Motifs in The Tragedy of Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth , by William Shakespeare, shows the slow deterioration of Macbeth who was once a brave, loyal soldier to an ambitious man with no sense of reality, In this tragic play, the most commonly used motifs are hallucinations, blood, violence, nature and unnatural, fair and foul. These motifs are used to represent the characters emotions, personalities, and appearances throughout the entire play of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Hallucinations are used in The Tragedy of Macbeth to portray the insanity that has overcome of Macbeth and lady Macbeth. At the start of everything Macbeth was loyal, fierce and a very violent but well trusted soldier who was greatly honored by the king of Scotland, Duncan.
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The three witches then triggered Macbeth’s ambition by telling him a prophecy that had more than one meaning, causing him to develop a hunger to become king. When the three witches first make an appearance Macbeth is accompanied by Banquo. Banquo then questions if they are alive or just a fatal vision of his imagination, Banquo says, “How far is’t called to forres? What are these, so withered, and so wild in their attire, that look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth. And yet are on’t? Live you? Or are you aught that man may question? You seem to understand me, by each at once her choppy finger laying upon her skinny lips. You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.” ( Act 1 Scene 3) Banquo is confused and doesn’t seem to understand what the three witches really are, if they are human or not, male or female real or imaginary. One of many significant hallucinations we see throughout the play is the hallucination of the floating dagger seen by Macbeth right before he kills King Duncan the King of Scotland, “ Is this a dagger which I see before …show more content…
The blood in The Tragedy of Macbeth represents the guilt and murders of Macbeth and lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth plans to kill King Duncan she calls to the spirits of murder, “Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry ‘Hold, hold’!”( Act 1 Scene 5) Lady Macbeth is asking them to help her commit murder without feeling guilting. She is asking them to poison her blood and to turn her breasts milk into poisonous acid. She is trying to commit a murder and she wants the smoke of hell to hide her keen knife so she won 't see what she is doing and so heaven can’t stop her for what she is about to do. When Macbeth killed King Duncan he says, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”(Act 2 Scene 2) Which means that Macbeth’s guilt has grown and that not even all the oceans water could possibly wash away his guilt. By saying,“making the green one red”
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.
The best way to draw a reader into a story is to focus on knowledge drawn from other sources and add to them in a way so that the reader can relate. William Shakespeare achieves just this with his ability to enhance Macbeth with reoccurring motifs throughout the play. Possibly the most prominent ones and those that represent the greatest are the sleep and serpent motifs. J When one possesses a conscience, the function to tell the difference between right and wrong; it impedes the ability to either make positive or negative decisions. If one has a clear conscience, they usually possess the ability to sleep. But when our consciences are full of guilt, they experience a state of sleeplessness. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the sleep and sleeplessness motif to represent Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's consciences and the effect Macbeth's conscience has on the country of Scotland.
Shakespeare used imagery to present the idea that violence will always come back to haunt us. Throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth imagery is used to help provide a visually descriptive understanding on his literary work. Images of Hallucinations help to back up the idea of violence and how it comes back to haunt us, these ongoing visions of the dagger and the sound of the execution bell play on Macbeths awareness of the situation put into plan. Whether used to emphasise each tragedy present throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth and it was also used to portray the witches as a character, Storms were used to present all the violence that corrupted throughout the play.
If a picture tells a thousand words, than imagine the importance of an image upon a play such as Macbeth. In any literary work, it is extremely important that the author can effectively manipulate a reader's feelings towards a character. In Macbeth, that feat is accomplished magnificently by Shakespeare. Through his skillful use of imagery, Shakespeare shows us a deeper look into the true character of Macbeth. Though imagery is widespread throughout Macbeth, it is most dominant in clothing imagery, light and darkness imagery, and blood imagery. Through these images,
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.
Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is considered one of his great tragedies. The play fully uses plot, character, setting, atmosphere, diction and imagery to create a compelling drama. The general setting of Macbeth is tenth and eleventh century Scotland. The play is about a once loyal and trusted noble of Scotland who, after a meeting with three witches, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the other nobles of Scotland who try to stop him. In the play, Macbeth faces an internal conflict with his opposing decisions. On one hand, he has to decide of he is to assassinate the king in order to claim his throne. This would result in his death for treason if he is caught, and he would also have to kill his friend. On the other hand, if he is to not kill him, he may never realize his ambitious dreams of ruling Scotland. Another of his internal struggles is his decision of killing his friend Banquo. After hiring murderers to kill him, Macbeth begins to see Banquo's ghost which drives him crazy, possibly a result of his guilty conscience. Macbeth's external conflict is with Macduff and his forces trying to avenge the king and end Macbeth's reign over Scotland. One specific motif is considered the major theme, which represents the overall atmosphere throughout the play. This motif is "fair is foul and foul is fair."
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...
