Insanity In Macbeth

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

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both show signs of what would today be diagnosed as symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as “long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation”. There are three major symptoms of this disorder: not knowing the difference between reality and fantasy, jumbled conversations, and withdrawal physically and emotionally. The most common and most well known symptom of schizophrenics is when they can’t make out what is real and what isn’t.

For one, it is without a doubt that, at this stage of the play, Macbeth is delusional and is no longer mentally fit enough to think rationally. This is clearly shown when he begins to see Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, who is part of his imagination. His madness is clear when he rages at the ghost, commanding,

“And nothing is but what is not”(1.3.155). What matters to Macbeth is what does not exist, and those that exist do not matter: Macbeth says these words while thinking of murder. Macbeth begins his descent into madness through the act to follow. However innocent he thinks he is, he is but the serpent underneath it. Shakespeare creates his character Macbeth in a such a way that he starts off sane, and through certain actions that Shakespeare characterizes as evil, he falls. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth’s mind slips far further than he had wagered and soon he is the epitome of madness. Shakespeare uses other characters as well to delineate Macbeth’s mind state as the play unfolds. Such parallels are meant to emphasize and strengthen the

In this act Banquo voice his suspicions about Macbeth killing Duncan. Banquo is his best friend but questions him because of the prophecy from the witches. And Macbeth is very anxious and it is upsetting lady Macbeth. She tells him to be a man and to act like nothing happened. Macbeth is still having nightmares and is hearing voices while he is trying to sleep. When Banquo starts to question Macbeth he hires two people to kill Banquo and his son. Banquo is stabbed in the back and Fleance got away.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a few of the characters face insanity. This insanity begins with their desire for power and sovereignty. A man named Macbeth is told of a prophecy that states Macbeth will become king. However, the witches’ prophecy also states Macbeth’s friend, Banquo is the father of the next king. As a result, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth murder the current king, Duncan, and later on Banquo’s son. Consequently, Macbeth faces insanity from his guilt following the murder of the king. While on the other hand, Lady Macbeth goes mad for the prophecy’s promise, but later on, is also eaten up by the guilt of her crimes. At the same time, the Witches (a.k.a. Weird Sisters), express their insanity when they meddle

There are multiple reasons as to why Macbeth went insane in the play Macbeth. He had a lot of pressure from others and himself. A lot of things can be caused by peer pressure and what he did is an example of this. While reading Macbeth we could start to sense the different kinds of pressure in which he faced. Not only pressure from his peers but also his wife and strangers. Obviously, there are many different reason as to why Macbeth went crazy in the play.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character starts off to be loyal and caring towards his wife and friends. Later in the story, Macbeth betrays all of his friends and becomes a murderous tyrant. The events that occurred in this play cause him to begin to have symptoms of mental illnesses. Macbeth could have been born with an illness or later developed one because of what he does throughout the play. Mental disorder is deterioration of one’s mind. This can be caused by stress, drug abuse, or disease. Macbeth ends up developing multiple different, but similar, mental illnesses. Some of the disorders he begins to display are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Borderline Personality Disorder and depression. Macbeth develops symptoms for each of these disorders/illnesses. Multiple events that go on in Macbeth’s life cause him to see things that are not there, and eventually make him go crazy. Towards the end of the story, he becomes very lonely because he had betrayed everyone.

Lady Macbeth is a character in Macbeth, which is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth is married to Macbeth, who was the thane and viciously became king. Lady Macbeth had the ambition and desire to do anything she could to make her husband the king. She deliberatively planned many wicked ways to murder the King and other mortals that may get in the way. Due to Lady Macbeth’s actions and the deterioration of her mental condition, she clearly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

“Schizophrenia demons live in my head” – Wesley Willis, known as a street singer Wesley Willis suffered from schizophrenia. The sufferers are paranoid that their disease is outside their head but it is in fact within it. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth it’s hinted that Macbeth may have a form of mental illness as in act 3, scene 4 he quotes “Please, just look over there. Look! If the dead are going to return from their graves…no point in burying people.” which indicates a hallucination, a symptom of paranoid schizophrenia. He seems to hallucinate a large amount of the story through as well as his character having personal grandeur which is an indicator of having paranoid schizophrenia and what’s been observed in the book as he wants to be king, not

The mind of each and every individual is unique in its own special way; some, of which, are steadfast and can roll with the punches, while others bend, conform, or break with the many psychological and physical influences in life. In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is introduced by the wounded sergeant as a person of battlefield valor and who showed great loyalty for his king, Duncan. His mind, at the time, expresses an authentic adamant and patriotic persona which seems hard to be swayed. It is later revealed that Macbeth expresses a lack in strength of character and is easily corrupted by his lust for power. Encouraged by his wife, nerve racked by the witches, and plagued by his thirst for authority, his

Macbeth’s sense of self seems to diminish as he comes to reality with what he has done and who he has hurt. This leads to him to not being able to sleep because he has “murdered and therefore/Cawdor/Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more” (2.2.55-57). By him not sleeping it shows that he is going crazy, and is not ok with what has happened. Losing his sense of self is also slowly killing his mental state. His conscience is guilty which makes him think less of himself. When Banquo’s ghost appears it makes Macbeth feel as if he were dead. Wanting Banquo to “Take any shape but that,” because he wants him to “be alive again/And dare [him] to the desert with thy sword” (3.4.124-126). When Macbeth’s fears are confirmed about the line of kings all in the image of Banquo his future is shaken. Once being trusted friends this also helps to twist his mental state; and not for the good. Also by him not being stable Macbeth starts hallucinating and feels tempted to grasp what he sees and use it. These visions are a

In Act III, Scene i of Macbeth, Macbeth met with two murderers, whom which he hired to kill Banquo. Macbeth hired these murderers because he cannot assassinate Banquo himself. However the night of the murder, in scene iii, an additional murderer shows up. When asked who sent him the third murderer replied Macbeth. Speculators believe the third member was Macbeth himself because he spotted Banquo and knew his habits well, unlike the other men. They figured Macbeth sent himself in disguise to make sure the deed would be done. While the murderers were waiting to execute the deed the third murderer stated in line 14, “Almost a mile: but he does usually...” (scene iii).This particular line is one of the main

Humans crave to feel positively about themselves and they action they portray. Humans do not dare go through life with regrets of their success or social statuses. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth is prophesized by three witches, the Weird Sisters, to become King of Scotland. To Macbeth, becoming king equates success and self-assurance. After learning his future Macbeth becomes obsessed with obtaining his king status. Macbeth’s crazy antics results in him making tained choices that reflect his downfall from a humble, loyal army general to a disenchanted, murderous human. Unfortunately, Macbeth lack of faith in himself destroys the man and potential king that he once

The imagery Shakespeare displays allows one to question Macbeth’s sanity. His sanity is question because throughout the tragedy, Macbeth always encounters supernatural elements. The first sign is unclear about whether Macbeth is insane or not occurs with the witches. Right after the war, Macbeth and Banquo encounters the three “weird sisters.” Encountering the “weird sisters” right after the war is skeptical because after war, one can potentially suffer disorders. From this occurrence, one can begin to assume about Macbeth’s sanity. Macbeth sees a flying dagger and questions his sanity, “Is this a dagger which I see before me” (II: i, 33), further displays that even he is unsure of his state of mind. In addition, he states, “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still” (II: i, 35), foreshadowing to the audience that it is not real. Furthermore, he continues, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation” (II: i, 38), indicating to the