Hi everyone:
Please use the comment section below to reflect on Shakespeare's Macbeth:
what did the story leave you with and what do you think is most
essential to understand about the story? Use one of the quotations /
motifs that you have tracked to support your ideas. Can you choose a
quotation (with an embedded motif) that gets to the heart of the play?
Explain its importance.
Comments are due on Tuesday April 15th. Thanks, Mr. Telles.
Macbeth was a great experience. The fact that it was written by William Shakespeare is already a great beginning to its incredible controversy. When your heart is divided into two sides, when you don't know what path to take, you just have to use your inner strength to push yourself out and choose what is best for you. The whole conception of evil and good, doubt and certainty , is what involves us in this intriguing play. The challenges and experiences that Macbeth himself and the other characters had to go through, was a huge step into showing to the world their real emotions, real feelings, real thoughts. As much as great as it seems Macbeth, is a way of telling the world to be careful on your decision making, because according to these decisions you could be planning your whole life. Explaining Macbeth's significance is very hard. We all have different opinions even though at the end, they will all bond together as one. These characters knew they were making bad choices, though they didn't believe in what was in front of their eyes. Evil is in within every single one of us, though we all develop it's insidious roots individually. “Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles.” The evil significance can only be shouted if you let it take over you. Once you take a step into the darkness, it's really hard to find the light. Don't let whats bringing you down, pull you up, because instead of helping yourself out, you will be bringing yourself into a deeper tunnel. The bad is only able to take over you, if you let take over you. Things don't control us, we control things.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth was an interesting and challenging book in my opinion. I feel that the main purpose of us reading this book was to get a greater understanding of Shakespeare and his style of writing. It is difficult for many students including myself to understand a lot of what Shakespeare was trying to portray to the reader. But as we got further and further into the book it became easier to figure out what he was saying. The significant part of Macbeth was the way that Shakespeare used different words and motifs to tell the story. A common motif that he used was one with animals, such as "thrice the brinded cat hath mewed."(pg 119, Act 4) Another reason that Macbeth is such a unique story is because of the conflicts that the main character alone faces, not to mention the other characters as well. Macbeth faced both internal and external battles, one in which ended his life at the end. An internal battle he faced was the way his wife manipulated him, the way she convinced him to want to become king in the first place, and than to kill many people so that he could rise to power without a struggle. He also had to deal with the constant reminder of these murders because of Banquo's ghost that came to haunt him. A physical battle that he had to face was at the end of the play when he was fighting Macduff. Macbeth ended up losing and Macduff decapitated him. The strange events and use of language is what made Macbeth such an interesting book to read.
ReplyDeleteThe story Macbeth by William Shakespeare left me unsatisfied with the book as a whole, because you knew what was going to happen within the first few pages of the play. Whats most essential to understand about the story is the characters because the characters are the ones who shape and form the plot. Some characters choices and actions ultimately lead to their down fall. For example, “Make thick my blood, stop up th’access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between th’ effect and it“ This quote shows that Macbeth was thinking about killing Duncan, but Lady Macbeths influence on him was the ultimate reason for Duncans death. Another quote is, "Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond which keeps me pale." This quote show Macbeth think about the murder that he has just committed. And it shows that until Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are dead, this crime will haunt them. There are many quotes in the play that give it significance, but the one for me that is the heart of the play is, “Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles." This is the heart of the play because all of the guilt causes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to do some crazy things. And it ultimately leads to the down fall of Lady Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Macbeth was a challenging read. This book was challenging but also a good learning experience to learn about and from Shakespeare. Macbeth left me with a greater understanding and appreciation for Shakespeare's work.
ReplyDelete"If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow, and which will not,
Speak" this quote from Banquo in act 1 scene 3 to me describes the play because you shouldn't be able to tell what happens in the future and in the play the witches tell Macbeth what is to come and this is the reason for the occurrence of all the actions in the play. This quote also uses the motif of plants to describe what happens in the play and what is to come in the play.
