I would be mad too if I was Macbeth

        As I listened to my English Professor scream "pale face" to my classmate, I started to wonder why Macbeth's journey got him to that point and how the witches predictions affected him. I kind of snapped out of it as I watched the class jolt around from the loud performance from my teacher of Macbeth's anger and energy, we were all pretty bored. As Macbeth panicked around the castle and as we waited for the Birnam Forest to crawl up to the page, I kind of started to understand the intense suspense the story has had built up throughout all the main characters and Scotland. Everything is basically falling apart with the people around Macbeth falling apart mentally. I am just sitting here, imagining how pissed I would honestly be if a forest literally came after me with the guy who was foretold to come after me too, and my wife just died.

        The suspense of the climax of Shakespeare's plays are so underrated and they were definitely beyond its time. It's kind of sad how cliche it all looks with all the time that has built up ever since it's creation. Macbeth's head was just another example of how we don't use our heads when we expect nothing from the most bizarre/craziest things in front of us.

...Act 4 Scene 2....

          Oh my god, this scene.
Macduff just left his family and his wife is pretty much mad at him for leaving them abruptly, telling her son that 'his father is dead.' The son is kind of smart actually, so it sucks to see what happens in the next moment, but his wife is actually super pragmatic as she just accepts that Macduff was a coward that left his family, maybe she could have gotten another man. Oh but as the Mother talks to Ross about how mad he is for betraying King Macbeth. Ross then needs to leave and the mother and son talk about what a traitor is and about a dilemma in the amount of people who are good and bad in the world. Suddenly there is a messenger who panics and warns them about murderers outside, with the murderers walking in, "What, you egg" and to first stab the son and go after the mother...

I am not even kidding, this scene's exposition and character dialogue is so interesting that I genuinely felt bad finding out they were killed, Macbeth is definitely a villain now and Macduff needs his revenge for his egg son.

A similar connection from Macbeth and Christmas Carol...

        It's Sunday, I am still interested in making a blog and trying to make up unique thoughts, I got called over by a friend who had an extra ticket for the sold out show in Corpus.

        I sit there thinking about the Christmas Carol and Macbeth, Scrooge is intensely stingy and greedy with his money, going as far to not care about whether or not the poor die on the street, and Macbeth starts off the story being noble and loyal to his kingdom at first, having a satisfied cast of characters.
I just sat there watching the great performance of Juan/other seniors in the play that I imagined what kind of information it took to change both of them to flip personalities.

        Scrooge was visited by 3 Ghosts: Past/Present/Future, who just straight up told scrooge he was a loser for being mean, where he changes into a better person for the community, especially after finding out about his affect on the people around him and about his greed/power leading him to a ignored death.

        Macbeth was told by 4 Apparitions about the future who knew about the exact details of his fate and twisted, who just straight up told him that he is can become what he wants, where he changes into a terrible human being who actually has Scotland turn against him, ultimately ending up killed.

        It's really ironic how they are both the opposite in themes, but still have the same type of transition through the story from every character's perspective and higher-beings.

Malcom's pretend on being evil sucks

        When Macduff finally meets Malcolm to figure out if he wants to help him overtake Scotland from Macbeth, Malcolm actually is worried whether or not Macduff is still loyal to Macbeth. So Malcolm decides to get into a spur about how if he becomes king, he would be an evil king basically. Macduff starts to become visibly worried about the sudden change of Malcolm's morals, or Macduff probably was confused to why Malcolm was acting all stupid all of a sudden and wasn't sure if he was just joking so he wanted to walk away for a while. Macduff then doesn't want to deal with Malcolm anymore and tells him he is as bad as Macbeth. I am not sure why Macduff is that dumb to not see that Malcolm was just pretending, oh well jokes on him, his family died.

Duncan's place as king...

        It kind of sucks to watch King Duncan killed by someone he intensely trusted, just another reminder that the past sucked in that kind of ruling system. The way Duncan was as a king was actually better than neutral, even though he wasn't an evil king or a bad king, he was respectable and organized Scotland with his powers. Unlike Macbeth who turned Scotland against himself, Duncan ran a good kingdom. I hate how two-faced Lady Macbeth was towards him just to push Macbeth to kill him later for Duncan's power. It was basically Lady Macbeth's fault for letting Macbeth turn Scotland into a dark time.

The three witches are actually.....

        TIME TRAVELERS...
I mean, think about it, who has that kind of power to just know the potion to make anything for themselves and to disappear into thin air, maybe they had everything set up to actually mess with Macbeth and Banquo, or maybe its just a repeating cycle that happens because of these time travelers.
The way the witches just wanted to have a chestnut from Lady, maybe provoked it.
I feel like the Apparitions are actually just some dumb kids from the future in on the joke too.
They probably laughed really hard when they saw Macbeth's head with Macduff.

