Sunday, March 29, 2020

Macbeth As Influenced By Lady Macbeth Essays - Characters In Macbeth

Macbeth As Influenced By Lady Macbeth In Shakespeares tragedy, Macbeth, is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted by the witches prophecies and by Lady Macbeths and his own ambition. This is because of the weakness of Macbeths character and the strong power of Lady Macbeth as she is easily able to influence him. Her strength motivates him at the start but after he realizes what he has done it is himself that continues in his murderous, bloody path. At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth appears as a kind wife but underneath lies a scheming and treacherous woman. Both Macbeth and his wife go through many changes throughout the course of this play. They go from being honored, noble people to being reduced to nothing. They both have tragic flaws such as ambition and greed which bring them to their down fall. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a strong soldier who fights for the King without mercy but his strive for ambition and his curious nature leads him to the witches who greet him with a prophecy. Banquo realizes that there must be a trick hidden in the witches prophecies somewhere but Macbeth refuses to accept that, and when Lady Macbeth finds out about the witches her strong desire for ambition and her cold nature leads Macbeth astray. Lady Macbeths ambition far exceeds Macbeths and so she is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience at this stage because he is very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over comes him. He has a conscience throughout the entire play as this is seen by the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo. His vivid imagination and his constant worry also provokes him. This is also evident in his terrible dreams which gives the solid theme that he has indeed murdered sleep. Throughout the play we see the character of Macbeth change not from just the way he thinks and what we hear from the play, but from the actions he takes in the play. Killing Banquo, then having Lady Macduff and her children murdered, shows the insecurity that was present in Macbeth. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth becomes paranoid and his first step of killing the guards is one of many that he takes to secure himself. Macbeth is also very superstitious and this is shown when he believes the prophecy the witches told him about Banquos offspring becoming Kings. Towards the end of the play when Macbeths wife has died and the battle is drawing closer Macbeth shows some potential good. He wishes for a normal life in which he would have lived to an honorable age but he recognizes that he has ruined any chance of that. Even when Macbeth hears that the prophecy has come true of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, he rejects this idea and fights on until he realizes that Macduff wasnt born in a natural birth but instead was Untimely ripped from his mothers womb. When Macbeth hears of this he realizes what he has done and how he has been tricked by the witches. Although he has come to that realization, he continues to fight only to be slain in the end. Macbeth can be summarized as a character who is physically strong but he is mentally very weak and it is this weakness which causes his downfall and change. Other factors do however also contribute to this change such as his wife whose ambition is very strong at first and is much stronger mentally than Macbeth. It is also Macbeths ambition and his trust in the witches which ultimately change him. Lady Macbeth seems to be almost opposite compared to that of Macbeth in physical and mental power. Lady Macbeth is the person who is able to persuade Macbeth into killing Duncan, assuring Macbeth that it will succeed, as Lady Macbeths ambition is far greater than that of Macbeth. This change in the character of Lady Macbeth is apparent after she reads the letter from Macbeth. She talks to the evil spirits to make her cold hearted with lines

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Interview Self-Publishing Cookbooks

