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Thematic thrust in Shakespeare's Macbeth
Midsummer Night's Dream: The Oxford Shakespeare
Themes in Macbeth by Shakespeare
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Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep / Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care / The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath / Balm of hurt minds, great Nature’s second course. (2.2.35-39)
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth uses these metaphors to explicate the connotation of sleep. Sleep can be interpreted many different ways, but throughout the play, the ability to sleep soundly is based on the number of skeletons in the closet. The previous quote, because it is used immediately following the first action of Macbeth’s demise, is furthering the theme of sleep for the innocent and the lack of for the evil.
The denotation of innocence is the quality of being free from guilt or blame and being morally pure. When someone is pure and has no guilt, he or she generally has the ability to sleep better at night. The first proof of this in Macbeth is when King Duncan goes to sleep at Macbeth’s house. Banquo refers to his slumber by saying, “The king’s
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For example, it is natural to consider babies innocent when they enter the world. However, throughout the text, Macbeth has been proven guilty through the analysis of his unsettled nights. Sleep was used to symbolize innocence throughout Macbeth, and it proved his lack of from the start when he heard a voice saying, “Macbeth does murder sleep,” (2.2.36). Macbeth ended the life of innocence in the very beginning. His actions then impose the evil-stricken restless nights on his family, friends, and country. Furthermore, just as a baby grows less innocent as he or she goes through the unnatural sins imposed on him or her in the world, the characters in Macbeth loss their innocence as they went along with or performed the unnatural deeds. Consequently, the less sleep received directly coincided with the level of innocence in William Shakespeare's
In the Shakespearian tragedy Macbeth, though Macbeth manages to murder the Scottish king Duncan to actualize the prophecy of the three witches, yet the guilt emanating from such nefarious acts and intentions continues to foreshadow Macbeth’s life throughout the plot. The very moment Macbeth approaches lady Macbeth with hands dipped in the blood of Duncan, his deeps seated guilt oozes forth as he says, “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more;/Macbeth does murder sleep (2.2.45-46)”. Thereby, from this moment onwards, Macbeth is shown to be strongly stung by an unrelenting and continually nagging sense of guilt that makes him engage in strange and suspicion generating acts and manners. Yet, Macbeth time and again interprets his guilt as a sign of cowardice and moves on to spill more blood to consolidate his hold over an ill gotten throne. The torment and anguish inherent in these lines that are imbued with the seeds of guilt eventually metamorphose into a full blown sense of guilt and shame that continues to torment his soul.
Darkness evokes feelings of evilness and a disturbance in nature. Macbeth's statement, "Now o'er the one half-world / Nature seems dead" (Lines 49 - 50), might mean that the world seems dead everywhere he looks, or it might give him the idea that the murder he is about to commit will have far-reaching repercussions. In Act V, Scene i, Line 10, the doctor says, "A great perturbation in nature," while talking about Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, emphasizing how nature is disturbed by human doings. The witches' chorus on Act I, Scene i, Line 10, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," is a paradox and a prophecy that makes the reader think about the line to find some meaning for themselves.
After murdering Banquo, Macbeth begins to fear other powerful men around him, such as Macduff. The witches provide Macbeth with Apparitions that tell him his fate for the future as king. The second Apparition, a bloody child tells Macbeth that no individual born from a woman can harm Macbeth. Macbeth then replies “Then live Macduff; what need I fear thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure and take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live, that I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, and sleep in spite of thunder” (4,1,93-97). Even though Macbeth gains the knowledge that no individual born from a woman can harm him, he acts cowardly to protect himself. Macbeth turns to murder instead of facing the powerful Macduff himself. As Machiavelli said men act cowardly, and Macbeth demonstrates just that by murdering anyone who seems to pose even a slight threat towards him as king. Macbeth believes murdering Macduff will allow him to “sleep in spite of thunder.” Macbeth uses this metaphor of sleep by saying the people who sleep are innocent and the ones who don’t sleep are guilty. Macbeth believes if Banquo is dead, he can sleep as an innocent person. Macbeth presents a cowardly character who believes murder is the “right” way of handling his problems. As a result of Macbeth murdering more and more people out of fear, his people will think of him as a cowardly king. Macbeth wants his people to think he is a strong king, but by killing good people out of fear, individuals will have their idea of Macbeth’s character alter into being a
We have consciences that function to tell us the difference between right and wrong. If we have clear consciences, we usually possess the ability to sleep. But when our consciences are full of guilt, we experience a state of sleeplessness. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the sleep and sleeplessness motif to represent Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's consciences and the effect Macbeth's conscience has on the country of Scotland.
