Betrayal can be caused by trivial matters or simply because of someone feeling inferior to someone else. In betraying someone, a person may abandon his or her values which they thought could never falter. A play that involves acts of betrayal is Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The role of betrayal in the story becomes a repeated event, but portrays itself in multiple ways. Through his use of soliloquies, Shakespeare portrays that through influence, one can betray values, others, and themselves.
Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act One Scene Seven marks a pivotal part in Act 1 because he struggles to uphold his values and develops awareness that the only reasoning to kill Duncan sprouts from his simple aspiration to do so. In the first segment of the soliloquy, Macbeth reflects on gaining the throne by killing Duncan, but also establishes his relationship with Duncan as “his kinsman and his subject”(I.vii.13). This acknowledgment leads Macbeth to the conclusion that by attempting to steal the throne from Duncan can result in “even-handed justice” (I.vii.10); in other words, someone could backlash and attempt to plot the same scheme against him. Betrayal could not be escaped no matter how Macbeth perceived the situation. He notices his “spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition” (I.vii.25-28). Duncan had been “so clear in his great office” (I.vii.18) and upheld virtues that a king would be expected to acquire. The soliloquy terminates with a mood of uncertainty because he still did not reach a conclusion of whether or not to murder Duncan. Macbeth recognizes the results of betraying Duncan, and knows that his reason to kill Duncan does not justify doing so, and would be caused solely by a personal craving to betray.
Lady Ma...
... middle of paper ...
...for him transformed to something virtually worthless because of what his acts of betrayal led him to become. Macbeth originally thought that his virtues and values could never crumble despite the influence of someone else. Macbeth abandons his values, and pursues a journey of deceiving and betraying acts. Macbeth embraces a transformation of character that leads him to a state of depression by the end of the play. The irony of Macbeth presents itself through the motif of betrayal. Macbeth thought through acts of betrayal he would find greater significance, but ultimately directed him down a path that only involved the betrayal of himself.
Works Cited
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/page_202.html
http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/soliloquies/ifitweredoneanalysis.html
http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/soliloquies/diedhereafteranalysis.html
This is my account of Macbeth’s downfall from a popular, successful soldier, quote “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won”, who has received great honours for his loyalty, his courage, his bravery and his nobility. At the end of the play the only respect he has is because of the fear that his subjects have of him.
Throughout the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth continuously decides bad choices and the consequences of these decisions catch up to Macbeth and result in his mental deterioration, however with Macbeth’s almost infant feel for ambition this makes him susceptible to manipulation, which then grows into an insatiable appetite for power. The acts of this with the manipulation from outsiders, causes his blind ambition, his false sense of security and then finally his guilt, which all contribute to his derangement.
The tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare is based on a thane in whom is corrupted by greed and a negative ambition. The character Macbeth contradicts his moral responsibility in this play a great deal; many moral questions are brought forth to Macbeth. He questions himself and whether or not he should follow through with the evil deeds that he does. Macbeths ambition causes him to compromise his honour, he doesn’t take into consideration that he is being trusted and that every action that he takes will have a reaction. Macbeth attains his position as king unjustly. As is evident by the conclusion, justice prevails as usual and Macbeths demise is a result of his evil deeds.
In Act 1 Macbeth is troubled by his desire to kill the king that is countered by his morals that state he should not kill Duncan for the fact “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
The play shows how he evolves as a person. Although we are presented with his declination from good to evil, we can see his human side throughout the play, which makes it a tragedy. The themes of ‘Macbeth’ are ambition, effects of evil, and violence. Once Macbeth’s ambition has ‘set the ball rolling’, events happen quickly in the play as it gathers momentum. The themes are demonstrated mainly by the language of the play. As in Shakespeare’s time, plays were performed in daylight with very few props. Ambition is something that everyone can identify with, and ‘Macbeth’ is a interesting study of how ambition can destroy you, so the audience is interested in Macbeth’s character. Our first impression of Macbeth is of a heroic, famous, popular man who is well liked by the King, Duncan. Duncan refers to Macbeth as ‘noble Macbeth’.(Act 1 Scene 2 L67) Macbeth craves the title of king greatly, but realizes that he will have to commit some horrible crimes to get that position. Macbeth is tempted to follow through with the acts because of two sources of external evil - the witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth was already ambitious, but this was only heightened by the women as they made those desires appear as though they were achievable. This sets into motion the first of three great crimes.
