Friday, April 1, 2016
Conversation #1 - Group D
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 comes to a conclusion that if he thinks about murdering someone, he will do it right away without over thinking the idea, which is what he did with King Duncan.When Macbeth thought about murdering King Duncan, his heart knew it was the wrong thing to do, but at the same time he had a craving for more power which made his hand do it. As the play further develops the apparitions tell him to beware Macduff who will destroy his reign as king. With this in mind, the relationship between the heart and the hand changes because Macbeth says if his heart says to do it, his hand will do it unlike before when his heart said not to do it, but his hand did it anyway. This situation will come into effect later on when Macbeth says he will murder Macduff's family. Do you guys think this is the part when Macbeth loses some of his supporters?
ReplyDeleteThis quote said by Macbeth means that from now on, Macbeth will kill someone immediately after he says he will. With King Duncan, Macbeth took a long time to kill him, which resulted in Macbeth being haunted every day and night. The relationship between Macbeth's hand and his heart changes as the play develops. When he kills Duncan, his heart does not want to do it, but at the same time, he is power hungry which makes his hand kill Duncan. As the play progresses, Macbeth starts killing people simply because he wants them gone, and wants to keep his power. He starts not to care about if he kills people or not. How do you guys think Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change throughout the play? Whats different about how they viewed killing Duncan, and how they viewed killing Banquo and Macduff's family?
ReplyDeleteThis quote means that from now on Macbeth will not hesitate to kill someone he will just go through with it and this is different from the beginning where he kills Duncan but he doesn't want to. Macbeth as a person becomes less of a thinker and more of a doer for example when he kills Macduffs' family he didn't think about his children or his wife he just had it done. would lady macbeth appreciate this new quality of macbeth?
ReplyDeleteTo answer Eric's question, I believe Lady Macbeth and Macbeth change in opposite ways as the play goes on. For example, once Macbeth kills Duncan, he has a craving to kill more people that can possibly end Macbeth's reign as king. An example of this is on page 93 when Macbeth says "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!" Lady Macbeth changes in that she does not want any more killing to be done unlike Macbeth because she realizes how bad it is. An example of this is the symbol of her washing her hands, or guilt from the killing she has done.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Mikhayl's question I believe Lady Macbeth does appreciate the new quality of Macbeth being less of a thinker, and more doing things for certain situations like killing Duncan, but maybe not as much for killing Macduff's family.
To answer Eric's 2nd question, I think Lady Macbeth realized that all the killing of people and their families has resulted from Macbeth trying to satisfy her wants. At the end of her life Lady Macbeth felt bad that she had Duncan killed. To answer Eric's first question, I think Macbeth changed a lot throughout the play because at first he was a happy, honored,and noble man and as time passed I think Macbeth went insane and was filled with so much guilt he was more barbaric as the play went on as he killed his best friend and tried killing a little boy and had a family killed I also think he became more of a coward as he would eliminate families and people that he though threatened his power and that shows he was afraid and when he had people killed it was brutal bloody murder.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Mikhayl's question, I do think that Lady Macbeth likes Macbeth's new quality of not hesitating as much as he was before about killing people. I think she was happy about him killing Duncan, but she started to hallucinate after he killed Macduff's family and Banquo. After he killed Duncan, Lady Macbeth was happy that her husband was king, and helped him deal with the many hallucinations he had about killing Duncan. Although, at the end of her life, she had many hallucinations about blood on her hands from all of the killing.
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ReplyDeleteIn response to the original question, proposed by Howard, I believe that at this point, Macbeth had already received the predictions from the witches about his future and had sacrificed his sanity and the ability to control what must be done in order to maintain his power. Macbeth had accepted the terms of the situation and had decided not to differentiate between what must be done and what actions may be questionable. Therefore, his initial impulses and inclinations were immediately directed with his hand, without a second thought. Macbeth believed that if he were to think twice, it would be foolish because it would interrupt and jeopardize the security of his power. This affects later scenes in the play because after this realization, Macbeth had become a killing machine, numb to all his prior values of loyalty and honor. Paradoxically, Macbeth believed that this sacrifice will only enhance his power, when in reality, Macbeth had weakened his power because he had allowed himself to succumb to the nature of his impulses and fears.
ReplyDelete-Erin Olender