Macbeth cinematic/thematic essay assignment

Nicole Kelly

Accel English 12

Mr. BG

1/18/12

                                               

1)

A. “O, yet I do repent me of my fury, that I did kill them.” Macbeth(2,3,116)

                B. This quote can be categorized under the theme of Power Corrupts. In this quote Macbeth is showing that he has no fear of killing, he took the chance to take power and become king so he seized that moment and gained that power. The corruption of his character can be blamed by the lust for the power the witches told him he would obtain. He killed the guards in order to protect his wife and himself from getting caught for the murder of king Duncan, but made the excuse that he killed them out of rage for killing their king. With the guards dead there would be no witnesses to act against Macbeth and to find him guilty, therefore he would be able to keep hold his power of the new king.

C. Robert Goold puts Macbeth in an awkward position when he tells everyone he has killed the guards out of fury. He is in the kitchen as he explains to the confused group of people that he went to the room where the king lay dead and out of rage and confusion he slaughtered the guards, not knowing how they could commit such an awful crime against him. The lighting was low key, giving Macbeth a shadowy face and some darkness to his character. The type of shot was a medium shot that showed Macbeth with his back turned as he spoke. The lack of eye contact with any other character gave the feeling of deception from Macbeth. The camera movements had a zoom while Macbeth was walking toward the sink while talking, then he became blurry and the face of Macduff came into focus with a worried look upon it.

D. While reading the play I believe it’s harder to understand the reaction of other characters. You cannot see their body movements or their facial expressions and that can tell a lot about a person. Whether they are uncomfortable or upset, whereas on film you get to see all of this and it gives you a better understanding of what it was like in that kitchen when the murdered body of king Duncan was found. The panic on people’s faces showed me how each person really felt.

2)

          A.” Thou hast it now-king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as The Weird Women promised, and, I fear, Thou play’dst most foully for’t. Yet it was said it should not stand in thy posterity, but that myself should be the root and father of many kings. If there come truth from them- as upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine- why, by the verities on thee made good, may they not be my oracles as well and set me up in hope? But hush, no more!” Banquo(3,1,1)

          B. This quote shows that superstition affects human behavior. Banquo and Macbeth believe in the Witches and prophesies they are given. They are so wrapped up in the future that they just to conclusion on how they achieve it. Macbeth did not think about obtaining the crown any other way then killing king Duncan. This shows how he is superstitious about the prophesies coming true.

          C. The scene starts off with Banquo’s back to the camera and he is speaking to himself. They show a shot-reverse-shot from him back to a big portrait of Macbeth. He has low key lighting which brings upon a shadowy face and creates suspicion. The shot is a middle shot that has some zoom to it. It really creates a sense of darkness upon Banquo’s character almost as if he knows that it was Macbeth who has committed this awful crime.

          D. When I read this in the book I was confused on the wording. It’s hard to follow what is happening in the book because you can not see the setting of the moment and who is around when the character is saying his lines. Once I saw it in the movie I understood that Banquo was alone and mad.

3)

          A.”A good and virtuous nature may recoil” Malcolm(4,3,22)

          B. This quote shows that Blind Ambition leads to one’s downfall. Malcolm was stating that Macbeth is a backstabber and therefore falters in his character. He was suppose to be loyal to king Duncan but instead murdered the man. He was not thinking of the consequences when he killed him, he was only thinking of the power he would gain, hence the blind ambition.

          C. It seems they are in the middle of a church, Malcolm and Macduff. This is when they are coming together to take down Macbeth. There are some lights at some point that is back lighting on Malcolm’s face. I believe it shows the goodness of Malcolm and how he just wants to seek justice for his father and to get rid of the murderer, Macbeth.

          D. when I first say this scene I pictured it to be a little bit more intimate between Malcolm and Macduff, but they start out in the middle of the church. After that they then proceed into a more quiet area to discuss the takeover of Macbeth and his thrown. Other than that, the scene made sense to me before I saw it on the movie.

