Macbeth

In March of 2015, my English class was assigned to read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This play is about an Schottish knight that is told by three witches (aka. The Weird sisters) that he is going to become king of Scotland, so he (Macbeth) kills the king in order to crown himself and also kills many other people in order to keep himself in the throne (It is Shakespeare’s bloodiest play. You just open the book, and blood will come out like in the scene of the blood elevator scene of The Shining). I found a repeating pattern (aka. motif) about blood . According to an English teacher in Med High, the word “blood” is repeated more than 100 times thruought the play. So I dipped in this ocean of blood and gore to find quotes about this motif to see what it means (I need to test myself for AIDS).

In Act III, scene IV, lines 122 to 126, Macbeth says “I will have blood, they say; blood will have blood. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs and understood relations have by maggot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth the secret’ st man of blood.” To understand this quote we need to have in mind what happened in the play. After killing the king, Macbeth orders to some murderers to kill  Banquo, Macbeth’s closest firend, and his son, Fleance, because he fears that Banquo will kill him first in order to put Fleance in the throne. The murderers kill Banquo, but Fleance  escapes, and the murderers inform Macbeth that Fleance has escaped. In the quote of above, Macbeth fears that Banquo’s death will be revenged by some kind of karma in which Macbeth will be murdered, and when that happens, all the nasty, bloody, and despicable deeds that Macbeth has done in order to get where he is now will be exposed. In this phrase, mainly, the word “blood” is used to mean death by violent means (such murder).

Another example is in the same act, and in the same scene, but in lines 135 to 140. Macbeth says “For mine own good, all causes shall give way. I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er. Strange things I have in head , that will to hand, which must be acted ere they may be scanned.” In this quote,  besides that Macbeth is saying explicitly that he has issues (“Strange things I have in head…”), Macbeth realizes that he has already done so many nasty things, but he can’t stop, because if he does, he will lose everything. Therefore he has to continue and he must protect himself by doing whatever he has to do in order to remain in the power. Like in the  first phrase, “blood” is used to refer to violent deaths.

In conclusion, the motif of blood is used to refer of the murders that happened, are happening, and are going to happen; all of them caused by Macbeth’s ambition for the throne. This motif indicates us that Macbeth is about murderes, treason, and bad stuff, but also it makes to ask to the audience “How far is a person willing to go because of ambition?”.

This is how the stage ends by the end of Macbeth.

The epic essay about the alchemist

Note: I was assigned to write about this for my English Class, but I would like to share it.

“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is a book about a shepherd named Santiago, who has a dream about that he has to look for a treasure at the pyramids in Egypt, which at the end, turns out that the treasure was not on Egypt, but in his native Spain. Among all the important quotes that this book said, the following catched my attention: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. This phrase has a meaning to me for the background that represents to me.

This phrase was mentioned in the book “The Alchemist” by Melchizedek, King of Salem, when he talks to Santiago (although it repeats many time throughout the book) in Tarifa. In this scene, the king and Santiago are discussing about the soul of the world and about the personal legend of each person. When this quote is repeated throughout the book, there is a pattern that is repeated whenever a personal legend of someone else is discussed or when something bad happens to Santiago. This pattern defined gives meaning to the quote which also could be reworded as “You can do anything you want, if you really want to”.

I choose this quote because of the historical meaning that it has to me (this is probably the most common favorite quote). My parents read “The Alchemist” and on the opposite way of me, they really like the book. My parents therefore encouraged me since I was in Elementary to know what to do when I grew up regardless of how much I would get pay, but for some reason, Middle School mess it up (as many things in my life) and they betrayed these ideals and they were always bugging me with “Hey, you should be a nurse” “Nurses are so rich” “If you are responsible, you should be a nurse” “Your aunt is a nurse and she has a condo in South Padre Island” “You will date many girls on nursing” (they actually said this), etc. But I wanted nursing as far as possible from me, back then my favorite class was history because it was the class in which I knew the most and I really felt passionate about it. So they were bugging me with other kind of statesmen such “Historians are homeless” “How are you going to pay you bills with that degree?” and “Why are so afraid and don’t follow you dreams?”. The last one, really pissed me off because they absolutely had no idea about what my dreams really were. One day, I finally gave up and agreed at last to study nursing in college, after all they make good money. But I was not happy with this decision, because I have always believed that all people have the freedom to explore their options, and the freedom to choose which one is the best for each person (and in the book this what the Personal Legend is about). Therefore they have been betraying their own ideals that were established long time ago, which for me is one of the worst things a person can do. Therefore, I talked to my parents and I reminded them of this forgotten quote, and they finally let me study History. For me the universe conspired for me when it allowed me to go to med high, to go to a good college in the US, where this “Personal Legend” can be achieved. When I ask myself “What if I had stayed in Mexico?” I realize that things would not be better, but worse instead, because I would go to a regular mexican high school (which are no good at all) with students bribing teachers, bullies and drugs.

Then after High School, I would go to some university to study something about health, then I would live with my parents probably until they die, and I would be a poor, sour, old man wondering about the other hypothetical scenario, ranting, and remembering on those emotions that I felt by those history books that I read during middle school.

In conclusion of all discussed above, this quote is my favorite because it does not only represents an epic achievement of mine, but also it represents the freedom to dream, and to work towards the dreams. This quote has defined on how I am going to act from now on, which is to focus towards my Personal Legend, to compromise with myself to not to finish the day without me doing something that will lead me to the personal legend, and to have the courage to fight our way to this personal legend, and do not let anyone, not even loved ones to get on this way.