Macbeth gains great power by betraying people and then killing them to either to take their power to or to seal their mouth. Macbeth was encouraged by her wife Lady Macbeth to kill people to get power. After coming into power Macbeth felt extremely bad because he took the power by killing the previous king, Duncan. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses figurative language to show the theme of guilty of killing people. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses personification to shows that guilt is haunting Macbeth which pushes his desire to be king causing him to kill Duncan while he was asleep. After he had complete his task of murder he fell into shock and had a hard time calming down. Macbeth disturbingly says, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep - the innocent sleep.”(2.2.47-48) Macbeth’s sleep is killed and he will not be able to rest in peace anymore. The word “sleep” is being personified in that sleep can be killed. Macbeth conveys the idea of his inability to be able to sleep calmly. Macbeth not being able to sleep is causes by the …show more content…
Macbeth is still in shock from killing Duncan and he now regretfully says that “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”(2.2.78-79) Macbeth is asking will the great vast ocean be able to wash out all the blood from the people he have killed. The word “blood” shows us that Macbeth is guilty because he have killed many people. This evidence shows hyperbole because he is telling us that the vast ocean can’t wash away blood which is exaggerating to shows that the stain of killing people is very strong. Since the stain is so strong, that no matter what kind of amount of water can wash away the guilt of killing these people. To conclude, Shakespeare wanted to suggest that the strength of guilt is overpowering and can stain very badly to a
In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a strong theme of power. Macbeth is a king who is given three predictions from three witches, one of which is that he will become king. The one problem is he doesn’t know what he has to do in order to become king. His wife then decides that in order for him to become king, he must kill the current king. This one murder then leads to others in order to cover the original murder up. Once Macbeth becomes king, he doesn’t want anything to change, he wants to stay king until he dies. He then begins to kill again, but instead of killing to cover something, he is killing anyone who stands in his way of staying king. Macbeth’s fate is affected by the personality trait of bravery, his ability to be manipulated, and his determination.
No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.’ Here Shakespeare uses the language technique of allusion in conjunction with symbolism to express how much Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt from murdering King Duncan. The first question Macbeth asks to himself is him wondering if the guilt inside him will ever leave, and the second part is him realising that the murder was so bad - that guilt will never be rid from his conscious. We see this again later in the play after Macbeth is responsible for more murders: “… I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more. Returning were as tedious as go o’er” The blood spoken about is used in both a literal and symbolic sense.
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
Power is a theme used by Shakespeare throughout the play Macbeth. The plot involves Macbeth trying to gain more power. Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he will become king in his place. Macbeth also is persuaded to kill anyone who threatens his chances of being king, including Banquo. Power is used by certain characters in the play to influence others. One such character is Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, she is a strong-willed character. She takes on the role of a dominant male. She has great influence over her husband, who appears to be weaker than she is. It is her influence that convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner at the beginning of the play, she persuades Macbeth to achieve his goal, and she plans the murder of Duncan.
What drove him to become a power hungry tyrant was his wife. She put ideas in his head that changed him. A day before Macbeth would not speak of the idea of killing the king and now he was considering it. By killing the Duncan, gaining the title and king, and not being caught, Macbeth was given an enormous boost. He now felt invincible and let power finally get to him and corrupt him. With this new amount of power, Macbeth was not willing to let it slip away. To protect his power, he did whatever was necessary. Macbeth cowardly had Banquo killed, going against everything he ever believed in. Killing Banquo was not enough for Macbeth. Shakespeare shows to the audience how power can make a person go higher in the world but at the same time make them more vulnerable. Macbeth was now vulnerable, to solve this he sent the murderers to kill Macduff.
"Power poisons every man who covets it for himself" (Chute 126). In the Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the character, Macbeth, kills the respected King Duncan in his quest for power. However, during his rule, Macbeth demonstrates that he is incapable of mastering the power and responsibilities of being a king. His drive for power and maintaining his power is the source of his downfall. Macbeth is not meant to have authority beyond Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth is king, he does not use his authority judiciously.
