get overlooked. So what exactly does it entail? Well, the entire process depends on the individual - but generally, the collaboration between reader and author plays out in four stages.1. Finding the right reader for the bookTo add value to a text, the reader must match the needs of the book. For instance, if you’re a white author writing a book with a black protagonist, your reader would ideally come from such a background and understand the nuances of 1. writing from such a perspective, and 2. depicting th e culture. Likewise, make sure that the reader is experienced in the genre. A reader that specializes in reading children’s books wouldn’t be a good fit for an adult genre novel, and vice versa.Here are some more best practices to keep in mind for the search:Expect to pay for a reader’s services. Prices will vary, but generally fixed prices start from $250 for a novel. Some sensitivity readers charge by the hour - make sure that you get it all down in a contract so that both of you are on the same page before starting the collaboration.Find a reader who understands publishing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they must be writers themselves - merely that they ought to understand the nuances of the writing process and be up-to-date on publishing debates. It shouldn’t just be any random person off the street - these readers are professionals in their own right and should know the ins and outs of the industry, as well as the contexts that require their knowledge.Set a firm deadline with the reader. Generally, the turnaround time is 2 to 5 weeks. Hash it out with the reader beforehand to avoid any confusion.As for where you can find these readers in the first place, the Writing in the Margins database is a good place to start. Ask around on Twitter and various writing communities - fellow writers will be happy to offer recommendations or share insight from past collaborations with sensitivity readers. "How to find the right sensitivity reader for your book" and more questions answered in this guide 2. Allow time for the reader to, well, readOnce the contract is ironed out and all of the details of the collaboration are fixed, the author will give the reader the entire manuscript to read. As we mentioned earlier, this stage usually takes between 2 to 5 weeks, depending on the length of the manuscript - the reader won’t be speedreading, but carefully evaluating characterizations, noting down sentences that are off, and appraising the tone of the book.3. Listen to the feedbackWhen the reader is done with the manuscript, it’s time for the reaction. It depends on the reader, but most of the time, feedback takes the form of comments in the margins of the manuscript and a detailed letter. Usually, a follow-up consultation, such as a phone call, can be taken up to resolve any lingering questions.Much of the time, the feedback will pinpoint things that an author might not have ever considered. As sensitivity reader Dhonielle Clayton revealed in an interview with Vulture: â€Å"I read a middle-grade book about a little black girl who loves to go to national parks, and I told the author that the first thing she needed to reconcile was, how did this black girl get into national parks? Historically, black people weren’t allowed to visit national parks, so going to national parks is not a thing we do, as a group. I wrote to her that if this little girl loves to camp, you need to figure out how that happened, how that passion was stoked, how her parents and grandparents felt about it. Or you have to make her white. Because otherwise it’s a paint by numbers diversity piece and it rings false.†Keep an open mind when you receive the feedback. The reader will point out blind spots - things that wouldn’t have occurred to an author who is writing about a different culture - and may raise delicate tonal questions. Like a developmental editor does for a manuscript, the criticism is ultimately meant to raise the quality of the book.4. Revise the manuscript accordinglyWhen the dust settles and all is said and done, it’s up to the author to make the final decision on whether or not to make the reader’s suggested edits. Nobody is stopping you from doing anything - on the contrary, a sensitivity read simply provides you with choices and information.What a sensitivity read offers is advice: it’s not compulsory to change the story according to their counsel, though it’s certainly recommended once you’ve reached this stage.Do you need a sensitivity reader?So do you as an author need a sensitivity reader?It depends on a number of variables: the subject on which you’re writing, your characters, and where you fall in the debate of censorship. Some writers may think, â€Å"Better safe than sorry,† while others believe that such readers are unnecessary. We’re not here to tell you what you should or should not do, but it’s important to be informed and to know ex actly what you’ll get out of the process if you do decide to hire a reader’s services.If it would be helpful to hear from authors who have previously worked with such readers, here are a few personal accounts that you can peruse before you go:Anna Hecker: The Problem with Sensitivity Readers Isn’t What You Think It IsJames Tilton: Sensitivity Readers! What Are They Good For?Literary Hub: On the Use of Sensitivity Readers in PublishingHave you used a sensitivity reader before and what's your take on them? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.

