Esther Racah Writer & Literary Blogger

Tag: shakespeare

  • The complexity Of Macbeth

    The complexity Of Macbeth

    The complexity of Macbeth is beyond all imagination. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is more than a shallow play. Indeed it is a complex book, which I’ve read with grievous feelings. It was not easy to run through it as I was planning to do. Indeed I’ve been struggling between the archaic English’s difficulty and the dramatic aura of this tragedy. 

    The complex character of Macbeth

    The story of Macbeth is a timeless tragedy. The plot could take place in another historical period. Macbeth’s obsession for power reaches the pinnacle of his psychosis when he loses his mind after committing many murders. Although at the beginning lady Macbeth abets her husband to commit those terrible crimes, in the end, he is in charge of his choices, forgetting the taste of fear.

    The complexity of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is because he is not a typical antihero. In the first part of the book, he is a fearless warlord serving the king loyally. At the end of the drama, he is familiar with his slaughterous thoughts, and at that precise moment, lady Macbeth dies. Her death happens because she realises and regrets all her misdeeds. She is an architect and accomplice of those crimes. 

    Initially, the madness and cruelty of Macbeth are uncontrollable, not realising the brutality of his misconduct. Later, he feels torment and excruciation because of his actions. Even if Macbeth is not afraid of anything ( he even evokes and queries the supernatural forces ), nevertheless, he is weak. He dies in the final fight against Macduff, whose wife and son died at the hands of Macbeth. 

    The immoral traits of Lady Macbeth

    The insanity of Lady Macbeth is evident since the beginning of this tragedy when she urges her husband to murder the king to become a queen.  She is dominant and fierce even though she is a devoted wife. Indeed, she supports her husband’s breakdowns, every time he has pangs of guilt because of the atrocities he commits.

    In the first part of the tragedy, she is the real main character for her dark charisma and tenacity, which lead Macbeth to all his infamous deeds. Nonetheless, she changes embracing the insecurities and madness of her husband. During her nocturnal somnambulism, she tries to wash away the bloodstains from her hands, as proof of her unconscious regret because of all the murders Macbeth committed.  

    If, in the beginning, she was insane and immoral; in the end, her morality emerges. She realises her guilt. She becomes fragile, ending up her life. In this sense, it can be appropriate to define her immorality as moral once she understands her misconduct. On the other hand, Macbeth fights up to the end to defend his status of a king. He disappears in the same way as he appears in the book as a fighting soldier, although an evil one. 

    Macbeth is a masterpiece and classic of the literature, which will remain a landmark in western culture. The complexity of Macbeth is not easy to disengage and explain thoroughly. I just wrote my impressions and not a detailed description and analysis. 

  • The Uniqueness Of Macbeth

    The Uniqueness Of Macbeth

    The uniqueness of Macbeth is because of the combination between its characters and the gloomy aura surrounding them. Indeed, Macbeth is a masterwork by William Shakespeare, although it is a short tragedy. It is a rare and extraordinary literary work. 

    The first tragedy in my list of books

    In my first list of books, I included as first book Macbeth. Macbeth is the shortest play among the most remarkable tragedies of William Shakespeare, who wrote it around 1606. A dark and gloomy aura lingers in this drama. The main characters are the thane of Glamis Macbeth with his wife, the three Weyward sisters (the witches), the king of Scotland Duncan, Duncan’s elder son Malcolm and the Scottish thane Banquo. In the tragedy of Macbeth, the metaphysical world meets the worst aspects of human nature. We find corruption, murder, power, lust, and extreme ambition besides avidity, misery, and desperation. It is the tragic story of Macbeth, who is instigated by his enthusiasm and his wife to commit murders to become king of Scotland. He will end up a victim of the crimes he committed in the past, once he realises his crimes’ gravity. 

    The darkness and tension 

    The dark ambience of Macbeth is the first thing, which captivates my attention. This play develops in five acts, and each act contains different scenes. At the beginning of the first act, Shakespeare started this tragedy with Thunder and lightning and three witches’ entrance. In the third scene, they greet Macbeth as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor; also, the third witch prophesies him to be king hereafter. Macbeth is a loyal general in the service of Duncan, the King of Scotland. Suddenly the situation changes, once Lady Macbeth receives the letter of her husband, the tension increases. Indeed, she plans the murder of King Duncan, evoking evil spirits to help her fall victim to the direst cruelty. And she exerts a strong influence over Macbeth, persuading him to commit this disgraceful action. 

    An evil portrayal of the women

    What it’s impressive in this drama is Shakespeare’s perspective regarding the women, how they can be wicked and, at the same time, powerful. The Weyward sisters, i.e., the witches, prove the persecution against witchcraft in that period. It can be legitimate to think that this tragedy added another stone in a wall made of superstitions, which will lead to a witch hunt. The witchcraft trials led to the murder of many innocent women because they represented an evil force. Although Macbeth committed all the crimes, the witches manipulated his mind, and Lady Macbeth hatched the plan, instigating him. The three witches have the power to prophesy and govern the climate, and lady Macbeth has a powerful influence on her husband’s mind.

    Conclusions

    Even though I love Shakespeare and Macbeth is a must-to-read drama, I’m perplexed by his vision of the woman as wicked and hideous. Without any doubt, this was the period of public condemn of every type of witchcraft as Reginald Scot attested in his The Discovery of Witchcraft in 1584, where he described the horrendous mass execution in 1582 in Kent. Of course, I don’t have doubts about the uniqueness of this opera. The edition I’m reading is from the British publisher Wordsworth Editions. To be continued in the next post because I’m continuing to read it!

