Is Macbeth Still Relevant Today

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Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s famous plays, and is considered one of his darkest and most powerful works. Macbeth is not relevant to modern society. The story of the play is irrelevant and modern audiences cannot connect with it. Furthermore, the characters are only partly relevant as modern audiences can only relate to some of them. However, what modern society can relate to are the themes as they are still evident today.
Macbeth’s storyline is not relevant to modern society. The plot is about a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy that one day he will become king. He then kills the king to fulfil the prophecy. He soon becomes a tyrant and then gets overthrown by the country. The prophecy can be seen where …show more content…

Ambition can be seen in Macbeth when he is told that he will become king. This is seen when Macbeth says to the three witches: “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (Act 1, Scene 3). He does not wait for this to happen so he kills King Duncan to become king. Modern audiences can understand this as ambition is still seen today. It is a natural emotion to feel ambitious and people work to achieve these feelings. An example is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. He had lots of ambition to develop technology but he had to step over other people to get to where he was. Guilt is also shown throughout the play. After killing King Duncan, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel guilty and hallucinate about the blood on their hands that will not wash off. This is demonstrated when Macbeth cries out: “What hands are here! Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Act 2, Scene 2). This demonstrates guilt as they are haunted by their act. Modern audiences can relate to this because feeling guilty is common after doing something wrong. The themes of ambition and guilt are still evident in modern society and as a result are still

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