...Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare uses blood, darkness, and death to stimulate a disturbing sense of violence as well as the dark consequences following such actions. Blood, suggesting a heavy loss of life, serves as a constant reminder of the fear existing between characters or even within an individual’s own consciousness. In addition, violence heavily clings to the absence of light because the familiar darkness still eludes to a sense of unrecognizable mysteries. Lastly, the different forms of evil misconduct often lead to death among different characters, which continues to further promote the overpowering capabilities of violence. In summary, Shakespeare’s recurring use of blood, darkness, and death promotes awareness of the dangers involved...
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...Violence There are many battles in Macbeth; it features the murder of men, women and children; suicide and beheading Macbeth shows that once one violent act is done, it only leads to another, and this does not stop. This means, violence usually does not fix anything. In Macbeth, as soon as his ambition took over and he became a serial murderer, it didn't turn out well in the end - Macduff killed Macbeth. This is similar to many problems of society today, especially in teenage boys. Many people believe physical violence is the only way to fix their problems, which actually, it will most likely only cause a bigger one. Fights can never end up good - someone will always come out of it second best, and the other may even be caught out by the police or teachers! This leads to my next point, masculinity. "Dispute it like a man I shall do so, but I must also feel it as a man, I cannot but remember such things that were most precious to me." This is a quote from Macbeth (IV.3.26) where Macduff is ready to prove he is the more 'manly' one of both him and Macbeth. Even Lady Macbeth is willing to become more masculine so Macbeth can become king, shown in the quote under Ambition. Like Macbeth, Macduff and Lady Macbeth, people nowadays still 'need' to prove their masculinity by violence, especially teenage boys, and that is why the theme of violence is so relevant in today's society. Ambition and Power Ambition is the most obvious theme seen in Macbeth. We see ambition...
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...“Significant ideas are raised in plays” Discuss significant ideas in Macbeth Throughout the Elizabethan era, literary work was written for performance on the stage in order to entertain an audience. These performances, known as plays raise significant ideas that are the underpinning issue or idea that propels and sustains the play. As time passes, different generations look at the significant ideas in Shakespeare with new eyes, redefining and reinterpreting as influenced by the political, social and cultural conditions of each era. These significant ideas that are raised in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (1606) include supernatural, ambition and temptation, and violence. Macbeth introduces an element of fantasy into the normal tragedy narrative through the characters of the witches. The witches are important figures in the play, as their function is both to predict Macbeth’s fate and to signal to the reader what is to come. Far from serving as a distracting element, the witches help focus the audience on some of the darker and more sinister aspects of the play. Shakespeare’s use of this supernatural idea is raised throughout the entire play. If the witches’ prophecy is understood to be imposing a supernatural order on the natural order of things, the natural order can also be understood as responding with tempestuous signs. Following Duncan’s death, Lennox describes the “unruly” night in detail and his personal emotions. Similarly, Ross notes that “the heavens, as troubled...
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...Readers get the idea of negative ambition throughout the play Macbeth. The play Macbeth, is another brilliant written piece by the famous playwright William Shakespeare. The play is about a great warrior, who gets the wrong idea about ambition after being told that he will become King of Scotland. Macbeth believed that the only way to achieve power and wealth is to kill anyone who gets in his way to the throne. Specifically, the use of irony, motif and characterization all prove that negative ambition can...
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...will do whatever it takes to remain in control. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, utilizes psychoanalysis to portray how the Macbeths’ lust for power ultimately leads to their downfall. To begin, Macbeth’s thirst for power commences upon hearing the Witches’ prophecy. The Third Witch proclaims, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.51). Macbeth and his companion, Banquo, find this prophecy of being king absurd to the point of being funny. Yet Macbeth secretly...
