Macbeth Connections to our World Characters themes and

Macbeth Connections to our World

Characters, themes and plot • • Macbeth explores Ambition Evil Guilt Manipulation Betrayal Supernatural/Superstition False Appearances

T. V. - Mob Loyalty and Justice • The acting boss of the Di. Meo family, Anthony Soprano heads the most powerful criminal organization in New Jersey. • Tony “wacks” his competition and those who are disloyal to him or the mob.

Tony Soprano kills • His nephew Christopher • Christopher has been very close to Tony. However, substance abuse and other issues made him a liability. Tony suffocates Chris after a serious car crash.

His Cousin, Tony Blundetto • Tony Blundetto is Tony Soprano’s cousin and close childhood friend. • Tony Soprano shoots him dead to prevent a blood war following unauthorized murders.

Salvatore Bonpensiero • Tony and two friends murder mobster (and former cat burglar) Salvatore. All three have since been haunted by the memory of their old friend's betrayal and murder.

Capo Ralphie Cifaretto, • Tony Soprano choked/ bludgeoned Ralphie to death for supposedly killing Tony's prize winning race horse Pie-O-My for insurance money.

Murder comes easily to Tony Soprano • Tony Soprano has personally committed 8 murders. However as a Boss, he is fully responsible for the deaths of countless others on his order. It's estimated through the entire series he has been behind at least 60 to 70 murders.

It’s a brutal, dangerous world (Like Macbeth’s) • Tony’s mother, Livia Soprano, the family matriarch, is scheming, manipulative, conniving and abusive. She even tried to manipulate her brother-in-law, (and Tony’s uncle) Junior, into putting out a hit on her own son after he tried to put her in a nursing home.

Guilt – and Tony Soprano • Tony sees a psychiatrist for help with panic attacks and strange, disturbing dreams. • His doctor prescribes Lithium as a mood stabilizer. In one episode, Tony sinks into a severe depressive episode and experiences hallucinations

Carmela Soprano • Being the First Lady of the New Jersey mob has its advantages, like a beautiful house, furs, expensive jewelry - and power. • Although, Carmela finds it difficult to reconcile the brutal nature of Tony's profession with her religious faith, she also manipulates her husband’s sense of guilt (especially for his marital infidelity) to her own material advantage.

Figure Skater Tonya Harding

Elite figure skater • First American woman to complete a triple axel jump and first to do two in a single program. But….

Harding wanted to be #1 • During a practice session in January 1994, Harding’s exhusband Jeff Gillooly hired a hitman to strike Tonya’s competitor, Nancy Kerrigan on the knee.

Harding won the event, but later confessed.

Hillary Clinton: The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock.

“Her public image is one of consuming ambition, inflexibility of purpose, a lack of human feeling. The image of Hillary that has crystallised in the public consciousness is, of course, that of Lady Macbeth; consuming ambition, inflexibility of purpose, domination of a pliable husband an upsetting lack of tender human feeling, along with the affluent feminists' contempt for traditional female roles. ” (American Spectator 1992)

Running for President of the United States

President Richard Nixon – Ambition and Corruption • Richard Nixon was the 37 th President of the United States.

Watergate scandal • Series of American political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon • In June 1972, five men were arrested for burglary at the Watergate complex – headquarters of the Democrat National Committee. • President Nixon was a Republican

A conspiracy to stay in power Nixon’s staff carried out burglary, wiretapping, sabotage and illegal break ins. They were a “dirty tricks squad” in charge of making the Democrats look bad, boosting slush funds, and keeping Nixon in power. Nixon and his staff conspired to cover up the crimes

Impeachment began, Nixon resigned - 1974 • Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974, but was pardoned by President Ford later that year. • Many members of the dirty tricks squad went to jail.

Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love • "She offered me 50 grand to whack Kurt Cobain. " According to documentary maker Nick Broomfield, Courtney's ambition is allconsuming and she flattens anything that gets in her way.

A Canadian Connection…

Financier, newspaper magnate • Black is Canadian-born, but publicly renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 in order to accept his appointment as a life peer in the British House of Lords. He is married to Barbara Amiel, a well-known, British-born journalist.

Convicted of fraud • Along with three other men, Black was charged with 13 counts related to criminal fraud. On July 13, 2007, a jury found Black guilty on four charges, including mail fraud and obstruction of justice, but acquitted him of the other nine charges, including wire fraud and racketeering. He faces a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison and a million-dollar fine.

“Conrad and Lady Black – Dancing on the Edge” • According to reviewer Charles Campbell, “Tom Bower’s book presents a “ version of Barbara Amiel Black is a hyper-adenoidal Lady Macbeth, stoking Conrad's already raging belly-fire of craven ambition. Bower's couple appears fully worthy of such media monikers as "Lord Con and Lady Barbarella" or "Mr. Money and Attila the Honey. “ In addition, • “Bower's Black is pretty much as he's being portrayed in Chicago by the prosecution -- a conniving opportunist with a penchant for rococo extravagance. ”

What connections can you make? Think about sports, music, entertainment, business and politics. What other Macbeths/ Lady Macbeths are in our world?