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In the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth, the malevolent thane’s vaulting ambition influences him to commit regicide of King Duncan, the fratricide of Banquo and the massacre of Macduff’s family. Macbeth’s fatal flaw leads him to the troublesome consequences which foreshadows his downfall. The antagonist and his manipulative wife wear affable masks to fool their king without expressing their sinful thoughts and feelings. They present false faces to observe dark intentions of malice and treason. Macbeth appears to be faithful and respectful to King Duncan while he is vacillating on the regicide. Lady Macbeth suggests his husband to be masculine and murder Duncan in Inverness. The antagonist’s wife keeps her guilt inside and acts strong which causes her to commit suicide. Donalbain realizes that every individual in the castle seems to be cordial towards King Duncan, but there is someone sinister that is hiding behind their smile. …show more content…
Macbeth displays the motif of masking to claim innocence although he is vicious and brutal. Shakespeare effectively utilizes visual imagery and verbal irony to display the truth behind the characters’ felonies leading up to Macbeth’s downfall by presenting the theme of appearance versus reality. Macbeth’s fatal flaw influences him to dissemble his diabolical intentions from King Duncan and commit treason. King Duncan states that he will arrive at Inverness to celebrate Macbeth’s new title and bravery. After hearing King Duncan’s proclamation of Malcolm being the heir, Macbeth says in an aside, “Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires: / The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (Shakespeare I. iv. 50-53). Shakespeare’s personification demands the stars to be dim which is an analogy to Macbeth’s heinous desires to stay a secret. The stars to be dull is impossible which reflects that it is impracticable for Macbeth to keep his corrupt thoughts hidden. Shakespeare begins writing in rhyming couplets to express the influence of the witches’ prophecies on Macbeth. Shakespeare’s purpose is to demonstrate that Macbeth turning from a courageous war hero into a villainous murderer. Shakespeare inserts these lines to cause Malcolm and Donalbain to flee so Macbeth can usurp the throne and take over the country easily with no barriers. Macbeth is “a character type whose outward show would only serve as a mask for hidden inward motives” (Davidson 166). Macbeth’s appearance has no true meaning because he wants to eviscerate King Duncan in reality. Shakespeare’s use of verbal irony reflects how Macbeth fools King Duncan. Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to express false facial expressions to hide the truth.
The antagonist’s wife persuades him by explaining the marvelous life they will be living if they were the king and queen of Scotland. Lady Macbeth informs Macbeth, “Your face, my Thane, is a book where men / May read strange matters. To beguile the time, / Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,” (Shakespeare I. v. 62-65). Shakespeare writes this metaphor to display Macbeth’s guilt after the murder so he will have to act normally. The antagonist and his wife graciously welcome King Duncan to their castle, while they are planning the murder. Lady Macbeth encourages “her husband to change his face to mask his thoughts,” (Benjamin 621). To convince Macbeth to be ruthless and murder Duncan, she suggests him to “Look like th’ innocent flower, But the serpent under’t” (Shakespeare I. v. 66). She wants him to be gentle and kindhearted on the outside and evil on the inside. The motif of masking claims innocence although Macbeth is dishonorable and
sinful. Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as an evil and powerful woman that conceals her emotions of guilt and weakness from society. After the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth acts strong and ruthless to hide her true intentions. She exclaims, “A little water clears us of this deed: / How easy is it, then! Your constancy / Hath left you unattended” (Shakespeare II. ii. 66-68). Lady Macbeth cannot bear her guilt anymore which causes her to go mad and commit suicide. Shakespeare’s purpose for her characterization is to give Lady Macbeth protection from society. Society characterizes women as individuals that are weak and individuals who depend on men. Women often express false feelings to protect troubled emotions from society because of the fears of revealing their true emotions. Shakespeare’s characterization of Lady Macbeth reflects society’s view on women and their capabilities. Donalbain exclaims that everyone acts affectionate towards King Duncan, but someone is hiding their evil intentions. When Donalbain finds out that Duncan is dead, he feels unsafe to be in Scotland, so he flees. He exclaims, “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, / The nearer bloody” (Shakespeare II. iii. 141-142). Donalbain says this to Malcolm in an aside to ensure their safety by separating into different countries. Duncan’s son believes that if they stay, the murderer will end up killing both of them. Shakespeare’s purpose of inserting this line is to teach the audience that even close friends and relatives will betray each other. The author utilizes repetition to emphasize the individual’s true intentions. Shakespeare utilizes verbal irony to create false faces to observe dark intentions. The hiding of Macbeth’s true thoughts and feelings make the plot of this tragedy. The antagonist fools his king into giving him a higher position in Scotland by expressing his fake emotions. The antagonist’s wife suggests him to be welcoming and kind on the outside but evil on the inside. Lady Macbeth hides her guilt for protection from revealing her true self. Donalbain states that every individual would betray others even if they are friendly and amiable. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth expresses false emotions to hide their guilt to commit murders that will help them usurp the throne. Shakespeare’s dramatic denouement occurs because of Macbeth’s vaulting ambition that leads to his diabolical actions.
