Belief systems play an important role in the lives of humans as they govern a person’s thoughts, words and actions and often reflect the predominant values of a specific period in time. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, three different belief systems are present: belief of the Supernatural, the Great Chain of Being and Divine Justice. Belief in the Supernatural is the belief that factors such as fate, astrology and nature determine the path of a person’s life and may become self-fulfilling prophesies. The Great Chain of Being is the belief in hierarchical systems that once disrupted will result in chaos. Lastly, Divine Justice is the belief that all actions will be reciprocated, either though punishment or reward. Each of these systems share …show more content…
Her guilt is evident when she is sleepwalking and says, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All\ the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little\ hand.” (5.1.50-52) Shortly after, during the attack on Macbeth to claim the throne for Malcolm, Macbeth hears a woman’s scream and questions, “Wherefore was that cry?”, Seyton responds, “The Queen, my lord, is dead.” (5.5.15-16) Lady Macbeth kills King Duncan, and this reveals that while she does capture the throne, her days as the sovereign queen are short-lived. The disruption continues when Macbeth follows through with his wife’s plans and kills the King of Scotland. He says to Lady Macbeth, “I have done the deed.” (2.2.15) Unbeknownst to Macbeth, the witches placed a spell on him preventing him from being able to sleep if he killed the king.
Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev’nnights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine. (1.3.19-23)
Unable to sleep, Macbeth is unable to function properly, and starts to see the ghost of Banquo, who he had just had murdered by assassins. 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! (3.4.94-97)
This suggests that Macbeth is feeling guilty for killing his friend and suffers mentally as a result. The disruption of
Macbeth's solution of killing his current problem finalizes his actions of immorality as well as his foil found in Banquo. Even after his death, Banquo is able to keep his integrity and use it to punish, or even remind, Macbeth of his moral supremacy. Banquo returns, as a ?horrible shadow,? to haunt Macbeth at a feast and successfully does so to the point of 'unreal mock'ry' (III.iv), certainly driving Macbeth?s darkness into a phase of decay, leading to further irrationality. This continued irrationality is the cause of yet another stockpile of dead bodies, revealing Macbeth?s inability to cope in his dark
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.
This time due to a cowardly action committed out of selfish fear. It is no surprise to me that Banquo’s ghost haunts Macbeth at this table since Macbeth called for two murders to kill him and his son. Banquo’s ghost appearing shows that Macbeth felt guilt and that he was not the completely heartless monster that he appeared to become. When Banquo's bloody ghost sits at the table with the lords, Macbeth tries to believe that he did not kill banquo. “ Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me.” (III,iv,53-54). Macbeth’s episode with Banquo’s ghost reveals how the quest for power had driven his mind into pure insanity. This powerful hallucination driven from the little heart left in Macbeth proved to all the lords that Macbeth’s mind was gone, and that he was not fit to
On the night MACBETH brutally kills the King of Scotland, Banquo fearful of his own 'cursed thoughts' observes that:
Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is about the leading male protagonist succumbing to his ambition and need for power. Though Macbeth is liable for his own actions, he is not solely responsible for the events that eventually result in his downfall. Macbeth is corrupted by his wife, Lady Macbeth, as well as the three weird sisters. Macbeth’s contribution towards his downfall is his strong ambitious nature. Lady Macbeth is the person who induces Macbeth to assassinate King Duncan. The three weird sisters (witches) play with Macbeth’s ambitious nature and sense of security. Macbeth’s downfall is due to himself and two external factors.
After the death of Duncan Macbeth begins to work on his own without the help of his wife. He plans the murders of Banquo and the heir to the throne, Banquo’s son Fleance. Although it does not turn out as expected Macbeth remains calm until Banquo’s ghost appears. ‘... and keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, when mine is blanched with fear.’ This was the turning point in the whole story because until this point everything was going great for Macbeth, he had power, fame and fortune, all you could ever want;however, when this ghost appeared Macbeth went on a little insanity trip. He, also like his wife was engulfed with guilt and unable to function properly anymore. This led to another visit with the witches. Showing
William Shakespeare’s play entitled Macbeth is a bloody tragedy about ambition, evil, guilt and moral corruption. The story emphasizes a lot on the consequences or aftermath of the bad deeds that Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth do and the growing impact it has on them in turn. Lady Macbeth a woman driven by her assertiveness, boldness, strength and ambition for her husband could not escape the guilt that eventually caught up to her and destroyed her. In Act 5 scene 1, Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and goes insane due to the guilt and remorse that finally catches up to her. This scene is the most important because it changes the reader’s view on Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as characters and it also
Lady Macbeth’s strength of will persists through the murder of King Duncan as it is she who tries to calm Macbeth after committing the crime by declaring confidently that, “a little water clears us of this deed,” (2.2.67). Afterward, however, Lady Macbeth’s strong and ambitious character begins to deteriorate into madness. Her first sign of weakness occurred when she confessed that she could not have killed the king, revealing a natural woman’s feelings, “had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2.2.13-14). Just as ambition has affected her before more so then Macbeth before the crime, the guilt plagues her now more effectively afterward as she desperately tried to wash away the invisible blood from her sin, “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfume of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,” (5.1.48-49). Lady Macbeth’s
Macbeth is confused as he is arguing with himself on what he should do. He states reasons not to kill Duncan, because Macbeth is his noble kinsmen and the act would bring dishonor. However, he also states reason why he should kill him, because Macbeth will then become king and fulfill the witches ' fortune. Lady Macbeth, who appears in the beginning as the driving force for the murder of King Duncan, also develops internal conflict. At first, Lady Macbeth seems to be a woman of extreme confidence and will. But, as situations become more and more unstable in the play, guilt develops inside her. For instance, she exclaims; "Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. / Look not so pale. I tell you again, Banquo 's / Burried; he cannot come out on 's grave" (Shakespeare V, ii, 65-67). Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and frets about her evil wrongdoings because she is extremely guilty of her influence on Macbeth to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth reacts emotionally and dwells on her actions as guilt eats at her soul.
