Category: Macbeth

Introduction

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth did everything he could to get ahold of power, and later, he did everything he could to maintain that power. Although the primary source of ambition and purpose came from the Witches’ prognosticates, the desire to fulfill one’s prophesy becomes very powerful throughout the play, and eventually leads to the downfall of the characters. This very concept of “ambition” can be seen through the many actions and behaviors by each of the main characters, such as Lady Macbeth’s encouragement of the murder of King Duncan and Macbeth’s blind pursuit of power.

The very first idea of ambition surfaces mainly from Lady Macbeth early on in the play. When Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter telling of the Witches’ prophecy of his kingship on Act 1 Scene 5, she analyses his future, stating that “U do fear thy nature, It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition” (14-17) The audience is informed that Macbeth does have ambition, but isn’t evil enough yet. Hence, Macbeth later refuses the idea of murdering King Duncan in Act 1, Scene 7. This leads to Lady Macbeth taunting him of his cowardice and lack of manliness, savagely stating that “I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from […] [the baby’s] boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this” (56-59) rather than break the promise of killing King Duncan. This shows how Lady Macbeth’s desire to fulfill her husband’s prophecy is very extreme, and her persuasiveness sets up Macbeth’s development of his evil ambitions—just like his wife. After Macbeth finally murders his King on Act 2 Scene 2, he hears voices crying that he has murdered sleep and will never sleep again; Lady Macbeth dismisses the hallucinations and orders him to return the daggers. He refuses. Enraged, she yells, “Give me the daggers. […] If he do bleed I’ll guild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt.” (56-59) While Macbeth is still in shock and fear, Lady Macbeth seems to be only concerned to avoid blame—this ill-natured behavior only reinforces her cruel and cold ambition in getting her husband ahold of power.

In the latter half of the play, Macbeth takes over, and his corrupted ambitions—influenced by Lady Macbeth—becomes evident as he begins to become obsessed with maintaining the power that he has won. In Act 3 Scene 1, Macbeth persuades the Murderers to assassinate Banquo and Fleance, “Yet I must not, For certain friends that are both his and mine, Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Who I myself struck down,” (119-122) because he feared that Banquo’s descendants would become kings. This scene is where it is very evident that Macbeth’s ambition has turned into a devilish passion; instead of carrying out the dirty deed on his own, now, he is persuading other hitmen to kill for him.

After his encounter with Banquo’s dead ghost Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth vows that “I will tomorrow—And betimes I will—to the weird sisters” and that “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (132-138) This assertion strongly embodies Macbeth’s new sense of ambition; it is apparent that he is going crazy and paranoid—he swears that there is no turning back and that he will kill anyone standing in his way. In Act 3 Scene 1, Macbeth finally seemingly reaches the peak of his tyrannical ambition. “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; give th’edge o’th’sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line” (149-151) This determination and ambition to massacre innocent women and children finally show the depth of brutality to which he has now sunk himself in.

From Macbeth’s pure ambition of just serving his King to his devastating and brutal ambition of murdering anybody in his way, this play: Macbeth dramatically develops the idea of “ambition” over time. Each of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s level of ambition fluctuates throughout each Act and Scene, forming an impressive play, overall.

There are multiple reasons for people to go through with evil acts but the evil acts that were carried out lead to the downfall of several characters in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Different characters in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth commit evil actions because of character traits they possess: anxiousness; self-centeredness; and ambition.

In Macbeth, multiple characters act upon fear but Macbeth acts evilly because of his anxiousness. After being crowned the King of Scotland, Macbeth starts to suspect others around him especially Banquo. He is glad to be the King of Scotland but he claims:

Macbeth explains that it’s useless to be a king if he’s not safe and elaborates by talking about how he’s afraid of Banquo. He also explains how he admires Banquo’s nobility and honesty but also fears it because it could lead to Banquo finding out about Macbeth‘s previous evil actions. Macbeth also points out that he is not as noble and honest as Banquo when he says “… and in his royalty of nature/reigns that which would be fear’d” (III.i.55-56). Macbeth is afraid of Banquo because “he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor/ To act in safety”(III.i.58-59) in addition to being fearless. He feels inferior compared to Banquo which causes him to hire two murders to kill him. Even though Macbeth hires two murders to kill Banquo, he orders them to go after Fleance too because of his fear of the witches’ prophecy about Banquo’s kids being kings. He instructs the murderers that:

Fleance, his son, that keeps him company,

Whose absence is no less material to me

Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate

Of that dark hour. (III.i.150-153)

When Macbeth got his prophecies from the witches, Banquo was told that he would be the father of kings which upset Macbeth later in the play. Because of his fear of not having a son to pass the title to, Macbeth orders the two murderers to go after Fleance. Macbeth’s anxiousness caused him to act evilly by ordering two murderers to kill his best friend and his son.

