a random journal entry

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Oh WOW!

I'm so glad this long weekend is almost over. Okay, I'm not glad, but hey… it sure was fun while it lasted.

Old what I should do about sabo though. Should I take his class or not?

I want to sop and work on sightless hope some more, so this will be short.

Depending on what I do, if I take the class or not, it's just another hurdle I can jump. I've thought about why my guardian is pushing me so hard to succeed. It's because she wants me to do that. succeed, since I have come through so much and Al, she doesn't want to see me go to waste. I can understand that, but I mean, I don't think I'm wasting away.

I think I'm fresh, and new end vibrant. I can't wait to see Mrs. Corey this week, and my IEP is next week. I want to have Mrs. Corey and Mr. Evan there. My guardian doesn't understand why I want to have them there so bad, and I didn't know what to tell her. Because I want to have them there? She thinks they will loose their jobs, and yes, that is very likelt. I don't think they will however, so I don't see any harm in this at Al.

I also am trying to look for scholarships like Mrs. G is wishing, but I just can't find any good cheap ones. Oh well, I will just ask her on Monday.

Wow. Talk about love. I'm not used to so much of it being shown in so many different ways. It's scary, but at the same time I feels kind of nice…. Sort of, when I'm not being put down because someone thinks I NEED to take the honors govermebt class.

I don't know anymore. I just don't know. I feel like I am an old man, and I feel drained and tired all the time. Literally I feel tired all the time. Well, off to do more sightless hope. This is just something that popped into my head, and I think it's so true on many levels. Everyone is talking about the power of love right? Well here's what I think. When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

racial rumble. a journal entry.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Um being pushed to take honors government.

In addition, not to mention the huge deal with Mrs. G going on, but I will get to that a bit later.

For the past week Mr. Sabo has been interested with my discussions in both his psychology class and his government classes, and we all know how bad my past history grades have been!

That reminds me. Mid terms have came out, and I did kind of okay. My grades are below.

Honors English. 94.

Applied math two. 69.

History. 73.

Adult living. 93.

Home Ec. 96.

At least I earned all of my credits for this quarter, and not to mention me being published! Woo hoot!

But yes, enough about that. I want to talk about what's been happening with me.

To be very honest, a lot has been happening with me, but so little of it I will tell.

My new schedule is good. I have math again with Mr. Largent first block, then I have sabo next block and then him again the block after that. I like his classes a lot, and I think he's a good teacher. He asked me if I wanted to do the honors government, and I flat out told him, hell no! Although I told him in much nicer words. He didn't push at it, tank god, but when I got home, I was immediately blasted for the sheer fact that I said no.

“What do you mean you said no?” Mrs. Debbie nearly pounced on me when I told her. “You got to bust some ass here kid.” I didn't deny this because I knew what she was telling me was true, but my history grades still kept me from saying no. “And,” she went on all stemmed up like a new locomotive. “You got to learn what college will be like. You have to learn what it will be like. You have to learn to study first and eat later.”

I knew that she was making sense but to be very honest, I didn't think I could do the work, and when she heard this, she immediately pounced yet again.

“Is that seriously what you think?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, you can't handle college.” I was instantly stunned and shocked by this.

“Well, I think I can do college work.” I snapped at her fierce as a tiger in a cage.

“Then do the honors class.” I sighed, and reluctantly agreed to do it. I had already told him no, and I had already been three weeks into this semester, and his classes were easy, but still. Could I do it? Could I seriously do it?” yes, he likes my discussions and questions, but I just don’t think I'm cut out for it. If I am not however, is my guardian right in telling me I'm not cut out for college?

Like for example that Friday Mr. sabo was talking about how all boys’ schools and all girls schools seemed to be higher academically pitched than mixed schools. I knew why this was, but I also had another question bubbling in my mind as well. What about race? The reason all boys and all girls schools got higher marks academically was because there were less distractions with petty things such as love, relationships, and stress on people because they want to keep their partner happy. What about race? If people were segregated like in the olden days, with the same access to materials, such as desks, books, etc, would the educational market be eve higher? I raised my hand slowly, not knowing how to ask what I was thinking.

“What about race?” Kevin and Tracey instantly leaned forward looking at me intently, ready to rip my head off I was sure.

“I don’t understand.” Mr. Sabo said, and so I tried explaining what I was thinking by not being an ass whole. I didn't succeed.

“Well, what about blacks and whites? If the schools were segregated, wouldn't there be less distractions on that part too” I was going to say people didn't have to worry about racism anymore, people didn't have to worry about hurting someone's feelings because of their skin color, students would concentrate more on work and less on skin color, but he cut me off.

“No. I don’t think so.” I looked towards Tracey sitting across from me, who had his gazed locked on me. Kevin too had his gaze fixed on me.

“What you trying to say?” Kevin asked.

“All I want to know is would there be higher…”

“I don’t think so.” Mr. Sabo cit me off yet again. I hated it when he did that, even though he was good at deducing what I was thinking.

“But…” I began again determined to get my thought out, but he moved on to another subject.

I'm also doing very well in his psychology class. Nick and I are, but I'm the one who asks the questions out of the two of us. Nick and I are like the only people who can think. There's this kid named Brian with a very dumb mo hawk that makes him look like a porcupine died in his head. Brian reminds me of a kid with ADD. Because he flips if you say the word sex around him. He also thinks everyone is stupid because they don’t agree with him.

For example, when nick was not here this week, the spotlight was all on me. Mr. Sabo brought up having a mind again.

“Let’s get back to what we were talking about hmm? The mind. Does everyone have a mind?”

“yes.” Everyone chorused.

“Who disagrees?” my hand shot up in the air. He looked directly at me.

“Yes Robert?”

“Not everyone has a mind. Everyone has a brain yes, but people don’t think and rationalize, so they don’t have a mid. everyone can walk and talk, but not everyone can think and rationalize.”

“Very good!” he said beaming at me. “Correct. We'll also be getting into memory, and how memory works.” As he talked, he wrote down a jumble of numbers on the bored.

“Usually the average person can remember 6 things at a time. Let’s see how good your memory is,” my short term sucked. I couldn't even memorize someone's telephone number. We all got up and looked at the board. I started to automatically place the numbers into groups.

“015, 000, 16h, 98…” I heard myself say them in my own head.

“Times up!” he boomed, and everyone stopped looking at the board. We all turned around and look at the blank wall ahead.

“Now let’s see who has a good memory.” He said with a grin. I was the last in the row, so I instantly began to make a game out of this.

“Fifteen pigs jump. Three zeros heroes. 16 H’s…” as each kid said their version, getting only six. I started to try to remember the last four I saw, but I couldn't do it! I knew 98 was in there somewhere, but why couldn't I remember the number? The number one kept flashing in my head. All I could see was a black one on a white surface.

“Let’s try you!” he says. “Go!”

“Okay.” I said and began. When I reached the fifth number and sixth, I said.

“One, 9, 8…”

“Wrong!” he said beaming. “Very close though. If you would have remembered the six, instead of the one, which comes after the 8 in 98, you would have remembered eight numbers. However, you only got six. You got 7, and 8 right, but not 6.” My whole class was staring at me, wide eyed.

“Very interesting. How did you remember it?” he asked me.

“I made up word games.”

“You didn't group them?”

“I did that automatically. The hard part was making up the games.”

He didn’t say anything after that because it was time to go. I wished nick were here for this assignment. He would have remembered more than me I was sure of it. As they all left. He kept looking at me oddly.

“So you don’t want to do honors government huh?”

“No.” I said ignoring everyone else's wishes… “Wait,” I said. “I want to see how it's…”

“Okay. He said and walked off. Did I screw up big time?

I have a suspicion that people think I am a racist because of the little comment I made in government. I did not want to have black people be put in a lesser school just because they were black. I wanted to know that, since all boys and all girls schools did so well academically, would all black schools be the same way. No one would judge them, and they would not have to worry about racism. The whites would not have a reason to bitch, and could concentrate on their school assignments.

I went home yesterday contemplating all this as I was sneezing disgusting mucus out of my nose. I felt sick. I needed to go lay down.

That begs the question though, should I take the honors class, should I even try? I didn't want to, but did I have a choice at this point?

No. I decided, and slowly walked off the bus and towards home.

More than books. the article that will be published in Februaries edition of Teen Ink

This piece will be published in Februaries edition of Teen Ink's monthly
print magazine.

I love you more than I love my books. Your cover is the one thing I look
forward to each day. Your leather binding captivates my eye. Your words
always keep me turning the pages, wanting more. I love the plot points
you reveal to me when we are communicating.

I can't find the words to describe my feelings when I pick you up and
begin a new chapter. I love how there are so many verbs in your steps,
so many adjectives in each syllable you utter, such deep metaphors in
every unspoken thought. I love it when you show me striking flashbacks.

Each night, I set a bookmark so the next morning I can pick up where I
left off. Each time a chapter ends, I love turning back the pages to
gaze one final time on what a splendid story we made together.

When you make me feel the best I can feel, you are my romance novel.
When you make me laugh out loud, you are my satire. When you tell me you
love me and I know it's true, you are my short story. I look forward to
dwelling in your pages, reading chapter after chapter each day.

I never want to give you up. I never want to place your beautiful story
back on the shelf to be replaced by some tragedy. You are, and forever
will be, a best-seller in my eyes.

About the author.

Robert Kingett is a senior at the Florida School for the Deaf and the
Blind with cerebral palsy. He enjoys reading, writing, and studying
people in literature for fun. "You should always look toward the
future," Robert says, "because you just never know. There may be some
pretty wicked candy waiting on the road ahead of you" Robert hopes to
become an author. "I want people to kiss my feet when I'm signing their
books." He says on his profile page "it will give my ego a pat on the back."

This piece will also be published in Februaries edition of Teen Ink's
monthly print magazine.

What teens gain from living on cyberspace?

levi arees... (I know I spelled that name wrong,) but anyway, he asked me to do this essay and so I did. I'm not sure what grade I got on it, hehehe, but I can't wait to find out. and so, without further preamble, here is the main course!

What teens gain from living on cyberspace?

Cyberspace is the leading factor in many things, starvation, hunger, general blank looks, but unbelievably, there is good that comes from this vast world of news, information, and weird wacky stuff.

            Let’s face it. What kind of people use Cyberspace today? Well, everyone, but who uses it the most? It's quite the tie between the perverts and the teenagers, but the teenagers don't usually have an agenda other than “pimping out their MySpace pages.”

            However, recent studies that have been conducted on many washed up blogs made by teenagers point out why, in fact, Cyberspace is good for the teenaged gum filled head.

            Cyberspace can teach a teen so many attributes of social interaction, like for example, your teens friend list, online not offline, will shoot up like your electric bill after many hours on MySpace. If you hear your teenager speaking in some ghastly language that sounds like this…

“Omg mom! thts not right! u and ur BFF jill b bak soon? LOL! TTYL mom! I <3 U!” this is normal… it's normal for your teen to start spewing out nonsense. It's all part of the Cyberspace realm. However, don't worry. His or her social life will drastically shoot up like a bad ego. LOL

            Another reason that Cyberspace is good for your teen is because he or she will know how to search for things way better than you can ever imagine! No more will you have to ask Googgle how to search for something such as YouTube videos, just as your teen! Cyberspace will make your teen an expert scavenger hunter with like “bad grammar, LOL!” your teen will even know how to share stuff better than the gossip club will. Yes, her eyes will be wide open, but she can find anything on the net you chuck at her.

            The last thing is your teen will be very good at fixing peoples spaces. While this isn’t a useful skill it sure is hilarious to watch your teen babble on about “HTML tags!” well, just one more lucky useless talent right?

            And the true last thing… your kid will be the best typist in the world. Want to produce a report in under a minute flat? Ask your Cyberspace kid to type this up for you while he or she will make massive spelling errors, it will be astounding to “watch som1 type all that!”

            And so, in conclusion, that's why, Cyberspace, with all of its obvious flaws, can be beneficial to… someone… LOL

 

i was published!

i was published! the email was received this morning. it was below!

Dear Robert,

Congrats! Your article "More Than Books" was chosen to be published in Teen Ink's print magazine! As such, it will be viewed by an estimated half-million readers of this issue.

Be sure to log in by clicking Login > "Connect with Facebook" and post this image to your Facebook Wall!

Teen Ink  |  Box 30, Newton MA  02461  |  (617) 964-6800  |  editor@teenink.com
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Is religion our downfall?

By Robert w Kingett.

 

DISCLAIMER. I will butcher every religion possible, and therefore am not telling everyone to have no religion. I won’t be saying you should do this, or that, this is just my thoughts on religion IN GENERAL. THANK YOU.

 

How many religions are there in the world? We have atheists, native Americans, Muslims, Catholics, etc. but here's the eye opener. They are all wrong at some point. All religions have something wrong with them, weather it be their beliefs, theories, or speculations. They are all wrong, and they will forever be wrong.

 

Religions are just a group with the same belief. That's all they are. So why is there bickering saying that one is better than the other? Why are there people who think that if you’re a catholic you’re a bad person? Why do people look down on Muslims? Why do Christians look down on non-Christians? I'm sic and fucking tired of people saying that their religion is the right way to behave, act, and fuck everyone else. News flash dip shits. You all believe something that is wrong at some point, and your discriminating yourselves because you all think your better then this or that other religion. Fuck off. That religion thinks your shit to.

 

When I tell someone, I don't have a religion it makes their head spin. What? Holy fucking shit, you don't have a religion. I don't know what to think of that because everyone I know of has a religion! Wow dude. You’re like weird!

 

By having no religion I can intelligently look and see, and point out all flaws with every single religion. No religion is perfect because, guess what dip shits, there is no, and I mean no religion that is 100 percent right. There is no religion that is pure, and there sure is hell no religion that is the best one. From my standpoint, all religions are just ways for peoples to close off minds and discriminate themselves against one another. Why? Just because you believe something? Wow dude. Wow.

 

Let’s face it. Religion plays a huge impact on human culture. It makes people judge other people…

 

“Hi, I'm an atheist.”

 

“Well that's wrong. You’re a bad person!”

 

“Hi. I'm a Christian.”

 

“Well then you’re dumb, and you don't know anything about the world! Go away.”

 

There is something wrong with every religion, so that begs the question. If there was no religion, would we be a better world? I don't know. Hell, who knows, I could be wrong and I could be the one who is a shit-chucking ape. That's what religion does to people. It plants a million different things in their head that can't be proven no matter how much you run your fucking mouths. No religion can be the dominant one, so shut the fuck up.

 

In schools, religion is a huge debate. People kill for their religion, and some people do drugs for religion. That's wrong to everyone else, but you know what dumbass, you wouldn't be saying that if you were in that religion. Not the hot shits now, are you?

 

Religions cause all kinds of trouble, and I understand that we have a right to practice whatever, but is that really a good thing? I can't even begin to tell how many people look down on gay people, kill people, look down on lesbians, belittle other groups, and do some nasty shit to their bodies all because of some shit they believe. That's pretty god damn fucked up in my opinion.

 

I'm not saying no one should have a religion, I'm just asking a simple question. Is it all worth it? Are Believes in heaven and hell worth it? Does it make you happy? Does believing in butah make you powerful? Does being an atheist open up your mind?

 

I can tell you right now that almost every deeply religious person out there is afraid of something. Going to hell, etc, and there are some who don't like people, and could have just lost a friend. No thanks. I’d rather just be me.

 

If there were no religions in schools, would there be fewer killings? Yes. I think so. I think all religion is bad, but that's just my belief. Let me fucking tell you something right now. Even though no religion is a bad one, every single goddamn religion has something wrong with it and about it. Every last one.

 

Stop spewing out shit like”oh no! You don't believe in god, or whatever? Your going to hell, or whatever!” let me tell you something dip shit. The rest of the world thinks that way about you too. Everywhere someone thinks that about you, and it's all because of freedom of religion. God damn I love the fucking constitution. It made people hate everyone else.

