Macbeth - The Play

'Macbeth' - The Tragedy

Hello Readers!  Here, I am going to write down a blog on a very famous Shakespearean tragedy - ' Macbeth.' This blog is inspired by Dr. Dilip sir barad as a part of thinking Activity. In this particular blog , I am answering some alloted questions on the basis  of my understanding and knowledge.

  Here, I am putting one video so that, you can easily understand my answers , related to the play - Macbeth by william Shakespeare.

Watch this video for your better understanding about the play  named - ' Macbeth.'

  

William Shakespeare ( bapt. 26th April 1564 - 23rd April , 1616) was an English Playwright, poet, actor and widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English Language and also Considered as world's greatest dramatist.Shakespeare 's plays are a canon of approximately 39 dramatic works. shakespeare's plays are widely regarded as being among the greatest in the English language and are continually performed around the world.

We can divide William Shakespeare's plays into three important geners.  1. Tragedy 2. History 3. Comedy william shakespeare's plays have been translated into  major living language.

About the Play : 

                                     William Shakeseare's play - ' Macbeth ' full title - " The Tragedy of Macbeth."is one of his famous tragedies. It was written in 1606, England. It was first published in the year 1623. Macbeth is the protagonist of this play.Shakespeare penned this play during " The middle Ages.'' specifically 11th century.This play opens with the entry of three witches in the thunderstorm. Shakespeare's play - ' Macbeth' has five acts.

 Feminist reading of lady Macbeth :-

                                        Macbeth's wife - lady Macbeth is one of the most powerful female character in the history of literature. she lacks all kinds of humanity. As we all have seen in the play that lady macbeth continuously taunts her husband for his lack of courage. Lady macbeth is much stronger , ruthless and ambitious than her husband. she knows very well that she have to push her husband for commiting murder,because he doesn't have that much courage to do such  kind of thing. Lady Macbeth is a very rare kind of character we can find in literature. she was very powerful and stronger than her husband.  we can portray her character like very good in planning, plotting or any kind of cospiracy. Lady macbeth 's character is a  cruel one. In the play, when there is a conversation between Macbeth and his wife - Lady macbeth he used these lines by saying that:-

   

''You are only women from outside. But,from inside you are a man.''

    When lady Macbeth receiving her husband's letter about the prophecies of three witches.she appears to be very influential in planning and deciding about when and how to kill king Duncan. we can observe in the play that she became angry on her husband for :-

   

" Not acting like a man."

In the play, Lady Macbeth is seen as selfish and abnormal. The way she talks with her husband about the planning of king Duncan's murder. All this things we can find very cruel , selfish , and totally lack of humanity in her character.

             We will observe Lady Macbeth's as a feminist reading we came to know about several things. she also had some desire to become a queen of scotland. she is inherently aware of her capacity to do as such will be impended by her feminity. In the play how lady macbeth Manipulate her husband.

 

"She love her husband. But, ability to accuse him.''

     All this things which makes lady Macbeth's character Cruellest in the play.

Lady Macbeth - 'The fourth witch ' or 'A loving wife' :-

              This is a debatable topic that how we will analyse the character of lady Macbeth. we will consider her as '' Fourth witch or A loving wife ? ''

          Throughout the play and leading up to her eventual suicide, lady Macbeth slowly weakens. But , In the beginning of the play, she acts like an unstoppable lady. However, Macbeth tried his best to convince her that she is wrong. but, he failed in that , because he mocked by his own wife and that is why he goes through with the murder.

          Lady Macbeth pushed her husband to do things that he doesn't want to do. But it is only his wife who forced him to murder king Duncan. Of course, she does not want that her husband or herself get caught by anyone. So, she gives him advice in the area of Deceptiveness - 

''....... look like the innocent flower, but, be the serpent under't.''

        In the play, Lady Macbeth has already demonstrated that she is two- faced. When king Duncan arrived at the castel , first she acts very well like a welcome hostess. But , In reality it is totally opposite that she has different plans for king Duncan. The character of lady Macbeth changes from an ambitious and Ruthless manipulator to a guilt ridden person who lost all control over her own life.

