What is "Evil"

I was intrigued by the semi-debate regarding Lady Macbeth's "evil" qualities in class today so I decided to look for other opinions. I stumbled upon another blogger blog called "All About Evil" that had some interesting ideas as to what "evil"   is. In the blog itself there are many contrasting opinions, what do you think defines "evil"? I have also attached a scientific view of the actual cognitive science behind "evil" and its many analyses (this one is for Julianne). It is very cool to look at the cognitive versus abstract views of the two articles. Enjoy!
-Becca

http://allaboutevillk.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-is-evil-anyway.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=defining-evil

Another Macbeth Dagger Scene

         I was browsing through some Macbeth videos and found this one to be particularly interesting. The first thing I noticed, which isn't really relevant, is that Macbeth looks like a vampire. Anyways, this portrayal of Macbeth shows Macbeth as very paranoid. 

         I noticed that here, the dagger is also invisible as it was in the Goold version and that Macbeth also squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to "unsee" it. Another aspect of the video that I found to be a nice touch was how he quickly draws his real dagger from what appears to be thin air. Just wanted to show another way that a director interpreted the scene and made it into a scene

Lady Macbeth Wordle

So I decided to take Luisa's idea and do a Lady Macbeth word cloud version. It's of what she wants, but also fears in life for her and her husband. The hands and spot part mostly show her craziness, I just couldn't imagine a wordle without them! Throne and blood should be larger, but I couldn't figure out how to edit the text again.

Just as a note, the font I used is called, "Loved by the King"...thought it was appropriate for her.

-shira

Macbeth's Word Cloud

I found a website called Wordle that can make word collages. I typed in words that I thought were important and then Wordle formatted it in a cool way. Since Shakespeare's writing recieves so much acclaim for its wording, I thought making a word cloud for Macbeth would be perfect. 

It would be really cool if someone else made a word cloud with words they think are important! 

Maybe a Lady Macbeth themed cloud...

Thomas Middleton

I don't know about you guys, but when I read that Act 3 Scene 5 was most likely written by someone else (most probably Thomas Middleton), I was pretty confused. There are a few noticeable differences in the writing. For example, before 3.5, whenever the witches come into a scene, they have a conversation with one another. 3.5 has hardly any conversation, and it is monopolized by an entirely different character, Hecate, whose monologue is completely written in couplets. This contrasts with the previous depictions of the witches.

Thomas Middleton, the supposed "other" playwright, apparently adapted and revised Macbeth. He collaborated with Shakespeare a few times, including on the play "Timon of Athens." Middleton apparently was thought to be second only to Shakespeare himself by a few notable authors of the period.

Did you guys pick up on any other differences?

Shakespeare's Acting

I was interested that Shakespeare not only wrote plays but also acted in his earlier life. I did some research and learned that in 1594, Shakespeare became a leader in an acting and playing company. It was called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and they even performed in front of Elizabeth I. Each actor got 10 pounds for their performance, so this is probably how he earned his money during his writing. It was at this time that Shakespeare wrote: Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, King John, and Love's Labour's Lost. At this time in his life Shakespeare was completely immersed with the theater world. In 1599, the Globe Theater was built which was owned by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Many of Shakespeare's plays were performed here and the Lord Chamberlain's Men were the main actors in the plays.

Polanski's witches

Roman Polanski's witches.