 

Do not even try to say I'm wrong because I'm not. All religions look down on others, and everyone looks down on anyone else who has a different fucking opinion than you. wow. Guess I'm going to hell, huh? How about this dip shit. Learn to fucking grow up.

 

All you religious shit eaters need to understand that no one is better than anyone else is. When we all understand that, which will be never, we all can be happy together. Yeah fucking right. Damn religious shits like, oh say, all fucking religions are causing all this shit, and it needs to stop! Don't even get me started on 9/11. I'm not saying all religion is bad, I'm just saying that it turns people into closed-minded cocks.

 

So that begs the question… will schools, and work places, and the god damn world for that matter be a better place if there was no god damn religion? I believe so, but I also believe that people are dip shits, so that's kind of an oxy moron there.

 

There would be fewer attacks in school, there would be less racial bickering, there would be less shooting, and there will be less dip shits who actually don't have shit where their brain should be open. Everyone would be slightly better off, in my opinion. That's just my belief, now think like I do or you will go to a very fucking bad place! Dicks.

is it wrong? a journal entry.

Friday, January 15, 2010

 

Wow. A long weekend. Who in the world would have guessed, and guess what? It's the end of the semester!

 

This semester has been interesting with me being in the dorm and everything, meeting new friends, and seeing some old ones, and finally breaking up with Ciara. This whole thing has been very interesting, but you know something? I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

The dorm, even though I'm far away from it now, has been the best part out of this whole quarter. I've met so many interesting people there that don't know if I will ever see them again. It's a huge shame, because I really did like many of the people there… yes, even Mr. Ryan. Though he and I didn't quite clicked, we got along reasonably well.

 

I liked the dorm because of all the social interaction there and everything. I've met so many cool and nice people there I will never ever forget them. Now though, I don't have any social interaction outside of my school. I used to have a bunch, but now that rope has been cut with a hack saw. I don't know why I'm feeling this way now, at 20 years old? Why do I care about people now in my life? It's as if I'm going through reverse puberty, and I'm now caring about trivial people and places and events. Why is this? Do I honestly, deep down, care for this many people? I think I do. I think I do in fact care for these people more than I ever knew and this shocks me. when I was younger, to be honest, I didn't care about the people in my life, so now, the ones I do love and care about I want to see every day, and I want to be able to talk to them every day. It’s quite childish of me I know, but I don't care. I seriously don't care at all. I love the people I care about and want to see again. The dorm held so many things for me that I can't have now. It held so many friends, loved ones, learning opportunities, everything. I still can't believe I'm obsessed over something so small. I guess it's because all of the huge hearts I have come to know, and kind of love there.

 

There was Mrs. Corey and Mr. Evan, who I think of as my unofficial mother and father, although, if Mr. Evan hears these words he will possibly make some sarcastic remark about it, but that's how I feel. I believe Mrs. Corey always knew I looked at her as some mother figure, and I am quite happy with the time I had with her, and them. I want them to be at my graduation, if even I do graduate. All I have to do is pass the math FCAT and ACT; I came so close to passing this time. It was a 297, all I would need was just one more answer that is correct! Just one more correct answer! UGH! What the heck! This was very unfair. I know I'm sounding as  a child might, but I'm having childish needs and wishes at the moment, such as wishing I had all my friends with me. Is that how most adults feel? Do they need companionship? Why am I being so childish? I don't get all of these things at all. I honestly don't. I just miss many people is all? That's all it is. This is new to me because I have never, in my whole life, missed anyone so much. This is very strange to me. Is this what being a teen feels like? When a teen in a movie has to change schools, is this how he feels? Is this what I am going through? Some kind of teen phase? This is very interesting, yet very sad at the same time. It also proves one thing, I'm not normal. Well, that much should have been obvious, but I guess people thought I could put my past behind me. I have, but I can't keep it away. It keeps resurfacing at odd moments in my life and it's getting quite annoying. Such as my trusting people. I won’t be able to trust anyone now because I have trusted someone repeatedly again only to be hurt. Now I think that every new person I meet will hurt me very much possible. Strangely enough, I didn't think that way about Mr. Edwards.

 

The best way I can describe him is a funny kind person. He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, so to speak, but here's what I think of him and about him… yeah  I know that was redundant, but so sue me I'm writing non stop tonight.

 

Mr. Edwards reminds me sort of prep. What I mean by this is he has on name brand attire that reminds me of Nick. Compared to my shabby clothes, his look very nice and well kept, but he doesn't show off. Nick doesn't show off either, but to me, I can't help but notice the attire he and Mr. Edwards adorn. It even looks good on the both of them.

 

I don't know why but I liked Mr. Edwards the moment I observed him. Granted I didn't talk to him at first because I didn't know what he would think of my weird behavior. I'm somewhat standoffish and I sort of don't like crowds or parties. I’d like to think I'm nice, but I don't know. To myself, I seem quite rude, and I would think creepy to some people because I'm not much of a huge talker. My strength comes from the written word. At first I didn't even know what Mr. Edwards was like, but I got a glimpse of it when he debated with me about my views on ghetto talk being used. That showed me that he at least had an open mind. When he asked me what I liked to do, I told him to read and write and then I offered to show him some of my work. He said okay. Therefore, I showed him AND THEN he got a better understanding of me, but I didn't get one of him. I tried to study his reactions to my writings, of my memoir about my past, but he hid his feelings from me well. Was it some sort of love I wanted? Some sort of companionship along side Mr. Evan and Mrs. Corey? I thought he was much nicer than what others were thinking, but I didn't know how to make him show that kindness I knew was there. I didn't know how to make him open up to me. it hurt me a little that I trusted in him to glimpse my past, and I don't show everyone my memoir yes I post it online but that's because so multiple people  I trust can look at it. It's special to me when I handed him a printed chapter. I was saying, “I trust you enough to give you a copy.” He didn't open up to me however, but he wasn’t mean to me. He and I had conversations about the chapters I would show him, and he would talk with me about all of it, and ask questions. When he was talking with me, I felt true concern etched in his voice even though he possibly didn't want to show it to me. That made my heart sing, since I never had someone care for me so deeply before. This was so wonderful I wanted to get to know him more. I wanted to let him know who I was. I wanted to let him know that I did have a heart and soul, and that I would gladly show it to him. Leave it opens for him to see.

 

As time passed however I became more and more scared. I thought he didn't like me so I stopped talking with him in the morning. I also didn't want to talk with him when other people were around. I could tell they looked at my shabby clothes in contrast to his name brand ones. Moreover, I didn't know how to approach him. I never got the chance to know him as much as I would have liked to.

 

Mrs. CC was someone else I miss too! She was so funny and s nice and all that I instantly liked her. She was nice. I tried showing my memoir but she never did look at it. She was to busy.

 

I'm possibly boring all of you to death at this moment, but I kind of don't care. I want to dwell in memories because I want to. I like everyone I have met at the dorm and I want to keep them within my head, momma Corey, and of course, papa, Evan, snicker, will always be in my mind, but I've never wanted to keep someone in my memory before. This is new and interesting. Is this what being loved is like? Is this what having people care for you is like? I don't know what this feeling is, but it does sure feel good.

 

Even though I'm 20, is it still so wrong to wish to have love, to have people there who will be there for you? People there who will be with me every step of the way? Is it so wrong to want to keep that? I'm 20 years old, and I'm acting as if this is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Who knows, maybe it has. Perhaps I have finally experienced what other people take for granted. It's so amazing how I love many people, and yet I don't know what being loved is like. That's odd.

 

There are my friends who love me, in a sense, people like Mr. Edwards etc, and I'm so glad to have that I don't know what to say. It's something new for me.

 

Then I have people who deeply love and care for me. Also known as Mrs. Corey and Mr. Evan. To be honest, if given the chance, I would move in with them, if they will even take me in., they both said they would, and that sent a flood of happiness in me. I don't know if they meant it, but it sure does feel good to think they did,

 

At 20 years old, is it so wrong to want to keep experiencing the new feeling to me? Is it so wrong to enjoy happiness, and even though I'm 20, is it so wrong to enjoy love? I think not.

 

On a last note, I want to have them all be at my graduation when the time comes.

history of home ec

A history of home Ec.

By Robert Kingett.

About 100 years ago, Women lived in a dismal time.

They couldn't go to college,

And half of them couldn't even work for a dime.

Colleges were filled with no more than men.

Women couldn't even become students there.

Just imagine how stressful that was back then.

Women couldn't go to college, which was a fact.

But something in 1862 would change all that.

It was the little “Morrill Act”

And so began the first “home economics” class

Women were so proud they whooped and jeered,

Because women could finally sit in college at long last.

The class was welcome, kind of like reading comics.

It soon grew, dominating nations.

In a nutshell, that's why all schools have home economics

sightless hope. chapter 10. eviction notice.

authors note. the name of this chapter may change to one of the following.

chapter 10. Travis brown, the shit skin.

chapter 10. clever disobedience.

chapter 10. tag team.

or chapter 10. stage acting.

perhaps you all can help me decide what the best title will be. I would like to use Travis's name in this chapter, but i have not asked him yet, especially in the context it is used. once i ask him, i will decide. until then, have fun!

warning. this is not a complete chapter, but it can be called part 1 of chapter 10.

Chapter 10. Eviction notice.

When we had arrived at school En-vogue and I continued to walk with each other until we came to the library.

So buddy, how'd you liked having me over?”

“Eh. It was okay and all. I'm impressed at you that you'd be so good at video games.”

“You can start calling me god now.” He looked at me with a smug grin on his pudgy face.

“neh.”

“Oh come on. The title fits my individuality and obvious video game skill.”

“Just cuz you beat me…”

“12 times,” I interrupted.

“Just cuz you beat me you isn't no god or something.”

“I beg to differ, my fine stout friend.”

“Huh? Stout?”

“It means fat.”

“Aw I knew that! I just wanted to test your head.”

“Yeah… sure you did. Oh, I am going to go to the library, okay. I know I'll be late but I need it.” Approaching the class doors, I began to walk inside, but En-vogue grabbed my bony looking anorexic shoulder. His whole hand reached down to my backbone.

“By the way shawty. The new kid is coming’ today.”

“Huh? Excuse you, the new kid? En-vogue, what the heck are you talking about?”

“You’ll see, he's in your class.”

“Which one?” I shot back as he waddled away. “By the way, why are you going in here again? You have a library in your backpack.”

“Because I just need it.” I answered a little too quickly, as if the answer was not weird enough.

“You need it? You ‘need’ a book. Dude, A book isn’t food.” I slinked in the library ignoring him. The librarians, both plump women with black hair, looked directly at me as I entered. The head librarian greeted me with her usual casual “hi.”

“Hi!” I say bouncing. “And how are we doing today?”

“Well, that depends. Two kids brought their books back with about 12 overdue. You guess.”

“Okay, so you’re having a good day then? That's great!” she chose to completely ignore my sarcasm and stare at me, her wispy black hair in a neat shape framing her head. She looked like a grandmother might, and her voice sounded like that excessively. She always sounded stern even when sometimes she was joking. She knew me ever since I started at the school, so she and I were literally old friends.

“Okay Mr. Kingett, Let’s see if you have any overdue.” She said smiling and laughing a little as I stepped up to the counter.

“I can tell you right now I don’t, didn't, and won’t.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” After she checked, she gave me a smile.

“Well, you’re right. You want a cookie?”

“Yeah, chocolate chip, and make it snappy.” She laughed, and I went to get my two usual books for the nights reading. I decided to check out a book called the giver, since the synopsis looked very interesting. I read about six pages, liked what I read, and went looking for an audio version. The book was not in large print, so I had to get audio because that was all I had at home. I did not have some special magnifier. All I had was some yellow tape player provided by the national library service for the blind, which gave all blind US patrons free books on tape. When I had retrieved the green case that held the audio version, Mrs. Maryellen looked at me strangely.

“No second book? You sick?”

“nah. I'll get one later on today.” I said dismissively.

“After your IEP?” I had one today. Oh god, I really did not want to have the principal tell me just what I was doing wrong in all my classes. It didn't take a genius to know why. I wasn’t doing my homework, or at east I wasn’t doing all of it.

“Yeah. After my IEP.”

“I'm sure you'll do fine. Charlie Crozier won’t beat you”

“He’s big enough to.” I quipped, and she laughed again.

“Is your mom coming to this one?”

“I seriously doubt it. She's driving a lot these days,” I began lying so easily it was like my first language.

“Driving?” Mrs. Maryellen asked looking strangely at me behind her glasses. I guessed she was suspicious of what I had said, but I couldn't back down from the lie now. That would be excessively obvious.

“Yes. Driving. Her boss is having her doing delivery now, because he's low on rates and everything. He can't pay her what she's due, so he demoded her.” I knew what I was lying about couldn't even happen in a job, but I guess they didn't question it because Mrs. Maryellen went

“Aw. That's terrible. Well I hope everything's works out for her in the end. You know, she's got to be the busiest woman I have ever seen, especially since I never see her.” I almost laughed aloud.

“I know. It's a shame isn’t it? But hey, you got to work.”

“Yeah. If I'm going to work I better am darn well paid.” She quipped. I laughed.

“You’d better oh before you’re late. You know I don’t ever write passes.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Let me guess. You'll be back here tomorrow?”

“What do you think?” I shot back at her with a grin.

“I'll prepare myself.”

“Good.” I said stepping out of the door.

“Hey,” she called after me, “I want to see what your IEP was about.”

“I'll keep you posted.” I said and began walked on to my first class, which was math. I then however spun around and dashed back in the library.

“Um. Like what time is my IEP?” I gasped.

“At 9:00”

“great.” I sneered. I would get out of the last 40 minutes of math class. Joy! I headed off to the classroom with something trying to talk to me inside of my head. It was like inner radar of events that went on at home. Something bad had happened this weekend when I was at En-vogues house. What was it? Was J C involved again? There was no doubt he was. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. What did they do? I was going to be useless when child services arrived at the schools to question us. I knew just from experience that they would wait a few days after the event happened to try to get us off guard, but the trouble with their plan was that we had done this so many times we were quite the expert in deflecting child services. DCF didn't know what they were getting into with us around.

By this point I had entered the building, and made my way past the few totally blind girls that were standing near some lockers, and heading to my own, opening mine, I took out the huge large print math book that weight literally 8 pounds and the books and stuff I would need after my IEP. I watched a few of my friends past me. I did not say hey because I just didn't feel like putting on an act today. When I slammed my locker, a few of my friends heard the noise and tapped their way to me. Amanda Fadden, a tall very thin girl with long black hair past her shoulders coolly stepped past me. When she heard my door shut, she turned her sightless eyes towards me. She and I have been friends ever since elementary school. She, like me, was mature beyond her years, but I didn't know why at the time. Her voice, soft yet powerful, and filled with happiness came shooting out of her mouth.

“Hey there Shorty, Looking for gold again?” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah. Wish to assist.”

“Ah darn. I wish I could, but you and I have something called class little boy.” She said with a smile. “But seriously. You need some help?”

“nah. I got it.”

“Isn’t you’re IEP today?” she suddenly blurted.

“Yes.”

“I'm sure you'll be fine. Mine was hell though. No compliments. My grandma isn’t happy.”

“Well I would be too if my math grade was a C minus.”

“But my other grades should compensate. And besides, I already brought it up to a B.”

“I'm sure.” She playfully slapped me on the shoulder as we walked. Her cane made tapping sounds echoing off the walls, as did everyone else's.

“I did! Who got the highest grade on the last test? Come on. Spit it out.” She said when I didn't answer her for a few seconds.

“Okay. Yes it was you”

“Uh-huh! Don’t you forget it either!” she said putting some girth in her step. “But seriously dude.” She continued. “You'll be fine.” When we arrived, the room was baked in chatter. The noise came from blurred images all around the long square table at the center of the room where all the Braillers were. A few blurry figures were in the back of the room where all the TVs were sitting. Amanda and I made our way to our seats, and that's only when did I look around. Once people heard and saw, my chair scoot out everyone said hey to Amanda and me

“Hey!” I boomed with my quiet voice. Amanda said

“Hey all! So we going to get this party started?” Kevin, a black kid with an obvious slight foreign accent grinned at Amanda. “I'll get your party started.”

