Macbeth Blind Ambition Essay Example for Free

Macbeth Blind Ambition Essay The tragedy, ‘Macbeth’, composed by William Shakespeare is a play of manipulation and blind ambition. This is clearly depicted through the character of Macbeth, a great man fallen from God’s grace. Initially, Macbeth’s is presented as a character with noble qualities, who earns himself the trust of King Duncan and admiration of his people. However, the meeting with the weird sisters takes a toll on his personality for the worse, as they ambiguously prophesise that Macbeth will become King of Scotland. Upon hearing this, Macbeth takes fate into his own hands and embarks on a journey of blind ambition. Ultimately, Macbeth’s character deteriorates and is destined to fall. Therefore, through the dramatic elements of the play, we anticipate the downfall of valiant Macbeth as a ramification of the fatal flaw of blind ambition. Blind ambition comes at the cost of our humanity. Macbeth aligns himself with the supernatural elements, which are associated with darkness and evil. Originally, Shakespeare introduces Macbeth as a great man, as depicted through the similes of Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion and â€Å"Signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This reflects Macbeth’s bravery, as he is bequeathed the gift of stars by King Duncan. Quite soon, however; we witness how he morphs into a two-faced, conniving snake, as illustrated through this simile â€Å"Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it. † The audience immediately recognises the disparity between the dark supernatural elements and the elements of goodness and light. We expect the power play will be evoked through the illusions and half-truths through the paradox of â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair. † A strong illusion that Shakespeare evokes to dramatise the mental state of Macbeth is the dagger soliloquy, â€Å"Is this a dagger which I see before me. † Whilst we see him in inner conflict over his intention to assassinate King Duncan, we recognise that he will not deviate from the path of darkness as he calls on the stars as seen through the apostrophe â€Å"Stars, hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires’. This establishes that Macbeth represents darkness and this contrasts to Duncan, as he is a symbolism of light. Through the apostrophe, â€Å"Come spirits, unsex me†, we perceive that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth align themselves to the supernatural world for power, and in return they are stripped off of their humanity. Shakespeare dramatises these events to challenge us to consider of ramifications of blind ambition. Taking destiny into one’s hands for self gain may lead to self annihilation, and unnatural chaos ensues. Once regicide is committed, Macbeth is overwhelmed by nausea, as he has â€Å"murdered sleep. He then realises the magnitude of his sins, as it is emphasised through this hyperbole â€Å"Will all Great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? † This imagery is juxtaposed with the litotes of â€Å"A little water will clear us of this deed. † Therefore, pathos is established between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as they are anointe d by blood through the act of regicide, â€Å"My hands are of your colour†. Dramatic irony is established as we know that this couple can never be extricated from guilt. With little remorse, he embarks on a journey of self destruction and mass murder. There is no salvation for him, and this is clearly demonstrated through the metaphor â€Å"Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more. † He repeats his mistakes as he continues the assassinations of the innocent, and his sins further escalate when he slain Macduff’s family. However, the further they continue on the path to darkness, the more plagued they are by the blood seeping from their hands, â€Å"Out, damned spot! † Macbeth also hallucinates and is haunted by Banquo’s ghost. This can be demonstrated through the imagery â€Å"Quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee† Unnatural chaos ensues as a result of King Duncan’s death and Macbeth’s unnatural deeds due to blind ambition. This is evoked through the disorderly image of and â€Å"Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles. † Until another great being can overthrow tyrannical Macbeth, then the violation of nature’s order will not be restored. Shakespeare invites us to consider the law of ‘cause and effect’. Blind ambition overrides Macbeth’s rational mind and any sense of inherent moral sensibility. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are left tormented as they cannot sustain inner peace and sleep, â€Å"Sleep no more! which leads them to the brink of insanity. Furthermore Macbeth acknowledges that Duncan is at peace in the liberation of death, and he dramatises the inner conflict and insecurity through the paradox â€Å"To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus. † This foreshadows the downfall of Macbeth and soon he will be released from his torment. Blind ambition robs Macbeth’s foresight and without realising it, it puts a strain on his and his wife’s marriage. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s mental deterioration is emphasised through their severed relationship. As a result of blind ambition, Lady Macbeth resorts to suicide. She lives in fear, as she is constantly plagued from the murder. Therefore, death is her release. Shakespeare invites us to evaluate our behaviour and challenge us to take responsibility for our own actions. As a result of blind ambition, Macbeth is trapped in an illusion of perception versus reality. He consolidates his relationship with the supernatural elements. The witches present three apparitions, which include the â€Å"armed-head†, â€Å"bloody child† and the â€Å"boy with a crown and a tree from his hand. This directs Macbeth to the road of self-annihilation, and through the half-truths, dramatic irony is established and this serves to heighten tension, as the audience expects the downfall of Macbeth. Macbeth is struggling to find the purpose to live, as exemplified through litotes of â€Å"Out, brief candle†. He compares his life to a â€Å"brief candle† that is easily blown out by the wind and it connotes that human life is uncertain. â€Å"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,† Macbeth laments on the loss of his future, as he comes to term of his inevitable demise. Therefore, Macbeth is associated with pathos, and as an audience, we do pity his pathetic being. In the climax of the play, Macbeth is confronted by noble Macduff and it is revealed that the witches’ ambiguous prophecies were half-truths and Macbeth was so wrapped up in his own illusion that he could not see through it. As a result, it led to his downfall. The catharsis is established when Macduff defeats Macbeth and claims justice to Scotland. Shakespeare writes to raise awareness that some things are not what they appear to be. By the end of the play, we witness the downfall of Macbeth as a result of blind ambition. Blind ambition robs Macbeth of his humanity and foresight, and because of this, Macbeth’s character has deteriorated, as his deterioration is manifested through acts of massacres. In the end, Macbeth does not fully redeem himself, although he does hold regret for the heinous deeds he has committed, and therefore, he dies an undignified death. Hence, Shakespeare invites us consider the natural cycle of ‘cause and effect’ and how acts of blind ambition can lead to deadly consequences.

