"Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty"

"Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty".
Lady MacBeth is intense. In saying this quote, "Unsex me here, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty", she is asking for every remorseful, ladylike, guilty bone in her body to be removed and be replaced with cruelty, from her 'crown to her toes'. She is trying to prove she is masculine enough to kill Duncan, and is asking to be "unsexed", to be removed of all her feminine qualities, because stereotypically, girls cannot be cunning or strong, girls cannot be cruel, no, the only thing girls can do is sit pretty and make their men look good, especially in that time. Lady MacBeth knows that she is more than this, and all though she is a little bit of a nutjob sadist (for lack of better words), she is kind of awesome. Her character is one of the closest things we could find to a feminist in British literature. This woman knows what she wants and how she is going to do it, and is not going to let anyone tell her she cannot do it because of her gender and how her gender is supposed to go about in society. That is why this quote, this little speech she gives actually, is so powerful. She is basically saying if you are not man enough to do it, I am. I believe in this enough to allow myself to overpower the guilt and remorse with cruelty, the "masculine" overtaking the "feminine", Allowing myself to become so cruel and ruthless that it no longer affects me, qualities that a woman cannot possess, "unsex me here". Allow me to do this. She believes in it so much, and I think instead of looking at her like this evil bitch of a character, we should be looking at her like this amazing, mentally strong character. I feel like she feels as though she is taking on the responsibility of both her and her husband at times, she thinks for him, and she wants to be able to act for him when his actions are not correct. 
I am definitely a Lady McB supporter.

No New Tale To Tell

            The Canterbury Tales aren't really my thing. I read them, I listened to everyone present them, I really did try, but honestly, I cannot stand the whole old english thing. (Should I be posting that in a blog for a brit lit class?) It's terrible, it makes me want to cry. I did enjoy analyzing the tale that Shiri, Kristy and I were given to present, however. At first glance it seemed just like another strange piece of old British literature that will make me want to tear my hair out, but upon deeper analysis, and an english translation on sparknotes, we found that the story is really about chickens doing some pretty funky things. (And, you know, some underlying themes about never being too cocky for your own good and the secret meaning behind dreams, but the chicken thing was what actually got me interested. If it was humans I would've slept through the whole thing.) Most of them, upon hearing my classmates presentations, were actually pretty weird. This doesn't mean that I would ever read them again, however. I am so very glad that's over.

Truth

          The idea of truth is one of the most important ideas that is interwoven throughout Grendel, and is shown quite a few different ways. Grendel's mothers struggle to try and keep the truth hidden from Grendel throughout the early years of his life, and whether it affected him positively or negatively, parallels a question we face quite often in everyday life, is it better to allow someone to live in a happy ignorance or is it better to force everyone to face reality? Both, as shown in the novel, can have their share of good and bad outcomes, and although society as a whole may never be able to answer this question, I am definitely all for telling things as they are from the start. I think much of what Grendel feels, alongside the anger that comes from the ideas that " what these people are doing is so wrong, is utter disappointment and a huge let down that hit him a little too hard. Although he felt loneliness all throughout childhood, and began to feel that his mother may not love him the way she should, he still had this positive expectations of the way things really were, and wasn't going to let himself think that things were actually as bad, or worse, than they actually were, and his mother allowed him to think that.
The same goes for the shaper. The shaper tells stories that paint Hrothgar’s people and all the negative they're putting into the world in this great light, telling them that everything they are doing is right and to keep doing it, but more so. Since the shaper is viewed as such an important, trusted person, there's no  reason that Hrothgar's people would try to fix themselves and their actions. They are being told that everything they are doing is good, being continuously lied to.

Me

Hey, not totally sure what to put here, kinda feeling uncomfortable about the fact that everyone can read everything that I write. I'm Maddy, I'm a junior, I dance classical ballet, I play guitar, drums & piano, and I'm terrible at school. A good thing for Mr. McCarthy to know is that English and History are definitely my strong points, if this was an honors science or math class I'd already have an F. 

Look, here's my dog. She's super cute and small.