Color Purple and Macbeth
What is a perfect human? Human perfection may be measured by physical ability or intellectual achievement; however, it may also be measured by strength of character, and in this realm humans may often fall short. Weakness of character, shown through various character flaws, causes most of the hardships in life. Literature such as Shakespeare's Macbeth and Alison Walker's The Color Purple contain three levels of characters: setting characters, secondary characters and the main character. Combined, these three all contribute character flaws which leads to the novel or play's ultimate tragedy. The setting character appears in the beginning of a piece of literature to give one a feel and sense of how the piece will reach out to the reader. King Duncan sets the atmosphere in Macbeth when we see different characters take advantage of his character flaw, naivete. Immediately we begin to see some of the major themes such as betrayal and manipulation and know what direction the play will take. King Duncan's naivete is first shown when we find out that the former Thane of Cawdor has betrayed King Duncan and that he did not have any idea of it. This incident then prepares us for King Duncan's meeting with Lady Macbeth, where Lad
y Macbeth deceives King Duncan. We know Lady Macbeth is not loyal, yet he considers her his "honour'd hostess.../Which still [he] thank[s] and love[s]" (I. vi. 9-12). Once again when naive King Duncan puts his trust into the hands of disloyal Macbeth by making him Thane of Cowdar, the atmosphere and plot advances by making Macbeth's future plans possible. Celie's mother, in the beginning of the novel The Color Purple, is a very small but effective setting character. Her character flaw was irresponsible parenting because she did not protect her daughter. With this lack of protection, Celie did not have any female role models when she was growing up. Therefore, Celie was not able to become knowledgeable about life and have good female company. Another effect this flaw had on the protagonist was that she had no one to teach her how to understand herself. Celie was unable to realize all of the wonderful qualities of being and becoming a woman. Because she could not appreciate being a woman, she was unable to appreciate herself, and therefore had a lack of self confidence. Celie was also not taught her rights, both as a female and as an individual. Thus, she was beaten and never knew she could do anything about it. It is interesting to see how after the character flaws of both King Duncan and Celie's mother are revealed, one can predict the genre of the play or novel. In the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has a very significant role. Nevertheless, she is a secondary character. The greed that Lady Macbeth manifests allows her to take actions which contribute to the tragedy of the play. When Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits to Macbeth, being the main character in the play Macbeth, has a major character flaw - his ruthless ambition. Macb
Some common words found in the essay are:
Color Purple, Lady Macbeth, King Duncan, King Scotland, Furthermore Celie, Macbeth Celie, Purple Sofia, , Macbeth Sofia, Seize Fife, lady macbeth, king duncan, character flaw, color purple, character flaws, main character, literature shakespeare's macbeth, macbeth alison, king duncan's, shakespeare's macbeth, walker's color, alison walker's color, walker's color purple, macbeth alison walker's, shakespeare's macbeth alison,
Approximate Word count = 1189
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
