How is Macbeth like Charlie Sheen?

When reading any book of Shakespeare students often think why am reading this? Or rather how does this relate to ANYTHING modern? Well that answer is not easy but I will try and tell you... You see Shakespeare was a clever man when he wrote books he didn’t just write them for audiences in his time period but rather he made sure that all of his characters reflect real HUMAN ideas and react like humans would regardless of the time period! Thus When I read Shakespeare instead of wishing I had anything else in my hands I try and compare them to things that have relevance and so should you...



So Charlie Sheen?

Yes for the sake of this blog the hero in Shakespeare great play Macbeth (Macbeth :) Shall be compared to Carlos Irwin Estévez better known to us as Charlie Sheen! Now before we begin comparing Mr. Sheen to Macbeth lets find out what Macbeth represents/ is... Macbeth is a thane whose ambition to be king leads to his downfall. Despite being promoted by king Duncan Macbeth desires to be king simply because it was prophesied to him by three weird sisters. This drives him to murder the king Duncan and steal the crown! However after killing the crown he is forced to kill more and more people and goes from being a king to a tyrant! All this time he is slowly losing his sanity as the guilt of committing murder consumes him. Now let’s look at Charlie sheen: Charlie sheen was a star in the hit series "Two and a Half Men". However, despite all of this he began to make some poor life choices; the usage and consumption of illegal drugs and other substances and "biting the hands that feed him! As a result of this he was then told he could not attend any ore shootings. He then demanded a "raise" of 50 percent (keep in mind at this time he was the highest paid actor 1.25 million per episode) He was then replaced by another actor. In the end he is perhaps most noted for a series of famed "meltdowns" in which he spewed hate and essentially went mad on camera!



Notice any similarities?

At their core both Charlie sheen and Macbeth are men who despite having "all they could ask for" still desired more as a result of their ambition! They are both men who "bit the hand that fed them" and then proceeded to suffer! They are men who whilst admired by many fell from grace...men with fatal flaws that lead to their eventual "demise"! Well if you didn’t understand my comparison find another book :) but for the rest of you I hope that this helped you see how powerful and meaningful Shakespeare writing is... Then and now!