Honor And Manhood In Macbeth

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Shakespeare’s Macbeth is set during medieval times in Scotland. Macbeth is about a Scottish general named Macbeth. When the play commences Macbeth and his good friend Banquo are visited by three witches who predict that Macbeth will become king. After hearing the witches’ prediction, Macbeth kills Duncan because of his ambition to become King. In Macbeth the major characters are, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, Banquo, Macbeth’s good friend and a Scottish noble, Macduff, also a Scottish nobleman, King Duncan, Malcolm, King Duncan’s son who is the heir to the throne, and the three witches, the weird sisters who can tell the future. Macbeth is a play about ambition versus honor, and consequences. Henry IV is set in England during the English Civil War in the late 1400’s. This play focuses on Prince Hal who begins as a drunk who can always be found at the local taverns and transforms into a Prince by saving his father in battle and killing Hotspur. The main characters in Henry IV are, King Henry, Prince Hal (King Henry’s son), Sir John Falstaff, who is like a father to Hal at the beginning of the play, the Earl of Worcester, who plots against King Henry, Hotspur (the Earl of Worcester’s nephew and a valiant warrior who fights against the king), the Earl of Douglas (a courageous Scotsman who sides with the rebellion), Owen Glendower (a Welshman who has defeated King Henry many times in battle), the Earl of March, also called Mortimer who is the rightful heir to the throne, and the Earl of Westmoreland, who is angry at King Henry for not helping him protect his lands. Honor and manhood are qualities that one obtains through achievements, actions and respect that separate how one lives one’s life. Shakespeare approaches honor and manhood, as two key themes in both plays, very differently in Henry IV as compared to Macbeth. In Macbeth Shakespeare presents honor

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