Conscience And Conscience In Macbeth

How is the theme of conscience and consciousness developed in Macbeth?

William Shakespeare was born to a middle-class family in Stratford-Upon-Avon and lived there most of his life, going to the King’s New School and getting married at 18, and writing plays at

Macbeth is a play written by the great William Shakespeare in 1611. It ends with the death of the main characters and thus is called a “tragedy”. The play is about an ambitious man* named

Macbeth who is manipulated throughout the play, this leading to his demise at the hands of one of his enemies, Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. The play was written for an* Jacobian audience, therefore playing on their fear of magic and the unknown. Regicide, a major taboo at the time, is a major theme in the play. Darker themes, like insanity and suicide are discussed and the forbidden topic of witchcraft is described in detail. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth for King James, who was fascinated with the subjects of Witchcraft, Magic, and Mystery, even using the name

Banquo, one of King James’ ancestors to persuade the King to continue his support of

Shakespeare. The attention Shakespeare pays to Macbeth’s conscience would have been of particular interest to King James, a man intrigued by human conscience.

The tone of Macbeth is a fairly dark one, full to bursting with betrayal, death, murder, and drama.

It is also very macabre, with one of the main themes being blood, shown in multiple scenes,

For the first half of the play, the only measure of power seems to be willingness to kill and spill blood. Later in the play this changes drastically, with the exiled “good” characters slowly gaining the upper hand and Macbeth’s newfound ruthlessness scaring off his troops and allies.

s...

... middle of paper ...

... no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth show how he does not care at all and is resigned to his fate, death at the hands of the oncoming army. This hopelessness is a product of his resignation to his fate

So, how is the theme of conscience and consciousness developed in Macbeth? Shakespeare uses large amounts of imagery, using images of blood, darkness, religion, and human nature.

Shakespeare focuses on the main characters’ inner turmoil to show the dissolution of Macbeth’s conscience and the resurgence of Lady Macbeth’s. I believe that this point was extremely well presented, hidden in the text. He uses religion to provide a sense of relatability with the characters and he uses images of blood and darkness to show the decline in the “goodness” of the characters and how they sink into hopelessness.