A REVIEW OF MACBETH ["MURDER AT DUNSINANE"] & THE TAMING OF THE SHREW ["A WILD-CAT FOR A WIFE"]

MACBETH a tragedy by William Shakespeare

"Murder at Dunsinane" a tragic story by Ian Serraillier based on Shakespeare’s play

Macbeth at a Glance:

In Macbeth, William Shakespeare's tragedy about power, ambition, deceit, and murder, the Three Witches foretell Macbeth's rise to King of Scotland but also prophesy that future kings will descend from Banquo, a fellow army captain. Prodded by his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan, becomes king, and sends mercenaries to kill Banquo and his son. His attempts to defy the prophesy fail, however; Macduff kills Macbeth, and Duncan's son Malcolm becomes king.

Written by: William Shakespeare

Type of Work: play

Genres: drama; tragedy

First Published: probably around 1605-1606

Setting: Scotland

Main Characters: Macbeth; Lady Macbeth; Duncan; Macduff; Banquo; Malcolm

Major Thematic Topics: fall of man; gender roles; fortune; fate; free will; kingship/natural order; ambition; love of self

Motifs: revenge; sanity; prophecy; violence

Major Symbols: hands; the Three Witches; ghosts; blood; the weather

Character List:

Macbeth: A captain in Duncan's army, later the Thane (Lord) of Glamis and Cawdor. When Three Witches predict that he will one day be king of Scotland, he takes his fate into his own hands, allowing his ambition and that of his wife to overcome his better judgment. His bloody reign culminates in a battle against Malcolm and the English forces.

Lady Macbeth: The devilish wife of Macbeth, whose ambition helps to drive her husband toward the desperate act of murder. Subsequently, her husband's cruelty and her own guilt recoil on her, sending her into a madness from which she never recovers.

Banquo: A fellow-captain and companion of Macbeth, who also receives a prophecy from the Witches: that his children will one day succeed to the throne of Scotland. This information is sufficient to spell his death at the hands of the resentful Macbeth, who is later haunted by Banquo's ghost.

Duncan: King of Scotland. His victories against rebellious kinsmen and the Norwegians have made him a popular and honored king. His decision to pass the kingdom to his son Malcolm provokes his untimely death at the hands of Macbeth.

Fleance: Banquo's son, who, by escaping Macbeth's plot on his life, will go on to be father to a line of kings.

Donalbain and Malcolm: Duncan's two sons. Fearful of implication in their father's murder, they flee Scotland, Donalbain to Ireland and Malcolm to England, where he raises a large army with the intention of toppling the tyrant Macbeth.

Macduff: A thane (nobleman) of Scotland who discovers the murdered King Duncan. Suspecting Macbeth and eventually turning against him, Macduff later flees to England to join Malcolm. When Macbeth arranges the murder of his wife and children, Macduff swears personal revenge.

Lennox, Ross, Menteth, Angus, Caithness: Thanes of Scotland, all of whom eventually turn against the tyrannical Macbeth.

The Porter, the Old Man, the Doctors: Three commentators on events, all of whom have a certain degree of wisdom and foresight. The Porter hints at the Hell-like nature of Macbeth's castle; the Old Man associates the murder of King Duncan with the instability of the natural world; the Doctors recognize disease and disorder even though they cannot cure it.

The Witches: Three agents of Fate and Evil (important plot catalysts) who reveal the truth (or part of it) to Macbeth and Banquo and who later appear to confirm the downfall and tragic destiny of the tyrannical Macbeth.

Character Map:

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THE TAMING OF THE SHREW a comedy by William Shakespeare

"A Wild-Cat for a Wife" a comic story by Ian Serraillier based on Shakespeare’s play

Summary of The Taming of the Shrew and Characters:

The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers (Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio) but her father insists that she will not marry until her shrewish sister, Katharina, is betrothed. Bianca's suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. The suitors pay for any costs involved and there is also the goal of Katharina's dowry. Petruchio marries Katharina and he carries Katharina off to his country house with his servant Grumio. Petruchio intends to browbeat Katharina into submission and he denies her food, sleep and her new clothes, whilst continuously singing her praises. Katharina is tamed. They return to Padua where Lucentio has won Bianca. At a banquet they wager on who has the most obedient wife. Each wife is issued with commands but only Katharina obeys and promptly lectures everyone on the importance of wifely submission.

