How Does Shakespeare Present Evil In Macbeth

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Intro Evil is a theme that is popular in many forms of literature because it is a human trait across all cultures. Evil takes many forms in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth and is present throughout the entirety of the play. Evil often accompanies kingship due the nature of the position and the amount of power given to the person. The theme evil and the motif kingship are two things that occur often in the play and have a strong relationship to each other.
Act 1 The witches are evil women and discuss their recent evil activities. The witches did not believe in peace and proved so in the statement “Fair is foul, and foul is fair:”(1.1, 11). The witches who represent evil tell Macbeth that he will be king one day as well as state that Banquo’s sons will be …show more content…

Macbeth fears Macduff may be raising an army in England to dethrone him. Out of vengeance Macbeth sends a murderer out to murder Macduff’s wife and child.
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. (4.2, 169-174)
This is a fruitless action that is pure evil taken by the king because of something he felt and acts on in by punishing unrelated people. Macduff’s wife and child are completely unrelated to the dispute and were killed for no reason other than evil. Macbeth justified the killings because he viewed it as another measure taken to protect his kingship.
Act 5 When Macbeth knows he is defeated and that others know the evil deeds he has done he still continues to fight. That shows Macbeth is evil because he wants to continue fighting and killing more people. Macbeth was an evil man and his beheading represented evil being overturned. When Malcolm becomes king Malcolm represents proper kingship and replaces

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