Macbeth, English 11
Macbeth The Play
Monday 16 December 2013
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:
Thursday 28 November 2013
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 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.
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