Essay Questions
Section A, Extract i Lady Macbeth begins this excerpt with expressing the futility of
jealousy and anger as a means to an end. Though their task is complete
and they have destroyed what they set out to destroy, it is only a job
half completed since it’s simply begun a vicious cycle. After there is
one gain, there is always the possibility of another, and another. Power
has proven to be a strong motivator but it simply creates the need for
more. In expressing her doubts through speaking to herself rather than
another character, Shakespeare illustrates perfectly the very private
conflict of conscience and guilt. She will never be able to erase the
memory of her guilt and knows that she's created a kind of personal hell
for herself, even as she thought she was achieving her dreams, “'Tis
safer to be that which we destroy,/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful
joy.” She will constantly be aware of the possibility of discovery, the
realization among her peers of what she has done. It seems she fears
discovery and the taint of her deed far more than the moral and
spiritual consequences but in these lines we can see a kind of wish for
redemption.
When Macbeth enters, she knows that he too has not shaken the deed from his mind. Having been alone and brooding, she assumes that he too has been wracked with the inner dialogue of conscience. However, she comforts him telling him that “what's done is done” and that the continued dwelling on such thoughts is a kind of wasted effort. A moment before, she'd been mentally beating herself up but when confronted with his own dangerous brooding, Lady Macbeth puts her anxieties aside to sedate Macbeth's. Macbeth's reply to her is telling of the cycle, the lady had previously made note of, because Macbeth sees their end as having become a beginning. By using the image of the snake, Macbeth implies the sly power and rejuvenating qualities of the snake. What they'd hoped to defeat, they had only delayed. There was no really victory for either of them; they still live in fear of retribution and discovery. In such acts of deceit, no one truly wins. Their greed and want of power led them to a fatal mistake, now haunted with their own guilt they cannot enjoy their victory. Nights of “terrible dreams” and an inability to live their lives in fear is the reward they have won.
Section B, Extract ii
The imagery in the poem “The Road Not Taken” is one of the most important stylistic features of the piece. By creating a physical image that represented the ideal of nonconformity so well, Frost is making the achievement of it a concrete goal and not simply a matter of philosophy. It’s also a very solitary portrayal of the issue, showing how nonconformity is a personal journey; rebelling as part of a group is simply just another representation of conformity. The scenery of the woods on a fall day isn’t a dark image of the woods but mellow image with the concept of “yellow” implying a kind of comfort and simplicity.
He uses the same subtle imagery to describe the similar though very different paths that he chose between on that day. Both roads are equally appealing; the one road, though overgrown in some areas, was obviously used more, as the grass had been beaten away in some spots though he notes, “as for that the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same.” However, since the other path seemed less traveled, he made the choice to take that road. I think it’s important to note that all and all, the descriptions of the roads are very similar. In fact, Frost takes pains to show that they are really not so dissimilar, “both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black.” The difference is then not so much based in the appearance of things but the power of impulse and human intuition. The speaker in the poem knows that this decision is not one he will likely be able to make again, “Yet knowing how way leads to way, / I doubted I should ever come back.” He knows that the choices we make in life are often one minute opportunities that can very rarely be relived.
At the end of the poem, we realize that the speaker is now an old man who “somewhere ages and ages hence” had made a fateful choice in the woods that day. Though in the first part he seems to stress the only small variations in the appearance of the two roads, he shows in the last stanza the personal importance of the realization of his choice. The final lines are more purposeful than the first three stanzas, which almost seems a departure from the beginning sentiments. While the strength of the final two lines certainly strengthens the basic message of the benefits of nonconformity, it’s almost too forceful. From the imagery laden first section of the poem to the morally driven final stanza, I think the poem loses some of its power. The two roads imagery is a wonderful conceptualization of the choices in life, the one road more common and the other “less traveled” but the subtly of the differences in the first portion is overpowered by that latter forcefulness.
When Macbeth enters, she knows that he too has not shaken the deed from his mind. Having been alone and brooding, she assumes that he too has been wracked with the inner dialogue of conscience. However, she comforts him telling him that “what's done is done” and that the continued dwelling on such thoughts is a kind of wasted effort. A moment before, she'd been mentally beating herself up but when confronted with his own dangerous brooding, Lady Macbeth puts her anxieties aside to sedate Macbeth's. Macbeth's reply to her is telling of the cycle, the lady had previously made note of, because Macbeth sees their end as having become a beginning. By using the image of the snake, Macbeth implies the sly power and rejuvenating qualities of the snake. What they'd hoped to defeat, they had only delayed. There was no really victory for either of them; they still live in fear of retribution and discovery. In such acts of deceit, no one truly wins. Their greed and want of power led them to a fatal mistake, now haunted with their own guilt they cannot enjoy their victory. Nights of “terrible dreams” and an inability to live their lives in fear is the reward they have won.
Section B, Extract ii
The imagery in the poem “The Road Not Taken” is one of the most important stylistic features of the piece. By creating a physical image that represented the ideal of nonconformity so well, Frost is making the achievement of it a concrete goal and not simply a matter of philosophy. It’s also a very solitary portrayal of the issue, showing how nonconformity is a personal journey; rebelling as part of a group is simply just another representation of conformity. The scenery of the woods on a fall day isn’t a dark image of the woods but mellow image with the concept of “yellow” implying a kind of comfort and simplicity.
He uses the same subtle imagery to describe the similar though very different paths that he chose between on that day. Both roads are equally appealing; the one road, though overgrown in some areas, was obviously used more, as the grass had been beaten away in some spots though he notes, “as for that the passing there/ Had worn them really about the same.” However, since the other path seemed less traveled, he made the choice to take that road. I think it’s important to note that all and all, the descriptions of the roads are very similar. In fact, Frost takes pains to show that they are really not so dissimilar, “both that morning equally lay/ In leaves no step had trodden black.” The difference is then not so much based in the appearance of things but the power of impulse and human intuition. The speaker in the poem knows that this decision is not one he will likely be able to make again, “Yet knowing how way leads to way, / I doubted I should ever come back.” He knows that the choices we make in life are often one minute opportunities that can very rarely be relived.
At the end of the poem, we realize that the speaker is now an old man who “somewhere ages and ages hence” had made a fateful choice in the woods that day. Though in the first part he seems to stress the only small variations in the appearance of the two roads, he shows in the last stanza the personal importance of the realization of his choice. The final lines are more purposeful than the first three stanzas, which almost seems a departure from the beginning sentiments. While the strength of the final two lines certainly strengthens the basic message of the benefits of nonconformity, it’s almost too forceful. From the imagery laden first section of the poem to the morally driven final stanza, I think the poem loses some of its power. The two roads imagery is a wonderful conceptualization of the choices in life, the one road more common and the other “less traveled” but the subtly of the differences in the first portion is overpowered by that latter forcefulness.
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