In Macbeth, the audience is introduced to a character called Macbeth, he doesn’t appear in the scene but his name is mentioned by his captain during a battle and he is considered brave and strong soldier to pushed their side to victory. “For brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name”. This quote demonstrates that Macbeth has been recognised for his hard work and power to succeed in the battle. Also his fierceness in the battle is described “fixed his head upon our battlement” and the adjective ‘brave’ suggests positive things about Macbeth. Shakespeare does this to give the audience a first impression about Macbeth and it is positive and get them to think like this but there’s also foreshadowing in the beginning of the text suggesting that Macbeth’s character might change, because straight after Macbeth’s recognition his is awarded with the title of Thane of Cawdor. Duncan, the king, has been betrayed before by the Thane of Cawdor so we get a hint that it might happen again. Going back to the context, in Shakespeare’s time warriors were well looked at especially if they helped their side win battles and had no fear when fighting and that was exactly Macbeth’s character at the start of the play.(writers ideas) In the beginning of the novella Scrooge has been presented as a completely opposite character to Macbeth, he has been described as moody and tight-fisted. An example when he had a negative persona was when the charity workers came to visit him and ask for money to give to the poor and he refused with an arrogant tone of voice. “I wish to be left alone”. The quote shows me that Scrooge is a lonely person and also anti-social. The adverb ‘alone’ represents how he wants to be left and set an image of Scrooge’s personality, how much he interacts with people and why he is disliked by others.In addition Scrooge has, met Marley’s ghost which has increased his flaws by him getting scared and a bit aggressive when talking to the ghost and others.The novella is set around Christmas and for Scrooge not wanting to be with anyone suggest that he doesn’t communicate with his family and friends and that he doesn’t enjoy Christmas. Dickens has decided to show Scrooge like this, because of his personal experience which was spending time in the debtors’ prison even during Christmas and the atmosphere around was sad. Also Scrooge not wanting to donate any money can be due to he doesn’t want to have any debts and get into trouble this is why he is tight-fisted.
As we move through the play we start to see the first of Macbeth’s flaws. Lady Macbeth (his wife) manipulates Macbeth about how he can become king and be very powerful, this was after the witches predictions they had. Macbeth shows signs of guilt and hesitation to try and become king. “If the assassination could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease success” Here we see Macbeth thinking whether or not he should commit crimes to become king as he is scared of the consequences he might face and now that he has just gained a bit of reputation he could ruin it. The two key words in the quote are ‘consequence’ and ‘success’, because it could got either way for Macbeth, he could not get caught by committing many murders to get to the top and become king or it could go totally wrong for him and he could face execution. Shakespeare shows that Macbeth is confused and also the people around you could influence your life and actions in a positive or negative way. However, Scrooge started of the novella with a high amount of flaws now we see them descending as his personality is starting to change with the help of the spirits that visit him during his sleep. As the ghost for the Christmas past shows him his childhood, Scrooge has sympathy on how he was as a child and this is a more positive emotion and it’s different on how we usually know Scrooge. “Filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas”. We start to see Scrooge develop into a more content character and having a better understanding of the meaning of Christmas. The quote uses the adjective ‘filled’ to show the reader how much gladness he has for hearing the people talking about Christmas. Charles Dickens tries to demonstrate to us the importance of Christmas, how its a time to celebrate and come together with family and friends. When he was in the debtors’ prison there was no enjoy and happiness apart from when it came to Christmas where people tried to cheer up a bit and have a good time if possible.
This possibly one the biggest flaws we see Macbeth in, because he has just killed his best mate Duncan, who was the king, after being heavily pressured by his wife. His wife put him to test and influenced him more by doubting his capabilities of being a man and if he was strong and brave enough to kill the king. Also after committing the deed he becomes very paranoid: “With all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hands?”. Macbeth became insane as well which adds to his flaws and we can see that he is having regret for killing his best mate. He feels as if he is stuck and can’t get out of this nightmare that he has just created. Shakespeare has fooled the audience into believing that he is a good character that has no flaws. When reading Shakespeare you have to read in between the lines to figure out what’s happening or if there’s hidden information, like the foreshadowing at the start of the play about how the king has been betrayed by the Thane of Cawdor. This part of the play relates to the gunpowder plot where the king gets betrayed and killed. In the novella ‘A Christmas Carol’ we see a development of Scrooge’s character in positive sense and I have noticed that both characters’ personalities are going completely opposite ways. Both characters have been influenced by ghost but one has had positive impact and the other has had a negative impact. “Most extraordinary voice between laughing and crying…his heightened and excited face”. From the quote we see that the Christmas ghosts are having a positive impact of Scrooge’s life and making him a better person. Also in the quote there are adjectives such as ‘heightened and excited’ to describe how he is feeling and looking. These adjectives create imagery for the reader and it grabs their attention more towards the play and that is a good technique used by Dickens. The structure of the novella is compared to a humans life, because a person can good from a negative persona to a positive one or vice-versa but it’s in stages and doesn’t happen straight away. Dickens is comparing the story to his past when he was in the debtors’ prison everyone was a bit like Scrooge at the start of the novella but when they got out they totally changed or even when they were inside the prison they had to cheer each other up and not always be miserable.
