ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Shakespeare Videos 51 videos
We're not sure if good ol' Shakespeare would endorse The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but that's not going to stop us from hosting themed viewing...
What are the features that make a Shakespearean tragedy? Where do they show up in plays like Othello, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet? This video help...
In the world of Shakespeare, pretty much everyone either dies or gets married. Hamlet and co. got the short end of that stick.
Macbeth 133685 Views
Share It!
Description:
This video summarizes the Shakespearean play Macbeth. Two major forces are at play in the story: witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s demanding wife, Lady Macbeth. If you take out one of these forces, would the outcome of the play have changed? Did Macbeth ever have a chance of avoiding becoming a murdered murderer?
Transcript
- 00:00
Macbeth, a la Shmoop. Try not to lose your head.
- 00:11
Macbeth is married to a... strong female figure.
- 00:17
She sorta makes Mothra look like a slightly irritating pest.
- 00:24
Lady Macbeth, one of the greatest villains in literature...
- 00:27
... knows what she wants. She urges the man of the house to take action
Full Transcript
- 00:35
and start lopping off heads so he can become king...
- 00:41
Of course, things don't turn out so great for Macbeth in the end.
- 00:47
But we wonder... would his situation have been any better if he didn't have a wife who
- 00:52
was hitting the crazy pills? Well, for the purposes of this story, we have
- 00:56
to assume that prophecies are a real thing...
- 00:59
It is prophesied by the witches that Macbeth will become the King of Scotland.
- 01:07
Which means that, even if he hadn't started whacking people...
- 01:10
...he eventually would have been wearing that crown.
- 01:13
The only reason he... hurried the process along...
- 01:15
...was that his wife was getting antsy.
- 01:18
Then again, the witches later prophesied that he had to... among other things... watch out
- 01:25
for Macduff...
- 01:26
...the guy that ends up sending him to his maker.
- 01:36
But could this prophesy have been avoided if Macbeth hadn't fouled up in the first place?
- 01:44
What reason would Macduff have had to be upset if Macbeth hadn't killed his entire family?
- 01:53
Or... was Lady Macbeth such a dark-hearted person and such a poor influence that her
- 02:04
husband would have come to a tragic end regardless?
- 02:06
Her power-hungriness seemed to come before all else...
- 02:10
...maybe she would have been his undoing whether there had been any prophesies or not.
- 02:15
So what do you think?
- 02:15
If Lady Macbeth had been more patient and Macbeth hadn't gone on his little killing
- 02:20
spree... would he have remained in one piece?
- 02:24
Was he doomed no matter what because of the witches' prophesies?
- 02:28
Or was he doomed the instant he married a complete loony toon?
- 02:33
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
