Chris Metz
Dr. Watson
AP Junior English
4 November 2013
Life Through a Pair of Forsaken Eyes
A close reading of Macbeth (5.5.17-28)
After hearing a shriek inside the castle, Macbeth sends his servant Seyton to find out what the noise was. When Seyton returns, he tells Macbeth “The queen, my lord, is dead” (line 16). Untouched by this horrific news, Macbeth replies, “She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word,” suggesting that she would have died eventually, implying that he is too busy to deal with her death (line 18 - 19). He goes on to say “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” using repetition, to show that life drags on, at a slow and “petty pace” up until the end of time (line 20 - 21). Macbeth then explains that “all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death” implying that after each day, they are approaching death sooner and sooner (line 23 – 24). Would the “lighted fool” who is on his way to a “dusty death” be referring to Macbeth himself or to people in general (lines 23 - 24)? After saying “out, out, brief candle,” the candle’s light represents Macbeth’s life and he is commanding it to go out due to the shear depression and stress that he is undergoing (line 24). While in this pessimistic trance, Macbeth explains that “life’s but a walking shadow” and after each day the fool is coming closer to death (line 25). While referring to the illusion of life, he compares it to a “poor player that struts and frets his hour upon stage and then is heard no more” only to be forgotten once he is taken off (lines 26 - 27). Could Shakespeare be talking about himself since he is an actor upon the Globe Theater’s stage? Macbeth then goes on to say that “it is a tale told by an idiot f...
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...is considered to be a very deep and complex character due to this, and because he is ultimately the protagonist of the play, but yet he is also the antagonist too. He killed anyone that stood between him and his country’s crown, but yet in this speech he has an abrupt realization of what he has accomplished. He also had a strong and deep bond with his wife, yet when he receives the news he simply says, “she would have died hereafter: there would have been a time for such a word,” implying that he doesn’t care (Lines 17 – 18).
Works Cited
Kermode, Frank. “Macbeth.” Shakespeare’s Language. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux,
2000. 201 – 216. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, eds. New York: The
Modern Library, 2009. Print.
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
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Throughout this play, Macbeth journeys from a noble, loyal soldier to a power-hungry, deceptive monster, destroying any obstacle in his path. These obstacles are sometimes people, including the former King Duncan and his “friend” Banquo. Evil and greed take over his every thought, and in the process of destroying his obstacles, he never realizes that his own actions will lead to his downfall. Many quotes in this play prove this to be true. Throughout the play his attitude goes through drastic changes, and he ends up thinking he is indestructible.
Lady Macbeth has just died and Macbeth himself is realizing a fair amount of truths. “She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a world. / Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day … Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury” (ln 17-27). Macbeth had mocked time and attempted to outrace it, which ends up slowing him down. He has become fully aware that his life is worthless, and now he has lost his wife. Macbeth also recognizes that it would have been better if Lady Macbeth had died at some other time because her death made everything worse. This time motif is the height of Macbeth’s realization of where his life has gone. Duncan, Banquo, and now his wife are dead. He believed that taking the throne was all he needed, but it left him with the opposite. This motif is effective because even though Macbeth is still living in some alternate reality of time, he is slowly coming out of that after the death of his wife. Macbeth is now numb and feels
Macbeth’s attitude changes dramatically from feeling guilty, at the beginning, to being a vivacious tyrant, at the end. Macbeth starts a trend of murdering his citizens because of paranoia and continues to make his country, Scotland, much worst. Ross speaks out about what is going on in Scotland and says “Alas, poor country, almost afraid to know itself. It cannot Be called our mother, but our grave, where nothing But who knows nothing is once seen to smile. Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air Are made, not marked.” (iv.iii.164-169) Ross explains that Macbeth is killing so many people that the country is frightened and is no longer a dominant country. Ross also says that all citizens are sad and the streets are filled with screams. Ross continues to say Scotland is so bad that people’s lives are so short. Ross claims “The dead man’s knell there scarce asked for who, and good men’s lives Expire before the flowers in their caps, Dying or ere they sicken.” (iv.iii.170-175) Ross says Macbeth’s causing people to die before a flower can die. This figurative language shows how relatively quick
William Shakespeare's Macbeth In Act I, King Duncan is at the top of the chart of power, because he has the most power being the king of Scotland, he is good and kind. king, which holds legitimate and referent power. In Act I, Scene 2, he. announces his eldest son, Malcolm, as heir to the throne, after the throne.
