1."You are too refined.you should remember your place." (p. 2)
Lopakhin, the former serf now turned landowner, treats the nervous young servant Dunyasha first as familiar friend by confiding in her and then as an upstart servant who should know her place. This illustrates the great social change inherent in Russia's newfound class mobility.
2. "My mistress has come home; at last I've seen her. Now I'm ready to die." (p. 6)
Firs, the aging man who spent most of his life as a serf, continues to think like one. He has remained a serf in his mind, waiting longingly for six years for the return of his mistress Madame Ranevsky from Paris. He represents the old way of living in feudal Russia.
3. "In all my life I never met anyone so frivolous as you two, so crazy and unbusinesslike. I tell you in plain Russian your property is going to be sold and you don't seem to understand what I say." (p. 20)
Madame Ranevsky and her brother Gayef insist they have written to their aunt to send them money but Lopakhin is shocked to find how little they have requested and insists such a small amount will never be enough to make the mortgage payment. This quote demonstrates how out of touch the aristocracy is while the former serf Lopakhin has a much clearer grasp of contemporary economics.
4. "Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and when he dies the five senses that we know perish with him, and the other ninety-five remain alive . . . Everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear . . . But we must work." (p. 23)
Trophimof the tutor expresses a philosophy of idealism to Lopakhin, Madame Ranevsky, Anya and Gayef in his argument that the days of the aristocracy are over and now all classes must work.
5. "All you ancestors were serf owners, owners of living souls. Do not human spirits look out at you from every leaf and stem?" (p. 27)
Anya tells Trophimof that he has caused her to no longer love the cherry orchard by making her realize that despite its beauty, it is the product of years of backbreaking labor by unpaid serfs. Her consciousness has been raised and she realizes that she can no longer live a life of luxury served by others but must go out into the world and work herself.
6. "A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat." (p. 28)
Pishtchik says this to Trophimof at the beginning of Act III. He is agreeing with Trophimof who has explained how much Pishtchik could have achieved had he not constantly felt the necessity to spend his time scrounging for money to pay off his loans.
7. "You look boldly ahead; isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future; because life is still hidden from your young eyes." (p. 32)
Madame Ranevsky says this to the philosopher and perpetual student Trophimof after he insists that she face up to reality. She should have, he insists, taken action to ward off financial disaster by selling the cherry orchard while she attempts to make him understand how much the property means to her.
8. "My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it." (p. 33)
Madame Ranevsky says this to Trophimof after he attempts to get her to change her mind about returning to her abusive Parisian lover. He himself, he insists, is above love while she regrettably says she is beneath love.
9. "What's the use of talking? You can see for yourself that this is a barbarous country; the people have no morals; and the boredom!" (p. 35)
Yasha, the self-serving servant complains about his Russian homeland. Since he has seen Paris, he finds Russia intolerable and will use all of his wiles to convince Madame Ranevsky to take him back to Paris with her.
10. "Life has gone by as if I never lived" (p. 49)
Firs mutters this during the last scene of the play where he lies ill after all have abandoned him. After a life of servile and selfless devotion, his "betters" have left him behind. Firs' death represents the real end of the feudal Russian way of life.
11. She brought me over to the wash-stand here in this very room, the nursery as it was. 'Don't cry, little peasant,' she said. "You'll soon be as right as rain." [Pause]. Little peasant. It's true my father was a peasant, but here am I in my white waistcoat and brown boots, barging in like a bull in a china shop. The only thing is, I am rich.
12. Oh my childhood my innocent childhood! This is the nursery where I slept and I used to look out at the orchard from here! Look, Mother's walking in the orchard. In a white dress.
13. Then last year, when the villa had to be sold to pay my debts, I left for Paris where he robbed me, deserted me and took up with another woman. I tried to poison myself. It was also stupid and humiliating. Then I suddenly longed to be back in Russia, back in my own country with my little girl. [Dries her eyes.] Lord, lord, be merciful, forgive me my sins. Don't punish me any more.
14. All Russia is our orchard. The earth is so wide, so beautiful, so full of wonderful places. [Pause]. Just think, Anya. Your grandfather, your great-grandfather and all your ancestors owned serfs, they owned human souls. Don't you see that from every cherry-tree in the orchard, from every leaf and every trunk, men and women are gazing at you? if we're to start living in the present isn't it abundantly clear that we've first got to redeem our past and make a clean break with it? And we can only redeem it by suffering and getting down to real work for a change.
15. [Stamps his feet.] Don't laugh at me. If my father and grandfather could only rise from their graves and see what happened, see how their Yermolay- Yermolay who was always being beaten, who could hardly write his name and ran round barefoot in the winter-how this same Yermolay bought this estate, the most beautiful estate in the world.
16. My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it.
17. A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat.
18. Dear and most respected bookcase! I welcome your existence, which has for over one hundred years been devoted to the radiant ideals of goodness and justice.
19. The cherry orchard is now mine!... I bought the estate on which my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even permitted in the kitchen.
20. Don't laugh at me. If my father and grandfather could only rise from their graves and see what happened, see how their Yermolay -- Yermolay who was always being beaten, who could hardly write his name and ran round barefoot in the winter -- how this same Yermolay bought this estate, the most beautiful estate in the world.
21. You look boldly ahead; isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future; because life is still hidden from your young eyes.
22. Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and when he dies the five senses that we know perish with him, and the other ninety-five remain alive . . . Everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear . . . But we must work.
23. Life has gone by as if I never lived.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Batch 1 English A1: Quotes from The Crucible
1. I cannot sleep for dreamin'; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I'd find you comin' through some door. -Abigail to John Proctor trying to entice him into resuming their illicit affair. Act I (page 23)
2. There is a misty plot afoot so subtle we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships. - Reverend Hale to Francis Nurse defending the witch trials in the face of the outrageous arrest of Rebecca Nurse. Act II (page 71)
3. Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. -Reverend Hale to Elizabeth Proctor attempting to convince her to compel her husband into confession. He realizes his part in the whole affair and is trying to save lives in the only way possible. Act IV (page 132)
4. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! Abigail to Betty and Mary Warren who initially express fear about their actions in the woods and express a desire to confess. Abigail asserts her power over the girls right away so as to ensure she is not exposed. Act I (page 20)
5. There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning! Parris to Proctor. Parris desires to secure his position as the minister. He is the third minister of Salem in seven years and does not want the community to have the ability to put him out. He demands the deed to his house and preaches fire and brimstone regarding whatever he is after until he has it. Act I (page 30)
6. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time-we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. Danforth to Francis Nurse who is trying to prove his wife is simply the victim of scheming townspeople. He is completely convinced by the girls and believes that the court is doing the work of God. Act III (page 94)
7. She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it;. Proctor to the men of the court in his last attempt to save his wife and prove the dishonesty of the girls. He reveals Abigail's motivation to see Elizabeth Proctor condemned. Act III (page 110) Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. Elizabeth Proctor to her husband, explaining why Abigail would continue to pursue him though he had ended the affair. She tells him that by sleeping with her, he made a commitment to her, at least in her eyes. Act II (page 61) A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud-God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together! Proctor after Mary Warren turns on him to save her own life and he finds himself suddenly condemned. Act III (page 119-20).
10. I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it John Proctor, having decided to save his life by confessing to witchcraft, refuses to accuse anyone else. He has been defeated by Abigail but will not join her ranks by hurting others.
11. "'I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you . . .. I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!'" Act 1, Scene 2, pg.
12. "'There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!'" Act 1, Scene 4, pg. 26
13. "'I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more.'" Act 1, Scene 4, pg. 27
14. "'they are weighted with authority.'" Act 1, Scene 5, pg. 34
Quote 5: "'You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband anymore. I have forgot Abigail, and -'" Act 2, Scene 1, pg. 52
15. "'I'll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!'" Act 2, Scene 2, pg. 59
16. "'I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I'll not conceal it.'" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 62
17. "'I have seen too many frightful proofs in court - the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!'" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 68
18. "'I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!'" Act 2, Scene 4, pg. 73
19. "'Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside? . . . .This is the highest court of the supreme government of this province, do you know it?'" Act 3, Scene 1, pg. 79
20. "'a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.'" Act 3, Scene 1, pg. 87
21. "'God is dead!'" Act 3, Scene 3, pg. 111
22. "'A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud - God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!'" Act 3, Scene 3, pg. 111
23. "'There will be no postponement.'" Act 4, Scene 2, pg. 118
24. "'It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it . . ..it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.'" Act 4, Scene 2, pg. 122
25. "'I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!'" Act 4, Scene 4, pg. 133
26. I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!
27. I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!
28. You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.
29. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance . . .
30. Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
2. There is a misty plot afoot so subtle we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships. - Reverend Hale to Francis Nurse defending the witch trials in the face of the outrageous arrest of Rebecca Nurse. Act II (page 71)
3. Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. -Reverend Hale to Elizabeth Proctor attempting to convince her to compel her husband into confession. He realizes his part in the whole affair and is trying to save lives in the only way possible. Act IV (page 132)
4. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! Abigail to Betty and Mary Warren who initially express fear about their actions in the woods and express a desire to confess. Abigail asserts her power over the girls right away so as to ensure she is not exposed. Act I (page 20)
5. There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning! Parris to Proctor. Parris desires to secure his position as the minister. He is the third minister of Salem in seven years and does not want the community to have the ability to put him out. He demands the deed to his house and preaches fire and brimstone regarding whatever he is after until he has it. Act I (page 30)
6. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time-we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. Danforth to Francis Nurse who is trying to prove his wife is simply the victim of scheming townspeople. He is completely convinced by the girls and believes that the court is doing the work of God. Act III (page 94)
7. She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it;. Proctor to the men of the court in his last attempt to save his wife and prove the dishonesty of the girls. He reveals Abigail's motivation to see Elizabeth Proctor condemned. Act III (page 110) Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. Elizabeth Proctor to her husband, explaining why Abigail would continue to pursue him though he had ended the affair. She tells him that by sleeping with her, he made a commitment to her, at least in her eyes. Act II (page 61) A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud-God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together! Proctor after Mary Warren turns on him to save her own life and he finds himself suddenly condemned. Act III (page 119-20).
10. I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it John Proctor, having decided to save his life by confessing to witchcraft, refuses to accuse anyone else. He has been defeated by Abigail but will not join her ranks by hurting others.
11. "'I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you . . .. I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!'" Act 1, Scene 2, pg.