Other characters in this play aren’t as self-centered as Macbeth which is evident throughout the play such as Macduff going to Malcolm to help his country. Macbeth, on the other hand, wants to know more about what will happen in the future so he goes to the witches and says:

I conjure you by that which you profess,

In this quotation, Macbeth lists multiple horrible things he would rather happen in the world, such as unleashing violent winds that would tear down churches, than get the answers he wants which shows how self-centered he is compared to the other citizens of Scotland who are trying to fix their country. Another character who acts evilly because of their self-centeredness is Lady Macbeth when she manipulates Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth just read Macbeth’s letter that says her husband will be the Thane of Cawdor and will become the King of Scotland. She had also found out that King Duncan will be coming to visit their castle so she plans to kill him so that she and her husband can have more power. When she sees her husband, she says:

Lady Macbeth tells her husband to let her take care of the preparations of tonight since it will change the rest of their lives. This shows that Lady Macbeth is self-centered because she wants to be the Queen of Scotland and have more power so she makes her husband kill King Duncan.

Acting upon ambition can be good or bad but in Macbeth’s situation, it caused him to act badly. After being informed about his new title as the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth went to King Duncan where he finds out that Malcolm was named the Prince of Cumberland. Macbeth is angered by this and says:

Macbeth is angry by the fact that someone else is in his way which means he has another person to kill. He doesn’t want his evil thoughts recognized by others and wants his sight to ignore the evil actions being executed by him. When he says “yet let that be/Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see”, he asks the stars to make his desire a reality even though the actions he’s about to make are horrifying. During Macbeth’s soliloquy when he was debating whether he should murder King Duncan or not, he claims that:

Macbeth admits that the only thing driving him to kill Duncan is ambition, which he compares to an over-eager horse rider trying to get onto his horse but leaves over the horse. He explains that ambition makes people rush ahead of themselves towards disaster and this is significant because King Duncan’s murder leads to a disaster in Scotland.

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, many bad events happened such as the murder of King Duncan, Banquo, the attempt of murdering Fleance, and many more. These evil acts were committed in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth because of characters who possess certain character traits: anxiousness; self-centeredness; and ambition.

Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is the tragic tale of a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. Ambition is the desire for personal achievement. Ambitious persons seek to be the best at what they choose to do for attainment, power, or superiority.

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, the protagonist’s lust for In Act I, Macbeth shows his ambitious nature when he says, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,/ For in my way it lies” in (Act 1, Scene 4). Here, Macbeth is considering what he may have to do in order to become king now that Malcolm has been named King Duncan’s successor. It is not enough for Macbeth that he has just been named the Thane of Cawdor; now, he desires full authority, He orders the murders of Banquo and Fleance, and then the entire Macduff family all on his own He will do anything to stay in power, and ultimately, all his former allies Finally, at the play’s end, Macbeth faces an uprising and literally His hunger for power and excessive ambition ends up getting Macbeth killed. Had he been content to be the Thane of Cawdor and not thirsted for more and more power, he may have lived a long and successful life, but instead, he lost everything, including his wife and the Macbeth is the perfect example of excessive ambition leading to power ultimately leads to his fall from grace. just as the three witches have predicted. Accord. Later in the play, Macbeth no longer needs his wife’s inciting to do terrible deeds in the name of power. turn against him. loses his head at the hands of the vengeful Macduff respect of others.

How the witches influenced Macbeth to follow his ambition?

