Author / Christopher Waugh

by Christopher Waugh

NCEA Formal writing 1.5, Literary Essay: Macbeth

In the famous Shakespeare play Macbeth , the lead character Macbeth starts of as a noble and heroic figure. But as the play progresses Macbeth falls into the trap of becoming hungry for more power and his mind falls with it. He becomes like an eagle constantly watching above for prey to extend his monumental power, but also on the lookout for predators that threaten his place up in the sky. As Macbeth continues to be consumed by this role as an eagle for his every lasting power, his mind begins to spiral out of control. We will also get an insight of Shakespeare’s ideas that absolute power, will absolutely corrupt. Shakespeare shows the deterioration of Macbeth’s mind through many theta and language techniques until his final breath.

Throughout the play Macbeth Shakespeare shows the destruction and deterioration of Macbeth’s mind by using many theta techniques throughout the play. One technique used is hallucination. When he does this he creates tension and would really make the audience think ,is Macbeth even fit for this place . A prime example of this is in Act 3 scene 4 when Macbeth is hosting a banquet to celebrate him coming to the position of king but in the middle of it he sees the ghost of Banquo and you see Macbeth freak out. “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee.Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold.Thou hast no speculation in those eyes“.  This use of hallucination gives many effects. Shakespeare illustrates that Macbeth can see the ghost of Banquo by allowing Macbeth to use very direct actions such as pointing towards the ghost, but the rest of the characters on stage can not and this is done by the characters not seeming to notice the ghost in the chair. This makes Macbeth’s look like he is seeing something which simply isn’t there and betrays Macbeth mental state as unstable as he can see things which aren’t really there and in the process also gives hints away that he killed Banquo. This obviously further proves his mind is deteriorating as anybody in their sane mind wouldn’t tell or give away information that could to lead to their death, and in Macbeth’s case it would only take one person to fit the pieces together and he would be caught. He continues to use language to show his thoughts.

As Macbeth continues to do whatever it takes to obtain or endure his position of king, the more he begins to fear over smaller and smaller things. Shakespeare shows this through soliloquies .“Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleepIn the affliction of these  dreams That shake us nightly.”.  This tells us that no matter what Macbeth does ,whether its eating or sleeping, he is in constant fear that Fleance is still alive and is aware that the Witches prophecies say he is next in line to the throne. Macbeth expresses his fears”Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy” that knowing Fleance is going to become king leads Macbeth questioning what he should do next and that his fear is torturing him. “Better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace,”. Macbeth is saying here that it would be better dead because at least you have peace.

“But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,”. Macbeth here is referring to that the something has disturbed universe and is causing both the earth and heaven to suffer. What Macbeth is implying here is that his universe , or his own world and thoughts, has been disturbed by some entity. This disturbance is Fleance because Macbeth knows ,because of the Witches, that Fleance will become king sometime after him. This can only happen if Macbeth loses his position of king, meaning he will have to be killed. This is putting Macbeth under a tremendous amount of fear .This proven when Macbeth personifying that both earth and heaven is suffering. Back when the play was written ,the christian beliefs that there are two main worlds, the earth and heaven. So when Macbeth personifies  hat both earth and heaven is suffering he is saying that every part of him is suffering. This is further proving Macbeth’s Mind is deteriorating as he is worrying about future, which the Witches keep saying is out of his control.

Macbeth throughout the play always seems to think he is the one in charge in what the future will be for him.  However Macbeth is actually no more than a puppet being pulled by strings. The unearthly witches use foreshadowing to manipulate Macbeth. “Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! -All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane Cawdor!-All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter“.   Macbeth is being told that he is thane of Glamis,which is true, but also that he is thane of cawdor and will be king, which he thinks is unimaginable  at the time. Soon after he is named Thane of Cawdor and at first he surrenders himself to fate and let it decide whether he will become king or not”If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir.” This is a nice reference to fate and almost like the play where a character allows a higher power take control of their life. One like in ”Romeo and Juliet”  when Romeo surrenders himself to a greater power .”…He that hath steerage of my course,direct my sail”.However as time passes the thought of being king grows on him and eventually consumes him. This foreshadowing that the witches gave him, leads him to do unspeakable things to get on the throne, even killing his best friend. If the witches never came to him and gave this foreshadowing, Macbeth never would have seriously thought being king was achievable or what he even wanted. If he never wanted to be king then he never would have pursued it and the events that unfolded in the play may of never happened. This never would have led to the deterioration of Macbeth’s mind. So the Macbeth was nothing but a puppet and the witches are performing the show.

