Author Archives: evelynoconnor

The Macbeths’ Marriage

Posted on January 9, 2013 | 1 comment

So let’s imagine for a second that you work as the Macbeths’ marriage counsellor. What would you tell them about the factors that lead to the disintegration of a relationship? And what could they have done differently to protect their marriage?

Well a quick google reveals that to nurture your relationship you should:

1. Be available – if you’re always too busy then your partner will feel neglected.

2. Communicate – if you confide in each other, problems won’t seem so big.

3. Support – try to support each others decisions. Avoid being judgemental and constantly criticising.

4. Be affectionate – make your partner feel loved! Embrace opportunities for intimacy.

5. Solve conflicts – or at the very least agree to disagree! You may genuinely have differing values so if possible learn to live with that…

According to Dr. John Gottman a troubled relationship is marked by:

1. Intractable conflict – partners end up having the same argument repeatedly and start to resent each other.

2. Contempt – partners start to actively dislike each other.

3. Defensive behaviour – feeling as if your partner is always criticising you or is constantly disappointed in you so you over-react to every little comment always assuming that they are nagging at you… again!

4. Stonewalling – they start avoiding each other because spending time together is too painful.

5. Separation – or affairs or living under the same roof but leading separate lives…or marriage counselling which come to think of it is probably what this guy John Gottman is selling 😉

NOW what next? Well think about all of the times we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth together and think about how they behave when they’re apart. In each of these moments ask yourself:

  •  do they seem like a couple in love? Do they support each other? Communicate? Are they available & affectionate?
  • Are they motivated by the desire to protect each other & make each other happy? Or do they care about the other’s happiness at all?
  • If they had behaved differently in this moment would things have been any different? Would their marriage have survived?
  • From what point in the play was their marriage doomed? When did conflict & contempt morph into avoidance? Do they end up living under the same roof but leading separate lives? (The term “together but alone” springs to mind…)

PHASE ONE: from the prophesy up to the decision to kill Duncan.

[youtube_sc url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iatzg0J9wcQ]

They seem really close as a couple but there’s definitely some tension there. They seem to have differing opinions and values but vaulting ambition is one thing they definitely do have in common!

Key moments = analyse the LETTER Macbeth sends to his wife & look at her reaction, including her analysis of her husband’s personality. They obviously love each other dearly and tell each other everything. However, their value systems aren’t exactly in sync – she sees his conscience and morals as an obstacle, a weakness rather than as something to be admired and celebrated. See Act 1, scene 5.

MANIPULATION – Lady Macbeth certainly shows contempt for her husband’s desire to “proceed no further in this business” but does she think she’s actually helping? or is she motivated purely by selfish ambition? You decide. She certainly goes to extreme lengths to change his mind but she does seem to genuinely fear that he’ll regret it forever (“and live a coward in thine own esteem“) if he doesn’t act now.See Act 1, scene 7.

PHASE TWO: immediate reaction to the crime and efforts to conceal their guilt.

[youtube_sc url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldbeR-CujwY]

Key moments = DAGGERS Lady Macbeth is furious with her husband for being so overwhelmed with shock and guilt that he brings the dagger out of Duncan’s chamber but she covers his tracks by returning to the scene of the crime. See Act 2, scene 2.

FAINT – Does she faint or does she fake a faint? It’s not clear. Perhaps she really faints because she’s genuinely shocked that her husband found it so easy to kill two more people (the chamberlains) and because the horror of what they’ve done suddenly hits home. Or perhaps Lady M feels her husband’s yet again not doing a good job of feigning innocence, particularly when he starts waffling on about killing the chamberlains. Perhaps she fake faints to protect her husband and draw attention away from him. See Act 2, scene 3.

PHASE THREE:  before and during the banquet.

Key moments = REGRET – although brazen after the crime (“a little water clears us of this deed“) Lady M is now finally realising that “Nought’s had, all’s spent, where our desire is got without content” but in conversation with her husband she fakes nonchalance, pretending that everything’s fine. He confides in her, basically echoing exactly what she said in private moments before, but he doesn’t make plans with her anymore and he seems to have a more protective, almost patronising paternal attitude to her than he did at the start of the play (“be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck…“). See Act 3, scene 2.

BANQUET = Macbeth basically has a breakdown in public – well it’s either a breakdown or a psychotic episode. Remember no-one else can see the ghost so Lady M is more than likely right when she observes “this is the very painting of your fear” (but not everyone would agree with me on this one!). Yet again it is left to her to conceal what her husband cannot; to  make excuses publicly in order to protect them and their position on the throne; here again she is angry with him, asking the insulting question “are you a man” which echoes her earlier tirade (“when you durst do it then you were a man“) when she convinced him to kill Duncan in the first place. If you glance back at the discussion above of what causes problems in a marriage, you’ll notice that one warning sign is where couples keep having the same argument over and over again! See Act 3, scene 4.

[youtube_sc url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3YKU6I2m8]

PHASE 4: from the sleepwalking scene to the end of the play

Before we look at key moments, consider this. We don’t see them together on stage again. At all. Ever. The last direct conversation between them that we witness is the Banquet scene which is just over half way through the play. So the whole stonewalling thing where couples start to avoid each other because when they’re together it’s just too painful and difficult? Yeah, I think we can safely assume that that’s what’s going on here lads!

Key moments = SLEEPWALKING – if you want proof that their marriage is effectively over, here it is. She’s been driven insane with guilt and remorse and her husband is no-where to be found. She also seems to have heard rumours about what happened to Lady Macduff (“the thane of fife had a wife; where is she now?“) but again she has not been consulted. She seems frightened, possibly even terrified by what she and her husband have become. Perhaps there’s some poetic justice here – Macbeth felt alone in his remorse because every time he mentioned it to his wife she either ridiculed him or at the very least she discouraged him from dwelling on it (“these deeds must not be thought of after these ways; so it will make us mad“) always dismissing his worry and fear. Maybe she was just trying to protect him from his own conscience, but if she had allowed him to listen to his conscience in the first place, none of this would have happened, the silly cow! Now she’s facing the very same emotions alone and ironically her prediction that dwelling on their crimes would result in madness has come to pass. See Act 5, scene 1.

DOCTOR DOCTOR – instead of visiting his wife to see how she is, he visits her doctor, asking “how is your patient?” rather than “how is my wife”. Even in the phrasing of this question he seems to have washed his hands of her – she is the doctor’s problem now rather than her husband’s responsibility. Yes he cares enough to ask how she is and to order the doctor to do something; anything. But we get the impression that he has more pressing matters to attend to. She is not his first priority; she’s an afterthought. See Act 5, scene 3.

DEATH – his reaction to the news that “the Queen is dead” is pretty important. This is – or at least was – the love of his life. He doesn’t fall to the floor weeping. He doesn’t seem shocked or upset “she should have died hereafter“. But in his own way, he is overwhelmed so don’t take this meme at face value! It’s no accident that Macbeth’s most famous and haunting soliloquy is delivered immediately after he hears this news. Her death is just proof to him that life is a sick joke, a brief and brutal experience “full of sound and fury signifying nothing“. It is touching that he sees her life as a “brief candle” that has been snuffed out and his suicidal despair is at its most profound in this moment. See Act 5, scene 5. The only other mention of her death comes in the final scene (Act 5, scene 9) when Malcolm reveals that Lady M committed suicide. I don’t want for a moment to suggest that the spouse is to blame when their partner commits suicide; nor do I think that you can necessarily save someone from themselves when they have been lost to the horror of madness and depression. However, even if he had been with her, it’s unlikely that Macbeth would have been able to offer her any comfort, as he his presence would only have been rubbing salt in her wounds – after all her guilt at their crimes and at what they have become is what’s torturing her so Macbeth in person would be too painful a reminder of their unforgivable evil deeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Kingship: Macbeth

Posted on January 4, 2013 | 6 comments

If you’re going to discuss Macbeth’s reign you need to have absolute clarity about what was expected of a King and the extent to which he fell short of this ideal.

The term most commonly used to describe Macbeth by those he governs is ‘tyrant’ so let’s start by getting clarity on what a tyrant is. The dictionary tells me that in Ancient Greece the word tyrant was synonymous with usurper – in other words someone who had seized power without any legal right to do so. The more common understanding of the word tyrant is of a ruler who is oppressive and unjust; one who exercises their power in a harsh cruel way. Tyrants lack moral fibre; they are selfish and arbitrary, acting on whim or impulse and having no care for the impact of their behaviour on their subjects. They demand absolute obedience, disregard both law and custom and are thus often also described as dictators.

