Why Read Shakespeare Michael Mack Analysis

Macbeth Analytical Essay

After reading “Why Read Shakespeare” the author Michael Mack stated that the main and most important reason why we should read Shakespeare is because the characters you find in Shakespeare are often related to the personality types of people you will meet in life from time to time. Like the ambitious, the curious, the selfish, the courageous, the clueless, and even the prideful. Mack also mentioned that reading about life’s characters can also help you better understand yourself. But for now we will be focusing on figuring out the actors of life’s stage, by comparing the universal traits to the characters we see in stories and texts like Macbeth, “Macbeth Murder mystery”, and “5 P.M, Tuesday, August 23, 2005.”

In

“5 P.M, Tuesday, August 23, 2005,” Both Macbeth and the hurricane in the story share a similar trait; the both take pride in being who they are. You see, in “5 P.M, Tuesday, August 23, 2005” the hurricane sees herself as more than just a “tropical depression twelve,” which is what the rest of the world sees her as. “How dare the water belittle my thirst, treat me as

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just another small disturbance.” To everyone else who lives on the island, she is just a small storm until she takes full form as a hurricane. In this short poem, even though the story talks about a hurricane; because of the evidence shown in the text such as ”Every woman begins as weather, sips slow thunder, knows her hips. Every woman harbors a chaos, can wait for it, straddling fever.” it is clear the the hurricane represents a strong woman who is overlooked by society, just like the hurricane was.
In Macbeth, Macbeth shows pride in the way he speaks right before he goes into the face of battle, in act 5 scene 3, Macbeth states“Fear not, Macbeth. “No man born that’s born of woman shall e’er have power upon thee.” “The mind I sway by and the heart I bear shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.” or “I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked.” Macbeth shows pride in being king and fulfilling his duties, also by mentioning that will fight until he can no longer stand.
In the American woman in the story The Macbeth Murder Mystery.

In this story the narrator meets a woman whom he calls “the American woman” currently reading the “Macbeth Murder Mystery”. She and the narrator are complete strangers who had only just met each other in a library. The American woman is very outgoing, determined, and opinionated. So the two of them eventually become somewhat good friends, encouraging each other to finish reading the story and to figure out who the murderer is. At last, it is the the author who finds out the murderer: “ ‘I’ve found out,’ I said triumphantly, ‘the name of the murderer!’” They both go back and forth, excitedly explaining what conclusions they had gathered. Both the narrator and the American woman share the same trait as Macbeth: pride. Both narrator and the American woman take pride in figuring out and solving the “Macbeth Murder Mystery.”

In Macbeth , Macbeth expresses pride in act 1 scene 7 when he says “Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking off.” What Macbeth is trying to say is that although Duncan has done a good job at being a king, but is now “meek.” By belittling Duncan, Macbeth shows a more spiteful kind of

pride.
Overall, these are just two examples of how everyone you meet is alike or similar in the characters of Macbeth. Although Macbeth is an obviously bit more exaggerated version of the universal traits, it is still clear to the readers that this is why it is important to read Shakespeare, even if it is hard to understand. Once you understand the roles and personality traits of Shakespeare’s characters, it will be easier to understand other people you meet in life or even help you better understand yourself.