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Similarities Between Macbeth And The Great Gatsby

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Mihir Sharma Ms. Dornford ENG 3U1-05 10 December 2015 Power and Corruption William Shakespeare in “Macbeth” and F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, depict how greed for power and social status can make women ruthless and crafty in their aspirations. To achieve their ulterior motives, they can destroy lives through either pretense or manipulation. William Shakespeare depicts women as malicious in their intent who can camouflage their real intent to achieve their ambitions. Lady Macbeth is unable to pursue her dreams due to social constraints. Being a woman, she manipulates her husband to realize her dreams. F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby depicts the vulnerability and naivety of women. Daisy desires …show more content…

She is malicious not only in words but also in her intent. Her sole object is to obtain power and wealth, with its attendant treasures. Lady Macbeth lacks humanity and regrets that she was not born as a man. She understands that power and violence are synonymous with manhood and bravery. Additionally, Lady Macbeth interests’ and ambition, override her love for even her husband, Macbeth. “Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts,/unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of dire cruelty” (1.5.41-44). Lady Macbeth is the personification of male dominance, ruthlessness and violence. She hopes that she could take control of all action. She yearns to be a man and her implication is that she is more masculine than Macbeth. Her drive and violent nature is more akin to men and their masculinity. It makes her more ferocious than her masculine counterpart and hence her dominance over Macbeth. As well as she invokes the spirits to deprive her of feminism and make her as volatile as men, so that she can fulfill her dream of being the queen. Lady Macbeth is a bold and ambitious woman. She has implicit faith in herself. She wants to remove every obstacle in her pursuit of becoming the queen. Her ambition is not only for herself but also for Macbeth. Nevertheless, with all her fervor, she wants him to be as strong as her. “Make thick my blood./Stop up the access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/Shake my fell purpose/Come to my woman’s breasts,/And take my milk for gall” (1.5.44-49). Lady Macbeth never wavers in her goal. Like men, she has the trait to be gruesome and diabolical in nature. She has determined for herself the course to be pursued and nothing can hinder her. She does not need the prophecy of the witches to urge her. She is aware of her strength and she is resolute in her aim. Knowing Macbeth’s weakness,

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This is clearly illustrated in her prolonged soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 5. Her extreme willingness to kill King Duncan is apparent in the quote: “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty.” She is calling on ‘evil spirits’ to give her the courage and extensive masculine characteristics. Women in the Jacobean era were considered weak, contrasting what Lady Macbeth wants herself to become. The denoted meaning of the quote is that she wants the spirits to ‘unsex’ her and to fill her with cruelty.

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Lady Macbeth is convinced to rid her self of anything feminine and be fierce like a man. While plotting against Duncan, Lady Macbeth

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When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship.

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Control is a recurring theme in the play "Macbeth" as it warns the audience of the reprecussions of trying to control your fate. The first key event where control features in a significant way is the witches prophecies. They tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland which establishes the importance of fate. Shakespeare conveys the witches as agents of evil that are deceptive and dangerous, "oftentimes to win us to our harm/the instruments of darkness tell us truths," showing that they use truth itself to influence a horrible outcome (Macbeth 's tragic demise.) Their message is compelling and attractive and we can clearly see their effect on Macbeth as it greatly contrasts to that of Banquo.

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Lady Macbeth, on the other hand will do anything to pursue

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Lady Macbeth has a huge role in Shakespeare ’s play Macbeth. In the play we find a very frightening and strong female character. She is the wife of Macbeth and becomes queen later on. In the play she has a manipulative and ruthless characteristic.

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William Shakespeare's Macbeth and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby both include icons who are deceived by ambition and greed throughout these stories. Macbeth, a kinsman with a substantial endeavour for status and power suffers significant setbacks and a depressing defeat. Similar to Gatsby, who let his desire for money and lust for the affluent in wealth rule his aspirations before losing everything in the most painful manner possible. The authors convey this message by basing the plot on genuine occasions and outcomes. Both these tragic heroes are to blame themselves and their interests for such a treacherous end to their infatuations and for pursuing the inconceivable.

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Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.

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This drives Macbeth to the point where he is “Settled and bend-up.” (Shakespeare, trans. 2012, 1.7.92) to prove himself. Her condescending inspiration is the first to trigger a change in his morals and attitude. However, as Macbeth’s own ambition starts to flourish and facilitate an obsessive and power hungry killing spree, Lady Macbeth’s character transforms as well. She becomes helpless and is reduced to a weak figure that sleepwalks and is constantly trying to wash nonexistent

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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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Lady Macbeth is calling to the spirits to assist her murderous ideations and to do that make her less of a women and more like man which will then fill her with deadly cruelty. This supports how she feels, about needing to be manly to commit these horrible

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Lady Macbeth was a very powerful woman who was head strong in her decisions. Lady Macbeth was very wicked and did spiteful things like giving the soldiers alcohol to blame the murder on them. Lady Macbeth thinks that no one is going to find out about the murder of Duncan because her hands will be clean of the murder. Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to kill Duncan so he could be king. Lady Macbeth only wants the fame and fortune; she does not care about anyone’s feelings but her own.

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Well Lady Macbeth, who is dead set on having absolute power, disagrees with that. She convinces Macbeth to kill, to cover up the murders, and tries to convince him that these murders will get them to the top. Lady Macbeth calls upon the witches and states, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 lines 31 and 31). This shows that while in the pursuit of power, Lady Macbeth wanted it so much that she asked the witches to “unsex” her and make her more like man. But along with that you see the theme of gender roles are uncertain which ties into Lady Macbeth leading Macbeth in this pursuit of power, also giving him the ambition that she wants him to

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Make thick my blood.” (1, 5, 47-50) Shakespeare uses this powerful soliloquy to reveal Lady Macbeth ’s innermost desires: to be freed from her menstrual cycle, frailty of womanhood, and feminized traits of pity. Ruthlessness would replace these traits, transforming her into a more masculine identity that is able to gain access to power.

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She is a loyal though misguided wife, not without tenderness and not without conscience. Lady Macbeth’s willingness to sacrifice her femininity exposes her loyalty towards Macbeth. After reading the letter regarding the witch’s prophecies, she decides she must do whatever it take to make Macbeth King: Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.

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