Interview Self-Publishing Cookbooks Self-Publishing Cookbooks: Interview with Marcy Goldman Last updated 07/06/2017â€Å"You have to have more passion than fear - or simply want to do it anyway - otherwise those two swear words ‘what if’ will stop you from even trying.†Although the self-publishing alternative becomes more valid and tempting every day, many traditionally-minded authors still fail to consider author publishers as their peers, and often disregard all independent publishing efforts as vanity publishing.Of course, more and more genre fiction authors are bridging the gap every day by becoming hybrids; but non-fiction genres such as cookbooks are still pretty much in the hands of traditional publishing, essentially due to the high production costs.In this thought-provoking interview, Marcy Goldman exposes her reasons for self-publishing her cookbooks and offers specific advice for cookbook authors. She shows that it can be done to the highest quality, and can become a truly liberating experience for an author.How to Self-Publish a Book: 7 Sim ple Steps to Success Read post Many successful indies recommend authors to â€Å"follow the steps of traditional publishing† when self-publishing. How important is having a good copyeditor for a cookbook? And a designer/formatter?It is absolutely crucial and there are more and more qualified, fair-priced skilled freelancers you can hire to assist you. You are also the creator and will be doing a ton of work to launch, market and distribute. It really pays to hire some production and editorial help. That said, even traditional cookbooks can be notably imperfect.The thing I like about many indie authors coming from a â€Å"mainstream† background is that they suddenly feel empowered to try new things. You’re now about to self-publish a book on tango, and have also published a poetry one, just because: â€Å"now, I can†. Do you think being liberated from traditional constraints is a good thing for indie writers?Yes, self-publishing is a good way of experimenting a bit without going too off course from your established platform, if you have one. It is still best to get consistent content out there and gain traction in the genre you’re known for or wish to establish yourself in. Second to that, just get your best content out there!Most authors necessarily plug away at what they’re known for or what they think will ‘sell’. They quickly learn not to pitch agents or traditional publishers with unproven ponies, so to speak. We all tend to try and fuse our passion writing what sells with what we also think ‘will sell’, but luckily, as a self-publisher, you don’t have to worry about that acquisitional ‘wall’. You can indulge more risky books on your bucket list and in so doing, energize yourself as well as find a whole new niche of readers, ultimately increasing your revenue.You can also see directly what the publishing process is like and learn more insights into how books get sold. So it’s not just about the writing, it’s about what production, distribution and marketing approaches might work better for you and your works. You’re free to explore all that.You write in your piece that: â€Å"There’s also a presumption (or fear) that without sufficient social media or a platform, books (even great ones) won’t get noticed†. Do you think that producing great content is enough? How big has the whole â€Å"discoverability† challenge been for you?Fortunately I have a platform, but no one, not even William Shakespeare, starts with a platform. This is an age-old question anyway, which was around way before the advent of self-publishing. All writers, aspiring authors think â€Å"If I do it, who will read it, who will buy it, who will find it?†This is not new. It is yet another version of a common sabotaging thought almost every creative person has at one time or another. You have to have more passion than fear - or simply want to do it anyway - o therwise those two swear words ‘what if’ will stop you from even trying.Do the doing, get it out there and then see what happens.How do you see the future of publishing? Do you feel like publishers have adapted to the new technologies, formats, and distribution channels?That is a tough question! I think some publishers have slowly adapted to the new technologies but traditional publishing is an old-school, slow-moving, methodical industry that is sluggish with pride and history. It does not easily turn on a dime. It’s possible that, given some self-publishing success stories, they might follow those trends and/or those authors to seek out new talent or see what readers respond to. Indie publishing is often a bit of ad hoc market research for them.They might also be inheriting a new breed of author coming from self-publishing and might have to appreciate that these authors are of a different ilk. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a realistic thing. Confid ent creators, versus grateful or humble ones (all talents being equal), might be awesome authors to deal with. You might see some landmark works come out of this new breed.Do you think that the self-publishing alternative is taken seriously by the traditional actors (publishers, agents) or still widely seen as vanity publishing?I think indie publishing isn’t taken as seriously as it might be, which is a pity if you look at some of the ‘unknown’ but wholly successful authors out there. Having said that, it’s not as disdained or dismissed as it used to be. It is becoming legitimized as we recognize that there are huge shifts going on. Nothing is ‘as it was’†¦Beyond that, I think all publishers (indie or traditional) recognize that eBooks do well, however they recognize that eBooks often sell for very little, and in small quantities, making it difficult for many authors to thrive. To that end, I suggest writing shorter books, before putting an opus out as an eBook or putting something out in print and see what happens. Experiment.Follow Marcy and Reedsy  on Twitter: @MarcyGoldman  and @ReedsyHQWould you agree that self-publishing is still widely disregarded as a  Ã¢â‚¬Å"lesser alternative† by many authors? If you have experience of both worlds, did you find self-publishing liberating? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!