Change in Macbeth

Essay by leeman1337High School, 10th gradeB, November 2014

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"discuss how change can have negative consequences"'

Change occurs in many different forms and is carried out in many different ways. Change often ultimately results in negative consequences as people are not prepared for the unexpected and fails to handle the problems correctly. Through the viewing of "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare and "The Red and the Black" directed by Jean Daniel Verhaeghe, both texts explores the negativity of change in one's perosonality and the way it affects their actions.

The change in Macbeth is mainly affected by the external influences such as Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches' prophecies that he will be the future king king "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter! ". Pushed by the idea that he could be king, his growing ambition and misplaced confidence in the prophecies and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth begins to become an evil, murderous but also a mentally broken tyrant.

Lady Macbeth attacks his manhood by saying "when you durst do it, then you were a man," which brought out his egotistical nature as men were regarded to have a higher status in the English Renaissance. Macbeth's evil deed causes him to suffer from fear and guilt, which leads to irrational thinking and even more dispicable crimes. Macbeth becomes paranoid, suffering from hallucinations and sleeplessness. He becomes less human as he tries over and over to establish his manhood.

Similarly, in The Red and The Black directed by Jean Daniel Verhaeghe, Julien Sorel, a low class born peasant who also possesses an ambitious nature, seeks to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing using his natural born intellectual talents. Sorel is over-passionate about rising to the glorious heights of French society and is also driven by his Napoleon like qualities, which plays an important role in his process of change.