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Theme Of Insanity In Macbeth

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Insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The idea of insanity presents itself throughout Macbeth. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was the Thane of Glamis, a respected, well-known man and was happily married to his wife, Lady Macbeth. The King comes to the Macbeth castle to stay for an evening, and this is when Macbeth shows us his first large internal struggle. This play was written in the 17th century by the famous playwright, William Shakespeare, who wrote 37 other outstanding plays. Shakespeare modeled the play based on real historical figures and events. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth ends up losing his mind because of the intense moral struggles during the evolution of his …show more content…

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is in a dangerous place. He is emotionally wrecked, and his wife is telling him to man up after killing one of his friends. Macbeth says that "to know my deed, 'twere best not know myself," he is stating that he does not feel like himself anymore after committing such a horrendous crime that he knows it was wrong(2.2.71). This incident is when he begins to question his values, and it sets him on the path to having more significant internal conflicts. By the beginning of Act II, Macbeth is king and has become paranoid about being overthrown. In this quote, he says "be thus is nothing, but being safely thus, our fears in Banquo Stick deep," meaning he may now have a new threat to his throne(3.1.49-51). As Macbeth spirals more and more out of control, he begins to interpret the prophecy more harshly and see Banquo and his son as a threat. Macbeth starts to wonder if that could mean Fleance, Banquo's son, would overthrow him. This shows how paranoid and ambitious he has become to keep his crown. At this point in the play, we see Macbeth slowly split himself between the man he used to be and who he is becoming. Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieves something. Macbeth shows ambition “is to say nothing. Macbeth is hunger,” he shows us this new side of him when he begins to …show more content…

Lady Macbeth’s guilt consumes her, and she begins to lose her mind. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are partners in their crimes but toward the ending Macbeth continues to execute without consulting her. Macbeth chose to have Banquo killed without telling Lady Macbeth, and this is when she knows that they are no longer allies. Now that her connection with Macbeth “begins to slacken and she is left alone to bear the burden of her guilt,” which drives her to slowly lose herself (Bali 85). One night she sleepwalks, and one of the servants gets a doctor to observe how she is acting. While sleepwalking, she spoke about the blood that was on her hands and physically tried to wash it off. She says that the smell of blood is still there and not even the “perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,” meaning that nothing will get the smell of blood off. (5.1.54-56) She continuously sleepwalks and tries to wash her hands over and over, she is in a circle of madness, and it is driving her toward ending her life. Guilt is overwhelming her and causes her to have these hallucinations and severe internal struggles just like Macbeth. Her subconscious is punishing her “in compensation, takes the form of being pursued, as by furies, by her memories, facts of the past,” this is what causes her

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