2001. One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily Dickinson wrote
Much madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Thesis Statement
Although the behaviors of Macbeth seem delusional and eccentric, they are reasonably motivated by the natural instinct for self-fulfillment.
II. Topic Sentence
Knowledge of future events stirs the instinctual desire for power within Macbeth.
Details
-Loyal to Duncan till he hears the prophecy
-Weird sisters pressure him
-“All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”
-Lady Macbeth pressured him to follow the prophecy
Summative
Macbeth’s inner desire for power is brought out by the prophecy.
III. Topic Sentence
As Macbeth strives to fulfill the vision of the Weird sisters, his madness increases.
Details
-paranoia
-visions of the knife & Banquo
-“To be this is nothing but to be safely this”
-kills those who are said to be his downfall
Summative
Macbeth’s insanity can be attributed to his obsession to maintain his power.
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Attempting to alter one’s fate can lead to one’s downfall.
2003, Form B. Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures -- national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. Select a novel or play in which a character responds to such a cultural collision. Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character’s response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.
Thesis Statement
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s desire for power cause him to forfeit his humanity.
II. Topic Sentence
The witches’ prophecy spins Macbeth into his bloodthirsty quest for power.
Details
-Macbeth will be king
-his line will not last
-Banquo, “Lesser than Macbeth and greater”
Summative
Macbeth’s transformation from content to murderous schemer.
III. Topic Sentence
Macbeth’s efforts to gain power turned him into a ruthless tyrant destined for failure.
Details
-Macbeth kills King Duncan in order to become king
-Macbeth kills Macduff’s family in cold-blood
-Macbeth hires the murderers to kill Banquo and his son
-“My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical.”
Summative
Macbeth’s violent acts increase in brutality as his quest for power progresses.
IV. Topic Sentence
The desire for power over others clouds Macbeth’s judgment and his view of humanity.
Details
-Macbeth wants to kill Banquo and Fleance
-Macbeth cannot stop his brutal killings.
-“I am in blood in so far that should I wade no more returning were as tedious as go over.”
Summative
Macbeth cannot stop his brutality due to his immense desire for power.
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Power over others can cause people to become more violent and brutal than they ever thought possible.
1982. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.
Thesis Statement
In Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, violence is used to emphasize the danger of greed and power in a society.
II. Topic Sentence
Macbeth, consumed by a greed of power, kills King Duncan in order to obtain a higher position in government.
Details
-drugs the guards
-Lady Macbeth sleepwalks about murder and contributes to his wrongdoings
-kills King Duncan with a dagger creating lots of blood that is difficult to get off his hand
Summative
Although the murdering of King Duncan was accomplished, Macbeth’s violent actions show signs of guilt of intense desire for power and shows dangers of Macbeth’s logic.
III. Topic Sentence
-The culminating conflict between Macbeth and MacDuff represent the collision of two opposing ideas about leadership and morality.
Details
-Macduff’s family was killed by Macbeth in order to achieve a higher status in government power
-Macduff beheads Macbeth to restore natural order of power to Malcolm the right heir of the throne
-Macduff uses leadership for selfless reasons while Macbeth uses leadership for a selfish gain of power
Summative
Macduff and Macbeth represent the classic clash between good and evil and in their act of violence it emphasizes the power of good will always trump evil
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Using violence in its many forms Shakespeare writes red poetry showing the capacity of the human spirit of good and evil the price some are willing to pay for power and the harsh justice sought by those who are wronged by these aggressors.
Notes/Quotes
-“Some must go off. And yet, by these I see so great a day as this is cheaply bought.” Malcolm
-“Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth” Macduff
2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Thesis Statement
In William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” the author utilizes hallucinations as symbol of the mental deterioration of the protagonist Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
II. Topic Sentence
While debating on whether or not to kill King Duncan, Macbeth sees a floating dagger which represents his temptation to fulfill his desire to be king.
Details
-“Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation…”
-“Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires.”
Summative
Macbeth’s anguish due to his betrayal to the king is exemplified through his struggle to decide whether or not the dagger is real.
III. Topic Sentence
The ghost of Banquo is a hallucination that symbolizes the paranoia that Macbeth acquires as the play progresses.
Details
-“Blood will have blood.”
-“Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” – the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care”
-“will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”
Summative
Seeing the ghost of Banquo is the one event that begins his spiral into insanity.
IV. Topic Sentence
The blood on Lady Macbeth’s hands is a symbol of the paranoia that they will eventually discovered of their crimes.
Details
“Out, damned spot! Out I say… yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.” (180)
Summative
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s delusional visions, the author emphasizes the destructive effects mentally of killing for power.
2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.
