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Literary analysis of macbeths character
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Peach C.
Dr. Perkins
British Literature
April 11, 2014
The Motif Animals in Macbeth
Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is considered to be one of the most powerful and darkest tragedies. The play deals with the destruction brought upon by the rise of the evil. The story tells about a brave man named Macbeth who receives the prophecy of the three witches that one day he will becomes a King of Scotland. Overwhelmed by desire and ambition to be king, Macbeth and his wife plan to murder King Duncan and take the throne for themselves. Many lives are sacrifices by the selfishness of Macbeth and his wife. In the end, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are haunted by guilt, which leads to the theme that there are consequences for every action. In their chant, the witches express another important theme “fair is foul and foul is fair.” The idea that the line between heaven and hell is very thin is suggests in the quote. The use of motif of animals in one of the many ways in which Shakespeare characterizes his character and develops the themes of the play. Animals as well as human need leader in their kingdom. The problem lies on what qualities one need to possess in order to become a good and reliable leader.
Animal is one of the many important motifs in Macbeth. Through the use of animal, Shakespeare was able to portray and characterize the different characters. Macbeth is a tragic hero and at the beginning of the play, he defeats the enemy with his amazing military skills, which earns praises from the king. One of the soldiers remark Macbeth and Banquo in the battlefield, “As sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the lion." The eagles and lion are very fierce and good at hunting, whereas the hare and sparrows are weak and could be easily kille...
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...is mind is full of scorpion, he means that his mind is fill with evilness and poisonous idea.
At this point in the play, Macbeth is afraid of losing his crown that he is willing to do anything to save it. He lost his moral values and rational judgment. Every actions does indeed have consequences. Macduff learns the truth that Macbeth killed Duncan and when Macduff is often absent from Macbeth’s sight he grows suspicious. Macbeth has also been told by the witches during his second visit to beware of Macduff. Upon hearing this, he decided to send people to kill Macduff and his family. Macduff fled the castle first leaving his family behind. During the time Lady Macduff voice her fear: "He loves us not; / He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren, / The most diminutive of birds, will fight, / Her young ones in her nest, against the owl" (4.2.11).
Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is considered one of his great tragedies. The play fully uses plot, character, setting, atmosphere, diction and imagery to create a compelling drama. The general setting of Macbeth is tenth and eleventh century Scotland. The play is about a once loyal and trusted noble of Scotland who, after a meeting with three witches, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the other nobles of Scotland who try to stop him. In the play, Macbeth faces an internal conflict with his opposing decisions. On one hand, he has to decide of he is to assassinate the king in order to claim his throne. This would result in his death for treason if he is caught, and he would also have to kill his friend. On the other hand, if he is to not kill him, he may never realize his ambitious dreams of ruling Scotland. Another of his internal struggles is his decision of killing his friend Banquo. After hiring murderers to kill him, Macbeth begins to see Banquo's ghost which drives him crazy, possibly a result of his guilty conscience. Macbeth's external conflict is with Macduff and his forces trying to avenge the king and end Macbeth's reign over Scotland. One specific motif is considered the major theme, which represents the overall atmosphere throughout the play. This motif is "fair is foul and foul is fair."
In the tragic play, Macbeth, Shakespeare effectively integrates the symbol and the use of animal imagery in order to prove how Macbeth’s total mindset and mental stability rapidly decreases. Animal imagery not only predicts future unfortunate occurrences, but it also proves how Macbeth’ guilt further pushes him to irrational limits. Therefore, Macbeth’s dire need to have as much power as possible results in having a mental illness that threatens not only the lives around him but also his, which finally concludes with many lives lost and yet with nothing truly commendable.
Thirdly, feelings of paranoia and guilt cause Macbeth characters to make damaging choices. When Macbeth asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth’s fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff. Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Later when Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth in reply says, “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.” (4.1.149-152). As Macbeth descends to madness he becomes obsessed with eliminating any threats to his power. Macbeth orders the murderers to kill Macduff's family and eliminate any threat to him. Ironically, this is the moment that Macbeth seals his own fate, by murdering Macduff's family he ensures Macduff's retaliation against him, which ultimately leads
In the play of “Macbeth”, Shakespeare gradually and effectively deepens our understanding of the themes and most importantly the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The main theme of Macbeth is ambition, and how it compels the main characters to pursue it. The antagonists of the play are the three witches, who symbolise the theme appearance and reality. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relation is an irony throughout the play, as most of their relation is based on greed and power. This is different from most of Shakespeare’s other plays, which are mostly based on romance and trust. There is also guilt that leads Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the final consequences of the play. As the progresses, the constant changes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are exposed.
In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, there were many animals mentioned that have symbolic meanings. In this essay I will be analyzing the animal imagery/symbolism in the play. The use of animals in the play is to help us better understand the play as the viewer has something to connect to. It also makes the play interesting, helps with dramatic irony, and creates emotion. Animals in the play are used to describe events in a more engaging way, it is used to foreshadow events, used to describe Macbeth, and used to compare things. In my opinion I think that the most important animals in the play is the owl, the serpent, the horse, and the lion.
