Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a rather bloody and demiseful tale. Although the characters of the play all have different emotions the main theme is based on greed and suffrage of one’s actions. The main character, Macbeth, is ridden with guilt and greed, while Lady MacBeth is very controlling and demanding. Macbeth's curiosity led to a great demise for both him and Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, Macbeth’s actions are being controlled by the emotions of curiosity, guilt, and fear. Macbeth experiences the emotion of curiosity throughout a major part of the play. To begin, Macbeth is curious about the witches prophecy in the beginning of the play. “Say from whence you owe this strange intelligence, or why upon this blasted heath …show more content…
“What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. 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” (Shakespeare 2.2. 58-62). In this quote Macbeth believes that his actions can not be just washed away with water, but instead will live with him the rest of his life. Macbeth truly believes that even a good himself can purify his hands to be clean again. What’s more, Macbeth ordered for the Murderers to set out and kill Banquo, leaving him with more guilt and more regrets. Once the murder happened and the murders came to the dinner party to tell Macbeth the news. Just when the party was thriving Banquo’s ghost suddenly appears and Macbeth goes on a guilt induced speech about the dead staying dead and not rising again. Lastly, Macbeth felt guilt throughout the play in many …show more content…
First, Macbeth expresses fear when it comes to Banquo’s prophecy. “Then, prophet-like, they hailed him father to a line of kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, and put a barren scepter in my gripe, thence to be wretched with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding” (Shakespeare 3. 1. 57-61). This shows that in Banquo’s prophecy he will heir kings and Macbeth will not. This proves that Macbeth killed Duncan for no reason and Banquo is making him look like a fool for doing so. In addition, what Macbeth fears the most is not being caught but instead it's the witches prophecies coming true. Throughout the play the witches give Macbeth prophecies and he goes along with them. Later in the play they tell him about his demise which he fears. Macbeth was overall afraid of the prophecies being true and ultimately tried to stop them from happening. To conclude, Macbeth feels fear when he hears Banquo’s prophecy and the witches' prophecies coming
He, with help, ends up taking the throne from Duncan, by murdering him, which fulfills his supposed prophecy. Banquo was a friend to Macbeth and wanted him to be successful and have a chance at the throne. However, in fulfilling his prophecy of becoming king Banquo suspects that Macbeth was the one to kill Duncan. Macbeth knows this, and worried that either the sons of Banquo will overthrow him or Banquo will turn on him, Macbeth sends for guards to kill Banquo and his son. "O treachery!
Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.
Banquo says, “I fear thou play’ds most foully for’t” (Act 3 sc 1 lines 2-3). I feel that Banquo is seeing that Macbeth is getting everything that he wants and Banquo is noticing that it’s out of the ordinary and he ends up getting suspicious of Macbeth. Macbeth notices that Banquo is getting suspicious of him. Also, the weird sister told Macbeth that one of Banquo sons is going to be king one day. Macbeth doesn’t like the idea of both of these, so Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance.
Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared.” (III. i. 52-55) Macbeth expresses his rising paranoia and concern with retaining his newfound position as king in this quote. He considers Banquo, a former ally, to be a threat to his throne because of the prophecy that Banquo's children will inherit the realm. Macbeth's ambition to secure his position drives him to order Banquo's murder and to eradicate any potential hurdles in his way, showing the destructive nature of ambition when it becomes all-consuming and leads to betrayal and bloodshed.
Macbeth is promised that he will be king and Banquo receives the prophecy that his descendants will be kings. The reactions from Macbeth and Banquo to the prophecies differ. Banquo’s observation “why do you start and seem to fear / Things that do sound so fair?” (1.3.49-50) shows that Macbeth is startled and fearful by the prophecy. Macbeth links the prophecy of becoming king to the possible act of killing the current king Duncan, thus revealing his conflicted mind.
