In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth constructs a ploy to become king by having King Duncan murdered. Macbeth then frequently experiences strange visions and thoughts driven by his imagination as he is going insane. These experiences play a large role in slowly deteriorating Macbeth’s mental sanity and life.
Macbeth is proclaimed Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and “King hereafter” when he first has an encounter with the three witches (I, iii, 50). Macbeth became Thane of Glamis with Sinel’s death and then became Thane of Cawdor after the previous Thane of Cawdor was overthrown, but Macbeth did not know why he was declared to be “King hereafter” by the witches.
Macbeth’s imagination starts to play a role right after he is confirmed to be Thane of Cawdor in Act I, scene iv. Shakespeare uncovers the way Macbeth’s imagination works by showing how Macbeth clings to evil ideas and thoughts. Macbeth has an aside that reveals his thoughts about killing King Duncan: “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical / Shakes so my single state of man that function / Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is / But what is not” (I, iii, 139-142). This aside marks the first change in Macbeth’s character as the loyal Macbeth transforms into a credulous one.
Lady Macbeth discovers that Macbeth became Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor in Act I, Scene v after she read a letter. It is identifiable that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have previously discussed murdering King Duncan so that Macbeth can take the throne when he says:
The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements. Come, you sprits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full /...
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...otionally cripple Macduff by destroying his castle and killing his family, but Macbeth’s plan does the opposite of his hopes when Macduff returns and kills Macbeth.
The role of imagination was the driving force in Macbeth that caused Macbeth’s despotic, restless lifestyle. This imagination along with his craving for power and paranoia are what led Macbeth to murder more and more until he himself was killed.
Source: Paul, Henry N. "Macbeth's Imagination." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 9 Feb. 2014
Source: Bradley, A. C. "Macbeth's Imagination." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 9 Feb. 2014
Source: Kinsella, Kate, Sharon Vaughan, Kevin Feldman, Donald D. Deshler, Burton Raffel, and Emily Brontë. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." Prentice Hall Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. 306-94. Print.
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
Works of literature that attract people usually contain some wild thinking. Henry David Thoreau, in his essay “Walking,” makes this assessment of literature: “In literature it is only the wild that attracts us. Dullness is but another name for tameness. It is the uncivilized free and wild thinking in Hamlet and The Iliad, in all scriptures and mythologies, not learned in schools, that delights us.” In the play “Macbeth,” Shakespeare uses “uncivilized free and wild thinking” in order to make the storyline interesting and entertaining.
Macbeth’s capacity for suffering also leads him to be a tragic hero. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has a personal moment of truth and thinks about what he is going to do. He imagines the dagger in his hand and thinks about the nightmares he will be invaded with. Macbeth is so obsessed with murder; he begins seeing things, and must be quiet and not wake anyone, for he would give himself away.
Evans, G. Blackemore. "Macbeth." In The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blackemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mufflin Company. 1974: 1307- 1311
“Plot Summary: Macbeth”. Shakespeare. Online Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center- Gold. Gale. Ozen High School. 12 Jan 2010. http://find.galegroup.com
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print. The New Folger Library Shakespeare.
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...
Macbeth’s blind ambition leads him to surrender to his dark desires that taunt him throughout the play. Macbeth is frequently tempted to result to the wrongful methods that seem to roam inside of him. In the beginning however Macbeth tends to ignore these desires and depends on chance. He declares “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare, act 1, scene 3, 143-144). This declaration by Macbeth shows his initial stand, which is reliant on fate and sin free. Yet as Macbeth’s character develops throughout the play, he moves farther from his dependence on chance and closer to his darker desires. Eventually his blind ambition to become king overp...
A.C. Bradley’s interpretation of Macbeth finds him human, conflicted, and comparable to his wife, Lady Macbeth, in many respects. They share a common ambition and a common conscience sensitive enough to feel the effects of their ambition. But the story, Bradley contends, is built upon the traits that set them apart. He focuses mainly on Macbeth. Macbeth is a character of two battling halves: his reason, or ambition, and his “imagination.” Bradley attributes the hysterical nature of Macbeth’s visions, the dagger, the specter of Banquo, and other ghosts, to his wild imagination. He “acts badly” (Bradley, 136) and loses his composure whenever his imagination triumphs over his practical side; however, Bradley also asserts that Macbeth’s imagination is “the best of him, something usually deeper and higher than his conscious thoughts” (133). Macbeth is therefore unable to make use of the “better” imagination with which he was endowed and instead only appears “firm, self-controlled and practical” when he is “hateful” (136). A product of these clashing sides, Macbeth’s murder of Duncan is borne of his inability to properly acknowledge the conclusions drawn by his imagination. In his soliloquies and in...
113 Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990. The. Coursen, H. R. Macbeth: A Guide to the Play. London: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Works Cited:.. Shakespeare, William. The. Macbeth. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations play a significant role and contribute to the development of his character. In the play Macbeth, a man is driven to murder his king and his companions after receiving a fairly ambiguous prophecy told by three witches. Although the witches triggered the series of events that later aid Macbeth’s descent into complete insanity, Macbeth is portrayed from the very beginning as a fierce and violent soldier. As the play goes on, several internal conflicts inside of Macbeth become clear. After he performs several bloody tasks, the madness inside of Macbeth is unmistakably visible to everyone around him. As a result of this insanity, he sees visions and hallucinations. Each time Macbeth hallucinates, he plunges further into insanity that is essentially caused by misguided ambition, dread and guilt. Macbeth has three key hallucinations that play a considerably important role in the development of his character: a dagger, the ghost of Banquo, and four apparitions while visiting the prophesying witches.
Soon after he achieves the title Thane of Cawdor as predicted by the three witches; whom drive Macbeth’s ambition to murder King Duncan- due to the fulfilment of the witches’ first prophecy, Macbeth is foolish enough to commit to treason and murder King Duncan. The first change of Macbeth’s personality happens during Act II, Scene 2, where he starts to become overwhelmed with ambition and self-doubt; "To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself" (II.ii)
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is showed as a noble Scottish General in King Duncan’s army. The Captain and King Duncan praise Macbeth for his bravery “For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-/Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel” (1.2 16-17). But when Macbeth meets three witches, his mentality completely changes. The witches predict that Macbeth is now the Thane of Glamis, but he will ...
In Macbeth, Shakespeare confronts audiences with universal and powerful themes of ambition and evil along with its consequences. Shakespeare explores the powerful theme of the human mind’s decent into madness, audiences find this theme most confronting because of its universal relevance. His use of dramatic devices includes soliloquies, animal imagery, clear characterisation and dramatic language. Themes of ambition and mental instability are evident in Lady Macbeth’s reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the prophecies, Macbeth’s hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost and finally in the scene where Lady Macbeth is found sleep walking, tortured by her involvement.