Analysis of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth between 1605 and1606 in what we call
his dark period; it became one of his finest tragedies. Shakespeare
loosely based his play on the historical chronicles of Ralph
Holinshed.
Macbeth, has everything one could wish from a tragic play: we have
temptation, intrigue, murder, insanity, pathos and finally,
retribution.
Macbeth, highly esteemed by his monarch and peers, seems a highly
moral man and happy with his lot. By the end of the first act,
Shakespeare has given us a different side to the man’s character. Far
from being a highly moral loyal subject, we find he is weak and
sinking rapidly, into treacherous depths of intrigue and avarice.
Our introduction to Macbeth is as he and his co-leader Banquo,
encounter the three witches’ on their way back from a second
victorious battle. Here begins the temptation.
The first witch calls out to Macbeth, “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee,
Thane of Glamis!” She is telling him, he is now the leader of the
clan. The second witch follows on with, “All hail Macbeth, hail Thane
of Cawdor!” he has been chosen to lead the clan of Cawdor. The third
witch’s prediction is perhaps, more prolific, “All hail Macbeth, that
shalt be king hereafter!” These witches’ have no real power but, their
words are a temptation to Macbeth. They are telling Macbeth he will
become king, they do not say how he will accomplish it. They have a
different message for Banquo. The first witch begins, “Lesser than
Macbeth, and greater.” While the second witch predicts, “Not so happy,
yet much happier.” The third witch explains how ...
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...lling us, we will suffer from being bad.
Shakespeare thinks of ambition as being negative, it will drive us to
self destruction. This may have been true in the sixteenth century
where the morality of its leaders could have an influence on society.
Today, we look on ambition as a positive side to our nature; We are
encouraged “To want to get on.” Most of us we would never go as far
as murder to further our career; although it is safe to say, some may
have gone that far.
Having had a good grammar school education, Shakespeare had a large
vocabulary and loved to use it. He would play around with words until
he found exactly what he wanted; or make up words to fit. In
Macbeth, Shakespeare uses prose, blank verse and rhyme to achieve his
goal and to be sure of getting the correct ambience with his
audience.