In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, many characters possess internal traits that affect their decisions and actions. Macbeth, the main character of the play possesses three traits that significantly affect him and those around him. First of all, Macbeth’s ambitious personality leads him to engage in harmful actions. Furthermore, Macbeth’s unstable beliefs and his tendency to be easily manipulated also plays a notable role in the play. Additionally, Macbeth’s impulse to prioritize illusions over logic contributes to his decisions and actions. Macbeth possesses internal traits that ultimately have a negative impact on his decisions and cause him to commit evil actions which lead Macbeth towards his downfall.
Firstly, Macbeth’s
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Once Duncan is finally murdered, Macbeth easily falls into regret claiming that all the oceans in the world couldn’t wash the guilt off his hands. Macbeth cannot hold a firm stance and he continuously double thinks his actions which prevents him from fully committing to a plan and developing a strong persona which ultimately leads him to his downfall. In addition, Macbeth also implies that he trusts Banquo. However, when Banquo warns him: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray us In deepest consequence. (I, III, 131-135)
Macbeth doubts and disregards Banquo’s warning by responding in a series of paradoxes which hints the readers to Macbeth’s uncertainty in his thoughts and subsequently, his decisions. The readers later find out that Banquo’s warning was accurate as the witches did betray Macbeth and spoke falsely. Macbeth’s inability to remain steadfast on a belief caused him to fall into the witches’ trap and lead him towards his downfall.
Lastly, Macbeth’s impulse to neglect reality and his logic and alternatively act on unreasonable illusions is another factor that leads Macbeth towards his downfall. Firstly, Macbeth hallucinates a dagger whilst he is on his way to murder Duncan. Macbeth says:
A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see yet, in form as
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Macbeth uses an illusion as justification and motivation to kill Duncan instead of his logic trying to convince him otherwise. Macbeth sides with delusions which leads him to commit evil actions instead of sensible ones. Macbeth also hallucinates Banquo’s ghost at his banquet. Macbeth says, “...they rise again / With twenty mortal murders on their crowns / ...This is more strange / Than such a murder is” (III, IV, 96-99). Macbeth admits that this is a strange and unnatural occurrence yet instead of using reason to calm himself, he believes in his deceptive illusions. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth that this situation is similar to when he saw the dagger yet Macbeth ignores her and continues to act on high emotion conveyed through a series of exclamation marks. Macbeth opts to put his faith on his delusions instead of listening to a voice of reason; which is in this case, Lady Macbeth. This action causes him to lose sight of what is actually real and allows him to continue to believe in more dangerous delusions - such as believing the witches regarding the apparitions. Macbeth’s refusal to logically assess a situation and his impulse to believe in the unreasonable leads him to his
Banquo's declaration of allegiance also allows for proof towards his unchanging ideals, whereas immorality and blind ambition poison Macbeth?s thoughts. Macbeth describes his fear of Banquo shrewdly in that they ?stick deep, and his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared. ?Tis much he dares he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor to act in safety? (III.i). Macbeth concludes his friend has remained his pure self and therefore is his moral antithesis. Banquo continues to hold a much clearer grip on life and real quality as a man in comparison to Macbeth, hence, Macbeth is forced to kill him if he is to follow through with his plan and go down a dark road.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations play a significant role and contribute to the development of his character. In the play Macbeth, a man is driven to murder his king and his companions after receiving a fairly ambiguous prophecy told by three witches. Although the witches triggered the series of events that later aid Macbeth’s descent into complete insanity, Macbeth is portrayed from the very beginning as a fierce and violent soldier. As the play goes on, several internal conflicts inside of Macbeth become clear. After he performs several bloody tasks, the madness inside of Macbeth is unmistakably visible to everyone around him. As a result of this insanity, he sees visions and hallucinations. Each time Macbeth
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.
Macbeth's could not resist the will of Lady Macbeth’s idea she planted in his mind of killing King Duncan. Macbeth displayed evidence of his conscience being present when committing this crime which is the reason for Macbeth, through my expert opinion, having delusional compulsion rather than having the lack of mental capacity to distinguish from right and wrong.
Macbeth's excessive pride and ambition are now his dominant character traits. These features of his personality are well presented when he revisits the Witches of his own accord. His boldness and ideas of invincibility mark him out as lost to the toughs of ambition.
The recurring supernatural forces that cause Macbeth to have hallucinations show how his guilt is slowly killing him. For example, before Macbeth kills Duncan, he visualizes a floating dagger that is not really there because he feels immense guilt about what he is about to do. When Macbeth says, “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (Shakespeare 51 and 53) he is discussing seeing the dagger but he is confused whether or not the dagger is actually there. The confusion shows that this hallucination is a force of a supernatural power and fabricated by Macbeth’s subconscious due to the tremendous guilt he feels about killing Duncan. Another example of the supernatural forces causing Macbeth to hallucinate is soon after Macbeth commits the murder, he tries to wash his hands clean from the blood, however no matter how much he scrubs his hands
Macbeth is a victim of his own self. He killed Duncan. He killed his best friend Banquo. He could've stopped and look at himself. Macbeth knows he is killing innocent people and becoming so paranoid that his own mind became clouded to the point of no return.
