Hamlet Research Paper - 1538 Words

The Revenge Amongst the Characters of Hamlet But that the dread of something after death, The undiscoverd country, from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have, Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought(Shakespeare pg.124). Revenge causes one to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always an intelligent theory to live by. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers. They all act on emotion, and this leads to the†¦show more content†¦This is the use of Fortinbras expressing his anger but not using it in a way which could harm his country, and compensating by allowing him to express himself (Bloom pg 49). Fortinbras uncle may have saved his life right there because he very well could have been killed in his attack against Denmark this also saves a lot of heartache between the two countries. This also shows that Fortinbras is a very strong character, he assembles his army he gets ready to avenge his father but when he is told to think twice, he does. Oooh, Ahhh, is heard while the watchmen are at point. They look for the strange sound and nothing is thought of it except that it was a ghost. Marcellus one of guards hints that this may reveal something very big as he states, Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Shakespeare pg 124). Although deeply sorrowed by his fathers death, Hamlet did not consider payback as an option until he meets with the lost of his father. His ghost tells him that he has been killed unjustly and with his rights still on his soul. One moment he pretends he is too cowardly to perform the deed, at another he questions the truthfulness of the ghost (McConnell pg 157). The ghost then tells Hamlet, to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder (Sh akespeare pg.124). However, upon his fathers command, Hamlet reluctantly swears to retaliate against Claudius. Hamlet does this not because he wants to,Show MoreRelatedThe Third Congressional District Of Hamlet Research Paper1498 Words   |  6 Pagesmasters degree from the London School of Economics and Columbia University. DeLauro is now married to Stan Greenberg a political strategist and has three children. DeLauro has been an ovarian cancer survivor for 32 years now, and continues funding research in finding an effective screening test to catch ovarian cancer early in future victims. DeLauro is quite wealthy and is one of the fifty richest members of Congress. In 1990, Democratic U.S. Congressman Bruce Morrison of Connecticuts 3rd congressionalRead MoreJohn Cairds Vision for His Production of Hamlet Essay853 Words   |  4 Pages John Caird’s vision for his production of Hamlet was to give it a â€Å"suffocatingly religious† atmosphere where â€Å"the set was part cathedral, part castle, part graveyard, part attic† (Bate 202). Together with set designer Tim Hatley, he succeeded. Amy Gamerman of the Wall Street Journal characterized the set as â€Å"dismal† and â€Å"vacant-looking.† The set was comprised of luggage, suitcases and old trunks that were stacked, torn down and restacked again in different ways to make different scenes. PresumablyRead MoreThe Pretended Madness of Hamlet in Hamlet Essay761 Words   |  4 PagesIn Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is believed to have gone insane after the death of his father. There is much evidence in the play that causes one to belie ve that Hamlet is in fact crazy. However, there are also indications to the contrary, Hamlet only feigns madness for the purpose of carrying out his mission. He rehearses his pretend madness first with Ophelia for even if he fails to convince her , that failure would not cause him any harm. The language he uses is clearlyRead MoreEmily Bronte s Hamlet And Wuthering Heights 1307 Words   |  6 PagesRevenge in Hamlet and Wuthering Heights Abstract This concise paper is an analogical study. It consists of three parts; the first one defines the word revenge and explains where the theme of revenge comes from and how it has expended to other types of literary works until these days. The second part of the study, is supported by exemplifies Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet. The last part of the paper, provides Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s novel, Wuthering Heights as a good example; because one of the main themesRead MoreHamlet : Effects Of Revenge On Characters And Society1298 Words   |  6 PagesHamlet: Effects of Revenge on Characters and Society Revenge can be termed as an action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered at his or her hands. Revenging is known to cause more harm to both the parties involved. Different literature works has widely used revenge to show impact of a conflict and to institute drama. Shakespeare is one of the famous authors who have utilized revenge in their literature works to make his audience ground to following his worksRead MorePerformance vs. Reality in Shakespeares Hamlet884 Words   |  3 PagesPerformance versus reality in Shakespeares Hamlet William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet has often been described as a play about a man who cannot make up his mind. Yet it could just as easily be described as play about a man putting on a