         After king Duncan's murder in the play it is her feeling of extreme guilt which leads her to commit suicide.

 

Masking Femininity, women and power in Shakespeare 's play - ' Macbeth':-

             Before discussing about this point, first we have to understand the word - Femininity. " Femininity ( also called womanliness ) is a set of attributes , behaviors , and roles generally associated with women and girls. ''

  

How shakespeare used Femininity in his play with the help of Lady Macbeth's character. It presented in a very well manner.

      Lady Macbeth is one of the most dynamic and conflicting character , and the reason for that is no other character is as Manipulative as she is. For the first half of Macbeth , it is lady macbeth who puts herself in a position of power by taking the lead of king Duncan's murder. To get her power , Lady Macbeth not only rejects her Femininity , but the thought of belonging to any gender at all.

      In the play, it is very much interesting to show that Lady Macbeth thinks of macbeth as being too kind , when the Audience has only heard  him as a " Fierce of warrior.'' It is a kind of comic scene. ''klein states that 

''Women were expected to have a certain level of kindness in them.''

But , in the play it is totally opposite as lady macbeth thinks that macbeth has too much womanliness to commit a murder. In attempt to make her worthy of murder , she asks spirits to 

 ''Unsex me here.''

Implying that being a woman means she can not be powerful. This is the very first example of Lady Macbeth purposefully rejecting her femaleness to gain power.

             She is telling Macbeth that he needs to look innocent from outside  and act like nothing has happened. This is very ironic statement given by lady macbeth , because  she is doing this by masking her femininity. As a woman, she appears to be innocent , but as we all know that she is the real creator of the entire plan. This allows her to instantly gain power over her husband.

    We can Conclude by saying that Gender and power both are important and major themes in the play - ' Macbeth.'

Macbeth - The tragedy of Ambition. How do you view ambition in today's time ?

 Ans : In this particular answer we are discussing about tragedy and what is the exact definition of ''Tragedy of Ambition.''

 

 Tragedy means - '' A play dealing with tragic events and an unhappy ending scene, specially concerning the downfall of the main character.''

'' Tragedy of Ambition means the tragedy caused by a specific ambition.''

Macbeth as a tragedy of Ambition :-

                            In William shakespeare's play Macbeth - ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It is the driving force of the play. It is the theme of ambition which causes the downfall of Macbeth and leads him to the death. Macbeth is inspired by the prophecies of the witches to be ambitious and his ambition is driven by his wife lady Macbeth.

           We can say that Macbeth's tragic downfall is due to his own ambition to become a king.It is three witches and also Lady macbeth who sparks the inner desire of Macbeth. without them, macbeth will never be able to do such kind of things. This how the story unfolds.

        At the starting of the drama, Our Protagonist macbeth is seen as a good , loyal man , loyal to his king, his wife , and his friends. but However , under all his loyalty there lies a secret ambition of becoming a king of scotland.

How do we view ambition in today's 

time :- 

Ambition means '' A strong desire to do or achieve something.''

 Ambition is the foundation of success. so, if we want to be successful in life we have to become ambitious. Ambition always helps us in achieving our life goals. It Inspires us for hard work.

An ambitious individual always try to achieve higher and sound position in society.

     

        But, one has to be very careful about Ambition. If our Ambition makes us blind and selfish it is very dangerous. we can not harm society or any one else in achieving our desired Ambition. Today In society what we generally see is really worrying. people for their personal desire cross all the limits and even goes to ruin the lives of others.

     Today Ambition is known to us as a large ego that makes people selfish  exactly happened in shakespeare 's play Macbeth. We have to compete with our self first , instead of compete with others.If Everyone thinks like that and will do the work on their own without interfering into someone else's life than ambition will not lead us to any kind of suffering or tragic flaw. In short , Ambition plays an important role for our better life. As we all know that '' Life is not only about good things , bad things will also come.'' 

    I would like to conclude by saying that Ambition is good and to be ambitious is also good. But , if it leads to negativity than it becomes problematic for all our human beings.

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