Tragedy--> Macbeth

A.) Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth's response upon learning of Lady Macbeth's death is one of the most powerful passages of the entire play. This passage displays his dependence upon Lady Macbeth for strength and motivation and his deep love for her. He feels that life in no longer worth living now that she is gone. He relates life to a "tale told by an idiot...signifying nothing" because he feels that life is basically not worth living without his wife just as a tale told by an idiot is not worth listening to. This passage ties into the theme of masculinity vs. femininity that is present throughout the entire work. The fact that Macbeth was so reliant upon Lady Macbeth for willpower and support was a typical gender role reversal. Lady Macbeth was the one with the real control in their relationship. She was the one manipulating Macbeth by telling him he could not be a coward and making him feel he had to prove his masculinity. This is ironic because behind the scenes she is the one playing the cards. Lady Macbeth is not your traditional loving, innocent housewife; she is dominant, demanding, and absolutely insistant upon Macbeth obtaining the power of the kingship.

As soon as Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth slowly begins to crumble because he was so reliant upon her. He basically consulted her on every move he made and looked to her to justify and assure himself that what he was doing indeed was the right thing to do. After her death, Macbeth's downfall and ultimate murder follow fairly quickly. In this passage, Macbeth pretty much says that life is just going to drag on and on with no point whatsoever now that his wife is gone. Lady Macbeth definitely would not have felt the same way if Macbeth had died. In this relationship, although both of them are fairly horrible, Macbeth is the softer and more caring while Lady Macbeth is the more canniving and guiltless. Macbeth actually struggles with himself and the person he is becoming a couple of times throughout the course of the play, while Lady Macbeth washes her hands clean of the blood and moves right on. She is certainly the more aggressive and hardened character.

B.) Macbeth is most certainly categorized as a tragedy. The character of Macbeth, through his own actions and ambition, causes his own downfall. Though once credited as a brave military leader, Macbeth lets his greed and desire for power ultimately destroy him. The definition of a tragedy is a dramatic composition dealing with a serious or somber theme typically involving a great person destined through a flaw of character to downfall or destruction. Macbeth obviously falls under this category because though he could have been great and revered for his abilities, he wants more and more and lets his ambition destroy his personality. The reader has to feel some degree of sympathy for Macbeth in this play because his greed causes him nothing but more and more misery and despair. I think Macbeth realizes the wretched person he has allowed himself to become when Lady Macbeth dies and he is left with basically nothing but to await his death, which he seems to know is inevitable as an army marches toward him.

The difference between the Macbeth that is engulfed and blinded by his own ambition and the Macbeth that could have lived happily had he not been given the witch's prophecies is so dramatic that the reader must pity the way things turned out. This drastic difference and change in personality when presented with an oppurtunity for power enforced the theme that power can be costly, even deadly, and can cause changes in people that could never have been expected.

C.) I enjoyed this play but it was probably my least favorite of the Shakespearean plays we have read this year. I thought the killing got to be a little too much and was not really necessary after a while. The theme of the desire for power being a force too powerful for Macbeth to overcome was clear and I did not really think quite that many murders were needed to accentuate the theme. I did like the gender role reversals in the beginning of the play and the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was an extremely powerful character, though terribly evil, and she served as the driving force behind Macbeth's actions, assuring him all along that he was doing the right thing and manipulating him by making everything into a test of masculinity.

Lady Macbeth is not your traditional wife, especially in the time that this play was written, and I appreciate the fact that in the actual plays she is almost always depicted as fairly attractive. Generally evil people are depicted as ugly or deformed, but Lady Macbeth is deceiving because her appearance does not parallel her personality. I also found myself pitying Macbeth, even though he was a pretty horrible person, because he was so mislead and power-hungry that he basically destroyed his own life and caused his own misery.

Comedy-->A Midsummer Night's Dream

A.) My favorite parts of this play were definitely the conversations between Bottom and his idiotic friends while preparing their play. Their complete foolishness, mis-wordings, and conceit were hilarious. One of the most ridiculous exchanges is here.
STARVELING:
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
BOTTOM:
Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more
better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them
out of fear.
QUINCE:
Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be
written in eight and six.
BOTTOM:
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT:
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING:
I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM:
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to
bring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is a
most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful
wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to
look to 't.
SNOUT:
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM:
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen through the lion's neck: and he himself
must speak through, saying thus, or to the same
defect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wish
You,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I would
entreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my life
for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it
were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a
man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name
his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.


