...Despite Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ being a pre-gothic text, a vast range of gothic notions remain present, including those of darkness and concealment. The role of darkness within ‘Macbeth’ forms a vital aspect of the entire nature of the plot, with characters such as Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and even the witches displaying the use of dark acts, such as murder, in order to achieve personal ambition “that wilt raven up life’s own means.” Additionally, concealment plays an equally vital role, with the ‘femme fatale’ of Lady Macbeth strongly displaying signs of duality as she represses her evil nature behind the charade of passive femininity. However, one must consider why and how darkness and concealment obtain a significant device in structuring both the plot and displaying the gothic elements. Within ‘Macbeth, one of the most significant roles of the gothic notion of darkness is to emphasise to the audience the chaos and distress caused by Macbeth’s disruption of the Divine Right of Kings; which Shakespeare highlights through the relentless conflict between dark and light throughout the plot. Although darkness plays a vital role in accentuating the beast within both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it can be seen as equally significant in the literal sense, with the eclipse which occurs during and after the murder of Duncan - hiding the cruel, dark nature to Macbeth’s acts. Within Act Two, Scene One, Fleance expresses the fact that “the moon is down: I have not heard the clock” which instantly...
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...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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...In different periods of time, the lives of humans and nature were thought to have a connection, and this is emphasized in William Shakespeare's play MacBeth. In this play, unnatural events in nature foreshadow bad or unnatural occurrences in the lives of humans. Through out the play, Shakespeare continuously proves this point. When Ross said "As sparrows eagles or the hare the lion" (I.ii.35), it proves this theory. Common knowledge says that sparrows do not classify as eagles does a hare classify as a lion. They may have similarities, such as they are both birds or mammals, but they are opposites. After the quote is spoken, Ross reveals that the Thane of Cawdor has betrayed his country and Macbeth shall take his place. Macbeth becoming the Thane of Cawdor was an unusual event and not expected. When Macbeth finds the dagger in front of him, it alludes to this point even more. The foreshadowing of Macbeth's choice becomes evident when he says, "Nature seems dead" (II.i.50) For nature to seem dead would be the complete opposite of living because nature is thought to be continuously growing and changing, not dying. This is an unnatural event, that again foreshadows something bad, which is Duncan's death. Other unnatural occurrences happened prior to Duncan's death but were not explained until afterwards. When the old man says "'Tis unnatural / Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last A falcon tow'ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing hawk killed"...
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...the Gendered Body by Shakespeare’s Volumnia and Lady Macbeth In both Coriolanus and Macbeth, powerful women exploit their power over important male figures through their manipulation of gender roles and performance. In “Identity-Formation and the Breastfeeding Mother in Renaissance Generative Discourses and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus,” Victoria Sparey compares the symbolic relevance of breast milk and blood in Shakespearean literature to explain the immense power Volumnia holds over her son Coriolanus. Ralph Berry argues the sexual motivation behind Volumnia’s control in his article “Sexual Imagery in Coriolanus.” Berry states that “from Volumnia, we derive a strong impression of the interlinked impulses of sex and power” (316). Lady Macbeth’s character and influence over her husband is explored thoroughly in William T. Liston’s "Male and Female Created He Them": Sex and Gender in "Macbeth." Liston outlines the ways Lady Macbeth manipulates both her husband’s masculinity and her own femininity to achieve her personal ambitions. Although Sparey and Berry examine the motives and character of Volumnia and Liston recounts the ambitious incentives of Lady Macbeth, this paper will focus on the performance of gender and how it is used to manipulate the masculine body, the feminine body, and to overcome the societal boundaries set out for individuals at the time of Shakespeare’s writing. Using Judith Butlers concept of gender performativity, Volumnia and Lady Macbeth break their roles as...
