In this essay, I will compare how heroes’ flaws are presented in, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Macbeth’.
Firstly, a heroic character is one that is brave and determined and in this essay, I will compare how heroes flaws are presented in ‘ A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Macbeth’.
During the opening scenes, Macbeth is not present but we can still see how he is described as ‘brave’ by Captain and Macbeth and is highly regarded, as he is described as a ‘valiant cousin’ and a ‘worthy man’ by King Duncan. These praises convey to the audience that Macbeth has the characteristics of a hero. This gives the audience the impression that Macbeth is a powerful warrior and regarded as a hero by many. At the start, we can see that Macbeth has the trust of all main characters such as the king and captain and that this trust will be changed as the play develops. We can see Macbeth as a positive noble warrior to the start of the play and this was the main intention of William Shakespeare as it will be used to foreshadow how negative the end will be. Through the start of the play we cannot notice many flaws but recognise Macbeth’s many strengths.
In terms of context, soldiers were treated to the highest of standards and were thought of as heroic by the public, the reason being, they were very brave and moreover, many people in the audience would of had first hand experience with this kind of profession. They could relate to it and this would of increased the character’s status. An example of this courageous behaviour is,’Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe’. This meant that they (Macbeth and Banquo) increased their strength against that of a fully fledged Norwegian army. The quote,’ fixed his head upon our battlements’ means that Macbeth beheads a traitor on the battlefield against the Norwegians. This suggests Macbeth’s blind rage for killing and how it is one of his greatest strengths. Shakespeare adds suspenseful hints that Macbeth could manipulate his power to also develop a darker side. Shakespeare’s description of Macbeth make the reader feel as though Macbeth lacks any feelings about bloodshed. After his “single handed” victory against the Norwegians Macbeth has been commended the title, ‘thane of cawdor’ and this is a true portrayal of the respect he receives from the King. There is a slight sense of the danger he poses though.
“For Brave Macbeth well he deserves that name disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution like valor’s minion.” (Act 1 Scene 2). As a heroic honorable warrior interested in serving and protecting his homeland. It portrays Macbeth’s true personality and how is he is blind to his heroic fierceness. The metaphor ‘brandished steel’ literally means, a dangerous weapon made of steel. This provides clarity of how indestructible Macbeth is and how this is has built him a reputation of a noble warrior. The phrase ‘bloody execution’ creates the feeling of Macbeth as a barbaric killer who wishes to exert the most painful death possible to his enemy. I believe that this is very unheroic as a hero only serves justice but Macbeth enjoys decapitating his enemy. This hints to the reader that Macbeth may have a mixture of two personalities. This also creates fear of the unknown in the reader. We could say that this quote could be that which lacks originality and therefore considered a cliche because heroes are known to be arrogant and immortal.
Moreover, the dramatic irony to the play is that the bloodthirsty behaviour shown by Macbeth will soon get the better of him and it will eventually cause his downfall. This means that this play is an example of Shakespeare’s long list of tragedies involving the failure of the protagonist.
On the other hand, we meet the main character in ‘ A Christmas Carol’ called Ebenezer Scrooge. The novella is not an example of a tragedy like Macbeth but follows the opposite agenda therefore it is regarded as a comedy. Overall Contextually When comparing, we need to take into account that A Christmas Carol is a more recent novella written nearly 250 years after Macbeth therefore we need to consider that both were written in a different tradition and era.
