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
disloyalty by showing the fated sequence of events that each character underwent in order for the story to unfold. Throughout the drama, many things happen showing how Macbeth was disloyal to all the people you would expect him to be loyal to. For example, he hears of a prophesies of himself becoming king which drives him to the murder of king Duncan. Another example is where he betrays his friend to fulfill the need of being king. Macbeth even is disloyal to himself, but does not want to let the guilt take over, so he does whatever it takes to still remain King which includes being disloyal to one of his closest friends. Finally, an example of disloyalty is when Macduff and Macbeth have their final interactions. In sum, this play showed many examples of the theme of honor vs
Although she likes to talk like she is tough, when it comes down to it, she shies away from violence and her true colours are revealed. In act one, Lady Macbeth says she would do anything to be a queen. In fact, she specifically says she “Would, while it was smiling in my face/Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/Have done to this”(I.vii.56-59). However, later in the play, she admits that she didn’t have the courage to kill King Duncan herself because he looked like her father. She says, “Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done’t”(II.ii.12-13). Lady Macbeth is being extremely hypocritical. At first, she plays the role of the tough wife that can do all, then as soon as she is faced with the crime, she cannot bring herself to do the deed. It is obvious that she was not being honest with her husband nor herself when she said she would kill her own child, as she was too cowardly to kill a person she did not have a personal or close relationship with. At the beginning of the play, she ridiculed Macbeth for hesitating to kill the king, but in the end she was the one who was too cowardly to do what she needed to do to get what she what she wants. Moreover,
The tragedy Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, follows the rise and fall of a loyal Scottish warrior. Macbeth is portrayed as a man of multiple sides, presenting three main traits – bravery, ambition, and self-doubt – throughout the play. The character is an example of how ambition and guilt can have terrible effects on an individual lacking in strength of character. Although some people may perceive Macbeth as malicious, his weak character shows that he is incapable of conquering guilt and self-doubt. The prime themes of the play are: ambition, loyalty and betrayal, good and evil, appearance versus reality, supernatural and fate. Shakespeare presents these themes through the actions of Macbeth and their results: the corrupting effects
There are many more acts of betrayal in the play but these are some of the main ones and they play a main role in the play to show what betrayal does to people. When Macbeth has betrayed many people in the play others start to grow in hatred of him. Other people in the play learn about what Macbeth had done and they grow angry because of everything he had done just so that he would be able to be king. One of the people that got angry was Macduff and he had planned to kill Macbeth and was going to give the title of king to Malcolm. At the end of the play Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm
Another important theme was guilt. Guilt is a strong emotion. It is a heavy weight to bear if you have any. MacBeth found this out the hard way. When MacBeth and Lady MacBeth kill King Duncan to make the prophecy come true, they set the course for their guilt to send them to insanity for they were so wracked with
Deception and Betrayal in William Shakespeare's Macbeth The play ‘Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare” not only shows us how betrayal and deception undermines society but how it restores the moral law and society back to the way it was before the Thane of Cawdor and the tyrant Macbeth brought about the destruction in the first place. the play Macbeth also featured two changes to the throne of Scotland, both as a result of betrayal, deception, the aid of the weird sisters and the death of kings, the fate of Scotland changed for better and for worse.
The Tragedy of Macbeth shows several different forms of relationships ranging in different levels of commitment, trust and understanding. Whether it be Macbeth and the Witches having an informational/friendly relationship that ultimately ended in many murders or Macbeth and Lady Macbeth having not only a family relationship but a political and even criminal relationship that resulted in too much power and greed. Relationships like these formed the plot of this play and make it interesting. Relationships are formed in so many levels and outsides easily can change the views of these relationships causing those involved to change their beliefs and opinions of others because the other relationships take more of a precedence than the original.
After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the plot evolves in great accordance to the guilt that the individual characters feel. The guilt starts with the planning and execution of the murder of King Duncan. To this event Lady Macbeth and Macbeth react in different ways. They both become guilty in some way or another but the guilt they feel is comprised of different reasons. It is due to their differences in character that they react in the ways they do. While it might not seem like both of them become guilty after this event, when explored their actions show clearly the guilt they feel.