Macbeth left me with quite an impression. Macbeth was difficult at sometimes, it was the most challenging book I've read. The motifs made it better to understand because it got you to think in a way and relate to the way the characters did. One of the motifs that stuck out to me was the reoccurrence of "blood" it came up in the story a lot, and usually when it happens its an important factor in the story, its meaningful in someway." Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" (act 2, scene 2 pg. 59). From this quote Macbeth basically says, will I always be reminded of what I did? Will it take a great amount to forgive me for what I did? Macbeth was influenced by Lady Macbeth to do what he did. In some ways Lady Macbeth was more of a man than Macbeth ever could have been. The story left me with is an idea of influence. I believe that most of the choices Macbeth has made was all influenced by Lady Macbeth. She was the "ringleader" so to say, and Macbeth did what she said. Whether he felt bad about the things he had to do, the regrets he had, or anything like that it didn't matter. What he did was done and there was no way of going back. Just like today, similar things happen to us constantly, we make a mistake and learn from it and usually don't do it again because we don't want to be in trouble for it or be in some sort of harms way. Unfortunately Macbeth didn't have that option.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth was a challenging and progressive read for myself and the whole class. While reading it I learned how to better understand Shakespeare's language and style, and also to be vigilant and keep a look out for motifs. One motif that wasn't talked about a lot in class was the weather. Whenever something bad happened, the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse. For example the night of Duncan's murder it began quite stormy. An important quote that really gets to the root of the story is "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" - The witches. This quote does have a lot of meaning to the story because of the "foul" things Macbeth does while on his warpath for tyranny.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Macbeth I felt myself wanting more. Although the ending seems inedible I still found the ending surprising, especially when Macbeth gets his severed head impaled onto a stick. If there was any moral or heart of the story to grasp I would think it would be to steer clear of greed and desire. Macbeth’s road to demise starts when the witches put the images of the throne into his head. If he had never received the witches prophecy, than he would have been perfectly content with being thane. Once this image was in his head it grew into an obsessional desire with the help of his unstable wife. In the end his dreams of being king consume him, and all the murders he committed come back around. If Macbeth had never let his desire contort him into being a self revolved monster then he may have never adapted a stick for a torso. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” is a quote said by the witches to help lead Macbeth to disaster, but I believe it also has a deeper meaning. In my perspective it means that desire can lead any fair person to be foul, and once this person is engulfed in a dark dream anything that is foul seems fair.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth left me feeling s sense of despair for humanity. It is important to understand the greed and irrational decisions that makes up human desires. One of the most important motifs I the play is Blood. Blood is used to symbolize uncontrollable guilt; MacBeth claims “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” After killing the King of Scotland Duncan. His wife, Lady MacBeth speaks in her sleep about the amount of blood and Duncan’s bloodstains on her hands. “Out, damned spot; out, I say . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” She sees that blood on her hands as guilt that will never wash away. I believe that Lady Macbeths line shows the heart of the play and how human’s will always have compassion even if they choose not to act on it at times.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth was a unique and unnerving read about the corruptibility of man. Although the book’s story was rather straightforward the language and expression of the characters is what made it so intriguing. When Macbeth is corrupted by his the witches and his very own wife he attempts to obtain the power of the throne. In his killings onto the path of power, Lady Macbeth says “There the grown serpent lies, the young worm hath fled.” This quote is significant in that Banquo is viewed as a serpent by Lady Macbeth even though she is the snake trying to kill and corrupt. The book expresses the motifs in a way that tells of the snakes killing and the easy corruptibility of people like Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteMacBeth left me feeling doubt in humanity. A thought that concerned me the most is how much people dwell on what others tell them. MacBeth didn’t even question the witches one bit. They told him in the first Act that he would soon become King, and Macbeth immediately believed them. “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, thou shalt be king hereafter!” To me this scene represents how gullible humanity is. If a person hears they will be granted wealth after getting passed the obstacles, they would most likely believe them. This is exactly what MacBeth did and I honestly thought it was selfish. He shouldn’t have listened to his wife because it just caused so much trouble in the end. Being king isn’t worth all of the guilt and the murder involved in getting there.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth left me with a sense of unknowing. Being one person and totally doing a 360 because of those you love around you making it sound like a good idea. In Macbeth, this would embody Macbeth himself. His wife convinces him to commit murder and then goes from his original being to a crazed murderous person, uncontrolled, and lost. I think it is most important to actually take a lesson from the novel. People believe power is everything, and in a sense it is. The characters in the book commit sins and lose themselves in the process all for power. I think it is important to take their mistakes and learn from them, knowing that great power comes from diligence and fairness, not murder and persistence. For Macbeth and his wife this literally makes them crazy. Macbeth was an interesting novel.
