Theme Of Love In Macbeth

Throughout all four texts there is common theme of Love. This however can be argued is a love that is destructive as one thing all the texts have in common is destruction. Both Shakespeare and Browning use it as the driving force behind their writing. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare is a play about a man who struggles between his ambitions, and the sense of right and wrong. Love is demonstrated in this poem through the relationship of Macbeth and his wife. It is destructive force in this instant because I believe that it’s the love or lack of love that Macbeth has for his wife which drives them apart, and Lady Macbeth eventually to her death bed. Initially they are quite close with Lady Macbeth eager to share in her husband's triumphs. In the letter which he sends her, in which she reads in Act 1 scene 5 he addresses her as his 'dearest partner of greatness'. ‘Dearest and partner’ suggests that in their relationship they have a sense of equality and intimacy which is unusual as in the Shakespearean Era women were viewed as submissive to their husbands. When he says ‘greatness’ it shows that they are capable of doing countless things together.

This greatness they consider each other to have is in contrast to the acts later on in the play, as the crimes that they commit juxtaposes greatness. They work very closely together to achieve his ambition to become king but of course, this involves murder. It is after the murder of Duncan that they begin to drift apart, to the extent that he barely reacts to the news of her suicide at the end. The man who was once so influenced by his wife didn't seem to even acknowledge her existence. As a consequence of the lack of ‘love’ Lady Macbeth’s manipulating and clever nature was indeed destructed. This then lead to her sudden death. The famous lines "To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow" have a resigned, almost wistful tone to them, motivated not only by the death of his wife but also by Macbeth's entire loss of purpose. Macbeth's reaction to the death of his wife is very different from what we, as an audience expect from a man who shared a very intimate and close understanding with his better half.
On the other hand, another destructive force within Macbeth is power.

When Macbeth first learns about his rise to kingdom from the three witches’ prophecy, he starts to become obsessed with climbing to the top of the monarchical hierarchy. He informs his wife of the news, and together they plot to murder the good King Duncan so that Macbeth would take his place. “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” This is the turning point in the play when the theme of power is first introduced. The word ‘hereafter’ originally said by the third witch, it’s then repeated by Macbeth in Act 5 scene 5 when speaking about Lady Macbeth. I believe that the powers get to him to the point where he is no longer in a normal state of mind instead familiar to the witches. Had power not been involved, one may argue that he would not have gone through such outrageous means such as killing an innocent man. Along with the vile act of murder, the

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