Consumerism in the Bartholomew Fair. Business & Marketing Essay
Three essays, two pages each
Jonson, Ben. The Alchemist and Other Plays. Ed. Gordon Campbell. Oxford:Oxford UP, 2009. ISBN-13: 9780199537310
The first paper will be a two-page response to Bartholomew Fair in connection with a current-day business topic.
In a 2 page paper (double-spaced), compare the market activity represented in Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair with a current-day fair or similar market situation. Narrow your focus as much as you can. The best papers will explore one specific aspect of Bartholomew Fair or a few closely related aspects. For instance, you could write about how Jonson’s play portrays the customers at a fair or even narrow in on one specific kind of customer. You could write about how the sellers at the various stalls hawk their wares or even narrow in on one specific seller’s advertising tactics.
Devote at least half of your paper to describing some aspect of Bartholomew Fair. Be as detailed as you can. Quote directly from Jonson’s text (at least three times) and explain the quotations you choose. You do not need to research anything about Bartholomew Fair or seventeenth-century English fairs outside Jonson’s text. In fact, you don’t have room in a paper this length to include that kind of research and also do justice to the text of Jonson’s play. For this assignment, use the play as your guide and source of information for how the market activity at Bartholomew Fair works.
When you describe a current-day fair or similar situation, again be as specific and detailed as you can. And draw clear, specific points of comparison between your current-day example and Jonson’s play. If you do not want to write about a current-day fair, you might consider writing about a convention, an amusement park, a sporting event or a theatrical event where things are bought and sold–or about something else that strikes you as related. For this portion of the paper, you may need to do a small bit of research, if you do not know enough about your current-day topic. However, if you have personal experience and anecdotes about a fair or similar environment, those anecdotes will suffice for your observations. You are not required to do any outside research for this paper.
Consumerism in the Bartholomew Fair
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Consumerism in the Bartholomew Fair
In the play, Johnson explored the vanity of consumerism, especially because of the manner in which traders enticed buyers with advertisements to make purchases of unnecessary items. According to the writer, the principle of the market was to ensure the sellers merchandised the products on display to take advantage of potential buyers. The play gave an exhibit of the madness that could ensue in the consumer world if the market could liberate the materialistic desires of consumers. In pages 28 to 30 of II.ii, the scenario describes how hawkers would bombard customers with invitations to make purchases with statements such as "What do you lack? What is't you buy? What do you lack? Rattles, drums, halberts, horses, babies o' the best? Fiddles of the finest?". Johnson notes that sellers possess a power over clients through the power of enticement, which we know as advertising.
An example of the impact of advertising in the fair is in the behavior of Cokes. Humphrey Wasp, the man’s tutor, describes how the advertising mesmerized Cokes to the extent of irrational behavior. In pages 102-106 0f section I.iv, Humphrey declares “Why, we could not meet that heathen thing, all day, but stayed him; he would name you all the signs over, as he went, aloud; and where he spied a parrot or a monkey, there he was pitched, with all the little long-coats about him, male and female; no getting him away!”. Cokes became unable to control his desire for the items he wanted, and was overwhelmed by the goodness of everything he saw. The observation is clear in the proclamations of his tutor in pages 100 to 106 of section I.v where Humphrey observes “If he go to the Fair, he will buy of everything to a baby there; and household-stuff for that too. . . . And then he is such a ravener after fruit! You will not believe what a coil I had t'other day to compound a business between a Catherine-pear woman and him about snatching!”.
The observations of Johnson on consumerism are the same case scenario in the current marketplace. A trip to Disneyworld gave me a outlook of Johnson’s observations and illustrations. The issue of advertising starts before one visits the park. You can find information on brochures and the park website on the services in the parks. Most of the information includes a plethora of all the goods and services you can purchase, which contribute to the Disney experience. Once at the park, customers are welcome to a lineup of all the items displayed in the advertisements and more. There are endless stands of merchants selling everyday items that bear the Disney brand or that have labels of famous Disney characters. Adults with young children had the hardest time trying to control their children, who demanded to have every enticing product they could see. Such children displayed similar behavior to the manner in which Cokes reacted to the merchandise he saw at the fair. Some children would through tantrums in public and refuse any consolation if their parents did not buy the items they wanted. The behavior was irrationally, especially in response to wanting a common product whose only difference was the branding. In addition, the branded products cost more than their counter parts in other stores. The description is the power of advertising that Johnson addressed.
ESSAY 2
Morality in the Current World of Capitalism
The show world has become a platform whose activities for entertainment are growing to be questionable. The observation has better clarity when viewed through the performance in comedy shows. Stand-up comedy has developed into a major show business, which attracts many people seeking entertainment. The admirable quality in the performances is that comedians use examples of incidences that reflect on the current state of the society. The satirical point of view on such simple things provides truth and entertainment. The problem is that people who use the platforms can no longer recognize the lines that exist between what is morally acceptable and unacceptable based on societal standards.
The challenge that arises from the crossing the line is that there are no regulations that one can use to reprimand the immorality that comes in the name of entertainment. The comedy culture has come to embrace profane declarations that were once unacceptable. There is no form of regulation in place, perhaps ...