“Baby you have no chance.” Amanda said flicking her hair in dismissal then grinning a little. “Besides, I don’t care for dark chocolate.”

“So anyway.” I say wanting to deflect this flirtation. “How is everyone?”

“We’re fine.” Amanda said.

“I'm hot!” Kevin said patting his deep black hand on his chest like a macho man. Amanda snorted.

“Oh yeah. You so sexy.”

“I know I am! Can't touch this! I'm bad!”

“anyway.” I tried again. “I think Mr. Morse s coming in here.” I could hear footsteps approaching the room. Kevin sat down just as the bulky teacher stepped into the room. Mr. Morse was a rather tall man with a slight cut that looked like a beer belly. His head, with short straight black hair reminded me of an egg. His face didn't look distorted, but his mouth was thin. He wore casual attire except on Fridays. Today he had a plain blue shirt with gray pants. I didn't know what kind they were but they were very popular. He opened his mouth and bellowed,

“Good morning all you toad noses.” Everyone stopped talking instantly. With a huge smile in his voice he then said

“So how are you dingle berries doing today?” we all chorused “fine.”

“Good, then you won’t mind doing 123 problems. Heehehehe” he said with a deadly evil cackle.

“On second thought, I don't think I'll be that mean. I think I'll just bore you all with my old man voice!” he boomed. I couldn't help but laugh at how good of a mood he was. He sat down in his chair. I never knew what it was called but it was made of black leather. It looked like a recliner. I was amazed he was able to fit it behind his desk even with his computer there.

“Get to a screen.” He ordered. I want to show all you dingle berries how to multiply fractions!” we all rushed to a TV screen except for the totals. They all sat at their Braillers with paper in them. They should know the drill by now anyway.

“I want to see the lunch.” Kevin suddenly shouted.

“Nope. Only non smelly people get to see the lunch.”

“Old man, do you know who you’re talking to?” Kevin said playfully as he stood up trying to look scary.

“A dingle berry.” I laughed beside Kevin.

“Old man, that's a fruit! Gramps.”

“Actually no it's not.” I said. The whole class except for Amanda chorused “huh?”

“A dingle berry is not fruit.”

“Well what is it?” Kevin snapped. “I'm right. It is a piece of fruit!”

“Maybe if you ate fruit, I guess it could be.” the whole class was in utter rapture now.

“It’s a piece of waste that gets stuck on your butt it usually hangs down resembling a type of hemorrhoids…”

“Ewe!” my whole class said covering their mouth with their hand. They all laughed. Kevin looked sick.

“your just joking/’”

“No I'm not.”

“You are.” He insisted looking like he was going to vomit.

“Look it up Mr. Morse.”

“You should listen to weird Robert like creatures Kevin.” Mr. Morse said across the room. “Sometimes weird Robert like creatures is right.

“Naw. They ain’t right all da time. He isn't right. Watch. Ima prove you wrong old man!” I put my face in my palm silently smiling it myself.

“Okay settle down now. Let’s see what we got in the announcements.” He pulled it up on his computer. It showed on all the TVs in the back of the room where all the low vision kids were sitting. One thing caught my eye.

New student starting today. Travis brown.

“Hey Kevin. Have a look.” He did, and since he was literally right next to me on my good side. I saw his eyes pop with interest.

“Travis brown?”

“No Kevin. The other Travis brown that's there. Yeah. Travis brown.”

“You know him?”

“Nu uh.”

“Wonder if he's a brother.” I rolled my head slightly since I couldn't roll my eyes.

“I wonder if he lives in the hood.” I said as sarcastically as I could. He missed it though.

“I don't know dude. However, he can't match up to me. All dem ladies still want me. He ain't as hot as me.”

“Your making me goes deaf with lies.”

“Since two very strange smelly people want to talk about their male parts…” kids whooped with laughter as if we were back in elementary school again “an extra 33 problems shall be added to your homework.” Everyone groaned and hissed except me. I wasn’t going to do it anyway. His homework box rested in its unusual spot where the Braille paper could be seen. On the far right of the room where Kevin and I were perched.

“Dat isn’t fair!” Kevin said.

“Don’t argue with him or else you'll just egg him on and then you'll make it worse!” I hissed in his ear. He looked at me like I just spoke some foreign language.

“How you know that?” it didn't take genius to figure out how Mr. Morse worked after all. I made my “duh,” look say this and Kevin backed off.

Mr. Morse began teaching. I was very glad I had to go at 9:00 because I couldn't stand to listen to Mr. Morse talk about fractions, and how to multiply them. My mind slipped in and out of focus. I then started to wonder what happened this weekend. That nagging feeling in the back of my head was telling me something went on this weekend. Did J C and Barbra have the cops called on them again, or was it just the usual drunken fights they had every single night now? Were my sister and brother involved in it? Did he are she hurt them?

“Mr. Kingett. Since your paying so much attention to what I'm saying, what do I do after the last step?” I looked at the TV screen where he had written out the equation and various steps along the way. I looked down at the example, but I couldn't make heads or tales of it. I did read one sentence that caught my eye. Looking at my math book as if it held my life, I took a deep breath. I looked back at the equation, and gaped. I was right! It audio description is improper fraction!

“I know I'm old son, but I don’t have all day. Speed it up just a little bit.”

“If the fraction becomes improper, extract the whole number.”

“grrrr.” He playfully said. “He’s correct!” he turned and wrote extract on the board. It showed up in white on the black TV screen. Everyone laughed softly to themselves.

“You nearly took a nose dive.” Kevin loudly whispered in my ear.

“I'm your English tutor.” I shot back telling to shut up or else he wouldn't get any more help.

“Kevin!” Mr. Morse boomed as if he just realized Kevin was there. “Perhaps you can tell us the next step?” Kevin gave the answer.

“Wrong.”

“No! That’s right!” he immediately yelped.

“I didn't ask for the answer, I asked for the next step in the equation. Now Robert, you better get on over to your IEP.” As I stood up, I couldn't help but bending low and whispering

“You DID take a nose dive.”

As I exited the room I could see a black boy walking with one of the mobility teachers here at the school we zoomed past each other, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw who was waiting near the conference door. Barbra greeted me as I approached.

“Hi little man!” she said happily smiling at me.

“What happened this weekend?” I fired at her but she deflected it.

“Did you have a good time at En-vogue's?”

“When will child services question us Barbra? Tell me.” I then decided to use her own card against her. “What will I tell them?”

This caught her off guard. “You knew that's why I came here?”

“obviously.” I spat.

“Damn. Well hello to you too.” I suddenly became so angry I hissed in her ear as the new black boy walked past us. I wondered if this kid was Travis brown. I couldn't see any of his face or figure because of his distance, but I wasn’t concentrating on him anyway.

“Look. If you would just behave you wouldn't have this problem.”

“Who died and made you Rodger?” she snapped just as a teenager might. “Besides J C hit me first.” The black boy looked in our direction. Barbra and I were talking out of the corner of our mouths. She didn't need to tell me any more.

“When will child services get here?”

“Nothing gets past you does it.” She said with a chip on her shoulder. “Look. When you were off having fun, I was being assaulted. He even committed battery on me too. The cops came and of course it was a domestic violence charge, but I talked them out of it.” She said with a smile. I don't know why but I was getting very annoyed very fast.

“Talked then out of what?”

“Putting him in jail.” She said with a casual wave.

“Barbra,” I said as if I were her mom. I couldn't hide how annoyed I was. This happened every month now, so why did it annoy me so much? “If he was in jail this wouldn't happen.”

“But I love him!” she immediately gushed in a hushed tone so the black boy who was now coming out of the math room couldn't hear us.

“He bats you up.” I said in a plain no duh voice.

“We’re both drunk.”

“Of course.” I mumbled.

“Who’s that?” my mom asked watching a huge man slowly walk towards us.

“My principal. Now what are you going to say about me not turning in homework?”

“What?” she snapped. “Your not?”

“It’s kind of hard to when Garmaunt spills beer on it.” I said defeated and amazed.

“I can't believe your not turning in your homework.” I couldn't believe why she was being so clueless today. Usually this wasn’t like her at all.

“I'm very sorry I'm late.” Mr. Crozier said while unlocking the room. “Time gets away from you. You know?”

“I know how that goes.” My mom gushed as he entered and sat down at the long table that looked like King Arthur’s court. Barbra sat beside me and a few of my other teachers, such as my physical therapy teacher filed in and took a seat as well. The guidance councilor, Mrs. Knor, took a seat beside Mr. Crozier. They all opened folders and looked down at them. My mom looked at them, studying their faces I couldn't see. I knew she was reading them like a book. She was finally using her wits.

“Okay. We all know Robert. Some know him from middle school. He's a sophomore here, and he's… well… his transcripts show that Robert is passing all of his classes… except history.” My mom’s eyebrows shit up beside me. I sensed her tense up beside me.

“Why not?”

“Mrs. Stephens says he isn’t turning in homework, and he's failing tests.”

“Look. I don't know why he isn’t doing his homework. I just learned of this today when he told me.” I was getting mad and I didn't even know why. It annoyed me to the brink of my sanity to hear her lie so well. She knew perfectly why I didn't want to do it!

“I just forget to turn it in.” I suddenly blurted. They all looked at me.

“That’s a shame.” Mr. Crozier said looking at me with his hands folded. I can't believe they thought I was that stupid. My mom smiled beside me.

“He’s very disorganized.” She jumped in. using this like a life raft “ his room is a mess.” I gave a hard look, but she ignored it.

“His room is very messy so he loses a lot of things all the time.”

“Well Mrs. Stout doesn’t get us wrong. He's a very bright young man.” He said flipping through notes. “Comments from all his teachers show that Robert is polite yet quiet in class, and he understands everything the teachers toss at him.” He said attempting to joke. No one laughed.

“Okay. Well, a few extra quotes from Mrs. Fonda here… Robert shows an aptitude for creative writing. His works are a pleasure to read, and he holds interesting discussions of literature in my classroom, but he seldom turns in homework.” He put the paper down and looked hard at me.

“I don't know why.” My mom said… “I try and am a good mother to him. I give him everything he wants and everything.” I almost die from bottled up laughter. Mrs. Knor cleared her throat and spoke next.

“As you know Mrs. Stout. Students must pass the FCAT, Florida’s comprehension assessment test in order to pass high school, if they pass it in the 10^th grade they don’t have to take it again, since it's only in September and not March yet. We don’t know if he will pass or not.” They all looked at me. “But I do have something very interesting.” She said brandishing multiple papers. “His past FCAT reading scores have quite literally been flip flopping. Last year. He had a 278, and the minimum to pass is 300. The year before that, he had a 412, which is above average, but the year before that, he had a 167.” My mom looked at Mrs. Knor with concern etched all in her voice,

“Why do you think that is?” she was really making me mad. I decided to tell a little bit of the truth now.

“I just couldn't concentrate.” I just loved playing the stupid card. They all believed it so easily. I had to try my hardest to act ignorant and dense, but my efforts paid off.

“But Robert,” Mr. Crozier said as if I were a child. “This test is important, and so is this history class. You have to take this seriously. I know you can do better than this.”

“Your right. He's not dim witted. In fact he holds high B’s and low C’s in his classes despite the homework.”

“The only thing that's an A is English.” My mom pointed out.

“exactly.” Mrs. Knor said.

“Well, he does like to read.” She said. “He listens to audio books all the time.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” Mr. cozier said, then they all suddenly had some brilliant idea, except for my mother who just smiled softly to herself glad she planted this thought in their minds.

“You can't let books get in the way of your school work.” I guess they had completely forgotten about my previous claim. I decided to go with my mom rather than fight them this time. I was just going to complicate things if I didn't, and my mom was clever enough to deflect or catch anything I threw out there. I looked at her saying one thing with my squinty eyes. Let’s manipulate them together. She smiled, knowing what exactly I was thinking.

“Yeah Robert.” She said cueing me. “You should know better.”

“I'm very sorry!” I gasped. “I just can't help but get interested in a good story. You know?” it was so easy manipulating these people it was almost too easy. I had to look down to hide my snicker.

“When we get home today you are going to do your homework.”

“Okay Barbra.” I said. They both just sat there and stared at us.

“I'm going to make dinner tonight too. I want you to eat tonight okay?” she said pinching my rib bone.

“I know. I promise I will.” I don't know why but I couldn’t take the manipulation anymore, a part of me wanted to jump up and scream what you are talking about! You don’t feed me! Yet the other half loved manipulating adults. It was a game I loved playing. I was addicted to it. My mom and I looked at our two audience members as we continued to act out the respected parts.

“Are you sure you going to eat tonight? I made you a huge steak and you didn't eat it.”

“Ah. Funny.” I said signaling to her she was off base. “En-vogue and I had pizza.”

“Oh… yam” she said quickly recovering. “I'm glad you had fun.”

“Me too.” I said giving her a hug. She hugged me back. I looked at our two audience members with pride. They had no clue. No one had a clue. All the room was a stage, and our audience was hooked.

After we got out of the IEP, me mom looked at me.

“We’ll talk outside.”

“yeah.” I said. My mom spoke a little as we went down the hallway.

“I'm going to sign you out of school. Child services are coming today.”

“So then the fight happened on Friday.”

“Yeah but they're a little late. Wonder what took them so long.”

“Maybe they don’t work on the weekends.” I joked, and she laughed.

“J C is a dick.”

“We’re still in the school.” I reminded her.

“I know, but I just want to say that. He is.”

“I thought you loved him.” I snapped harshly.

“I do but god damn he's an idiot.”

“Dido.”

“But don’t worry. Your momma isn’t stupid. She's going to work him for his money.” I grinned at her wanting to stay on her good side so shed tell me what went on that night. I saw a cut on her arm, and her eye looked like it had a shiner on it.

“What was the fight about?”

“He was complaining because ha didn't get me in bed.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Therefore, he got pissed and punched me. I told that hippy to leave. Called the cops on him too.”

“Good girl.” I said not meaning it. We were just about to descend the staircase when the black boy walked past us. I took a good look at him and gaped at how built he looked. I could tell just by his facial structure that he was going to be a ladies man. He was an ebony boy of what looked to be 16. His face, clean-shaven and balled, was smooth yet pallid, sculpting something you might find in a painting. He had thin cheekbones, and a thick mouth that didn't look bad on him. It wouldn't surprise me if he were a ladies magnet back home. His figure, skinny yet built, presented confidence when he walked, like he had the whole world between his hands. His eyes were closed, and his ears, averaged sized resting on a slightly basketball looking head, were the last I saw of him before his thin powerful legs helped him bound up the steps at lightening speed.

“Hang on! I want to talk to him.”

“You want to what?” my mom called. She hadn’t heard me.

“Get something from my locker!” I followed the deep black kid up the stairs and around a corner. His cane tapped commandingly in front of him. He doubled back and tried the other hallway. I figured he was lost so I wanted to help, but I soon learned, just from watching him, that he wasn’t lost. It looked like he was exploring.

“Hey. Where you going?” he spun around and looked at my voice. I limped up to him hoping my stutter didn't kick in. I suddenly became so shy I didn't want to talk to him anymore. What if he was a bully? What if he was going to hurt me? What if he loved picking on bookworms? I stepped back as he came a bit closer, still being silent. All the things my mom told my sister kept flooding back to me just now. “Niggers can't be trusted.” I was suddenly terrified of this black boy. I didn't want to die.

“Hello?” he said perplexed. I stepped closer without making a sound. I then approached him head on. Ready to scream in case he hit me.

“Hi.. You lost?”

“no.” he said with a white toothed grin. I looked a little closer at his temple. It had a white scar on it, and he wasn’t balled after all, but he might as well have been.

“Oh. Okay. What class are you in now?”