12. "'There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!'" Act 1, Scene 4, pg. 26
13. "'I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more.'" Act 1, Scene 4, pg. 27
14. "'they are weighted with authority.'" Act 1, Scene 5, pg. 34
Quote 5: "'You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband anymore. I have forgot Abigail, and -'" Act 2, Scene 1, pg. 52
15. "'I'll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!'" Act 2, Scene 2, pg. 59
16. "'I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I'll not conceal it.'" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 62
17. "'I have seen too many frightful proofs in court - the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!'" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 68
18. "'I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!'" Act 2, Scene 4, pg. 73
19. "'Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside? . . . .This is the highest court of the supreme government of this province, do you know it?'" Act 3, Scene 1, pg. 79
20. "'a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.'" Act 3, Scene 1, pg. 87
21. "'God is dead!'" Act 3, Scene 3, pg. 111
22. "'A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud - God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!'" Act 3, Scene 3, pg. 111
23. "'There will be no postponement.'" Act 4, Scene 2, pg. 118
24. "'It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it . . ..it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.'" Act 4, Scene 2, pg. 122
25. "'I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!'" Act 4, Scene 4, pg. 133
26. I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!
27. I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!
28. You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time—we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.
29. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance . . .
30. Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Batch 2 Extended Essay Topics and Questions
My EE advisees topics and tentative questions are:
1) Nabila
Topic: Significance of clothing in the books Sex and the City
Question: To what extent does the theme of fashion affect the story of Sex and the City?
2) Sonia
Topic: Metawriting in Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, the Witch of Portobello and The Devil and Mrs. Prynn
Question: How does Paolo Coelho use the technique of exemplum in his books, TheAlchemist, the Witch of Portobello and The Devil and Mrs. Prynn?
3) Ivana
Topic: Greek Myths in Gossip Girl
Question: How does Greek Mythology influence the contemporary literature, Gossip Girl?
4) Isa
Topic: The theme of grief as presented in the poetry of Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton
Question: How is the theme of grief presented by the poets Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton?
5) Cavin
Topic: Depiction of homosexual relationship
Question: How does the setting in the books, Call Me By Your Name, A separate Peace and Boy in the Striped Pajamas
6) Filza
Topic: Abuse of colored women in the Color Purple and Wicked
Question: How is the abuse of colored women in the Color Purple and Wicked similar?
1) Nabila
Topic: Significance of clothing in the books Sex and the City
Question: To what extent does the theme of fashion affect the story of Sex and the City?
2) Sonia
Topic: Metawriting in Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, the Witch of Portobello and The Devil and Mrs. Prynn
Question: How does Paolo Coelho use the technique of exemplum in his books, TheAlchemist, the Witch of Portobello and The Devil and Mrs. Prynn?
3) Ivana
Topic: Greek Myths in Gossip Girl
Question: How does Greek Mythology influence the contemporary literature, Gossip Girl?
4) Isa
Topic: The theme of grief as presented in the poetry of Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton
Question: How is the theme of grief presented by the poets Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton?
5) Cavin
Topic: Depiction of homosexual relationship
Question: How does the setting in the books, Call Me By Your Name, A separate Peace and Boy in the Striped Pajamas
6) Filza
Topic: Abuse of colored women in the Color Purple and Wicked
Question: How is the abuse of colored women in the Color Purple and Wicked similar?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Themes from THE CHERRY ORCHARD
The Cherry Orchard
Theme Analysis
"Social Change
In 1861, Russian Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs. This act, called the Liberation, ended a form of servitude that emulated the feudal system of people belonging to the land that dated back to medieval times. In the aftermath of Liberation, some of the aristocracy continued to flourish while others perished and some of the hardest working serfs, in turn, rose through their hard work to the highest rungs of the social ladder. Although Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard forty years after this historic event, the fallout, so to speak, from this monumental shift was still being felt.
This new social paradigm can be observed in The Cherry Orchard. Madame Ranevsky, who has failed to manage her cherry orchard estate and squandered her money on an unfaithful Parisian lover, has fallen on hard times. Her mortgage payment is due and she does not have the funds to cover the payment. Her former serf Lopakhin, a shrewd businessman, tells her she must cut down the cherry orchard and build villas for the newly emerging middle class. However, unable to change her way of thinking, she continues to act the aristocrat to the end and thus loses her estate to her former serf Lopakhin.
Liberation
The liberation of Russia's serfs by Tsar Nicholas II serves as the historical background for The Cherry Orchard. The Liberation freed millions of people who otherwise would have lived out lives of servitude on Russian estates with no opportunity for freedom. Seemingly then it would seem that everyone in Russia, thirty years after Liberation, would have become accustomed to freedom or liberty with opportunities for mobility and social advancement. Yet, many of Chekhov's characters seem to be frozen or inert-in other words, not free at all. In regards to freedom, they fall into two groups: those who are free and positively approach the future and those who are imprisoned in the past.
First, there is no doubt that Trophimof, the play's idealist, feels free. Indeed, he refuses Lopakhin's offer of money because after all he "a free man; nothing that you value . . . has the smallest power over me" (43). Similarly, although Anna has been brought up amidst aristocratic splendor, she has a mind of her own and can see how her spendthrift mother tosses away money. Anna desires an education and a new future and her act of leaving the estate ("goodbye old house, goodbye old life") with Trophimof casts her as a free spirit. There is no doubt about Lopakhin who has utilized the Liberation to move up rapidly through the social ranks. Even Dunyasha the young servant has moved socially upward by adopting lady-like mannerisms, and the aristocrat Gayef has become a banker and seems happier at the end of the play. Although a landowner, Pishtchik at first seems to be imprisoned by his mortgage but he changes after coming into money and actually pays back money to Madame Ranevsky.
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On the other hand, Madame Ranevsky remains frozen, imprisoned in time and unable to move forward. She cannot accept that she has lost her money, her estate, indeed her way of life. Even at the end she gives her purse away to her departing peasants. She will return to Paris to an abusive lover sure to leave her penniless. Barbara also seems to be unable to move, forced to take a job she doesn't want, and resigned to hard work because she doesn't have money. Similarly, Charlotte will retain her role as governess because she is limited by financial restraint: "don't forget to get me a new place, please. I can't do without it" (44). More than anyone, Firs the elderly former serf has never been liberated and he will die forgotten and alone.
The Cherry Orchard
Top Ten Quotes
1."You are too refined.you should remember your place." (p. 2)
Lopakhin, the former serf now turned landowner, treats the nervous young servant Dunyasha first as familiar friend by confiding in her and then as an upstart servant who should know her place. This illustrates the great social change inherent in Russia's newfound class mobility.
2. "My mistress has come home; at last I've seen her. Now I'm ready to die." (p. 6)
Firs, the aging man who spent most of his life as a serf, continues to think like one. He has remained a serf in his mind, waiting longingly for six years for the return of his mistress Madame Ranevsky from Paris. He represents the old way of living in feudal Russia.
3. "In all my life I never met anyone so frivolous as you two, so crazy and unbusinesslike. I tell you in plain Russian your property is going to be sold and you don't seem to understand what I say." (p. 20)
Madame Ranevsky and her brother Gayef insist they have written to their aunt to send them money but Lopakhin is shocked to find how little they have requested and insists such a small amount will never be enough to make the mortgage payment. This quote demonstrates how out of touch the aristocracy is while the former serf Lopakhin has a much clearer grasp of contemporary economics.
4. "Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and when he dies the five senses that we know perish with him, and the other ninety-five remain alive . . . Everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear . . . But we must work." (p. 23)
Trophimof the tutor expresses a philosophy of idealism to Lopakhin, Madame Ranevsky, Anya and Gayef in his argument that the days of the aristocracy are over and now all classes must work.
5. "All you ancestors were serf owners, owners of living souls. Do not human spirits look out at you from every leaf and stem?" (p. 27)
Anya tells Trophimof that he has caused her to no longer love the cherry orchard by making her realize that despite its beauty, it is the product of years of backbreaking labor by unpaid serfs. Her consciousness has been raised and she realizes that she can no longer live a life of luxury served by others but must go out into the world and work herself.
6. "A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat." (p. 28)
Pishtchik says this to Trophimof at the beginning of Act III. He is agreeing with Trophimof who has explained how much Pishtchik could have achieved had he not constantly felt the necessity to spend his time scrounging for money to pay off his loans.
7. "You look boldly ahead; isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future; because life is still hidden from your young eyes." (p. 32)
Madame Ranevsky says this to the philosopher and perpetual student Trophimof after he insists that she face up to reality. She should have, he insists, taken action to ward off financial disaster by selling the cherry orchard while she attempts to make him understand how much the property means to her.
8. "My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it." (p. 33)
Madame Ranevsky says this to Trophimof after he attempts to get her to change her mind about returning to her abusive Parisian lover. He himself, he insists, is above love while she regrettably says she is beneath love.
9. "What's the use of talking? You can see for yourself that this is a barbarous country; the people have no morals; and the boredom!" (p. 35)
Yasha, the self-serving servant complains about his Russian homeland. Since he has seen Paris, he finds Russia intolerable and will use all of his wiles to convince Madame Ranevsky to take him back to Paris with her.
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10. "Life has gone by as if I never lived" (p. 49)
Firs mutters this during the last scene of the play where he lies ill after all have abandoned him. After a life of servile and selfless devotion, his "betters" have left him behind. Firs' death represents the real end of the feudal Russian way of life.
The Cherry Orchard
Biography
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is considered one of Russia's most important writers as well as one of the world's greatest playwrights. He was born on January 17, 1860, in Taganrog, a small seaport town in Southern Russia. His father was a grocer, his grandfather a serf who had bought his own freedom. His mother, Yevgenia Morozov, was the daughter of a cloth merchant. The author was only one year old when Czar Nicholas II freed Russia's serfs. This historic event, generally referred to as the Liberation, plays a central role in many of Chekhov's writings, including The Cherry Orchard.
After his father was forced to declare bankruptcy, the family moved to Moscow, which presented young Chekhov with the opportunity to gain a good education. He began attending medical school at the University of Moscow when he was twenty years old and while there began to publish humorous articles for newspapers and magazines in an effort to alleviate his family's financial difficulties. Deeply influenced by famous novelist and short story writer Tolstoy, at this time Chekhov also began to write short stories. In time he became a master of this literary genre.
Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884 and spent the rest of his life engaged in medicine as well as writing. In 1888, Chekhov wrote the popular short story "The Bear" and two years later he published "The Wedding." In 1887, he wrote "The Wood Demon," which was not well received critically but which in time he would rewrite as the enormously popular Uncle Vanya.
For much of his life, Chekhov suffered from bad health and was forced to travel to more healthful climates, such places as Singapore, India, Ceylon, and Egypt among them. He especially enjoyed France and utilized the opportunity to study other literary forms in depth, especially French theatre, aspects of which he incorporated into his own work. By the turn of the century Chekhov had authored four plays which were to bring him lasting repute: The Sea Gull in 1896, Uncle Vanya that same year, The Three Sisters in 1901, and The Cherry Orchard, his last play. The Cherry Orchard was staged in Moscow on his birthday, January 17, 1904, and featured his wife Olga Knipper, whom he had married in 1901, in the leading role. Six months later, Chekhov died in Germany.
In addition to his dramatic works, Chekhov is highly regarded for his short stories which also combine comedy and tragedy. In addition, he is greatly admired for his use of ordinary conversations and verbal pauses to reveal reality in inconsequential words and everyday life.
