question-oodle four

ZE Future :)
I'm not sure if I've ever experienced a predicted dream or had weird witches telling me to drink weird concoctions from their cauldron (but :) I don't think that's what you're asking). I think the idea of having a predicted future is pretty fundamental though. As Macbeth's future is portrayed to him, there is a much deeper premise behind it. In other cases though, I think you can tell someone something and if it sounds logical enough they will believe you. For instance if someone told me that I would fall down the stairs on my way to my next block..I would believe them because I'm inclined to be extremely clumsy. On the other hand if someone came up to me and told me I would ace my biology exam I would laugh and walk away. :D haha...that would never happen! As you can see, the more realistic "prophesies" are the ones that would have the most influence on me. In fact, if I heard I might possibly fall down the stairs I might intentionally be more clumsy just to make the prediction come true. In the same way Macbeth, though at first he doesn't believe the witches, chooses to follow the fate they've put out for him and go beyond natural boundaries to murder men in order to achieve it.

question-oodle three

Lady Munson
I feel like I can really relate to Lady Macbeth in this scene as I am really good at making myself feel guilty about even the smallest things. In this way I can't imagine how I would possibly react if I were to actually take part in killing a man. Aside from that I love the imagery of Lady Macbeth feeling so helpless as she trys to remove the "damned spot" from her hands. Her character becomes so engulfed by this guilt that it even haunts her dreams. In the same way I have felt extreme guilt for things I have done and I haven't been able to sleep becauase I can't stop thinking about it. Yes, Lady Macbeth's instance is much more symbolic as all of the blood from one man still cannot be removed no matter how hard she scrubs. Though she may have forgiven herself for the deed and though no one else may know of what she's done..she still can't get it out of her head. I can feel the passion of this scene and the remorse she is feeling, I believe Shakespeare protrays Lady Macbeth's response distinctly well. It might be hard to imagine how you might react in a situation such as Lady Macbeth's but in a situation of complete guilt I believe punishing yourself is a true image of what might happen. The irony of this scene is that Lady Macbeth didn't murder anyone. It is merely that she helps contribute to one man's death therefore she feels she is the cause of all other deaths too. By holding all of the regret, guilt, and passion inside she is building up more and more for herself. In her speech she talks about the Thane of Fife and his wife as if she was somehow part of that death as well. In the end of the scene though she concludes by telling herself "off to bed", as if to say "enough of this". She wants herself to put on a false face for the world by day and move on, but she knows that the guilt will still consume her by night.

question-oodle two

Mr. Macbeth
I believe, though the character of Macbeth is fictional, no one is really able to point a finger as we are all capable of being just as evil as he became. We are all just as able to be presented with instances of power, yet we are all also able to stand down from this power; thus preventing it from consuming us to the extent to which Macbeth did. You can see this through what he says to Lady Macbeth when she is trying to re-convince him to kill Duncan. He says, "I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none." He realizes that by initially refraining from killing Duncan he is the true man. Therefore it's hard to know at what point he transforms into the murdering heartless Macbeth at the end of the novel. It seems as if there is a mixture of events that lead up to it. Both Lady Macbeth and the witches add to his downfall as the witches "plant the seed" of an altered fate in his mind while Lady Macbeth continues to water it. After they no longer coax him, his mind continues to lead him astray. His dagger soliloquy is a key example of his change. He states in it that, "...wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep." As a more prosperous future disrupted the peaceful one he led before meeting the witches. Yet now that he has seen what is beyond the life he had before he can never be satisfied.

question-oodle one

Mrs. Macbeth

I have to admit I do feel bad for Lady Macbeth as I don't think it was ever her intention to murder so many people. Even after Duncan's death she mentions to Macbeth that "these deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad." As if she realizes the utter consequence of what she is getting herself into yet her passion for fulfilling what has been told to her husband overpowers her better judgement. I believe her true mistake in this instance is how she only thinks about what seems good at the time, and not how it will make her feel in time. She wants nothing but happiness for Macbeth, yet she goes beyond even her own conscience in the midst of it. She uses the excuse of him being less than a man or being a coward if he were to not go through with the act. She tells him that in being a coward he is "...letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' like the poor cat i' th' adage..."! In these words she appears empowered against him, but I think she is just as weak as she is in the end of the play. It is only when Macbeth kills more and more innocent people and the guilt of what she has done finally sinks in that Lady Macbeth's character evolves to a more vulnerable one. So, yes I do feel sorry for Lady Macbeth and her inability to cope with what has been done in her name.

pregunta tres

HAMARTIA!
The poem "In the Secular Night" by Margaret Atwood (yes, I'm talking about this one again) is filled with a lot of emotion that seems to result in the speaker reaching a point of hamartia and not of redemption or creation. The tragic flaw that I see displayed in this poem is shown through the speaker as she remains in desperation throughout the poem. At the beginning when she is younger it seems as if it is just exaggerated emotion, but even after 40 years she is still the same character as she was in the beginning. This could be a tragic flaw for human nature in some ways as there are people everywhere who surround themselves with consistency, even if that consistency is destructive. The desolation of this does enhance the message as the last few lines about the person getting hit by a car severely changes your feelings towards the poem and you see it for something much worse than just a girl eating lima beans at home. That is why I believe the tragic flaw of this character is so essential to the message of this poem.

pregunta dos

TPCASTTING!...YAY!
So I decided to re-TPCASTT "In the Secular Night," by Margaret Atwood. While I was reading through this poem I was once again struck by just how well the speaker's existence is displayed and how many people can relate to feeling alone in the world. The theme I found for this poem coincides directly to the title "In the Secular Night" as the speaker is truly living in and among a secular night. For this reason I found it true that living of the world (or in a secular night) will lead to discontentment, despair, and loneliness. The reason for these three words is shown throughout the poem as the speaker experiences the brutality of a secular world and how trying to gain satisfaction from it will only leave you desperate for more. This poem therefore sheds more than just a glimmer of light on the human condition but more a blinding spotlight on the faults of our world today. We say the world is degressing and that something should be done, but most of us just prefer to stay in the secular night with our "baby lima beans" and blame God for all our mistakes.

pregunta uno

PLATH!

Upon investigating each of these poets and even many other poets I find it interesting that all of them seem to have some dysfunctional complex to them. Yeah, all of us can be a bit dysfunctional at times, but poets just seem to embody the art of it so much more flawlessly. I guess in this way, I would relate to all of them as I can be pretty dysfunctional at times. I think it goes further than just being dysfunctional though, I believe what makes the poets truly good is how they deal with these peculiarities through their poetry.
Plath's techniques for coping with the world around her are much like the ways I choose to deal with my problems. She seems to have internalized most of her problems into her poetry or into just writing out all she was feeling. Though I still like to talk out my problems, I'm much the same way as sometimes I feel much better when I just write out everything I'm feeling. In the case of Plath, her ramblings were formed into beautiful poetry while mine equate to nothing more than a bunch of choppy lines that I hope no one will ever have to read. :)
Sadly though, the fault of Plath doing this through much of her life is probably a reason behind her death at the age of 30. Without sharing all the pain she had inside of her she was eating away at herself. I don't think I would ever let my feelings have that much control over me and, unlike Plath I don't think I'll be sticking my head in an oven anytime soon! Still though, on a purely amateur level, I'm glad that I can notice such a similarity between me and such a great poet.