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...In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare develops the theme of hunger for power through the use of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism. Shakespeare ultimately proves that hunger for power can mislead a person from situations and turn good intentions, to bad intentions all because of there blind lust. Power, as grand as it may be, can always be misleading. William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed, taught, and studied for more than 400 years. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove maker in Stratford Upon-Avon, and created the play “Macbeth” in 1606. In 1582 William at the age of 18, married an older woman named Anne Hathaway. They had three children, Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Their only son Hamnet died aged just 11. By the early Seventeenth Century, Shakespeare had begun to write plays in the genre of tragedy. These plays, such as Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear, often hinge on some fatal flaw in the lead character, and provide intriguing insights into the darker aspects of human nature. You can now see where this comes into play in other situations Macbeth is a play of contradiction and ambition. Macbeth, a well-known war general driven to become King, killed not only King Duncan to receive his kingship, but also all the heirs to the thrown which happened...
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...students of Sydney university. I will be lecturing the play Macbeth to you by way of a play as a psychological thriller. Shakespeare’s Macbeth can be depicted as a psychological thriller, through his monotonous use of the themes of death, unbridled ambition and supernatural power. The late Alfred Hitchcock who was an English film director and producer, commonly referred to as “The Master of Suspense”, enjoyed pursuing the themes of murder and psychology. We can all relate to Alfred through the studied play Macbeth and the themes articulated. Right? The motif of death is significant in the play Macbeth and is evident through the excessive portrayal of Lady Macbeth and the significance of her ‘washing her hands’ in a sea of blood symbolizing the themes, fate and unbridled ambition. An example of Macbeth’s ambition is his desire to accomplish anything to anyone and anywhere to proceed as the great king of Scotland. An example of Lady Macbeth with increasing proof of unbridled ambition is, “I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me.” It is noticeable that there is quite a bit of violent imagery here and it gives us an image of this innocent baby with its brains out, which is the complete opposite of a baby being milked by its mother, which is often seen in reality....
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...Shakespeare uses the implications of blood and its effects in his play Macbeth to show the cycle of violence that repeats throughout the play. Shakespeare first introduces the character of Macbeth as a brave hero. In the first act messengers tell Duncan about Macbeth’s bravery in war. The bloody images used in this act show Macbeth as the hero of war who should be rewarded for his bravery. Thoughts of heroism and bravery fade quickly as plans to murder Duncan for Macbeth’s benefit and power gain arise. Blood quickly changes to a motif of guilt and fear because of the murder that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have committed. Surprisingly Macbeth keeps killing to calm his fear but sheds more blood in the process. The killings result in meeting the unnatural and bloody Macduff, who wants revenge and ends the cycle of violence....
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...Shakespeare's Macbeth (1611) is a play that explores the ideas of justice and natural order and is a cautionary tale of the consequences of allowing ambition and hubristic desires to overcome one loyalty and moral compass. This statement is aligned with my interpretation of the play in that the characters and ideas do resonate due to their portrayal of human concerns. Although it is inspired and shaped by Elizabethan ideals such as the natural order and superstition, it ultimately transcends these and becomes a depiction of human concerns that are forever universal and relevant in human society. Through the play we resonate the ideas it portrays through Macbeth who blinded by his hubris and pride, murders the right and divinely ordained king and the natural order is only restored after he has been killed. Through the play's portrayal of Macbeth's ruthless lust for power, this text shows the human concern of the consequences of disregarding all other feelings and counsel, being a slave to one's ambition. Macbeth initially pursues his goals of power through righteous means but he encounters the witches and the first seeds of ambition are planted. He is plagued with thoughts of killing Duncan, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical shakes my single state of man”. Shakespeare uses imagery of even the mere thought of murder is enough to “shake” his state of being. This shows how significant his ambition is and how it threatens to alter him. Though initially hesitant,...