Discuss the palace of Knossos as an architectural embodiment of Minoan Essay

Discuss the palace of Knossos as an architectural embodiment of Minoan cosmology and culture, focusing particularly on the relat - Essay Example The Palaces were built on the Kephala hill where it had easy access to the sea as well as the Cretan interior. The first palace was destroyed in 1700BC but it was rebuilt again. However, the second palace was destroyed by fire in 1350 never to be rebuilt again.1 The area around the palace was transformed into a sacred region with and it was not inhabited. The Palace of Knossos was magnificent and was a symbol of the civilization of the people of Minos. Its construction was massive and no other known architectural piece rivaled it in size during those times. The palace was architectural plans were equally sophisticated and there was remarkable use of luxurious materials. Advance techniques were used in building the Palaces which made them stand out in the entire Crete. The Minoans demonstrated their technological advancements in the design of the Palaces by incorporating features such as light wells, complex drainage and water systems. The Palace of Knossos was built to serve religiou s as well as administrative functions. Hence, its design was elaborate and it comprised of several sections to suit various functionalities. This paper aims to discuss the palace of Knossos as an architectural embodiment of Minoan cosmology and culture. Specifically, the relationship of the palace to nature as topography, orientation and temporality is evaluated. Also, the use of ornament and role of ritual are discussed in detail. Role of Ritual The extensive palaces of Knossos were concerned with practical pleasures and celebrations for the people. The palaces were designed to allow for social interactions and communicated the underlying social ideologies and order. It has been argued that the Palace of Knossos was designed as an architectural expression of the social concepts of the time.2 The West Wing was dedicated to public ceremonies and performances. The elaborate walkways in the West Wing create an impression that this was the focal point of movement. They served as process ion ways leading to the inner parts of the palace. The elevation of the walkways indicates that there was a separation of the performers and the audience. One of the processional ways in the palace, known as the Royal Road, led to a large elevated area that was probably used for the theatrical performances.3 On the south side there was a square paved bastion built against it equipped with a platform. The platform was positioned in such a way that people could actually observe actual performances from there. It is evident that the theatrical area was arranged in such way that it could allow viewing in three levels. Arguably, the Knossos palace architectural environment created social hierarchy which had been translated into spatial order. If the paved bastion was indeed sectioned for the most prominent figures in Minoan society, then the two flights of steps could have functioned, as they stand, for the elite closest to the representatives of the community. However, the hierarchical positioning of people according to status could also function to realign the socio-political fabric of the Neo-palatial period during ceremonies ideological in nature. Hence, the theatrical area could be able to function in two ways depending on the occasion. The architecture of the palace was dynamic making it capable to serve various social functions. The other evidence that the palace of Knossos served as a ritual centre is its interior

