God and the devil have a strong presence in “Macbeth”. The characters look to heaven and hell as places they have to try and strive towards or steer away from. God and the devil seem to be the driving and obvious force behind the happenings of the tragedy. They mold the characters into what they are. Even when things do not end up in their favor. The witches have an impact on the whole theme of the play. They are the ones who start to label Macbeth with titles, which he does not yet posses. The witches predict the future, which is to Macbeth’s liking. “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor. All hail Macbeth, that’s shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.46-48). Macbeth at this time was only the Thane of Glamis and he knew he had aspirations of becoming king, but wanted to know how these witches would know to say such things. “…tell me more…But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman, and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief.” (1.3.68-73) The witches at this point fade out and leave Banquo and Macbeth to speculate. Ross and Angus enter and tell Macbeth that that the Thane of Cawdor is going to be executed and that Macbeth will take on the title. In Macbeth’s mind this means that he is going to be king. Since the witches were able to predict that he was going to be Thane of Cawdor then he believes he is definitely going to be king. “What can the devil speak true?”(1.3.107) This is Banquo’s reaction after Ross “hails” Macbeth with his new title, Thane of Cawdor. Banquo starts to wonder if what the witches proclaimed, would actually come true. If what they said did come true for him it would mean his children would be kings. This quote is sort of strange to me. I am taking it as he refers to the witches as the devil. I don’t know how he came to this conclusion; maybe it is just how he is trained to think towards anyone that can see the future. The witches planted this thought into Macbeth’s head about being king. Since the Cawdor topic came true with ease he believes that him becoming king will also be an easy transition.
In the beginning of the book, the main character Macbeth is a honorable man that stumbles upon 3 wicked witches that corrupt his mind. When Macbeth and the witches first meet, the witches tell him that he will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and king, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.”(17) The witch’s corrupt Macbeth’s mind with the fact that he can obtain these titles by doing certain things like killing Banquo to progress farther in his ranks. Toward the end of the book, Macbeth isn’t a bystander anymore, but an enemy to many to where he will be slain by a man who was not of woman born. During a battle, a man named Macduff comes and kills Macbeth, “And let the angel whom thou still hast served tell thee Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.”(185) Macbeth became the evil that he stood by from in the beginning.
Three witches tell him he will be king, his wife convinces him to kill Duncan to become king, Macbeth commits the act of murder, Macbeth becomes a tyrant who abuses his power especially towards those whom he fears, he has his best friend murdered, goes to the witches by his own will to ensure his sense of security, doesn’t mourn the loss of his wife, and is ultimately slain by Macduff. Macbeth’s character starts out very similar to that of Banquo, so by using Banquo as comparison, it becomes that much more clear how much the guilt caused by the facade he’s tried to uphold regarding killing the king has caused him. Each evil deed he commits turning into two more, two more acts of evil that Macbeth has to live with, and hide from others through deceit and blame. With each evil deed he holds onto, another piece of sanity is lost. But this guilt doesn’t go away, he’s merely prolonging facing his problems until the last possible instant he can, in which he still doesn’t face them, and as a result, going by what was believed at the time, Macbeth was sent to hell for his sins against the crown. That if one blames others for their own wrongdoing, they will carry that guilt, and it will have negative affects on their state of mind and their
One of the themes in the tragedy of Macbeth is that of blood. Macbeth is known for his skills as a warrior and his mercilessness that is shown in his killing of MacDonwald. This warrior mentality quickly spreads into his life, and he begins to make killing a habit. When he is told in a prophecy that he shall be king, Macbeth takes it upon himself to murder Duncan, king of Scotland. After this murder he begins to see visions of blood on his hands, blood nothing could remove. As Macbeth becomes more ambitious, he also begins to kill more people to get the power that he wants. The theme of blood is shown throughout the play, and is a problem that Macbeth finds harder and harder to rid himself of after each killing.
Each day is passing by unknowingly, everyone just hoping for the best… as if it was even our choice to make. In the play Macbeth, the argument of “Free will vs. fate”, is present since the very beginning. When the witches’ are sharing their prophecies, Banquo is simply finding it amusing, yet, Macbeth is taking everything in a literal matter. Macbeth, free-willingly, is choosing to pay close attention to what the three odd sisters are saying, “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” (5). Soon after Ross and Angus are entering to join Macbeth and Banquo, they start giving the newly good news, “…[The king] bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor” (7), which of course is making Macbeth and Banquo fall into a state of confusion. Whilst is occurring, Banquo is very much in thought, trying to figure of what is happening, in the other hand, Macbeth is going back to the witches’ insights. Banquo is going on, arguing that “…oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tells us truths…” (8). The quote, in my view,
A butcher is someone who brutally slaughters other human-beings. According to this definition Macbeth was a ’butcher’ by the end of the play. Macbeth becoming a butcher was brought about by his ambition for power, and how this ambition was used by the witches.
