Gender, Guilt, and Fate - Macbeth, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 410
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2018
- This week on Crash Course Literature, John Green is continuing to talk about Shakespeare's dark, bloody, Scottish play, Macbeth. This time around, we're looking at the play's characters operate, how the play deals with gender, and the Macbeth as an early anti-hero. He's no Walter White, but you can definitely love to hate him. Or hate to love him. Or both!
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"I was a c-section baby"
- boring
- generic
- unoriginal
"I was from my mother's womb untimely ripped"
- metal as hell
- much cooler
- could be the fulfillment of a witches prophecy
What you, egg?!
[stabs him]
Me: Omelette or scrambled 😆😆😆 or maybe hard boiled
Hahah
*Dies*
When I was in my senior year of high school, I played Lady Macbeth in our production of Macbeth. It was an all boys school.
Jon Lott Well that's historically accurate to the original production at least
That's how I justified it to myself when I yelled "unsex me here."
I’m sure you were fabulous.
Which role character did you play ?or
played? Past tense🤓 well , excuse me my grammar was off😜.
Go bust somebody else's balls,k 😋😉
Not all of us went to high school G. why do you think I'm on TH-cam all the time And subscribe to this channel,To listen& learn.
Trying to have my voice out there even if I do have grammar&spelling mistakes/Miss Prince. tee hee🤣
You got to laugh😅 and love yourself😳😀yeah baby.
J.G.H.S what a terrible place to try to get an education for yourself.
A Quinn Queens "I played Lady Macbeth" (John Lott, 2018)
I always thought that lady Macbeth's kids must have been infant mortalitys, as she never talks about them as older than "babes". And it was really common for children to die before the age of 5.
I always thought it was theoretical, like, they had a kid that died and she was saying "I'm so behind killing Duncan I would've killed that child myself if it helped"
I’m not sure about the play, but I know the real-life Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had a son named Luloch (actually, I think he was Lady M’s son from a previous marriage). He actually was partially responsible for offing his stepdad and became king for a solid few months, during which he managed to earn himself the epithet of “Luloch the Idiot.”
Honestly, researching the history behind the play was more entertaining than reading the play itself.
The Wyrd Sisters - Wyrd is an old norse term very similar to fate. If something was 'wyrd' it was 'fated to happen'. Just, putting that out there. They are the fate sisters, but I think that's the original debate anyways...
Definitely "weird" has some sort of connection to magic and fate that may also connect it with the nordic term "wyrd." It's just hard to prove that that's the case in 17th Century England.
I put this same comment out in the mains, but I want to put it here, too. The Wyrd rune is the blank one. It's all kinda hearsay, but the futhark (aka alphabet... Yes, rune stones are just really old Scrabble tiles) but it seems as if the divination/magic, and the Wyrd, got added around, like 1250-1300. Prior, it seems, they were more just about stories and concepts and harvests and coping and respectful burials. They were not Christian, though, so yeah, they were "evil," (Christians might call them Pagan, but um, no) and thusly developed supernatural powers, and the Wyrd rune. From what I gather, it signifies the yet unknown, but the fact that it exists definitely implies some predestination.
Were they the ones who appear at the ending of American Gods (the book)?
And then it became “weird” and people thought it means something that could unlikely happen.
it’s the opposite then 😂
I thought it was Old English? but whatevs
Macbeth is the 17th century's "Breaking Bad." Both Walter White and Macbeth, starting out as maybe good people, resort to violence and killing to achieve their goals. White becomes "Heisenberg" and Macbeth becomes king. It doesn't end well for either of them.The will to power corrupts.
BDoug
"Breaking Bad" is the 21st Century "Macbeth"
There - I made it all better
I actually really like how Macbeth continues to fight when he realizes he will not survive his fight with Macduff, like even after he realized that he no longer has a hope he continues to fight. To me, that shows he is still a warrior despite becoming a butcher and losing everything.
Lesson of the day:
Dont convince people to kill the king of Scotland
But the king of anything else is fine
There is something fascinating about watching a character-real or fictional-slowly (or sometimes rapidly) cross over to the dark side. Literary examples include Clyde Griffiths (American Tragedy), Michael Corleone (The Godfather), and of course Frankenstein’s monster. In film, a recent famous example is Anakin Skywalker.