“English.”

“Mrs. Fonda or chancy.”

“Fonda.”

“I'm in that class, err this class!” his mouth thinned a little. I knew it. He hated me. He hated me to the extreme.

“I'm Robert.: I said slowly stretching out a shaking hand.

“Alright,: he said stretching his out just above mine, I shook his hand. His grip, compared to mine, was very strong. Mine felt limp to me. Just then, my mom came bounding up the stairs looking for me, when she saw Travis her voice clipped with something I couldn't detect.

“You need to come down stairs now.”

“Oh hey.” He said just now hearing her voice, “how are you?” she didn't look at him when she spoke. I knew my mom hated black people but I didn't know how much. She didn't even smile.

“hi.” She snapped.

“Anyways. What's your name?” I asked him.

“Travis.”

“Oh. Okay. Cool. I love English class.” I hated myself even more. I loved English class I was such a looser.

“Well, we have to go now.” My mom said walking down the stairs

“Bye. I shall see you tomorrow.”

“later.” He said with a small grin and a laugh. His voice was cool, and soft. It wasn’t raspy but it wasn’t precise either. It was heavily tinted with the black accent and he sounded like he was going to fall asleep. I didn't want to talk to him anymore because I was sure he hated me.

“A nigger?” my mom had said when we stepped out into the blue outdoors. “You went upstairs to talk to a nigger?”

“So what if I did?” I shot at her. When we reached her car, she got in after me, and turned my face towards hers.

“A nigger. Come on Robert. A dirty, shit skinned nigger. Why?”

“I just wanted to get to meet him.” I said innocently. She shook her head sternly. Her eyes were so close I could see them.

“no.” she said calmly yet forcefully “I don’t ever want to see you with some shit skinned low life ass whole. He didn't even want to talk to you anyway Robert. He thought you were shit.” A part of me knew she was wrong but then again I wouldn't put it past him.

“You didn't see the way he was looking at your voice.” That was true. I didn't know how he was looking at me.

“To him, your jut white trash. He's going to use you,, and he's going to make fun of your stutter. He doesn't like you” I shook my hand and she started to squeeze my cheek.

“Listen to me Robert. He didn't like you, okay? He didn't like your voice at all. Shit skins like that don’t like you unless you have a crack rock.”

“He seemed nice.” I said with anger in my voice. For some reason I was angry at her. She didn't even know him.

“That big lip shit skin? No. if I hadn’t of been there, he would have beat you the fuck up.” I did recall how afraid I was of him, but that was normal for me.

“Don’t call him that. Shit skin.”

“That’s what they are. Shit skins that kill people like you and me. Them niggers are stupid.”

“He didn't seem stupid.” I tried again to tell her but she just shook her head.

“I can't believe this. A son of mine is a nigger lover. Don’t you appreciate anything I do? I'm trying to give you some goddamn advice, now I know you’re not stupid. I know you got brains. Use them. Don’t hang around that nigger, he hates you he wants to beat you up. When you show how smart you are he's going to want to hate you” I hoped that wasn’t true, but he did give me that weird look when I spoke. What was that about? Even if that wasn’t true, I wasn’t going to listen to my mom at all.

“Now. Let’s go home. You going to stay away from that shit skin tomorrow?” I didn't answer until the car pulled away. Watching the scenery flash The Canterbury Tales in a blur, I quietly gave my mom my unheard answer.

“No. I'm going to sit with him at lunch tomorrow.”

To be continued. This chapter isn’t over yet.

Robert Kingett has invited you to Dropbox

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The Mac book wheel. The future of laptop computers

Authors note. Someone emailed me and said “hey Robert. Your rants are so awesome! Have you ever thought about doing news articles? You should try it. I think you will be good at them, so I'm doing it now. Hope you all enjoy

The hype today in the tech world is apples new revolutionary laptop, the Mac book wheel which actually does away with the keyboard. The thing just came out yesterday when apples chief designer thought of a brainless idea while he was eating cow droppings.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of these babies, and oh boy, typing truly is a thing of the past with this new wheel. As well as other computer features.

The sleek looking attractive white wheel makes it a heck of a lot easier to type to someone when sending an email message or an instant message. The laptop, which has a new battery called the powered optical stimulant, or, POS, can actually run for a maximum number of nineteen minutes before needing to charge again. When asked about this, apples CEO commented.

“Well, we wanted to pack the thing with so much software, that we kind of acted like a kid with a bad case of short term memory, and we forgot about the battery.”

This long lasting battery life has nothing in terms of the wheel that replaced the keyboard. Here's what some users had to say.

“I like it, because instead of just typing a letter, I have to scroll to the letter, and if I want to make it capital, well, it's easy! I just have to go in a menu, go in another menu, and try to get the curser on the exact selection in the menu, tap twice, then hold it, then spin the wheel counter clockwise. That's so much easier than just pressing shift, and then the letter after all.”

When commented on this the apples design team gave me a great explanation.

“Our users like things easy to use, and what could be easier than having a big, white button. We strive to give people features we haven't even thought about, or they don’t even know they want yet.”

I had an awesome time typing on the Mac wheel, and its intuitive interactive interface brings just the right confusion I needed when using it. Almost all my hair was pulled out after about two minutes of using it. I even loved it so much I sold it on eBay for free.

“I'll buy anything that's shiny and made by apple.” An apple fan gushed one afternoon. When using the Mac wheel it was a snap to browse the hard drive. All you have to do is tap the wheel once, and you have an alphabetical listing of every software, hardware, games, internet browsers, and graphics right there on the screen.

Email is a snap. Instead of taking a few minutes to type out an email, you get to be sending one message for a whole hour. You can also have the paragraph predictor predict millions of paragraphs you will never use. Most people like it because it says “sent by the Mac wheel.” At the bottom of the message, even though no one cares.

The Mac wheel can literally do everything, and speed is the most talked about feature in this new laptop. Because it literally does everything in the world, and isn’t like any other laptop out there that does the exact same thing, it has a slow start up rate. It takes about three hours to start up. People however still like it's whiteness, despite the fact their desktops can do the exact same thing.

But there's even more good news! The Mac book is quite sturdy and cannot be broken unless looked at, touched, dropped, talked about, hit, or turned on incorrectly.

Next year apple plans to make a stripped down version of the Mac book with no hard drive, shorter battery life, and no display.

Even though apple still hasn’t fixed the thousand or so bugs in the Mac wheel, many people are pre ordering it already!

“I will buy anything by apple because I just love apple, even though I don't know anything about the company, or that their software sucks.” One fan commented.

With the price of $5,665,000.99 this new laptop will surely knock the IPhone out of the park. This is a must buy for all you people with no common sense. The Mac wheel will be released in Japan in about twenty two years and people will buy it no matter if it's stupid or not.

class complaints. making fun of my new schedule.

Since I have not updated in a while I feel that I must. I have completed my first semester of this year with my fingers still able to type. Goddamn that would suck for us writers wouldn't it? Our hand breaks and we’re out of the job. What if both get amputated? Good goddamn that would sick even more. When I'm under the deadline of a publisher and my hand is chopped off, and they tell me

“Mr. Kingett you have 67 days to write this book.” I'm going to go, “fuck you!” And flip them the bird with my stump.

Nevertheless, that's not what my sage of wisdom will be about tonight. No my dear weird readers, it will be about my schedule! Woo hoot! Below will be my schedule, and what I think of each class I have. Warning, this post may contain inappropriate and obscene words such as common sense, bad words that begin with S, and extreme sarcasm! This post should not be read by dikes, bible dippers, or mimes.

Okay! Shall we get started my weird readers? Almighty then!

Class one. Applied math two.

First thoughts. Oh Jesus fucking Christ!

Longer thoughts. I'll be the first to admit that my math skills are just plain shit. I'll be the first to admit that you smell too, but getting past that, my math skills are very low. Let’s just say I know enough to do my taxes, buy and sell stuff, and know how to gamble. I learned all that in middle school. What the fuck point is it to have a higher math class even for the people whose math skills just plain suck? They think that by hammering me with math shit that I'll get it, like one day it will pop in my head! Oi! I need to know math to write this book! Yes. Definitely. I can definitely see that happening right now. Here's what I believe. Math should only be taught in high school if you want to do a job with math involved in it. You learned all the basics in elementary and middle school, so why should you take even more shitty classes in high school? Here's a solution that's very good but will never ever happen. When the kids pass eighth grade, have them take an aptitude test. When the results come back stud the careers, then picture classes specific to his career. Do the test after each year and if his or her interest changes, change the goddamn classes.

Class two. Psychology.

First thoughts. Manipulation tactics!

Longer thoughts. This could be one of these classes that could make everyone the best rapist in the world. Take some dip shit that screws girls every night. Teach him how the mind works and bam! You have a cereal killer on his hands, or George bush. You know, the kind of dip shit who can't say a sentence yet he knows how to go to war? Yeah. Brilliant. I just love the educational system today. Rap music is not the thing that's egging our youth, dumb classes are!

Class three. Government and economics.

First thoughts. How did George bush pass this class and still manage to do a dang bad job?

Longer thoughts. This class is the most important out of all my classes. It's not important because I care. It's important because it tells us what George bush never listened to! Keep in mind I have no idea what is going to be taught about in this class, but all I know is it's going to be interesting! I can't wait to learn about economic crisis I already know about happening here in the United States. Holy fucking shit, yes I know all about the ozone layer depleting, but that's something the government should handle! Did anyone else notice I had no idea what I was talking about there? Ha-ha! The truth is I don't know what will be talked about in the class, but I'll keep you posted… and I just maybe become president one day.

CLASS 4. Adult living.

First thoughts. Woo hoot! Sleep!

Long thoughts. None.

Class 5. Home Ec.

First thoughts. A Twinkie a day keeps green crap away.

Long thoughts. The way I see it home ec is the class that everyone should take but everyone skips over. Home ec is very important for all kinds of people, even me. It shows me one thing. It shows me that not everyone is as lucky as I am, and it also shows me that my body, even though crippled, is badass. I can eat anything and won’t gain a pound, so boo yeah bitches! It can teach all of you something as well. It can teach you how to look at people eating things you can't have. There's one last thing it teaches us too. Dietitians are just as unhealthy as we are. Don’t say I'm wrong. You know they love a big Mac just like the rest of us. The inside of your car doesn't lie!

my first date, a journal from 2008

My first date.

By Robert Kingett.

Authors note, this is not supposed to be a full-length story, it is just going to tell what happened on my first date with Ciara.

Sunlight filled my vision. Faint though, yes it was merely faint sunlight. It was early in the morning on a Sunday. As I laid there still attempting to drift back into the land of dreams someone opened my bedroom door. It was my guardian, Debbie.

“Come on, you got to go to work with me so you can get to go see twilight with

Ciara.” I knew this, so I don’t know why she was telling me this now. This is something I knew ever since I had the idea. The prospect of seeing Ciara again was just too great for words. I would get to be in her presence and not just a voice over a phone line. With this in mind, I got dressed and went out to the car having my iPod with me. It was a long drive from where I was to Saint Augustine, that I knew, I just didn’t know how long. I didn’t care. I had audio books. The whole ride there I just listened to audio books, and well, thought about the conversation Ciara and I had the last time we talked on the phone. To be honest, it unnerved me. “Robert.” she had said when her parents were not in the house. Her parents have to monitor their, our conversations with each other over the phone. Not because of what I might say, but because of what she did, and would most likely say in the future.

“Yes?” I said worried. “Remember the last conversation we had? About drew, and the dance?”

“Yes. What about it?” I deduced the answer before she uttered it. “You didn’t tell me all of what happened that night did you?” there was a huge pause. What was she thinking? Knowing her mind it couldn’t have been something simple. I was right.

“Well, I almost kissed drew.” I expected to feel a knife tear through my gut. I expected to feel my heart being ripped out of my body, but I did not have any of those feelings. What I did feel In fact was… a small pain in my side.

“Oh, well…” I didn’t know what to say. “Well… we can move on right? I mean, that was just one event. We can look past that, and gaze ahead into the future, since that dance is over with.”

“Robert I also want to tell you something.” “Ok, I’m listening.” “It hurt me a little when you said you didn’t want to kiss me soon, now. That kind of hurts me you know, that makes me feel like you do not want Me.” that made me a little angry.

“Look. You know that I’m not interested in all that stuff. You know, that that’s not on my mind now. Kissing, and making love to each other some day is not on my mind right now, and you have to respect that.”

“I know, but I liked it when drew held me close. I liked it when he almost kissed me.” I was being hurt. Weather she knew it or not she was hurting me. “But that’s because of hormones, nothing else. I also got the sense she was telling me this to quietly plant something in my mind,

“But still, sooner or later you have to stop being so guarded with me. Sooner or later, you know, you have to let go you know?” I did know. She wanted contact that is more physical with me. “I told Morgan yesterday,” she went on. “That I hope you’re not this way forever. I hope that you will one day stop being a gentleman and just… just… I don’t know.”

I did not like what I was hearing. At 14 years of age, she was thinking about kissing, about one day making love to each other and having a kid. I’m not ready to think about all that stuff yet, and I tried to tell her so.

“Look, Ciara, right now, that’s not on my mind at all. You have to respect that and wait. Okay?” she wasn’t listening to me at all. She wanted more. This was not enough. To be honest I was not into the whole kissing and making out thing and the completely making love aspect either. I haven’t even thought about those kinds of things, and I didn’t want to, until later. Because I have been with my mom for so many years, I didn't want to have girls touching me; because I was afraid, they would hurt me. I also knew that this was just some child hood memory and fear I needed to get over…

Authors note, I don’t have that anymore.

Ciara did and she was telling me she wanted me to make out with her more. Simple as that. Truth is, I didn’t want to, yet. I liked us the way we were. Holding hands, talking long into the night, laughing with each other. As much as I tried not to think about Ciara this way, one word came to mind. Even though she was a virgin, she was also… promiscuous. A home for hormones to rage around all they want with no restraints. I didn’t like that about her. Not at all, but after all that, after what I just learned, something else was obvious. I still loved her.

As I said before. Nothing happened on the ride to my guardian’s work place or the ride with Ciara to the movie theaters. I was completely happy to be in her presence again. I also had completely forgotten about that conversation. We were going to go see twilight, the movie to the book series that we rather shared. Telling each other about the different books, speculating about abnormal things, finding out comparisons and situations that an average reader would not even try to do. I liked the fact that I can do that with her, and I loved doing it. When I climbed in the seat in the van, Ciara instantly reached for my hand. The mall was just like any other. Wide, open, and smelled like clothes. The walls and floor were a grayish color. The temperature was actually comfortable for once and not ice cold like the previous times I came here. When we managed to get inside the movie theater, she instantly laid her head on my shoulder. I didn’t mind that at all. Truth is told, she reminded me of a child. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms, and rock her to sleep. About half way through the movie, she started to draw closer to me. To be honest I wanted to concentrate on the movie because I heard that it was indeed a good movie. I felt a hand rub my face, and then, I could hear rapid breathing beside me, slowly, ever so slowly, the hand made It’s way to my cheek. On the screen, Bella and Edward were about to kiss. They were inches apart. My head was slowly pulled to the right, and the last thing I saw, before my cold lips met Ciara’s hot ones, is Bella and Edward kissing, just like Ciara and I. when she kissed me, my stomach lurched. The room went silent; it was as though someone had just made me deaf. My breathing increased, and my heart was pumping a million miles an hour. To be honest, I felt like I was going to be sick. On the other hand, I was happy I could do this with someone in my life. I liked the new elation I was having, if that’s even what it’s called. I did however; feel like I was going to be sick. I attempted to pull away, but she held me close. I didn’t know what I was feeling. On the one hand, I was in pure utter heaven. On the other, I was about to be sick. I felt like I had a massive adrenaline rush and I was going to pass out at any minute, and I felt like I was going to vomit. Still though, our lips stayed locked. Ours weren’t the only lips that were locked though, on the screen, Bella, and Edward were kissing with us. Time was limitless.

