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How is power reflected in the character of macbeth
Analysis of Macbeth
Sympathy and empathy with Macbeth
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Recommended: How is power reflected in the character of macbeth
Myka Bickley
Ms. Nelson
English
7 February 2017
MacBeth- Bully Diagnosis
In the famous play, MacBeth, by William Shakespeare, the main themes are abuse of power and bullying. Bullying is seen in MacBeth many times throughout. A bully is someone who is someone who takes advantage of others who the assume can be pertained as vulnerable, (Against Bullies). The MacBeths can be considered bullies because they take advantage of others using threats and harmful language. They abuse the little bit of power that they get to receive more by doing unrightful murders.
Lady MacBeth can be considered a narcissistic bully. This is because she lacks empathy for others. Lady MacBeth is a crazy character. Her most defining scene of her true character is
shown in Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 47-50. “Come, you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me with the direst cruelty.”, (Weebly). This shows that Lady MacBeth is weird and is summoning evil spirits to her through anger and cruelness. To me, MacBeth can be labeled as either an accidental bully, or the victim of Lady MacBeth. MacBeth murders King Duncan for power of Scotland. The guards of Duncan fell asleep leaving MacBeth a clear path to the King. MacBeth can be called an accidental bully because he feels the guilt of the murder that he did. The Witches Three revealed prophecies MacBeth. The bell symbolised whether or not he was to kill him for the power of the throne. He attempted to wash away the guilt with water but it did not work. Lady MacBeth tells him to sleep it away. As stated on the “Power and Control Wheel”, harmful language includes playing mind games and making others feel guilty. Using threats includes, making or convincing others to commit crime, and threatening to report. This is the role that Lady MacBeth plays towards MacBeth. After she and the witches got him to murder Duncan, Lady MacBeth can basically make him do whatever she wants because she can threaten him. She can easily tell the guards on him if he does not do accordingly. She and the witches also play mind games on him. They made him believe that killing Duncan was the right thing to do because it would give him power and he would keep his wife instead of following his own moral code and waiting his turn for power. Considering that he was seventh in place for the throne, he started to believe his wife that it would be much easier to kill the others in line for the throne to get him to the top rein. In conclusion, in the play, MacBeth, there are two main themes; abuse of power and bullying. This is true because, the characters portray theses traits. In the end, Lady MacBeth dies. This causes for MacBeth’s craziness to proceed. He goes to duel with Macduff and dies of execution by sword. This whole thing could have been avoided if MacBeth didn’t listen to the witches and Lady MacBeth. He should have just followed his moral code and lived happily ever after. Work Cited "Lady Macbeth." Lady Macbeth - Macbeth. Weebly, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. "The Bully." The Bully - KNILT. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. Watkins, Carol. "Search Our Site by KeyWords." Bullying Throughout The Life Cycle. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. Pence, Ellen, and Martha Mcmahon. "Power and Control Wheel." Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
In most schools bullying is a serious issue. Bullying also takes place outside of school, it can occur in the workplace, at home, or even online. This atrocious hectoring is also common in literature, bullying is a real-world problem that authors tackle. William Shakespeare has scarcely addressed bullying in his play, The Twelfth Night. In The Twelfth Night Maria is a bully because she played an appalling trick on Malvolio.
After reading Macbeth, the story showed the audience who the characters really were. Some of the characters were able to be compared to a bully due to their actions and what they said to other characters in the story. Wanting to harm/kill someone out of anger, jealousy or just to do it like a bully would. Betraying someone they pretended to be friends with so they would trust them. Forcing people to do things they don't want to do.
Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth showed many tendencies of a bully. The definition of bullying according to Stop Bullying.gov is “is unwanted, aggressive behavior…. that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.” In several ways the Macbeths fit into the bullying mold. Lady Macbeth exercised control over Macbeth and bullied him into doing what she thought best. Macbeth overtime, gradually became a bully.
In the Shakespearean play "Macbeth" the main character, Macbeth, is portrayed as a violent person. Macbeth was an ambitious man whose ambition eventually led to violence. Macbeth, along with another man in the play, was informed that he had the ability, as well as the potential to become king. Macbeth's ambition led him to become violent; killing the sitting king, as well as anyone who stood in the way of his taking of the throne. A place on the throne was something to which Macbeth was not entitled. Shakespeare, the author of "Macbeth," disapproved of people disrupting the proper order of society, and held the belief that all people had freewill. Macbeth was a prime example of someone trying to disrupt the proper order of society. He was trying to become king when it was not his place in society to do so. Macbeth was susceptible to the information he received from the witches, whereas the other man was not. When Macbeth resorted to violence in order to attain what he thought he deserved, the other man did not. The other man knew he was not in the proper position in society to become king.
