Comparative essay

In literature, pivotal moments are often utilised in order to advance the plot and intrigue the
readers. This is especially clear in the works Medea, when she decides to murder her
children, and Macbeth, when he meets the witches for the first time. When reading the two
books, some similarities in structure, themes, techniques, and characters become apparent.
This essay will explore these similarities as well as the way they use pivotal moments
through three distinct aspects: how the protagonists change throughout the story, how their
psychological state is affected by the events of the works and how the two author manage to
captivate the audience.
In both works, the protagonists undergo significant changes in their character and beliefs,
and by the end they have transformed into a completely different version of themselves. In
the case of Macbeth, at the start of the play, he is presented as a virtuous and noble night,
who is loyal to his king and pure of heart. As the story unfolds, Macbeth’s mind, heart and
soul are slowly corrupted, as is seen through a multitude of literary techniques, such as the
metaphor ‘my mind is full of scorpions and the symbolism of blood which Macbeth can’t
seem to wash off. By the end, the audience witnesses the once perfect thane become an evil
tyrant, who has long lost his mind.
In Medea, the titular character exhibits a similar development. In the beginning, she is
presented as a feminist symbol and a victim to the society she is forced to live in. The
audience sympathisers and pities her, as she is just a woman who has been wronged and is
unable to act in order to change her life. When Medea develops and enacts her villains plan,
it slowly becomes clear that she is no longer powerless. Although, this pursuit of revenge
has stripped her of her innocence and humanity and turned her into hateful murderer. This
transformation is also evident through the chorus, which represents the ideal spectator, and
while it is seen as empathetic and understanding towards Medea in the beginning, as seen
in quotes like ‘her husband, for whom she had done so much, has proved ungrateful to her’,
starts to realise her true nature by the end, with quotes like ‘she has turned into a savage
beast, and we must stay away from her’. It is important to acknowledge that even though
both characters experienced a similar ‘metamorphosis’, Macbeth is unable to maintain his
sanity by the end whereas Medea is seen in an even better state than in the beginning.
This change in psychological state is the second key aspect of comparison between the two
plays. As previously mentioned, Macbeth’s progression through the story significantly affects
him, as it is clear that the events of the story have a great impact on his mind and
conscience. After the turning point of the play, his meeting with the witches, an evil plan
starts to form in his mind. From this point forward, he commits one cruel act after another,
with each action pushing him further into madness. After murdering his king and his best
friend, Macbeth is ridden with guilt and plagued with hallucinations. Banquo’s ghost in
particular seem to encapsulate all thoughts acting as a symbol for his immense shame over
killing his friend and his disgrace for unrightfully taking the throne. His actions caused him to
lose his innocence and by extension to sleep, because as mentioned in the play sleep is only
for the innocent (‘Macbeth doth murder sleep / the innocent sleep’). By the end of the play
the evil Macbeth has become completely paranoid and devoid of any substantial emotion
but fear and greed, delivering nihilistic monologue when learning of his wife’s death. His
ambition eventually becomes the cause of his demise as he refuses to cooperate with
Malcolm, and dies alone, hated an insane.
On the other hand, Medea’s mental state seemingly has a directly opposite development.
Her story begins with her being a disgraced, ashamed, and abandoned housewife, who is
unable to take care of herself or her children. As her malicious plan begins to take shape,
she, like Macbeth, begins to question herself and worry about her actions. However, at the
turning point of the play, once she decides to murder her own children, she gains a sense of
purpose and a newfound direction and determination, as is evident in from monologues to
the chorus and to the other characters. She turns into a murderer, but this helps her
overcome her grief and become apathetic and indifferent towards people around her. This is
made especially clear towards the end, when she is flying away on the golden chariot having
completed her plan and being above everyone else, both literally and figuratively. This
contrasts greatly with Macbeth, who not only has lost his pride, sanity and mind, but is
defeated and killed by his enemies.
The final point of comparison between the two works is the way in which their authors
managed to capture their audiences attention through the use of suspense. In Medea, the
idea of a great evil appearing is seen in the first pages through the nurse: “a dark cloud
forming over her/something terrible”. This act as foreshadowing, implanting the idea of
something evil coming in the audience’s mind and creates a tense mood. This is
complimented by Medea’s hesitations later in the play, where she is unsure if her actions are
justified and if she is determined enough to go through with this monstrous scheme. This
hesitation is also imposed on the audience, creating a mystery of “will she actually do it”,
thus intriguing the reader.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare utilises some similar techniques to instil anxiety and agitation
through the suspense of the plot. This is most prominent in the first meeting with the
witches, where they offer some confusing and contradictory prophecies to Macbeth. By
learning he will be King the events of the play are set in motion, but since he also learns
about Banquo’s descendants and their place on the throne the audience understand that
conflict is inevitable, which creates an uneasy feeling in a tense atmosphere as they await
what’s to come. This is repeated in Macbeth’s second meeting with the witches when they
offer even more convoluted equivocations, captivating the reader further as curiosity
reaches its peak, with prophecies such as ‘no man born from a woman can harm you’. While
overall Macbeth seems to use a larger variety and number of techniques to create suspense,
both plays evoke an anxious feeling in the reader, and use this as a hook to progress the
story and peak the readers interest.
In conclusion, the similarities of these two works can be clearly seen in these three key
aspects, and it is evident that both of them use the idea of a turning point to captivate the
attention of the audience and drive the action forward. In both a tense mood and an
atmosphere of anticipation is created from the start as the audiences can feel great evil
coming. Both protagonists start off as likable Noble and sympathetic, but through their
choices and actions end up revealing their true horrific nature. In both plays, we see a
significant change in the characters’ mental state, even if this change is directly opposite
between them. Finally, these works are perfect demonstrations of the talent of their
respective creators, as is clear from the way the build suspense and manage to intrigue their
audience.