Bryan Lee's List: Macbeth

• • Notice that there are TWO senses of the word.  Be careful to distinguish between them.
• the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions: music is a means of catharsis for them
• 2 Medicine, rare purgation

  • Notice that this definition is a PHYSICAL catharsis, rather than an emotional one.  Though the catharsis was seen as having a physical result on the viewer and the character, "throwing up" is not the sense you should take away from this word.

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• Aside
  Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not   "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play. In Shakespeare's   Othello, Iago voices his inner thoughts a number of times as "asides"   for the play's audience.
• Catastrophe
  The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates   the denouement or falling action of a play. One example is the   dueling scene in Act V of Hamlet in which Hamlet dies, along with Laertes,   King Claudius, and Queen Gertrude.
• Catharsis
  The purging of the feelings of pity and fear that, according   to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience experiences   catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe.
• Comedy
  A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals   of fortune, usually for the better. In comedy, things work out happily in the   end. Comic drama may be either romantic--characterized by a tone of   tolerance and geniality--or satiric.   Satiric works offer a darker vision of human nature, one that ridicules human   folly. Shaw's Arms and the Man is a romantic comedy; Chekhov's   Marriage Proposal is a satiric comedy.

  • Notice that "COMEDY" doesn't mean anything close to what we think of about the word "comedy".  We usually expect that comedies make us laugh.  Well, what MAKES us laugh?  Usually it's the reversal of expectations.  The truth is that we can have a sad comedy too.  These are called "Black Comedies".
• • The Porter is an example of this in Macbeth.  Go back and see what was happening in the scenes leading up to the scene when the Porter appears.
• Comic relief
  The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely   tragic dramatic moments. The comedy of scenes offering comic relief typically   parallels the tragic action that the scenes interrupt. Comic relief is lacking   in Greek tragedy, but occurs regularly in Shakespeare's tragedies. One   example is the opening scene of Act V of Hamlet, in which a gravedigger   banters with Hamlet.
• Denouement
  The resolution of the plot of a literary work.   The denouement of Hamlet takes place after the catastrophe,   with the stage littered with corpses. During the denouement Fortinbras makes   an entrance and a speech, and Horatio speaks his sweet lines in praise of Hamlet.
• Foil
  A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a   play or story. Laertes, in Hamlet, is a foil for the main character;   in Othello, Emilia and Bianca are foils for Desdemona.
• • Who acts as a FOIL for Macbeth in this play?  Explain your answer.
• Reversal
  The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected   direction for the protagonist. Oedipus's and Othello's   recognitions are also reversals. They learn what they did not expect to learn.   See Recognition and also Irony.
• • Explain which part of the play contains the REVERSAL.  Explain your answer.
• Soliloquy
  A speech in a play that is meant to be heard by the audience   but not by other characters on the stage. If there are no other characters present,   the soliloquy represents the character thinking aloud. Hamlet's "To   be or not to be" speech is an example. See Aside.
• • Refamiliarize yourself with the major soliloquies of the play.  Macbeth has three, Lady Macbeth has two, Banquo has one.
• • Remember that the TRAGIC FLAW, and HAMARTIA, are the same things.
• Tragic flaw
  A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the   fall of the tragic hero. Othello's jealousy and too trusting   nature is one example. See Tragedy and Tragic hero.
• • How does Macbeth fit the description of this character type?  Explain your answer with explicit examples from the text.
• Tragic hero
  A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by   virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into   suffering. Sophocles' Oedipus is an example. See Tragedy and Tragic flaw.

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• BAFTA winning and Olivier and Golden Globe nominated actor James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, Atonement, X-Men) will star in Macbeth

  • You can continually post things too.

  • This is the website that Class 3 saw first in class.

• is that “women’s allegiance to men from their own [background] always supersedes their allegiance to women from different classes” (Tyson 97).

  • You can.
• • If you want to add a note for a friend...

  • Well....you can!!
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  • • You can add a sticky note that records whatever you think about a certain site.
• According to Lois Tyson, “women [invest] themselves…in the accomplishments of their husbands and sons” (97). Lady Macduff – the epitome of motherhood – does not concoct some evil plot because she invests all of her intellectual powers into the achievements of her husband and children. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth, not as bound to domestic duties as Lady Macduff, sharpens her intellectual capabilities for her own use.

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