Throughout the play, readers get a sense of the ongoing battle between Macbeth’s relentless greed for kingship and what he perceives as being morally wrong. This tussle serves to portray the traits of both his ambition and his flimsy moral values. In the beginning of the soliloquy, Macbeth hallucinates a dagger whose handle points towards his hand. The dagger, and its specific position, simply symbolizes the act of murder that Macbeth is about to commit, further helping to embolden the recurring theme of violence found throughout the play. “Come, let me hold you.
The play in general is about a nobleman who was once trusted and loyal to others turned into a power-hungry murderer after having a conclave with three witches. His plans to deceive the King and murder do become true but he does face many problems regarding it later. After claiming the throne to himself, Macbeth is faced with greater challenges as nobleman around Scotland try to thwart him off his reign over Scotland. In the play Macbeth also faces more problems such as his own internal conflict with his decisions before he plans to murder the king. On one side, Macbeth has to decide if he has to assassinate the king in order to gain control over Scotland and face treason if he is caught.
Unlike Oedipus, after realizing the accuracy of his prophecy, instead of avoiding all possible negative actions, Macbeth devises a plan with the help of his wife to murder Duncan in order to fulfil the dark prophecy. However Macbeth’s weak character becomes provoked by a disappearing dagger, which he hallucinates before the murder of Duncan. The further Macbeth travels the path of corruption, the further he travels from reality, and illusions become his truth. Macbeth acts upon his illusions and as he hears the Lady Macbeth’s bell he questions whether Duncan will go to heaven or to hell, a choice Macbeth lost (Shakespeare 2.1.75-77). Throughout the play Shakespeare illuminates Macbeth’s escape from reality.
Power is always coveted in any society and the world of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. In the play, Macbeth, a noble lord, shows his hunger for power with thoughts to remove an heir to the throne from power. Macbeth’s impatience to be king leads him to stain his honor by using murder. Macbeth travels further down the path of evil by arranging the assassination of a friend. Macbeth loses his last scrap of morality when he orders the murder of innocents to enrage a rival.
Macbeth thinks about his line of succession, and thinks to himself “ No son of mine succeeding,if’t be so, for Banquo’s issue have i filled my mind: For them the gracious Duncan have i murder’d” (III.i.67-69). This is stating that Macbeth killed Duncan because he knew his kids would become kings after him, and Macbeth didn’t like this. Macbeth killed Duncan for his petty ways to get what he wants and to become king. Being angry and killing innocent Duncan are a way of being seen as the villain, which Macbeth had been proven to be. Macduff son thinks out loud to his mom “Young fry of treachery he has
Macbeth then decided to murder is own friend Banquo and his son Fleance. Here, Shakespeare is trying to depict Macbeth’s greed for his throne and the shift from a brave Macbeth into a fearful and brutal one who is merciless. This extract is engaged with characterization, imagery, and language to further identify this fearful Scottish king.
Macbeth practice essay: The following analyse deals with an extract, Act 3, scene 1, from Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. Prior to this extract Macbeth, our main character, has recently murdered the king, Duncan, and has ascended to the throne himself. This extract deals with interactions of Macbeth with others and himself just before he sends an assassin to kill Banquo, a 'friend' of Macbeth's who Macbeth thinks may suspect him. In this extract we see Macbeth grappling with his own conscience as well as his anger and paranoia over the witches' prophecy that it will be Banquo's sons, not Macbeth's, that will take over the throne. This extract also deals with a lot of irony and foreshadowing especially revolving around a feast that Macbeth throws
It can be argued that Hamlet is the most complex character Shakespeare has ever written, there has been many debates revolving around his insanity (real or fake). The progression of Hamlet is quite astonishing he begins as a young prince with the world in his hand, to a lunatic who becomes obsessed with revenging his father’s death. The revenge theme is acted upon throughout the novel and is essentially what drives Hamlet. He believes that Claudius has killed his father (we later find out this is true), this begins his investigating. We can be easily fooled by Hamlets insanity but there is intelligence behind his every move.
Macbeth attempts to stand up for himself by saying “I dare do all that may become a man” (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 51)Their plan to kill Duncan was to get his two attendants drunk, so they would pass out and be blamed for the death of King Duncan. While Lady Macbeth is waiting to hear if Duncan is dead, her husband shows up with his hands covered in blood and with the dagger. Lady Macbeth takes the dagger back to Duncan’s and places it on the guards. Macbeth was talking about his hands being bloody and she said, “My hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white.”(Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 81-82) Lady Macbeth is feeling guilty about what she has done at this point. This plan showed that they would harm anyone to get the titles, King and Queen.
Throwing Moralities to the Wind “Set within reach of triumph, who is not tempted to reach?”(Low). Macbeth is a character from The Tragedy of Macbeth who defines what it means to be influenced by the temptation of power. Upon the arrival of the three witches, Macbeth learns that he will soon become king of Scotland. Heavily influenced by the prophecy, Macbeth takes actions in order to fulfill his prophecy of gaining power over the entire nation. His ambition for power soon conflicts with his morals as Macbeth does an incorrigible act of killing the current king of Scotland and taking over the throne.