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William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
Literary analysis of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
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Quote (act, scene)
Identify Speaker
Identify Listener
Theme
Concept
Dramatic Technique
“Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air.” Act 1, Scene 1
The three witchesTo each otherSupernatural
- About unnatural/supernatural beings an impossible things.
Appearance vs Reality
- The witches explain that everything is foggy and unclear and the boundaries between real and surreal are weak and thin.Fate
- The foreshadowing and hinting as to what is to come.
Rhythm
- The focus is on chant-like and the tone it sets.“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” Act 1, Scene 3
MacbethBanquoAppearance vs Reality
- Macbeth quotes witches, once again focusing on blurred boundaries.
“Live you? Or are you aught that man may question?”
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He states that he has two options give up his wish for King or follow his strong ambition and Kill the King to become King.
Lady Macbeth’s Soliloquy... Act 1, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth
Herself
Gender Roles
- Lady Macbeth states that Macbeth is too king and mother-like to do what is necessary and kill the King. She refers to him as having breast milk
Ambition
- She states that Macbeth lacks the courage and strength (balls) to full fill his ambition, but she is strong enough to see the ambition through.
Soliloquy
- Lady Macbeth is talking about her husband and how he does not have the "manliness" to do what is necessary.
Lady Macbeth’s Soliloquy... Act 1, Scene 5
Lady MacbethHerselfSupernatural
- She is calling the supernatural, making her supernatural like the witches. She calls on spirits, then on the witches and then upon the darkness itself.
Gender Roles
- Lady Macbeth is also in this quote saying that a motherly woman, cannot kill a king and that she must change and become a hard man. Hence unsex me, take my milk for gall
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“Have I not reason, beldams as you are? Saucy and overbold, how did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death, And I, the mistress of your charms, The close contriver of all harms, Was never called to bear my part, Or show the glory of our art? And which is worse, all you have done Hath been but for a wayward son, Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do, Loves for his own ends, not for you.” Act 3 Scene 5
HecateThe three witchesSupernatural
- Even the supernatural has a certain sense of Hierarchy. In the same way that Macbeth is destroying the natural order by killing his superior who granted him his power (Thane of Cawdor), the witches are disobeying Hecate, who gave them their power (Magic).Natural Order
- In the murder of his superior, Macbeth has disturbed the natural order.
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Act 4, Scene 1
The Three WitchesThemselvesSupernatural
- While this may seem merely a repeat of what was chanted at the start of the play, it has much more meaning now. Now it is possible to infer that they are stirring up trouble in the real world, with the cauldron referring to
thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. and (I, v, 15-16). She has such a determination to get for Macbeth what he wants “Only look up clear. To alter favor is to fear. Leave all the rest to me.
‘Brave Macbeth,’ (1.2.18.) as he is first introduced, possesses a valiant temperament, is adored by his generous king and all those who have viewed his prowess on the battlefield. Noble and righteous, Macbeth is portrayed as a respectable man who – although it being prophesied by the three witches before he obtains knowledge of his good fortune – gains his title of Thane of Cawdor solely through his loyalty to his kingdom. At first glance, the play’s protagonist ostensibly has a near perfect balance of both ambition and pride. However, as the plot progresses and the Weyard Sisters equivocate the future in their familiar groups of three, the reader may discern an imbalance that contradicts early perceptions of the protagonist’s personality. ‘[Yielding] to that suggestion whose horrid image doth … make [his] heart knock against [his] ribs against the use of nature,’ (1.3.144–47) Macbeth has already succumbed, albeit only in thought, to his overwhelming ambition, adding more weight to his formerly balanced internal scale, thus raising pride raising slightly higher, as ambition takes precedence. Yet this change is relatively minute, and balance is retained, as he has no desire to act upon these thoughts, wishing to gain power only ‘if chance will have [him] king … without [his] stir.’ (1.3.154–55) It is not until his wife asks him, ‘If thou are afeard
One permeating aspect of Shakespeare’s depiction of masculinity is its dominance over femininity. Lady Macbeth is a vital contributor to this mindset throughout the plot. As a means of obtaining power, Lady Macbeth sees her femininity as an obstacle and obtaining masculine attributes as a step toward the throne. We see this when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and full me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (33). In this quote she is literally asking to replace her feminine attributes with masculine ones, which she perceives as cruelty and aggression. She continues to emphasize this ideal when she states “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall” (33). This line is a blatant reference ...
Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be ?unsexed,? and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Mac...
This is said by Lady Macbeth, who we will speak about later, in act 1,
To conclude, Lady Macbeth is a multifaceted character, her persona having many sides; notably: genuine goodness towards her husband, coy manipulation, and femininity. It is therefore inaccurate to define her as purely evil; despite the means by which she desires to accomplish her fantastical end. For all Lady Macbeth’s drive and determination, she eventually loses her dominant role, captive until her demise to her inescapable femininity.
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
While Macbeth is losing his morals, Lady Macbeth is developing hers. After Macbeth reveals his plot to kill Banquo, she is reluctant to add another murder to those already committed: “You must leave this”(3.3.40). In act three, another prophecy foretold by the witches comes true. The paradox “fair is foul and foul is fair” characterizes the changes the protagonists undergo in acts one, two, and three. Throughout the play, Macbeth, the “fair” one, becomes overcome by guilt and becomes “foul”.
Th’ Milk of Human Kindness There is nothing stopping the characters of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth from going towards and achieving everything that they want. Macbeth and his wife have the ability to become king and queen, which suddenly become out of sight when one family’s name gets to the throne before their own. Lady Macbeth still seeks royalty for her and her husband and decides to devise a murderous stratagem that will help them to achieve that- but not before she strips herself of her sex. The idea of becoming “unsexed” is important for her plan, but her womanly, maternal ways will limit her evil abilities. This creates the claim that women are simply not capable of committing the acts of pure evil in this world.
“Born of a Woman: Fantasies of Maternal Power in Macbeth”. Shakespeare. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003.Student Resource Center- Gold. Gale. Ozen High School. 12 Jan 2010. http://find.galegroup.com
Lady Macbeth’s murderous thoughts concerning the demise of King Duncan characterize her as callous and cruel, as well as ruthlessly determined to achieve her goal of rising to power alongside Macbeth. After she reads Macbeth’s letter containing his royal prophecy, Lady Macbeth immediately begins to concoct a plan that will dethrone King Duncan as quickly as possible. She tells “spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts” to “unsex [her] here,” (1.5.47-48) and allow her to promptly lose her identity and transform into a man on the spot. Her readiness to completely alter her appearance and gender emphasizes the lengths to which Lady Macbeth is willing to go in order to successfully carry out her plan. She then further implores the spirits to “come to [her] woman’s breasts/And take [her] milk for gall” (1.5.54-55). By asking the spirits to exchange her nutritive milk for fatal poison, Lady Macbeth suggests that she does not see her breasts as soft and nurturing, but rather obstructive to the execution of her plan, and that
The character of Lady Macbeth is a complex one, there is much that can be said regarding the juxtaposition of ideas concerning her behavior. Within this essay I shall attempt to elaborate on her forceful, selfish and contradictory character.
Throughout the play Macbeth, characters start to emerge as dark and cruel. The author William Shakespeare writes about a strong and ambitiously powerful woman named Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s character shares with the audience that she believes her husband is not man enough to excel in completing the prophecy that the three witches have given to him. As a women, she makes sure to tell us that just because she is a women that you can be strong and independent. Although it may seem that Lady Macbeth has a tough exterior, she does proceed to have a conscience that causes her problems that comes to display later in the play.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air” (1.1.11-13). Humanity has the proficiency of being two-faced, one can be bad but appear good as well as be good but appear bad. Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare best exemplifies the following theme, “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” By opening the play with these lines, Shakespeare created an eerie atmosphere and promptly expressed the play’s theme. The composition portrays a Scottish soldier named Macbeth who is met by three witches with foreshadowing greetings, he is told he will be King and then falls into darkness to gain power despite the harsh consequences. Within the plot, the theme “fair is foul and foul is fair” is established and repeated throughout the play. The theme not only weaves its way into the narrative, it is shown within the supernatural beings, incidents, and play’s characters.
Lady Macbeth is able to achieve such power over her husband by continually insulting his manliness and boasting her...