We have had the pleasure of plogging in the past two months. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end... this will be our last post.
As Macbeth is a tragedy, many of the readers knew from the beginning that Macbeth would not succeed in what he sought after. However, Macbeth was full of suprises nonetheless and provided us with a wonderful read.
We started off out analyzing of this play by looking at hamartia and what it meant in this particular play. This topic is indeed fascinating as it is so controversial. Each reader has their own unique interpretation of this play, and this obviously leads to different thoughts on what the hamartia is in Macbeth. Some of the possibilities are Macbeth's ambition to become king, the witches' prophecies, or Lady Macbeth's rash manipulative actions.
Another very interesting and controversial topic is whether or not the witches have supernatural powers. In the beginning of the play, we are introduced to these three witches, talking in rhymes and spells and incantations, making the audience lean towards them being supernatural. However, after they inform Macbeth about their predictions and Macbeth makes plans to kill Duncan, the audience starts to think, "what if the witches aren't actually supernatural? Would Macbeth make the wrong decision on the wrong prophecies?". Still, at the end, we are never convinced that the three witches are supernatural and will never really know, as that secret died with Shakespeare.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading this play as much as we have- which is a lot. Children of Macmedia, signing off.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Hamartia
There are many components of a tragedy. For this assignment, we were asked to examine and define one of the terms (Hamartia) and find examples of this in the play Macbeth.
Hamartia
Definition
Hamartia is essentially the "heart of the tragedy" (Kurzawski).It is "the error, frailty, mistaken judgment, or misstep through which the fortunes of the hero of a tragedy are reversed" (Kurzawski). In essence, it triggers the start of all the bad things that happen to the hero in the story as time goes on. However, this does not have to be only the ‘tragic flaw’ of the character. In some cases, this factor could also be the strength of the hero. This trigger can be caused by many things, including "an unwitting, even necessary, misstep", "bad judgement", "bad character", "ignorance", “inherited weakness" or misfortune (Kurzawski).
Origins
The word Hamartia (Üìáñôßá) comes from the Greek word ‘hamartanein’, which literally translates as "to miss the mark" (in reference to archery). The Greek philosopher Aristotle first introduced the term in his work Poetics, referring to it as (in tragedies) one of the three injuries man can commit to another man.
Examples from the play
Different people may have different opinions of what event/thing is the hamartia of this play. Different ideas include:
Hamartia
Definition
Hamartia is essentially the "heart of the tragedy" (Kurzawski).It is "the error, frailty, mistaken judgment, or misstep through which the fortunes of the hero of a tragedy are reversed" (Kurzawski). In essence, it triggers the start of all the bad things that happen to the hero in the story as time goes on. However, this does not have to be only the ‘tragic flaw’ of the character. In some cases, this factor could also be the strength of the hero. This trigger can be caused by many things, including "an unwitting, even necessary, misstep", "bad judgement", "bad character", "ignorance", “inherited weakness" or misfortune (Kurzawski).
Origins
The word Hamartia (Üìáñôßá) comes from the Greek word ‘hamartanein’, which literally translates as "to miss the mark" (in reference to archery). The Greek philosopher Aristotle first introduced the term in his work Poetics, referring to it as (in tragedies) one of the three injuries man can commit to another man.
Examples from the play
Different people may have different opinions of what event/thing is the hamartia of this play. Different ideas include:
- Macbeth’s decision of killing Duncan Because of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth decides to murder Duncan; however, we think that if Macbeth had never consented to Lady Macbeth’s ambitious needs, that tragedy wouldn’t unfold upon him in the length of the story.
- Macbeth and Banquo trust for the three witches, after the soldiers came to announce his Thaneship and Macbeth’s his ease at believing what the witches have predicted, because he would very much want for himself to be king.
