The Fatal Dance: Macbeth’s Tragic Spiral Macbeth’s roller coaster going from grace to disgrace is a result of both personal demons and outside manipulation. The dark areas of his mind are explored, piecing together the sinister network of events that ultimately lead to his death. The tragic story of Macbeth, by Shakespear, unfolds like a storm fueled by both external factors and internal conflict. Exploring the dark spaces of Macbeth’s mind, the audience finds a mixture of ambition, guilt, paranoia and Lady Macbeth’s influence. However, it is the link of interaction of these influences that converts Macbeth from a brave hero into a cruel king, which ultimately determines his fate. In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, internal and external elements …show more content…
No ocean or large amount of water can cleanse his blood or soul. Paranoia also comes hand in hand with guilt. As he becomes more guilty, paranoid of getting caught, he starts overthinking his situation, and relationship with those closest to him, suspecting them as threats. This then causes him to plot against them, following into murder, throwing Macbeth deeper into the pit of wrong doings, which he created. As he starts suffocating with his paranoia, he begins to hallucinate. Before he kills Duncan, he sees a floating dagger come before him, then vanish just before he touches it. Making him feel guilty for killing his cousin. He also sees the ghost of Banquo in act three, scene four, at his celebration for his crowning. Macbeth freaks out, almost revealing himself and his secrets. The guests he invites think he is crazy, but Lady Macbeth makes a quick cover, saving the truth from behind their lies. As the ambition, guilt and paranoia pile up on Macbeth’s shoulders, they work together, taking him down. Macbeth and his flaws are not only to blame for his demise, as the three weird sisters and their dark magic play a significant role to his end. In the
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
As found in Macbeth, a fictional play, it can be noticed that the amount on paranoia found in the book is astonishing. William Shakespeare creates an environment where the reader can identify the situations where Macbeth is paranoid and how it clouds his judgement to make him do things that he never imagined himself doing. Killing King Duncan, the greatest ruler, and framing his children in order to have all of the power while also killing others in order to keep his spot at ruler of Scotland.
Macbeth Even though Macbeth is influenced by Lady Macbeth and the witches throughout the play, his hamartia causes him to do things that he might not have done. When Macbeth receives his prophecy from the witches about becoming king, it causes him to believe that it will come true. In all actuality, the prophecy causes him to commit murder so he can become king, but at the same time the witches knew this would happen. Macbeth is driven mad when he tries to make the witches prophecy come true. When he commits the murder of Duncan, the madness begins, and from that point on he is in a state of paranoia.
Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood. This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing.
Macbeth displays the characteristics of an insane character because of his foolish acts and poor mental state when he visualizes the floating dagger, speaks to a ghost, becomes obsessed with killing others and with the idea of being invincible. When Macbeth begins talking to a ghost, his insanity becomes very apparent to the reader. From another one of the witches prophesies, Macbeth is threatened by Banquo because his sons are to be king one day as well. Macbeth begins to see Banquo’s and makes foolish comments. He says, “[Macbeth] The table’s full.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play centring around opposing forces trying to gain power in the succession for the throne of Scotland. Macbeth, in the beginning, is known to be a nobel and strong willed man, who is ready to fight for his country. However, one may see that Macbeth has a darker side to him, he is power hungry and blood thirsty, and will not stop until he has secured his spot as King of Scotland. Though Macbeth may be a tyrant, he is very naïve, gullible, and vulnerable. He is vulnerable and willing to be persuaded by many characters throughout the play, his wife, the witches to name a few, this is the first sign that his mental state is not as sharp as others. One will see the deterioration of Macbeth and his mental state as the play progresses, from level headedness and undisturbed to hallucinogenic, psychopathic and narcissistic. The triggering event for his mental deterioration is caused by the greed created from the witches first prophecy, that Macbeth will become King of Scotland (I.iii.53). Because of the greed causing his mental deterioration, Macbeth’s psychosis is what caused his own demise by the end of the play. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the tragic hero Macbeth’s demise is provoked by his hallucinogenic episodes, psychopathic actions and narcissistic behaviours.
Macbeth feeling this way convinces a pair of men to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. By having Banquo and Fleance murdered, Macbeth believes that it will prevent Banquo's sons from becoming king. Macbeth also hires the murderers to kill Macduff's family. This demonstrates Macbeth's obsession because it indicates that Macbeth values his power over his friends. His obsession with power causes Macbeth to feel guilty and lose his sanity. Macbeth's guilt and loss of sanity is indicated in the hallucinations he experiences. His first hallucination occurs just before killing King Duncan. Macbeth sees "A dagger of the mind, a false creation" (act II, scene I, line 38).