St. Joan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

St. Joan - Essay Example The various characters that come into contact with her, from common soldiers to the Dauphin, are often moved to respond to her magnetism and her unshakeable faith. Joan affects people strongly with her charisma and her conviction in the rightness of her way. As Bertrand de Poulengey says in wonder, â€Å"There is something about the girl† (Scene I). John de Stogumber is an English chaplain and the representative of the Cardinal of Winchester in the English camp. Although his pride in being an Englishman leads to his hatred for Joan, her martyrdom becomes the epiphany which transforms his character. The ruling trait of the Chaplain’s personality is his pride in being an Englishman and in his aristocratic lineage. In fact, Shaw introduces him in the drama as a â€Å"bullnecked English chaplain† (Scene IV). De Stogumber contemptuously dismisses Dunois as being â€Å"only a Frenchman† (Scene IV). His pride borders on bigotry: it can even be said that Shaw pain ts this ‘super patriot’ with more than a touch of the comic. The Chaplain definitely appears as a comic figure when he asserts that the voices heard by Joan â€Å"should have spoken in English† (Scene VI). His horror at Englishmen being designated as heretics is also comical. His partisan leanings lead him to accuse Bishop Cauchon of being a traitor. When the Inquisition attempts to lead Joan into repentance, de Stogumber declares, â€Å"I know there is not faith in a Frenchman† (Scene VI). He cannot accept the fact that â€Å"we English have been defeated† or â€Å"bear to see my countrymen defeated by a parcel of foreigners† (Scene IV). This stubborn belief in the courage and invincibility of the English leads him to search for supernatural causes for their defeat. He claims, â€Å"No Englishman is ever fairly beaten† (Scene IV). His blind belief in the invincibility of the English is instrumental in fanning the flames of his hatred of Joan. John de Stogumber hates Joan with a passion which is almost incomprehensible. He holds her responsible for the defeat of the English army and firmly believes that such a thing could only have been accomplished with the help of diabolic powers. He is willing to throw away his cassock to take arms and â€Å"strangle the accursed witch with my own hands† (Scene IV). His strong language regarding Joan unequivocally demonstrates his hatred of The Maid: she is â€Å"an arrant witch† and â€Å"that slut† (Scene IV). At the same time, his hatred also extends to her French nationality, and has a touch of class snobbery. He calls her â€Å"a witch from lousy Champagne,† and â€Å"a drab from the ditches of Lorraine† (Scene IV). Of all her supposed crimes, the one de Stogumber cannot bring himself to forgive is â€Å"her great rebellion against England† (Scene IV). Joan represents France, rebellion against the old order, and everything that is anti-English. The Chaplain hates her so much that he declares his willingness to burn her with his own hands. It is de Stogumber who â€Å"rushes at her, and helps the soldiers to push her out† to the courtyard and the stake (Scene VI). He is the foremost of her enemies. It is at the stake that John de Stogumber experiences the epiphany which transforms him. The man who shouts â€Å"Light your fire, man. To the stake with her,† and rushes to be the first to witness the burning, becomes the man who comes back â€Å"

Designing a Research Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Designing a Research Project - Essay Example Today the progression of technological expertise has made it feasible to fetch the consumers throughout the globe at the virtual store where the individuals are permitted to look through, pick, try out and pay without being actually there at the shop. This hi-tech development has in turn stimulated the quantity of competition among the companies and the procedure of modernization has been incessantly tailored by every company with the aim of drawing the consumers. A nation’s wealth is exceedingly enthused by the manufacturing and utilization phase on one hand. However on the further side the sequence of fabrication and utilization is completely reliant on the demand of the purchasers and the availability of products by the market person as per the demands. Consequently it is the primary aim of every company to persuade and please its consumers and provide them with the claimed goods and services. The aim of this research is to find out the marketing strategies taken by electronics giant Apple to reach its targeted consumer for the product iPhone. Being the most innovative organisation in its sector and having largest market share in the developed market it is challenge for Apple to reach its entire customer with limited time period. This study will help people to understand Apple’s iPhone marketing strategy in this ever changing competitive world. For this research both primary and secondary research approach will be taken. For primary research both qualitative and quantitative questionnaire will be made and distributed among the respondents. For qualitative questionnaire interview method will be used and for quantitative questionnaire survey method will be used. Probability sampling will be used for quantitative data collection method and non probabilistic data collection technique will be used for qualitative data collection technique. When a company fails to make available the vital