In the play Macbeth you have deception left and right, especially when things start to get to Macbeth’s head and he wants everything he was told he will be sometime in his future. In this play it’s hard to know who you can and cannot trust due to how many lies there are and how often people manipulate others. How can you trust someone that was completely sane at the beginning of the play that turns into a psycho just because he wanted to become king and make the prophecies true. Or even someone that was ranked second in the land to become a traitor and then get punished by death. The theme of deception in Macbeth is pretty much the whole story but most of it all goes down in the first two acts of the play, which really explains everything and who you can or cannot trust, along with knowing who won’t turn around and stab them in the back and become a traitor.
Shakespeare’s bloody and tragic play Macbeth, written in the seventeenth century, portrays blind ambition, appearances can be deceiving and corruption of power. It follows the reasons behind Macbeth’s downfall. The play analyzes how other outside forces can easily change the path of ones desires and decisions. The witches’ intrusion, Lady Macbeth’s manipulation and Macbeth’s dark desires all interfere and manipulate Macbeth’s decisions. He goes from being praised as a noble soldier to a traitor and corrupt king. In the play, Macbeth commits many terrible crimes; however he is solely not responsible for all of them. The outside factors manipulate his decisions and are responsible for his downfall at the end.
Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth the first push to kill Duncan, and she wants to be ruthless, feel no remorse so that she and her husband will successfully kill Duncan. She desires to “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” (Shakespeare 1.5.51) so that she will not feel bad about the murder. She persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he struggles afterward when he does not follow the plan and forgets to put back the daggers he cannot face the evil act he has committed. Lady Macbeth is satisfied after Macbeth is king, but that is not enough for him any longer. Eventually the killings take a toll on Macbeth’s mental state, and the guilt he begins to feel is unbearable. Macbeth kills Duncan and then says “this is a sorry sight”
One form of betrayal Macbeth commits is when he murders King duncan in scene 2 who was a close friend to Macbeth, and even made him Thane of Glamis and Cawdor. After killing his king, he announces“I have done the deed” (2.2.55). This quote shows the turning point of Macbeth for he was once a brave soldier who was full of milk and loyal to his kingdom, but now this quest for power has led him to betray his own king just to gain power. In act 3 Macbeth's quest for power has driven him even more deranged. “Know Banquo was your enemy, So he is mine” (3.1.5). Prior to this quote Macbeth was speaking to murderers about killing Banquo and his family. This shows that betrayal and power have completely changed Macbeth, he went from being the brave and loyal Scottish noble to betraying everyone close to him just to gain power. That is how in Macbeth betrayal plays a major role to the character
Macbeth is truly loved by the king, as the speaker reveals in act 1. Now one may ask, what is Macbeth's tragic mistake? He is an ambitious man who is willing to do what is best for the country. But almost right after hearing the witches' prophecy, he contemplates the king's end. There are instances where he is having a tug of war with his conscience. He wants be the emperor. But in order to do that, he has to kill the king; but his wife ends up killing the king. Later in the story Macbeth can be identified as a liar also to get his wife out of the blame of murder. But the tragic part plays into the story after Macbeth is crowned king. Many more actions from Macbeth show the negativity that has built up in the hero. He has the wisdom and restraint to stagger in his ambitious drives. But no, Evil waits patiently in the wings as good distorts. Perhaps Shakespeare wanted to show that man is in conflict with himself against the force of evil in his own heart and that evil has many faces. The monster identified here would be Macbeth’s guilt. This guilt ate up the person he was before and made him grow restless until his death.
Betrayal: the disloyal action that results in the ultimate feeling of hurt. For there to be betrayal, there must be trust; the breaking of trust is the ultimate way of betrayal. It spurs upon the influence of others and is provoked by the ambitious mind. To fulfill one's desires, betrayal is an action that is easy to perform. This concept is exhibited in William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, as the implications of betrayal lead the main character, Macbeth, to his downfall. With the influence of the three evil witches, Macbeth is easily convinced about his auspicious future, causing him to overconfident himself and commit a betrayal that eventually results in one that he experiences. The ripple effect of the occurrence of betrayal