It would be nice if you understood how Macbeth sits alongside other Shakespearean tragedies. It would be excellent if we could develop some basic knowledge and comparative skills between the texts and it would be acecool if we could apply and test the criteria for tragedy to/with these other plays.
Pick a play and post a short summary of events in the play, a few notes on the protagonist and other main characters and a brief comment on the extent to which it is a tragedy.
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Anthony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
The Tempest
Macbeth
ReplyDeleteAlthough the battle began before the play,the play is based on play of two contrasting character who are determined to succeed.In the end they succeed and fate has been decided for Macbeth.He becomes King but the consequences are disastrous,guilt over takes him.But again his powerful wife pushes him into the decisions.Macbeth lacks control and he goes along with wife decisions,he is easily lead by his wife.But as an audience,I feel he enjoys the control of from his wife.This being due to Lady Macbeth being able to make correct decisions.In decisions he wants to do but he hasn't got the courage to make the choices.
In the play Macbeth,Macbeth is the protagonist is Macbeth this being due to him in the end,finally realises he made a few errors in his decision.This is the true reason why the play tragedy because of the sadness in the play.
Nicole Hall
Othello
ReplyDeleteThis drama is one of many great tradegies written by William Shakespeare. Othello is a highly regarded general in Venice. Iago is Othello's ambitious friend. Othello promotes another guy called Michael Cassio to the position of personal lieutenant this makes Iago very jealous. Iago begins an evil plot against the hero. Othello elopes with a woman called Desdemona but Iago starts to plot against them. Othello also becomes jealous and suspicious of Desdemona. He decides to kill her with the help of Iago, their plan was to poison her. instead Othello returns to the castle and kills his innocent wife He smothers her to death.
Emilia tells Othello the truth about the scheming Iago. Othello wounds Iago and kills himself, iago does not die and kills Emilia.
Aaron C
King Lear, handing over his kingdom to daughters Regan and Goneril whom he believes truly love him and disowns Cordelia, the honest youngest daughter. Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to betray him.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him.
The loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear. Regan discovered him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside.
Lear has been led to Dover, where the English troops, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French troops. Lear and Cordelia are captured. Goneril's husband Albany has switched side toward help Lear.
Finally, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund, Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself.
Lear dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
Hamlet
ReplyDeleteHamlet tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark and the events that ultimately lead to his death. The prince learns, from the ghost of his father, that it was his uncle, Claudius, who was responsible for his death and married his mother, Gertrude, in order to obtain the throne. The ghost then orders Hamlet to avenge his death.
Hamlet becomes devoted to avenging his father, however, he delays and descends into an apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about his behaviour and ask that two of his friends keep an eye on him. The Lord Chamberlain, Polonius, suggests that love for his daughter, Ophelia, is the cause of the madness.
Hamlet uses a group of travelling actors to perform a re-enactment of how he imagined his father to have died in order to use his uncle's reaction as an indication of his guilt. Claudius' reaction is to immediately leave, this is evidence enough for Hamlet who makes a move to kill only to decide against it as he finds his uncle in prayer. Claudius orders that Hamlet be sent to England with the intention of having him killed. Hamlet goes to confront his mother about everything and mistakes Polonius for Claudius and stabs him through a curtain. Hamlet is then immediately dispatched to England but his ship is attacked by pirates and he returns to Denmark.
Meanwhile, Ophelia has gone mad over the death of her father and drowned. Claudius convinces her brother, Laertes, that Hamlet is responsible for the death of both his sister and his father and that he should seek revenge. He plans a fencing match between the two with Laertes using a poisoned blade and, in case Hamlet scored the first blow, he poisoned a goblet of wine to offer Hamlet.
Hamlet returns during Ophelia's funeral and, after a brawl, declares that he did love her. He accepts the challenge of the duel. He scores the first hit but refuses the offer of wine from Claudius, instead his mother drinks it and dies. Laertes then wounds Hamlet with the blade but he does not get killed by the poison immediately, Laertes is cut by his own blade and reveals Claudius' plan before dieing. Hamlet proceeds to stab Claudius with the poisoned blade and forces him to drink the remaining poisoned wine, killing him. Hamlet himself then dies after telling his best friend Horatio to tell his story.
Afterwards, a Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, arrives to witness the scene of the royal family dead on the floor. Horatio proceeds to fulfil Hamlet's dieing wish in recounting his tragic story. Hamlet is carried away in a manner befitting a soldier.
This is probably the most famous of Shakespeare's tragedies. However the fact that Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of disgust and real revenge rather than fear and pity goes against the classical, Aristotilian, view of what a tragedy is. Having said this there are many elements that are very tragic, for example the fact that Hamlet missed his opportunity to exact his revenge because he was waiting for the "right moment" and that Hamlet did love Ophelia and his blind quest for revenge stopped him from telling her and ended up killing her.
(This turned out considerably longer than I originally planned it to be)
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