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How does fate and free will influence macbeth’s actions throughout the play
The role of power and ambition in macbeth
The role of power and ambition in macbeth
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People that force their way into great power usually lead themselves to their own downfalls. Macbeth’s ambition of becoming king leads him to kill the current king Duncan and rise to the throne. Macbeth’s fear of getting dethroned leads him to kill anyone that gets in his way. As suspicions rise, people’s loyalty falters and it leads to his impending doom. In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth leads himself to his own downfall.
Macbeth’s paranoia and guilt following his murders are major factors leading to his downfall. Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo and shows his fear of it by exclaiming, “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!” (Shakespeare 3.4.128) This scene happens after Macbeth kills Banquo and leads to people's suspicions being raised. People are becoming suspicious of his usurping behavior. This quote shows a major turning point as his inappropriate behavior alerts the nobility around him that something is wrong. Macbeth's paranoia is also seen when, "in pious rage the two delinquents tear that were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep? Was not th...
Macbeth’s second murder is his best friend, Banquo. This, according to Sheweta Bali “makes Macbeth lose his foothold on reality and falls into a void. This is when he first exhibits a conscience and some empathy but instigated by ‘possessed’. After his murder Macbeth “betrays signs of insanity not only through his actions but also his thoughts” and “Macbeth’s insecurity focuses no longer on the proud aspiration for kingly greatness but on envious rivalry with his antithetical friend Banquo. Macbeth is shown his madness to others around him when he sees the ghost of Banquo at the feast when he says “Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo! How say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites.” When Macbeth says “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more!
Guilt surrounds Macbeth for the second time when he sends out the murderers to kill Banquo, his old friend. Macbeth had no other choice but to get rid of Banquo. Banquo had witnessed the three witches and the prophecies. One prophecy was that his son would become king one day "To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings"(Act3 scene1 line70). In order for Macbeth to be safe is to kill Banquo. Banquo may assume what had happened and tell the people of Scotland. "For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; Put rancors in the vessel of my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel".
After murdering Banquo, Macbeth begins to fear other powerful men around him, such as Macduff. The witches provide Macbeth with Apparitions that tell him his fate for the future as king. The second Apparition, a bloody child tells Macbeth that no individual born from a woman can harm Macbeth. Macbeth then replies “Then live Macduff; what need I fear thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure and take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live, that I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, and sleep in spite of thunder” (4,1,93-97). Even though Macbeth gains the knowledge that no individual born from a woman can harm him, he acts cowardly to protect himself. Macbeth turns to murder instead of facing the powerful Macduff himself. As Machiavelli said men act cowardly, and Macbeth demonstrates just that by murdering anyone who seems to pose even a slight threat towards him as king. Macbeth believes murdering Macduff will allow him to “sleep in spite of thunder.” Macbeth uses this metaphor of sleep by saying the people who sleep are innocent and the ones who don’t sleep are guilty. Macbeth believes if Banquo is dead, he can sleep as an innocent person. Macbeth presents a cowardly character who believes murder is the “right” way of handling his problems. As a result of Macbeth murdering more and more people out of fear, his people will think of him as a cowardly king. Macbeth wants his people to think he is a strong king, but by killing good people out of fear, individuals will have their idea of Macbeth’s character alter into being a
“O! yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.” (2.3.103-104). Macbeth was very fearful that the servants would remember what had happened to Duncan if they were still alive, even though Macbeth set them up to make them appear guilty. Again, near the end of the play, Macbeth is having more and more hallucinations now and they are happening more frequency, “It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood” (3.4.121). At the inauguration dinner for Macbeth being crowned king, Banquo’s ghost sits in the current King’s chair and Macbeth beings to become agitated and loses his composure around the Thanes and other Lords; at that time, Macbeth feels pressured by the sins he has committed in the past.
