...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH LINDA NEAL UNDERWOOD S E R I E S E D I T O R S : W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare developed many stories into excellent dramatizations for the Elizabethan stage. Shakespeare knew how to entertain and involve an audience with fast-paced plots, creative imagery, and multi-faceted characters. Macbeth is an action-packed, psychological thriller that has not lost its impact in nearly four hundred years. The politically ambitious character of Macbeth is as timely today as he was to Shakespeare's audience. Mary McCarthy says in her essay about Macbeth, "It is a troubling thought that Macbeth, of all Shakespeare's characters, should seem the most 'modern,' the only one you could transpose into contemporary battle dress or a sport shirt and slacks." (Signet Classic Macbeth) Audiences today quickly become interested in the plot of a blindly ambitious general with a strong-willed wife who must try to cope with the guilt engendered by their murder of an innocent king in order to further their power. The elements of superstition, ghosts, and witchcraft, though more readily a part of everyday life for the Renaissance audience, remain intriguing to modern teenagers. The action-packed...
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...Before I began this essay I decided to research the word touchstones. The definition was as follows, "A standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized". This helped me form an opinion on Henry David Thoreau's quote. I do believe that dreams (ambitions) are the touchstones of our character. I read a quote somewhere that said, "Ambition is to life as the engine is to the car", I believe that without ambitions we would never get anywhere in life. In the case of Macbeth, his tragic flaw was his ambition. His dreams to be king reflected in his character. How far was Macbeth willing to go to achieve his dream? Without ambitions, I know that Macbeth would not have done the many things he did which made him a tragic hero. Without...
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...Animal Farm Comparative Essay Rebellion, gluttony, and manipulation are all common themes when it comes to the struggle for power. Animal farm by George Orwell, a book which all of these take place is remarkably similar to the Crucible by Arthur Miller and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Animal farm, The Crucible, and Macbeth are all written similarly and revolve around the same themes, such that many characters in Animal Farm and Macbeth portray similar characteristics. Animal Farm and The Crucible share common themes and conflicts. In all three books the structure of peoples values change drastically for a turn for the worst. These novels and play all follow popular foundations of literature which revolve around inner evil, the addiction to power, and the loss and regaining of self-identity. Animal farm and Macbeth’s antagonists, Napoleon and Macbeth portray similar characteristics. Napoleon and Macbeth both share important roles in their respective books in that they directly influence and change the fate of many. The two power hungry tyrants go to an extreme to achieve their goals but in two very different ways. Napoleon a more cunning character abuses his superior intellect to deceive the other ignorant farm animals in order to gain power. Through Machiavellian methods he slowly begins to take over the farm by convincing the animals to be more reliant on him, ultimately making his self-proclamation of leader a reality “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon...
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...Clayton Prescott Macbeth Final Essay Macbeth’s life was great in the beginning, but turned into a disaster in the end. Macbeth was in a situation of power and success and ended up throwing it away due to greed, envy and power hunger. One could call his story a success because he got the power he wanted and was respected and feared by many of his people. Macbeth also had controlled and manipulated people he thought could be of service to him, and he ruined their lives also. Lady Macbeth was changed completely and was the sole reason that they would not be able to keep their murders hidden. Lady Macbeth was sleepwalking and a worker had heard her talking of the tragedies that she and Macbeth had committed. Macbeth was very regretful of the...
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...Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ written in the 17th and 20th century, separated by hundreds of years of development and change within the world, both reflect the ideologies, treatment and representations of women in their respective eras. The principal feminine representatives are Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife who throughout both texts demonstrate similarities and differences in their portrayal of their relationships with their male counterpart, the description of their tragic deaths and the conventional role of men and women and how they fit or break the stereotype. In this essay, I will refer to the aforementioned depictions, analysing the techniques the writers use to create their characters, and how a Jacobean audience, one during the Great Depression of the 1930s and a modern audience would react. Rather than supporting her husband in a subservient manner, Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth the ruthless mastermind of a fiendish, venal and daring enterprise aimed to ensure her husband would ‘catch the nearest way’. In Act 1 Scene 5, when attempting to convince Macbeth to commit this necessary deed, she utters the heartless words ‘you shall put this night's great business into my dispatch’ inferring she intends to commit Duncan's murder herself. ‘Dispatch’ would lead a modern audience to believe she will only manage and oversee the murderous plan, however, in Elizabethan England, it would have meant to kill with quick efficiency; thus, Lady Macbeth prepares...
