Theme Of Madness In Macbeth

Macbeth Analysis Paper

In the play Macbeth, the readers get to experience madness first hand, through a series of events. Some may think of being absolutely crazy when they think of madness, but it can take many different forms. Madness is shown through power, ambition, greed, jealousy, it can start by being self driven and escalate within the shortest period of time. Self destruction is a major role in madness, chaos brought on by Macbeth to himself is evident in the play. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are affected very differently in this play and madness plays a key role. Although it is not always obvious, hidden in the story are many occurrences of how the mental downfall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth happened, and how they dealt with it.

Unlike Lady Macbeth, Macbeth had a big influence to impact his decisions. From the beginning, the three witches inflate his ego, causing him to get ahead of himself and result in him getting these strange hallucinations. (Act 2; Scene 1; Lines 45-50) “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch Thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation”. The first hallucination is the floating dagger, this represents his strong desire to kill King Duncan, so much so that Macbeth visualizes him killing Duncan over and over again in his

After killing Duncan, there is a change in Macbeth, and it is although he needs to kill. Macbeth’s close friend Banquo, is visited by the witches, who then tell him the news that he will not be King, but his descendants (kids) will be. Hearing this, Macbeth becomes angered, fueled by jealousy, and decides to have Banquo, his close friend, killed. Taking out any possible threat makes sense to Macbeth, as if it is the only way to ensure he is King. Later on though, it weighs heavy on Macbeth, realizing what he has done. (Act 3; Scene 4; Lines) A dramatic change is first seen at the banquet that Macbeth holds. Here, he invited most respected roles like the Thane of Scotland. During the feast Macbeth is visited by Banquo’s ghost, whom only Macbeth can see. This is a troubling sight to not only Macbeth, but also his guests since Macbeth is the only one that can see Banquo.

Rather than it always being with them, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are driven to madness, essentially trapping themselves within their minds. A first sign could be the washing of the hands. Lady Macbeth says “A little water clears us of this deed” (Act 2; scene 2; Line 86), she believes that they can wash the blood off their hands literally and everything should return back to normal. Later on, it is obvious that washing their hands did not was away the