Key Facts:

Full title: The Taming of the Shrew

Author:  William Shakespeare

Type of work: Play

Genre: Romantic comedy

Language: English

Time and place written: Around 1592, London

Date of first publication: 1623

Tone: The overall tone of the play is light and comic, though the exploration of larger social questions, such as the proper relation of the sexes in marriage, lends much of the comedy a more serious tone.

Settings (time): Unspecific, though presumably sometime during the Italian Renaissance.

Settings (place): Padua, a city-state in Italy, prominent during the Renaissance.

Protagonist: There is no single protagonist; Katherine and Petruchio are the main characters.

Major conflict: Petruchio’s attempt to “tame” Katherine; that is, to assert his authority in their marriage and overcome her hotheaded resistance to playing the role of his wife.

Rising action: Petruchio and Katherine’s early verbal conflicts; Katherine’s many scenes of shrewish behavior, including her attack on Bianca; the various disguises and subterfuges (ploys/artifices/tricks) of the subplot; Katherine and Petruchio’s comical wedding.

Climax: There is no single moment of intense action in the play, but rather a long process of development culminating in Katherine’s fully changed behavior. It might be possible to see a climax in the wedding scene in Act III, or in Katherine’s decision in Act IV to submit to Petruchio when he says the sun is really the moon, or her agreement to throw shame to the winds and kiss him in the middle of the street in Act IV.

Falling action: The banquet at Lucentio’s house in Act V, scene ii.

Themes: Marriage as an economic institution; the effect of social roles on individual happiness.

Motifs: Disguise; domestication; fathers and their children.

Symbols: Petruchio’s wedding costume; the haberdasher’s cap and tailor’s gown.

Foreshadowing: Petruchio’s declaration to Katherine in Act II that he is the man to tame her.

Character List:

Christopher Sly: A beggar featured in the Induction. He is tricked into believing he is a gentleman.

A Lord: A gentleman who delights in duping (deceiving) Sly after he finds him passed out on his property.

A page, servants, huntsmen: All work for or with the Lord to dupe Sly.

Players: A travelling troupe of actors who perform the play of Katherine and Petruchio before Sly, the Lord, and the Lord's household.

Katherine Minola: Elder daughter of Baptista Minola. She is hard-headed, stubborn, and prone to speaking her mind. Baptista decrees that as the elder daughter, Kate must marry before her younger sister Bianca may do so.

Petruchio: A young man of Verona. Through his friend Hortensio, he learns of Katherine and agrees to wed her (for her dowry). What was originally a business venture, though, turns to love as the story unfolds.

Bianca Minola: Younger daughter of Baptista Minola. Bianca is loved by Gremio, Hortensio, and Lucentio but cannot have serious suitors or marry until her older sister Katherine has done so. Bianca is clearly Baptista's favorite daughter, although she may not be as sweet as she appears.

Baptista Minola: The father of Katherine and Bianca.

Hortensio: A suitor to Bianca. He enters the Minola household disguised as Litio, the music tutor. Eventually, he marries the Widow.

Lucentio: Son of Vincentio. He is in love with Bianca and woos her disguised as Cambio, the tutor.

Tranio: A servant to Lucentio. He agrees to impersonate his master and pretend to woo Bianca for him while Lucentio is disguised as Cambio.

Gremio: A foolish old man; suitor to Bianca.

Grumio: Petruchio's servant.

Biondello: A servant to Lucentio.

Vincentio: A gentleman of Pisa; father of Lucentio.

A Pedant: A teacher from Mantua. He agrees to impersonate Vincentio for Tranio (unaware he is disguising himself as Lucentio).

A Widow: A rich woman whom Hortensio marries after he loses Bianca. She is contemptuous of Kate but also shrewish in her own way.

Character Map:

OOW

2013