'Macbeth' vs. 'Pulp Fiction'

Well aren't you glad I put the inverted commas around 'Macbeth' there. Could you imagine "Macbeth vs. 'Pulp Fiction'"? I'm not entirely sure how it'd work - maybe Butch (Macbeth) is Marsellus's (Duncan) prize fighter, and after killing Vince (the old Thane of Cawdor) he realises he can overthrow Marsellus - maybe it wouldn't work, that was a silly idea. Anyway, at least I can pick out some similarities, if a little tenuous, as  my task over this half-term is to write an epic piece of coursework. It is a 1,500 word essay, equivalent to 10% of my entire A-level (insert terrified emoji here), based on a question of our composition.

Originally I was going to come up with something quite long and convoluted like exploring the paranoia, the lengths people will go to in order to achieve power and then the lengths in order to maintain it, as paranoia is a theme in 'Macbeth' which really interests me, and it's sort of applicable to 'Pulp Fiction'.
However, at the start of the year I wrote a half-decent feminist essay about portrayal of women in Macbeth (might upload that somewhen), and when reviewing Frantic Assembly's 'Othello' I coined the phrase 'violent, patriarchal … microcosm' which just so happens to sum up 'Macbeth' and 'Pulp Fiction' - so I'd have another point to discuss, and if I can get that phrase in somehow I hope to reap the AO3 context marks for it. In the end I've settled on 'Using integrated literary and linguistic approaches, explore the presentation of power in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', making wider reference to 'Pulp Fiction'. That way, I have the ability to talk about Shakespeare's commentary on who should have power (think of Malcolm's lament to Macduff in Act 4), how women get power in a patriarchal society (or 'microcosm') and talk about power paranoia which I love!

This week's further reading!

Oh I can tell this is going to be a good essay! This is why I love college, when your subjects really focus in on what you love to do and pave the way to what you want to do - when what constitutes your research and further reading is the picture above. And it's the same with everything at the moment, in biology we're doing physiology which I greatly enjoy and this week I'll be making end-of-year revision cards for, and in drama we're choosing books to produce our own creative adaptation of for our performance exam!!!

As you can see I have out 5 'Macbeth's from the college library - I have watched the last 'Othello', but I'll write the review of that when I'm travelling or in the evenings, I promise it's on its way. That'll be my 42nd post as well. A very significant number. I'm ill at the moment with some mild cold which almost went away before developing into an irritating cough, and my usual tradition when I'm ill (or at least what I used to do in middle school) is watch 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', a truly wonderful film, hence the importance of the number 42 post being when I'm ill.

No such wonderment-inspiring films as Hitchhiker's' this time round though. As much as I love the fiction of my childhood, I've got myself into watching the adult stuff now, the real deal. That 15-rated DVD there is the Roman Polanski 'Macbeth', which is apparently renowned for its violence, and was therefore recommended to me by a friend, a fellow Shakespeare enthusiast. I'm not sure when I can start referring to myself as a part of the 'Shakespeare fandom' on Tumblr but I'm well on my way - as Macbeth says

"I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er."

*wink*.

Anyway, time to sign off now, I'm going to start off my half-term work with the great Tarentino himself, by watching the masterpiece that is 'Pulp Fiction'!