Ashwin Kumar
English FPT Script
INTRO
To be selfless, generous and giving, character traits that most people aspire to have and are taught to be since childhood. Altruism, is the incorporation of all these attributes into one as it simply means to value the well being of someone else more than your own. However, in the play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare and the American fantasy comedy “The Good Place”, altruism is a significant trait that plagues the characters of Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Eleanor Shellstrop in “The Good Place”. At first glance, these two pieces of text may seem to be extremely different yet through further analysis, both can be found to convey the same consequences in being too altruistic. Finally, I will discuss how they relate to the global issue I have chosen; one’s true identity.
THESIS
To begin, it can be argued that the play “Macbeth” and the show “The Good Place” both showcase instances of altruism leading to the corruption of one’s true identity.
MACBETH INTRO
Firstly, Lady Macbeth represents the main idea of altruism throughout the entirety of Macbeth. Her altruistic nature is perceived early on during Act 1, Scene 5 of the play. To add a bit of context this is when Lady Macbeth receives the letter from her husband regarding what the witches had said and about Duncan coming to visit. The point I’m trying to convey is that Lady Macbeth’s altruistic behavior towards Macbeth results in her demise.
MACBETH PPA
This shows how her loving and selfless behavior allows her to fulfill anything Macbeth asks her whether it requires a great amount of time or effort which ultimately results in her downfall. Her first sign of altruism is exhibited as she proclaims “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promise’d” (Act I , Scene V, Lines 15-16). This is significant as after hearing the news brought by the letter, she is overly anticipating Macbeth’s arrival and is prepared to do whatever it takes to push him to become king. She mentions shortly after that he is too kind of a soul and lacks the nastiness to simply go for it. This is followed by her preparing herself to tell him what needs to be done to achieve that next step.
CONNECTION TO IDENTITY
This connects to my global issue of identity as Lady Macbeth starts off being insanely driven my one goal; to get Macbeth to become king and to remain powerful. This is her true identity. However, as the play progresses you can see how she starts to feel more guilt for the murder of Duncan and gradually becomes more unstrung before leading to her inevitable suicide.
THE GOOD PLACE INTRO
On the other hand, we have “The Good Place.” A heaven-like utopia that holds as an afterlife for characters such as Eleanor Shellstrop. As the main character, the show revolves around the development of her traits as she was accidentally put into The Good place when she was supposed to go to The Bad Place.
THE GOOD PLACE PPA
Throughout most of the show, the main premise is “fixing” Eleanor. The principal way this happens is from the help of Chidi addressing lessons on ethics and altruism. In season 1 episode 6 titled “What we owe to each other” Chidi suggests a book for Eleanor to read to teach her why she is obligated to honor her verbal agreement to help Micheal. This, in turn, is an act of altruism as she is attempting to put his needs in front of her own ultimately changing the person she once was. This, however, backfires when realizing that they are actually in The Bad Place the whole time and everything she has learned and the person she has become as a result of altruism does not matter in the end. She may not remain the same person at heart but she will remain in The Bad Place which further alludes to how altruism had corrupted her identity changing it for no reason whatsoever.
CONNECTION TO IDENTITY
This connects to the theme of true identity as Eleanor’s true identity is replaced by the person she has become as the show progresses. She starts as someone who doesn’t belong in The Good Place into someone who has completely recreated her image to better herself and her surroundings until realizing she had been tricked into thinking her bad intentions could ever disappear. Although she does develop into a good person, she takes the altruistic effort of changing her own identity as an attempt to fit in with the society of “The Good Place”.
SIMILARITY
The similarity is shown in both pieces of text as they showcase a major change in the character’s identity as their respective stories continue. Both Eleanor and Lady Macbeth start as ruthless characters who solely wanted it their way. They end up as more altruistic people not solely focused on themselves and begin to feel guilt and remorse towards others.
CONCLUSION
To conclude both Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare and the show “The Good Place” proves how one’s identity can be corrupted from the result of altruistic behavior. This is demonstrated by Lady Macbeth who as a result of obsessing over her husband’s desire to be king, loses sight of her moral compass and cold-heartedly murders Duncan. Then there is Eleanor, who despite going through all her efforts to change her own identity to fit in the environment at “ The Good Place”, discovered that it was all for nothing as she was being cared towards the ones who cared about her the least. At the end of the day, to be kind and supportive towards one another is still extremely important, just remember, from the words of Penny Reid “Don’t set yourself on fire, to keep others warm.”. Thank you.