Fate vs Choice

    The witches told Macbeth that he would be next in line to be king, but did that mean he had to kill Duncan? Macbeth killing King Duncan was not fate it was Macbeth's choice. If Macbeth wouldn't have killed Duncan would he have still become king? Even after he does become king he kills even more people because he feels they are threatening his throne. Another question I have is, if Lady Macbeth hadn't convinced him to kill Duncan after he said he didn't want to, would Macbeth had turned into the evil person that he did? Also, Lady Macbeth probably wouldn't have gone cuckoo cuckoo because of all the "blood on her hands".
    Are the witches predicting that Macbeth will become king? Or are they just telling Macbeth this because they know that becoming king is the most important thing to him and they know he will kill Duncan? Soooo do the witches want Duncan dead?????

Chestnuts vs Masculinity

        In the beginning of act 1 scene 3, the witches appear. One of the witches proclaims how a women was sitting eating chestnuts and when the witch asked if she could have one the women told her to get away. The witch then proclaims how her husband is off at sea to Aleppo as the master of a ship called the Tiger. The women with the chestnuts reflects Lady Macbeth.

       In order for Macbeth to become king he must first kill King Duncan. When Macbeth tells his wife Lady Macbeth about what the witches told him, she asks, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the tow top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood." She is asking evil spirits to help her to become evil so she can help her husband kill the king.

       When witches make potions and conjure evil spirits they have to give something to get what they want. Such as in act 4 scene 1 the potion calls for a witch's mummified flesh, the gullet and stomach of a ravenous shark, a root of hemlock that was dug up in the dark, a Jew's liver, a goats bile, and so on and so forth. All the things that the potion asks for are extremely hard to get. When Lady Macbeth asks for the evil spirits to come forth and help her, she doesn't give anything for a trade, or in this case she doesn't give her chestnuts. When the witch says, "Her husband has sailed off to Aleppo as the master of a ship," it seems as if the chestnut woman and the sailor are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The witch says that she will take the sailors wind so it seems that she is going to take his life or it could be his throne.

Act 1

In act 1, scene 1 and 2 of Macbeth, Scotland is in the midst of a war with Norway. The play opens with the Captain telling King Duncan of Macbeth's great bravery in the war. He tells how Macbeth split Macdonwald from his naval to his throat and places his head on a stick. Macdonwald rebelled against King Duncan and sided with the Norwegians and fought against Scotland. We also find out that the thane of Cawdor sided with the Norwegians also so King Duncan calls for him to be executed. When the thane of Cawdor possession becomes available, King Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor and he is also already thane of Glamis. Previously before this occurred, three witches explained how Macbeth would be thane of Cawdor, but also the King of Scotland.

Because of the ironic way that Macbeth became thane of Cawdor, he now believes that he will be king.

Introduction: My Past with Shakespeare

Freshmen year we read Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Although, I must honestly say that I do not have much recollection of those plays because it was Mrs. Johnson's class and we never had to pay attention in that class. Plus that was like two years ago and my memory is not that great. In conclusion I really do not have that much experience with reading Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare's writing was in a different day and age so of course its is going to be difficult to read and understand. Even in his day the people did not understand what he was writing so that explains the difficulty of his writing. In Romeo and Juliet the forbidden love of the two teenagers is due to the amount of money that each of the families have. This is also an indication of the way things have changed from then to now. Today, the amount of money that two peoples families has does not determine whether or not they can be together. Of course for some people that does matter in their own mind, but the family does not determine who you can and cannot love.