Common Lit.

The living record of your memory

‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,

Even in the eyes of all prosperity

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 55, Lines 8-12

In this sonnet the idea of human mortality is put into question  and here Shakespeare lets his beloved know that he will remain immortal in this poem. In these lines, he wants his beloved to know that his memory will overcome everything  while the people who judged him will not.

But if that flow’r with base infection meet,

The basest weed out braves his dignity:

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 94, Lines 11-14

In this sonnet we see that power is often disguised so that the common people can not tell who is really pulling the strings. In this section of the poem, we find that power can corrupt even the nicest person and that most people would rather deal with the enemy they know then the unknown enemy. The question is, does corruption of power come from within a person who holds a higher position or from those that surround them? We get a similar question about power in that of Macbeth and Edward II who also struggle with their power and the source of their corruption both inside them and from outside forces.

LADY MACBETH

    Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
    What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
    It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
    To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
    Art not without ambition, but without
    The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
    That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
    And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou’ldst have, great Glamis,
    That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
    And that which rather thou dost fear to do
    Than wishest should be undone.’ Hie thee hither,
    That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
    And chastise with the valour of my tongue
    All that impedes thee from the golden round,
    Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
    To have thee crown’d withal.

Macbeth,William Shakespeare, Act1.Scene3 (15-28)

In this scene Lady Macbeth begins to think of a plot to get her husband to see his true ambition and rightful place in life and by any means necessary. She realizes he is going to have to degrade him in order for him to get to a crueler nature he has never know. She believes he is too soft and will need a push in order to succeed. Here is another example about how gender roles were reversed where the women was the ambitious one while the man would rather sit back and see what s going to happen.

A bliss in proof, and prov’d, [a] very woe,

Before, a joy propos’d, behind, a dream.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 129, Lines 11-12

This sonnet by William Shakespeare shows the power struggle between people who are in relationships that are built on lust. In these lines we see that this situation at time can be a blissful one and one that can hide the true nature of this kind of relationship. We see that there is an unnoticed trick involved in lust relationships that make them justifiable when they really are not. They are tricked in only seeing the good and only realizing the bad nature of these relationships when it’s too late.

First Witch

    All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

Second Witch

    All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch

    All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

Macbeth, William Shakespeare, Act1.Scene3 (48-50)

The three witch foretell Macbeth’s future to him and meddle in his life as he knows it. Their involvement will forever change Macbeth’s life and his outlook at it. Before meeting these witches his is a simple man who would do anything for his country and king. After getting this prediction we see that he does a complete about face in order to gain power which he know sees as rightfully his. Edward II also deals with king of power struggle as he deals with the fact that he must give up his crown and with that his power, which he believes is rightfully his because of God.

MACBETH

    [Aside] Two truths are told,
    As happy prologues to the swelling act
    Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.

    Aside
    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 smother’d in surmise, and nothing is
    But what is not.

Macbeth,William Shakespeare, Act1.Scene3 (127-42)

Macbeth dwells on what he has just heard from he three weird sisters of his future higher statuses. He also confused on whether to take these predictions as truth or to ignore them which shows that he knows he might have to dot things that he would consider are against his nature. Here we see the tellings of the supernatural are beginning to change Macbeth’s nature for the worst  which  will later lead him to multiple murderous acts and in becoming a tyrant king.

LADY MACBETH

    O, never
    Shall sun that morrow see!
    Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
    May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
    Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
    Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
    But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming
    Must be provided for: and you shall put
    This night’s great business into my dispatch;
    Which shall to all our nights and days to come
    Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

Macbeth,William Shakespeare, Act1.Scene5 (60-9)

We see a reverse in gender roles as Lady Macbeth becomes the ambitious one and makes up the plot about killing King Duncan. She wants to see her man rise up as king, but also see herself rise up on the social pole. The wife of Bath’s also has this kind of “do anything to get ahead” attitude when it comes to her husbands. She manipulates her husbands in ways she knew she would always end up with the upper hand.

LADY MACBETH

    We fail!
    But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
    And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep—
    Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey
    Soundly invite him—his two chamberlains
    Will I with wine and wassail so convince
    That memory, the warder of the brain,
    Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
    A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
    Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
    What cannot you and I perform upon
    The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
    His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
    Of our great quell?

Macbeth,William Shakespeare, Act1.Scene7 (60-73)

Lady Macbeth shows just just how ruthless she can be and that she will do what ever she needs to to get ahead  in life. She plays on Macbeth’s manhood to get him to do what she wants  by making him feel like less of a man in his worry about getting caught. She feels by doing this she is making him a stronger man and one worthy of being king. In a sense she is a tyrant they way she rules over Macbeth’s emotions and his will.

I would like you to pay particular attention to the links: Power of Women, Effects of the Supernatural, Power Struggle, trickery, and Female Appeal/Seduction. I believe these links connect the reading together that we have read over the semester the best.

Enjoy!

MACBETH

    One cried ‘God bless us!’ and ‘Amen’ the other;
    As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands.
    Listening their fear, I could not say ‘Amen,’
    When they did say ‘God bless us!’

LADY MACBETH

    Consider it not so deeply.

MACBETH

    But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’?
    I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’
    Stuck in my throat.

Macbeth, William Shakespeare, Act2.Scene (29-36)

Macbeth has just killed King Duncan and now his conscious is getting the best of him and making him paranoid. Lady Macbeth tells him to get a hold of his self, but he continues to dwell on the  past event instead of trying to act as if it never happened. In this scene we can see Lady Macbeth as the strong one and the ring leader in the plot. This is ironic seeing as later she too lacks the strength to forget her evil deeds and maddens herself to death. Although the supernatural put the events into play there was no say in how Macbeth would become king, which shows the true and foul ambition of Lady Macbeth.