Fincher's Macbeth Versus The Social Network

About four hundred years have passed since William Shakespeare composed his last play. However his writing, plots and characters are as alive today as they were when the plays were initially produced throughout the late sixteenth and mid seventeenth centuries. Despite the fact that Shakespearian plays are over centuries old, the themes and morals portrayed are still relevant in our society, as they are used in media today, betrayal being the main focus of this essay. In life all relationships are formed on the basis of trust, making it the foundation for all friendships and partnerships. Although it may be one of the most basic instincts we may possess as human beings, we still manage to trust the wrong people, or get taken advantage of by others, which usually results in physical or emotional pain, sadness, anger, and ultimately betrayal. Many similarities can be drawn between Macbeth, a play written by Shakespeare in 1606, and The Social Network (2003), directed by David Fincher. Macbeth is a tragedy about a loyal and once trusted noble of Scotland who, after some influence, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king, which involves gaining trust in some, and deceiving others. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the wrath of external forces, along with his internal struggles that lead him to his ultimate fate. The Social Network gives an insight on the formation and revolution of communication, Facebook

 In this quote she is saying that she should deny her weakness, do whatever man does and become evil. She thinks that she is manful and strong, but actually she is not. She becomes

He's here in double trust: first as I his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself (39)...We will proceed no further in this business"(41). Yet, Macbeth's desire to become king overrides his feelings for Duncan as he continues to do such evil. Macbeth believes that he can only fix his wrongs with more wrongs, therefore he was, in fact, acting on his own volition. "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill"(95).

     After Duncan’s murder, Macbeth realizes that the witches’ prophecy about him becoming king has come true, and he feels that it is his destiny to be the king of Scotland. Macbeth begins to believe in everything the witches say. Macbeth, however, does not want to risk giving up his crown to the son of Banquo like the prophecy said. Thus, Macbeth hires three murderers to kill both Banquo and his son. He tells the hired murderers to "leave no rubs nor botches in the work . " (Act III: ii: 133). By having both men killed, no one will be in line to take the crown from Macbeth, and he will secure his position has king.

In the play, Macbeth was a man who had shown very little mercy to friends let alone his foes. After killing Duncan to become King, he had hired assassins to go and kill Banquo and his son so that he could secure his reign. Banquo was a close friend of Macbeth, they had gone to war together, lived together, fought together and without a second thought, Macbeth has put a death warrant on Banquo and his son’s head. Here Macbeth shows his newly developed uncompassionate character as he does not care about Banquo and their friendship. “ Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me that’ utterance.” Here we can see Macbeth speak about the prophecy and how he realises he let go of his morality but for “ Banquo’s seeds” Macbeth not only showed a lack of compassion towards his best friend but also to other characters such as

King Duncan was an honest king favored by many. His generosity is shown when he titles Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. King Duncan proclaims, “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth” (Shakespeare 8). King Duncan is munificent, but gave Macbeth this title because he cares for the people of Cawdor. He is a fair KingKing since he did this for the better of the people. Morality is proven in the play after King Duncan is rewarded for his great actions. After King Duncan’s death Macbeth states, “So clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taKing-off” (Shakespeare 20). King Duncan was virtuous and was rewarded by being honored and well respected by everyone including his murderer. He was very

MacBeth is influenced by his wife to kill Duncan, wasn’t so much of her influencing him it was more of her challenging his manhood. With him being king in a war he had to uphold his reputation for being “tough”, which means that he did not want the enemy to think of him and lesser of a man than he really was. If you can’t look up to someone who’s king, masculine, and a war hero who else are you supposed to look up to. In my view I think this was Macbeth’s softspot, he always wanted to seem like a competitor he always wanted to be the victor. MacBeth had a problem with leaving things alone he could have not been dethroned, had he just killed Dunkin, and Macduff. He killed Banquo because the people viewed him as a well respected and royal man, and in Macbeth’s eyes this was a potential threat that had to be dealt with.

