Examples Of Loyalty In Macbeth

Emphasizing the trust and the loyalty between Macbeth and Banquo and the immense respect that everybody holds for Duncan makes Macbeth’s evil deeds seem even worse. Setting this play in a twenty-first century high school where the main characters are all members of the football team also emphasizes how petty Macbeth’s actions are. This relates to Macbeth’s speech after the death of Lady Macbeth, where he expresses his belief that life “is a tale / [t]old by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / [s]ignifying nothing” (5.5.29-31). The Macbeth of Shakespeare’s play realizes just before the British army arrives that all that he has worked for came to nothing. He is not satisfied being king, and his rise to power causes pain and suffering for the citizens of his country.

Setting this play in a high school emphasizes the deception and fake fronts that frequently occur in Shakespeare’s work. High school kids are notorious for hiding behind false images. They may pretend to like someone that they hate, stab one of their true friends in the back, or keep their true passions and interests inside in order for people to perceive them as “cool”. The witches are cheerleaders because the stereotypical cheerleader is extremely positive even in difficult situations, such as when their team is losing, and repeats the same cheer over and over. Just as the witches in the traditional Macbeth try to boost Macbeth’s confidence in the face of defeat by informing him that “none of woman born / [s]hall harm” him, cheerleaders continue rooting for their team and complementing the players even when a loss is imminent (4.1.91-2). In addition, the repetitious chants of a cheerleading squad are similar to the chants of the three witches dancing around their cauldrons and shouting “[d]ouble, double toil and trouble; / [f]ire burn, and cauldron bubble”