A Poor Excuse For An Essay

How far do you agree that Macbeth regrets his actions throughout the play?

Macbeth could be viewed as one of the most prolific cold-blooded murderers in all of Shakespeare's work. He spends the vast majority of the play wilfully killing for his own benefit under the encouragement of his wife. However, it could be said that he regrets the actions he commits during the play.

His wife's assessment of his nature in Act One, Scene Five could be considered a precursor for the regret that Macbeth will later feel. Where Lady Macbeth wishes that she could be stripped of all the emotions associated with human nature and “fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (line 40-41), but fears her husband's nature is “too full o' the milk of human-kindness” to carry out the plan. This could then indicate that Macbeth has a weakness in his generous emotions that could result in his not wanting to commit the actions he is tasked with.

Macbeth's reluctance and procrastination in Act One, Scene Seven could connote pre-regret. His soliloquy about pity and horrid deeds takes up roughly a page's worth of time, preventing his having to return to dinner and perhaps then prolonging the time Duncan spends awake. He fears his actions, perhaps concerned that they will return to haunt him in the form of regrets. “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor” (Line 9-10).

This suggestion of things returning to plague him could be shown to manifest in the form of the ghosts that appear to him. This then draws a parallel between Macbeth's regrets and the ghost of Banquo, suggesting that because Macbeth regrets the murder of his dear friend so fully, he is creating this vision to subconsciously comfort himself, despite the shock and horror with which he recieves the vision.

“For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered, Put rancours in the vessel of my peace” (A3,S5,L65-66).

The use of the word gracious in this context implies that Macbeth has regrets stemming from his decision to murder Duncan. Duncan has awarded him a great many privileges in the past, and he has repaid him by murdering him. Macbeth's then betrayal has left him reeling with regret.

What's Gothic About Act One?

There are lots of Gothic elements in Act One of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The Weird Sisters portray many such elements, such as the power of three, the fear of the unknown and the warping of human nature. They are uncaring as to human suffering and show no remorse, which are two major elements of human nature that separate us from being animals.  They embody the supernatural gothic element.

Lady Macbeth displays a twisted version of human nature and not one that is expected within a woman of her standing.  She is calculating, cold and ambitious, to the point where she plots the most high risk murder she possibly could in order to get money and power.  Her scathing attitude towards her husband and his human kindness creates a sense of fear within her, as he is not as constant and unchanging as she is due to his emotion.  She sees feelings as weaknesses and so is terrified that Macbeth's softer heart could ruin them both.  She emasculates him, possibly so as to keep herself fully in charge.  She has understood that she cannot be king of everywhere and so becomes ruler within her own territory.  There is an attitude within her that makes the reader think that perhaps if she had been born a man it would not only have been Scotland that would fall to her. (In my opinion, Lady Macbeth could have been Queen of the World had she just been born a bloke. King of the World. Whatever.)  She is also two-faced, and can act the picture of sweetness and light when required of her (when she is approached by a messenger in this act and when she pretends to swoon in the following act) but is actually the opposite.  This is Gothic in nature because this type of woman is unknown in the context of the story.

Reading Journal - Act One

Witches - Rhyming almost constantly, gives an air of incantation. Links in to the supernatural gothic element.  Prophesies.
War setting:

• Uncaring of individuals;
• side of human nature not often seen;
• sense of justice overly strong; 
• massacre - lots of death;
• glorification of murder.

Witches continue:

• Total lack of remorse.  Qualities that make us human removed but in a very human form.  Creepy, supernatural element.
• Alike to the Fates in Greek mythology. Continued about their business deciding the destiny of people without sympathy or regret.  Singular eye could be an element added to a live production of Macbeth.

1.5
Lady Macbeth

• Meglomaniac
• Female equivalent of husband.
• Warrior woman, references allowing Duncan under her "battlements".
• Idea that, had she not been born a woman, she would have made a better fighter even than husband, but because is stuck in a woman's body she is limited to her station.
• Scathing of human emotion. More machine than being?  Scathing even of husband's emotion. Only emotion that passes between them is lust (in Patrick Stewart version)
• Emasculates husband so that she has control.
• "Spirits in thine ear" - could reference either Weird Sisters or her own "powers".
• Symbology - Golden Rounds - Crown? Money?
• Two-faced.
• Turned on by idea of murder?

