Reflection of Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Fellysia:

Upon having to make a modern adaptation of Macbeth, I learnt the intricacy of human nature, especially one which deals with ambition. The attempts to reach success can sometimes lead to perilous twists and turns as well as degrade the morality of one. In this play, Macbeth is blinded by his ambition to be on the throne that he is capable of conducting such vile method to attain it. However, the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth, should not be dismissed so easily, for she plays a major part in Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. Here, what I can perceive is the fact that one’s conducts are normally also the reflection of one’s surroundings, and despite the seemingly submissive nature of his wife, she is actually the voice behind his moves. Lady Macbeth’s influences over her husband shows that women are more guile and manipulative than men to achieve what they want and in this case, power and success through any means. Besides that, it seems like the matter of masculinity is something which can touch the nerves of any men, as such happens to Macbeth. When his wife starts to question his manhood accusing him of lacking ambition when he doesn’t want to kill Duncan, Macbeth becomes troubled by this thought that he changes his stand towards this issue completely. He wants to prove to her that he’s still worth the respect he deserves as a man and a husband. This ambition involving the attainment of power is also prevalent in today’s society with so many people becoming more corrupted in their ways to achieve a higher rank that any means will be done. Despite the fact that Shakespeare has tried to warn us upon the vanity and danger of having unchecked ambition through this play, people are still not heeding this advisory message.

Also, I find it intriguing that at the start of the play, it is Lady Macbeth who seems to be the “evil” one, for she is the one who puts the idea of assassinating Duncan without any feeling of remorse, becomes so consumed with guilt that she finally commits suicide. Yet, the allure of power has made Macbeth turn into a more immoral man, when he is willing to do anything, even more killings, to cover up his murder on Duncan. Thus, ambition and power are two extremely dangerous objects of pursuit if they go unchecked. My most memorable lines from the play are from Scene 5 Act 5 lines 22-27:

“ Out, out brief candle,

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.”

These lines are said by Macbeth upon learning the death of his wife and I can really sense his despondency that he suddenly sees life as insignificant and fleeting. There is also a hint of regret in his words that all of the efforts that he has spent upon achieving his ultimate goal; becoming king, are after all meaningless because he can never enjoy it with his beloved wife as they have been tormented by the committed crime in the past. From this, I gather that it is never easy to reach one’s goal and there should also be boundaries upon which one can achieve it because breaking the moral codes does not necessary brings joyful ending as seen from Macbeth’s life story.

Veronica:

By having the chance to create and perform a short play of Macbeth’s version last week, I could understand Macbeth much better than the real version because our group made the modern version of it. It is easier to be understood. From the play, I learnt that human beings often being so greedy about wealth, power, and success. Sometimes, man does not think the appropriate ways to achieve success or so-called they often have blind-ambition. According to the play, this can be seen when Macbeth is affected by Macbeth’s wife, whose name is Lady Macbeth. In my opinion, she has given bad effects to Macbeth because she is the one who persuaded Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to take over the throne. Here, we can really see that women’s roles are playing an important role in this play. Thus, ones cannot underestimate women. In the end, Lady Macbeth was successful in persuading Macbeth to assassinate Duncan, though; at first Macbeth did not the plan to kill Duncan. His surrounding, which is his own wife, was influencing Macbeth. It is very easy for someone to fall into other people’s idea, though; it is not a positive idea. At last, I learnt that every act that you take would give you rewards. When human acts in positive attitudes, then they will get good rewards. On the other hand, when they act in negative attitudes, then what they will get is bad rewards. As an illustration, Lady Macbeth died because she felt guilty.