Oftentimes, his characters, like those in The Cherry Orchard, are provincial aristocratic landowners of the era before the Russian Liberation who are unable to take action in times of crisis. In addition, Chekhov's intermingling of the comic and tragic genres characterizes him as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. In addition, he remains highly regarded for his technique, which has come to be called "indirect action." This technique emphasizes the off-stage action which the audience never sees but hears about from the onstage characters.
Essay Q&A
1. Discuss the effect of Liberation on Chekhov's characters Lopakhin and Firs.
Both Lopakhin and Firs were born on the cherry orchard estate as serfs and meant to spend their lives in the unpaid service of Madame Ranevsky's family. However, with the enactment of the Liberation in 1865 by Czar Nicholas II, the lives of both men, which seemed so predestined at birth, changed drastically. However, both men reacted very differently to the new social system. Lopakhin views the Liberation as an opportunity to create a better life. He takes action, working day and night to advance socially and economically. He succeeds, much to everyone's amazement, by becoming the owner of the cherry orchard estate and usurping the power of his former mistress, the aristocrat Madame Ranevsky. Lopakhin says in jubilation, "if only my father and grandfather could rise from their graves and see the whole affair" (38).
On the other hand, the elderly Firs fails to hear the call to action. He pays no heed at all to the Liberation and chooses instead to live his life passively as if freedom had never occurred. He shuffles around, waiting on people who generally take him for granted as they would a piece of the furniture. While he had every opportunity to leave the estate on which he was born, he remains waiting for five years for his mistress Madame Ranevsky to return from Paris. He is so cemented into the feudal system of serfdom that when Madame Ranevsky asks what he will do after the cherry orchard has been sold he simply he tells her, "wherever you tell me there I'll go" (35). Hardly surprisingly, Firs is overlooked and dies alone, a remnant of the past in a locked house after the family leaves the estate.
2. Critics argue that some of Chekhov's characters are affected by blindness. Consider the character Madame Ranevsky in this regard and agree or disagree.
As a character, Madame Ranevsky is metaphorically blind and remains blind throughout the play and thus fails to grow. She grew up in the lap of luxury, so to speak, on the Russian cherry orchard estate surrounded by serfs who would carry out her slightest whim. When she returns from Paris having left an abusive lover, she arrives believing that time has stood still and under the assumption that since her girlhood home belongs to her that nothing has changed. But everything has changed. It is she who has remained the same.
While she has been gone, her former serf Lopakhin, who as a child was not even permitted into the estate kitchen, has used his wits to become a successful businessman, so successful in fact that he attempts to convince Madame Ranevsky as to the necessity to change: sell the cherry orchard for the construction of villas-or perish. However, although she listens to Lopakhin she cannot accept what he has to say. Indeed, she cannot even consider cutting down the cherry orchard because she has constructed the idea that destroying the orchard would in effect be suicide. In her blindness, she fails to take any action and Lopakhin steps in to take over as master of the cherry orchard, leaving her to return to Paris to a bleak future. Her blindness represents the blindness of all those unwilling to accept the new Russia where all the people and not just the aristocrats have the chance to live free and be successful.
3. Some readers read Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as a comedy while some read it as a tragedy. Address this duality.
Chekhov manages to combine the genres of comedy and tragedy. The playwright originally wrote The Cherry Orchard play as a comedy and was aghast the first time he saw it staged because the director had produced it as a tragedy. Scholars have argued about this duality and there is now general agreement that the play cleverly mixes comedy and tragedy. Readers, or viewers for that matter, cannot help but find certain sections of the play nothing but slapstick. For instance, when Trophimof walks out after Madame Ranevsky calls him a freak for not having a mistress, a clattering noise is heard off stage, Barbara screams and Anya runs in to declare "Peter's tumbled downstairs" (33). And some of the main characters also display great humor. For instance, Gayef inanely interjects comments about billiards into everyday conversation. Madame Ranevsky says she can't afford to pay her mortgage and almost immediately loans her neighbor Pishtchik money to pay his own mortgage. So, while the content of the play is serious, many times the tragic aspect is alleviated by the inclusion of comedy.
In Act III, the simultaneous comedy/tragedy is also apparent. While the most tragic events occur indirectly off stage-the sale of the cherry orchard-the atmosphere at the estate onstage is farcical, high comedy as in the background musicians play. While they await news of the sale of the cherry orchard, Barbara, worried about paying the musicians, scolds Trophimof and Pishtchik for getting drunk and the young servant Dunyasha for dancing like a guest. Characters are falling down, getting drunk, running around, dancing and playing billiards in a very circus-like atmosphere with Charlotte even performing magic tricks, until Lopakhin, who has no intention of proposing to Barbara, returns to tell them the tragic news-the cherry orchard, which has been in the family for hundreds of years, will be chopped down to make way for villas. But even the villain Lopakhin is humorous by being socially so ill at ease and misquoting Shakespeare.
4. How does the character Trophimof function in The Cherry Orchard?
Trophimof is the former tutor of Madame Ranevsky's young son Grisha whose death through drowning resulted in the family's flight to France. For some unknown reason, Trophimof has remained on the family estate and is still in residence when Madame Ranevsky returns. Everyone makes fun of him for being "the perpetual student," except Anya who takes an immediate liking to him. Madame Ranevsky harshly criticizes him by telling him that at his age he should have a mistress. So, while on the surface it might appear that Trophimof is a comic figure, and he certainly is comical when he falls down the stairs, on the other hand Trophimof is an idealist and has the ability see what is going on, unlike Madame Ranevsky, who remains blind to reality. He has the ability to stand back and look to the future with the knowledge that people in the new Russia are doomed unless they change with the times. For instance, Trophimof argues with the "villain" Lopakhin about his means of accruing wealth: "you are a rich man; you will soon be a millionaire . . . just like a beast of prey" (23). In this regard, he makes the reader aware that Lopakhin has something up his sleeve as he befriends Madame Ranevsky. Trophimof optimistically looks to the future: "mankind marches forward, perfecting its strength" and argues that change is inevitable (24). He lectures the others that if they don't change with the times, their lives will end in disaster. In other words, he encourages them to take action, work hard and not remain passive: "everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear; but we must work" (24).
5. What role does memory and the past play in The Cherry Orchard?
Throughout The Cherry Orchard characters struggle with remembering their past. In an effort to forget her young son Grisha's death, Madame Ranevsky flees Russia for Paris and meets a man who steals her money, abuses her and only returns to Russia when he leaves her for another woman. However, she seems happy to be home until memories of her son flood her mind after she meets his tutor Trophimof who has remained on the estate. Madame Ranevsky's former serf Lopakhin also suffers from difficult memories from his early life as a serf and feels ill at ease at the new social level he has managed to achieve. In addition, Trophimof preaches that all of Russia should forget the past before the Russian Liberation which freed the serfs, to be able to live a bright future. He believes that the people, especially the aristocrats, should not look back and romanticize the past. They should be willing to put these memories of the past aside and embrace the possibilities of a bright future. Trophimof is able to help Madame Ranevsky's young daughter Anya accomplish this by pointing out to her that the glorious and enormous cherry orchard estate where she grew up in the lap of luxury came about as a result of painful unpaid human labor: "all your ancestors were serf owners, owners of living souls.
Do not human spirits look out at you from every leaf and stem?" (27). When Anya realizes the true cost of the cherry orchard, she no longer feels attached and is willing to leave and start a new life. Alas, her mother Madame Ranevsky is unable to forget the past. She returns to Paris doomed to a sad life that will end in poverty. The elderly servant Firs, who has all along been unwilling to forget the past (even though he goes around the estate muttering about his faulty memory), ironically dies forgotten by all."
http://www.novelguide.com/TheCherryOrchard/index.html
Theme Analysis
"Social Change
In 1861, Russian Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs. This act, called the Liberation, ended a form of servitude that emulated the feudal system of people belonging to the land that dated back to medieval times. In the aftermath of Liberation, some of the aristocracy continued to flourish while others perished and some of the hardest working serfs, in turn, rose through their hard work to the highest rungs of the social ladder. Although Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard forty years after this historic event, the fallout, so to speak, from this monumental shift was still being felt.
This new social paradigm can be observed in The Cherry Orchard. Madame Ranevsky, who has failed to manage her cherry orchard estate and squandered her money on an unfaithful Parisian lover, has fallen on hard times. Her mortgage payment is due and she does not have the funds to cover the payment. Her former serf Lopakhin, a shrewd businessman, tells her she must cut down the cherry orchard and build villas for the newly emerging middle class. However, unable to change her way of thinking, she continues to act the aristocrat to the end and thus loses her estate to her former serf Lopakhin.
Liberation
The liberation of Russia's serfs by Tsar Nicholas II serves as the historical background for The Cherry Orchard. The Liberation freed millions of people who otherwise would have lived out lives of servitude on Russian estates with no opportunity for freedom. Seemingly then it would seem that everyone in Russia, thirty years after Liberation, would have become accustomed to freedom or liberty with opportunities for mobility and social advancement. Yet, many of Chekhov's characters seem to be frozen or inert-in other words, not free at all. In regards to freedom, they fall into two groups: those who are free and positively approach the future and those who are imprisoned in the past.
First, there is no doubt that Trophimof, the play's idealist, feels free. Indeed, he refuses Lopakhin's offer of money because after all he "a free man; nothing that you value . . . has the smallest power over me" (43). Similarly, although Anna has been brought up amidst aristocratic splendor, she has a mind of her own and can see how her spendthrift mother tosses away money. Anna desires an education and a new future and her act of leaving the estate ("goodbye old house, goodbye old life") with Trophimof casts her as a free spirit. There is no doubt about Lopakhin who has utilized the Liberation to move up rapidly through the social ranks. Even Dunyasha the young servant has moved socially upward by adopting lady-like mannerisms, and the aristocrat Gayef has become a banker and seems happier at the end of the play. Although a landowner, Pishtchik at first seems to be imprisoned by his mortgage but he changes after coming into money and actually pays back money to Madame Ranevsky.
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On the other hand, Madame Ranevsky remains frozen, imprisoned in time and unable to move forward. She cannot accept that she has lost her money, her estate, indeed her way of life. Even at the end she gives her purse away to her departing peasants. She will return to Paris to an abusive lover sure to leave her penniless. Barbara also seems to be unable to move, forced to take a job she doesn't want, and resigned to hard work because she doesn't have money. Similarly, Charlotte will retain her role as governess because she is limited by financial restraint: "don't forget to get me a new place, please. I can't do without it" (44). More than anyone, Firs the elderly former serf has never been liberated and he will die forgotten and alone.
The Cherry Orchard
Top Ten Quotes
1."You are too refined.you should remember your place." (p. 2)
Lopakhin, the former serf now turned landowner, treats the nervous young servant Dunyasha first as familiar friend by confiding in her and then as an upstart servant who should know her place. This illustrates the great social change inherent in Russia's newfound class mobility.
