Examples Of Irony In Macbeth

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Macbeth is a classic play written by no other than the great William Shakespeare. Macbeth has a lot of literary devices in it but the one that some may say is the most intriguing is the irony. The very beginning of the play even starts with irony and has many situations of irony throughout the play. All the way from the granting of the Thane of Cawdor to the most trustful man in Macbeth, to Macbeth trying to slay Banquo and his son Fleance to prevent the prophecy from coming true, and how Macbeth was a very decorated and popular hero and evolving to a blood thirsty tyranny. Macbeth would not be known as a tragedy if it didn't all types of irony in it to show the downfall of a once great hero to a monster of a king. Macbeth was considered …show more content…

He was labeled a hero and very loyal towards the King. The captain in act 1 really respected Macbeth and went on with stating all the following qualities, " For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name-Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements." (1.1. 17-23). That is the words of a captain, who knows Macbeth and just watched him fight in the battle. He went on about the hero he was and just admired him. But as sort of a tragic flaw, Macbeth starts to listen to the prophecies and ultimately tries to take fate into his own hands. He then begins to kill off everyone. He lets his wife talk him into murdering Duncan, he kills his friend Banquo all in order to prevent a prophecy, and kills Macduff's family to draw him back to Scotland. A reader may wonder why he does all of these horrible actions. Macbeth though does explain very clearly and clears up the reason for his actions with this quote, ""I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er." (3.4. 137-139) . Macbeth states the reason why he keeps performing these monstrous acts is because he has already gone so far with spilling blood, why stop when he can just go ahead and complete

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