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Similarities Between 1984 And Macbeth

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One must avoid being deceitful and masking the truth behind their intentions, or they shall witness tragic events occur. The theme of deception by appearance leading to negative consequences present in both Orwell’s 1984 and Shakespeare’s Macbeth connects them to a great degree. Although Lady Macbeth displays herself to be a gentle character, she successfully convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan by teaching him to display himself as innocent, but with foul intentions. Lady Macbeth’s deceitful behavior inevitably leads to a wretched ending. When Macbeth develops second thoughts about killing King Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells him how to deceive others with his looks, by telling him to “Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ’t.” (Shakespeare 1. 5. 76-77). In this quotation, Lady …show more content…

The word “serpent" is also contradictory to how Macbeth is portrayed in the beginning of the play. He displays himself as a confident and loyal soldier, while the word serpent symbolizes stealthiness and betrayal. In the end, it is seen that negative consequences are suffered, as Lady Macbeth’s deceptive behavior causes her husband’s death in battle. In a similar fashion, in Orwell’s 1984, Julia displays herself as a loyal member of The Party, despite her often disobeying party rules. This deception eventually leads to a tragic conclusion. When Macbeth finds out that Julia is not a loyal member of the Party like he thought she was, Julia explains that she does “voluntary work three evenings a week for the Junior Anti-Sex League. […] I always carry one end of a banner in the processions.” (Orwell 80). In this quotation, Julia explains her deceptive techniques to Winston after her appearance made him think she was a supporter of The

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1572 Words | 7 Pages

Prior to Duncan’s death, Lady Macbeth recognizes Macbeth’s inner turmoil and she takes matters into her own hands. Lady Macbeth advises him of her plan to kill Duncan and explains that she will conduct the evening's events. She states, “Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,/ Your hand, your tongue. / Look like th' innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under ’t. /He that’s coming / Must be provided for, and you shall put / This night’s great business into my dispatch, / Which shall to all our nights and days to come” (Shakespeare 1.5.55-61).

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1512 Words | 7 Pages

Betraying Winston means giving in to Big Brother and loving Big Brother more than Winston. Julia admits that she genuinely wanted the pain to be for Winston, so that it would stop for her. Her soul is nonexistent after being released from the prison, and she feels no emotion or love for Winston, only love for Big Brother. This crumpled her soul, and forced a Pro-Party mentality into an unwilling body. After making certain decisions against her society, she falls, and so does Lady Macbeth.

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470 Words | 2 Pages

Human Degradation Comparison between 1984 and Macbeth The living conditions in Macbeth and 1984 similarly share tight foundations of which the ‘Government’ runs the society. In Macbeth, the original King was murdered and sequentially Macbeth became the new ruler. Under his leadership, the grip he had on Scotland was very firm and he sought to destroy all opposition to his rule. 1984 however saw the Party use unjust actions to lead their rule.

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398 Words | 2 Pages

In Orwell's 1984 and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, conflict is used as the driving force to demonstrate the theme that people in power often control others through violence. The abuse of power by Big Brother and Macbeth is portrayed in both texts through internal conflicts and conflicts between characters. As Winston struggles with his views, it is clear he desires everyone to be unorthodox like him, “I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” (Orwell 158). Winston’s comment depicts his internal conflict as he understands that he alone cannot change Oceania’s regimented society.

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1256 Words | 6 Pages

People are always told to face their fears, but sometimes you just have to do the opposite to get by. The book 1984 by George Orwell and play Macbeth by William Shakespeare are two tragedies that are told under different circumstances. By imagining what the world would be like years later and how terrifying it would be to live compared to how one goes on to live a life and perform tasks out of delusional thoughts. Winston and Macbeth both face situations determined by previous actions that led them to a harsh ending. Through both stories there are similarities that come with both Winston and Macbeth to lead them to their downfall, but in some cases they had different adventures leading them to their endings.

