Use Of The Word Night In Macbeth

Greed, death and regret. These are just some of the major emotions going on in Macbeth’s mind during his play. When the play starts, three witches tell Macbeth that he will be king as he is returning from a victorious battle. When he returns the current king of Scotland acknowledges his bravery in battel and commends him. Macbeth then invites the king to his own castle and the king accepts. Macbeth arrives at his castle before the king and tells his wife of what happened. She tells him to kill the king that night but Macbeth is reluctant. When the king arrives, he is welcomed and made comfortable. That night when he goes to sleep, Lady Macbeth beguiles the guards into getting drunk and Macbeth continues to question whether he should kill

Macbeth is thinking about the implications of assassinating the King and potential consequences of such an act. Lady Macbeth planted the idea into Macbeth in order for Macbeth to ponder such things implied in the idea of assassination of the King. In the beginning of Macbeth’s soliloquy, Macbeth turns over the idea of punishment for such an act in his mind and brings up the point of having punishment in “the life to come.” (Shakespeare 288) even if he gets away with the act on Earth. He then tries to find reason to kill Duncan besides his own ambitions for power and cannot find any reason as he says that he is Duncan’s kinsman and should “shut the door [on the murderer], / Not bear the knife myself.” (Shakespeare 288). He also brings up the point that Duncan is a benevolent king ant that “tears shall drown the wind.” (Shakespeare 288) if King Duncan dies. This passage shows Macbeth’s ego as id and superego, which, in this case, are ambition for power and civility respectively, is at play and influencing his upcoming actions, along with Lady Macbeth’s

Throughout the drama, Shakespeare uses apostrophe as a way to communicate a character’s emotions to the reader; he does this with Macbeth as well as Lady Macbeth, and while both instances portray how desire for power can lead to the loss of a person’s integrity, it is during Macbeth’s monologue that the reader is able to understand the internal conflict that takes place in a struggle for power. 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

Macbeth is very rational at the beginning of the novel and makes decisions that he know’s would help other people plus himself, later on after the murder of Duncan his rationality decreases, his mind goes crazy and he kills people for no reason, this illustrates his good morals and values being destroyed. Before the killing of Duncan, Macbeth is very reasonable, and notices the good from the bad, the smart from the dumb, so every little detail catches the eye of him. Therefore, when the three witches come over to him he is amazed at there beauty and willfulness, “speak if you can. What are you”(1.3.50)? The way the witches praise and talk to Macbeth makes him feel powerful and almost as their leader. Macbeth then realizes through his friends and fellow people, Banquo his trusty friend who may just knock some sense

Macbeth 's renowned declamation at the opening of this act familiarizes a vital theme: visions and hallucinations caused by guilt. The "dagger of the mind" that Macbeth perceives is not "ghostly" or supernatural so much as a demonstration of the internal brawl that Macbeth feels as he envisages the regicide. It "marshal[s] [him] the way [he] was going," swaying him toward the gruesome action he has determined to obligate, haunting and possibly also provoking him (II i 42). The identical can be said for the ghostly voice that Macbeth hears after he kills Duncan. Indeed, practically all the supernatural elements in this play could be, and habitually are, read as psychological rather than ghostly incidences. The "dagger of the mind" is only one

She was also calling Duncan and his guards defenseless while in the vulnerable state of sleep. Lady Macbeth is taking advantage of their vulnerable sleep to kill Duncan. When the Lady Macbeth commits the murder of Duncan, guilt fills her mind. Sleep, which should be her most peaceful time of the day, now becomes “a great perturbation in nature,” full of anxiety and torture. Her hallucinations while sleepwalking build her growing insanity, and she has completely lost grip of reality.

When Macbeth hears a voice cry “sleep no more”(Mac.2.2.33), it was the beginning of many of his illusions. He suffered from guilt after killing King Duncan and wasn’t able to sleep. Macbeth goes on to have more illusions throughout the story such as when he saw the bloody ghost of Banquo. Macbeth was the only one that could see Banquo, making him think that “the table’s full”(Mac.3.4.46) when they went to sit down for dinner. Macbeth continues to see the ghost of Banquo throughout dinner causing him to have sudden and unexplained outbursts.Lady Macbeth tries to explain her husband’s odd behavior by saying “My lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth”(Mac 3.4.53-54). She does this so people don 't grow suspicious and question what Macbeth is saying. Macbeth loses his free will because he ses illusions and lives in a false

In the play you are able to see that Macbeth has low moral standards.He chooses power and fame over honesty.This portrays how he has allowed his ambition to control him while ignoring the quality of being virtuous and ignoring his immense guilt in committing a murder.He attempted to hide his darkness from the world so that other people would continue to see him as a man that is worthy of honour. However, after Macbeth murders Duncan in act two, scene two, he says I am scared to think what I have done. Look on it again I dare not.” I think he means he is afraid of fear what he has done and don't want to look back or do it again.

Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive. Moreover, this realization leads Lady Macbeth to think about murdering King Duncan for her and Macbeth to gain power. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s cruel character, she reveals her desirous thoughts towards the crown. Lady Macbeth continues her speech and mentions her unquenching thirst to take Duncan’s power. “Make thick my blood. Stop the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace with the effect and it!” (lines 33-37). Again, Lady Macbeth shows her lust for power. Her exceptional amount of greed continues to motivate

Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes. He was so caught up with the personal gain of his crimes that he lost sight of the immorality. Through his sudden burst of regret and fear, Macbeth is exposing himself similarly to how the victims of his crimes were exposed in their state of sleep. The vulnerable state of the

The word “sleep” is used throughout Macbeth with various connotations. One of the ways to interpret Shakespeare's use of “sleep,” is as a symbol of innocence. This symbolism is used repeatedly in concerns to Duncan and his murder. When Lady Macbeth is unable to kill Duncan, she explains, “Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done’t” (II.ii.15-17). Lady Macbeth sees her father, someone who is also an innocent in her mind, in sleeping Duncan, showing that she also sees Duncan’s innocence. This can also be taken as Lady Macbeth staying innocent by forcing Macbeth to kill Duncan opposed to her. The correlation between innocence and sleep can also be seen when describing the guards who are framed. They are described as both as “those

In this paper, the use of imagery is described as it is used in the poem Macbeth by Shakespeare. In the poem, darkness has been more associated with evil to the extent of the deception. In the modern society, darkness tends to be the key characteristic of evil. William Shakespeare, therefore, employs the use of imagery in his poem to depict darkness as evil. The author uses numerous darkness images in the poem as well as night images. In addition to this, he also indicates some of the sinister deals that are usually performed in places where there is darkness or at night. All this imagery is seen throughout the poem starting from the Act 1.

With the context of the rest of the scene, Macbeth is noticing what time it is, near dusk when the day is shifting into night, when diurnal animals, animals that are usually active during the day, which includes humans, are going into sleep and nocturnal animals, which are active during the night, are waking up to start their hunting. Here, there are clear distinctions between how Macbeth views the night versus the day. The “good things of day” that Macbeth mentions are the gentleness, politeness and order that exist in the day. Under the light of the sun, people are often their best selves, as there is nothing to hide under. People, like Macbeth, put on gentle and kind façades in order to keep others from suspecting them of harm or in order to blend into a society that is based on mannerisms and order. The day is also associated with holiness and pureness because of the numerous allegories of light with goodness and God in the Bible, which most people at this time read or listened to and followed. For example, the King James version of the Bible, which was completed in 1611, contains the

In Act IV, the three witches played a major role in providing important prophecies concerning Macbeth. The song “Witches Brew” illustrates the wickedness of the Weird Sisters. When creating their potion, the witches add ingredients, such as an “eye of newt” and a “toe of frog” (Shakespeare 4.1.14), that are often associated with evil and nasty creatures. The Weird Sisters use this concoction to reveal Macbeth’s apparitions, a dark premonition depicting his downfall. If the witches knew about Macbeth’s demise all this time, it proves the nature of their malevolence. Furthermore, the witches are described as “secret, black, and midnight hags” (Shakespeare 4.1.48), where black is a symbolism of darkness and death.

In scene 1 of act 2, Lady Macbeth discusses her plans to murder King Duncan. She said to her husband “That memory, the warder of the brain,/ Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason/ A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep/ Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death,/ What cannot you and I perform upon/ Th’ unguarded Duncan?” (2.1). Lady Macbeth talks about her plan to provide alcohol for the chamberlains, and how they will be sleeping after their heavy drinking, and use this advantage to make killing the king easier. Sleep is used literally to describe the chamberlains being unconscious.