Macbeth22
English drama, as we know it was not always the way it is. It has evolved tremendously since the time of early church plays. Drama in England began long before the Renaissance period. It originated from early church's ceremonies that were performed to educate the common folk. Before the Renaissance, several kinds of plays were written and produced. Miracle plays and mystery plays were introduced to teach people stories from the Bible. Morality plays taught people how to live and die. Soon, these plays became too dramatic for church purposes; so, priests ordered the removal of drama from the church. Between the 1300's and 1400's, various workers' guilds cooperated in staging cycles of plays that dramatized the whole history of human race. According to the Elements of literature book (page 283 paragraph 2), parts of four cycles of these plays have been preserved and named after the towns where they probably came from. These cycles were named, York, Chester, Coventry, and Wakefield. Gradually, the plays became less religious. They often relied on deus ex machina, an artificial device arbitrarily used to resolve a plot. Later, comedy was incorporated i
The weight of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's crimes are represented through the reaction of nature to those actions. Shakespeare shows this relationship by using body politic. Body politic states that if politics go wrong, then nature goes wrong. In Macbeth, the murder of King Duncan is the political flaw, where chaos is nature's reaction. The first example of body politic occurs when Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero very clearly. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the beginning of the play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine that of murder, his mind rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me", (Act I, Scene 3) yet, increasingly his ambition defeated his good nature. When Duncan named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth decided on the murder of Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controlled his ambition for the time being and did not kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth who called him a coward soon reflected the failing of his decision. From then on, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered into a life of evil. Since he overcame his good nature, he no longer needed to be with his friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the king. He then killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches said about Banquo's son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would reach his ambition without problems. Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth sleepwalked and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and Banquo. She died because of all this pressure and guilt about the murder. Macbeth would never have guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for the killing in Macduff's household. When Macbeth found out that Macduff was not born of woman, and found out that Birnam Wood had been seen moving, he realized that the third apparition had deceived him. He understood he was no longer safe. Through the development of his character, Macbeth turned from a fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong belief in the witches, ended him of his life, and caused many people to lose their lives. Understanding the importance of imagery and character development in Macbeth helps us develop the theme of the play. It is interesting how Shakespeare incorporates imagery into Macbeth. By using imagery, Shakespeare is able to communicate the message of evil and chaos. Imagery serves as an effective tool in bringing about understanding and correlations. As a result, Shakespeare has managed to establish a basis for literature dealing with evil and sin. In the play Macbeth, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. "This guest of summer, / the temple-haunting martlet does approve, / . . . that the heaven's breath / Smells wooingly here;" (Act 1. Scene4.line 4-6). When I viewed the play on film, my understanding of the play expanded because actions were performed to carry out certain phrases. Viewing a play gives the audiences a feeling of what is going on. It sets in motion a physical description of the information given from reading. There is a saying, " Action speaks louder than words", and this was the case in the play Macbeth. According to Mrs. Stalder, Macbeth is a play that was meant to be performed, not read. The only disadvantage in the film was the fact that scenes were added and subtracted from the play. In the BBC version of Macbeth, scenes were cut out and new ones were added in. For example, in act five scene three, Macbeth's conversation with the doctor and Seyton was cut out. A new scene with the witches standing in the background was added when Macbeth met with the mur
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3730
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)
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