Evil and the Dramatist
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Visions of evil operating in this world serve as the subject mater for the dramatist, especially in an era when good and evil were seen more clearly as battling for the human soul directly, often personified as angel and devil. In the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare in Macbeth and Christopher Marlowe in Doctor Faustus in England explored these issues in different ways, though each saw evil as manifest and physical as well as sometimes supernatural. In Spain, Calder=n de la Barca a few years later similarly expressed the palpable nature of evil in human life in his El mßgico prodigioso. The Marlowe and Calder=n works are both based on the Faust legend, while Shakespeare's play is based on a historical individual reported in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, though Shakespeare took many liberties with history as Holinshed presented it. The historical Macbeth reigned from 1040 to 1057, a period which Shakespeare reduces to a few hours of real time and an indeterminate, though brief, period of stage time. There are elements running through all three of these plays simply because they are classified as tragedies. The tragic hero derives from the Greek drama, as elucidated by the criticism of Aristotle in particular. Tragedy in this conception is struggling against something over which we really have no control, and the tragedy develops from a recognition of the futility of the struggle, leading to the resignation of the tragic hero to his or her fate and indeed even t
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Dunsinane move to the castle. He considers both impossible, but he is wrong.
This also indicates another element related to the nature of evil--evil cannot be trusted, and even when it tells the truth, human beings are fooled into destroying themselves. This is never their intention when first seduced. Macbeth means to satisfy his wife and become king; he then means to rule; and he means to live out his full span of years. Dr. John Faustus, the renowned scholar of Wittenberg in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, also has an ambition greater than his present position, and what he does to satisfy this ambition is more directly to search out evil than does Macbeth. Macbeth is not an evil man when he first meets the witches, but he allows his ambition to overcome his nature. Faustus, however, becomes involved by choice with necromancy, or black magic, and through this seeks godlike powers. He knows that this involves forbidden traffic with demons, with the evil forces that tempt humans and interfere in human life. Faustus conjures the demon spirit, Mephostophilis, and offers a deal--he will give his immortal soul to the devil in exchange for 24 years of magic and success in whatever he pursues.
Macbeth has the opportunity to re
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1654
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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