Shakespeare's Use of Language To Show Macbeth’s State Of Mind In Three Speeches
This speech shows Macbeth is living in fear, the snake refers to
Macbeth’s state in life, he feels that he has wounded the snake by
killing Duncan, but cannot be completely happy until the snake has
been killed and Banquo is dead. “Weak Malice” refers to the shameful
deeds they have committed to get to the state they are in, which is
killing the king whilst he was sleeping. The speech also goes on to
Macbeth saying, “Eat our meal in fear”, this is an ironic prediction,
as Baquo does return to the meal as a ghost. The phrase, “Let the
frame of things disjoint”, means let the universe shatter, and
portrays the situation of turmoil he is in. “Restless ecstasy” is an
oxymoron, showing that he is happy at his position in society, but
also anxious and paranoid, as he thinks others are out to kill him for
his location in society, which is what he did to become king. “Fitful
fever” is alliteration of the letter “F” showing emotion, but also
portraying the image of sickness and health carried throughout the
play. Macbeth also proclaims that he envies Duncan’s position, for
when you are dead you have no worries or troubles, “Treason has done
his worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy,
nothing can touch him further”. This phrase also uses personification
in “treason has done his worst” this shows Macbeth is trying to cover
up a horrible crime such as treason by saying it is something itself.
2) “There’s comfort yet…”
This speech is full of dark imagery and night associated objects, such
as “Bats” which ties in with another of the plays images, darkness, it
seems that morning never comes for Macbeth, that is eternally dark
throughout. “Hecate” is the goddess of witches, which links in with
earlier times when he visits the witches. “Bat” and “Beetle” conjure
very sinister images of night and death, but also have alliteration,
which adds to the effect.
Macbeth is the remaining contributor to turning himself into the power-hungry animal he is before he is finally taken down. Macbeth let himself get talked into killing Duncan; he rationalizes with himself to kill Banquo. He is too ambitious. As soon as the witches cast the prophecy that he would be King, Macbeth lets himself be jealous. Once it is an option, he realizes how divine it would be to be King. Now, Macbeth will do what is necessary to get there, even if he suffers terrible consequences. After killing Duncan, Macbeth suffers by not being able to speak. “As they seen me with these hangman’s hands,/List’ning their fear. I could not say ‘Amen’/When they did say ‘God bless us’” (2.2.38-40). Macbeth cannot utter the sacred words of God; moreover, this illustrates to the reader how terrible the consequences are psychologically for this murder. Macbeth is also jealous of the prophecy Banquo gets, which also drives him to kill Banquo. Soon after he kills Banquo, Macbeth hosts a banquet, where Banquo’s seat is left empty. Only Macbeth truly knows what has happened to Banquo. However, he hallucinates that Banquo is at the table with all the guests when Macbeth says, “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee./Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold;/Thou hast no speculation in those eyes/Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.113-116). Macbeth is seeing Banquo at his banquet even after he ordered murders to kill Banquo and Fleance, Banquo’s son. Macbeth cannot believe his eyes, he is shocked at the sight of Banquo and he is losing his mind. Macbeth endures horrific hallucinations, falling into the depths of insanity. These two quotations in the play are very important because they emphasize how Macbeth has turned into a mon...
After Macbeth committed a dreadful crime at the start of the play, he realizes that by killing even more people he can get what he wants whenever he wants. Macbeth reaches a point where he is too busy fulfilling his own ambitions that he was not fulfilling his obligations as king. “Those he command move only in command, / Nothing in love…” (5.2.22-23). His obsession with power caused him to murder his good friend Banquo, and Banquo’s son. Macbeth’s out of control ambition has caused him to lose his emotion. He progressively sta...
Macbeth is the story of how an ordinary war hero becomes king and later goes chaotic with power. The story starts off in Scotland when Macbeth and Banquo meet some witches who predict their futures, telling Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor, and the king of Scotland. Ross; one of the king’s lords, delivers the news that Macbeth has become the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth now believes that he will become king. To achieve this, Macbeth invites King Duncan over for a dinner.
