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Theme Of Betrayal In Macbeth

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Betrayal in Macbeth William Shakespeare’s Macbeth focuses on many themes all at once. Like life, there is no one central theme that drives the play along and moves action forward. While a central theme, there is one present in Macbeth that is interesting to dissect, and that is the theme of betrayal. This theme moves the play along more than any other and is one of the most interesting. Three key examples of betrayal in Macbeth are of the obvious betrayal of Duncan by Macbeth, the emotional betrayal of Macbeth by Lady Macbeth, and fate’s betrayal of Macbeth. The first example of betrayal in Macbeth worth evaluating is Duncan’s betrayal by Macbeth. Established early on in the play Macbeth was someone that Duncan admired and trusted. Not …show more content…

Lady Macbeth is unsatisfied with this approach, going so far as to tell her husband he is a coward for not wanting to murder Duncan (British Literature 320). Macbeth is a war hero who has fought in many battles. For his wife to call him a coward must have been a smack in the face. Lady Macbeth pushes him until he agrees to the murder, though it is completely against the moral standing that he had once had. All this would never have taken place however, had the most crucial betrayal never occurred. The final betrayal worth noting this analysis of Macbeth is of fate’s betrayal of Macbeth. Throughout the entirety of the play the three witches that represent fate drive the story forward. Had it not been for Macbeth’s initial encounter with the witches nothing in the play would have happened. Macbeth becomes enthralled with the idea that the witches are correct when he is proclaimed Thane of Cawdor, as they had foreseen (British Literature 298). When this happens it provides validity to the claims that the witches had made and it shows Macbeth that regardless of what he does he will become king. The problem with this is it plants a terrible seed in Macbeth, one that makes him consider murder. Had Macbeth never encountered the witches he would have never murdered Duncan. He would have never murdered his friend. His life would be as it had been set to be. He would have been bestowed the honor of being the Thane of both Cawdor and Fife and

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