Assignment Number Three

A tragedy is a drama or literary work where the main character faces extreme sorrow. Usually this is because of a character's tragic flaw or moral weakness. Aristotle says that “tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude […]with incidents arousing pity and fear.” Therefore, a tragedy is a play that imitates real life, like comedy, but is serious, and extreme, enough to arouse “tragic” emotions.

The word ‘tragedy’ was developed in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. The word comes from the Greek word, ‘trageodia’, which is the Greek meaning of ‘goat song’. It is a combination of the Greek words ‘tragos’ meaning goat and ‘aeidein’ meaning to sing. How did the word tragedy come to have such obscure roots? It is most commonly believed that a group of men dressed in goat skins would perform the singing of a chloral lyric in honor of the God Dionysus. This act, called a dithyramb began to expand into any mythological or heroic story. Eventually these evolved into tragedies. The Greek playwrights presented their acts at the yearly festival of Dionysus as they competed to have the best act. Many believe the winner was given a goat as their prize; another reason that the word tragedies originates from the Greek word for goat.

Through history there have been different phases of what people consider a Tragedy. In the ancient times, a tragedy was considered any serious drama. Then, during the medieval times, a tragedy meant a story with an unhappy ending. In modern times, these meanings were mixed and a tragedy was considered as a drama with an unhappy ending.

Macbeth is a tragedy by Shakespeare. It has the elements of tragedy that can be found throughout. Part of the definition of tragedy, according to Aristotle, includes that tragic events apply to separate parts of the play. It is true that through the entire play, people die, through greed, fear, and vengeance. According to Aristotle, the events in a tragedy must follow up on each other, regardless of possible outside events. Once given the battle, the witches’ prophecy and Lady Macbeth’s influence, Macbeth finds himself becoming a pawn to fate. Nothing he does is actually unique to a malicious person. No matter what happens realistically besides the initial events given in the first act, all the tragic elements are still destined to happen. The second most important element of a tragedy is the depth and purpose of the characters. It should support the plot, emphasizing the fear and pity, namely in changing from fortune to misfortune being pity, and fear by how relatable the character might be. King Duncan meets an unfortunate fate of death, although he was a good man, who is relatable to the good citizens, and how quickly and fatally both King’s reign ended, no matter the intentions of the characters, invokes pity. Character and plot are two of six points defined by Aristotle, which are clearly related to a tragedy like Macbeth.

Assignment Number Two

The Literature Network e-text that we examined was somewhat reliable and relevant, but would last 5 years, as it is an acceptable resource for Grade 9 English Students. 

The Literature Network e-text was somewhat accurate and reliable. It had accurate text, but sometimes it was punctuated differently from the OxfordNext version. It also had the same characters, but sometimes they had different names; for example, the Literature Network e-text named the Captain a Sergeant, which isn’t quite accurate. As well, the description for the setting in each scene was not as detailed as the OxfordNext description, and some of the descriptions were completely different. For example, the OxfordNext version set Act 1 Scene 1 on “The battlefield”, whilst the Literature Network version set it in “A desert place”. As well, OxfordNext mentioned that Act 1 Scene 2 was set in “The king’s headquarters”, however, Literature Network merely mentioned that it was “A camp near Forres”, which would give students the idea that it is merely one of the king’s camps, and not his headquarters.

The Literature Network website also contains many dating, birth control and other ads which are highly distracting for readers. The ads take up half of the space of the area where the Macbeth text is supposed to occupy, and therefore draws the eye more than the text. The website will have a block of Macbeth text, and then an ad that cuts in between the text and forces readers to acknowledge it, which is very distracting and annoying when one is trying to analyze a famous English text in history. Some of the ads are also inappropriate for Grade 9 English Students, and completely irrelevant to the website and to the text.

