Take a moment here to site a specific passage from the first four scenes that caught your attention, and say why you think that is so. You may include responses to other posts in your response, but stay focused.
1.3.150 "Present fears are less than horrible imaginings...And nothing is but what is not." This passage intrigued me because it seems that Macbeth is gaining a power that he does not quite understand how to handle. Now Thane of Cawdor, he is conceiving a plan to murder King Duncan in order to proceed the claims of the Weird Sisters, ignoring Banquo's warning that often evil's truth lead to betrayal. This scene struck me because it is a turning point of the perspective and desires of Macbeth.
1.3.38 Macbeth. "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." This passage quite directly conveyed something that I picked up on throughout our entire first reading assignment: that the news that Macbeth will soon be the Thane of Cawdor is not all good news. The passage above suggests that the benefits of Macbeth's new title, will be equally matched with losses. This powerful foreshadowing causes the reader to anticipate tragedy in the wake of Macbeth's supposed successes.
1.4.50-55 “The prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see”
Superficially, he appears to be a heroic character; not only is he a great warrior, but he is committed to the higher virtues of service and humility. However, as revealed in the asides, his ascension to the thane of Crawdor gives him an ambition to achieve the even greater goal of becoming king. The problem is that these ambitions are not curbed by moral constraints. Unlike most villains, his sense of morality is not jaded; he realizes that murder is wrong. Unfortunately, his greed takes precedence.
1.4.157-164 "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without a stir...come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
In this passage Macbeth contemplates how much action is required of him to become king. Clearly, he would prefer for "chance" to let him become king without him having to fight or kill others (Duncan or the newly named Malcolm?) for the title. He is placating himself by leaving the decision up to chance and time and not himself. The end of his brooding inner monologue shows that Macbeth believes that he will be king, even if he must wait for time to pass. This could also be interpreted as Macbeth deciding to take action because either way, he will become king, it's only a matter of time.
1.2.125-128. "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence."
This quote conveys the internal struggle that Macbeth faces between his ambition and his sense of morality. Banquo warns Macbeth that the witches’ predictions might lead to evil, and that there may be more harm than good even though the truths may seem appealing for the moment. These lines signify that ultimately, the truth is a great weapon of persuasion, which often gets one into trouble. After all, the trifle truths with which the witches win over Macbeth ultimately plant the seeds of ambition and greed into his mind. Coaxed into fulfilling the truths that the witches prophesies, the boundaries between right and wrong become blurred for Macbeth, and he begets his own downfall.
"Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate" (17).
Banquo reveals a sense of jealousy in that Macbeth has received this great prophecy from the Weird Sisters, whereas they have told him nothing. He wants insight into his own future, and claims he is not afraid of what they hold in store. It seems his boldness reflects an ignorance to the gravity of Macbeth's prognosis - which we see in the scenes that follow. His craving for knowledge of the future in this moment parallels that which takes over Macbeth to result in evil. This passage foreshadows that these prophecies should, in fact, be feared, and introduces the theme of conflict between the characters' desires and what is 'right'.
" All hail, Macbeth, that shall be king hereafter"
This quote is of the one of the "fate" saying that Macbeth will become king in the future. This is important because right now Macbeth is not king, only Thane of Cadow, so there will be some action taking place in the future regarding the crown changing hands. But on the next page Macbeth says to Banquo on line 89 "your sons will be kings" seemingly foreshadowing his own early death. Macbeth seems to believe that he will not reach a age on the thrown to be able to have children. These two events are important moments that foreshadow the events that will happen later in the play.
1.4: 57-60 "Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."
I really like the rhythm of these lines, as they flow beautifully and portray well the guilt, motivation, and secrecy with which Macbeth is thinking about his potential actions toward the king (Duncan). Furthermore, these lines remind me of lines from the Bible (Matthew 6:3-4) - "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret." I find it interesting that, in these two perspectives, actions at the far ends of the moral spectrum (generosity on one, murder/conspiracy on the other) are advised to be done in secret.
1.3.150-155 “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings…And nothing is but what is not.”
The first acts of the play introduce a theme that I believe will be central to the tragedy: the conflict between illusion and reality. One way to interpret the witches’ line is that something that appears to be fair may, in fact, be foul, and something that appears to be foul may be fair. We first see Macbeth’s internal struggle with illusion and reality when he contemplates murdering the king. The 1.3 passage foreshadows the power that Macbeth’s “horrible imaginings” will have over him.