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...Shakespeare’s play Macbeth and Malouf’s novel Ransom both explore themes about freedom. The themes of freedom are largely characterised by their modes of textual representation – the play and the novel. Malouf’s novel is a heteroglossic text and is able to explore the themes relating to freedom through multiple focalisations and intertextuality with Homer’s Iliad. On the other hand, Shakespeare’s Macbeth explores the theme of freedom with asides, soliloquies and the supernatural. However, despite these differences in their representations of freedom there is a convergence for the reader in the implications for narrative meaning. Regardless of their contexts both texts elevate free will over predestination. Malouf’s novel Ransom reimagines...
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...without sin. Sin, like adulthood or corruption, then enters into the group and the group is destroyed. The political structure the boys establish when they first meet on the island is also destroyed in the process. The group descends into chaos, with Simon and Piggy as casualties. In the end, Jack, the primary exponent of sin, burns down the island while hunting Ralph, which allows for the boys’ rescue. Despite being rescued, it was clear the boys were changed forever. Likewise, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606), the country of Scotland is portrayed to be organized under the order of a higher being; a king. When Macbeth, a highly regarded thane, is tempted by a prophecy of being king, he acts on his temptation. Macbeth then becomes king but this damages the political structure because of how Macbeth rules. As Macbeth continues down his path of bloodshed, he disrupts and destroys Scotland’s moral centre but he also destroys the view of how an ideal king would be. In the end, Macbeth and his wife receive just punishments. Both of these texts are allegorical. An allegory is a work, typically art work, used to reveal a hidden...
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...1 - Character must be of noble/high stature 2 - Hubris (tragic flaw) - pride blinds them 3 - Downfall 4 - Enlightenment (near the end of the play) 5 - Their death Someone of high position; in this time period, that meant royalty. He is 'universal,' meaning that everyone everywhere can relate to the kinds of problems or sufferings or emotions that the hero experiences. He has a 'tragic flaw' - this could be a personality trait (like greed, lust, ambition, jealousy, etc.), OR an error in judgement (a bad decision). This 'tragic flaw' leads to his downfall - usually ruins his career, reputation, power, etc. He is enlightened at the end of the story, meaning he realizes where he went wrong, he is humble, and he accepts the consequences . A tragic hero is a character in a work of fiction (often the protagonist) who commits an action or makes a mistake which eventually leads to his or her defeat. The idea of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle (and others). Usually, this includes the realization of the error (anagnorisis), which results in catharsis or epiphany. Aristotelian tragic hero Characteristics Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics: Nobility (of a noble birth) or wisdom (by virtue of birth). Hamartia (translated as flaw, mistake, or error, not an Elizabethan tragic flaw). A reversal of fortune(peripetia)...
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...Research Paper On Destructive love In relationships why are the women so controlling and want to wear the trousers in the relationship? Well in the four stories, Macbeth, My Last Duchess, Pride & Prejudice, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde you will learn how all four of these stories are related to today’s time relationships compared back in the medieval or renaissance romans era. In this essay I will discuss and point out key terms about today’s current relationships and what they lack in order to have a strong stable relationship versus back in the old ages where it was more related to today’s, but more complicated and dishonored. My goal in this research paper is to explain how destructive love affects the relationships in Macbeth, My Last Duchesses’ and Pride and Prejudice. Who wears the pants in the relationship? In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth wore the pants in the relationship. In the...
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...History of English Literature Overview Anglo-Saxon Literature (500-1100) The Angles and Saxon conquered what is now called England in the 5th and 6th centuries. Christian missionaries taught the English to write. Northumbria soon produced Caedmon and Bede. Heroic poetry of a Christian kind is the chief legacy of Old English literature, notably Beowulf and the Elegies. A considerable prose literature grew up after King Alfred. Middle English Literature (1100-1500) Literature in England in this period was not just in English and Latin but in French as well and developed in directions set largely in France. Epic and Elegy gave way to romance and Lyric. English writing revived fully in English after 1360 and flowered in the reign of Richard II (1372-99). It gained a literary standard in London English after 1425 and developed modern forms of verse, prose and of Drama. The conquest of England in 1066 by William of Normandy displaced English as medium of literature. The language of new rulers was French. Saxons dealing with the King had to learn French and French was the language of court and the law for three centuries. Four genres of Middle English are: i. 1. Fabliau 2. Lyric 3. Dream Allegory 4. Ballad Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer is the best story teller and the narrative poet. Chaucer tells his stories in a most effective way. He has the knack of transforming an old tale into a new one in such a manner that its appeal increases manifold and its human...
