8/21/2019 I Believe That the Essence of Anything Lies in the Set of Attributes That Render It the Characteristics of Its Substa…

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I believe that the essence of anything lies in the set of attributes that render it the characteristics of its

substance, purpose and function. Similarly in Shakespeare’s plays, I think that these sets of attributes

are provided by his characters, which genuinely form the substance, render purpose to and provide the

fundamental meaning of the plays. This is especially prevalent in his play, “Macbeth which contains

a big number of different types of characters, comprising kings, generals, princes, vagrants,

commoners and many others from all aspects of life and hence attracts the interests of a wide range of 

groups in the society who can relate to these characters. The way some of the main characters go

through the drastic changes in their actions and values again catches the attention of a wide array of 

 people since many people find themselves in similar situations during various phases of their lives.

Shakespeare makes a very skilful use of different characters to convey his message through the play

Macbeth.

Macbeth exhibits elements that reflect the greatest Christian tragedy of all: the Fall of Man. In the Genesis story, it is the weakness of Adam, persaded by his wife !whohas in trn been sedced by the de"il# which leads him to the prod assmption thathe can $play God.$ In a similar fashion, lady macbeth ses her maniplati"e powersto con"ince macbeth of bringing ot his nderlying ambition and cased him to dosomething that his morals won%t allow him to do. &e are first introdced to macbethin the wonded captain%s accont with the words 'all(s too weak for bra"e Macbeth).*his introdces Macbeth as bra"e warrior with great "alor and corage. +owe"er later on his interaction with the witches demonstrates that he actally has a desire tobecome king. *his does not come as a srprise to the adience as the captain%s

accont exhibits Macbeth%s sitability for the role. After recei"ing the prophecy fromthe witches, Macbeth informs his wife, who pon reading the letter seems to exposea deep down desire to be the king%s wife, this again seems natral for a person toha"e an ambition to mo"e p in life. +owe"er, it seems as if thogh ady Macbethhad been hiding her desire all this time and was looking for the perfect opportnity tosei-e it. It seems as if the moment she reads the letter, she has a switch inpersonality, mo"ing from a motherlylike person to someone who has an ambitionthat o"errides e"erything. which hints to her e"il natre becase most people woldstick to a moral bondary which stops them from crossing the line and committing areally bad deed. As she finishes the letter, she declares that her hsband%s ' natreis to fll o% the milk of hman kindness to catch the nearway). *his displays thatMacbeth is a moral man and lady macbeth feels as if thogh he needs to grab thisopportnity now and for that to happen he needs to forget his morals and prioritisehis ambition, which means forsaking his kind natre. As the e"ents nfold, Macbethdoes kill /ncan despite facing a dilemma between his morals and his wife%smaniplati"e encoragement. +owe"er, 0st like genesis story, ady Macbeth playsthe role of the 1snake% and leads Macbeth to do something he may not ha"e done onhis own. *his is essential for the play as 2hakespeare, throgh it is able to show sthat no matter how good a person is morally, throgh a good deal of deception andmaniplation their actions can potentially be controlled3altered.

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Just Characters- be they villains, vagrants, kings, or commoners – are theessence of Shakespeare’s plays.

4ne thing in particlar that i wold do when approaching this 5estion is to 5oteshakespeare critics and present their own beliefs abot shakespeare throgh

e"idence from Macbeth. *wo of his critics that i wold se in my essay are 6onathan7ates and &illiam +a-litt. *he play i ha"e chosen to answer this 5estion isMacbeth.I wold present the idea that the characters displayed by shakespeare in Macbethare the essence of the play. &ithot the characters the play may not ha"e trned otthe way it wold ha"e. I wold contend this argment in the following way.

