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The Role Of Reasoning In Macbeth

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Megan Weetman Professor Rommesser Composition 1 October 6th, 2016 Macbeth In the beginning, Macbeth withholds a strong sense of judgement and moral standard for himself and his behavior. He is ripe to the slightest suggestions to murder his liege and lord. The three witches plant the seeds and Lady Macbeth waters them, however, Macbeth takes it upon himself to harvest the ugliness. Macbeth allows these multiple aspects to come between him and his power for reasoning which results in his downfall. During Act I, Scene III, the third witch powerfully says “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” Macbeth is very superstitious towards all three witches in the play and believes that everything they say is gold and will become true. …show more content…

Macbeth questions his wife on whether they will fail in completing the task of killing Duncan or whether it will lead to sentencing and punishment. She replies to him by saying, “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking place,/ and we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep—/ Whereto the rather shall day’s hard journey/ Will I with wine and wassail so convince,/ That memory, the warder of the brain,/ Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason/ A limbec only: when in swinish sleep/ What cannot you and I perform upon/ The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon/ His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt/ Of our great quell?” Alongside her efforts to persuade Macbeth to do the deed she explains to him as to why the plan will not fail. This, in addition to the help of the witches, is a turning point in the play where Macbeth allows Lady Macbeth’s cunning mind and negligent advice to intercept his knowledge on what is right and what is wrong. Although, in turn, Lady Macbeth should be more cognizant towards her husband, as a potential king and strong leader, Macbeth should be able to uphold strength behind his own beliefs and should evaluate each situation for himself. Instead, he jumps at the first opinion of someone who does not have his best interest at

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