The witches in ‘Macbeth’ are important because they provide Macbeth’s primary call to action. The witches’ prophecies also affect Lady Macbeth, albeit indirectly when Macbeth writes his wife about seeing the ‘weird sisters,’ as he calls them. After reading his letter, she’s immediately prepared to plot to murder the king and worries her husband will be too ‘full o’ th’ milk of human kindness’ in (Act 1, Scene 5) to commit such an act. Although Macbeth initially doesn’t think he could do such a thing, Lady Macbeth has no question in her mind that they would succeed. Her ambition steels him. Thus, the witches’ influence on Lady Macbeth only increases their effect on Macbeth himself—and, the entire plot of the play. The ‘Macbeth’ witches provide the dynamism that has made ‘Macbeth’ one of Shakespeare’s most intense plays. (Find quotes) Fair is foul, foul is fair.

How does Lady Macbeth encourage Macbeth?

Lady Macbeth’s ambition appears unchecked as she is the driving force behind the murder of Duncan. She pursues her ambition with a great determination. She willingly seeks evil to aid her in her objective and asks evil to fill her ‘from the crown to the top-full / Of direst cruelty’ (I.5.40–1). She asks that no feelings of womanly humanity will upset her ruthless intention of making sure that her husband becomes king – and she becomes queen. The fact that evil spirits have now entered her body allows her to almost force her husband to kill Duncan. The same self-determination, driven by ambition, helps her to keep strong just after the murder of Duncan. At this point, she is Macbeth’s crutch, holding him up and urging him on. For the remainder of the play, she is passive in watching Macbeth commit more atrocities while she is driven into madness and despair. It is their tragic fate that both Macbeth and his wife regret the fruit of their unbridled ambition.

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it. (Act 1 Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth’s determination to succeed is clear here. She is insistent that Macbeth will become King (‘shalt be what thou art promised’) However, she recognises that he is ‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness’ and that this could stand in their way. It is interesting that she describes the necessary ruthless streak as an ‘illness’. This suggests that even at this stage she knows what she is doing is wrong.

Comparison between Banquo’s ambition and Macbeth’s ambition

Clearly, Banquo and Macbeth are good friends and good soldiers. We see ambition from Banquo when the weird sisters give Macbeth his prophecy. In Act one, Scene Three, he comments to the witches that they have said great things about Macbeth, but what about me, he questions: “ You greet my noble partner, With current grace and great predictions Of having nobility and of the hope to be king, that he seems carried away as well. Only you don’t speak to me.” We can see the respect Banquo has for Macbeth. He addresses him as his ‘noble partner.’ Clearly, the two are great friends. No doubt, Banquo greatly respects his ‘noble partner,’ but he is ambitious and desires a prophecy of his own: “If you can look into the future, And say what will happen, and what will not, Then speak to me, who doesn’t beg or is afraid of Your favors or your hateful spells.” In this, we know that Banquo is ambitious. Macbeth begins to fear that Banquo will suspect him as the murderer. Indeed, in Act Three, Scene One, Banquo does begin suspecting that Macbeth has murdered King Duncan: You have it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised; and, I’m afraid, You played most foully for it. Then Banquo begins to think about his prophecy with hope: “Still it was said, It would not be passed to your children, Only that myself should be the root and father Of many kings. If they told the truth, As their speeches shine on you, Macbeth, Why, by the truths made good on you, Might they not be my prophecies as well, And set up my hopes?” Here we see that Banquo is ambitious even after hearing of Duncan’s death. Now, Macbeth has fear of Banquo’s knowledge and with good reason. Banquo states that he will not keep quiet: “But I’ll be quiet; no more.” Banquo is thinking about his own prophecy. He is thinking that if Macbeth were out of the way, his children could become king. We do know that Banquo is deeply troubled by King Duncan’s death. In Act Three, Scene One, when Banquo hears of the murder, he prays that it isn’t so: “Too cruel any where. Dear Duff, I beg you, contradict yourself, And say it is not so.” In this, we can infer that Banquo cared about King Duncan and would not have ever attempted what Macbeth has done. For this reason, Macbeth is more ambitious than Banquo. Banquo was ambitious but of a lesser degree. He would never have committed murder to ensure his son was king.

The passion for the strength of the main characters in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ was examined. We may draw some conclusions from that. First, a person who has a great ambition to do so, but uses evil means, will at last ruin his or her own life. This happened to Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth.Macbeth has a great ambition to be a king as the witches prophecies and supported by his natural event (his rise to power as a soldier).