Now, let’s see how much of this applies to Macbeth.

Well first off, he is undoubtedly a usurper. He commits the ultimate crime of regicide, thus challenging both the Great Chain of Being and the Divine Rights of Kings. As cousin to the King and a renowned warrior, once Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country he is the next obvious choice to ascend to the throne so he doesn’t exactly ‘seize’ power but he certainly criminally manouvers his way into the position.

However, his behaviour once he achieves his goal of becoming King is unquestionably oppressive and unjust. For starters he’s terrified that his crime will be uncovered (obviously if this happened he would be removed from the throne, disgraced and sentenced to death). Macbeth was there when Banquo proclaimed that he wouldn’t rest until Duncan’s murderer was caught and punished “in the great hand of God I stand, and thence against the undivulged pretence I fight of treasonous malice“; add to this the fact that Banquo heard the witches prophesy and later repelled Macbeth’s offer “if you shall cleave to my consent…” proclaiming that he wanted to keep his “bosom franchised and allegiance clear” and it’s easy to understand why Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat “to be thus is nothing but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep“; not to mention the fact that according to the witches Banquo’s children will be Kings (a sore point for Macbeth who has no living children but who hates the thought of having gained a “fruitless crown” and “barren sceptre” which will not pass to his descendants).

So is he decision to hire murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance tyrannical? Yes and no. Yes in the sense that they are innocents who have committed no crime. However, Macbeth is not yet acting on whim or impulse – in its own twisted way his decision to murder them makes absolute sense. Furthermore he appears to still be able to recognise the essential immorality of his actions commenting “Banquo thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight” which is reminiscent of his earlier lament “hear it not Duncan for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell“. He’s still capable of this odd advance-remorse but it’s not powerful enough to stop him from committing these crimes. It also important to recognise that the impact of Banquo and Fleance’s deaths (except Fleance gets away) would have minimal impact on the vast majority of his citizens. It will make the nobles more fearful yes but it won’t throw all of Scotland into turmoil.

So murderer, yes. Tyrant? Not quite. Not yet.

The Banquet scene is a pivotal moment however. He’s only just been crowned King but his odd behaviour will ring all sorts of alarm bells amongst the nobles who witness his fit and who are dismissed so hurriedly by Lady Macbeth “stand not upon your going but go at once“. Macbeth is already so paranoid of a rebellion against his rule that he spies on all of his nobles – he admits to his wife “there’s not one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee’d“. He’s also deeply suspicious of Macduff who has refused an invitation to the banquet. Macbeth now appears to be completely losing his grasp on the difference between right and wrong: he proclaims that he now has so much blood on his hands that “returning were as tedious as go o’er” and a ghostly shiver of foreboding slithers down our spines as he observes “we are yet but young in deed“.

Our sense that Macbeth’s behaviour is plunging the entire country into turmoil only really solidifies at the very end of Act Three when two minor characters (Lennox and one so minor that he is just called “a lord”) meet in a forest near Macbeth’s castle. They discuss Malcolm’s gracious welcome into the English court and Macduff’s decision to go and beg Malcolm to rouse an army against the tyrant Macbeth. It’s clear that Macbeth is deeply unpopular as they recount the official story of how Duncan and Banquo met their deaths, sarcastically concluding that “men must not walk too late” and once they both feel certain that the other also regards Macbeth as a tyrant they openly criticise his rule, describing the current state of affairs in Scotland with Macbeth as King vividly as they pine to “give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, do faithful homage and receive free honours, all which we pine for now“. Both feel confident that once Malcolm realises how dire things are in Scotland he will return at once to save his beloved country – they imagine “some holy angel” flying to the English court to inform him and pray that “a swift blessing may soon return to this our suffering country under a hand accursed“.

Interestingly all of this happens before Macbeth orders the murders of Lady Macduff and her children. If we accept what these men say at face value then it appears that Macbeth is not looking after the poor (give to our tables meat) and that the entire country lives in a state of paranoia and insomnia, unable to sleep for fear that they will be murdered in their beds. Those who pay homage to Macbeth are doing so not because they want to (they don’t respect Macbeth) but because they are afraid not to and this is a sure sign of a tyrant – one who controls his citizens through fear. It’s not clear to what extent all of the things they say are true however; the rumour mill must really have gone into overdrive after Macbeth’s performance at the banquet because suddenly his bizarre behaviour has morphed into “free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives” – I don’t remember him pulling a knife on anybody in that scene, do you? Nonetheless most of what they say if not entirely factually accurate is based on fact so we can certainly conclude that at this point he is widely considered a tyrant by his subjects.