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...Shakespeare in Film Individual Assignment Macbeth is well known to be one of Shakespeare’s shortest yet darkest tragedies. The rich, psychological turmoil experienced by the main characters and the incorporation of elements such as the supernatural culminates in a tragedy that is one of Shakespeare’s most intense and grim. I will be examining the 1971 Roman Polanski film due to the unique life story of the director and the gruesome murders that occurred prior to the film. The film employs the use of gratuitous violence, nudity and graphic imagery that far exceeds that of the text, which Roman Polanski masterfully uses to highlight the inherent madness and evil that drives Macbeth and in doing so, successfully creates an psychologically disturbing film with an atmosphere of perpetual dread. Firstly, one distinct feature about the film that differs from the text is the inclusion of nudity seen in several scenes. Macbeth itself draws largely upon the theme of the occult and madness as the main driving forces, with the inclusion of the prophetic apparitions, visions of ghosts and mental breakdowns. The scene showing Macbeth seeks out the witches for the 2nd time exemplifies the occult brilliantly as it opens to a huge coven of naked witches huddled around the cauldron whilst chanting “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, cauldron bubble”. In the book, there was no mention of other witches apart from the three and by including the scene, the huge gathering...
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...“Significant ideas are raised in plays” Discuss significant ideas in Macbeth Throughout the Elizabethan era, literary work was written for performance on the stage in order to entertain an audience. These performances, known as plays raise significant ideas that are the underpinning issue or idea that propels and sustains the play. As time passes, different generations look at the significant ideas in Shakespeare with new eyes, redefining and reinterpreting as influenced by the political, social and cultural conditions of each era. These significant ideas that are raised in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (1606) include supernatural, ambition and temptation, and violence. Macbeth introduces an element of fantasy into the normal tragedy narrative through the characters of the witches. The witches are important figures in the play, as their function is both to predict Macbeth’s fate and to signal to the reader what is to come. Far from serving as a distracting element, the witches help focus the audience on some of the darker and more sinister aspects of the play. Shakespeare’s use of this supernatural idea is raised throughout the entire play. If the witches’ prophecy is understood to be imposing a supernatural order on the natural order of things, the natural order can also be understood as responding with tempestuous signs. Following Duncan’s death, Lennox describes the “unruly” night in detail and his personal emotions. Similarly, Ross notes that “the heavens, as troubled...
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...Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth is a story of power and destruction. The two main characters, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are driven by ambition to commit evil actions. Lady Macbeth, a more ambitious person than her husband plots to have her husband murder the king of Scotland so that he can take the throne. Macbeth commits more murders to protect his throne, all the while becoming sick with guilt and paranoia. The guilt that engulfs him and his wife lead to their eventual madness. Blood appears everywhere throughout the work and symbolizes many things. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare creates a sinister mood with blood imagery, which creates suspense and helps to resolve the story. Shakespeare uses blood imagery in Act One of Macbeth to create suspense. The opening battle of the story, between Scotland and the Norwegian invaders uses blood imagery to symbolize honor and bravery. Blood symbolizes bravery because the blood spilled is the blood of traitors and not noble men. The sergeant praises Macbeth for the murder of a traitor, as the king praises the sergeant for his bravery on the battle field. "So well thy words become thee as thy wounds, They smack of honor both." As Macbeth and his wife plot the murder of Duncan, they plan to smear the blood of the king on his chamberlains. They hope the blood will make the chamberlains appear guilty. Macbeth knows, though, that he cannot hide his guilt from himself. He calls the plans"bloody instructions, which...