  • My First List Of Books

    My First List Of Books

    My first list of books, which I will read in the first part of 2020, includes nine novels. These books are real masterpieces and literature classics. During my life, I’ve always read several books. During high school, I developed a passion for literature. Moreover, I also studied Greek, Latin, art, philosophy, and history. Let’s check these nine novels:

    • Macbeth by William Shakespeare   

      Macbeth is the shortest play among the most remarkable tragedies of William Shakespeare, who wrote it around 1606. The dark and gloomy air lingers in this drama, which sees as main characters the thane of Glamis Macbeth with his wife, Lady Macbeth. The other figures are the three Weyward sisters (the witches), King Duncan, Duncan’s elder son Malcolm and the Scottish thane Banquo. In Macbeth, the metaphysical world meets human nature’s worst traits, such as corruption, murder, lust, and avidity.

    • Emma by Jane Austen

    The hero of this novel by Jane Austen is Emma, a charming, smart, and rich young girl. She doesn’t enjoy studies, and she categorises people because of their social-economical status. Nevertheless, she loves to match her friends and acquaintances, intending not to marry. Another main character is Mr Knightley, who is a wealthy close friend of Emma. Sometimes he criticises her behaviour, although he is a kindhearted and benevolent person. The other characters of the novel are Mr and Mrs Weston, Emma’s closest family, the wealthy Frank Churchill, the selfish Mr and Mrs Elton, the beautiful Jane Fairfax, the naive Harriet Smith, and Emma’s father, Mr Woodhouse.

    A Tale of Two Cities is the most famous historical novel by Charles Dickens, who published it in 1859. This book finds its roots in “The French Revolution: A History” by Thomas Carlyle. Also, Dickens’ analysis during his travels to Paris has a significant impact on the book. The novel consists of three books: Book the First: Recalled to Life, Book the Second: The Golden Thread and Book the Third: The Track of a Storm. This historical novel takes place in London and Paris, during the French Revolution and the Terror. The main characters are the French doctor Alexandre Manette, his compassionate daughter Lucie, the arrogant Sydney Carton, the revolutionary Madame Defarge, the businessman Jarvis Lorry and the French aristocrat Charles Darnay. In this novel, the brightness and obscurity represent the virtue and sin personified by the different characters.

    In my list of books that I plan to read in the next months, I couldn’t miss Little Women, a novel by the American author Louisa May Alcott. The plot is about the life of four sisters March, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They live with their mother Marmee in Massachusetts, New England. They are a low-income family whose father is away because he works as a pastor in the American civil war. Each of them has a different personality. Meg is pretty and classy; Jo is a butch girl, Beth is an introverted pianist, and Amy is a dreamy artist. Although they have different personalities, they love each other. Louisa Alcott found inspiration from her family, and she identified herself with the character of Jo March.

    • Good Wives by Louisa May AlcottGood Wives is the continuation of Little Women. We find the March sisters after three years of their lifetime. Meg is now a wife and mother; Amy travels to Europe, Jo is a nanny in New York, writing and learning German, and Beth’s health worsens. Although their life paths take different directions, they will always remain a very close family.

    • The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin

      The Queen of Spade is a small book, which Alexander Pushkin published in 1834. This mysterious and minimal story takes place in Petersburg city. It is a tale where gambling and the supernatural find space in a bizarre and disillusioned ambience. The protagonist is Hermann, an army engineer,  who loses his mind and becomes mad. In The Queen of Spade, there is a detached and minimal description of events involving Hermann, the old countess, and her godchild Lizaveta. Hermann wants to know the secret of the three cards in a game, and hence he seduces the naive Lizaveta to meet the old countess. Ultimately, Hermann will fall into a mad obsession because of the unrevealed secret of the three cards.

    • Vanity Fair Fair by W. M. Thackeray       

      Vanity Fair is an 1847 English novel. This satiric novel doesn’t have a hero. Indeed, the protagonist is a treasure-hunt and rapacious crowd. They live without any morality, and they merchandise everything in their life. Thackeray describes London as a marketplace and a flat store. The society is a human jungle where there are predators and preys. There is no authenticity, but only performers pretending to show an opulent and extravagant facade. Vanity Fair is an authentic seriocomic tale.  

    • Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf   

      Mrs Dalloway is the fourth novel of Virginia Woolf, and its publication year is 1925. The main character is Clarissa Dalloway, who is a rich woman in her fifties. Clarissa is organising a party, and she recalls memories. The second main character is Septimus Smith, who is a war veteran. He struggles in his recovery from the post-traumatic stress disorder. The happening of the party of Clarissa is simultaneous with the decline of Septimus’s life. Virginia Woolf expresses a subtle critic of the medical profession and a hypocrite society. There is a correlation between the personal experience of the author and the characters of this fictional book. Indeed, Woolf had a bipolar disorder, and the suicidal theme anticipates the end of Virginia’s life.   

    • Orlando by Virginia Woolf 

      Orlando is the last novel in this list of books. This novel dates back to 1928, and it is a famous fantastic story by Virginia Woolf. The main character is an English nobleman who becomes a woman in his thirties. Orlando lives an adventurous three-century life starting from Queen Elizabeth I period. After different adventures, Orlando finds themselves as ambassador in Constantinople, and one day they awake as a woman. Lady Orlando goes back to England and lives as a woman for the following two centuries. They are a writer winning a prize for their poetry. The tale ends up in the year 1928, the publication year of the novel. In this book, there are different historical periods of Britain, from the Renaissance to Virginia Woolf’s contemporary period.      

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