What grade would I get for this Macbeth Essay and how can I improve?

Describe at least one important technique used in the written text.
Explain how this technique helped you to understand one or more key ideas.

“All the world’s a stage.” This famous quote by William Shakespeare, author of Macbeth, underlines the theme that reality is subjective, which is a key idea demonstrated throughout the play. Shakespeare presents this idea to the audience through the use of a variety of language features in in three significant monologues, being “Was the hope drunk,” “Is this a dagger I see before me,” and “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” These dramatic demonstrations stimulate emotional responses in the audience and can be linked outside of the text to Plato’s Allegory of The Cave.

Shakespeare introduces the key idea that reality is subjective in Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy, “Was the hope drunk?” through the use of repetition, an important technique. “When you durst do it, then you were a man, and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than the man.” Shakespeare has used the repetition of the word “man” to illustrate how Lady Macbeth is trying to emasculate her husband so he will kill King Duncan and take the throne himself. This links to the idea as it shows how Lady Macbeth has decided that getting the throne is their reality, and she expects Macbeth to fulfil this “manly” role to make this happen. This makes the audience feel pensive, but small, as it shows us how we choose the script we want to read from and assign others roles that benefit us. Shakespeare builds on this idea through lady Macbeth’s analogy, another important technique. “I would … have plucked my nipple from [my baby’s] boneless gum and dashed his brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” Shakespeare uses this analogy to show us how she is trying to make her husband feel shameful that he hasn’t lived up to a stereotypically masculine role and suggests that even she would be prepared to do it herself. This links to the idea as it shows his predetermined role that Lady Macbeth has assigned to her husband is being used to gain control over him, as he wants to fulfil this stereotypic, subjective role expected of a man like him. The key idea that reality is subjective is also an important idea in this play, as the techniques used in Lady Macbeth’s monologue can be linked outside of the text to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The prisoners in the cave have created the shadows to be real to them as they have never know differently, therefore effectively assigning a reality to themselves, like how Lady Macbeth has assigned a reality to herself where she gets the throne.

After setting up the key idea that reality is subjective in Lady Macbeth’s monologue, Shakespeare builds on this in Macbeth’s monologue, “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” through the use of a rhetorical question, an important technique. “Is this a dagger which I see before me? I have thee not and yet I see thee still.” Shakespeare uses this rhetorical question to demonstrate to us how Macbeth is beginning to question reality as he says that either his eyes are deceiving him, or everything else is. This links to the idea as it illustrates how while the dagger is subjectively there for his eyes, he cannot perceive it with any other sense. Shakespeare builds on this idea through the use of alliteration. “There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes.” The alliteration is an important technique as Shakespeare uses it to emphasise how Macbeth has come to the conclusion that the dagger isn’t objectively present. This links to the idea as it conveys how while the dagger isn’t there for anyone that walks by, it has been created within Macbeth, so while it lasts, is there for him. This makes the audience feel interested and happy by thinking about how what we see is not always what is there for other people, so we can choose to accept whether or not it is there for us. The key idea that reality is subjective is also an important idea in this play, as the techniques used in Macbeth’s monologue can be linked outside of the text to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The shadows on the cave walls are similar to the dagger, as they can both only be perceived through the eyes, yet can still be accepted as reality.

In addition to the previous two monologues, Shakespeare concludes the presentation of the idea that reality is subjective with Macbeth’s soliloquy, “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” An example of this is demonstrated through a metaphor, when Macbeth says, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” Shakespeare’s use of the metaphor is an important technique as it compares death to sombre ideas, conveying how after his wife dies, Macbeth decides though life is full of events, it is absurd, short, and completely meaningless at the end. This links to the idea as it demonstrates to the audience how since we struggle to find a objective meaning in life, we move on to finding a more subjective meaning, that at times can be very nihilistic. This makes the audience feel moved and content, by showing us how while the question is the same for everyone, the answer can vary. Shakespeare builds on this key idea through another sombre metaphor. “Life is a tale told by an idiot; full of sound and signifying nothing.” Shakespeare uses this important technique to exhibit how Macbeth has suddenly developed a very nihilistic approach to life. This links to the idea as it demonstrates how Macbeth’s subjective perspective on life has completely changed following his wife’s death, and only now he has become indifferent to her death and his upcoming doom. The key idea that reality is subjective is also an important idea in this play, as the techniques used in Macbeth’s Soliloquy can be linked outside of the text to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Macbeth has assigned a subjective meaning to life, like how the prisoners have assigned a subjective meaning to the shadows.

“All the world’s a stage.” Is this metaphor true? William Shakespeare helps the audience to decide through the presentation of a challenging idea that reality is subjective. This theory is shown throughout the play including in the three important monologues, “Was the hope drunk,” “Is this a dagger which I see before me” and “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” In doing so, he is able to stimulate audience emotional responses, and his examples are able to be linked outside of the text to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

Morena. What a great text!
This is a solid essay and you certainly know the play well. To improve the essay you could develop the thematic discussion a little more. Tease out the notion of the subjective reality a little, but it is an E .
:grinning: