Macbeth

Macbeth Analysis: Act 1.

Macbeth starts with the emergence of “Three Witches” meeting to predict the future. The three witches are in the bleak environment, which is represented by a wild Scottish landscape. Particularly, the imagery of witchcraft and chaotic weather intensify this feeling.

On the next Scene, the main characters start to appear. Here, Macbeth becomes a hero, with the execution of the Thane of Cawdor, a very treacherous character. Thus, Macbeth is ‘nominated’ to obtain the position of the Thane. In this sense, the hero Macbeth is compared to “Valour’s minion” (the servant of Courage) and “Bellona’s bridegroom” (the husband of War), the metaphors that reinforce the ‘heroism’ of Macbeth even more. Another evidence of portraying Macbeth as a hero is shown on the similes of the Captain’s second report, comparing Macbeth and his fellow-captain Banquo to “eagles” and “lions,” while their enemies are compared to “sparrows” or “hare.” However, all of this, describing Macbeth as a superhero actually is a device to emphasize the tragedy of Macbeth’s death at the end of the play. In the lines, “unseam’d him from the nave (center) to the chops, And fix’d his head upon our battlements,” Macbeth’s death is foreshadowed.

On the third Scene of Act 1, the Witches reappear. They make prophecies that “Macbeth shall be named as Thane of Cawdor and then king,” while Banquo will be the “father to future generations of kings.” With the Witches’ reappearance, the Scene recalls the first Scene, when Macbeth says, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” The prophecies and words of the Witches can be summed up with a word, ‘unpredictability’. Macbeth is likened to a ‘sailor’, since the sailor is the captain of a ship, in the same way that Macbeth is to become “captain” of his land, which foreshadows the fate of Macbeth.

Other than Macbeth, Banquo also shows up and become the very first to actually spot the weird sisters, remarking on the Witches’ weird appearance, saying they “look not like the inhabitants of the earth, / And yet are on it.” (I personally found this very funny; I laughed for this for quite a long time and my friends stared at me, asking me how could I possibly laugh while reading Macbeth.)

When the Witches say all the ambiguous things, which suggest a more unpredictable future, both Macbeth and Banquo are confused and show incomprehension. Also, when Macbeth is announced to be the new Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is confused , casts doubt on this, but is not criticizing too much: “This supernatural soliciting / Cannot be ill; cannot be good”, while Banquo is quite sure the “Devil” is interfering here: “oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of Darkness tell us truths.”

On Scene 4, King Duncan delivers formal thanks to Macbeth and Banquo, but announces his successor to be his son Malcolm. When Duncan says, “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face,” he means ‘never judge a book by its cover’, which implies that he wasn’t able to predict the treachery of Cawdor, while Macbeth did. And this probably is said to compliment Macbeth. Of course, Duncan sees Macbeth as a potential successor: “I have begun to plant thee, and will labour / To make thee full of growing.” This creates a perfect irony, because Duncan says these things, while formally announcing his son to be his successor. This irony fuels the ambition of Macbeth to be a King. So, Macbeth gets angry and says, “Star! Hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.”

On the next Scene, Lady Macbeth turns up and simultaneous the Scene gets darker very rapidly. When Lady Macbeth finds out that Macbeth would be meeting with the Witches, she decides to carry out the murder of the king herself, in order to hasten the prophecy. At this point, Lady Macbeth herself has virtually become an ‘agent of Fate’. She thinks Macbeth is “too full of the milk of human kindness” to commit murder, so she, herself, transforms into a man. Judging by these evidences, Lady Macbeth can be said to be one of the most powerful female characters in literature, filled with the imagery of death and destruction.

On the sixth Scene, King Duncan finally arrives at Inverness, while Lady Macbeth becomes a perfect hostess for now. The castle, from the outside at least, appears to be a paradise, and the King is well entertained, but this place will soon turn into a violent place. Here, the cunningness of Lady Macbeth is shown rather explicitly, with her elaborate greeting.

On the last Scene of Act I, Macbeth is now bothered by self-doubt whirlpooling inside his mind, still very much in confusion, and Lady Macbeth is still guiding the way where Macbeth should go, representing a very strong figurine. When Macbeth admitted to Lady Macbeth that his golden reputation might lose its “gloss,” she sets out to strengthen his mind by mocking his perceived weakness by calling him a “green,” “a coward,” and “poor cat.”

