Reading Journal Act 1t

 Scene 1

The gothic genre is introduced immediately as they meet in thunder and lightening. Three witches meet in the heath to confront Macbeth, after the battle. We immediately see the witches as being behind key events of the play.

 Scene 2


King Duncan asks the wounded messenger about the battle. The captains talks about Macbeth's and Banquos bravery, and Macbeth's slaying of Macdonald. The bloodshed and macbeth's bravery  links in with the gothic hero genre. Duncan concludes that the thane of Cawdor should be killed for being traitorous and Macbeth be given his title.

 Scene 3

The three witches reappear after “killing swine”, Macbeth and Banquo come and are horrified to see the ugly witches. The witches predict his new title of the thane of Cawdor, they also they that he will be king one day, Macbeth demands more information. The witches also tell Banquo that he will not be king but his children will sit the throne one day. They vanish once Macbeth asks for more information. Macbeth secretly wishes for these things to come true.

Macbeth and Banquo begin discussing their prophecies, but  the arrival of Ross and Angus follows Ross proving the witches right by bestowing Macbeth's new title. Secretly hoping he will be king one day he speaks to himself about whether he will actually attempt to claim the crown.

 Scene 4

At the king’s palace Duncan’s son Malcolm tells of how Cawdor dies nobly, confessing his crimes. Macbeth and Banquo enter with Ross and Angus, and Duncan thanks both Macbeth and Banquo for their heroic battle and tells of how Malcolm will be his heir. Macbeth leaves to tell Lady Macbeth of the king’s arrival to dine at his castle later on.


 Scene 5

Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth  stating his new title and his meeting with the witches; she thinks that he would’t make a good king but she begins to plot and to imagine her own power as consort.. She shows her manipulative side  by convincing Macbeth what he needs to do to seize the crown. The king and Macbeth are announced. She performs her soliloquy saying that she will do whatever she must to seize the crown for Macbeth " unsex me here " etc .Macbeth enters, and she recites the plan to him all the way sucking up to him. Lady macbeth can be thought as Macbeth's evil half.

Scene 6


Duncan, the Scottish thanes, and their attendants arrive outside Macbeth’s castle. He admires the castles beauty and thanks Lady Macbeth for her kindness; she says it is her duty. Duncan is taken inside to Macbeth. The king is oblivious to their plans.

 Scene 7

Inside Macbeth's home Macbeth's paces as he ponders the idea of killing  Duncan.
He concludes that there is no real reason to kill the king other than him and his wife’s own greed. Lady Macbeth announces that the king is ready to eat. Macbeth declares that he no longer intends to kill Duncan to which his wife is angered,  calling him a coward and mocking him on his manhood, which portrays her evil and spitefulness well.   Amazed with his wife’s plans and confidence, he  agrees to the murder. This shows Macbeth is easily influenced by his wife.




Conclusion


The storyline develops in that the plan for the kings murder is revealed and the main characters are developped. The reader starts to realise the extent of lady macbeth's evil and the macbeth's conscience, which is important.

Gothic

Gothic elements in Act One - Macbeth

The first act of Macbeth has numerous gothic elements. First of all, the setting ‘Thunder and lightning’ gives a ominous tone to the play, and the conception of dark yet light relates to gothic locations or setting. The imagery used in the first scene sets the mood for the rest of the play, by describing the weather, the mysterious witches and what they may be planning, The question of ' who is macbeth? ', the use of language by the witches ‘fair is foul and foul is fair:’, this riddle, almost chanting style of dialogue used by the witches adds mystery to their characters and also the plot. Also, The reader, gathering information and ideas from the first scene gets the idea that something bad is going to happen due to the mystery and the language used by the witches. All of these methods portray classic gothic elements.

Throughout the act there is evidence of prophetical speech not only from the three witches but also from Banquo and Lady Macbeth, this emphasises the theme of meta physicality within the play and thus the gothic element that this entails. In Scene 6, Lady Macbeth doubts Macbeth's character 'Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o'th' milk of human kindness', in scene 7, this prophetical dialogue is proven true by Macbeth's immediate doubts of the murder of Duncan, ‘bloody instructions which being taught, return to plague th’inventor’. Macbeth and his wife seem to portray two different sides of macbeth, the evil, planning side of him and also the good, calm side of him, this suggests a psychological approach, often seen in gothic novels.

An interesting gothic element of Act 1 which stands out is the idea of dark yet light, both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth make a reference to this. In Scene 4 Macbeth in a soliloquy says ‘Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires'. This suggests that Macbeth doesn’t want the stars to shine their light so that his evil deeds can be concealed in darkness, a possible reference to his own conscience and his unwillingness to see his darker side? This quote displays the dark, sinister thoughts that are going on inside Macbeth’s head.The idea of darkness emphasises the gothic theme of the play, as darkness in itself is an ominous and sinister factor, yet the way in which they both desire darkness could suggest how dark they have become through their deeds.

A Marxist criticism of George Orwell's nineteen eighty four

“Nineteen eighty four”, published in 1949 is one of George Orwell's most famous novels. Set in “Oceania”, the power base of the oligarchical “Party”, the all seeing, all knowing government. In “1984”, George Orwell portrays his opinions about the highly marginalised class system. He shows the values of socialism and the possible nightmare that capitalism could evolve into.

The protagonist in the story, Winston, works for the Outer party in the ministry of truth. However, secretly hating the party, he dreams of one day rebelling. Winston is a classic example of themes touched in Marxist ideals such as the lower class rebelling against the elitist, known as the revolution of the proletariat. Marxism tells us that capitalism thrives on exploiting its labourers, so that only the elite hold the power, free to use the masses which they deem dispensable, at their disposal.This is evident in “1984” as the Party uses the general population as tools, to fund and facilitate their constant wars.The party dehumanises them in that Big brother removes their personal freedoms, control minds, they prohibit creative thought, even as far as outlawing emotions, stripping down humanity to the flesh, tools.

The party itself is autocratic, dictatorial in that it controls every single aspect of life. Their power is unquestionable and infinite. They not only control the masses physically with walls and borders, yet also mentally with mind control, control of free thought and free actions.This is apparent in marxist doctrine in that the advanced capitalism of the party determines the social superstructure, therefore restricting creative efforts. People are no longer free. The shadow of authority, that of the Party is overwhelming and successful, therefore public receptiveness and opinion is unimportant because their domination of the mental and the physical is irrefutable, agreeing with the marxist theory that people are not free, they only think they are.

The overwhelming actions of the party mean that Winston and Julia desire to rebel, however they are so brainwashed and unable to articulate their thoughts that they do not have the passion to rise up.This is common in history such as the failed revolution of 1905 in Russia. The people were so consumed by society and the conservative bubble that they lived in that they were neither ready or capable of rising up and overthrowing the elite that continued to squash them. Marxism supports the idea of the proletariat, the working class, rising up and taking power, changing the mode of production, changing the social circumstances in which people feel so trapped and lost.

Orwell was a strong supporter of socialism, seeking a world based on harmony and socialist ideals. “1984” was an attempt to educate and show people the possible outcome of capitalism and the values and advantages of socialism. He prayed for people to stand up and use their voice, to deter oppression and injustice. In conclusion, George Orwell's 1984 is a perfect marxist example of the possible outcome of capitalism and the need for social change, not just on a local, national, world level, but also on a personal level.