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...The same mention cannot be made about the Shakespearean tragic hero, as he was not always proving the possession on noble qualities with characters like Macbeth and Richard III who make use of their position to reach their goal of becoming kings, even if it meant that they brought mishaps to the one’s around, that including family and...
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...GD GOENKA WORLD SCHOOL Extended Essay What is the role and significance of women in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Tess of the D’Urbevilles’ and George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’? Candidate Name: Jaee Sherlekar Candidate Number: 002279-104 Session: May 2011 Subject: English A1 Level: Higher Level Word Count: 4000 Supervisor: Ms. Jyoti Ahuja Abstract: In this essay, I have attempted to bring out the reality of the “glorious” Victorian Era. An era which is said to be the time when the world took its first steps towards reform in terms of technology, medicine, entertainment - every section of the society was touched with the reform but women were still shackled in the society’s ideals. “What is the role and significance of women in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Tess of the D’Urbevilles’ and George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’?” ‘Tess of the D’Urbevilles’ is a book which mocked at the norms about the purity of a woman. I have tried to analyse the struggle of a woman through the seven stages of her life whereby man is not punished for his sins but the woman has to suffer the brutality of life. It is about the doomed life of Tess Durbeyfield, who at every stage of life, struggled for her identity. ‘Middlemarch’ again a book defining the lives in the Victorian Era where some sky-castles are built and with a change of fate, they shatter on the ground like glass pieces. They take decisions which define their lives and yet at the end they are bound in the walls of the society. This research is attempted...
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...as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist whose work is liked by all film-maker to bring down on screen. According to Robert Hamilton Ball, Shakespeare’s dramas were considered ideal material for cinema in the early 20th century because the presence of Shakespeare on film raised the contemporary estimation of film. Almost all of his works have been adapted on screen in Hollywood and all other film industries. Hollywood has produced around 300 movies based on Shakespeare’s plays and characters. Films based on tragedies like Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet etc., have got very good response by the audience on the silver screen. In Bollywood also many directors adopted the work of Shakespeare. But Vishal Bhardwaj through his films showed that he is the true fan of Shakespeare and knows well how to do justice with the work of such a big writer on silver screen. His film Maqbool (2003) based on Macbeth, and Omkara (2006) based on Othello left very remarkable impression on audience’s hearts. Maqbool had its North American premiere at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. Though the film failed to entice much of an audience during its theatrical run in India, critics were appreciative and Pankaj Kapoor went on to win a Film fare Award for Best Actor (Critics) and a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. While Othello showcased at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival along with a book on the making of Omkara. It was...
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...selections, deepening their awareness of rhetoric and how language works. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop their ability to work with language and texts in order to establish greater awareness of purpose and strategy, while strengthening their own composing abilities. C16 Students examine rhetoric in essays, images, movies, novels, and speeches. They frequently confer about their writing by conferencing in class. C 14 Feedback is given both before and after students revise their work to help them develop logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence. Rhetorical structures, graphic organizers, and work on repetition, transitions, and emphasis are addressed. I comment on individual drafts, and I write memos to the class in a blog about whole-class concerns such as specificity of quotations, parallelism, and transitions. C13 Simultaneously, students review the simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence classifications. We examine word order, length, and surprising constructions. Loose and periodic sentences are introduced. We examine sample sentences and discuss how change affects tone, purpose, and credibility of the author/speaker. In addition, feedback on producing sentence structure variety is focused on critical thinking skills, evaluating sources and resources, using specific details to support general conclusions, revising for the best possible way to sue the language to express ideas clearly...
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...emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. (Eliot, 1919) William Shakespeare’s King Lear is considered by many to be one of his most powerful pieces. Its universal themes and messages that seep through have inspired many other works and allowed room for several adaptations. In his influential critical essay on Hamlet, T.S. Eliot suggests that one could “examine any of Shakespeare’s more successful tragedies…” and always “… find this exact equivalence” (1919). His term ‘objective correlative’ encompasses the phenomena of emotional reaction being created in the audience by the writer or poet or playwrights combination of images, objects or description which evoke the appropriate emotions. This balance of emotions inspired by a narrative determines the success of the objective correlative. Directors in film use the camera to produce and emotional algebra, through which a sequence of images added together form a more complex and prompt emotional reaction in the audience. This essay hopes to explore and discuss the artistic formulas used in Sir Trevor Nunn’s...
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