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Comparison Of Macbeth 'And Gangster In The Huddle'

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Human nature and evilness are closely examined together as there are many conflicting views regarding this subject. William Shakespeare, in his play Macbeth, and Paul Solotaroff, in his article “The Gangster in the Huddle,” have opposing ideas on evils in human nature, believing respectively that evil is something one is born with and evilness in a person comes from external corruption. In Macbeth, Macbeth is born evil through and through, unlike Aaron Hernandez in “The Gangster in the Huddle” who is corrupted by the evils around him. Macbeth is controlled by his fate, whereas the choices that Hernandez makes by his own free will determine how his life plays out. The play, Macbeth, tells the story of Macbeth’s disloyalty through his ambition …show more content…

Macbeth and Banquo have been equally loyal to Duncan, yet before Duncan rewards Macbeth with the a title, Thane of Cawdor, the witches give Macbeth a prophecy that he “that shalt be king hereafter!”(Shakespeare, 6). Similarly, Aaron and DJ Hernandez were equally devoted to their father, Dennis, but Aaron, built stronger and larger, is the “apogee of the family genetics” (Solotaroff, 7). William Shakespeare uses Banquo as a foil to Macbeth to show Macbeth’s impulsiveness to be evil as Banquo is able to “hold” (Shakespeare, 28) and restrain himself; equivalently, Solotaroff uses DJ as a foil to Aaron, where DJ is able to be let go of his father’s death and become a football coach dissimilar to how Aaron is corrupted by it. The foil highlights Macbeth’s internal evil and Aaron’s transformation to becoming evil. Aaron’s decisions and reactions to what life throws at him are what make him evil as opposed to Macbeth’s impulsiveness and his mind “full of scorpions” (39), which proves that Macbeth is inherently evil because of the atrocious thoughts he has. When Dennis Hernandez died both of his sons were distraught, but this affected Aaron more as he began using dangerous drugs and joined a gang, contrasting to how Macbeth does not have an event that changes his course, he just becomes increasingly evil, which points towards Macbeth being born inherently evil. Although both Macbeth and Aaron have a foil to show that they have evil inside of them, the main difference between them is that Macbeth was born with evil already inside of him as he is “sick at heart” (73) and Hernandez changed from a “happy- go lucky … kid brother” (Solotaroff, 9) into a ““violent dangerous kid who was violent to all” (2). Aaron let external circumstances, ie. his father dying, change his life in contrast to this, Macbeth became more visibly evil after his fate was exposed to him,

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All good leaders find a tyrant or all tyrants have a good leader stand in their way. King Duncan of Ireland had his life taken away by the following tyrant and former friend Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth; The young Ralph and the anarchist island lord, Jack from The Lord of the Flies. Many more are known throughout each story, however only a few pose as actual threats to these prime leaders outside their tyrants. Each leader has certain qualities that make them leaders; the identical instance goes for tyrants.

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to set up foils that highlight different characteristics of Macbeth: Duncan reveals the depth of Macbeth’s depravity, while Banquo emphasizes Macbeth’s ambition, and Lady Macbeth accentuates Macbeth’s insecurities; exemplifying how a fatal flaw leads to a downfall. Duncan blindly trusts his subjects by providing them with numerous words of praise and rewards. After the former Thane of Cawdor is executed, the king proclaims,..., depicting his exceedingly naive and credulous features. Duncan's righteous personality contrasts with Macbeth’s cautious and cunning nature, and the virtuous ruler meets his end as his trust for Macbeth obscures Macbeth’s murderous motives. Similar to Duncan, Banquo is another

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Macbeth Foils A foil character contrasts another important character in a story, highlighting their traits, behaviors and individual psyches. This concept is clearly in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. In this play Duncan, Banquo, and Malcome function as foils to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Duncan is a foil to Macbeth.

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In the play Macbeth illustrate innate human tendency to make inhumane choices when given the freedom to. When Macbeth realize that he is trusted by the king and is given more freedom , his inner savagery is stimulated. For example, when Macbeth at the beginning of the novel was praised by the king and his friends as he the kings says “worthiest cousin” macbeth shows that he does not think of anyting but loyalt and respect to his kingdom, but in his mind he seeks the ambition in becoming king and thinks recklessly and tragic activities on his mind. As the acts of savagery become more integrated, the idea of death and blood becomes more comforting, and even encouraging. When king Duncan announces that his son malcom will be next to the throne

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Throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, envy plays a key role in the development and eventual downfall of the main character, Macbeth. It is what leads him down the dark path of committing unthinkables acts of murder and betrayal and what eventually will lead to his demise. Upon further examination into this subject, it can be shown just how Macbeth’s envy did nothing but leave him exposed and shorten his time on the throne. One of the main characters that Macbeth envies throughout the play is Banquo, a noble warrior to Scotland. Banquo is the character foil to Macbeth, he is honourable, noble and smart while Macbeth is deceptive and immoral.

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At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.

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Power can be a tool used to achieve a man’s heartfelt desire. Such is the case for the protagonist, Macbeth, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. After three crones inform him of three prophecies: thane of Glamis and Cawdor, king hereafter, and Banquo’s children will become king, Macbeth is not content with allowing fate to run its course. Soon enough, he joins with his wife to commit murder and ensure that the most sought after prophecy is fulfilled, a kingship. As Macbeth attempts to protect his ambition, his actions go from that of being a noble thane to a man of paranoia, suspicion, and inner turmoil.

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King Macbeth also reveals that he believes the Sisters placed “upon [his] head...a fruitless crown and put a barren sceptre in [his grip]”, exhibiting how he will not be able to leave behind a legacy as king and how Banquo’s sons will take over his already unstable rank. The diction of “fruitless”, “barren” and “unlineal” are considered to be symbols of weakness, compromising his masculinity and prowess as king, giving Macbeth even more reason to be insecure with his stolen position as the monarch of Scotland. During his heightened frenzy about Banquo, Macbeth compared the pair to Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, fearful that “his Genius [would be] rebuked” as “Mark Antony’s was by Caesar” (56). His insecurity in his position pushed him to be suspicious of anything and everything, including his fellow general Banquo, whom Macbeth believed would rob him of his place as king because of how much more worthy he was of the title. Banquo had a “royalty of nature” and a “wisdom that doth guide his valor”, regal characteristics Macbeth lacked.

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They told Macbeth that he was going to be king, and told Banquo that his children were going to be king. With the knowledge that there is a possibility to become king, along with the selfish human nature, noble Macbeth was easily swayed by this prophecy. At first, Macbeth’s conscience took care of his ambitions, he was afraid he would betray the king, because he knew that he was “his kinsman and his subject” (1.7.13). However as the three witches continue to encourage Macbeth with carefully chosen words, he eventually pushes his conscience away and committed crimes that were dishonourable. Macbeth, easily controlled by his ambitions, loses his noble and heroic title in fear of losing his power.

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