Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Macbeth Post
Although I mentioned this topic in class today, I figured that I would attempt to go into more depth with it. As we were having the good v evil discussion, I came across the idea that Shakespeare wrote this story from the aspect of the villain/traitor. (Macbeth) Most times, when we see movies or read books, the author gives us the perspective of the "good guy." Some great examples of this are all of the superhero stories that we have known since we were little. We get the perspective of Superman, Batman and Spiderman (who are known to be the good guys), instead of the perspective of Bizzaro, The Joker, and the Green Goblin. Where we see the motives for the superheroes (most of the time its justice), we never see what motivates the villains...we just assume it is a bad thing and we accept these superheroes as good guys because thats the way that the author wanted us to see it as. This same idea can be related to Macbeth. Some readers may get caught in the idea that Macbeth is the hero because we see his motives and they may seem reasonable to some people, but in realty HE is the villain whereas Malcolm and Macduff are the superheroes, who are fighting for justice.
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Nye, I think you're really onto something with this. Have you ever seen The Joker's "killing joke" monologue? Basically he tells batman that the only difference between good guys and bad guys is just one bad day.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ1C8sD3dkc
I have often wondered about this too. After a while, I have actually started rooting for the bad guy to win because every story is from the hero's perspective. I wanted Voldemort to win in Harry Potter, I wanted Darth Vader to win in Star Wars, and I wanted at least one superhero movie to end with the death of the hero. But that will never happen. While Macbeth does disappoint in terms of the bad guy losing, we do at least get to see his perspective and motivations. I do think it would be interesting for J.K. Rowling to write the Harry Potter series again, but from Voldemort's perspective. That would be very interesting. Great idea, Nye!
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting, however just because Macbeth is the good guy, doesn't mean that Macduff and Malcolm are the good guys. Macbeth of course started out as a good guy, defeating the previous traitor, but then getting a taste of power, continued on his conquest and became the traitor. This is a cycle that could be continued with Macduff betraying Malcolm. I think that Macbeth might be evil, but shakespeare is trying to show us that in the real world there is no fine line between good and evil, people can be both. I do not really think that one person is completely good. The motives for Macduff are just driven by personal revenge. And as for Siward it is pure power. For Malcolm is driven by a mix of both motives. I think everyone in Macbeth has a dark side, not just Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think about the Ted Talk we watched in class the other day about the concept of the single story. I think most people have a single story about good and evil. People immediately label characters, and real-life people, too, as either good or bad. In reality, though, things are never that black-and-white; there's a lot of gray area. "Good guys" are capable of evil, and "bad guys" often have reasons for doing the things they do or some redeeming qualities about them. In other words, no one is ever all good or all bad. Good work Nye.
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