Macbeth - Shakespeare, beginning of the 17th century.

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believe Edgar plans to kill him to inherit Gloucester’s wealth and lands. Edmund betrayed Edgar in doing that but he does not care, since all he wants is power; he believed that legitimacy and birth order should not determine inheritance and allocation of love. At the beginning of the play, Gloucester makes fun of him (“Sir, this young… fault?”, 141), but it seems like Edmund is trying to gain his paternal love by tricking him. Eventually, Gloucester being deceived, banishes Edgar. There are several interesting passages where Gloucester thinks he can see, but in fact he can’t. As an example, when Edmund brings him a letter (page 154), he says: “Let’s see…spectacles”. It is ironic because at this point, even if he relied on his eyes to see, he had been tricked, so he does not really perceive and understand what is going on. In his case, glasses would not have been useful since nothing would have changed. Also, after that he talks about eclipses (“These late eclipses…us”, 157), which is an imagery of darkness, and, of course, it is difficult to see when there is no light. But, even with light, it would not be any better. We can notice it when he took a torch (page 213) to better see, and indeed he fails at recognizing his own son, Edgar. He also fails at recognizing another person he knows, Kent. Then, when Cornwall gouged out his eyes, Gloucester’s vision ironically becomes clearer. He realized he was blind; now, he knows something changed in him. He said: “I have no way, and therefore want no eyes. I stumbled when I saw” (226). In this passage, he says he has no need for eyes, because when he had them, he could not see clearly. He realizes that when he had eyes, he was confident that he could see, but in reality, he could not see until his eyes were extorted. He finally recognizes that he wronged Edgar the good son. He thus sees with his mind instead of his eyes. As Lear, he is now a kinder man, he is more concerned about his entourage and he believes wealth should be equally distributed (“So distribution should…enough”, 228). Therein, Gloucester develops an inner eye in his difficulties. Likewise, he learned that vision is not based on physical sight, but it is the sum of mind, heart, and emotions. (more examples)

To sum up, ingratitude and authority are important themes in King Lear. But above and beyond this, vision is a central attribute portrayed by the main characters of the two plots. Both were unable to see beyond the world of appearance, they were too credulous, and they used to believe everything on the surface of the external world. While Lear shows a lack of vision, Gloucester learns that clear vision does not emanate from the eye. Throughout the play, Shakespeare tries to demonstrate that the world cannot truly be seen with the eyes, but with the heart and insight. The physical world that the eye can detect can hide its evils, and thus clear vision cannot result from the eye alone. Lear’s downfall was a result of his failure to understand that language and appearance does not always represent reality. Shakespeare used several images of blindness to unify the play. With this tragedy, he displays that unfortunately, we need dramatic changes in order to change, and thus a human being often has to go through suffering to learn and to understand the meaning of experience.

Conventions of the Greeks Chorus vs. expository notes:

Miller’s expository notes function like the Chorus in Greek tragedy. The Chorus in “Agamemnon”, which represents the elder citizen of Argos who cannot go to war (“And we… warrior away”, 15), contextualizes what happened at war. As an example, “And than the elder… was manned” (55), “Ten long years… sceptered sway” (50) tells the reader that Agamemnon was the leader of the Trojan War that lasted 10 years. In “The Crucible”, Miller’s expository notes explain the historical background. For example,\they tell us about the reasons why the Puritans came to the United States (“Their father… persecuted in England” (15), and also about what happened to Jamestown (“The Englishmen… destroyed them”, 15) (“Massachusetts tried… devoted leadership”, 15). In” Agamemnon”, we are able to see the population’s disagreement concerning going to war just to take back a woman, “Slain for a woman’s… wife shame!” (65). Also, the Chorus expresses its opinion that Agamemnon is too famous when he says, “O’er him… woe condign” (66), and also too rich “The Archive… sign to Time” (70). Indeed, they sometimes function as a background of public opinion. In “The Crucible”, the expository notes express the society’s opinion towards the different characters of the play. John Proctor “was the… calumny therefore” (27), Thomas Putnam “was a man… appears justified” (22) and Rebecca Nurse “Rebecca was… have respect” (31).

Finally, the author is able to make clearer the significance of the action. Aeschylus used the legend of the family of Atreus to examine different aspect of the theme that man shall learn through suffering. This play deals with the related doctrine that wisdom can be learned by suffering and also by experience. Moreover, it is about justice since one crime will inevitably lead to another if the criminal is not punished. The only way it can be stopped is with a legal system because authority is the foundation of civilization. The Chorus in Agamemnon clearly states the theme of the play when it says that “Man shall learn… affliction schooled” (55), and that “But blood of man… back again” (87). Given that “The Crucible” is about how power is sustained and maintained because of its seductive nature, the reason why they set up a theocracy is a good representation of the theme of the play, “for good purpose… individual freedom” (16), since it was to keep control and stability in the society. The power was between the hand of the minister and the Church; there was no separation between the Church and the State. They were the only one who can judge the innocence of a person (“Normally the actions… deal with”, 39). Proctor believed he had individual freedom and he was not comfortable in judging others, however he was fine in judging himself (“I speak my… no tongue for it”, 123). He should have learnt to distinguish guilt from responsibility. The minister expected from him to respect the principles and his refusal caused his lost since he did not conformed to it.

To conclude, the expository notes in “The Crucible” and the Chorus in “Agamemnon” acted similarly; they both comment the action, give public opinion and emphasize the themes vehicle by the