William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the tragic play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, to kill King Duncan. In the play, we see the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transform in their personality after murdering the King. Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier, gradually changing into an ambitious murdering man. Similarly, Lady Macbeth is ambitious but she begins as a rebellious woman who dominates her husband, gradually changing into a guilt ridden, and weak woman.
symbol is used in Act I, Scene III when Macbeth mentions Ross in line 108: “The
To begin, Macbeth experiences an internal downfall due to his ambition where he battle between his desires and moralistic values. Initially, the idea of attaining power over Scotland by killing King Duncan sparks a sense of fear and paranoia in Macbeth, however, his conscience struggles to take over his ambition: "that we but teach/ Bloody instructions, which being taught, return/ To plague the inventor. [...] I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Valuing ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on th' other-" (1.7.8-28). At this moment, Macbeth contemplates on killing King Duncan as he visualizes the long term consequences of committing the crime. The reader can grasp his moral judgement as he understands that by proceeding with the murder, he is only causing his own demise and punishing himself. With that b...
Perhaps the most fundamental theme of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the inherent corruptibility of even a seemingly good man when ambition turns to greed, and Macbeth himself exemplifies this concept throughout the play. While at the outset he is seen to be loyal to his king, generally considered trustworthy, and displaying numerous other laudable qualities, Macbeth ultimately succumbs to the influence of those around him and becomes unequivocally evil, setting aside all his previously held morals and coming to be driven only by his lust for power. This transition is brought about by a wide variety of factors and plays an integral role in the development of the plot. In his tragedy Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, first published in 1606, is an endearing tale outlining the dangers of unchecked ambition and moral betrayal. In the subsequent centuries after first being performed, Macbeth's critics have been divided upon whether Macbeth himself was irrevocably evil, or if he was guided by the manipulation and actions of the women in the play to his ultimate demise. Although Lady Macbeth and the witches were influential with their provocations in the opening acts, it is ultimately Macbeth’s inherent immorality and his vaulting ambition, that resulted in the tragic downfall. It was Macbeth’s desire for power that abolished his loyalty and trustworthiness and led him down a path of murder. It is evident through his actions and words throughout the play as to how he led himself through a path of betrayal leading to his inescapable demise.
This specific action consequently resulted in Macbeth’s level of morality to continually decline as he is acutely aware of his own tyranny. Therefore Macbeth attempts to forget the horrific deed he has committed and be the figure that orders and disorders. Our perception of Macbeth being a wise and loyal soldier is now eroded, as we start to view Macbeth constantly questioning his own actions, and is also impelled to perpetrate further atrocities with the intention of covering up his previous wrong-doings.
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” Once said by Marc Twain, this is an excellent example of the human nature that is represented in the play: Macbeth. Shakespeare demonstrates that all humans have the ability to do good or evil. This is strongly affected by the choices that we make and by our actions. These decisions will have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of others. Throughout the play, Macbeth experienced a huge decent into evil and violent action that lead him to his death. With his thirst for power and constant paranoia, he killed his way to seize the crown. By killing Duncan at the beginning of the play, Macbeth soon realizes that nothing can be undone and his blood stained hands can never be cleaned. “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.3 70) said by Lady Macbeth after Duncan’s murder. But what they don’t know is that this is the start of the bloody massacre that will change who they are and how they think forever. Macbeth has multiple hallucinations and his paranoia leads him to hire murderers to kill Macduff’s family out of anger and spite. Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and gets to the point of madness when she kills herself at the end of the play. This demonstrates that our actions can be affected by human nature and our thoughts can be easily corrupted by temptation.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of this play, MacBeth begins a monologue. In this soliloquy, the character shows, as Shakespeare’s characters are known to, a human truth: he is conflicted with morals of killing his king; the mind’s battle between personal want and acting ethically. He states an ethical appeal to himself, saying, “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed,” meaning that he should act as a dutiful subject and not slaughter his good king. MacBeth is aware that his only motivation to kill the king is his ambition, and that ambition drives people to disaster. At the end of MacBeth’s monologue, he had chosen not to kill King Duncan, and shares his decision with his wife Lady Macbeth once she enters.
From the beginning of the play, Macbeth undergoes a complete change in character--from a virtuous nobleman into a monster. He has a tragic weakness--ambition--which, when released, draws him into a web of evil and corruption that finally leaves him with none of the noble human qualities he possessed at the beginning of the play.
Ambition is an underlying theme throughout Macbeth, it is the tragic flaw in human kind, bound to lead to disaster. In Act 1 scene 7 this is one of the most interesting scenes of the play. This is the last time as we see Macbeth a freeman, he can still make the decision whether he wants to be good or evil. The choices that are preventing Macbeth are committing the murder, fear of the consequences on this earth, variety of feelings of kinship, loyalty, and hospitality he admires Duncan’s goodness as he is not the most moral character but hes power is what urges him on that are motives of good A soliloquy, which is found in Act 1, scene 7, in the lines 1-28, Macbeth debates whether he should kill Duncan. The imagery that is in this speech can be dark and moody for most people. Some examples we hear of imagery are “bloody instructions,” “deep damnation,” and a “poisoned chalice”—and suggests that Macbeth is aware of how the murder would open the door to a dark and sinful world. When the soliloquy ends, Macbeth goes to resolve to not kill Duncan but this only...