Preview

Macbeth vs. Holden Caulfield

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
877 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Macbeth vs. Holden Caulfield
The longest journey, is the journey of self discovery. To discover ones self, a person must confront things they would rather not and be truthful to themselves. Both characters, Macbeth from William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, and Holden from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, embarked on a inward journey of self discovery.Through being emotionally unstable, having contradicting morals, and discovering who they truly are, it is evident that though two different outcomes, they both had a journey of self discovery.

Unlike Holden, Macbeth was very emotionally stable at the beginning. He was respected, a devoted husband and a loyal subject to his king. Despite the fact he was so stable at the beginning, Macbeth quickly lost control of his emotions when the three witches confronted him with the three prophecies, which ultimately let the emotions of greed and guilt come over him from the immoral actions he committed

In comparison, Holden's emotional stability was very flaky during the beginning of the novel, but gradually improved during his journey. Holden was very depressed because of the loneliness and isolation he felt, which was ultimately is own fault. From his journey, he slowly started to gain control of his emotions and accepted the truth of his mental illness. He transformed himself completely, and ultimately gained control of himself by finally reaching out for professional help. Holden went from being very angry and upset to accepting his faults and changing his life around.
Holden and Macbeth both had morals, but where Holden's stayed genuine and true, Macbeth's fell apart. At the beginning, Macbeth was repulsed by the thought of killing the King, but by the end, he was murdering everyone his way. It was LM who first triggered Macbeth's moral down fall, but Macbeth was the one to completely diregard them. Macbeth had control of his morals but ultimately chose to go against them to get what he wanted, power. His disregard is clear when

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Holden Caulfield, age 17, was brought to me, Dr. Joseph M. Guerrieri M.D. at Sutter Center for Psychiatry, by his parents as a result of his recent behaviors. Holden is a 6‘2” tall and healthy young man. In multiple therapy sessions he has brought up his family and friends. One family member in particular that was brought up was his younger brother, Allie, who passed away of leukemia when Holden was 13 years old. (Salinger 49) Allie’s death seems to be the root of Holden's behaviors. Since the death of his younger brother, Holden has not been able to cope with the loss and can not find happiness. This is why I believe Holden Caulfield is suffering from Clinical Depression. Clinical Depression is initiated by a sudden lose or major change in one's life. (Depression Center | Symptoms & Treatment 2017) This sudden change was undoubtedly brought upon because of the loss of his younger brother.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were recurring patterns Holden unconsciously fell into that contributed to his depression and then there were events that halted these depressions. The events that contributed to his depression were that he judged people, he judged himself and he did not take care of himself. Of course there were events that halted the depression such as the act of love shown by his sister Phoebe. Love is perceived as forgiveness, peace, living in the moment and happiness. His sister is the only person in the book who shows these characteristics. As for Holden he never doesn’t experience love at all, he is always depressed and is never really happy in the book. Except when he is with his sister, he feels happy and is in the moment.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden shows symptoms of an incoming emotional/ psychological breakdown from thoughts of suicide and death. For instance, when Holden was alone in a hotel lobby, he felt “Depressed and all. [He] almost wished [he] was dead” (90). Holden is a very sad and gloomy teenager. Many passages throughout the book prove that he constantly feels that way. Because he is so depressed, he has suicidal thoughts which are common symptoms of an incoming emotional/ psychological breakdown.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Constantly alternating between conflicting feelings of superiority and inferiority, Holden Caulfield’s unachievable dreams, delusional fantasies of grandeur, and erratic behaviour all lead to his slow decomposition over the course of the novel. Thus it is clear that his wide array of character flaws, including his cynical, depressive, and often unreasonable attitude and thoughts are rooted in some underlying emotional and mental health issues. Holden takes on a journey that transforms him from a dreamy romanticising idealist to a…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Macbeth vs. LOTF