People who have a desire for power will do anything to get their, even if it means allowing their closest ones to get hurt or them. Sometimes they gain power or do not, but when the person in power has too many expectations as a normal King they lose control which is called a "power struggle". Lady Macbeth has a desire for power over King Duncan. Lady Macbeth uses the power she gained by manipulating her husband to commit murder and rule the Kingdom of Scotland with her husband. She loses her mind by realizing what she has done, by allowing her husband become paranoid killing people who can become a threat to the kingdom except for his family and she also loses her life because she would rather die when she is strong instead of weak later on
These are factors that contribute greatly to both protagonists’ downfall. Macbeth's guilt prevents him from fully enjoying his position as king. Macbeth's guilt begins to consume him, which starts the hallucinations and paranoia. Shakespeare emphasizes this when Macbeth hallucinates that Banquo is in his seat. “Re-enter GHOST OF BANQUO/: Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee!/:Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;/:Thou hast no speculation in those eyes/:Which thou dost glare with!”(3.4.94-98). It is obvious that the apparition of Banquo is the embodiment of Macbeth’s guilt, which is why he nearly reveals the truth about King Duncan’s murder. These hallucinations are all because of the burden of his guilt, which leads to his
All great leaders have their rise and fall. Some throw themselves into failure, some are pushed into it. Those who are pushed into it are usually influenced by evils around them. In the play, Macbeth by Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, is pushed to failure. The play takes place in Scotland and is about a young warrior who goes by the name Macbeth. Macbeth is told he would be a king by three witches. Macbeth kills the existing king and becomes a cruel, unjust king. He eventually goes insane and is killed and humiliated. Many may think Macbeth’s downfall was his own fault, those people are wrong. There were three main outside influences that were responsible for Macbeth’s fall. The first influence is his wife, Lady Macbeth, who seeks to be the queen and pushes Macbeth to pursue the crown. The second is Macbeth’s good friend Banquo who was with Macbeth when he was told he was to be king in the future. Banquo’s silence made Macbeth paranoid and that caused Macbeth to order his men to kill Banquo. This was a big cause in Macbeth’s insanity. The final influences are the three witches who drive Macbeth to kill Duncan, and they make him weak by letting him think he is invincible. Macbeth may have been a bad king, but he was not responsible for his collapse.
Many kings and queens meet their downfall due to the matter of their craving for additional power and their extreme ambition. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth was more to blame for his downfall than his wife due to the fact that he was cold-blooded, impulsive, and over-confident.
Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be feared” (III.i.47-50). What Macbeth is talking about is that it is worthless to become the king unless the position of king is safe. Macbeth fear that Banquo and his descendant will take away his position as king. He is afraid because the prophecy became true for him, so it must become true of Banquo. To be safe as king, Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. From doing this, it shows that Macbeth’s unchecked ambition grows from his evil deeds. After the murder of Banquo, Macbeth saw the ghost of Banquo at his dinner with the other lords. Seeing the ghost of Banquo, Macbeth acted weird in front of the lords. Lady Macbeth pulls him aside and told him that his reaction is because of his fear, which was unmanly. The ghost represented Macbeth’s guilt and fear that he holds. To reassure himself, he visited the three witch to predict his future again. Going to the witch, they showed him three apparitions, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff!/ Beware the Thane of Fife!...Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn/ The power of man, for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth...Macbeth shall never vanquished be
Throughout history, people who have been given some sort of authority, would eventually go mad with power. Power is addictive like a drug, typically, people would do anything to gain it, even if they had to murder someone. Over the course of the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth’s need for power causes him to change from honest person to a cruel leader, which eventually leads to his demise.
It is in human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, a Scottish noble's craving for power leads him to do terrible deeds that leads to his demise. Shakespeare shows that power corrupts by using Macbeth who corrupts under the thought of have power over others. Macbeth becomes corrupt under the thought of becoming king and gaining almost complete control over the people that he rules. Macbeth wants the power badly enough to do horrible deeds such as commit regicide. Lady Macbeth becomes very ambitious and allows herself to become seduced to the idea of becoming Queen. Her ruthlessness urges Macbeth to commit regicide by questioning his love for her and his own manhood.