 As the play Macbeth draws to a close Macbeth’s state of mind continues to decline and as time passes it is shown in many ways, even the way which he speaks. Macbeth is a very high status character and every high status character in Shakespeare’s play speaks in perfect iambic pentameter to show this status. However in the speech after he hears the news that Lady Macbeth has died, Macbeth expresses his thoughts and many of his lines do not use iambic pentameter. His first line,”Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” has 11 syllables and his third line “To the last syllable of recorded time,” also has 11 syllables. This inconsistency of Iambic pentameter continues throughout Macbeth’s speech. Lady Macbeth’s death has pushed Macbeth mind over the edge and is now to far gone. This is shown vividly for the fact that he can not even use iambic pentameter properly, which as king he has used so often.

All of these features, and there are many more, show us the true destruction of Macbeth’s mind. We also see that the more Macbeth grasped for power the more his mind fell. Although this play was written hundreds of years ago it still has the underlying message that power corrupts. During the play Macbeth did many terrible things. But at the end of the day,Macbeth was the to pay.

 

 

by Christopher Waugh

Essay Assessment

 

Romeo and Juliet.

Essay Complete

“Two star-crossed lover’s take their lives”. This is the iconic line from the famous play of “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare. In the play Shakespeare shows that fate is no more unusual than the sun rising from the east, and setting in the west. Throughout the story the theme of fate is rich and is shown through out. From the things that may seem small like two people meeting, but turn into a situation which would seemed impossible a few scenes back which really decide Romeo’s and Juliet’s future. Let the journey begin.

In the play “Romeo and Juliet” many of the main characters say many lines that relate to God and his power in all of their lives and in this case Shakespeare chooses metaphors to show this. One of these examples is when Romeo goes to the Capulet’s party. Romeo however holds the name of a Montague which is arch enemy of the Capulet’s. He is now unsure whether he should attend the party and says “…He that hath steerage of my course,direct my sail”. This is a very good use of metaphor because Romeo is referring him self as a ship and is letting the captain to have full control over his choice his course. In other words the captain will decide what will happen to him. The captain is referred “He” with the capital letter meaning that the captain is God. We can justify this because this is only done when we refer to God. Romeo is now prepared to embrace Gods choices for what is best for him. Also Romeo may feel that if God didn’t want him to go to the party God would do something to stop him. This is fate because he is allowing something that doesn’t physically exist have power and control over his life.

Fate in the play is used by many different types of language techniques and one of the most obvious is metaphors. As the play goes on Romeo’s life is turning to the worst and he makes two statements that expresses that he regrets letting God have control over what happens in his life.  “Thou desperate pilot, at once on the dashing rocks, thy seasick weary bark”. Romeo is now referring that a ship has crashed on the rocks. Because he is the ship ,he means that the he has crashed on the rocks. In other terms his life has gone for the worst and is leading to his doom. “Thy seasick weary bark” This could also mean that “seasick” is referring that he is sick of the sea. Because Romeo is the boat and God is his captain this could mean that the captain has led the boat into unsettled waters and he wants the captain to walk the plank. In other words he is sick of the things God is doing to him and he wants to take control back over his life. Second statement is “I defy you stars” .Romeo says this after he hears some news that Juliet is dead (which she obviously isn’t). The stars  are anther reference to God. So when he says I defy you stars he is saying that I rebel against you God which is most likely because he is hating the decisions God is making for him. Shakespeare shows fate through metaphors and other language techniques by showing that Romeo is unhappy with the things that God is deciding on what happens in his life and now wants control back.

Shakespeare also shows fate being used directly in speech also known as dialogue. “i would the  fool were married to her grave”. This shows strong anger within someone at the heat of the moment because most people wouldn’t go cursing other  people to die. This quote is said by Lady Capulet when she is angry that Juliet Rejects the offer to marry Paris.This is dialogue  because it is a direct reference to death.This proves fate because it is a direct reference to death. This can be labeled a coincidence because Juliet  does eventually kill herself while already married. The whole play is building to the fact on how could two love birds come to state that they would want to kill themselves.This is mostly constructed through the weird events that the characters encounter.

