Macbeth

Introduction :-

  I think that 21st century text is anything that has to do with the modern era. It has to deal with the technology, the language, the art, and the entertainment. Macbeth is defiantly outdated with the storyline and the culture but the poetry and the themes are still very relevant. Even though people cannot relate to Macbeth murdering a king to become king, people can relate to the guilt and shame that Macbeth felt throughout the book. So in the very literal sense Macbeth is not up to date in his language, and his metaphors but if a person were to read between the lines and get the deeper of the book they will find it easy to relate to. I defiantly feel that audiences can still grow and learn from reading this book. It has a very timeless meaning to it any person at any age can relate in some way or another.

Macbeth discussion  session by " Dilip Barad sir " :-

Relevance of Macbeth in the 21st Century :-

Shakespeare's play “Macbeth” continues to remain relevant to contemporary society through his exploration of ambition, a political and ethical value that is a double-edged sword, able to provide success and catastrophic failure.

I think that 21st century text is anything that has to do with the modern era. It has to deal with the technology, the language, the art, and the entertainment. Macbeth is defiantly outdated with the storyline and the culture but the poetry and the themes are still very relevant. Even though people cannot relate to Macbeth murdering a king to become king, people can relate to the guilt and shame that Macbeth felt throughout the book. So in the very literal sense Macbeth is not up to date in his language, and his metaphors but if a person were to read between the lines and get the deeper of the book they will find it easy to relate to. I defiantly feel that audiences can still grow and learn from reading this book. It has a very timeless meaning to it any person at any age can relate in some way or another.

 Macbeth will be a text that will be read for a long time. It is very much a 21st text, because of how many schools use it in their curriculums. Many English classes use it to help students to understand and take in the olden literature of Shakespeare. Macbeth, is in a way difficult to understand the old style of writing and speaking, but once you can learn the main messeage that Shakespeare is trying to portray, there is a deep meaning within his stories. Macbeth is very moving and a very bloody story, but it can get a message across to students who read the old text. Macbeth is a text about trust, remorse, and other such feelings that is important to the student life and in the past, it was even used in colleges. Now that our education system is getting more advanced, schools are now using Macbeth in highschools. This shows that Macbeth will be used for a very long time for more than just educational purposes.

Macbeth v/s present day :-

• Ambition:-
  
  
  
• Muder:-
  
  
  
• Violence:-
  
  
  

  
  

Many people may consider Shakespeare old fashion, and definatley not a 21st century writer. Yet, in my own opinion i feel that Shakespeare had alot of 21st century thoughts and ideas in his plays. In Macbeth for instance Shakespeare uses 21st ideas such as guilt, betrayal, and love. All three of those ideas are still currently used in modern day 21st century Hollywood. His work might've been written 500 years ago, but his writings still have the same meaning now as they did then.

A person that lives in the 21st century has more to read from than a person who lives in the past. Everyone in today's world has so many books to choose from that they can read. Text has been changing from one century to the other ever since it started. The text in the 21st century is more simple than the text used from other centuries. Anyways, Macbeth does consider to be a 21st century text to me because it still persuades the same ideas from other centuries ago. The ideas that are used in Macbeth are still used today in movies, literature, and tv. Every quote in Macbeth has a signifance to our text in the 21st century. Audiences who read Macbeth will still understand what the meaning of the text is. By reading Macbeth audiences can grow from Macbeth and still understand what the text means in the future. Text from other centuries will never disappear because it still is used with text from this century.

Now, onto some psychological issues throughout the play. They are seen in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and both revolve around the guilt that they have for the deeds they have committed. Macbeth has seen visions twice throughout the book, once in act two, and the second time in act three. The first vision that Macbeth has is of “A dagger of the mind, a false creation.” 

Ambition and Power:-

Ambition is still a popular theme because it leads to interesting consequences and it is an interesting motivation for characters. Guilt and remorse is still relevant today because people today still feel guilt and remorse when they do something wrong. It allows people to relate to the story.

   In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the themes of ambition and power corrupting are presented as vices of the protagonist, Macbeth, and serve to cause his tragic downfall. Macbeth first gains power in the beginning of the play when he defeats the Thane of Cawdor, a traitor to Scotland. The Witches professed this and it caused Macbeth to believe that whatever they said would come true. When they told him he would one day become the King of Scotland, he decided to take a bloody path, which progressively led him to more power. As his power grew, his corruption did as well, and he simply got rid of any person that threatened his kingship by killing them. Macbeth’s power and ambition untimely commenced to lead him down a slippery, murderous downfall. 

Macbeth’s ambition is the essential reason why he turned from a noble Thane to a violent and bloody tyrant. Initially after gaining the title of Thane of Cawdor, he remained humble and morally upright. However, soon after the victory, he heard of the Witches’ prophecy and realized the untapped ambition within himself. Although he had come across ambition, his intention to use it was little. It was Lady Macbeth that fully persuaded Macbeth to use his ambition in order to gain power and position. Under her influence, Macbeth murdered King Duncan to gain kingship and killed the Chamberlains in order to cover up his wrongdoing. His ambition next led him to kill Banquo, a trustworthy, noble, and moral friend. This murder showed just how out of control Macbeth had gotten. At this point, he was no longer under the influence of Lady Macbeth and began to view Banquo as a threat to his advancement instead of an asset to the wellbeing of Scotland. Finally, Macbeth conducts his last major act of violence by murdering Macduff’s family after he is warned that Macduff is in England assembling an army against Macbeth. This killing was wholly purposeless. Macduff was bound to attack Macbeth, because he regarded him as a tyrant. He knew Macbeth was no longer suited to be in a position of authority over Scotland, and this only helped his case.  

         Modern society:-

Macbeth is a tale of ambition and so Shakespeare uses the titular character's motives to convey the dangers of being too ambitious. We can relate this to modern society as it is human nature to succumb to temptation and so Shakespeare gives warning of the outcome of ambition. The play was written to scare off anyone trying to overthrow King James - implying that anyone that would dare do so was in alliance with the devil (as Macbeth was with the witches) and that they would suffer an unsavoury downfall like Macbeth - and also to win favour with the new king. Today, this still carries an important message as it teaches the reader to exercise restraint when it comes to their secret desires and to be aware of the consequences that these desires hold. Macbeth, during the time the play was written, would have been considered a villain, however, we as contemporary readers recognise that Macbeth was only human and could not help but wonder at what could be instead of accepting his new title of Thane of Cawdor. Take, for example, a gambler. They make a small win and feel invincible so keep betting and betting because their greed consumes their rational thinking and soon, instead of winning, they risk all and lose. Just like the eponymous character, they lose themselves in the possibility of something better. Macbeth is an exaggeration of the dangers that come with greed and ambition but is still relevant today due to man's inability to exercise restraint when it comes to desire.

Now, by a "modern version" of the story, I'm assuming you mean an adaptation set in the 21st century, rather than an adaptation made now, such as the 2015 film which is still set in the middle ages. One could easily have Macbeth be an ambitious politician or even set the story in the context of organized crime. A more humorous take might have Macbeth running a restaurant, as in the adaptation of the play in the ShakespeareRe:Told series. The possibilities are endless, as the story can fit any situation where people let power overcome their morals.

Conclusion :-

So, Shakespeare's play “Macbeth” continues to remain relevant to contemporary society through his exploration of ambition, a political and ethical value that is a double-edged sword, able to provide success and catastrophic failure.

Thank you ,

Dilip Barad sir 

Words:-1666