Macbeth-Assignment #4-Blog
Designed & Written by:
Owen Yang Haowen
I would describe my overall experience in
reading Macbeth as…
The play, Macbeth, written by
William Shakespeare, is a thrilling, horrifying and a tragic drama. Macbeth is
a brave and noble leader in the battlefield. After he hears from the witches’
predictions, he is rapt but not fully trusting as I would probably be. Before
long, he is told he has been granted the title, Thane of Cawdor, by King
Duncan. As one of the predictions comes true, he becomes excited and writes to
Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to kill the king on the night that
Duncan visits their castle. Macbeth will ascend to the throne after murdering Duncan
and so his desire is increased. Ages later, he kills loyal Banquo as he worries
about another prediction that Banquo might be the root and father of many
kings. Macbeth also sends murderers to surprise Macduff’s castle, to kill his
wife, sons, and servants because Macduff fled to England. With those crimes on
their hands, Lady Macbeth becomes mad and admits the crimes while sleep-talking
before she finally commits suicide. Macbeth is a tyrannical leader and becomes much
hated. I realize that Macbeth has changed because of the prophecies. At this
time, Malcolm, the son of Duncan, and Macduff bring ten-thousand-solder armies
to get revenge on Macbeth. They finally win and seize back the sovereignty of
Scotland from Macbeth and Macbeth is killed. Justice overtakes evil and Macbeth’s
life has ended as he deserved. However, it didn’t have to end this way.
Destiny: How it played a role in this play!
Destiny plays an important role in this play. The story begins with several predictions which affect the destinies of the main
characters. For Macbeth, he hears three predictions at the beginning. The first
two are realized easily, but the third one, which is to become king, needs to
happen by murdering King Duncan. Then because Macbeth knows Banquo will be the father
of many kings he commits the murder of Banquo, while his son, Fleance, flies
away. After these crimes, another three prophecies are revealed. The first is
that Macbeth should not worry about Macduff, but Macbeth still thinks he needs
to kill him. The remaining two prophecies seem impossible, because Birnam wood can’t
move to Dunsinane and Macbeth can’t be killed by anyone born of woman. However, the
prophecies finally come true when Malcolm and Macduff come back for revenge and
Macbeth’s death follows. Throughout the play, all the predictions about fate
have become realistic and show that destiny is the thread of the play. All the
plots are developed around the thread of destiny. Without the prophecies and
predictions, Macbeth would not have done what he did and his life would have
been different.
Lady Macbeth versus Macbeth
In the play, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are
ambitious. Macbeth is happy and upright when he knows there is a possibility
for him to become the king, especially when the predictions become true. Of
course, he is ambitious, but he never thinks of murdering Duncan violently for
his goal. From my point of view, ambition is a good thing and it is normal for
people to have desires to become wealthy and powerful in their future. However,
it is incorrect and irrational to reach their dreams by harming others. In the
play, Lady Macbeth motivates the instinctive evil and vicious nature of Macbeth.
Trusting Lady Macbeth’s opinion, Macbeth changes from a brave noble into a
devil full of evil. He kills many people, a king, Banquo, a woman, her children
and servants who are not only innocent, but who also add nothing to his power,
Macbeth has become a tyrant, and Lady Macbeth realizes killing can’t bring them
contentment, but now she can’t prevent her husband from murdering. They become
different people. Lady Macbeth realizes she can’t atone for her crimes and
commits suicide. Macbeth continues the evil until he is killed by Macduff. Both
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are destroyed by their evil actions.
One setting in the play that made me uneasy…
On setting that made me uneasy was the scene when
Macbeth’s murderers surprise Macduff’s castle and Macduff’s wife and children
are killed. The son is so young and innocent that he doesn’t even know what a
traitor is. But he is a smart boy. When, the murderers enter the castle and he
knows they will be killed. The boy is so impressive that even at this moment,
he still thinks about his mother and tells her to run. He says, “He has kill’d
me, mother: Run away, I pray you!”. This is a very serious, frightening and
horrible scenario and I feel upset, each time when the scene comes into my
mind.
Changes I would make to the play would be…
I would like to change the ending of Lady
Macbeth if I could. It is hard to believe that Lady Macbeth becomes mad at the
end of the play. She is cruel and callous when she asks Macbeth to kill Duncan,
but for a determined woman like Lady Macbeth, I don’t believe it is logical she
will become mad. I would be happy to that she tries to prevent Macbeth from
killing Banquo and then I wouldn’t have her go mad. On the contrary, in order
to atone for her previous crime, she would try her best to stop Macbeth's
tyrannical governing of Scotland. On the day when Macduff and Malcolm lead
their troops in, she would stand before Macbeth, try to be forgiven and excused
from execution by Malcolm and Macduff. Macbeth could not be excused for his
numerous crimes but Lady Macbeth would be exiled out of Scotland and lives the
rest of her live in confinement.
Thanks for reading!!!
References: (Resources for Pictures)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/ccb7a0542011bb38214196980e1d2acde658330e.gif
https://vinhanley.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/macbeth-and-lady-macbeth-dee-timm.jpg
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