The Literature Network e-text also had very primitive formatting and poor comprehension aid for its texts. First, stage directions were hard to differentiate from what the characters were saying, as they were placed next to each other and separated only by an empty row, and were both in the exact same font and size, and formatted in the same way. Second, it was not easy to see which character was saying, as everything was in the same font and size, and the character name was placed directly on top of what he/she was saying. The only difference was that the character name was typed in capitalized letters, but even this was inconsistent, with some character names capitalized, and some not. Finally and most importantly, there was no glossary or tool to aid English students in understanding the text. It is hard for modern English students to fully understand the Elizabethan Early Modern English which Macbeth is originally written in, and a good e-text like OxfordNext Online would provide aids. However, The Literature Network has nothing to help English Students comprehend the Early Modern English.

Because of these important flaws, the website article will probably not last 5 more years, because, despite its mostly accurate text and content, it is almost useless to all Grade 9 English Students but those that have a wealth of Elizabethan English understanding and comprehension experience (because of the lack of a glossary), and the format and article design is very poor as well.

Assignment Number One

THOMAS JOHNSTONE:

o    In both the Shakespeare and Raphael Holinshed versions, Macbeth is considered a strong and brave man. Both characters are introduced similarly but Shakespeare made a point of making him seem more gallant because he not only has Macdonwald betray the kingdom, but also has Macbeth find and kill him.

o   Although Shakespeare drew heavy influences from the Holinshed version, he also contrasted him by making Macbeth’s personality less cruel and malicious. Where there is no direct mention of guilt in the Chronicles, Shakespeare has Macbeth describing his own feelings in a monologue where he comes off as compassionate person.

o   Holinshed had Macbeth seem barbarous and almost savage like. This made the other characters act accordingly as Banquo too was violent tempered. Shakespeare made Macbeth a savage, but also an empathetic person, so Shakespeare made his surrounding influences, such as Banquo, kinder as well. This is not always good because Macbeth is an ever changing man with almost split personalities. 

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/macbethsources.html 

ANGELA HE:

·    Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicle of Scotland, England and Ireland was another story with a very similar storyline to Macbeth. It was written before Macbeth and Shakespeare in fact used it as a reference for writing his play Macbeth. (A.H.)

·    One difference between Holinshed’s chronicles and Shakespeare’s Macbeth is that Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth himself actually defeated Macdonald (Act 1 Scene 2). Shakespeare made this change to make Macbeth seem more courageous and heroic. However in Holinshed’s chronicles, Macdonald killed his wife and children and then committed suicide, and Macbeth merely stumbled upon his body. (A.H.)
·    Another difference was that in Holinshed’s chronicles, Duncan is a weak and ineffectual king, and Banquo helps Macbeth commit his murder. Shakespeare changed this to emphasize Macbeth’s fall from nobility to man ruled by ambition and destroyed by guilt. (A.H.)

·    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth (unreliable?)
·    http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/macbethsources.html
·    http://www.litcharts.com/lit/macbeth/backgroundinfo
·    http://www.folger.edu/eduPrimSrcDtl.cfm?psid=139

Clement Wan:
Macbeth portrayed by Holinshed is a military man, more directly by description than by example. This is done by contrasting King Macbeth with King Duncan. “Duncane was so soft and gentle of nature, [… and had]too much of clemencie, and the other of crueltie, […]so should Duncane haue proued a worthy king, and Makbeth an excellent capteine.”(Holinshed 265) On the contrary, Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s character by making him the hero of a battle.
Contrasting Shakespeare’s display of Macbeth as a madman, Holinshed shows his virtuous side. “This was the end of Makbeth, after he had reigned 17 yeeres ouer the Scotishmen. In the beginning of his reigne he accomplished manie woorthie acts, verie profitable to the common-wealth [.]”(Holinshed 277)

http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/Holinshed/Holin265.html

Emma Miloff:
Shakespears main reference source for Macbeth the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577) by Raphael Holinshed.
In holishned's version Macbeth is a valiant leader but in Shakespears, Macbeth is an indecisive young man you does not rule as well

The chronicles had the same general storyline as Macbeth:  In Chronicles, Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. In fact, Shakespeare got the main idea for his play from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of Scotland, England and Ireland. 

http://www.gradesaver.com/macbeth/study-guide/about/