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William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
Literary analysis of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare : Othello analysis
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Quote (act, scene)
Identify Speaker
Identify Listener
Theme
Concept
Dramatic Technique
“Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air.” Act 1, Scene 1
The three witchesTo each otherSupernatural
- About unnatural/supernatural beings an impossible things.
Appearance vs Reality
- The witches explain that everything is foggy and unclear and the boundaries between real and surreal are weak and thin.Fate
- The foreshadowing and hinting as to what is to come.
Rhythm
- The focus is on chant-like and the tone it sets.“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” Act 1, Scene 3
MacbethBanquoAppearance vs Reality
- Macbeth quotes witches, once again focusing on blurred boundaries.
“Live you? Or are you aught that man may question?”
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Act 1, Scene 3 “You should be women, and yet your bears forbid me to interpret that you are so.” Act 1, Scene 3 Banquo3 witchesSupernatural - About the horrid inhumane witches and also the Appearance vs Reality, where Banquo knows they are not what they seem. Gender Roles - The witches are so disgusting, they must be men. They are also not kind or motherly like a woman should be.Vision - It is about how Banquo perceives the witches and his limited vision of what they truly are, thinking that they are merely bearded women.Monologue - Banquo directs a long dialogue at the witches. It is him exclaiming at the unnatural/supernatural witches.Banquo’s reply to the witches…Act 1, Scene 3BanquoThe Three WitchesAmbition - Banquo steps in because Macbeth is stunned and his ambition leads him to asking what is his future. He claims that it doesn’t bother him but clearly “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.” Act 1, Scene 4DuncanMalcolmAppearance vs Reality - Duncan states that it is not possible to see what a man is really like underneath his appearance. Also a common part throughout the play is hiding what is real underneath a false facade. Dramatic Irony - The King is complaining about the previous Thane of Cawdor’s lack of loyalty/trustworthiness, meanwhile appointing a new thane who will eventually murder the King in his own home.Macbeth’s Aside.. Act 1, Scene 4MacbethAudienceAmbition - Macbeth now has a dark want (that he wants to hide) to overcome the hurdle now in his way, the Prince.
He states that he has two options give up his wish for King or follow his strong ambition and Kill the King to become King.
Lady Macbeth’s Soliloquy... Act 1, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth
Herself
Gender Roles
- Lady Macbeth states that Macbeth is too king and mother-like to do what is necessary and kill the King. She refers to him as having breast milk
Ambition
- She states that Macbeth lacks the courage and strength (balls) to full fill his ambition, but she is strong enough to see the ambition through.
Soliloquy
- Lady Macbeth is talking about her husband and how he does not have the "manliness" to do what is necessary.
Lady Macbeth’s Soliloquy... Act 1, Scene 5
Lady MacbethHerselfSupernatural
- She is calling the supernatural, making her supernatural like the witches. She calls on spirits, then on the witches and then upon the darkness itself.
