November 5th: Blog Friday

Appearance Vs. Reality;

"It is not essential that a Prince have all good qualities, but it is most essential that he should seem to have them." Niccolò Machiavelli  

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth Macbeth becomes king and uses his power to murder for his own gain. In Act I Macbeth appears to be a good warrior and that is why he starts to gain respect from King Duncan, although, this is not the only side to Macbeth that we as an audience get to see. In the play, there is a note that says Macbeth[ aside], what this means is he is thinking this to himself, so the other characters do not know what he is thinking. "If chance will have me king, why,/ chance may crown me,/ Without my stir" (1.3. 143-144). As Macbeth thinks this to himself, this is the first we here that he is having murderous thoughts to get him self to the throne. As the Macbeth continues Macbeth will start to act upon those murderous thoughts, and he will at first, appear to be same strong warrior, while he doing evil things to friends and others.   

Gender Roles;

In the play Macbeth gender roles are very prominent. I this play the men are the leaders, they are the rulers, they are the warriors, and they work for royalty. This was very common in the time Macbeth was written. The men were in control, and they were the ones that made the decisions. Lady Macbeth also follows the status quo for women in this time period, she is loyal, and does what she is expected to do when guests come. but the Gender Roles are switched when it comes time to make and follow a plan to murder King Duncan. Macbeth starts acting cowardly, and Lady Macbeth is the one who is being strong, and who is pushing him to kill Duncan. As we discussed in class, this is a role reversal on Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's part. 

Loyalty and Honor;

In Act I scene 2 it is mentioned that the Thane of Cowder has been disloyal to King Duncan. This is only one example of Loyalty and Honor in the play Macbeth. There are also other examples of loyalty, and disloyalty. Macbeth for example just gained the kings respect, and has already starting plotting out ways to kill him. Also, in Act II Macbeth and Banquo are having a conversation, and Banquo and Macbeth are talking about how they must both be loyal to each other and tell each other what is going on. Macbeth has already broken his word by not telling Banquo about his plan to kill King Duncan. Banquo has, at this point, become skeptical of Macbeth. He says that yes, he will be honorable to Macbeth, as long as Macbeth is an honorable man. The theme of loyalty and honor in this play,. is more about being disloyal and dishonorable.