Kharis :

Macbeth sure is a very good example of a tragedy, the tragedy of a tragic man who met a tragic ending. Macbeth and his wife are doing something too far in their struggle to attain power and position which is killing the rightful king and his kins. Their actions are driven by ambition and lust for power rather than their awareness that macbeth is capable to make the country better by becoming a king. Actually, macbeth is an unambitious person rather than a power hungry. His wife is the one who pulling all the string from behind. She orchestrated the murder of duncan and thus, making her husband the king. It's like she is the one with the brain and macbeth is the thug with the brawn. The girl power that we see here, demonstrates how women can be more dominant than man. In the end, they both meet tragic ending which is death. Of course, it;s not by natural cause, but by sword. The lady commits suicide, and macbeth beheaded by malcolm who seeks for revenge. Just like the saying in the bible, "you reap what you sow". Truly, both macbeth and his wife have harvested their field.

Aswin:

I think Macbeth tragedy is a good example of how people can change because of blind ambition. It is all started when Lady Macbeth want her husband to take the throne, but later on Macbeth is the one that become cruel and cold hearted, this play also shows that women can actually be as ambitious as men. This paly is wonderful because at that time women was a second class in the society but in this play, Lady Macbeth also proved that women can control her husband.

Juanta:

Transforming a drama script into a performance makes us easier to understand the characteristic of each character, since we have to read the script at first and then play it on stage. we have to know and try to make the characterization successful. The character, lady Macbeth, in the story is the person who meets with change in personality for her ambition of power and wealth. Her ambition soon makes her husband turn into a different person, someone who will do anything to gain his will. The interesting part is Lady Macbeth, the culprit of all evilness, regrets all what she has done, goes crazy and then commits suicide, while her husband, who is at first a good person, never regrets and enjoys being a king.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles

What is so "tragic" about Oedipus' fate?

Why did it happen?

Aswin:
The tragic fate of Oedipus' life is murdered his own father and he does not realize it. Even though, he becomes king of Thebes and he also has to married the queen of Thebes, Jacosta, which is his mother, and he does not realize it too. When all the facts revealed, he has to commit with his own promise that the murderer will be exiled from Thebes.
All is start because Laius believe in a propechy about his fate that someday he will be killed by his son. After Jacosta gave birth to a son, Laius exiled the baby outside Thebes. After raised by Polybus and Merope, Oedipus traveled to Thebes and killed Laius without knowing that Laius is his own father.


Veronica:
I can also say that Oedipus' fate is so tragic because he has been destined to be the murderer of his own father and he will be marrying his own mother. Though, it shown that he runs away the country to avoid the prophecy from an oracle, he still cannot avoid it. It really happens in a reality.
It did happen because of Oedipus' belief in oracle. In my opinion, if Oedipus does not believe what the oracles say, i think he will never know all of the predictions. As a result, there won't be any such things happen. It is because we haven't put all the predictions into our mind set. So, it's better to live his life as it is.


Fellysia:

The tragic that befalls Oedipus lies in his fate as an oracle has predicted that he will kill his father and marry his own mother before he was even born that his real father, King Laius ordered him to be killed. This, however, was failed to be carried out. The failure to murder Oedipus as a baby, leads to him being brought up by another set of parents, and upon learning his destiny from the Delphi that he is to be the murderer of his father and sleeping with his mother, he flees the country in the hope he will not carry out this terrible prophesy. Nonetheless, what’s been determined can not be changed, as shown that his running away proves to be useless, for in his course to run away from his destiny, he is in fact fulfilling it. When he meets an unknown man called Laius, he kills the man not knowing Laius’ true identity as his father by blood. This also leads him to solving the riddle from the Sphinx and marrying Jacosta who is actually his mother. Thus, it can be seen that he has no control upon his life for everything has been predestined that little can he do to change it. This displays how fate is a pivotal part of Oedipus’ life, for he is merely living to make sure it happens without any power to change the outcomes of it.

Juanta:

Fate is something that has been written into someone's life line. Oedipus tries to avoid what oracle has prophecied to him but eventually he becomes the main actor of the prophecy fulfillment. That's the tragic part of Oedipus fate. Fate or God's will cannot be changed with human's effort or human's will. In my opinion that's the reason why it all happens.

