Macbeth (Essay Sample)

Instructions:

Final Draft Uploaded to D2L by October 21 at noon Purpose & Overview This assignment will help you think about the roles interpretation and cultural attitudes about a text play in shaping your reading of a text. Steps to Completion 1. Read Macbeth. 2. Consider the fact that plays are written for performance, and are therefore intended to be seen and heard, not just read. 3. One of the most divisive moments in the play, regarding staging, is the “is this a dagger I see before me?” speech. In some productions, the actor mimes a dagger that isn’t really there, implying that Macbeth is going crazy with guilt over the murder of Duncan. In other productions, some form of stagecraft is used to make an actual dagger appear to float about the stage – this choice makes it clear that there is truly something supernatural going on. 4. Write a 2-3 page essay, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1” margins, explaining which choice best reflects your interpretation of the play. Use at least 3 examples from the text to explain why you read the play either supernaturally or psychologically, and explain why your chosen staging option reinforces your interpretation. 5. Save the document as a .pdf file and upload it to D2L by the due date. Tips 1. You’ll need to make it clear why you read the play either as a ghost story or a tale of a person’s psyche unravelling. To do so, you’ll need to use examples from outside the scene where Macbeth is chasing down the dagger (in addition to potentially quoting the scene itself). 2. There’s no such thing as a “right” way to do this; we don’t know how Shakespeare intended it to be performed. What makes your opinion good or bad is how well you back it up and explain it. That means understanding what payoff you get from reading it one way versus another. 3. If you use the online videos from the linked text, you may see one or both interpretations being represented. That doesn’t make them wrong or right. 4. Try to avoid “What people thought ‘way back then’ arguments – this is about your relationship with the text. We can’t dig Shakespeare up and ask him about it. 5. Make sure you work ahead so that you know if you have any questions for me well before the due date! source..

Content:

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Number Date Macbeth The play Macbeth dramatizes the physical and psychological detrimental effects of political ambition on people who want power. It is a play rife with prophecy, peril, and death. Witches, military conquest, kingly intrigue, lunacy, and betrayal are just a few of the elements that this story uses to illustrate the cost of pursuing one's own goals and the effects of power-play at the highest levels of government. The murder of King Duncan leads me to interpret the play in terms of violence and hallucination along with other motifs, like prophecy, illustrated in the play. The violent and depressing weather plays in with the story’s motif of violence thus making me interpret the play as violent. In the play, violence ties directly with the weather. For example, a ferocious storm continues to blast all night after King Duncan is killed. The violent action in the play is often mirrored in the weather, which also heightens the sense of disarray and turmoil the characters experience. The guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience after the Murder of King Duncan also makes me interpret the play in terms of hallucination. As their surroundings become more chaotic and they are responsible for an increasing number of crimes and homicides, Macbeth, as well as Lady Macbeth both, feel overcome with guilt. Macbeth makes a speech “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” This implies that he is consumed with guilt over the killing of King Duncan. The play highlights the psychological and physical toll that political ambition has on those who want power. In the play, the three witches prophesize that Macbeth will be made the king of Scotland. After his wife knows about it, she succumbs to fantasies of control and power and forces Macbeth to carry out unimaginable acts to fulfill the prophecy. This indicates the pursuit of greed and hunger for power, and how doing so eventually results in one's ultimate destruction. For this reason, I read the play as a tale because it illustrates the way people execute destruction and murder when they are controlled by their greed for power, and eventually, they start feeling guilty for what they did. For example, after the killing of Duncan and the cause of crimes and more killings Macbeth and his wife start feeling guilty. The description of Macbet...

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Macbeth (Essay Sample)

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