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations play a significant role and contribute to the development of his character. In the play Macbeth, a man is driven to murder his king and his companions after receiving a fairly ambiguous prophecy told by three witches. Although the witches triggered the series of events that later aid Macbeth’s descent into complete insanity, Macbeth is portrayed from the very beginning as a fierce and violent soldier. As the play goes on, several internal conflicts inside of Macbeth become clear. After he performs several bloody tasks, the madness inside of Macbeth is unmistakably visible to everyone around him. As a result of this insanity, he sees visions and hallucinations. Each time Macbeth hallucinates, he plunges further into insanity that is essentially caused by misguided ambition, dread and guilt. Macbeth has three key hallucinations that play a considerably important role in the development of his character: a dagger, the ghost of Banquo, and four apparitions while visiting the prophesying witches.
The imagery of blood shows Lady Macbeth wants to get rid of her guilt. Lady Macbeth states, “And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood” (1.5. 49-50). Lady Macbeth is saying that she wants be filled with cruelty from top to bottom and to thicken her blood because she knows that from what she is about to do, she will get guilt.
Once upon a time, three weird sisters appeared in the thunder and lightning. They were dressed in all black dresses and a large hat with a pointy top, resembling a witch. They looked up into the sky and had a quick discussion about the next time they will meet and where they will meet Macbeth. Scottish King Duncan appears at the military camp, when he hears the news about his generals, Macbeth and Banquo and how they have defeated these two invading armies. One was from Ireland, which was led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one was from Norway. Macbeth and Banquo unexpectedly saw the weird sisters as they cross a moor. They looked at them and started to laugh. They wondered who were these three hideous creatures dressed like witches; and so they called them. The witches looked at Macbeth and started to hold hands rocking side to side, looking up into the sky as if they see a ghost the one in the middle gets on her knees and says “all hail Macbeth” then they all kneel down and do the same. The one in the middle tells Macbeth that he will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also predicted that Banquo’s descendants will be Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. Then witches vanished into thin air. Macbeth and Banquo questioned the witches’ predictions. Two of King Duncan’s men came to thank them on their victory in battle. The generals tell Macbeth that he has been named the new thane of Cawdor and how the previous thane of Cawdor has betrayed Scotland by fighting for the Norwegians and Duncan had sent someone to kill him. Macbeth had become interested in the witches’ prediction. He started to think that maybe what the witches told him is true and that he will be crowne...
One of the most important themes in Macbeth involves the witches' statement in Act 1, Scene1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10) This phrase aptly describes the macabre status quo within the character Macbeth and without. When Macbeth and Banquo first see the weird sisters, Banquo is horrified by their hideous appearances. Conversely, Macbeth immediately began to converse with these universally known evil creatures. After hearing their prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in reality their intentions were quite "foul." Macbeth's possession of the titles of Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland came by foul means. Macbeth became the Thane of Glamis by his father Sinel's death; he became Thane of Cawdor when the former namesake was executed for treason; and he was ordained King of Scotland after murdering the venerable Duncan. Thus, Macbeth has a rather ghastly way of advancing in life.
Shakespeare’s play Macbeth has a series of motifs or patterns of imagery such as ambition and greed, unnatural deeds versus human nature, females and evil, and hallucinations, however the one pattern of imagery that the reader can recognize everywhere in Macbeth without the word beginning said is blood.Blood reveals the theme of violence and cruelty in Macbeth.Where there is violence there is blood, where there is dishonesty there is blood and even when there is uncertainty there is blood.In the next paragraphs I will recognize how bloodshed results in victory, guilt and finally tragedy and how it reveals the theme of violence and cruelty.
After the defeat of Macdonwald Banquo justifies his greed when he and Macbeth meet three suspicious ladies. The ladies known as witches in the story told Macbeth his upcoming fortune of power. Banquo says to Macbeth " My noble partner/You greet with present grace and great prediction/Of great having and high hope,/That he seems rapt withal. To me, you speak not./If you
The witches influence Macbeth in his achievements and awake his ambitions. They give him a wrong sense of security with their apportions of truths. The witches are the ones who made the idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth’s mind. They also told him that he would become thane of Cawdor and later would become king of Scotland and Macbeth wants to know more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more. By Sinel’s death I know I am the thane of Glamis; but how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman; and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief, no more than to be Cawdor” (Shakespeare 312). Banquo is known as the real victim of the witches. After Banquo hears the prophecy of the witches that his sons will become kings he still does not believe them. He believes that he has eaten a root that is making him hallucinate and does not believe anything they tell him. (Shakespeare 313) Banquo says, “Are you sure we are talking about what we have seen here? Or have we eaten some plant root that makes us hallucinate.” Banquo also says to Macbeth: “but ‘tis strange; and oftentimes of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles. To betrays in deepest consequence” (Shakespeare 314). Shortly after they meet with the three witches they meet a messenger who tells Macbeth he is the Thane of Cawdor. When Banquo hears this he realizes the witches are right and
In Macbeth, Shakespeare confronts audiences with universal and powerful themes of ambition and evil along with its consequences. Shakespeare explores the powerful theme of the human mind’s decent into madness, audiences find this theme most confronting because of its universal relevance. His use of dramatic devices includes soliloquies, animal imagery, clear characterisation and dramatic language. Themes of ambition and mental instability are evident in Lady Macbeth’s reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the prophecies, Macbeth’s hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost and finally in the scene where Lady Macbeth is found sleep walking, tortured by her involvement.