Do You Think Macbeth Is Trying To Justify His Actions

915 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychological readings of macbeth

Act 3 Scenes 1-4
Shakespeare incorporates Christianity in the play. In Act 3 Scene 1, Macbeth talks about his guardian angel being scared like how Mark Anthony’s was towards Octavius Caesar; “My genius is rebuked, as it said / Mark Anthony's was by Caesar” (3.1.61-62). Justify why Macbeth would believe he still has a guardian angel even though he couldn’t vocalize ‘amen.’

Appraise Lady Macbeth’s inclination in Act 3 Scene 2. Why do you think Shakespeare would delude the audience into thinking that she will be a demon-like figure, then quickly change her temperament to a uneased and fearing human?

Analyse Macbeth’s line, “Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill” (3.2.61). Do you think Macbeth is trying to justify his actions? If so, …show more content…

Choose yourself if you believe Macbeth is forever going to mistakenly decide between being injurious and good, or if he’ll completely discard his options and not understand the disparities.

From the scene where Banquo is about to be killed, “The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day” (3.3.7), and after Macbeth hallucinates Banquo’s ghost, “Almost at odds with morning, which is which?” (3.4.158). Formulate a precept regarding the motif of darkness. What can you predict will happen in the next scene due to the merge of day and night?

Act 3 Scenes 5-6 + Act 4 Scenes …show more content…

/ Eye of newt and toe of frog / Wool of a bat and a tongue of a dog, / Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, / Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing… Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, / Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf / Of the ravined salt-sea shark, / Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark, / Liver of blaspheming Jew, / Gall of goat and slips of yew / Slivered in the moon’s eclipse / Nose of Turn and Tartar’s lips, / Finger of birth-strangled babe / Ditch-delivered by a drab / Make the gruel thick and slab. / Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron… Cool it with a baboon’s blood / Then the charm is firm and good” (4.1.12-38). Assemble the symbolisms of the animals the witches use. For example, breaking apart the “Filler of a fenny snake” (4.1.12), a swamp is a forewarning that an adverse situation will arise, and a snake signifies malaise. Afterwards, determine what kind of charm would this

Show More
Related

  • Placing the Blame in Macbeth

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    At this point in the play he is the newly appointed thane of Glamis. Immediately after the predictions, news arrives that he is to be thane of Cawdor. Macbeth cannot help but wonder whether the third prediction will come true or not. Banquo says that the forces of darkness use the truth to win us to harm, but Macbeth's ambition makes him unwilling to believe this. & nbsp; There is an ambiguity in Macbeth. Do the witches represent inevitable fate, and is there in this instance the triumph of the forces of darkness, or does Macbeth have free will?

    Read More

  • Macbeths Ambition As Displayed In Act 1, Scene 7

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act I, scene 7, Macbeth hesitates because of both pragmatic and moral causes; although, his moral scruples seem to overpower the pragmatic arguments. Macbeth is torn between these two issues, and his unique way of deciphering his problems is exhibited in this scene. Macbeth feels that if he were to assassinate the king, Duncan, that he better do it soon. The first line of Act I, scene 7 begins with, “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well; It were done quickly.” So, basically, Macbeth feels that if the crime was committed when it needed to be, and if it were done quickly, then he would be safe. This argument is a moral concern toward Macbeth, this is the first thought that comes to his mind, because it is exhibited in the fist line of his soliloquy. Macbeth is hesitant to murder Duncan, because he feels that he would be eternally punished in hell for committing such a heinous crime.

    Read More

  • Free Essay on Shakespeare's Macbeth - Deceitful Lady Macbeth

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is overly whelmed by the letter she receives about Macbeth. This pushes her to the extreme and causes her to react outrageously. " Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…make thick my blood…take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers…come thick night." (I;v;40-50) All these images of darkness and horror reveal the true character of Lady Macbeth; she feels the need to become wicked. Her attitude is even more horrific when she calls on evil spirits to come and possess her, taking control of her actions. This sort of behavior causes the audience and reader to assume Lady Macbeth is a psychopath, and therefore would have reason to hold her responsible for having a major impact on her husband and driving him off, enlightening a twisted sinister and threatening dark side of him.

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth- Character Changes Throughout The Play

    1848 Words  | 4 Pages

    As Macbeth becomes less dependent on his wife, she loses more control. She loses control of her husband, but mostly, of herself, proving her vacillating truth. Lady Macbeth’s character gradually disintegrates through a false portrayal of unyielding strength, an unsteady control of her husband and shifting involvement with supernatural powers.Throughout the duration of play Lady Macbeth’s truly decrepit and vulnerable nature is revealed. Lady Macbeth has been the iron fist and authority icon for Macbeth, yet deep down, she never carried such traits to begin with. This duality in Lady Macbeth’s character plays a huge role in planting the seed for Macbeth’s downfall and eventual demise.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Macbeth

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir?” Macbeth ponders after three witches foresee that he will become king in the tragic play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare (349). Macbeth is wondering how he could become king of Scotland without him intervening as he is not in line for the throne. He believes that he will have to take action to gain this position. Macbeth was right to doubt fate, because his choices led to his ascension to the throne and, later in the play, to his downfall.

