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Comparing macbeth to othello
Analysis of Macbeth
Comparing macbeth to othello
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Macbeth and Othello
“Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding”
(Macbeth, III.i.62)
“Renew I could not like the moon” (Timon of Athens, IV.iii.68)
What distinguishes Macbeth and Othello from other tragedies is the fact that their protagonists are neither fathers nor sons, mothers nor daughters. We know nothing of Macbeth or Othello’s parents, and neither of them has children. Lady Macbeth makes a passing reference to having once “given suck” and to “how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks [her]” but never returns to the subject, and in any case, what remains impressed in one’s memory is the line that follows: “I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn” (I.vii.54). Clearly, she is not the maternal type. This is reiterated a few scenes later, with her invocation of the spirits to “unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse […] Come to my woman’s breasts And take my milk for gall (I.v.40-47).” The notion of cruelty forming inside her cannot but be likened to that of the baby that would grow there if she were not “unsexed,” as if cruelty were somehow taking the place of the foetus. There is a definite sense of this in the phrase “stopping up th’ access and passage”, as if what is being insisted upon were the prevention of either sex/conception (“access”) or childbirth (“passage”). It is as if she will bear fruit to or cultivate cruelty rather than a son or daughter—one has the distinct impression of a misused womb and...
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...o all the human sons do hate
From forth thy plenteous bosom, poor root. […]
Teem with new monsters […]
Dry up thy marrows” (IV.iii..178-192).
For this passage encapsulates everything I have discussed so far: the notion of giving birth to monsters and monstrous deeds instead of children, the idea of obstructing the possibility of a satisfying ending and denying that of continuation (“Dry up thy marrows” distinctly recalls “stopping up th’ access and passage”), of engendering death and wiping out everything but a transient present. There is the same bitter after-taste as in the other plays, as if we had partaken of the roots Timon is forced to live on, and that same exhaustion that comes from ranting and railing and coming to no satisfying conclusion. The bed is unmade, the sheets are tangled and dirty, our voices are hoarse, and we are none the better for it.
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.
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 ...
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
symbol is used in Act I, Scene III when Macbeth mentions Ross in line 108: “The
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...
account I think the witches did play a big part in the murder of king
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth it is believed that the universe and king were connected. Therefore, if the two were connected, when the king was killed the universe would respond with unnatural events. In this play, the unnatural events foreshadow evil. The unnatural occurrences in Macbeth predict the downfall of the kingdom and death of Macbeth; since the universe is connected with the king.
Lady Macbeth continues to be a frightening and vicious figure as she becomes full of evil thoughts. This is evident by the context in which she states that she would sacrifice the life of her own infant, if it were her wish or order to do so: "…Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn As you have done this…" [I.vii.57-59]. So enraged and overpowered by evil, that her purity and innocence (which is part of a woman) had all but depleted, and consequently she also lost her will to control herself and her sanity (sanity-later on in the deterioration of Lady Macbeth's character). She came to a point where evil pushed her to certain lengths such as committing the heinous act of regicide; killing her loyal and innocent king, king Duncan.
Lady Macbeth’s multiple references to motherhood in these distinctly unpleasant ways disclose her more brutal nature, effectively having her perceived as foul and therefore more aligned to antagonism in the play. Additionally, in his soliloquy in 3.1, Macbeth bemoans his childless state, his “fruitless crown and… barren scepter” (Shakespeare 3.1 60-61). Lady Macbeth wields power, or at least undermines the expectations of her femininity and her role in perpetuating patrilinearity, by not having children. In 1.5, in her famous invocation soliloquy, she distances herself from the female sex, saying, “Unsex me here” (Shakespeare 1.5 40). This demonstrates her rejection of the maternal demands of patrilinearity. Furthermore, the only one Macbeth fears is Banquo (Shakespeare 3.1 53-54), but it is only the “possession of an heir which elevates Banquo above Macbeth, ensuring that the patrilineal future of [Macbeth] this bloody and barren usurper is denied (Chamberlain 83).” Banquo’s son’s future success lies in the fact that Macbeth will not have children, the blame for which can be foisted on Lady Macbeth’s rejection of
“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
Lady Macbeth invokes evil spirits asking them to grant her extreme cruelty and to feel no remorse or pity for her victims. She asks the evil spirits to grant her these ills so she can take over Macbeth’s prophecy to prevent him from backing out, “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way.” (1.5 16-18). Lady Macbeth uses the word milk to personify Macbeth’s weak nurturing nature. She believes that Macbeth is full of ambition and desire, but she also believes he is too reserved to attack when given a golden opportunity. She does not want to wait and let the prophecy unfold rather she wants to take control of it. Whe...
“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.
The play Macbeth is set during the Renaissance Era in Scotland. During the Renaissance Era, women did not have a role is society; they were invisible in the eyes of men. Men managed the public life and went to work, while women were expected to stay at home and take care of household responsibilities. A perfect example of a Jacobean woman is Lady Macduff. Lady Macduff perfectly fits the stereotypical, maternal figure. For example, She has five children that she loves very much. Her love towards her children is shown when she calls her son, “poor monkey”(Macbeth, IV,II,64), which is a term of endearment. Unlike Lady Macduff, Lady Macbeth has no children or a kind heart. Lady Macbeth, to prove her power and strength says, “I would, while it (my child) was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed t...