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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
Sartre and existentialism is new to me, but I'll give it a try.
If existence precedes essence, and man exists and then defines
himself, this follows Macbeth because:
Macbeth goes against the preconceived notion of man. At the
beginning of the play, a definition of manhood is established.
Macbeth is described as being the prime example of this definition-
being valiant, brave, fighting with honorable bloody execution,
etc. But, then he strays from this definition. He decides to
commit murder of a kinsman instead of just killing enemies. By
doing this, he crosses the line of the old, established definition
of what it means to be a man, and creates his own (with the help
of Lady Macbeth)who says "WHen you durst do it, then you were a
man," etc., etc. In this way, he is responsible for his own
existence and becomes responsible for his own actions.
To connect Macbeth and Satre's existentialism in particular, I
have only read one of his works: "The Wall," and I don't know if
I can relate that very well. Perhaps that Pablo goes against the
norm, the people who imprisoned him, and he, Tom, and Juan each
react to The Wall differently ahs something to do with it.
I would like to know what you ended up with to write about, or
whatever you are doing...Posted by Tristan on April 25, 1997 at 23:57:14
In Reply to "Full of sound and fury" posted by Hamlet on April 23, 1997 at 12:11:05
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help