Thesis Statement
In William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, Macbeth is a tragic hero who causes suffering by committing murder and distress, exemplifying the negative effects of a bloodthirsty desire for power.
II. Topic Sentence
Macbeth’s want for power causes him to commit acts of murder that brings great pain for the people of the kingdom.
Details
-Macbeth’s prophecy and wants to be king
-Macbeth murders Duncan à horse went crazy, cattle died, people revolted
-Madbeth kills Banquo b/c afraid of witch’s prophecy that Banquo’s descendants would take the throne
-Macduff’s family is murdered
Summative
When Macbeth wants to be king, he murders and so causes distress another people to fulfill his dream.
III. Topic Sentence
Macbeth’s violent actions causes a psychological meltdown on his wife, Lady Macbeth
Details
-Lady Macbeth indirectly pushed into guilt by her husband’s craziness
-she sleepwalks and can’t sleep
-“Not so sick… keep her from her rest.” (Act 5, Scene 3 Lines 39-41)
Summative
Not only is Macbeth desire for power physically tolling it also mentally affects Macbeth and the people around him.
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Even the noblest of men will fall in the seduction of power. Macbeth was one of those men, tragic hero
1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character’s villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
1999. The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.”
From a novel or play choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict with one character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may use one of the novels or plays listed below or another novel or work of similar literary quality.
Thesis Statement
In “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is pulled in conflicting directions by his desire for power and his guilty conscience.
II. Topic Sentence
Guided by the witches’ prophecy for power and Lady Macbeth’s ambition, Macbeth fulfills his desire for power.
Details
-Lady Macbeth drives his will/want for power
-pushes him to commit the murders
-plots the murder
-he shows doubt and she counteracts “If we should fail… we fail? But screw your courage…” (Act 1 Scene 7)
-Three witches – give a prophecy of Macbeth becoming King and he ensures it come true.
Summative
Under the influence of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth ignores his morals and commits murder in order to become king.
III. Topic Sentence
Despite his desire for power, Macbeth feels guilty about the murder of his king.
Details
-hallucinating after the murders (flying dagger, hearing shouts, blood on his hands)
-Banquo’s ghost- haunts him because he is the only one who knows the full truth; feels guilty about killing the king and Banquo (ex. The banquet)
-He sees Lady Macbeth’s guilt/ decline (ex. Sleepwalking, bloody hands) and also feels guilty, especially after her suicide.
-“A dagger of the mind. A false creation…” (Act 1, Scene 1)
Summative
Banquo’s ghost and Lady Macbeth’s suicide causes Macbeth to mentally deteriorate
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
Uncontrolled ambition can lead to the moral and physical destruction of a human.
Notes/Quotes
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (Act 1 Scene1)
2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.
Thesis Statement
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth seeks to gain power over Scotland through violence and elimination of his rivals.
II. Topic Sentence
Macbeth’s greed, derived from the prophecy and encouraged by his wife’s urging, led to his violent drive for power.
Details
-witches- prophecy (thine then king)
-Lady Macbeth – convinces him to seize the throne
-Banquo – sons will inherit – Macbeth worried
-kills Duncan and Banquo, gets throne
-Malcom/ Macduff flee to England
Summative
Since Macbeth gained his power through violence and unjust means leading to his eventual demise.
III. Topic Sentence
Similar to how Macbeth gained power through bloodshed, his enemies brought opon his downfall with justified violence.
Details
-Macbeth felt guilt- dinner, guilt, Banquo’s ghost
-suspicions due to behavior
-death of Macbeth
Summative
Due to the unjust manner through which he obtained power, Macbeth received the deserved punishment for his crime.
V. Conclusion
Thematic Statement/ Meaning of the Work as a Whole
When people strive to obtain something that is not rightfully theirs, they may end up destroying themselves in their hunger for power.
2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.
Thesis Statement
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth functions as a tragic hero who brings misfortune upon others even though, originally, he was a hero.
II. Topic Sentence
When Macbeth hears the three witches’ prophecy that he is to become king, he becomes power hungry, which leads to a chain of tragedies.
Details
-Macbeth kills Duncan
-Macbeth hires two assassins to kill Banquo and his son so that he cannot form a line of kings
Summative
The prophecy of the three witches awakens a desire for power in Macbeth which causes him to kill people who would otherwise have hindered his path to glory.
III. Topic Sentence
Lady Macbeth channels her bloodthirstiness and want of glory which is one factor that leads to Macbeth’s bloody rampage.
Details
-“Will I with wine and wassail so convince that memory. The wonder of the brain; shall be a fume.
-“A fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.”
Summative
Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to commit murders to satisfy her greediness and bloodthirstiness.
2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.