Macbeth
Sydney Booth
Three Days Grace-Animal I Have Become Lyrics
"Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace relates to the character Macbeth. The song is about a troubled person who is dealing with a lot of conflict, and over time the person feels as if there is no way out of being the bad person he now is. This relates to Macbeth because after he kills Duncan, he feels absolutely horrible about himself. Three Days Grace sung, "I can't escape this hell", and that is exactly how Macbeth felt. He couldn't even say Amen because he felt knew how bad he sinned. The song also relates to later in the story, when Macbeth vows to just act on his bad thoughts instead of thinking before. Basically, he decided he didn't care anymore about the horrible acts he did. In Macbeth's mind, evil was now a part of him, and nothing would change that. More of the song lyrics are, "So what if you can see the darkest side of me? No one could ever change this animal I have become". This totally describes Macbeth towards the end of the story because he not only accepted the bad person he was, but did not mind doing dark deeds anymore.
Literary Devices
1) Comic Relief- "...drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things" (Shakespeare61). In this scene a Porter in Macbeth's home is drunk. Macduff and Lennox enter, and they talk to the Porter some. The Porter talks about how alcohol increases lust, but makes the lover fail. The device is being used by giving the readers a breather between Macbeth murdering Duncan and Macduff finding Duncan dead. Comic relief is when the author includes a humorous scene in a serious time to relief the readers. This device definitely was used in this scene because the scene of Macbeth's reaction to murdering was very dark. A little comedy of a drunk Porter following it was well needed.
2) Dynamic Character- "From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand" (Shakespeare127). In this scene, Macbeth vows to himself that he will no longer contemplate bad acts he wants to do, he will just do any horrible act without caring. This shows how bad of a person Macbeth had become. This makes him a dynamic character because at the beginning of the story Macbeth was a really good guy at the beginning. He was a very appreciated soldier with a pure heart. After everything that went down throughout the story, Macbeth completely changed into an evil man. This makes Macbeth a prime example of a dynamic character.
3) Dramatic Irony- "...our honored hostess! The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, which we thank as we love" (Shakespeare37). In this scene, Duncan is thanking Lady Macbeth for letting him and his men stay in her home. He is also complimenting her on how good of a hostess she is. This is dramatic irony because Lady Macbeth is acting so sweet when really she is plotting the murder of Duncan. Only the readers know what she is truly planning. All the characters believe Lady Macbeth is totally cool. This shows the readers that Duncan did not expect what was coming for him.
Movie Relation
The movie Saving Silverman relates to the character I believe to be responsible for Macbeth's downfall: Lady Macbeth. In Saving Silverman, the character Judith Fessbeggler, played by Amanda Peet, relates to Lady Macbeth. They both boss around their boyfriends/husbands. Both Judith and Lady Macbeth are dominant in their relationships. They tell their men what to do and the guys listen and obey. So, the relationships in both the movie and Macbeth relate to each other. In the link below is a trailer of Saving Silverman (If you watch just the first minute, you will see how dominant Judith is over her boyfriend Darren). There also is a picture of the cover of the movie, which shows Judith's thumb crushing Darren.
Who is to Blame?
I believe Lady Macbeth is the main cause of Macbeth's downfall. Although many different things built up to the downfall, Lady Macbeth is who drove Macbeth over the edge. First of all, when Lady Macbeth found out about what the witches tell Macbeth, she kind of goes insane and assures herself that they will kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth said, "And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty" (Shakespeare35). This is when Lady Macbeth started obsessing over the thought of Macbeth being king. She knew they had to get Macbeth to be king by killing Duncan. Conveniently, Duncan was spending the night at the Macbeth home that night. Next, Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. I believe Macbeth would not have done the deed if it wasn't for Lady Macbeth. He told her he didn't want to kill him, but she gave him this long lecture convincing him to kill the King. Lady Macbeth also said, "But screw your courage to the sticking place, and we'll not fail" (Shakespeare45). In this scene, Macbeth wanted to back out, but Lady Macbeth made sure that didn't happen. So with Lady Macbeth's encouragement, Macbeth killed Duncan even though he didn't want to. This encouragement lead to Macbeth's first bad act in the story, and from there he just went downhill. Before he was a great man, but from that point on he just kept becoming worst and worst. More into the story, Macbeth orders the murder of Banquo and his son, freaks out at a dinner "for Banquo", just keeps doing bad, crazy things. Eventually he vows to do all evil things he wants to do without thinking about it first. He says, "From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand" (Shakespeare127). He then sends murders to kill Macduff's son and wife. This is when Macbeth was probably as low as he could get. But, all of Macbeth's downward spiral started with the first murder (Duncan). Which was a murder Macbeth wouldn't have done if Lady Macbeth had not been so convincing for Macbeth to kill him. Many things played a part in Macbeth's downward spiral, but I believe Lady Macbeth was the main reason.