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Preface to shakespeare analysis
Comparing and contrasting characters in shakespeare
Preface to shakespeare analysis
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Macbeth’s paranoia is another consequence of his ambition. Affected by his excessive anxiety and suspicions for trying to secure his kingship, he begins to act irrationally. At Macbeth’s palace at Forres, Macbeth, who is now the new king of Scotland, meets with his friend, Banquo, and invites him to a banquet. Banquo informs Macbeth that he and his son, Fleance, will be away during the day but promises that they will return to attend the banquet in time. Macbeth, who is alone, begins to ponder over the thought of Banquo’s prophecy, which was revealed by the witches before Macbeth became king. The witches pronounced that Banquo’s sons will be king. Macbeth begins to suspect Banquo, as he states, “'Tis much he dares,/ And to that dauntless temper of his mind/ He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor/ To act in safety. …show more content…
There is none but he/ Whose being I do fear; and under him/ My genius is rebuked[...]”(3.1.50-56).
Macbeth’s “fear” is that he thinks Banquo has the power to expose his treachery, because he has a “dauntless temper” and “wisdom”, implying that he is brave and sharp-witted. Macbeth is afraid of Banquo discovering his “genius” plans to get the throne, which was the murder of Duncan and he develops the suspicion that Banquo is going to betray him after knowing the truth. This foreshadows that he will get rid of his friend Banquo for the longevity of his power. In addition to his growing suspicion on Banquo, Macbeth brings up the prophecy that states Banquo’s sons will be kings and accuses Banquo to be ambitious, which shows his paranoia of distrusting everyone around him and he begins to act irrationally by sending off two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. Not only he becomes paranoid due to his corrupt ambition, he also becomes excessively confident. Another Consequence of Macbeth being ambitious is that he becomes
hubristic. Being convinced by himself as invincible, Macbeth begins to act incautiously. After meeting the three witches again to requests for more prophecies, Macbeth learns that he should be aware of Macduff and that he will be undefeatable to anyone born of women, unless the Birnam forest moves up to his castle, and someone who is not naturally born fights him. Macbeth waits for the battle, and states, “Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all./ Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane/ I cannot taint with fear[...]The mind I sway by and the heart I bear/ Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear”(5.3.1-10). Feeling confident that he will win because the prophecies made feel immortal, he expresses that it does not matter to him if all the thanes “fly”, or leaves to join enemy’s side. Claiming that he does not need support and that he will not be affected by “fear”, Macbeth makes no order to defend, letting his guards down, which leads to him being unprepared for the danger ahead of him. Here, Shakespeare personifies his “mind” and “heart”, that it will never “sag with doubt” nor “shake with fear”, signifies the fact that he is trying to give himself some sense of protection, but in reality, he hides behind the prophecies which gave him a false sense of security, but due to the fact that he did not take actions early enough to fight against his enemy, he fails to defend himself. Therefore, his hubristic temper leads to his demise. Macbeth's downfall is a result of his ambition for power which made him greedy, paranoid, and hubristic. Macbeth’s ambition leads to greediness which develops into the temptation to kill Duncan when the witches tell him that he will be the king. With the achievement of kingship after killing Duncan, Macbeth is troubled his paranoia of being easily suspicious of everyone that may pose a threat to his kingship. As a result, he murders Banquo. Then by the overreliance on the prophecies, Macbeth becomes overconfident, which leads to him being incautious in the battle, resulted in the death of himself. The Tragedy of Macbeth shows how defective ambition can lead to many deadly consequences. If Macbeth had not acted on his impulses and vicious desires but made rational decisions after considering the consequences it may lead up to instead, he would have achieved much more in life without the sacrifice of his morality and sanity. This shows that one should only take non-regrettable risks that help one achieve long-term goals without sacrificing too many other aspects of life.
Guilt surrounds Macbeth for the second time when he sends out the murderers to kill Banquo, his old friend. Macbeth had no other choice but to get rid of Banquo. Banquo had witnessed the three witches and the prophecies. One prophecy was that his son would become king one day "To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings"(Act3 scene1 line70). In order for Macbeth to be safe is to kill Banquo. Banquo may assume what had happened and tell the people of Scotland. "For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; Put rancors in the vessel of my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel".
As found in Macbeth, a fictional play, it can be noticed that the amount on paranoia found in the book is astonishing. William Shakespeare creates an environment where the reader can identify the situations where Macbeth is paranoid and how it clouds his judgement to make him do things that he never imagined himself doing. Killing King Duncan, the greatest ruler, and framing his children in order to have all of the power while also killing others in order to keep his spot at ruler of Scotland.
After murdering Duncan, Macbeth feels that he needs to kill Banquo. He is afraid that Banquo is going to be a problem for him. He is suspicious that Banquo believes Macbeth had something to do with Duncan's murder, "Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be feared" (3.1.47-49). He plans to kill him, though Banquo has made no direct threat against Macbeth. He speaks of feeling inferior to Banquo, even though he is king. "There is none but he/ Whose being I do fear; and under him/ My genius is rebuked" (3.1.53-55). Banquo is Macbeth's closest friend, he is starting to lose trust in everyone around him.
“Blood hath been shed ere now.../The time has been/That when the brains were out, the man would die, /And there an end. But now they rise again…” (3.4.91-96). The ghost of Banquo visited the Macbeth’s house, which left Macbeth feeling quite unsettled. Macbeth is the only person who can see the ghost; he experienced a mental breakdown when Banquo’s ghost visited during a dinner party. Lady Macbeth attempted to conceal her husband’s erratic behavior by claiming he was feeling ill. “It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.” (3.4.151). Macbeth is beginning to experience a sense of paranoia, a direct result of his degrading mental state. Lady Macbeth believed her husband was being foolish, as she had not yet experienced the damaging effects of their moral depravity.
