Macbeth The witches and Lady Macbeth appear to dominate Macbeth's will, but in reality Macbeth is always in control. The confusion is created because, unlike these one dimensional, aggravating characters, he understands the complexity of the problem and must wrestle with his conscience. However, his action is based primarily upon his own desires. Ironically, given his understanding of the issues, he is horrified by the immensity of his crime once it has been committed and his terrified of the consequences. Clearly Macbeth understands the problem he faces and must struggle with his conscience. Throughout Macbeth's soliloquy in Scene 1 he expresses his feelings by saying, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. (Act 2, Scene 1) With that speech he is saying don't hear the steps I walk for fear they will give away my whereabouts. He wishes that the silence would break so he could finish his work. This meaning he wants the bell to ring, causing a break in silence, signaling him to kill Duncan so he can get his evil deed finished. To add to that point he also is saying that talking is delaying action. Actions being the killing of Duncan. The bold reality is that he is struggling within himself because he just wants to get it over and done with. He has everything under control now and just hopes that he wont be found out. The complexity of his problem between his ambition and loyalty he recognizes, knowing that he wants to do this but prays not to be caught in his act of disloyalty. Macbeth's ambitions are that of his own desire. The murdering of Duncan is purely what Mabeth truly wants. These desires are well pointed out during his soliloquy in Scene 1. He says, Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable
In the third soliloquy Macbeth is still contemplating how he obtains the throne, but now he knows that murder is the only way, yet he fears ‘judgement’ and damnation. We see here that Macbeth has a conscience, and his mind cannot take the simple fact. He begins bringing up lots of excuses as to why he should not do it, but inevitably his ambition gets the better of him.
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
He says, “Better be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind”(III.2.46). This quote takes place just before he does the daring deed and shows the reader that he knows it is not the right thing to do before he even goes to do it. His conscience tries to stay strong but he wants all the power as soon as possible so his conscience gives out and he decides that he will kill Duncan. He states before the domino effect of murders starts that he would rather be dead, than to be a guilty murderer. As the character gives into his dream of being the king he goes to do the deed and murder King Duncan. After he commits the murder, Macbeth feels immediate guilt. This is shown in a conversation with his wife yet again. He says, “I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on’t again I dare not”(II.2.56-57). This quote takes place right after the murder of King Duncan but he accidentally left the daggers in the bedroom with the corpse of Duncan. He immediately feels the guilt which is good for his conscience because he realizes he did something he should not have. He says to Lady Macbeth that he can not stand to even see what he has done anymore. Soon after Macbeth’s daring act his guilt begins to haunt him
The nature of both control and fate are explored in Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most horrific tragedies, in which the titular king is driven to murder in a quest to gain power. Under Macbeth’s kingship, more and more people die as both Macbeth and his kingdom are driven to chaos. Despite Macbeth’s apparent control over his own fate, other characters have an integral role in determining how the plot unfolds. The weïrd sisters give Macbeth the initial desire to murder King Duncan, while Lady Macbeth gives him the final push he needs to commit this act. Throughout this play, control appears as a fluid entity—constantly changing hands and shared unequally between the characters mentioned previously. Although all three appear to have influence
As Shakespeare guides the audience through the rise and fall of Macbeth, they see the perilous route that ambition can take them. Within the first act of the play, Shakespeare immediately introduces Macbeth as an ambitious character. Upon hearing Macbeth’s fate of becoming king, Macbeth’s first thought is to overthrow the current king. So, in the comfort of his own home, Macbeth contemplates the witches’ prophecy and decides he wants Duncan’s power for himself. He soliloquizes: “I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other” (Mac. 1.7.25-28). Macbeth admits that there is not a particularly good reason to kill Duncan; he even acknowledges Duncan’s exceptional leadership as the king of Scotland. However, Macbeth’s unrelenting
Lady Macbeth, being ruthless, tries to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but his conscience is stronger than his ambition. He feels that the king is at his palace in “double-trust”; he is his host and he should not be holding the knife to kill the king. When he says, “We will proceed no further in this business” (I. vii. 31. He does not want to follow through with Lady Macbeth’s plan.
...ow Duncan doesn’t have to worry about anything. This scene clearly shows that Macbeth is very capable of rationing the things he did, to take your sin and justify it to make yourself feel good is not a simple thing. When things are bad, they’re just bad; there’s no justification.
Through the interactions and relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare conveys that relationships in which one person is the clear leader and the other the clear follower usually end up with an ignorance of the consequences of one’s actions leading to unexpected and rapid destruction because the follower is likely oblivious to the repercussions of the actions of the leader. This is evident especially during Macbeth’s internal struggle on whether or not to kill Duncan. One of the key scenes which shows this is Act i, Scene vii. Here, Macbeth shows scepticism about their plan to kill Duncan saying “We will proceed no further in this business; he hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon.” (I.vii).
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
Ambition and desire are double-edged notions present in all who crave success and power. While ambition is most often associated with unfavorable greed and overwhelming need, people who express this desire are simultaneously praised for being goal-oriented and steadfast in achieving their goals. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, this duality of ambition is explored through the character of Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s husband, Macbeth, is prophesied to be king, and in order to expedite his path to the throne and their combined rise to power, Lady Macbeth plots to murder the current King Duncan. Throughout her Act I soliloquy, Lady Macbeth reveals not only her malevolent and scheming nature, but also profound determination
Another factor resulting in the inevitability of Macbeth’s evil was his Guilty conscience. Macbeth knows his actions are wrong a...
Within the pages of the play Macbeth, one can find the five distinct literary devices of symbolism, allusion, alliteration, personification, and repetition used throughout. These three devices aid the story along and help develop the plot and characters each in a different way.
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...
God and the devil have a strong presence in “Macbeth”. The characters look to heaven and hell as places they have to try and strive towards or steer away from. God and the devil seem to be the driving and obvious force behind the happenings of the tragedy. They mold the characters into what they are. Even when things do not end up in their favor. The witches have an impact on the whole theme of the play. They are the ones who start to label Macbeth with titles, which he does not yet posses. The witches predict the future, which is to Macbeth’s liking. “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor. All hail Macbeth, that’s shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.46-48). Macbeth at this time was only the Thane of Glamis and he knew he had aspirations of becoming king, but wanted to know how these witches would know to say such things. “…tell me more…But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman, and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief.” (1.3.68-73) The witches at this point fade out and leave Banquo and Macbeth to speculate. Ross and Angus enter and tell Macbeth that that the Thane of Cawdor is going to be executed and that Macbeth will take on the title. In Macbeth’s mind this means that he is going to be king. Since the witches were able to predict that he was going to be Thane of Cawdor then he believes he is definitely going to be king. “What can the devil speak true?”(1.3.107) This is Banquo’s reaction after Ross “hails” Macbeth with his new title, Thane of Cawdor. Banquo starts to wonder if what the witches proclaimed, would actually come true. If what they said did come true for him it would mean his children would be kings. This quote is sort of strange to me. I am taking it as he refers to the witches as the devil. I don’t know how he came to this conclusion; maybe it is just how he is trained to think towards anyone that can see the future. The witches planted this thought into Macbeth’s head about being king. Since the Cawdor topic came true with ease he believes that him becoming king will also be an easy transition.