Assignment #4: Reflection

During this interactive plog unit on Macbeth, our group was able to explore many different aspects of the play. By doing various activities in groups, we were able to discuss ideas and expand on our knowledge not just with the play of Macbeth, and the genre of tragedy, but the other historical and contextual details that encompassed it.

We enjoyed learning about the background on which Macbeth was based, as this made the storyline and the treatment of characters seem more complex and fascinating. Being able to interact with other groups and reading their opinions on The Tragedy of Macbeth, we were able to make connections between different aspects of the play and understand them in a fun and interactive manner. It was also enjoyable to be able to read the responses of the other groups. Furthermore, this unit has allowed us to improve our style of writing, and develop and focus our opinions through new ideas.

It was very beneficial to be able to see many film versions of Macbeth, and how different directors interpreted both embedded and regular stage directions. Furthermore, we were able to compare the use of language, character and emotion between both film and print versions of Macbeth.

This project was a very creative and fun approach to looking at a Shakespearean tragedy. It made it much easier to understand, interpret and appreciate the text. We had a great time learning about Macbeth.

kthxbai, gg no re, <33,
maclordz.

Assignment # 3: Dramatic Irony

Shakespeare is one of the world’s greatest writers, and one device that he uses throughout his tragedies is dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is a term used to describe the situation in a drama where the audience has greater knowledge of events or individuals than the characters within the play (Abhrams). A sure sign of dramatic irony is when the reader or audience notices that the character is acting in an inappropriate manner in relation to the circumstances in the play or narrative.

The word irony comes from the Latin word ironia, which is from the Greek εἰρωνεία (eironeia), meaning feigned ignorance ("irony"). The first widely known use of dramatic irony occurs in Sophocles’s Oedipus (Toscan). Other famous examples include Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter ("Shakespeare's Answers"). Even today, examples of dramatic irony are seen throughout television, literature and films in everything from Star Wars (which is widely influenced by myths) to 24. In fact, both Anakin Skywalker and Jack Bauer can be considered tragic heroes. Essentially almost any media where two opposing points of view are shown to the audience has elements of dramatic irony.

Examples of dramatic irony in the first act include how Macbeth does not know of his new Thaneship in scene 3 whereas the audience learnt of this in scene 2 (Underwood). In addition, Duncan’s line “this castle hath a pleasant seat, the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses” is dramatic irony because the audience has just found out that the Macbeth and his wife have planned his murder (1.6.1-3). Even the very first scene may be considered dramatic irony, since it reveals to the audience that the witches will somehow encounter Macbeth after the battle, before the audience is even introduced to him.

Dramatic irony, which can be found in all forms of media meant to entertain an audience, is almost always an essential element of comedy and tragedy. Although it originated long ago, dramatic irony remains one of the most effective ways to convey both the plot of the novel and the ideas and emotions of characters.

Works Cited:

Abhrams, M H. "A Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms." Georgia Southern University. 7 Feb. 2007 <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/terms.htm>.

"dramatic irony." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 5 Feb. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9124867>.

"Irony." Merriam-Webster Online. 7 Feb. 2007 .

Richard, Toscan. "Dramatic Irony." 1999. Virginia Commonwealth University. 7 Feb. 2007 <http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/irony.html>.

"Shakespeare's Answers." 2000. TSL Education Ltd. 7 Feb. 2007 <http://www.talkingto.co.uk/ttws/html/ttws_answ.asp?quesID=1486&CatID=372>.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Nicholas Brooke. New York: Oxford, 1998.

Underwood, Linda N. "Macbeth : William Shakespeare." 2007. Penguin Classics. 7 Feb. 2007 <http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/shared/WebDisplay/0,,82524_1_10,00.html>.

Assignment#2: Contextual Details for Macbeth: History Play vs. Tragedy

Macbeth, like many of Shakespeare’s other tragedies, falls into both the history play and tragedy categories of Shakespeare’s plays.

• Adding to the Elizabethan audience’s fascination, tragedy is rooted in the Greek dramas of Aristotle and the three great writers Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles and the Roman adaptations of their plays (Schwartz).
• Shakespeare began writing tragedies because he found that other tragic writings lacked artistic purpose and form—specifically suspense and a climax.
• Shakespeare always focused his tragedy on the fall of a hero. His hero, almost always being a man of high social status, but having some moral weakness, character flaw, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or such, that is responsible for the fall.
• Tragedy, according to A.C Bradley, has three parts: an exposition, a conflict, and a catastrophe. The exposition shows the beginning state of the protagonist and sets up the conflict, which leads to the tragic ending. In a tragedy, the hero sets up his fall with action or lack thereof, which, with other causes, brings his fall. Bradley believes "Shakespeare's characters bring their fates upon themselves, and [...] deserve what they get" (qtd. in Schwartz).
• According to Northrop Frye, there are five stages to tragedy: encroachment, complication, reversal, catastrophe, and recognition.
• In the first stage, the protagonist makes an error in judgement that leads to their downfall. Frye says the mistake is "often unconscious", and Macbeth is one of the exceptions (qtd. in Schwartz).
• The second stage builds up the forces that will lead the protagonist to his fall.
• Reversal, the third stage, is when the protagonist realizes his fate is the opposite of what he expected.
• During the final stage, recognition, the audience and the protagonist see the event in a new perspective, in which he can "see the irony of his actions" (qtd. in Schwartz).

