Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Lord of the Flies & Macbeth - William Golding & Shakespeare
Power corrupts goes the maxim. Interestingly this idea seems appealing to most of the authors I've read so far: Jack in Lord of the Flies, Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, Napoleon in Animal Farm, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Claudius in Hamlet.
Macbeth begins where Lord of the Flies should have ended; a power struggle and murder. I was enjoy Flies until the Hollywood ending betrayed the sentiment. It didn't need an observer in the Naval Officer and would have been much more powerful to embrace its bleakness like McCarthy's The Road.
There are so many iconic lines in Macbeth - finally understanding the context of the quotes, of which I was somehow aware, perhaps by cultural osmosis. I read a book review recently where about 80% of the text was lifted, as quotes, straight from the book being reviewed. I thought that was cheeky but perhaps you'll forgive it here, they are such wonderful lines:
"There's daggers in men's smiles", "Fair is foul, and foul is fair", "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness", "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble", "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won", "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't,", "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Macbeth begins where Lord of the Flies should have ended; a power struggle and murder. I was enjoy Flies until the Hollywood ending betrayed the sentiment. It didn't need an observer in the Naval Officer and would have been much more powerful to embrace its bleakness like McCarthy's The Road.
There are so many iconic lines in Macbeth - finally understanding the context of the quotes, of which I was somehow aware, perhaps by cultural osmosis. I read a book review recently where about 80% of the text was lifted, as quotes, straight from the book being reviewed. I thought that was cheeky but perhaps you'll forgive it here, they are such wonderful lines:
"There's daggers in men's smiles", "Fair is foul, and foul is fair", "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness", "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble", "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won", "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't,", "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)