Okay jokes aside, with actual evidence I might be able to pull this one together. The way the witches come into the story was that they understood that Macbeth would have become corrupt by the way he intakes the information, so maybe they might have come by to give Banquo his royal bloodline or to give Malcolm his throne the quickest way possible. The Apparitions can be leaders of the witches or they can just be different projections from them. The way they influenced them to go against each other might have been a plan to set the time right.

this is the dumbest blog i have made im sorry

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth = Bill and Hilary Clinton...?

        "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and "You were born of a woman" are two different things, but the two characters might have the same type of personality when it comes to getting rid of their problems. When it comes to the Clintons and the Macbeths, they sure do have a way with stirring up controversy in their worlds. Okay, with the conspiracies involving the Clintons though, it is kind of hard not to get yourself mixed up in what they have done to get to the point where they are now. Especially with the scandals and mysterious investigations throughout the times, it's kind of funny how a similar connection to be made with the way Macbeth and Lady Macbeth work together and how Bill and Hilary go in pair.
        For example, the way Hilary actually sticks with Bill is because he had an intense amount of political power and it was essential for her to make her way up as a Secretary in the White House. It almost is the same case as Macbeth is a noble and Lady Macbeth understands that Macbeth could easily kill Duncan and blame it on Malcolm/Donalbain.


        

Banquo and Macbeth's Witch Meet

        The way that Shakespeare himself writes the story (excluding the Hecates and the witches part) is great from the build up of a changing main character and how his morals change. Personally I like the connection Macbeth and Banquo had together before the witches came to corrupt him, for example, in Act 1, Scene 3, I love how Macbeth and Banquo are actually interested and in a similar mindset of listening to the witches. If I was told I would have my kids as kings and that my friend would become a king too, yea I would tell the witches they are dumb liars but thinking about it would be cool. So when the witches melted away/disappeared before the others came, they actually wondered if they were right. It was that piece of information that led the story into a downhill slope of greed and trust issues around them and especially Macbeth, they started to realize the change around them in the story and saw the opportunities to make the predictions come true.

Macduff's Opportunity?

        Macduff: The Apparitions themselves were even worried about him. Macbeth ignored that and decided to just confront him anyway. How did Macduff seriously become the right man in the right place at the end of the story? The story honestly could have been the same case scenario if the Apparition didn't warn Macbeth about Macduff, cause he thought just because he couldn't have been killed by anyone (born of a women) that mean't that he was unstoppable. It's pretty intense to think about how Macduff himself affect the entire story by mere coincidence and how much he went through to end up in the right place and to get the best outcome for his army. It is intense to think just imagine how unlucky Macbeth is as a main character to be tricked into thinking he was going to live a life full of power, just for it to be a set up for Macduff to finally put that sword up against his head...

Doctors are pretty useless

        I definitely could say that doctors are amazing people and save lives in modern times, but I would bet that around the time that Macbeth took place, they were only good for wet towels on foreheads and giving you plants. There is a weird distinction for the doctors in Macbeth though, the first doctor we meet is when Malcom starts to explain the great power that kings are able to possess, for example,  one king can touch somebody and make their sickness gone, but in this story, it's almost the opposite with Macbeth with his evil. Oh but the point is, that doctors are usually only able to analyze and give information about patients to the story and what states of health they are in in detail. I don't think that they are completely useless but they don't save lives in this story, if they did the kill count would have been a lot less than it should have been.

Is Macbeth a dumb brute?

        Macbeth might be an extremely good sailor and fighter, but for him to be dumb probably would make sense. Even if he was a dumb brute, it would explain the control Lady Macbeth has over his emotions and her wit she keeps throughout the story, making both of their hunger for power a drive for them. With Macbeth's character being really ignorant as in believing that nothing can stop him and that anyone who looks at him the wrong way are treated aggressively, it could be true that he is just straight up a dumb brute. For example, (A.5, S.4) the doctor telling him that Lady Macbeth is mentally ill instead of sick, and Macbeth takes this the wrong way to tell him that he is basically useless, he then asks him to do his best to put her to good health while putting on his armor, without really knowing what else to do. All Macbeth knows at the moment is just to use his ill-logic to find reasons to do the things he can do.

Chestnuts....?????????

        Chestnuts, I never tried one, not sure why I am writing about it though, but I'll take a shot at it.