Macbeth is afraid that Banquo knows that he attained the crown through foul play and he also doesn’t want Fleance to become king. “To be thus nothing, but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and his royalty of his nature reigns that which would be feared.” “My genius is rebuked, as it’s said Mark Antony's was by Caesar.” Macbeth is stating that being king is nothing if he’s not safe as it. He fears Banquo because there is something about his noble nature that makes him someone to be feared. Macbeth’s fear of Banquo is so deep that he might not be able to overcome it. Even though Macbeth was given the crown, he will not be able to pass it down to his children, because of the prophecy that Banquo’ s generation will become kings. Macbeth didn’t go through all this hard work to become king just to give Fleance the crown. So, Macbeth’s paranoia makes him decide to murder Banquo and Fleance to keep security of the throne.Macbeth makes an allusion to Shakespeare's other play Antony and Cleopatra. In the play, The soothsayer predicts that Antony’s angel that guides him to the future will be weaker than Caesar so Antony should stay away from Caesar. If Macbeth stays with Banquo his angel will lose to Banquo. Another circumstance is when Macduff does not attend the
He is confronted by guilt, symbolized as a ghost again later on in the play. It is after the murder of his once close friend, Banquo that Macbeth is visited by another ghostly spirit: the ghost of Banquo. The fact that the ghost takes on the form of someone Macbeth knows shows the intensity of his guilt “(Macbeth to Banquo’s ghost) Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appal the devil.” (Macbeth). Macbeth begins to have a mental breakdown in front of the noblemen in his home. Although Lady Macbeth tries to reassure them that her husband is okay, it is clear to see that Macbeth is not well, due to his guilt. However, although Macbeth is consumed by his feelings of shame and guilt, he continues to make destructive decisions which lead to his deserved
In the play, we see very little to no hesitance or guilt from Macbeth about killing Banquo. Straight away we see Macbeth plotting to kill him- no internal conflict. This shows that by now, Macbeth has repressed his conscience. Macbeth is so driven on making sure that Banquo’s prophecy doesn’t come true, that he hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son. After the deed is done (Banquo’s son escapes), Macbeth feels at rest, however, he then starts to hallucinate about seeing Banquo’s ghost. He goes crazy in front of all the nobles and starts screaming and a non-existing person. At first, he keeps up his emotional barrier and he tells the ghost, “thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me (Shakespeare pg.103).”His guilt finally overrides his emotional barrier, and Macbeth starts to go insane. Once Macbeth stops suppressing his emotions, he becomes a madman. Killing Banquo pushed Macbeth into a mental state where all the guilt was felt. After killing Banquo, Macbeth goes on to do more actions based off his guilt and insanity caused by killing Banquo. The mental demise of Macbeth could perhaps been avoided had Macbeth not crossed the line by killing
In Macbeth’s soliloquy, the conscious empowers the unconscious. “At the nonrational level of Macbeth’s psyche, conscience registers as “a dagger of the mind”: pricks of conscience that have assumed murderous, self-mutilating proportions” (Chauchi 337). In order for Macbeth to commit the murder, he has to do the act knowing with conscious. He must lose the principle of morality and enters in sublimation, which is satisfying the impulse with a substitute object, in this case, Macbeth’s desire for power. Shakespeare uses Macbeth character to exhibit the horrendous effects of ambition and guilt in men’s nature. From this point, Macbeth’s dramatic fall develops from his superego that makes a person feel guilty if the principle of behavior is not followed. The ego acts as a mediator between the id and superego to prevent an overwhelming anxiety (McLeod). Macbeth’s response is the result of anxiety, guilt, paranoia, fear, and distress. He plans a series of murders to protect his permanence as King. He orders Banquo’s death, Lady Macduff, and Macduff’s son. Macbeth’s paranoiac stage and inner conflict cause him to see Banquo’s ghost, and he has a confrontation between reality and metaphysical. He mislays the rational goal of being a fruitful king, and the tragic tension of his ambition drives him to become a tyrant. As Macbeth turns as an unscrupulous murderer, Lady Macbeth is not capable of losing her whole morality principle, so