Macbeth And Of Mice And Men Analysis

In the Shakespearean play Macbeth and the novella Of Mice and Men, both have characters who reflect on who they are. The authors are very successful in their depictions of such characters. Shakespeare does this by creating a character who appears from the outside bold and courageous, but in reality has self-doubt and a conflict in his mind when he is subjected to praise in things he deems impossible. Steinbeck does the same thing with 2 characters, one who is like a father-like and leading figure and has serious concerns regarding his actions and reasons for doing so and another who has a mental disability and constantly reflects on his actions.

Straight to the point, yes both authors do have characters who reflect on themselves and first up is the anti-hero Macbeth. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a bold, courageous and defiant hero who has undying loyalty. In reality Macbeth is highly reflective of himself and can go into deep thought where he doubts what he thinks is possible, as seen when The Witches address Macbeth as "Glamis, Cawdor, and King of the Scots". Macbeth is startled by what he sees clearly as a prophecy that he will be Scotland's next king. He is too astounded to speak and Banquo asks the Witches if there is any more to their presentiment ("All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!, All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!, All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"." Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair? "

(1.3.47-53).

Now for the second point on Macbeth's reflective nature, Macbeth's noble conscience conflicts with his temptations and desires. This can be seen when his manipulative wife tells him to kill king Duncan so that they could come to power b...

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...e he was keeping as a pet and George tells him to stay away from animals, because he believes that they suffer an unnecessary death and he can't stand the sight of Lennie moping over their deaths.

George can also be seen reflecting on himself when he remembers the day he first took Lennie under his wing and he didn't realise that looking after him would be so hard. He can be seen in the finale of the book, reflecting on whether killing Lennie and saving from the mob about to lynch him is a good idea or not. After killing his best friend he takes a deep breath and allows the full impact of his action hit him. He is then consoled by a sympathetic Slim (worker at the ranch) who tells him it was for the best and would he have rather let the mob brutally kill him. Here Steinbeck conjures an image of a person going through extreme emotional pain and reflecting on himself.