WRITING A LITERARY ANALYSIS. The Tragedy of Macbeth

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Roderick Griffith
5 years ago
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1 WRITING A LITERARY ANALYSIS The Tragedy of Macbeth

2 WHAT IS A LITERARY ANALYSIS? A literary analysis involves reading the play as one would any other piece of literature, and then analyzing the literary elements and devices (characters, themes, imagery, motif, structure, language, etc.) therein.

3 LET S TAKE A LOOK AT MACBETH S TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW SOLILOQUY Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. How the days stretched out each one the same as the one before, and they would continue to do so, tediously, until the end of history. And every day we have lived has been the last day of some other fool s life, each day a dot of candle-light showing him the way to his death-bed. Blow the short candle out: life was no more than a walking shadow a poor actor who goes through all the emotions in one hour on the stage and then bows out. It was a story told by an idiot, full of noise and passion, but meaningless.

4 WHAT S THIS SOLILOQUY ABOUT? ANALYSIS: This is surely the moment when Macbeth realizes that the prophesies on which, encouraged by his wife, he has gambled everything were false. When he hears that his wife is dead he mutters, She should have died hereafter (he could have added if the story was true ) but she didn t and so what is the truth he is having to face up to? He pauses as the realization sinks in, and then he starts his depressed speech in which he recognizes that he is about to lose the time before him will drag out interminably and it is all a waste of time. He is just another fool who got it all wrong.

5 AH, BUT THERE IS A FORMULA FOR WRITING ANALYSIS: CLAIM, WARRANT, DATA Macbeth s soliloquy beginning Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from Act V occurs at a pivotal time in the play s actions. Macbeth has just learned that his wife has died, presumably by her own hands, and he realizes the witches predictions were all tricks and deception. He muses that his life Creeps in this petty pace from day to day to indicate that another day in his life results in a futile and monotonous crawl towards its inescapable end. CLAIM (this is what you re trying to prove, based on your analysis of the text) Explain your claim (also known as a WARRANT). You have to do this A LOT in your paragraph. TEXTUAL EVIDENCE to support your CLAIM

6 KEEP LITERARY PRESENT TENSE WHEN WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE Macbeth s soliloquy beginning Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from Act V occurs at a pivotal time in the play s actions. Macbeth has just learned that his wife has died, presumably by her own hands, and he realizes the witches predictions deceived him. He muses that his life Creeps in this petty pace from day to day to indicate that another day in his life results in futile and monotonous crawl toward its inescapable end. NOTE: There are no to be verbs; only use action verbs Use PRESENT TENSE when giving analysis of the play. NOTE: Use active voice (not passive voice) EX: The farmer planted the seed. (active) The seeds were planted by the farmer (passive)

7 NOW YOU TRY CLAIM: The theme of this soliloquy considers time and fate. GIVE SOME TYPE OF CONTEXT: When Macbeth hears that his wife is dead, he expresses his indifference to the occasion. DATA: USE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: insert quote here. WARRANT: Now insert an explanation of the quote you used. Now discuss the use of some literary device (metaphor or repetition) that is used to enhance the theme of time and fate.

8 WHAT DID WE COME UP WITH? Macbeth s Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy from Act V, scene v, considers the vainness of the concept of time and role that fate has on his life. When Macbeth hears that his wife is dead, he expresses his indifference to the occasion by explaining, She should have died hereafter. For Macbeth, death is merely a last act of a bad play, and like an idiot s story that is full of melodrama and bombast, the end result of life is death. To Macbeth, life has become meaningless. He uses the metaphor of an actor on stage to explain that life, like a play, has a wellplanned script; however, Macbeth realizes that real human life is a bad play, and thus, is an illusion. Killing King Duncan, taking his throne, and reflecting on all the terrible crimes he committed in name of ambition, Macbeth realizes that Life s but a walking shadow. He continues the metaphor that life is just a shadow spread by a candle, which is perhaps the soul, and hence the fate of Macbeth s life turns grim.

Read the book by a week from Wed/Thursday 25th/26th as you would a novel in college.

Reading schedule Read the book by a week from Wed/Thursday 25th/26th as you would a novel in college. Discussion/ reading checks for the following pages will take place on: The book takes place in real