The interesting topic Essay Example for Free

The interesting topic Essay The marking criteria should be available to candidates whilst completing the task. The quality of written communication will be assessed in the judgements and conclusion section. The total number of marks for this unit is 45. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES †¢ This document consists of 8 pages. Any blank pages are indicated. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that assessment is carried out against the Controlled Assessment set for the relevant examination series (detailed above). Assessment evidence produced that does not reflect the relevant examination series will not be accepted.  © OCR 2010 [Y/600/3256] DC (AC/DJ) 64632/1 OCR is an exempt Charity Turn over 2 The purpose of this unit is to carry out a practical investigation of a topic chosen from a set of options supplied by OCR. In the course of the investigation, there will be an opportunity to look in depth at an aspect of computing that goes beyond the subject matter outlined in A451. The tasks will require a significant element of practical activity, which must be evidenced in the report and which will form a major element of the assessment. The topics will enable practical investigation and some supplementary research to be carried out in a variety of ways. These will include, but are not restricted to: †¢ practical investigations with hardware or software †¢ practical investigations with online resources Supplementary research may be required and resources may include: †¢ web-based enquiry †¢ contact with IT professionals †¢ research using computer industry publications  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 3 Candidates should complete all tasks. Validating web forms Many web sites collect information from people using forms. These forms can be put together using HTML form objects. The data entered is normally sent back to the web server where it is processed by database software. It is always a good idea if the data entered into a computer system is validated in order to reduce the number of errors that occur. A lot of this validation can be carried out at the client end of the process. In other words, processing can be carried out by the browser. There are various ways in which this can be done. A common way is to write scripts that intercept the input data and check it before it is submitted to the server. There are various scripting languages that can be used to write the necessary validation routines. A popular example is JavaScript. Most browsers are able to interpret JavaScript. JavaScript, just like other elements of a web page, is best written using a plain text editor such as Notepad. Scripts can be embedded in a web page or saved separately as JavaScript files, using the extension js. The web page can access these scripts when needed. Here is the starting point for a form that collects information about exam entries. File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help http://examentry. net Exam entry Exam Entry Form Name Subject Submit Reset Fig. 1 It contains two text boxes. When the Submit button is clicked, a script checks that both boxes have been filled in. Here is the HTML code that lies behind the form and the JavaScript code that does the validation. Exam entry function validateForm() { var result = true; var msg=†Ã¢â‚¬ ; if (document. ExamEntry. name. value==†Ã¢â‚¬ ) { msg+=†You must enter your name †; document. ExamEntry. name. focus(); document. getElementById(‘name’). style. color=†red†; result = false; }  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 Turn over 4 if (document. ExamEntry. subject. value==†Ã¢â‚¬ ) { msg+=†You must enter the subject †; document. ExamEntry. subject. focus(); document. getElementById(‘subject’). style. color=†red†; result = false; } if(msg==†Ã¢â‚¬ ){ return result; } { alert(msg) return result; } } Exam Entry Form Name Subject In order to work, the page needs to have access to a second HTML file called success. html. Its purpose is to test the code. It just needs four lines: Success message You entered all the data required  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 5 Your assignment 1. Describe how this HTML code produces the form displayed in the browser (Fig. 1). 2. Describe how the JavaScript function performs the validation check. 3. Describe how the HTML calls the validation routine. 4. (i) Add another text field to the form to take the user’s examination number. (ii) Extend the Javascript code to validate this field to make sure that it is not left blank. (iii) Extend the Javascript code to make sure that the user’s examination number is exactly 4 digits. Produce evidence to show that you have planned, written and tested your code. 5. Add a set of radio buttons to the form to accept a level of entry such as GCSE, AS or A2. Write a function that displays the level of entry to the user in an alert box so that the level can be confirmed or rejected. Produce evidence to show that you have planned, written and tested your code. 6. Produce an evaluation of your solutions. 7. Write a conclusion about the effectiveness of JavaScript validation routines to reduce the number of errors that are made in data input.  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 6 BLANK PAGE  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 7 BLANK PAGE  © OCR 2010 A452 Jan13/Jun15 8 Copyright Information OCR is committed to seeking permission to reproduce all third-party content that it uses in its assessment materials. OCR has attempted to identify and contact all copyright holders whose work is used in this paper. To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced in the OCR Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations, is given to all schools that receive assessment material and is freely available to download from our public website (www. ocr. org. uk) after the live examination series. If OCR has unwittingly failed to correctly acknowledge or clear any third-party content in this assessment material, OCR will be happy to correct its mistake at the earliest possible opportunity. For queries or further information please contact the Copyright Team, First Floor, 9 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 1GE. OCR is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group; Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge.  © OCR 2010