His really tyrannical behaviour kicks in with his decision to have Lady Macduff, her children and all of Macduff’s servants murdered as punishment for his disobedience. If we revisit the definition of a tyrant for a moment, a tyrant is someone who (1) demands absolute obedience; (2) one who acts on whim or impulse in a cruel and arbitrary way; (3)one who disregards both law and custom and who lacks any moral fibre.

Now lets apply this to his latest decision. First of all, Macbeth is reacting to Macduff’s refusal to offer absolute obedience and to the witches warning to ‘beware Macduff’. Secondly, the order to murder Macduff’s wife and children once he receives the news that Macduff has “fled to England” is arbitrary impulsive and cruel. Macbeth himself admits that he’s going to ignore both conscience and logic from now on, instead acting immediately on his desires “henceforth the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand“.  He also makes this decision just after he admits that the witches cannot be trusted “infected be the air whereon they ride and damned all those that trust them“. Thirdly, Macbeth is profoundly contravening both custom and morality in murdering innocent women and children. So why does he do it? Probably to send out the message that those who disobey him will have his wrath visited not only on their heads but also upon their loved ones. It’s a very oppressive way to safeguard your power but it’s also frighteningly effective (I wonder if Shakespeare had read Machiavelli’s treatise “The Prince“ on how to maintain power – certainly Macbeth here obeys the law that the end justifies the means!)

So does he remain a tyrant for the rest of the play? Well for the forces of good the answer is quite simply yes – Macduff even before he hears of the deaths of his loved ones vividly describes how “each new morn new widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows strike heaven on the face“. He believes that “not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth” and Malcolm then goes on to list the vices he associates with Macbeth “I grant him bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin that has a name“. [Many of these are undoubtedly true – he has been false, deceitful, and now with his latest behaviour impulsive and deliberately cruel. However, we’ve seen no evidence that he has ever been unfaithful to his wife (luxurious = lustful) or that he is particularly greedy (avaricious) – other than his greed for the throne there have been no reports that he has seized either land or wealth off his subjects]. During the battle to overthrow Macbeth we learn that those who obeyed Macbeth through fear rather than loyalty are now deserting him and switching sides. The idea that Macbeth is not morally fit to rule is memorably described by yet another random minor character Angus who proclaims that “those he commands move only in command nothing in love: now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief“. It is thus not entirely surprising that once defeated, Malcolm dismisses Macbeth as nothing more than a “bloody butcher“.

So was he a tyrant to the bitter end?

Yes and no…

He accepts that he deserves neither honour nor respect from his subjects, thus showing an awareness of his impact on his subjects “I have lived long enough…and that which should accompany old age as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but in their stead curses, not loud but deep“. Yet in the very next breath he orders his servant to “hang those that talk of fear“. That’s pretty extreme even by his standards.

His refusal to surrender means that more people will die but for Macbeth it is more honourable to “die with harness on our back” than to “play the Roman fool” and commit suicide. He recognises that running away is no longer an option “They have tied me to a stake I cannot fly but bear-like I must fight the course” and sees his determination to “fight til from my bones my flesh be hacked” as a return to his former glory on the battlefield.

It’s weird to think of a tyrant as having a code of honour but oddly that seems to be the case in the dying scenes of the play. It’s also weird to think of a tyrant as someone with any trace of morality in him but when Macduff challenges Macbeth, Macbeth reveals traces of his former self by making reference to his guilty conscience “of all men else I have avoided thee: but get thee back, my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already“.

So I guess we can conclude that Macbeth is an oddly likeable tyrant? Who knew such a thing existed!