A thought:  Could war be considered a Gothic element?  War creates hot-headed and murdering men enhances the barbaric element of the human nature.  Strong fearful feeling, masculine.  Blurred lines of reality.  Potential for psychological issues.

Marxist Evaluation Of Jane Eyre

The evils of capitalism can be seen in Jane Eyre through Mr Rochester's actions. Despite the nature of his crimes, such as imprisoning his wife against her will and attempting bigamy, he remains completely unpunished by the law, which demonstrates the control that the higher classes have over all aspects of life, including crime and punishment.  It could be suggested that had Mr Rochester been a working-class man, he would have been severely punished for at very least the attempt at bigamy.
Working to middle class inequalities can also be seen in Jane's efforts to find a place to stay and some work to do after running away from her failed wedding.  Due to her working-class appearance, she is turned away from almost everywhere until she almost starves upon the doorstep of a seemingly wealthy family.  This is a blatant show that capitalism as a system to live by fails those who cannot live up to the standards of those wealthier than they are.  Had it not been for the socialist spirit of the man of the house, Jane could have died on the doorstep of wealth.

Some Free Writing Based On My Coursework

To what extent do previous wives effect male protagonists?  Jane Eyre and Rebecca.

Whilst Mr Rochester appears to be completely over his first wife and unaffected by her entirely, the effects of her madness are shown through his attitude to other women. When Jane discovers him whilst walking to (that place where he lives.  I'll remember to bring books to the library next time), and he falls off his horse.  Her kindness towards him is not particularly welcomed, potentially because Mr Rochester has been hurt so many times by other women such as Adele's mother and Brenda.  Brenda's madness has left her volatile and prone to hitting out at people she finds distasteful, and Adele's mother cheated on Mr Rochester, despite all the lovely clothes.  Jane's kindness is then alien to him and so he doesn't know how to react. Whilst he knows how to love still, it has perhaps become a foreign concept because he has not experienced it in so long.

Within Rebecca, Maxim de Winter has retreated into his shell from the effects of Rebecca, avoiding his family home because of the memories of her and instead taking it upon himself to travel around Europe.  Whilst those around him think his grief is based on his wife's untimely death, it would seem more likely that his actions are due to mourning the woman he though Rebecca was, rather than the woman she revealed to him after their marriage.  The intensity of this love then results in total heartbreak as he tells her the dreadful things she does, so dreadful he never repeats them to anyone.  He sees her more as a demon to be forced to live with rather than a wife.  This perhaps then is the reason he finds it so easy to kill her in the end; instead of seeing her as a woman he sees her as a demon in a woman's body.  Even in her final moments she is vindictive and horrible, and so his retraction into his shell may be a result of the shell-shock of finally being rid of her, but still having to clean up the mess she has left.  Rebecca's effect is also reflected throughout the house, as Mrs Danvers loses her head several times and an entire wing is shut off by Mr de Winter in an attempt to block her out finally.  Despite his closing off the wing, he doesn't do at all well at blocking her out, as her belongings are still scattered about the house, like an old macintosh and her dogs.  Her menus remain and there are still lipstick marks on handkerchiefs.  For the majority of the novel, the effects of Rebecca on Maxim remain self-contained, with one of the few large outward bursts being at the ball when Mrs de Winter inadvertently dresses in an outfit identical to one Rebecca once wore, and Maxim is confronted with the nightmare that Rebecca has returned and is going to continue to make his life hell.  He demands that Mrs de Winter returns to her room to change, and she only discovers her folly once Maxim's sister comes up the stairs to try and remedy the situation.  This reveals that even in his outbursts, Maxim has been vacuum-packed into a repressive shell by Rebecca, leaving him miserable.