2. "My mistress has come home; at last I've seen her. Now I'm ready to die." (p. 6)
Firs, the aging man who spent most of his life as a serf, continues to think like one. He has remained a serf in his mind, waiting longingly for six years for the return of his mistress Madame Ranevsky from Paris. He represents the old way of living in feudal Russia.
3. "In all my life I never met anyone so frivolous as you two, so crazy and unbusinesslike. I tell you in plain Russian your property is going to be sold and you don't seem to understand what I say." (p. 20)
Madame Ranevsky and her brother Gayef insist they have written to their aunt to send them money but Lopakhin is shocked to find how little they have requested and insists such a small amount will never be enough to make the mortgage payment. This quote demonstrates how out of touch the aristocracy is while the former serf Lopakhin has a much clearer grasp of contemporary economics.
4. "Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and when he dies the five senses that we know perish with him, and the other ninety-five remain alive . . . Everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear . . . But we must work." (p. 23)
Trophimof the tutor expresses a philosophy of idealism to Lopakhin, Madame Ranevsky, Anya and Gayef in his argument that the days of the aristocracy are over and now all classes must work.
5. "All you ancestors were serf owners, owners of living souls. Do not human spirits look out at you from every leaf and stem?" (p. 27)
Anya tells Trophimof that he has caused her to no longer love the cherry orchard by making her realize that despite its beauty, it is the product of years of backbreaking labor by unpaid serfs. Her consciousness has been raised and she realizes that she can no longer live a life of luxury served by others but must go out into the world and work herself.
6. "A hungry dog believes in nothing but meat." (p. 28)
Pishtchik says this to Trophimof at the beginning of Act III. He is agreeing with Trophimof who has explained how much Pishtchik could have achieved had he not constantly felt the necessity to spend his time scrounging for money to pay off his loans.
7. "You look boldly ahead; isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future; because life is still hidden from your young eyes." (p. 32)
Madame Ranevsky says this to the philosopher and perpetual student Trophimof after he insists that she face up to reality. She should have, he insists, taken action to ward off financial disaster by selling the cherry orchard while she attempts to make him understand how much the property means to her.
8. "My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can't live without it." (p. 33)
Madame Ranevsky says this to Trophimof after he attempts to get her to change her mind about returning to her abusive Parisian lover. He himself, he insists, is above love while she regrettably says she is beneath love.
9. "What's the use of talking? You can see for yourself that this is a barbarous country; the people have no morals; and the boredom!" (p. 35)
Yasha, the self-serving servant complains about his Russian homeland. Since he has seen Paris, he finds Russia intolerable and will use all of his wiles to convince Madame Ranevsky to take him back to Paris with her.
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10. "Life has gone by as if I never lived" (p. 49)
Firs mutters this during the last scene of the play where he lies ill after all have abandoned him. After a life of servile and selfless devotion, his "betters" have left him behind. Firs' death represents the real end of the feudal Russian way of life.
The Cherry Orchard
Biography
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is considered one of Russia's most important writers as well as one of the world's greatest playwrights. He was born on January 17, 1860, in Taganrog, a small seaport town in Southern Russia. His father was a grocer, his grandfather a serf who had bought his own freedom. His mother, Yevgenia Morozov, was the daughter of a cloth merchant. The author was only one year old when Czar Nicholas II freed Russia's serfs. This historic event, generally referred to as the Liberation, plays a central role in many of Chekhov's writings, including The Cherry Orchard.
After his father was forced to declare bankruptcy, the family moved to Moscow, which presented young Chekhov with the opportunity to gain a good education. He began attending medical school at the University of Moscow when he was twenty years old and while there began to publish humorous articles for newspapers and magazines in an effort to alleviate his family's financial difficulties. Deeply influenced by famous novelist and short story writer Tolstoy, at this time Chekhov also began to write short stories. In time he became a master of this literary genre.
Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884 and spent the rest of his life engaged in medicine as well as writing. In 1888, Chekhov wrote the popular short story "The Bear" and two years later he published "The Wedding." In 1887, he wrote "The Wood Demon," which was not well received critically but which in time he would rewrite as the enormously popular Uncle Vanya.
For much of his life, Chekhov suffered from bad health and was forced to travel to more healthful climates, such places as Singapore, India, Ceylon, and Egypt among them. He especially enjoyed France and utilized the opportunity to study other literary forms in depth, especially French theatre, aspects of which he incorporated into his own work. By the turn of the century Chekhov had authored four plays which were to bring him lasting repute: The Sea Gull in 1896, Uncle Vanya that same year, The Three Sisters in 1901, and The Cherry Orchard, his last play. The Cherry Orchard was staged in Moscow on his birthday, January 17, 1904, and featured his wife Olga Knipper, whom he had married in 1901, in the leading role. Six months later, Chekhov died in Germany.
In addition to his dramatic works, Chekhov is highly regarded for his short stories which also combine comedy and tragedy. In addition, he is greatly admired for his use of ordinary conversations and verbal pauses to reveal reality in inconsequential words and everyday life.
Oftentimes, his characters, like those in The Cherry Orchard, are provincial aristocratic landowners of the era before the Russian Liberation who are unable to take action in times of crisis. In addition, Chekhov's intermingling of the comic and tragic genres characterizes him as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. In addition, he remains highly regarded for his technique, which has come to be called "indirect action." This technique emphasizes the off-stage action which the audience never sees but hears about from the onstage characters.
Essay Q&A
1. Discuss the effect of Liberation on Chekhov's characters Lopakhin and Firs.
Both Lopakhin and Firs were born on the cherry orchard estate as serfs and meant to spend their lives in the unpaid service of Madame Ranevsky's family. However, with the enactment of the Liberation in 1865 by Czar Nicholas II, the lives of both men, which seemed so predestined at birth, changed drastically. However, both men reacted very differently to the new social system. Lopakhin views the Liberation as an opportunity to create a better life. He takes action, working day and night to advance socially and economically. He succeeds, much to everyone's amazement, by becoming the owner of the cherry orchard estate and usurping the power of his former mistress, the aristocrat Madame Ranevsky. Lopakhin says in jubilation, "if only my father and grandfather could rise from their graves and see the whole affair" (38).
On the other hand, the elderly Firs fails to hear the call to action. He pays no heed at all to the Liberation and chooses instead to live his life passively as if freedom had never occurred. He shuffles around, waiting on people who generally take him for granted as they would a piece of the furniture. While he had every opportunity to leave the estate on which he was born, he remains waiting for five years for his mistress Madame Ranevsky to return from Paris. He is so cemented into the feudal system of serfdom that when Madame Ranevsky asks what he will do after the cherry orchard has been sold he simply he tells her, "wherever you tell me there I'll go" (35). Hardly surprisingly, Firs is overlooked and dies alone, a remnant of the past in a locked house after the family leaves the estate.
2. Critics argue that some of Chekhov's characters are affected by blindness. Consider the character Madame Ranevsky in this regard and agree or disagree.
As a character, Madame Ranevsky is metaphorically blind and remains blind throughout the play and thus fails to grow. She grew up in the lap of luxury, so to speak, on the Russian cherry orchard estate surrounded by serfs who would carry out her slightest whim. When she returns from Paris having left an abusive lover, she arrives believing that time has stood still and under the assumption that since her girlhood home belongs to her that nothing has changed. But everything has changed. It is she who has remained the same.
While she has been gone, her former serf Lopakhin, who as a child was not even permitted into the estate kitchen, has used his wits to become a successful businessman, so successful in fact that he attempts to convince Madame Ranevsky as to the necessity to change: sell the cherry orchard for the construction of villas-or perish. However, although she listens to Lopakhin she cannot accept what he has to say. Indeed, she cannot even consider cutting down the cherry orchard because she has constructed the idea that destroying the orchard would in effect be suicide. In her blindness, she fails to take any action and Lopakhin steps in to take over as master of the cherry orchard, leaving her to return to Paris to a bleak future. Her blindness represents the blindness of all those unwilling to accept the new Russia where all the people and not just the aristocrats have the chance to live free and be successful.
3. Some readers read Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as a comedy while some read it as a tragedy. Address this duality.
Chekhov manages to combine the genres of comedy and tragedy. The playwright originally wrote The Cherry Orchard play as a comedy and was aghast the first time he saw it staged because the director had produced it as a tragedy. Scholars have argued about this duality and there is now general agreement that the play cleverly mixes comedy and tragedy. Readers, or viewers for that matter, cannot help but find certain sections of the play nothing but slapstick. For instance, when Trophimof walks out after Madame Ranevsky calls him a freak for not having a mistress, a clattering noise is heard off stage, Barbara screams and Anya runs in to declare "Peter's tumbled downstairs" (33). And some of the main characters also display great humor. For instance, Gayef inanely interjects comments about billiards into everyday conversation. Madame Ranevsky says she can't afford to pay her mortgage and almost immediately loans her neighbor Pishtchik money to pay his own mortgage. So, while the content of the play is serious, many times the tragic aspect is alleviated by the inclusion of comedy.
In Act III, the simultaneous comedy/tragedy is also apparent. While the most tragic events occur indirectly off stage-the sale of the cherry orchard-the atmosphere at the estate onstage is farcical, high comedy as in the background musicians play. While they await news of the sale of the cherry orchard, Barbara, worried about paying the musicians, scolds Trophimof and Pishtchik for getting drunk and the young servant Dunyasha for dancing like a guest. Characters are falling down, getting drunk, running around, dancing and playing billiards in a very circus-like atmosphere with Charlotte even performing magic tricks, until Lopakhin, who has no intention of proposing to Barbara, returns to tell them the tragic news-the cherry orchard, which has been in the family for hundreds of years, will be chopped down to make way for villas. But even the villain Lopakhin is humorous by being socially so ill at ease and misquoting Shakespeare.
4. How does the character Trophimof function in The Cherry Orchard?
Trophimof is the former tutor of Madame Ranevsky's young son Grisha whose death through drowning resulted in the family's flight to France. For some unknown reason, Trophimof has remained on the family estate and is still in residence when Madame Ranevsky returns. Everyone makes fun of him for being "the perpetual student," except Anya who takes an immediate liking to him. Madame Ranevsky harshly criticizes him by telling him that at his age he should have a mistress. So, while on the surface it might appear that Trophimof is a comic figure, and he certainly is comical when he falls down the stairs, on the other hand Trophimof is an idealist and has the ability see what is going on, unlike Madame Ranevsky, who remains blind to reality. He has the ability to stand back and look to the future with the knowledge that people in the new Russia are doomed unless they change with the times. For instance, Trophimof argues with the "villain" Lopakhin about his means of accruing wealth: "you are a rich man; you will soon be a millionaire . . . just like a beast of prey" (23). In this regard, he makes the reader aware that Lopakhin has something up his sleeve as he befriends Madame Ranevsky. Trophimof optimistically looks to the future: "mankind marches forward, perfecting its strength" and argues that change is inevitable (24). He lectures the others that if they don't change with the times, their lives will end in disaster. In other words, he encourages them to take action, work hard and not remain passive: "everything that is unattainable for us now will one day be near and clear; but we must work" (24).
