Life is but a Neflix queue...

Macbeth's Netflix Queue

1. Star Wars Episodes III-VI                    
 

Overview: Star Wars mainly revolves around the character Anakin Skywalker as he becomes a master  Jedi and learns from his master Obi-Wan. They are constantly going on missions to save the galaxy. However, Anakin get's frustrated that he cannot do certain missions that masters can and believes the Jedi do not understand his full potential and are holding him back. But the Chancellor, AKA Darth Sidious treats Anakin as if he is special. In episode 3, Anakin starts having dreams that show his wife, Padmé dying during child birth. Anakin wants to keep this from happening and so the chancellor says that if Anakin allows him to teach him the ways of the "dark side" then he will be able to save her. As Anakin grows closer to him he becomes more evil, wiping out almost all of the Jedi just to potentially save his wife (so he believes). However, in the end Anakin is the one that ultimately kills Padmé strangling her because of his anger. In the next 3 films the strong, loyal Anakin is evil Darth Vadar.

Justification: These films and especially episode III would be a great movie for Macbeth to see because it really shows what happens when you have uncontrolled ambition. Also the dreams that Anakin was having is just like the prophecies that Macbeth was told by the witches because no matter what, Padmé was going to die, but Anakin didn't know that he would be the cause. Anakin believed that since he saw these visions, he had to do whatever he could to stop it from happening just like Macbeth thought he had to kill in order to become king like the witches said. Little did Anakin know that this ambition and evil was what caused Padmé to actually die and Macbeth did not know that becoming a murderer would cause his downfall in the end and not glory as king. Macbeth would want to see this so that he could have someone to relate by being in a similar situation as him.

2. Arrow











Overview: Arrow is about a billionaire playboy named Oliver Queen who, after 5 years of being stranded on an island, returns to Starling City to fight crime and corruption under a hood and mask, as a vigilante named the Green Arrow. In the earlier seasons, Oliver does not tell anyone about his secret job and ends up lying to the people closest to him. People get hurt and even die because of this, but Oliver made a choice to not tell anyone (until later episodes).

Justification: This TV show would be interesting to Macbeth because of Oliver's choice to hide behind the Arrow mask and fight crimes but lie to everyone in order to keep his name clean. Macbeth would believe that he could relate to Oliver because even though Oliver is not evil Macbeth hides the murderous part of him in order to keep himself clean and stay king and Oliver hides his vigilante side in order to stay as the innocent son of a billionaire mother and a protective big brother to his sister. However, as Oliver kills more and more bad people and gets deeper into fights with evil leaders, he starts to break down and eventually people close to him start to find out that he is he Arrow because it is to hard for him to hide it. This is just like Macbeth because as Macbeth kills more people he starts to deteriorate as a person and doesn't know who he is anymore. He becomes week and this is what leads to his death.

3. The Dark Knight














Overview: Batman has been able to keep Gotham city from being decimated by criminals with the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. However, when a new criminal named the Joker arrives, he turns the city into total chaos. There are a few characters that this film follows, the main one is batman, but another one is Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent, who goes from being a strong, respected man in the begging of the film to an evil, broken man.

Justification: Macbeth would watch this movie mainly because he relates to Harvey Dent but also because Bruce Wayne hides behind the Dark Knight mask. Harvey Dent is the Mayer of Gotham City and in the film he is loved by everyone in the city and is influences people to have hope and be strong in hard/scary times. As the film goes on Harvey goes down an evil path, particularly because of one major event that occurs. In the film Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent both love a woman named Rachel Dawes and would do anything to protect her. But spoiler alert Rachel is killed by the Joker and is not saved in time by Batman or Harvey. This destroys Harvey and when he is in the hospital because of getting burned on one side of his face, the Joker visits him and manipulates him into thinking that everyone even Harvey was responsible for Rachel's death, except for the one who actually killed her. After this realization Harvey goes down a path of evil because of this planted idea in his head. He is determined to punish everyone who was involved when Rachel died. The reason Macbeth should watch this is because he needs to see how Harvey drastically feel apart as a person just because of an idea that was planted in his head. This happened with Macbeth because he thought that he needed to kill to become king.

4. Pretty Little Liars


Overview: This extremely popular show follows high school beasties, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily after their friend Alison goes missing and they begin to receive mysterious messages from someone who signs as -A. Throughout the episode the girls try to figure out who this A person is and where Alison is/who killed her/possibly killed her. They are sent to many dangerous places, commit crimes without meaning to, are forced to do things they don't want to, and most of all, lie about everything.