I really enjoy Shakespeare’s plays being analyzed
Creep XD
"You egg!"
(Min SugaMax Salt) [He stabs him]
“Young fry of treachery!”
*He dies*
"He has killed me, Mother"
the way your words flow is just, its just beautiful, its just.
amazing
This is the most tasteful and unoffensive discussion of gender roles I have ever encountered, and I feel the forum of literature was a fantastic place for it. Excellent job.
I think it's more accurate to say that Jamie Lannister went from Villain to Anti-Hero
Exactly!
I was hoping to find a comment like this so I didn't have to post it myself. Well said!
Your heroes don't throw 10 year olds out of windows to keep their incest secret? Isn't that basically the plot of Star Wars or something?
Even though I had to read this for school, I enjoyed every minute of it. We acted out the play in my class and I got to read the "out out damn spot" speech. My favorite Shakespeare play out of the four I've read. I'm planning on reading more Shakespeare for sure though.
Your mention of Jaime Lannister made me realise the extent to which Stannis parallels Macbeth
I Like Google Plus good point! And melisandre being both the wyrd sisters and lady macbeth
Shout out to all those who agree that the C-section reveal is a cop out. Dude still had a mother, are we saying that C-section babies aren't 'born'? But y'know, that's just like, my opinion man.
Remember, it's the 1600's and poetry.
I mean, yes, but for MacDuff to have been a c-section baby at the time it would have meant his mother was already dead. They didn't do c-sections on living mother's to save babies back then. When the play is set that kind of surgery would be 100% fatal. So it's not just that he was a c-section baby, but that his mother was dead before he was born.
Is not saying that yet in some way it is, like it wasn't the same to be born in marriage or out of it yet is poetry so is not meant literaly doesn't matter if Macbeth the character took it that way. But the most important thing is that hundreds of years have pass the conceptions of what woman born meant and how it could be read have changed for sure back then people believe as real lots of things we no longer do or find politically correct je and common phrases or methaphorical uses of everyday life to refer to things also change or fall to desuse like the original meaning of bastard jeje in short you can't make demands of sense to our mindset's standars to something written in times so far behind you can only research and understand how and why it made sense to them back then
It's a cop-out, but it's a very mythically resonant kind of cop-out. Same with Birnam Wood, really.
they call me the tumour baby... so.
Babylon 5 also dealt with the forgiveness issue, both in a big picture way with Londo, in a very Macbeth kind of way, feeling he cannot change his course after he starts dealing with the Shadows, and in little picture ways like the episode "Passing Through Gethsemane" where Edward explicitly asks if there is enough forgiveness for his sins.
sststr Great Maker! Wonderful comment.
I've always thought that if Macbeth hadn't run into the witches that none of the rest would have happened. Or did their predictions just speed things up? Would Macbeth's success have gone to his head and made him think he was good king material anyway?
He never thought that he would be king before the witches, and he probably would have been content being a higher thane. But Lady Macbeth may have convinced him that he could become king anyway. It is interesting to think about.
I think that as a middle class elite he is born into the desire to consolidate power for himself.
So, are you accusing the WOMEN in the play, like a consolidated, proverbial "Eve", of luring Macbeth/Adam to his demise?
As it was written to appease a new male king after a female ruler, by an English man, it shows that time periods sexism and misogyny.
So you are putting the sexism of a time period that is now over, onto me
I just LOOVE these videos!!! That you guys so much for doing what you do! 💕☺️💕
YES.😉.
rip siward's son who is murdered by macbeth
and completely forgotten by everyone
THE SCOTTISH PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"
"Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends!"
Sense and Senility
Wait... Macbeth's an antihero? No, definitely not. Being an antihero would require him to do good in spite of lacking heroic attributes. He's ultimately a villain, even if he starts out as a flawed hero. He doesn't even raise himself to the level of an antihero or antivillain.
Thanks, John, those were great vids - especially this one. Nailed all the salient points as far as I'm concerned. Interesting that the concept of manliness (and womanliness) was complex even then. And yes - it is shocking how many recent shows mirror the Macbeths and their difficult rise to power. It's a powerful story.
"Great happiness!"
I always imagined Homestar Runner's voice saying that line...