I chose this passage because it really displayed the studpidity of Bottom and his fellow actors, if we can really call them actors. Bottom is so impressed with himself that he genuinely believes his acting may confuse and frighten the audience and feels the need to add in a prologue just to assure the ladies, whom he obviously considers very fragile and easily deceived, that the lion is actually a real man and that no one will actually be harmed with their swords. Bottom is the ring-leader of the charades in the group and he is definitely the most egotistical. He pretty much declares that he should just play all the roles when Quince is naming the parts. The way he makes adding the prologue and being way overly-sensitive so as not to frighten the audience such a big and important issue proves that he really has nothing better to do with his time. The funniest part of the entire scene is the fact that Bottom does not recognize his arrogance at all. He does not filter what he says and he certainly does not try to avoid making himself seem arrogant and conceited. He does not even realize how obnoxious he sounds.

Another part of the diction that immensely contributed to the comedy was the frequent misuse, misspelling, and incorrect pronunciation by these characters. In the passage above, Snout asks whether the ladies will be "afeard" of the lion. A grown man mispronouncing this word in such a childish way evoked a really comical image in my head. I could picture the group of men prancing around like toddlers thinking up all these "clever" ideas to make their play even better than it already is. Bottom is the glory-hog, constantly fighting to be the center of attention and have everyone recognize and praise his amazing capabilities. The fact that he thinks he is so great and yet his name is Bottom is also comical and ironic. The name Bottom, to me, connotates someone low down and barely mediocre yet Bottom seems to think he is the cream of the crop.

The way Bottom is genuinely trying to cater to the ladies in the audience by repeatedly ensuring them that the play is not real and the characters are actually men is hilarious and ironic at the same time. Bottom obviously is under the impression that the ladies in the audience will be so weak-minded and fragile that they will be fooled by the outstanding acting in the play and think the events are actually occuring. He feels so strongly about this that he insists upon a prologue and constant reminders throughout the play's production. The irony is in the fact that Bottom seems to feel the ladies are the foolish ones yet he is the biggest fool of all. He looks down upon others yet he is the one at the bottom of the intelligence and reality scale. Shakespeare made great use of diction to develop the comedy of this play.



B.) Although I do not generally think of Shakespeare as a comedy writer, he did a great job of representing a seriuos theme in a jovial and light-hearted way. The theme of this play was that love is often misleading and does not always, or usually for that matter, go as planned. Generally Shakespeare's themes of love are created in tragedies and dramas but this play was different. I enjoyed the fact that Shakespeare used a comedy to depict love's hardships and complications rather than a tragedy and was still able to get his point across. Love is saved and order is restored only by the magic of the fairies in the play. This tie to magic symbolized that love rarely happens according to plan and it is truly magic when love does play out perfectly.

Shakespeare establishes humor throughout the play by incorporating the misspellings and mispronunciations of the Athenian craftsman and through many of the comic exchanges between Demetrius and Helena, who is basically an obsessive stalker. I found Demetrius' blunt and harsh responses to Helena's love very comical. Shakespeare utilizes irony in the scene where both Demetrius and Lysander fall in love with Helena and want nothing to do with Hermia and Helena takes it as cruel joke. By mixing up the love lives of the characters, Shakespeare effectively incorporates love's confusion and complexity.

C.) This was my favorite of the Shakespearean plays I have read because I actually found it very funny. Shakespeare uses a very dry sense of humor in this play that I happen to really enjoy. This play was a nice break from the usual tragedies and horrors that I tend to associate Shakespeare with. The character development was one of Shakespeare's best, in my opinion. He created several very different personalities and constructed the play with a couple of unique story lines that all run into one another at the conclusion. I found this play easy to follow and to understand as well. It was interesting because it switched from one story line to another so the reader did not lose interest in what was going on at any point.

I appreciated Shakespeare's ability to tie a real theme into an extremely light-hearted play. The concepts of love, magic, and nature were clearly present throughout the play even though as you were reading it you did not feel the need to get too in depth or interpretative of the words. There were no hidden meanings or obscure themes, at least that I know of. I did not find myself struggling with the plot or the overall meaning of the work at all which made it more fun and relaxing to read.

History--> Richard III

A.) "The tyrannous bloody deed is done/ The most arch of piteous massacre/ ...Their lips were four roses on a stalk,/ Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other/ A book of prayers on their pillow lay"

This passage was particularly catching because of Shakespeare's excellent use of imagery to evoke sadness and horror within the reader. This speech was given by Tyrrel after having Edward IV's children killed. Richard wanted the children killed to secure his position as king and summoned Tyrell, a lowlife, to get the job done. The fact that Tyrell, someone detached from the family, feels such guilt over the murders of the two princes adds to the overall wretchedness of Richard, who takes in the news with joy. These contrasting reactions to the deaths really relay Richard's indifference and lack of conscience. Tyrell feels remorse yet Richard is thoroughly pleased with the news.