play. Hamlet is obsessed with the discrepancy between what is real and what is performed. Hamlets despair at the difficulty of understanding what is the truth motivates him to put on a play to test his uncle Claudius, to see if Claudius is really the murdererRead MoreHamlet Allusions1079 Words   |  5 PagesJake Nevins 3/15/13 English foundations honors 2 Mrs. Muratori Research paper hamlet INTRO Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare where the main character, Hamlet, Thesis: In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet mythological and biblical allusions informs us of Hamlet’s inevitable fall. Throughout the play, Hamlet uses many mythological allusions to show his feelings towards other characters such as Claudius, Gertrude and the old king as well as inform us of hisRead MoreIncest and Sexism in Hamlet1022 Words   |  5 Pagesof Hamlet, sexism was a immense element in the story. It is not fairly unambiguous where the incest comes in and who is involved, but the unorthodox relationships that have taken place shows how things were during the Elizabethan Age, or were they? My goal in this paper is to research the gender roles between the males and females in the story and to prove how women were treated during these times, and to determine who was involved in incest and sexism. The characters in focus will be Hamlet, PrinceRead MoreHamlet, By William Shakespeare1691 Words   |  7 Pagesbe seen in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet’s whole life is based on uncertain ideas and in the end it collapses on him, as if he built a house on shifting s ands. If there was no uncertainty in Hamlet, There would be no story line. As soon as Hamlet was told to kill Claudius, he would have killed him and avenged the murder, but because of the uncertainty he has to find out for certain what has arisen. In order to reduce uncertainty, one must ultimately research and deduce life’s choicesRead MoreI Am Writing At The Spring 2015 Semester Of Mrs. Miller s Engl 112 Dual Enrollment College1577 Words   |  7 PagesHigh School. Continuing our work from the first semester, this course emphasized research and argumentative writing for both the social sciences and the humanities, and a very challenging multi-genre project on a topic of our choice. Mrs. Miller encouraged us to strengthen our research skills through the use of annotated bibliographies developed from using readings from our textbook (Graff 2008), and online research databases available through the Germanna Community College Library website, including

Slaughterhouse-Five Futile Search for Meaning Essay

Critics often suggest that Kurt Vonnegut’s novels represent a man’s desperate, yet, futile search for meaning in a senseless existence.nbsp; Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, displays this theme.nbsp; Kurt Vonnegut uses a narrator, which is different from the main character.nbsp; He uses this technique for several reasons. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Kurt Vonnegut introduces Slaughterhouse Five in the first person.nbsp; In the second chapter, however, this narrator changes to a mere bystander.nbsp; Vonnegut does this for a specific reason.nbsp; He wants the reader to realize that the narrator and Billy Pilgrim, the main character, are two different people.nbsp; In order to do this,†¦show more content†¦nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Kurt Vonnegut does not want to glorify war.nbsp; The narrator made a vow to nbsp;O’Hare’s wife, in chapter one, that the story would not do this.nbsp; â€Å"...I give my word of honor.nbsp; I’ll call it the children’s crusade.†nbsp; In order to do this, Vonnegut makes the main character a simple man.nbsp; His name is Billy Pilgrim.nbsp; His mission is to avoid anything that requires action or responsibility.nbsp; This causes him to avoid finding meaning in his life; he regards the world as chaotic.nbsp; The senseless act of war causes Billy to

Life and Circumstantial Luck Free Essays

Tic- toc. Tic- toc. Do I go left or do I go right? All these years I have been following the road of life and now it is in my power to take the road that leads to my final destination. We will write a custom essay sample on Life and Circumstantial Luck or any similar topic only for you Order Now Along the way, I have traveled on many types of surfaces, but now I face my greatest challenge. I am stuck between two paths. One path leads to eternal happiness and other leads to eternal sadness. Is it in my destiny to choose the right path? Or will it just be my luck to choose the wrong path? Do I go left or do I go right? Tic- toc. Tic- toc. Life. It is such a simple word, yet the meaning is nothing close to simple at all. We all take a journey on the fabulous road to life, yet does anyone even know what life is? I mean we all live it, but what is it? Anyone know the definition? ( I’d surely would like to know. ) Well if no one truly doesn’t know the answer to life then how can we know for sure why things happen the way they do? Is there some kind of spiritual force out there? Is there some person or thing controlling our every move? Or do things just happen just because they do; coincidences and forces that we have no control over? No one really knows if a