Then she asked him what beast had made him break the promise that he had made her. Macbeth uses allusions after he kills King Duncan, he gazes at his hands and says, 'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?'. He's saying that he wants his hands washed. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses manyallusions, but especially mythological and biblical ones. In one of the earliest descriptions of Macbeth, Ross describes him as the bridegroom of Bellona, the Roman goddess of
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
After the first murder scene, when Macbeth stabs King Duncan in his sleep, he encounters a great deal of guilt towards the murder. This is shown by a quote from Macbeth, "With all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas in carnadine, making the green one red", at this point in the play, blood is resembled mostly by guilt. What Macbeth is really saying is that not even the entire ocean could wash his hands clean of blood from this dirty deed he had committed. He feels that what he had done was so wrong and shameful there is not a way in the world to hide it, the ocean is an excellent way to portray this. After the discovery of Duncan’s murder in the third scene, Macbeth exaggerates the king’s wounds," His silver skin lac’d with his golden blood, and gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature..." Macbeth most likely said this to drive away any thought of him being the murderer. The word "golden" resembles the King’s blood, referring to his social status not only as a King, but as a well liked member of society. The word “blood,” produces a dreadful description of the king’s murder which aids the audience in picturing this horrific murder scene.
The image of blood plays an important role throughout Macbeth. Blood represents the murders that Macbeth had committed, the guilt that went along with the murders and the pain that it brought on him during his downfall. The soldier describes the violence and bloodshed, in the war between Scotland and Norway, "Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds." (I. ii. 43) foreshadows the violent nature of the play filled with murder, guilt and pain. Blood in the murder of King Duncan also plays a major role because it represents Macbeth's guilt as well as his shame for slaying King Duncan. Macbeth observes his blood stained hands and remarks "As they had seen me with these hangman's hands." (II. ii. 28) This reveals his guilt and shame because he is comparing his hands to those of an executioner's. After the murder, Macbeth refuses to return back to the bed chamber of Kind Duncan to smear the blood on the sleeping guards, because he is afraid that the blood will incriminate him further. Lady Macbeth smearing the blood onto the guards represents them trying to rub their guilt off onto the guard. "I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt" (II. ii. 73) but this proves to be ineffective because Macbeth ends up murdering t...
Firstly, he defeats his enemies. Next he is praised by the other soldiers and King Duncan appoints him as the Thane. For example, if a person desires for a manager title, the person will work hard to earn it, and it is possible that other workers will see this and boost the chief individual’s desire. It is from here that the person might think they deserve the title and look for more power. Similarly, Macbeth must have thought somewhere in his mind to be king. In the book Witches’ Caldron: a study of motive in Shakespeare’s Macbeth Dr. K.C. Mathur says that although the witches did prophesy he would be king and even boosted his desire “They did not create the thought of murder of King Duncan. It was Macbeth’s own latent ambition embodying his power drive and seeking affirmation that invites the witches.” (Witches Caldron, 6) Dr. Mathur also says “Macbeth had acquired this status and it is not surprising that he thinks of achieving higher status by being aggressive and domineering. It is this psychological impulse that is projected in his ambition for the crown and not any criminal instinct or latent evil.” (6) There was a negative environment of witches and the association of Lady Macbeth around Macbeth which influenced him to murder. The environment creates a huge part in the play and if he had a good environment it is possible that he would have remained loyal to King
In Act 1 of Macbeth, Shakespeare gives each character a unique personality and characterization and throughout the play we get to see their personality change as they are faced with challenges and conflict, a prime example of this would be Macbeth. At the start of Act 1 Macbeth was being praised for being a valiant and noble solider through the following personification of fortune. “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name— Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel. This is a personification of Fortune as he Is always able to defeat luck and chance. Although at the beginning of the play he is clearly seen as noble and brave, we soon see how mentally weak he is as he starts second guessing himself and letting the witches get into his head.
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the author embraces his ability to ingeniously use figurative language. Throughout the play, William Shakespeare’s writing enhances his play in numerous ways. Macbeth clearly shows how Shakespeare uses figurative language as an instrument to keep the play interesting with good writing. Using allusions, irony, and foreshadows allows the audience to enjoy the depth Shakespeare creates in his characters and improves the audience’s comprehension of the plot.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's problem plays which have puzzled the critics all over the years. It is compact and full of significant scenes, and it has two important characters, Macbeth and his wife. It is a clear study of human nature, which I personally think Shakespeare had mastered. The final act opens with the sleepwalking scene and this scene is of great significance because it reveals the true nature of lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the enigmatic characters. Once she is a woman made out of steel and suddenly she collapses; she returns to be a gentle wife. The sleepwalking scene also shows lady Macbeth as a complementary character to her husband.