Macbeth should have been more careful, because the audience is not sure if the three witches just overheard that Macbeth was to be Thane, and predicted his being king all by themselves. It is because of this trust that Macbeth does what he does later on in the play
Sources
Kurzawski, Kristen. "An Examination of Tragedy Through William Shakespeare’s
Macbeth". 1 Feb. 2007.<http://www.chatham.edu/PTI/2006%20Units/Shakespeare/KurzawskiUnit.pdf>
"Hamartia". The UVic Writer's Guide. 23 September 2007. University of Victoria. 1 Feb. 2007.
<http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/LTHamartia.html>
"Hamartia". Dictionnaire International des Termes Littéraires. 1 Feb. 2007. Vita Nova.
<http://www.ditl.info/arttest/art1747.php>
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Jacobean Theatre
Jacobean Theatre
Macbeth was written in the very beginning of the Jacobean Period. Our group did some research on the Jacobean era as it pertains to theatre, and came up with some very interesting connections to Macbeth.
- The “Jacobean” refers to James I’s reign as King of England (1603-1625)
- It followed the Elizabethan era, which occurred when Elizabeth I was Queen (1558-1603)
-The two eras, along with Carolinian theatre (from the reign of Charles I) are often all (incorrectly) referred to as being Elizabethan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_theatre
- A common theme in plays of this time (in both Jacobean theatre and the earlier Elizabethan theatre) was the “revenge tragedy” genre. Common characteristics of this genre included a hero on evil quest, death, mutilation, insanity, sub-plays (play within a play), and finally, the violent death of the hero. (Mabillard)
http://www.shakespeare-online.com
- Wikipedia offers other common characteristics of the Jacobean play, many of which related directly to events in Macbeth. These include,
~ a secret murder (of a ruler)
~ a visit from a ghost
~ plotting, a disguise and a period of violence
~ a catastrophic ending
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revenge_play&oldid=100359851
- King James I was very interested in demons and the supernatural. He even wrote a book entitled Demonologie that dealt with the study of supernatural beings, witches and demons. Macbeth, like many other plays of the Jacobean era, shows clear “attempts at didacticism and at pleasing the king” in its many endeavours into the realm of the unknown or the supernatural. The most obvious of this is, of course, the reoccurring presence of the Weird Sisters, witches who seem to be able to predict the future and control certain events.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4455434
- The Jacobean play contained a “more intense dramatic style” than the traditional Elizabethan play. The period of time in which this theatrical style developed also saw the advent of completely enclosed theatres, meaning that plays could (and often needed to be) candlelit at every performance. This created a consistently available, eerie atmosphere that encouraged the “underlying feel of dread” in many Jacobean plays. The themes of murder, betrayal, violence and (again) the supernatural that run through Macbeth were created and encouraged by this atmosphere.
http://www.jadisshadows.co.uk/jacobean.htm
Sources
“About Jacobean Theatre” Jadis-Shadows. Jadis Theatre Jacobean Theatre Company.
Jan. 2007
“Edited Guide Entry.” bbc.co.uk.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4455434
"English Renaissance theatre." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_Renaissance_theatre&oldid=104132941.
Mabillard, Amanda. "FAQ". 2000. Shakespeare Online.
"Revenge play." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Foundation, Inc.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Literaturepage.com Analysis
During class, we had a look at Literaturepage.com and we compared its version of Macbeth with the Oxford version of Macbeth. We analyzed the prime differences in layout, punctuation, stage direction, and language, and discovered that much of the text deferred from the Oxford version on Literaturepage.com. Our conclusion: this is a horrible interpretation of the original Macbeth text.
In terms of appearance, the page itself is visually unappealing and is difficult to read. The font is difficult to focus on as it is bland and there is a large flashing "banner" across the top that shows Uncle Sam asking us to “TAKE A BRIEF SURVEY”. The lines are not numbered making it hard to follow sometimes and to find your place. The background is large and white, almost blinding, and the page itself becomes difficult to look at for more than a few seconds. Also, the lines are all left justified, destroying whatever meter Shakespeare intended for his play; as a modern day audience, unless we are explicitly shown the meter arranged in an obvious way, we will not get it.