Kharis:

what is so tragic about Oedipus fate? He tries to rin away from his fate, but, instead of succesfully avoding his fate, he walks toward it. The question is, does the oracle make some kind of a prediction or some kind of a prophecy? If it is a prediction, then the story would not so tragic at all because Oedipus has the chance to reset the future as seen by the oracle by running away from it. But, because it is a prophecy, then whether he leaves corin or not, the story will always end up with him kills his own father and having children with his biological mother, because fate has a tragic design for his life. So, the whole life of Oedipus is tragic, because it is predestined to be tragic.

Lusiana:

as i know, the tragic about Oedipus fate is when he tried to find out the murderer of his father, at the end he found that the one who kill his father is himself. And then, he also knew that the woman he has married is his own mother. And on the same day when he his father was murdered, he is inaugurated as the new King. But, then he found that the murderer of his father is himself, and the woman he married is his mother, then he was chased away from his kingdom because he killed his own father. everything happened only in one day.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Globe Theatre-The venue of many first performances of William Shakespeare's plays

Portia - Brutus' wife

• Does assassinating a leader for the good of the people constitute bravery worthy of a tragic hero or can the end never justify the mean?

Fellysia:
Brutus who helps in the assassination of Julius Caesar is worthy to be called as a tragic hero for he signifies the main elements needed to be called as one. First of all a tragic hero in a tragedy is the main character who makes a rash decision in his actions which lead to his pitfall. As a senator, he is a man of prominence, well-liked by his peers, wealthy, and has good family relationship. However, his major flaw is in his staunch principles that he decides to kill Julius Caesar due to his overwhelming patriotism. He cares about his nation that he is willing to betray Caesar’s friendship by committing such barbarous murder. Unlike the other conspirators of the killing, Brutus is the only one with the noble intentions on trying to make Rome a better place to live in that readers or audience sympathise with his impending doom. Besides that, Brutus’ naivety makes him become easily manipulated by the other men in his surroundings, such as Cassius’ motives for killing Caesar. Therefore, it can be said that Brutus is responsible for his downfall as most tragic heroes are because he befriends the wrong people and unable to see hidden intentions behind others’ ambitions that at the end of the play he has to take the brunt of his self-inflicted mistakes in participating in the murder of Caesar.


Veronica:
Brutus is the one who is worthy to be called as the tragic hero in this play. By assassinating Julius Caesar, the readers can have clear image of who do it for their own benefits and who do it for the good of Rome. Many other conspirator have blind ambitions to have their power over Rome. Unlike the other conspirator, Brutus is doing it for the goods of Roman. After what he has done to Julius, which also give impact to Rome, he decided to kill himself for paying all the chaos. Once again, he pay it for Roman.

Aswin:
Brutus is worthy called a tragic hero because his main reason doing it just only for the good of the Roman, he doesn't has any personal intention doing it. Brutus also decided to kill himself in the end after knowing the impact of what he had done.

Juanta:
Brutus may be called a tragic hero. A hero because his action of murdering Caesar has a purpose to stop Caesar's tyrant regime. Tragic cause actually his idealist thought has been manipulated by others for their own need. Later after knowing the fact, Brutus decides to commit suicide. There is no positive result of what Brutus has done, in the end a tyrant that he tries to stop only continued by another tyrant regime.


Kharis:
It is very subjective to either answer that the assasination constitutes bravery or the end can never justify the means. My opinion is, let's imagine if Julius Cesar made himself king. If he is the king, would the romans and the senators will live in vain, cultural changes, political and economical disorder or not? Judging from who is Caesar and what he had done for his country, probably, Rome will be greater with him as the ruler of Rome. So, i think, the assasination is not something good at all, if we see it for the good of the people. In other hand, the assasination is good for the senators because with Caesar out of the game, they will dominate the government for their own benefits. So, the conclusion is, the death of Caesar will never justify the means.

Lusiana:
I think Julius should be called a tragic hero because of what he had done. It is arguable that Brutus fits Aristotle’s guidelines for a tragic hero. He has a high position in society, which is evident through that fact that he is a senator. he was attempting to be a fair enough ruler to hear what his enemies had to say. that was why he was at the senate that day he was murdered.