5. What role does memory and the past play in The Cherry Orchard?
Throughout The Cherry Orchard characters struggle with remembering their past. In an effort to forget her young son Grisha's death, Madame Ranevsky flees Russia for Paris and meets a man who steals her money, abuses her and only returns to Russia when he leaves her for another woman. However, she seems happy to be home until memories of her son flood her mind after she meets his tutor Trophimof who has remained on the estate. Madame Ranevsky's former serf Lopakhin also suffers from difficult memories from his early life as a serf and feels ill at ease at the new social level he has managed to achieve. In addition, Trophimof preaches that all of Russia should forget the past before the Russian Liberation which freed the serfs, to be able to live a bright future. He believes that the people, especially the aristocrats, should not look back and romanticize the past. They should be willing to put these memories of the past aside and embrace the possibilities of a bright future. Trophimof is able to help Madame Ranevsky's young daughter Anya accomplish this by pointing out to her that the glorious and enormous cherry orchard estate where she grew up in the lap of luxury came about as a result of painful unpaid human labor: "all your ancestors were serf owners, owners of living souls.
Do not human spirits look out at you from every leaf and stem?" (27). When Anya realizes the true cost of the cherry orchard, she no longer feels attached and is willing to leave and start a new life. Alas, her mother Madame Ranevsky is unable to forget the past. She returns to Paris doomed to a sad life that will end in poverty. The elderly servant Firs, who has all along been unwilling to forget the past (even though he goes around the estate muttering about his faulty memory), ironically dies forgotten by all."
http://www.novelguide.com/TheCherryOrchard/index.html
Monday, February 2, 2009
Macbeth Sample analysis
http://www.litworks.com/Macbeth%20Sample%20Section.htm
Macbeth: A Study Commentary - Contents and Sample Section
(Please make sure you have opened the page to its full width on your screen)
CONTENTS
Act One Scene One
Commentary 1
Overview
2
Student Response
3
Act One Scene Two
Commentary 4
Overview 7
Student Response 8
Act One Scene Three
Commentary 10
Overview 15
Student Response 17
Act One Scene Four
Commentary 19
Overview 20
Student Response 21
Act One Scene Five Commentary 22
Overview 27
Student Response 28
Act One Scene Six Commentary 30
Overview 30
Student Response 31
Act One Scene Seven Commentary 32
Overview 36
Student Response 37
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
39
Commentary Practice – General
39
Practice Commentary 1
41
Model Commentary
44
Commentary – Further Suggestions
46
Act Two Scene One
Commentary 48
Overview 51
Student Response 52
Act Two Scene Two
Commentary 53
Overview 55
Student Response 56
Act Two Scene Three
Commentary 57
Overview 61
Student Response 62
Act Two Scene Four
Practice Commentary 2 64
Additional Essay Questions (A Level) 68
Act Three Scene One
Commentary 69
Overview 72
Student Response 73
Act Three Scene Two
Commentary 75
Overview 77
Student Response 78
Act Three Scene Three
Commentary 79
Overview 79
Student Response 80
Act Three Scene Four
Commentary 81
Overview 86
Student Response 86
Act Three Scene Five
Commentary 88
Overview 88
Student Response 89
Act Three Scene Six
Commentary 90
Overview 92
Student Response 92
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
92
Practice Commentary 3
93
Act Four Scene One
Commentary 95
Overview 100
Student Response 102
Act Four Scene Two
Commentary 103
Overview 105
Student Response 106
Act Four Scene Three
Commentary 108
Overview 114
Student Response 116
Act Five Scene One
Commentary 118
Overview 120
Student Response 121
Act Five Scene Two
Commentary 122
Overview 124
Student Response 124
Act Five Scene Three
Commentary 126
Overview 129
Student Response 129
Act Five Scene Four
Commentary 130
Overview 130
Student Response 131
Act Five Scene Five
Commentary 132
Overview 135
Student Response 136
Act Five Scene Six
Commentary 138
Overview 138
Student Response 138
Act Five Scene Seven
Commentary 139
Overview 139
Student Response 140
Act Five Scene Eight
Commentary 142
Overview 143
Student Response 144
Act Five Scene Nine
Commentary 146
Student Response 146
Practice Commentary 5
147
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
148
Further Essay Questions (International Baccalaureate)
149
Further Essay Questions (A Level)
150
Advanced Placement Free-Response Questions
151
Commentary ‘Help’ Pages
152
Act One Scene Five
Commentary
Lady Macbeth is half-way through Macbeth’s letter when she enters – a realistic effect.
1-2 ‘By the perfect’st report’ (on the most reliable grounds): Macbeth is still, in spite of Banquo’s warning,
pinning his faith on the ‘trifle’ the Witches have given him, as proof that their promises can be trusted.
3 ‘Burned in desire’: Can you recall the word Banquo used to suggest how Macbeth might be excited at the
prospect of kingship?
‘That, trusted home, might enkindle you to the crown’ (Act One Scene Three lines 120-121)
4 ‘Made themselves air’: Banquo’s ‘bubbles’. They vanished into another world.
‘Rapt’: That interesting word again, but this time without any suggestion that he is hiding something – he is just
‘enraptured’.
7
‘The coming-on of time’: Macbeth still hopes that kingship will ‘come on’ to him without his having to do very
much. He continues to be reluctant to take any initiative himself – which may be why he is eager to involve
his wife as quickly as possible. She, he knows, has it in her to be pro-active, if that is what will be needed.
Lady Macbeth in her response to this letter shows that she knows her husband well; there’s no reason to
suppose that Macbeth knows any less about her. So when he says he has written to her so that she can share
the good news, he really means, ‘Tell me what to do.’
The letter is in prose (usual) and Lady Macbeth’s response to it is in blank verse (expected). What effect does
the switch from one to the other have?
Macbeth has written in a clear and ordered manner and has kept his excitement in check. His language
is largely non-figurative (literal).
Lady Macbeth’s speech is strong in both rhythms and imagery. She is immediately more passionate
about the prospect before them than Macbeth has so far been.
14 ‘What thou art promised’: The possibility is so enormous that she cannot speak of it in plain terms – the
prize, and the means to it, are unnameable. All the way through this speech she uses indirect phrases to refer
both to the kingship and to the murder which will lead to it. List them.
The kingship:
'be great'
'ambition'
'what thou wouldst highly'
'that which cries'
'the golden round' (the crown - a bit more to the point)
The murder:
'the nearest way'
'the illness'
'wrongly win'
'Thus thou must do'
'that which...thou dost fear to do'
14 Lady Macbeth fears Macbeth’s ‘nature’, she says. But she doesn’t simply mean that he’s too weak for the
job. It is his human nature which is at fault. That’s what ‘human kindness’ is – it would be more clearly
written as ‘humankind-ness’, and refers to what makes us people, as distinct from animals – or witches. So
Lady Macbeth isn’t complaining about Macbeth, but about us. We are not fitted for the kind of action which is
necessary to make us ‘great’; we don’t deserve greatness.
That essentially human nature (which Lady Macbeth does see as weak) is passed down to us through the
15 generations, in the very ‘milk’ with which we are nursed. To become truly great we must be prepared to deny
our inheritance and act ruthlessly in our own self-interest. So Lady Macbeth’s speech is a rejection of all that
we have seen happening (in the previous scene) in Duncan’s court, where humane (another spelling of the
word with slightly different connotations) and kind (in the more modern sense) behaviour is both ordained and
practised. Lady Macbeth, in other words, wants Mankind to take a different path in his evolution.
Womankind, too. Women can out-man men. She herself asks in a moment (lines 45-46) to have her milk
turned to gall (bitter fluid); and in Scene Seven (lines 54-58) she claims (boasts, even) that she would snatch
her nipple from her feeding baby’s mouth and dash its brains out, if she had sworn to do it. You can’t get
much more of a denial of humankind-ness than that.
It's important that you grasp that full meaning of those easily misunderstood lines (14-15). If you say, in an
essay or a commentary, ‘Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth is too kind to kill Duncan,’ you’ll have missed an
opportunity.
16 Macbeth has been ‘seized’ by the idea of kingship, you will remember. He in his turn must seize – ‘catch’ –
the swiftest means to achieve it. Lady Macbeth does not think he will.
The next few line are maybe overburdened with antithesis. It’s as if Lady Macbeth has drawn up two lists:
*
What Macbeth wants
*
Why he will never get it without help
She moves from one to the other in a manner which makes for a very contrived speech (and a demanding one
for an actress); but the rhythms generated are powerful and convincing. She seems to know what she is
talking about.
23 ‘Hie thee hither’ has some dramatic impact (get used to that phrase). Things are about to move swiftly.
Duncan will arrive before night and be dead before morning.
24 She wants Macbeth here so that she can ‘pour [her] spirits’ in his ear. She may mean ‘the spirit of boldness
25 (‘valour’) which will put the new Mankind wholly in control of his own future’. But if you know Othello and
Hamlet you’ll perhaps remember that the only thing poured into people’s ears in those plays is poison.
27-28 ‘Do seem to have thee crowned withal’: The phrasing is strange. (‘Withal’ just means ‘with’.) The tense of
the verb suggests that Macbeth is already crowned – in the world from which the Witches come, and perhaps
also in Lady Macbeth’s imagination.
29 'Thou'rt mad to say it': She starts in much the same way Macbeth did earlier; she too has been caught
thinking bad things. The unexpected arrival of the king has something of the same impact, briefly, as the
knocking on the gate which will wake up the household (in Act Two) to the discovery of his death. Her
reaction here is that of a guilty person. (Some commentators have even suggested that when the Messenger
says, ‘The king comes here tonight’ she is so far forward in her imaginings that she thinks he means King
Macbeth, and is momentarily flustered – and guilty – when she comes to her senses.)
She does attack the messenger, rather.
He is apologetic. You probably wouldn’t want to contradict Lady Macbeth either.
36
The messenger has brought ‘great news’ (‘news of greatness’ would be more accurate) and deserves to be
rewarded, at least by being taken care of (line 34).
Ravens croak to announce imminent death (it was believed); the more important the death the louder the
croak (we might imagine). This one has croaked himself almost to silence. Shakespeare needs us to be aware
of just how momentous the impending murder will be: it will shake the very structures of the world.
38 ‘Under my battlements’: Why ‘under’? Why ‘my’?
The impression given is that the battlements will loom over Duncan threateningly. (Look at what he
himself says about the battlements when he arrives, however.)
This is Lady Macbeth's, not Macbeth's, castle - a telling slip. It will in a sense be her plot too, since she
becomes the force which drives it to its conclusion...and she's the one who cleans up afterwards.
Just who or what the ‘spirits’ are to which Lady Macbeth refers here and in line 46 (‘murdering ministers –
if both sets of supernatural creatures are the same) we don’t really, as commentators, know. But as an
audience in the theatre we will assume she means the Witches (or something very like). As often in drama, it’s
the impression, not the facts, which matters.
