Sunday, January 30, 2011
Final Scenes of Macbeth
At last, the play is done, and there's nothing left to know. Please select a passage from these last pages that you think somehow capsulizes the impact of the play's concluding moments. Where does the tragedy, the irony, the justice, whatever, strike you as being the strongest? What ambiguities remain? What ultimately does the play say about human nature and human will?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5.5.20-31.
ReplyDeleteThis speech, given by Macbeth when he discovers that his wife is dead, exemplifies many of the themes and events that had occurred previously in the story. Macbeth seems unfazed by his lover's passing, as if all of the murders he has committed has rid him of emotion, even of someone he cared for. I especially like the section where he claims that "life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more." I thought that he is in fact describing himself; that this will be his last hour on earth and that his life has crashed down on him all at once. It seems that Shakespeare is trying to reveal a nothingness, an incomplete happiness that comes with life. Though Macbeth received everything he desired, the costs far outweighed the benefits, and Macbeth's actions and dreams in the end "signify nothing." This passage reflects Macbeth's history and future, but also the nature of theater as seen by Shakespeare - merely a "tale told by an idiot." Unfortunately I cannot compare this book and its morals to other Shakespeare books, but I feel as though he wanted to embrace the concept of idealism versus reality versus fate, and that Macbeth was just a fictional means of expressing his non-fictional beliefs. This speech reveals quite a bit about the character and story of Macbeth, but it shows even more about Shakespeare's view on life and how the theatrical stage is in fact a place to act out the creator's realizations.
Macbeth: "She should have died hereafter.
ReplyDeleteThere would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." (5.5 17-28)
I too chose the monologue of Macbeth discovering that his wife is dead. In this passage Macbeth is cold, heartless, and brutal. He shows how his power has drained his soul and only instill hunger for more power. I agree with Andrew that Shakespeare is trying to reveal the nothingness and emptiness of life, but I think that these only come with a life that has no real meaning beyond obtaining power. When he says, "life's but a walking shadow,"it shows the the emptiness of his life, because everyone tells him what he wants to hear out of fear, yet nothing really means anything. He also shows his dissatisfaction with his the meaning of his life by saying, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,signifying nothing." Shakespeare is trying to say here that if your life centers around things without meaning, then you with know nothing other than that. Macbeth has turned into a creature that doesn't love or really feel, and Shakespeare shows through many other plays the value of love in one's life, and this play shows what life turns into without it. I think that this play represents the need for love and true meaning beyond power.And I agree with Andrew's final point that this play shows how plays are a place to act out real life and the creator's imagination and concepts of how life works.
(5-8-76 ) - (5-8-82) "What's more to do, which would be planted newly with the time, as calling home our exiled friends abroad that fled the snares of watchful tyranny, producing forth the cruel ministers of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen..."
ReplyDeleteI chose this section of Malcolm's final monologue, because to me it displayed the greatest irony of the play: Macbeth tries so hard to be a great king, admired by his subjects and glorified by history, that his actions lead him to be known as nothing more than a 'tyrant' and a 'butcher'. All Macbeth wants is to be loved and respected, but in his effort to attain these qualities he becomes one of the most hated rulers in memory. Macbeth's greatest fear, as stated earlier in the play, was that he was sitting upon an empty throne, and would leave no legacy as king of Scotland. His actions taken to prevent this fate make it inevitable, as the amount of murder and corruption becomes too much for Macbeth to hide. Macbeth dies a tyrant, forever cursed (as almost a punishment for his deeds) to be no more than a 'butcher', as far as history is concerned.
In my opinion, the end of the play shows the demise of everything Macbeth has worked for and how his total denial of reality and acceptance of the prophecy has turned into ignorance and over-confidence. This is made clear to me during act 5 scene 5 when Macbeth is showing his confidence that he cannot be defeated by anyone "born of woman".
ReplyDelete"I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in 't. I have supped full with horrors.
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thought,
Cannot once start me."
I think Macbeth's over-confidence in himself as a ruler and in the prophecy is what leads to his downfall. If he had been thinking clearly throughout the play, we would have better thought his actions and would not feel full-proof at only being defeated by a man not "born of woman". He is not scared enough for the consequences he has wrought on himself and has alienated everyone around him. He has created his own failure.