This first quote caught my because I thought immediately that something fair would not also be foul. However, when said by one of the weird sisters, it makes more sense. Banquo speculated that the weird sisters are in some way evil, and here they affirm his speculation when they state that fairness is always foul, not happy or nice. It seems like this might foreshadow something to do with Macbeth getting what is "fair" but it turns out to be foul. The second quote just affirmed the weird sisters belief that something fair is foul and vice versa and the fact that Macbeth makes me suspect that the foreshadowing might be true. Also, this quote is a use of repetition.
I'm not sure how many of you will see this before class, but I want to compliment you all on these first offerings to the blog. You have named here many of the important themes and motifs that we will follow throughout the play. The relationship between what is "fair" and what is "foul" is particularly well approached in this first reading. We'll look at some specific entries in class (I hope!). In the meanwhile, very nice, and check for your next assigned posting.
"Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."
These lines foreshadow some dark events that are to come. They show the hunger for power that Macbeth has. They are important because he is basically saying that he plans to kill the King in order to obtain the title, instead of Malcolm. They also foreshadow Macbeth fulfilling the Weird Sisters' prediction about him obtaining the title. This is a monumental moment in the first four scenes.
1:3: 82-85 "BANQUO The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd? MACBETH Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!"
I must say that this passage caught my eye at first because of its brilliant imagery; even while I read it now the words evoke some indefinable, interesting emotion in me. And as I ponder the meaning beyond this simple assortment of letters that feeling only grows. To my mind, the weird sisters are called bubbles of the earth because while they are of this world, they still seem to be connected with something beyond physicality that allows them to have knowledge of the future; this "thing" could be an area of the mind, but it could be something deeper that is even more peculiar then the sisters themselves. Either way, they choose to straddle two worlds, to exist in the threshold between both, as bubbles exist between air and water (and interestingly enough, bubbles are composed both of air and water). Now we cannot know yet why they make this choice, but for now at least it's incredibly interesting to observe their interaction with each other, with Macbeth, and with the earth.
"Very frankly he confessed his treasons, Implored your highness' pardon, and set forth A deep repentance. Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it. He died As one that had been studied in his death To throw away the dearest thing he owed As ’twere a careless trifle."
In this passage, Malcolm informs Duncan of the thane of Crawdor's death, following his treason. Malcolm speaks of how much the thane must have “studied his death”. This, along with his “deep repentance” shows the amount of thought and consideration the thane put toward the actions he had taken. Malcolm’s statement that “nothing in life became [the thane] like the leaving it” is quite powerful considering the trust and respect the thane had been bestowed with prior to his treason. The thane appeared to treat the “dearest thing he owed”, his life, as near meaningless. This is a sharp contrast to Macbeth whose promise to become king has made him frantic as it quickly becomes the “dearest thing he owed”; however, he has done nothing but obsess over it. Very quickly, and possibly to his own eventual detriment, Macbeth disregards his allegiance to Duncan. As the thane and Macbeth are similar in their honor turned treason, I believe the thane serves as a possible view into Macbeth’s future, and one who Macbeth might have done best to consider.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair." 1-1-12. I think these lines do more than foreshadow, and do more than show the malevolence of the witches (are the witches evil?). Somehow, the very idea of fairness is foul. Perhaps fairness is justice, which, in its often grim retribution, can be horribly foul. This seems to be what Macbeth is referring to when he says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen..." 1-3-38. Is Macbeth's fate just in any way? It is just because, even though he was led to to his ideas by the witches, it was ultimately his own weakness that undid him?
Johnny, I share your love of that imagery. I think it adds to the witches' mysticism. They are something inherent in the earth, something natural and timeless, and yet they have powers that could never be ascribed to the earth. They are beyond normal humanity and character development. Their motives are mysterious, their pronouncements truthful, and their limitations few. They unite the worlds of illusion and reality that become confused throughout the play.
