Macbeth

[d3zm0nd]

Yep, well, I know somebody out there's gotta have done it sometime.
Anywho, have an essay due tomorrow, and am SERIOUSLY stuck for ideas.
Little help?
Essay question:
The hero of Macbeth is not a good man who commits a tragic error but an ambitious man who knowingly turns great gifts to evil purposes
Evaluate the truth of this statement and consider how much of the tragedy of Macbeth is dependent upon Macbeth's character and how much upon the situation in which he finds himself.


OK, so there it is. I've said that he was an ambitious man that turned great gifts to evil, and that the whole tragedy of Macbeth is dependent upon the fact that he is/was a good man, but was overcome by ambition and evil desire. I've mentioned the witches and Lady Macbeth, but that they were merely an influence and he retained free will throughout the play, making the tragedy.
Any help would be appreciated.

[floody]

I forget, but does it go like this?
Witches predict stuff, bubble bubble toil and trouble etc
Macbeth whoops a bunch of other redheaded, kilt wearing, haggis lovers to become thane of mcsomething or o'something-or-other.
Would love to have a beer with Duncan, 'cause Duncan's his mate - but kills him instead.
MacB's missus goes berko, out damn spot etc. Probably couldn't get Solvol in medieval Scotland.
Banquo's ghost hangs around making old MacB go a bit potty.
Bunch of enraged scottish blokes commit an act of ecological destruction by wholesale uprooting dunsinane wood and dragging it to MacB's crib.
A bloke not of woman born, who's mum had a caesarean, ends up skewering old Macbeth who provides the moral force of the story through his downfall.

Another lovely, cheerful Shakespeare tragedy?

[d3zm0nd]

Another lovely, cheerful Shakespeare tragedy?

As per usual, the bloodiest too I've been told.
Oh, and it's Banquo's ghost that haunts him not Duncan's. :p

[Chamelion]

I don't miss those stupid english assignments one little bit...

[Mr_hANky]

dezmond what high school are you at then?

[d3zm0nd]

Somerville.
Next to Winthrop High on Murdoch Uni campus if ya don't know it.

[eternalgorias]

Not very useful, and the wrong play, but highly entertaining-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVc5TaPpe8&mode=related&search=

[leitch]

thats really a pretty easy question. what are you stuck with? you just need to ramble on about how Macbeth was brought down by his own hubris (character flaws, essentially). his arrogance and ambition made him vulnerable to the influences of Lady Macbeth and the Witches. etc, etc. In evaluating it you're going to have to include some amount of qualifying material, which will basically be talking about the influence of the witches and lady macbeth.

really you're going to be doing a lot of fleshing out of the thing by using quotes and shit like that - "i dare do all that may become a man....", all that shit about acting on his first thoughts, and the other about being in too deep or whatever it was (i cant remember how it goes :p ) among others

one last thing that could probably help is to include a paraphrased Sophoclean definition of tragedy - make sure its paraphrased not verbatim - makes you seem like you understand it a bit better. ie "the sophoclean definition of tragedy essentially defines a tragedy as being the story of an essentially good man, brought down by flaws in his own character." or something crap like that.

oooh thought of another quote you have to use - that one about his vaulting ambition, and pretty much anything from that first soliloquy - "on this bank and shoal of time we'd jump the life to come" etc - shows his ambition and that at that oint in the play he still has his sense of whats good and whats not (talking/worrying about the consequenses of his actions, etc)

anyway, hope some of that was helpful (doubt it was, but anyhoos...)

[d3zm0nd]

Cheers Leitch.
It actually did help, thanks very much.
I'll get back to you with my mark ;) :rolleyes:

[DownhillerDeano]

I don't miss those stupid english assignments one little bit...

I hear you! I just could not follow macbeth one bit, perhaps it was the language or the fact that shit just does not interest me one bit, however, after about 4 weeks I started to get the gist of what happened...enough to get a C in the essay.

[kernsy]

i did an essay on macbeth once it was bloody hard i think i failed but that was in year 8

[AngoXC]

...though Macbeth was more of a serior text...pretty hard to grasp in Year 8...

[sockman]

how many words?

i hate essays... i have done 6 1000+ word essays in the last week... it gives me headaches everytime i look at ms word...

[floody]

As per usual, the bloodiest too I've been told.
Oh, and it's Banquo's ghost that haunts him not Duncan's. :p

Ok, cool. Its only been, I don't know, a DECADE since I read it last.