- Priya
Kirpalani
- Mrs. Crawford
- English III
Period 3
- September 30,
1997
-
- In his article
entitled "Duncan Versus Macbeth:
Light Versus Dark,"Andrew Overholt
accurately identifies and illustrates the
opposing forces of good and evil, and
respectively the forces of light and
darkness in Shakespeare's tragedy,
Macbeth. In the play, King Duncan is
associated with good and Macbeth in
contrast emblematizes evil. Duncan
represents the symbol of light, while
Macbeth continually proves throughout the
play to epitomize darkness.
- Overholt
recognizes Duncan's relation with good
and light even though Duncan is murdered
early in the play. Although Duncan's
reign is brief, he succeeds to be a
propitious king. "The citizens were
content and few disagreed with Duncan's
decisions." A few "rebellious
civilians had instigated a civil war but
the army of Duncan fought hard to
suppress [the] uprising." Overholt
properly reasons that "King Duncan
must have been somewhat of a good
king," since many legions of
soldiers compromised their lives to fight
in his name. Overholt proceeds to mention
Shakespeare's description of Duncan's
skin as "silver"and his blood
as "golden." Duncan's body is
depicted as "the Lord's anointed
temple."
- When Macbeth
is first introduced at the opening of the
play, Overholt points out that Macbeth is
a "national hero for his slaughter
of the traitorous Macdonwald."
"Macbeth is called "brave
Macbeth" by an army captain and
"worthiest cousin" by Duncan
himself, which illustrates his respect
for Macbeth." Little does anyone
realize that Macbeth will soon also
become a traitor to the king and murder
him as a result. Overholt describes the
relationship between Duncan and Macbeth
as parallel to the relation of Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Darth Vader from the Star Wars
trilogy. "Kenobi was Skywalker's
tutor and guide until Skywalker was
swayed by "the Dark Side of the
Force," and changed his name to
Darth Vader." Similarly, Macbeth was
an esteemed general in Duncan's army who
respected and admired Duncan before
killing him and turning towards evil and
darkness.
-
- According to
Overholt, Macbeth first begins to change
sides from good to evil when he
encounters the three weird sisters. Upon
hearing their prophecies, Macbeth becomes
Thane of Cawdor and yearns to be crowned
king when "Lady Macbeth suggests the
murder of Duncan." Even though Lady
Macbeth proposes the crime, Overholt
justly claims that "Macbeth did not
have to carry it out, and this shows
[Macbethís] initial turn to evil."
While lost in a rage of greed and
ambition Macbeth begins to lie as
"Duncan's murder is
forthcoming." When discussing
"the upcoming crime,"Macbeth
tells his wife that a "false face
must hide what the false heart doth
know." After Macbethís
assassination of Duncan and his two
grooms, which according to Overholt
"reinforces the pivotal turn [in]
Macbeth;" "Macbeth's blood
thirst is not quenched." He becomes
thirsty for more blood and power:
"We have scotched the snake, not
killed it."
- When Macbeth
calls upon the witches, "obviously
evil,"following Duncan's murder, for
advice and guidance "in his future
actions,"Overholt correctly explains
this event as a manifestation of
Macbeth's evilness. When approaching the
witches, they recognize Macbeth as wicked
and evil: "Something wicked comes
this way." Not only does Macbeth
seek counsel from the weird sisters, but
also "threatens them with a
curse"when they refuse to tell him
more concerning his future.
- Before Banquo
is killed by the hired murderers,
Overholt relates that "Macbeth's
turn to evil and darkness"can be
clearly seen. While discussing the
upcoming murder with his wife, Macbeth
addresses night: "Come, seeling
night,/Light thickens,/Good thing of day
begin to droop and drowse, Whiles night's
black agents to their preys do
rouse." Overholt befittingly reports
that "the most brutal and inhumane
of the murders that illustrates Macbeth's
evil and darkness best is that of
Macduff's entire innocent
household." Before learning of the
assassination of his family, Macduff
refers to Macbeth: "Not in the
legions of horrid hell can come a devil
more damned In evils to top
Macbeth."
- Andrew
Overholt's article "Duncan Versus
Macbeth: Light Versus Dark"rightly
manifests the opposed virtues of good and
evil and light and dark, using Duncan and
Macbeth as examples. From Macbeth's
assassination of King Duncan to "the
merciless slaying of the Macduff
household, Macbeth's retrograde into
darkness can be clearly seen."
Duncan, according to Overholt, is
"like a flashlight in the dark room
of Macbeth." In Shakespeare's
Macbeth, King Duncan represents good and
light while Macbeth is the ideal
exemplification of evil and darkness.
-
-
- Annotated
Bibliography
-
- Coleridge and
Schlegel. "Macbeth." May 22,
1995.
- http://jefferson.villiage.virginia.eÖes/ennc986/class/germ3/germ3-3.html
- In their
article, Coleridge and Schlegel discuss
the role of the three weird sisters in
Macbeth. The authors analyze each
prophecy individually and relate the
consequences of each of their
predictions. Coleridge and Schlegel
propose that the conflict of the entire
play can be attributed to the witchesí
and their premonitions.
-
- Elchuk,
Valerie. "Macbeth: The Story Behind
the Play."
- http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/8066/macbeth.html
- In her
article, Elchuk explains "the story
behind the play,"Macbeth, and
questions the authenticity of the playís
current version. According to Elchuk,
Shakespeare derived the story of Macbeth
from a "story of the history of
Scotland,"and altered some of the
facts "as not to insult the new
monarch,"James I. Elchuk proceeds to
insist that the present account of
Macbeth has been additionally changed
from Shakespeare's original version. She
questions the genuity of the beginning of
the play and the controversial Hecate
scenes.
-
- Freud.
"Shakespeare: MacbethóFreud of the
Macbeths."
- http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/~yisheng/notes/shakespeare/mbeth_f.htm
- In his
analysis, Freud discusses "a
[person's] collapse on reaching
success"as evident in the
- figures of
Macbeth and his wife. Freud explains that
disappointment and disillusionment
"broke [these two] characters."
He furthermore illustrates that Macbeth
"is sown with references to the
father-children relation"which
points to the common "theme of
childlessness"in the play.
-
- "Macbeth:
Tragedy or Satire?"
- http://www.schoolsucks.com/papers/english/shakes/Mac3.txt
- After perusing
and analyzing Macbeth, the author
speculates the classification of the
- play as a
tragedy. He/She defends that the play
should be categorized as a satire since
Shakespeare's Macbeth fails to embody the
six part of a tragedy, which are
essential for a work to be classified as
a tragedy, according to Aristotle. While
supporting his belief, the author
addresses the conflict between good and
evil similarly to Overholt.
-
- Overholt,
Andrew. "Duncan Versus Macbeth:
Light Versus Dark." March 7, 1997.
- http://www.efni.com/~overholt/macbeth.htm (See paper for
details.)
-
- Salz, Melissa.
"Macbeth: Witchcraft and
Double-Talk."
- http://w3.tesser.com/cst/plays/MAC94.HTM
- In her
analysis of Macbeth, Melissa Salz, notes
that "Macbeth's power lies in the
universal questions it raises about good
and evil." Salz specifically
addresses the "important thematic
role"the witches play in Macbeth.
The three weird sisters "introduce
us to the darker side of human
nature"and inaugurate the idea of
doubleness from the very first scene
with: "Fair is foul, and foul is
fair."
-
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