So in Scene 3, Act 1, the witches threw a tantrum over not getting chestnuts from a sailor's wife, they were super crude and rude about it though and made fun of her for rump. They also call her a rat without a tail but call her husband "Master of the Tiger." At least they admire his skills/title? Not sure why they had a panic attack over chestnuts and about how some people don't share, but I think it is kind of ironic how the sailor's wife actually ends up being intensely greedy and kills herself from guilt and insanity, that's what happens when you don't share chestnuts I guess?

What if you knew your fate?

       Oh man, if I knew my fate, I would definitely end up like Macbeth, trying to avoid everything or to become insanely confident, jumping into everything. That's why I actually like Macbeth as a story and I am not just reading it cause you are making me to, but the theme of Macbeth and what we want to know about ourselves can become something we regret to ask in the first place.
        I would feel pretty bad about everyone else around me if only I knew my fate and I knew exactly who and what couldn't touch me/kill me. It's kind of empowering to just know the way the world revolves around you and to trust it, because for now, most people live day to day knowing that anything could be random and we tread with good caution. If I knew my fate, I would easily become insane about the smallest of details or do the opposite, ignore the loopholes in what I know. I just hope my head doesn't end up in the hands of some guy who left his family to die.

                    ?

Quick thought about Siward's reaction to his son dying...

        After Young Siward actually confronts Macbeth during the battle, Macbeth knows he cannot be defeated by a young man, especially if he was born from his mom. So Siward barely even knows who Macbeth is during this event and when he finds out about the man that they are after is right in front of him, he actually fights him with a good pride and dignity, making his father proud he didn't run.
        Even though Young Siward was only alive for a few lines and was killed pretty quickly, I'm glad they went through a dramatic march to overtake Macbeth's lines, making the army feel a bit more personal with the main cast of characters.
        I think the reaction from Siward was pretty respectable after all that has happened within the story, with Mafduff's family and the trouble they go through. Honestly, if it was near the end of the story anyway, I would have just quickly written off Siward's reaction the same way as Shakespeare did too.

What does the Armed Head Represent?

        "Beware Macduff!"

Now this one is the most interesting and quickest Apparition to analyze about...

Don't freak out too hard, but I think that head is actually an intense foreshadow to what truly happens to Macbeth in the end of the story. After the warning predicts what it said, Macduff himself actually confronts Macbeth, and with Macbeth finding out of Macduff's birth and what his army does to get to Macbeth, I personally think that Macbeth had a really bad whiplash over everything the witches have ever said to him. It's really ironic to think about how Macbeth's head ends up being held up by the arms of Macduff. The more I think about these Apparitions, the more I believe that they seriously are amazing at their job at testing the true goodness of people by giving them a taste of power.

What does the Bloody Child Represent?

        The one to give Macbeth his extreme arrogance and confidence throughout the ending of the story, is the 2nd Apparition, the Bloody Child. This child actually is very interesting for the idea of his design and what he tells. The Bloody Child gives Macbeth a tricky fact that goes along the lines of, "Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." Macbeth then goes on another relief and talks about how he has nothing to worry about anymore, and that his fear is gone. As the story goes onto the climax, Macbeth increasingly gets more secretly worried about everything going on around him and still clinging onto his idea that no one can kill him. The problem is, Macduff isn't born of a woman, he was born from a MAN...just kidding, he was born from a dead woman/corpse. Sucks. Long story short, Macduff kills Macbeth. Why did the Bloody Child give Macbeth such a double-edged piece of information though? What does he accomplish with it?
        In a small theory I have about the Bloody Child and his involvement within the story, I think the design and warning give a picture to what it may be. There are two things that might hint towards the theme of the child: First, the child could be imaged to be an evil spirit disguising himself to be innocent, but cannot with all the blood he has spilled. A metaphor for how the piece of information stuck to Macbeth during the story, a reliable piece of information that causes him to spill blood based on the power of the knowledge he was given.
        Two: This is a bit lazy but the bloody child could be a reference to the birth of Macduff himself, born from a dead mother, like the past coming to the future to tell Macbeth himself that warning.

(sorry for the disturbing image but it's close to what I typed down)

Did the Crowned Child Represent Anything?

        The crowned Apparition appears in Act 4, Scene 1, as the last warning to Macbeth, "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him." Macbeth is instantly relieved to hear that he is basically invincible. The Crowned Child then never talks again, but as I read this, I felt like I picked up a connection between two things. There was a reference towards Macbeth being unfit to wear the king's robes, but there is also a child who literally is in king's clothes. The Crowned Child seriously confuses me onto why his design and place is within the play. I think I have a small theory about the symbolism of this Apparition though.
        The Crowned Child Apparition could be a symbol of Macbeth's sense of reasoning throughout the story, for example, how he decides to become king without much consideration to what he needs to do, which could be a metaphor for the child being irresponsible. Another clue to a slight foreshadow could be the tree he holds, which might indicate the forest being moved later. With the last warning from the child being an event that literally could never happen realistically, it's almost ironic how the same sense of reasoning were applied in both scenarios as Macbeth's logic backfires on him while the Birnam forest marches up to his front door.

