Setting is achieved through the use of stage directions, characters words and their actions. For example the opening stage direction of ‘Macbeth’ is “thunder and lightning”. This sets a mysterious mood for the audience and also shows that evil things will happen throughout the play, this meets the expectations of the contemporary audience, as Shakespeare intended. On the other hand, Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ is a highly structured episode of prose. Physical setting is achieved through detailed and interesting language choices, describing both the characters and time period.
The truth is that many of these decisions that Macbeth makes or follows is based on what the witches told him. One example of this is when Lady Macbeth convinces him to kill Duncan in order to become king. She specifically says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature / … / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, / and chastise with the valor of my tongue” (1.5.16-17, 27-28). In this quote Lady Macbeth is thinking about the witches prophecy and how she can make it come true.
This lets the audience gain an understanding of the motifs such as evil intentions, thoughts and counterparts in the human nature behind both corresponding literature. Earthly desires erupt from aspects of human nature as we gain the tendency to ponder on malignant thoughts. Shakespeare’s use of archetype in the play Othello examines this concept. He has manifested one of literature’s most complex archetypical villains, Iago, as a vehicle to convey the harsh and self-centred human nature that lies within us. Having not received the promotion, recurring motifs such as jealousy, greed and revenge overcloud Iago’s mind.
How far is Macbeth responsible for his own downfall? When considering the above question, it is important to discuss the relative ‘power’ of other characters within the play in order to establish their influence on Macbeth’s actions. The first characters to consider are the witches. Shakespeare establishes their power and supernatural abilities from the moment they are introduced to us. Significantly, the witches open the play, a further indication of their importance to the plot.
William Shakespeare's eponymously titled play Macbeth is one of the most celebrated writings in history and is still being performed and studied today. The play reflects the established socio-cultural beliefs of power and the effects of an illegitimate rule during the Jacobean period. Written in the seventeenth century when belief in a divine-ordained hierarchy prevailed, it was thought that if monarchical power was accessed via illegitimate means, destruction of the mind and state would result. Through the character of Macbeth, Shakespeare positions his readers to believe that power can attract even the most noble of men. In the opening of the play, a loyal Macbeth is approached by three witches who entice him with their claim that “[he] shalt be king thereafter.” (1-3-50).
Macbeth-Tyrant or Tragic Hero?… Discuss In analyzing whether ‘Macbeth’ should be considered a tyrant or a tragic hero I believe there is evidence throughout Shakespeare’s play to support both opposing arguments. In attempting to answer the question in greater detail I will focus in particular on the influence of the three Witches and of Lady Macbeth in shaping what takes place and what ultimately helps inform the actions and thoughts of Macbeth himself. As well as discussing these central characters and their roles I also intend to show how historical and social context can determine and elicit a potentially different response. I will also look at how the performance of the play itself is a key element in dictating whether an audience reacts to Macbeth as an essentially heroic figure or how they could be more inclined towards a more tyrannical viewpoint and understanding. At he beginning of the play Macbeth is initially portrayed as a great, noble and brave hero.
I was interested in studying this because it caught my attention the way Lady Macbeth and her husband were punished for committing treason from Shakespeare point of view, but from a modern point of view we can read the scene differently. The first paragraph is general background of what happened, introducing the scene. The second one is about the Elizabethan Society and their way of thinking through anomalies and rare things like the one Macbeth and his wife suffered. Elizabethan society´s superstitious belief in the unifying theory of the Chain of Being is explained: What is natural and unnatural, health and sickness as signs of unnaturalness. The third contrasts the Elizabethan Society with the modern one, which gives more scientifically and psychological reasons for the mental illness of Lady Macbeth.
Research Essay: Summative The force of evil in the world, specifically minions of Satan, was a real factor in Elizabethan and Jacobean times. Discuss the play MacBeth in the context of the immanent presence of witchcraft in Jacobean England. ENG3UE- Rockland District High school – 3/28/2014 To many, William Shakespeare’s MacBeth, is a play about demonic betrayal and evil misconception. In the play, three witches approach the main character being MacBeth with prophetic knowledge of his near future and his immediate royalty; more specifically him becoming Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and King of Scotland. Shortly after his encounter with the witches he is pronounced Thane of Cawdor and due to this knowledge,
They can be that his stories are amazing, dark and deep. That he shaped the English language we know today, and also that his writing style itself was so beautiful that other writers can recognize that as well. The question I think needs to be answered is: Why is Shakespeare so important, and why is he still relevant today? Shakespeare genuinely tried to write for his audiences. He wanted the plot to strike them even if it didn’t sit well with them.
Through his use of verbal language techniques and devices, Shakespeare develops loving as an unwanted, painful, disease throughout his play Twelfth Night that ultimately can turn men into monsters. He both conveys this warning to the audience and makes the play interesting and attention grabbing for them by skilfully using metaphors, comparison, emotional language, rhyme and allusion. Twelfth Night is a timeless piece of literature thanks to the intricate verbal techniques that Shakespeare weaves with a purpose into the play. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare portrays love as a “hunger” to show that we are pained by it when we cannot satisfy it, drawing similarities between the ache of loving someone to “hunger pains”. He also uses a metaphor to convey his opinion that the need for love is as great as the need for food.