god really exists, so things just happen because they just do. Things happen because of coincidences and forces we have no control over. Our life is then based on luck, isn’t it? Think about it this way, luck refers to something that which happens beyond a person’s control. This view incorporates phenomena that chance happenings, a person’s place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved or where uncertainty is irrelevant. (Huh? English please. ) In other words, luck is just something that we have no control over and just happens. However, there are a few different types of luck. Constitutional luck, it is luck with factors that can’t be changed. Circumstantial luck, it is luck with factors that are haphazardly brought on. Lastly ignorance luck, it is luck with factors one doesn’t know about. (So, where does this luck come in play? ) Luck can be seen everywhere, whether it be in movies, books, paintings, or reality. We live our lives experiencing luck every day. As we step foot into a casino or acquire a lottery ticket, we unlock the emerald doorway to our chances. Chance is the key to any time of game. We spin the wheel of fortune hoping that it will land on something pleasant. Often in literature, luck plays a significant role. When we think of luck, we think of lucky number 7 or the colour green. But in reality, luck isn’t that clear. It is a mystery hidden behind the shadows. Some people are blinded by the concept of destiny that they don’t realize that it is luck that is aiding them. In one of the greatest plays written, Othello, the main character is a person who you would think is unaccepted by society, but is loved. Othello is a moor and a Muslim from Africa. He is this dark angel that many are afraid of, yet love. During the 1600s, only men of noble decent became generals with a few exceptions here and there. But a Moor becoming a general was just a preposterous idea. Regardless of this fact, Othello thinks that it was because of his accomplishments that made him become who he is. He had fought in many wars and then Brabantio had invited him to stay with him and â€Å"still questioned [him] the story of [his] life from year to year, the battle, sieges, fortune that [he had] passed. (Othello, 1. 3, 128-130) A white man had shown interest in a black man regardless of the racism in the world at that time. (How does that happen? ) Nevertheless, Othello somehow becomes a general before even meeting Brabantio and coming to Venice. How became a general, is a question no one has an answer to. We can accept the belief that his accomplishments made him successful, but with racism being a major factor no thing seems to add up. We can say that it was in his destiny to become a general, but really is that really the case? It is more of a matter of pure luck that Othello obtains such a high rank in society. Overcoming such obstacles especially in the 1600s was simply impossible. A black man could never have a higher rank than even a white surf. White was always greater than black. Goodness always prevails. (Well back then it did. Now does it? Yeah, not so much). So for Othello to have become a general it could not have been because of his accomplishments, it had to have been of random occurrence that made him just a bit better than a white surf and to move up the chain of success. To have luck take control of your life, neither wits nor feelings are involved- just possibility. We depend on random occurrences to aid us for the better. â€Å"Luck never gives; it only lends,† (E. B. White) If life does revolve around luck then you must pay a price for the goodness. You may get lucky for a while, but since luck never gives, it takes back the luck and it is why we experience karma. Luck may give us marvellous things, but sometime along the road all of it gets taken back. Yet the whole concept of luck doesn’t seem to quite add up. Random occurrences and things happening beyond a person’s control do exist, but not everything is random. Life on earth couldn’t have begun randomly. There must have been something that created all of this and luck- just doesn’t seem to quite explain why. Many religions in the world either agree or disagree with the concept of luck. Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, taught his followers not to believe in luck. The view which was taught by Gautama Buddha states that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate. The idea of moral causality, karma is central in Buddhism. In the Sutta Nipata ,the Buddha is recorded as having said the following about luck: â€Å"Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams†¦ bringing good or bad luck†¦ invoking the goodness of luck†¦ picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gautama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood. † Lakshmi, is the Hindu Devi of money and fortune. It is said that by proper worship, with a meticulous prayer procedure the blessings of this powerful deity may be obtained. However, the Catholic Church excludes chance or luck as an explanation for creation. As well, there is no concept of luck in Islam other than actions pre-determined by God and that God alone has power over all things. It is stated in the Qur’an that one’s sustenance is pre-determined in heaven when the Lord says: â€Å"And in the heaven is your provision and that which ye are promised. † However, one should supplicate towards God to better one’s life rather than hold faith in un-Islamic acts such as using â€Å"lucky charms†. Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. (Thank you dictionary. com) Whether one be atheist or follow a certain religion, one still has a belief in something. Many follow religions so they can give the creator of life a name; God. Many believe that God is the spiritual being that has created what we call the universe. No one knows for sure if he exists or not, but many want to believe that he does. In addition, throughout humanity, many messengers of God have walked the surface of the Earth and this gives more of a reason for people to believe that God exists. If God really does exist, then he must be the Supreme Being that had created life for us humans. Hence, he has already planned our life in a way, but in order to fulfil our life we have to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The bits and pieces are scattered everywhere and it is not easy to find them all nor is it to put them together. Along the way pieces can get damaged or lost. When pieces of the puzzle get damaged it means that your life is going bad or something is not going good, but can still repair your life. Sometimes pieces can get lost to the point where you have not enough pieces to complete the puzzle. In that case you make bad decisions and then something tragic happens to your life, which can result in death. This can be seen as how people die at a young age. Some young individuals make the wrong decisions and then it ends up costing them their life. Searching for the pieces is not as easy as it sounds. The pieces can be right in front of us, but we second guess ourselves and don’t know where to look. Often times we seek advice from fortune tellers and prophets. We go to seek for any clues of the future and hope that we can find our right path. And other times, people tell us what our destiny is and it is what we believe and try to achieve. This is most often seen in movies and books about heroes. Many character archetypes are based on the concept of a hero. The hero is a larger-than-life character that often goes on some kind of journey or quest. In the course of his journey, the hero demonstrates the qualities and abilities valued by his culture. How to cite Life and Circumstantial Luck, Essays

Forms of EMH The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH)

Question: Explain the meaning and forms of EMH. Explain the logic behind EMH. Present the evidence that researchers offer for and against each form of EMH. Explain how an asset price bubble can be rational, i.e. consistent with EMH. Evaluate the housing and mortgage-backed security price bubbles that brought on the recent financial crisis and concluded on whether they were rational or irrational. The essay has been written clearly and concisely and not exceeded the word limit. Answer: Introduction In financial economics, many studies have been carried out on efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and this interest has been triggered by various reasons. According to Fama(1970), EMH refers to an investment hypothesis which postulates that it is hard to make abnormal profits due to stock market efficiency. In this case, an efficient stock market enables the prevailing stock prices to factor in and incorporate entire relevant information within a short period. EMH is divided into three types notably; weak-form, semi-strong form as well as strong form EMH. This classification is dependent on the extent and speed at which the stock prices incorporate any new information that intrudes the market. Based on the literature, the risk-weighted return is greater in markets that are inefficient in comparison to efficient markets (Sewell, 2012). For this reason, the studies undertaken on stock market efficiency tend to be significant for both individuals as well as institutional investors. Additionally, strong knowledge of market efficiency is vital among corporate managers as their decisions influence the market value of their firms. Lastly, the EMH is often treated as a supposition in many financial models. The studies conducted on EMH have given rise to numerous contradicting arguments among the scholars. In this regard, this essay presents the arguments for and arguments against the EMH. To substantiate the claims, the essay provides corresponding evidence to the arguments. Then, the essay expounds on the effect of the recent financial crisis on EMH and winding up with a summary of the discussions. Arguments for and against and Evidence of EMH Short-term momentum which involves under reaction to any information intruding the market The initial empirical studies anchoring the viewpoint of randomness in share prices focused on determinants of short-run serial correlations exhibited by consecutive stock price movements. Overall, this study operated on the premise that the stock market lacks memory. This implied that the previous stock behaviour is irrelevant in determining its future behaviour as noted by Cootner (1964). In another research, Lo and MacKinlay (1999) established that short-run serial