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Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
Shakespeare and mental illness macbeth
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Shakespeare Play Act 5 Scene 1:
The Doctor
1. Briefly summarize the moment in the play your group chose to perform.
In Act 5 scene 1, the Doctor and gentlewoman are trying to find a cure for Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking and mental health. Before she enters the scene, both are talking about her condition and how she is saying things that other people shouldn’t know. The doctor is suspicious that the gentlewoman is lying because they have yet to see Lady Macbeth walk and she isn’t telling him what she is saying. But once Lady Macbeth enters all of his suspicions are replaced with confusing; knowing that she knows things that she should not-especially about the murder of Duncan and Macduff’s family.
2. What is the significance of the scene to the play as a whole? (try to dig deep here - think about themes, character development, tone, etc.)
This scene has a great significance to the play as a whole. I felt as if the Doctor and the gentlewoman
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He didn’t believe her when she said that Lady Macbeth had been sleeping walking as he had not seen her do it while at the castle. In a way, I thought the doctor was almost mocking the gentlewoman for saying such things against Lady Macbeth. After he asked her questions about if Lady Macbeth had said anything while walking, I felt as if he was getting annoyed and frustrated because he wasn’t getting any answers. After he sees and hears Lady Macbeth carry out her depressed performance, he is shocked and confused. I tried to incorporate all of those into my actions when acting as the doctor. For the wardrobe, I wore a white dress shirt, trying to give off the impression of professionalism and the white laboratory coat that modern doctors wear. I also used a notebook to “take notes” just as the doctor had when he said in the play “I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.” (5.1
The Dramatic Effect of Act 5 Scene 1 on the Play Macbeth In this scene the doctor and the gentlewoman wait for Lady Macbeth as it was reported to the doctor that she had been sleepwalking on previous occasions - "since her majesty returned from the field, I have seen her rise from her bed". It is reported by the gentlewoman that every time Lady Macbeth sleepwalks she writes something on paper and she had also seen Lady Macbeth continuously perform an action of washing her hands vigorously. Lady Macbeth enters holding a candle.
meanings along with what is going on in the plot of the play, it is
the main theme of the play. With out this scene in the play I don’t
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
The Impact of Act 2 scene 2 of Macbeth & nbsp; Act 2 scene 2 is the most violent and intense part of Macbeth, although we do not actually witness the murder of King Duncan. It is interesting that Shakespeare chooses to have Macbeth kill Duncan offstage. We can only guess why he wrote the scene that way, I think that Shakespeare wanted to focus not on the murder but on Macbeth’s reaction to it; the bloody details supplied by the audiences imaginations will be much worse than anything that could be done onstage. It is also the most crucial part of the play; it is the first of many murders. This scene takes place at night; I feel the darkness represents what is unnatural, cruel and evil.
The “strong independent woman” is an amalgamation of modern attitudes towards women. Feminist, outspoken, and sexually liberated, this entity breaks the “mother figure” stereotype usually attributed to women. Current society reinforces these unconventional notions, however this was not so in Shakespearian times. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, most female characters are portrayed in “unstereotypical” ways. Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me speech” leads her to acquire male attributes throughout the play, Lady Macduff openly criticizes her husband for leaving, and minor characters such as “the sailor’s wife” are inhospitable and unaccommodating. Although this seems to portray support for modern views of women, this is not true. It, in fact, reinforces traditional roles, as every “strong independent woman” within the play is punished. Women that go against “natural gender roles” disrupt order and lose their personal stability. This is evidenced by the actions of Lady Macbeth, minor female characters such as the sailor’s wife and the gentlewoman, and Lady Macduff.
... upon her. So good night” (5.1.70-73). The doctor is just telling the attendant to keep an eye out on Lady Macbeth, because he was afraid that she was going to harm herself (commit suicide). Even though the Doctor warns the attendant about Lady Macbeth, she commits suicide anyway. Lady Macbeth last words before she die were “To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at the / gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand! / What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed” (5.1.62-64)!
An example of Shakespeare using imagery related to illness to enforce the idea of mental deterioration in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is the quote, “Macbeth does murder sleep, innocent sleep, chief nourisher in life’s feast.” (Page 45) This quote distinguishes that Macbeth is not only murdering King Duncan, but also the innocence tied to sleep, by ruining the chief nouisher, the reader can infer that characters in the play will fall ill because of Macbeth’s dark deed. Ironically, the characters that murdered sleep are the characters that become ill, not physically, but mentally. “These deeds must not be thought of after these ways, it will make us mad.” (Page 45) is another example of Shakespeare using imagery pertaining to illness to reinforce the idea of loss of sanity in the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This quote makes it conspicuous to the reader that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are aware that feeling guilty about the murder will lead to an ailing mind. This quote also reminds the reader that guilt is often followed by mental illness, foreshadowing the mental deterioration of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s minds.
A good moment in the play was in the first scene. This scene is about a girl whose hart has been broken into 19 pieces and she is currently carrying it around in a paper bag. She travels north to the town of Almost to see the northern lights, while there she meets a handy man. Their encounter displayed
30) choose one dramatic convention in Cyrano de Bergerac and discribe how it is used to enhance the text: "The play whas play in Paris, France, in the year 1640" the name of the play is " Cyron de Bergac".
In Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth, Shakespeare creates the ruthless character Macbeth, who is willing to go beyond any measure in order to attain the power of being king, including murder, deceit, betrayal and overpowering the chain of being. Macbeth was first tempted by the idea of kingship when three witches presented him with their portent of Macbeth becoming the next King of Scotland. Ebullient, Macbeth, immediately informed his wife of the news and they both pondered the thought of having the power to rule all of Scotland. Lady Macbeth, a power seeker herself, promptly schemed a plan to kill King Duncan in order for her and her husband to rule, displaying her ready ambition for power. Macbeth’s thirst for power ate away at his conscience
She starts out being observed by a doctor and a gentlewoman. Lady Macbeth enters the scene talking out loud to herself in her sleep revealing her underlying guilt. She starts going down a downwards spiral that she can’t escape from; seeing blood on her hands from the death of Duncan. She tries to wash the blood off, but it won’t go away. Even though she’s in such a bad mental state she still thinks that she and Macbeth are untouchable saying: “A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?” (V.I.40-42). She thinks that just because Macbeth is in power, everything they do will be covered up, and they’ll suffer no consequences. Later in the scene, she starts to feel the effects of her guilt. While attempting to wash the blood off of her hands she says: “ Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (V.I.54-55). No matter what she tries to erase what she’s done nothing will work. Lady Macbeth has gone down a path she’ll never be able to recover from, letting her guilt and regret get the best of
Taking a look at Act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy helps the audience to discern the kind of character; Macbeth is. Though we do not actually know for how long they have been married, her description of Macbeth’s character is eloquent enough for us to believe that she knows what she is talking of. From lines 16 to 22 of this
Thus, we can wonder, what is the dramatic significance of this extract within the play as a whole?
Night falls upon the castle and everyone has been seated in the dining hall. A light layer of mist fell across the face of Macbeth which was already covered in sweat and drained of color. Macbeth turns to the individuals sitting to the left and right, trying to look normal with the same eyes that last saw Banquo alive. “Sir? Seems as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Said someone to his left that seemed to travel in one ear and out the other. “Sir, are you alright?” said someone to his right that did the same as the one from the left. He looked right, left, then forward at Lady Macbeth. “I think I may have just caught a case of the jitters” said Macbeth, addressing all at the table.