4)     

          A.” 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.” Macbeth(5,5,26)

          B. This quote shows that things are not always what they seem. In this scene a massager reports to Macbeth that the Birnam woods are moving toward them. When Macbeth was told by the witches that that he would be safe until the wood would reach his hill he had no worry that he would be harmed because obviously that could never happen. But Macbeth did not see the possibility of the men covering themselves, not looking like they seem. A lot of this went on in the play.

          C. A dark shadow is cast on Macbeths face. He is alone and speaking to himself. He had just found out that his wife had died but could not mourn the loss of her. It was a close up of his face that stayed a little tilted and moved around with his head. There is some back music that you can hear very slightly and some light in the hall way he is in. He is trying to portray Macbeth as sad but, at the same time scared for his own life.

          D. This scene showed me that Macbeth really did not show any kind of emotion when his wife was found dead. When he says this quote, I feel he was saying that it doesn’t really matter, things don’t matter and what they are, are not always what they seem. 

Oedipus and Antigone Test
1)
                 Assuming that one believes in fate, the question is asked, can you alter your fate through free will in any way. In my opinion I think that fate always finds its way into a person’s life. One way or another fate does play a roll even if the fate has changed in some way. It could be the way you find your fate, or even the bigger picture. Like in Oedipus, when his parents send him away to die, that may have altered his path because it was unexpected of his parents to try and kill him. In the end though, his fate sadly came true and he had to face what was given to him. I think that fate is what you would like to make it and you can embrace it or let it ruin your life. I don’t think that everyone’s life is sought out for them before hand, but I do believe that everyone has a purpose.
                   When they are given the hand they are dealt, they really just have to work with what they have. Like determining if I was to be a girl or boy, I have a hard time believing that’s fate. I believe more in genes and the scientific concept of the sperm that makes it to the egg wins, but some people may argue that in fact is considered fate. That may be true as well but I don’t think that fate has to do with who are parents are or where we take our first breath. I believe that those things are just simply just the facts and I don’t believe that you could have been born to any other set of parents because then you wouldn’t be who you are. They would not have the same set of genes to create you.
                    Fate plays a role in everything we do, but I do think we have some leniency with free will. I think there is always an opportunity to change your fate, but it still remains there. Some people may find that contradictory but I feel that it is the best way I can explain how I feel about fate and free will. It is always there but has room for improvement. Some things we have no control over, while others we can do something to change our fate.
  
2)
                The question of “Is it OK to lie?” is really a tough one to answer. In my opinion, people have to lie for many different reasons. In order to protect people we lie, in order to help people we lie, everyone lies no matter how hard one might try not to. Is it OK to lie? No I don’t think that it I morally right, on the other hand though without a little lie every now and then, life would be so much harder to get through. In some instants people deserve to know the truth but I believe that they should know it only if it directly affects them.
                When people cheat on their girlfriends or boyfriends, husbands or wives, I think that would be a lie that should not be kept. They deserve to know the truth because it would directly affect the decision they have about that person.  One time, a friend of mine told me she hung out with her ex boyfriend while he was still dating someone else. She wanted to tell the girl because she felt really bad about her not knowing. Her ex though, thought otherwise and didn’t want to risk losing his girlfriend. He believed that it would be in his girlfriend’s best interest to not tell her. So my friend decided he was not worth the friendship if she knew he was a liar. Other people tell lies because they think that it what you would want to hear rather than the truth. Take gossip for example, this is one of the worst forms of lying because people do it almost every day. They think they know the facts about someone so they tell other people hoping they get a reaction out of them. They think they want to heat all this bad stuff about someone when in reality most of it isn’t even true.
                I think it is super important to tell someone the straight up facts. Facts are the truth and that is what people deserve to hear. To me fiction and lying is the same thing, just as truth and facts are as well. When someone lies its wrong, only given certain circumstances is it alright to hide the truth from someone else. Sometimes the truth isn’t always the best thing, though always the right thing and it’s hard for people to get that concept. Like I said before, if it is in the person’s best interest, sometimes lying is the only option. I believe that the truth though, will always set you free form guilt. 

