What does Shakespeare have to say about human nature? Use specific examples. What do you have to say about that? Why?

By now, most of our classmates have finished reading Macbeth's play, written by Shakespeare during the 17th century in England. Besides that it is a great play having a lot of different contrasts about their characters and has a very interesting plot ,we need to consider what does Shakespeare wanted to transmit not only on Macbeth, but in other works he had done in general about human nature. As we know, William Shakespeare is now known from creating characters that have universal human qualities, from loyal people to selfish people. The problems that Shakespeare's characters have are universal, which means that most of the people use to struggle with. Sometimes, they are successful and sometimes their lives are full of pain, suffering, and failure(Field-of-themes).

One example is the short tragedy we read in class, Macbeth. This  play has elements like ambition and evilness, things that human beings have naturally and can lead them to kill someone or changing his way of being. The main character of this play,

Macbeth, was a normal man that was motivated by ambition and by the fear of appearing weak and small in the eyes of his wife(Dalrymple), he started to commit crimes without a justification or excuse. At the beginning of the play he was considered a hero, a brave soldier that fought for good causes, but most of all he was loyal to his king Duncan, which in the play was a good king. This Shakespeare's character had nothing to complain about, there was not any excuse for committing the murders, and he even realizes it, because he was rich and was the Thane of Glamis.The only reason that Macbeth killed Duncan, Banquo,and MacDuff's family was because of ambition to be king of Scotland; he was led to evil by his ambition. Shakespeare understood this natural thing that human beings have, because we like in a society in which the search for power and better positions is unavoidable, and some people tend to reach for that power through corruption and by "embracing" the evil. In contrast to Macbeth, the two murderer that he hired to kill Banquo and Macduff's family, where evil since the beginning of their apparition, they did not have to change his way of being like Macbeth in order to reach what they wanted(money or rewards).

By this example, Shakespeare writes (and he also showed in his plays) that "the line separating good from evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either-but right through every human heart- and through all human hearts".

Also in the play, Shakespeare puts elements that human beings have when we commit crimes or things due to the evilness we have inside: we felt guilty and regretting the things we have done. In other words, we felt the consequences of our actions. One example is Lady Macbeth, that she took the decision to be evil. But in the Sleepwalking scene, she confesses everything that she and her husband, Macbeth, did. Finally, she died on the next scene. 

In my opinion, I think that Shakespeare in Macbeth and in other plays transmitted through his characters things that were similar in the 17th Century and in our time: the human nature. The way we act, the decisions we make(good or bad), and the consequences of those decisions. We, as human beings, have to live with all the good and bad things that we do everyday. Also, I think there is evilness in each and everyone of us, but we need to control it and have a balance between our good and evil sides. We do not want to be like Macbeth, that because of ambition and power, he felt guilty since the time that he killed Duncan to his death. 

References:

• Dalrymple, Theodore. <Why Shakespeare is for all Time>. Catholic Education Resource Center. Web. 26 Jan 2014. http://catholic education.org/articles/arts/al0189.html 
• <William Shakespeare>. Field-of-themes.com Web. 26 Jan 2014. http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/essays/Eshakehis.html

What are the themes revealed in Macbeth so far? What are some of the aspects of the play you have liked at this point? What haven't you liked? Why?

 The English writer William Shakespeare was one of the most important writers of English literature. It is said that he is the "father" of the modern English, because he created more than two thousand words for the English language during the English Renaissance. Besides his work as an actor and writer, nowadays he is world renowned as a playwright. One of his famous plays is a short tragedy called Macbeth, which was written approximately in 1606, during the reign of James I after the death of Elizabeth I. 

 Macbeth, tells the story about a general from Scotland named Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis and very brave and an honorable man. It is because of a profecy of three witches that he will be Thane of Cawdor and later,King of Scotland; but the power that he starts to desire transforms him into a murderer. One of the themes that I have identified during this week that we have been reading Macbeth, is the ambition of the principal character to be King of Scotland. At the beggining of the play, Shakespeare represent Macbeth as a good general which everyone admires and respects. It is represented with values like courage and simplicity, but when he met the witches something changed, he starts to think about the profecy and later, to plan something to kill the King Duncan. But for this act, there is another character that is very ambitious and wants more power, Lady Macbeth. There is another theme that I found during the first act: masculinity. If Lady Macbeth had not told him anything about his masculinity and that he was a coward for thinking and reflecting about killing the good king that was Duncan, he will never would have kill him. Proving that he was a man, at least to his wife, was the murder of King Duncan for them to become the King and Queen of Scotland. 

As far as we have reached in class, I am liking what is happening in the play. The way Shakespeare arrange the words for them to sound with a certain rhytm is fascinating. I know that there are many words that we do not understand sometimes, but once we search them we understand it better. Another aspect that I like is that Shakespeare puts in this play some historical aspects related to the king of that time, James I. Banquo was one of the predecesors of James,and the way that the witches told Banquo in the play that one of his descendats would be king is awesome, because Shakespeare related everything with their plays. One of the aspects(talking about the play)that I do not like so far is the character of Lady Macbeth. She is so manipulating and she wants more power than Macbeth, she is kind of sick of ambition and I hope during the rest of the play she pay the consequences for being like she is. About everything else, I think that even that it seems to be a short play, it has a lot of elements that in class we can discuss and new words that we can learn.