...Macbeth vs. Macbeth Retold Most people believe that books are absolutely better than movies because movies have a tendency to be incomplete, either from lack of important details or from different interpretations and setting, but Macbeth retold has proven that it is one to watch, not only does it have great actors and a stupendous storyline, it has also stayed fateful to the context of tragedy that makes Macbeth a true literary work. The British Broadcasting Company’s Macbeth Retold, directed by Mark Brozel, is truly an amazing film because of it stunning cinematography and plot, with actors like James McAvoy (Joe Macbeth), Keeley Hawes (Ella Macbeth), Joseph Millson (Billy or Banquo), Vincent Regan (Duncan), Richard Armitage (Peter Macduff) and Toby Keebel (Malcolm). Together with its faithfulness to Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the tragedy that is shown, Macbeth Retold is truly a great adaptation of its original book. Although the original book, Macbeth, and its modern adaptation, Macbeth Retold, have some similarities, their differences are still quite evident, such as the language that is used, the setting and the characters. Macbeth and Macbeth Retold both exhibit how greed and a hunger for power can destroy a person’s kindness and righteousness. Macbeth Retold is a truly tragic story set in modern Scotland. Joe Macbeth is the head chef of a famous restaurant known for its delicious and mouthwatering food, along side his wife, Ella Macbeth, who is the manager and...
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...Other facets of the plays must still be edited to ensure that the new culture understands the central idea without the benefit of understanding the past culture. PBS’s Macbeth accomplishes this goal, preserving the original ideas of fatality, persuasion, and death. The movie brings the setting of the five century old play much closer to the modern day to better demonstrate the effects of Macbeth’s reign. Additionally, PBS shows the Witches’ omnipresence in a way not necessary in Shakespeare’s original play, but essential for a new culture. These changes grant modern people the ability to glimpse Shakespeare’s original messages, without having any background knowledge; the movie brings the play to wider modern audience. Despite being set nearly a millennia in the future from the original Macbeth, PBS’s variation of Shakespeare’s tragedy is incredibly effective in communicating the original message of the historic tale of persuasion, fate, and the inevitability of death utilizing modernized setting and...
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...The Tragedy of Macbeth implements the idea of kings ruling by divine right. Shakespeare limits the belief of divine right by presenting the character of Macbeth as a traitor and supports it by giving his intemperate ambition a consequence. From Princesses to Kings, any person emerged in royalty entails a divine source of power. In Shakespeare's day and age, whether known for their tyranny or their loyalty, Kings and Queens were always the most authoritative and idolized figures. Shakespeare Shakespeare provides his writing with an efficient amount of historical context; his opinions on the Gunpowder Plot, Great Chain of Being, supernatural powers and witches all hold a substantial amount of importance in Macbeth. This play, written during...
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...The Ruling of the Ghost In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare establishes the compelling character of Macbeth. Throughout the play Macbeth gets caught up in greed, his tragic flaw. In the course of the drama he becomes engulfed by guilt and begins to see the consequences of his actions. When coming face to face with his worst fear, a hallucination of his murdered friend Banquo, Macbeth sinks into a state of disorientation and regret. All the while the audience experiences bewilderment as they grasp the prospect of a ghost. Play writers could choose to include an actor on stage as Banquo’s ghost in order to eliminate this confusion; however, it is more competent and efficient to have an actor absent from the stage amid the scene. This absence...
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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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...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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...” 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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...There are often times when one experiences a desire to be whisked away from the problematic situation by a well-timed event. The appeal of an immediate and unlikely fix to a problem is not amiss in current times. Yet these fantasies rarely come true in practice and are often left to the confines of literature where they may be indulged and brought to light. While other tools an author might employ give a sense of structure based in practical reasoning, the usage of deus ex machine adds an element of immediate relief unlike that of reason. This tool is seen in several popular author’s works but the ones being examined are Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Macbeth, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Deus Ex Machina or ‘God...
