Macbeth: Act 1

Differentiate between the direct and indirect characterisation Shakespeare uses in order to construct his characters

In the first couple of scenes, Macbeth is described by Duncan as “valour’s minion” and is generally expressed as a strong and fearless person who does not show any hesitation when it comes to killing. However, one we are introduced to Macbeth later on. From a direct characterisation, We can see his hesitation in killing Duncan to become king when Lady Macbeth proposes her maniacal plan to make her husband king. It shows that Macbeth’s attitude may just be a facade and that he is a doubtful person. Not only that, he is very feeble minded. This can be seen through how quickly he is pulled into the idea of murdering the king by Lady Macbeth doing little persuading. Clearly there is a major contrast between the direct and indirect characterisation of Macbeth.

Theft’s Dilemma

I could feel beads of sweat roll down my forehead, thank goodness I was wearing black today, otherwise, my shirt would be obviously adorned with sweat stains. I am so nervous, what if the shopkeeper notices that we are stealing? would I own up or would I run? So lost in my thoughts, I did not notice Marcus frantically whispering my name, “Eddie, Eddie!” he whispered, eyes wide with panic. I snapped out of my daze and hesitantly grabbed the cigarette pack he had just stolen from his hand. I cannot believe he did it, I am officially a shoplifter. Yes, it is wrong, but I would do anything so dad stops hurting my mum, even if it means having t steal cigarettes for the cruel man. I held the pack in my two hands, clenching so hard I was surprised it did not break open. “Hey! have you paid for those?” a gruff voice asked yelled, putting a screeching halt to the dilemma in my head. I looked up, heart pounding as I came to the realisation that we have practically been caught. I stared at Marcus, eyes silently pleading for help. He caught my gaze and pointed his fingers to the door, signalling for me to get out. “I’ll deal with it” he mouthed. I nodded, I was just desperate to leave I quickly sped to the door, leaving the shopowner’s question unanswered I slammed the door shut.

[241 words]

My Language World

Growing up, I always felt like a bit of an outsider at family gatherings for both sides of my family- the Filipino side and the Scottish side. With the Filipino side, I was constantly getting confused since I had absolutely no clue what everyone was talking as I was never taught how to speak Tagalog except for a few random words like “blanket” and “soy sauce” (clearly not the best conversation starters). Not only was I puzzled hearing them speak Tagalog so quickly and trying to understand the several conversations going on, I was also anxious that they could possibly be talking about me in a negative manner. While the Filipino side was stressful enough, I still had the Scottish side of the family to cope with. Fortunately, that side of my family only speaks English and not Gaelic. I don’t even want to begin to imagine how much harder it would be if everyone exclusively spoke Gaelic.

While we all speak the same language back in Scotland, I do have trouble fitting in thanks to my accent.I have pretty strong American accent despite not having any American blood in me (that I know of, at least). This is due to being brought up in international schools with a large majority of teachers being American, since they were the main influence that taught me how to speak, I just kind of picked the accent up and it just stuck with me ever since. A lot of my family tend to tease me about how strong my accent is and always say how they wish I had a British or Scottish accent and it is a little bit discouraging for me. While that is the main reason why I tend to feel like an outsider with them, I also have no idea how Scottish slang works. I have lived in Asia my entire life, so I was never exposed to the slang culture in Scotland. While I do know a couple slang words, I am completely lost when it comes to phrases and things like such. Though I don’t have a huge problem with slang terms, I do sometimes feel quite left out when my friends use them knowing I won’t understand.