Equivocation In Macbeth Analysis

Annette Valdouin Ms.Dalton English 01/10/16 The Supernatural in Macbeth In the Shakespearean play Macbeth, Shakespeare includes supernatural elements such as the imaginary dagger, Banquo’s ghost, and the witches apparitions to give the audience insight as to how fragile Macbeth’s psyche is. In act two Macbeth is readying himself to kill King Duncan when he says, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/The handle toward my hand?” (2.1.33-34).

In our world, manipulation takes place in everyday life as a natural impulse for both men and women. In Macbeth, manipulation is centralized around the mask of ambition displaying dominance over humanity. Certainly the witch’s, Lady Macbeth, and our fallen hero Macbeth become puppets of Manipulation it self. Consequently the witch’s power to influence decision-making causes the initial deterioration of Macbeth, along with Lady Macbeth’s influential desire for the throne, and thus Macbeth use of manipulation to create a new embodiment of a mask suffused in ambition for his own cruel deeds.

Importance of control elsewhere in the play • How control is shown • Reasons for control within the play Control is a recurring theme in the play "Macbeth" as it warns the audience of the repercussions of trying to control your fate. The first key event where control features in a significant way is the witches' prophecies. They tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland which establishes the importance of fate. Shakespeare conveys the witches as agents of evil that are deceptive and dangerous, "oftentimes to win us to our harm/the instruments of darkness tell us truths," showing that they use truth itself to influence a horrible outcome (Macbeth's tragic demise.) Their message is compelling and attractive and we

. Speak, I charge you" (1.3.78-81). After people learn about the desire for power one has, the fear of what they think of them may be translated into rage. Desire for power can also bring out a fearful confusion between right and wrong. After receiving the prophecy from the witches, Macbeth is dragged into a "fantastical" frame of mind (1.3.152).

(1.3.134-137) It is evident that Macbeth’s ambition is getting the best of him because he is already considering committing regicide to get what he wants. “The Macbeth witches are essential to the plot of Macbeth because they provide Macbeth’s ‘call to action’. Their prophesies drive his thirst for power and enable Lady Macbeth to pursue her own ambitions.” (Jamieson n.p) As outlined in this quote, the witches are the ‘fuel to the fire’ and directly use his susceptibility to suggestion to drive his motive to be king.

In Shakespeare 's Macbeth, Malcolm describes Lady Macbeth as a “fiend-like Queen” The definition of fiend is someone who has an evil spirit, a person who is a cruel, brutal or spiteful person and is extremely wicked. Shakespeare presents elements of wicked deception in Lady Macbeth’s character throughout the play through her choice of form and language which is used to mask the evil of the deed she is convincing him to do, an example of this is in Act 1 Scene 5 when she chooses to use the word ‘dispatch’ over ‘murder’ to desensitize the horror of the killing. This is an effective choice of language from Lady Macbeth as it tricks Macbeth into believing the death of King Duncan was inevitable as it had already been prophecised so therefore he wasn’t committing treason, murder or disrupting the natural order which was believed to have been decided by God at the time by society.

Control is a recurring theme in the play "Macbeth" as it warns the audience of the reprecussions of trying to control your fate. The first key event where control features in a significant way is the witches prophecies. They tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland which establishes the importance of fate. Shakespeare conveys the witches as agents of evil that are deceptive and dangerous, "oftentimes to win us to our harm/the instruments of darkness tell us truths," showing that they use truth itself to influence a horrible outcome (Macbeth 's tragic demise.) Their message is compelling and attractive and we can clearly see their effect on Macbeth as it greatly contrasts to that of Banquo.

The Witches play a crucial role in the development of the narrative; their actions contribute greatly to the downwards spiral of Macbeth’s life and sanity, and the murder of King Duncan. Their introduction to the play establishes a supernatural element that is consistent throughout the play, allowing for further exploration of ideas such as the destruction of oneself as a result of being overambitious. Shakespeare creates a stormy, bleak, and ominous atmosphere when the Witches are first introduced, successfully associating them with a negative atmosphere. It is through their prophecies that Macbeth’s lust for the throne is encouraged, consequently leading him to his own demise and destruction of Scotland. The

In Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of appearance vs. reality to emphasize how a limited perspective of something or someone will most likely lead to the destructive nature of deception. This is shown in the first act of the play where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hold false appearances to keep their plans a secret and later in the play when Macbeth is king and dealing with the guilt of killing the king and Banquo’s death. In the first act at the start of the play the motif is introduced by three witches chanting “fair is foul, and foul is fair”(1.1.12). This sets up one of the main themes of the play.

The play, ‘Macbeth’, is centered around the theme of ‘disturbed emotions’ which is usually caused by seeing or causing something traumatic and leaving an emotional scar on oneself. Some symptoms of disturbed emotions include hallucinations related to traumatising events, severe paranoia, extreme sensitivity to things relating to traumatising events and spacing out at odd times. ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, often shortened to ‘Macbeth’, was written by Shakespeare for James I, who has succeeded the throne after Queen Elizabeth had died in 1603. The play was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This is relevant to the play as they are both about betrayal towards the king and getting someone else onto the throne.

Kailie Coles Mrs. Hendricks CLR 12-3 23 January, 2016 If someone offered you a glimpse into your future, would you accept it? An ambitious warrior made that mistake and it tore a kingdom apart. The tragic play, Macbeth, was written by William Shakespeare and tells the story of a power driven and ruthless Thane and then King.

Macbeth and his companion Banquo experience the three "irregular sisters" in Act I, scene iii, on their way to a heath. Despite the fact that tested by Banquo at initially, the Witches continue to hail Macbeth, the "Thane of Glamis," "Thane of Cawdor," and "ruler from this point forward" (I.iii.46–48). These words that "sound so reasonable" are considered by Macbeth, who gets to be fixated on the thought of his majesty. As we as a whole know, this fixation started by the Witches' prescience expends Macbeth, and his activities taking after his meeting with them are all made with the purpose of making those predictions work out as expected. Had it not been for the just about phantom like Witches to show up, Macbeth may never have sought after the throne, in any event in the way of taking it upon himself.

Since the Macbeth’s wanted power so badly, they use excessive amount of force to get what they want causing them to lose themselves in their inner evil. In the play, Macbeth, the corrupting influence of power can cause people like the Macbeth’s to do acts they wouldn’t normally do. After hearing that the Macbeth’s could become king and queen, they plan on doing something treacherous. First, Macbeth was very loyal to Duncan, he would fight till the death for him.

Irony that is in inherent in speeches or a situation of drama and is understood by the audience but not the characters in the play. When Duncan says he trusts Macbeth, but he shouldn't trust him at all because he wants to become king, Act 1 Scene 4. In Act 2 Scene 3, the murder of Duncan is exposed. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both act as if they are innocent in his murder. What Macbeth says about it is clear to us that he is attempting to maintain his innocence while other characters at this point in the story are shocked and in disbelief of what had happened to the

Gender-Role Reversal in Macbeth During the time period in which Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, the frail, tender, and submissive stereotype of women was in full force. Yet, in Macbeth, Shakespeare writes women to be powerful, intelligent, and dominant; Macbeth was full of gender-role reversals. Lady Macbeth showed many examples of this althroughout this five act play.