MACBETH ACT 3 active reading notes

• Banquo congratulates Macbeth on his coronation, doubts he was innocent in the Kings death...reminds Macbeth that the Witches also said that his sons would be Kings.
• Macbeth asks excessive amounts of questions regarding what Banquo will do, where he will be and with whom he will be before coming back to Macbeth's banquet. (possibly plotting something?)
• Macbeth delivers a soliloquy where he expresses he is afraid of Banquo; he does not want his loss of morality to be in vain, he wishes for his sons (and not Banquos) to be Kings. He will kill Banquo and any descendant of his that could challenge his crown. 
• Macbeth has a second meeting with three murderers, he tells them Banquo is to blame for their misery and if they are true worthy men they will kill him.
• Macbeth wants Banquo and his son Fleance both killed. 
• Lady Macbeth says famous phrase "Whats done is done."
• While talking to Lady Macbeth, Macbeth says that bad deeds force you to commit more bad deeds. They are in the rabbit hole.
• Banquo is attacked by the three murderers and is murdered but Fleance manages to escape.
• The first murderer tells Macbeth that Fleance has escaped. Macbeth says that he will worry about the young snake later when he has fangs.
• Banquos ghost appears at Macbeth's banquet. Only Macbeth appears to see the ghost and makes a scene.
• Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that it is just another of his hallucinations (like the floating dagger pointing towards Duncan's room). Macbeth asks, if the dead are to return then why kill people in the first place?
• The ghost vanishes, Macbeth apologizes for his outburst to his guests and says that what he did was normal for him.
• Banquos ghost reapers and Macbeth says a toast in his name.
• The dinner is ruined with Macbeths outbursts. He plans to see the Witches to learn more about his future and he reveals he has schemes he wishes to carry out.
• Macduff and Macbeth are not on good terms.
• The Witches are scolded by Hecate for revealing things to Macbeth without having had told him. He asks them to meet him at the pit of Acheron where they will have something planned for Macbeth (who will also be there).
• A Lord informs Lennox of how Malcolm (Duncan's son, rightful heir to the throne) went to England, where he and King Edward plan to form an alliance between Malcolm and Northumberland to basically overthrow Macbeth and make his Scotland a better place. Macduff is in England also helping with that plan. Macbeth is angry and is preparing for war.
• Seems as though Macbeth's kinsmen aren't happy with him as king, labeling him a tyrant. 

THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN SHOULD AND MUST

Should is what others want you to do. This entitles small risks and isn't necessarily rewarding. Must is very different. Must is who we are. After reading this Crossroads Between Should and Must I've been thinking a lot. Many of the things said by Elle were things that had crossed my mind but I always dismissed them. After reading that I've realized that all my life I have been a Should person. I have focused my life on following directions and doing the things that others have told me to do because according to society, those are the things that will bring me success and rewards. I am talking about school. I've never dared think outside the box and until this year I had never taken a shot at exploring my creativity. I've always been the person who had a checklist of things I should do to be successful in a class, I do them and then repeat the process all over again. It's been boring and not very intellectually or creatively nurturing. I don't want to continue being a Should person. I want to be a Must. Daring and risking has never been an issue for me...the what to dare and risk is what. Since I am extremely passionate on journalism (specifically as it pertains to human rights and activism) I will try to be more of a Must person in that aspect. I don't plan on entirely giving up my academic career. I want to continue being academically successful while also enriching myself through journalism and writing. Lets see where this goes.

Flight MH370

This is an occurrence that has the world shocked and perplexed. A commercial jet essentially vanished into thin air, taking along with it 239 passengers and crew members. It is a truly saddening story. The anguish felt by the families, the uncertainty that plagues them...I don't believe any of us could possibly imagine such a tragedy. I would like to take the time to virtually express my condolences to the families. Hope has not been lost; until there is physical evidence of the demise of every passenger the hope will not be given up. I'd also like to take the time to report my utter disgust with the behavior of the media this past month since the disappearance of the jet went global. They have been constantly reporting, every few hours, new "information" concerning a new object spotting, pings from the black box or some new crazy conspiracy theory. It is truly disgusting. There has not been another more clear example of how news companies could care less about the information they throw at the readers, as long as it sells. The information they have been hourly updating about the investigation of the disappearance of MASMH370 has been absolute garbage over half of the time. They'll report an incident prematurely only to report a few hours later that it was false. They have showed absolutely no regard for the pain that the families must be feeling. They have harassed family members trying to obtain information...feeding off their pain and being solely concerned with the next "big break in the investigation" to report it first and make a profit. I am truly disgusted. This is a prime example of why I want to focus my masterpiece of journalism. I am disgusted with the for-profit nature of it. I want a pure form of journalism that is more about keeping the public informed than making money. Recently, I have requested information from Vice about their internship programs during summer. Vice is one of the purest forms of journalism; they immerse themselves in the stories and report only on the crucial issues. Lets see where this journey takes us.

