Friday, April 1, 2016
Conversation #1 - Group A
On p. 131,Macbeth notes that, "From this moment, The very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand." Comment on how Macbeth thinks about the relationship between his heart and his hand. Raise questions about how this illustrates a core part of his personality or a change in his personality. As you read beyond this scene discuss how this statement affects later events in the play.
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Macbeth is saying that from this point in the play and on he will always take action as soon as he wants to do something. He decides to kill Macduff's family as soon as he can because he thinks that it will put him out of danger. This change in impulsiveness is very different from his original reluctance to murder at the beginning of the play when he was thinking about killing Duncan. He probably wouldn't have murdered Duncan if it weren't for Lady Macbeth convincing him to, but now he is compulsive and takes matters into his own hands.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth believes that his heart would normally control what he does with his hands. The heart is usually associated with feelings of love and compassion so he is saying that his heart would stop him from doing hurtful things to other people because he would feel compassion and guilt. Now, he is just going to carry out actions that get him what he wants, without feeling compassion. This is the turning point in how the audience views Macbeth's integrity. Before this moment although Macbeth is a murderer he still may gain some compassion from the audience because of how the murders affect his conscience. Now, Macbeth has truly turned evil because he made the decision to stop feeling compassion and guilt for the people he kills.
ReplyDeleteOn this page, Macbeth states that once he has a goal, he will complete it no matter the cost. In this case, Macbeth decides to kill off Macduff's family in order to remain powerful. Although Macbeth usually second guesses himself, he will now do what he wants to do without feeling guilty. Once Macbeth states this, the readers can conclude that Macbeth has officially become evil, or insane. This is because he now has no emotions when killing other people. Since Macbeth is so power hungry, he has blocked out both his emotions and values in order to stay king. Due to his new state of mind, Macbeth becomes ruthless and kills many other people.
ReplyDeleteAs Macbeth explains that the product of his hands is the product of his heart itself, he leaves a very important part of his body out of the equation: his brain. This speech foreshadows that Macbeth will no longer be using his brain, which previously prevented him to kill Duncan, thereby using his hands to acquire the only thing that seems to be in his heart, which is power. Macbeth realizes that he doomed to go to hell, and decides that he might as well make his time on Earth worth it, by maintaining his throne. I do not, however, believe that Macbeth is now evil, but that he decides to overlook his morals to achieve a goal that is immoral in concept. I believe that deep down, he knows he is doing wrong, which is the very reason he decides not to use his brain and ignore his conscience
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