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...Macbeth: Act 3 Scene 4 ‘They say, blood will have blood’ ‘Lesser than Macbeth but greater,’ theses are the words which make Macbeth start to think about whether his bestfriend, Banqou, can be trusted. In one of the first scenes of the play the three witches tell him this after he killed King Duncan. The words start to drive him insane as he starts to believe that Banquo or his son, Fleance, may take the throne away from him. His sanity leads him to killing Banquo, making him so guilty that he breaks down at the State Banquet. Act 3 Scene 4, the Banquet scene, is one of the most significant scenes as it shows Macbeth has finally cracked as he goes insane in front of all his guests. I will be discussing how violence, the supernatural, masculinity, ambition, guilt and prophecies effect Macbeth throught the scene. The supernatural is one of the most biggest themes in the play. It starts off in Act 1 Scene 1, with the 3 witches and carries on with the prophecies given by them, which i believe make macbeth insane, believing that he can be all powerful. The supernatural links into this scene because, when Macbeth looks over the banquet he says ‘the table is full’ and sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his chair. Macbeth speaks to the ghost, ‘Thy gory locks at me,’ the ghosts ‘locks’ of hair as described as gory because as the guest enter the first murderer tells him that Banquo diesd with twenty gashes on his head. Interestingly, if this does link into the theme of supernatural...
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...Macbeth- Shakespeare Caroline Rebry January 8, 2010 Mr. Salciccioli In the Shakespearean story Macbeth, the character Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, is one of Shakespeare’s most forcefully drawn female characters he has ever created. Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. She is one of the only characters in the play that could persuade Macbeth the way she does. Her sly and cunning plans lead Macbeth to fulfill her desires of becoming King and Queen. As well, her incredible mind tricks cause her husband to continue to achieve their goal as becoming King and Queen. Considering the relationship between cause and effect in the play, Lady Macbeth, through her manipulation, deceptiveness, and mind games, is one of the characters who is more responsible for Macbeth’s crimes in the play. When we first meet Lady Macbeth, she is already plotting Duncan’s murder, and she is stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than her husband. She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth questions, Was the hope drunk Wherein you...
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...Macbeth analysis “Macbeth” is a tragedy and was written by William Shakespeare. It was originally written as a play; believed to have been written between 1599 and 1606. Macbeth is the easiest of all of Shakespeare’s plays to follow because the play only has one plot and is constructed in a way that almost everything that happens, refers to the main story. The play takes place mostly in a castle in medieval Scotland. In the tragedy we follow King Duncan’s army-general, Macbeth’s rise to power and his downfall after this, and the wife, Lady Macbeth, when she taunts him to do the things she wants him to do in order to kill King Duncan. But how much guilt can one take before going insane? When will one be too crazy for their subjects to obey? And how does acting against your morals affect one in the long run? The most important characters in the play are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth but the three witches, “The Weird Sisters”, plays a big part too. Macbeth is the main character. The first impression we get of him is, that he is a brave and capable warrior. We get this impression because of the first place in the play, that we meet Macbeth is in the captain’s account of the battlefield. However, this impression changes when he meets the 3 witches, and they tell him, that he is to be king. At this point, we realise that he is a lot more than just brave. His courage is combined with his ambition and tendency to doubt himself. When he is told, that he is to kill the king, he experiences...
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...William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, takes place in 11th century Scotland, and has its own portrayal of that society. Although it may not be entirely accurate, the society that Shakespeare develops has distinctive gender roles and societal expectations for each gender. In this society lives Macbeth, a military nobleman trusted by the king who eventually becomes king himself, but through a murder encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth. His reign is tainted with inhumane acts such as murdering the family of his former friends, and hiring assassins to kill one of his friends. At the conclusion of the play, Lady Macbeth dies from unknown causes, Macbeth is murdered by Macduff, another nobleman, and Scotland rejoices because Macbeth’s reign of terror...
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...Tate, now 14, was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole on March 9, 2001. This harsh conviction was founded on the basis of the beating and death of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick. Tate defense lied in the hands of his television heroes, professional wrestlers, whom he claimed he was simply imitating. This argument was not enough to convince the jurors that his actions were an accident. If a defense team was not able to convince a select group of individual that violence on television is becoming more of an issue with youth violence, then how is a nation of parents going to be convinced that television, video games and other public violence is affecting their children. Is every parent going to have to experience what Lionel Tate or Tiffany Eunick's parents experienced to see the effects of a violent society in which children are being raised? Understand that there are more than one cause to juvenile violence. Media and television related violence is only one of the factors. Addressing and trying to correct one issue at a time is going to be the most productive. Take television for example. Lionel Tate was...