 

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Kingship: Malcolm (& Ed)

Posted on January 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Kingship: Malcolm (& Ed)

King Edward

We never actually meet Edward the Confessor but he is the person to whom Malcolm turns for help after his father is murdered. Despite the fact that Malcolm falls under suspicion after he flees the scene of the crime, Edward obviously dismisses these rumours as lies by accepting Malcolm into the English court, offering him a safe haven while he regroups and figures out a way to win back his rightful place on the Scottish throne. Edward is said to have healing powers – he is associated with “heaven” and “grace” and all things “saintly“. It’s clear that he represents absolute good and through his association with Edward, Malcolm also comes to be associated with the forces of good. Meanwhile Macbeth through his crimes, his association with the witches and his reign of tyranny (more of this later) increasingly comes to be associated with absolute evil (only his soliloquies and private conversations with his wife reveal to us that he is not in fact completely evil…).

Malcolm

Malcolm doesn’t actually become King until the final scene of the play but he has a very clear sense of the role a King must play – in fact it is he who lists “the king-becoming graces, / As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, / Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude“. Two scenes in particular help us to get to know him better. The first is when Macduff arrives in England to convince Malcolm to march on Scotland. Malcolm is suspicious of his motives and asks Macduff why he has left his wife and children unprotected and why Macbeth hasn’t harmed Macduff in any way?

Perhaps Macbeth is manipulating Macduff in some way –  Malcolm is realistic enough to recognise that when a King gives an order his subjects must obey even if they disagree with their orders (“A good and virtuous nature may recoil in an imperial charge“). Malcolm could be described as paranoid here but his reluctance to trust others is hardly surprising given the circumstances (he’s afraid he’s being lured back home under false pretences so that Macbeth can murder him) so he puts Macduff to the test, claiming that he possesses all manner of vices which would make him an even worse King than Macbeth. Once it is clear that Macduff’s loyalties lie with his beloved Scotland, Malcolm reveals the truth and together they promise to restore Scotland to her former glory. We feel reassured that Malcolm is an intelligent man with a clear sense of the virtues a Kind should possess and of the responsibilites that Kingship brings. His primary concern is to restore Scotland to her former glory. He knows that “our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds and each new day a gash is added to her wounds” but he feels confident that divine justice will play its part in their inevitable victory: “the powers above put on their instruments” “the night is long that never finds the day”.

The only criticism I’d make of him is his response to bad news. Back at the beginning of the play when Macduff reveals “Your royal father’s murdered” Malcolm responds “O! By whom“. Not exactly the response you expect from a man who’s just been told that his father is dead! His lack of emotion makes him seem rather heartless and his immediate switch to tactical considerations (“to show an unfelt sorrow is an office that the false man doth easy. I’ll to England“) makes him seem capable of an almost inhuman calm.  Macduff actually seems more upset at Duncan’s death (“O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee“) than his own sons do.

Later when it is revealed that Macduff’s wife and children have been brutally murdered he again appears rather cold and callous: he tells Macduff to “dispute it like a man“, not giving him even a moment to process the enormity of his loss but instead urging him to “let grief convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it”.

The second scene where we really see what Malcolm is made of is when he is finally crowned King. Here he finally seems genuinely concerned about those soldiers who have not yet returned from the battle and when Old Siward receives news of his son’s death, Malcolm finally reveals a more compassionate side stating “he’s worth more sorrow and that I’ll spend for him“. Unlike his father he rewards all of those who fought for him equally, with the new title of earls and immediately makes plans to welcome home those who fled Macbeth’s tyranny, including his brother Donalbain. He is decisive and businesslike, proclaiming that “by the grace of God” he will attend to everything else that needs to be done and invites then all to his coronation. It’s only to be expected that he describes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in such derogatory terms (as a “dead butcher” and “fiend-like queen“). We are left feeling that he will be a capable, wise and fair King but noetheless the essential blandness of his goodness makes him rather boring by comparison to the complex usurper whose head will now decorate the battlements as a warning to those who would challenge the rightful King.

 

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Kingship: Duncan

Posted on January 4, 2013 | 3 comments

Kingship is an oft discussed theme in the play Macbeth and it’s hardly surprising – we are presented with so many Kings it can be hard to keep track of them… but God loves a trier so here goes.

DUNCAN

The first King we meet is Duncan. He’s waiting anxiously for news of not one but two battles (against the rebel Macdonwald and an invading Norweigan army) and he’s relying on his two great generals Macbeth and Banquo to win the day.

