Is Macbeth Still Relevant Today

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s famous plays, and is considered one of his darkest and most powerful works. Macbeth is not relevant to modern society. The story of the play is irrelevant and modern audiences cannot connect with it. Furthermore, the characters are only partly relevant as modern audiences can only relate to some of them. However, what modern society can relate to are the themes as they are still evident today.

Macbeth’s storyline is not relevant to modern society. The plot is about a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy that one day he will become king. He then kills the king to fulfil the prophecy. He soon becomes a tyrant and then gets overthrown by the country. The prophecy can be seen where

Banquo says to Macbeth: “You shall be king” (Act 1, Scene 3). The story is irrelevant because modern audiences prefer stories that reflect the modern world. Furthermore, the language and setting of the play makes the story difficult to understand. One example of a difficult and confusing language is: “What concern they? The general cause, or is it a fee-grief due to come single breast?” (Act 4, Scene 3). This is far too complex for modern audiences to understand. The setting of the play is in medieval times, which is different from the current society. Castles were common often whereas in today’s society people do not live and see castles unless it is a historical site. Compared to medieval society, modern civilization is a democracy and has a political system. Therefore, modern audiences cannot relate to Macbeth’s storyline, setting and language. Similar to the story are the characters, which are partly relevant.
The characters in Macbeth are partly relevant to modern audiences. Modern audiences can relate to Macbeth but not his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is a character which modern audiences can sympathise with as he is a heroic general. His heroicness can be seen where Malcolm says: “This is the sergeant who look a good and hardy soldier fought ‘gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!” (Act 1, Scene 2). This shows how brave and loyal Macbeth is. However, Lady Macbeth cannot be related to as she is very fierce and violent. This is seen where she says: “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” (Act 1, Scene 7). The fact that she would kill a baby shows that she is ruthlessly violent which makes her a character which modern audiences can not relate to. Therefore, modern audiences can relate to Macbeth’s fall from grace but not Lady Macbeth with all her unnecessary killings, which makes the characters of Macbeth partly relevant. What modern audiences can relate to are the themes of the play.
The themes of ambition and guilt in Macbeth are still relevant to modern society.

Ambition can be seen in Macbeth when he is told that he will become king. This is seen when Macbeth says to the three witches: “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (Act 1, Scene 3). He does not wait for this to happen so he kills King Duncan to become king. Modern audiences can understand this as ambition is still seen today. It is a natural emotion to feel ambitious and people work to achieve these feelings. An example is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. He had lots of ambition to develop technology but he had to step over other people to get to where he was. Guilt is also shown throughout the play. After killing King Duncan, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel guilty and hallucinate about the blood on their hands that will not wash off. This is demonstrated when Macbeth cries out: “What hands are here! Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Act 2, Scene 2). This demonstrates guilt as they are haunted by their act. Modern audiences can relate to this because feeling guilty is common after doing something wrong. The themes of ambition and guilt are still evident in modern society and as a result are still

relevant.
The play Macbeth is partly relevant to modern society. The storyline cannot be related to as modern audiences prefer movies and books that reflect the modern world. Also, the language and setting makes the story too difficult for modern audiences to understand. Further, audiences can relate to Macbeth but not Lady Macbeth because she is ruthlessly violent. The themes of ambition and guilt are seen in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which makes it relevant to modern society. Therefore, modern audiences can enjoy the themes but cannot connect with or understand the language and story of Macbeth.