6onathan 7ates in his book ' the genis of shakespeare) states that one of thereasons shakespeare is a genis is that ' we can ne"er 5ite make p or mindsabot the characters. *his is especially tre for Macbeth, and this is shown throghthe characteri-ation of Macbeth and ady Macbeth. *he interaction between

Macbeth and ady Macbeth is "ery important becase the beha"ior of onecharacter impacts the beha"ior of the other. At the start, Macbeth is presented as agracios warrior who is trying his best to defend scotland and someone actallyworth of kingship. later on he goes to the witches and they prophesied 'all hailmacbeth, that shalt be king hereafter). At this stage the reader%s belief, consideringMacbeth%s warrior type natre and the witches prophecy, is that Macbeth willnatrally end p being proclaimed. ater on, in his letter to his wife and his grief onMalcolm being declared prince of cmberland, Macbeth%s desire for kingshipbecomes apparent. +is desire isn%t something nnatral to him as e"eryone hasdesires to mo"e p in life. +owe"er Macbeth, at this stage is presented as a "erymoral character who woldn%t se artificial means to make the prophecy tre. In hisletter to his wife he says 'he brned in desire) ! he was consmed# to 5estion thewitches. After reading the letter ady macbeth says 'he is too fll o% th milk of hmankindness ! to kill#. *his shows he is ambitios bt a moral character.

ater on as e"ents nfold, it is shown that de to macbeth%s interaction with his wife,he gets maniplated into doing something he woldn%t ha"e done. +e goes from amorally ambitios person to a person who wold kill for his desires and lady macbethcon"erts from a feminist, and mother like creatre to a callos and "icios hmanbeing. *his is shown by her when she asks spirits to 'nsex) her. *he following are5otes from +a-litt%s essay on characters in Macbeth8 as he is abot to commit his

bloodiest deeds, heis $assailed by the stings of remorse, and fll of (preternatralsolicitings.( 9... In thoght he is absent and perplexed, sdden and desperate in act,from his own dobts. *his is in contrast with, and $set off by$ the character of $adyMacbeth, whose obdrate strength of will and mascline firmness gi"e her theascendancy o"er her hsband(s faltering "irte. 9... *he magnitde of her resoltionalmost co"ers the magnitde of her gilt.$ 9;;

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porter 

Macbeth(s porter scene fnctions as a comic relief after =ing /ncan is killed. *hetrolllike gatekeeper makes the adience or reader lagh with his drnken banter,and relie"es the tension of the killing in the prior scene. +e casts light on Macbeth(s

internal torment. For example, in the manner of dark comedy he makes fn of adyMacbeth(s fears. *his scene makes people lagh becase of the porter(s solilo5y.

4n a more serios side, the porter(s drnken state gi"es rise to one of the secondact(s main metaphors the hose of Macbeth as the gates of hell. *he >orter(ssolilo5y contains satanic images, and he "iews himself as gatekeeper.2hakespeare "iews Castle Macbeth as the home of death and corrption, becaseof the ady and the mrderos acts of its Master. *he porter scene symboli-es thate"eryone who comes into the castle and tries to stop Macbeth ambition ha"e enteredhell. ?"en thogh this scene makes adiences lagh, it also shows how2hakespeare feels abot Macbeth(s mrderos beha"ior. ike this, e"en a

commoner like the porter is able to add to the sbstance of the play by pro"iding aninsight into shakespeare%s own thoghts.

Banquo

2hakespeare(s 7an5o is the antithesis of Macbeth his pre, moral character foil.7an5o has no ("alting ambition( and ths can easily escape the trap of the&itches( prophecies. &ise and steadfast, 7an5o warns Macbeth that '4ftentimes,to win s to or harm,*he instrments of darkness tell s trths,&in s with honesttrifles, to betray(s In deepest conse5ence). Macbeth adds to the essence of the playas it shows that ban5o and macbeth both had prophecies in their fa"or, howe"er

ban5o wasn%t maniplated by a lady macbeth like character. +owe"er, sincemacbeth was he chose the wrong path.

ac!uff 

+e ends p slaying macbeth. 2howing that when the time is right, the person whodid the wrong deed wold be pnished for their actions, e"en thogh macdff didn%tha"e any particlar benefit from killing macbeth, he did the right thing.

I wold talk abot the important aspects of of the listed characters and i wold 0stify how they add essence to the play by con"eying how their actions bild pwhat occrs in the play and maybe sggest if they hadn%t done what they did, whatmay ha"e happened.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethglossary/macbeth1_1/macbethglos_instrumentdarkness.htmlhttp://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethglossary/macbeth1_1/macbethglos_instrumentdarkness.html