18 - 21), when Macbeth tries to justify the assignation of Duncan. Macbeth is stating that Duncan’s death will be impactful to all, therefore, it would not be considered a crime if he feels grief. The effect of comparing his grief to “pleading angels,” and “new born babes” conveys innocence within the characters ambitions. He is comparing the consequences of his ambition with innocent symbols such as a “newborn babe," and “plead[ing] angels” to communicate the blamelessness of his deed. Macbeth is so deeply blinded by his ambitions, he is using inexplicit reasoning to justify his ambition, hence, his views are being influenced by his eager desire for personal advancement. During Shakespearean times, religion was widely accepted as the natural belief of man, and symbols such as “angles” or “new born babes” were regarded as holy and pure creations of God himself. Since “angels,” are “plead[ing},” and “newborn babes,” are “pity[ing],” along with Macbeth grieving for Duncan’s murder, Shakespeare communicates a forced feeling of innocence for Macbeth due to Macbeth’s avid justification for Duncan’s assassination. Therefore, his ambition is blinding him of the emotional impact on Duncan’s family and is replacing it with a reason that justifies his desire and quenches the thirst of his
Macbeth is describing sleep as a wonderful thing. It gives you energy and nourishes you like food from a feast.
Shakespeare uses sleep imagery to demonstrate the presence of evil, guilt, and innocence in humans. For most people when they do something wrong they are able to learn from their mistakes and become a better person in the process. They do not dig themselves deeper in a situation filled with evilness and guilt that lead to destroying who they truly are as a person. In Macbeth, characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth put themselves in situations they were not accustomed to and ultimately lead to their downfalls. They were not able to sleep on things and sit back and reassess the situations. Instead they went full throttle ahead into the unknown. If these characters were able to rest then the consequences they received from their actions would have never been encountered.
During the play, sleep is a reoccurring theme of the play. In the play, sleep is referred to as death’s counterfeit because of the similarity in appearance of when a person is sleeping and when they are dead. Shakespeare uses this theme to reinforce many speeches of characters in the play. Such as when just after Macduff discovers King Duncan is dead, he tells the surrounding people to “shake off their downy sleep, death’s counterfeit”. As well, when Macbeth murders King Duncan, he “murders” his own sleep because from then on he would not be able to sleep because of hallucinations in his mind of his murders. And, along with “murdering” his own sleep, he does so to the sleep of others, in particular, his wife Lady Macbeth. At the end of the play, Lady Macbeth starts to go crazy and is sleepwalking while unconscious of her actions. It may look like Lady Macbeth is receiving both the benefit of sleep and completing tasks that would require one to be awake, but in reality she isn’t sleeping at all and slowly deteriorates to the point of when she commits suicide. Macbe...
Throughout the play the conventional idea of sleep as being a calm, restful time is switched around to demonstrate evil. When Macbeth is just about to murder Duncan in his sleep one sees his sleep is going to be disturbed. “Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.” (Shakespeare 41) “Nature seems dead,” shows that Macbeth is feeling guilt already, not just about him killing King Duncan, but that with the murder, he is killing everything else of the country. “The curtained sleep” is saying that your sleep should be private and peaceful, like you are behind a curtain, being hidden from everyone else. This sleep is not peaceful though because it is being disturbed by the wicked dreams. Macbeth is picturing the deed he is about to perform as a nightmare, giving sleep an evil feel. The sleep of Macbeth is also being disturbed by his killing of Duncan. After Macbeth murders King Duncan, his consequences are that is sleep is being disturbed. “Still it cried, ‘Sleep no more' to all the house; ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep’, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.” (Shakespeare 45) As we see from this quote, Macbeth is starting to go crazy from his loss of sleep. The disturbance of his sleep is staring to disturb him physi...