However, he does not find the best way of fulfilling his ambition except doing an evil way, through a murder. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is also as ambitious as her husband. She always encourages him to do the evil way, for there is no other good chance for them. Then, they carry out the crime together by murdering the king and Macbeth succeeds to be the new King of Scotland. Because of their evil way of fulfilling their ambition, they always live in fear and suffering. Second, the power does not come easily. It must be achieved with all efforts. From this conclusion, we can know that Macbeth wants to gain the power without doing anything to fulfil his ambition, just depending on fate, for, if fate says he is to be a king, he certainly will be, whether he takes any action to the end or not. Third, a person who has done evil ways in fulfilling his or her ambition cannot conceal them forever and he/she will get into great suffering as a result. Macbeth and his wife have done evil ways in fulfilling their ambitions and they cannot conceal their evil deeds any longer and meet their death at last.

Focusing on Ambition throughout the play draws up the conclusion that Ambition is neither a good or a bad thing but too much ambition or too less ambition would be the great downfall.

The concept of marriage is typically accepted as a cooperative separation of power. However, in Justin Kurzel’s film adaptation of Macbeth, power constantly shifts between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth– thus displaying different moments in time in which one character holds power over the other. Originally, Lady Macbeth uses verbal language techniques to control the relationship she has with her husband, then further uses this control to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan. After this, Macbeth begins to spiral into insanity, causing Lady Macbeth to lose control over him as he refuses to respond to reason as a result of both his madness, as well as his unpredictable explosions of emotion. This is seen through Kurzel’s use of auditory techniques.

The battle for control of ends as the pair’s relationship begins to deteriorate, with both characters experiencing separate yet similar forms of mental instability, which is reflected by Kurzel’s use of visual costuming strategies. In the beginning of the film, Lady Macbeth uses persuasive language in order to manipulate Macbeth, thus displaying her power and dominance in their relationship. Along with utilizing these tools, Lady Macbeth also plays with the idea of cowardice in order to display her disappointment at his inaction, therefore successfully convincing Macbeth to carry out the murder of King Duncan after he has doubts. Such persuasive language can be seen first when Lady Macbeth states, “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’…” (Kurzel, 0:28:25 – 0:28:34). Within this passage, Lady Macbeth is beginning to take advantage of her close connection to her husband– she knows him well enough that by doubting his courage, both his own depiction of masculinity and his personality is being questioned – and threatened – at the idea of exhibiting cowardice.

Lady Macbeth further continues on to imply that he was only a man when he dared to complete the task of murdering King Duncan. However, it becomes apparent that as his wife, Lady Macbeth understands him better than any other, and therefore has the tools to craft her language accordingly in order to manipulate him. Her continued verbal persuasion transcends to a new level when she begins to appeal to Macbeth’s emotions, coercing him to carry out the task of murder – a mutiny against their king. She uses the words, “I have given suck, and know how tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I 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.” (Kurzel, 0:29:06 – 0:29:26). Here, Lady Macbeth is also sharing a part of herself – of her previous vulnerability to appeal to her husbands compassionate and nurturing side, before she dives into using strong emotive language to contrast the previously peaceful image that had been established in both the audience’s, as well as Macbeth’s mind. This unsteady, yet effective, shift between calm and violent language depicts how powerful Lady Macbeth has become.

Therefore, Kurzel’s Macbeth effectively displays Lady Macbeth’s repeated use of persuasive language to dominate and control her husband. Macbeth’s descent into moral decay leads to an unintentional gain in power within his relationship with his wife. Macbeth begins to hallucinate as his mind struggles to cope with the trauma and stress of his betrayals – the murders of both his King and his best friend. The decomposition of Macbeth’s sanity is captured through Kurzel’s continuous use of diegetic and non-diegetic auditory techniques. During the dinner party scene, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth present themselves as king and queen after they are coronated. Here, the news of Banquo’s death and Fleance’s escape reaches Macbeth’s ears – from the murderer he sent to complete the job – and Macbeth then begins to hallucinate, seeing the ‘ghost’ of Banquo. From here, Kurzel’s use of sound techniques becomes clear– the room goes silent, with only the diegetic sounds of Macbeth’s footsteps echoing through the air. Even though the room is full, nobody else makes a single sound. Then, eerie, single-noted and almost silent background music begins to filter through the scene as the characters continue to speak their dialogue over it (Kurzel, 1:00:41 – 1:02:00). These sound strategies – specifically the single-noted background music – places an emphasis on the desolate, horror like atmosphere that is created within the scene, therefore providing the sense of importance that it plays in the overall storyline.

The dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enables the story to move forward and also illustrates the couple’s interactions, which becomes particularly important to observe as the shift of power is occurring. Macbeth is only able to return power to himself when he loses his mind — meaning that he is not actually benefiting from the switch of control. Rather, Lady Macbeth is at a disadvantage due to her losing control. This can be indicated primarily by the fact that in his madness, Macbeth is unable to be reasoned with, and instead drifts into a constant state of paranoia. Thus, Lady Macbeth loses control over Macbeth as his mind begins to degrade into insanity. The final movement of power in Kurzel’s film adaptation of Macbeth occurs as a result of the separation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, indicating that neither has power over the other in the end. Both characters experience contrasting feelings of insanity, which suggests that they are experiencing the final stage of their previously close relationship, however, they both reflect each other in their insanity, as depicted through the visual costuming techniques skillfully used by Kurzel.

Lady Macbeth’s internal madness is signified by the last scenes we see of her alive. After a monologue in which she talks to her dead child, the image changes to display her in white clothing, walking towards the three witches and appearing utterly isolated amongst the barren surroundings of their original home (Kurzel, 1:19:46 – 1:23:18). This clip acts as a visual indicator of the separation that Lady Macbeth is experiencing from her husband. Despite this, the clip also shows the similarities she shares with Macbeth. More specifically, surrounding the idea that both characters are experiencing contrasting forms of insanity. Macbeth loses his last connection to sanity within the scene in which he preps for the final battle – seen drinking (presumably alcohol) and going through movements with his sword. Here we see Macbeth in purely white clothing – almost an exact masculine replication of the garment that Lady Macbeth was wearing when delving into her own delirium (Kurzel, 1:18:20 – 1:18:39). Costuming as a visual technique is used to appeal to the symbolic side of the strain that the characters are experiencing, and their collective vulnerability can be seen in both of these respective segments of the film. The use of white clothing is symbolic of light, purity and innocence. It represents Macbeth and Lady Macbeth being ‘stripped down’ to their last defenses, or alternately, realising the cruelty of their actions in killing King Duncan, and thus experiencing the desire to repent.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth appear completely absorbed in their own struggles as a result of the position that they had put themselves in; neither is thinking of the other while they are engrossed in their individual forms of insanity. Lady Macbeth had abandoned hope of restoring her husband, and Macbeth had forgotten his wife in the face of his deteriorating mental condition. Neither Macbeth or Lady Macbeth maintain power over the other in the end of Kurzel’s Macbeth due to the degradation of their relationship. As expressed, the relationship dynamic of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Kurzel’s Macbeth is continuously thrown out of balance as power shifts between the two characters. Originally, Lady Macbeth maintains control over her husband through verbal manipulation techniques. Macbeth’s descent into insanity then leads to an unintentional gain in power within his relationship with his wife, as depicted through the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. In the conclusion of the film however, it becomes apparent that neither character holds dominance over the other due to their similar, yet divided, forms of mental decay– which is represented by symbolic costuming techniques. These factors all indicate that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship was condemned to fail from its establishment.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare is an Aristotelian play set in the backdrop of the Elizabethan era where Shakespeare narrates how manipulation fuels an individual’s thirst for power and control resulting in the downfall of humanity. Shakespeare ultimately crafts a tragedy whereby, through the characterisation of Lady Macbeth, he illustrates the important and relevant role of manipulation from her ability to exploit the flaws of others and the resulting downfall of herself from the impact of deceiving others.

Lady Macbeth’s manipulative capabilities are clear through the metaphor “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t”, where she compares Macbeth’s façade as a welcoming host to an innocent flower whereby his actual goal was far more sinful, as if like a serpent. She questions Macbeth’s “manhood” and takes on the dominant role in the relationship through her manipulation of questioning whether he will commit the murder, or just fantasize about it. This can be seen when she states, “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” The high modality shows Lady Macbeth taunting her husband with cowardice and unmanliness in that her ultimatum locks Macbeth into a state where he can no longer back out on their plans to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s manipulation has a lasting influence on Macbeth and creates a domino effect in the play whereby Macbeth assumes the throne and allows power and control to overwhelm him resulting in the demise of Lady Macbeth.