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.” This powerful quote by Baltasar Gracian elaborates on the fact that evil acts as an external force, when one evil deed is committed more powerful evils will come to follow. The most compelling examples of evil being created through external forces are present in the books Macbeth (Shakespeare), and Lord of The Flies (William Golding). Throughout these two books, innocent men begin to develop into thoughtless killers, not only is it their own choices; but rather the circumstances around them causing evil to be developed. Although the first spilling of blood uncovers a new found motivation to shed more and more. These unique books contain crucial similarities in character development, plot elements, the blood motifs that display evil acting as an external force to cause the desire to kill.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Holden vainly seeks for innocence in society only developing anger and depression as a result. Holden acts disturbingly at the thought of Jane, his childhood friend, having a casual encounter with his room…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In recent discussion of Macbeth, gaining power seems to be the focal point. Macbeth outrageously does anything in his power to achieve what he wants, and his ambition takes over his life and also Lady Macbeth life just so he can become king. Throughout the novel and both movies by Rupert Goold, and Geoffrey Wright it seemed as if being Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor wasn’t enough at all for Macbeth. However, this is shown is both movies how Macbeth's actions came back to haunt him during the banquet scene.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    That trend point to depression and a little bit of craziness, especially at the end of the book when Holden is talking to a psychoanalyst. “A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here…”(Salinger 213). By the end of the book, Holden seems to be more appreciative of the world. “If you do, you start missing everybody”(Salinger 114). This shows that, by the end, Holden is compassionate about everyone he has met and that he misses them, even…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He repeats this several moments later," Boy, he could really be aggravating sometimes" (25). Holden appears to be affected by severe depression as well. Holden laments," I felt so lonesome... I almost wished I was dead" (48). He also states," [Ackley] always brought out the old sadist in me" (22). We can assume that Holden has been referring to himself as a sadist for a long period of time, which raises a red flag. I recognize that Holden's symptoms only appeared after the death of Allie. He describes the museum that he went to when he was young, before Allie's death," I loved that damn museum" (121). However, after the death of Allie and while Holden visits the museum, all of a sudden, Holden just "didn't feel much like going" (122). Now that we realize that Holden is grieving, we can take measures to help him. His past definitely hurts, but in order for him to move on to a better future, we must help him recognize his own symptoms and heal from such a hurtful…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is emotionally unstable throughout the entire book. He needs someone who can show him that people do care and can help him; someone that can make him change his mind about everyone being phony. He needs to be taught how to interact with people properly. Holden needs to change his mentality and his view point in life. Holden needs attention and does not want to grow up.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth vs Beowulf

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Beowulf, identified as an epic hero and Macbeth, identified as a tragic hero both are very similar and different in their own ways. The epic poem, Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney and the tragic play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare both have heroes as the protagonist of the story. The stories written in two different time periods, still can be seen with many similarities and differences. A tragic hero is of high ranking and unfortunately has a flaw that they possess which brings them to their tragic downfall and soon accepts the consequences that are to come. An epic hero is larger than life and is known to be noble and brave. Beowulf and Macbeth both possess traits of overconfidence through their actions but what is lacking between them is that Macbeth is ambitious whereas Beowulf is full of courage.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Firstly Macbeth is portrayed as a brutal, brave but loyal character before he has even come onto the stage. At the start of the book we first come across the witches. Although this particular scene has no direct affect on the way Macbeth acts through the book it does give us some foreshadowing into what might happen. The main line in this opening scene is "fair is foul, and foul is fair." At the very start this does not have very much meaning but when looked at this line is predicting that whatever a person might seem on the outside the inside may be very different. When Macbeth does meet the witches he comes across as being an innocent character as he is puzzled at what the witches feed to him. However as the play goes on Macbeth noticeably repeats what the witches say about him becoming Thane of Cawdor and king. It is obvious that he likes the idea but he does not understand how it would be possible without Duncan dead. The witches make him come across as being mad and change his opinion to god and to any decencies he has.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    About 100,000 people in the UK die each year due to smoking. Smoking-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the major types of fears in Shakespeare's Macbeth was based on morals. Throughout this tragedy, Macbeth, the main character, is in conflict with his knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, his personal battle deals with his emotions. By doing many evil deeds, Macbeth compromised his morals to become king. Macbeth's fear on his moral is shown when the conflict on whether he should kill King Duncan was arousing inside of him. Macbeth's doubt in killing King Duncan is decided for him when he sees the bloody dagger in front of him.…

    • 1274 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare is one of Shakespeare’s most powerful and emotionally intense plays. Shakespeare created several interesting characters, and Macbeth and Macduff are two of those characters. Though Macbeth and Macduff seem very different, they actually have several things in common. Macbeth is very power hungry to where Macduff is as well, but isn’t a heathen about it and puts the people of his sovereign first.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics