Araby vs. Macbeth In the short story Araby, Joyce shows how a young boy develops a crush on Mangan’s sister, a girl who lives next door. It all begins when Mangan’s sister asked him if he planned on attending the bazaar known as Araby. The girl then explains that she will be away on a retreat when the bazaar is held and therefore unable to make it. The boy promises her that if he goes, he will buy her something.
With the permission of his aunt and uncle, the boy was ecstatic. As the night arose, his uncle was nowhere to be found.
How Do You Vet Your Writers?
Our writers pass rigorous tests in their fields, have verified degrees, and undergo continuous training to ensure expertise. This ensures your paper is handled by a true professional. Our selective screening process maintains the highest standards of academic competence. You can trust our team to deliver top-quality work. Ace my homework with confidence knowing every writer meets stringent qualification standards.
After waiting a long time for his uncle to get home, he finally receives money for the bazaar. By the time the boy arrives to Araby, its too late. The event was shutting down for the night, and he didn’t have enough money to buy Mangan’s sister something nice like he promised. The boy left disappointed and heartbroken.
The theme in the classic story of Araby can compare to the legendary play known as Macbeth. Similarities in themes between both Macbeth and Araby are acknowledged by the reader. One of the themes in Araby is desire drives people.
The young boy is intrigued by the young woman and his heart has sent him out to return with a gift. His strong desire drove the boy and also let him down in the end. “I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I hardly had any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play. ” (Joyce 1150). This relates to the desire of Macbeth to be king, He would do anything it took to be King of Scotland and his desire is what drove him. However, Macbeth played foully to get to where he wanted unlike the young boy in Araby.
In both stories Macbeth and Araby, the characters got their hopes up, only to be crushed. In Macbeth, after becoming king, he became very greedy. He starting asking the witches about the future, which only brought his confidence up more. But as the story went on, Macbeth came to realize that the witches were only fooling him, and that he was about to be defeated. Later, the rightful owner to the Scottish throne was given the power. This mirrors Araby because the boy got permission to go to the bazaar, and he wanted to buy Mangan’s sister something nice.
Can You Prevent Paper Resale?
We never resell papers—each is custom-written and stored securely, with strict policies to protect your ownership. Your work stays yours alone. Once delivered, your paper belongs exclusively to you with full intellectual property rights. We guarantee complete confidentiality for every order. Paper writing ownership remains entirely yours with zero resale risk.
He waited all night for his uncle to get home, and at 10 o’clock he finally got on the train to attend the bazaar. However, after getting a snotty greeting from one of the workers, and not having enough money to actually buy something, the boy cries in frustration. He was so happy to go, and it only led to sorrow. The themes in both Macbeth and Araby are also portrayed very differently by the author. The theme of both is the same, but they are expressed in different ways. In Macbeth, Shakespeare builds up his character as a voracious and dishonest man. Even when he was appointed king, it wasn’t enough for him.
He feared everyone he thought would harm him, and therefore had them killed. Shakespeare made it very clear that Macbeth was a black-hearted man, who, at the end, was defeated. Now in Araby, the boy was not greedy. He simply admired Mangan’s sister, and we wanted her to like him as well. He got his hopes up when he received permission to visit that marketplace, and he wasn’t sinful in any way. He was just a sympathetic boy and that’s all Joyce made him out to be. The themes of desire and despair and both displayed in both Macbeth and Araby. In Araby the young boy is driven to get his crush a gift from the bazaar.
After all of his heart was counting on this night, he was let down and missed the event. In Macbeth, Macbeth desired to be king and tried everything he could to get there. After all his work and the false prophecies of the witches, Macbeth came to his doom. Although the characters deal with similar feelings, the authors use a different approach to express these. Araby features a young innocent boy while Macbeth portrays a greedy selfish man. The personalities of the characters portrayed by these authors makes a big difference in the way the reader feels for and connects with the characters and themes themselves.