Macbeth And Oedipus Rex: Literary Analysis

When reading stories they usually have a theme or moral that can be related back to ourselves or reflected onto the society we live in. Authors like William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, and Sophocles incorporate their own writing to go along with the way their society was. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth to flatter King James I. Mary Shelley wrote her book Frankenstein to show what the limits of science should be. Sophocles wrote his book Oedipus Rex to prove to people that they do indeed have a choice from fate vs. free will. They all wrote about something that fancied them. Some of these themes that are still applied to modern day society are corruption, gender roles, and power.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare we are introduced to the corruption of the protagonist named Macbeth. Macbeth gets corrupted by the pleonexia for power. For example at the beginning of the play, Macbeth seems like the type of person who would never murder a person for his own gain. Lady Macbeth plays a key role in Macbeth’s corruption because she is the one who manipulates Macbeth into committing these atrocities. Macbeth has doubts about killing King Duncan because of how loyal he

has been to him. Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan because the chamberlains would be blamed so she told him to “…Screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail” (1.7. 67-69). She then continues to tell Macbeth that the plan is full proof as long as they both play their part, “…What not put upon his spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt of our great quell?” (1.7.76-80). Even though Macbeth’s instincts where not to kill Duncan, he gives into Lady Macbeth’s persistent convincing and agrees to commit this atrocity. Macbeth is still disgusted by the idea of killing someone so close to him, he still goes out to murder more and more people till he has little to no conscience left. We can see that Macbeth is corrupted by the power and greed he lust after because he seems to forget about his friends and the values of their friendship. Macbeth’s corruption is a direct result for his lust for power.
Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on. Corruption affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way as corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more. Around the world, the perception of corruption in public places is very high: A difficult thing to measure or compare, however, is the impact of corruption on poverty versus the effects of inequalities that are structured into law, such as unequal trade agreements, structural adjustment policies, so-called “free” trade agreements and so on. It is easier to see corruption. It is harder to see these other more formal, even legal forms of “corruption.” It is easy to assume that these are not even issues because they are part of the laws and institutions that govern national and international communities and many of us will be accustomed to it—it is how it works, so to speak.
The three main women in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, experience monstrosities that should never be experienced by any person. These events include degradation and brutal murders to their roles as females. When Victor destroy the monster’s one chance of having a happy life. He destroyed what would have been his mate. The women in Frankenstein are made out to be submissive, which shows that their submissions toward the male population. It is emblematic that the women are no longer in touch with their role as a female to reproduce. When Victor creates his monster he does it without the help from a woman instead he uses science to create life. The women back then were seen as nothing but an inferior woman who couldn’t do anything without the presence of a man to take care of them. The women in the book were made to provide men. Even though Shelley was a female and her mother was a feminist she wrote her female characters to have a demeaning manor. The women in the story were nothing. They were abused, discarded, and used. They were in the story to benefit the men.
Gender roles are based on nonsensical standard that society created.

Men are usually associated with dominance, being a higher class, and aggressiveness. Women are associated with being fragile, nurturing, and subordination. The role you play in this world is made up before you’re even born. When you are born and you are a boy they dress you in blue. If you are a female you are dressed up in pink. Gender socialization occurs throughout agents named education family, and what the media thinks is right. All of these example show how gender roles are creating expectations for the gender of the child. Other agents that determine how you act are things such as religion. How the stereotypes of a religion can leave you trapped being someone or something you do not want to be. Things that should be gotten rid

of.
In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles the protagonist Oedipus is introduced as someone who cares about his loving naïve subjects and he seemed to be willing to do whatever he could to save the city of Thebes from the plague that it has been cursed with. Oedipus is eventually filled with rage when those he trusted started accusing him of the crimes that he has been trying to solve this entire time. Little did he know that the man who killed the last king was himself. When Oedipus is having a conversation with his brother-in-law/uncle his pride radiated off of him as he accuses Creon of telling the blind prophet Teiresias to lie to him and the council. When Oedipus was talking to the old blind prophet his anger was formed by the huge amount of pride he had. This causes Oedipus to use harsh language and end up accusing Teiresias for the monstrosities. The theme is made out to be the dangers of human pride. Oedipus throughout the play believed that he could free Thebes of the plague the Gods have bestowed on them. Oedipus neglected to see that he was the problem. He ended up become blind to his own pride.
Many people in society view pride as an emotional maturity. Something that shows they are grown. Pride is best viewed as someone who feels highly of themselves. In society we tend to criticize them for acting to high of themselves. Like people who are vain are seen as people who seek to be admired by those around them. They need the attention of others to feel better about themselves. They Taylor says “The vain offer their appearance as a means of seducing others into thinking well of them, which in turn is a means of seducing themselves to think well of themselves” (Taylor, 2006, pp. 76-77). From a religious view, we may say that pride leads to self-pity. Pride leads to calamity. “Pride goes before destruction,” says the sage, “and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).
These themes are still applied to today’s society because of how often they occur. When reading over the essay you can infer that these themes are major contributions of how society is today. The corruption of our government and how it is taken care of. The gender roles still apply even though some people are more accepting of different things like transgendered people, or homosexuality, and their gender fluidity are still made fun of constantly for trying to be who they believe they truly are. The thirst to gain power as a result of high social status. The feeling that they are given by taking the power from those who cannot handle it. When taking in everything you can see that these themes are still a problem we face today as a country. Something that we should try to fix and overcome. As the citizens of this country we should have a say of how things are ran/taken care of. Instead we can’t really get rid of corruption, gender discrimination, or the craving for power. There will always be people who will rise up to take what they believe to be theirs. It shouldn’t continue the way it is