In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth it is believed that the universe and king were connected. Therefore, if the two were connected, when the king was killed the universe would respond with unnatural events. In this play, the unnatural events foreshadow evil. The unnatural occurrences in Macbeth predict the downfall of the kingdom and death of Macbeth; since the universe is connected with the king. The people of the Elizabethan time period believed in the divine right of kings, which was the belief that the king was God’s chosen representative on earth who also spoke to God. Killing the king would bring disorder to the universe. An example of this disorder is when Macbeth kills Duncan. The day after the murder of Duncan, Ross and an old man have a discussion about the unnatural occurrences that have happened. In their discussion the old man says that last Tuesday, a hawk flying high in the air was attacked and killed by an owl hunting mice. A line from Ross and the old mans’ conversation: “Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawk at and killed (1).” The second unnatural occurrence is when Duncan’s horses broke down their stalls. After breaking down their stalls, they run out. While free from captivity, not listening to anyone they then ate each other. Ross explains to the old man of the unnatural event: “And Duncan’s horses-a thing most strange and certain-Because and swift, the minions of their race, Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would make War with mankind (2).” The belief of the divine right of kings is that the king and the universe are connected. If the King performs bad acti... ... middle of paper ... ...nfall of Macbeth. Macbeth is so paranoid that he has Macduff’s family slaughtered. Macduff is not there to protect his family, when the murderers arrive at his home because he ran away to England. When the murderers arrive and announce that Macduff is a traitor for leaving Scotland, Macduff’s son denies all accusations. When one of the murderers hears this, he kills Macduff’s son by stabbing him. The murderer then runs after Lady Macduff. This tragic message reaches Macduff while he is in England. While in England Malcolm and Macduff plan to take the kingdom back and kill Macbeth. The assassination of his family pushes Macduff more into killing Macbeth. Later in the play Macduff succeeds in killing Macbeth. I think this act suggests that all of the evil that evildoers do, will soon catch up with them or come back to haunt them in the end, such as it did for Macbeth.
Shakespeare integrates the theme of supernatural occurrences throughout each act in a variety of ways. Some of the most obvious supernatural images appear in the first act with the witches who set an atmosphere for the rest of the play. The self-proclaimed “weird sisters”, are seen throughout the story as a source of evil, their prophesies lead Macbeth to his downfall in “deepest consequence”, as Banquo had warned. However, there ...
Thirdly, feelings of paranoia and guilt cause Macbeth characters to make damaging choices. When Macbeth asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth’s fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff. Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Later when Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth in reply says, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; / Seize upon Fife; give to th'edge o'th'sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.” (4.1.149-152). As Macbeth descends to madness he becomes obsessed with eliminating any threats to his power. Macbeth orders the murderers to kill Macduff's family and eliminate any threat to him. Ironically, this is the moment that Macbeth seals his own fate, by murdering Macduff's family he ensures Macduff's retaliation against him, which ultimately leads
The legendary plot of Macbeth, like those of many Shakespearean plays, relies heavily on the influence of the supernatural. The play itself reflects on the dark inane tendencies of humans to be evil, especially when faced with a thirst for power. Throughout its course, the reader is able to witness a man’s transformation from a brave soldier to a murdering madman. Without the impact of certain apparitions, hallucinations, and three bearded witches, the events of the story would not have unfolded as they did. The root evil is first planted in the minds of two ambitious people, creating in their minds a projection of how things will turn out. Unbeknownst to our two leading lunatics, the eventual outcome of the play will not be the scenario drawn up in their twisted minds.
The tragic events that occur in Macbeth begin with the murder of Scotland’s beloved king, Duncan. When Macduff discovers his king dead in his bed he expresses true grief and sorrow, appalled that anybody could have the heart to kill such an innocent man. When Macbeth, trying to avoid blame for the murder he committed, said that he murdered the King’s guards out of grief, Macduff was the only one of the noblemen to sense that Macbeth’s actions didn’t quite make sense and asks, “Wherefore did you so?” (2.3.109). Macduff initially seems to believe that the King’s own sons were responsible for this heinous act, but is hesitant to fully trust Macbeth. Instead of attending the royal feast to honor Macbeth as Scotland’s new king, he returns home to Fife where he can stay away from the place of his King’s death (2.4.36). Macduff’s absence also rem...
William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the tragic play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, to kill King Duncan. In the play, we see the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transform in their personality after murdering the King. Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier, gradually changing into an ambitious murdering man. Similarly, Lady Macbeth is ambitious but she begins as a rebellious woman who dominates her husband, gradually changing into a guilt ridden, and weak woman.
Shakespeare pays much regard as to what it is to be a man and to
To begin, Macbeth loses his sense of integrity slowly throughout the play until he has none remaining. Macbeth is introduced as a valourous and successful general. His drive for power, however, causes him to taint the perfect image of himself he has created. Once the witches flaunt the idea of being king in front of the man, his natural impulse to gain power and prestige is ignited and he begins a rampage in order to achieve his goal. Its this human quest for power that causes his mind to disregard truths he once held selfevident, such as valour, loyalty and patriotism, giving way to a cruel wrath. The goal of increased power causes Macbeth’s mind to distort his morality and make diabolical deciscions, such as killing the king he once loved so dearly. Futhermore, the threat of losing power also causes Macbeth great mental distress and leads to further loss of loyalty and morality. He fears Banquo is plotting against him shortly after his coronation and hires murderers to kill his old best friend. This demonstrates Macbeth’s paranoia being placed above rationality, due to his fear of losing power. “ We have scotch’d the snake, not kill’d it;”(III,ii,15). This quotation demonstrates Macbeth’s desire to hold on to his fleeting power by illustrating that he does not feel safe in his current position. He is prepared to defy his moral compass and loyalty and kill those he loves...
