Shakespeare Biography

• Elizabethan Times
• Born in Stratford, England upon – Avon in Warwickshire
• Born in 1564
• Well-off – dad was a tradesman
• Got an education, studied Latin/Greek language, culture etc.
• He understands history because he learns these things
• Average person lived till 52-53
•  Lost family and friends tragically
•  Religion was very important (at the top of the pyramid)
• Very rigid structure (pyramid) – god, pope, queen or king, noblest and religious leaders, politicians and merchants, artisans and common folk, criminals and crazy people, women and children
• Chattels – property (women and children)
• Not about money, about placement
• Maybe Shakespeare had a sense of understanding
• Women were not allowed to be in plays (ex. 1603, Romeo and Juliet, would have no girls, Juliet would be a boy)
• What if Shakespeare recognizes the power of women (married an older smarter women)
• At this time, plays were low class, dirty, and illegal in London, England
• Being an actor was low class
• Boss of a group of performers
• Theatre company called “The King’s Men”
• Witches are scary, they tried to kill the King (Shakespeare’s time period)
• His famous theatre was called, “The Globe” which was outside of London, everyone wanted to see his plays
• He had the 2^nd biggest house in Stratford, made the arts interesting Macbeth
• Based on true story
• There was a real King named Macbeth
• Knights horrible people (our age), trained to fight (have swords up to 6 ft long)
• Macbeth is a knight (meanest, strongest, toughest)
•  Knights are “monsters”

Poetry Assignment

Here is the Link to the prezi:
http://prezi.com/wou2qc18i1f1/poetry-assignment/

Macbeth Questions

3.a) In Act 2, Macbeth tries to gain Banquo's support by saying that Lady Macbeth and himself were unprepared for Duncan's visit, making them unable to amuse him as well as they would have liked. Macbeth was looking for Banquo's sympathy because he didn't believe that they did a good job hosting while Duncan was there and didn't deserve athe gifts that Duncan gave to Macbeth's family. Banquo reassured Macbeth that everything was okay.

3.b) Macbeth

• weak
• scared
• unable to follow orders properly (returns to Lady Macbeth with the daggers in his bloody hands)
• worried that people will find out so he starts freaking out

Lady Macbeth

• Acts like she wasn't involved
• tough
• doesn't care
• man- like
• believes everything will be okay

They were so different in their reaction because Macbeth was forced to do the murder after Duncan started being nice to him, just because he wanted to become King. Macbeth had more pressure on him because he was the one who had to commit the actual crime and is friends with Duncan's friends. Lady Macbeth was the brains behind it so she would not get in as much trouble if they got caught.

3.c) Duncan is the good King of Scotland. He is virtuous (having high standards). And a benevolent ruler (is somebody with a leadership that has a kind attitude and appears to involve people). He is involved with the thanes, such as when he goes to Macbeth's home for dinner and stays over. Duncan gives Macbeth's family gifts and is very kind and generous.

3.d) Lady Macbeth describes Macbeth  as the thane of Glamis and Cawdor. He will become king just like was promised. Lady Macbeth is unsure is Macbeth has what it takes to kill the king and get the crown. He isn't powerful but wants to be. He lacks ambition, but isn't mean enough to do this horrible crime, he is too kind. He wants to do everything like a good man with no cheating but he wants what doesn't belong to him. He is afraid to murder Duncan, so he wants it to be done for him.

4.a) I think what's motivating Macbeth the most is the fact that Duncan is the king and he believes if Macbeth was no longer alive he would take place as king. He wants to be king so bad that he will even kill the king and risk getting in trouble to get what he wants. Also he wants to be able to make his wife happy by following through with what she wants as well. "I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know." Lady Macbeth finally convinced Macbeth to do the plan again after he started backing out. He ordered her to return so it didn't seem like they were up to anything so they obeyed each others orders. It take all of him to do this crime so it shows that he really wants to be king

4.b)

• When the battle’s lost and won.
• Fair is foul and foul is fair 
• Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature give way to in response Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude, the victory fell on us.
• But in a sieve I’ll thither sail, and like a rat without a tail I’ll give you some wind to sail there.
• So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
• That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' Earth, and yet are on ’t?—Live you? Or are you aught that man may question? You seem to understand me, by each at once her choppy finger laying upon her skinny lips. You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.
• Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day. 
• Nothing is but what is not.
• Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty.
• Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes
•  It makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to
  
   

Act 3 Scene 1 Soliloquy

Old English:

To be thus is nothing,

But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo

Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature

Reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares,

And to that dauntless temper of his mind

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor

To act in safety. There is none but he

Whose being I do fear, and under him

My genius is rebuked, as it is said

Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters

When first they put the name of king upon me

And bade them speak to him. Then, prophetlike,

They hailed him father to a line of kings.

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown

And put a barren scepter in my grip,

Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be so,

For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered;

Put rancors in the vessel of my peace

Only for them; and mine eternal jewel

Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!

Rather than so, come fate into the list,

And champion me to th' utterance. Who’s there?

Banquo and his son

Translation: To be the king is nothing if I'm not safe. I'm very afraid of Banquo. There's something about him that makes him feared. He is willing to take risks, and his mind never stops working. He has wisdom to act brave but also safely. He's the only one I fear. My guardian angel is frightened, just as Mark Anthony's angel supposedly feared Caesar. He (Banquo) chided the witches when they first called me king, and making them speak to him. Then,  like prophets, they named him the father to a line of kings. They placed a crown on my head and a scepter to hold which I must keep. None of my family can take these things away from me it must be someone outside, since my sons cannot take my place as king. If this is true,  then I've tortured my conscience and killed Duncan for Banquo's sons. I've ruined myself for their benefit. I gave my soul to the devil so they can become kings. Banquo's sons, kings! Instead of seeing what happened, I will challenge fate to battle and fight til there is a champoin. Who's there?