Gender Roles
- Lady Macbeth is also in this quote saying that a motherly woman, cannot kill a king and that she must change and become a hard man. Hence unsex me, take my milk for gall
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etc. Soliloquy - Lady Macbeth is talking to herself about how she will commit the atrocities. - Also, because Macbeth lacks the manliness, she must gain it and change into a manly killer.“Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look lilt the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue; look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t” Act 1, Scene 5 Lady MacbethMacbethAppearance vs Reality - Lady Macbeth states that Macbeth is easy to read and he cannot lie. She then tells him that he needs to hide the reality with an appearance. He needs to pretend to be nice like a flower, but underneath be deceitful and cruel like a serpent. “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other.” Act 1, Scene 7MacbethHimselfAmbition - He acknowledges that he has no real reason or motivation to Kill his friends and King, save for pure ambition for power. Soliloquy - This is the end of a soliloquy where he reflects and decides whether he shall kill the King. He acknowledges that ambition is the pure motivation and as a result decides to Kill Duncan, showing how much he values his ambition for power.“Was hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes now to look so green and pale...” Act 1, Scene 7 Lady MacbethMacbethGender Roles - Lady Macbeth is making a reference to green sickness (anaemia) a disease thought to be particularly for young virgin girls. Thus Lady Macbeth is calling Macbeth a young virgin girl, not man enough to do what is right. Part of Lady Macbeth scolding Macbeth... Act 1, Scene 7 Lady MacbethMacbethGender Roles - Lady Macbeth is explaining how important promises are and that she would brutally murder her on baby, abandoning motherhood, if that is what she had promised, but that Macbeth is to kind and motherly to do that. “False face must hide what the false heart doth know” Act 1, Scene 7MacbethLady MacbethAppearance vs Reality - He is reminding himself of what he must now do. He has to hide the reality of his feelings by a false appearance. He is saying that you can fake an appearance, but you cannot fake reality. Macbeth’s Soliloquy… Act 2, Scene 1 MacbethHimselfAppearance vs Reality - It appears that he sees a dagger in front of him. Really, though, it is his mind creating a figment of imagination to represent the crime he is about to commit.Fate - It is a vision about his near future and the dagger will haunt him forever.Soliloquy - The long speech outlines his realisation of his acceptance of the murder. The appearance of the dagger is a sign that he is ready to kill.“O gentle lady, ’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell.” Act 2, Scene 3 MacduffLady MacbethGender Roles - Macduff states that he is more manly than Lady Macbeth and as a flimsy woman she cannot even hear about the murder. However she is more manly as he is the one being dramatic and afraid.Vision - He has a limited and sexist vision, which clouds his judgement, thinking that there is no possible way a woman could ever even hear about a murder.Dramatic Irony - Because we know that Lady Macbeth played a large part in the murder, yet here we have a flimsy man telling her that she cannot bear to hear about the atrocity, when she is far more manly and accepting than he.“Malcolm and Donalbain, the King’s two sons, are stol’n away and fled, which puts upon them suspicion of the deed” Act 2, Scene 4 MacduffRossAppearance vs Reality - This is ideal for the Macbeths because it means that while in reality they have killed the King and the sons are fleeing the killer, as an appearance to everyone else the two sons sneaking away at such a time would suggest that they played some part in the killing.Fate - Because the sons fled the killers it gave them the ability avenge the King in the future.“'Gainst nature still! Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up thine own lives’ means! Then ’tis most like the sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.” Act 2, Scene 4RossMacduffAmbition - He states that ambition is the only main reason to kill a king. You would kill the King solely because you envy and want that position for yourself.Natural Order - Ross claims correctly that it is unnatural and against nature that sons would murder their own father. This is very true and this natural order should never be broken, and in fact it was not because they did not kill the King.Dramatic Irony - Ross thinks that the sons’ ambition was the cause of the King’s murder, but the audience knows that while the King was murdered for ambition, it was not the sons but Macbeth who did it.“Thou hast it now—king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and I fear Thou played'st most foully for't. Yet it was said It should not stand in thy posterity, But that myself should be the root and father Of many kings. If there come truth from them (As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine) Why, by the verities on thee made good, May they not be my oracles as well, And set me up in hope? But hush, no more.” Act 3, Scene 1 Banquo Himself Ambition - While not an obvious display of ambition, he doesn’t tell anyone that he suspects Macbeth, purely because he knows that his son might become King too. His ambition for Royal blood was what stopped him from accusing Macbeth.Fate - By hushing himself and not telling anyone that he suspects Macbeth he is allowing the fate of Macbeth to be King and himself to raise Kings, be "If't be so, For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind, For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered, Put rancors in the vessel of my peace Only for them, and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings. Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th' utterance!” Act 3, Scene 1 MacbethHimselfFate - Macbeth is calling upon fate to help him and to make him strong enough to kill Banquo. “There's comfort yet; they are assailable. Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note.” Act 3, Scene 2 MacbethHimselfSupernatural - While there is no evidence of Macbeth particularly calling upon the supernatural, he is speaking like the witches. Macbeth speaks of bats, beetles and dreadful deeds just like the witches. “Are you a man?” … “O, proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which you said Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all's done, You look but on a stool.” Act 3, Scene 4 Lady MacbethMacbethGender Roles - Lady Macbeth is yet again questioning macbeths manhood. This case instead of calling him a little girl Lady Macbeth is now calling him an old woman. Lady Macbeth wants him to man up and move on. Appearance vs Reality - Lady Macbeth is not only questioning Macbeth’s visions, but also making fun of the fact that what appears to him is so false. Dramatic Irony - Lady Macbeth is making fun of Macbeth for having visions, however, later in the play she has visions. She becomes very disturbed and eventually kills herself, whereas Macbeth appears to cope with it better. “For mine own good All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” Act 3, Scene 4 Macbeth Lady MacbethAmbition - Macbeth is stating plainly that everything and anything that he has done and will do is for his own personal gain and ambition.
