Examples Of Paranoia In Macbeth

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In this play, William Shakespeare uses a brilliant strategy by incorporating hallucinations to give the readers an insight to what is going on in Macbeth’s head. It shows us how Macbeth’s paranoia evolves over time and just how extreme it eventually gets. There are several occasions throughout this play when Macbeth experiences visions and hallucinations. It eventually gets so bad for him that he develops trust issues and goes to great lengths to “deal” with his problems. There is an outstanding difference when comparing Macbeth’s mental state of mind from the beginning of the play to the end. It is evident that this is a tragedy and Shakespeare goes to great extremes to make sure the reader experiences Macbeth’s feelings.
One hallucination in this play occurs when Macbeth is faced with the decision whether or not to kill Duncan. Macbeth seems to be very firm on his decision but hesitant to actually proceed in this task. In order to become …show more content…

Macbeth is unable to see past the witches’ crookedness but he eventually realizes how they have tricked him. He understands the trickery which they have played on him. Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations have evolved over the time of the script and give the readers an insight to his mind. From his mental experiences, we understand his paranoia. It all started with the vision of the dagger upon Macbeth’s mission to kill Duncan. It then evolved into greater extents when he envisioned Banquo after having him killed. Several different incidents followed this but it was quite evident that his paranoia was evolving into rather large extremes. He needed help but didn’t trust anyone but the witches, who he later learned deceived him. Overall, Macbeths hallucinations and visions were are a brilliant strategy used to give the readers an insight to what was going on in his head and how his paranoia evolved to great

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