I also noticed how thoroughly the witches' prophecy overtook Macbeth's thinking. Banquo warns Macbeth that "the instruments of darkness tell us truths," but Macbeth responds by proclaiming, "Two truths are told as happy prologues to the imperial theme." 1-3-140. Yet Macbeth has fleeting moments of lucidity. He questions the motive of the witches as he begins to imagine Duncan's murder. I read the last few lines of this aside as not only referring to his image of Duncan's corpse, but also the death of his own independent thought: "My thought, whose murder is so fantastical, / shakes so my single state of man / that function is smothered in surmise." 1-3-152
Act 1, scene 3, lines 40-43 Act 1, scene 3, lines 54-55
I thought that that this part of scene three was interesting because it showed how quickly Macbeth and particularly Banquo could go from thinking that witchery was dark, invalid magic to believing their prophecies about their lives. The moment that the witches began to predict that Macbeth would become Thane of Cawdor and eventually king, Macbeth and Banquo stopped looking at them critically and wanted to hear more. In this scene, it is also clear how evil the witches are. For example, the First Witch tells the others how she will torture a sailor because his wife did not give her walnuts. Previously, I was unsure whether the witches were evil or kindly.
The question about whether or not the witches are truly evil or just agents of fate is a good one. Looking beyond what they say to Macbeth was useful, too, Anna. Thanks for that. I wonder if they are consistently evil or neutral in power. There is one scene farther along that scholars claim with some confidence was not written by Shakespeare. If that's true, is it not at least worth considering if the portrayal of that kind of power vacillates to some degree from scene to scene. Heresy? Maybe.
Tyler: Hey Jim, sorry for late post, won't happen again.
Moving on, a section I found interesting was a line by Macbeth that seems to defy what I would originally conceive of his character before having read the actual play.
Scene three: lines 167 - 169. In this, Macbeth professes how it is his duty to attend to the hardships and suffering of those who serve him, in the form of the phrase, "Kind gentlemen, your pains are registered where everyday I turn the leaf to read them." To me, Macbeth's tone is gracious and humble, exemplifying the belief that one leads for the good of his subjects, rather than for his own personal glory. Comparing this passage to Macbeth's transformation into a character driven by greed and thirst for power is what will interest me the most in coming scenes.
In addition, (in response to another topic raised above) I believe that the witches are not evil, but in setting Macbeth on his path to destruction have merely begun the inevitable: Macbeth is destined to become hungry for power, and because fate is their task, they are putting his path to corruption in motion. It does raise some interesting questions for me: if this is true, does it mean that Shakespeare is expressing how even the noblest of men can eventually be corrupted by desire and greed? Is descent into evil inevitable for the most honorable leaders? At the moment, I'm not sure, but I will keep thinking of this theme as I continue reading.
Hi Jim this is Jazzy, I am sorry for such a late post, I could not find your email. It would happen again.
Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 15-22 I myself have all the other, And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know T'th' shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay... Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid.
I found this passage interesting because the Weird sisters here are explaining how they are associated with the downfall of Macbeth. This passage has so much meaning and symbolism of the ideas of ships, hay and surprisingly eyelids.
For the symbolism behind ships, I found myself thinking that boat travel at the time is fairly new and compasses are really a ships only way of navigating to itself to it's destination. I think this can be applied to Macbeth because he is fairly new and has little experience at obtaining wealth so as we saw when he gets the information about being king his moral compass gets thrown into the wind, which push a boat in certain directions, will now be replaced with the weird sisters prediction that really has no wind behind it, pushing his boat in a specific direction. The only port he has been to, the only thing he knows is killing, so that is the actions he will take to get to his destination/destiny.
Another thing I found interesting with the weird sisters prediction was the use of the word hay. It means herbage but it also means reward and I felt this play on the word gave her speech more meaning and gave the audience an idea that Macbeth will get no reward if he believes the prediction is his compass.
Lastly, when the first witch was talking about eyelid, and the gruesome act of hanging him from them, I thought about how eyelids are your protection from the world and yourself. For Macbeth, the witches will take away his protection so he can see the truth.Taking away his protection, takes away is hiding place. So now Macbeth cannot hide behind the prediction to justify his killing King Duncan, the metaphor of out of sight out of mind. Also, I thought of the symbolism of this eyes being that gateway to the soul, and he tries to hide from people and himself his black soul and without the eyelids protection, he will be exposed. I think this excerpt really caught my eye because it was foreshadowing but also informative to the character of Macbeth in how he will deal with what the Weird sisters present to him. I look forward to seeing this passage put in motion and how this prediction plays itself out.
1.3.150
ReplyDelete"Present fears are less than horrible imaginings...And nothing is but what is not."
