Macbeths Fear

Emotions play an important part in our daily lives. As for what fear is biologically speaking, when a person experiences fear, certain areas in the brain are immediately activated and appear to control the first physical response to fear. Chemicals such as adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol are released into the blood stream causing certain physical reactions like rapid heart rate, sharpened or redirected sense, increased sweating and others. Fear is one of those emotions that are pre-programmed into all animals and people as an instinctual response to potential danger. People going through it remember the moment when disaster struck and how time seemed to slow down. They knew exactly what to do without consciously thinking about it, they had great strength and they felt no pain. Fear motivates us to do many thing, whether they are right or wrong such as Macbeths actions towards

In the play Macbeth, it was fear that was his motivational influence. After the kings deaths,  he was scared of being caught and having to pay for the wrongs he had done and so out of fear he had put the blame on his son. "Only for the,' and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man, to make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings!" (Act 3 scene 1). He was also afraid of Banquo because the witches had told him that his sons would become kings and this upset Macbeth. He had risked everything to become King and after him none of his family would take over the crown after him. He didn't want to risk it and has once close friend ordered to be killed! Fear can have anyone to things that they would never believe they would be capable of doing. Macbeths primary concern was the witches prophecy that he would be killed or defeated by someone who was not born of women. He had gone through extreme measures and ordered his soldiers to kill off children who were being born at the time. By doing so, he had gained this sense of confidence because he thought now he had nothing standing in the way of his reign. Macbeth was comfortable at where he was, but as soon as he discovered Macduffs secret of his birth, the fear got the best of him. While they were fighting Macbeth had this feeling of superiority over Macduff however but when Macbeth discovered that Macduff not had been out of a women, and it resulted in his death. Fear causes irrational thinking and for Macbeth it had caused him to commit irrational acts because he was power hungry. All through out the play his fear of being caught and losing power got to the best of him.

Gender Reversal: Macbeth vs Lady Macbeth

In society, there has been a made stereotype for the definition on what i means to be a male of female. This has been around since the beginning of time. The male would be the more masculine one because he would have to go out and hunt for food while the women stayed at home taking care of the children and doing household work. This image of males and females have just moved through the life generation after generation. Now these roles have more elasticity where men are the workers/providers and essentially the strength of the family while women take a more nurturing and caring role. A man's physical strength is portrayed as being strong and brave at the worst of times, yet through Shakespeare'splay it shows the reversal.

Macbeth acts like a female at certain moments in the play. He let the guilt get the best of him about the murder and he listens to his spouse with everything she says while Lady Macbeth does the complete opposite and takes on the role of the man in the relationship. She is the more defiant and devious one and is less emotional when it came things. She even went as far as giving this whole little soliloquy talking about making her tough. “…unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood; Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it." (Act 1 scene 5). She puts her natural femininity and puts it away so she can go through with the devious plan she and her husband had devise. Through that whole scene you can just feel that Macbeth is lingering a sense of power and confidence and needs his wife to give him a talk. After that talk you can see it is his wife that is the strength and ambition behind his character which is usually the other way around. She is the one who pushes him to go through with their plans and it is Macbeth who is backing out instead of his wife. She got rid of her emotions so she would be able to commit these crimes while her husband goes through an emotional break down.

Comparisson on "Out Out" and Macbeth

In the midst of all the turmoil that in going on in the book Macbeth, he receives this devastating news. His response to this news is generally referred to as "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow" as his famous speech. After reading what Macbeth had said in response to when Seton had told him that the queen had died it was crazy to see his reaction. Macbeth's response to his wife's death was so cold. It showed how he has become an apathetic creature, and so emotionless because he was now unable to feel even the most basic emotions and how death was nothing.

 So today in class we had read this poem called "Out Out" by Robert Frost. It was about a young man that was doing yard work and as the day came to an end his sister called him from supper. From all of his excitement, he accidentally had lost control of the saw and it had cut off his hand. The young man had then pleaded to his sister to not let the doctor remove his hand but they realized that he had already lost too much blood. While the young man goes under, he passes away and everyone seems to return to work as if nothing had happened.

At first I had no idea, why we were reading it because it seemed like it had nothing to do with Macbeth. Then after I reread it, I had realized that they both discussed the nature of life and how life goes on. Macbeth talks about how life is short, brief and then just like that, it's over. Death is a part of life and that everyone at one point is going to have to go at one point. That once some one does hit that point in there life, others have to keep it moving. However both these pieces of literature enter some state of detachment. As if they had now this sense of mind of indifference, and that was the only way to deal with the death of someone close to them. They have to basically ignore these deaths and continue to move on with their own lives because life is short and it stops for no one.

Destructive Ambition

"Ambition is the key to success" is a quote is which many people in this world try to live by. Ambition is the strong desire or will to achieve something and it typically requires ones hard work and determination. In the book Macbeth by William Shakespeare, instead of ambition being the key to success, it was what brought him to his tragic demise. Macbeth had this ambition that was so strong, it consumed him and became his own tragic demise.

Macbeth built upon his own ambition In the story, these strange witches appear to Macbeth to tell him the prophecy or what is "supposed" to happen to him in the future. Even though his ambitions were influenced by the witches and even his own wife, he ultimately leads himself to his own destruction. After hearing these stories about the upcoming future, he gets a rush of thoughts going through his mind. "my thought, whose murder yet is but fanatical, shakes so my single stare of man that function is smothered in sunrise, and nothing is but what is not." (Act 1 scene 3) Not once did the witches ever mention murder or the fact that he had to kill someone in order for it to come true. After two things stated in the prophecy happened, it just gave Macbeth more of a reason to believe what they had said and deep down he wanted it to be true. Although the witches are responsible for planting these ideas inside his head, it was his own fault for letting his destructive ambition control him and be his drive for what he wanted.

 Not only did Macbeth let his self ways get to him, but his wife as well played a major part. Lady Macbeth, being quite an ambitious woman herself, wanted to rush the process of her being queen so she tells Macbeth how he should get his title. “Art not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it” (Act I, scene 5)   She urges him to act on his desires and seeing as Macbeth is ambitious as well, he agrees to cynical plan on  murdering the King. If that wasn't bad enough, both their ambitious personalities kept pushing it even further. After Macbeth and his wife become successors of the crown, they felt as if they had to continue to gain more power or else the murder was useless.  He realizes that what the witches had said have been true and from then he tries to control his own future. Macbeth felt that since he now had this sense of control, he decided to make all these decisions on his own, without consulting anyone and at this point his ambition has blind sighted him. Within him there is no longer any hesitation when it comes to him trying to obtain power any way necessary. There is now this wild devious force within him that no longer hesitates to commit crimes and do what ever it takes to ensure his title as king.

Macbeth is one of those characters that you can just never be to sure about. At the beginning of the play he is this noble and loyal character that would do anything for his King. Then after someone, aka the witches, had planted these ideas in his head things started to take a toll for the worse. He had let his ambition get the best of him and eventually he let it get to his wife as well. Their ambition was not there key to success but ended up  being the cause of their demise.