Teaching - Every Day Brings Something New :: College Admissions Essays

Teaching - Every Day Brings Something New I started seriously thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, concerning my career, in the 11th grade. From my junior year until my first semester in college, I was certain my purpose in life was to teach. However, people I spoke with, including some family, friends, and even schoolteachers, repeatedly crushed this choice: "Why would you want to be a teacher? Don't you know how much they make? Why would you want to deal with bratty kids all day? Don't you know teaching is one of the most stressful jobs you can have?" Being the naà ¯ve, 17 year old that I was, I listened, and changed my career choice-3 times! I went through 2 years of computer classes to become an administrative assistant, 1 year studying law for paralegalism and 1  ½ years focusing on business management. Throughout those 4 years of unfulfillment, the idea of teaching still lingered in my head. I started asking myself why I decided teaching was not for me. I discovered that even though teaching did ca rry a few negative aspects, they could never come close to the positive. For the past 5 years, I have been coaching the varsity dance team at Woodhaven High School. Although there have definitely been some difficult, stressful situations, I have found the experience very rewarding. The greatest thing about coaching is the satisfaction you feel after a student succeeds in what he or she has set out to accomplish-not only physically, but also mentally. Being a coach is more than just a 9 to 5 job. It's more than staring at a computer for 8-10 hours, not caring about the people around you or your work. This is even more apparent in teaching in a classroom 5 days a week, for as much as 7-9 hours a day. Teaching is adventurous, challenging, and exciting, because every day brings something new. As a teacher, you're not only working for a living, you are acting as a role model to every child around you. A teacher has the chance to change a child's life everyday. The main element of lifelong learning is to never stop learning. One must understand that there's no such thing as a person who knows everything.