• Meanwhile, history plays, as the name suggests, are based upon historical events, however often issues and ideas are often from the present.
• For example, England, at the time the play was written, had a very negative feeling towards witches, and Shakespeare chose to play on this effect when he introduces the audience to the three witches at the beginning.
• This also gives an evil feel to the witches and their tales of Macbeth's coming fortune, setting the mood for the tragic events that follow.
• Unfortunately, because the modern reader is often ignorant of ideas and issues of the Elizabethan audience, history plays are often hard to read or convert to other media.
• Shakespeare’s sources for these plays include Plutarch, Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth (1598) and Hall's The Union of the Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York (1542) (Schwartz).
• Shakespeare’s history plays are based upon English history from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries as well as Roman history and myths. In Shakespeare's time, there was an audience for plays based on both these sources because the English history plays are nationalistic, the 16th century was a time when people admired and loved classical Greece and Rome, and many of the time believed that the English empire was a sort of rebirth of the ancient Roman empire (Schwartz).

Finally, our group discovered that tragedy follows a specific pattern and although Shakespeare encompassed many details from the works of others, he remains one of the best known authors in the world.

Schwartz, Debora. English 339: Introduction to Shakespeare. 2002. California Polytechnic State University. 31 January 2007. <http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/339home.html>.

Brooke, Michael. Shakespeare’s Histories. 2006. BFI Screen Online. 31 January 2007. <http://www2.blogger.com/Schwartz,%20Debora.%20%20English%20339:%20Introduction%20to%20Shakespeare.%20%202002.%20%20California%20%09Polytechnic%20State%20University.%20%2031%20January%202007.%20%20%09%3Chttp://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/339home.html%3E.>.

Elliot, Andrea and Gandhi, Mahvash. Shakespeare’s Tragedies. 1997. Springfield High School. 31 January 2007. <http://www2.blogger.com/Schwartz,%20Debora.%20%20English%20339:%20Introduction%20to%20Shakespeare.%20%202002.%20%20California%20%09Polytechnic%20State%20University.%20%2031%20January%202007.%20%20%09%3Chttp://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/339home.html%3E.>

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Nicholas Brooke. New York: Oxford, 1998.

Assignment # 1: Etext Versions of Macbeth

There are many different text versions of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Although the story of Macbeth is widely known, not all copies of the text are the same. Some variations of the text may make the play clearer to the reader, while others only confuse the reader more. Our group compared the e-text of Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the Oxford text of Macbeth. In our opinion, the Oxford text is a more reliable resource.

At first glance, the page layout of the MIT e-text is uncluttered and plain, but the design is not as professional as we would have expected. Also, many essential features within the text are missing. For example, there are no line numbers, making it difficult for scholars to use, cite and refer to specific lines.

Another example of the unreliability of this source lies in the stage directions. Although the stage directions are italicized and are similar to the Oxford version, some extremely important directions are left out. For example, in Act 1 Scene 2, the direction for Angus to enter is non-existent. In this scene, Angus and Ross are sent to tell Macbeth of his new title. Angus is present in Scene 3, and is the actual person who tells Macbeth of the news—Angus says “we are sent to give thee from our royal master thanks…” (1.3.100-101). How is it possible that Angus knew of the news and “was sent” if he was not present when the King told him so?

Although this does not lower the reliability of this e-text, differences in punctuation are numerous, and affect the reading of many lines. For example, the first line in the Oxford version ends in a question mark, while the e-text version does not. One instance where the punctuation change influences the reliability of the site is as follows: the MIT version often replaces the apostrophes in the Oxford edition with the vowel “e”, changing the pronunciation and modifying the scansion. For example, the Oxford version writes a line as such: “whence cam’st thou, worthy Thane? From Fife, great King”, while the e-text uses the word “camest”, changing the number of syllables to 11, and disturbing the scansion (1.2.48).

There are also differences in the names of characters—one calls the soldier who reports the battle a captain, while the e-text calls him a sergeant. Without historical evidence concerning which rank was usually charged with reporting to the king, we cannot say which version is more reliable concerning this point.

With all the changes MIT has made to this text, we believe this particular e-text of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is unreliable. Many changes that have been made to the text change the set up of the scene and lines dramatically. Also, the lack of line numbers and separate pages for each act make the reader’s experience a frustrating one. We hope MIT edits this e-text of Macbeth as soon as possible, so that English students everywhere will not have to put up with this confusing e-text of Shakespeare’s Macbeth for much longer. This would be very helpful to all scholars and students who rely on e-text versions for essays and assignments.

Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Nicholas Brooke. New York: Oxford, 1998.

Macbeth: Entire Play. 2000. MIT. Jan. 18, 2007 <http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/macbeth/index.html>.

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