The joy of Shakespeare
I was born in East Africa and I came over here when I was eleven. And so a lot of my upbringing has been here. I wasn’t great at English which is a huge regret for me actually. But in a way it sort of doesn’t matter because, you know, in my fifties I got to play Lady Macbeth. And it opened a world to me that I hadn’t even known was there. The thing is, Shakespeare is a genius for a reason. I had never realised his brilliance. I had always thought it was for other people, clever people, intellectual people. But actually, when I started sort of deconstructing it in a way, you realise it’s for everybody. It’s for a white person, a black person, anybody. It’s universal. The themes, you know, love, greed, ambition, power, all those things are just normal daily things in humans’ lives. You know, in all our lives. Across cultures. Across time and space Shakespeare just ... And I think that’s why he’s so relevant, is because his writings of like over 400 years ago resonate so deeply today.
Shakespeare’s language in everyday English
Myself, when I was reading Macbeth, you know, we all know certain of Macbeth’s lines. I know there are like so many of them in the English language. But for me what was so thrilling was when I started reading Macbeth I was like, ‘Oh, “Be all and end all”, that’s from here!’ you know? And so when I now go and see a Shakespeare, I don’t know how other people feel, but I know I get a real thrill when those words that I use today connect me back to his time. It’s like, wow. That’s thrilling. You know, ‘The world is my oyster’ or … I mean, I can’t think, there are so many that we use every day. He’s just so clever.
How does Lady Macbeth get what she wants?
For Lady Macbeth it’s quite clear what Macbeth needs to do. For the witches’ predictions to come true he needs to basically get rid of King Duncan, otherwise how else is he going to become king? And so for her it’s really important that Macbeth, you know, actively does something. But she realises that he’s too weak. She is the strong one in this relationship, certainly at the beginning of the play. She’s the one who’s, you know, powering the change in him. She’s manipulating him. She wants him to become the king so she persuades him to do these things. And she uses her sexuality. She also, you know, she questions his manhood. So she kind of propels him with this manipulation and putting him down slightly, that he’s not man enough. So he can then go on and get what she wants for herself as well. Which is, she wants to be top dog too.
Comments
This is really a nice video. Very interesting topic which refreshes my memory on Macbeth
It depends of the kind of personality that the man will be like a lamb like in this case. Interesting story that can be read by different aspects, but I didn't read all the story at all, and this is the first impresions that I have, anyway I don't have argue enough to speak more deeply about it, thanks.
Great! Thanks for this part. I'm so happy. When I was listening this part, I was thrilled. Thanks for sincerity to actress Shaheen Khan. I remembered Macbeth and I wanted read it again. Thanks British Council!
“True warriors are those who dare to face directly dripping blood and miserable life” this line is from LuXun's . i am from china , big fan of british council , and i love this place.
Luxun is one of the most famous contemporary writers, at the time he wrote this , it was quite a turbulent time for the whole Chinese nation. a lot of students and opinion leaders came out on the street and advocate for their freedom of speech and the survive of their own country.
and by seeing these words that he wrote ,people began to realize how important and urgent that is for them to stand out and fight for their country.
and the sentence was stuck in everyone's head,
we do have some women in our history did some awesome things that usually for men to do, and some famale kings as well, but i can't name a specific one that has the exact situation that Ms macpeth does..
Great topic and no commnts- it makes me sad, so.. There are many graet writers in my country and many sentenses are worth to remember. I choose a couple which are popular and- I hope- everyone from my country (Poland) know them. Adam Mickiewicz wrote in 19. century: " who the real friend is we know when we in trouble" (translation might not be accurate). Years later Zofia Nałkowska wrote in her book "Medalliions": "People for people prepared this doom". She talked about World War II and the German-nazi work camps where thousend of people died, but is also has deeper meaning: we are the people so we are like victims in this tragedy but we are people and the nazi soldiers were as well the people just like us. I think it's kind of warning, we should try to not became stupid fallowers of popular trend, not became bad person. Another thing is we had similar character To Lady Macbeth. Juliusz Slowacki wrote his play called:' Balladyna" in 19 century. It's a story about two sister: Alina and Balladyna and their mother. They lived at the village, Both daugther was beautifull. Older one- Balladyna was egoistic and bad person but Alina was kind and good. Some day handsome and powerfull prince appeared in their home. he was amazed by girls and wanted marry... but which? Widow- girl's mother started some competitions, and the winner should be Alina, but the bad sister kill her and kept in a secret. Balladyna get married prince and became powerfull woman. But she wanted more and more, she was like lady Macbeth. Her cruelty was as big as her beauty. He locked her mother and pretened her parents had been very rich people. She made some knight falled in love with her and manipulated him. Finally he killed Prince, and then was poisoned by Balladyna. The and of this story is... You should find in english translation polish literature :)