Catcher in the Rye

Back to myself

I left KMLA a month ago. Actually, I was kicked out of it because I exceeded 80 points, the limitation the school said it could ‘take’. All I did was I ordered some chicken when I really wanted to eat some, didn’t clean my room because I was out having a barbecue party, brushed my teeth or ate some squid during the self study time, skipped the morning exercise because nobody woke me up and stuff. I didn’t go to court because I committed a crime; I was just being myself.

Even Mr. Ganse agreed with me. I visited Mr. Ganse just before I left the school, and I immediately started to like him a little bit more because he talked about how much improvement I’ve made throughout my school years, and the school cannot be more stupid to just let me go like this, just because of those penalty points, which is not even important in our lives.

I immediately went to a place where I can learn music, as I’ve always wanted. I’ve wanted to learn music composition, guitar and more piano. I really missed singing all the time and playing the piano. It’s been quite a while since I really enjoyed music itself. I’ve been stressed by all the performances I had to do successfully every time, just for the good of my NAB club.

I could finally learn professional music, by a professional musician, Mrs. Grendell. She is such a nasty person, but a great musician, though. When I first came to this place, she required so much money so that I couldn’t learn from her. I begged her for like a week until she finally accepted me. I think she did that because I was driving her crazy, following everywhere she went, trying to convince her that I was eligible to become her student. Again, she was extremely harsh on me the minute I became her student. Every time I learned a little thing, she scolded me for not knowing it. Her voice was always in maximum volume, probably due to her outstanding singing ability, and with that huge voice, she shouted right into my ears. However, what mattered was not her voice, but the humiliation I got every time she shouted at me. It was always in front of everybody else whenever she scolded me, with the great combination of such hurtful words. Every night, I cried with my face buried in my pillow, for I didn’t want anybody to hear me. But then I comforted myself, telling myself I could someday be a great musician. The same thing happened to me every day, so I eventually got dull with such harsh scoldings.

Yet, I was holding on to my only hope; becoming an international musician, until I heard the news that a selected trainee at SM entertainment, a student of Mrs. Grendell, was excluded from the group she was supposed to join.The reason I was shocked at the news was because she was, in a nutshell, ‘perfect’. She had been a trainee at SM for over 6 years now, and I recognized her as soon as I came in, as the most talented student of Mrs. Grendell. I didn’t understand why she was excluded. She simply had everything; fantastic voice, greatest dancing skills and one of the most beautiful faces I’ve ever seen. She said her boss told her she didn’t have ‘potential’ to succeed in the entertainment world. Well, she didn’t need potential; she already ‘had’ everything! I was infuriated at the news, but at the same time, gave another thought about my future. Until last month, I was in KMLA, the so-called the most prestigious high school in Korea. I was enjoying the school life along with all my extra-curricular activities, got fairly nice GPA, wanting to be a marine biologist. I was working on it, but then I suddenly deviated from my ‘path’, towards music, which I’m not really an expert in. I was an idiot.

Now I realize studying is the easiest way to have a better life in the future, especially if you're not particularly talented in an area that you can kick everybody's asses without much effort, or you would die for working in that area.

The Intouchables (2011)

A true story of two men who should never have met - a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
-From imdb


Just watched this movie last weekend with my family at CGV.
to be continued...

Brainstorming - 3 points of view

Unifying incident, thought, theme, or question that is central

Connected with cigarette
all of them on the rooftop of the cigarette company

Manufacturer (CEO)-rich, white man in America-perhaps England 왜냐면 여기서 담배에 대한 단속이 제일 심하니까 힘든 정도를 나타내기 위해 영국으로? (제일 잘나가는 곳에 사는). 물론, 담배가 건강에 해롭다는 것을 알지만, 이 사업을 지속시키기 위해 수단과 방법을 가리지 않는다. 사실 속으로는, Feel a little guilty but has to do this to sustain his position and income, salary. 정부가 막을 때마다 엄청난 로비를 해서 겨우겨우 삶을 이어간다. 가끔 그만둘까 생각도 해보지만 집에서 내가 돈을 가지고 들어오길 목 빠지게 기다리는 가족들 때문에 그럴 수도 없다. 그런 자신의 상황을 몰라주는 시위하는 사람들이 얄밉기만 하다.