After we finally pulled away, I was gasping, and trying hard not to faint or pass out. Trying to slow my heartbeat down some, I watched the movie. Ciara however loved what she was feeling. It was making me sick, literally. As the film passed. She kept stroking my face. That part I didn’t mind, she kept kissing my cheek that didn’t make my stomach do flip flops, nor make the world spin. She was all over me. Completely forgetting the movie, she went to sleep on my shoulder, and her hand in my lap. She woke up near the end. When the credits came, she kissed my lips again. Again, I loved it, yet hated it. I loved the fact that I was finally doing this with someone, and on the other hand, I didn't like doing this, with her. I did not like making out with any other girlfriend I had either.

I would not say hate, just not ready for it. My stomach lurched up, I thought I was going to puke, but I did not. It wasn’t that her kiss was bad; I was just having some weird reaction to my first kiss. Again, no sound could be heard, no sight could be seen, no other person was present. Just Ciara and I, Bella and Edward. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. My hands were shaking. I eventually had to pull away; otherwise, I would have passed out. That was the first time I kissed someone on the lips. I hoped it wouldn’t be the last time either. When I was about to get in the car to go. I bid Ciara good night, and told her I loved her, but something was wrong… I didn't feel like I meant it. She kissed my cheek goodbye, and she and her family drove away.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, I was trying to ponder why I reacted so weirdly. Why my stomach felt like it was going to shoot out of my mouth. Did I react that way because I didn’t want her to kiss me? Did I react that way because it was something new? I tried to ponder that all afternoon, and I could not. Walking slowly to the car that would take me home, I thought about my reaction to her kissing me. Did that mean I wasn’t ready to kiss yet? Did that mean her breath stunk? Alternatively, did that mean without knowing it, that I no longer loved Ciara as strongly as I thought I did? I rode home thinking about all these questions, and never getting an answer.

about the email subscriptions

This is just so I know what's best, since, as you know, I post to my blog a huge bunch, and well,  that can be a ton of emails. So I want to ask you, if you want to keep the subscription like it is now, or have me give you a digest version?

 

the digest version is basically like one email with all my blog posts during that day. For  example, you will get an email with all posts as lnks. It's sort of like a  table of contents, under the title, the weird writings. This way, if you don't look at your email a bunch, you won’t have your inbox flooded with emails that have my blog posts. You can just have 7 new weird writings emails, if you don't check your email for 7 days, instead of 134 or example. So do you want to do that? if you do, the link is http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheWeirdWritingsOfRobertKingett

            this way, I can make room for even more subscribers who don't want to get the digest versions,  so I need to know, everyone.

            Also it will help me keep track of who is reading what, when, how long, etc etc, and who opens the emails, etc. so please please please, all my email people subscribe using this link if you have not done so already! Thank you! Again, the link is http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheWeirdWritingsOfRobertKingett. If that link does not work go here, http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheWeirdWritingsOfRobertKingett and subscribe. the subscribing options are to the right.

I was reviewd on inclusive plannet!

Hi all my lovely friends! I was reviewed, yet again, by inclusive planet, which is a social network for blind students. Below will be the post on me, also known as the weird writer. To read  the post, go to http://inclusiveplanet.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/the-weird-writer/

 

Again, if you want to read the review on me, go to http://inclusiveplanet.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/the-weird-writer/

 

I will be doing a review of the site in a few weeks, so stay tuned!

Macbeth summery and study and anylsis… meow!.

Macbeth summery and study and anylsis… meow!.

By Robert Kingett.

For those of you nuggets out there who are too busy thinking about cake to understand Shakespeare, I'm going to break the play, macbeah, down for you sorry, this won't have my touch on it, but it just may help you in class. I have even added important quotes, just because I was bored.

Act 1, scenes 1–4

Summary: Act 1, scene 1

Thunder and lightning crash above a Scottish moor. Three haggard old women, the witches, appear out of the storm. In eerie, chanting tones, they make plans to meet again upon the heath, after the battle, to confront Macbeth. As quickly as they arrive, they disappear.

Summary: Act 1, scene 2

At a military camp near his palace at Forres, King Duncan of Scotland asks a wounded captain for news about the Scots' battle with the Irish invaders, who are led by the rebel Macdonald. The captain, who was wounded helping Duncan's son Malcolm escape capture by the Irish, replies that the Scottish generals Macbeth and Banquo fought with great courage and violence. The captain then describes for Duncan how Macbeth slew the traitorous Macdonald. As the captain is carried off to have his wounds attended to, the thane of Ross, a Scottish nobleman, enters and tells the king that the traitorous thane of Cawdor has been defeated and the army of Norway repelled. Duncan decrees that the thane of Cawdor be put to death and that Macbeth, the hero of the victorious army, be given Cawdor's title. Ross leaves to deliver the news to Macbeth.

Summary: Act 1, scene 3

On the heath near the battlefield, thunder rolls and the three witches appear. One says that she has just come from "[k]illing swine" and another describes the revenge she has planned upon a sailor whose wife refused to share her chestnuts. Suddenly a drum beats, and the third witch cries that Macbeth is coming. Macbeth and Banquo, on their way to the king's court at Forres, come upon the witches and shrink in horror at the sight of the old women. Banquo asks whether they are mortal, noting that they don't seem to be "inhabitants o' th' earth" (1.3.39). He also wonders whether they are really women, since they seem to have beards like men. The witches hail Macbeth as thane of Glamis (his original title) and as thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is baffled by this second title, as he has not yet heard of King Duncan's decision. The witches also declare that Macbeth will be king one day. Stunned and intrigued, Macbeth presses the witches for more information, but they have turned their attention to Banquo, speaking in yet more riddles. They call Banquo "lesser than Macbeth, and greater," and "not so happy, yet much happier"; then they tell him that he will never be king but that his children will sit upon the throne (1.3.63–65). Macbeth implores the witches to explain what they meant by calling him thane of Cawdor, but they vanish into thin air.

In disbelief, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the strange encounter. Macbeth fixates on the details of the prophecy. "Your children shall be kings," he says to his friend, to which Banquo responds: "You shall be king" (1.3.84). Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Ross and Angus, who have come to convey them to the king. Ross tells Macbeth that the king has made him thane of Cawdor, as the former thane is to be executed for treason. Macbeth, amazed that the witches' prophecy has come true, asks Banquo if he hopes his children will be kings. Banquo replies that devils often tell half-truths in order to "win us to our harm" (1.3.121). Macbeth ignores his companions and speaks to himself, ruminating upon the possibility that he might one day be king. He wonders whether the reign will simply fall to him or whether he will have to perform a dark deed in order to gain the crown. At last he shakes himself from his reverie and the group departs for Forres. As they leave, Macbeth whispers to Banquo that, at a later time, he would like to speak to him privately about what has transpired.

Summary: Act 1, scene 4

At the king's palace, Duncan hears reports of Cawdor's execution from his son Malcolm, who says that Cawdor died nobly, confessing freely and repenting of his crimes. Macbeth and Banquo enter with Ross and Angus. Duncan thanks the two generals profusely for their heroism in the battle, and they profess their loyalty and gratitude toward Duncan. Duncan announces his intention to name Malcolm the heir to his throne. Macbeth declares his joy but notes to himself that Malcolm now stands between him and the crown. Plans are made for Duncan to dine at Macbeth's castle that evening, and Macbeth goes on ahead of the royal party to inform his wife of the king's impending arrival.

Analysis: Act 1, scenes 1–4

These scenes establish the play's dramatic premise—the witches' awakening of Macbeth's ambition—and present the main characters and their relationships. At the same time, the first three scenes establish a dark mood that permeates the entire play. The stage directions indicate that the play begins with a storm, and malignant supernatural forces immediately appear in the form of the three witches. From there, the action quickly shifts to a battlefield that is dominated by a sense of the grisliness and cruelty of war. In his description of Macbeth and Banquo's heroics, the captain dwells specifically on images of carnage: "he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops," he says, describing Macbeth's slaying of Macdonald (1.2.22). The bloody murders that fill the play are foreshadowed by the bloody victory that the Scots win over their enemies.

Our initial impression of Macbeth, based on the captain's report of his valor and prowess in battle, is immediately complicated by Macbeth's obvious fixation upon the witches' prophecy. Macbeth is a noble and courageous warrior but his reaction to the witches' pronouncements emphasizes his great desire for power and prestige. Macbeth immediately realizes that the fulfillment of the prophecy may require conspiracy and murder on his part. He clearly allows himself to consider taking such actions, although he is by no means resolved to do so. His reaction to the prophecy displays a fundamental confusion and inactivity: instead of resolving to act on the witches' claims, or simply dismissing them, Macbeth talks himself into a kind of thoughtful stupor as he tries to work out the situation for himself. In the following scene, Lady Macbeth will emerge and drive the hesitant Macbeth to act; she is the will propelling his achievements. Once Lady Macbeth hears of the witches' prophecy, Duncan's life is doomed.

Macbeth contains some of Shakespeare's most vivid female characters. Lady Macbeth and the three witches are extremely wicked, but they are also stronger and more imposing than the men around them. The sinister witches cast the mood for the entire play. Their rhyming incantations stand out eerily amid the blank verse spoken by the other characters, and their grotesque figures of speech establish a lingering aura. Whenever they appear, the stage directions deliberately link them to unease and lurking chaos in the natural world by insisting on "Thunder" or "Thunder and lightning."

Shakespeare has the witches speak in language of contradiction. Their famous line "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" is a prominent example (1.1.10), but there are many others, such as their characterization of Banquo as "lesser than Macbeth, and greater" (1.3.63). Such speech adds to the play's sense of moral confusion by implying that nothing is quite what it seems. Interestingly, Macbeth's first line in the play is "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (1.3.36). This line echoes the witches' words and establishes a connection between them and Macbeth. It also suggests that Macbeth is the focus of the drama's moral confusion.

Act 1, scene 5

Important quote. . . . Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty.

In Inverness, Macbeth's castle, Lady Macbeth reads to herself a letter she has received from Macbeth. The letter announces Macbeth's promotion to the thaneship of Cawdor and details his meeting with the witches. Lady Macbeth murmurs that she knows Macbeth is ambitious, but fears he is too full of "th' milk of human kindness" to take the steps necessary to make himself king (1.5.15). She resolves to convince her husband to do whatever is required to seize the crown. A messenger enters and informs Lady Macbeth that the king rides toward the castle, and that Macbeth is on his way as well. As she awaits her husband's arrival, she delivers a famous speech in which she begs, "you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty" (1.5.38–41). She resolves to put her natural femininity aside so that she can do the bloody deeds necessary to seize the crown. Macbeth enters, and he and his wife discuss the king's forthcoming visit. Macbeth tells his wife that Duncan plans to depart the next day, but Lady Macbeth declares that the king will never see tomorrow. She tells her husband to have patience and to leave the plan to her.

Summary: Act 1, scene 6

Duncan, the Scottish lords, and their attendants arrive outside Macbeth's castle. Duncan praises the castle's pleasant environment, and he thanks Lady Macbeth, who has emerged to greet him, for her hospitality. She replies that it is her duty to be hospitable since she and her husband owe so much to their king. Duncan then asks to be taken inside to Macbeth, whom he professes to love dearly.

Summary: Act 1, scene 7

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly . . .
. . .
. . . He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself.

Inside the castle, as oboes play and servants set a table for the evening's feast, Macbeth paces by himself, pondering his idea of assassinating Duncan. He says that the deed would be easy if he could be certain that it would not set in motion a series of terrible consequences. He declares his willingness to risk eternal damnation but realizes that even on earth, bloody actions "return / To plague th'inventor" (1.7.9–10). He then considers the reasons why he ought not to kill Duncan: Macbeth is Duncan's kinsman, subject, and host; moreover, the king is universally admired as a virtuous ruler. Macbeth notes that these circumstances offer him nothing that he can use to motivate himself. He faces the fact that there is no reason to kill the king other than his own ambition, which he realizes is an unreliable guide.

Lady Macbeth enters and tells her husband that the king has dined and that he has been asking for Macbeth. Macbeth declares that he no longer intends to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth, outraged, calls him a coward and questions his manhood: "When you durst do it," she says, "then you were a man" (1.7.49). He asks her what will happen if they fail; she promises that as long as they are bold, they will be successful. Then she tells him her plan: while Duncan sleeps, she will give his chamberlains wine to make them drunk, and then she and Macbeth can slip in and murder Duncan. They will smear the blood of Duncan on the sleeping chamberlains to cast the guilt upon them. Astonished at the brilliance and daring of her plan, Macbeth tells his wife that her "undaunted mettle" makes him hope that she will only give birth to male children (1.7.73). He then agrees to proceed with the murder.

Analysis: Act 1, scenes 5–7

These scenes are dominated by Lady Macbeth, who is probably the most memorable character in the play. Her violent, blistering soliloquies in Act 1, scenes 5 and 7, testify to her strength of will, which completely eclipses that of her husband. She is well aware of the discrepancy between their respective resolves and understands that she will have to manipulate her husband into acting on the witches' prophecy. Her soliloquy in Act 1, scene 5, begins the play's exploration of gender roles, particularly of the value and nature of masculinity. In the soliloquy, she spurns her feminine characteristics, crying out "unsex me here" and wishing that the milk in her breasts would be exchanged for "gall" so that she could murder Duncan herself. These remarks manifest Lady Macbeth's belief that manhood is defined by murder. When, in Act 1, scene 7, her husband is hesitant to murder Duncan, she goads him by questioning his manhood and by implicitly comparing his willingness to carry through on his intention of killing Duncan with his ability to carry out a sexual act (1.7.38–41). Throughout the play, whenever Macbeth shows signs of faltering, Lady Macbeth implies that he is less than a man.

Macbeth exclaims that Lady Macbeth should "[b]ring forth men-children only" because she is so bold and courageous (1.7.72). Since Macbeth succumbs to Lady Macbeth's wishes immediately following this remark, it seems that he is complimenting her and affirming her belief that courage and brilliance are masculine traits. But the comment also suggests that Macbeth is thinking about his legacy. He sees Lady Macbeth's boldness and masculinity as heroic and warriorlike, while Lady Macbeth invokes her supposed masculine "virtues" for dark, cruel purposes. Unlike Macbeth, she seems solely concerned with immediate power.

A subject's loyalty to his king is one of the thematic concerns of Macbeth. The plot of the play hinges on Macbeth's betrayal of Duncan, and, ultimately, of Scotland. Just as Lady Macbeth will prove to be the antithesis of the ideal wife, Macbeth proves to be a completely disloyal subject. In Act 1, scene 7, for instance, Macbeth muses on Duncan's many good qualities, reflects that Duncan has been kind to him, and thinks that perhaps he ought not to kill his king. This is Macbeth's first lengthy soliloquy and thus the audience's first peek inside his mind. Yet Macbeth is unable to quell his desire for power. He evades answering his own questions of loyalty and yearns unrealistically for the battlefield's simple and consequence-free action—"If it were done when 'tis done," he says, "then 'twere well / It were done quickly" (1.7.1–2).

At the same time, Macbeth is strongly conscious of the gravity of the act of regicide. He acknowledges that "bloody instructions . . . being taught, return / To plague th'inventor" (1.7.9–10). This is the first of many lines linking "blood" to guilt and cosmic retribution.

As her husband wavers, Lady Macbeth enters like a hurricane and blows his hesitant thoughts away. She spurs Macbeth to treason by disregarding his rational, moral arguments and challenging his manhood. Basically, she dares him to commit the murder, using words that taunt rather than persuade. Under her spell, all of Macbeth's objections seem to evaporate and he is left only with a weak "If we should fail?" to set against her passionate challenge (1.7.59).

The idea of a moral order is present in these scenes, albeit in muted form. Macbeth knows what he does is wrong, and he recognizes that there will surely be consequences. As we have seen, his soliloquy reveals his awareness that he may be initiating a cycle of violence that will eventually destroy him. Macbeth is not a good man at this point in the play, but he is not yet an evil one—he is tempted, and he tries to resist temptation. Macbeth's resistance, however, is not vigorous enough to stand up to his wife's ability to manipulate him.

