Macbeth: Ambition, Fate, and Shakespeare's Artistry

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Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is one of the most influential dramas of the 16th century. Macbeth is about a Scottish guard, Macbeth, who rose to kingship after hearing a prophecy by three witches. Macbeth was centered on King Macbeth of Scotland (reigned 1040-1057), although King Macbeth was the structure of Shakespeare’s drama, Shakespeare wrote in his own situations to deepen the storyline and make a better plot. Overcome with ambition, Macbeth kills the king, Duncan, and his best friend, Banquo, and anyone else who threatens or stands in the way of him becoming king. Fate is another major theme in the drama, considering Macbeth is influenced to crave the king’s position, even more than he already did, by the Weird Sisters revealing …show more content…

The ghost of Banquo haunts Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth becomes psychotic from her guilt. Lady Macbeth commits suicide (from guilt), Macbeth goes into a deep depression. Macbeth turns to the Weird Sisters who put his mind at ease telling him, “...he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane and that no one “of woman born” shall harm him” (Britannica). Malcolm, Duncan’s son, assembles an army in which Macduff, a nobleman who was against Macbeth’s ascension to the throne, joins. Macbeth seeks revenge by murdering Macduff’s family. Macbeth sees the prophecy coming true when Malcolm 's army uses Birnam Wood as camouflage and marches on Dunsinane (Britannica). Macduff was ““from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” by cesarean section and in that quibbling sense was not “of woman born”” (Britannica). Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm becomes …show more content…

It focused on people rather than religion. The term was first referred to in literature by Jakob Burckhardt in The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, stating that the Renaissance was mostly based upon people recognizing their own individuality, rather than the group they’re affiliated with. The Renaissance allowed people to come to themselves as their own person, who can make up their own minds, not needing God to make every decision for them. Shakespeare expressed this concept through Macbeth by showing Macbeth made his own choices (all of which would soon be his downfall), Macbeth made the choice to kill Banquo as well as to murder Macduff’s family. He believed he was making sure that what the Weird Sisters said would never be fulfilled, but all he did was play into the prophecy’s hands. The Renaissance was home to many concepts, one of which was humanism, allowing people to distance themselves from Roman and Greek views and create their own

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