This passage intrigued me because it seems that Macbeth is gaining a power that he does not quite understand how to handle. Now Thane of Cawdor, he is conceiving a plan to murder King Duncan in order to proceed the claims of the Weird Sisters, ignoring Banquo's warning that often evil's truth lead to betrayal. This scene struck me because it is a turning point of the perspective and desires of Macbeth.
1.3.38
ReplyDeleteMacbeth. "So foul and fair a day I have not seen."
This passage quite directly conveyed something that I picked up on throughout our entire first reading assignment: that the news that Macbeth will soon be the Thane of Cawdor is not all good news. The passage above suggests that the benefits of Macbeth's new title, will be equally matched with losses. This powerful foreshadowing causes the reader to anticipate tragedy in the wake of Macbeth's supposed successes.
1.4.50-55
ReplyDelete“The prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see”
Superficially, he appears to be a heroic character; not only is he a great warrior, but he is committed to the higher virtues of service and humility. However, as revealed in the asides, his ascension to the thane of Crawdor gives him an ambition to achieve the even greater goal of becoming king. The problem is that these ambitions are not curbed by moral constraints. Unlike most villains, his sense of morality is not jaded; he realizes that murder is wrong. Unfortunately, his greed takes precedence.
1.4.157-164
ReplyDelete"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without a stir...come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
In this passage Macbeth contemplates how much action is required of him to become king. Clearly, he would prefer for "chance" to let him become king without him having to fight or kill others (Duncan or the newly named Malcolm?) for the title. He is placating himself by leaving the decision up to chance and time and not himself. The end of his brooding inner monologue shows that Macbeth believes that he will be king, even if he must wait for time to pass. This could also be interpreted as Macbeth deciding to take action because either way, he will become king, it's only a matter of time.
Melina A
ReplyDelete1.2.125-128.
"And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence."
This quote conveys the internal struggle that Macbeth faces between his ambition and his sense of morality. Banquo warns Macbeth that the witches’ predictions might lead to evil, and that there may be more harm than good even though the truths may seem appealing for the moment. These lines signify that ultimately, the truth is a great weapon of persuasion, which often gets one into trouble. After all, the trifle truths with which the witches win over Macbeth ultimately plant the seeds of ambition and greed into his mind. Coaxed into fulfilling the truths that the witches prophesies, the boundaries between right and wrong become blurred for Macbeth, and he begets his own downfall.
"Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate" (17).
ReplyDeleteBanquo reveals a sense of jealousy in that Macbeth has received this great prophecy from the Weird Sisters, whereas they have told him nothing. He wants insight into his own future, and claims he is not afraid of what they hold in store. It seems his boldness reflects an ignorance to the gravity of Macbeth's prognosis - which we see in the scenes that follow. His craving for knowledge of the future in this moment parallels that which takes over Macbeth to result in evil. This passage foreshadows that these prophecies should, in fact, be feared, and introduces the theme of conflict between the characters' desires and what is 'right'.
1.3 53
ReplyDelete" All hail, Macbeth, that shall be king hereafter"
This quote is of the one of the "fate" saying that Macbeth will become king in the future. This is important because right now Macbeth is not king, only Thane of Cadow, so there will be some action taking place in the future regarding the crown changing hands. But on the next page Macbeth says to Banquo on line 89 "your sons will be kings" seemingly foreshadowing his own early death. Macbeth seems to believe that he will not reach a age on the thrown to be able to have children. These two events are important moments that foreshadow the events that will happen later in the play.
Dylan C
1.4: 57-60
ReplyDelete"Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."
I really like the rhythm of these lines, as they flow beautifully and portray well the guilt, motivation, and secrecy with which Macbeth is thinking about his potential actions toward the king (Duncan). Furthermore, these lines remind me of lines from the Bible (Matthew 6:3-4) - "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret." I find it interesting that, in these two perspectives, actions at the far ends of the moral spectrum (generosity on one, murder/conspiracy on the other) are advised to be done in secret.
-Elizabeth
1.1.12
ReplyDelete“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
1.3.150-155
“Present fears are less than horrible imaginings…And nothing is but what is not.”
The first acts of the play introduce a theme that I believe will be central to the tragedy: the conflict between illusion and reality. One way to interpret the witches’ line is that something that appears to be fair may, in fact, be foul, and something that appears to be foul may be fair. We first see Macbeth’s internal struggle with illusion and reality when he contemplates murdering the king. The 1.3 passage foreshadows the power that Macbeth’s “horrible imaginings” will have over him.