correlations were non-zero. More so, the presence of unnecessarily many fluctuations towards similar direction drew them to deny the fact that share prices exhibit random walk behaviour. Perhaps, this proved that there was momentum in short-run share prices. Furthermore, the scholars Lo, Mamaysky and Wang (2000) employed advanced nonparametric statistical methods which detect patterns. Also, they used a number of stock price signals which demonstrated that the stocks prices experience predictive ability to a certain extent. Additionally, many economists as well as psychologists with a bias in behavioural finance believe that short-run momentum adheres to psychological feedback mechanisms. This means that people often observe a stock price increasing and become attracted to the stock market in a manner that describes a bandwagon effect. In this connection, Shiller (2015) attributed the coming to lime light of the United States stock market in the course of 1990s to psychological influence. As a consequence, the U.S stock market experienced irrational exuberance. Further, the behaviourists argued that the short-run momentum was caused by the behaviour of investors failing to react to the information intruding the market accordingly. If for any reason, the complete effect of crucial news announcement can be tapped within some time, then the stock prices can demonstrate a positive serial correlation. Nevertheless, many factors interplay to offer contradicting implications on whether it holds that the share prices do not follow a random walk. To start with, since the stock market does not display a perfect example of a random walk, it is crucial to strike the difference between statistical as well as economic significance. Markedly, the statistical variables that influence the momentum are negligible which, in other words, imply that cannot allow investors to make abnormal profits. Any individual incurring transaction costs are less probably to institute a trading strategy while relying on the momentum obtained in these researches which will stand out against a buy-and-hold approach. On this note, Camerer et al. (2011) proposed that momentum investors rarely benefit from abnormal profits. On the contrary, some of these investors gained lesser profits in comparison to buy-and-hold investors at the time of candid, positive momentum established through statistical techniques. This is due to the presence of transaction costs which optimises any level of momentum that is available. In a similar fashion, Abraham (2014) found out that standard strategies are not lucrative due to trading costs associated with their implementation. Secondly, as a behavioural theory on bandwagon effects as well as under reaction to the latest information may appear sufficiently reasonable, the proof that such impacts happen in a systematic manner in the equity market is inadequate. For instance, Fama (1998) investigated the significant collection of empirical studies on events studies which tailored towards establishing whether equity prices behave efficiently to new announcements in the market. In this case, the events encompassed announcements on return surprises, share splits, activities on dividends, mergers, latest exchange listings as well as IPO or initial public offerings. Fama found out that clear under reaction to new information is as obvious as an overreaction. Also, he established that post event consistency of abnormal returns occurred in the same manner as post event reversals. Furthermore, Fama indicated that the majority of return inconsistencies occurred only in situations where specific models are used. Howeve r, these findings tend to diminish when a variety of models for anticipated normal earnings are employed to incorporate risks. This occurs in tandem with the use of distinct statistical approaches are employed. For instance, research that offers identical weights on post announcement earnings of various stocks can give rise to varying findings from research that allocates weights to the stocks based on their intrinsic value. Long-Run Return Reversals As discussed in the short-run, the returns are determined using a number of days and the common argument countering market efficiency entails the occurrence of positive serial correlation. However, various studies have proved that there is negative serial correlation within an extended period. At some point, this is referred to as return reversals. For instance, Fama and French (1988) established that twenty-five to forty percent of the changes in long-term earnings can be projected on the basis of negative correlation with previous earnings. Likewise, Poterba and Summers (1988) confirmed that there is a significant mean reversion exhibited by stock market returns in the long-run. A number of researchers have claimed that this projection is caused by the behaviour of the share prices to overreact. In this connection, DeBondt and Thaler (1985) contended that investors are influenced by optimism as well as pessimism which make prices diverge systematically from their basic values and afterward exhibit mean reversion. These scholars attributed this overreaction to previous events is in tandem with the hypothesis of behavioural decision suggested by Camerer et