Now, that we have read the entire play, read the following propositions. If you are the first person to respond, you must write on the first proposition. If you are the second, the second proposition is yours and so on. Write a response that supports or refutes this proposition. YES, you must take one side and one side only. This isn't Switzerland. No credit will be given if you do not stay on one side of the issue. (The deadline to post a response is midnight, Tuesday, April 1, 2014,)
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.
1 comment:
Personally, I think Lady Macbeth does understand Macbeth. She understands he has issues killing the king, and she uses manipulation tactics to win him over to her ideas. Many times in the play, she refers to him as a "coward" to belittle him for feeling the way he does. She definitely understands that to get him to obey, she has to push him using his feelings. A great example of this is when Lady Macbeth says, "My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white." (I.ii.63-64) She belittles him as a coward to shake him out of his despair. She understands him very clear and her manipulation is clearly proof she does understand Macbeth.
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