Shakespeare foregrounds that Macbeth was aware of and resposible for his actions, through conscience and free will, to illustrate that he was not a victim of supernatural forces. By doing this he is challeging the assumptions of the Elizabethan Era that supernatural forces and "supernatural soliciting" predetermine one's destiny. The hallucinations and ghostly apparitions are foreground not to illustrate supernatural interference, but to foreground Macbeth’s guilty conscience. Macbeth struggles with his conscience, this humanises him and invites the audience to relate to him. Even before Macbeth had committed murder, his conscience was causing him to have qualms. One example of this is in Act One Scene 7, before the regicide of Duncan. “We will proceed no further in this business. (Duncan) hath honoured me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon.” Macbeth was disinclined to murder “gracious Duncan” as he believed him to be a “good king” (4:III 163), however he still made the decision to commit regicide. This foregrounds the internal struggle Macbeth endured with his conscience that makes him a tragic hero. Supernatural elements exist to
Macbeth shows several symptoms of schizophrenia. These symptoms are techniques that Shakespeare uses to create the idea that Macbeth actually has a mental illness. Macbeth’s main symptom is detachment from reality. While contemplating killing Banquo to secure his fate, Macbeth begins to see an imaginary dagger in front of him. He asks, “Art thou not, fatal vision sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-opposed brain?” (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 35-39). Then after Banquo is dead, Macbeth believe he sees his ghost during dinner with the county’s nobility. Macbeth says, “The
h is portrayed in the beginning of the play as a courageous hero, whose valour is depicted as "he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops." Although he puts on a fearless persona during conflict, his soliloquies reveal a character that it fuelled by greed and desire. Not only does Macbeth obliterate the notion of The Divine Right of Kings, but he goes against the Righteous Rule. Throughout the play, Macbeth lets irrational greed overcome his logical conscience. It is clear that Macbeth is reluctant to murder Duncan as he states, “We will proceed no further in this business,” yet his vaulting ambition and desire to become King outweighs his conscience. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth utters “I have no spur to prick the sides of intent, but only Vaulting ambition.” In his soliloquy, he continuously reasons with himself as “first I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against deed, then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Shakespeare utilises the recurring motif of hallucinations to depict a dagger as a symbol of guilt and murder. Macbeth’s thoughts of murder create an imaginary bloody dagger, showing him the path to the king's chambers as he questions "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." As the tragedy continues, Macbeth transforms into a more conventional villain, and attempts to control Fate and Fortune. Macbeth’s ambition is further explored when he visits the witches and witnesses the four apparitions.
Macbeth would develop a false sense of security, which lead him to believe that he was invulnerable. He would act as if his throne could not be threatened and that he had nothing to worry about, when however he was under great danger of being backstabbed by his once loyal friends. Furthermore, Macbeth creates a false sense of mind and forces himself to believe that the words of the Three Witches are true. Macbeth's incorrect conclusions formed from the apparitions and his own interpretation of the prophecy, lead to his ruin.
Macbeth's hidden desires bring out his major character flaw of greed and falling under the influence of others. The flaws are responsible for his change of personality which create his delusional actions and his unthoughtful decisions. For Macbeth to get what he wants, he includes violence, which is shown many times throughout the play. For example, when he first encounters the witches,
Macbeth's internal combination of ambition and passivity create his susceptibility to the witch's prophecies and allow him to commit murderous deeds, but his unwillingness to take action-and to do evil-create his internal conflict that ultimately leads to his downfall. Although Lady Macbeth tries to goad Macbeth into action, it is Macbeth's character flaw that causes him to take action. At first Macbeth is unwilling to murder Duncan, citing his loyalty to Duncan
The third, most contributing factor that leads to Macbeth’s downfall is his own insecurities, including his active imagination and his experiences with the supernatural. Macbeth’s first meeting with the witches, and the
Murdering Duncan was the only true action enticed by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s desire to get rid of Banquo demonstrates that he truly is malevolent. Macbeth demands that “his death were perfect” when hiring murderers to remove Banquo and his son from his path (3.1.108). The king's determination to be the only one in power has caused him to lose the ethical characteristic that is seen in the first act. Banquo was the only person to ever secretly doubt and aside from this, the prophecies created panic for Macbeth. While speaking to the hired murderers, Macbeth agrees with them by saying “So is he mine” claiming that Banquo is an enemy to all, including the king (3.2.116). The slander spoken by Macbeth ruins the image of loyalty and