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Other Topics => Entertainment - Movies / TV / Books => Topic started by: Holly on February 01, 2004, 11:01:29 am
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I have to write a report on this play by Shakespeare. "Who is responsible for Macbeths downfall?" I know it's Macbeth, but I need help lol.
*hates Shakespeare*
Anyone good with this play?
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I studied it not long ago...
I'd say his wife - coz she's the one that provoked him/led him into trouble etc...*shrug*
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The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition - The main theme of Macbeth—the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one's quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
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What about the witches for telling him about what was going to happen.
manda
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Oh god Holls! I feel bad for ya... I read that in 10th grade, I don't even wanna think about it lol. Shakespeare makes me wanna puke.. except Romeo & Juliet. :? No offense, I mean I know hes a great writer but.... I personally dont prefer to read his works haha
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ugh i feel your pain Holly. I've never read it before, but I'm sure if you look on Sparknotes.com there will be some info that can help you.
I like more of his comedies. The historical and dramatical peices like Hamlet and Macbeth and such are not my favs, but i looooove "A Mid Summer Nights Dream." it's one of the easiest plays i've ever read :-P
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Yeah, i'd say Lady Macbeth plays a pretty big role in his demise but the key corrupting force in this is power- which is evident. I did this in year 7 (6 years ago!) so i can't remember much.
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ooo... yeah Lady Macbeth does seem like a better answer! thanks!
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I liked Romeo and Juliet...it was sad...I almost cried in class... :cry:
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*is happy*
i'm done with the essay! yay!
now to conquer physics....
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ahhhhhhh The Scottish Play, remember not to say [wisper]MacBeth[/wisper] in the theatre very bad luck :wink:
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*is happy*
i'm done with the essay! yay!
now to conquer physics....
Haha, good luck! :razz:
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Hmmmm.... Lady MacBeth is an easy answer, but I think it is technically wrong... You probabaly should have gone with the witches and/or MacBeth's own hubris (which doesn't just refer to actual arrogance in a tragedy, it refers to any tragic flaw). It depends on where you define his downfall. Typically, tragedies follow a pyramid shape with the rising action ending in act 3 with the turning point or apex. I wouldn't say MacBeth's downfall began with the murder of the king (inspired by his wife). I'd say it began with his hubris towards act 3.
There were ways he could have killed the king and taken over and been happy had his own arrgance and confidence (largely caused by the witches who intentionally led him astray) not put him in a vulnerable position. His fatal flaw was when he decided that killing the king wasn't enough... he also needed to kill all his enemies and their families.
I immagine your teach will make the same argument against you. Because the classic layout for a tragedy cannot have the turning point in the first and second acts. But I think your answer, if well defended, will still show an understanding of the work atleast at the HS level and should be fine.
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As you Like it - is sooooooooooooooooooo good!!! you must read it! or see a stage version
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actually when i think about it i like most of the comedy's better
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lol Man yeh I did macbeth too for my SATs in year 9, now we just answer questions on poems which I can't do!!!
xoxox
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lol Man yeh I did macbeth too for my SATs in year 9, now we just answer questions on poems which I can't do!!!
xoxox
Ahh the good ol' anthologies. You just read much much more into every line (i.e bullshit) and you get marks. Btw, how did ur science coursework do? lol
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Ahh the good ol' anthologies. You just read much much more into every line (i.e bullshit) and you get marks. Btw, how did ur science coursework do? lol
Reading into poetry is not bullshit. It is an exercise in creativity and immagination.
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Yeah, i'd say Lady Macbeth plays a pretty big role in his demise but the key corrupting force in this is power- which is evident. I did this in year 7 (6 years ago!) so i can't remember much.
woa, hold the phone. You studied Shakespere when you were 10!! 8O
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Yeah, i'd say Lady Macbeth plays a pretty big role in his demise but the key corrupting force in this is power- which is evident. I did this in year 7 (6 years ago!) so i can't remember much.
woa, hold the phone. You studied Shakespere when you were 10!! 8O
Ermmm i think i was just 11.
And Andrew-you haven't seen these poems, and you haven't seen the intepretations we are supposed to give. You are in no position to comment. I never implied reading into all poetry is bullshit, i implied reading what they expect you to into these poems is.
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Yeah, i'd say Lady Macbeth plays a pretty big role in his demise but the key corrupting force in this is power- which is evident. I did this in year 7 (6 years ago!) so i can't remember much.
woa, hold the phone. You studied Shakespere when you were 10!! 8O
Ermmm i think i was just 11.
wow, well, the reason i'm all 0_o is because I didn't start reading it until I was about 13. I guess it's just curriculum differences
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Yeah, i'd say Lady Macbeth plays a pretty big role in his demise but the key corrupting force in this is power- which is evident. I did this in year 7 (6 years ago!) so i can't remember much.
woa, hold the phone. You studied Shakespere when you were 10!! 8O
Ermmm i think i was just 11.
wow, well, the reason i'm all 0_o is because I didn't start reading it until I was about 13. I guess it's just curriculum differences
Yeah, i think you have to read some from Year 6 here and you have to do it every year till Year 11 as far as i can remember. Year 6 is about 9/10 years old.
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haha.. I know this is old. I should of been here a while ago. I do agree with mr. smart. guy. Andrew :roll: . But, ya.. I played Macbeth just like a couple of days ago for the teachers of our school. We did it as extra credit.
We got asked this same questions before we started doing rehearsal. I didn't answer, but the girl that did made the statement that she felt He was simply like any person who gets power and cannot control it.
but, I do think that Lady Macbeth really had not too much to do with it. The witches put it there that Macbeth would be king, they said it.. and so therefore it was almost as if Macbeth and his wife both wanted so bad for it to be. Kind of when the witches said that The forest would move before macbeth was killed. A play on words, or something. Then the men dressed as trees and moved in.
When they said :you will be king: Greed stepped in and took over. They wanted it then and there. I personally think anyone who could write a play like that, is amazing. Go go go william.
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Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd;
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain;
And with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
Ran into this quote in a book on Schitzophrenia today; its so true of anguish
a diseased mind causes both the afflicted - as well as those closest to them
Peace
Aaron