Macbeth and Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Essay example -- comparison

Similarities between Macbeth, of Shakespeares Macbeth, and Augustus,of memoir of Arthur Gordon Pym In literature, when the natural order becomes skewed, a character may die to deposit order. Often, there is a deliveryman who sacrifices his or her life so that opposite characters might live. In Macbeth, later the king is assassinated, the balance is disturbed. The night has been disorderly where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, Lamentings heard Ithair strange screams of death, And, prophesying with accents terrible Of portentous combustion, and confusd events, New hatchd to th woeful time, the obscure bird Clamourd the livelong night around say, the earth Was feverous, and did shake. (Act II/ gibe III/ lines 53-60). The king and fullful convention of England was murdered and replaced by a dishonest, evil man who had no right to the throne. Because the order in the world was disturbed, disposition will continue to make for havoc until Macbeth dies. Lady Macduff explains to her son that a traitor is one that swears and lies. each one that does so is a traitor, and must be hangd. (Act IV/ Scene II/ lines 46, 48-49). Because he is a traitor to his country, Macbeth must die. In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Augustus is the savior. Augustus acts as a savior twice in the story when he sacrifices himself after a mutiny and an act of cannibalism have taken place. done his death, Arthur and Dirk Peters will survive a mutiny and the destruction of their charge. Augustus first saves his friends after a mutiny has occurred on his fathers boat. After hiding his friend, Arthur, on hop on their boat, Augustus and his father set sail from Nantucket. The plan was to hide Arthur on the ship for a few da... ...ceptible, and the skin of his cheeks hung so loosely as to interdict his masticating any food, or even swallowing any liquid, without great difficulty. intimately twelve oclock he expired in strong convulsions, and without ha ving spoken for several(prenominal) hours.(Poe, 342-343). Because he was the savior, Augustus gave his own life in order to restore the balance and order of the world. Like Macbeth, Augustus is the savior in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. One or more characters have disrupted the schedule and patterns in which nature operates. The savior is the character or characters who sacrifice their lives in order to return nature to her regular order. Works Cited Poe, Edgar A. Poe Selected Tales. Ed. Diane Johnson. New York Literary Classics, 1991. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Kenneth Muir. Ontario Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1997.