Macbeth

Caroline Chu (Weyard Sister)

“Yet do I fear they nature, it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness, to catch the nearest way.” (Lady Macbeth, 1.5)

I read Macbeth for the first time my freshman year of high school. We had to choose a monologue to perform, and this line was one of the first that I memorized. Something about how these words sounded together made it exciting to say out loud. It was so much fun to discover the darkness of this play for myself from insider a character. Speaking the text out loud was what made Shakepspeare click for me!

Amir Abdullah (Macbeth)

“Things bad begun, make strong themselves by ill. So prithee, go with me.” (Macbeth, 3.2)

This line illustrates the slippery slope that negative actions can have. Macbeth has justified killing the king, and now Banquo, by saying: in order to justify one evil act, we have to do another similarly awful thing. It shows his insecurities—he wants and needs the support of others as it enables his own demons.

Leslie Ann Sheppard (Lady Macduff/Doctor)

“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak, whispers the o’er fraught heart, and bids it break.” (Malcolm, 4.3)

When asked “How are you doing?” after the loss of a loved one, sometimes I want to hide. As I get older, I’m reminded that there is comfort found in the midst of our grieving, and I have a close-knit circle of people I can share my heart with. It’s okay not to be okay. AND it’s okay to process where you are in your journey with people you trust.

Ninos Baba (Malcolm/Fleance)

“I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new a day a gash is added to her wounds.” (Malcolm, 4.3)

I believe that we live in an incredible confusing time. A time where so many people believe they are right and where most of us are wrong, clouded by our own judgments of others. This is not far from the fear and anxiety that many of the characters in Macbeth allow to fuel them to their demise.

Tiffany Scott (Lady Macbeth)

“But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.”  (Lady Macbeth, 1.7)

There have been many times in my life when I’ve been faced with a task, whether it’s an everyday, mundane activity or something of greater import, that I find myself paralyzed and unable to do the thing. More often than not, it requires having the confidence to take the first step, and then the rest takes care of itself.

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