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Macbeth Microcosm

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A tragedy is defined as an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress. William Shakespeare takes such events and constructs dramatic plays surrounding them. Macbeth is one such example; however, he wrote many tragedies including Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and King Lear. Shakespearean tragedies are strongly linked in that they share the same basic structural format, exhibiting environmental intervention, the existence of a tragic hero, and change from an ordered society to a state of chaos. The environment and the supernatural play a significant role in the success of many of Shakespeare’s plays, specifically his tragedies. Macbeth explores the microcosm of the world of witchcraft. When they choose, the witches can …show more content…

The story of Macbeth begins when Duncan is a virtuous leader and King of Scotland, but it quickly deteriorates to bloodshed, causing a spiral of chaos and carnage. Multiple shifts in power occur as well, beginning with Duncan, then switching to Macduff, then Malcolm, and supposedly Banquo’s sons. This constant switching is a trademark of chaos. As Macbeth would say, “strange and self-abuse is the initiate fear that wants hard use. I am yet but young in deed” (3.4.142-144). He believes that causing more chaos and death will somehow make Scotland ordered once again under his absolute rule. A similar phenomenon occurs in Romeo and Juliet, as it starts with a feud between the Montagues and Capulets, an organized society. Until the star-crossed lovers are discovered, the chaos doesn’t erupt. Because they decide to take action on their relationship, it ends with the death of both characters along with Mercutio, Paris, Tybalt and Lady Montague—definitely less orderly than the start. Juliet cries, “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” wondering why the only way their relationship could be open is if he weren’t a Montague (2.2.33). This situation, however, only causes complications. In Julius Caesar, Caesar returns from battle a nobleman in an ordered society and then tries to steal the crown, which results in a great amount of disorder: violence, death, and isolation. These are just three of countless examples of these shifts from order to chaos exhibited in Shakespearean

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According to A.C. Bradley, Shakespearean tragedy have the following elements “although a tragedy may have many characters, it is pre-eminently the story of one person or at most two. The story leads up to and included the death of the hero. The story depicts also the troubled part of the hero’s life which precede’s and leads up to his death. The hero is a conspicuous person, a person of high degree. The suffering and calamity are exceptional, of a striking kind.

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As humans, the power to control is one of the most dominant feelings that ignores the harm it can cause others. The greed for more power brings out the selfish and merciless side of someone, leading them to their eventual downfall and the destruction of everyone around them. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the story begins with Macbeth, who is King of Glamis, and Banquo, King of Lochaber, meeting with the Three Weird Sisters to hear a prophecy they foretell. Macbeth learns he will be crowned King of Scotland and the idea of him becoming king slowly consumes him, becoming his focus throughout the play. For them to control the throne, Macbeth and his wife form plans to kill everyone and anyone in their way, starting with King Duncan

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A tragedy is defined as a story that follows the downfall of someone, usually due to a flaw that the said person has. The crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, is an excellent example of this as the protagonist, John Proctor is the definition of a tragic hero due to the events that occur in the play which lead to his downfall because of his tragic flaw, lust. In a tragedy the main character usually has some kind of tragic flaw that leads to the character's demise, in the Crucible, John Proctor's tragic flaw is his lust. Throughout many parts of the play Proctor shows his lust for Abigail, first by having sex with her during the events before the play, and later having issues with telling the hierarchy that he knows that Abigail is lying about their being witchcraft in the city as evident by this quote “Proctor, with solemn warning: You will not judge me more, Elizabeth.

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Making a movie from direct content that is more than a hundred years old is easy because all the scenes and script is there for your use. Some directors like to make some drastic or minor changes based on their own interpretation of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. While watching both Goold (2010) and Polanski (1971), I have noticed a lot of major differences between the two movies and the original play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare. Some of the differences I have noticed is that is in Goold (2010), Macbeth actually comes to kill Lady Macduff and her children. Another difference in Goold (2010) is that the witches are shown throughout the film.

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Does Macbeth relate to modern society? This can go both ways, there is some evidence that states it relates to society, and some that does not. Most of the story relates to Society for a good reason. If you have the ambition to get a task done, you would do anything to get it done. Even if you use immoral means to get done.

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Once I find the sources I am looking for, I will compare the information and begin to write. If any of the information from the sources I found compare to the either of the plays I read, I will find quotes from the play that could contribute to the paper. In my research, I may take a closer look at the characters that mostly contributed to the tragedies, like Dionysus from Bacchae who caused most of the chaos, and Proteus from The Two Gentlemen of Verona who was the cause of all of the drama. Since, unlike many of Shakespeare’s plays, The Two Gentlemen of Verona was not really a tragedy, I will look at a couple more of Shakespeare’s plays that would actually be labeled a

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Macbeth had become everything that he had ever wanted to be which was the king of Scotland and when the witches told him that someone else was going to take his crown he went to extremes to try to keep them from doing that which was eventually what lead to him dying. The witches had told Macbeth that the sons of Banquo would take his crown so he decided to have Banquo and his son killed Macbeth said, “Our fears in Banquo stick deep/ And in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared”(3.1.49-51). Macbeth did everything he could to protect his crown, but that is eventually what lead to his downfall and his death. He killed his best friend Banquo which was when his ambition had gone to far and was the beginning of his decline.

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A tragedy is defined in the dictionary as “a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability

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