Act 5 Scene 5 Soliloquy

Old English:

She should have died hereafter.

There would have been a time for such a word.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Translation: She would have died later anyway. There would of been a time for this to come soon. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The days creep slowly past until the end of time. And our days that have past have taken fools closer to their deaths. Out, out, brief candle! Life is nothing more than illusion, its like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is not heard anymore. It is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and anger, but is meaning nothing

Act 1 Scene 7 Soliloquy

Old English:

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly. If the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases

We still have judgment here, that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

To plague th' inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice

To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,

Who should against his murderer shut the door,

Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

The deep damnation of his taking-off;

And pity, like a naked newborn babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed

Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on th' other



Lady Macbeth waiting for Duncan to arrive



Translation: If this was over when I was finished my job then it would of been done quickly. If this assassination could trammel up the consequences which works like a net sweeping up succesds and consequences, then this murder might be the be-all and end-all of the whole affair and we would risk our life to come. We still have judgement here, that we don't teach. By doing these awful bloody crimes we teach to the others which the students will return to plague us teachers. Justice is equal! Forcing us to drink the poisoned drink we prepared for others. He trusts me in two ways. First, I am his kinsman and his subject,  protecting him as a deed. Second, I am his host so I should be shutting the door in his murderer's face, not killing him myself. Besides, Duncan has been such a great leader, so free  of crime, that his virtues will speak for him when he's gone, angels playing trumpets against the outrage of his murder. And pity, like a newborn baby, will ride in the wind with the winged angels on invisible horses through the air to spread word of the horrible incident to everyone around the world. Tears will be heared everywhere. I can't put myself into action, but only thing motivating me is ambition, which makes people rush ahead towards failure.

Act 1 Scene 5 Soliloquy

Old English:

The raven himself is hoarse                      That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan                      Under my battlements. Come, you spirits                   That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,                  And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full                      Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.                   Stop up the access and passage to remorse,                      That no compunctious visitings of nature               Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between              The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,             And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,                       Wherever in your sightless substances                You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,                      And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,                That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,               Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark                                 To cry “Hold, hold!”

                  Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor,

                  Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter,

               Thy letters have transported me beyond

           This ignorant present, and I feel now

                The future in the instant.

Translation: The messanger has a lack of breath, that speaks of Duncan's entrance into my home. Come, you spirits that influence my lethal thoughts, make me more like the man then the women I am now and fill me  from my head to my toes with cruelty. Make my blood thick, and stop it from passing through my veins making me not feel remorseful, so that no humans of nature can stop my plan or make me keep peace between people! Come to my female breast and make poisoning substances of her milk, you murderers. You hide, unable to see you. Waiting to do your evil plan. Come, thick night, cover the world in the darkest smoke of hell, that way my knife will not see the cuts it makes, and heaven can't peep through the cover of darkness to cry "Stop!"



Act 2 Scene 1 Soliloquy

Old English: 

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses,

Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder,

Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,

With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives.

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

Translation: Is this a dagger I see infront of me, with the handle towards my hand? Come, let me hold it. I don't have you and yet I still see you. Are you like a ghost I can see you but I cannot touch you? Or are you like a dagger created by the mind, that I hallucinated by my fevered brain? I can still see you and you look as real as the dagger I'm pulling out now. You're leading me to the place I was planning on going to and I was going to use a weapon just like that. I'm either blind or its the only sense working right. I can still see you and I now see the blood that wasn't there before. There's no dagger here. It's the murder I'm about to commit. Half the world is sleeping and being haunted by evil nightmares. Witches are offerong sacrifices to their goddess, Hecate. Old murder, having been roused by the howls of his wolf, walks quietly to his destination, moving like Tarquin; a roman prince who sneaked into a Roman wife's bedroom in the night and rapped her. I don't want anything to echo to break the silence of what I am about to do. Whild I'm here talking, Duncan lives, the more I talk the more my courage decreases. (Bell Rings) I'm going now. The murder is as good as done. The bell is telling me to do it. Don't listen to the bell Duncan, because it summons you either to heaven or hell.



Macbeth going to kill Duncan



Macbeth hallucinating the dagger

Act 1 Scene 3 Solilquy

 Old English:

(aside) Two truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the imperial theme. (to ROSS and ANGUS) I thank you, gentlemen.

(aside) This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor.

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

Against the use of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings.

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man

That function is smothered in surmise,

And nothing is but what is not.

 If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me

Without my stir

Come what come may,

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.



Translation: (To himself) so far the witches have tols me two things came true, so it looks like I will become King. (To Ross and Angus) Thank you, gentleman. (To himself) This supernatural fascination doesn't seem like a bad thing, yet it doesn't seem like a good one either. If its a bad thing why was I promised this raise which became true? I'm the thane of Cawdor now. If this is a good thing, why do I think about the horrible images which make my hair stand up and make my heart pound harder inside of me? My fears here are less threatning now then the horrible things I'm imagining. Even though its unreal yet, the thought of murdering shakes me up so much that I barely recognize myself anymore. My abilities are wrecked by my thoughs. I only care about things that don't really exist.



Witches from Macbeth

  

Macbeth becoming the Thane of Cawdor