Lil B

Brandon McCartney "Lil B" is an American rapper and author from Berkeley, California. He is the first rapper to have written a book like Takin' Over By Imposing The Positive. Essentially, the book is written in the format of emails and text messages from Lil B to the reader. The book contains messages of positivity and optimism. Lil B has amassed a cult following since his 2004 debut into the scene, dubbed the Based Fam.  Despite his undisputed success, Lil B is often the target of hate from other artists and even the public. One of the most common arguments is that he has no talent as the subjects of his songs are meaningless and trivial things that don't contribute anything positive to the Hip-Hop culture. This is partially true. But may I point you to songs like "I Love You", which is a whole song dedicated to his supporters where he expresses his love and gratitude for all those who have stood by him. Another song that I'd like to use as an example is "Trapped in Prison", which spreads many different messages. It predominantly talks about how you should release yourself from the chains that mentally bind you to unhappiness because of what others might think or because you are afraid to fail; just do you and do what you love. Apart from this, Lil B is often a guest lecturer at prestigious universities like New York University and University of California, Riverside, where he gives lectures on love, positivity and respect for animals and the environment. Yes, many of his songs do have a trivial and unimportant subject matter. But that is the whole point to him and the message he tries to spread. He has songs that have absolutely no meaning to them because this is his way of saying that you can do what you want, be who you want, as long as it matters to you and means something to you...the opinions of others don't matter. This is what it means to be Based. His "no meaning" actually has a lot of meaning. This is why I admire this man so much as a human and artist.

LOOK AT MY BRAIN

Sometimes my though process confuses me. I have so many ideas at once and I don't know how to arrange them in a way that makes sense to other people. My brain works faster than my communication skills. Through writing for a political news blog I can express myself in ways I don't think I've ever been able to. It feels good to write a piece that I know is worth something. Readers see letters and punctuation marks and sentences, but it so much more than that. At least to me it is. There's a lot of energy that goes into writing these articles. It starts with the simple question of "What is meaningful and worthwhile to write about?" There's so many issues out there that deserve coverage and narrowing it down to just one (for now) takes a lot of effort and sense-making. Once the topic has been found, the tedious task of research begins. But it isn't just about finding what someone else has said and restating it. We at In Loco Politico try to make sense of what the experts say. We won't just regurgitate words, anybody can do that, we look between the lines and critically think about what we are reading. We then translate that into our own writing. We visit multiple sources to get the most unbiased information we can. We try as hard as possible to not be partisan. This can be difficult because it's hard to not let your opinions and convictions take control. Essentially, we make sense  of information and data, then create something from bits and pieces of other works and expert opinions. We create something new, and if that isn't creativity then I don't understand creativity.

WHAT ABOUT MY MASTERPIECE?

This particular week I have been extremely busy. I have had tests almost daily, so it has been very hard keeping up with my masterpiece. I have a current piece I am writing but it most likely won't be finished this week. My goal is to have it done and published by at least Tuesday of next week, Be on the look out!



You can visit my political news blog HERE and take a look at the current published articles.

LOVE IS BLIND

Lady Macbeth is just evil. There is no part of her that is salvageable..it's just all bad. Yet despite this, Macbeth is still with her and has thus far not spoken badly of her or opposed her. Hes a fierce man of battle but allows himself to be manipulated by a woman. She forces him to do things against his will because of her ambitions. Macbeth does it all. He is also ambitious but his ambition is tamed by his morals at times. So we could make the reasonable conjecture that he allows himself to be manipulated by Lady Macbeth because he loves her and wants to keep her happy (appease her). Love really must be blind then.

Now us as the audience, we see Lady Macbeth for the real monster that she is. Shakespeare has thus far presented her in a way that would only lead to hate from the audience. He uses her own words to corrupt her. The most obvious example of this would be when she's scolding Macbeth for wanting to back out on his promise of killing King Duncan and she tells him that keeping ones word is important and that she would kill an infant if she had promised to do so because she keeps her word. Now, Shakespeare could have used any other example but he uses this particularly gory one only to add to our hate and disgust with her.