Ambition is frequently seen as desirable - it provides purpose, motivation to work hard, and a goal to strive towards. Yet it also has a dangerous side, when it becomes too great and out of control. Although ambition is often positive, an excess of it can have detrimental effects. This unrestrained ambition is predominant in the tragedy Macbeth. In this play, Shakespeare employs the use of hallucination, blood, and prophecy motifs to emphasize the theme of ambition, which, when goes unchecked by moral constraints, wreaks destruction upon an individual. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hallucinate, which propels the consequences of ambition. Blood is shed in the pursuit of ambition, when desire for power overwhelms morality. Ambition is further
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play centred around opposing forces trying to gain power in the succession for the throne of Scotland. Macbeth, in the beginning, is known to be a noble 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 nave, gullible, and vulnerable.
In the tragic play of Macbeth, Shakespeare creates a protagonist that resembles the archetype of the devil. With Satan, leader of the forces of evil, and the Dragon, or rebel against God, from the Bible and John Milton's epic allegory Paradise Lost, these roles fit as archetypes for the protagonist, Macbeth. There is also significant ways in which Shakespeare contrasted his protagonist against the Devil.
When we, human beings, are about to commit wicked acts, we feel a variety of emotions. One of those emotions is guilt. You may also feel guilt due to moments you chose not to act. The presence of guilt is a driving factor that prevents us from acting irrationally. Citizens of the 16th century possessed these emotions as well, no matter their social standing. The citizens included Shakespeare as well, a poet and playwright of the 16th century, and writer of the play Macbeth. Shakespeare transfers the idea of negative emotions to Macbeth by using blood to symbolize guilt, among other emotions in the protagonists they do not show otherwise. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses blood to show the inner-conflict of the
After observing the play Macbeth, many would agree that Lady Macbeth is a power hungry, ruthless human being. If lLady Macbeth did not push Macbeth into murdering King Duncan by questioning his manliness, Macbeth would have decided to not kill him. Lady Macbeth is merciless and the most evil character in Macbeth. The most evil and most important character to watch out for in Macbeth is Lady Macbeth.
The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, explores the darkest corners of the human psyche. It artfully takes its audience to a place that allows one to examine what a human being is truly capable of once tempted by the allure of power. In the play, Scottish noble Macbeth and his wife inevitably fall prey to their own self corruption. Initiated by prophesies made by three mysterious witches, the Macbeths set their sights on the throne. When the curtains open on the plot to murder King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is the driving force. Her criminal mind and desire for ruthlessness have led many a critic to define her as evil. Closer examination, however, reveals that she is a multifaceted character; other sides to her persona include: genuine good will towards her husband, coy manipulation, and feminine tenderness.
Duncan is the most unlikely character to be killed because of his personality, but his title as King of Scotland, causes for Macbeth to loathe Duncan. In the play there is very little interaction between Macbeth and Duncan, showing the little time in which Macbeth gets more power. Prior to the witches’ prophecies Macbeth is loyal to Duncan, and would never imagine killing him. After the one of the witches’ prophecies comes to be true, the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth "yield[s] to that suggestion / whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / and make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (1.3.146-148). Partly because of Lady Macbeth’s suggestion his "vaulting ambition" is starting to take over, and he begins to take into consideration killing Duncan, to become king. Macbeth however, does not feel comfortable in killing Macbeth, giving himself reasons why not to kill Duncan: “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself,” (I, vii, 13-16) Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth, that killing Duncan is the right thing to do until right before he performs the murder. We learn from this murder that Macbeth truly had faith in the king and was very loyal, but knowing that one day he would become king, his ambition and the persuasion of Lady Macbeth, causes him to perform the act, that he will regret. This murder changes Macbeth as a person, however, and he soon feels little regret for killing King Duncan, but this act will soon aid in his downfall.
One of the most important themes in Macbeth involves the witches' statement in Act 1, Scene1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10) This phrase aptly describes the macabre status quo within the character Macbeth and without. When Macbeth and Banquo first see the weird sisters, Banquo is horrified by their hideous appearances. Conversely, Macbeth immediately began to converse with these universally known evil creatures. After hearing their prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in reality their intentions were quite "foul." Macbeth's possession of the titles of Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland came by foul means. Macbeth became the Thane of Glamis by his father Sinel's death; he became Thane of Cawdor when the former namesake was executed for treason; and he was ordained King of Scotland after murdering the venerable Duncan. Thus, Macbeth has a rather ghastly way of advancing in life.
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the history of English literature as well as the world’s paramount playwright. Possibly the most superlative writing attribute he possessed was his unmatched ability of characterization. Shakespeare created unique, opaque, and eminent characters who related to almost everyone. When one thinks of these famous characters, Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth comes into consideration. Macbeth is possibly Shakespearian Theatre’s densest and most disturbed character, and this prestigious title can be credited to his obvious psychological problems. The troubled mind of Macbeth can be related to several modern day psychological problems.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare, is a play that exhibits fighting and bloodshed. Regardless of social views, there are instances where violence is considered an honorable deed. However, some characters in the play blur the lines between right and wrong and their actions make blood shedding a point of discussion. Through the course of the play violence is the most prominent theme.
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.