No two people are exactly alike, however the human race demonstrates how personality traits get passed down through generations. Although hundreds of years have passed since Shakespeare has written Macbeth, many of the characters’ personality traits can be found within people throughout history and within modern day society. In the play, Lady Macbeth demonstrates characteristics of à bully which can be related to experiences in schools today. She also shows how manipulative she can be towards her husband, similar to Blair from the television show Gossip Girl.
Macbeth and Hitler have similar personalities if you look at their actions, too. In society today, bullying will affect everybody’s life at some point, similarly to how it affected Macbeth’s life. Lady Macbeth bullied Macbeth because she likes feeling powerful, and she uses her twisted words to make him feel horrible about himself, saying, “My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white” (Shakespeare 2.2.67-68). Aggressive comments such as this one drove Macbeth to go insane just to prove his strength to her and prove that he is a worthy man,. In my school today, I see students being bullied everyday and it is usually because the bully likes to feel power over the other person. I see classmates getting forced into tasks that they do not want to do, but they do it anyways so that they seem cool and deserving to become befriended. Not only does bulling play a huge part in society today, but manipulation does, too. Lady Macbeth is manipulating Macbeth into doing anything she wants him to do, in the same way that Blair from GoSsip Girl manipulates everyone around her into doing things for her.
Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan by saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). Macbeth wants to prove to his wife that he is a man and that he is not weak. Once again, Lady Macbeth uses her harsh words to gain power over Macbeth in order to force him into murdering Duncan. However, all bullies have weaknesses and Lady Macbeth shows her weakness while boasting about her strength while she says, “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2.2.12-13). This shows that even people who come across as strong, always have their own weaknesses. In Gossip Girl, Blair uses blackmail and harsh words to always get what she wants, and she does not care who she hurts. Blair and Lady Macbeth are similar because of their ability to manipulate and bully other people to enhance their own wellbeing.
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Yet, Lady Macbeth is not the only cruel character in Macbeth, her husband also has rough edges of his own. Throughout the play, the audience can gradually see the madness building up in Macbeth. Once Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan, the madness begins to show. This is first seen when Macbeth murders the two guards who him and his wife framed for Duncan’s murder when he says, “0, yet I do repent me of my fury that I did kill them” (2.3.98-99). Macbeth admitted to murdering the guards and felt no shame in doing so. Later on in the play, Macbeth goes out to murder every innocent person in Macduff’s castle because Macduff did not show up to dinner that Macbeth was hosting. Of course, since Macbeth was in a bad mental state anyways, he became suspicious of Macduff and had to have his family killed. Madness shines through Macbeth when he says, “give to th’edge o’th’sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (4.1.150-152). Not only is Macbeth a murderer, but so is Hitler. Hitler murdered millions of innocent Jewish people because he had the power to.
Nor Macbeth or Hitler made any positive impact on life around them, although they thought they were doing everybodya favour. Macbeth and Hitler are only a couple examples of tyrannical people throughout history but they have many similar characteristics which makes them so comparable to one-another. Ultimately, the references to my personal life, modern day media, and historic events demonstrate how Shakespeare’s literature is relevant to todays cultural landscape. Shakespeare’s ability to analyze human behavioural patterns and interpret it with impressive accuracy, reveals the importance of continuing to study his work, even though he wrote it a couple centuries ago. Although his great works may not be pleasing to many, it is clear that studying his writing can be a valuable experience in many different ways.