One of the main ways in which the horror of the murder is underlined is through the Great Chain of Being. At the time this play was written, it was believed that there was a hierarchy in the universe, with God being at the top, then angels, then the King, then man, and finally animals. This meant that the King was God’s representative on earth, and so if a rebel were to attack the King, he would be seen to be attacking and rebelling against God. This is seen in Act One, Scene Two, when the Thane of Cawdor rebels against King Duncan, where the Sergeant says – “Ship wracking storms and direful thunders break” (L.26). This thunderous weather symbolizes God’s anger at his representative of Scotland being attacked. The darkness during the play (all but two of the scenes are set in darkness) shows how the night is strangling the earth, representing the anger of God at the events in Scotland. The “Dark night strangles” (Act Two, Scene Four, Line Seven) the earth, showing God’s, overall grip on the world. The King at this time had an absolute monarchy (power of life and death over everyone in his kingdom). The belief was that God had passed special powers to all Kings, such as that for healing, which Malcolm identifies in Edward the Confessor (the King of England) in Act Four, Scene Three – “He cures…the healing benediction…he hath a heavenly gift of prophecy” (L.152-157). Shakespeare later uses Edwa...
Disruptions in animals’ natural functions help highlight the changing social scene. After the unthinkable and unexpected murder of Duncan, “A falcon, towering in her pride of place/Was by a mousing owl hawk 'd at and kill'd” (2.4.15-16). The mousing owl in its ambition to find food (mousing) ends up becoming the unexpected murderer of the falcon, guardian of the forest. This metaphoric depiction of a change in hierarchical status can be used to emphasize the changes in Duncan’s kingdom. Macbeth, the inferior owl, is blinded by his
The conversation between the Old Man and Lennox after the murder of the Duncan is the most important indicator of the disruption in the natural order of things and becomes the beginning note for the unfolding of the upcoming events after the king’s death. “On Tuesday last/ A falcon, towering in her pride of place,/ Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d”5. The falcon represents the Dunc...
Furthermore, we also learn about Lady Macduff’s and her kids’ death. To prove this, Macbeth says in Act 4, scene 1 that he wants to kill Macduff and his family for joining Malcolm, the protagonist adds “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword / His wife, babes, and all unfortunate swords / That trace him in his line.” Although many might argue that Macbeth was forced to kill Duncan, which caused him to kill everyone else, the protagonist could of have refused to follow his wife’s orders and refrain from the power he wants. From the quotations used, we can now tell that Macbeth is a monster due to the murders he
The murders appear and kill all of Macduff's family leaving no one alive. When Macduff receives the message he gets raged and swore to kill Macbeth. This is how the fate of Macbeth is written and how Macbeth kind of wrote his own death warrant by doing a point less evil act of greed and lust of power. Macbeths power went so high into his head, which he couldn't keep control of it and finally ended with his life.
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” Once said by Marc Twain, this is an excellent example of the human nature that is represented in the play: Macbeth. Shakespeare demonstrates that all humans have the ability to do good or evil. This is strongly affected by the choices that we make and by our actions. These decisions will have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of others. Throughout the play, Macbeth experienced a huge decent into evil and violent action that lead him to his death. With his thirst for power and constant paranoia, he killed his way to seize the crown. By killing Duncan at the beginning of the play, Macbeth soon realizes that nothing can be undone and his blood stained hands can never be cleaned. “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.3 70) said by Lady Macbeth after Duncan’s murder. But what they don’t know is that this is the start of the bloody massacre that will change who they are and how they think forever. Macbeth has multiple hallucinations and his paranoia leads him to hire murderers to kill Macduff’s family out of anger and spite. Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and gets to the point of madness when she kills herself at the end of the play. This demonstrates that our actions can be affected by human nature and our thoughts can be easily corrupted by temptation.
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the supernatural and the role they play in motivating characters is apparent throughout the duration of the play. The supernatural is what causes conflict in the play and the prophecies from the witches in act one scene three is the inciting action in the piece. The supernatural causes the future conflict by motivating Macbeth to kill Duncan so he could become king of Scotland. Through temptation, the supernatural motivates characters to think arrogantly and for their own benefit. The supernatural in Macbeth presents prophecies which tempt Macbeth and Banquo with the idea of power. This leads Macbeth to contradict his loyal and courageous personality by planning a treacherous murder on Duncan with the arrogant intention of becoming king and later killing other characters in the play with the only purpose of keeping his own powers. Both Macbeth and Banquo were also tempted by the original prophecies and showed clear motivation to act upon them. However, there is a clear contrast between the immediacy in which the two characters began taking actions and the logic put into their decisions.