Sample+Responses+for+Parts+3+&+4

//answers will vary//
 * Part 3 Theme and Irony**

//sample answers://


 * 1) // “You are your own Hell. You are older than I am, and you think you know people, but in the end one only knows oneself. Because you once betrayed a young girl for money, many years ago, do you believe the people will betray you now for money? You impute your own nature to others….” Priest, Act II //

This quote could be considered dramatic or verbal irony because the Priest is simultaneously ridiculing Ill here but also saying something that he does not really mean, because he is appealing to the towns goodness but deep down he must know that the town will kill Ill and by this point the audience knows that the town will kill Ill as well. This relates to the theme of materialism because it deals with the corruptive power of money.

// 2. “But you must see how fond we are of you…The whole town’s brought you to the station. The whole town! The whole town!” Schoolmaster, Mayor, and ALL, Act II //

verbal irony – the whole town says that they like Ill, but then they vote to kill him. theme of destructive effects of collective action because working together the town kills Ill

// 3.. “One endowment, and every inhabitant of this little town has suddenly become a well-to-do citizen. It must constitute one of the greatest social experiments of the age. The public here are gasping for breath, there’s a deathly silence. O, they’re awestruck…” Radio Commentator, Act III //

verbal and dramatic irony – because what happens to Ill is not a great experiment, it is murder. theme of theme of destructive effects of collective action because working together the town kills Ill

4//. “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it!” Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5//

dramatic irony because Lady Macbeth seems to be the strong in her relationship with Macbeth, but then she becomes weaker by sleepwalking and admitting the murders. theme of ambition because LM wants the crown so much she is willing to give up her sexuality

// 5. “How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight in pious rage the two delinquents tear, that were the slaves of drink //// and thralls of sleep? Was not that nobly done?” Lennox, about Macbeth – explaining how Macbeth responded to Duncan´s murder by killing his two guards //

dramatic irony – Macbeth did not morn Duncan’s death because he killed Duncan. theme of the effects of a violent quest for power because Lennox describes how Macbeth murdered the guards

// 6. "See, see, our honour'd hostess! The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. […] Fair and noble hostess, We are your guest to-night." Duncan Act I, Scene vi //

dramatic irony – Duncan is praising the generosity of his hosts before they kill him. theme of fair is foul foul is fair – Lady Macbeth shows one side – the gracious hostess, but acts the other way – plotting a murder


 * Part 4 //Lit. analysis//**

answers will vary sample answer: In Shakespeare’s //Macbeth,// the theme of men and women struggling to resolve problems and not succeeding very well is true to an extreme degree. Both main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, struggle to solve their problems as they search for power. However, neither of them succeeds as Lady Macbeth goes insane and kills herself and Macbeth ends up being beheaded by Macduff. The main events of the play, the genre of tragedy and the motif of the supernatural, leave the readers with a chilling reminder of the disastrous effects of unchecked ambition.

First of all, Shakespeare’s use of the motif of the supernatural helps propel Macbeth into his downward spiral. Early in the play, the witches encourage Macbeth’s natural ambitions when they tell him, “All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.” This causes Macbeth to seek out a solution to a problem that he did not even know he had; how to become king. The supernatural plays a significant role in //Macbeth// because the play was written to impress King James VI of Scotland/ James the 1st of England who at the time was interested in witch hunts in his native lands. He published a trilogy, the //Daemonologie,// in which he justifies the witch-hunts and condemns witchcraft. Shakespeare based parts of //Macbeth// on these writings.

Finally, although Lady Macbeth’s transformation is notable, Macbeth’s fall is the most dramatic. Macbeth begins as “brave Macbeth” as described by one of his captians, but then falls into a hopeless wreak, saying after his wife dies, “[life]is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” As readers of tragedy, this fall is to be expected, but they way in which it happens is particularly gruesome.