Macbeth: Predicting The Future

Predicting the Future: An Essay on Symbolism throughout Macbeth In today’s society, many people feel that they do not know anything about the future and that they cannot prevent chaos in the world. This notion however, is not true. One can predict chaotic events that may transpire by analyzing the past and present for recurrent symbols. There are several such symbols in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, of which three are most prominent: blood, illusions, and sleep. They work as early warnings throughout the play to alert readers of important events that might come up, illustrate the destructiveness of chaos, and also challenge readers to critically analyze their own world.

Blood is a symbol used in Macbeth to portray both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s

Macbeth’s paranoia comes out of the destructiveness and toxicity of the events that have occurred around him such as through the witch’s revelations and Lady Macbeth’s malicious prodding. It can also be said that this dagger hallucination has been manifested out of Macbeth’s guilt prior to murdering Duncan. This hallucination gives readers an early indication into the very nature of Macbeth’s intentions when becoming King, that is to say, none. When Macbeth becomes King all that he can think about is how to stop the people underneath him from getting his spot, in a way similar to the children’s game, King of the Castle, where players will go to any means necessary (within the rules) to ensure their spot as the King of the Castle. It is worth noting that this hallucination and the following hallucination are regarding Macbeth’s targets to topple down, further expanding on the idea of Macbeth primarily caring about how to get to the top and stay on top by pushing others down. This hallucination gives readers an early warning to Macbeth’s descent into madness and also sets the stage for the next vision of guilt that Macbeth will witness. The second hallucination Macbeth has reveals how paranoid he becomes, showing the amount of chaos that has been born from his guilt and the destructiveness of it to himself. Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost and hyperventilates, saying, “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!” (3.4.98-101). With this hallucination, readers get to see the development of Macbeth’s mental state. The development is that his mental state becomes worse. In the first hallucination Macbeth sees a dagger which is harmless unless used against others, and in the second hallucination Macbeth sees the human-sized mangled corpse of his former dear friend