‘Unsex me here’ doesn’t really confuse the issue of the New Mankind discussed above. The New Person will
be sexless, and will have neither the softness of a woman nor the principles of a man; there will be no room
inside this creature for anything but ‘direst cruelty’. Its blood will be too thick to carry feelings such as
compassion (‘remorse’) to its heart and it will have no conscience (‘compunctious visitings of nature’). Its
purposes will be ‘fell’ (‘ruthless’); and it will be very efficient at doing what it is programmed to do (nothing
will come between its ‘purpose’ and the ‘effect’ – the carrying out of that purpose).
Recognise the picture? Isn’t it eerily like one of those science-fiction creations, androids, which look like people
but aren’t and which go around proving how indestructible they are while destroying lots of real men and
women? Has Lady Macbeth looked into the same future as some of our film-makers?
48
‘Nature’s mischief’ may give us a bit of trouble, unless we see it as referring not to human nature (in which
there is not enough mischief according to Lady M) but to Nature as a whole (ie Creation), including that part
of it in which evil spirits live. There are other glosses (possible interpretations), but that’s the most
straightforward one.
The last part of this speech echoes Macbeth’s in the previous scene, where he too calls for the stars to hide
their fires so that he can act unseen. But Lady Macbeth’s thinking and her poetry are much more fully
developed.
Night is to be ‘thick’ like the blood of the creature Lady Macbeth wishes to become, and will hinder sight in the
same way that the thickness of her blood will ‘stop up th’access’ (line 42) to human feeling. The darkness
(gloomy smoke from hell) in which it will wrap itself will act as a ‘pall’ (both a cloak capable of hiding
something and a funeral winding-cloth).
50 ‘My keen knife’: Does Lady Macbeth think she will have to commit the murder herself? She almost has to
when the time comes.
There are perhaps forces in Creation which could work against the powers of darkness; but they have not been
51 named hitherto, and ‘heaven’ receives here only a feeble mention. The Witches, it seems, will have
everything their own way.
52 Just as Lady Macbeth reckons she can out-man men in ruthlessness, so she now out-does both the Witches
and Ross in greeting Macbeth with his new titles.
Note, however, that she does not yet address him as king.
She has been carried away (‘transported’) – into an unreal world, we might suggest – by the news in his
letter. It is the world of ‘hereafter’ (line 53) which exists ‘beyond this ignorant present’ and lies in ‘the
future’. But if things here and now can disappear into thin air (as those ‘bubbles’ the Witches did) how much
more likely it is that things offered for some future time will fail to materialise at all, and turn out to be illusions
promised by illusions. We know that; but the two schemers do not, or do not want to.
(Macbeth does become king, of course, so in that sense the Witches keep their word. His assumption has been
that kingship will last, however, and will bring content. That mistake is his, not theirs.)
Macbeth barely greets his wife. He is too full of the news of Duncan’s arrival.
The next exchange is full of innuendo (hint and double meaning) – none of it particularly original, but chilling
nonetheless. Are they concerned that someone may be listening? Or just afraid to hear themselves utter the
terrible words which are in their minds? Actors have a bit of a problem – it’s easy to melodramatise
(exaggerate the villainy of) these lines.
57
‘And when goes hence?’: ‘Go hence’ can mean ‘depart this life’; in even plainer words…
die.
‘Tomorrow, as he purposes’: How long dare an actor pause between ‘tomorrow’ and ‘as’?
Try it for yourself.
59-60 ‘O! Never /Shall sun that morrow see’: This could be read as no more than the expression of a hostess eager
that her guest….
should stay as long as possible.
Here Lady Macbeth is diverted. She notices the look on Macbeth’s face. What do you imagine that look might
be?
Fear? Horror? Guilt? Astonishment at his wife’s cold-blooded subtleties?
‘Strange matters. To…’: If your edition has a comma after ‘matters’, pretend it’s a full stop. That’s the only
sensible way to punctuate these lines.
62 ‘Look like the time’ means a bit more than just ‘behave normally’. Think back to the previous scene. In order
to ‘look like the time’ at Duncan’s court Macbeth had to go along with its jollity and excessive warmth,
although he was far from being in the mood for it. ‘The time’ means almost ‘the fashion’ – what is acceptable
in the present circumstances. Your purpose in behaving in line with the norms of the day will be to ‘beguile
the time’ (deceive the people around you) so that, like a serpent beneath a flower (a snake in the grass) you
will be able to strike suddenly and secretly. This advice is something of the ‘spirits’ (line 24) Lady Macbeth
wanted so badly to pour into Macbeth’s ear; and it does indeed have some poison in it.
64
‘He that’s coming’: She cannot even name Duncan. There’s almost a kind of superstition in this refusal, as if
to name him will be to break a spell. (Compare this with the theatrical tradition that Macbeth should be
referred to only as The Scottish Play, and never by name, or bad luck will befall the production.)
Here are three more examples of linguistic subterfuge (hiding meaning in ambiguous statement). Try to give
two explanations for each.
'provided for'
'great business'
'my despatch'
'looked after properly'; 'taken care of (ie killed)'
'important visit by Duncan'; 'wonderful opportunity to kill Duncan'
'my care, so that he is made welcome'; 'my care, so that he is "despatched" (murdered)'
You may find this word-play a bit heavy-handed. The Elizabethans will have loved it.
67 ‘All our nights and days to come’ has an ominous ring to it simply because it has an optimistic one. That’s
the case even if we don’t already know that Macbeth will talk poignantly of ‘all our yesterdays’ just before
he dies.
69 ‘We will speak further’: This sounds like a man who is looking for a means of delay.
‘Only look up clear’: Has he been looking physically down?
Lady Macbeth reassures him that all he needs to do is appear calm and she will do everything else. In this she
is misleading him just as surely as the Witches…unless she does intend, at this point, to kill Duncan herself?
Overview: other things to note
Setting
o Lady Macbeth sees and addresses spirits ‘Wherever…you wait’ (lines 47-48); they are in an invisible world outside the one in which she walks up and down reading her husband’s letter.
Character
o Macbeth: Our knowledge of him deepens suddenly in this scene. Lady Macbeth’s almost scornful account of his
character has the effect of bringing him closer to us. He is human (that’s her complaint against him). He is human (that
is what connects him to us).
o Lady Macbeth: A wholly startling woman. An encounter between her and the Witches would have been something to
behold (Mrs Thatcher with an eye on Buckingham Palace as a desres meets the Furies).
Action
o This is two scenes run together and divided by Macbeth’s entrance. They are telescoped to give the impression of time
moving swiftly on.
o The speed of events (same idea): Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to ‘Hie’ to her; ‘the king comes here tonight’ is a
sudden and unexpected piece of news; ‘our thane is coming’ is the next piece; Lady Macbeth then ‘feels the future
in the instant’.
o Indirect reporting. Several important episodes in the play do not happen on stage but are described by someone who
saw them or knows about them. Look out for them and try to analyse the effect produced in each case.
o Foreboding: the raven, yes; but also the rate at which Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are sliding downwards morally
Style
o Its contrasts
o Its gathering pace as it moves from the ordered letter at the beginning, through Lady Macbeth’s intense analyses and invocations to the fragmented dialogue at the end as Duncan’s arrival approaches
Themes
o Unnaturalness. Our whole discussion of human nature (page 23 above) had to do with that theme, and so does much of what Lady Macbeth says in the scene.
o Sexuality (manhood as compared with womanhood)
General
o Macbeth came to his wife looking for advice; by the end of the scene he must feel he has jumped on the back of a wild horse which has galloped away with him. How well did he know her?
Student Response
Carrie wants to know why, when Macbeth was in such a hurry to get to his castle and talk to his wife, he took the time to write quite a long letter before he set off.
There’s a dramatic reason, of course: Macbeth’s letter allows Lady Macbeth to move ahead of him in her imagination. Part of the tension of the scene rests in her struggle to draw him after her, once they are together. But there should also be, to support our theory about characters’ actions needing to be convincing within the context of the play, an internal reason – internal to the story or to Macbeth himself. I ask the class to supply one.
‘He might have thought he was going to be delayed on his journey.’ He certainly didn’t travel at top speed: the messenger who left after him with the news that Duncan was on his way overtook him.
‘He sent the letter express mail.’ (He probably did.)
‘He wants her to know about the prophecy as soon as possible.’ That’s true, but it doesn’t answer Carrie’s question.
We’ve had to struggle a bit, so maybe Shakespeare hasn’t done too well here. But the letter and Lady Macbeth’s reaction to it have been so powerful theatrically that as a sensible audience we aren’t going to worry too much.
‘Letters,’ says Heather. ‘She says ‘letters’: he must have written more than one.’ We shouldn’t worry to much about that either.
‘This whole thing about human nature and a new kind of person: was Shakespeare really serious about that?’ (Anwar).
It would be easy to be pompous and say something like, ‘Shakespeare was serious about everything, even when he was making his audience laugh.’ Instead I put an essay title on the whiteboard:
‘Plays take us into worlds different from our own, but must have something to say about issues of importance in the world to which we, the audience, will return.’
Show how issues relevant to today’s world have been raised in plays you have studied.
‘What’s more relevant than the question of who and what we are, and where we’re going?’
That comes out as a bit pompous anyway, but it gives us plenty to talk about. As we go through the rest of the play we can examine each major idea we come across to see whether it’s ‘an issue of importance in the world to which we, the audience, will return’.
We start, however, with a discussion of just how different Macbeth’s world is from ours. Not so very, we decide.
