Examples Of Contradictions In Macbeth

Macbeth’s unrestrained ambition to gain power turned him into someone completely different from who he was originally. When the play begins and Macbeth is introduced, he is labeled as brave, honorable, moral, and kind. He is such a well-versed person that his wife fears his nature is too kind for the harsh world, speaking of him with words of, “Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness…” (1.5.16-17). He makes his first appearance to the audience just after arriving from battle, and his behavior on the field is described by, “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—…” (1.2.16). Macbeth is a man that many admire, even King Duncan himself, who shortly thereafter names Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. Following his new label, Macbeth, with the help of three witches’ prophesies suggesting he will become king, notices the power that comes with such a title. Kenneth Deighton describes Macbeth’s behavior with, “When he is informed that Duncan had made him Thane of Cawdor, he at once gives way to the temptation suggested by the words of the witches, and allows his ambitious thoughts to

Imagery is used by many writers and this is when the writer uses visually descriptive or figurative language.

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

Macbeth first shows signs of change when he becomes Thane of Cawdor. While Macbeth first meets the witches they tell him he will be king and he wishes to know more. “Why/upon this blasted heath you stop our way/ with such a prophetic greeting? Speak I charge you.” (1.3.77-78) When Macbeth hears he will be king he becomes instantly curious and sparks a interest on the prospect of becoming king. This is when he first begins to show the signs of his greed. This is shown even further when Macbeth is told he was Thane of Cawdor and acts hopeful, “If chance will have me king,/ why chance may crown me” (1.3.143-144) Knowing the witches said he would soon become Thane of Cawdor now Macbeth has a purpose and a drive knowing what’s next in store for him. This is shown within his letter to Macbeth “that though might’ve not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being integral of what greatness is sponsored thee/” (1.5.8-9) Here he states to lady macbeth he doesn’t want to waste his chance and lose out on the greatness of becoming king. All of these quotes show Macbeth slip to the side of darkness by wanting to become king.

Initially, Macbeth is viewed as a brave and loyal soldier, with Duncan praising him by expressing that “More is thy due than more than all can pay” (1.4.21). At this point, he has not been influenced by the three witches. Yet, by Duncan implying his importance, Macbeth gains a sense of self-worth and this arouses power within. His clear desire to be titled Thane of Cawdor while then having a growing temptation to commit regicide clearly demonstrate the early stages of his corruption and forms a basis for utilizing illegitimate power.

Not all equivocations in Macbeth were meant to be malicious, This can be shown through when Ross equivocated Macduff. In this equivocation when asked about Macduff’s family Ross says that they are well, even though they were killed by Macbeth recently. Ross’s reasoning for this was that “they were well at peace when I did leave 'em."(4.3) meaning they had died and gone to heaven. One could even argue that the witches equivocations were righteous because they served as a comeuppance to the morally flawed Macbeth. But exploiting another's inner flaw to the harm of himself and others is hardly a just cause in my eyes. In fact the porter while presumably talking about Macbeth said that no one could equivocation their way to heaven. At the time

In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, chases after power by going after the king position in Scotland. In the play, Macbeth changes from basically not worrying about whether or not he will be king, to going after the king so that Macbeth will rule the kingdom. At the very beginning, Macbeth encounters the evil witches and the witches greet Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. The funny part about this is that Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis but, not the Thane of Cawdor because the current Thane of Cawdor is still living, and Macbeth certainly is not the king of Scotland because King Duncan is king. The things the witches say to Macbeth gets into his head and this is where the desire for power originates. Macbeth decides to kill the current King and Macbeth continues to murder people. Macbeth hires goons to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance, because the evil witches hint that Banquo will not be king but, Banquo will heir kings. Macbeth is a character that struggles to free himself from chasing after power due to him wanting to rule the kingdom and Macbeth will do whatever possible to keep the throne. Macbeth performs multiple murders just to keep his throne from falling into somebody else’s hand.