Psychology in Macbeth...

        Okay, I know like every single other student has probably written some generic thing about the 5 stages of grief or something simple about that, but I actually really want to tackle the very theory about Shakespeare's writings relating to psychology. Personally, first I think there are actually more than just 5 stages of grief, with shock in the beginning and testing being before acceptance. The point is, I think he did actually go through all of the SEVEN stages of grief very quickly, too.

-Shock/Pain was from the moment he heard of the information and realizing that life was cruel.
--"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."
-Denial came from a weird combination from that as he signified that she should have died hereafter, wishing it didn't happen.
-Anger: It's pretty obvious but he is enraged by everyone around him in the slightest bit and hates life itself.
-Bargaining: Macbeth still wanting Lady to have been dead after anything else,.
-Depression: Still thinking about life as meaningless and controlled by an idiot, with life only being a tale of loud sounds and useless fury.
-TESTING*: Seeking realism in a situation, as in Macbeth wrapping up his grief and going on with his tasks, starting the actual climax of the ending, where the messenger finally tells Macbeth that the forest is outside.
-Acceptance: Now this is the part where I wanted to talk about, personally I really found it interesting reading a bit about whether or not the story actually had the 7 stages of grief. I wasn't going to do this blog if it wasn't for the moment when Macduff and Macbeth fight. At that moment, where Macduff explained his birth from his dead mother, I think that seriously is the moment where Macbeth accepts the fate the witches has cursed onto him, knowing that he can not win no matter what, going over the stage of TESTING. A sad but prideful acceptance to the end of everything.

Power Owl

        Shakespeare has always had a click with using birds in his plays, I am not sure if it came from, but I am glad that the symbolism is still a great for the main characters throughout them. The use of  birds to acknowledge the motives that are either good or bad, is a creative way of setting up the scale of energy they keep. As an example in Macbeth, as Duncan's death comes around Act 2, Scene 2 as Lady Macbeth herself even acknowledges the owl's shriek during the murder. An owl, symbolizing the climax of Macbeth's evil intentions and what turns his flaws nonredeemable. An owl that can trick other birds into traps.
        Birds within literature that are not less carnivorous actually represent innocence and the ideas of free children. On the other hand, the opposite type of birds give off a cold, dead, doom. There is still stories where birds represented good fortune and prosperity, while some other birds give bad omens and death. It all depends on how nature reacts to what we do right or wrong, if the animals scream the next time you do something you are not sure about, you probably really screwed up.

How much power do the Witches have?

        Specifically in Act 4, Scene 1, Macbeth runs to find the witches once again because of his paranoia, he finds them in the middle of brewing up a bizarre potion to abruptly ask “What is ‘t you do?” The 3 witches then call up their 1st boss to answer that himself, but as Macbeth is in the middle of asking, he is interrupted because he already can read his thought? Is that the power of the witches under their bosses? Why is Macbeth seriously just trusting these evil fortune tellers about his power-hungry quenches. A floating head that can read minds, a bloody child, and a kid with a crown, gives Macbeth the shock of the story. All 3 of the warnings literally come back to bite Macbeth in the ass anyway but its extreme how if it wasn't for this, I wonder how much more chaos they could have done if they has their way...

        The power they seriously have in this story is undermined to just indirectly just turn a good guy insane and evil and for him to be killed and Scotland united again. Like, what did the witches and the Apparitions accomplish? Nothing, except to keep their motto: “Foul is fair, and foul is fair.”

(I am not including the 4th Apparition, The 8th King, because it technically isn't a warning for the story, it references a future that creates a bigger plot hole/problem to tackle later)

Macbeth's Wife...

        Honestly if I have ever killed my best friend and started crying about it, I am kind of sure my wife would just slowly step away and call 911. That's why I admire the character beside Macbeth on his throne, Lady Macbeth. Starting off the downfall of events as strong and competent into keeping Macbeth from screwing himself over with "Wash your hands with water" and "Put back the daggers to make it seem like a suicide." It is surprising to see her plan and accept the situation they are in and do to their best to get through it to reach their greedy goals.

        Even throughout the ending of her, I still am glad that her insanity conveyed the real side of what her lust for power has hit her with. A character that fits perfectly with the change of Macbeth's morals from good to evil, someone to stay by the tragic corrupted man, an equally tragic corrupted woman.