The imagery of the passage effectively contributed to the characterizion of Richard as a brutally heartless egotist. The contrasting images of "a bloody deed" and "piteous massace" to the images of "roses on a stalk" and "summer beauty" signify the loss of innocence, a major theme in this play. The children are described with references to nature in this passage representing the fact that they are the innocent and honest heirs to the throne and Richard is disrupting the natural flow of power in order to get what he wants. One line in the passage, "We smothered the most replenished sweet work of nature", speaks to the loss of innocence theme. Nature symbolizes purity which is being destroyed by Richard's selfish motives.

In this passage, the murder of the two children is depicted as bloody to make it all the more horrific. Although the children were smothered with a pillow, their death is portrayed as brutal to further enforce Richard's cruelty and callousness. The fact that Richard could have two innocent children murdered is a realization of Richard's unbelievable and unstoppable ego. Even Richard's most faithful followers are taken aback by his lack of compassion. When ordering Buckingham to have the princes taken care of, for the first time, Buckingham hesitates to do as he is told. He starts to understand that Richard will literally stop at nothing to gain the kingship. This passage does a terrific job of eliciting repulsion of Richard from the reader by appealing to one's emotion with the description of the poor harmless princes clutching each other in death. It is somewhat of a turning point in the play as Richard's followers get a taste of his bitterness and start to understand that absolutley no one means anything to Richard and he will let no one get in his way of the throne.

B.) Shakespeare was able to create an intiguing play from a historical genre, something difficult for any author to achieve. Generally, history fails to be extremely interesting and captivating, at least in my opinion, and I give a lot of credit to Shakespeare's ability to tie the history and the facts in while still creating an entertaining play. Shakespeare dramatizes Richard III's cruelty and personalizes his wicked deeds to draw the audience to his work. Instead of just listing the facts and dryly running through each murder, Shakespeare sets the scene by portraying both sides of the situation. He personalizes the character of Richard by tying in his insecurities over being born deformed. This helped the reader to understand the historical context of the play in full by educating the reader on what most likely were Richard's inner motivations for his extreme egotism and desire for power.

The opening scene alone lays out Richard's feeling of worthlessness. In his opening monologue sketching out his evil plans, it is clear that Richard feels disempowered and extremely bitter about his physical appearance and he is determined to shatter that image of himself by gaining power and evoking fear and respect within the people around him. By adding this personal side of Richard, Shakespeare initially creates some element of pity and sympathy for Richard, which he later destroys as he describes Richard's callous and cold-hearted murders and utter lack of remorse. Shakespeare is able to get the reader involved in the history, taking away the boring aspect of the sheer facts and contributing emotion and attachment to the characters. The people become not just names but actual beings and the reader is able to relate to Queen Elizabeth's despair at the death of her sons and the Duchess of York's grief over her divided family.

C.) I personally enjoyed this play a lot which is something I definitely did not expect. I am not usually the type of person to enjoy reading nonfiction or historical works and assumed I would dislike Richard III based on the fact that it was a history. I was surprised by Shakespeare's capabilities as a writer because he excellently drew in his audience by appealing to the emotions of the reader. I actually felt sympathy and compassion toward the characters who lost their loved ones in Richard's ruthless campaign for the throne.

Shakespeare also provoked frustration from the reader as many of the characters were very niave to Richard's callousness and alterior motives. Richard's ability to win over LadyAnne, despite the fact that Richard killed both her husband and father-in-law, was beyond aggravating to me. Shakespeare incorporated the people's initial blindness to Richard's true- self to make the reader somewhat pity their inability to see the big picture. The frustration created by the people's ignorance added to the suspense and intensity of the play because the reader could foresee the misfortune ahead. Richard's clever way with words and power as a speaker, though frustrating in some circumstances, was an excellent device that he utilized well in getting what he wanted.

Shakespeare constructed the character of Richard in a very dynamic way. Even though I was repulsed by Richard's lack of remorse and conscience, I had to give him some credit for his slyness and way with words. He was able to turn even the worst situations in his favor and he used this to his great advantage in playing those around him to ultimately become king. Shakespeare presented a very complex character in Richard, portraying his inadequacies and feeling of worthlessness as the ultimate motives for his vengeful desire for power.