To illustrate, after Macbeth had received the news of Banquos’ death, he had hallucinated Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth believed Banquo was there to take away what he worked hard to achieve and reveal Macbeth's bloody hands. In order for him to fear Banquo, Macbeth would have to understand what he has been doing is wrong to some degree. Macbeth does not want his crimes against the kingdom to be found or his stained hands would have been dirtied in vain. At this point, he recognizes what he has done to be unworthy of an honorable title, though he has not fully understood his wrong doings; just that they are frowned upon and if he were to be found out, he would be greatly punished by Scotlamd.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth uses the themes of ambition and guilt to convey the depth of human nature. Shakespeare shows that when ambition is left unchecked, it will lead to an inevitably tragic fate. Furthermore, guilt is used to teach the audience that we are unable to escape our wrong doings. Shakespeare being a Christian humanist his views are apparent throughout the play as they promote free will and christian beliefs, these beliefs along with Macbeth's ambition and guilt teach the audience much about human nature.
This demonstrates that rather let Banquo be king, he is going to challenge and fight him for his crown. Banquo is the only person that knows about the prophecy and he is also suspicious of Macbeth killing Duncan. Instead of letting Banquo's’ son receiving the crown easily, Macbeth is going to challenge him for the crown. In order that Macbeth can be king, he has to kill Banquo and his son, so they don’t take crown from
Due to the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will come to inherit the throne, Macbeth becomes increasingly paranoid and suspicious of not only Banquo but everyone around him. This fear can is very present in his soliloquy before he orders the murder of Banquo; he states, “He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour…whose being I do fear; and under him my genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antony’s was by Caesar” (III.i.54-58). Shakespeare is trying to tell the audience that Macbeth’s psyche fears Banquo because Macbeth knows his kingdom and title are all hollow. He realises that with time he will become irrelevant, his glory overshadowed by those of Banquo’s descendants. As such, he orders the murder of Banquo and his son, Fleance; even when Banquo has been his loyal friend and ally.
Macbeth is a play that explores the dark side of human nature and the consequences of ambiƟon. The play follows the story of Macbeth, a Scoƫsh nobleman who receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become king. Driven by his ambiƟon and the encouragement of his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. However, his guilt and paranoia consume him, leading to downward spiral that ulƟmately results in his death. One of the most fascinaƟng aspects of Macbeth is the exploraƟon of the human psyche.
Macbeth admits that Banquo should be feared, mainly because he is a threat to the throne. Moreover, this fear degrades his character further, as Macbeth hires mercenaries to kill Banquo, rather than allowing the prophecy to come true naturally. In short, his fear of Banquo reveals his unhealthy obsession with the prophecy. Following Banquo’s murder, Macbeth realizes that “I am [he is] in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I [he] wade no more, /
The play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is a story about a noble who becomes a king and starts killing people who may oppose him. It has very tragic and emotional subjects about death, suicide and murder. The play presents the intricacies of the different types of motivations in the world. Three of the motivations that the play Macbeth displays is power, greed, and ambition and how they can easily corrupt a person.
This causes Banquo to haunt Macbeth’s consciousness and make him feel guilty about everything he has done to be king. This explains that his guilt has caused him to hallucinate by seeing Banquo as a ghost. Lastly, Macbeth is blinded by the witches and chooses to listen to them even though Banquo told him not to because they would end up betraying them. Macbeth trusted the witches when the witches said “Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of women born shall harm Macbeth”(Shakespeare 4.1 136). Macbeth chooses the witches over Banquo and because of this, the three witches took advantage of him and told him only things he liked and therefore he got himself killed.
The play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, presents the tragic tale of a man who is consumed by ambition and power leading to his ultimate downfall. A central theme addressed throughout the play is guilt and its detrimental effects on the conscience. This essay will examine how the theme of guilt and conscience permeates Macbeth, primarily through the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, resulting in their mental deterioration as they are haunted by their actions. In Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the theme of guilt and conscience to demonstrate how one's actions not only affect others but also have lasting psychological consequences that remain etched in their souls. Macbeth's guilt begins with his internal conflict regarding the
Macbeth is afraid of Banquo because he is not safe as king if his friend is going to be suspicious. The only way for Macbeth to keep his crown is to get rid of any potential threats and his own friend is one. Macbeth murdered Banquo without the influence of those around him telling him to commit this act. This does suggest that Macbeth had an evil growing inside him before the impact of other people. However, when the facts are further examined, the root of Macbeth’s evil is not because of himself, but of the ones close to