Acts one, two, and three all provide proof that the nobles are loyal to Macbeth. In act 1, Macbeth has not done anything to break their trust or show signs of becoming a tyrant. The same is for act two. The king was killed by Macbeth yet everyone was convinced that the guards who were protecting the king’s chamber were at fault. This is shown by Lennox’s line in act two scene 3, lines 97-101. Because the guards were killed by Macbeth, they were unable to be questioned which still kept Macbeth’s hands clean so all of the nobles are still loyal to him and his newly acquired kingdom. Act three shows the same reaction from the nobles when Banquo is murdered. Although there is no evidence that clearly pins the murder on Macbeth, his strange actions may cause some suspicion when Macbeth claims he sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his chair in scene four of act 3. Ross, one of the nobles from Scotland, states that Macbeth is unwell and the rest of the company at the dinner also start to notice his strange actions. At this time Lady Macbeth associates his behavior to an illness of sorts and the nobles believe it and wish him health and wellness. Act four is the turning point of the play where the nobles are beginning to realize what is going on in the kingdom and they know something needs to change before Macbeth destroys the whole kingdom. Act four scene three is when Ross goes to Macduff to ask him to influence the citizens to become soldiers against the armies

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is titled the King of Scotland. Having Macbeth murder Duncan to become King makes it seem to Macbeth that he can control his own fate. This only makes it worse for Macbeth, because it is now engraved in his mind that murder can change fate. Now that Duncan is taken care of, it is Banquo that Macbeth is worried about, for Macbeth is convinced that Banquo knows too much because he was the only other person with him when the witches prophesized his fate. It’s not only Banquo that Macbeth wants to murder, he also wants to change the prophecy of Banquo’s descendants becoming Kings by murdering them as well, as he states “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!;/ Rather than so, come fate into the list,;/ And champion me to th’ utterance.” (III, I, 70-73). This line directly shows that Macbeth now thinks he is in control, and that he can challenge fate by murdering the sons of Banquo to change what the witch’s prophesized for the descendants of Banquo to become kings.

In real life, we should not judge people solely on their appearances. There are many people who appear to be trustworthy but in reality, are not. Appearance versus reality is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The theme focuses on characters who are deceived by what appears to be real, and on the tragic consequences that follow this error in judgment. These characters include, Duncan, who trusts Macbeth too much; Lady Macbeth, who tricks by the witches and herself; Macbeth trickes by other people in the play.

In the 17th Century, when Macbeth was written , loyalty was highly regarded and had great value. The gunpowder plot in 1605, against King James I, shocked everybody . Treason against your own country was regarded as one of the worst crimes a person can commit and this is why Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered. In the play “Macbeth”, Shakespeare makes the themes of loyalty and family very clear to the audience in the first few scenes in the play. There are many examples of characters that were loyal and trusted, but that turned their back on the people that trusted them. With this becoming the case, it becomes very hard for people to put faith in others as in an instant they could turn their back and try and act on what they truly believe in.

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

In real life, we should not judge people solely on their appearances. There are many people who appear to be trustworthy but in reality, are not. Appearance versus reality is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The theme focuses on characters who are deceived by what appears to be real, and on the tragic consequences that follow this error in judgment. These characters include, Duncan, who trusts Macbeth too much; Lady Macbeth, who tricks by the witches and herself; Macbeth trickes by other people in the play.

When I hear the word trust I think of friends. You have to have a lot of trust in your friends and they need to be able to trust you. I have a huge amount of trust in my best friend, I tell her everything. There are some people who say that you can trust them, but then it turns out that you can’t and they’ve told everyone your secret. I think that trust is confiding in a person or people that you know if you say, “don’t tell anyone,” they won’t tell anyone. For instance, in Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence kept Romeo and Juliet’s trust by not telling anyone about their marriage. I think that Romeo and Juliet trusted each other enough