Ghosts are usually scary, sometimes friendly, but always not of this realm. They chase Pac-man through mazes and provide targets for the Ghostbusters to bust. They are supernatural, and do not belong on this plane of existence. At least, not for long.
In class today we discussed the history of England leading up to the Elizabethan era and Shakespeare's time. It was a period of conflict between Catholics and Anglicans as the country tried to realign itself after the death of Henry VIII and a brutal civil war. While both religions were Christian and shared many similar beliefs, the details often created confusion among the populace. Ghosts, for instance: if you were Catholic, you knew that a ghost was the soul of a deceased person, forced to stay on Earth to undo a wrong, seek out revenge, or protect a loved one; if you were Anglican, you knew that the souls of the dead went straight to Heaven or Hell, and that any ghosts were either completely imaginary or created by the Devil or some other wicked creature. Shakespeare was Anglican, as were many of his audience members. Many of his audience members also remembered a time when they were Catholic, and may have been forced to convert. Old habits die hard, and the audience's understanding of ghosts would be influenced by both the Catholic and Anglican faiths.
For this entry, describe what you think a ghost is. Do your opinions fall along the lines of Catholicism, or Anglicanism? Are they the souls of the dead, or are they not real at all? Based on your opinon, what do you think is at the dinner table with Macbeth - is it really the ghost of Banquo, or is it created by Macbeth's brain? Please begin your post with your student number.
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ReplyDeleteI think that a ghost is a supernatural being that is a soul from a dead body, which is either cursed to stay on earth, or it is haunting a place where it either was all its life, or where it died. I think that some ghosts are demons(mostly the evil ones) or monsters, while others are actual souls that didn't want to move on and decided to stay on earth to finish a deed. I first thought that it was Anglican, but when I took another look at it, it seems more Catholic. I think that it really is the ghost of Banquo, to haunt Macbeth with the guilt that he has for killing his best friend and to finish his "deed", by making Macbeth look crazy and scare him so that Macbeth knows that he did wrong.
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ReplyDeleteI would have to side with the Anglican view of ghosts. It makes no sense one way or the other for a person to come back to reality after death. Given Macbeth's shaky mental condition, what with the killing of the king and his best buddy and all, it seems entirely likely that the ghost of Banquo was Macbeth's hallucination. The fact that Macbeth and he only could see this ghost supports this as well. Macbeth's had a history of visions under stress (i.e the dagger vision before killing the king), so I see no reason this would be any different. The ghost that Macbeth sees is a projection of his fears.
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ReplyDeleteFor myself personally, I have mixed feelings about ghosts, I believe that maybe there could be real ghosts that have something that they must finish before they are sent to the other side, but on the other hand, I also believe that if someone claims to be seeing ghosts, that they are just feeling guilty for doing something wrong to that certain ghost that they are seeing. Based on my opinion, I believe that when Macbeth is at the dinner table, he is not actually seeing the ghost of Macbeth but it is his conscience showing him that he has done wrong to Banquo by killing him; he is feeling very guilty for doing this to his close friend. Therefore, I believe that this whole ghost business is happening all inside of Macbeth's brain.
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ReplyDeleteMy opinions fall along the lines of Anglicanism, because i watched too many horror movies. I can't say much about this topic because I don't know much about the ghosts, but i think they are souls of the dead. I think that when Macbeth saw Banquo's ghost, it was in his head, he didn't get much of a sleep and it was probably really hard for him to believe that he actually killed his only friend.
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ReplyDeleteI don't believe in ghosts, but if I would experience something that would make me believe otherwise, I would think a ghost is a spirit of someone who has unfinished business on Earth, meaning my opinions fall along the lines of Catholicism. That being said, I also think that ghosts could not be seen or fully heard to a human, and conclude Macbeth's guilt, shame and insanity created the ghostly image of Banquo.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that ghosts aren't real and are just imaginary, souls of the dead go straight to Heaven or Hell. The ghost at the dinner table was simply Macbeth's conscience playing tricks on him because he felt guilty that he killed his own best friend.
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ReplyDeleteWhat I think of a ghost is a mixture of both opinions. I believe that ghosts do exist. I believe that after a person dies their soul goes toward heaven or hell, but not right away, I think they sort of get this ability to stay in contact with the Earth plane in order to undo a wrong. However, this doesn't mean that all the stuff we see are ghosts. They might also be imaginary or hallucinations. I think in Macbeth's case, it is more likely that what he sees is just imaginary which can be because of his lack of sleep or because of the deep guilt he feels for having Banquo killed.
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ReplyDeleteI believe in ghost the same way Catholics do. I think that Macbeth did see a ghost, for the ghost is to haunt him for his evil doing. I see ghosts as pale spirits
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ReplyDeleteI think ghosts exist, but I don't know if every sighting is true. I don't think my thoughts fall along any lines. Whether the ghost at the dinner table with Macbeth was real or not, I'm not sure.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a ghost would be the soul of a deceased person, who is still on earth to undo a wrong, get revenge or protect someone. I think it would be extraordinary to pass away and come back as a spirit of some sort. When Macbeth was at the dinner table, the ghost he saw of Banquo was simply his imagination. Given that he was suffering from insomnia, and had already seen a dagger floating in the air before killing Duncan, it’s clear that Banquo’s ghost was an illusion.
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ReplyDeleteI think a ghost is a continuation of our spirit. To be honest, I don't know whether to believe in Catholicism or Anglicanism. I think I believe in reincarnation though. As I said earlier, I believe a ghost is a continuation of our spirit. I think that our spirits inhabit new bodies of life after we die and is cleansed of all memories which brings up the ideas of past lives. However in Macbeth, I believe that Macbeth saw the ghost only out og guilt and conscience.