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...To what extent is masculinity associated with evil and violence in Macbeth? Evil is a theme widely explored by Shakespeare in his plays and “Macbeth” is no exception. This play demonstrates violence in relation to evil and evil in turn is a reflection of the desperation and anxieties of the characters in “Macbeth.” The question of whether masculinity is associated with evil and violence is easily answered as the main character in this horrific tragedy is Macbeth himself, who commits a range of heinous crimes from murder to dabbling with witchcraft. However, the extent to which masculinity is related to evil is more obscure. In this essay I am going to show that evil and violence in “Macbeth” is not monopolised by masculine characters. To show this I will be analysing female characters who demonstrate strong evil qualities and personalities such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches and Hecate. I will also discuss Banquo, Macduff and King Duncan because these characters represent chivalry, nobility and honour of human characters, even though they are male. The first character I will be looking at is Macbeth himself. This is because he is the central character and focus of the entire play. From the outset Macbeth is depicted as a fierce war hero: “Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.” (Act 1: Scene 1: Lines 22 – 23) The captain using the...
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...character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. There are many factors which contribute to the degeneration of Macbeth of which three will be discussed. The three points which contribute greatly to Macbeth's degeneration are the prophecy which was told to him by the witches, how Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth's judgment, and finally Macbeth's long time ambition which drove his desire to be king. Macbeth's growing character degenerates from a noble man to violent individual. The prophecies which were told by the witches were one of the factors which contributed to the degeneration of his character. If it had not been for the witches telling him that he was to be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland, Macbeth would still be his ordinary self. As a result of the prophecies, this aroused Macbeth's curiosity of how he could be King of Scotland. As the play progresses, Macbeth slowly relies on the witches prophecies. Shakespeare uses the witches as a remedy for Macbeth's curiosity which corrupts his character. The influence of Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth also contributed to his degeneration of character. Lady Macbeth's character in the beginning reveals that she is a lovable person. When Lady Macbeth was ready to kill King Duncan herself, it showed that Lady Macbeth could not murder King Duncan because he reminded her of her father. This proves that Lady Macbeth has a heart deep inside her. Lady Macbeth plays an important...
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...Annotated Bibliographies In Macbeth, the author William Shakespeare uses the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to present the idea that evil can separate and destroy even the strongest and most affectionate of relationships. Munro, Robert. “Lady Macbeth: A Psychological sketch.” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. 21. 1 (1887): 30-36. JSTOR. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. Lady Macbeth first appears ‘fair, feminine, perhaps, even fragile,’ Munro quotes in his journal which is about the psychological factors behind Lady Macbeth. Munro first states how much Macbeth loves Lady Macbeth and quotes that Macbeth writes in a letter to her, calling her, ‘[his] dearest partner of greatness.’ After the encounter with the witches, Macbeth knows that...
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...Power of the Thrown The play Macbeth has characters that fit the profile of a bully and abuse of power. Physical violence was used to bully characters in the play. Intention to kill was linked to the Macbeth play as well. The cause of imbalance of power was brought through the characters of Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth. In the Macbeth play the intentions to kills was big part of the abuse of power. In the play Macbeth was very greedy and always wanted more power than what he had. Macbeth was the Thane Of Cawdor before he went on the verge of wanting more power. Just like a bully Macbeth started with a bit of power but ending up wanting more. Macbeth decided he wanted to be king; nothing would get in the way of that. Just like a bully he wanted to have all control. When telling Lady Macbeth about the plan she had agreed it was he right thing to do. Macbeth had second thoughts about...
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...Sarah Powell Mr. Carter English 4 2/24/17 Macbeth Macbeth is a story of a hero turned villain. It explores the cause and effect of sin, outlining the downfall of an ambitious, prideful man whose strong commitment to evil destroys him and his kingdom. The Bible has multiple historical stories that parallel to the story of Macbeth. Macbeth multiplies his sin by attempting to kill the man he fears will inherit the throne after him: Banquo and his son, Fleance. This event recalls another Biblical story, one that corresponds to the story of Adam: the story of Israel's first king, Saul. The link between the story of Adam and Saul lies on the surface for an advanced reader of the Bible. Every new leader is an Adam in some sense. For example, in the book of Genesis, Noah and Abraham are identified as new Adams through repetition of instruction given to Adam in their stories. This Adam theme that was defined clearly in Noah and Abraham becomes an undertone for the rest of Scripture. It finds it's ultimate fulfillment in Christ, the last Adam. However, Saul, the first king of Israel, can be seen only in the new Adam framework. Shakespeare noticing the relationship between Saul and Adam is seen both in subtle and explicit allusions to the story of Saul. An example of an...
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