You need to form an opinion, good or bad, of Duncan – is he a good King or not? Interpret the facts don’t just list them. It doesn’t matter whether you take a sympathetic or a judgemental attitude towards him as long as you don’t sit on the fence…

Those who champion Duncan point out that he inspires great love and devotion from his army, particularly his warrior cousin Macbeth who carved his way through to the enemy then “unseamed him from the nave i’ th’ chops and fixed his head upon our battlements“. Duncan shows no mercy to the traitorous Thane of Cawdor (who fought alongside the rebel Macdonwald) ordering his immediate execution but he does reward loyalty, offering this title to Macbeth and paying Macbeth the great compliment of initiating a royal visit to his castle. This is a shrewd political move on Duncan’s part – he recognises that he needs to keep the brave fearless Macbeth onside and feels this is a good way to do it. Duncan had no possible way of knowing what Macbeth was plotting against him; after all Macbeth is his cousin; he had just risked life and limb to keep Duncan on the throne and is widely regarded as an “honest” and “worthy gentleman“. Duncan is also savvy enough to pronounce that “we will establish our estate upon our eldest Malcolm” so that if his life is threatened again there will be no confusion as to who’s going to ascend to the throne after he dies.

[NOTE: To understand the significance of this announcement fully you need to appreciate that the modern notion of succession didn’t apply here. The King could name anyone he wanted, it didn’t have to be his eldest son, it could be whoever he considered most worthy – his brother, a middle or youngest son, or the bravest warrior in his army. In fact at this time in Scotland if the King died suddenly there would be a conference of all the warrior chiefs and they would decide amongst themselves who should take over as King. So Duncan’s announcement really dashes Macbeth’s prior hope that “if chance will have me King, why chance may crown me without my stir“].

Those who criticise Duncan point to the fact that not one but two armies have taken arms against him. He doesn’t seem to inspire loyalty and must be in some ways perceived of as weak if his nobles so openly rebel against him. He also lacks the wisdom to offer equal reward for equal service – he gives Macbeth a new title and bestows the honour of a royal visit to his castle but offers Banquo only a measly hug. Luckily Banquo’s not the jealous sort but it does give us some insight into how Duncan may have inadvertantly made enemies in the past through tacklessness and favouritism. Duncan’s decision to visit Macbeth’s castle can also be interpreted as a foolish decision; evidence that Duncan is a gormless overly-trusting individual who fails to learn from his mistakes. After what’s just happened surely he should be upping his security detail and holing himself up in his own castle until he is absolutely sure who he can and cannot trust! A little paranoia wouldn’t go astray here. Furthermore his pronouncement that “we will establish our estate upon our eldest Malcolm” was bound to raise some hackles amongst the more ambitious Scottish nobles (see the rules of succession above) – he should have known this and been extra careful while this news was sinking in.

Like him or lump him, we get our clearest sense of Duncan’s reign from the man who’s plotting to kill him. Macbeth admits that Duncan is “here in double trust” and acknowledges that Duncan has been an exemplary King who “hath been so clear in his great office that the angels will plead out trumpet tongued against the deep damnation of his taking off“. Ultimately Macbeth believes that Duncan is a good man and a good King and he doesn’t deserve to be murdered in his bed in cold blood. Much later in the sleepwalking scene the horror of murdering an old man in his bed is relived by Lady Macbeth who mournfully laments “yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?“. The only other mention of Duncan in the play comes from Macduff who laments that Malcolm is apparently so lacking in virtues despite the fact that “thy royal father was a most sainted King”

So now it’s time for you to get off the fence – do you think if Duncan had been more alert to his perceived weakness as a King; less trusting and more cautious in his choice of road trips that he would still be alive? Or do you think that Duncan is entirely the wronged party; a man whose essential virtue prevented him from foreseeing that his most loyal general would turn against him and God and commit the most heinous crime known to man: regicide.

You decide!!!

 

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Why introductions matter…

Posted on December 16, 2012 | Comments Off on Why introductions matter…

Scenario 1.

We’re in a car together and you’re driving. You’ve figured out in advance how we’re going to get to our destination so I can sit back and enjoy the journey because it’s clear that you know where you’re going and that inspires confidence in me and helps me relax.

OR

Scenario 2.