3)
                The Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex is the theory that all young boy, about 2-4 want to marry their mother and kill their father. The play came out long before the theory evolved; Freud based it off of the play that Sophocles had written.  I think to some extent there is some truth in the theory, because you see people on the news who have raped little children or they have killed their whole family. I think that has to do with them never growing out of the phases.

                I think that some of his theory is a little too much and is somewhat unbelievable. The fact that little boys want to kill their father is a little harsh. I find it hard to believe that every single little boy wants to kill his father. The other phases such as the castration phase is also a little bit out there. why would they be afraid that their penis would fall off.

                Other times I find Myself believing most of it because of all the sick people out there. The ones who are killers and rapist. It would make sense that they may have never grown out of that phase. That they continue to have hate for their family and therefore it may be a result of that person doing bad things to inocent people. Either way I think that there is some truth to his theory whether all of it may be true, or just some parts of it.

4)
               Antigone cannot bear to see her brother not have a proper burial so she decided that she will give him one even if it is against the law and has a punishment of death. She is not afraid of Creon and what he has to say. I think she gets the courage from the love she has for her brother. She does not want to see him dishonor the gods by not having a proper burial so she must do what is right for her brother, even if it means breaking the law and risking her own life.

                We have hundreads for rules that we must follow each day, in school, at home, at work, in our state. Now where we go will there not be some sort of law being assigned. At home we are obviously not alowed to do whatever we want in our house, our partents have athority over us and what we do. At school we have to follow rules, like behavior wise and citizenship wise. No cell phones or Ipods, you can not be mean to anyone in your class and absolutily never talk back to the teacher, there are consequenses. And on the road we follow law like not running a red light or friving without a license.

                 I think there are lots of rules that people break all the time. Some rules get bent and others should never be broken. For instance, killing someone is against the law, no exceptions or excuses as to why you did it. You will be punished for that because it is not a law someone can be lenient about. We bend rules that our parents or school gives us all the time. Like having a cell phone in class or and Ipod that you listen to during study. The only reason its bending and not breaking is if some teacher see and they : look the other way:. Rules that people break all the time are things like texting while driving, or driving on JOL, and if they get cough. I believe that there are some rules that are ment to be broken, some that can be bent, but other that are deffinatly not ok to cross and should never be broken.

Siddhartha Comes to America

                My parents had always talked about my grandfather Siddhartha, but I had never actually had the opportunity to meet him. I had heard crazy stories of his younger years spent in India and the life he had lived. This was it though; I was finally going to meet this man that I had only imagined about. I raced home from school knowing Sid would be there awaiting my arrival to start this weekend of just me and him. I wanted to bring him to my favorite place in the world, Old Orchard Beach in Maine.  I stepped into the door of my house and saw this little old man in a robe that draped over him perfectly.                           
                “Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet you!” I ran over hugging him. After I let go he put his hands on my shoulders and smiled at me.
                “As for you my dear, it is such a pleasure to finally meet you, I have waited such a long time for this.” We embraced in hug once again then began to pack our car for the trip up to the beach.  We started our journey that night and arrived around dinner time. We ate a nice meal at a local restaurant and then went to bed early so we could get up for the sun rise. This is what I wanted him to see, what I was most excited about.

My Anchor

"Authors notes"
a) I liked this essay because I think I have a lot more voice in it than in my other ones.
b) I think my essay really shows my relationship with my family and how they have helped me become who I am as a person.
c) I don't know if it is long enough but I don't really know how to elaborate much more.
d) After reading my essay do you feel that I am showing my self enough or is it to focused on my family.

As my brother and I drove down a dirt road to the mall, the noise of his blaring music and the chill of the February air through the open windows consumed me. He turned and looked at me sympathetically.

“Stop thinking about it, he’s not even worth it” he exclaimed.

“I just can’t get it out of my mind though” I whined. I was feeling so miserable. As he focused on the road again, I tried to let the music overcome me and drown out my thoughts but had little success. Moments passed, then all of a sudden we hit a corner and flew off the road onto a path in an empty corn field.

“What are you doing?” I yelled. As we came to a stop he looked at me and laughed.

“You stopped thinking about it didn’t you.” 

At that moment, when my heart was racing and I grasped the sides of the car, I had indeed let my thoughts slip my mind; I started laughing.

