Compare how extreme emotions are portrayed in the protagonists of Macbeth and A Christmas Carol.

Both stories ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens and ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare share a set of extreme emotions that play a big part in how both plots progress. Throughout this essay, I will highlight these emotions and thoroughly explain how and why they were used by both authors.

In the play Macbeth, the first extreme emotion would have definitely been sheer shock, felt by the protagonist, who was of course Macbeth, the thane of Glamis at the time. The specific time of this moment was Act 1 Scene 3 where the witches told him about being the future king of Scotland. This early event led to Macbeth being incredibly inquisitive about their prophecy towards the end of their dialogue where the disappearance of the three witches was seen. Evidence of this judgement is a quote that states: ” Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more: I know I am thane of Glamis; but how of Cawdor?”. This quote shows the shocked and inquisitive side to Macbeth, telling us that he didn’t expect this unlikely prophecy to be told to him. At the time, Macbeth was the highly respected thane of Glamis, but this prophecy that the witches released his way was a massive shock to him, along with the fact that he was in the presence of the supernatural. At the time of the writing of the play, the subject of the supernatural was quite normal to talk about. Witches weren’t ‘entities’ or ghostly-like, they were thought to be in the bodies of real human beings. Shakespeare definitely included this scene, because at the time it would have been an even more realistic way to reveal how Macbeth’s future could be shaped. Shakespeare also included this scene in the play, as it was important to see how easily Macbeth could be persuaded to do things he could never think of doing, which was of course trying to become King by doing the deed of killing King Duncan, who was in fact his cousin in the story.

The beginning of A Christmas Carol was quite different to the beginning of Macbeth. This was mainly because Scrooge (the protagonist) showed spiteful emotions towards everyone he encountered. Spite is the word I would use to describe the extreme emotions shown in this part of the story. A quote that supports this is ‘“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge … “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”’. This quote did have an effect on the reader as it caused Scrooge to be perceived as an incredibly heartless and rude person, which was what Charles Dickens aimed to do for the beginning part of the story. The quote also showed the lack of socializing that came with Ebenezer Scrooge. The main reason why Charles Dickens had implemented this into the book was to show the massive change in behaviour Scrooge would later take on, which is the plot of the story. Once again, it was different to the beginning of Macbeth, as the feelings were not similar, and in Macbeth, he would socialise with the people that talked to him in the scene e.g. Banquo and the Three Witches.

The second extreme emotion was definitely confusion which was incredibly blatant and saw him go through a change of mind-set. He seemed to be incredibly controlled and surprised by the deed he was about to do, which was committing the killing of King Duncan to become the next King. This part of the play was the penultimate part to Macbeth actually completely changing from the brave and mighty man that he was before. I found a quote that suggested this; “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?”. This quote is incredibly strong in presenting the mind set of Macbeth. It clearly shows he was experiencing traumatising moments because of what he was about to do. I know this because he had been hallucinating, picture the scenes of a dagger, which of course wasn’t real.  Shakespeare had written this to show the quick effects on Macbeth, and how he was slowly turning into a man that not many people would look up to like they used to at the beginning of the story. The fact that Macbeth said ‘heat-oppressed brain’ meant that he knew what he was doing was putting pressure on him, which caused him to panic and hallucinate.

The second part of A Christmas Carol was incredibly similar to this. The extreme emotion found in this part of the story was definitely also confusion, mainly because he didn’t understand how he was seeing the supernatural, just like Macbeth did when he saw the three witches. Both supernatural beings in each story were there to pass on a message to the protagonists. The fact that Scrooge was seeing a ghost took over the whole of his body and made him feel a completely different way, bringing out the extreme emotion found which was confusion. The quote to highlight this part of the story was ‘Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.’ The fact that Scrooge was dismayed meant he was distressed and concerned about the happenings of this chapter. This also affected the way we thought about Scrooge now. The reader didn’t really know if he had other feelings, and seeing him in this state was quite different, compared to how Charles Dickens portrayed him in the first stages. The author, Charles Dickens, included this in the story as it would show a different side to Ebenezer Scrooge, who (like said before) was a spiteful character and had no interest in talking to others. This was also done so that we could see how much he would change, once he was put in an uncomfortable position, like what he did to many people. In comparison to Macbeth, they were both in quite similar moods at this stage, because of the supernatural beings they had experienced.

The third extreme emotion felt by Macbeth was sheer guilt. He understood how much trouble his mind got him into. He said “O, full of scorpions is my mind, my dear wife”. In this line he is talking to Lady Macbeth, expressing his feelings and how he understands his mind doesn’t contain good thoughts. The fact that he said his mind was full of scorpions meant his thoughts were poison. This is backed up by the killing of King Duncan. Shakespeare was smart to do this, because it was also a massive change in character and showed the consequences of selfishness and greed. The fact that he had listened to the witches led him to this guilt he was feeling at the time. The metaphoric language used in this quote was a great language technique to show how guilty Macbeth was.

Compared to this, Scrooge’s next extreme emotions were incredibly similar. He too was feeling guilty for the things he had done towards other people. But in this case, the difference was that the protagonist was able to change what he did, which would be seen later in the story. “I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. Merciful Heaven, what is this?”. This line without a shadow of a doubt gives off Ebenezer Scrooge’s feelings and lets us know that he is full of regret. This was done by Charles Dickens to change the perception of Scrooge, who would now be seen not as an incredibly spiteful man. This was because he had begun to felt guilty, letting people know that he did have a weakness and the supernatural sightings had brought this out of him. Once again, this was incredibly similar to the feelings of Macbeth, as they both felt rather guilty for what they had done, and because of the circumstances that went on, they understand how and why they did wrong.

The last part of Macbeth saw the protagonist going through an incredibly unstable mental state. The extreme emotion was clearly insanity. This was all because of what he had done to his companions. The guilt had clearly taken over him which led to the incredibly metaphoric language used. “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage”. In this short extract, Macbeth talks about life as if it is a pointless thing. He uses incredibly metaphoric language, which indicates he doesn’t know how to put his situation into simple words. This is one of the most important parts of the play itself as it shows just how badly one decision can be. Shake definitely put in this part of the story so that we could see the overall change in behaviour of Macbeth, which clearly went from positive to negative over a short amount of time.

Lastly, in comparison to the last paragraph, we notice that the extreme emotion found in the last part of A Christmas Carol was clearly happiness. Scrooge had changed his ways; he was almost another man. The fact that he actually went out of his way to wish Bob a Merry Christmas meant that his attitude and emotions were different. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year. I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family.”. This quote is an excellent representation of how the appearance of the supernatural changed the mind-set of Ebenezer Scrooge. He had also offered to raise Bob’s wages; another piece of evidence that suggested he was a much happier man. Shakespeare had done this to highlight the ways in which Scrooge had changed as a result. These emotions were definitely unlike the ones that were found at the end of Macbeth. In fact, they were the complete opposite.