There are many times within the play that Shakespeare shows fate by the events charters face and many of them are through coincidences. One of these coincidences is used right at the beginning of the play while the Capulet’s are organizing a party and Head Capulet gives his servant a guest list with all the people invited. But the servant can not read so he finds someone who can. And out of complete luck he runs into Romeo who reads the letter to the servant.As a reward the servant then invites Romeo to the party as long as he’s not a Montague. Romeo only wishes to go to the party because Rosaline his crush, is going. But only at the party does he meet Juliet. “Now I’ll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich Capulet, and if you be not of the house of Montague’s, I pray come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry”! This is a great example of coincidences because if the servant never asked Romeo to read the letter to him, Romeo never would have been invited to the party and in turn never meet Juliet there. Also it is very lucky that the servant didn’t know that Romeo was a Montague because if the servant did recognize him then he would have never invited Romeo to the party. This is a strong example of fate because if the servant never asked Romeo to read the letter he never would have gone to the party or meet Juliet and this is all by chance.

As Shakespeare illustrates us the play “Romeo and Juliet” you may notice that a whole lot of things happen out of complete luck or coincidence. Shakespeare does this through out the play but perhaps the one with the greatest effect which really determines what happens to Romeo and Juliet is when Frair Lawrence(Romeo’s friend and Priest) constructs a letter to Romeo explaining a plan which says Juliet is alive. It is with bad luck that the letter never reaches Romeo because there was a plague in a local town.This ultimately stopped  Friar john(Mail man) from delivering the vital letter.”Here in this city visiting the sick,And finding him, the searchers of the town,Suspecting that we both were in a house.Where the infectious pestilence did reign,Sealed up the doors and would not let us forth”.  This is again a coincidence because the chance that there was a Plague in Mantua right when Friar John was delivering the letter to Romeo would have been low.But Friar John also says that the searches of the town quarantined him by mistake. The chances of this happening would be astronomically small. This would strengthen the idea that the whole plague scenario was a coincidence. This would be known as fate because it would seem that a power like God deliberately did this so Rome and Juliet would kill themselves but Shakespeare also uses things even as silly as dreams to show fate.

Shakespeare shows fate in many aspects of the play like plot events or even dreams known as Premonition. One of these examples is when Romeo and Juliet are saying their goodbyes to each other. As Romeo leaves Juliet has a strange vision.“O God, I have an ill-divining soul.Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale”.In this vision Juliet sees someone dead at the bottom of a tomb.  When Juliet says “I see thee” She is meaning Romeo. This can be proved because Romeo was the only one in the room at the time and she is looking at him because Romeo is talking to her. This is premonition because Juliet is having a seeing something that has not happened yet. At the end of the play this does happen and Juliet’s does see Romeo dead at the bottom of the Capulet tomb.Also when she says “I have an ill-divining soul” she is saying that she thinks she may have an evil soul that is predicting the future.  Near the end of the play Romeo has a near identical vision to the one Juliet had.“I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think—”. Romeo dreamt that he was dead and Juliet was there. The chances of two people having almost identical visions is ironic and could also be called a coincidence. This would be known as fate because it would seem that a power like God deliberately showed them so Romeo and Juliet would kill themselves.

A very interesting point in the play “Romeo and Juliet” is that the whole play could be considered a Paradox.  At the end of the play Romeo and Juliet kill them self by suicide. But in many religions including Christianity it is forbidden for you to take your own life because God has given you the gift of life.” Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary,Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die”.So the question is why would God want Romeo and Juliet to kill them selves. This is a Paradox because at first it would prove that free will existed which is not the message Shakespeare was trying to get across.But if Shakespeare is trying to show fate then it would make no sense for God to go all means necessary to let the two fall in love with one in other and kill them selves. For example the plague that stopped Friar John getting the letter to Romeo. But the twist or paradox here is it would have been in Gods best interest to make the two kill themselves because in the end it stopped the family feud. If it was not stopped it could have caused more and perhaps more devastating destruction. This is a very strong example of fate because it clearly shows that Shakespeare believed that God has near total authority of our lives and that we do not have free will.

 Many times in the play Shakespeare links fate to paradox. One example of this is when Juliet says “My only love sprung from my only hate!”. This is suggesting that she loves Romeo but hates him at the same time. This is a paradox because normally it would seem totally Impossible for someone to both have feelings of love for someone but hate them at the same time. But in this case it is possible because Juliet does love Romeo but her family ,The Capulets and Romeos family, Montague are arch enemy’s.

 Now that are journey is over we can see the true importance of fate within the play. Also how Shakespeare intended for us to belive God being a higher power would do what is necessary for the overall greater good. whether this is true in our world we may never know. But for me as the reader and for some of you reading, we can see that most of the characters in the play reflect their beliefs to fate in some form.”For never was a story of more woe than  this of Juliet and her Romeo”.

 

Essay guidance :http://henryashoweld.student.edutronic.net/2015/12/17/english-lit-controlled-assessment/

By:Oliver.c

by Christopher Waugh

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