(11) Just Wondering

One more thing, * I told you that's not the last* :p

What might happen or written if Shakespeare live in our era?

Will the play and the words will still be hauntingly beautiful or will it be ruined like our language today?

And what might be the play is about? Might it still be about the greediness for power? Might be like that, as that kind of person is everywhere, at any decade, and in everyone's deep inside .

Just wondering.

Amir Suad Bin Asari

(10) Is This Final?

My entry number 10!

Yep, I'm 4 hours late, but thanks to Ms. Dzeelfa accept my permission for extension, hehee

Well what did Macbeth gave me?

Macbeth gave me a lot of things to talk about. Not only me, my friends too. Just look at Azami, never seen him posting or writing anything that long with his powerful use of english language, he really had lots of thing to share. So do I. Give this blog entries task to me at the earlier of the semester, i'm pretty sure I had nothing to talk about as I never understand it before. Now eventhough some of it looks like gibberish thought of mine, at least it is something to talk about, it is something that I had in mind and caught my attention. Many part of this Macbeth play had kept me thinking and at the same time had teach me a lot. It would be great if more people are introduced to this play.

Same as the play, Macbeth, which had its storyline, our learning of this play also has its own storyline. We started with zero. I started with zero, I first met this play is when I get here, but I first learn it is in this semester. Bad time I have at first, I was getting annoyed when asked to answer the excerpt for the first time, the old English. But then, things get clearer, I can start picturing the situation of the scene in my head, we make video of the chosen Acts in Macbeth, we have class discussion about this play Act by Act, and then we proceed with the second video project where this time we were given more freedom in interpreting it. All those task and activities for me, was clearly organized to make it easier for us in our journey in learning this genius play.

And most importantly, all my thanks to Ms. Dzeelfa for being patient with us, the problemous kids, in going through this 14 busy weeks. I admire your teaching and your patience in teaching us. You led us in a babystep towards finishing this play. If there are any other Shakespeare's play that we are going to learn, I'll be very happy to have you as our lecture again. As they said, "Cikgu dan Guru itu adalah dua perkara berbeza. Ms Dzeelfa adalah sang Guru" =)

This is the final entries assigned to us. But do this really have to be the final entry? I dont think so, as long as I still have any thoughts or confusion, I think this is the best place where I can put my piece of mind. So no, maybe this is not the final post. 

Just a million thanks again to Ms. Dzeelfa for the interesting learnings and tasks, to friends who have been sharing information and thoughts, and to myself to have some effort and courage to read the play. We'll see each other again next time.

Amir Suad Bin Asari

(9) "The Scottish Play" , "Macbee"

From my earlier post, I mentioned about my confusion about the remedy of the three witches' black magic,
well i said that i thought that the remedy really exist but with some additional by Shakespeare to make it sounds more devilish and beautifully rhymed at the same time,

Well, I try looking out about it on the internet, i dont found it until I open the Wikipedia for Macbeth, it is actually true! And the real story is even more horrific than I thought. This is what it is all about.*scary soundtrack*

Well, Shakespeare is said to use the spells of the real witches in the play according to Wikipedia, and this has caused anger to the witches, causing them to curse the play. And the aftermath? Many incidents and accidents happened during the play just because the name of the play ,Macbeth, involving actors and and crews. The seriousness level of this curse is that it even involved injury and deaths among them. Most of the accidents happened during the play. One of the most serious accidents related to the curse that happen is the Astor Place Riot which caused 25 deaths and 120 injured. It is told that this riot caused by a conflict over two performances of Macbeth, and it sure is related to the curse. You can take a look at that information of the riot in this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Place_Riot.

How do they face the curse? As they thought that saying the name of the play, Macbeth,will cause the accidents and deaths, they come with the idea to not use the name of the play in the theatre, instead of that, they use the name indirectly such as "Macbee" or "The Scottish Play". As for the name of the characters, they use the name "Mr. and Mrs. M" or "The Scottish King"

To dispell the curse, many superstitious ritual they had created. One of them is the one who uttered the name will have to leave the building the stage is in immediately, run around it three times, spit over their shoulder, and say an obscenity and then wait to be invited back to the building. Ridiculous isnt it? There are many more similar ritual to dispell the curse but all of them is quite ridiculous and superstitious.

Unbelieveable for me the level of the superstitious of their era, but I really do wonder whether the curse really works at that time? Again if it is a real spells of the real witches, high possibility the remedy for their 'cooking' might be the real one too. But what on earth is Dragon Scale?? hurm, maybe a Boa Snake as big as a dragon. Who knows right? At their era, it might be possible.

Amir Suad Bin Asari

(8)How Do I Read?

okey, at the earlier of my entry I said that I cannot understand reading this text because of the old English language Shakespeare used, so now i would like to share how do I read and understand it.

well I used e-notes where it provided me with the original text with the translation next to it,
this way, i can still read the original text and refer to the normal text whenever i cannot understand it,
I think it will kill the joy of reading this play if we fully ignored the original text and only depends on the translation as the old language , although hard to understand, is really beautiful if you have extra effort to study it a little deeper, or maybe you can say the way Shakespeare use the old language is very beautiful.