‘Macbeth might have been happy there if it hadn’t been for…?’ I ask.
o ‘Ambition’ (Philip) – his ‘tragic flaw’ (we’ll talk about that at some later point)
o ‘The Witches’ (Alecia) – temptation
o ‘His wife’ (Ed) – sexual pressure
o ‘Duncan’s wetness’ (Rupert) – the feeling that he, Macbeth, would make a better king (there’s no real evidence for that in the play – but see brief discussion on page 33)
End of Sample Section
Macbeth: A Study Commentary - Contents and Sample Section
(Please make sure you have opened the page to its full width on your screen)
CONTENTS
Act One Scene One
Commentary 1
Overview
2
Student Response
3
Act One Scene Two
Commentary 4
Overview 7
Student Response 8
Act One Scene Three
Commentary 10
Overview 15
Student Response 17
Act One Scene Four
Commentary 19
Overview 20
Student Response 21
Act One Scene Five Commentary 22
Overview 27
Student Response 28
Act One Scene Six Commentary 30
Overview 30
Student Response 31
Act One Scene Seven Commentary 32
Overview 36
Student Response 37
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
39
Commentary Practice – General
39
Practice Commentary 1
41
Model Commentary
44
Commentary – Further Suggestions
46
Act Two Scene One
Commentary 48
Overview 51
Student Response 52
Act Two Scene Two
Commentary 53
Overview 55
Student Response 56
Act Two Scene Three
Commentary 57
Overview 61
Student Response 62
Act Two Scene Four
Practice Commentary 2 64
Additional Essay Questions (A Level) 68
Act Three Scene One
Commentary 69
Overview 72
Student Response 73
Act Three Scene Two
Commentary 75
Overview 77
Student Response 78
Act Three Scene Three
Commentary 79
Overview 79
Student Response 80
Act Three Scene Four
Commentary 81
Overview 86
Student Response 86
Act Three Scene Five
Commentary 88
Overview 88
Student Response 89
Act Three Scene Six
Commentary 90
Overview 92
Student Response 92
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
92
Practice Commentary 3
93
Act Four Scene One
Commentary 95
Overview 100
Student Response 102
Act Four Scene Two
Commentary 103
Overview 105
Student Response 106
Act Four Scene Three
Commentary 108
Overview 114
Student Response 116
Act Five Scene One
Commentary 118
Overview 120
Student Response 121
Act Five Scene Two
Commentary 122
Overview 124
Student Response 124
Act Five Scene Three
Commentary 126
Overview 129
Student Response 129
Act Five Scene Four
Commentary 130
Overview 130
Student Response 131
Act Five Scene Five
Commentary 132
Overview 135
Student Response 136
Act Five Scene Six
Commentary 138
Overview 138
Student Response 138
Act Five Scene Seven
Commentary 139
Overview 139
Student Response 140
Act Five Scene Eight
Commentary 142
Overview 143
Student Response 144
Act Five Scene Nine
Commentary 146
Student Response 146
Practice Commentary 5
147
Additional Essay Questions (A Level)
148
Further Essay Questions (International Baccalaureate)
149
Further Essay Questions (A Level)
150
Advanced Placement Free-Response Questions
151
Commentary ‘Help’ Pages
152
Act One Scene Five
Commentary
Lady Macbeth is half-way through Macbeth’s letter when she enters – a realistic effect.
1-2 ‘By the perfect’st report’ (on the most reliable grounds): Macbeth is still, in spite of Banquo’s warning,
pinning his faith on the ‘trifle’ the Witches have given him, as proof that their promises can be trusted.
3 ‘Burned in desire’: Can you recall the word Banquo used to suggest how Macbeth might be excited at the
prospect of kingship?
‘That, trusted home, might enkindle you to the crown’ (Act One Scene Three lines 120-121)
4 ‘Made themselves air’: Banquo’s ‘bubbles’. They vanished into another world.
‘Rapt’: That interesting word again, but this time without any suggestion that he is hiding something – he is just
‘enraptured’.
7
‘The coming-on of time’: Macbeth still hopes that kingship will ‘come on’ to him without his having to do very
much. He continues to be reluctant to take any initiative himself – which may be why he is eager to involve
his wife as quickly as possible. She, he knows, has it in her to be pro-active, if that is what will be needed.
Lady Macbeth in her response to this letter shows that she knows her husband well; there’s no reason to
suppose that Macbeth knows any less about her. So when he says he has written to her so that she can share
the good news, he really means, ‘Tell me what to do.’
The letter is in prose (usual) and Lady Macbeth’s response to it is in blank verse (expected). What effect does
the switch from one to the other have?
Macbeth has written in a clear and ordered manner and has kept his excitement in check. His language
is largely non-figurative (literal).
Lady Macbeth’s speech is strong in both rhythms and imagery. She is immediately more passionate
about the prospect before them than Macbeth has so far been.
14 ‘What thou art promised’: The possibility is so enormous that she cannot speak of it in plain terms – the
prize, and the means to it, are unnameable. All the way through this speech she uses indirect phrases to refer
both to the kingship and to the murder which will lead to it. List them.
The kingship:
'be great'
'ambition'
'what thou wouldst highly'
'that which cries'
'the golden round' (the crown - a bit more to the point)
The murder:
'the nearest way'
'the illness'
'wrongly win'
'Thus thou must do'
'that which...thou dost fear to do'
14 Lady Macbeth fears Macbeth’s ‘nature’, she says. But she doesn’t simply mean that he’s too weak for the
job. It is his human nature which is at fault. That’s what ‘human kindness’ is – it would be more clearly
written as ‘humankind-ness’, and refers to what makes us people, as distinct from animals – or witches. So
Lady Macbeth isn’t complaining about Macbeth, but about us. We are not fitted for the kind of action which is
necessary to make us ‘great’; we don’t deserve greatness.
That essentially human nature (which Lady Macbeth does see as weak) is passed down to us through the
15 generations, in the very ‘milk’ with which we are nursed. To become truly great we must be prepared to deny
our inheritance and act ruthlessly in our own self-interest. So Lady Macbeth’s speech is a rejection of all that
we have seen happening (in the previous scene) in Duncan’s court, where humane (another spelling of the
word with slightly different connotations) and kind (in the more modern sense) behaviour is both ordained and
practised. Lady Macbeth, in other words, wants Mankind to take a different path in his evolution.
Womankind, too. Women can out-man men. She herself asks in a moment (lines 45-46) to have her milk
turned to gall (bitter fluid); and in Scene Seven (lines 54-58) she claims (boasts, even) that she would snatch
her nipple from her feeding baby’s mouth and dash its brains out, if she had sworn to do it. You can’t get
much more of a denial of humankind-ness than that.
It's important that you grasp that full meaning of those easily misunderstood lines (14-15). If you say, in an
essay or a commentary, ‘Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth is too kind to kill Duncan,’ you’ll have missed an
opportunity.
16 Macbeth has been ‘seized’ by the idea of kingship, you will remember. He in his turn must seize – ‘catch’ –
the swiftest means to achieve it. Lady Macbeth does not think he will.
The next few line are maybe overburdened with antithesis. It’s as if Lady Macbeth has drawn up two lists:
*
What Macbeth wants
*
Why he will never get it without help
She moves from one to the other in a manner which makes for a very contrived speech (and a demanding one
for an actress); but the rhythms generated are powerful and convincing. She seems to know what she is
talking about.
23 ‘Hie thee hither’ has some dramatic impact (get used to that phrase). Things are about to move swiftly.
Duncan will arrive before night and be dead before morning.
24 She wants Macbeth here so that she can ‘pour [her] spirits’ in his ear. She may mean ‘the spirit of boldness
25 (‘valour’) which will put the new Mankind wholly in control of his own future’. But if you know Othello and
Hamlet you’ll perhaps remember that the only thing poured into people’s ears in those plays is poison.
27-28 ‘Do seem to have thee crowned withal’: The phrasing is strange. (‘Withal’ just means ‘with’.) The tense of
the verb suggests that Macbeth is already crowned – in the world from which the Witches come, and perhaps
also in Lady Macbeth’s imagination.
29 'Thou'rt mad to say it': She starts in much the same way Macbeth did earlier; she too has been caught
thinking bad things. The unexpected arrival of the king has something of the same impact, briefly, as the
knocking on the gate which will wake up the household (in Act Two) to the discovery of his death. Her
reaction here is that of a guilty person. (Some commentators have even suggested that when the Messenger
says, ‘The king comes here tonight’ she is so far forward in her imaginings that she thinks he means King
Macbeth, and is momentarily flustered – and guilty – when she comes to her senses.)
She does attack the messenger, rather.
He is apologetic. You probably wouldn’t want to contradict Lady Macbeth either.
36
The messenger has brought ‘great news’ (‘news of greatness’ would be more accurate) and deserves to be
rewarded, at least by being taken care of (line 34).
Ravens croak to announce imminent death (it was believed); the more important the death the louder the
croak (we might imagine). This one has croaked himself almost to silence. Shakespeare needs us to be aware
of just how momentous the impending murder will be: it will shake the very structures of the world.
38 ‘Under my battlements’: Why ‘under’? Why ‘my’?
The impression given is that the battlements will loom over Duncan threateningly. (Look at what he
himself says about the battlements when he arrives, however.)
This is Lady Macbeth's, not Macbeth's, castle - a telling slip. It will in a sense be her plot too, since she
becomes the force which drives it to its conclusion...and she's the one who cleans up afterwards.
Just who or what the ‘spirits’ are to which Lady Macbeth refers here and in line 46 (‘murdering ministers –
if both sets of supernatural creatures are the same) we don’t really, as commentators, know. But as an
audience in the theatre we will assume she means the Witches (or something very like). As often in drama, it’s
the impression, not the facts, which matters.
‘Unsex me here’ doesn’t really confuse the issue of the New Mankind discussed above. The New Person will
be sexless, and will have neither the softness of a woman nor the principles of a man; there will be no room
inside this creature for anything but ‘direst cruelty’. Its blood will be too thick to carry feelings such as
compassion (‘remorse’) to its heart and it will have no conscience (‘compunctious visitings of nature’). Its
purposes will be ‘fell’ (‘ruthless’); and it will be very efficient at doing what it is programmed to do (nothing
will come between its ‘purpose’ and the ‘effect’ – the carrying out of that purpose).
Recognise the picture? Isn’t it eerily like one of those science-fiction creations, androids, which look like people
but aren’t and which go around proving how indestructible they are while destroying lots of real men and
women? Has Lady Macbeth looked into the same future as some of our film-makers?
48
‘Nature’s mischief’ may give us a bit of trouble, unless we see it as referring not to human nature (in which
there is not enough mischief according to Lady M) but to Nature as a whole (ie Creation), including that part
of it in which evil spirits live. There are other glosses (possible interpretations), but that’s the most
straightforward one.
The last part of this speech echoes Macbeth’s in the previous scene, where he too calls for the stars to hide
their fires so that he can act unseen. But Lady Macbeth’s thinking and her poetry are much more fully
developed.
Night is to be ‘thick’ like the blood of the creature Lady Macbeth wishes to become, and will hinder sight in the
same way that the thickness of her blood will ‘stop up th’access’ (line 42) to human feeling. The darkness
(gloomy smoke from hell) in which it will wrap itself will act as a ‘pall’ (both a cloak capable of hiding
something and a funeral winding-cloth).
50 ‘My keen knife’: Does Lady Macbeth think she will have to commit the murder herself? She almost has to
when the time comes.
There are perhaps forces in Creation which could work against the powers of darkness; but they have not been
51 named hitherto, and ‘heaven’ receives here only a feeble mention. The Witches, it seems, will have
everything their own way.
52 Just as Lady Macbeth reckons she can out-man men in ruthlessness, so she now out-does both the Witches
and Ross in greeting Macbeth with his new titles.
Note, however, that she does not yet address him as king.
She has been carried away (‘transported’) – into an unreal world, we might suggest – by the news in his
letter. It is the world of ‘hereafter’ (line 53) which exists ‘beyond this ignorant present’ and lies in ‘the
future’. But if things here and now can disappear into thin air (as those ‘bubbles’ the Witches did) how much
more likely it is that things offered for some future time will fail to materialise at all, and turn out to be illusions
promised by illusions. We know that; but the two schemers do not, or do not want to.
