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Role of fate & situation in macbeth
The impact created by the witches on macbeth
Role of fate & situation in macbeth
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Evil in William Shakespeare's Macbeth
Evil. It is a word that has been used for hundreds of years, yet the
meaning is ones interpretation of what is evil. The criteria for an
evil act have changed over the years also. My interpretation of evil
is a very bad or ill act against a person, animal or God. Macbeth,
'dead butcher' and evil man? This essay will discuss this question.
At the start of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a brave soldier, who
would do anything for his king and country. During the opening battle
a picture is built up in the mind of the audience. It is an image that
shows Macbeth as a brave, noble, loyal and strong man. This is achived
through the language Shakespeare uses.
"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman"
This is just one line that is used to give one an image of 'brave
Macbeth'. The immediate reaction of the audience is that this man
could never be evil.
So a brave soldier, and a loyal man. How could this man become so evil
that it leads to his death? Ambition? Could Macbeth's ambition have
been his fatal flaw? Meeting the witches could have been the cause of
Macbeth's change in character. The three witches predictions that
suggested he would become king meant he had a goal to aim for. It as
this point in the play Macbeth's ambition starts to show through.
"Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition."
Lady Macbeth speaks this line when she reads of the three predictions;
it implies that the ambition to become king is already there in
Macbeth. She is a very powerful influence on Macbeth. She encourages
him on to take the opportunity to become king. The audience has an
uncomfortable ...
... middle of paper ...
... him he feels he is invincible. This shows his change in consequences.
At the start of the play he was just a thane and soldier and now he is
king of Scotland.
Macbeth, although evil, is the 'hero' of the play, and Shakespeare
creates this feeling in the audience, by showing the audience that
Macbeth's still just human and like the people in the audience. He
does this by the fact Macbeth gets killed at the end of the play and
that Macbeth recognises his own flaws.
Macbeth killed his best friend, killed the family of an enemy, and
killed the king who is chosen by God. All evil acts, but is Macbeth
evil? All these acts could have been caused by the witches-it was
believed possession was within the reach of witches. So Macbeth was
either a very evil man or he was a pawn under the control of the women
in the play.
Which also foreshadows the death of Banquo. It is primarily because of this that most likely derived Macbeth into evil and further brought out his inner darkness.
Good vs. Evil in Macbeth The good characters in Macbeth are less interesting than the evil ones. Everybody has an evil seed planted in them. Only the really evil person acts on them and commits something morally wrong. Like a Macbeth. When Macbeth first received the prophecies, he actually considered them.
four of the five words are all powerful and give a good idea of what
hero. He is also the king's cousin. He may have been simply fed up if
Biography: William Shakespeare's Macbeth tells the story of a man who would be king. And he is the king, because he murders. Him and his wife murder to get their way. This works greatly for them, until they are questioned, and their guilt sets in. The task for this paper was to compare the Macbeth's to two people who did great evil to accomplish good. IE: Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden, whom were used in this essay.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a recognized classic tragedy portraying the victory of good over evil. This paper will explore the various expressions of evil within the play.
The one thing that all of Shakespeare’s plays have in common is a tragic conclusion, which results in the death of the hero. What is unique about the deaths of these heroes is that all of the problems that lead them to the end are self-induced. The heroes are always in control, and make crucial judgemental errors which ultimately lead to their own demise. While it is clear that the hero Macbeth causes his own death in this famous play, there are also third-party influences which push him towards this end. The three witches plant a desire for power and growing confidence in Macbeth, while Lady Macbeth eventually persuades him to go down a path of violence, and kill King Duncan in order to take his place on the throne. These actions highlight the women of the play as the greatest influences on the development of the plot and Macbeth’s demise.
There is only one other person to blame for the bad things. Macbeth starts out seeming not like a person that could kill his ...
to the earthly at the base of the chain; everyone had a place, and a
Macbeth is a tragedy written by Shakespeare roughly between the years 1603 and 1606. It was a play written following the death of Queen Elizabeth. The king at the time - James I of England/King James VI of Scotland was known to be a big supporter of theatre, witchcraft and demonology. Shakespeare and his associates soon into their career became known as the King’s men. The Kings ancestry was traced back to Banquo, a character from the play.