Justification: Macbeth would probably love this show because it contains so many topics that he is familiar with, such as hiding behind masks, appearance vs. reality, a supernatural/creepy feel to it, and lying. Macbeth would enjoy watching the girls have to make choices to lie to their loved ones in order to keep what they are up to a secret. He would especially like season 2 when spoiler alert Mona reveals she was the first A (because she is not the ultimate A, we will find that out at the end of season 7!). Mona was a great friend of Hanna throughout the season, pretending to care for her and causing Hanna to place trust in Mona. However, she finally has to reveal she is A when Spencer figures her out. Macbeth would be very interested in learning how Mona was able to hind being A for so long and so well so that he could use that knowledge to hide his evil side.

Sources
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-harvey-dent-become-bad-in-the-the-dark-knight-movie-in-the-end-what-did-joker-told-him-that-made-him-change
Pictures
http://boomstickcomics.com/2015/04/star-wars-saga-finally-coming-to-digital-hd/
http://moviesbestownload.blogspot.com/2012/03/star-wars-episode-v-empire-strikes-back.html
http://www.wcmlibrary.org/event/adult-feature-films-star-wars-episode-4-‐-a-new-hope-pg/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47JUXQU5fKw
http://www.dccomics.com/tv/arrow-2012-present
https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Dark_Knight?id=qY3UkAHufLY
http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/pretty-little-liars/304160/

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's Fall from Grace

Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking the first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

When thinking about the first part of this question we have to first decide what the definition is of evil. Everyone in the world does bad things in life but evil deeds are on a completely different level. Acting bad is when you put your needs above others first in situations where the community should come first. But evil is when you physically or mentally harm others to benefit yourself or to give yourself power over others. So why do people who have been good all their lives begin to follow the path of evil? To me, this is an extremely hard question to answer that we will never truly know the answer to. But there are many logical reasons that I have come up with.

The first is that people may decide to become evil when they are power or wealth hungry. This is exactly what happened to Macbeth. People have a weakness when it comes to power, doing anything to become in control or obtain more power. In Macbeth the prophecy told by the witch was that Macbeth would become king and that Banquo's children would be king after him. Macbeth contemplates killing Duncan for a long time until he finally lets evil take over. He does not know how else he would become king if Duncan is king. The born goodness in Macbeth, however, was what made it hard for Macbeth to make a decision but in at the end of a soliloquy in act 1 scene 7 he says "To prick the sides of my intent, Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on th' other" (Macbeth, 1.7). This is pretty much saying that ambition is what is causing him to go through with the plan to kill Duncan. Fear of loosing this power will also prompt people to stay evil and that is why once Macbeth started down the evil path he couldn't stop and had to attempt to kill Fleance and Banquo because he wanted to stay king. He feared Banquo and his family becoming king after him so he felt he had to do something about it even if it meant continuing to be evil. Macbeth says, "To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo Stick deep...And put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched with an unlined hand...Put rancors in the vessel of my peace..." (Macbeth, 3.1)

However in Macbeth's case power was not the only element in causing Macbeth to turn evil, lady Macbeth was the ultimate turning point for Macbeth because she called him a coward and said that he was not worthy of being a man if he did not kill Duncan. Macbeth did not want to seem weak or not worthy of being a man so he gave in and listened to his wife.

When a person becomes evil there are consequences to this, whether it be internal or external. In Macbeth's case, the consequences were more internal because after killing Banquo, he claims he sees his ghost and is very scared. He almost wishes that he did not kill him because of this. Macbeth also continues to go back and forth about whether what he was doing was the best course of action until he realizes that after he killed Banquo there was no turning back and that is when we see a different side of Macbeth, weakness. Macbeth states, "I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (Macbeth, 3.4).

The second reason that is worth mentioning is that a person who decides to step down an evil path may have realized that life isn't fair and that he/she needs to create a world in which everyone experiences what they have gone through. So these people may inflict physical or emotional pain on others because they believe it is the only way for them to feel better about their troubles. I believe that it is human nature to not want to suffer alone and that is one reason why people turn evil. It's not necessarily their fault for the terrible things that happened to them in life but it was their choice to take the easier way out and become evil and inflict pain on others rather then staying strong and not letting their past traumas consume them. This example was not the reason that Macbeth became evil but I thought this was important.

Works Cited
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-the-good-the-bad-and-the-evil#