Evy:
ReplyDelete1-1-12
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
1-3-38
"So foul and fair a day I have not seen."
This first quote caught my because I thought immediately that something fair would not also be foul. However, when said by one of the weird sisters, it makes more sense. Banquo speculated that the weird sisters are in some way evil, and here they affirm his speculation when they state that fairness is always foul, not happy or nice. It seems like this might foreshadow something to do with Macbeth getting what is "fair" but it turns out to be foul.
The second quote just affirmed the weird sisters belief that something fair is foul and vice versa and the fact that Macbeth makes me suspect that the foreshadowing might be true. Also, this quote is a use of repetition.
I'm not sure how many of you will see this before class, but I want to compliment you all on these first offerings to the blog. You have named here many of the important themes and motifs that we will follow throughout the play. The relationship between what is "fair" and what is "foul" is particularly well approached in this first reading. We'll look at some specific entries in class (I hope!). In the meanwhile, very nice, and check for your next assigned posting.
ReplyDelete"Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."
ReplyDeleteThese lines foreshadow some dark events that are to come. They show the hunger for power that Macbeth has. They are important because he is basically saying that he plans to kill the King in order to obtain the title, instead of Malcolm. They also foreshadow Macbeth fulfilling the Weird Sisters' prediction about him obtaining the title. This is a monumental moment in the first four scenes.
Nancy
1:3: 82-85
ReplyDelete"BANQUO The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!"
I must say that this passage caught my eye at first because of its brilliant imagery; even while I read it now the words evoke some indefinable, interesting emotion in me. And as I ponder the meaning beyond this simple assortment of letters that feeling only grows. To my mind, the weird sisters are called bubbles of the earth because while they are of this world, they still seem to be connected with something beyond physicality that allows them to have knowledge of the future; this "thing" could be an area of the mind, but it could be something deeper that is even more peculiar then the sisters themselves. Either way, they choose to straddle two worlds, to exist in the threshold between both, as bubbles exist between air and water (and interestingly enough, bubbles are composed both of air and water). Now we cannot know yet why they make this choice, but for now at least it's incredibly interesting to observe their interaction with each other, with Macbeth, and with the earth.
Johnny
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(Edit)
ReplyDelete1-4-6
"Very frankly he confessed his treasons,
Implored your highness' pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance. Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it. He died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As ’twere a careless trifle."
In this passage, Malcolm informs Duncan of the thane of Crawdor's death, following his treason. Malcolm speaks of how much the thane must have “studied his death”. This, along with his “deep repentance” shows the amount of thought and consideration the thane put toward the actions he had taken. Malcolm’s statement that “nothing in life became [the thane] like the leaving it” is quite powerful considering the trust and respect the thane had been bestowed with prior to his treason. The thane appeared to treat the “dearest thing he owed”, his life, as near meaningless. This is a sharp contrast to Macbeth whose promise to become king has made him frantic as it quickly becomes the “dearest thing he owed”; however, he has done nothing but obsess over it. Very quickly, and possibly to his own eventual detriment, Macbeth disregards his allegiance to Duncan. As the thane and Macbeth are similar in their honor turned treason, I believe the thane serves as a possible view into Macbeth’s future, and one who Macbeth might have done best to consider.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair." 1-1-12. I think these lines do more than foreshadow, and do more than show the malevolence of the witches (are the witches evil?). Somehow, the very idea of fairness is foul. Perhaps fairness is justice, which, in its often grim retribution, can be horribly foul. This seems to be what Macbeth is referring to when he says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen..." 1-3-38. Is Macbeth's fate just in any way? It is just because, even though he was led to to his ideas by the witches, it was ultimately his own weakness that undid him?
ReplyDeleteJohnny, I share your love of that imagery. I think it adds to the witches' mysticism. They are something inherent in the earth, something natural and timeless, and yet they have powers that could never be ascribed to the earth. They are beyond normal humanity and character development. Their motives are mysterious, their pronouncements truthful, and their limitations few. They unite the worlds of illusion and reality that become confused throughout the play.