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare starts off with a noble warrior Named Macbeth that is titled thane of Glamis by his own uncle, King Duncan. Macbeth is awarded thane of Cawdor due to the switching sides of the original title holder who is hanged for treason. Macbeth who is deceived by his wife kills the king in a plot for power and they put the blame on the guards by laying bloody daggers next to them. Macbeth begins to lose himself as the play goes on. He kills his best friend Banquo and Macduff’s wife and kids. Lady Macbeth kills herself as she goes crazy from all the killings and then that is when Macbeth completely loses himself. Macbeth is told by the witches that he cannot be killed by any one of women born. Macduff and Malcolm, heir to the throne who fled Scotland think of a plan to kill Macbeth. Macbeth faces Macduff and Malcolm’s army alone as he is labeled a tyrant and is abandoned by everyone. He faces the army fearlessly as he cannot killed by any one of woman born but fails to realize that Macduff was born of C-section leading to his downfall and Macbeth is Beheaded. Malcolm becomes the new king. Lady Macbeth's deception had a dramatic effect on the play leading to a dramatic change in many lives. The three main points that will be discussed are how Lady Macbeth becomes deceived; how Lady Macbeth deceives others and the results from Lady Macbeth deceiving others. Lady Macbeth, was simply minded and became easily deceived.
In Macbeth Lady Macbeth is perceived to be very evil and conniving, she is the catalyst that pushes Macbeth into killing King Duncan. She emasculates and manipulates him, causing his psychotic tendencies. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth played the role of a honorable servant of the King, and was praised for killing the traitorous Thane of Cawdor. Instead of the praise of Macbeth’s bravery bettering his personal integrity, he lets his prophesies that the witches informed him about go to his head. He is willing to kill to try and set himself further ahead, and after he is crowned King, he would kill anyone that stood in his way. This eventually catches up with him when the other characters put the pieces of the murders together and realize that Macbeth is responsible for all the deaths. Once this happened, Macduff, the Thane of Fife, set out to Macbeth’s castle at Inverness with a large army disguised by birnam wood to behead Macbeth, so Malcolm could be crowned King. Macbeth’s lack of courage throughout ...
Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes. They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades. However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go. Macbeth cannot let go. Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement. Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice. What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder. The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected. Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature. Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan. However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him. Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid. Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.
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.
In his first interaction with the witches, a prophecy is told to him of his oncoming title as the Thane of Cawdor eventually the position of king, which is shown to be true with the gaining of the position of the Thane of Cawdor with the execution of the past Thane for treason. Inspired by this news, Macbeth mulled over the prospect of murdering the king for his position but does not partake that action until being persuaded by Lady Macbeth. Representing Macbeth’s evil side (or his Freudian id), Lady Macbeth acts as a motivator to commit the murders throughout the text, successfully persuading Macbeth to murder Duncan and take the crown. However, after this initial skirmish between the ideas of destiny manifesting through the witches and free-will through Lady Macbeth, Macbeth himself acts on his own, free of the constraints of destiny. With the witches, the influence of Hecate acts as a major shift in this duality, as the prophecies become ignored due to their interference with Macbeth’s agenda. In ignoring these prophecies, Macbeth believes he has overcome the constraints of faith, which is shown to be false by his death at the conclusion of the play. With his ignorance of the omens, Macbeth further sealed his fate, which ultimately results in his death to Macduff, a rival he felt no fear about. Shakespeare uses this struggle between following destiny and
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth’s dishonorable political advancement to his downfall, as the acquisition of foreseen titles ends in his execution. While Scotland is fearful of the invading forces, Macbeth’s valor in the battle with traitors secure him the positions of Thane of Cawdor, as well as Thane of Glamis. Macbeth is a character of bravery and courage. In the beginning, one believes that Macbeth is a stable, rational individual, although when Macbeth discovers the weïrd sisters’ forecasts that he will continue to obtain ranks, an insane character emerges from within. Macbeth’s actions are based upon motivation and truly evoke an imbalance in his mind. Despite these factors, the imperative annihilation of Duncan proceeds Macbeth to a further state of insanity. Macbeth’s mental state transforms in the progression of the Shakespearian tragedy, developing a character that originates as sane, but then is driven towards madness through the tragic flaw of ambition; this is the result of (1) Macbeth’s likelihood to commit atrocities, (2) willful construction of figments, and (3) external pressures for pursuance of ill-advised intentions.
