Macbeth The Play

Macbeth The Play

Wednesday 4 December 2013

The Third Riddle:



     The third riddle that the witches had given to Macbeth was that he would not be defeated until the woods of Birnam moved towards his kingdom, Dunsinane. Macbeth, taking this riddle literally, assumed that it meant that the woods would have to come alive and move towards his castle. In the drawing, I drew the trees chasing Macbeth to show what a ridiculous image it would be if it were literal. I understand how Macbeth thought he would never be defeated, since trees can not move. What really happened in the play was that Macduff and Malcolm's army decided to camouflage themselves with branches. When Macbeth looked out from his castle he saw what looked like a forest marching towards his kingdom. He began to get worried because the riddles were falling apart  This quote was also really confusing, I wondered if Shakespeare would add a super-natural element to the play to make the trees come alive. I loved the twists in the riddles that the witched has laid out for Macbeth.




The Second Riddle:


              In the second riddle the witches explain to Macbeth that no child born of a woman can harm him. Macbeth interprets this to mean that no one can harm or kill him; because, as far as he knows, all humans are born from a woman (as opposed to a man or creature). This makes him think that he is invincible. What the riddle actually meant was that no child that is born "naturally" can harm him. The catch in the riddle was that Macduff was not born naturally, but was born by cea-section. Macduff was able to beat Macbeth for that reason. This quote is really confusing, you get so many different ideas of what it could really mean. The fact that Macduff was born cea-section was a surprising twist that made the riddle make complete sense. If Macbeth didn't take the riddle so literally, I wonder if he would have understood from the beginning. 

The First Riddle:





        The first riddle warns Macbeth about how he needs to beware Macduff, the Thane of Fife. In this image I imagined that Macbeth, upon hearing the riddle, would immediately think that he needs to destroy Macduff's family and Macduff himself. This picture shows Macbeth envisioning Macduff's home in Fife and is the moment when he gets the idea that he needs to kill Macduff's family to scare him. Macduff is a threat to Macbeth because Macduff is planning to overthrow Macbeth, with the help of Malcolm, the rightful heir to the throne. The riddle was difficult but after reading it over a couple times, I was able to understand what it is explaining. I don't think that Macbeth's plan to destroy Mcduff's family is a good one. It would only make Mcduff want to take him down even more than he already does.

























































Tuesday 26 November 2013

                              The Lady Macbeth


              The character I have picked to write about from the play is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is absolutely insane, she isn’t afraid of anything or anyone. You can tell that she doesn’t let anyone get in the way of what she wants/needs. I like this character because she’s a little on the crazy side. I don’t think her character really teaches anything but she represents greed and ambition. I picked her because of the things she does such as: deciding that she will be the one to kill Duncan and how she calls on evil to give her strength. She makes me laugh a little because of how creepy she can get. I feel the role that Lady Macbeth plays is a big part in the play. Without her, Macbeth would have never killed Duncan and the play would have gone nowhere. She plays a big role in influencing Macbeth.

As Macbeth becomes the king, I think that Lady Macbeth will do anything to keep him in that position. She may even go as far as to influence him to do more terrible things that could cause them to get into serious trouble. I think Lady Macbeth will soon feel remorse about what she has done and convinced her husband to do. When I was watching part of act 2, when the blood touched her hands, her emotions changed a lot. It is almost as if her eyes opened to what she had done and had noticed that it was the wrong thing. I feel like Lady Macbeth will have a harder time coping with the murder of Duncan than Macbeth because it was she who planned how Duncan should be killed. I think someone will find out that Lady Macbeth planned this, I also think things will not work out for her and Macbeth in the end. I really like this interpretation of Scene 5 in the First Act where lady Macbeth reads the letter from Macbeth about the witch’s prediction.


   

                              Fate, Destiny and Influence       


         I think the role that the witches have in this play is the ability to see the future and to change the characters fate and destiny. So far, the witch’s predictions have come true. I feel as if everything that they say have had will be correct, unless the characters do something drastically different; such as taking destiny into their own hands. I feel like the witches have a lot of influence on the actions that the characters take. Just by suggesting to Macbeth that he will be king they placed the idea in his head, when it may have never been there before. From that point he starts to get thoughts on how that has to happen, and considers killing the current king, Duncan. In this case he is influenced by the witch’s predictions.
    I don’t believe; however, that destiny is predetermined. I believe that you can choose different paths in life, and that your attitude towards something can change the outcome of any situation drastically. You can always change what your future looks like. In this play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are making the choice to kill Duncan because they believe that it is the only way Macbeth can become king. Macbeth believes that his future is predetermined but in reality it is his own decision and interpretation of the prophecy to consider killing Duncan. I think that our environment and our own perspectives can influence our futures and destiny. If there are always negative things around us, then most likely the end result will be bad. On the other hand if there are positive things around us than there is a good chance that the end result will be positive.

   It will be interesting to see how the rest of this script plays out, when in theatre class we never ended up finishing the play so I’m anxious to see what happens.