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View Full Version : Fragile state of mind in the text



Wordsmiths
04-26-2008, 03:33 PM
i am writing an exam on friday on fragile mind states in Macbeth and Hamlet so was wondering if anyone can give me some tips, lines or scenes to look at
i have the sleep walking scene the dagger scene lady macbeth tryin to clean the blood from her hands
so any advice would be appreciated

shamus88
05-28-2008, 04:34 PM
Those seem like good choices. To demonstrate your knowledge of the play you may also want to look at an interlocutor such as MacDuff. The scenes that spring to mind are when he finds out that his family have been murdered or when he finds the bodies of the king and his men. I think this would give your essay a little more depth than just focusing on the protagonist.

In terms of Hamlet, Im pretty sure that you can see fragility in most of the scenes if you look hard enough. I would perhaps look at Hamlet's view of his mother, "Frailty thy name is woman", or Ophelia's madness at the end before she dies/commits suicide (even if her fragilty is questionable it would be nice to look at a female character, and maybe even tie in the theme of appearance vs reality) You can of course look at Hamlets soliloquies such as the infamous "To be or not to be..." scene, but again, I personally would take a less conventional route. If you do decide to use "To be or not to be...", look at the religious impact and consequences of Hamlets choice.