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Literary analysis macbeth motifs essay
Literary analysis macbeth motifs essay
Themes of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
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A motif is a recurring element, event, idea, or theme in a play. In Macbeth, the witches states, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” This motif is foreshadowing what is about to happen next. It is also saying that the weather is foul but Macbeth has won the battle.Throughout the play Macbeth, there are several motifs involved in the play . Recurrent motifs used in Macbeth are violence, hallucination, blood, nature, and gender.
The Middle Ages were very violent back in the day for the British people. Macbeth reveals a lot of violence throughout the play so he can become king. Banquo and Macbeth are fighting and here comes a brave sergeant saying, “For brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name- disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which
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Macbeth also uses violence to keep the throne and in order for him to keep his throne he must fight violently. Not only has he fought for his country but he also fought other people to become King. In act 2 scene 1, Macbeth starts to see a floating dagger in the air and he says, “I see thee still; and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before. There is no such thing.” ( Shakespeare 2.1.45-47). After killing Duncan he sees what he has done and what he has done is horrifying. Macbeth does not want to be violent but he has to be violent in this case because Duncan has tempted him to murder. Captain sees what is going on around him and says, “So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, or memorize another Golgotha, I cannot tell-” (Shakespeare 1.2.38-41). Captain is comparing another Golgotha to where Jesus was crucified at. In other words this is more …show more content…
But in this play Lady Macbeth played a huge role because ladies were not allowed to do plays and men dressed up as women. Lady Macbeth wanted her husband to stop being a coward and be a man so she says “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here , and fill me from the crown to the top- full of direst cruelty…” (Shakespeare 1.5.40-43). She calls on the spirits to make her into the man that her husband can’t be. Referring back to Adam and Eve because a woman was to do what a man asked of her to do. Asked God to “unsex” her so she can do the things that Macbeth hesitates to do. “...Lady Macbeth main persuasive tactic is to question her husband's manhood.” (Klett). Macbeth is showing feminism characteristics to why he can't step up to the plate and be the man instead his wife has to tell him what to do and how to do things right. Elizabeth Klett stated that, “Macbeth shows himself, military to be weak-willed and conscience-stricken about the deadly deed. (Klett).Lady Macbeth also says, “...I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, Had I sworn as you have done to this.” (Shakespeare 1.7.54-59). In the early modern period it was normal for them to breastfeed but not to kill a child was normal just because a baby was
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the motif of blood plays an important factor in the framework of the theme. A motif is a methodical approach to uncover the true meaning of the play. Macbeth, the main character in the play, thinks he can unjustly advance to the title of king without any variation of his honest self. The blood on Macbeth’s hands illustrates the guilt he must carry after plotting against King Duncan and yearning for his crown.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
One permeating aspect of Shakespeare’s depiction of masculinity is its dominance over femininity. Lady Macbeth is a vital contributor to this mindset throughout the plot. As a means of obtaining power, Lady Macbeth sees her femininity as an obstacle and obtaining masculine attributes as a step toward the throne. We see this when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and full me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (33). In this quote she is literally asking to replace her feminine attributes with masculine ones, which she perceives as cruelty and aggression. She continues to emphasize this ideal when she states “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall” (33). This line is a blatant reference ...
The main theme of Macbeth-the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints-finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
After a long and hard battle, the Sergeant says to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,- disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution , like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage till he fac’d the slave;” (1.2.16) . This quote shows that Macbeth is viewed as a valiant soldier and a capable leader. However, it does not take long for the real Macbeth to be revealed- a blindly ambitious man, easily manipulated by the prospect of a higher status. His quest for power is what drives his insanity, and after having been deemed the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s ambition can immediately be seen. In a soliloquy, Macbeth says, “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings; my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastica, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.140). Macbeth has just gained more power, and his immediate thought is of how to gain an even higher status as king. He imagines how to kill Duncan, and then is troubled by his thoughts, telling himself it is wrong. This inner struggle between Macbeth’s ambition and his hesitation to kill Duncan is the first sure sign of his mental deterioration. Although Macbeth does kill Duncan, he questions whether or not he should to do so, which is far different from how Macbeth feels about murder later in the play. Macbeth becomes king, and this power leads
Literary Devices used in Macbeth Imagine how dull a Shakespearean play would be without the ingenious literary devices and techniques that contribute so much to the fulfillment of its reader or viewer. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy that combines fact and legend to tell the story of an eleventh century king. Shakespeare uses numerous types of literary techniques to make this tragic play more appealing. Three literary devices that Shakespeare uses to make Macbeth more interesting and effective are irony, symbolism, and imagery. One technique that Shakespeare uses is ironic.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, various types of imagery are used throughout the play. Five of these images are nature, paradoxes, manhood, masks, and light vs. darkness. In Act I, Scene i, Line 1, the description of "Thunder and lightning" represents disturbances in nature. The witches are surrounded by a shroud of thunder and lightning, which might personify them as disturbances. In Act II, Scene i, the dark night creates a perfect scene for the baneful murders.
