Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I think Macbeth should of stayed away from the witches, or at least ignored what they had said to him from the beginning. Yes, he already had a little idea in his head of what he wanted to do, but the witches definitley got to him. He took what they said to him about becoming King to heart. As soon as he heard this, he knew there was no turning back. They influenced him and pushed him in the wrong direction. Of course, Macbeth made his decision on his own, I'm not blaming the witches, but they certainly played a role in his decision. Also, I think we should look closely at how Shakespeare was tyring to portray these witches anyway. Was he trying to be humorous, serious, or set a scary mood? If he was playing them as humorous, then Macbeth looks like a fool. He took seriously what witches were saying to him, and in return lost his wife, a friend, and his own life. I believe if the witches were out of the picture things would have ended alot differently.
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4 comments:
Titus,
I too agree with you that Macbeth should have stayed clear of the witches. They have only led to trouble and manipulation for Macbeth. Unfortunately his conscious will suffer because of his actions to believe them. In my opinion Master Shakespeare was portraying these witches as a window to how the public views literal truths and their vulnerability in believing so. In some sense I feel he was being boastful and somewhat humorous to himself with the direction he takes with the witches. Shakespeare knows the affects on how gullibly an audience can be especially correlating this idea towards "black magic." I also feel that the witches symbolize the fascination that Shakespeare has with false identities.
Katherine
With keeping the times in mind... I think it was impossible for Macbeth to resist the temptations of power from the witches. In Macbeth's, and Shakespeare's time, "black magic" was a powerful and dangerous thing. Black magic is the work of the devil, making the witches promises so much harder to resist. There are many forces leading him to consider, and believe the witch's prophecy. I don't think we should see Macbeth as foolish, but instead we should have seen him as powerless to the forces at hand. If any of us where in the same situation we would have ended up like Macbeth. Sure the witches are absurd, but think the reason why he did that was out of fear. If he made them serious, I think he was afraid that he would actually be calling upon real evil spirits.
Titus-
I also agree that Macbeth should not have heeded or followed the words of the witches. Women seem to get poor Macbeth into a great deal of trouble. First his wife does not follow his instructions regarding the murder of Duncan the King. Then, because he followed the prophesy of these witches, he basically condemned himself to death. Poor Macbeth, he will never learn that his true curse is women.
If I had witches telling me of my future and that I would be King. I think I would be scared knowing that the only way to get rid of the competition is to murder. It is almost better to leave and never come back. Your future is something you should never know but try to live each day to the best of your ability. I also believe that it was Shakespeare’s comments to the public and how they view people's lives. This is still true today and fly’s off of the magazine stands faster than the magazines can make up the gossip.
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