TEOGROMITMM ~ Week 1

At first, I had a difficult time relating to this play, or even understanding why it is so highly acclaimed.  I have, however, managed to find a few connections between me and the play.
Like Ruth and Tillie, I have one other sibling.  His name is Peter and he can be embarrassing, just as Ruth is sometimes embarrassed by her little sister.  I also have a relationship with my mother that wavers.  We usually get along just fine, but we can disagree on many things at different times, sometimes to a point where I can't even stand to speak to her.  I do love her unconditionally, though, as Ruth and Tillie always love their mother. 
The part where Tillie places in the Science Fair reminded me of my participation in Science Olympiad.  I work very hard to do well while enjoying my studies.  Like Tillie, my hard work pays off in the end, as it has in the past few months when I have placed four times in two competitions, three of those being 1st place.  I love science much like Tillie, and take great pride in my accomplishments.  My family supports me like Ruth supports Tillie.  Beatrice could be compared to my brother, who is proud of me on the inside but prefers to be at home as opposed to sitting in the bleachers at a school and watching the Nerd Clan scream at unfathomable pitches.  Personally, I don't blame him.
I'm sure I will continue to find connections within the play that relate to my life, but for now these are the few that I have come across.
Sayonara!

Macbeth ~ Overview

I genuinely enjoyed reading Macbeth, this being my sixth Shakespeare play. Though I prefer comedies to tragedies and Macbeth is an extremely dark work, I discovered a theme that really stood out to me. Because at the time of Shakespeare's play productions a powerful and theatre-loving queen was on the throne, Shakespeare worked to incorporate significant female characters in his plays. In Macbeth, especially, a female played a very import role in keeping the play both interesting and memorable. There are only two female characters in the entire work, the most important being Lady Macbeth, wife of Macbeth. She represents the power of women all throughout the play, moving within her emotional margin without changing her mindset.
Lady Macbeth, for the most part, is an overall stronger character than her power-granted husband. She serves as his advisor, cheerleader and humbler. She pushes him to constantly raise his status in society, like in the beginning when she convinces him to be better than Thane of Cawdor, his current position at the time. Furthermore, she divides a plan for the pair of them to kill King Duncan in order to make Macbeth king of Scotland. The only thing that holds her back from carrying out the dirty deed herself is the fact that emotions overcame her when Duncan's sleeping figure resemble her father. This goes to show that personal emotions are her only obstacle in her goal to "unsex" herself in the sight of men.
Lady Macbeth proves her determination once again when convincing her husband to send murderers to kill Banquo, a man she sees as the only other man who can hold her husband back from being his best. By this action, we can see that she is doing anything she can to give her husband power because she herself, being a woman, has no chance if being as powerful as any man. Other characters such as the three hags stress the weakness of women through the quote "no man born of woman shell defeat you", meaning that anyone who has been associated with a woman and has been touched by the emotions of females is ultimately a weakling. Lady Macbeth is aware if this view of gender-determined weakness, doing anything she can to be the strong, masculine person that she wishes to be, achieving this goal through her own unstable husband.
Though Lady Macbeth's determination and keen mind are admirable, her goal proves harmful to more than just her enemies in the end. The guilt that she suppressed in daylight shone brightest at night, as her acquaintances continuously witnessed her sleepwalking and ringing her hands, the motion of trying to wash blood off if her guilty palms. Not long after her sleepwalking sessions, Lady Macbeth committed suicide not in her sleep, but in broad daylight. To be honest, it was not all that surprising, considering most sane human beings would have done the same FAR before she chose to do so after the terrible crimes she committed alongside her husband.
Overall, Shakespeare did an excellent job presenting the audience with a powerful female character through Lady Macbeth.