"She should have died hereafter. / There would have been a time for such a word. / Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day / To the last syllable of recorded time, / And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! / Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more. It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, /Signifying nothing,"
Throughout Macbeth, Macbeth has changed completely. In the beginning he could not even stick up for himself to his wife, and he let Lady Macbeth boss him around. We see the first change for him after he killed Duncan, because obviously taking someone's life will affect him. After he decides to have people kill Banquo, another change for Macbeth is apparent. At that point he is more relentless and decisive. That could be the case because now he is knee deep in achieving and maintaing his ultimate goal of being king and having heirs. Therefore, there is no going back. He has already killed people to aid his success and he has to continue to kill people to ensure his absolute rule. It is strange to think how he seemed like the underdog and weak male in the beginning, but power hunger has turned him into a heartless man. Macbeth says the quote above in Act 5 scene 5. He is saying that life is nothing more than an illusion, and its a tale told by an idiot. Furthermore, he is expressing that while life is full of noise, problematic situations, obstacles, their is no true meaning of any of this at the end of the day.
On a different note, it is interesting to look at how power can affect people. Macbeth is the prime example through out the play, as he originally seems so weak, but ends up becoming a whole different person due to power. However, the irony here is that when Macbeth started to gain power as King, people started to dislike him such as Malcolm. By the end of Macbeth, Macbeth's head is on a platter because of Macduff, and Malcolm is now king. ITS ALL A VISCOUS CYCLE. No matter what anyone says, everyone is affected by power, its in our human nature. Unfortunately, everyone in one way or another changes because of their greed for power, and this is a never ending cycle.
Sasha,
ReplyDeleteI think that your post is interesting. Why do you say that it's a viscous cycle? Do you think that Malcolm will become greedy and be overthrown? I think that there is evidence that many people are motivated by greed, but I don't think that everyone is looking for power. Some people are content to live the lives of "peasants", and that's ok. If everyone was an aristocrat, who would tend to the crops? I think that it's interesting that you think everyone is affected by power. Do you feel that you are affected by power?