     Once Macbeth possessed the power of being Thane of Cawdor he began to exhibit more greed. He has just been given such a huge responsibility and once he was given new power, he craved more; especially when he stumbled upon the witches. He liked the power that he had and wanted to gain more, no matter what he has to do to get it. Macbeth had an encounter with the three witches and they had told him that he will become the next king. Although the witches did say this it did not mean that it was certain, it was just a possibility. But when Macbeth realized the opportunity for power he knew he wanted to become the king. This passage was in part of the letter that Macbeth wrote to Lady Macbeth: “Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail, king that shalt be’” (1.5.6-10). . It seems as if the power and greed now had full control over him, he is doing things that he wouldn’t do when he did not have all this power. This is the first time that we see this side of Macbeth, the side of him that is greedy for power and is willing to kill the king to do so. In the beginning of the play the thought of being Thane of Cawdor never even crossed his mind, and by no means being

Imagery is when authors use vivid descriptions so the reader can imagine the characters and settings. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, imagery is used by the author, Remarque, to help the readers imagine the scene when the soldiers are taking a break in a meadow after half of their regiment was killed in an attack. Imagery was used when the protagonist took a good look at the meadow and saw the “grasses sway their tall spears; the white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft warm wind of the late summer” (Remarque 9) where “on the horizon [there were] bright yellow, sunlit observation balloons, [and there were] little white clouds of anti-aircraft shells”(Remarque 9). This quote describes what the protagonist sees when he looks at the meadow and on the horizon where a battle was taken place. This is imagery because the author uses vivid words to create an image in the reader's mind of what was happening in the scene. The author included this technique to give the reader the scene and what the character saw in his own eyes. (189 words)

8. Imagery - The use of very descriptive words to give an image of the setting, characters, or things related to the reader.

In the beginning of the play when Macbeth first finds out that he's been promoted to Thane of Cawdor. After Macbeth has been told his prophecy he returns to camp and is then greeted in the morning by news of him becoming the new Thane of Cawdor. “The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me in borrowed robes”(1,3,108-109) this depicts how at one point Macbeth was loyal to the king, Duncan, but once he was given the new title he became thoughtful of his new power and soon realizes that he wants more of it. Another interesting example of this is when duncan names his oldest son, Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland which is the next in line to the throne. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which i must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies.”(1,5,48-50) This indicates that Macbeth has already came up with plans of becoming king and killing Duncan, the only thing in his way now is his son Malcolm. Now that Macbeth has a taste of more power he is fueled by greed and wants only one thing, to be king, he no longer has loyalty towards

Imagery is any piece of language that provokes the readers mind to form a mental picture or image.

The witches start this mess by telling Macbeth about a “prophecy” that may or may not be fully told to Macbeth “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!” (1 3 67-68). The problem with this argument is that Macbeth knows that there are other people in front of him that will become king before he even has a chance. After becoming Thane of Cawdor he realizes this prophecy could be true. Greed hits him and he tries hard to get what he wants by killing people.

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!" This is one of many quotes that represents the constant war between irrationality and reason in Macbeth (Shakespeare 76). When discussing Macbeth, a highly influential play written by William Shakespeare, it is important to keep in mind what exactly rules over Macbeth throughout the story. Does evil truly overcome the last of Macbeth’s shreds of sanity? Is Macbeth a story of acceptance or heinous crimes committed? These questions feel intangible when first reading Shakespeare’s masterpiece, but they can be answered through careful inspection and thorough research of the playwright’s meanings behind each stanza. In the battle of reason vs. irrationality, irrationality takes over Macbeth’s life more than reason, and this is exhibited in numerous forms. One of these forms stems from the dagger’s appearance during Act II.

It is clear that deception is a major theme throughout the play as initially the witches deceive Macbeth into thinking that fate would have him king. In addition to this his wife powerfully persuades him to commit regicide, by appearing to be loyal, while plotting his murder. Hence, the witches establish the theme of deception as the play begins, and Lady Macbeth sustains it. In the opening scene of the play, the three witches are introduced and at the end of the scene they say, “Fair is foul and foul is fair’. Shakespeare uses paradox to give the effect to the reader that things are not as they seem even though no other characters have been introduced yet. Shakespeare also uses dramatic irony, as the viewers of the play know that the witches’ intentions are to deceive but yet the other characters on the stage are unaware.