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Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
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Shakespeare Play Act 5 Scene 1:
The Doctor
1. Briefly summarize the moment in the play your group chose to perform.
In Act 5 scene 1, the Doctor and gentlewoman are trying to find a cure for Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking and mental health. Before she enters the scene, both are talking about her condition and how she is saying things that other people shouldn’t know. The doctor is suspicious that the gentlewoman is lying because they have yet to see Lady Macbeth walk and she isn’t telling him what she is saying. But once Lady Macbeth enters all of his suspicions are replaced with confusing; knowing that she knows things that she should not-especially about the murder of Duncan and Macduff’s family.
2. What is the significance of the scene to the play as a whole? (try to dig deep here - think about themes, character development, tone, etc.)
This scene has a great significance to the play as a whole. I felt as if the Doctor and the gentlewoman
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He didn’t believe her when she said that Lady Macbeth had been sleeping walking as he had not seen her do it while at the castle. In a way, I thought the doctor was almost mocking the gentlewoman for saying such things against Lady Macbeth. After he asked her questions about if Lady Macbeth had said anything while walking, I felt as if he was getting annoyed and frustrated because he wasn’t getting any answers. After he sees and hears Lady Macbeth carry out her depressed performance, he is shocked and confused. I tried to incorporate all of those into my actions when acting as the doctor. For the wardrobe, I wore a white dress shirt, trying to give off the impression of professionalism and the white laboratory coat that modern doctors wear. I also used a notebook to “take notes” just as the doctor had when he said in the play “I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.” (5.1
A good moment in the play was in the first scene. This scene is about a girl whose hart has been broken into 19 pieces and she is currently carrying it around in a paper bag. She travels north to the town of Almost to see the northern lights, while there she meets a handy man. Their encounter displayed
the main theme of the play. With out this scene in the play I don’t
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
meanings along with what is going on in the plot of the play, it is
Instructions: Answer all questions. Use your copy of the play to back up your answers with direct quotation where possible. Use the first answer as a guide to your answers. You must type your answers. (17 points).
The “strong independent woman” is an amalgamation of modern attitudes towards women. Feminist, outspoken, and sexually liberated, this entity breaks the “mother figure” stereotype usually attributed to women. Current society reinforces these unconventional notions, however this was not so in Shakespearian times. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, most female characters are portrayed in “unstereotypical” ways. Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me speech” leads her to acquire male attributes throughout the play, Lady Macduff openly criticizes her husband for leaving, and minor characters such as “the sailor’s wife” are inhospitable and unaccommodating. Although this seems to portray support for modern views of women, this is not true. It, in fact, reinforces traditional roles, as every “strong independent woman” within the play is punished. Women that go against “natural gender roles” disrupt order and lose their personal stability. This is evidenced by the actions of Lady Macbeth, minor female characters such as the sailor’s wife and the gentlewoman, and Lady Macduff.
30) choose one dramatic convention in Cyrano de Bergerac and discribe how it is used to enhance the text: "The play whas play in Paris, France, in the year 1640" the name of the play is " Cyron de Bergac".
... upon her. So good night” (5.1.70-73). The doctor is just telling the attendant to keep an eye out on Lady Macbeth, because he was afraid that she was going to harm herself (commit suicide). Even though the Doctor warns the attendant about Lady Macbeth, she commits suicide anyway. Lady Macbeth last words before she die were “To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at the / gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand! / What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed” (5.1.62-64)!
An example of Shakespeare using imagery related to illness to enforce the idea of mental deterioration in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is the quote, “Macbeth does murder sleep, innocent sleep, chief nourisher in life’s feast.” (Page 45) This quote distinguishes that Macbeth is not only murdering King Duncan, but also the innocence tied to sleep, by ruining the chief nouisher, the reader can infer that characters in the play will fall ill because of Macbeth’s dark deed. Ironically, the characters that murdered sleep are the characters that become ill, not physically, but mentally. “These deeds must not be thought of after these ways, it will make us mad.” (Page 45) is another example of Shakespeare using imagery pertaining to illness to reinforce the idea of loss of sanity in the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This quote makes it conspicuous to the reader that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are aware that feeling guilty about the murder will lead to an ailing mind. This quote also reminds the reader that guilt is often followed by mental illness, foreshadowing the mental deterioration of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s minds.
She starts out being observed by a doctor and a gentlewoman. Lady Macbeth enters the scene talking out loud to herself in her sleep revealing her underlying guilt. She starts going down a downwards spiral that she can’t escape from; seeing blood on her hands from the death of Duncan. She tries to wash the blood off, but it won’t go away. Even though she’s in such a bad mental state she still thinks that she and Macbeth are untouchable saying: “A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?” (V.I.40-42). She thinks that just because Macbeth is in power, everything they do will be covered up, and they’ll suffer no consequences. Later in the scene, she starts to feel the effects of her guilt. While attempting to wash the blood off of her hands she says: “ Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (V.I.54-55). No matter what she tries to erase what she’s done nothing will work. Lady Macbeth has gone down a path she’ll never be able to recover from, letting her guilt and regret get the best of
In this passage taken from Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth delivers her famous soliloquy about wanting to commit murder with her husband, Macbeth, in order to dethrone the current king and ultimately gain power. Prior to this passage, in Act 1, Scene 6, Macbeth encountered three witches who provided him with three prophecies that would continue to guide and motivate his actions throughout the play. In the selected passage, Lady Macbeth has received a letter from Macbeth describing his fate; determined by a power-hungry driving force, Lady Macbeth concludes that the only way Macbeth will be ruled as king is if he assassinates the current king, Duncan. In this excerpt, Shakespeare uses diction, characterization, symbols, metaphors,
Taking a look at Act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy helps the audience to discern the kind of character; Macbeth is. Though we do not actually know for how long they have been married, her description of Macbeth’s character is eloquent enough for us to believe that she knows what she is talking of. From lines 16 to 22 of this
The play Macbeth is a dramatic tale that includes many different themes. The themes in this play include love, supernatural, and tragedy. The supernatural elements are in particular, a major aspect of this play. Three main elements of the supernatural in this play are witches, apparitions, and hallucinations. The projected outcomes given through visions in this play did not always match up with the actual events that occurred. Although the main characters use these visions to try and achieve their goals, it often did not occur the way that they wanted.
Night falls upon the castle and everyone has been seated in the dining hall. A light layer of mist fell across the face of Macbeth which was already covered in sweat and drained of color. Macbeth turns to the individuals sitting to the left and right, trying to look normal with the same eyes that last saw Banquo alive. “Sir? Seems as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Said someone to his left that seemed to travel in one ear and out the other. “Sir, are you alright?” said someone to his right that did the same as the one from the left. He looked right, left, then forward at Lady Macbeth. “I think I may have just caught a case of the jitters” said Macbeth, addressing all at the table.
Thus, we can wonder, what is the dramatic significance of this extract within the play as a whole?