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Post by Tim of Raventree on May 7, 2018 17:31:38 GMT
I like Macbeth so I'd be cool with that. So far the following have been suggested for the tragedies:
Macbeth King Lear Othello Antony and Cleopatra
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Barley
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Post by Barley on May 7, 2018 18:07:53 GMT
I am happy to start with Macbeth
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The Raven
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Post by The Raven on May 7, 2018 18:46:00 GMT
Macbeth is also very short, which is convenient for those of us with lives.
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Boros
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Post by Boros on May 7, 2018 18:51:33 GMT
Had any of us lives, we wouldn't be pretending to be fantastical characters from an mystical land on the internet with a bunch of strangers
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Boros
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Post by Boros on May 7, 2018 23:21:37 GMT
So, we are settle:
MacBeth, Act I.
Until when?
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The Raven
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Post by The Raven on May 8, 2018 0:26:03 GMT
When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.
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Post by Tim of Raventree on May 8, 2018 6:11:10 GMT
Scene 1 is short so how long do we need to read it? Or perhaps we should read scenes 1 and 2.
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Boros
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Post by Boros on May 8, 2018 11:48:47 GMT
I've read them yesterday, but maybe we could set it to Thursday?
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Post by Tim of Raventree on May 8, 2018 17:13:19 GMT
I'm cool with that but we should give other people a chance to chip in with whether that's enough time for them.
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Barley
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Post by Barley on May 9, 2018 19:49:54 GMT
Macbeth is also very short, which is convenient for those of us with lives. Not you then?
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Post by Tim of Raventree on May 10, 2018 18:33:21 GMT
Ok so I decided to kick this off. Here's a handy link with an easy way to access the text, with modern text for comparison: MacbethAct I Scene one introduces the 3 witches, whose prophecies are central to the plot. They play to meet up before sunset, after a battle has concluded. At this point we don't know who has been fighting and why. However, the witches reveal that they are planning to meet Macbeth. Then, two of the three hear calls from their familiars and the three depart with the chant "Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air." Short though the scene is, it sets the play up with an ominous tone, and hints at supernatural activity, though of course the latter is more believable to a n early Stuart audience than it is to us in the 21st century. Though to be fair, we are playing a game set in a fantasy world so there's that. I was interested in the names of the familiars, Paddock the toad and Greymalkin the cat. I can't find out anything about Paddock with a quick Google search but Wiki says that Greymalkin is another word for grimalkin, an archaic term for a cat with particularly associations with witchcraft. Notably, Nostradamus had a cat called Grimalkin, and Scottish legends apparently references the grimalkin as a faery cat that dwells in the highlands. If those facts were commonly known in this period, it seems that Shakespeare has used the name to reinforce his audience's belief in the supernatural abilities of his witches.
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The Raven
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Post by The Raven on May 10, 2018 20:15:25 GMT
Duncan is a terrible judge of character, based on his reaction to his last traitor.
Duncan: There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust.
It's also interesting to note that Macbeth is, if not a good man, then not necessarily a wicked man in the beginning. There's no hint of his ambition before the witches and his wife start egging him on.
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Post by Tim of Raventree on May 10, 2018 20:55:37 GMT
I like the fact that Macbeth is not an obvious villain, more of an anti-hero. Sure, he does some awful things, but he's someone the audience can relate to as well. I was a teen when I read this one for school and I was absolutely convinced that Macbeth was in the wrong for murdering his king, who hadn't, in my teenage view, done anything to deserve it. It will be interesting to see how I perceive the murder this time.
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Boros
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Post by Boros on May 10, 2018 20:57:08 GMT
I'll make more comments when I get home. But for now I'll say that Sweno is a very stupid name for a King.
On league with Kronko.
Edit: I realize that's the translation for Svein. Anyway, it sounds stupid.
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Boros
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Post by Boros on May 10, 2018 21:09:12 GMT
Banquo should get some of that blame too, Astro.
I mean, MacBeth is not really into the stuff the witches are telling him, until Banquo starts whispering on his ears about the great future before him.
I don't remember his role further into the story, but he sure has some part in MacBeths growing ambition beside the witches and his cray cray wife.
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