At the beginning of the play Macbeth has an optimistic view of time,“Come what come may, /:Time and the hour runs through the roughest day”(1.3.163-164). After hearing words that he will become king, he pushes the thoughts of killing Duncan to the back of his mind. After a period of self-doubt Macbeth decides to leave his fate to chance and that no matter what time will keep on going. However by the end of the play Macbeth realizes the inevitable passing of time in his famous soliloquy, saying, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, /: Creeps in this petty pace from day to day” (5.5.22-3). The tone in his soliloquy is heavy and constant, emphasizing the burden of time. Macbeth says these words after hearing of Lady Macbeth’s suicide, so it makes sense that he is so distraught by time. This shows how Macbeth perceives time as cruel and
William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the tragic play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, to kill King Duncan. In the play, we see the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transform in their personality after murdering the King. Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier, gradually changing into an ambitious murdering man. Similarly, Lady Macbeth is ambitious but she begins as a rebellious woman who dominates her husband, gradually changing into a guilt ridden, and weak woman.
However, she may be old as she is determined to get her last chance of
Shakespeare pays much regard as to what it is to be a man and to
In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the effects of characterization through physical appearance, actions, and the character’s words to infuse character development.
symbol is used in Act I, Scene III when Macbeth mentions Ross in line 108: “The
Macbeth is seen as a “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” (I, ii, 24). He is a brave warrior who is well respected in his community, until the witches prophesied to him that he would one day be king (I, iii, 50). Macbeth interprets that he must act to fulfill the prophecy. He sends a letter to lady Macbeth asking what to do. She suggests that he should kill Duncan. Macbeth follows the plan and kills Duncan (II, ii, 15). Directly following the murder Macbeth can no longer say amen (II, iii, 31-33). Macbeth also hears a voice in his head say, “sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”(II, ii, 35, 36). For the rest of the play Macbeth suffers from insomnia. When Macbeth pretends to be surprised by Duncan’s death he says, “ Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time, for, from this instant, there’s nothing serious in mortality. (II, iii, 92-95) he is saying that if he had died before he murdered Duncan he would have lived a great life, but now that he’s committed murder, life is just a game and nothing is important anymore. These are suicidal thoughts and show how his grip on reality has greatly slipped.
... the witches is too mysterious. The forest came to Dunsinane meant the soldiers were hiding under cut trees, so it looked like the forest was actually moving closer. But it was just the appearance of reality. And another prophecy that he misunderstood is that only a man not born of a woman could kill him. But this prophecy only meant the man that would kill Macbeth was born by C-section, maybe that was an operation too new so that Macbeth did not know about it. But Macbeth lives long enough to see that everything came to a bad ending. No wonder he wants to die and not see the “sun” anymore. But if he felt sorry for all his wrongs, maybe he did not go to hell. Macbeth paid, just like his wife, for believing in lies and doing wrong. But Shakespeare is a genius because he found one place where liars and people who believe in magic can find an honest job: acting.
What if none of the evil decisions made in the play Macbeth, are actually Macbeth’s fault? There are also many other forces at work, meddling with Macbeth and influencing him to change into a cold and cruel man who kills without a second thought. Would characters such as Banquo and Duncan have been murdered if perhaps fate did not direct their destinies, or if Lady Macbeth had not manipulated Macbeth, or even if the three witches had not shown Macbeth their prophecies and apparitions? Macbeth is valiant, noble, and a truly decent person whose destiny is unfortunately set in stone and whose life is a tumultuous road with an impending doom. His cold and calculating wife controls Macbeth through manipulations and evil ideas. Additionally, Macbeth encounters three weird sisters who ambiguously give Macbeth false hopes and cloak the whole truth, leading to his over confidence and greed. In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Macbeth, Macbeth is doomed by the influence and manipulation of external forces as opposed to internal forces, consequently leading him to make atrocious/dastardly decisions and causing his ultimate demise as seen through the inevitable forces of fate, Lady Macbeth, and the witches.
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” Once said by Marc Twain, this is an excellent example of the human nature that is represented in the play: Macbeth. Shakespeare demonstrates that all humans have the ability to do good or evil. This is strongly affected by the choices that we make and by our actions. These decisions will have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of others. Throughout the play, Macbeth experienced a huge decent into evil and violent action that lead him to his death. With his thirst for power and constant paranoia, he killed his way to seize the crown. By killing Duncan at the beginning of the play, Macbeth soon realizes that nothing can be undone and his blood stained hands can never be cleaned. “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.3 70) said by Lady Macbeth after Duncan’s murder. But what they don’t know is that this is the start of the bloody massacre that will change who they are and how they think forever. Macbeth has multiple hallucinations and his paranoia leads him to hire murderers to kill Macduff’s family out of anger and spite. Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and gets to the point of madness when she kills herself at the end of the play. This demonstrates that our actions can be affected by human nature and our thoughts can be easily corrupted by temptation.
he heard this he was intrigued to find out how he was going to become