Fate
-Thane tries to go
against fate - tries to kill Fleance - but does not succeed
-how does it change a person's fate if he/she knows
about it?
-Thane's fate comes
true, so why does he try to change it?
-escape of Fleance -
"your children will become king" I iii
-Malcolm's fate was
to become king - Duncan names him "The Prince of Cumberland" I iv
-Malcolm is restored
to the kingship at end of play
-when Thane finds
out his fate, his troubles begin
-impossible to
change fate
-thinking about the
vision and his interpretation makes his problem - for example, he thinks
"no one of woman born shall harm [him]" (IV i) so he feels safe
-is it good to know
one's fate?
-"If chance
will have me king, why chance can crown me king without my stir" (I
iii) - he decides this, but then changes
his mind - the prophesy doesn't say when
he will be king
-overdependence on
fate "[forgets] the taste of fears" (V iii)
-fate within a
person's hand?
-"Macbeth shall
never vanquished be until Great Birnham wood goes up to Dunsinane" (IV i)
-not the Thane's
fate to kill anyone - the witches never say to kill
-character decides
his own interpretation of the prophesy -
-is it manipulation on the witches or Lady's part?
-look at the witches' first incantation in I iii,
"Though his boat shall not be lost/Yet it shall be tempest tost" (I
iii 24-25)
-do the witches
actually know the future? One thing
doesn't come true - Fleance does not become king
-perhaps the witches
wanted to mess with the Thane
-the way a person
acts - self-determination can influence fate
-how does fate relate to our lives??
-Thane could have
killed Macduff, but his "soul is too much charged with [his] blood
already" (V viii 5-6)
-does the Thane have
free will?
-knowing one's own
fate messes fate up
Temptation
-starts with a sin
"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent" (I vii 25-26)
-Thane is enthralled
by the witches: "stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more (I iii)
-Lady wants to be
Queen - she has ambition
-temptation makes
the story/plot happen
-Thane would rather
listen to the witches than his own conscience - his conscience is seen in I vii
when he lists the reasons for not killing the king
-I iii "if
good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image does unseat my
fear" - this is temptation - he says he would never think about this
without temptation (maybe he has though)
-when tempted,
people's true colours are revealed
-becomes king, kills
his best friend and the family of traitors - all to keep the power he
undeservedly gained
-is there anyone else tempted in this play? How does he/she respond to the temptation
-Banquo doesn't tell
Fleance of the prophesy (that we know of) not as tempted by the prophesy
although he does say "shall they not be my oracles as well" (III i)
-Thane is corrupted
by fate and ambition - temptation takes him down
-"I am in blood
steeped so far"(III iv 136) - can't go back
-can a person go back to being virtuous?
-Banquo mentions to
the witches "look into the seeds of time to see which grains will
grow" - he is tempted and wants to know answers from the witches
-who had the most
influence over the Thane - idea that Malcolm did not fight on the battlefield
(although the Thane doesn't mention this)
-Lady questions his
manhood
-isn't a person ultimately responsible for his/her own
behaviour - his choice to listen to her
-where does the Lady's temptation come from? -
she invokes the spirits to "fill her from crown to toe top full of the
direst cruelty" (I v)
-she doesn't mind
paying in the after life for her temptation
-how does temptation work in our lives? What happens when we don't resist? Who "makes" us commit wrong-doings
-his manhood is associated with his desire to become
king - perhaps associated with the idea that he does not have children
-witches telling the
Thane that he was going to become "Thane of Cawdor" and then it
immediately comes true
-was murdering
necessary
-faith of prediction
causes the action
Love vs Fear
-influenced by
sanity in this play - Thane's sanity declines so his decisions are governed by
fear rather than love - at beginning he calls her his "dearest partner of
greatness" (I v) later he says, "be innocent of thy knowledge,
dearest chuck" (III iv)
-"those he
commands move only in command, nothing in love" (V ii 19)
-Thane kills people
because of his guilt, suspicions and fear
-blood not washing
from hand "Will all of Neptune's oceans ever clear this blood from this
hand" (II ii)
-manipulation - fear
-fear motivates both
the Lady and the Thane as they become more insane
-guilt makes the Lady more insane
-ruling out of love or fear - which works better
-Thane loves
Scotland but he is fearful of losing his kingship
-when Thane was in
power, he ruled with fear; Duncan ruled with love "Duncan hath borne his
faculties so meek, hath been/So clear in his great office, that his
virtues/Will plead like angels" (I Vii 16-19)
-III ii "We
have scotch'd the snake, not killed it" - the Thane is referring to his
killing spree - he has made the snake more dangerous - meaning he must protect
his power by killing Macduff's whole family and Banquo
-"give sleep to
our night" III iv - this is how Thane is ruling and how the people see
"the tyrant"
-the Thane himself
admits what kind of a rule Duncan was (he did
allow himself to be betrayed by Macdonwald: "he was a gentleman on whom I
built/An absolute trust" (I iv 12-13)
-symbols: blood,
daggers
-Thane killing the
guards = motivated by fear
-think about the Lady - were any of her actions
governed by feelings of love?
-connect this theme to our world - do people respond
to fear or love
-in this play Edward II is seen as good - 10,000
soldiers are willing to risk their lives for him to usurp the tyrant of
Scotland
-people make
emotional decisions all the time rather than using logic
-did the Thane's
love of Scotland change him?
-he becomes a tyrant
because of his fear of losing the crown (power)
-his love of
Scotland is overshadowed for fear of losing the crown'
-"my way of
life has falled into the sear/The yellow leaf and that which accompanies old
age…" realization (V iii)
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