This site contains many differences in punctuation from the Oxford edition, as well. These changes are mostly quite minor and do not change the scene too drastically. The most common change in punctuation is the addition of commas; this was probably done because the writer felt that the passage needed a pause to add to the dramatic effect. Another common punctuation change was the use of apostrophes in the place of the vowel ‘e’ when used in the past tense of a verb. Although this language may be considered elaborate in a way (the way people used to talk before), this change may make it harder for some readers to understand the text. In comparison to this, the Oxford text edition contain page numbers for every 10 lines, and do no use the apostrophe to replace the letter ‘e’ in verbs as often. As a result, it is easier to follow, and understand, in contrast with the Literaturepage.com version.
The stage directions immediately differ from the Oxford text edition and are also separated from the actual text, hidden in a header that is difficult to find without examining the page for longer than seems necessary. The text tells us that the witches "exeunt," but this page tells us that the "witches vanish." The use of the different words creates different moods (the use of the word ‘vanish’ is more mysterious). Furthermore, stage directions are not italicized, making it hard to distinguish them from the text. In addition, in contrast with the Oxford edition, the appearance of two minor characters is altered. In the Oxford edition, both Ross and Angus enter together towards the middle of the scene; Ross, in the online editions, does not enter until almost the end of the scene, and Angus doesn’t show up at all.
Hopefully, this website will not be around in two months, let alone five years. It’s a terrible resource: difficult to read, with odd uses of apostrophes and strange spellings, and a poor layout without numbered lines. The text has been ‘butchered’ to an extent, deferring greatly from the Oxford edition of the book that we are familiar with. All in all, it is a dreadful resource.
In terms of appearance, the page itself is visually unappealing and is difficult to read. The font is difficult to focus on as it is bland and there is a large flashing "banner" across the top that shows Uncle Sam asking us to “TAKE A BRIEF SURVEY”. The lines are not numbered making it hard to follow sometimes and to find your place. The background is large and white, almost blinding, and the page itself becomes difficult to look at for more than a few seconds. Also, the lines are all left justified, destroying whatever meter Shakespeare intended for his play; as a modern day audience, unless we are explicitly shown the meter arranged in an obvious way, we will not get it.
This site contains many differences in punctuation from the Oxford edition, as well. These changes are mostly quite minor and do not change the scene too drastically. The most common change in punctuation is the addition of commas; this was probably done because the writer felt that the passage needed a pause to add to the dramatic effect. Another common punctuation change was the use of apostrophes in the place of the vowel ‘e’ when used in the past tense of a verb. Although this language may be considered elaborate in a way (the way people used to talk before), this change may make it harder for some readers to understand the text. In comparison to this, the Oxford text edition contain page numbers for every 10 lines, and do no use the apostrophe to replace the letter ‘e’ in verbs as often. As a result, it is easier to follow, and understand, in contrast with the Literaturepage.com version.
The stage directions immediately differ from the Oxford text edition and are also separated from the actual text, hidden in a header that is difficult to find without examining the page for longer than seems necessary. The text tells us that the witches "exeunt," but this page tells us that the "witches vanish." The use of the different words creates different moods (the use of the word ‘vanish’ is more mysterious). Furthermore, stage directions are not italicized, making it hard to distinguish them from the text. In addition, in contrast with the Oxford edition, the appearance of two minor characters is altered. In the Oxford edition, both Ross and Angus enter together towards the middle of the scene; Ross, in the online editions, does not enter until almost the end of the scene, and Angus doesn’t show up at all.
Hopefully, this website will not be around in two months, let alone five years. It’s a terrible resource: difficult to read, with odd uses of apostrophes and strange spellings, and a poor layout without numbered lines. The text has been ‘butchered’ to an extent, deferring greatly from the Oxford edition of the book that we are familiar with. All in all, it is a dreadful resource.
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