Act 2, scene 1

Banquo and his son Fleance walk in the torch-lit hall of Macbeth's castle. Fleance says that it is after midnight, and his father responds that although he is tired, he wishes to stay awake because his sleep has lately inspired "cursed thoughts" (2.1.8). Macbeth enters, and Banquo is surprised to see him still up. Banquo says that the king is asleep and mentions that he had a dream about the "three weird sisters." When Banquo suggests that the witches have revealed "some truth" to Macbeth, Macbeth claims that he has not thought of them at all since their encounter in the woods (2.1.19–20). He and Banquo agree to discuss the witches' prophecies at a later time.

Banquo and Fleance leave, and suddenly, in the darkened hall, Macbeth has a vision of a dagger floating in the air before him, its handle pointing toward his hand and its tip aiming him toward Duncan. Macbeth tries to grasp the weapon and fails. He wonders whether what he sees is real or a "dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain" (2.1.38–39). Continuing to gaze upon the dagger, he thinks he sees blood on the blade, then abruptly decides that the vision is just a manifestation of his unease over killing Duncan. The night around him seems thick with horror and witchcraft, but Macbeth stiffens and resolves to do his bloody work. A bell tolls—Lady Macbeth's signal that the chamberlains are asleep—and Macbeth strides toward Duncan's chamber.

Summary: Act 2, scene 2

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

(See Important Quotations Explained)

As Macbeth leaves the hall, Lady Macbeth enters, remarking on her boldness. She imagines that Macbeth is killing the king even as she speaks. Hearing Macbeth cry out, she worries that the chamberlains have awakened. She says that she cannot understand how Macbeth could fail—she had prepared the daggers for the chamberlains herself. She asserts that she would have killed the king herself then and there, "[h]ad he not resembled / [her] father as he slept" (2.2.12–13). Macbeth emerges, his hands covered in blood, and says that the deed is done. Badly shaken, he remarks that he heard the chamberlains awake and say their prayers before going back to sleep. When they said "amen," he tried to say it with them but found that the word stuck in his throat. He adds that as he killed the king, he thought he heard a voice cry out: "Sleep no more, / Macbeth does murder sleep" (2.2.33–34).

Lady Macbeth at first tries to steady her husband, but she becomes angry when she notices that he has forgotten to leave the daggers with the sleeping chamberlains so as to frame them for Duncan's murder. He refuses to go back into the room, so she takes the daggers into the room herself, saying that she would be ashamed to be as cowardly as Macbeth. As she leaves, Macbeth hears a mysterious knocking. The portentous sound frightens him, and he asks desperately, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" (2.2.58–59). As Lady Macbeth reenters the hall, the knocking comes again, and then a third time. She leads her husband back to the bedchamber, where he can wash off the blood. "A little water clears us of this deed," she tells him. "How easy it is then!" (2.2.65–66).

Analysis: Act 2, scenes 1–2

Banquo's knowledge of the witches' prophecy makes him both a potential ally and a potential threat to Macbeth's plotting. For now, Macbeth seems distrustful of Banquo and pretends to have hardly thought of the witches, but Macbeth's desire to discuss the prophecies at some future time suggests that he may have some sort of conspiratorial plans in mind. The appearance of Fleance, Banquo's son, serves as a reminder of the witches' prediction that Banquo's children will sit on the throne of Scotland. We realize that if Macbeth succeeds in the murder of Duncan, he will be driven to still more violence before his crown is secure, and Fleance will be in immediate and mortal danger.

Act 2 is singularly concerned with the murder of Duncan. But Shakespeare here relies on a technique that he uses throughout Macbeth to help sustain the play's incredibly rapid tempo of development: elision. We see the scenes leading up to the murder and the scenes immediately following it, but the deed itself does not appear onstage. Duncan's bedchamber becomes a sort of hidden sanctum into which the characters disappear and from which they emerge powerfully changed. This technique of not allowing us to see the actual murder, which persists throughout Macbeth, may have been borrowed from the classical Greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles. In these plays, violent acts abound but are kept offstage, made to seem more terrible by the power of suggestion. The effect on Lady Macbeth of her trip into Duncan's bedroom is particularly striking. She claims that she would have killed Duncan herself except that he resembled her father sleeping. This is the first time Lady Macbeth shows herself to be at all vulnerable. Her comparison of Duncan to her father suggests that despite her desire for power and her harsh chastisement of Macbeth, she sees her king as an authority figure to whom she must be loyal.

Macbeth's trepidation about the murder is echoed by several portentous sounds and visions, the famous hallucinatory dagger being the most striking. The dagger is the first in a series of guilt-inspired hallucinations that Macbeth and his wife experience. The murder is also marked by the ringing of the bell and the knocking at the gate, both of which have fascinated audiences. The knocking occurs four times with a sort of ritualistic regularity. It conveys the heavy sense of the inevitable, as if the gates must eventually open to admit doom. The knocking seems particularly ironic after we realize that Macduff, who kills Macbeth at the end of the play, is its source. Macbeth's eventual death does indeed stand embodied at the gate.

The motif of blood, established in the accounts of Macbeth's and Banquo's battlefield exploits, recurs here in Macbeth's anguished sense that there is blood on his hands that cannot be washed clean. For now, Lady Macbeth remains the voice of calculating reason, as she tells him that the blood can be washed away with a little water. But, as Lady Macbeth eventually realizes, the guilt that the blood symbolizes needs more than water to be cleansed away. Her hallucinations later in the play, in which she washes her hands obsessively, lend irony to her insistence here that "[a] little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.65).

Act 2, scene 3

A porter stumbles through the hallway to answer the knocking, grumbling comically about the noise and mocking whoever is on the other side of the door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell and asks, "Who's there, i' th' name of Beelzebub?" (2.3.3). Macduff and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter's slow response to his knock. The porter says that he was up late carousing and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination. He adds that drink also "provokes and unprovokes" lechery—it inclines one to be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex (2.3.27). Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying that Duncan asked to see him early that morning. In short, clipped sentences, Macbeth says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to take Macduff to the king. As Macduff enters the king's chamber, Lennox describes the storms that raged the previous night, asserting that he cannot remember anything like it in all his years. With a cry of "O horror, horror, horror!" Macduff comes running from the room, shouting that the king has been murdered (2.3.59). Macbeth and Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses her horror that such a deed could be done under her roof. General chaos ensues as the other nobles and their servants come streaming in. As Macbeth and Lennox emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donalbain arrive on the scene. They are told that their father has been killed, most likely by his chamberlains, who were found with bloody daggers. Macbeth declares that in his rage he has killed the chamberlains.

Macduff seems suspicious of these new deaths, which Macbeth explains by saying that his fury at Duncan's death was so powerful that he could not restrain himself. Lady Macbeth suddenly faints, and both Macduff and Banquo call for someone to attend to her. Malcolm and Donalbain whisper to each other that they are not safe, since whoever killed their father will probably try to kill them next. Lady Macbeth is taken away, while Banquo and Macbeth rally the lords to meet and discuss the murder. Duncan's sons resolve to flee the court. Malcolm declares that he will go south to England, and Donalbain will hasten to Ireland.

Summary: Act 2, scene 4

Ross, a thane, walks outside the castle with an old man. They discuss the strange and ominous happenings of the past few days: it is daytime, but dark outside; last Tuesday, an owl killed a falcon; and Duncan's beautiful, well-trained horses behaved wildly and ate one another. Macduff emerges from the castle and tells Ross that Macbeth has been made king by the other lords, and that he now rides to Scone to be crowned. Macduff adds that the chamberlains seem the most likely murderers, and that they may have been paid off by someone to kill Duncan. Suspicion has now fallen on the two princes, Malcolm and Donalbain, because they have fled the scene. Macduff returns to his home at Fife, and Ross departs for Scone to see the new king's coronation.

Analysis: Act 2, scenes 3–4

After the bloody imagery and dark tone of the previous two scenes, the porter's comedy comes as a jarring change of tone. His good-natured joking with Macduff breaks up the mounting tension of the play and also comments obliquely on its themes. Unlike all the characters of noble birth, who speak in iambic verse, the porter speaks in prose. His relaxed language seems to signal that his words and his role are less important than those of the other characters, but in his merry banter the porter hits on many truths. His description of the confusion and lust provoked by alcohol caricatures Macbeth's moral confusion and lust for power. Moreover, his remarks about the ineffective lechery inspired by drink eerily echo Lady Macbeth's sexual taunting of Macbeth about his ability to carry out his resolutions. The porter's joke that the door of Inverness is like hell's gate is ironic, given the cruel and bloody events that are taking place within the castle. When he cries, "Who's there, i' th' name of Beelzebub [the devil]?" the analogy between hell and Inverness becomes even stronger (2.3.3). Instead of receiving a welcome and a blessing when they step into Macbeth's castle, guests are warned that they are putting themselves in the hands of the devil.

Now that Lady Macbeth's machinations have wrought their result, Lady Macbeth begins to recede from center stage and Macbeth takes her place as the most compelling character in the play. The clipped, halting sentences with which Macbeth speaks to Macduff and Lennox indicate his troubled mind and trepidation about the impending discovery of Duncan's body. For example, while Lennox offers a lengthy speech about the wild weather of the previous night, Macbeth's only response is a terse " 'Twas a rough night" (2.3.57). And when Lennox asks Macbeth, "Goes the King hence today?" Macbeth almost gives away his knowledge that Duncan is dead (2.3.49). "He does," answers Macbeth, before he realizes that his answer is incriminating and changes it to: "[H]e did appoint so" (2.3.49).

Once Duncan's body is discovered, it is as though a switch has been flipped within Macbeth. He springs into action with a clear eye toward his purpose, seizing control of the nobles and becoming King of Scotland. Interestingly, Shakespeare does not show us the scene in which Macbeth is made king. Just as he denied us the scene of Duncan's murder, he now skips over its most direct consequence, Macbeth's election. The news is conveyed secondhand through the characters of Ross, Macduff, and the old man.

Although Macbeth seems to gain confidence as Act 2, scene 3, progresses, other characters subtly cast suspicion on him. When Malcolm asks about his father's killer, Lennox replies, "Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done't" (2.3.98). Lennox's insertion of "as it seemed" highlights the suspect nature of the crime scene's appearance. Banquo, also, expresses his wariness of Macbeth's argument that the chamberlains were the murderers. He says: "let us meet / And question this most bloody piece of work, / To know it further" (2.3.123–125). By far, though, the most distrusting character is Macduff, who, up until this point in the play, has been a fairly unobtrusive character. He asks Macbeth why he killed the chamberlains, and later expresses his suspicion to Ross and the old man. His decision to return home to Fife rather than travel to Scone to see Macbeth's coronation is an open display of opposition. Thus, in a few swift strokes, the play establishes Macduff as Macbeth's eventual nemesis. Malcolm, of course, is the rightful king, but he lacks Macduff's initiative and sense of purpose, a fact illustrated by his willingness to flee rather than assert his royal rights. In order to regain the throne, he will need the aid of the more assertive Macduff—and it is Macduff, not Malcolm, who assumes the responsibility for Macbeth's death.

The conversation between Ross and the old man at the beginning of Act 2, scene 4, tells the audience about a number of unnatural occurrences in the weather and the behavior of animals, which cast a menacing shadow over Macbeth's ascension to the throne. In Shakespeare's tragedies (Julius Caesar, King Lear, and Hamlet, in particular), terrible supernatural occurrences often betoken wicked behavior on the part of the characters and tragic consequences for the state. The storms that accompany the witches' appearances and Duncan's murder are more than mere atmospheric disturbances; they are symbols of the connection between moral, natural, and political developments in the universe of Shakespeare's plays. By killing Duncan, Macbeth unleashes a kind of primal chaos upon the realm of Scotland, in which the old order of benevolent king and loyal subjects is replaced by a darker relationship between a tyrant and his victims.

Act 3, scene 1

In the royal palace at Forres, Banquo paces and thinks about the coronation of Macbeth and the prophecies of the weird sisters. The witches foretold that Macbeth would be king and that Banquo's line would eventually sit on the throne. If the first prophecy came true, Banquo thinks, feeling the stirring of ambition, why not the second? Macbeth enters, attired as king. He is followed by Lady Macbeth, now his queen, and the court. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth ask Banquo to attend the feast they will host that night. Banquo accepts their invitation and says that he plans to go for a ride on his horse for the afternoon. Macbeth mentions that they should discuss the problem of Malcolm and Donalbain. The brothers have fled from Scotland and may be plotting against his crown.

Banquo departs, and Macbeth dismisses his court. He is left alone in the hall with a single servant, to whom he speaks about some men who have come to see him. Macbeth asks if the men are still waiting and orders that they be fetched. Once the servant has gone, Macbeth begins a soliloquy. He muses on the subject of Banquo, reflecting that his old friend is the only man in Scotland whom he fears. He notes that if the witches' prophecy is true, his will be a "fruitless crown," by which he means that he will not have an heir (3.1.62). The murder of Duncan, which weighs so heavily on his conscience, may have simply cleared the way for Banquo's sons to overthrow Macbeth's own family.

The servant reenters with Macbeth's two visitors. Macbeth reminds the two men, who are murderers he has hired, of a conversation he had with them the day before, in which he chronicled the wrongs Banquo had done them in the past. He asks if they are angry and manly enough to take revenge on Banquo. They reply that they are, and Macbeth accepts their promise that they will murder his former friend. Macbeth reminds the murderers that Fleance must be killed along with his father and tells them to wait within the castle for his command.

Summary: Act 3, scene 2

Elsewhere in the castle, Lady Macbeth expresses despair and sends a servant to fetch her husband. Macbeth enters and tells his wife that he too is discontented, saying that his mind is "full of scorpions" (3.2.37). He feels that the business that they began by killing Duncan is not yet complete because there are still threats to the throne that must be eliminated. Macbeth tells his wife that he has planned "a deed of dreadful note" for Banquo and Fleance and urges her to be jovial and kind to Banquo during the evening's feast, in order to lure their next victim into a false sense of security (3.2.45).

Summary: Act 3, scene 3

It is dusk, and the two murderers, now joined by a third, linger in a wooded park outside the palace. Banquo and Fleance approach on their horses and dismount. They light a torch, and the murderers set upon them. The murderers kill Banquo, who dies urging his son to flee and to avenge his death. One of the murderers extinguishes the torch, and in the darkness Fleance escapes. The murderers leave with Banquo's body to find Macbeth and tell him what has happened.

Analysis: Act 3, scenes 1–3

After his first confrontation with the witches, Macbeth worried that he would have to commit a murder to gain the Scottish crown. He seems to have gotten used to the idea, as by this point the body count has risen to alarming levels. Now that the first part of the witches' prophecy has come true, Macbeth feels that he must kill his friend Banquo and the young Fleance in order to prevent the second part from becoming realized. But, as Fleance's survival suggests, there can be no escape from the witches' prophecies.

Macbeth and his wife seem to have traded roles. As he talks to the murderers, Macbeth adopts the same rhetoric that Lady Macbeth used to convince him to murder in Act 1, scene 7. He questions their manhood in order to make them angry, and their desire to murder Banquo and Fleance grows out of their desire to prove themselves to be men. In the scene with Lady Macbeth that follows, Macbeth again echoes her previous comments. She told him earlier that he must "look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't" (1.5.63–64). Now he is the one reminding her to mask her unease, as he says that they must "make [their] faces visors to [their] hearts, / Disguising what they are" (3.2.35–36). Yet, despite his displays of fearlessness, Macbeth is undeniably beset with guilt and doubt, which he expresses in his reference to the "scorpions" in his mind and in his declaration that in killing Banquo they "have scorched the snake, not killed it" (3.2.15).

