Friday, April 1, 2016
Conversation #1 - Group C
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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This comment by Macbeth shows a huge change in his emotions, and his approach on his problems. In the first act, Macbeth is very reluctant to follow through with what his wife tells him to do. He is afraid that his actions will come back and haunt him, and he will never have a clear conscious. After he kills Duncan however, his mindset changes completely. He realizes that in order to protect himself, he must rid of all people that are suspicious of him. As a result, he finds it increasingly easy to eradicate his enemies without guilt. By going straight from his heart to his hand, he is skipping his brain, thus avoiding his conscious. This is a major shift from his hesitant self in the beginning of the play. This comment later affects him when he sends the murderers to kill Macduff’s family. He does not feel guilty about it, and thinks it was the right thing to do to the family of a traitor. Do you think that killing Macduff’s family was necessary in proving his point that traitors will not be tolerated?
ReplyDeleteI do think it was necessary, only because there was no other way to punish Macduff. Killing Macduff’s family actually backfired on Macbeth, when Macduff used his grief to become angry at Macbeth and plot revenge.
DeleteIn future cases of a traitor, I feel like the traitor would now know to bring his family with him, showing that there is really no way to one.
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DeleteMacduff is explaining how he has been controlled by his conscience for too long. He is deciding not to consider anything his conscience tells him anymore. He does not care what is right for the country, but is more focused on what is better for himself. Macbeth has thought of so many ways to gain power, but has not acted upon them. He is now going to take his thought literally and do whatever he thinks is necessary to remain in power. The idea of relating his hand and his heart are that his heart can imagine to do anything, but in order to follow through on those ideas he needs to use his hands. Being the most powerful person in your country is supposed to be a fun time, but he ends up worse than he started off.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth believes that he needs to stop debating whether doing something is follows right morals and just do it. Macbeth wants to ignore his heart, the body part associated with compassion, and simply do with his hand. Examples of this are when Macbeth needed to be persuaded by his wife to kill Duncan, versus when Macbeth got three people to kill his friend Banquo. Without empathy, Macbeth has dehumanized himself and turned into a killing machine, as he murders Macduff’s defenseless family later in the play. Do you think this backfired on Macbeth, who had nightmares and didn’t seem to enjoy his time as King? Do you also think that Macbeth is no longer human on the inside?
ReplyDeleteI believe that Macbeth no longer feeling remorse for the people he murdered backfired on him hugely because it sparked lots of anger against him. The main reason Macduff was very inclined to kill Macbeth was that he murdered his family. His unconscience actions were a leading factor in the outcome of his life. I believe that Macbeth is still human on the inside, because throughout the play, he has several hallucinations, which show that he is capable of human reactions to major problems.
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