Robert+R.

Hecate and Al Capone The Lords of the Underworld



[|Shakespeare’s] play [|Macbeth] opens with the witches saying, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (I.i.10). This quote sums up the life of [|Al Capone], an infamous gangster in [|1920’s America]. Whether he was murdering, intimidating rivals, racketeering, or evading taxes, Capone was noted as showing no remorse for his heinous crimes. Similarly, the witches in //Macbeth,// under the leadership of [|Hecate], ruined the lives of numerous characters without batting an eye. Although Capone and the witches, with the involvement of Hecate, lived in completely different times and worked under entirely different circumstances, they used similar techniques as a means to accomplish their dastardly deeds. **(wonderful intro. - great diction!)**

When Capone or the witches faced an unpleasant encounter with an individual, they both decided to not get mad, but rather to get even. When the first witch is denied some chestnuts from a lady, they decided to torture her husband, a sailor. They specified their plan,**(Use a colon here instead of a comma.)** …I’ll drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid; He shall live a man forbid… Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. (I.iii.18-21,24-25) By denying the witch a [|chestnut]**** she has condemned her husband to a life of misery. Meanwhile, a barber faced a similar situation with Capone. Capone asked a Sicilian barber to give him a particular style of haircut popular with Sicilian gangsters and the barber refused, upon which Capone vandalized the shop, and knocked down a row of personalized shaving mugs belonging to customers. Both these characters had short fuses, but they were both able to keep their cools long enough to concoct plans to become masters of their domain.

The witches use their [|black magic] to [|bamboozle] Macbeth and infuse him with a sense of invincibility. The witches create apparitions that foretell Macbeth’s future. While the first apparition is straightforward **** the other two have a deadly twist. “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of women born/Shall harm Macbeth” (IV.i.79-81). Unknown to Macbeth was the fact that Macduff was born via a [|cesarean section] so he was not women **(woman)** born. The third apparition said, Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never vanquished **(be)** until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him (IV.i.90-94).**(move period to before parenthetical)** This was a trick because when the English army invades Scotland **** they use branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage. While the witches use an indirect manner to overthrow Macbeth, Al Capone used a more direct approach. After Chicago elected mayor William Emmet Denver, he attempted to sweep organized crime from his city. Rather than fight, Capone fled to nearby Cicero, Illinois. The 1924 town council elections in Cicero became known as one of the most crooked elections in Chicago area's history. Voters were threatened at polling stations by gangsters resulting in Capone's mayoral candidate winning by a huge margin. After a change of heart, the newly elected mayor announced that he would run Capone out of town. Capone met with his puppet-mayor and personally knocked him down the town hall steps, a powerful assertion of gangster power and a major victory for the Capone family.

With numerous abominable acts committed by Hecate and Capone, naturally people will create epithets to describe them. Hecate refers to herself as “mistress of your charms/the close contriver of all harms”(III.v.6-7). She was also the lord of the underworld, and referred to as the mighty one. Al Capone also amassed a variety of nicknames. He was called, Scarface, Babyface, American Gangster, and the most ruthless killer of all time, and comparably to Hecate he was the head of Chicago’s underworld. The witches were subordinate to Hecate, and they would brew potions that distorted Macbeth's perception. While bootleggers were subordinate to Al Capone, and the bootleggers would brew [|moonshine] in bathtubs that also distorted their customers perception. **(This is a fragment.)**

After being intoxicated via Al Capone's moonshine, people created dances like [|the Charleston]. In Macbeth **(Italicize)** the witches dance with Hecate after making a potion,**(change to a colon)** O, well done! I commend your pains; And every one shall share in the gains: And now about the couldron **(misspelled)** sing, Like elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that you put in. (IV.i.39-43) **(This point is a bit of a stretch - rather weak.)** Capone showed how much power he had by ordering the [|St. Valentine's Day Massacre], and the witches used their power to influence the death of Macbeth. Work**(s)** Cited [|"Al Capone." 1999. Chicago Historical Society. 19 Mar 2008 .] [|"Al Capone." Sep 2007. Wikipedia. 19 Mar 2008 .] [|Hecate. 15 March 2008. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecate.] [|Shakespeare, William. "Macbeth." Prentice Halll Literature. 2007. Pearson . New Jersey: Penguin Edition, 2007.]
 * (A conclusion would be nice.)**

Images

“Al Capone.” March 12, 2005. [|http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Capone.html] (March 21 2008). “Bootlegging.” 2006. http://www.oldspringfarm.com/about.html (March 21, 2008). “Hecate, Capitol Rome.” 2004.http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Hecate.html (March 21, 2008). “Macbeth and Macduff.” 2006. http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/reviews/liveevents/MacbethOHP.htm (March 21, 2008). “Macbeth Three Witches Poster.” 2006. http://www.madametalbot.com/pix/posters/witches2.htm (March 21, 2008). “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” 2000. http://www.mobsters.8m.com/ (March 21, 2008). “Learning the Charleston Dance---Toot Toot Tootsie.” 2003. http://www.vintageperiods.com/charleston.php (March 21, 2008),