al., (2011). This theory states that investors are intrinsically overconfident in their efforts to project future share prices. These results add weight to investment methods that subscribe to contrarian strategy. Contrarian strategy involves purchasing of stocks that have seemed unattractive over a long period and shying off from stocks that are characterized by long-term run-ups. Although there is significant evidence to substantiate negative long-run relationship in the stock earnings, the results indicated by mean reversion has proved to differ across various researches. In particular, this correlation has shown a different degree of strengths from one period to the other. Notably, the strongest empirical is manifested in times like the Great Depression. This period gives rise to stock patterns that do not give a definitive generalization. Furthermore, these mean reversals, in general, may demonstrate a behaviour that tallys with market efficiency. The rationale for this is that they are partially engendered by interest rate volatility as well as the interest rate behaviour to return reverse. Because of the condition that stock return has to increase or decrease to increase its competition with earning from the bonds, it is likely that there will be fluctuations in the interest rate accordingly. In the instances where interest rate adjusts back to the mean within certain duration, this changing pattern will give rise to return reversals such that the pattern corresponds to the efficient market operation. Furthermore, it may be difficult to generate profits when single stocks show return reversal behaviour. Fluck et al.(1997) modelled a strategy that involved buying of stocks within thirteen-year duration in the course of the 1980s as well as early 1990s which experienced poor earnings over the previous 3-5 years. These scholars established that equity with extremely low returns within the 3-5 years duration displayed greater earnings in the subsequent periods. On the other hand, the shares characterized by high earnings within the previous 3-5 years demonstrated lower earnings in the subsequent periods. Therefore, it was concluded that there is extremely strong statistical proof of mean returns. Nevertheless, the scholars also established that earnings in the subsequent period were indifferent to both groups. For this reason, the scholars were unable to prove that contrarian strategy would give rise to higher-than-average returns. Therefore, it can be concluded that although strong s tatistical pattern associated with mean returns was manifested, no indication was available that confirm that market inefficiency would empower investors to realise abnormal earnings. Impact of 2007-2008 Financial Crisis on EMH The recent fall in economic performance, as well as turmoil experienced in the financial market coined as the global financial crisis, was condemned for the failure of the financial markets between 2007 and 2008 internationally(Milner, 2009). In this regard, the concept of EMH has been employed by many scholars to explain the effect of the financial crisis. Indeed, the financial crisis paved the way for fresh scrutiny as well as a critique on the EMH. Notably, market strategists such as Grantham asserted absolutely that the efficient market hypothesis accounted for the financial crisis in that the trust in the EMH made corporate leaders to acute underestimation of the consequences of occurrence of asset bubbles (Nocera, 2009) .This is evidenced by the words of Roger Lowenstein(Fox, 2016). In the meeting organised by International Organisation of Securities Commissions, the debate on EMH was among the key agenda. In the meeting, Martin Wolf- the premier Financial Times staff- rejected the fact that EMH is not related to the real operation of the market. In the same meeting, McCulley- the MD of PIMCO presented a subtle view that EMH had not failed, though had a lot of errors in its application as it ignored the human nature (Stevenson, 2009). In addition, Posner Richard deviated from the EMH and exerted more weight on Keynesian economics. In his criticism, he contradicted some prevailing perspectives by maintaining that the decision to liberate the financial sector had exceeded the limits through exaggerating the pliability of laissez-faire capitalism (Cassidy, 2010). Despite the criticisms, the effect of financial crisis on EMH was grounded on two major conceptions. To start with, the perspective that competition puts in force a relation between revenues as well as costs. This implies that, in a scenario of abnormal profits, new entry lowers the costs. Secondly, there is a perspective of treating fluctuations in asset prices as determined by the information flow in the equity market. When these two perspectives are used jointly, the EMH results as noted by Ball (2009). This basic conception offers more insights on a startling projection on financial market response to any information that is freely made public. In competitive equilibrium situations, the returns derived from the use of information released to the public ought to commensurate with the cost incurred in using it. However, in reality, public information is priceless which implies that it is freely found. As consequence, the returns