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212 Words | 1 Pages

Shakespeare continues to present Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman through the theme of duality. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to “act like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”. ‘Serpent’ has connotations of evil and deadly suggesting that in order for Lady Macbeth to become queen her and Macbeth must have the intentions of a serpent whilst also acting innocent towards Duncan. The serpent may also have biblical references to the serpent in Adam and Eve which caused betraying G-d which may foreshadow Macbeth disturbing the natural order created by G-d- the audience of the time would know that betraying G-d leads to chaos from disturbing the natural order.

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The Lion King How many times have we heard about the Shakespeare 's influence? Because of the particular and flawless works of William Shakespeare, it is not surprising that why he is one of the most influential person in the literary society for more than century. Undoubtedly, there are many people willing to let their heart be broken and cry for his work over and over again. Although his body was consumed by the time, his name and spirit are still breathing in our world through the poetry, literature, book or even movie. It can be found Shakespeare 's influence in every entertainment industry, especially his shortest and bloodiest tragedy like 'Macbeth ', which is the most famous one.

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Comparative Essay | 1984 and Macbeth | Question 1 In George Orwell’s 1984 and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, human degradation can be seen but in slightly different ways to each other. Orwell connects with the values and beliefs of his readers by showing unjust social practices in the way of The Party. Shakespeare shows this when Macbeth is being degraded by the witches and Lady Macbeth. Orwell shows a large population being degraded whereas Shakespeare illustrates only one individual.

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That summons thee to heaven, or to hell” as these reference the unmoral parts of her life suggesting her disturbed nature could be because of her lack of sanity as she hallucinates the blood on her hands. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as disturbed because she subverts the ideas of religion and the supernatural which were contradictory during the Jacobean era. Rather than fulfilling the audience’s expectations that religion and the supernatural are contradictory, she conjures the idea that they are similar as she says, “look like th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t.” The auxiliary verb “be” is quite disturbing because she is demanding Macbeth to be a certain way showing her rebellion against stereotypes as women had to obey their husbands.

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The Thane of King Duncan, Macbeth hears a prophecy that he himself will become king later on in the future after King Duncan. This then leads to Macbeth being overcome by greed. Since Macbeth greeds to be king so bad, he murders King Duncan and takes his place of the throne. Macbeth starts to live with so much guilt and fear that he commits even more murders to have his power safe. Macbeth is so confident in the prophecies that his life comes to a downfall and he gets killed by the people he did wrong.

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

William Shakespeare and George Orwell are two of the most iconic authors of all time. Although living in different conditions and time periods, both of their works show similarities in exploring human nature and defining humanity. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Orwell’s 1984 both explore the human traits in different storylines and styles, but for a similar purpose. Not only do both pieces of literature deeply explore the themes of power and control, but also other aspects of human life such as fear and paranoia. By doing this in each author’s storyline, they connect with the values and beliefs of their readers.

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879 Words | 4 Pages

As quoted before, Lady Macbeth said, “your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” (Shakespeare 1.6. 70-71). This clearly demonstrates the theme of appearance versus reality by saying not everything is what it appears to be on the outside as it is on the inside. Many characters in Macbeth changed their personality to present themselves as good, meaningful characters. In the meantime, many of them were also plotting deaths upon their enemies.

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107 Words | 1 Pages

William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Julia wasn’t much interested in reading, and Winston was surprised to discover that “the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to” (193) Julia. While Winston was greatly concerned about the party’s manipulation of truth, Julia was more interested in freedom of individuality. The clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive, whether it was a love affair, swearing, wearing makeup or obtaining luxuries on the black market. She took great pride in her ability to bring real sugar, real milk, and real coffee to her meetings with Winston (177). Julia’s desires to bring these prohibited items to their meetings, as well as her disinterest in exposing the part indicate that she rebels simply to undermine the party in her own small ways and gain individual freedom.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

Many of the characters in Macbeth use deception to persuade others to do things they want done. Most times these deeds are bad and in the end come back to haunt the characters. Throughout the whole play, Shakespeare uses the theme of deception to create tension, and scandals. These acts of deception will be the falling of many characters and also one of the main themes of the play. In acts one and two, the use of deception is demonstrated.

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