There are many types of supernatural phenomena in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. No matter which form each phenomena took, such as a witch or ghost, they all acted as a type of catalyst. When Macbeth first met the witches, they told him he would be a king and when Macbeth saw his friend Banquo's ghost, it set him off on a downward spiral. The Supernatural phenomena all influenced Macbeth and his wife to do things that they would never have thought of doing such as killing King Duncan. All of the projected outcomes came true, however the eventual outcomes that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth predicted did not.
Within the pages of the play Macbeth, one can find the five distinct literary devices of symbolism, allusion, alliteration, personification, and repetition used throughout. These three devices aid the story along and help develop the plot and characters each in a different way.
Through the chronicles of history there have always been heroes. Men and women that stand up and take charge and are moral leaders of countries. Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Churchill are only a few examples of people that are remember eternally for what they have done. There are also other leaders that people would like to forget because they are moral cowards killing their subject and causing evil. Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Character of Macbeth are all examples of this. Macbeth is a moral coward. During the play Macbeth often shows that he is morale coward. For instance, when he is planning Duncan’s murder. Likewise he also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. Lastly he shows how spineless he is when he orders Macduffs family to be murdered.
The witches have a strong effect on Macbeth's character; they highly influence him in his accomplishments and awake his ambitions. They give Macbeth a false sense of security with their apparitions of truths. Instead they prove to be harmful for Macbeth who takes too much comfort and confidence in his interpretation of the truths. They are the ones who plant the actual idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth's mind. But if it were only the witches prophecies, then Macbeth surely would not have murdered the king. 'When you durst to do it, then you were a man,' (Macbeth, Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 7) Lady Macbeth's constant harassment pushed Macbeth and made him commit all this evil. When you reason things out by yourself you tend to now what is right and what is wrong, a conscience. But with the outside influence from the witches he thinks that that is his destiny and he must do everything to fulfill it. One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches. He is overthrown and killed. Through his own ambitions, the ambition of his wife and the witches' prophesies, Macbeth has caused his own destruction and downfall. We can now clearly see that ambition not achieved through our own ability leads to destruction. 'Hail Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor and shalt be King hereafter'. (Act 1 Scene 3) These prophecies from three strangers are taken without question and probably without good judgment. Just the thought that he may be King clouds his thoughts and ambition takes over. The witches can predict the future, they can add temptation, and influence Macbeth, but they cannot control his destiny.
The first set of prophecies that the witches reveal to Macbeth in act 1, scene 3, stated that Macbeth was to become Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and finally be crowned king. They also said, "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none." Macbeth was shocked when the first two prophecies came true. In act 1, scene 3, he spoke of his fears, saying "unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs." In Elizabethan times, witches were known as creatures of the devil, satanic creatures who roam the world to cause destruction and chaos. But how could devils speak of great truths? Macbeth's new knowledge was then reported to his wife. He writes about how he will become king. But how would he do this? One of Macbeth's rash decisions was to murder the present King.
William Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth in approximately 1606. The play is a tragedy and this can be often identified before we have even read the play. The title “Macbeth” alone suggests the genre of the play is a tragedy as it is the name of a character. Life in Shakespeare’s time was very religious and the play was written in order to please King James I who was on the throne at this point. The idea of the theme of religion and witchcraft fitting into the play was also to please King James I as he was interested in witchcraft. The majority of people living in Shakespeare’s time were Christians and they believed that if you lived a good life, you would go to Heaven and if you were bad in life, you would go to Hell. At the time of the play, King James I was on the throne and this is significant as he makes Banquo a good character as he is the King’s Ancestor. This influenced Shakespeare’s writing because he had to write a play to please the King so Shakespeare included witchcraft as King James I was interested in witchcraft. The text of the play is based on “Chronicles: History of England, Scotland and Ireland” published by Raphael Holinshed in 1577. In Chronicles, Banquo is an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of the King rather than a loyal subject of the King who is seen as an enemy by Macbeth. Shakespeare could have changed Banquo’s character in order to please King James I. The witches fit into the theme of Macbeth as the play is very religious and involves witchcraft and the powers of evil.
Two characters that have flaws that are the causes of their downfall is Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's flaw is that she makes her husband kill king Duncan; she feels guilty after she does this, so she commits sucide. Macbeth's flaw is what leads him to kill; his ambtion and selfishness leads to his death.
The witches influence Macbeth in his achievements and awake his ambitions. They give him a wrong sense of security with their apportions of truths. The witches are the ones who made the idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth’s mind. They also told him that he would become thane of Cawdor and later would become king of Scotland and Macbeth wants to know more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more. By Sinel’s death I know I am the thane of Glamis; but how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman; and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief, no more than to be Cawdor” (Shakespeare 312). Banquo is known as the real victim of the witches. After Banquo hears the prophecy of the witches that his sons will become kings he still does not believe them. He believes that he has eaten a root that is making him hallucinate and does not believe anything they tell him. (Shakespeare 313) Banquo says, “Are you sure we are talking about what we have seen here? Or have we eaten some plant root that makes us hallucinate.” Banquo also says to Macbeth: “but ‘tis strange; and oftentimes of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles. To betrays in deepest consequence” (Shakespeare 314). Shortly after they meet with the three witches they meet a messenger who tells Macbeth he is the Thane of Cawdor. When Banquo hears this he realizes the witches are right and