We’re in a car together and you’re driving. You really have no idea how we’re going to get to our destination but you’ve driven some of these roads before and you’re happy to make it up as we go along and see what happens. Because you are gifted at improvisation and have a particular talent for marking every signpost along the way we do get there in the end and I’m pretty impressed even though I was nervous to begin with because I wasn’t entirely sure you knew what you were doing.

Scenario 3.

OR

We’re in a car together and you’re driving. You really have no idea how we’re going to get to our destination. You have to just make it up as we go along because you really didn’t prepare for this journey in advance and now you’re sweating. We both know we’ve got a deadline and we’re both nervous that we’re not going to get there on time. We end up getting lost a bunch of times, you spend far too long on the first leg of our journey, you double back a few times and when the deadline arrives you don’t know what to do. Keep going in the hope that you’ll get there eventually or start your next journey, which also involves a time limit? The experience is frustrating and demoralising for both of us and in the end we give up without ever reaching our destination, which is disappointing.

Scenario 4.

OR

We’re in a car together and you’re driving. You’ve planned our journey carefully in advance but suddenly I spring the news on you that we’re not going to the exact destination you expected us to. Stunned by this news, you start driving anyway because you feel there’s no time to improvise a new set of directions and you end up on autopilot, just driving the roads you already know, following the directions you had planned in advance. We reach a destination just as our time is up but it’s not where I asked you to go. I’m annoyed because I clearly stated what our new destination was and you’re annoyed with yourself because even though we’ve arrived in time, we’ve arrived in the wrong place. You know it, I know it but it’s too late to do anything about it. We’re both frustrated and disappointed.

OR

Scenario 5.

We’re in a car together and you’re driving. You’ve planned our journey carefully in advance but suddenly I spring the news on you that we’re not going to the exact destination you expected us to. You hide your disappointment from me, confident that the new destination isn’t a million miles away from our original plan, and you quickly sketch out a new route. You rely on your prior knowledge but also improvise a certain amount and we get there on time. I’m delighted with you, you’re delighted with you, we have a real sense of achievement and you can move on to your next journey with the adrenaline pumping, ready for the next challenge.

What does it all mean?

Scenario 1 is unlikely to happen. If an essay title (destination) comes up exactly as you’ve prepared it, fair play, happy days, off you go. Pay really close attention to the address however. Ballymoe and Ballymote sound similar but they are not the same place…

Scenario 2 is really where gifted students come into their own. Despite seeing the essay title (destination) for the first time when they sit into the exam (car), they are completely unfazed. These people write beautifully all of the time; they have a good knowledge base to start off with and they are utterly fearless when it comes to improvising on the spot even under time constraints. To be in their presence is to be in awe of their brilliance. Not too many people fall into this category – lucky you if you’re one of them!

Scenario 3 is the student who either doesn’t really know their stuff or who panics and draws a complete blank. I feel sorry for the blankers. I do not feel particularly sorry for the bluffers who don’t know what they’re talking about, particularly after I’ve gone on a torturous journey with them through their essay and still ended up no-where. The whole thing will have been a frustrating waste of my time and theirs. But I repeat, I do feel sorry for those who blank under exam conditions.

Scenario 4 is perhaps the most frustrating of all. It’s also the most common. It’s clear that they have a good knowledge and if they’d just focus and apply that knowledge we might actually get to where we want to go. Yes we might have to take a few shortcuts along the way in order to get there on time, but isn’t it better to take shortcuts and get to where we want to go rather than include everything we’d planned in advance and end up in the wrong place?

Scenario 5 is where it’s at. Use what you know but be willing to improvise a certain amount. Think quickly on your feet but don’t panic. Remind yourself that the same basic knowledge can be applied no matter what the essay title (destination).

Remember, the examiner (and your teacher) would like to go on a journey with you which is calm and focused on getting where you need to go. If you have to leave out a few stops along the way that’s fine. It’s not as if you’re expected to cover every single road in the province on this one journey – you will not visit at least 80% of the roads/knowledge available to you. The important thing is that you get where you’re going on time without too many false starts, detours or speeding fines near the end!

p.s. this only applies 100% to critical essays – single text, poetry, comparative. Short stories and personal essays allow you to take detours – sometimes this is what makes them great! Newspaper articles ask you to jump to the end, then go back on yourself and fill in the journey in reverse.

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Posted in Comparative, Leaving Cert Paper 2, Macbeth, Studied poetry

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