Everyman by Anonymous

• How does everyman match with morality drama characterization?
• How does personification play a great role in this play?

Fellysia:
The play Everyman matches with the morality drama characterization for it is a dramatic allegory that teaches lessons about how humans should live morally by using personifications as its characters. These personified characters are applied to represent humanity as a whole, not specific individuals who have to deal with personified sin of all kinds, and finally find salvation or peace in God. In addition, God and angels may appear as characters in morality plays and they also should take a common subject matter to be made simply so that everyone is able to enjoy it without needing special settings or costumes. Thus, because Everyman is a story about how the entire humankind (everyman) should live to save his soul by acting out his virtues (good deeds), doing religious rituals (confession) against the temptation of sins in worldly splendours (material goods, beauty), and has God and angels as its characters, this play is indeed a morality play.
Because personifications are a pivotal part of morality plays, Everyman’s characters and story rely greatly on them to convey its message of morality to the audience. Everyman represents the typical human being who has neglected religious life but atones for his sins in time to be saved by God. When Death comes to Everyman, Knowledge tells him that he should obtain salvation, which he can only get through penance in Confession. His other friend Good Deeds is the only one who is willing to accompany him in the afterlife after personalities and characteristics such as Discretion, Strength, Everyman’s Five Wits, and Beauty all neglect him in the end. Even his supposed families, friends, and riches of the world in Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, and Material Goods can not save him. Thus, by using these personifications, audience can immediately find moral teachings imbedded within it.

Aswin:
Because Everyman directly deals with the moral of humanity in that era, which is a very serious issue. The play also has a character which gives a picture about all the characteristics on a human being. Personification make the "human characteristic" alive. The "human characteristic" are alive in this play and give a clear picture about what they are.


Veronica:
In my opinion, Everyman shows great morality aspects to the readers. It shows the readers about how to be a good person (or it can be said how to be a good Christian). I'm mentioning the word "Christian" because during that era, plays mostly happened in church. Moreover, during that era, most of the works tried to talk about morality. It will more into teaching us how human should live morally in this world.
Also, the play has many personification. It plays a great role in the play because it helps the readers to have a clear understanding about the play itself, which is also teaching morality. For example, when Good Deeds wants to follow Everyman to the afterlife, Good Deeds suggests that knowledge, which is knowledge about his own sins, and his repetance of sins, will lead Everyman to find salvation.

Juanta:
The journey to seek salvation is the main idea of everyman, and during the journey we can see moral messages in it. For example, it reminds us that we cannot avoid death, not all of our friends are good friends, we cannot trust or depend with our relatives to seek salvation, and there are parts of ourselves that cannot guarantee our salvation (beauty, knowledge, etc)
Personification plays a great role since it represents everything that actually around or inside human's life and smartly make an appearance as a human. Example, knowledge and beauty that actually lay inside human or human characteristic are presented as a separate part that make relation but later betray everyman for their disability to help everyman avoid the death

Kharis:
Each of the characters represent a symbol of something. An allegory of an aspect such as good deeds, fellowship etc. The play mathes with morality drama characterization because it teaches people to aware with their behaviors and deeds and its conscequences. The personification makes all of the aspects of the allegory come into the play. As the everyman journeys to the valley, every allegories abandoned him except good deeds and knowledge. This shows to us that in the end, only those two aspects in life that will remain with us when we die, we will leave everything behind and everything will leave us too, but only those two that will stay to guide us to salvation.

Lusiana:
I think Everyman teaches us many lesson about morality. It teaches us a lesson about how Christians should live according to their faith and Jesus way and it also teaches us what a person should do to save his soul. The characters of a typical morality play include personification of virtues (such as hope and charity), vices (such as pride and slot) or other qualities as well as personifications of activities (such as death or fellowship). God and angels may appear as characters as they do in Everyman. However, we also learn that one thing that we will bring until we die is goodness in our life. everything will be gone and be forgotten by all people, but kindness or goodness in our life will stay alive and follow us until the death come.