    Read More

  • Protection Of Power In Macbeth

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    Motivated solely by the purging of the one “Which keeps [him] pale,” day transitions to night, and Macbeth prepares to kill Banquo and Fleance as the “light thickens,” connoting that an unfortunate death, the death of Banquo, will soon transpire. The transition from day to night is also symbolic of the ending of Banquo existence. Waiting to ambush Banquo and Fleance, the “black agents,” prepare to commit the questionable crime of assassination “to their preys” (6-9). By utilizing “black” to describe the murderers symbolises their association with evil, and the malicious crime the murderers will commit in secrecy by the darkness of the night. The word “prey” suggests that Banquo and Fleance will be surprised and defenseless to the attack. Speaking again to Lady Macbeth, Macbeth confesses, “bad things begun make strong themselves by ill,” which reveals that due to Macbeth’s involvement with the assassination of King Duncan has led to the fall of his innocence, so now Macbeth is willfully committing an evil act based off of his own plans and decisions without the influence of a third

    Read More

  • Explain The Motives Of Murder In Macbeth

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through the quest of being king to the thought out murders, Macbeth did his deeds that led him to the place he wanted to be, but was it an accomplish or a plead for being guilty? Lady Macbeth led her husband Macbeth to take action in making a plot for murder to anguish the being of himself and his wife’s rise above to king and queen. Macbeths uncertainty and questioning towards his quest of the murders left him in shame and guilt, Although Macbeths wife set her husband on the quest for them to become royalty Macbeth went further into the plan and lady Macbeth slowly stepped away. Throughout the whole play, Macbeth held the most power to influence the actions of others. Macbeth held the action to murder the king to take his place and when all failed, the people suspected Macbeth to the murder and Macbeth killed his very close friend that was full of suspicion hoping it would all go away.

    Read More

  • Is Macbeth Guilty?

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    High school students around the globe are still continuously studying one of Shakespeare’s most preeminent tragic and eventful plays, Macbeth. Macbeth is a well-known play,which incorporates several themes such as culpability, destructiveness, murderousness, ambition, and prepotency. In this play, we learned that Macbeth encounters three mystifying women who forespeak his future and those predictions turn out to be true. The prediction of him becoming a king engaged him on wanting to eradicate King Duncan. So do you think Macbeth will want to wait or want to make these predictions come to be true?

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth: A Multifaceted Character

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, explores the darkest corners of the human psyche. It artfully takes its audience to a place that allows one to examine what a human being is truly capable of once tempted by the allure of power. In the play, Scottish noble Macbeth and his wife inevitably fall prey to their own self corruption. Initiated by prophesies made by three mysterious witches, the Macbeths set their sights on the throne. When the curtains open on the plot to murder King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is the driving force. Her criminal mind and desire for ruthlessness have led many a critic to define her as evil. Closer examination, however, reveals that she is a multifaceted character; other sides to her persona include: genuine good will towards her husband, coy manipulation, and feminine tenderness.

    Read More

  • Macbeth - Downfall Of Lady Macbeth

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were several aspects of Shakespeare’s novel ‘Macbeth’ that led to the downfall of Lady Macbeth. The mentality of Lady Macbeth in the play changes dramatically from the wife a Noble General, to an evil aggressive murderer (brought upon by the witches predictions), and finally a woman who had de-graded to such an extent that she took her own life.

    Read More

  • Can We Hold Macbeth Fully Responsible For The Evil Deeds In The Play?

    2344 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the play there are many evil deeds that Macbeth committed. These include the murders of Duncan and Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son. Macbeth is also responsible for Scotland's disorder. Macbeth plays the main role in each incident, with the other characters being only minor and undeveloped; acting as vehicles for Macbeth's actions. It is possible that it is not entirely Macbeth's fault for the evil deeds in the play.

    Read More

  • Macbeth: The Evolution of Corruption

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    These ambiguities are iteratively explained, corresponding with the changes in characterization; for example, when the second vision granted to Macbeth by the Weïrd sisters advises him to, “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.90-92). Upon hearing this, Macbeth appears to simply disregard the earlier prophecy that it will be Banquo’s children, not his own, that will take the throne after him and believes himself to be effectively invincible, which coincides with another shift in Macbeth’s nature, more specifically his growing arrogance that eventually leads to his defeat at the hands of

    Read More

  • Interpretations of Macbeth

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    As with all great works of literature, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has spawned countless essays concerning its interpretation. Two such essays, “Shakespearean Tragedy” and “General Macbeth,” produced by two eminent literary critics, A.C. Bradley and Mary McCarthy, find themselves in conflict. The essays’ respective authors diverge on subjective points such as interpretation of character, original intent, and meaning. Bradley’s Macbeth is courageous and encumbered by the dregs of guilt, while McCarthy’s version takes a less orthodox path.

    Read More

  • Equivocation and Double Meanings in Macbeth

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare uses equivocation not to confuse but to either get across multiple meanings or to leave dialogue and events in the play open ended. Equivocation can be seen with the witches and whenever they talk. The witches are themselves a vague set of characters who talk in a puzzling riddle-like manner. For instance when Macbeth goes to see them for the second time they are very vague about predicting his future, intentionally confusing him and making him overly confident. An example of this riddled dialogue goes like this:

    Read More

  • The Role of Evil in Macbeth

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lady Macbeth is less aware of the difference between good and evil. She is trying to tell Macbeth to feign his loyalty to King Duncan. She strived for the kingdom, the power to rule, and to be a queen. Macbeth is worried, scared, and undecided about what he should do. He is a weak person and he can not contain his actions.

    Read More

More about Do You Think Macbeth Is Trying To Justify His Actions

Open Document