“Have I not reason, beldams as you are? Saucy and overbold, how did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death, And I, the mistress of your charms, The close contriver of all harms, Was never called to bear my part, Or show the glory of our art? And which is worse, all you have done Hath been but for a wayward son, Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do, Loves for his own ends, not for you.” Act 3 Scene 5
HecateThe three witchesSupernatural
- Even the supernatural has a certain sense of Hierarchy. In the same way that Macbeth is destroying the natural order by killing his superior who granted him his power (Thane of Cawdor), the witches are disobeying Hecate, who gave them their power (Magic).Natural Order
- In the murder of his superior, Macbeth has disturbed the natural order.
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Act 4, Scene 1
The Three WitchesThemselvesSupernatural
- While this may seem merely a repeat of what was chanted at the start of the play, it has much more meaning now. Now it is possible to infer that they are stirring up trouble in the real world, with the cauldron referring to
Scotland. Repetition - They repeated a phrase from the start reminding everyone about the witches and bringing back the sense of mystery and evil present at the start. This time however the phrase has more meaning as we can connect it to the occurrences in between. It also suggests that the previous time they said it, it was a foreshadow of the future.The Three Apparitions Act 4, Scene 1The ApparitionsMacbethAppearance vs Reality - While he has come to the witches for help, they have tricked him. The apparitions were designed to trick him. They were open to a false interpretation lulling Macbeth into a false sense of safety. It appeared he was invincible, but in reality he was far from it. Fate - Because the apparitions were so ambiguous and because he believed he was practically invincible, he behaved differently. Some of the choices he made were as a result of believing he was safe. Those choices led to his death, so it is fair to say that had his beliefs been different, fate would have been different. “Dispute it like a man” Act 4, Scene 3MalcolmMacduffGender Roles - This is one of the only occasions where manhood is questioned by someone other that Lady Macbeth. Malcolm tells Macduff to be a man and not cry, but Macduff states that men are allowed to cry. This suggests that Macbeth’s cowardice was less like a girl and more like a caring man. "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.” Act 5, Scene 5 Macbeth Ambition - Macbeth finally realises that all of his ambition has been for nothing. Nothing would have changed and that there isn’t much point of living, because no matter what you do you will die like everyone else.
(I, v, 16 & 21). It is strength if we analyze Lady Macbeth’s side. She has a very strong nature and knows Macbeth’s weak points, therefore manipulating and controlling the relationship. She uses of a great argument in Act I, vii accusing Macbeth for not having the courage to do what he wants “Wouldst thou have that which steem’ st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own steem, letting “I dare not'; wait upon “I would';, like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?'; (I, vii, 43-46). Her feelings are so strong that Macbeth gives in completely. She is very ambitious, not only for herself but also for Macbeth “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised.'; (I, v, 15-16). She has such a determination to get for Macbeth what he wants “Only look up clear. To alter favor ev...