ReplyDeleteBefore I thought of what the whole meaning of Macbeth was, I thought that the book was just strange. I just thought there was no purpose of reading about a man who kills a lot of people so he can become King and stay King. After I thought about it I realized that deeper meaning that the story has. What I got from this story was the way that evil can get inside of us and once it does it will continue to grow until it is a permanent part of a person. Even though I couldn’t really understand what the characters were saying at the beginning of the story I got the hang of it and I was happy with the message that this story gave me. Towards the beginning of this play, there is a scene where Macbeth has a scene where he is seeing an invisible dagger. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” Further in on this dialogue Macbeth starts to talk about how the dagger is bloody and blood is one of the main motifs of Macbeth. This scene happens right before Macbeth kills Duncan the King. He seems confused because he doesn’t know whether this is a sign that he should actually kill him or if it’s a sign not to kill him. He’s at a point in the play where he isn’t completely comfortable with killing someone and gradually further and further into the play he becomes more comfortable with it to the point where he doesn’t even care. This goes with the message of the play because it shows that at the beginning he still had some sort of conscience and then eventually the evil consumes him and he becomes a completely different person who is perfectly fine with killing people.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading MacBeth, I was left with the question of why? Why was it worth it for MacBeth to kill Duncan and become king? He was only king for what seemed to be a few weeks, and then he was killed. It just doesn't add up to me, why would it be worth it to go through all that trouble? It seemed like he believed too much of what the witches were telling him, even though they were right, there was a loophole in their prediction. The book dived right into the idea of greed and lust for power, and MacBeth did a great job of portraying someone who would do anything for power.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare's Macbeth was an epic tale that has left a major impact on society. Reading it in class was both an interesting and challenging experience that will help us students to advance the way we perceive language.Shakespeare’s language is rather different compared to how we speak today, so reading it helped to broaden how we interpret concepts and ideas. The plot itself was rather strange and the story was an interesting, yet confusing tale. Although my favorite quote from the story would be “What you egg” just for the comedic feel it has to it, a good quote from the story would be "If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow, and which will not, Speak". This quote is a great example of just how strange the story is. All in all, it was important that we read this classic tale.
ReplyDeleteI found Macbeth by William Shakespeare to be a book that helps reveal many of Shakespeare’s writing techniques. It also contains many motifs and ideas. Macbeth was once a strong well respected nobleman and he eventually became a corrupted king. He became king by murdering his previous king and corrupting the other Scottish thanes. Throughout the book there is a lot of death and murder, with all that there came blood. Blood was a frequent motif as the book went on. It was mentioned by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth on multiple occasions and one occasion was when Macbeth said “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood…”. This showed that Macbeth was stuck up on the concepts of murder, death, and blood. The blood in many ways represents the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel about the horrible deeds which they did. I liked this but I also disliked one big thing about the book. Shakespeare left so many things for the reader to decide. For instance, we will never know if Fleance becomes king. This made me mad because I hate loose endings. Overall I enjoyed this book and it is my favorite book by Shakespeare that I have read so far.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth is very important to learn from. This story shows how corruption and being crazy can really affect your life. "whats done can not be undone" is a perfect quote to sum up the play. when macbeth become the king, he goes nuts. He kills everyone that gets in his way. That quote alone is a good lesson to learn in life, because it will make you think about what youre doing. the story also teaches you to think about things in your head and figure out what he is saying. This book teaches many things to any reader.
ReplyDeleteSomething I liked about William Shakespeare's Macbeth was how it dealt with evil. It left me thinking about how no one starts out evil, and how people aren't really evil, they are just corrupted with evil. I liked how you could tell that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth weren't going to have a happy ending, and you were waiting to see how the story would play out. Although it can be difficult to understand the language at first, I think that if you really get into the play, the language eventually becomes much easier to understand. In my opinion, "Let not light see my black and deep desires" is a quote that really sums up Macbeth. It shows how he really wanted to kill Duncan, and his desires became more twisted as the play went on.
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