Friendship Essay

What Makes a Good Friend? Friendships are vital to a person’s life. Although, people have quality requirements that they look for in the â€Å"perfect† friend. There really isn’t the one â€Å"perfect† friend out there that everyone is looking for. They come in all shapes and sizes and each and everyone of them have a different personality with their own faults and imperfections. They are people we associate to having a good time with and, or being sad with. But what makes a true good friend? Qualities that make a good friend are loyalty, trust, and reliability.A quality that makes a good friend is their degree of loyalty to you. A loyal friend will want to be around you. They will make an effort to be with you, and calls you to say hello when you can’t be together. For instance, if your friend is meeting other people at the movie theater, they will call and invite you to go along as well. If you go away for a vacation, your friend will tell you how much they are excited for you to return home. A loyal friend will pull their own weight in your relationship.Leaving everything up to one person in a friendship isn’t fair. They will help you plan times when you will get together, or events so other people can join as well. They will contribute to sharing phone calls between the two of you, instead of making you do all the calling. Another attribute that makes a friend loyal is a possible understanding of an event you have gone through. Having a friend that relates to events in your life is very comforting because they know how you feel or had felt.For example, if you lost a grandparent that was very close to you and your friend did as well, they can relate to your feelings which will make them feel more attached and loyal to you, and you to them. Another quality found in a good friend is their reliability. A trait of a reliable friend is how honest they are with you. If they are completely honest with you, then you can coun t on them in the future. Honesty is a key quality in a true friendship. A reliable friend keeps their promises.They do what they tell you they were going to do instead of doing something else. For example, when they tell you that they are going home and that they don’t want to hang out, they actually go home instead of going out with other friends. Another trait of a reliable friend is how encouraging they are for you. When you doubt yourself about your greatest dreams, they encourage you not to give up on them and remind you that you can do anything you want to. They tell you to shoot for the skies, and that the sky is the limit to what you are able to do in your life.They remind you of who you are and what you stand for when you forget, or when you are going through a rough time. They continuously let you know that you are special in their life and that they would miss you if you weren’t in it. A very important quality to look for in a friend is trust. Some people ca n seem very trustworthy but turn out not to be as you get to know them. A trustworthy friend tells you just about anything. If they trust you, they will confide in you their deepest secrets.For example, they will tell you who they have a crush on, or possibly dangerous things that you might be able to help them with such as substance addictions or other fatal problems. A trustworthy friend will tell you about relationship problems and ask advice that they wouldn’t with their parents or even another friend. They might even give you relationship advice if you need it. In other words, if your friend is in an abusive relationship, they would share as much as they wanted with you and possibly ask your advise about what they should do even if it is hard to hear.Another trait that makes a trustworthy friend compassionate they are. If your friend does something to hurt you, they own up to it and apologize. With all of this being said, a true friend is someone to count on in times of need, someone to have a good time with whenever, and someone to talk to about absolutely anything without being judged or misunderstood. Loyalty, trust, and reliability are three major qualities to look for in a true friend. Once you have found that one â€Å"perfect† friend for yourself, they will be around forever and always have your back.

