In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the main character, Macbeth, follows a dreadful journey of murder and power hungriness. In this essay close attention will be paid to the given extract of the interaction between the infamous three witches and Macbeth. These characters along with Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself, serve as the main influences that lead Macbeth to the end result of the play. Throughout this extract many things shift due to the words shared. Macbeth's attitude changes from fearful to fearless as he interprets what he is being told to his benefit. Macbeth foolishly does not recognise the double meaning of the words as he is blinded by his ambitions. The double meaning of the ambiguous words spoken by the witches is spurred on by their …show more content…
The focus shall be on the catalysts of the play that encourage Macbeth’s behaviour that ultimately result in him losing his power.
The seeds of Macbeth’s downfall are first planted near the beginning of the play by the three witches forecasting his future. The witches begin their influence by telling Macbeth that he shall be the Thane of Cawdor and eventually King, “ All hail, Macbeth, the future king!” (I. iii. 3). If the witches did not tell Macbeth that he would be Thane of Cawdor he would be less inclined to believe their other prophecies. But as presented, these prophecies proved to become a reality. This belief was mixed with his thirst and craving for power. Looking at the extract, the witches clearly play on Macbeth’s fears and insecurities. This is where the term equivocation enters the play, equivocation entails the use of ambiguity with the aim to deceive. The witches thrive on this tool and use it when they converse among themselves and say “ Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (I. i. 11-12). This not only encompasses equivocation but also their supernatural bad luck and deceiving nature. This is also displayed years after the play is written, as Garber describes the play as a tragedy, “The tragedy of Macbeth is the great Shakespearean play
Prize winner John Steinbeck once proclaimed that “Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… and perhaps the fear of losing of power - corrupts.” This is seen throughout the entirety of
It is in human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, a Scottish noble's craving for power leads him to do terrible deeds that leads to his demise. Shakespeare shows that power corrupts by using Macbeth who corrupts under the thought of have power over others. Macbeth becomes corrupt under the thought of becoming king and gaining almost complete control over the people that he rules. Macbeth wants the power badly enough to do horrible deeds such as commit regicide. Lady Macbeth becomes very ambitious and allows herself to become seduced to the
In order to introduce the topic, we need to understand that the origin of Macbeth 's evildoing can have many possibilities at the moment of interpreting this character. However, I am going to focus mainly on the role of ignorance as the element which triggers his evil, inner side. In addition, I will analyse the external features which influenced this behaviour in Macbeth 's mind and I will show how his conduct was not something at random but Macbeth had a sense of ambition which was guided by his wrongdoing.
To avoid telling the truth, be it for our sake or for another’s, we take on the role of equivocators. To equivocate means to use words ambiguously in order to avoid telling the truth without necessarily telling a lie. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the method of ambiguity to avoid telling the truth is used by the witches with the final three prophecies to make their plan to make Macbeth overconfident succeed. Macbeth becoming overconfident is important because his overconfidence restores natural order in the end. To prove that the witches’ plan did succeed, I will be analyzing quotations from the play Macbeth that exhibit Macbeth’s dependency on the witches, Macbeth’s own interpretations and Macbeth’s resulting overconfidence. After the banquet, Macbeth speaks to Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is a character who suffers greatly in because of her human weakness, which is her vaulting ambition. This ambition is not for her, but for her husband. This woman, who seemed so in control at the beginning of the okay, only cared for her husband and his success, later becomes so consumed with guilt and remorse that it results in her tragic death. Through the discussion of characterisation and lkey scenes, I shall reveal that Lady Macbeth’s human flaw is not only a major contributor to the ruthlessness of her husband but creates a huge influence in how the play unfolds.