After the death of Duncan, Macbeth begins to distance himself from Lady Macbeth, and he becomes ambitious. Despite being a king, Macbeth is worried about Banquo:
Macbeth’s ambition is to remain king for as long as possible and he will kill anybody who stops this from happening. Macbeth feels as if he was given a childless rule, and that his legacy will not continue on in fears his rule will be taken away by someone outside his family. Macbeth states, “For Banquo’s issue, I have filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murder 'd, put rancors in the vessel of my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man. to make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings”(Shakspeare 3.1.64-69). Macbeth had committed murder, poisoned his own mind, and destroyed his soul only to end up benefiting Banquo’s heirs. Macbeth, being the paranoid character that he is, feels threatened by this and orders both Banquo and Fleance to be killed. In Act 3, Macbeth says that, “and mine eternal jewel, given to the common enemy of man, to make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!” (Shakspeare 3.1.67-9). Seeing this choice of act, leads Macbeth’s blind ambition doing all he can, in order to remain where he is, even if he is ‘blind’ to what it going on and fails to truly understand the concept of his choices in killing Banquo, which only further deteriorates his mind because of his thirst for power, causing
(Act 3, scene 1, 68 - 75) In this sense, Macbeth fears that his children won't get the throne of Scotland, and instead, Banquo’s children would get the throne, as per the prophecy. Macbeth kills Banquo and his son in fear of him losing the line of kings to him. He shows a frightening persona that looks very out going as an innocent the first half of the play. “To beguile the time, look like the time, bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower.”
In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare arrays an atmospheric cloud of paranoia, guilt and ambition. Macbeth was undeniably one of the most whimsical and caliginous plays created during the Elizabethan era. The play was exceptionally popular because it was sceptical towards the people of the Elizabethan era. Later on during the Victorian era Robert Louis Stevenson published the novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The novella was set in the 19th century and proved to be controversial and ambiguous towards the readers of that time. Stevenson explores curiosity and the manifestation of evil throughout the novella.
Later in the play Banquo starts to have a bad feeling about Macbeth. "Thou hast it now: King, Cowdor, Glamis, all,/ as the weird women promised, and I fear/ thou play'dst most foully for `t." III i 1-3, this is a quote from Banquo explaining how he feels about Macbeth's predictions coming true. Macbeth realizes this about Banquo and he starts to have feelings about killing Banquo. This isn't the only reason he feels this way, the witches had also made predictions for Banquo. "Thou shall get kings, though thou be none." I iii 67, Macbeth doesn't want any of Banquo's family to rule Scotland; he wants his own family to continue to rule. Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his on Fleance. The murderers end up killing Banquo, but Fleance gets away.
...le Macbeth tells them that ‘every man be master of his time’ so that he can ‘keep alone’. By choosing to isolate himself and not inform Lady Macbeth of his plans to murder Banquo we see how Macbeth feels as if he can’t even trust his closest companions. After turning his back on Lady Macbeth, Macbeth becomes fixated not only on the prophecies of the witches but when he hints to Lady Macbeth that ‘a deed of dreadful note’ will fall upon Banquo and his son he talks like the witches. This shows how Macbeth has turned his back on seeking council from his lords and advisors and begins to act as a king who instead of rationally thinking things out, he chooses to justify his reasons on prophetic predictions from a world of sorcery.
Here, Macbeth realizes that if something is not done to Banquo, his sons will become Kings. Macbeth can not have this. He had already worried that his soul will go to hell for what he had done. His fear become evident in this scene also, "But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo Stick deep;" [Act III, S I, L 53-54] Macbeth has Banquo murdered,
Banquo and Macbeth eventually arrive, and talk to the witches. They question them, wondering what they are, and despite getting a straightforward answer they tell Macbeth of his future. The witches tell Macbeth that he is to eventually become the Thane of Cawdor, and in due course become king. Astonished by these tellings, Banquo asks the witches about his future, and he is told that his sons will eventually become king. As any man would be, Macbeth and his partner question these seemingly unofficial prophecy, until Angus and Ross come into scene. They tell Macbeth that he has indeed become the new Thane of Cawdor, which settles Macbeth’s suspicions on whether or not these foretelling’s are true although Banquo remains suspicious, since the witches were not completely
Macbeth become king. As a result of his Paranoia, he called upon murderers to execute Banquo, a friend of his that knew about the prophecies. Paranoia had taken over his life so much that his wife was left out of his plans. He had become so paranoid, his feelings had become numb. This is shown in act 5, scene 5, when he says: "I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been, my senses would have cool'd to hear a night-shriek.
Macbeth knowing the prophecy that Banquo's descendants will be king. He plans to murder both because anytime soon Macbeth will not have to give up his position. And if there is no descendant of Banquo Macbeth will go nowhere. Macbeth gets two people to kill Banquo and Fleance so he can be stratified but Banquo is murder. However, Fleance escaped and cause Macbeth to fear that Fleance can take over the castle.
After they hear the prophecies told to them by the evil sisters, Banquo starts to worry about Macbeth and his ambitions to become king. Macbeth is thinking that he may become king without doing anything else, and Banquo thinks Macbeth does not deserve to be thane of Cawdor. At this point, the two friends start growing farther from each other because they do not trust one another. Banquo starts to fear Macbeth because he knows if his prophecy is true than he is a threat to Macbeth's throne. Macbeth realizes he must get rid of Banquo to secure his spot on the throne and make sure his sons will not take his place.