While her husband grows bolder, Lady Macbeth begins to despair—"Naught's had; all's spent," she says (3.2.6). It is difficult to believe that the woman who now attempts to talk her husband out of committing more murders is the same Lady Macbeth who earlier spurred her husband on to slaughter. Just as he begins to echo her earlier statements, she references his. "What's done is done" (3.2.14), she says wishfully, echoing her husband's use of "done" in Act 1, scene 7, where he said: "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / It were done quickly" (1.7.1–2). But as husband and wife begin to realize, nothing is "done" whatsoever; their sense of closure is an illusion.

Both characters seem shocked and dismayed that possessing the crown has not rid them of trouble or brought them happiness. The language that they use is fraught with imagery suggestive of suspicion, paranoia, and inner turmoil, like Macbeth's evocative "full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife" (3.2.37). Each murder Macbeth commits or commissions is intended to bring him security and contentment, but the deeper his arms sink in blood, the more violent and horrified he becomes.

By the start of Act 3, the play's main theme—the repercussions of acting on ambition without moral constraint—has been articulated and explored. The play now builds inexorably toward its end. Unlike Hamlet, in which the plot seems open to multiple possibilities up to the final scene, Macbeth's action seems to develop inevitably. We know that there is nothing to stop Macbeth's murder spree except his own death, and it is for that death that the audience now waits. Only with Macbeth's demise, we realize, can any kind of moral order be restored to Scotland.

Act 3, scene 4

Onstage stands a table heaped with a feast. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enter as king and queen, followed by their court, whom they bid welcome. As Macbeth walks among the company, the first murderer appears at the doorway. Macbeth speaks to him for a moment, learning that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped. The news of Fleance's escape angers Macbeth—if only Fleance had died, he muses, his throne would have been secure. Instead, "the worm that's fled / Hath nature that in time will venom breed" (3.4.28–29).

Returning to his guests, Macbeth goes to sit at the head of the royal table but finds Banquo's ghost sitting in his chair. Horror-struck, Macbeth speaks to the ghost, which is invisible to the rest of the company. Lady Macbeth makes excuses for her husband, saying that he occasionally has such "visions" and that the guests should simply ignore his behavior. Then she speaks to Macbeth, questioning his manhood and urging him to snap out of his trance. The ghost disappears, and Macbeth recovers, telling his company: "I have a strange infirmity which is nothing / To those that know me" (3.4.85–86). As he offers a toast to company, however, Banquo's specter reappears and shocks Macbeth into further reckless outbursts. Continuing to make excuses for her husband, Lady Macbeth sends the alarmed guests out of the room as the ghost vanishes again.

Macbeth mutters that "blood will have blood" and tells Lady Macbeth that he has heard from a servant-spy that Macduff intends to keep away from court, behavior that verges on treason (3.4.121). He says that he will visit the witches again tomorrow in the hopes of learning more about the future and about who may be plotting against him. He resolves to do whatever is necessary to keep his throne, declaring: "I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4.135–137). Lady Macbeth says that he needs sleep, and they retire to their bed.

Summary: Act 3, scene 5

Upon the stormy heath, the witches meet with Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Hecate scolds them for meddling in the business of Macbeth without consulting her but declares that she will take over as supervisor of the mischief. She says that when Macbeth comes the next day, as they know he will, they must summon visions and spirits whose messages will fill him with a false sense of security and "draw him on to his confusion" (3.5.29). Hecate vanishes, and the witches go to prepare their charms.

Summary: Act 3, scene 6

That night, somewhere in Scotland, Lennox walks with another lord, discussing what has happened to the kingdom. Banquo's murder has been officially blamed on Fleance, who has fled. Nevertheless, both men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a "tyrant," in the murders of Duncan and Banquo. The lord tells Lennox that Macduff has gone to England, where he will join Malcolm in pleading with England's King Edward for aid. News of these plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare for war. Lennox and the lord express their hope that Malcolm and Macduff will be successful and that their actions can save Scotland from Macbeth.

Analysis: Act 3, scenes 4–6

Throughout Macbeth, as in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, the supernatural and the unnatural appear in grotesque form as harbingers of wickedness, moral corruption, and downfall. Here, the appearance of Banquo's silent ghost, the reappearance of the witches, and the introduction of the goddess Hecate all symbolize the corruption of Scotland's political and moral health. In place of the dramatization of Macbeth's acts of despotism, Shakespeare uses the scenes involving supernatural elements to increase the audience's sense of foreboding and ill omen. When Macbeth's political transgressions are revealed, Scotland's dire situation immediately registers, because the transgressions of state have been predicted by the disturbances in nature. In Macbeth's moral landscape, loyalty, honor, and virtue serve either as weak or nonexistent constraints against ambition and the lust for power. In the physical landscape that surrounds him, the normal rules of nature serve as weak constraints against the grotesqueries of the witches and the horrific ghost of Banquo.

The banquet is simultaneously the high point of Macbeth's reign and the beginning of his downfall. Macbeth's bizarre behavior puzzles and disturbs his subjects, confirming their impression that he is mentally troubled. Despite the tentativeness and guilt she displayed in the previous scene, Lady Macbeth here appears surefooted and stronger than her husband, but even her attempts to explain away her husband's "hallucination" are ineffective when paired with the evidence of his behavior. The contrast between this scene and the one in which Duncan's body was discovered is striking—whereas Macbeth was once cold-blooded and surefooted, he now allows his anxieties and visions to get the best of him.

It is unclear whether Banquo's ghost really sits in Macbeth's chair or whether the spirit's presence is only a hallucination inspired by guilt. Macbeth, of course, is thick with supernatural events and characters, so there is no reason to discount the possibility that a ghost actually stalks the halls. Some of the apparitions that appear in the play, such as the floating dagger in Act 2, scene 1, and the unwashable blood that Lady Macbeth perceives on her hands in Act 4, appear to be more psychological than supernatural in origin, but even this is uncertain. These recurring apparitions or hallucinations reflect the sense of metaphysical dread that consumes the royal couple as they feel the fateful force of their deeds coming back to haunt them.

Given the role that Banquo's character plays in Macbeth, it is appropriate that he and not Duncan should haunt Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo heard the witches' prophecies and entertained ambitions. But, unlike Macbeth, Banquo took no criminal action. His actions stand as a rebuke to Macbeth's behavior and represent a path not taken, one in which ambition need not beget bloodshed. In Holinshed's Chronicles, the history that served as the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth, Banquo was Macbeth's accomplice in Duncan's murder. Shakespeare most likely changed Banquo's role from villain to moral pillar because Shakespeare's patron, King James I of England, was believed to be Banquo's descendant.

Shakespeare also portrays the historical figure of King Edward the Confessor, to whom Malcolm and Macduff have gone to receive help combating Macbeth. Edward is presented as the complete opposite of the evil, corrupt Macbeth. By including mention of England and Scotland's cooperation in the play, Shakespeare emphasizes that the bond between the two countries, renewed in his time by James's kingship, is a long-standing one. At the same time, the fact that Macbeth's opposition coalesces in England is at once a suggestion that Scotland has become too thoroughly corrupted to resist Macbeth and a self-congratulatory nod to Shakespeare's English audience.

Act 4, scene 1

In a dark cavern, a bubbling cauldron hisses and spits, and the three witches suddenly appear onstage. They circle the cauldron, chanting spells and adding bizarre ingredients to their stew—"eye of newt and toe of frog, / Wool of bat and tongue of dog" (4.1.14–15). Hecate materializes and compliments the witches on their work. One of the witches then chants: "By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes" (4.1.61–62). In fulfillment of the witch's prediction, Macbeth enters. He asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. To answer his questions, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth's fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff; Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Then a bloody child appears and tells him that "none of woman born / shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.96–97). Next, a crowned child holding a tree tells him that he is safe until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. Finally, a procession of eight crowned kings walks by, the last carrying a mirror. Banquo's ghost walks at the end of the line. Macbeth demands to know the meaning of this final vision, but the witches perform a mad dance and then vanish. Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth resolves to send murderers to capture Macduff's castle and to kill Macduff's wife and children.

Summary: Act 4, scene 2

At Macduff's castle, Lady Macduff accosts Ross, demanding to know why her husband has fled. She feels betrayed. Ross insists that she trust her husband's judgment and then regretfully departs. Once he is gone, Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead, but the little boy perceptively argues that he is not. Suddenly, a messenger hurries in, warning Lady Macduff that she is in danger and urging her to flee. Lady Macduff protests, arguing that she has done no wrong. A group of murderers then enters. When one of them denounces Macduff, Macduff's son calls the murderer a liar, and the murderer stabs him. Lady Macduff turns and runs, and the pack of killers chases after her.

Summary: Act 4, scene 3

Outside King Edward's palace, Malcolm speaks with Macduff, telling him that he does not trust him since he has left his family in Scotland and may be secretly working for Macbeth. To determine whether Macduff is trustworthy, Malcolm rambles on about his own vices. He admits that he wonders whether he is fit to be king, since he claims to be lustful, greedy, and violent. At first, Macduff politely disagrees with his future king, but eventually Macduff cannot keep himself from crying out, "O Scotland, Scotland!" (4.3.101). Macduff's loyalty to Scotland leads him to agree that Malcolm is not fit to govern Scotland and perhaps not even to live. In giving voice to his disparagement, Macduff has passed Malcolm's test of loyalty. Malcolm then retracts the lies he has put forth about his supposed shortcomings and embraces Macduff as an ally. A doctor appears briefly and mentions that a "crew of wretched souls" waits for King Edward so they may be cured (4.3.142). When the doctor leaves, Malcolm explains to Macduff that King Edward has a miraculous power to cure disease.

Ross enters. He has just arrived from Scotland, and tells Macduff that his wife and children are well. He urges Malcolm to return to his country, listing the woes that have befallen Scotland since Macbeth took the crown. Malcolm says that he will return with ten thousand soldiers lent him by the English king. Then, breaking down, Ross confesses to Macduff that Macbeth has murdered his wife and children. Macduff is crushed with grief. Malcolm urges him to turn his grief to anger, and Macduff assures him that he will inflict revenge upon Macbeth.

Analysis: Act 4, scenes 1–3

The witches are vaguely absurd figures, with their rhymes and beards and capering, but they are also clearly sinister, possessing a great deal of power over events. Are they simply independent agents playing mischievously and cruelly with human events? Or are the "weird sisters" agents of fate, betokening the inevitable? The word weird descends etymologically from the Anglo-Saxon word wyrd, which means "fate" or "doom," and the three witches bear a striking resemblance to the Fates, female characters in both Norse and Greek mythology. Perhaps their prophecies are constructed to wreak havoc in the minds of the hearers, so that they become self-fulfilling. It is doubtful, for instance, that Macbeth would have killed Duncan if not for his meeting with the witches. On the other hand, the sisters' prophecies may be accurate readings of the future. After all, when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane at the play's end, the soldiers bearing the branches have not heard of the prophecy.

Whatever the nature of the witches' prophecies, their sheer inscrutability is as important as any reading of their motivations and natures. The witches stand outside the limits of human comprehension. They seem to represent the part of human beings in which ambition and sin originate—an incomprehensible and unconscious part of the human psyche. In this sense, they almost seem to belong to a Christian framework, as supernatural embodiments of the Christian concept of original sin. Indeed, many critics have argued that Macbeth, a remarkably simple story of temptation, fall, and retribution, is the most explicitly Christian of Shakespeare's great tragedies. If so, however, it is a dark Christianity, one more concerned with the bloody consequences of sin than with grace or divine love. Perhaps it would be better to say that Macbeth is the most orderly and just of the tragedies, insofar as evil deeds lead first to psychological torment and then to destruction. The nihilism of King Lear, in which the very idea of divine justice seems laughable, is absent in Macbeth—divine justice, whether Christian or not, is a palpable force hounding Macbeth toward his inevitable end.

The witches' prophecies allow Macbeth, whose sense of doom is mounting, to tell himself that everything may yet be well. For the audience, which lacks Macbeth's misguided confidence, the strange apparitions act as symbols that foreshadow the way the prophecies will be fulfilled. The armored head suggests war or rebellion, a telling image when connected to the apparition's warning about Macduff. The bloody child obliquely refers to Macduff's birth by cesarean section—he is not "of woman born"—attaching a clear irony to a comment that Macbeth takes at face value. The crowned child is Malcolm. He carries a tree, just as his soldiers will later carry tree branches from Birnam Wood to Dunsinane. Finally, the procession of kings reveals the future line of kings, all descended from Banquo. Some of those kings carry two balls and three scepters, the royal insignia of Great Britain—alluding to the fact that James I, Shakespeare's patron, claimed descent from the historical Banquo. The mirror carried by the last figure may have been meant to reflect King James, sitting in the audience, to himself.

The murder of Lady Macduff and her young son in Act 4, scene 2, marks the moment in which Macbeth descends into utter madness, killing neither for political gain nor to silence an enemy, but simply out of a furious desire to do harm. As Malcolm and Macduff reason in Act 4, scene 3, Macbeth's is the worst possible method of kingship. It is a political approach without moral legitimacy because it is not founded on loyalty to the state. Their conversation reflects an important theme in the play—the nature of true kingship, which is embodied by Duncan and King Edward, as opposed to the tyranny of Macbeth. In the end, a true king seems to be one motivated by love of his kingdom more than by pure self-interest. In a sense, both Malcolm and Macduff share this virtue—the love they hold for Scotland unites them in opposition to Macbeth, and grants their attempt to seize power a moral legitimacy that Macbeth's lacked.

Macduff and Malcolm are allies, but Macduff also serves as a teacher to Malcolm. Malcolm believes himself to be crafty and intuitive, as his test of Macduff shows. Yet, he has a perverted idea of manhood that is in line with Macbeth's. When Ross brings word of Lady Macduff's murder, Malcolm tells Macduff: "Dispute it like a man" (4.3.221). Macduff answers, "I shall do so, / But I must also feel it as a man" (4.3.222–223). Macduff shows that manhood comprises more than aggression and murder; allowing oneself to be sensitive and to feel grief is also necessary. This is an important lesson for Malcolm to learn if he is to be a judicious, honest, and compassionate king. When, in Act 5, scene 11, Malcolm voices his sorrow for Siward's son, he demonstrates that he has taken Macduff's instruction to heart.

Act 5, scene 1

Out, damned spot; out, I say. . . . Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

At night, in the king's palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's strange habit of sleepwalking. Suddenly, Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand. Bemoaning the murders of Lady Macduff and Banquo, she seems to see blood on her hands and claims that nothing will ever wash it off. She leaves, and the doctor and gentlewoman marvel at her descent into madness.

Summary: Act 5, scene 2

Outside the castle, a group of Scottish lords discusses the military situation: the English army approaches, led by Malcolm, and the Scottish army will meet them near Birnam Wood, apparently to join forces with them. The "tyrant," as Lennox and the other lords call Macbeth, has fortified Dunsinane Castle and is making his military preparations in a mad rage.

Summary: Act 5, scene 3

Macbeth strides into the hall of Dunsinane with the doctor and his attendants, boasting proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English army or from Malcolm, since "none of woman born" can harm him (4.1.96) and since he will rule securely "[t]ill Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane" (5.3.2). He calls his servant Seyton, who confirms that an army of ten thousand Englishmen approaches the castle. Macbeth insists upon wearing his armor, though the battle is still some time off. The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by "thick-coming fancies," and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions (5.3.40).

Summary: Act 5, scene 4

In the country near Birnam Wood, Malcolm talks with the English lord Siward and his officers about Macbeth's plan to defend the fortified castle. They decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising their numbers.

Summary: Act 5, scene 5

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Within the castle, Macbeth blusteringly orders that banners be hung and boasts that his castle will repel the enemy. A woman's cry is heard, and Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead. Shocked, Macbeth speaks numbly about the passage of time and declares famously that life is "a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing" (5.5.25–27). A messenger enters with astonishing news: the trees of Birnam Wood are advancing toward Dunsinane. Enraged and terrified, Macbeth recalls the prophecy that said he could not die till Birnam Wood moved to Dunsinane. Resignedly, he declares that he is tired of the sun and that at least he will die fighting.

