The Power of the Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth
The tragedy of Macbeth comes about because of a single event in his life. If that one moment, the meeting with the witches on the heath, had not happened then Macbeth would no doubt have gone on to be a loyal and respected subject of King Duncan and, later, King Malcolm. However, the meeting did happen and the powerful force of ambition was unleashed within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It is the combination of these two factors, the meeting with the witches and Macbeth's own inner demons, that lead to tragedy, and make the play 'terrifying' in the Aristotelian sense.
The three witches are certainly responsible for initiating the events that lead to Macbeth's tragedy. Their greeting to him
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!
feed straight into his desire for advancement. At this point in the play he is the newly appointed thane of Glamis but assumes that the thane of Cawdor still lives. When news arrives that he is to be the new thane of Cawdor, Macbeth sees the second greeting as a prediction and cannot help but wonder whether the third greeting will also prove accurate. Banquo says that the forces of darkness use the truth to win us to harm but Macbeth is unsure.
This supernatural soliciting cannot be good,
Cannot be ill.
For the audience there is even more to think about. They know from the conversation about the sailor whose wife had offended one of them that the witches' power is circumscribed.
They can torment him but not change his fate.
Though his bark cannot be lost
Yet it shall ...
... middle of paper ...
...with witches, partly to flatter the witch-hating James I and partly to introduce an exciting flavour of the supernatural into the play. But, exciting as the scenes with the witches and Hecate are, they are not at the heart of the tragedy. The witches' powers are limited, Lady Macbeth is only a helper: it is Macbeth's own weaknesses that bring him down.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Greenblatt, Stephen. "Introduction to Macbeth." The Norton Shakespeare. New York: Norton, 1997. 2555-63.
Hawkins, Michael. "The Witches and Macbeth." Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 1982. 155-88.
Kermode, Frank. "Introduction to Macbeth." The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton, 1974. 1307-11.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
Another linking device that is used effectively is the simile linking a young woman coming of age and developing breasts to a swan rising out of a pond. These two entities are linked in that both rise slowly over time. When a swan awakens, it slowly raises its head from its body, in the same fashion that the breasts of a woman raise from her chest when she comes of age. The two are also similar in color, as a swan’s down is white or pale cream colored and skin that has not been darkened by the sun is often very pale. The third similarity in the two entities is the texture. Both the down feathers of a swan and the skin of a woman’s breast are soft and smooth to the touch.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
The 1920’s was a time of prosperity, woman’s rights, and bootleggers. F. Scott Fitzgerald truly depicts the reality of this era with The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, an enormously wealthy man, is famous for his extravagant parties and striking residence. However, this is all that is known about Gatsby. Even his closest friends continue to wonder what kind of man Gatsby actually is. The mysteriousness of Gatsby is demonstrated by conceivable gossip, his random departures, and the missing parts of his past.
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is an early 19th-century English literature; a literary work that is evocative and riveting. It depicts acts of betrayal between family members, loved ones and self-inflicted betrayal. The acts of betrayals are done by Mrs. Reed, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre herself.
Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.
The term "censorship" originates from the Latin censere, "to give as one's opinion, to assess" (Culture Shock: Who Decides? How and Why?: Definitions of Censorship). In contrast to this seemingly simple definition, contemporary usage offers no agreed-upon definition of the term or its' appropriate usage, most specifically concerning the highly conteste...
To understand censorship, you have to start at the beginning. Censorship, no matter the definition, is when people who have power, wish to limit the knowledge of what we are receiving, or what we are expressing. We have not always had the rights we had now. Benjamin Franklins brother and employer, was actually arrested and lost his printing license for expressing criticism in his newspaper about politics. Censorship was going strong in the Revolutionary era, when British Loyalists tarred and feathered people who spoke against Britain. Even back then, we lived in a country where our own opinions, if deemed wrong by the powerful, were quickly put to an end.
The development and usage of the first atomic bombs has caused a change in military, political, and public functionality of the world today. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki revolutionized warfare by killing large masses of civilian population with a single strike. The bombs’ effects from the blast, extreme heat, and radiation left an estimated 140,000 people dead. The bombs created a temporary resolution that lead to another conflict. The Cold War was a political standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that again created a new worldwide nuclear threat. The destructive potential of nuclear weapons had created a global sweep of fear as to what might happen if these terrible forces where unleashed again. The technology involved in building the first atomic bombs has grown into the creation of nuclear weapons that are potentially 40 times more powerful than the original bombs used. However, a military change in strategy has came to promote nuclear disarmament and prevent the usage of nuclear weapons. The technology of building the atomic bomb has spurred some useful innovations that can be applied through the use of nuclear power. The fear of a potential nuclear attack had been heightened by the media and its release of movies impacting on public opinion and fear of nuclear devastation. The lives lost after the detonation of the atomic bombs have become warning signs that changed global thinking and caused preventative actions.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
The witches have a strong effect on Macbeth's character; they highly influence him in his accomplishments and awake his ambitions. They give Macbeth a false sense of security with their apparitions of truth. Instead, they prove to be harmful for Macbeth, who takes too much comfort and confidence in his interpretation of the truths. They are the ones who plant the actual idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth's mind. But if it were only the witches prophecies, then Macbeth surely would not have murdered the king. '
The witches are a very important part to this play. The witches are the real trigger to Macbeths deep and hidden desires. The presence of the witches raises the battle between good an evil. The three witches are also known as the three weird sisters and are referred to that throughout the play. They help set the theme of the play and they influence not only Macbeth’s life but some other characters throughout the play.
...any. It strips the common man of individualism, keeps him ignorant, and makes him a prime target for manipulation by malicious persons. Censorship has long been the tool of fascists, and totalitarian dictatorships who seek to use the common man for their own malicious intents. Censorship ensured that the Nazis had the German public in their grip as they bombarded them on a daily basis on how their lives had been improved from the day Hitler became Germany's leader. Nothing good has or will become of censorship.
What is censorship? Censorship is what the government calls “Official supervision and control” of information shared amongst people within a set society. Banned books, magazines, plays, videos, and films all often bring upon themselves censorship, along with radio broadcast and vast other communications served to deliver information to the public. Censoring certain means of public information is intended to suppress thought in which it may be repulsive or offensive. Therefore, the intent of censorship is the protection of the three basic institutions: family, church and state ("Censorship").
In modern times, censorship refers to the inspection of books, periodicals, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media for the purpose of changing, altering or suppressing parts thought to be objectionable or offensive. The objectionable material may be considered immoral or obscene, heretical or blasphemous, subversive or rebellious, or damaging to the national security. Thus, the rationale for censorship is that it is necessary for the protection of three basic social institutions: the family, the church, and the state.
Shakespeare, William. “Macbeth.” The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: Longman, 1997