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| Sunday, 5 February 2006 |
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A/L English Literature Made Easy - Drama : Macbeth Macbeth's character Macbeth is a man with selfish ambitions; His intense desire to posses what is not his; "the conscious self seeking that confesses itself to itself and dispenses with the hypocrisy of self exculpation" "........I have no spur Macbeth has nothing to motivate him to the murder but ambition, which is "apt to over reach itself".
Macbeth is full of "human kindness". Lady Macbeth fears that stirred by the kind nature of the king, Macbeth might not " catch the nearest way",to greatness to be crowned as king. The miserable fate of Macbeth and his wife would stir no sympathy from the audience. His ambition goes hand in hand with making ambition and imagination the'leading traits of his character'.Ambition dominating in the earlier part of the play. The good side of Macbeth's character is brought to the limelight in Act 1, second scene. The typical hero, the heroic warrior praised by the king. "Bellona's bridegroom, a peerless kinsman". But ambition and imagination lead him to crime. He has thought of the crime even before the first meeting with the witches and the prophesy of the witches leads him to achieve his aims and motives - 'to be crowned asking'. Ambition and imagination being the leading traits of his character he succumbs to the prophesy of the witches. He is "susceptible to temptation." His extreme imaginativeness makes him the 'easy prey of supernatural beings'which prompts him to lose touch with the "realities of the moment". His "state of man" is shaken with the "Conflict of his emotions"and Duncan nominating Malcom as king and the king's arrival at Macbeth's castle as his honoured guest gives him the desired opportunity to put and end to the life of King Duncan. There begins the struggle in Macbeth's mind and Lady Macbeth's evil influence, with her power over his weakness encourages him to do the murder. "The iron will masters the irresolute will, sweeps aside scruples and fears and bears him forward on its resistless current. The crime which originated in the promptings of ambition as a dramatic motive of the tragedy is exhausted" Imagination becomes the ruling motive thereafter. The turning point in the tragedy is Banquo's murder and the beginning of the downfall of Macbeth himself; Decline of his fortunes and the course of his career. If the king lived, Banquo too would have lived. Macbeth being devoid of peace of mind, his whole being getting poisoned. Existance becomes one haunted restless state, the murders caused by him disturbs him to extremes resulting in "blood thirsty" behaviour a sort of mania and his love for his wife turning out to be full of indifference and unconcern, "an outburst of weariness and contempt for existance itself". Ultimately Macbeth gets into the mould of a desperado, once the "Bellona's bridegroom" "peerless Kinsman" having succumbed to villainous deeds, he is nestled into a trap of animal instinct, resulting in utter despair. "They have tied me to a stake, Character sketch of lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is supposed to be a distinctive character among all the creations of Shakespearian drama "the clytemnestra" of English Tragedy. She is full of determination and quite stable, resolved and bears a dominating character. She is the live wire behind her husband, sharing and carrying out the plot, remedying the errors made by her husband, standing behind him like his shadow and coming to his rescue in dangerous situations. She comes to his immediate rescue in complicated situations such as the ghost of Banquo appearing at the 'Banquet scene'.(Act3 sciv) "I pray you. Speak not; he grows worse and worse. Question enrages him....A kind good night to all". But her controlled behaviour pattern "frightfully determined will" proves her ruin as well. Everything turns out to be beyond her endurance and her abnormal efforts pave the way for her pathetic situation, destroying the whole fabric of her self reliance. She is Macbeth's superior, intellectually for Macbeth turns to Lady Macbeth for courage and stimulus. She gives him courage to proceed in his "work". "Infirm of purpose She is gifted with "true imaginative insight". She thinks that Macbeth would refrain from doing the 'deed' and gives him inspiration to carry out the plan. Even in her sleepwalking scene, she never lets off words contributing to the past events. However, her womanly weakness spurs over courage and ambition. The "physical horror" of the scenes of murder, the "memory uncontrolled in sleep by normal will power" of those appalling sights; and the extreme sadness of isolation from her husband cut off from opportunities to share her grief with and lacking the courageous backing from her husband she is subject to desperation. To bed, to bed, there's knocking at the gate. There are the good qualities in Lady Macbeth. She's extremely devoted to her husband. "Her whole ambition is for him and through him'; of herself and elevation for herself she never speaks. She lives only in him and in his greatness". She does not pronounce a word of reproach after his breakdown but she remained concerned about his welfare. She's loyal, though misguiding. There's "maternal and filial tenderness in her nature" (act 1 sc7) "How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me "......the woman, who can go into that chamber of death must be unsexed, for a space: but nature recurs, and while Macbeth is brutalised by crime, her finer spirit is broken by the reaction from moral self-violence". Out of all the female characters of Shakespearean Drama, Lady Macbeth is unyielding and makes "the denial of her sex" and is subject to unsympathised suffering. Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist Teacher English St.
Anne's College, Kurunegala. |
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