When Macbeth reaches madness after the murders of Banquo and Macduff’s family, Lady Macbeth begins to question her actions and became enveloped with guilt. This is portrayed in Act 5 Scene 1, where she is sleepwalking, and through her sleep and the scrubbing of her hands, she speaks the remorseful expression “What will these hands ne’er be clean?” where the rhetorical question asks when her hands will ever be clean from the blood of Duncan that is metaphorically caked all over her hands and further accentuates her regret of manipulating Macbeth into killing Duncan, as she is now psychologically impacted from being responsible for the tragic events regarding Duncan’s death and Macbeth’s madness. However, whilst she is instilled with regret and guilt, she comes to the undeniable conclusion that “What’s done cannot be undone.” Through this paradoxical statement, it is clear that the play is a tragedy and, as like all tragic plays, the events that occur and the death of the protagonist can never be altered and is driven by the perverted psyche of humanity. Lady Macbeth eventually deteriorates from the result of feeling guilty after her manipulation earlier in the play and takes her own life.

As can be seen through the characterisation of Lady Macbeth, it is clear that the infamous quote on manipulation “Look like th’ innocent flower but be the serpent under ‘t” shows its empowering role in driving individuals towards madness. Further, the manipulative capabilities of Lady Macbeth, however, results in negative psychological impacts, the demise of her character. Ultimately through understanding the juxtaposing personas of innocence and corruption, we learn of the complex human condition.

William Shakespeare´s Macbeth is a tragedy about the lust for power and how one man is driven mad with ambition, based on the real 11th century Scottish King Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, who was born around 1005. Even though there are only 6 female characters in Macbeth, they are each presented in various ways throughout the play and have crucial roles. William Shakespeare presents woman through the character of Lady Macbeth as evil and cruel. This is shown this in Act 1 scene 7 when she says, “I have given suck (…) and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this”. In this quote, Lady Macbeth takes breastfeeding, one of the most loving and also important maternal acts for a woman in the Jacobean times and makes it monstrous.

She continues to explain how she would murder her own child if she had promised to do it, showing how she is stronger than her own husband, Macbeth, who hesitates when murdering King Duncan, and stronger than the stereotypical woman in this time, who were considered to be subordinate to men. Her thirst for power and for the crown have made her ruthless and atrocious but, due to her gender, she doesn´t commit any murder. Her depravity is later shown again after Macbeth has murdered King Duncan and she has smeared the King´s attendant’s grooms with Duncan´s blood to frame them for his murder in Act 2 scene 2. “A little water clears us of this dead. How easy is it, then!”, in this quote, we can clearly see that, as Macbeth is being haunted by his actions “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood?”, Lady Macbeth believes that something as simple as water would clean her conscience and make her forget what they have done.

Another way Lady Macbeth shows her cruelness is how she easily manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness by questioning his manhood until he feels he needs to prove himself. However, by the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is unable to cope with the guilt she has for murdering Duncan and, apparently, kills herself, showing how, in the end, she wasn´t able to deal with her crimes. Furthermore, through the characters of the witches, Shakespeare presents woman as supernatural, evil, vile and vindictive creatures who enjoy manipulating others for their own amusement. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”, in this statement, it is revealed the motive of the witches, to turn everything that is fair and good into something horrible. The audience could also interpret this quote, as the witches telling the audience to not judge a book by its cover, as something may not be what it looks like. Shakespeare shows how the `weird sisters´ are supernatural by the way they speak.

Unlike other characters, like Lady Macbeth and Macbeth who speak in iambic pentameter most of the time, the witches speak in trochaic tetrameter catalectic, showing to the audience how they are not human. Another way Shakespeare shows how malicious they are is by the way the Three Witches influence Macbeth throughout the play and indirectly control him and his actions. This is shown as before Macbeth meets the witches, he is an honorable, brave soldier, however, after his encounter with the witches he becomes blinded by his ambition and kills everyone in his way to the crown; the witches manipulated Macbeth into murdering. On the other hand, woman are also presented as maternal and loving through the character of Lady Macduff, who is the exact opposite of Lady Macbeth.

