Every Text Has Its Use By Date - Macbeth, William Shakespeare

Essay by WeinerTacoHigh School, 10th gradeA, May 2004

download word file, 3 pages 1.0

I think the idea of every text having a use by date is incorrect and I will therefore argue against the topic. There are a few things which can help to keep texts from ever having their use by date and as a result proving my argument. For example, texts, such as Macbeth, can always be changed slightly and interpreted differently to make them interesting time and time again, for old and new audiences. Also, just because a text was written a long period of time ago doesn't mean that it still won't be interesting, as the events and themes in it can still be relevant to the current time and its happenings.

One of the main reasons that proves that texts don't have a use by date is the fact that an older text can involve events or ideas that are relevant to modern audiences' daily lives. Some of the ideas explored in Macbeth are ambition, guilt, greed, cruelty, hostilities between good and evil, the rule of leader, the purpose of human existence and supernatural happenings.

These all tie in with peoples every day life.

For example, ambition was a major factor in Macbeth and plays an important role in practically everyone's daily life. In Macbeth it was ambition that drove Macbeth to commit the acts that he did and in modern times business is becoming more and more competitive in today's society so as a result ambition, and its destructive nature, becomes more of an issue.

Also, the idea of hostilities between good and evil, order and disorder and the rule of a leader, which are major components of Macbeth, are relevant to the military action in the Iraq War which has affected a lot of the world. These and other ideas interest people from all time periods...