Once again, you have both intrigued me and saved my life (and my grade)! Just when I think I know everything I should about a subject, you guys blow my mind even more. Your videos always inspire me to be more enthusiastic and motivated in my educational affairs. Keep up the good work! Once a fan always a fan.
John, for someone who grew up in Florida and went to school in Alabama, I’m a little surprised you haven’t featured any Faulkner in this series. You should consider it next season.
I'm working on one of Lady Macbeth's monologues for my acting class monday and I'm so glad this came out just in time lol
I hope CashCourse gets to do A song of ice and Fire literature and Lord of The Rings?
I'm watching the Macbeth crash course episodes because I'm going to see "Sleep No More" in NYC and I need a refresher.
If you'd like to see this Macbeth trope gender flipped, I'd recommend 'Gargoyles' . The whole series is worth watching, but the episodes relevant to this Crash Course are 'The Gathering' Parts 1-5 and 'City of Stone' Parts 1- 4.
Regicide: not even once.
Loved this ! I'm an EFL teacher in high school and I find this extremely useful. I wish you made an episode about Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, one of my favourite teaching subject
"Out, Damned spot!"
Violet Moon "Hell is murky..."
I really needed this. Specifically because my English class starts Macbeth this week
I love all these videos too. thank you. They are enlightening, life-changing and entertaining
I watched Macbeth recently, and there the Witches were also ambiguous about their gender. They all had a long tail hair, they wear male uniforms for an insane asylum (and the clothes they stripped from a dead soldier), two were played by women, one was played by a man who acted out an.. ehm.. unappropriate scene that implied "him" to have a male sexual organ, but he was still talked to as "Sorera" by his sisters
Macbeth is my personal favorite play of all time. Though it is short, all of its elements come together & twist away again, & it’s questions are put to the audience in such a way that it harrows my soul. Banquo & lady Macbeth are like alternate versions of Macbeth if his choices had been different.
Even the treacherous Thane of Cawdor seems to foreshadow Macbeth’s story in a subtle way.
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He [Thane of Cawdor] was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.” - King Duncan
Thank you! More Shakespeare please!!! Especially Richard II and Othello! Yours are excellent videos, very informative as well as entertaining.
Thank you once again, John Green.
Now we desperately need next season of CC Literature to include Othello!
Fantastic video as always, John & Crew!
Excellent analysis! Thank you so much for making these videos.
Oh my god, I aced my freakin' test on Macbeth! Thanks so much, John Green!
You're making this series just as I'm reading Macbeth!
this is my new favorite crash course video, amazing!!
This ended and I applauded (thank goodness I was alone in my classroom during plan hour). I will be recommending my students watch this prior to writing their essay.
Kafka on the Shore please!
i'm really interested in talking about japanese literature (although Murakami's works are often regarded as "un-japanese") especially international bestseller authors like Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro
Thank you we were about to start learning this now i can seem smart .You and your brother are my heroes
Mr Green, thank you, you are amazing! Keep on with these awesome videos!
brilliant.... subscribed!
Love to see some older literary works! Beowulf, Sir Gawain, Paradise Lost, Oronooko, ... Let's go crazy ;)
How would Macbeth and Lady Macbeth act if the roles were reversed? Would Lady Macbeth feel the same if she was the killer? I'm sure this has already been theorized in a gender-swapped version of the play.
Very good video and explaination!
I love watching vlog brothers and then hopping over here right after.
Hey there, I know this'll probably get lost in the vast sea of comments, but could you guys please consider making one on A Tale of Two Cities? It's far and away my favorite book, full to the brim of Dickensian themes and characters, and honestly shook me to my core as a human when I read it. Thanks!
Excellent stuff! Thank you! 💎💎💎
But Shakespeare's actors crossdressed because female actors were not allowed on stage.
Edge Of Light he mentions that in the video
There is a typo on the description, in "we're looking at the play's characters operate". It's missing a "how"
I love your work man,you should be given Oscars in content creation
Need a video on the awakening, the bean trees, or i know why the caged bird sings. Please AP English summer reading is killing me!
Thank you so much for making this video. Could you please make a video on 'An inspector Calls' and 'A Christmas Carol'?
You rock, John Green!
i honestly love macbeth so much, i'm very glad i'm studying it for gcse :)
This video will Help me for my exam thanks for this!