5.8.21-26
ReplyDeleteThis passage illustrates an incredibly significant moment for Macbeth. Upon being told that Macduff was not technically "woman born", Macbeth's world truly seems to begin its final crumbling. Until this point, though things have certainly gone wrong for him (Birnam Wood approaching his stronghold on Dunsinane Hill), Macbeth has exuded confidence and faith in his dream of ruling as the King of Scotland. All of the other apparitions laid out by the witches in Act 4, Scene 1 have come to pass, so Macduff, the man not born of a woman, serves as the final straw of fate for Macbeth. In this moment, Macbeth makes a last attempt at avoiding fate, telling Macduff, "I'll not fight with thee." However, his pride gets the better of him (as it has many times before in the play). In the end, Macbeth decides to fight Macduff and is killed. The entire play calls into question the concept of free will versus fate. Did Macbeth really make the decision to fight Macduff or, for that matter, any of his decisions for himself, or were all of these decisions made for him, perhaps by the Weird Sisters? I believe that the play invites the reader or viewer to question the role of fate in his or her own life. I am certainly contemplating the relationship between fate and free will in my life as a result of reading "Macbeth".
tragedy irony justice ambiguities human nature
ReplyDeleteI chose the same line as Zia (yeah, we're telepathic)...
"I have almost forgot the taste of fears...cannot once start me" (5.5.11-17)
This line encompasses a tragic moment of closure in regards to the Macbeth character and what he symbolizes in the play as a whole. He speaks of a total loss of fear and emotion regarding that which once startled and even tortured him morally. Ironically, Macbeth's lack of fear is not a postive or courageous attribute as it might be perceived in most cases, but rather signifies a loss of any remaining virtue in his being. The fear he once experienced (such as of Banquo's ghost or hearing noises in the night) represented an internal dilemma regarding his treacherous actions. Now, he admits to himself that this contemplation of morals is completely gone, and he has reached the pinnacle of his remotely honorable existence. This foreshadows the rest of the play as he declines into a complete lack of feeling, and finally death.
5.3.26-30
ReplyDelete“My way of life
Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have…”
5.8.35-37
“Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last.”
5.8.6-7
“But get thee back. My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.”
Throughout the play we have come to think of Macbeth as an ambitious, proud, wicked, and weak character. Nevertheless, in the last few scenes of the play Shakespeare shows us a side of Macbeth that is, in certain respects, admirable. Macbeth is honest with himself about his actions, recognizing that he can never hope to earn the love from his subjects that Duncan possessed. Even as the prophecies unfold against him, his dethronement and death almost certain, Macbeth refuses to give up. Although Macbeth’s courage** and determination to the very end most likely stem from his sense of pride, they cannot be ignored in the evaluation of his character.
It is also interesting to note that Macbeth tells Macduff that does not wish to fight him because his “soul is too much charged with [Macduff’s] blood.” This passage proves that Macbeth is not truly as evil and heartless as he might seem. He opposes doing evil for its own sake, only committing monstrous deeds when he has something to gain from them.
Ironically, Macbeth is at his best when his circumstances are at their worst. Shakespeare’s final comment on human nature is that humans are neither wholly good nor wholly evil.
**Macbeth initially refuses to fight with Macduff upon learning that he is not “one of woman born,” but what is important is that Macbeth subdues his fear and accepts Macduff’s challenge.
5.5 27-31
ReplyDelete"Life’s but a walking shadow... Signifying nothing."
I had heard someone recite these few lines a few months ago, but had no idea it came from Shakespeare's Macbeth. At the beginning of the monologue Macbeth is extremely cold and does not seem very sentimental after hearing the news of the death of his wife. It's possible that at this moment he was in too much shock to feel emotions or possibly that Macbeth has become so heartless that he cannot express love toward his lost wife. Either way I find it interesting that this monologue ends with Macbeth saying that life is meaningless. Here, he seems to be losing faith in humanity, possibly as a result of the news he has just heard. I also really liked the lines 55-59 at the end of act 5 scene 5: "I 'gin to be aweary of the sun... harness on our back." Here, Macbeth is stating that he has little will to live and he wishes for the end of the world. I wonder if he says this because of the news of his dead wife or the news of the forest moving toward him (probably making him aware that the prophecy is going to come true and he will die soon). I'm curious to hear what you guys think. Also, did the entire prophecy foretold by the weird sisters come true? Because to my understanding one of Banquo's sons has not become King... Though the prophecy may refer to King James? That makes the most sense to me if it's legit.
“As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
ReplyDeleteI must not look to have, but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath
Which the poor heart would fain deny and dare not.”