Although I use the e-notes, reading it sometimes is still quite tiring and hard to understand,
so I also refer to discussion sites on the internet for some of the difficult part of the play.
It is useful as you can also view other's opinion on the play, sometimes it's quite far away elaborated by the readers, but is still useful and give me many different views and perspective in understanding this play.

However, most of the easiest way I understand this play is in the lecture by Ms Dzeelfa.
Not just from the lecture, from the discussion from classes, I could understand more by listening to Ms. Dzeelfa and my friends opinion about any part or scene in the play. And I admire her story telling in the class, or when she explained something about the play or any other text, she had her own way in giving us her opinion. I do remember Dr. Jaya's class, and both of them, Dr.Jaya and Ms. Dzeelfa had their own way in lecturing us and making us understand.

That, is how I read Macbeth. "Reading is Understanding".

Amir Suad Bin Asari

(7)Ideas? Something he heard before? or Just to Make it Sounds Good?

That ingredient of the three witches,
It is ridiculous, crazy, and disgusting,
It fits the ingredients of the witches personality with their bad deeds,
But the line up of the ingredients, or how can i say it,
the way Shakespeare put it in order,
make it beautifully rhyme,
it is disgusting but it is beautifully rhymed,

And then i wonder,
Did Shakespeare make that list in that order just to make it sounds beautiful?
Well I do know that it is just a story he wrote,
but thinking that he is a very creative and genius writer,
did he just made up that list to make it beautiful?
did he not make any research about it?
maybe at his time, there are that kind of remedy by hardcore black magic shaman,
well in the end, I would like to conclude that there are that kind of remedy at his era,
but he added up some of them to make it more gruesome and wonderfully rhymed,
such as that dragon scale, how the hell they are gonna get a dragon scale right?
anyway, that's just something about this story that make me thinking..

Amir Suad Bin Asari

(11) Fin

I just can't stop. I wanna spill 1 more thing. I have never care who had become the next king after Macbeth. I keep on talking about Macbeast. To me, he is the spine of the tragedy in this play. He is like the epicenter for earthquakes. He is like HIV for AIDS. He is the fungus in my milk.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
With that I may sleep in peace!




AZAMI MOHAMED 154992

(10)Macbeast keeps on revolving

Azami Mohamed 154992

So this is it. The tenth post on our Macbeth play blogspot.  I would like to share what I have summarize on the Tragedy of Macbeth. No, I am not giving a summary as in the literary context. But I would like to mirror this play upon the world. From my humble point of view. So do please to withstand my gibberish for few minutes.

To me, The Tragedy of Macbeth is only a stage of human doings with Old English as the lingua franca. Macbeast and the other fellow characters are just the projection of the people in the past of Shakespeare's era and ahead of the time which is now and the future. The same old story keeps on repeating over and over and over again. Only two things are changed which are the characters and language. And not to forget, culture.

Why did I said as above? I heard and read people's opinion. Some of them say the people in the past were better than in our generation. They say, the past generation are more God fearing, they are more pious. But hell, how come the man of religion believe in black magic? What have went wrong when Macbeast went on 'berserk' in capturing his throne? So, modern people are better? Is genocide  and killing in the name of whatever you are believing is holier than Macbeast? I don't think so.

The Tragedy of Macbeth is only like a documentary of this world vicious cycle. How disgusting it was, is. It is all because of power, fame and wealth. Since the time of the Pharaoh people have oppressed and killed for power and wealth. Because when you have those two, fame will emerge.

It is never wrong to go to the top spot. Climb your way up. But what makes it wrong is when you start to step on  other's head to get to the top. Not only you stepped on one's head, you stomp upon his head so he'd just fall onto the rocky cliff.

I think, that is the main reason why the idea and message in Macbeth will never going to go obsolete. We can't deny what is in it because the vicious cycle is still revolving for hundred million of years.

As a conclusion, The Tragedy of Macbeth has opened my eyes in many ways. I have learnt new strategy to read this kind of literary work. Thanks to you, Ms.Dzeelfa. Secondly, I have learnt to give the world another angle of view. How things could happen. How tragedy could consume its victim violently. How people never change.

And yes, for this course, it was great. Thank you, again Ms. Dzeelfa for not giving up on us. This is really an eye opener for us. As an adult and future educator, we must not just complain on how bad our student is. But why don't we twist and bend our method a little bit. For the sake of knowledge and humanity. I'm sure you have never expected much trouble from me at the beginning. I'm sure you have done much alteration in your approach just to help such reluctant, no not reluctant, I would say stubborn learner like me. HAHA. Thank you again!

Alright, for the second time, as a conclusion, the journey was great! Okay now I am putting a period on my gibberish writing. See you again!

p/s: It would be great when Macbeth is no more relevant and went obsolete.