Summary: Act 5, scene 6

Outside the castle, the battle commences. Malcolm orders the English soldiers to throw down their boughs and draw their swords.

Summary: Act 5, scene 7

On the battlefield, Macbeth strikes those around him vigorously, insolent because no man born of woman can harm him. He slays Lord Siward's son and disappears in the fray.

Summary: Act 5, scene 8

Macduff emerges and searches the chaos frantically for Macbeth, whom he longs to cut down personally. He dives again into the battle.

Summary: Act 5, scene 9

Malcolm and Siward emerge and enter the castle.

Summary: Act 5, scene 10

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Macbeth at last encounters Macduff. They fight, and when Macbeth insists that he is invincible because of the witches' prophecy, Macduff tells Macbeth that he was not of woman born, but rather "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped" (5.10.15–16). Macbeth suddenly fears for his life, but he declares that he will not surrender "[t]o kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, / And to be baited with the rabble's curse" (5.10.28–29). They exit fighting.

Summary: Act 5, scene 11

Malcolm and Siward walk together in the castle, which they have now effectively captured. Ross tells Siward that his son is dead. Macduff emerges with Macbeth's head in his hand and proclaims Malcolm King of Scotland. Malcolm declares that all his thanes will be made earls, according to the English system of peerage. They will be the first such lords in Scottish history. Cursing Macbeth and his "fiend-like" queen, Malcolm calls all those around him his friends and invites them all to see him crowned at Scone (5.11.35).

Analysis: Act 5, scenes 1–11

The rapid tempo of the play's development accelerates into breakneck frenzy in Act 5, as the relatively long scenes of previous acts are replaced by a flurry of short takes, each of which furthers the action toward its violent conclusion on the battlefield outside Dunsinane Castle. We see the army's and Malcolm's preparation for battle, the fulfillment of the witches' prophecies, and the demises of both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, her icy nerves shattered by the weight of guilt and paranoia, gives way to sleepwalking and a delusional belief that her hands are stained with blood. "Out, damned spot," she cries in one of the play's most famous lines, and adds, "[W]ho would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" (5.1.30, 33–34). Her belief that nothing can wash away the blood is, of course, an ironic and painful reversal of her earlier claim to Macbeth that "[a] little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.65). Macbeth, too, is unable to sleep. His and Lady Macbeth's sleeplessness was foreshadowed by Macbeth's hallucination at the moment of the murder, when he believed that a voice cried out "Macbeth does murder sleep" (2.2.34).

Like Duncan's death and Macbeth's ascension to the kingship, Lady Macbeth's suicide does not take place onstage; it is merely reported. Macbeth seems numb in response to the news of his wife's death, which seems surprising, especially given the great love he appears to have borne for his wife. Yet, his indifferent response reflects the despair that has seized him as he realizes that what has come to seem the game of life is almost up. Indeed, Macbeth's speech following his wife's death is one of the most famous expressions of despair in all of literature. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow," he says grimly,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.18–27)

These words reflect Macbeth's feeling of hopelessness, of course, but they have a self-justifying streak as well—for if life is "full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing," then Macbeth's crimes, too, are meaningless rather than evil.

Additionally, the speech's insistence that "[l]ife's . . . a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage" can be read as a dark and somewhat subversive commentary on the relationship between the audience and the play. After all, Macbeth is just a player on an English stage, and his statement undercuts the suspension of disbelief that the audience must maintain in order to enter the action of the play. If we take Macbeth's statement as expressing Shakespeare's own perspective on the theater, then the entire play can be seen as being "full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing." Admittedly, it seems unlikely that the playwright would have put his own perspective on the stage in the mouth of a despairing, desperate murderer. Still, Macbeth's words remind us of the essential theatricality of the action—that the lengthy soliloquies, offstage deaths, and poetic speeches are not meant to capture reality but to reinterpret it in order to evoke a certain emotional response from the audience.

Despite the pure nihilism of this speech, Macbeth seems to fluctuate between despair and ridiculous bravado, making his own dissolution rougher and more complex than that of his wife. Lured into a false sense of security by the final prophecies of the witches, he gives way to boastfulness and a kind of self-destructive arrogance. When the battle begins, Macbeth clings, against all apparent evidence, to the notion that he will not be harmed because he is protected by the prophecy—although whether he really believes it at this stage, or is merely hanging on to the last thread of hope he has left, is debatable.

Macbeth ceased to be a sympathetic hero once he made the decision to kill Duncan, but by the end of the play he has become so morally repulsive that his death comes as a powerful relief. Ambition and bloodlust must be checked by virtue for order and form to be restored to the sound and fury of human existence. Only with Malcolm's victory and assumption of the crown can Scotland, and the play itself, be saved from the chaos engendered by Macbeth.

Key Facts

full title ·  The Tragedy of Macbeth

author  · William Shakespeare

type of work  · Play

genre  · Tragedy

language  · English

time and place written  · 1606, England

date of first publication  · First Folio edition, 1623

publisher  · John Heminges and Henry Condell, two senior members of Shakespeare's theatrical company

tone  · Dark and ominous, suggestive of a world turned topsy-turvy by foul and unnatural crimes

tense  · Not applicable (drama)

setting (time)  · The Middle Ages, specifically the eleventh century

setting (place)  · Various locations in Scotland; also England, briefly

protagonist  · Macbeth

major conflicts  · The struggle within Macbeth between his ambition and his sense of right and wrong; the struggle between the murderous evil represented by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the best interests of the nation, represented by Malcolm and Macduff

rising action  · Macbeth and Banquo's encounter with the witches initiates both conflicts; Lady Macbeth's speeches goad Macbeth into murdering Duncan and seizing the crown.

climax · Macbeth's murder of Duncan in Act 2 represents the point of no return, after which Macbeth is forced to continue butchering his subjects to avoid the consequences of his crime.

falling action  · Macbeth's increasingly brutal murders (of Duncan's servants, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son); Macbeth's second meeting with the witches; Macbeth's final confrontation with Macduff and the opposing armies

themes  · The corrupting nature of unchecked ambition; the relationship between cruelty and masculinity; the difference between kingship and tyranny

motifs  · The supernatural, hallucinations, violence, prophecy

symbols  · Blood; the dagger that Macbeth sees just before he kills Duncan in Act 2; the weather

foreshadowing · The bloody battle in Act 1 foreshadows the bloody murders later on; when Macbeth thinks he hears a voice while killing Duncan, it foreshadows the insomnia that plagues Macbeth and his wife; Macduff's suspicions of Macbeth after Duncan's murder foreshadow his later opposition to Macbeth; all of the witches' prophecies foreshadow later events.

Analysis of Major Characters

Macbeth

Because we first hear of Macbeth in the wounded captain's account of his battlefield valor, our initial impression is of a brave and capable warrior. This perspective is complicated, however, once we see Macbeth interact with the three witches. We realize that his physical courage is joined by a consuming ambition and a tendency to self-doubt—the prediction that he will be king brings him joy, but it also creates inner turmoil. These three attributes—bravery, ambition, and self-doubt—struggle for mastery of Macbeth throughout the play. Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt can have on a man who lacks strength of character. We may classify Macbeth as irrevocably evil, but his weak character separates him from Shakespeare's great villains—Iago in Othello, Richard III in Richard III, Edmund in King Lear—who are all strong enough to conquer guilt and self-doubt. Macbeth, great warrior though he is, is ill equipped for the psychic consequences of crime.

Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts the crime. It takes Lady Macbeth's steely sense of purpose to push him into the deed. After the murder, however, her powerful personality begins to disintegrate, leaving Macbeth increasingly alone. He fluctuates between fits of fevered action, in which he plots a series of murders to secure his throne, and moments of terrible guilt (as when Banquo's ghost appears) and absolute pessimism (after his wife's death, when he seems to succumb to despair). These fluctuations reflect the tragic tension within Macbeth: he is at once too ambitious to allow his conscience to stop him from murdering his way to the top and too conscientious to be happy with himself as a murderer. As things fall apart for him at the end of the play, he seems almost relieved—with the English army at his gates, he can finally return to life as a warrior, and he displays a kind of reckless bravado as his enemies surround him and drag him down. In part, this stems from his fatal confidence in the witches' prophecies, but it also seems to derive from the fact that he has returned to the arena where he has been most successful and where his internal turmoil need not affect him—namely, the battlefield. Unlike many of Shakespeare's other tragic heroes, Macbeth never seems to contemplate suicide: "Why should I play the Roman fool," he asks, "and die / On mine own sword?" (5.10.1–2). Instead, he goes down fighting, bringing the play full circle: it begins with Macbeth winning on the battlefield and ends with him dying in combat.

Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening female characters. When we first see her, she is already plotting Duncan's murder, and she is stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than her husband. She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. At one point, she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself. This theme of the relationship between gender and power is key to Lady Macbeth's character: her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body, which seems to link masculinity to ambition and violence. Shakespeare, however, seems to use her, and the witches, to undercut Macbeth's idea that "undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males" (1.7.73–74). These crafty women use female methods of achieving power—that is, manipulation—to further their supposedly male ambitions. Women, the play implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue these ambitions on their own.

Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth's remarkable strength of will persists through the murder of the king—it is she who steadies her husband's nerves immediately after the crime has been perpetrated. Afterward, however, she begins a slow slide into madness—just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. By the close of the play, she has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the sense of guilt comes home to roost, Lady Macbeth's sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope. Significantly, she (apparently) kills herself, signaling her total inability to deal with the legacy of their crimes.

The Three Witches

Throughout the play, the witches—referred to as the "weird sisters" by many of the characters—lurk like dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. In part, the mischief they cause stems from their supernatural powers, but mainly it is the result of their understanding of the weaknesses of their specific interlocutors—they play upon Macbeth's ambition like puppeteers.

The witches' beards, bizarre potions, and rhymed speech make them seem slightly ridiculous, like caricatures of the supernatural. Shakespeare has them speak in rhyming couplets throughout (their most famous line is probably "Double, double, toil and trouble, / Fire burn and cauldron bubble" in 4.1.10–11), which separates them from the other characters, who mostly speak in blank verse. The witches' words seem almost comical, like malevolent nursery rhymes. Despite the absurdity of their "eye of newt and toe of frog" recipes, however, they are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being both tremendously powerful and utterly wicked (4.1.14).

The audience is left to ask whether the witches are independent agents toying with human lives, or agents of fate, whose prophecies are only reports of the inevitable. The witches bear a striking and obviously intentional resemblance to the Fates, female characters in both Norse and Greek mythology who weave the fabric of human lives and then cut the threads to end them. Some of their prophecies seem self-fulfilling. For example, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have murdered his king without the push given by the witches' predictions. In other cases, though, their prophecies are just remarkably accurate readings of the future—it is hard to see Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane as being self-fulfilling in any way. The play offers no easy answers. Instead, Shakespeare keeps the witches well outside the limits of human comprehension. They embody an unreasoning, instinctive evil.

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition

The main theme of Macbeth—the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one's quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.

The Relationship Between Cruelty and Masculinity

Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be "unsexed," and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Macbeth provokes the murderers he hires to kill Banquo by questioning their manhood. Such acts show that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression, and whenever they converse about manhood, violence soon follows. Their understanding of manhood allows the political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos.

At the same time, however, the audience cannot help noticing that women are also sources of violence and evil. The witches' prophecies spark Macbeth's ambitions and then encourage his violent behavior; Lady Macbeth provides the brains and the will behind her husband's plotting; and the only divine being to appear is Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Arguably, Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to women, which has led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeare's most misogynistic play. While the male characters are just as violent and prone to evil as the women, the aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeth's behavior certainly shows that women can be as ambitious and cruel as men. Whether because of the constraints of her society or because she is not fearless enough to kill, Lady Macbeth relies on deception and manipulation rather than violence to achieve her ends.

Ultimately, the play does put forth a revised and less destructive definition of manhood. In the scene where Macduff learns of the murders of his wife and child, Malcolm consoles him by encouraging him to take the news in "manly" fashion, by seeking revenge upon Macbeth. Macduff shows the young heir apparent that he has a mistaken understanding of masculinity. To Malcolm's suggestion, "Dispute it like a man," Macduff replies, "I shall do so. But I must also feel it as a man" (4.3.221–223). At the end of the play, Siward receives news of his son's death rather complacently. Malcolm responds: "He's worth more sorrow [than you have expressed] / And that I'll spend for him" (5.11.16–17). Malcolm's comment shows that he has learned the lesson Macduff gave him on the sentient nature of true masculinity. It also suggests that, with Malcolm's coronation, order will be restored to the Kingdom of Scotland.

The Difference Between Kingship and Tyranny

In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a "king," while Macbeth soon becomes known as the "tyrant." The difference between the two types of rulers seems to be expressed in a conversation that occurs in Act 4, scene 3, when Macduff meets Malcolm in England. In order to test Macduff's loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth. He tells Macduff of his reproachable qualities—among them a thirst for personal power and a violent temperament, both of which seem to characterize Macbeth perfectly. On the other hand, Malcolm says, "The king-becoming graces / [are] justice, verity, temp'rance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, [and] lowliness" (4.3.92–93). The model king, then, offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but also comfort and affection. Under him, subjects are rewarded according to their merits, as when Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth's victory over the invaders. Most important, the king must be loyal to Scotland above his own interests. Macbeth, by contrast, brings only chaos to Scotland—symbolized in the bad weather and bizarre supernatural events—and offers no real justice, only a habit of capriciously murdering those he sees as a threat. As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king once more.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.

Hallucinations

Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's joint culpability for the growing body count. When he is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air. Covered with blood and pointed toward the king's chamber, the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark. Later, he sees Banquo's ghost sitting in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely reminding him that he murdered his former friend. The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of water. In each case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory; but, in both cases, the Macbeths read them uniformly as supernatural signs of their guilt.

Violence

Macbeth is a famously violent play. Interestingly, most of the killings take place offstage, but throughout the play the characters provide the audience with gory descriptions of the carnage, from the opening scene where the captain describes Macbeth and Banquo wading in blood on the battlefield, to the endless references to the bloodstained hands of Macbeth and his wife. The action is bookended by a pair of bloody battles: in the first, Macbeth defeats the invaders; in the second, he is slain and beheaded by Macduff. In between is a series of murders: Duncan, Duncan's chamberlains, Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Macduff's son all come to bloody ends. By the end of the action, blood seems to be everywhere.

Prophecy

Prophecy sets Macbeth's plot in motion—namely, the witches' prophecy that Macbeth will become first thane of Cawdor and then king. The weird sisters make a number of other prophecies: they tell us that Banquo's heirs will be kings, that Macbeth should beware Macduff, that Macbeth is safe till Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, and that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth. Save for the prophecy about Banquo's heirs, all of these predictions are fulfilled within the course of the play. Still, it is left deliberately ambiguous whether some of them are self-fulfilling—for example, whether Macbeth wills himself to be king or is fated to be king. Additionally, as the Birnam Wood and "born of woman" prophecies make clear, the prophecies must be interpreted as riddles, since they do not always mean what they seem to mean.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Blood

Blood is everywhere in Macbeth, beginning with the opening battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders, which is described in harrowing terms by the wounded captain in Act 1, scene 2. Once Macbeth and Lady Macbeth embark upon their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolize their guilt, and they begin to feel that their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be washed clean. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little water will do the job (2.2.58–59). Later, though, she comes to share his horrified sense of being stained: "Out, damned spot; out, I say . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" she asks as she wanders through the halls of their castle near the close of the play (5.1.30–34). Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves.

The Weather

As in other Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth's grotesque murder spree is accompanied by a number of unnatural occurrences in the natural realm. From the thunder and lightning that accompany the witches' appearances to the terrible storms that rage on the night of Duncan's murder, these violations of the natural order reflect corruption in the moral and political orders.