From the first scene of the play, the reader immediately gets a glimpse of the deception meshed into Macbeth’s world. The quote “Fair is foul and foul is fair” is a commonly used by the three witches, spoken in their equivocal language. This same language of vagueness is used when the witches encounter Macbeth and Banquo on the
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is a brave and loyal subject to the King of Scotland, but as the play progresses, his character begins to change drastically. Evil and unnatural powers, as well as his own passion to become king, take over his better half and eventually lead to his downfall. The three main factors that intertwine with one another that contribute to Macbeth’s tragic end are the prophecies told by the three witches, Lady Macbeth’s influence, and finally, Macbeth’s excessive passion and ambition which drove his desire to become king to the utmost extreme. The prophecy told by the three witches was what triggers the other factors that contribute to Macbeth s downfall. In the first act, the witches
Throughout the play “Macbeth” Shakespeare uses multiple examples of strong diction, paradox, metaphors, and imagery to demonstrate the theme that fate is inevitable. These examples also help emphasize that the witches are in control of Macbeth's severe and hostile actions throughout the tragic play. Without the witches prophecies the idea of murder would have never crossed Macbeth’s mind. After the witches informed Macbeth that he would soon become king he was willed to do anything to make sure this bizarre prophecy would come true.
In William Shakespeare 's play, Macbeth, the theme of ambiguity and equivocation stands our quite clearly. The Oxford definition of equivocation is: use of ambiguity to conceal the truth '. Macbeth 's voluntary misinterpretation of the ambiguity and equivocation of the witches relates to the play 's theme. After the first of the witches ' prophecies comes true, Macbeth begins to believe in their truth. However, he also believes that the prophecies must all lead to his enrichment and empowerment. The use of equivocation in Macbeth also incorporates a sub-theme of appearance versus reality and the powers of evil. In the end, he twists the witches ' words to fit his own purposes, ignoring the possibility that the prophecies might have
In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the theme of equivocation to effectively illustrate the evil nature of the witches. Equivocation is the use of ambiguous expressions in order to mislead. The prophecies of the witches play a mischief in this play, as they are a form of deception that at times use vague language to dodge an issue. The three influential prophecies, which the witches make in this play, are that the protagonist Macbeth will become the king of Scotland, Banquo will be the father of the king of Scotland, and Macbeth will not be killed until the Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane hill. The sources of these prophecies are the witches who put together the devious words into Macbeth 's mind, which demonstrates
The witches give Macbeth prophecies that come true; but do not always work out right. The witches are talking about the confusion they will make “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Lady Macbeth is a complex and intriguing character in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. She is a difficult character to embody as her personality seems split between two sides, one that is pure evil, sly and conniving in contrast to her softer, vulnerable, weak and feminine side. In the play we see her in these two main ways. The reader may feel a certain animosity towards Lady Macbeth throughout the first few acts as her personality appears more and more distasteful, in spite of this towards the end she has a serious breakdown over the guilt that torments her, even in her sleep, regarding her hand in Duncan’s untimely death.
The Renaissance play The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, truly demonstrated a compelling tale of greed, power, and jealousy. The play revealed the turn of a good nobleman into a powerful and greedy king. It showed audiences how one crime led to another and eventually to a gruesome melee. Throughout the tragedy there appeared to be a reoccurring theme stated finest as appearances are deceiving. The audience is first introduced to the theme in the first scene of the play where the witches said the profound phrase, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I, i, 10). The Tragedy of Macbeth continued to present the idea of images being deceivingly different from the actual appearance.
In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the most prevailing theme is the shift in power in the relationships of the central character. The main character of the play, Macbeth, experiences a shift in control of his relationships as he gains more power.
It is human nature to be intrigued by all things mystical and dangerous. We fear the unknown but seek it nonetheless out of greed. Most of Shakespeare’s works hold an element of the supernatural and the play Macbeth is no exception. In this play we see a contemporary morality that warns of the dangers of trafficking with instruments of darkness; the witches in the play prophesize of Macbeths future as king, and Macbeth blinded by his hunger for power fails to recognize that the witches prophecies are luring him to evil . In act 1 scène 3 we see the effect that the excitement of the prophecies has had on his imagination as he begins to contemplate murdering the king. As Macbeth gets closer to