I also noticed how thoroughly the witches' prophecy overtook Macbeth's thinking. Banquo warns Macbeth that "the instruments of darkness tell us truths," but Macbeth responds by proclaiming, "Two truths are told as happy prologues to the imperial theme." 1-3-140. Yet Macbeth has fleeting moments of lucidity. He questions the motive of the witches as he begins to imagine Duncan's murder. I read the last few lines of this aside as not only referring to his image of Duncan's corpse, but also the death of his own independent thought: "My thought, whose murder is so fantastical, / shakes so my single state of man / that function is smothered in surmise." 1-3-152
Act 1, scene 3, lines 40-43
ReplyDeleteAct 1, scene 3, lines 54-55
I thought that that this part of scene three was interesting because it showed how quickly Macbeth and particularly Banquo could go from thinking that witchery was dark, invalid magic to believing their prophecies about their lives. The moment that the witches began to predict that Macbeth would become Thane of Cawdor and eventually king, Macbeth and Banquo stopped looking at them critically and wanted to hear more.
In this scene, it is also clear how evil the witches are. For example, the First Witch tells the others how she will torture a sailor because his wife did not give her walnuts. Previously, I was unsure whether the witches were evil or kindly.
The question about whether or not the witches are truly evil or just agents of fate is a good one. Looking beyond what they say to Macbeth was useful, too, Anna. Thanks for that. I wonder if they are consistently evil or neutral in power. There is one scene farther along that scholars claim with some confidence was not written by Shakespeare. If that's true, is it not at least worth considering if the portrayal of that kind of power vacillates to some degree from scene to scene. Heresy? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteTyler:
ReplyDeleteHey Jim, sorry for late post, won't happen again.
Moving on, a section I found interesting was a line by Macbeth that seems to defy what I would originally conceive of his character before having read the actual play.
Scene three: lines 167 - 169. In this, Macbeth professes how it is his duty to attend to the hardships and suffering of those who serve him, in the form of the phrase, "Kind gentlemen, your pains are registered where everyday I turn the leaf to read them." To me, Macbeth's tone is gracious and humble, exemplifying the belief that one leads for the good of his subjects, rather than for his own personal glory. Comparing this passage to Macbeth's transformation into a character driven by greed and thirst for power is what will interest me the most in coming scenes.
In addition, (in response to another topic raised above) I believe that the witches are not evil, but in setting Macbeth on his path to destruction have merely begun the inevitable: Macbeth is destined to become hungry for power, and because fate is their task, they are putting his path to corruption in motion. It does raise some interesting questions for me: if this is true, does it mean that Shakespeare is expressing how even the noblest of men can eventually be corrupted by desire and greed? Is descent into evil inevitable for the most honorable leaders? At the moment, I'm not sure, but I will keep thinking of this theme as I continue reading.
Hi Jim this is Jazzy, I am sorry for such a late post, I could not find your email. It would happen again.
ReplyDeleteAct 1, Scene 3, Lines 15-22
I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
T'th' shipman's card.
I'll drain him dry as hay...
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
I found this passage interesting because the Weird sisters here are explaining how they are associated with the downfall of Macbeth. This passage has so much meaning and symbolism of the ideas of ships, hay and surprisingly eyelids.
For the symbolism behind ships, I found myself thinking that boat travel at the time is fairly new and compasses are really a ships only way of navigating to itself to it's destination. I think this can be applied to Macbeth because he is fairly new and has little experience at obtaining wealth so as we saw when he gets the information about being king his moral compass gets thrown into the wind, which push a boat in certain directions, will now be replaced with the weird sisters prediction that really has no wind behind it, pushing his boat in a specific direction. The only port he has been to, the only thing he knows is killing, so that is the actions he will take to get to his destination/destiny.
Another thing I found interesting with the weird sisters prediction was the use of the word hay. It means herbage but it also means reward and I felt this play on the word gave her speech more meaning and gave the audience an idea that Macbeth will get no reward if he believes the prediction is his compass.
Lastly, when the first witch was talking about eyelid, and the gruesome act of hanging him from them, I thought about how eyelids are your protection from the world and yourself. For Macbeth, the witches will take away his protection so he can see the truth.Taking away his protection, takes away is hiding place. So now Macbeth cannot hide behind the prediction to justify his killing King Duncan, the metaphor of out of sight out of mind. Also, I thought of the symbolism of this eyes being that gateway to the soul, and he tries to hide from people and himself his black soul and without the eyelids protection, he will be exposed.
I think this excerpt really caught my eye because it was foreshadowing but also informative to the character of Macbeth in how he will deal with what the Weird sisters present to him. I look forward to seeing this passage put in motion and how this prediction plays itself out.