A Guide to German Toasts

The origin of the English word toast—in the sense of drink a toast to someone—has several explanations. According to most sources, a drinking toast (a word also used in German) is related to roasted bread, aka toast. Websters says the word is derived from the use of toasted spiced bread to flavor the wine [during a toast], and the notion that the person honored also added flavor. Other sources claim that the word is derived from the 18th century English custom of covering a glass of hot spiced wine with a slice of toast as it was passed around the table. Each person lifted the toast, took a sip of wine, said a few words, and passed the glass on. When the glass reached the person being toasted, the honoree got to eat the toast. Prost!Ein Toast! The German equivalents of Cheers! or Bottoms up! are Prost! or Zum Wohl! But longer, more formal toasts (Trinksprà ¼che, (kurze) Tischreden) are common on special occasions such as marriage, retirement, or a birthday. A birthday toast almost always includes Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! (or nowadays even an English Happy Birthday!), but a real birthday toast would expand on that with more good wishes, such as this humorous jab: Hoffentlich hast du soviel Spaß an deinem Geburtstag, dass du ihn von nun an jà ¤hrlich feierst! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! (I hope you have so much fun on your birthday that youll celebrate it annually from now on! Happy birthday!) The Irish seem to be a bountiful and universal source of toasts and good wishes. Germans have borrowed many Irish sayings  like the well-known May the road rise to meet you... Although German-speakers often use it in English, there are German translations. This is one German version (author unknown) that  comes closer than most: Mà ¶ge dir dein Weg leicht werdenMà ¶ge dir der Wind immer von hinten kommenMà ¶ge dir die Sonne warm ins Gesicht scheinenMà ¶ge dir ein sanfter Regen auf die Felder fallenund bis wir uns wiedersehenmà ¶ge Gott dich in seiner Hand halten. Germans also like to send shorter greetings via  text to each other on their Handys (mobile phones). There are many Web sites in German with sample text messages that can also be used for toasts. Heres a typical example: Die allerbesten Geburtstagswà ¼nsche send/wà ¼nsch ich dir,sie kommen vom Herzen, sie kommen von mir. Selected Toasts and Good Wishesin German and English Heres how you say Id like to propose a toast to (name)!:Ich mà ¶chte  einen  Toast  auf  (Namen)  ausbringen! Allgemein(General) Genieße das Leben stà ¤ndig!Du bist là ¤nger  tot als  lebendig!Constantly enjoy life!Youre longer dead than alive! Hundert Jahre sollst du leben und dich freuen,und dann noch ein extra Jahr—zum Bereuen.Darauf  erhebe  ich  mein  Glas: Prost!May you live to be a hundred years,With one extra year to repent.To  that  I raise my glass: Cheers! (Irish) Mà ¶gest du  alle  Tage  deines  Lebens  leben!—Zum Wohl!May you live all the days of your life!—Cheers! (Irish) Erst  mach dein Sachdann  trink und  lach!First  take care of business,then drink and laugh! Solange man nà ¼chtern ist,gefà ¤llt das Schlechte.Wie man  getrunken  hat,weiss  man das Rechte.—J.W. GoetheWhen one is sober,the bad can appeal.When one has taken a drink,One knows whats real.—J.W. Goethe Das Leben ist  bezaubernd, man  muss es  nur  durch  die  richtige  Brille  sehen.Life ist wonderful, you just need to see it through the right glasses. Mà ¶ge dir dein Weg leicht werdenMà ¶ge dir der Wind immer von hinten kommenMà ¶ge dir die Sonne warm ins Gesicht scheinenMà ¶ge dir ein sanfter Regen auf die Felder fallenund bis wir uns wiedersehenmà ¶ge Gott dich in seiner Hand halten.May the road rise to meet you.May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.And rains fall soft upon your fields.And until we meet again,May God hold you in the hollow of His hand. Geburtstag (Birthday) Du merkst, dass du à ¤lter wirst, wenn die Kerzen mehr kosten als der Kuchen!You know youre getting older when the candles cost more than the cake! Mit dem Alter ist es wie mit dem Wein, es muss ein guter Jahrgang sein!With age its the same as with wine: it has to be a good year! Man sieht mit Grauen ringsherumdie Leute werden alt und dumm.Nur du und ich—auch noch als Greisebleiben jung und werden weise.One sees with shock all aroundthe people getting old and dumb.Only you and I—even as oldstersstay young and become wise. Die allerbesten Geburtstagswà ¼nsche send ich dir,sie kommen vom Herzen, sie kommen von mir.All the best birthday wishes I send to theeThey come from the heart, they come from me. Hochzeit (Wedding) Jeder hà ¶rt die Musik anders—aber der gemeinsame Tanz ist wunderbar.Everyone hears the music differently—but the dance together is wonderful. Die Ehe ist die wichtigste Entdeckungsreise, die der Mensch unternehmen kann.Marriage is the most important voyage of discovery a person can embark upon. Jeder sieht ein Stà ¼ckchen Welt, gemeinsam sehen wir die ganze.Each of us sees a part of the world; together we see all of it. Ruhestand (Retirement) So wà ¼nsch ich dir von ganzem Herzen,tà ¤glich Glà ¼ck und keine Schmerzen,viel Ruhe und Gemà ¼tlichkeit,denn du als Rentner—hast nun Zeit!Thus I wish you from the bottom of my heartdaily happiness and no pain,much peace and cozy comfort,because  you as a retiree—now have the time! Mit der Zeit brauchst du nicht sparen, kannst sogar ins Ausland fahren. Ist das Ziel auch noch so weit, Du bist Rentnegerman—du hast Zeit!You dont have to worry about saving time,You can even travel abroad.If the destination is far away,Youre a retiree—you have the time! Abschied/Trauer(Farewell/Mourning) Dem Leben sind Grenzen gesetzt,die Liebe ist grenzenlos.Life has limits, butlove has no bounds. Der Tod ist ihm zum Schlaf geworden,aus dem er zu neuem Leben erwacht.Death has become his sleepfrom which he awakes to new life.