“I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Didn’t you say something?” Lady macbeth says this to Macbeth when she is going to see if he had Killed Duncan. “The night has been unruly. Where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, Lamentings heard i ' th ' air, strange screams of death, And prophesying with accents terrible Of dire combustion and confused event New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird, Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth Was feverous and did shake.”(act2.sc3) this is when lennox came to Macbeths castle for a visit and was asking them if they had felt the eryness of the night. “Dance around the cauldron and throw in the poisoned entrails. (holding up a toad) You’ll go in first—a toad that sat under a cold rock for a month, oozing poison from its pores.”(act4.sc1). the Witches are making a postion that will make macbeth see the apperitons or hilluseations of Fleance and Banquo. “I 'll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev 'nnights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. Look what I have.”
(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)
This theme is further verified by King Duncan's statement "There's no art/ To find the mind's construction in the face..." (Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 11-12) Although Macbeth has the semblance of the amicable and dutiful host, ("fair") he is secretly plotting Duncan's death ("foul"). Furthermore, Lady Macbeth's orchestration of the murder exemplifies the twisted atmosphere in Inverness. Both a woman and a host, she should be the model of grace and femininity. She is described, however, as a "fiendlike queen" (Act 5, Scene 6, Line 69) and exhibits a cold, calculating mentality. In addition, the very porter of Inverness likens the place to the dwelling of the devil Beelzebub. This implies that despite its "pleasant seat," (Act 1, Scene 6, Line 1) Inverness is a sinister and evil place. It is also interesting to note that Macbeth is unable to say a prayer to bless himself after murdering Duncan. It is strange and "foul" that he should think of religion after committing such an unholy act. The very sanction of sleep and repose is also attacked in Macbeth. What is normally considered a refreshing and necessary human activity is "murdered" by Macbeth after he commits his heinous crime. Neither Macbeth nor his wife is able to sleep after killing Duncan. Macbeth's lack of sleep makes him a brutal killer; Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and inadvertently reveals the source of her distress through her nightly babble.
Innocence is a quality that few people take to their grave, although all are born with it. At some point in one's life, an event or circumstance removes that shield from both moral and legal guilt, whether in one's own eyes or in the eyes of another. In such a case, innocence is cast off, or innocence can be stolen. Both are true of Macbeth in William Shakespeare's tragic work Macbeth. The hero's innocence and naïveté make him vulnerable prey for those who feel completely at home in a subhuman realm of malice and disintegration - the witches and Lady Macbeth. Inevitably, Macbeth is eventually worn down enough to be pushed into this dark and evil abyss by his wife, Lady Macbeth, who leaps frantically in after him to join the witches where they are most at home.
By embracing evil, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have committed unnatural actions that disturb them. Their guilt does not leave them in peace, and slowly degrades their health. Macbeth's guilt causes him to act strangely in front of his guests, and it disturbs him deeply. Macbeth's guilt is deeply mutilated, and it only affects him when he hallucinates "Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves / Shall never tremble" (III.iv.124-125), and as soon as his visions disappear he feels better "Why so, being gone, / I am a man again.- Pray you sit still" (iii.iV.130-131), not something normal considering the actions he has committed. His guilt paralyzes him when he does feel it, but most of the time he is guiltless, and that encourages him to commit more murder. Although his guilt does not ultimately destroy him, it is a factor that brings his own men against him, since through his guilt he reveals the actions he has committed.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's problem plays which have puzzled the critics all over the years. It is compact and full of significant scenes, and it has two important characters, Macbeth and his wife. It is a clear study of human nature, which I personally think Shakespeare had mastered. The final act opens with the sleepwalking scene and this scene is of great significance because it reveals the true nature of lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the enigmatic characters. Once she is a woman made out of steel and suddenly she collapses; she returns to be a gentle wife. The sleepwalking scene also shows lady Macbeth as a complementary character to her husband.