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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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smoked with bloody execution like valor’s minion carved out his passage…” (Shakespeare 1:2 16-19). Macbeth shows his bravery for the country and gets named Thane of Cawdor.
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…
like a battlefield and you are fighting for what is right. Vernon Johnson said is best when he said, “But one crime leads on to another. Macbeth , now that he is king, cannot bear the thought of the crown passing, as the witches had foretold to Banquo’s offspring.” (Johnson). In conclusion, Macbeth uses violence to get what he wants and deserves which is to be the king of the throne and that one crime will lead to another crime. In Macbeth, Shakespeare is showing us how evil people can be in their lifetime. In the beginning of the play there is some supernatural evil with thunder and lightning. The witches always say “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (Shakespeare 1.1.1). The weather is stormy at the moment but Macbeth has won the battle. The quote is saying that nobody can be trusted not even the witches because most of the time something bad always ends up happening and there will not be a happy ending. The second meaning to this quote is that things that are ugly will eventually come out to be beautiful. Not only does the witches talk about evil things but Macbeth talks about evil things also. In the beginning of Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth is talking to himself and he says to himself, “ Might be the be- all and the end- all- here…” (Shakespeare 1:7 6). He is debating whether or not he should kill Duncan but he is afraid he will get caught. Macbeth is worried about whether there is going to be consequences or not for killing the King. Johnson said “In immediate accord with her husband Lady Macbeth sees the solutions as lying as in the removal of Banquo and his son Fleance.” (Johnson). Macbeth wants to kill Banquo and his son Fleance but instead he just kills Banquo and his son got away. All in all, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did some evil things to people and try to get away with it. There are many hallucinations that Macbeth experiences in the play. One of the hallucinations is when he sees Banquo’s ghost after he kills him. Banquo enters when Macbeth is at feast and Macbeth says, “Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo! How say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel houses and our graves must send those that we bury back, our monuments shall be the maws of kites” (Shakespeare 3:4 69-74). He is starting to see Banquo’s ghost which is formally his friend after he kills him. He is starting to realize that what he has done is horrible. Lady Macbeth says “My husband?” (Shakespeare 2.2.13). She uses the same technique when she urges him to conquer his fear of Banquo’s ghost. Lady Macbeth never calls him husband unless she wants something or he has done something wrong. She also says this right after Macbeth has killed Banquo and he sees his ghost. Macbeth starts to see daggers and says, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee…” (Shakespeare 2:1 33-34). The dagger is what Macbeth uses for a tool to kill people that got in his way. On the dagger there was blood on it and that blood is King Duncan's blood and for awhile he will see the vision of a dagger.The dagger is turned toward him like it's saying use me to kill the King. In conclusion, the number of hallucinations that occurs increases as their guilt becomes greater and greater and they slowly become insane and their behavior becomes more and more erratic. Throughout Shakespeare's Macbeth, there was several types of weather changes like thunder, lightning and getting dark at noon.In the play there was never positive weather that was about to occur but instead there was always negative weather that showed violence. The weather in this play, plays an important role because it foreshadows a dooming event that is about to happen..Bad things happen when bad weather occurs and the first witch says, “In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” (Shakespeare 1.1.2). She is saying that whatever the weather may look like there is still going to be a meeting. Whatever they decide then they will have to have a place for the meeting and that the meeting is going to be wicked and filled with different things to talk about. In Act 1 scene 1 the Witches says, “Hover through the fog and filthy air.” (Shakespeare 1.1.11). The supernatural world is the most extreme example of power that is beyond human control (Boyce).This quote shows how the witches have negative energy and disturbances of the weather. The witches will hide and fog and will all of a sudden do some more evil things and convince Macbeth to do those evil things with them. Not only does the witches say something about the weather but Fleance also noticed the weather changes. Fleance says, “The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.” (Shakespeare 2.1.1). Usually at 12 they hear the clock going off at 12 but this time it didn’t and that means that something bad has happened. This act and scene sets the tone for the murders and they are ready to kill. In that time there was barely darkness unless something happened but most of the day it is a sunny day. Characters hide their evil deeds in the dark, and their good deeds in the daylight. Noticed how Banquo got murdered at sunset instead of the daylight. To include the weather foreshadows things to come, weather is always bad- thunder, lightning, rain, or strong winds, and Duncan is murdered in his sleep at dark as well. In Shakespeare's days married women had to do what they husband asked of them and not question them.
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
sucking from a breast.She would kill a nursing a child if she’d promised to do it and Macbeth is not keeping his promise by killing his king. Lady Macbeth not only says something related to gender but also Macduff. 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.” (Shakespeare 2.3.84-87). Lady Macbeth is not allowed to hear any man plot about murder or even think about plotting a murder with a group of men. Lastly, Lady Macbeth just wants her husband to be a man and step up to the plate and do what has to be done or she will do it herself. In conclusion, there were many different motifs used in Macbeth, but the most important ones to me was violence, evil, hallucinations, nature, and gender. Violence is used so Macbeth can become King and so nobody gets in the way of that. Hallucinations is used to show guilt about things they have done or about to do, The blood motif shows how serious the consequences are when you get in Macbeth's way. Bad weather occurs when something bad is happening or about to happen. Gender is another motif and it is used throughout the play because women had to follow the traditional way of things back in their day.
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.
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
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.
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 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. ...
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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. Throughout the whole play, while such darker occurrences are used to create deep moods, 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.”