"A drum, a drum; Macbeth doth come."

MACBETH DID COME, BUT 
WAS ALSO OVERCOME...

This play is incredible; the transformation of the Macbeth from a good man to a tyrant without an ounce of sympathy or compassion was masterfully written.  The Changes in Macbeth are in interesting contrast to Lady Macbeth, who was immediately drunk with ambition for she and her husband's potential for position and power.  She waned from a full moon of ambition and murderous desire, to nothing more than a sliver of a miserable wretch.  Shakespeare did an amazing job of capturing their stepwise transformations, and made it not only believable but heart wrenching as well.  A true tragedy.

INCREDIBLE MOMENTS AND GREAT LINES...

The Three Weird Sisters

"When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

  

When the hurly-burly's done, 

When the battle's lost, and won"

(Act 1, Sc 1, 1-4)

This is a great line because it shows that these three witches don't care at all about the events that they have influence over.  Usually when we talk about an event, where something is in the balance for us, it comes out in our words what we want to have happen.  The weird sisters don't care about the battle, but when someone has lost, and someone has won, they will meet again.  

The Noble Banquo

But 'tis strange, and oftentimes,

to win us to our harm, the 

instruments of darkness tell us 

truths; Win us with honest trifles,

to betray's in deepest consequence.

Banquo was a good man, who did not let the ambition that destroyed Macbeth enter into his heart.  In my opinion this is one of the most profound lines in the play.  Don't be won with honest trifles.    

Prophecy for Banquo

Do you remember how James I of England is of the real Banquo's line?  So there's a connection Shakespeare made for James I to feel included in the plot of the play.  The Weird Sisters said to Banquo "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.  So all hail Macbeth and Banquo," (Act 1, Sc 3, 65-66).  James I is one of those kings.  

King Duncan laying for foundation for a major theme

"There's no art to find the mind's construction on the face," (Act 1, Sc 4, 11-12).  The principle from this line stayed with me throughout the entire play.  It was interesting to see how Macbeth tried to hide under the persona of the "Brave Macbeth..." who used to deserve that name, (Act 1, Sc 2, 16).

Macbeth with a tortured mind 

"Whence is that knocking?!!!  How is't with me, when every noise appalls me," (Act 2, Sc 2, 61); and "Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!" (Act 3, Sc 2, 36).  We find Macbeth unable to find any rest or reprieve from the unquenchable guilt and anxiety he feels.  The only way to get rid of such feelings when he's done what he's done is to not care, and become a ruthless, merciless, brutal man, with not trace of kindness, sympathy or compassion.  This is what he does.  

Lady Macduff without her husband

In a nearby castle, we find the wife, child and household of Macduff, a man Macbeth fears will oppose him.  It is a very sad scene that ends in a massacre.  Lady Macduff was left to wonder why her husband left her alone and defenseless; he left to find a way to remove the iron-fisted tyrant that threatened his family and country.  In her extremity Lady Macduff said:  "What had he done, to make him fly the land?... His flight was madness.  When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors," (Act 4, Sc 2, 1-4).  It tears your heart out to know more than the characters, and feel the pain they are in.       

The hardened Macbeth 

Macbeth has become that man who no longer feels; he has displaced those scorpions with ever more terrible deeds.  As Macduff and his companions march to remove Macbeth from his position, it was said, "Those he commands, move only in command, nothing in love.  How does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief," (Act 5, Sc 2, 19-22).  Macbeth dies friendless and alone.    

Some last thoughts...

Macbeth------------------------------------------regular people

As we continue to read "many things," from among "the best books," there should be opportunity to liken some Shakespeare unto us for personal learning, (1 Nephi 19:23; D&C 109:7).  

The figure above is an example of similar triangles.  A triangle is similar to another when its angles are identical but the lengths of the sides are of different magnitudes.  The connection between Macbeth and regular people is this:  we should be careful of the direction our actions point us, and never dismiss wrong choices as tolerable just because they are smaller in magnitude.  We should be very careful of what we choose to similar too.    

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

-Lady Macbeth

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies.  The background history for the play is quite interesting.  Queen Elizabeth I of England named James VI of Scotland as her heir, and so he became King James I of England.  He had this play performed in London while he entertained King Christian, who had married his sister.  Something that is probably little known about about Macbeth--it is nearly considered one of Shakespeare's historical plays.  One of the noble characters of the play, Banquo, was not so noble in real life.  But because James I was a descendant of Banquo, he was not portrayed as one of the conspirators who killed King Duncan.  The touchy subject of who actually killed who historically kept Macbeth classified as just a "moral lesson" and a tragedy.  

There are many renditions of Macbeth, I even watched "Macbeth in 96 Seconds" on youtube.  There's is definitely a sense of intensity and gore associated with this play.  I've started to watch one full length version of one that I found, and there is a fairly dark feel to it.  I think I am going to try listening to one of the acts as well to see how that changes my perception of the intensity, gore and dark nature of the play.         

A major theme from the play...

While previewing the text and reading the first 3 or so acts of Macbeth, I have become interested in what seems to me one of the most important themes of the play; more to come on what happens to the wolf in the sheep's clothing...

I think I am becoming Shake-speer

I recently missed a day in my biochem class; a friend of mine texted me to see where I was, and I found myself pulling a Shakespeare...  You know how there's alot of what we called antimetabole (A to B; B to A) banter in Love's Labour's Lost?  When I texted my friend back about where I was, I said:  "Well, I might be at my apartment being slightly more responsible than irresponsible, but slightly more irresponsible than responsible..."

And while you are trying to figure that one out, here's our friend Brian Regan busting out with a bit of antimedabole himself, or flip flops as he likes to call it:

AND, I had a quick antimedabole back and forth with my grandma over conference weekend as well... and yes the context was dating...  she said "You don't realize what you have till you lose it," but then I stayed alive with the help of my buddy Shakespeare and said, "Well, you also don't realize what you didn't have till you got it...:)"

And we can round all this out with an exchange from Love's Labour's Lost when in Act III Scene 1 Moth and Armado are going at it a bit:

Armado:  Sweet air!  Go, tenderness of years, take this key, give enlargement to the swain, bring him festinately hither.  I must employ him in a letter to my love.  

Moth:  Master, will you win your love with a French brawl?

Armado:  How meanest thou?  Brawling in French?

Have some fun with busting out a few flip flops yourself!!!