Hamlet/Macbeth Comparison

1. Fighting

Hamlet-In the story, there is much fighting going on in between characters. This rings true especially at the end, where pretty much the entire royal court dies while the Norwegians are taking over the castle as they are fighting each other.


Macbeth-The story starts out with fighting, and pretty much ends with a big fight. There is a lot of blood and gore. It is similar to Hamlet because there is kind of a civil war element to it.


2. Crazy people

Hamlet-In the story, Ophelia goes crazy and eventually kills herself. It is not sure what event triggered this, but it was probably a combination of a lot of bad events such as her fathers death and the man she loved saying he never loved her.


Macbeth-Lady Macbeth goes crazy because she feels badly about forcing Macbeth to go on this rampage by telling him to kill king Duncan. The reason she goes crazy is her fault, unlike Ophelia in which outside events contributed to this.


3. Anger


Hamlet-Hamlet has a huge amount of anger for Claudius because he killed his father and married his mother. This is very understandable, but he doesn't take any action about his anger until it is too late.


Macbeth-Macduff, on the other hand, uses his anger almost immediatly and vanquishes Macbeth. This is very different from Hamlet in the case that he succeeds in his conquest, while Hamlet doesn't totally succeed.

MacBeth Prediscussion ?'s

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Macbeth Prediscussion Questions

Crossfire


Circle either agree or disagree for each statement. There are no right or wrong answers, and you will not be graded on which one you choose.

Agree/Disagree 1. Our fate is predetermined.

Agree/Disagree 2. It is natural for humans to strive for power.

Agree/Disagree 3. When in power, humans will do anything to maintain it.

Agree/Disagree 4. An accomplice is just as guilty as the person who commits a crime.

Agree/Disagree 5. If you kill, you should be killed in return (“an eye for an eye”).


Choose two of the above questions to discuss in writing. Explain why you chose the answer you did in 3-4 sentences. Please include examples to support your viewpoint. You will be using your explanations in small group and class discussions, so be specific!

4. I agree because the accomplice could do something to hinder the crime or even stop the person from doing it altogether. An example of this would be a getaway car driver just driving away so their partner will get caught.

1. I disagree because I believe that if you work hard enough at something, then you can change how your life is, even if it is only in some small little way. Having a different life changes the places you are at and the people you hang out with. This changes the fate of your life because you won't be or will be around some of those completely random events that are unexplainable and can happen at any time.