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! 

MACBETH THEN AND NOW

 

When watching Rupert Goold’s Macbeth starring Sir Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleet Wood I could not help but think of how the play must have been for those living in Shakespeare's time must have felt when watching the production... you see while many of the lines used in the film were true to their original form the scenes were completely redone in order to make the play "connect" to modern audiences in doing so it at times had to draw a great deal of inspiration from other popular movies in our time: saw, paranormal activity etc.. Perhaps however it drew the most of its influence from one of my favorite movies: Downfall. As I watched both the movies I found that while the dialogue and story were completely different the characters appearance was remarkably similar you see the costumes worn by the actors were almost identical! It really! Added to the atmosphere and theme of the movie!

In addition to the very realistic costumes and over all production value to the movie, the biggest selling point for me however was the special "horror" effects that occurred primarily during the scenes with the witches. While the whole movie had an air of dread, the most freighting scene for me however occurred in the first scene: where the witches plunged their hands into the messenger's heart and removed his heart. That scene simply set the tone for the remainder of the movie. At the end of the movie I pondered what the scenes would have to be like for the audience who watched the play during the Shakespeare's lifetime... I can only assume that in order to make the play seem scary they would instead of drawing on special effects (as we do now) Shakespeare's probably drew more from the people fear of the supernatural for instance take the scene in which the witches begin to talk and "revive" the bodies allowing them to speak, the part in which the witches were speaking were not as shocking as their actions: dancing, moving, spasm etc. However I can presume that in Shakespeare's time the words the witches said were probably much more impact-full then they are now to a modern audience. All in all I am very pleased with this production and I believe it is a faithful recreation of the original masterpiece...albeit with a twist so that it can appeal to a wider audience.

 

Andreas Vesalius

I  am the great Andreas Vesalius! I was born on the 31 December 1514, in Brussels. My parents were Anders Van Wesel and Isabel Crabbe. My great-grandfather, Grandfather, and father all worked in the fields of medicine. Thus at a young age my father persuaded me to continue the family tradition and enrolled me in the Brethren of the Common Life a collage for medicine in Brussels (here I could learn Greek and Latin as well).   In 1528 however I enrolled in the University of Leuven, hoping to take art classes.  However once my dad was appointed as the Valet de Chamber in 1532, I decided to pursue a career in medicine at the University of Paris,  where I had moved to in 1533. While studying the theories of Galen a famous Greek physician - at the university I became fascinated and quite frankly obsessed with Anatomy (the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other organisms, especially as revealed by dissection).  I spent many hours sitting in the cemetery of the innocents to examine bones. (Yes indeed i was short on friends to entertain me.) However sadly in 1536 because there was growing dissent between the Holy Roman Empire and France I returned to the university of Leuven. Merely a year later I graduated. After graduation I was offered the chair of Surgery and Anatomy at Padua. I accepted the position and during my time I was also guest lecturer at Boglogna and Pisa. While I was teaching I brought about a major "banging of heads” - you see before I arrived the topics had been taught primarily from reading classic texts, mainly Galen, followed by an animal dissection by a barber-surgeon whose work was directed by the lecturer. They didn’t bother to check to see if what Galen had said was right or not! But I changed all of that, as I believed that hands-on direct observation was considered the only reliable resource. I carried out dissection by myself with my students watching. 

 The "invention" in 1543 is when I really developed a name for myself I published the 7 volumes of De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the fabric of the human body). This was truly some ground breaking work, if I do say so myself...each book was devoted to a specific part of human anatomy. 

Book 1: Skeletal system

Book 2: Muscular system

Book 3: Vascular and circulatory systems

Book 4: Nervous system

Book 5: Abdominal organs

Book 6: Heart

Book 7: Miscellaneous/Brain 

My books were quite accurate and a break for what was said about the human body at the time, such a break that soon some people began to disagree with my work! However I am quite stern and I even went on to directly disapprove Galen by saying that the human lower jaw bone was comprised of only one bone (Galen had beloved it was 2) - we all know who's right now! Soon after my book was published I became an Imperial physician to the court of Emperor Charles V.  When I was leaving Venice they offered me a position at the expanding University in Pisa but I rejected it. When I was at the court I had to deal with other so called "physicians" constantly mocking me about my fantastic work! But nonetheless I slogged on and for the next 11 years of my life, I traveled with the court and treated injuries, conducting postmortems, etc. During this time I also wrote a book on plants called Radicis Chynae - unfortunately some did not take fondly and an inquisition was set up by Charles V. Fortunately I was found not guilty. (Yay Lucky Me!)  However people still did not like me and my works. One of my many "attackers" published an article that claimed that the human body itself had changed since I had studied it! How dare he! After Charles V’s death I continued to work with his son: Philip II, who rewarded me with a pension for life.  In 1564 however I went on a faithful pilgrimage to the holy land. While coming home my ship was rocked night and day by the rolling seas and soon it was wrecked on the island of Zakynthos. I died on the island at the age of 50. However fear not - I continue to live on today! You see my publication Humani Corporis Fabrica has become one of the foundations for the modern study of the human body. Doctors everywhere study my works, and hopefully unlike Galen before me nobody shall disprove me.


SOME WONDERFUL STUDENTS  HAVE EVEN TAKEN THE CARE TO MAKE TIMELINE OF MY AMAZING LIFE:

ANOTHER TIMELINE:

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-life-of-andreas-vesalius



CITATIONS:

http://dodd.cmcvellore.ac.in/hom/12%20-%20Vaselins.jpg
http://www.comptonhistory.com/images/vesalius04.jpg
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/exhibitions/Bodyimages/Vesalius9.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Vesalius

GOD WILL's IT? OR DOES HE?

“GOD WILLS IT” VS “WHO HAS CLAIM”

 You see in the first statement it would lead a man to believe that one must attack all those who oppose them and their should be no remorse nor regret simply because in the speakers mind they are fighting on the side of GOD thus they “have” to win.

The opposing statement is said by Balian, a knight in charge of defending the city of Jerusalem (hero of motion picture) with a much more clear mindset. Balian argues that it is possible for people to live together in peace despite their religious differences. The speaker would agree with me when I say that he is looking for world peace… not world war.

THE MOSQUE: An Islamic shrine in Jerusalem 

THE WALL: A high wall in Jerusalem where Jews pray and lament

THE SEPULCHER: A Christian church within the Old City of Jerusalem.

Despite history showing that humans simply war and fight over who has claim….

I agree with Balian. I think that humans in our natural state really do wish to live in peace and harmony. What place would be more harmonious that Jerusalem? An ancient city in which three major religions all consider holy! Balian argues that everyone has equal claim to the city. This is what I believe as well. In the same way you cannot say one god is more powerful than another you cannot say one sacred place is more holy than another.