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ReplyDeleteI don't believe that ghosts exist at all. I think that most things can be explained rationally if you really try. People like to dramatize and imagine things that aren't happening. I think my beliefs fall along the lines of an Anglican. I believe that the ghost of Banquo at the dinner table is really Macbeth's imagination. It is his guilty conscience acting up. Lady Macbeth could not see the ghost because it did not exist.
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ReplyDeleteMy opinion falls along the lines of Anglicanism. I think ghosts are not real. I think they are not souls of the dead but rather imaginary, created by a person’s mind. I also think that the ghost of Banquo at the dinner table with Macbeth is created by Macbeth’s brain, not a real ghost.
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ReplyDeleteMy opinions fall under the Anglicanism beliefs on the details of ghosts and their non existence. Based on this, I think that at the dinner table, the ghost of Banquo was a figure of Macbeth’s imagination due not only to Macbeth’s conscience taking over his thoughts, but the stress and lack of sleep which causes his mind to play tricks on his eyes and create illusions such as the one of Banquo.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion ghosts are not real, but I've had many friend that have experienced a ghostly encounter, so there is the possibility that they so exist. Base on my religion though, ghost are the act of Hell and they just stay or come to the world to cause fear. Either way , i think the 'ghost' that was at the dinner table with Macbeth was Macbeth's brain pulling tricks on him. Macbeth is insecure about all the things he did and can barely sleep at night due to the amount of things bothering him. So that fact that he say Banquo's ghost might be a bad case of post insomnia.
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ReplyDeleteA ghost is a spirit or creature that used to live on this planet like we do, but now it plagues the earth either haunting people or restless to go to heaven or hell. My opinions fall more along the lines of Anglicanism. I think its a little bit of both, Macbeth is losing his mind, he hasn't had enough sleep and he is beginning to hallucinate. On the other hand i do believe that is banquo's ghost and its back to haunt him for what he did to him
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ReplyDeleteI think a ghost is a spirit that does not belong on earth. I don't think they are evil or that they are made by the devil but just a spirit passing by. I think my opinion falls under Catholicism because they believe that they were the soul of the deceased. What Macbeth saw at the dinner table was not a ghost, i think it was his mind. i think that Macbeth could not handle the fact that he planned his best friends murder.
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ReplyDeleteI think ghosts are real, that they exist and cannot necessarily be defined by one or the other (Catholics' understanding of them and Anglicans').
In my opinion ghosts can be conjured up beings or deceased souls depending on the situation.
HOWEVER, for Macbeth I think it was created by his own brain. Macbeth was lacking sleep and insomnia is known to cause hallucinations and slight craziness. Macbeth was also the only one that could see Banquo's ghost, which tells me that most likely it was him that was 'making this all up'.
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ReplyDeleteI believe a ghost is someone who has passed away but has not quite made it over to the other side because of some unfinished business. The appearance of a ghost, however, in my opinion is not the way it were when the person passed away, only to those who knew the person they would look the way they did before they dies. In my family we do in fact believe that ghosts exist because of certain experiences my mother has had. So in my opinion it could have been the actual ghost of Banquo that Macbeth was seeing.
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ReplyDeleteAt one point, I had been very religious and did believe that ghosts were the lost souls of the dead that had not properly passed on to Heaven. Today, I think that ghosts are non-existent and that we do not actually have souls, just electrical impulses. I feel like this is a very... boring or maybe even offensive way to look at it but it is what I believe. I think what Macbeth saw at the dinner table was a hallucination resulting from insomnia. His guilt and/or fear was probably eating away at him, as well as his paranoia.
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ReplyDeleteThe world is real and there is nothing super natural in it. It's our brains that make us think supernatural. Our eyes just take in images of the world and then the brain processes it and spits it out for us to understand. However if something is wrong in the brain then the processed image is corrupted, we can include our imagination in it without knowing it to see wild and weird things.
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ReplyDeleteI believe a ghost is an imprint of a departed soul. They exist but only in the shadow realms. I do ont believed they are forced to stay on earth unless something tragic has happened but rather that they have a choice to. I think my opinion falls more onto the Catholic side and that they are souls of the dead. But in my opinion the “ghost” of Banquo at Macbeth’s dinner was not there at all. I believe in the supernatural but I lack faith in what Macbeth claimed to have seen. He had been suffering from insomnia and the weight of his guilty conscience makes me believe that this had all been an hallucination created by the subconscious of Macbeth’s brain.
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ReplyDeleteGhosts are supernatural spirit/soul of a person that was once living. My opinions of ghosts fall under the Anglican beliefs. I believe that once someone dies, there spirit or soul is gone from this world. The soul is then sent to heaven or hell to live for eternity. During the dinner party, Macbeth most likely felt guilty for killing his friend Banquo which made him hallucinate. The ghost of Banquo was not at the dinner table, but Macbeth only imagined it because he couldnt stop thinking for the actions he has done.
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ReplyDeletei think my opinion fall along the lines of Anglicanism. There isn't any real proof of the souls of the dead so I would say they are not real. The ghost of Banquo at the dinner table was created by Macbeth's brain. Macbeth was most likely suffering from insomnia and or hallucination.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think ghosts are real. I also think that Macbeth was just imagining Banquo's ghost. He is feeling really guilty and seeing the ghost keeps reminding him of what he had done.
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ReplyDeletei believe they are not real at all, and the only reason why Macbeth saw the ghost was because he was feeling extremely guilty and knew he was wrong for what he has done, and know hes seeing ghosts of Banquo because he was his best friend. Macbeth probably is seeing his ghost because he feels hes comin back to haunt him for what hes done.