Throughout our journey in life, we all share this common desire to gain more control over our lives and decisions. What most people fail to understand is that just because you have physical control over your actions and decisions does not mean that you have mental control. Even if it feels like we have control over our lives, we need to be careful not to hand over that control to others and let them influence us easily. We should learn to discern and become self-aware of the positive and negative influences around us. While some people can recognize when something or someone is a bad influence, others do not have this ability. Author William Shakespeare, in the play Macbeth, reveals a few ways in which letting others control our decisions can …show more content…
Individuals who are controlled by bad influences tend to make bad decisions. These bad decisions tend to push the good and positive things and people in their lives away. This leaves the individual feeling isolated and like no good comes from their life. In the novel Macbeth, after Macbeth receives the prophecies, Banquo warns him about being careful when it comes to the words of the witches and their true intentions with his statement, "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's / In deepest consequence." 1.3.123-126. -. Still, Macbeth ignores this warning and lets this unchecked ambition grow within him. He goes down a path of murder and tyranny and even murders the very person who was looking out for him, Banquo. The second Macbeth murdered Duncan, the witches had successfully gained control of Macbeth, and their evil plan to push him toward his demise was already succeeding. With this control over Macbeth, they play him and manipulate his actions by giving him prophecies with hidden meanings. His words reflect his loss of meaning and isolation as he prepares to go into battle, which will be his last. "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And then is heard no more. It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing." 5.24-28 His words in this quote reveal his reflection on life. He speaks about how life is but a stage that people put on an act for, and there is no meaning to life. The shift in control to the witches was the wave that washed all the people who cared about Macbeth away, leaving him in despair and feeling isolated towards the end of Macbeth's
physician featured in Time’s Magazine stated, “Fear and greed are potent motivators. When both of these forces push in the same direction, virtually no human being can resist”. But I was not convinced with these statements. Hence, I started doing research to decipher
What Makes a Man a Monster Research Paper A monster is a person who creates harmful actions towards innocent people. Throughout literature, we see monsters in Macbeth, Hamlet, Frankenstein, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In these stories, some characters in the story become monsters by murdering and cause unintentional consequences without them knowing it. In the today’s world, the word “Monster” can have a list of different meanings. Monsters generally cause harm to innocent people and they
Self-Compassion and Motivation in Undergraduate Students A review of the empirical literature on the topics of self-compassion, motivation and undergraduate college students was conducted by examining articles in peer reviewed journal from the dates 2003 to 2015. The research on Self-Compassion began with two seminal articles published by Kristen Neff in 2003, thus creating a starting point for this review. The following databases were searched: ProQuest Central, Jstore, APApsychnet, ProQuest
discussed and debated. Hamlet’s generality, his vagueness, his supposed madness, his passion, his hesitation, and his contradictions have puzzled readers, scholars, and actors for centuries. In this paper I will attempt to dissect this beautiful enigma of a character to show that Hamlet is much more self-aware than many people give him credit for and that he recognizes that he is an actor in the theatre of life. He understands and accepts the role he is given, he studies it carefully and thoughtfully
school, friends, and family time. Addiction and dependency have been studied for more than 100 years, yet there remains “no single set of causal factors that enjoy a majority following among researchers and clinicians” (Butcher, 1988, p. 171). Recent research at colleges and universities has suggested that some college students’ academic performance might be impaired by heavier use of the Internet. The concept of addiction has been very broadly extended into so-called “excessive appetite disorders” such
journey into madness, and the events that take place around him that leads up to his death. Several approaches have been taken to analyze and deconstruct the carefully embedded details unfolding King Lear’s demise. Similarly, the focus of this research paper is to take a psychoanalytical approach to analyze King Lear’s decline into madness driven by his daughter’s rejection to be his caretakers. In doing so, I intend to discuss the existence of incestuous desires between Lear and his daughters in