Morality, Ambition, Faith - Eng. 11 block 1

THE PURPOSE OF A LITERARY ESSAY: Looking at the text as a work of art, demonstrating clear critical judgment and explaining to the reader of your essay how the enjoyment of the text is assisted by literary devices, linguistic effects and psychological insights; showing how the text relates to the time when it was written and how it extends to our society now.

“All it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing...”
― Edmund Burke


Make sure you have a quote sheet ready with Act, scene and line #
Look at Writing Improvements
Look at past feedback for essays
Go over essay package – what is the purpose of a literary essay
What does this play show us about this theme and human nature?
This play shows us about betrayal, morality and fate



MORALITY

• The more the Thane commits evil acts, the easier it becomes
• What goes around comes around
• Everyone who commits some sort of action towards the downfall of the Thane commits an immoral act – darkness, nighttime – ever character is seen in a negative way
• Innocent victims
• People’s view of morality can change
• “I’m afraid to think of what I have done, look at it again, I dare not” (II ii)
• “These deeds must not be looked on… or else it would make us mad” (II ii
• Lady’s morality
• If the Lady does not provoke the Thane, nothing would happen
• But Thane does think about it (“The Prince of Cumberland!” I iv)
• [does morality change? Is it fluid?]
• When does the Thane start to lose his morality?
• When does the Thane’s drive stop being the Lady’s influence and become his own greed?
• [Remember sheet on external and internal forces – who decides someone’s fate?]
• III iv, the Thane says he’s a man – thinks he’s invincible at this point – doesn’t tell his wife – “be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck” (III ii 44)
• Malcolm and Donalbain fleeing to England and Ireland – are they traitors? Why do they run away – they are fearful of their lives
• Running away from their father’s murder – not patriotic?
• [pay close attention to the Thane’s soliloquy in I vii – he discusses his own morality]
• Ambition destroys his morality
• Actions lead the Thane to lose his morality
• [can look at each characters’ morality]
• II ii “My hands are of my colour, but I fain to wear a heart so white” (Lady)
• The more the Thane does it, the easier it gets [think of your own lives – do bad things become easier after the first time?]
• The Thane immediately regrets killing Duncan – but “what’s done cannot be undone”
• Overthrows morality as soon as he kills Duncan
• “I’m in blood stepped in so far already” (III iv) – believes he can’t go back and must go forward
• Consequences for sins
• What happens to the Thane is a tragedy
• Thane’s rise to power and his fall
• Morals change a lot through the play


AMBITION

• Ambition that the Thane and Lady have clouds their judgment and makes them take risks
• [how much ambition is too much ambition?]
• [“art not without ambition, but without the illness to attend it” (I v)]
• Thane has a false sense of security – his goals are easily influenced by others
• Is the Lady more ambitious?
• At the beginning the Lady takes the lead – but this quickly changes
• The Lady asks for reinforcements for her courage I v
• Lady lusts for power [what happens after the Thane becomes king? III ii)
• Banquo acted with rules and boundaries
• Thane and Lady threw away their faith – we see early on that the Thane has morals, but even in I iii the Thane says “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more”
• Does Banquo do enough to try to hold the Thane’s ambition – he only said that he thought they might not be speaking the truth [is he his brother’s keeper?]
• [how does ambition relate to morality]
• People have desires – seems like people seize temptations – sometimes it doesn’t matter how others are going to be affected
• Humans are typically greedy – but some play by the rules
• Some people work for it others don’t care how people are affected
• Banquo also had a prophesy, but doesn’t act on it
• Banquo knows the Thane killed Duncan “I fear thou play’dst most foully for it” (III i)
• He does say “may they not be my oracles as well” (III i)
• Banquo does not go back to the witches
• Lady Macduff – thinks her husband doesn’t love her or their family – Macduff has ambition to save Scotland from a tyrant – but Lady Macduff doesn’t know this about her husband
• [can compare other people’s ambition or absence of it]
• Thane ends up with little care about life except he does say “life’s but a shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage” (V iii)




FAITH

• Knowing that something is going to happen – but people don’t know how
• The Thane decides himself what’s going to happen (internally motivated)
• If the Thane didn’t do anything – would he become the king any way? [ the prophesy does not state when he will be king]
• The Thane starts off having faith in the prophesy – but then he thinks he can change it by killing Banquo and Fleance
• He also doesn’t believe the second set of prophesies – look at IV i and how he questions them
• [later he says “I bear a charmed life” (V vii)]
• He doesn’t immediately believe the first set of prophesies, but then Ross comes to tell the Thane that he is the Thane of Cawdor “can the devil speak the truth?” (I iii)
• Faith in the sense of religion – many references to Heaven and Hell (see I vii) – the Thane realizes that his soul is corrupted
• As soon as the first part of the prophesy comes true – that he becomes the Thane of Cawdor – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy
• He thinks about what his fate is
• When does the Thane accept his fate and when does he try to fight it?
• Loses his morality when he decides to kill the king – does not gain his faith back
• When Malcolm is proclaimed Prince of Cumberland – Thane could have lost faith in prophesy, but he says he has to “o’erleap” (I iv) in order to make it come true
• When he kills Young Siward (V vii) he says “Thou wast born of woman” – becomes very convinced in the prophesy
• Sees the woods moving and “begin[s] to doubt the equivocation of the devils that lie like the truth” (V v)
• Lady’s sleepwalking scene – subconscious
• Both Lady and Thane have guilty consciences [therefore, their faith is still intact somewhat]
• faith in the Lady – what about the Lady’s faith in her husband
• the army loses faith in the Thane: “now does he feel his title hang loose about him like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief” “they move only in command, nothing in love” (V ii)