The untraditional marriage between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth shows how a woman takes charge of her marriage, showing she is the woman of the house. She is manly and all powerful over her husband. Lady Macbeth proves to be the untraditional woman of Scotland, she differs from the role of a traditional woman because she is not feminine as a woman should be, in fact she wishes she was a man. She tells the spirits to, “ unsex me here”. ( Enotes… unsex me here). This pertains to the theme of gender roles because it demonstrates how Lady Macbeth wishes it was a man. She’s manlier than her husband, that show the untraditional woman. Lady Macbeth feels her husband is to nice, friendly, and full of milk “ worrying her is to full of the milk of human kindness to take Duncan’s throne” ( Gale. Par 3). She worries that Macbeth has cold feet. He’s afraid of the consequence that will follow the murder; She planed the murder herself, because she didn’t believe he could do with out her help. She worries he is to manly to snatch the crown. So Lady Macbeth is manly enough to plan the murder, but wants Macbeth to commit the murder. ...
In conclusion, symbolism is used to emphasize a theme through repetition and imagery. It is used to emphasize the theme of the corruption of power due to Macbeth's actions. Blood representing guilt, blood murder, and pain, the contrast of light and dark representing good and evil and the archetypal pattern of purification by using water representing removal of guilt, cleansing and peace are the main symbols used repeatedly to emphasize this theme. These symbols portray the theme effectively to allow the audience to grasp and involve themselves into the play.
Shakespeare uses many forms of imagery in his plays. Imagery, the art of making images, the products of imagination. In the play Macbeth Shakespeare applies the imagery of clothing, darkness and blood. Each detail in his imagery contains an important symbol of the play. These symbols need to be understood in order to interpret the entire play.
Throughout history women have fought for the same rights of men. In the time of William Shakespeare they were seen in society as weak and vulnerable. They were seen to be good, caring and not as powerful as men. Men were the superior and ruled the land. Shakespeare has taken the stereotypical image of the women of the time and turned it on its head in ‘Macbeth’. Lady Macbeth is shown as a very powerful, strong woman. She has an evil about her that Shakespeare has used to make ‘Macbeth’ a supernatural play. Women were seen to be good and not as powerful as men, in ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth is the dominate character and commands and persuades Macbeth to commit the murders and crimes that he does.
Key elements in the play substantiate the fact that Macbeth is a serious story, the first elements of Aristotle’s definition. From the first lines of the play, the mood is set featuring witches whom speak of witchcraft, potions and apparitions. Not only do the three witches aid in making this a serious story but also, they appealed to Elizabethans whom at the time believed in such supernatural phenomena. War for centuries has represented killing and feuding, thus, the war taking place between Scotland and Norway provided a dark component. The Thane of Cawdor’s rapidly approaching execution due to his deceiving the king also plays a role in this grim work. Murder throughout all of Macbeth is an essential aspect when dealing with the seriousness of the play. From the beginning, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to do anything to overthrow King Duncan, whom is the king of Scotland, the role Macbeth desperately yearns for. During the excursion to become king, Macbeth successfully murders King Duncan, Macduff’s wife and children, and with the help of a group of murderers Banquo; a brave general who will inherit the Scottish throne. Through the whole play, while such dank occurrences are used to create deep mood, Shakespeare also uses strong language and words. Such as when Lady Macbeth calls upon the gods to make her man-like so she will have the fortitude to kill King Duncan herself in this quote, “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here… Make my blood thick… Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark.” This type of language provokes thoughts of death, blood and darkness though the imagery such dank words create. The play also follows through with its theme of blood by in the end of the play, having both of its lead characters die. Lady Macbeth, distraught by guilt over the bloodshed, commits suicide while Macbeth is murdered and beheaded by Macduff, a Scottish noblemen.
Lady Macbeth is one of the most compelling characters who challenges the concept of gender roles. Her relationship with Macbeth is atypical, particularly due to the standards of its time. Lady Macbeth becomes the psychologically controlling force over her husband, essentially assuming a masculine role, in order to inspire the aggression needed to fulfil his ambitions. Through her powerful taunts and persuasion, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder the king and to take his throne. She emasculates over her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove his manhood, he will perform the acts she wishes. In Act 1, Scene 5
One of the most important themes in Macbeth involves the witches' statement in Act 1, Scene1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10) This phrase aptly describes the macabre status quo within the character Macbeth and without. When Macbeth and Banquo first see the weird sisters, Banquo is horrified by their hideous appearances. Conversely, Macbeth immediately began to converse with these universally known evil creatures. After hearing their prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in reality their intentions were quite "foul." Macbeth's possession of the titles of Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland came by foul means. Macbeth became the Thane of Glamis by his father Sinel's death; he became Thane of Cawdor when the former namesake was executed for treason; and he was ordained King of Scotland after murdering the venerable Duncan. Thus, Macbeth has a rather ghastly way of advancing in life.
When a woman gets married the only things that they would do is cook, clean, and have babies. Earlier in the play Macbeth is saying “Bring forth men-children only, For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males”(Macbeth 1.7.83-85). The quote demonstrates how in the Elizabethan era men could demand their wives into something as sex of a child. The woman could not speak up against the men and must listen to their commands. When lady Macbeth enquires about King Duncan 's murder, Macduff says “O gentle lady, ’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman’s ear, Would murder as it fell”(Macbeth 2.3.96-99). This implies that she, as a woman, would be too weak to hear such a bloody crime. The people of that period thought that woman was not meant to see such things as a dead body and portrayed them as weak individuals. Later on, in the play Shakespeare took that aspect of the history and twisted it when writing his play when lady Macbeth said “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way”(Macbeth 1.5.15-18). Lady Macbeth establishes herself as the dominant partner in the marriage. It’s not the first time that Shakespeare has done that in Macbeth. Shakespeare made lady Macbeth be the one to convince and influence Macbeth into killing King Duncan which does strongly against the