English 11 First Task

In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the main character Macbeth says, “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” Macbeth is talking about how man (humans in general) can be very deceitful by hiding their emotions. One can simply smile and cover up any negative feeling or inclination and/or cruel intention they might have. It is part of human nature not to show or share every thought or emotion that goes through our head. Although some may show these more than others, no one shares exactly how they feel or what they are thinking every moment of the day. The ability to hide our emotions and intentions makes us human and makes life more complicated. Imagine how easy and simplistic life might have been if we had all been born as a dog or some parakeet locked up in a cage.

A time that sticks out most to me when I experienced “daggers in men’s smiles” was on my eleventh birthday. I had a few friends over and we were all sitting in my living room while I was opening my gifts. I don’t really remember what I got that year but I do remember the cruel trick my dad and my step mom pulled on me. They had given me a card and within this card was a check. This check however was much different than any other check I had received before. This check was made out for $500!! While I was thinking of all the possible things I could do with $500 my dad with a smile that surely contained daggers grabbed the check out of my hand and said, “How the hell did this get in here?” All of my hopes and dreams for that insane amount of money were crushed. For a split second I felt deceived, betrayed, and humiliated but then I realized how funny it was and I cracked a smile, finished my cake, and went outside for a game of football.