Throughout the story of Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambition for power, provoked by his significant other, Lady Macbeth, and the witches’ prophecies consumed his life. At first he committed murder against King Duncan so he could become king himself, but the one murder had a domino affect. Although ambition can be a positive attribute for someone to acquire, Macbeth’s ambition began in Act One and proved dangerous as his death approached in Act Five. In Act One of Macbeth, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches that tell them three prophecies. One at a time, each witch mentioned a prophecy, “All hail Macbeth, Thane of Glamis!
In Act II Scene i, we see that Macbeth has decided to go along with the plan, “Is this a dagger which I see before me/ The handle towards my hand?/ Come, let me clutch thee!/ I have the not/ and yet I see thee still/ Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/ To feeling as to sight/ or art thou but/ A dagger of the mind, a false creation/ proceeding from the heat/ oppressed brain?/ I see thee yet/ in form as palpable/ As this which now I draw (II. i. 41-49)” In this scene Macbeth is waiting for the signal to kill the men and still full of fear he sees an imaginary dagger that summons him. It draws him in and creates a delusion that he is going to use this dagger to kill the king. At the end of this vision he hears the signal, that no one else can hear because they are all passed out drunk, “I go and it is done/ The bell invites me/ Hear it not, Duncan/ for it is knell/ That summons thee to heaven or hell (II.
This will make it look like Macbeth has nothing to do with the treasonous act of killing the ruler. “Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them and smear The sleepy grooms with blood” (Shakespeare II. ii.
The dagger is his temptation and represents his future destiny of violence. His hallucinations represent his guilty conscious and temptation, but also inspire him to continue to kill to stay king. However, he does not realize that he can not kill more to run away from what he has done and what his destiny is. As the play continue, Macbeth becomes worse and worse and his hallucinations represent how he is digging deeper into madness. All together his visions are a symbol of his violence, actions, and
In a soliloquy he has before killing Duncan, Macbeth hallucinates a floating dagger in front of him, ultimately hinting to the reader that he is mentally unstable as he ponders for the last time whether killing Duncan is the right move. In another speech found later in the play, now as King, Macbeth becomes extremely ruthless, to the point that his wife’s death doesn’t even phase him. Going from a brave hero-like general, to a disturbed and ruthless King, Macbeth’s overall character drastically changes throughout the play.
However, Macbeth’s ambition is aroused by the witches’ prophecy, which is that he will be the future king. Macbeth is struggling and entangled with the advantage and disadvantage of killing Duncan. Macbeth appears hallucination under the temptation of power: “Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’ other senses, / Or else worth all the reset I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not before. There’s no such thing. / It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to my eyes” (2.2.45-50).
Macbeth has a few fears about murdering the lord yet Lady Macbeth addresses his masculinity by letting him know that on the off chance that he was a genuine man, he would slaughter him. In the play, Macbeth says to himself, "The ruler of Cumberland! That is a stage I should either tumble down from or else jump over, for it lies in my way. "(Act 1 scene 4 Lines 55-57) Macbeth acknowledges he should get more power. He's not fulfilled by simply being the Thane.
“Where we are, there’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood, the nearer bloody” (2.4.122-123). Donalbain and Malcolm know it was one of his father’s men who have killed him. They refer as the murderer as a blood relative. In conclusion, the idea that Macbeth is a work in which human feelings mix with enigma and mystery should be highlighted.
This begs the question- is the dagger really there or is it just in the eyes of the beholder? The dagger is an illusion and to Macbeth represents his true evil intent that only he can see. In relation to Lucifer, the dagger Macbeth is an illusion of Lucifer disobeying God in attempt to achieve a higher power. Symbolically, it represents how Macbeth’s devil in disguise was just an illusion until the witches prophesized his fate and now he has the motivation to unleash his inner self. Additionally, his obsession and greed for power allows him to see a dagger which ultimately leads him to kill Duncan.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is about Macbeth killing Duncan, who is the king, and what happens after Duncan died. Macbeth faces internal struggles throughout the play so much so that it is as if it is his consequence for what he did. “Methought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep- the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in the life’s feast” (Act II, Scene II, Lines 33-38). After he killed Duncan, he heard voices talking about what he did and told Lady Macbeth.