Last term in English, much Shakespeare was studied. Every day was never complete unless it had exposure to the wicked wit and masterful stories from the Bard. With such heavy exposure comes either a passion or a resentment, and although I cannot say that all the work of Shakespeare is palatable, Macbeth is perhaps one of the greatest scripted works to come out of England (although not as fabulous as any episode of Sherlock. Perhaps I'm not entirely passionate?)
Murder, madness, violence, bloodshed, strong use of gender roles... all sounding rather Game of Thrones until you look at the goals of a certain dominatrix in a matter that isn't entirely how Shakespeare wanted us to look at them.
The main point throughout Macbeth is that when quests for power become ingrained with a loss of morals, ultimately, the one who has sought power wilfully through such a loss, will eventually succumb to an almighty downfall. Which is interesting enough as it is.
But through her influence over Macbeth, his wife (Lady Macbeth) has moulded him into the perfect tyrant. She belittles and guilt-trips her husband, all with the intent of him soon paving her way to being Queen of Scotland. Which is pure evil, but that's why we love her.
However, she only meant for Macbeth to be a perfect murderer just once, and that was just to kill the current king. Such murderous perfection was never meant to fail when she devised this plan. And by the time her death is announced, her man has become a monster; something which sounds awfully familiar to another brilliant English text; Frankenstein.
I read Frankenstein several years ago, and aside from it being the book that ostracised me further from the 'cool kids', it was one of the most brilliant, thought-provoking things I'd ever read. The character of Victor Frankenstein bears almost no resemblance to Lady Macbeth, and yet they are almost identical with the stories of their quests to attain greatness.
Lady Macbeth was a woman in a time where female= weak. Victor Frankenstein was just a Genevan scientist who wanted to galvanise dead tissue and create the perfect human. They endeavoured to reshape what was human and make it what they wished. But their 'perfect' men soon became monsters in the eyes of their creators and the realisation killed them inside; knowing that what they wanted was now a despicable force that they did not understand and could not control.
As a result (and long stories short), their madness killed them.
This whole post is just a compilation of my random conclusions, but isn't it brilliant how intertextuality works?
Murder, madness, violence, bloodshed, strong use of gender roles... all sounding rather Game of Thrones until you look at the goals of a certain dominatrix in a matter that isn't entirely how Shakespeare wanted us to look at them.
The main point throughout Macbeth is that when quests for power become ingrained with a loss of morals, ultimately, the one who has sought power wilfully through such a loss, will eventually succumb to an almighty downfall. Which is interesting enough as it is.
But through her influence over Macbeth, his wife (Lady Macbeth) has moulded him into the perfect tyrant. She belittles and guilt-trips her husband, all with the intent of him soon paving her way to being Queen of Scotland. Which is pure evil, but that's why we love her.
However, she only meant for Macbeth to be a perfect murderer just once, and that was just to kill the current king. Such murderous perfection was never meant to fail when she devised this plan. And by the time her death is announced, her man has become a monster; something which sounds awfully familiar to another brilliant English text; Frankenstein.
I read Frankenstein several years ago, and aside from it being the book that ostracised me further from the 'cool kids', it was one of the most brilliant, thought-provoking things I'd ever read. The character of Victor Frankenstein bears almost no resemblance to Lady Macbeth, and yet they are almost identical with the stories of their quests to attain greatness.
Lady Macbeth was a woman in a time where female= weak. Victor Frankenstein was just a Genevan scientist who wanted to galvanise dead tissue and create the perfect human. They endeavoured to reshape what was human and make it what they wished. But their 'perfect' men soon became monsters in the eyes of their creators and the realisation killed them inside; knowing that what they wanted was now a despicable force that they did not understand and could not control.
As a result (and long stories short), their madness killed them.
This whole post is just a compilation of my random conclusions, but isn't it brilliant how intertextuality works?
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