Macbeth by Shakespeare

This essay will focus on the gothic elements of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ written in 1606, which fully “displays the horror of regicide” due to the unnatural acts that take place throughout, such as; the witches prophecies, nature vs man and Lady Macbeth’s gothic influence. These act as a catalyst for the killing of both King Duncan and Macbeth. However, it could be argued that the main focus of the play is the protagonist’s fall into madness, because of the hamartia, ambition. Poole defines hamartia as “a fatal flaw; as if it were simply an attribute of character. On the other hand it can be argued that “others translate hamartia more simply as a ‘fault’, ‘mistake’ or ‘error’. “The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to a judicial execution of a king after a trial” . This is crucial to the understanding of the play because it is the cause of the protagonist’s rise and fall from grace. Both arguments will be critically analysed in this essay.

The natural order of society is first disturbed by Duncan’s death in the lead up to Act 2 and seen within Act 2. For example; after Duncan’s death the audience are presented with several unnatural acts, such as; an owl which kills a falcon and Duncan’s horses which eat each other. In Act 2, Scene 4, the quotation said by the ‘Old Man’ can exemplify this, “tis unnatural, even the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last, a Falcon, towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d. ” Shakespeare may have used this image of an owl killing a falcon as a metaphor of Macbeth killing Duncan. Duncan is the falcon and Macbeth is the owl. T...

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...re's Macbeth, A Sourcebook. 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp58-88(64).

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp19-21(20)

Hopkins, L (2005). Beginning Shakespeare. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Pp36-62(36).

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp19-21(20)

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp42-48(47)

Poole, A (2005). Tragedy, A Very Short Introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. pp33-37(34)

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp42-48(47)

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp42-48(48)

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp75-76(75)

Shakespeare (1977). Macbeth. 16th ed. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. Pp75-76(75)