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...
The heroic loyal character of Macbeth is forced into a internal battle to decide between ambition and loyalty to his king. Macbeth overcomes the evil within him, though Lady Macbeth crushes his thoughts of loyalty to the king by calling him a coward or threatening his manliness. Macbeth allows the evilness to grow within him, which allows ambition to take control of his life. Due to the evilness that has started to control his life he prepares to kill the man who has given him everything to his credit, to fulfil his ambition, and to become King.
As Shakespeare’s tragic tale of ambition unfolds, the two central characters, Lady Macbeth and the title character Macbeth, undergo a dramatic shift of dominance in their relationship. In the beginning of the play the couple act as a team, plotting the death of Duncan to further their mutual bloodthirsty ambition. Lady Macbeth soon shows her power over Macbeth when she questions her husband’s manhood and devotion to her when he gets cold feet. As Macbeth’s confidence slowly grows and the witches proclaim positive futures for him he begins to separate himself from his wife, planning Banquo’s assassination without telling her, and no longer being susceptible to her insults. By the end of the play the roles have completely switched and Lady Macbeth spirals into guilt-fueled insanity as Macbeth prepares to battle to keep his throne. This essay will explore the relationship between Macbeth and his wife, paying particular attention to the scenes previously mentioned.
Macbeth’s character changes throughout the course of the play. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is a kind, loyal, hero, and at the end he becomes an evil tyrant. One day Macbeth comes home to his wife (Lady Macbeth) and tells her all about the prophecies, and how he was crowned Thane of Cawdor by the king of Scotland, King Duncan. To the reader this was a big mistake; him telling his wife. With sudden amusement Lady Macbeth sets up a plan for her husband to execute the king, but thinks that her husband is too kind to pull it off.
Lady Macbeth is the first to strategize a way to kill Duncan. As a character foil to Macbeth she juxtaposes their possession of guilt and ruthlessness, which creates irony and excitement to the play. Originally, she is very power hungry and wants to utilize her husband’s position in status to become queen. Macbeth objects to the plan to kill Duncan because he believes Duncan is Macbeth’s kinsman, host, and an overall virtuous ruler (Act. 1 Scene. 7) and thus feels very guilty for taking advantage of Duncan’s trusting quality towards the Macbeth family. She refers to Macbeth as weak and rebukes his manhood (Act 1. Scene 7.) . As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a character role reversal of their possession of guilt and ruthlessness. The character foil is extant, however Macbeth’s ruthlessness overcomes his guilt, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt vanquishes her drive for power. In addition to an alteration in character foils, Shakespeare introduces situational irony because now Lady Macbeth succumbs to the weakness Macbeth once possessed and Macbeth is the one who is formidable and ambitious. Macbeth’s ability to transcend his guilt exemplifies his struggle for power and reinforces the theme of evil ambition because Macbeth is able to secure the throne and power only by mass
One of the biggest hidden concepts in this play is the idea of deception. Deception happens very prominently throughout the play by many different characters. These individuals used deception in order to achieve a personal gain, though there is an opportunity cost to this personal gain, thus leading to cloaking of true individual intent. Lady Macbeth faultlessly portrays this idea of deception when she tells Macbeth to “Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, Your tongue look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t” (1, 5, 65-66) she wants Macbeth to hide his true intentions that way he can grow close to his aspiration of killing the king. In addition, Macbeth continues his deception as he exclaims “That
Macbeth is a brave man who is not naturally inclined to perform evil deeds, yet he desperately wants and desires power and succession. At the end, he is not happy with what he has accomplished, "I am afraid to think what I have done; look on `t again I dare not" (Shakespeare Macbeth 2.2.51-52). He kills Duncan against his own logical judgement and later drowns in paranoia and guilt. Macbeth is led to wicked thoughts by the prophecies of the three witches, especially after the witches' prophecy that he will be made Thane of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth is a powerful man and...
To begin with, Lady Macbeth is an antagonist wife that forces her husband, Macbeth, to kill King Duncan so she can satisfy her own greediness and become queen. Her greedy desire to become queen makes her lose all morality. For example, when she hears that King Duncan is staying at her castle for the night, she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe full of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood; stop the access and passage to remorse.” (Act 1, Scene 5).
Towards the end of Act 1 Scene 5 we see the contrast between appearance and reality. Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan. She says ‘look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’. She is telling Macbeth to kindly welcome Duncan into the castle so that the true intentions for him visiting are hidden from reality. We soon see that Macbeth turns into a true monster, as his hideous actions continue through the course of the play.