Firstly, my first impression of Scrooge is of a greedy miser and this is displayed when he shows his gratitude towards the poor, “I wish to be left alone”. The quote gives the impression that Scrooge is an anti-social niggard. Although he is very wealthy, he wishes to be detached from society. This is also portrayed further on when he is visited by the charity workers, ‘If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population’. Through this quote, we learn how dismissive Scrooge is towards the lives of other people. This creates the feeling of Scrooge as a loner who knows no more than his back garden. His response also creates the feeling of him as a judgemental character.We begin to notice Scrooge’s flaw on page 2 as he is described as,’a squeezing,wrenching,grasping,scraping,clutching covetous old sinner’. We know from this quote and so far that Scrooge is unpopular in society. Scrooge’s character flaw is that he is a miser and vicious financial operator. ’Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him and when they saw him coming on would tug their owners into doorways and up courts’. This quote suggests that Scrooge is not accepted by nearly all members of society going to the extent of animals. I believe that this is an exaggeration to show the effect being a miser can have on a character. As the charity workers are still in his presence,Scrooge says, ‘I can’t afford to make idle people merry’. This response from Scrooge demonstrates a very negative and mean spirited attitude with his use of the adjective ‘idle’.This creates an image of him as a judgmental character who makes extensive generalisations about the poor.
Contextually, Dickens had written this novella from his point of view of when he was a child. His father had been jailed for debt and they didn’t spend much time together. Dickens was also forced to work in a factory by his mother as well as being rejected by a women he had fallen in love with (Maria Beadnell). His hate for the poor could have originated from working at the factory. At the time most poor people had worked in factories and we know that Dickens never wanted to work there. Scrooge is a character who is considered a loner and anti-social we can compare this to Dickens as he never spent much time with his family and his rejection by Maria Beadnell would have caused him to have some sort of break down.
At this point, we can clearly contrast the differences and similarities between Macbeth and Scrooge at the start of the play and the novella. Macbeth is a patriotic warrior who commits heroic action whereas Scrooge is a wealthy old English man who pleasures from the misfortune of others at the same time being anti-social.
Moments before Scrooge is visited by Marley’s ghost, ‘Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened’. This is an example of pathetic fallacy where the weather shows character emotions. At the first sight of Marley’s ghost,’ Mercy, why do you trouble me’. This demonstrates that Scrooge isn’t truly how he is portrayed and he does have weaknesses and in this case it is fear. We begin to notice an increase in flaws being developed in Scrooge’s character as he is struck back when he recognises the door handle to have the same physical appearance as his dead friend Marley. The door handle also starts to speak to him causing more cause for concern. The author describes Scrooge’s’ feelings as that his ‘blood was not conscious’. As supernatural occurrences were considered a myth at time, the story of a door handle talking to someone would make people think of Scrooge as psychologically insufficient
We begin to notice flaws in Macbeth through his conversation with the witches when he hears their predictions, ’All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor’’ Macbeth is currently the Thane of Glamis and not the Thane of Cawdor. The witches then continue to say ‘All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter’ therefore they predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor then he will be the king. We can see that Macbeth is giving in to the temptations of the predictions as he says,’Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more’. I believe that at this point Macbeth’s main flaw is ambition. This is because he is easily deceived in to making decisions based on the prediction of the witches. At the time witches were believed to be demons and in the bible it said,’”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This meant that you should not let a witch live.
Envy and ambition were Macbeth’s main heroic flaws presented in the play. Envy is a sixth deadly sin and is the desire of possession of another’s qualities. This relates to the strong Christian beliefs at the time. We can surely say that Lady Macbeth had played a large role in convincing her husband Macbeth into killing Banquo and Duncan and to take the throne.
To conclude, at the end of ‘A Christmas Carol’, Scrooge ends a reformed character, this is visible after he had seen just how ill the son of Bob Cratchett (Worker) Tiny Tim was. This was because the Bob wasn’t being paid enough to treat his son. In the final pages, Scrooge repeats Tiny Tim’s statement, ‘ God bless us everyone’. This is symbolic of his change of heart.
Towards the end of Macbeth, we can see how Macbeth is totally flawed as he has killed his best friend, he has fallen into the hands of the witches. The witches had played Macbeth through from the start as all the prophecies had come in line as to how he was killed. At the end of the play, Macbeth dies a death from the hands of Macduff which foreshadows how Macbeth had Macduff’s family killed.
Recent Comments