‘Professor Kittredge used to point out to his classes that Lady Macbeth, in urging Macbeth to act, uses the three arguments that every wife, some time or other, uses to every husband: "You promised me you'd do it!" "You'd do it if you loved me!" "If I were a man, I'd do it myself!" But Macbeth's mind is made up by her assurance that they may do it safely by fixing the guilt upon Duncan's chamberlains. (72)’
One permeating aspect of Shakespeare’s depiction of masculinity is its dominance over femininity. Lady Macbeth is a vital contributor to this mindset throughout the plot. As a means of obtaining power, Lady Macbeth sees her femininity as an obstacle and obtaining masculine attributes as a step toward the throne. We see this when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and full me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (33). In this quote she is literally asking to replace her feminine attributes with masculine ones, which she perceives as cruelty and aggression. She continues to emphasize this ideal when she states “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall” (33). This line is a blatant reference ...
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “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!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
“Born of a Woman: Fantasies of Maternal Power in Macbeth”. Shakespeare. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003.Student Resource Center- Gold. Gale. Ozen High School. 12 Jan 2010. http://find.galegroup.com
To conclude, Lady Macbeth is a multifaceted character, her persona having many sides; notably: genuine goodness towards her husband, coy manipulation, and femininity. It is therefore inaccurate to define her as purely evil; despite the means by which she desires to accomplish her fantastical end. For all Lady Macbeth’s drive and determination, she eventually loses her dominant role, captive until her demise to her inescapable femininity.
Lady Macbeth’s murderous thoughts concerning the demise of King Duncan characterize her as callous and cruel, as well as ruthlessly determined to achieve her goal of rising to power alongside Macbeth. After she reads Macbeth’s letter containing his royal prophecy, Lady Macbeth immediately begins to concoct a plan that will dethrone King Duncan as quickly as possible. She tells “spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts” to “unsex [her] here,” (1.5.47-48) and allow her to promptly lose her identity and transform into a man on the spot. Her readiness to completely alter her appearance and gender emphasizes the lengths to which Lady Macbeth is willing to go in order to successfully carry out her plan. She then further implores the spirits to “come to [her] woman’s breasts/And take [her] milk for gall” (1.5.54-55). By asking the spirits to exchange her nutritive milk for fatal poison, Lady Macbeth suggests that she does not see her breasts as soft and nurturing, but rather obstructive to the execution of her plan, and that
This is said by Lady Macbeth, who we will speak about later, in act 1,
Her ambition is so strong that she is willing to do anything to see her husband succeed. However, in the third act, things begin to change. The death of the King, Lord and Lady Macbeth’s rise to power catalyzes a profound transformation in their personalities. Before Macbeth enters the stage his reputation as a prestigious general is In the second scene of the play, men who have fought with Macbeth rant about his courage in battle. The first account of Macbeth’s bravery comes from an injured captain. He says: “But all’s too weak/for brave Macbeth
"Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air” (1.1.11-13). Humanity has the proficiency of being two-faced, one can be bad but appear good as well as be good but appear bad. Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare best exemplifies the following theme, “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” By opening the play with these lines, Shakespeare created an eerie atmosphere and promptly expressed the play’s theme. The composition portrays a Scottish soldier named Macbeth who is met by three witches with foreshadowing greetings, he is told he will be King and then falls into darkness to gain power despite the harsh consequences. Within the plot, the theme “fair is foul and foul is fair” is established and repeated throughout the play. The theme not only weaves its way into the narrative, it is shown within the supernatural beings, incidents, and play’s characters.
Before she can do so, she begs the spirits, saying, “Come, you spirits / that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the top-full / of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. (I.v.47-50). Being able to do such horrible things is simply not possible for her in her current state of womanhood. Her selfishness is similar to the lifestyle that one famous musician lead, shown when he said “I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me” (Jimi Hendrix).
Act 1 Scene 1 Page 274 Line 12-13: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover
Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be ?unsexed,? and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Mac...
Throughout the play Macbeth, characters start to emerge as dark and cruel. The author William Shakespeare writes about a strong and ambitiously powerful woman named Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s character shares with the audience that she believes her husband is not man enough to excel in completing the prophecy that the three witches have given to him. As a women, she makes sure to tell us that just because she is a women that you can be strong and independent. Although it may seem that Lady Macbeth has a tough exterior, she does proceed to have a conscience that causes her problems that comes to display later in the play.
Lady Macbeth is able to achieve such power over her husband by continually insulting his manliness and boasting her...