" (I.v.64-66). She even summons the spirits to free her from the weakness of femininity "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" (I.v.41-42) because she associates cruelty and lack of remorse with manhood. In many cases, politics is about what takes place behind the cameras in the sense that rivalry, treason and the corruptive influence of ambition are never expressed in an open manner, but kept hidden and set free only when the lights go out. From this point-of-view, Lady Macbeth could represent the instigator, the morally flawed individual who pushes towards wrongdoing even though she does not get her hands dirty.
Another important factor which could account for the appeal of the play is the fact that it clearly traces the line between good and evil (Nostbakken, 1997, p. 25) even though language and dialogue suggest the exact opposite. In this sense, equivocation is a very important theme in "Macbeth." Equivocation could be defined as a manner of "answering ambiguously through hairsplitting logic and mental reservations so that the truth remains unclear" (Coursen, 1997, p. 56). Although equivocation is not lying, it is still considered deception, and such deception was linked to the Catholics and Jesuits. This is a direct historical reference aimed at the missionaries that the Catholic Church had sent to England during Elizabeth I's reign (Idem). Equivocation has always been applicable to the political realm, with politicians using demagoguery and dishonesty in order to hide their real interests and intentions.
Understanding...
Macbeth In Act I Scene 2 of the tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare -- after giving a brutally graphic description of how Macbeth "unseam'd…from the nave to the chaps" an enemy soldier -- makes his hero's name rhyme with the word "death" at the scene's conclusion (64-5). Of course the technique of the play is to combine psychological realism with densely-written poetic language. Yet I hope that an examination of the play's
It is the same in the Bible with the tragedy of King Saul, the first King of Israel. He has turned his back on God, but continues to seek advice before battling against the Philistines. For help, he sees a medium, or witch, and asks her to summon the spirit of the recently deceased prophet-priest Samuel, who used to help Saul he was serving God. In the same way
Macbeth had resisted temptation, befriended Duncan, and (for good measure) divorced his wife. Wouldn't he be the King of Scotland, in due course? Why didn't the Bard create a model of patient merit, instead of a form of vaulting ambition? Why not make Macbeth a hero, instead of a loathsome villain? In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the playwright tells of a man whose ambition, not to mention the prodding of his
Shakespeare used Music in his Works William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, is recognized all over the world as the greatest dramatist of all times. His plays have been performed more times than those of any other dramatist and have been translated in almost every major language. (Kastan) While many aspects of Shakespeare's plays have been discussed and analyzed, it is perhaps not so widely known that music has
Macbeth REVISED Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth is, in some ways, the story of a disaster that everyone can see coming. After all, it opens with characters -- the Three Witches -- who can see the future. When Macbeth encounters them, the witches offer what Shakespeare terms "strange intelligence" or "prophetic greeting" -- predicting that he will attain the titles of Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland (I.iii).
Their inability to come to terms with the facts of their success and the actions they were required to take to achieve it becomes, in many ways, the focus of the film, and becomes the true heart of the story Polanski is trying to tell in this film. Character Changes The violence and psychological crumbling it causes is not only accentuated in Polanski's Macbeth by these added scenes, but also in
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