MACBETH ACT 1 active reading notes

• Macbeth subtly introduced into the play.
• Witches foreboding and controlling.
• Macbeth accepts that he will be Thane of Cawdor and King after meeting the witches and hearing their prophecy, showing his ambitious side.
• Macbeth is pronounced Thane of Cawdor due to his loyalty in fighting the rebels for the king, this brings credibility to the Witches in his eyes.
• Thane of Cawdor before Macbeth is to be executed for treason.
• Macbeth reveals more of his ambitious side when he says that he is now Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and the best is still to come (he becomes King). Banquo skeptical about Witches---> they usually lead men to their demise with tricks.
• Macbeth begins to think about murdering King Duncan to precipitate his becoming King. Yet despite all his battle gore and ambition, murder frightens him (irony).
• Macbeth meets King Duncan and praises him. Macbeth is dishonest and untrustworthy.
• Duncan admires Macbeth deeply. The fact that Macbeth was thinking about murdering him earlier now makes the reader resent him for wanting to kill a man who admires him as much. Ironic that last Thane of Cawdor was executed for treason, and now Macbeth occupies his place?
• Duncan is to name Malcolm heir to the thrown (could this precipitate Macbeth to take action?)
• Macbeth makes up his mind to kill the King and anyone else who stands between him and the thrown.
• Lady Macbeth is introduced, she has guts and no morals as apparent from her way of speaking and acting. She characterizes Macbeth for us as a man who wants something but is too afraid to go after it.
• Lady Macbeth determined to kill Duncan when she finds out he is coming to her castle. She is EVIL.
• As soon as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth speak it is apparent that she dominates him. She tells him what to do and how to behave.
• The deep love expressed by Duncan to Macbeth only makes the treason more unforgivable to the reader. Is Shakespeare setting us up to hate Macbeth?
• Macbeth is already feeling remorse for planning to kill Duncan but his ambition is greater.
• Macbeth has second doubts and Lady Macbeth scolds him and essentially forces him to stick to his words. She is ruthless. She says she would kill the baby eating from her breasts while he smiled if she had given her word that she'd do it.
• The plan: Get Duncan's servants drunk so they pass out. Once they are unconscious, they will take their daggers and kill Duncan. Then they will cover the servants in his blood to make everyone think they were the ones who did it.

MEET MACBETH

During the opening parts of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth is introduced through indirect characterization, such as when the Sergeant describes acts of gore committed by Macbeth during the battle. Another instance of indirect characterization occurs during his conversations with the Three Witches and Banquo. During the conversations he is revealed to be gullible, pensive and easily swayed. Three random women tell him he will be king;  he is at first shocked by this but then embraces it. After this encounter with the witches he begins to think deeply and discuss with Banquo how the three Witches gained that knowledge and how he will be the new king if the position is already occupied.

The most obvious instance of foreshadowing provided by the Witches is when they give Macbeth his prophecy about him becoming king. Another instance of foreshadowing is found here:

"A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,

And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:--

'Give me,' quoth I:

'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:

But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

And, like a rat without a tail,

I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do."

Now, what the above text foreshadows is (very literally) that we will come across a woman who will somehow have control over a man, as apparent by the "chestnuts" on her lap, her munching and the appearance of a man (rat) without a tail, which can be interpreted as a phallic symbol. 

At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces the theme without giving away the play. I'm referring to the Witches chant "fair is foul, and foul is fair." Through that chiasmus they are telling us that what to us appears as fair is actually foul and what to them appears as foul is actually fair. They are setting up a play in which things will never be good or bad, but a combination of the both. Things wont be black or white, rather shades of grey.

Shakespeare has thus far been very modest with his portrayal of Macbeth. The few bits of him he has given us have all been strictly indirect. Shakespeare creates a strong Macbeth in the battlefield but when he isn't in "warrior mode" he's actually very weak and gullible. When the Sergeant was describing Macbeth, Shakespeare used very precise language when describing the gory acts of violence perpetrated by Macbeth. Yet when Macbeth meets the Witches and they refer to him as king he is frightened. In this whole scene Shakespeare shows us a Macbeth that is easily frightened and convinced. These three random women told him he would be king and he believed it without much questioning. 

So far, Macbeth appears manipulated by women. The Witches told him something outrageous and he believed it. Right before this the Witches were talking about a man being manipulated by a woman through their interesting imagery of chestnuts and phallic symbols. So far, it appears as though this will be the story of yet another man manipulated by a woman.