Macbeth is feeling paranoid after the witches tell a prophecy that Banquo’s son will inherit the throne, after he has passed away. Macbeth wants his descendants to inherit the throne not Banquo’s. So, Macbeth then hires three murderers to kill Banquo. At his dinner, after he is crowned the king, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost because of his guilty conscience. Macbeth starts to yell at the ghost saying he can not prove it is him who did it, “Thou canst not say I did it./ Never shake/ Thy gory locks at me” (3.4.61-62) When Macbeth freaks out and has a panic attack at the table, Lady Macbeth covers for him and tells the guests that he acts like this at times. Even though Macbeth hires men to kill Banquo, the blood is still on his hands. It is his idea to kill Banquo, and now he can feel even guiltier about what he has done. Macbeth is going insane feeling all this guilt and it is making him see ghosts. Macbeth is thinking that Banquo would become suspicious of Duncan’s murder. He did not want Banquo getting in his
As well as seeing the ghost of his murdered friend Banquo at the diner table, he also develops insomnia, and goes so far on as to suggest that he is jealous of Duncan because he can sleep forever whereas he cannot sleep at all. He also loses his appetite and can no longer eat well; this shows that his insides are turning with the memory that he himself had killed a King who had been so good to him and to Scotland. After getting Banquo killed, Macbeth sees his ghost at the banquet with twelve bloody gashes in his head; this makes Macbeth completely insane in an instant. He is not only scared by seeing the ghost of Banquo, but also by the thought that he had done these horrible things, and that his soul would be haunted by his murdered friends ghost for ever. It is through the main characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth that this theme of guilt and conscience is so vividly portrayed.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character Macbeth and his wife are both exceptionally ambitious, often taking rather radical measures to accomplish their goals. While this ruthless drive to power is seemingly prosperous at first, it quickly crumbles to naught as guilt infects their minds with grim consequences to follow. Macbeth transforms from a noble general to a guilt-ridden and despaired murderer, while Lady Macbeth’s usually stoic and masculine persona deteriorates into a pitiful and anxious shell of her former self. The feeling of remorse quickly plagues the two characters and overpowers ambition through manifesting itself through nightmares, ghosts, and paranoia, and ultimately leads to their demise.
Lady Macbeth has the power over her husband to persuade him into doing anything she requests. She manipulates Macbeth with incredible efficiency by overruling all of his thoughts and changing his perspective on the present. Even though the many tasks that need to be completed are difficult to understand why they need to be done, Lady Macbeth will always convince Macbeth to do it. Her husband often tells her that she has a “masculine soul” which is obvious due to her murderous and envious actions. When the time came to kill king Duncan, Macbeth believes that his wife has gone insane and tells her that the crime they were about to commit was a horrible idea. As a result of his questioning, Lady Macbeth says that executing the crime will show his loyalty to her. On the night of the assassination Lady Macbeth watched the guards of the castle become drunk and unaware of what was going on. Lady Macbeth sent her husband into the castle to kill King Duncan. The married couple fled the scene leaving the guards covered in the evidence. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are stained with the blood of their victims and the feeling of guilt in their stomach.
Once guilt begins to overtake Lady Macbeth, she looses control of her emotions and actions, sending her onto the fast track to death. In a way, Shakespeare has Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change roles. In the beginning it seems as if Macbeth is more emotionally affected by the killing of Duncan. However, once Banquo is killed Macbeth is perfectly fine with it, and Lady Macbeth becomes vulnerable and lets the guilt overrule her. She begins to repeatedly pretend to was her hands and sleep walk. “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of/ Arabia will not sweeten/ this little hand”
After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth returns ashamed of what he had done and becomes weak and morose. Lady Macbeth remains as bold and cold-hearted as she was at the moment she plotted to kill the king, but it was obvious that it would only be a matter of time before all of that bravery faded away and guilt would overcome her. She realizes that Macbeth is at one of the lowest points of his life and tries to give him that same sense of boldness that she has as she tries to cover up his weaknesses. Macbeth had a lot on his conscience that shortly after Banquo had been killed, he believed he saw the ghost of who was once his friend. No one else sees this apparition but Macbeth speaks to it as if it was