“Macbeth” is a good example of Shakespeare’s tragedy dealing with immortal human problems of virtue and evil and establishment of justice. In this case “Macbeth” is also a good example of protest against tyranny and despotism.

Starting to read the play we imagine Macbeth as a positive character character analysis essay, a man of good will, courage, nobility and faithful attitude to his duties as a military man and as a personality. The royalty of Scotland admires his heroic struggle and greatly appreciates his participation in the battle that led to the victory. His responsible and selfless service to the King Duncan gives him glory, new title and social acknowledgement.

But as soon as the character himself is introduced we observe other traits. We understand that everything he does he does just for his own glory, for satisfaction of his pride and self-love. His victory in the battle resulted the thirst for further glory, power and admiration.

His met with witches can not be taken as something that happened in reality, but it looks more like his imagination and thoughts. Developed megalomania demanded more and more, and as a result his selfish dreams directed him on the way of crime and treason. During the whole story we still see how he fights with his thoughts and desires, but actually his soul was subordinated to his seek for power and despotism.

First he kills the king Duncan to become a monarch himself, killing also the king’s security, accusing them in the murder. Later he is trying to get read of all “enemies” or people who could somehow question the stability and safety of his reign. Macbeth becomes a slave of his cruelty, tyranny and ruthlessness. He could hardly bear the sufferings of his bloody deeds, he sees the spirits of persons he killed, but still having a choice to change his life, he hadn’t done one.

It seems that at the end of the play when Macbeth’s tyrannical character is brighter then ever before, he changes definition essay. His last meeting with witches completely consolidated his belief in unpunishment, because as they promised he could only be killed by one, who wasn’t born by a woman. The fight with Macduf opens his eyes on the reality and short end of his life, as Macduf appeared to be born after Caesarian operation made to his mother, and Macbeth denies his contact with witches and devil, but it’s too late. His cruelty and despotism resulted enough evil, to be stopped and he is killed.

At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is also shown as a respectful, noble woman and a beloved wife of Macbeth. She is subject of the king Duncan’s admiration like a good wife and hostess equal to her husband. But she was also an ambitious, sly and cold-minded woman. She was one, who immediately found the way for Macbeth to become a monarch: by killing Duncan. Moreover she was ready to kill the king by herself, if hadn’t looked like her sleeping Dad. She knew husband quite well, his self loved and pride nature, and she manipulated him by questioning his manhood and confidence. Even though that she looks as ruthless as Macbeth, we still see that she loved her husband, helped him to save people’s respect to him, by saying that his hysterical fear of Banquo’s spirit, was an illness. But the realization of their plan to get the state’s power tragically influenced both of them. Lady Macbeth lost her sleep and her health was drastically ruined by nightmares and constant fears. The royal physician couldn’t give any kind of help to her, because by his words he was one who cured physical problems, not mental. These sufferings of guilt resulted Lady Macbeth suicide.

The play shows that there no “get rich quick” schemes as well as there are no “get power quick” schemes. Ambitions and cruelty of both Macbeths cased nothing but misfortunes and mainly unhappiness to both of them, which ended as a tragedy.

Free Essay “The Lost Generation Gap”

The lost generation and its problems are still relevant since the modern society is in a way similar to the society of the lost generation. These similarities as well as differences can be traced in works of major writers who belong to the lost generation and who wrote about the lost generation. In fact, it is obvious that the lost generation faced similar ethical dilemmas as the present generation, it faced the problem of the social inequality, but, fortunately, the modern generation has never experienced what the lost generation had – the world war.

One of the most prominent writers of the lost generation is Earnest Hemingway. His “The Sun Also Rises” is a great story of the post war generation, or so called ‘the lost generation’. This topic was very close to the writer personal essay because he, in person, took part in those historical events and knew exactly all terrible consequences engendered by the World War I. Probably this personal experience explains that vivacity and reality of his characters among which we should put on the first place Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley.

It is impossible to understand these characters without retrospection to the whole generation of people of their age of that time. Their problems are not unique and concerning only them, their fate is alike and it is quite symbolic because it shows the devastation that reigned in the post-war world and in souls of so many people.