This is gonna save my life on my Macbeth English exam! Thx
Omg please do War & Peace next!
it'd be real awesome to have a crash course on joyce's ulysses!!
I’d love to see a video on A Midsummer’s Night Dream! An interpretation of the fairies would be very interesting.
The theological question makes me think of the debate of effectiveness of death penalty also
I love the cadence and the tone of your voice John, I could listen to you go on about the books that you are passionate about all day.
It's interesting exploring the ideas of masculinity and femininity in the play. Last year I actually got to see a college production of Macbeth that, because of how many people auditioned, was genderswaped.
That was, of course, the only time I'd seen Macbeth, but it was a great show and offered insight for these last couple episodes.
just needed this for freshman year
Brave New World, perhaps? Thank you for all the great work you guys do!!:)
John, you should definitely cover Flowers In The Attic - V.C. Andrews!
Macbeth: The original Game of Thrones
Violet Moon Romance of Three Kingdoms I believe came out before that. It's a lot like Game of Thrones
Merrutt Animation huh good point, definitely something to look into reading
Romance lacks the anyone can die at any time motif. case and point Lu Bu kills literally a thousand guys
After a while the whole 'hanging sword' feeling gets a bit boring, I can deal with a decisive death dealer (that sounds wrong. I'm not a serial killer btw)
I agree if you want to create tension folks need to die witch in Macbeth they do all the time
I love this series!! Can you do one episode about Julius Caesar as well??
John Green you are and you will always be the best
Wish this was video was out last year when I was doing gcse English lit haha
SoLITarybeauty Ugh, same. Would have been really helpful! Ah well
I'm studying Macbeth right now for GCSE and this is really fitting! :)
Exo_bangtantrash same! plus I'm exo bangtan trash too
These videos are great - always so helpful!!
Are you guys going to do Animal Farm anytime soon? I would love to watch a video on that. There’s so much symbolism and so many messages!
Educational!
You left out Frank Underwood,... Probably the most Macbeth like character in contemporary television. Even includes the ambitious wife.
he doesnt really have a journey though :)
Francis Urquhart and his wife are even more like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, although a little less contemporary (the characters of the British books and TV series upon which the US House of Cards is based). Francis is also encouraged and to an extent manipulated by his wife far more than Frank, although he doesn't take long to fall.
Frank doesn’t begin as a hero on the show, though. By the time we catch up to him, he’s already insufferable
He doesn't have any of Macbeth's instabilities and originally good naturedness tho.
Nah, Frank Underwood's literary ancestor is definitely Richard III. Though yeah, he's married to Lady M; it's not a one-to-one retelling. Macbeth is a good man who goes bad, and Underwood is never good.
please do one for julius ceaser like the Shakespeare play
If anything, Jamie Lannister developed from villain or anti-hero to hero, not the other way around.
I'd kill for a Midnight's Children video
Where was this when I had to do my AP Lit criticism presentation on Macbeth!
Lady Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare characters because she’s one of his best written females, love these videos! Keep it up💞
Couldn't be more clutch. My English essay exam on Macbeth is literally tomorrow
I just watched the Cincinnati Shakespeare company's production of Macbeth, in it they had lady Macbeth give birth to a stillborn baby at the beginning of a play, and made it seem throughout like her ambition to be queen was to have someone good for her family, since she couldn't give her husband a child. They also had malcom and banquo's kid be girls, that was cool
Do Carrie! It’s an amazing number that deserves a lot of analyzation
impressed!
I would love to play Lady Macbeth at some point in my life. An actress' dream, or at the very least, this actress' dream.
I can't wait until the day you do Julius Caesar. You guys have the best Shakespeare analyses!
*I LOVE THESE VIDEOS THANK YOU! ❤️😁*
The three witches from Hercules... YES
I MAY OR MAY NOT BE CRYING RIGHT NOW!!!!
You are always awesome.
bruh the first time he is mentioned isnt by the sergant its by the witches on the heath in the very first scene "there to meet with Macbeth"
Please do a video analysis on The Little Prince please! 😮
I had to research this cause i had the same question but for anyone questioning why he keeps bring up masculine and feminine uses in the english language when the english language doesn't have masculine and feminine in its language like spanish or german. Turns out that old english and middle english did have masculine and feminine but was phased out during middle english.
This was actually good.