Lowe argues that Macbeth constantly presses the witches to reveal more, and acts under his own accord to commit the act of murder. The witches merely state that Macbeth will become king; they do not order him to kill Duncan. Lowe concludes that Macbeth is a culpable human, acting on his own ambition with help from the Witches. Macbeth, from a causation standpoint, reveals that the initial meeting with the Witches caused the downfall of Macbeth. Lowe states “Metaphorically speaking, the witches give Macbeth a flame, but Macbeth lit himself on fire and kept feeding that fire until he was completely destroyed. Thus, it can hardly be argued that Macbeth is a pawn of fate, a victim of circumstance. Rather, Macbeth creates his own tragic circumstance, freely murdering his way to his demise” (Lowe, 2005). Lady Macbeth also forces her own will upon Macbeth, calling him a coward to prick at his sides. The threat of being considered a coward in the eyes of his lover is more important than the problems anf implications of committing a murder. Macbeth values his self worth and personal gain than the life of his friends and allies. The murder of Banquo is what ultimately leads to his demise, says Lowe. Macbeth’s guilt takes the form of a ghost, coercing Macbeth into admitting his involvement in the murder of Banqou. This leads to the separation of Macbeth’s troops, whom later come to kill him in the final act. The Witches’ “prophecy” of kingship and grandeur, Macbeth’s senseless killings, and ultimately his guilt and remorse, are enough to make Macbeth believe he is acting out his
The character Macbeth in the story of Shakespeare’s Macbeth faces decisions that affect his morals. He begins as an innocent soul, dedicated to serve his kingdom and its king, Duncan. As time passes and opportunities present themselves combined with the deception of the evil witches, Macbeth begins his descent into madness. Macbeth’s innocence and loyalty are completely corrupted due to his over confidence, guilty conscience, and the inevitability of human nature. Macbeth looses sight of what is morally right to do in life because his logical choices are changed by these factors.
“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.
Evil is a destructive force; it causes harm to those who embrace it and their victims. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fall into the hands of evil. Evil is what drives people to commit unnatural actions of destruction. Macbeth succumbs to evil through his fatal flaw, greed, and it causes him to disrupt the chain of being. When Macbeth willingly murders, massacres, lies and deceives, he loses his heath and sanity. Evil corrupts everything it touches, and Macbeth decides to be evil's servant. But, when Macbeth embraces evil, it corrupts him, and it ultimately destroys him as well. Lady Macbeth is a victim of Macbeth's fatal flaw, since she is drawn in, and becomes greedy for power herself. She pushes Macbeth into destruction when she adds the small touch that plunges Macbeth into a chain of murder, destruction, and lying followed by the loss of their sanity and health. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are well into the depths of corruption and greed, it is clearly seen that their guilt will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The harm they have caused others will be returned to them as revenge and they have lost their sanity in order to gain power. The fate of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth clearly illustrates that to embrace evil is to negate our own need for order and well being.
Key elements in the play substantiate the fact that Macbeth is a serious story, the first elements of Aristotle’s definition. From the first lines of the play, the mood is set featuring witches whom speak of witchcraft, potions and apparitions. Not only do the three witches aid in making this a serious story but also, they appealed to Elizabethans whom at the time believed in such supernatural phenomena. War for centuries has represented killing and feuding, thus, the war taking place between Scotland and Norway provided a dark component. The Thane of Cawdor’s rapidly approaching execution due to his deceiving the king also plays a role in this grim work. Murder throughout all of Macbeth is an essential aspect when dealing with the seriousness of the play. From the beginning, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to do anything to overthrow King Duncan, whom is the king of Scotland, the role Macbeth desperately yearns for. 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. Through the whole play, while such dank occurrences are used to create deep mood, 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.” This type of language provokes thoughts of death, blood and darkness though the imagery such dank words create. The play also follows through with its theme of blood by in the end of the play, having both of its lead characters die. Lady Macbeth, distraught by guilt over the bloodshed, commits suicide while Macbeth is murdered and beheaded by Macduff, a Scottish noblemen.