Is Macbeth Becoming A Bystander To Evil

What is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil?
Interview
Bystander’s are everywhere that you go. Some you don’t really notice and some you look at and think why didn’t you do something? Being a bystander can affect you in many ways. In the book The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir watches his best friend, Hassan, that he grew up with get raped and beat and does nothing, “I’ll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I’m about to do.”(73) The effects it had on him are described throughout the book, and they aren’t for the better. Even though Amir stood by and watched those horrible things, later in his life he changed himself and did what was needed to be done to regain his honor within

himself, “Come. There is a way to be good again, Rahim Khan had said on the phone just before hanging up.”(192)
Another example is the book Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare.

In the beginning of the book, the main character Macbeth is a honorable man that stumbles upon 3 wicked witches that corrupt his mind. When Macbeth and the witches first meet, the witches tell him that he will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and king, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.”(17) The witch’s corrupt Macbeth’s mind with the fact that he can obtain these titles by doing certain things like killing Banquo to progress farther in his ranks. Toward the end of the book, Macbeth isn’t a bystander anymore, but an enemy to many to where he will be slain by a man who was not of woman born. During a battle, a man named Macduff comes and kills Macbeth, “And let the angel whom thou still hast served tell thee Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.”(185) Macbeth became the evil that he stood by from in the beginning.

Questions that will be asked are:
What is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil?
Have you ever been a bystander? What was the situation?
In the book The Kite Runner, Amir watches his best friends get raped. Is it bad that he didn’t help his friends because of the chance that he could of gotten raped too? What would you of done?
Why do you think people choose to be a bystander instead of helping others?

Ms.

Hynes:
What is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil?
- People have a group mentality and you might do something you normally wouldn’t on your own.
Have you ever been a bystander? What was the situation?
-Yes, not sticking up for others or not even sticking up for myself in certain situations.
In the book The Kite Runner, Amir watches his best friends get raped. Is it bad that he didn’t help his friends because of the chance that he could of gotten raped too? What would you of done?
- Yea he should of helped his friend. It’s better to go down trying than to do nothing. I would of helped him no matter what the outcome would of been.
Why do you think people choose to be a bystander instead of helping others?
- They are afraid. They fear for their own safety and if it’s happening to someone else at least it’s not happening to you.

Ms. Vaage:
What is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil?
- The evil will continue. That you yourself will become part of the evil.
Have you ever been a bystander? what was the situation?
- Yes. Lots of times we don’t recognize that we are doing it. As a citizen learning certain things that the government is doing or has done when I don’t register my concern about it.
In the book The Kite Runner, Amir watches his best friend get raped. Is it bad that he didn’t help his friends because of the chance that he could of gotten raped too? What would you of done?
- It’s terrifying place for a young person to be. It’s unfortunate but I wouldn’t call it bad. The fact that he carries that information for so long is the evil part, but being a young person making that decision is hard for him to do. Amir is an example of most of the population in the world.
Why do you think people choose to be a bystander instead of helping others?
- It’s easier in the moment. They also are frightened to help because they don’t know what it means. What can I do or what can be done about it. People don’t know what to do and they forget about it because they don’t think it’s a big deal.

Hannah Matthews:
What is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil?
- You need to have evil in your life. You need to see evil and experience it before you can do it.
Have you ever been a bystander? what was the situation?
- No. Because I like to stand up for what I believe in. I have an obligation to myself.
In the book The Kite Runner, Amir watches his best friend get raped. Is it bad that he didn’t help his friends because of the chance that he could of gotten raped too? What would you of done?
- Yes it is bad. I would of tried to stop it. I wouldn’t let that happen to any of my friends. It’s always different when you’re put in the situation.
Why do you think people choose to be a bystander instead of helping others?
- They’re scared of the outcome and what will happen to them. Other people are selfish.

An article was written titled The Banality of Heroism, a Stanford Prison Experiment that involved 24 your men that were randomly assigned as being “prisoners” or “guards” in a simulated jail. The young men were arrested in there homes and brought to jail. During the simulation, some of the guards actually started abusing some of the prisoners. Nick Tousley quotes, “It demonstrates that all people can be evil in there own little way.” The other guards knew that it was wrong but didn’t do a thing about it, but they still got the equal blame.
People aren’t bystanders because they are forced to be bystanders, they choose to be. It was brought up a lot in the interviews that people choose to be bystanders because of what others will think of them, they are scared of what will happen to them, and people tend to go with the crowd instead of being different. The essential question asked is what is the potential danger to becoming a bystander to evil? The danger is the outcome of what the evil is corrupting. The victim of the evil will be hurt, but in time they will heal. It is proven in Macbeth and The Kite Runner that the danger of being a bystander is the regret of not standing up to the evil. In The Kite Runner, Amir never forgets about how his best friend Hassan got raped and beat. It haunts him for a very long time until he overcomes his fears and faces the evil before him. In the book Macbeth, Macbeth becomes engulfed in the evil that was around him and became the evil itself.

Reflection

I learned what being a bystander really is. I never fully understood or even heard of the concept, but after this unit it has opened my eyes to a lot of different things. I’ve been a bystander throughout my life and never really realized it until now. There are certain times in my life that I regret not doing something about and there are others that I am thankful and glad that I did do something. It feels good to step up to the forces of evil, and it also feel bad not doing anything about it and letting it corrupt the people around you. The lesson I learned for this unit is to stand up for what I believe is right and to not sit back and let others do things I don’t think is right.
I believe that I earned an A in this portfolio because I put a lot of time and effort to answer this question. I think that I have excelled in understanding the concept of a bystander and understand the potential danger of being a bystander to evil.
One thing that I think I did well is answer the question. I got different opinions on the question from multiple people and I didn’t let my one judgement be the final decision. I let others share their input and it helped me understand the question and the definition of the concept better. Another thing I believe that I did well on is asking questions on how the portfolio should be done and revising it to fit the standards required.
Something that I could of done differently is questions that I asked during the interviews, and asking them to go more in depth with their thoughts. I only asked the people I interviewed their main thoughts on the questions, and didn’t push them to go deeper.
Later in life I can use this information in my day to day activities. If someone is being bullied or harassed at my future job, I know that I will be able to step up and tell that person that it is wrong. Later in my life, I will be able to recognise when to help others and know not to sit back and let evil corrupt people. I want to be able to fight evil and I feel that this unit has shown me how to from the book The Kite Runner how Amir finally rewrote his wrongs, and from the book Macbeth how not to let evil corrupt you or others around you.