In the final act of the play, Macbeth finally comes to realize the consequences of his actions. Throughout the play he has lived in fear of repercussion, passing his blame and responsibility onto others. But despite this evasion, he finally must come to terms with his decisions. This passage reminded me of his conversation with the murderers. He states that the only thing keeping him from doing away with Banquo himself is the relationships it may have an effect on. However, at the end he is still without “honor, love, obedience, [or] troops of friends”. It’s ironic that through dedicating himself to achieving greater honor, respect, and power, he ultimately ends his life with none. In this attempt he causes the deaths of his king, his friends, and his wife, and is left with merely “mouth-honor”.
5.8.13-22
ReplyDeleteThis passage encapsulates the entirety of the battle in Act 5 because it dramatically shows how Macbeth oscillates between foolhardy arrogance and hopelessness. However, I was especially struck by the fact that, at least in my mind, this was the moment Macbeth realized he had been a pawn manipulated within the game of fate. Up until 5.8.16, he clung to the illusion that the prophecies which had already been fulfilled were simply coincidences. At this moment, he could deny it no longer; he was a slave to fate and he was going to die.
Although Macbeth’s actions in the end of the play are nothing short of despicable, a sense of sadness still permeates the atmosphere when you learn he’s dead. In some sense, it is because of the fact that everything within this play seems predestined to occur; Macbeth is a good man corrupted by fate itself. It as if society defines us as individuals, and although we are the ones who think we are in control, it is as if we never actually make the choices. It is true tragedy.
She should have died hereafter.
ReplyDeleteThere would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
I chose this passage too because of how crazy Macbeth sounds in it. He has lost all passion for life and seems unmoved when his wife is announced. He talks about how life is merely a "tale told by an idiot" showing how much he has had enough with life. This can also be a reference to the witches because they told him the story of his life and he played it out just like they said. It brings the question who is the idiot, the story teller or the one who plays the part? I personally think that Macbeth is angered at the witches for telling him his story, and he thinks it might have been different if they had not told him.
Act 5; Scene 5; Lines 20-31
ReplyDeleteMacbeths famous eleven lined speech here I think epitomizes the most recent developments in the final throes of the play and really the entire 5 acts as well. It is characterized by extreme despair and hopelessness, as if Macbeth somehow knew that the play itself was a tragedy. In these lines we can ascertain that Macbeth (and perhaps Shakespeare) believe that human nature inherently decays and that conscious existence itself is meaningless. While we live we might assign meaning to objects, to feelings, and to experiences because we have minds that are built to do that; yet from an objective, disconnected perspective these distinctions, labels, and dichotimizations of perceptions signify nothing and are rooted in nothing as well. Macbeths words illuminate the idea that physical existence is constantly changing and inherently impermanent-it is human nature to decay. On the subject of decay, William Faulkner actually based the title of his book, "The Sound and the Fury", off of the line, "It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury". I relate Faulkner and his work to this part of Macbeth because in this book (indeed I read it) one of the biggest "themes" is decay.
5.5:11-17
ReplyDelete"I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me."
This short speech occurs just before Macbeth learns that the queen is dead. Here, he expresses a certain numbness that has come with his familiarity of death. While this would be common - and necessary - in wartime (as it once was, when he was regarded as a great warrior), we now see that (although yes, he is in a war now) it has grown and consumed his whole person. In wholly becoming what he was once respected for, he has become feared and hated by the people who were once loyal to him. [Moreover, there are a few references within this short quote to moments earlier in the play, i.e. "supp'd full with horrors" could be seen as his banquet when he saw the ghost of Banquo, "my senses would have cool'd to hear a night-shriek" refers to the tenseness and near-panic that he experiences when talking with Lady Macbeth just after killing Duncan in 2.2,etc.]
Act 5, sc 5, lines 11-17
ReplyDelete"I have almost forgot the taste of fears...."
This passage before Macbeth discovers that his wife is dead, I think sets readers and audience members up with his feelings toward everyone except him. Through the monologue, he says he used to feel something, have chills on his skin, have hair falling out; but now because he is so blackened in the heart he has no feeling. Because of his blackened heart and soul he does not have anything that relates him to humans.I think this is where readers truly see the new Macbeth, gone is the soldier of compassion of bravery, and now stands before us a man consumed by greed and want. Macbeth is in his own world now so when I read the passage on his thoughts of his wife's death it did not surprise me that there was no grieving or hesitation about his next actions, just a passing glance at a life lost on his (Macbeth's)road to being king.