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...Gray PRINTER FRIENDLY PAGE Literary analysis looks critically at a work of fiction in order to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. When analyzing a novel or short story, you’ll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes. Remember that a literary analysis isn’t merely a summary or review, but rather an interpretation of the work and an argument about it based on the text. Depending on your assignment, you might argue about the work’s meaning or why it causes certain reader reactions. This handout will help you analyze a short story or novel—use it to form a thesis, or argument, for your essay. Summary Begin by summarizing the basic plot: “Matilda by Roald Dahl is about a gifted little girl in small town America who learns to make things move with her mind and saves her teacher and school from the evil principal.” This will help ground you in the story. (When you write your paper, you probably won’t include a summary because your readers will already be familiar with the work. But if they aren’t, use a brief summary to orient them.) Context Research the author’s background and other work. This can give insight into the author’s perspective and bias, as well as tell the reader what he might be commenting on. For example, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ringsis about a group of friends who embark on an epic journey and fight a...
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...Macbeth is a notorious script from playwright William Shakespeare. This tale stars Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth during Medieval Scotland. Under King Duncan’s reign, he two lust for power after receiving a prophecy, listing that Macbeth will become the new king. They will do anything for the crown, including murder. Recurring themes, also known as motifs, are laced within Macbeth’s plot. Masculinity presents itself as a struggle to appeal to societal male stereotypes. Aspects of darkness display negativity within Macbeth’s changed lifestyle. Macbeth is a piece that cannot be interpreted from a single viewpoint because almost all context has a deeper meaning, making Macbeth a very heavy-weighted read. Upholding the standard to being...
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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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...Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, and is widely regarded today as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. As quoted in an article,” The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry"”. In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance, and is currently an active part of education curriculums. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. It is safe to say that although Shakespearean plays were set in the Renaissance Era, they are still the epitome of English literature and are revered by theaters, performers and audiences alike due to their remarkable credibility in portraying everlasting political, social and moral issues. http://www.neptunetheatre.com/content/Shakespeare_hat_trick His plays move from romantic to tragic, humorous to serious so much so that he not only caters to all tastes but also all times by portraying the political situation of his times as well as the way of living. Even Romeo and Juliet, considered by many as a die –hard romantic scripture actually highlights political issues. One of the main political aspects of the play was when count Paris uses...
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...England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry. All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict. Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years. And yet, the personal history of William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery. There are two primary sources that provide historians with a basic outline of his life. One source is his work—the plays, poems and sonnets—and the other is official documentation such as church and court records. However, these only provide brief sketches of specific events in his life and provide little on the person who experienced those events. Though no birth records exist, church records indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as William Shakespeare's birthday. Located 103 miles west of London, during Shakespeare's time Stratford-upon-Avon was a market town bisected with a country road and the River Avon. William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden,...
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...William Shakespeare and Graham Greene both present characters as being both heroes and villains in the tale of the tragedy of Macbeth and the short novel of The Destructors. Greene portrays ordinary people who have both the capacity of good and evil. Macbeth is different as we have the character of Macbeth who isn’t clear cut as good or evil, throughout the novel his character slowly decays into a villain. In Macbeth, the first time being switched from the shadowy world of witches to the physical world of battle we are presented with the characters of Ross and the Captain. Shakespeare uses these characters as devices to provide us with an insight into the character of Macbeth heroism. The Captain, covered in blood describes Macbeth as being...
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...Surname 3 Student's Name Professor's Name Course Date Antigone vs. Macbeth In attempting to discern the legitimate and analytical issues in the two plays, Antigone and Macbeth, it is important to take into account the two key characters that all actions revolve around (Antigone and Lady Macbeth). In both plays, the characters appear to have comparative destiny and fate intertwined deeply within their societies. (Powell et al. 12). Antigone stands harshly rebuked by the state whose rule she contradicts. Antigone's fierce deviance is fully displayed when she declares that she'll bury Polyneices in total disregard of Creon's law. It is this rebellious act and Antigone's innate loyalty to the memory of her brother that forms the spine of the play. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth stands denounced by the laws of God and man having so eagerly disregarded them for the purpose of affection and enthusiasm towards her husband. The inclination that destiny appears to have in setting up these sorts of plays is portrayed undeniably by Sophocles in his piece of work, as well as Shakespeare in his Macbeth. The authorial intent ( a tragedy in contemporary society) as developed by both plays is similar in context. This is mainly detectable while considering the way both playwrights depict the condition that has befallen a nation. Aristotle, an outstanding scholar, and craftsman described tragedy as a mimic of a movement that is morally right. He further came up with guidelines towards...
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