When I got home later on, I really thought about what had happened. My family is always there for me through everything, and from them I learn so much. I have gained patience and forgiveness from the fights that never lasted; I know that things don’t always go your way, but from that I have learned to compromise. I know that I am strong and self confident in the things I do because i was raised to believe in myself.

I’ve learned to let go of the past, though remembering the good times and embrace the future, giving it all you have. Things may bring us down, but I have learned that time only lasts so long and you can’t let yourself be bogged down with things that are not important. Mostly though, I have learned that throughout all the adventured and traumas life throws at you, family will always be by your side, helping you to be your best.    

The curious Incident of the Kite Runner

         Christopher sat on his floor petting and playing with his rat, Toby. He stroked the soft brown and white fur between his fingers and then dropped a few pellets on the ground for him to eat. He was still very upset at his father, it being only a day after he found out his father had killed Wellington. He listened closely as he heard his father’s footsteps ascend the stairs to his room. He felt safe with his dresser blockading the door. That however, didn’t stop his father from calling into his room. He explained that his mother was here to take him home to her house. As reluctant as he was, he got up and walked to the window. He recognized his mother's car so he removed the dresser and gathered his things.

                                                                      * * *

          A couple hours into the car ride he donated if they were taking a different route. He glanced at the GPS and it read 10 kilometers until destination. Where were they going he thought to himself. They arrived at England’s Health and Wellness center for children.

“Its the finest in the nation” his mother reassured. After his mother explained everything, he felt a little better knowing he could keep Toby with him. His mother insisted it would only be for a couple of weeks and then she held out her had and Christopher did the same and their fingers toughed. His mother was then gone and Christopher had settled into a room with a roommate named Hassan. He was a young boy from Afghanistan; his father sent him here to seek mental help. He was not in the room yet though, he was in his therapy session when Chris had arrived. One of the nurses had told Christopher all about Hassan though. He didn’t like the though of having to sear a room though so he began to have a panic attack and started barking at the staff.

A little while later, when Christopher was calm, Hassan walked into the room. the boy was very shy and timid but you could see behind his sad eyes, a boy with bravery and intelligence stood.

“Hello, its very nice to meet you. My name is Hassan” He leaned into shake his had but Christopher scooted back farther onto his bed. Hassan got the hint and lowered his hand. Instead he tilted his head and chest in a bow and then got onto his bed as well. Christopher pulled out Toby from his cage and sat him on the bed.

“This is Toby, he is my pet rat.” Christopher Exclaimed

“He is very nice.” Hassan replied “May I pet him, I have never really seen one as a pet before.” Christopher gently picked up Toby and placed him onto Hassan’s bed. As he stroked the rat he questioned Christopher.

“What are your intentions for being here”

“My mother told me it was for my own good, she told me it was for me to get better dealing with my father killing this dog, Wellington. She said it will only be for a couple of weeks though, so it should not be that long that I am in here. Why are you in here, do you know someone who has killed another thing?” After Christopher's Reply, Hassan put on a puzzeled face, but then he remembered where he was and didn’t think twice.

“No, but my father sent me here as well to get better. I am here for a couple more days, then I shall go back home to my father again.”Hassan lifter the rat into his hands and put it up to his face to get a better look at it.

“Do you think your better, I mean did this place help you. Are you curred?” Christopher questioned. Hassan thought about the question for a moment and then looked at Christopher.

“No, I’m not curred, i will never be curred, there are some things in life that you just have to live with no matter how hard they are for you. Am I better though, yes Christopher, I do believe I am better. This place has helped me to deal with my problems better then before.” Chris looked at Hassan with a half understanding face.

“I hope i get better, so I can go live with my mother again, I miss her.”Christopher cupped his hands as Hassan Placed Toby into them.

“You will, you just have to take it on day at a time, it will get better.” Hassan replied as he got into his PJ’s. Christopher placed Toby back into his cage and did the same. As Chris got into bed he repeated what Hassan had said.

“One day at a time.” Hassan flicked the light switch and got into bed.

“Goodnight Christopher”

“Goodnight”