Thesis Statement: Throughout the play of Macbeth, Shakespeare chooses to use animals to portray foreshadowing, to develop character and to evoke a wide variety of emotions from the audience.
Macbeth is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare which deals about the consequences of excessive greed. Shakespeare also uses an abundance of literary devices especially nature and animal imageries. These imageries are used to represent the disturbance in the Great Chain1 which is shown through the murder of King Duncan which destroys the natural order of things especially in the succession to the throne. The birds play the critical role of conveying this idea through foreshadowing and characterization.2
The imagery of snakes throughout the story of Macbeth contributes to the mood and poetic prose of Shakespeare. Yet more importantly, the snake is a symbolic figure for malevolence and treachery. Shakespeare uses the "snake" to enhance the quality of his characters, and provide insight into their malevolence. The serpentine image also provokes emotion. As the story of Macbeth is a tragedy, the snake images provide a dark contrasting mood to the play, designed to heighten the sense of fear from the audience. People are generally afraid snakes, and Shakespeare uses this object as a tool to relate certain fears of the characters to the audience. Shakespeare is able to develop his characters while capturing the emotion of his audience all by his use of serpentine imagery.
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.
Even though others question Macduff’s responsibility for his family’s murder, "Why in that rawness left you wife and child”, he ultimately left them out of love for both family and country. Macduff’s persistent desire to defeat Macbeth determines his loyalty to country, rather than to the tyrant Macbeth. From the beginning, Macduff has valued country over leader, so when Duncan is murdered, and Macbeth will be coronated, “Will you go to scone/No, cousin, I’ll to Fife” (2.4.35-36). Macduff doesn’t attend the coronation because he is suspicious of Macbeth and his possible involvement in Duncan’s
To illustrate, the character of Macbeth has the mind of an animal. In one of Macbeth’s quotes, he says, “O, full of scorpions is my mind dear wife!” (pg. 77) This quote of his has Macbeth referring to scorpions in his mind, meaning that he is filled with evil and malicious thoughts and plans. Macbeth connects himself to an animal, and literally tells readers that his mind is “full of scorpions.” Macbeth has a character change throughout the play; he started out as normal, per say, but he changes and is reduced to an animalistic nature.
Macduff was the first to openly defy Macbeth by his decision to go to his castle in Fife rather than Macbeth’s coronation in “Scone” (2.4). Macduff flees to England to rally support and revolt against Macbeth (4.3). Macduff acts on his free will, uninfluenced by the power of Macbeth nor others, and does what he believes to be the best for himself and everyone else. He retains his independent thoughts and his sense of masculinity despite the consequences he might suffer, standing his grounds with his beliefs and ideology of being a true patriot. Later on, upon hearing the news of his family’s murder, Macduff shows his sensitivity: “I shall [disput it like a man], but I must also feel it like a man” (4.3). He depicts the ability to have emotions and link it to his masculinity as a part of human traits, embracing his weaknesses and flaws and showing that he also acts as he believes he should act. The sharp contrast between Macbeth’s cowardly actions and Macduff’s strong will is shown at the final battle between the two; Macbeth refuses to fight with Macduff when Macbeth learns Macduff is that one person in the prophecy that would defeat Macbeth until Macduff threatens to capture him alive and humiliates him in front of the crowd (5.8).Once again, Macbeth masculinity is threatened, and he gives in to the threat rather than stand his ground, leading to his ultimate demise. Macduff’s
Macbeth, and all of William Shakespeare's other works include several universal themes. Shakespeare incorporates these themes into his works to emphasize meanings and points. Several times in Macbeth nature is out of order which coincides with unpleasant events occurring. This happens many times in Macbeth. Shakespeare demonstrates this using setting, characters, and dialog.
If a picture tells a thousand words, than imagine the importance of an image upon a play such as Macbeth. In any literary work, it is extremely important that the author can effectively manipulate a reader's feelings towards a character. In Macbeth, that feat is accomplished magnificently by Shakespeare. Through his skillful use of imagery, Shakespeare shows us a deeper look into the true character of Macbeth. Though imagery is widespread throughout Macbeth, it is most dominant in clothing imagery, light and darkness imagery, and blood imagery. Through these images,
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” explores a fundamental struggle of the human conscience. The reader is transported into the journey of a man who recognizes and acknowledges evil but still succumbs to its destructive powers. The character of Macbeth is shrouded in ambiguity that scholars have claimed as both being a tyrant and tragic hero. Macbeth’s inner turmoil and anxieties that burden him throughout the entire play evoke sympathy and pity in the reader. Though he has the characteristics of an irredeemable tyrant, Macbeth realizes his mistakes and knows there is no redemption for his sins. And that is indeed tragic.