Towards the denouement of the play, Macbeth is totally flawed and doesn’t know what to do. He has done so many wrong things and has no where to go, he has great emotions of guilt and regret but he was oblivious to Lady Macbeth’s plans. The witches predictions have changed his personality dramatically as Macbeth and Banquo were best mates before. I can see from both stories that the supernatural has played the biggest part in the way that the characters develop throughout the play and novella. Before Banquo was killed Macbeth had already changed his views on how he felt about the king. “So he is mine; and in such bloody distance that every minute; of his being thrust”. The quote demonstrates that he has gone insane that he has become hypocritical, because he was good with Banquo and they were best friends and now he hates his presence and demands for him to be killed. Also the quotes shows me that Macbeth feels despaired, he wants to be very powerful so quickly and overcome challenges in the any way. Shakespeare teaches us that you can’t trust anyone as that they might want to harm you even your friends, the most important is looking after your family, protecting them and taking care of those matter to you. This section of the play can be associated with the king James I, because he wasn’t a bad king but he killed a lot of people which influenced how he was viewed by others and he also wanted to have great amounts of power. For Scrooge we see that he is making an effort to change and he doesn’t want to reverse to his old self. The ghost ‘Christmas yet to come’ showed him his grave and how no one really cared about his death and that he is isn’t present any more. This affected Scrooge a lot and as the reader we feel sympathy for him: “I hope to live to be another man from what I was”. Here we see that Scrooge regretted the person he was before and he wants to progress now as a better man leaving the past behind him. The verb ‘hope’ shows us that is worried on whether or not he will be able to change and if the people around him will accept his change. Dickens wants to take Scrooges character changer slowly and not change him quickly, it’s progression like in life and that’s what he bases his stories a lot of, life.
Coming to the end of the play Macbeth is totally lost and has completely lost his mind making him go insane and not knowing what to do. He has committed so many crimes and the peer-pressure really affected him to do things he never wished he had done. Also Banquo’s ghost keeps appearing which frightens Macbeth, activates his insanity and at this moment he is totally flawed. “Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The arm’d rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves, Shall never tremble: or be alive again.” Macbeth demonstrates signs of fear by the apparition of the ghost, it doesn’t matter what shape or form he is in it will still affected the way he acts. Compared to the start of the play where he was described with no fear and had no flaws it has been proved that it was meant to miss lead you and Shakespeare has created two different personalities for one character. This has influenced how he is portrayed to others as now he is thought not to be the correct person to lead the country and that he has mental issues. On the other hand Scrooge is becoming a character with no flaws and is becoming a hero is he town due to his actions after he woke up from his dream. Now that Scrooge is trying to prove himself that is has changed and is another man, as the reader we feel content for this behaviour and things that we now found surprising compared to the start of the novella: “I am about to raise your salary”. Used to knowing Scrooge as a tight-fisted and selfish person when we are introduced to one of the most remarkable actions he could of done, raising the salary of his clerk and the audience get a sense of shock in a positive way. The word ‘raise’ tends to a good thing and I feel convinced that Scrooge has changed, because throughout that day he does many other generous things. Dickens wants to show us the true Christmas spirit and people should behave themselves not only during this time of the year but all year round. Also the fact that Scrooge said he was going to change and he did. Actions speak louder than words, is one of the morals Dickens tries to portray to us.
Overall Scrooge and Macbeth both start at different ends of the spectrum; Macbeth with no flaws and being respected by others and Scrooge with a high number of flaws and disliked by the people around him. But in denouement of the play and novella, both characters are different ends again; Macbeth being totally flawed, his gone insane and Scrooge has no flaws and is loved by everyone as he gains the correct attitude towards Christmas and does many good things.
November 12, 2015 at 9:37 am
ok.
November 13, 2015 at 10:08 am
hello
November 18, 2015 at 12:03 pm
hi