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...Maqbool (2003) by Vishal Bharadwaj, a modern day reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is based in the backdrop of Mumbai’s mafia kings and is a dark and very close retelling of the original text. The principal characters are played by Irfan Khan, Tabu, Pankaj Kapur, Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah. While Bharadwaj has more or less retained the narrative of the original play, he does move around the settings of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Pankaj Kapur (Abbaji - Duncan) is the reigning don of Mumbai’s underworld and Tabu (Nimmi - Lady Macbeth) is his mistress who loves Kapur’s right hand man Irfan Khan (Maqbool - Macbeth). Bharadwaj has intelligently adapted the characters of the play to suit his characters and the time in which it is set by replacing the three witches or soothsayer’s of the original by two corrupt policemen with a knack for astrology, played by Om Puri (Inspector Pandit) and Naseeruddin Shah (Inspector Purohit). Macbeth, a story about personal ambition, has strong themes of violence, political turmoil and guilt. These ideas are maintained by Bharadwaj to a great extent; however the change in the characterisation of Macbeth and his Lady ensures that the overwhelming theme in the movie is also love/passion. Shakespeare’s Macbeth kills Duncan purely out of ambition; Maqbool’s motivations go beyond those of being the don. Maqbool out of love for Nimmi as well as the hearsay that Abbaji may not be as good as Maqbool originally thinks he is, leads to a scared...
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...Lady Macbeth found via Google - not my own work In typical Shakespearean tragedies, female main characters aren't always treated brilliantly. In Hamlet, Ophelia goes down the "I shall obey, my lord" route. In Othello, Desdemona goes down the "To you I am bound" route. Yet in Macbeth, this isn't quite the case. The most important female figure is Lady Macbeth, a cunning and manipulative woman who is associated with the supernatural. Instantly it can be argued that Lady Macbeth fits in with the later idea of certain Gothic women being 'sinister predators', or 'femme fatales'. | Dame Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth | Lady Macbeth has been the subject of much debate for hundreds of years. Her role in the play is incredibly important and she is the subject of various interpretations. Her first appearance in the play is in act one, scene five. She opens by reading Macbeth's letter; instantly this seems to present her as a typical Shakespearean woman (when I say typical, I mean typical in terms of main female characters in tragedies being passive), since her first words are that of her husband's, as though she is bound to him. Then she stops reading the letter, and we start to realise that she isn't at all typical. She instantly states that Macbeth will be "what thou art promised", which shows a determination and strength of will that we may not have been expecting. She goes on to criticise her husband's nature, since he is "too full o'th'milk of human kindness". A wife...
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...Deceit and Betrayal in Shakespeare's Macbeth Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is considered one of his great tragedies. The play fully uses plot, character, setting, atmosphere, diction and imagery to create a compelling drama. The general setting of Macbeth is tenth and eleventh century Scotland. The play is about a once loyal and trusted noble of Scotland who, after a meeting with three witches, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the other nobles of Scotland who try to stop him. In the play, Macbeth faces an internal conflict with his opposing decisions. On one hand, he has to decide of he is to assassinate the king in order to claim his throne. This would result in his death for treason if he is caught, and he would also have to kill his friend. On the other hand, if he is to not kill him, he may never realize his ambitious dreams of ruling Scotland. Another of his internal struggles is his decision of killing his friend Banquo. After hiring murderers to kill him, Macbeth begins to see Banquo's ghost which drives him crazy, possibly a result of his guilty conscience. Macbeth's external conflict is with Macduff and his forces trying to avenge the king and end Macbeth's reign over Scotland. One specific motif is considered the major theme, which represents the overall atmosphere throughout the play. This motif is "fair is foul and foul is fair." In the first scene of the first act, three witches plan their...
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...” The famous lyrics of James Brown’s It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World may resonate with a contemporary society; however, in the world of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, women receive a significantly less flattering light. This is not to say that women are not important in the plot of Macbeth. Shakespeare crafts women as manipulators throughout the plot. Even the depiction of Lady Macbeth above her husband on the cover speaks volumes to their dynamic as puppeteer and marionette. Conversely, Shakespeare uses an implicit definition of what it means to be a woman to define what it means to be a man. Masculinity becomes the antithesis of conniving femininity. Shakespeare designs each male character’s masculinity, desire to be seen as a man, and even his overall virtue in correlation to the amount of dominance he allows female figures to have in his life. Throughout the course of Macbeth,...
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