As for the relations existing between the main characters, their past defines their present, especially the war that caused a great damage to both Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley. But if Jake had a physical injury the problem of Brett is rather of a psychological character. On the one hand they have some common traits and on the other hand they can hardly be compared to each other. So, what do they have in common? Certainly, it is their past: Jake has a very serious wound that does not let him lead a normal life, and Brett lost her beloved, moreover, it was her first true love. That is why they are two people who are physically and mentally, or better to say, psychologically damaged. Even though Jake and Brett passed through the war the modern generation has never faced, their love and interpersonal relationships are similar to those of the modern society.

On the other hand, the experience of the main characters of Hemingway’s novel is incomparable to the experience of the modern generation. In fact, today, people do not have such a tragic experience, while the involvement of an individual in a military conflict is rather an exception than a norm for the modern society. In such a context, the modern generation can fully understand the lost generation and their feelings were probably different from the present epoch since they experienced the contrast between the life and death. Therefore, the lost generation suffered from a serious psychological trauma caused by the war as well as physical injuries as it was the case of Jake. In such a situation, their feelings were sharper and more profound since they had to cope with difficulties which the modern generation has never faced. In fact, the modern generation has got accustomed to the stable life where there are not so many threats to the life and health of people, while humanitarian catastrophes comparable to the world war do not occur at all.

The novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck has a tragic ending which raises a number of ethical issues buy essay online, which are relevant to the modern generation as well. In this respect, the question whether George did the right thing for Lennie or not remains unanswered. In fact, each reader can have his own view on this question, but, in all probability, George had good intentions while helping his friend to die. At this point, it is possible to speak about such issues as euthanasia which are very important today. Today, many people being terminally ill are willing to end their life, but they need the assistance of health care professionals. Such a situation is comparable to the situation of Lennie, but, unlike terminally ill people who can attempt to commit a suicide or use euthanasia because it is their own choice, Lennie did not have a choice whether to live or die, he rather had a choice of how to die and George took decision for Lennie and shot him. Obviously, George understood that the death is inevitable for Lennie, but he wanted to ease the last minutes of his friend’s life. Hence, he decided to shoot him dead and die in the matter of seconds, instead of being lynched by the outraged crowd that was likely to kill Lennie slowly and painfully. In such a context, motives of George’s act are obvious.

On the other hand, they cannot fully justify his act because he did not have the right to kill Lennie since it is a crime from legal as well as moral point of view. At the same time, it is important to understand the fact that Lennie has died for his dream, which raised in his mind due to George who made Lennie convinced that he would have a better life. In such a situation, George’s act can be justified from the moral point of view for he maintained Lennie’s dream until the end of his life and did not allow other people destroy the dream, which made the life of Lennie purposeful. At the same time, George understood that Lennie’s life and dream was ruined by the rape and George simply helped his friend to avoid further sufferings both moral and physical.

At the same time, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that the novel focuses on a very extreme situation when the main characters struggle for life and where death is an essential part of human life. In this respect, the modern generation is quite different from the lost generation because modern people do not actually need to choose how to die, they do not have to choose whether to live or not, but they simply live and basically they can enjoy the life because there are not threats in their environment. In contrast, the lost generation constantly experienced the necessity of such a choice and, what is more important, moral values were particularly important at the epoch. Today, moral values are absolutely devaluated but they have started to lose their value at the time when representatives of the lost generation lived. This is why the main characters of literary works written by the lost generation authors are so concerned about moral and ethical issues, while modern people are more concerned with consumerist values rather than moral and ethical ones.