Macbeth’s provocative or violent actions on the challenges placed before him cause him to build an effect of downfall and dismay throughout the play. Originally, Macbeth handles his challenges in different ways and manners and is constantly changing his procedure. From handling situations carefully to not caring, Macbeth and his violence resulted in guilt and selfishness which he had to overcome. By the end of the play, Macbeth had become a selfish, greedy king and the challenges as well as experiences he encountered shaped him into who he is. He was shaped by the guilt of killing Banquo and Duncan, just to become powerful and a king. For example, in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth faces adversity when his mind creates a ghost of Banquo, who he just found out was killed. In Macbeth, the uprising of adversity was often handled in various manners. By dealing with his own challenges, Macbeth transforms his handling of adversity from being cautious to thoughtless, which reflected his character and the transformation he portrayed throughout the
A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders. He killed his best friend Banquo out of fear and he senselessly murdered Macduff’s family. The hallucination of Banquo’s ghost is a representation of Macbeth 's guilt, all of Macbeth’s guilt is manifested in the ghost. Macbeth states that he feels guilty because of the murders. “Ay, and since too, murders have been performed Too terrible for the ear.” (III, iv, 80-81) Seeing the ghost of Banquo is the breaking point for Macbeth. The ghost also causes him to think more irrationally which leads to the murder of Macduff. Also, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is full of regret and guilt. The voices he hears reflect his mental state. “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!” (II, ii, 35) His innocence was killed and he knows that he has to live with this guilt for the rest of his life, hence Macbeth will never sleep peacefully ever again. After each successive murder, Macbeth becomes more and more inhumane. “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o 'er.” (III, iv, 143-145) Macbeth claims that after committing a murder, there is no turning back. He killed his best friend due to his ambition and fear. The third murder was outright moralless and unnecessary, he compulsively killed Macduff’s wife and children. Macbeth shows no remorse in his murders, he becomes an absolute monster towards the end of the play. As Macbeth loses his human morales, hallucinations appear to remind him of the sins he
The drug problem in the U.S. and around the world is an important issue and seems to be a difficult problem to tackle across the board. The inflow of drugs has become one of the largest growths in transnational crime operations; illicit drug use in the United States makes it very difficult for nation states police and customs forces to get a handle on the issues. War on drugs, drug trafficking has long been an issue for the United States. There has been a proclamation of “war on drugs” for the past 44 years.
I decided to analyze Act II, Scene II in MacBeth using Psychoanalysis. I have previously examined the passage using Marxism and Queer Theory, so I thought it might be beneficial to scrutinize the scene from yet another angle. However, I will also discuss another scenes, as well, in order to fully, yet briefly, demonstrate MacBeth’s two opposing psychological constructions.
Sixth, Psychological Lens deals with the most important question of why. It looks into the work of literature as a fictional expression of the personality, state of mind, feelings, and desires of the author or character. Many readers want to know why a certain character did the things they did or why would the author write this work and Psychological Lens helps to explain this. For instance, Macbeth kills to gain power and keep it. The drama states,” Macbeth: ‘I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?’” (Shakespeare 25). Macbeth wants to be king so bad that he convinces himself to kill Duncan in order to rise to power. His conscience does not see the wrong in it therefore he is able to carry out the deed. Additionally, Lady Macbeth
William Shakespeare is the most prominent writer in English literature. His plays have transcended time, excellence, brightness, and Western culture. Macbeth is the last of the four “great tragedies,” the shortest, and darkest. Macbeth was first published in the Folio of 1623 but written approximately in 1606. In context, King James I was a supporter of Shakespeare’s acting company. Most evidently, Shakespeare wrote some of his plays to delight the King’s taste. Macbeth is a clear example of the close relationship with the King. In the play, one of the leading characters, Banquo, is a noble figure from the King’s Scottish lineage. Additionally, the play embodies entities of evil and witches that fascinated
However, this experience is not one that gives him courage or ambition but one that gives him fear, enough to make a man go mad. At the party, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost which he describes as “a bold one that dare look on that which might appall the devil” (III.vi.63). He begins to act like a madman in front of all those loyal to him and reveals that Banquo is dead. Despite Lady Macbeth’s attempt to cover up his act by blaming it on a childhood illness, Macbeth’s followers begin to lose question their king, lose trust in him, and even wonder if he is the one who murdered Duncan. After the banquet, Macbeth seeks the witches out of their cave so that he can learn more about his future and silence those who are plotting against him despite what the consequences may be. This reveals that Macbeth has completely fallen for the witches prophecy. There, he sees a line of eight kings followed by Banquo’s ghost. The last king holds a mirror to reflect a never-ending line of kings descended from Banquo. When he sees this, he exclaims“ thou art look like the spirits of Banquo: down!” (IV.i.123). This vision confirms that Banquo’s descendants inherit the throne and contributes to Macbeth’s anxiety, fear and to his further loss of control. He becomes even more insecure about his position as king and can no longer make his decisions
... in him but in her. He hallucinates before the murder but she suffers from the mental disorders afterwards. He stands helpless with his bloody hands crying all Neptune's ocean won't clear the guilt from his hands while she comforts him saying that a few drops of water would clear them of their deed. Later. She is the one who washes her hand for quarter of an hour to get rid of the bloodstain. What Macbeth fears to happen to him happens to her. She becomes "all remorse, and he all defiance." In fact the fall of lady Macbeth and her death paves the way to the fall of Macbeth and his death.