History has been filled with evil people doing evil things for power whether that means killing or putting other people down. The truth is everyone wants power and once that power is gained they will do whatever to maintain it. In the play Macbeth written by Shakespeare the main character receives a prophecy from witches (wierd sisters) telling him he will become king. Acting in response Macbeth kills the king and soon becomes the new king. The play follows his story as he struggles to maintain his power and battles against those threaten his rule. In Act 3 scene 1, Macbeth's’ soliloquy about Banquo, his best friend, expresses the tones of fear, jealousy, and anger through the literary devices of metaphors, repetition, and foreshadowing, which
Based on the text it states, “And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one-half world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse…..I have done the deed.” This illustrates that Macbeth went through with the plan his wife cameup with. He killed King Duncan so he could become King. His ambition caused him to take part and do a bad action such as killing Duncan. The killing and wrong doings don't stop there however. Macbeth’s ambition pushes him to the limit. Macbeth then kills his close friend Banquo and attempted to kill Banquo’s son, based on fears that Banquo’s son will become king. Macbeth brings forth murderers and states, “ Know That it was he, in the times past, which held you So under fortune, which you thought had been Our innocent self…. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts Against my near’st of life. And though I could With barefaced power sweep him from my sight.” Macbeth deceives the Murderers and tells them that Banquo is to blame for their misfortune. He then convinces them that Banquo is the enemy and he must be killed. Macbeth also tells them, “The moment on ’t, for ’t must be done tonight….Fleance, his son, that keeps
These lines show Macbeth’s paranoia to the subject of Banquo’s death. When he says these lines, he is in a room full of people and seems rather crazy because they think he is talking himself or he is seeing things, which in fact he is. This example shows that Macbeth is so paranoid that he is imagining things in his head. This shows that he is terrified of what would happen if the truth came
Fair is foul, and foul is fair, a phrase that has become synonym with Macbeth. It is also the introduction to one of the most important themes of this tragedy: appearance and reality. Shakespeare uses various characters and situations to emphasize this confusion between the real and the surreal, the authentic and the fake, the act and the sincere. In order to discuss this theme, different characters will be looked at : in the first paragraph, the Witches, in the second, Duncan and in the third, Lady Macbeth.
During a low point in Macbeth’s life he faces struggles with power, ambition and the thoughts of death surrounding him. Grabbing ahold of him strongly he is shown many ideas that are very promising at first, especially when the witches tell him of all of the control he could have, he wants the power, the fame and will do anything to get it. In act 1, scene 3, lines 140-145 Macbeth is recalling a conversation with the witches which brings about a thought in him of murder and the ambition to kill Duncan. Creating this supremacy trip that we see later, almost causing total insanity. In this we see Macbeth come across three of the major themes in the play, power, death and ambition as he struggles to make the right decision with what the three witches tell him.
Throughout act 2, scenes 1 and 2, there are plenty examples of metaphors. One example of this would be when Macbeth uses metaphors to question the reality of a vision that he has, “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.” Macbeth calls the dagger a “fatal vision,” and after that a “a dagger of the mind”, which sort of hints at the fact that his dark, bad, and evil thoughts in figuring out the killing of the king are for some reason shown by his “heat-oppressed brain.” Another metaphor in this section is located on lines 54-4 when Lady Macbeth speaks to Macbeth about killing the other sleeping guards. She says “The sleeping
Literary Devices used in Macbeth Imagine how dull a Shakespearean play would be without the ingenious literary devices and techniques that contribute so much to the fulfillment of its reader or viewer. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy that combines fact and legend to tell the story of an eleventh century king. Shakespeare uses numerous types of literary techniques to make this tragic play more appealing. Three literary devices that Shakespeare uses to make Macbeth more interesting and effective are irony, symbolism, and imagery. One technique that Shakespeare uses is ironic.
Macbeth says, “Avaunt! And quit my sights! Let the Earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold” (Shakespeare 3.4). This quote shows that Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost. The appearance of Banquo’s ghost is Macbeth insanity in his imagination. This is because Macbeth’s conscience is getting to him; he may be losing his mind because of his guilt. Macbeth says, “Our fears In Banquo/ Stick deep; and his royalty of nature/ Reigns that would be fear’d: tis/ much he dares;/ And to that dauntness…….. Mark Anthony’s was by Caesar” (Shakespeare 3.1). In this quote, Macbeth is referring to Marc Anthony and Caesar when he talks about fearing Banquo. Also, it is a simile, while Macbeth compares himself and Banquo to Anthony and Caesar. He is afraid of Banquo because seems that Banquo’s might outsmart him and end up beating him to death. Macbeth says, “No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so, for Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind” (Shakespeare). The significance of this quote shows that Macbeth is talking to himself, saying if he has no child to be his descendants after he dies. He says “Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind”, he means that why on Earth should he bother Banquo’s life since he already has a son. Concluding this paragraph as Macbeth yet to continue is the action of morality. Then in topic sentence # 3, Macbeth
Ross: I am sitting before this elderly man. I have found his company to be quite calming in the
...le Macbeth tells them that ‘every man be master of his time’ so that he can ‘keep alone’. By choosing to isolate himself and not inform Lady Macbeth of his plans to murder Banquo we see how Macbeth feels as if he can’t even trust his closest companions. After turning his back on Lady Macbeth, Macbeth becomes fixated not only on the prophecies of the witches but when he hints to Lady Macbeth that ‘a deed of dreadful note’ will fall upon Banquo and his son he talks like the witches. This shows how Macbeth has turned his back on seeking council from his lords and advisors and begins to act as a king who instead of rationally thinking things out, he chooses to justify his reasons on prophetic predictions from a world of sorcery.
During the excursion to become king, Macbeth successfully murders King Duncan, Macduff’s wife and children, and with the help of a group of murderers Banquo; a brave general who will inherit the Scottish throne. Throughout the whole play, while such darker occurrences are used to create deep moods, Shakespeare also uses strong language and words. Such as when Lady Macbeth calls upon the gods to make her man-like so she will have the fortitude to kill King Duncan herself in this quote, “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. Make my blood thick. Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark.”
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.