The problem of social inequality and huge gaps between representatives of various social classes is one of the central problems of “Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald and this problem still persists and the modern generation is characterized by social disparity. In his work, the author depicts a variety of characters which represent different social classes. Each character is unique but it is difficult to find an ideal character in any of the social classes represented in the novel. Speaking about Tom, it is necessary to point out that he originates from a noble, upper-class family and he pretends to be a noble, aristocratic and idealistic representative of the upper-class, but, in actuality, he is absolutely opposite to the public image he attempts to create. In fact, Tom doesn’t have any purpose in the life and his social position allows him living purposelessly since he does not need to think of earning money, which he has enough. It seems as if he “would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game” (Fitzgerald, 6). Tom attempts to find receive positive emotions and he believe that he can buy everything with his money. In fact, being a representative of the upper-class he just enjoys the life. He is sure that money can give him everything he wants and such attitude to money overshadows his noble origin and makes him a pragmatic, materialist person seeking for personal benefits in relationships with other people whom he plays as puppets. Moreover, he proves to be immoral even in relationships with his own wife for he has a mistress Myrtle. But he does not really love even his mistress whom he demands a total obedience. Thus, she means nothing for him as well as his own wife. In fact, Tom is cynic, immoral man. For instance, he reveals his hypocrisy when he becomes furious when he guesses about close relations between Gatsby and Daisy but, at the same time, he does not do anything to help his wife when she kills Myrtle. In this situation, it would be more natural for a noble and idealist man who loves his wife to act as Gatsby does but Tom demonstrates his indifference to Daisy’s fate. Even though he does not love his wife, Tom uses his wealth as the mean to keep Daisy as his wife, as his toy.

In this respect, it should be said that Daisy turns to be a woman, which also represents the upper-class, but, in actuality, she is totally dependent on her husband. Moreover, it is even possible to estimate that she is enslaved by her social status and benefits this position brings to her. In fact, she cannot leave her husband and it is not only the evil wish of Tom to keep his wife as a toy, but it is also the irresistible desire of Daisy to enjoy the wealth and the high social status she can benefit from, being the wife of Tom. In such a way, she cannot resist to her mercantile desire to be a representative of the upper-class, to the extent that she is even ready to sacrifice her personal life and happiness for the sake of wealth and prosperity.

As for Myrtle, she views her love affairs with Tom as an excellent opportunity to enter a new, better world since she believe she can benefit from her relationships with Tom. In such a way, her desire to take a higher social position dominates over her personal feelings in relation to Tom. In other words, she rather views Tom rather as a tool to improve her social position and increase her social status than as a person whom she really loves. Obviously, their relationships have little in common with love of Gatsby to Daisy. It proves beyond a doubt that neither Tom, nor Myrtle, or Daisy are able to love without any material or social benefits for themselves in person and, therefore, they view love and their relationships as a kind of tools of maintenance of their social position or its improvement.

In stark contrast, Gatsby does not originate from a noble family. In fact, “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (Fitzgerald, 99). In such a way, Gatsby is a representative of the lower social class who has achieved everything in his life due to his hard work and internal strength book movie review. Nevertheless, he proves to be the only person in the novel who is not corrupted by his money and who preserved internal nobility and remained an irrevocable idealist. He even invented himself for “Jay Gatsby… sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God… So he invented …. Jay Gatsby… and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald, 99). To meet his actual position to his ideal, he works hard. In fact, everything he has in his life is his own gains, unlike Tom who actually does nothing but waste money which he takes for granted. In contrast, Gatsby earns for living through the hard work and his environment, his cars, clothes, mansion, everything are the result of his toil. This means that he is an honest, noble man who knows what it means to earn money, while Tom knows only how to waste them and, therefore, he is an egoist who takes everything he receives in his life for granted.

In fact, the huge social gaps and inequality revealed by Scott Fitzgerald persist till present days and modern generation is not different in this regard from the lost generation. To put it more precisely, the social inequality persists and a considerable part of the population is doomed to live in poverty, being in a disadvantageous position, being deprived of job and education opportunities. In contrast, the upper-class reminds representatives of the upper-class depicted by Fitzgerald since its representatives pay little attention to social problems and the social status is still the main purpose of life for the overwhelming majority of people.

Thus, it is obvious that problems which representatives of the lost generation faced are, to a significant extent, relevant to the present epoch and modern generation. This is why the two generations are similar. On the other hand, the war experience and constant threat to human life and humanistic values differentiated the lost generation from modern one, which do not face any serious threats. Remarkably, modern people pay little attention to moral values and degrade, while the lost generation has turned to moral values as a way to survival in face of humanitarian catastrophe, such as the world war.

Works Cited:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Random House, 2004.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Andrew Turnbull. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963.

Hemingway, E. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Penguin Classics, 2006.

Lee Brian, American Fiction 1865-1940 New York: Continuum Publishing, 1988.

Lehan, Richard D. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Craft of Fiction. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1966.

Steinbeck, J. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.

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