Essay over Macbeth, a timeless fairytale - niveau: 6VWO
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Course
Engels
Level
VWO / Gymnasium
Book
Macbeth
Essay written about Macbeth. In the essay, Macbeth is compared to the old classic fairy tale Snow White. The essay consists of a title, introduction, 3 points of view and a conclusion. At the end of the essay, there are also footnotes pointing to parts of the book, which is evidence of the views. E...
‘For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds’1 In this
sonnet by William Shakespeare, he determines the value of a person or thing: sweet things that
behave badly become sour, just as a flower that festers smell worse than weeds. In Macbeth and
Snow White both main characters are selfish and show evil and display toxic behavior. Fortunately,
there are more good people with good values. The trademark of a fairy tale is the battle between
good and evil. Despite the fact that Macbeth is a classic play and Snow White a fairytale, the battle
between good and evil, (played out by good and evil characters) is similar in Macbeth and Snow
White.
Within these two stories, Macbeth and the evil queen from 'Snow White' perform the same role.
Lady Macbeth belittles Macbeth, with the intention of becoming queen of Scotland. She does so by
humiliating him with words, which leads him to do evil. The evil queen from Snow White believes and
interprets what her magic mirror says: ‘You, my queen, are fair; it is true, but Snow White is a
thousand times fairer than you.’ She becomes envious because she is not the most beautiful woman
in the entire country. Therefore, she needed Snow White dead, which relates back to Macbeth killing
Duncan due to the words of Lady Macbeth. This shows that Lady Macbeth and the queen's mirror
perform the same role: they both encourage killing someone for their own sake. This indicates that
multiple roles in Macbeth and Snow White correspond.
Another similarity between Macbeth and the evil queen is that they are both led astray. The hunter
gave the evil queen the heart of a deer, while the evil queen thought it was the heart of Snow White.
The evil queen now assumes she is the most beautiful in the country. Macbeth is seduced by the
verdicts of the apparitions of the witches, which makes him think he will become king. Because the
evil queen and Macbeth have a demonic mind, they twist the truth into their own reality. The evil
queen was confident that Snow White was dead and that she would rule the realm as the most
beautiful one. However, this plot had a twist and the prince kissed Snow White awake. Macbeth was
confident that he could never be killed because of what the three apparitions from the witches' pot
told him. The first apparition told him that Macduff would be his most deadly enemy. ‘Macbeth!
beware Macduff; beware the thane of Fife.’2 The second apparition told him that no man birthed by
a woman would hurt him. ‘Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn. The power of man, for none
of women born, shall harm Macbeth.’3 The third and final apparition told Macbeth that he would not
be defeated unless the Birnam wood moved to Dusinane. ‘Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dusinane hill, shall come against him.’4 Because of this, Macbeth was
confident that he would become king and was not afraid to die. After all, what man had not been
birthed by a woman? Both Macbeth and the evil queen from Snow White are misled, this is another
similarity between the stories of Macbeth and Snow White.
The verdict of the third apparition came first. Yet Macbeth remained confident and went into battle
despite knowing that Macduff was his deadliest enemy. He was convinced that he would win. In the
battle between Macduff and Macbeth, Macbeth was killed because Macduff had not been birthed by
a woman. In fact, Macduff had been born by a caesarean section. Just as the evil queen from Snow
White was convinced that she would be the most beautiful woman of the country again. In the fairy
tale, Snow White was awakened by a prince. As a result, the evil queen will never be the most
beautiful of the country. This shows that Macbeth and the evil queen of Snow White first expect to
be victorious. In both cases the good conquers evil in the end.
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