The Role Of Power In Macbeth

SHAKESPEARE’S PLAY MACBETH CLEVERLY EXPLORES CERTAIN REPRESENTATIONS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES POWER. ANALYSE THE REPRESENTATIONS OF POWER WITHIN THE PLAY AND EVALUATE HOW SHAKESPEARE HAS POSITIONED THE AUDIENCE TO ACCEPT PARTICULAR ATTITUDES AND VALUES ABOUT POWER.

The title Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare in 1606, has remained through centuries as a timeless literary piece. Interwoven through the story are a number of themes, cleverly portrayed to manipulate audiences to accept dominant societal ideologies. One such theme that Shakespeare explores, is the idea of what constitutes power. Throughout the play, he holistically positions the audience to view power as parallel to the inevitable ugly consequences that follow. Through representations

Following his devious murder of King Duncan, Macbeth is repeatedly represented as a man who demonstrates a loss of sanity. to demonstrate a man who has lost his sanity. This first appears as the audience views his hallucinations, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand. Come, let me clutch thee – I have not, and yet I see thee still…and on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood, which was not so before” (Act II, Scene II). The existence of hallucinations in itself forms a strong connotation of to Macbeth’s madness. However, by constructing this scene to specifically involve hallucinations of a dagger, and furthermore, a dagger dressed in crossed with blood, Shakespeare makes evident the cause for Macbeth’s madness. This is reinforced later in the play, as Macbeth is haunted by the ghost of Banquo. To audiences, the act of seeing ghosts in addition to Macbeth’s unnerved reaction is was an explicit and undeniable hint that Macbeth was becoming consumed with madness., and in a very similar nature to the previous scene of hallucinations, the ghost of Banquo directly implies that the cause for Macbeth’s damaged state of mind is the murders he has committed in order to heighten his power. Thereby, the threat of a loss of sanity, provides to audiences a powerful warning that striving

While ambitious power, most evidently portrayed through the character Macbeth, threatens to result in a loss of personal sanity, disruption to the natural hierarchy of power, represented by the Great Chain of Being, presents chaos and disruption to the order of society holistically. Similarly, the existence of supernatural power is presented alongside the menace of mystery and corruption. Evidently, Shakespeare has directly opposed each form of unconstitutional power with the threat of inevitable grave consequences. To audiences of the Jacobean era and modern times alike, such fears continue to instil and persuade society to avoid unnatural power in its many forms, and – whether for better or worse - continue the ingrained values and ideologies set centuries