(Macbeth does become king, of course, so in that sense the Witches keep their word. His assumption has been
that kingship will last, however, and will bring content. That mistake is his, not theirs.)
Macbeth barely greets his wife. He is too full of the news of Duncan’s arrival.
The next exchange is full of innuendo (hint and double meaning) – none of it particularly original, but chilling
nonetheless. Are they concerned that someone may be listening? Or just afraid to hear themselves utter the
terrible words which are in their minds? Actors have a bit of a problem – it’s easy to melodramatise
(exaggerate the villainy of) these lines.
57
‘And when goes hence?’: ‘Go hence’ can mean ‘depart this life’; in even plainer words…
die.
‘Tomorrow, as he purposes’: How long dare an actor pause between ‘tomorrow’ and ‘as’?
Try it for yourself.
59-60 ‘O! Never /Shall sun that morrow see’: This could be read as no more than the expression of a hostess eager
that her guest….
should stay as long as possible.
Here Lady Macbeth is diverted. She notices the look on Macbeth’s face. What do you imagine that look might
be?
Fear? Horror? Guilt? Astonishment at his wife’s cold-blooded subtleties?
‘Strange matters. To…’: If your edition has a comma after ‘matters’, pretend it’s a full stop. That’s the only
sensible way to punctuate these lines.
62 ‘Look like the time’ means a bit more than just ‘behave normally’. Think back to the previous scene. In order
to ‘look like the time’ at Duncan’s court Macbeth had to go along with its jollity and excessive warmth,
although he was far from being in the mood for it. ‘The time’ means almost ‘the fashion’ – what is acceptable
in the present circumstances. Your purpose in behaving in line with the norms of the day will be to ‘beguile
the time’ (deceive the people around you) so that, like a serpent beneath a flower (a snake in the grass) you
will be able to strike suddenly and secretly. This advice is something of the ‘spirits’ (line 24) Lady Macbeth
wanted so badly to pour into Macbeth’s ear; and it does indeed have some poison in it.
64
‘He that’s coming’: She cannot even name Duncan. There’s almost a kind of superstition in this refusal, as if
to name him will be to break a spell. (Compare this with the theatrical tradition that Macbeth should be
referred to only as The Scottish Play, and never by name, or bad luck will befall the production.)
Here are three more examples of linguistic subterfuge (hiding meaning in ambiguous statement). Try to give
two explanations for each.
'provided for'
'great business'
'my despatch'
'looked after properly'; 'taken care of (ie killed)'
'important visit by Duncan'; 'wonderful opportunity to kill Duncan'
'my care, so that he is made welcome'; 'my care, so that he is "despatched" (murdered)'
You may find this word-play a bit heavy-handed. The Elizabethans will have loved it.
67 ‘All our nights and days to come’ has an ominous ring to it simply because it has an optimistic one. That’s
the case even if we don’t already know that Macbeth will talk poignantly of ‘all our yesterdays’ just before
he dies.
69 ‘We will speak further’: This sounds like a man who is looking for a means of delay.
‘Only look up clear’: Has he been looking physically down?
Lady Macbeth reassures him that all he needs to do is appear calm and she will do everything else. In this she
is misleading him just as surely as the Witches…unless she does intend, at this point, to kill Duncan herself?
Overview: other things to note
Setting
o Lady Macbeth sees and addresses spirits ‘Wherever…you wait’ (lines 47-48); they are in an invisible world outside the one in which she walks up and down reading her husband’s letter.
Character
o Macbeth: Our knowledge of him deepens suddenly in this scene. Lady Macbeth’s almost scornful account of his
character has the effect of bringing him closer to us. He is human (that’s her complaint against him). He is human (that
is what connects him to us).
o Lady Macbeth: A wholly startling woman. An encounter between her and the Witches would have been something to
behold (Mrs Thatcher with an eye on Buckingham Palace as a desres meets the Furies).
Action
o This is two scenes run together and divided by Macbeth’s entrance. They are telescoped to give the impression of time
moving swiftly on.
o The speed of events (same idea): Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to ‘Hie’ to her; ‘the king comes here tonight’ is a
sudden and unexpected piece of news; ‘our thane is coming’ is the next piece; Lady Macbeth then ‘feels the future
in the instant’.
o Indirect reporting. Several important episodes in the play do not happen on stage but are described by someone who
saw them or knows about them. Look out for them and try to analyse the effect produced in each case.
o Foreboding: the raven, yes; but also the rate at which Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are sliding downwards morally
Style
o Its contrasts
o Its gathering pace as it moves from the ordered letter at the beginning, through Lady Macbeth’s intense analyses and invocations to the fragmented dialogue at the end as Duncan’s arrival approaches
Themes
o Unnaturalness. Our whole discussion of human nature (page 23 above) had to do with that theme, and so does much of what Lady Macbeth says in the scene.
o Sexuality (manhood as compared with womanhood)
General
o Macbeth came to his wife looking for advice; by the end of the scene he must feel he has jumped on the back of a wild horse which has galloped away with him. How well did he know her?
Student Response
Carrie wants to know why, when Macbeth was in such a hurry to get to his castle and talk to his wife, he took the time to write quite a long letter before he set off.
There’s a dramatic reason, of course: Macbeth’s letter allows Lady Macbeth to move ahead of him in her imagination. Part of the tension of the scene rests in her struggle to draw him after her, once they are together. But there should also be, to support our theory about characters’ actions needing to be convincing within the context of the play, an internal reason – internal to the story or to Macbeth himself. I ask the class to supply one.
‘He might have thought he was going to be delayed on his journey.’ He certainly didn’t travel at top speed: the messenger who left after him with the news that Duncan was on his way overtook him.
‘He sent the letter express mail.’ (He probably did.)
‘He wants her to know about the prophecy as soon as possible.’ That’s true, but it doesn’t answer Carrie’s question.
We’ve had to struggle a bit, so maybe Shakespeare hasn’t done too well here. But the letter and Lady Macbeth’s reaction to it have been so powerful theatrically that as a sensible audience we aren’t going to worry too much.
‘Letters,’ says Heather. ‘She says ‘letters’: he must have written more than one.’ We shouldn’t worry to much about that either.
‘This whole thing about human nature and a new kind of person: was Shakespeare really serious about that?’ (Anwar).
It would be easy to be pompous and say something like, ‘Shakespeare was serious about everything, even when he was making his audience laugh.’ Instead I put an essay title on the whiteboard:
‘Plays take us into worlds different from our own, but must have something to say about issues of importance in the world to which we, the audience, will return.’
Show how issues relevant to today’s world have been raised in plays you have studied.
‘What’s more relevant than the question of who and what we are, and where we’re going?’
That comes out as a bit pompous anyway, but it gives us plenty to talk about. As we go through the rest of the play we can examine each major idea we come across to see whether it’s ‘an issue of importance in the world to which we, the audience, will return’.
We start, however, with a discussion of just how different Macbeth’s world is from ours. Not so very, we decide.
‘Macbeth might have been happy there if it hadn’t been for…?’ I ask.
o ‘Ambition’ (Philip) – his ‘tragic flaw’ (we’ll talk about that at some later point)
o ‘The Witches’ (Alecia) – temptation
o ‘His wife’ (Ed) – sexual pressure
o ‘Duncan’s wetness’ (Rupert) – the feeling that he, Macbeth, would make a better king (there’s no real evidence for that in the play – but see brief discussion on page 33)
End of Sample Section
Macbeth Site
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* Please see the bottom of this page for helpful Macbeth resources.
* Dramatis Personae.
* Act 1
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1. A desert place. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 2. A camp near Forres. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. A heath near Forres. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4. Forres. The palace. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5. Inverness. Macbeth's castle. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 6. Before Macbeth's castle. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Macbeth's castle. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
* Act 2
o Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1. Court of Macbeth's castle. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2. The same. (Full Annotations and Glossary)
o Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. The same.
o Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 4. Outside Macbeth's castle.
* Act 3
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 1. Forres. The palace.
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 2. The palace.
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 3. A park near the palace.
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4. The same. Hall in the palace.
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 5. A Heath.
o Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 6. Forres. The palace.
* Act 4
o Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
o Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 2. Fife. Macduff's castle.
o Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3. England. Before the King's palace.
* Act 5
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 2. The country near Dunsinane.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3. Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 4. Country near Birnam wood.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5. Dunsinane. Within the castle.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 6. Dunsinane. Before the castle.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 7. Another part of the field.
o Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8. Another part of the field.
Macbeth's Soliloquies Explained (If it were done...)
Macbeth's Soliloquies (have died hereafter ...)
Blood Imagery in Macbeth
All about Macbeth's Sources
The First Performance of Macbeth
Macbeth Character Analysis
Macbeth Study Quiz
Lady Gruoch Macbeth?
Macbeth Essay Topics
Pronouncing Shakespearean Names
Polanski, Hefner, and Macbeth
Biblical Imagery in Macbeth
Seven Deadly Sins
Unlucky Macbeth
Macbeth's Soliloquies (Is this a dagger ...)
Macbeth's Soliloquies (To be thus is nothing ...)
Mysticism in Macbeth
Witches and Macbeth
Who is Hecate?
Macbeth Plot Synopsis
Macbeth and King James
Famous Quotations from Macbeth
Violent Deaths in the Plays
Shakespeare's Trap Doors
Scary Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Quartos
Shakespearean Character Quiz
Shakespeare on War
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Last updated 12/04/2006 09:01:01
Jungian Analysis
HERO'S JOURNEY : REFERENCE
the hero's journey : summary of the steps
This page summrarizes the brief explanations from every step of the Hero's Journey.
1. Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
The call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.
2. Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.
3. Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
5. The Belly of the Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.
2. Inititation
1. The Road of Trials
The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.
3. Woman as the Temptress
At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
4. Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.
5. Apotheosis
To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.
6. The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.
3. Return
1. Refusal of the Return
So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?
2. The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
3. Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.
5. Master of the Two Worlds
In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.
6. Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.
Heros Journey : Summary of Steps
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI)
Maricopa Community Colleges
the ' net connection at MCLI is Alan Levine
comments about the site to : alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu
questions about the content to : liz.warren@smcmail.maricopa.edu
last modified: 11/20/1999 03:06:34
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
the hero's journey : summary of the steps
This page summrarizes the brief explanations from every step of the Hero's Journey.
1. Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
The call to adventure is the point in a person's life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.
2. Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.
3. Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
5. The Belly of the Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.
2. Inititation
1. The Road of Trials
The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the "hieros gamos", or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.
3. Woman as the Temptress
At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
4. Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be "killed" so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.
5. Apotheosis
To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.
6. The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.
3. Return
1. Refusal of the Return
So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?
2. The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
3. Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn't realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.
5. Master of the Two Worlds
In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.
6. Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.
Heros Journey : Summary of Steps
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI)
Maricopa Community Colleges
the ' net connection at MCLI is Alan Levine
comments about the site to : alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu
questions about the content to : liz.warren@smcmail.maricopa.edu
last modified: 11/20/1999 03:06:34
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
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