1) Lady Macbeth's problem is that while she understands herself, she does not understand Macbeth.
2) Lady Macbeth is totally evil; she is, in fact, the fiend-like Queen described by Malcolm at the end of the play.
3) The witches so manipulate Macbeth that he has no control over his fate.
4) Shakespeare didn't write the silly Hecate bits, so out they come. If you were producing a performance of Macbeth, explain why you would or would not include the Hecate scenes.
5) The story of a bad man who commits a crime is not a tragedy but a straightforward tale of evil. Macbeth, however, is about a good man who becomes evil and that is his tragedy.
6) Far from being the strong character he is often portrayed as being, Macbeth is essentially a weak man; he allows the witches and Lady Macbeth to manipulate him into an act which, if left alone, he would never contemplate, never mind commit.
2) Lady Macbeth is totally evil; she is, in fact, the fiend-like Queen described by Malcolm at the end of the play.
3) The witches so manipulate Macbeth that he has no control over his fate.
4) Shakespeare didn't write the silly Hecate bits, so out they come. If you were producing a performance of Macbeth, explain why you would or would not include the Hecate scenes.
5) The story of a bad man who commits a crime is not a tragedy but a straightforward tale of evil. Macbeth, however, is about a good man who becomes evil and that is his tragedy.
6) Far from being the strong character he is often portrayed as being, Macbeth is essentially a weak man; he allows the witches and Lady Macbeth to manipulate him into an act which, if left alone, he would never contemplate, never mind commit.
9 comments:
Responding to #4. Althogh it is theorized that Shakespeare had not written the parts with the witches, it has never been conclusively proven. Also, these pieces help show the evil intent guiding the downfall of the various characters. Finally, without these pieces the comments Macbeth later makes regarding 'man born of a woman' in Act V make no sense. Besides any reasonable purposes, the scenes with the witches are just fun! If I were putting on the play, I would definetly keep the scenes where they are.
I am responding to #2. Lady Macbeth is not totally evil as described by Malcolm. In Act V Lady Macbeth sleep walks because she feels guilty about killing Duncan and Banquo. Soon after she commits suicide because she could not live with the guilt that she carried.
Responding to #1. Lady Macbeth's problem is that she does not understand herself. She believes she is a cold woman void of emotions, which is not true. If it was she would not begin to feel guilty about the murder. Lady Macbeth is a woman filled with emotion, which in the end leads to her demise. If Lady Macbeth understood herself or her husband she would have know that they were too tender hearted to commit murder.
Responding to #2. Lady Macbeth is not totally evil. In Act 5, Lady Macbeth is driven to the point of insanity by her guilt. If she had been totally evil, she would not feel guilty for the crimes she has committed. Her guilt shows that she is human and that she has made mistakes. Only good people can regret, and, therefore, Lady Macbeth is a good person at heart.
Responding to #3. Although the witches manipulate Macbeth through their prophecies, Macbeth remains in control of his fate throughout the play. Simply because he acts upon each prophecy does not mean he has no control over his own actions. For example, it is Macbeth's own decision to kill King Duncan. He allows himself to be persuaded by his wife, but in the end he is the one holding the dagger.
I am responding to #3. Macbeth's actions were greatly influenced by the witches predictions, but the influence was not beyond Macbeth's control. The witches predictions appealed to Macbeth enough that any outside influence, such as Lady Macbeth, was enough to convince him to commit his acts. Macbeth had a choice in the matter; he was not being brainwashed into doing anything.
Responding to #2. Lady Macbeth is not totally evil. In Act V, Lady Macbeth is discovered sleepwalking. While she is sleepwalking she admits that she feels like she cannot clean her hands of Duncan's murder. Because she says she cannot clean her hands of what she has done, it shows that she feels guilty because of her actions. As a result, of her guilt she kills herself because she cannot stand all of the emotions running through her. This shows that Lady Macbeth is not completely evil, since she actually felt guilty over her crime.
Responding to #6. Although Macbeth is portrayed as a strong character, he is essentially a weak man. Macbeth allows himself to be manipulated by Lady Macbeth and the witches. For example, Macbeth would have never thought that he was going to be king unless the witches had predicted that he was going to be; thus, he would have never killed King Duncan. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth is the driving force that persuades Macbeth into killing King Duncan. Lady Macbeth shows no guilt upon plotting King Duncan's murder; however, Macbeth was second guessing the idea. So, it is obvious that if it had not been for Lady Macbeth or the witches, he would have not contemplated, never mind committed his crimes.
Responding to #3. Even though the witches implanted the idea in Macbeth's mind that he could be king, Macbeth could have chosen not to listen to them. He had control over his own fate but decided to put it in the hands of the witches instead of taking control and making his own decisions. If he would have thought out the downfalls to killing King Duncan and followed his intuition, Macbeth would have seen how committing murder would bring him to be the tragic hero.
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