In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, there are several author's "observations" from the human's nature. This observations are expressed continuously during all the play, but I will concentrate mainly in two of them.
The first one is presented all along the play between the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the corrupting power of human's ambition. The ambition of Macbeth starts when he receives the prophecy from the Three Witches. Even though Banquo warns Macbeth of the Witches' forecast being a probable fallacy, he reuses to leave unnoticed the auspice of him being a king. However, when Macbeth starts to hesitate about killing the king, his wife, Lady Macbeth puts pressure on him psychologically and almost forces him to do it. This relies on to the next "observation" from Shakespeare.
In the play, there are constant issues of gender. Most of them, lean on Lady Macbeth, constantly manipulating Macbeth to prodding him to make murders while questioning his manhood. Even though of Lady Macbeth's dictatorial attitude, she does not contradict Macbeth when he says that women like her should only give birth to boys. This actions demonstrate that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth equates manhood with aggression. Shakespeare constantly implies in this whole play that women are sources of violence and evil. Finally, when Macduff learns from the murders of his son and wife, Malcolm tries to comfort him telling him that he should take the news in a "manly" fashion, by looking forward to have his revenge on Macbeth.
The author explains this topics as something part of human nature, something genetically incrusted to every human being. Personally, I see the two topics –described in this reflection– as critics to the human being, the first one as the never ending thirst of humans to obtain more power, and the second one of its conservatism. I completely agree to the way Shakespeare thinks of the human nature and also by the way he describes them.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Weekly Reflection #1 - Themes in Macbeth
We have just started a new semester a week ago with a new goal, which is read one of the most powerful and emotionally intense play ever written, William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
In this week's assignment we were asked to discuss and explain some of the themes described in this play, followed by the things we have liked and disliked of the play so far.
In Macbeth there are several themes to be found. One of them, and the one which I am mostly feeling attracted to is Macbeth's ambition. From my perspective, Shakespeare criticizes manhood's never-ending ambition for glory and power, which is reflected in the way Macbeth ignores Banquo an the fact that the witches could have laid a trap on him. Instead, Macbeth instantly starts thinking and planning how would he become king, if he would have to perform a "dark" action in order to becoming king and even also, start considering Malcolm as an obstacle between him and his goal. It is also important to emphasize the role of Lady Macbeth behind this ambition.
Another theme is Lady Macbeth's manipulative actions toward Macbeth. It is obvious that Macbeth is ambitious, but he becomes more ambitious as he is continuously pressured by his wife. Lady Macbeth in order to obtain her goal, seize the crown and become glorious, manipulates his husband by constantly calling him a coward, attacking his manhood. Macbeth does not show any signs of pride, which could may be a cause of him doing what his wife wants him to, but it is clear that this actions do affect the way he thinks and acts.
What I personally like about the play is the setting quite dark and cruel, since it gives the play a completely different perspective with a much more dramatic and realistic tone. What I don't like about the play is the slowness with which events occur in the story, even though, I look forward to reading more of this interesting play.
In this week's assignment we were asked to discuss and explain some of the themes described in this play, followed by the things we have liked and disliked of the play so far.
In Macbeth there are several themes to be found. One of them, and the one which I am mostly feeling attracted to is Macbeth's ambition. From my perspective, Shakespeare criticizes manhood's never-ending ambition for glory and power, which is reflected in the way Macbeth ignores Banquo an the fact that the witches could have laid a trap on him. Instead, Macbeth instantly starts thinking and planning how would he become king, if he would have to perform a "dark" action in order to becoming king and even also, start considering Malcolm as an obstacle between him and his goal. It is also important to emphasize the role of Lady Macbeth behind this ambition.
Another theme is Lady Macbeth's manipulative actions toward Macbeth. It is obvious that Macbeth is ambitious, but he becomes more ambitious as he is continuously pressured by his wife. Lady Macbeth in order to obtain her goal, seize the crown and become glorious, manipulates his husband by constantly calling him a coward, attacking his manhood. Macbeth does not show any signs of pride, which could may be a cause of him doing what his wife wants him to, but it is clear that this actions do affect the way he thinks and acts.
What I personally like about the play is the setting quite dark and cruel, since it gives the play a completely different perspective with a much more dramatic and realistic tone. What I don't like about the play is the slowness with which events occur in the story, even though, I look forward to reading more of this interesting play.
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