associated with such information ought to be equated to zero (Kim, Shamsuddin and Lim, 2011). Therefore, no one can earn abnormal profits from such information that has been factored in the prices. During the financial crisis, it was established that the assumption of efficient market was relaxed (Ball, 2009). This implied that the market prices did not reflect all the information that was available on the market. As such, there was an asset bubble which was characterised by increasing and falling of stock prices by huge differences than usual. At this point, some prudent investors benefited from the opportunity that was presented by the market. At the same time, a number of investors recorded significant losses. Conclusion From the essay, it is apparent that there is diversified and contradicting opinion about the validity of the efficient market hypothesis. In the essay, if the stock price demonstrated random walk behaviour, the equity market was regarded as of Weak-form market efficiency. On the other hand, if the stock prices indicated that it does not follow random walk behaviour then it was regarded as inefficient. This meant that the previous stock data can be used to predict future prices. On this note, some studies found out that the stock prices exhibit random walk behaviour. In particular, this studies include Cootner (1964), Lo and MacKinlay (1999) and Fama(1998). Conversely, Lo, Mamaysky and Wang (2000) established that there is some degree of predictability in the stock market. The EMH acknowledges the fact that it is difficult for any investor to make supernormal profit in an efficiently operating stock market. Furthermore, the global financial crisis was associated with the EMH. However, it has been argued that it is incorrect to assume that EMH caused the market bubbles. Instead, the essay has clarified that the occurrence of the financial crisis is pegged on overreliance on the belief of EMH. During this time, some the prevailing assumption of EMH did not hold which resulted in the famous global financial crisis. References Abraham, S. M. (2014) Testing International Momentum Strategies between Chinese and Australian Financial Markets,International Journal of Financial Research,5(1), p.1. Ball, R. (2009) The global financial crisis and the efficient market hypothesis: What have we learned?,Journal of Applied Corporate Finance,21(4),pp. 8-16. Camerer, C. F. Loewenstein, G. and Rabin, M. (Eds.). (2011)Advances in behavioral economics. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Cassidy, J. (2010) After the Blowup - The New Yorker. [Online] The New Yorker. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/11/after-the-blowup [Accessed 24 Jun. 2016]. Cootner, P. H. (1964) The random character of stock market prices. Cambridge, Mass: MIT press De Bondt, W. F. and Thaler, R. H. (1995) Financial decision-making in markets and firms: A behavioral perspective,Handbooks in operations research and management science,9, pp.385-410. Fama, E. F. (1998) Market efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioral finance, Journal of financial economics,49(3),pp.283-306. Fama, E. F. and French, K. R. (1988) Permanent and temporary components of stock prices,The Journal of Political Economy, pp.246-273. Fluck, Z. Malkiel, B. G. and Quandt, R. E. (1997) The predictability of stock returns: A cross-sectional simulation,Review of Economics and Statistics,79(2), pp.176-183. Fox, J. (2016) Book Review: 'The Myth of the Rational Market' by Justin Fox. [Online] Washingtonpost.com. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/05/AR2009060502053.html [Accessed 24 Jun. 2016]. Kim, J. H. Shamsuddin, A. and Lim, K. P. (2011) Stock return predictability and the adaptive markets hypothesis: Evidence from century-long US data,Journal of Empirical Finance,18(5), pp.868-879. Lo, A. W. and MacKinlay, A. C. (2002) A non-random walk down Wall Street. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lo, A. W., Mamaysky, H., Wang, J. (2000). Foundations of technical analysis: Computational algorithms, statistical inference, and empirical implementation.The journal of finance,55(4), 1705-1770. Milner, B. (2009) Sun finally sets on notion that markets are rational. [Online] The Globe and Mail. Available at: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/features/taking-stock/sun-finally-sets-on-notion-that-markets-are-rational/article1206213/ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2016]. Nocera, J. (2009) Poking Holes in a Theory on Markets. [Online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/business/06nocera.html?scp=1sq=efficient%20marketst=cse_r=0 [Accessed 24 Jun. 2016]. Poterba, J. M. and Summers, L. H. (1988) Mean reversion in stock prices: Evidence and implications, Journal of financial economics,22(1), pp. 27-59. Sewell, M. (2012) The efficient market hypothesis: Empirical evidence, International Journal of Statistics and Probability,1(2), p.164. Shiller, R. J. (2015)Irrational exuberance. Princeton: Princeton university press. Stevenson, T. (2009) Investors are finally seeing the nonsense in the efficient market theory. [Online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/tom-stevenson/5562355/Investors-are-finally-seeing-the-nonsense-in-the-efficient-m