smoker (customers of cigarettes)-담배 애호가인 employee. 우리나라 담배 맨날 피는 삶이 힘든 아저씨. 담배를 고등학교 3학년 때 친구들의 계락에 말려들어 피기 시작했는데, 그 후로 삶이 점점 더 힘들어져 끊기가 거의 불가능했다. 점점 더 힘들어질수록 하루에 피는 담배의 양은 점점 더 늘어났고, 그럴수록 건강이 걱정됬지만 끊을 수가 없다. 딸들로, 아내도 담배 좀 끊으라고 수많은 닥달과 잔소리를 늘어놓고, 나도 끊고 싶은 마음은 굴뚝같지만, 그들 앞에서만 피지 않고 어떻게든 다른 곳에서 담배를 핀다. 결국은 암 선고를 받고 입원한다.

non-smokers-a girl who hates smokers. 자기 건강 엄청나게 끔찍히 중요시 여기는 employee. 담배 피는 것을 살인이라고 생각할 정도로 극단적으로 여기며, 특히 학교에서 금연 교육 받은 것 중 담배를 피는 사람보다 담배 연기를 맡는 사람이 더 니코틴 섭취를 많이 한다는 사실을 알고는 더욱 싫어한다. 또, 담배를 만드는 회사와 사람들을 매우 혐오한다.

Autumn Rain

Autumn Rain

By D. H. Lawrence 1916

British Literature Class

            THE plane leaves

fall black and wet

on the lawn;

The cloud sheaves

in heaven's fields set

droop and are drawn

in falling seeds of rain;

the seed of heaven

on my face

falling--I hear again

like echoes even

that softly pace

Heaven's muffled floor,

the winds that tread

out all the grain

of tears, the store

harvested

in the sheaves of pain

caught up aloft:

the sheaves of dead

men that are slain

now winnowed soft

on the floor of heaven;

manna invisible

of all the pain

here to us given;

finely divisible

falling as rain.

Analysis Essay

The Autumn Rain by D. H. Lawrence begins with, and continues to talk about sufferings a grain has to go through in order to be harvested. On the second line of the first stanza, the phrase fall black and wet signifies the trials and ordeals, for black represents dark, gloomy society and never-ending route leading to success, and when you’re wet, you are most likely to feel dreadful with the rain soaked up in your clothes and socks. Droop and are drawn on the last line of the second stanza indicates the same thing; it takes a cloud’s sacrifice to make it rain.

As the poem continues, the trials and ordeals are intensified. Seed of heaven, on the second line of the third stanza, can be considered as one of the smaller results of rain; rain, especially the autumn rain, is like the seed of heaven in a way that it is the main element required for better production of grains or fruits. I hear again, on the next stanza, rhymes with rain; again and rain rhyme. This phrase suggests that the sacrfice, or the rain, has to continue again and again to accomplish what you’ve aimed for in the first place.

           On the next two stanzas, it says, ‘The winds that tread out all the grain of tears, the store harvested in the sheaves of pain.’ Here, the line grain of tears may be drawing a picture of a grain lowering its head when it’s wet or when it has been fully ripened. This represents the hardships that grains go through; they are treaded out by the winds, (Here, to tread out means to step on them really hard, so that the zests of the grains are peeled off, usually done in the process of harvesting.) and are harvested in pain.

The poet also compares the harvested grain to the sheaves of dead men that are slain. This is a rather extreme comparison, especially since the rest of the poem is comprised of serene languge. Thus, it does make a strong point that harvested grains are the products of extraordinary difficult processes. In other words, success may only come after the harsh courses of adversity. By saying, heaven with manna invisible of all the pain, he probably means the fruition in the end, finally getting rid of all the pain that existed in the past.

Overall, the autumn rain falls, the leaves fall, the grains fall, which are harvested and given to us, making our world the heaven. By describing this long process of harvest, I think the poet wanted to talk about the common fact that only after overcoming trials and ordeals, can a person accomplish something he or she wants.