Theme Of Self Destruction In Macbeth

Macbeth hallucinates a vision of a bloody dagger pointing him in the direction of the king, and interprets it as a sign to go through with the murder; however, he goes back on his word a moment later, doubting its significance: “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?” (Shakespeare II.

Temptation and Sin: Temptation is the origin of Macbeth’s tragedy. At the beginning, Macbeth is a loyal citizen who has a conscience. However, ever since Macbeth hears from the Weird Sisters about his prophecy to be ruler, he experiences an ongoing struggle with temptation. He hesitates before his first act of murder, but greed gets the best of him. The temptation to have the crown encourages him to murder, a mortal sin.

After realizing the severity his plan to succeed the throne, Macbeth reveals his hesitancy towards killing King Duncan, and it is at that moment that he calls out to a “dagger of the mind” which symbolizes his guilt and temptation to carry out the evil deed (2. 1. 39). Inevitably, Macbeth’s desire for power outweighed his moral integrity, and he carries out the murder of King Duncan, beginning the slow spiral of his own demise mentally and physically. Shakespeare uses this apostrophe as a way to highlight the importance of the idea of murder and how easily its concept can be corrupted by greed. Before being told he would be king, Macbeth was content with

In this case, the good would be Macbeth’s thoughts towards the murder of King Duncan, before when he thought as a loyal soldier would. The evil won and he became ambitious and oblivious to his actions just to end up dead, killed by Macduff as revenge for his family. The blood on every page of the play shows the guilt of Macbeth and how it drove him to the end, just for his

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)

This type of sentiment can be seen when Macbeth says “ Bloody instructions,being taught, return to plague the inventor” (Act 1, scene 7). Here, with the use of personification, we can see that Macbeth is wrestling with his ambition, as he is still toying with the idea of whether to kill Duncan or not. Macbeth is aware that murdering Duncan is bad and could eventually lead to even more bloodshed, he is also aware that murdering Duncan could ruin his honor which he greatly values. Macbeth states that Duncan is a good man and a good king, and from this he decides that ambition is not enough to justify the possible regicide of King Duncan.

Macbeth is already having second thoughts about killing Duncan, but Lady Macbeth refuses to allow him to give up the opportunity to be king by attacking his manhood, she says: “When you durst do it, then you are a man” (1.7.49). Apart from the preternatural forces, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manliness, knowing that it is the greatest insult she can direct at him as he is a warrior above everything. She believes in the witches’ predictions as she says: “Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal” (1.5.28-29). It is by means of attacking his manhood, something fundamental to his notion of himself as a warrior, that Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband, affecting his mental state and leading to Duncan’s murder.

Her idea is to kill the current king Duncan by getting him drunk and murdering him in his sleep. Macbeth hesitates to perform this action, and Lady Macbeth responds to his uncertainty, “when you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man.” (I.vii.56-58) This quote proves how Lady Macbeth believes that in order to be a man, Macbeth needs to kill Duncan to show how he is valiant and indomitable therefore elucidating the impression that Lady Macbeth’s definition of a man is being strong and courageous. Macbeth continues to be fearful and replies, “If we should fail [this murder?]” (I.vii.68).

(1.4.55-56) Here we do understand that he doesn 't want to commit the murder, but he is still going to do that thing he is horrified to do because his ambition is stronger than his conscience . All hail ... thane of Glamis! ...thane of Cawdor! ...

Leading up to the murder of King Duncan Macbeth seems Indecisive, he can’t seem to make up his mind about the assassination and seems to be battling his thoughts between his ambitions and desires to be king and his loyalty and reputation. Spoken by Macbeth in his soliloquy in Act 1 scene 7 “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well/ It were done quickly” shows his sense of urgency, he wants to get the murder done ‘quickly’, he’s afraid of the consequences of the murder, after all it is a crime he would have to commit and it would only be natural for him to feel nervous which revealing his paranoia. Furthermore the use of monosyllabic words such as ‘it’, ‘were’ and ‘done’ give the his a fast paced structure which mimics the content of