The Theme Of Insanity In Macbeth

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Throughout the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth develops signs that he is going insane after murdering the character King Duncan. Insane is defined as, “a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill.” Macbeth clearly demonstrates these traits, as he is having hallucinations, hearing sounds that are not there, and has gone through extreme character change. Macbeth starts hallucinating things that are not there. In Act 2 scene 1 Macbeth starts talking to himself, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, /The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch /thee. /I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” In Act 2 scene 1, Macbeth begins to talk to himself. As he goes on, he starts to hallucinate a dagger and believes it to be in front of him. …show more content…

Macbeth ponders this for several minutes because he can see it, but not touch it. This hallucination is a sign of insanity. The state of mind that Macbeth is in is altering his normal perception of things, like for instance, making him “see” a dagger. Macbeth has began to hear sounds that are not heard by anyone else, therefore having auditory hallucinations. Macbeth’s normal perception of reality has been knocked off course which is proven when he says, “Whence is that knocking,” which is the most frequent sound that Macbeth continues to hear after killing Duncan (II, ii, 57). The continuous knocking sound is all in his mind,and Macbeth does not realize himself that he is going crazy. Hearing things is a sign of insanity because it is all in his head and is a sign of mental illness such as psychosis or

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