For this post, please copy a short passage from the later acts of the play, and discuss what you think the passage means and why it is significant to the play as a whole. What complicated themes or ideas are being explored in the passage as well as in the whole play? Why are these themes or ideas important (in other words, "it's interesting, but so what?").
Finally, just add a few thoughts about your personal reactions to the play and your final thoughts about the play now that you have finished it.
This blog post is due by Monday, April 13th. Thank you, Mr. Telles.
¨I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
ReplyDeleteThe time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't. I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.¨ (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5, lines 11 - 17)
So, the whole point of the passage is honestly startling and maybe even a little frightening. We can obviously see, from the passage, that Macbeth is expressing that he cannot and does not feel fear, or direness, or remorse, or anguish, or dismay. ¨Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts/Cannot once start me,¨ Mabeth says. In his next string of dialogue, after Seyton reveals that Lady Macbeth is dead, he barely reacts. He likens life to a candle. Basically, ¨easy to light, easy to put out.¨ Macbeth feels as if it was only a matter of time. That's scary. He's lost his feelings of sadness and remorse, and he only has thoughts for anger and power. This entire concept is both scary and extremely interesting. Shakespeare writes in such a way, that you may not even notice how his characters actually change until something grand or drastic happens, such as Lady Macbeth's death at the end of the play. I mean, come on, his WIFE killed herself, and he brushes it off, saying ¨it was bound to happen at some point, no use crying over it.¨ This is the passage that most clearly reveals Macbeth true character and feelings, in my opinion. I don't usually like reading Shakespeare all that much, I just have a little more difficult time understanding what is actually happening and/or being said. The same goes for Macbeth. I do, however, enjoy the concepts and ideas that Shakespeare's works imply much more. The concepts in this play were really great and pave the way for some really deep and complex conversations, if you can find the right person to talk to. Long story short, I enjoyed the depth and underlying tones more than the actual play/plot itself.
“Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” Lady Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1, lines 30-34. These are some of the lines that Lady Macbeth speaks when she is sleepwalking. This is the night before the battle between Macbeth and Malcolm. These lines represent how Lady Macbeth was going insane, and she was already thinking about death, like when she says “Hell is murky”. Also, when she say that “what we need we fear” she is saying that she needs to die, and she shouldn’t be afraid of it. This idea of fearing what we need is a main part of the play because Macbeth was too afraid to admit that he had killed anyone, yet Lady Macbeth was unafraid to kill herself.
ReplyDeleteI really didn’t enjoy the play, because I don’t love the language. I had a really difficult time understand it.
In the play, Macbeth, a passage that’s very important to the whole play is when the three witches and Hecate conjure three apparitions for Macbeth. The first apparition says to Macbeth, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough.” This prophecy gives Macbeth a warning to beware of Macduff. The words of the second apparition confuse Macbeth as it says, “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” The witches and apparitions play with the word ‘born’. While the first apparition tells Macbeth to beware Macduff, the second tells him that no man of woman born can kill him. This only leads Macbeth to believe he is invincible and he ignores the first apparition. The third, and final, apparition appears to Macbeth and tell him, “Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never be vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.” Though the first and third apparition tell Macbeth who he should be aware of and how Macduff with come to him, but he is only focused on the words of the second apparition. This whole scene displays the idea of Macbeth’s pride. He is so focused on that he is invincible that he does not listen to the rest of the prophecy. Macbeth’s pride is what leads to his downfall.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have finished Macbeth, I like how Shakespeare seemed to leave it unfinished. Since it ended with Malcolm becoming king instead of Fleance, it leaves the reader to decide what happens after it ends. Overall, I liked the play even though it was difficult to understand at some parts due to the language.
A passage in the play, Macbeth that I liked was "Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two: why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, Fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who Knows it, when none can call our power accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" from Act 5, scene 1. I really like this quote. It brings you back to the beginning of the play when Lady Macbeth was wishing to be more manly so she could go through with the murder. In the beginning of the play I felt that Lady Macbeth was cold-hearted and would easily be able to commit murder. Though as the play went on she slowly got unraveled till she got to this point. This quote also foreshadows to her suicide. You could interpret the suicide in two ways. The death could have been because she wanted to stop being haunted by her conscious or it could have been because she wanted to punish herself for what she had done because she could not handle the grief any more. This quote relates to a big theme in the play, which was the difference between men and woman and what sex could do what.
ReplyDeleteOn another note I liked the play but it was not my favorite Shakespeare play There were many quotes I liked and I liked the themes that ran through the play but was a little boring. I felt like some of the scenes were to drawn out and would have been more powerful it a little less was said.
The scene I found most interesting in Macbeth was when the audience sees Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. She says, “Out, damned spot; out I say. One, two,-- why, then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who thought the old man to have so much blood in him?” This shows that Lady Macbeth is capable of feeling guilt over what she has done. This specific quote from Act 1, scene 5 shows that she knows what she has done to Duncan in order for her husband, Macbeth, to become king. She goes on to say, “The thane of Fife had a wife…” This shows that she felt guilty about killing Macduff’s wife and kids. The audience gets to see how Lady Macbeth is slowly (maybe quickly) going insane because of her actions. In the beginning of the play, I perceived Lady Macbeth as a heartless, soulless woman with no conscience. This was because of her plan to have her husband savagely murder Duncan so Macbeth could be crowned king. I thought she would do anything for power. But as I read this passage I was surprised to discover that she is, in fact, a person with feelings. Then, after we find out that she kills herself, I was even more surprised. I thought Shakespeare was going to build on her wickedness. But instead, he wrote her as insane with her emotions eating her alive. He plays more with this insanity theme as we see Macbeth discover his wife’s body. Macbeth sees her dead and is not grief-stricken. Instead, he says he’s going to avenge her by becoming the most powerful man ever.
ReplyDeleteI did not really enjoy Macbeth. Most of the time I did not understand what was going on, and the things that happened in it seemed kind of random to me. Everyone dies, and even though it is a tragedy I feel like it could have been written to make a little more sense. It also seems unfinished to me because we never find out where some characters are.
In act 5 scene 1 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and she says “Out, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two. Why then, ‘tis time to do ‘t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” This scene shows that Lady Macbeth is living the night of Duncan's murder over and over again. In the passage she thinks she hears the bell strike two, which was the signal for her husband to enter Duncan's chamber. It is significant because Lady Macbeth feels guilty about having let her husband kill Duncan. Guilt seems to be displayed quite often by Lady Macbeth until she finally can’t take it anymore and ends up committing suicide. Although the consequences of Macbeth’s actions may not have affected him, they caused his wife to quickly go insane. Over all I did not like the play very much. The language was hard to read making the play very confusing, you needed to decipher almost every line just to figure out what was going on.
ReplyDelete5.1.53-55
ReplyDelete“Lady Macbeth: Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!”
In this passage, Lady Macbeth is talking about the scent of blood that she is imagining still lingers on her hands. During this scene she was sleepwalking and talking in her sleep about things that clearly explain her guilt. She also mentions a spot of blood that she could not wash off. Throughout the play, Shakespeare equates blood with guilt which continually haunts both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In this particular scene, however, the audience watches as a sleepwalking Lady Macbeth frantically attempts to wash off the imaginary incriminating blood from her hands, of course to no avail. Perhaps shakespeare uses this part to suggest that guilt is lasting; no matter how well you scrub, you cannot simply wash guilt away. Throughout the play blood is matched with guilt, most likely because of the primitive ways of determining guilt which were in use at the time Macbeth was written: the person found with bloody on their hands must be the one who committed the crime. This ideology is supported when Lady Macbeth goes back to smear Duncan’s blood on his chamberlains in order to redirect the suspicion. Further, this gives us the sense that Lady Macbeth is insensitive to killing because she goes back to do the dirty work that Macbeth couldn’t finish. Later, however, we see that she is horribly shaken with guilt as she walks in her sleep every night and rambles nonsense about permanent bloodstains on her hand and their lasting scent. This way the audience’s opinion of Lady Macbeth shifts from a heartless and selfish queen to a person who is crushed with guilt. Alternatively, the audience’s perception of Macbeth shifts from a timid king to a senseless killer.
ReplyDelete“I have almost forgot the taste of fears. The time has been my senses would have cooled To hear a night-shriek, and fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir As life were in’t. I have supped full with horrors. Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, Cannot once start me” (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)
This is the part when Macbeth hears a woman scream and realizes that his wife is dead. This is a very significant point in the play because it brings Macbeth to a realization of everything that is going on. In the beginning he was reluctant to kill Duncan and take over. One thing leads to another and he keeps having men killed and doing whatever he can to become king. He is so wrapped up in this that he loses sight to the women who convinced him he should become king in the first place, Lady Macbeth. It is only when it is too late that it becomes apparent that Lady Macbeth was hurting and going through a hard time and ultimately needed Macbeth. Furthermore, the death of his wife makes him see how hard it is to lose someone you love. He had forgotten how horrible death is and the pain that it causes. As I mentioned previously this all becomes obvious to him when it is too late. This teaches a very important life lesson, that while it’s important to follow our dreams it’s just as important to not lose sight of other aspects of life such as morals.
(4.3. 219-221)
ReplyDeleteMALCOLM
Dispute it like a man.
MACDUFF
I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man:
In this passage, Malcolm is telling Macduff to take his violent revenge on Macbeth, who has caused the death of Macduff’s family, and characterizes this course of action as disputing it “like a man.” The theme of manliness and what it means to be a man shows up throughout the play. It’s interesting to me that this ideal of being masculine and all that is entailed when one is masculine (strength, aggression, perseverance) would show up in a discussion between the antagonists of the play, who are the ‘good guys’ after being used as the motivator for Macbeth to kill Duncan. This shows the readers that this theme of masculinity is a natural constant in society of the day. In contrast to Lady Macbeth’s idea of masculinity however, Macduff also says that he must “feel it as a man.” This also speaks to other themes within masculinity not previously explored, such as caring for one’s family and honor. Lady Macbeth even disputes this, although not directly, in act 1 scene 7 when she says she would dash the brains out of her own children if Macbeth asked her to. If the Macbeth’s are truly insane, then this shows best their skewed perspective of what it means to be a man.
Overall, I liked the play. While some in our class did not enjoy the play because they found the language difficult to decipher, I did not have this experience. I really enjoyed the language of the play, although I had to look at the notes on language a lot. I thought that the language used was very purposeful and contributed to the Shakespeare reading experience.
“She should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all of yesterday have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out , out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
ReplyDeleteIn this passage Macbeth has just learned of his wife’s death, and reflects on life. He says that “...tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time,” he means that no matter what happens in his life, or his sons life , or his great great great grandson’s life time will continue. The sun will continue to rise and set. He then compares life to a brief candle. Life will start suddenly, last a minute amount of time, and will end. He again is showing how pointless he feels that life is. The last line sums everything up very well. He says, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Life is full of experience which are both good and bad. This is what he means by sound and fury, but no matter what happens in the greater scheme of things, nothing has been accomplished. My interpretation of this speech is that he is trying to justify his actions. He says that nothing he did in his life matters, so it doesn’t matter that he killed Duncan and had Banquo and Macduff’s family killed. He is trying to prove to himself, in the wake of his wife’s death, that everything he did was justified in some way. The play for me was very enjoyable. I was able to understand the plot and, after some explanation, appreciate the language. Although it could be dry I enjoyed the majority of the play.