Even though she only appears in one scene, Act 4 scene 2, she provides an example of a woman who stays within the bounds of her gender and fulfils the expectations of a woman in Jacobean times. This is shown when Lady Macduff says “Whither should I fly? I have done no harm.”, which clearly shows Lady Macbeth is the foil of Lady Macduff, as she is sure that she is good and hasn´t done anything wrong, unlike Lady Macbeth. Another way Shakespeare presents Lady Macduff as caring is by the way that she holds her husband to a higher level and, it is shown that she truly loves and respect him. In contrast, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband and forces him to do things he doesn´t want to like, killing Duncan. In conclusion, I think each female character in Macbeth is unique, and are presented by Shakespeare in many different ways, from caring, maternal characters that fulfill the stereotypic woman, to supernatural and evil roles that subvert expectations of the time.

Is that how you want to end up? With that being the last thing you feel. Your neck being snapped then your head being put on a stick, celebrated and a sign of victory. Starting as a noble soldier then changing to an over-ambitious leader on a bloody throne. I don’t think so, but who would you blame for ending up like this, for your tragic DOWNFALL?

In Macbeth, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. Macbeth is shown as a loyal, noble subject to the King of Scotland but as the play progresses his character starts to change drastically. This is due to his fatal flaws, which are his vaulting ambition and high egoistic thoughts including his misguide attempts to control his future. Macbeth continuously falls prey to the illusions and manipulation of the three witches and Lady Macbeth. Despite this, Macbeth is still to an extreme degree responsible for his OWN DOWNFALL.

Macbeth is a tragic hero ruined by his fatal flaw, which is his boisterous ambition that pushes him to an extreme which overpowers and clouds up his better judgment. The 3 witches and their ill-intended prophecies are the first major influence on Macbeth’s actions. They use their magnetic, mysteries and manipulative words to appeal to his deadly and pre-existing ambition, as their first 3 prophecies in Act 1 Scene 3 promised Macbeth power and dominance over everyone. No one becomes a 5-star general for nothing, right? At first, Macbeth doesn’t believe the witches and calls them “Imperfect speakers” this euphuism means “tellers of lies.” But his thoughts differ from what he originally thought as their first prophecy came true. This leads him to blindly trust them with no proof that they have his best interests at heart, even dismissing the powerful metaphors that his BEST FRIEND Banquo said to descried them “The instruments of darkness tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.” Meaning how the witches are NOT TO BE TRUSTED and never mean good which the audience in the Elizabethan era knew that too, further proving how his ambition controls him. Even though everything was prophesied by the witches, Macbeth is the one that became obsessed and revolved his wrongdoings around them. The witches were only the tools of his temptation and it was Macbeth’s roaring ambition that allowed him to be seduced by the witches’ prophecy.

Macbeth is capable of making his own decisions but allowed his malicious and manipulative mastermind of a

wife, Lady Macbeth to sway him into killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth insults him by using this idiom “too full o’th’ milk of human kindness.” To describe him. This idiom shows how Lady Macbeth perceives Macbeth, she thinks he is weak and doesn’t have the guts to commit a deed so repulsive alone. While she is strong and would “dashed the brains out” of her baby for Macbeth if she promised him. This makes Macbeth feel powerless and downy looked upon and shows how Lady Macbeth guilt’s him into committing this dreadful deed. Yes, Lady Macbeth is a determined and devious wife who has power over Macbeth and knows how to get her way. He still consciously made the choice to kill Duncan, and therefore Lady Macbeth cannot be held accountable for the ill deeds that her husband chose to commit. The spot of blood Lady Macbeth hallucinates about is a symbol of her guilt manifesting itself, showing that even though she tried to rid herself of her emotions and feelings of empathy in this powerful verb “Unsex me here.” She could not live with her conscience like Macbeth did and this drove her to insanity and eventually her suicide leaving Macbeth alone and isolated. Overall, Lady Macbeth only encouraged him, his ambition and need for power did the rest.

Macbeth’s ambition leads him to his gain in power but also leads him to his corruption. Macbeth’s downfall is to a tremendous degree his own fault. Macbeth is the one that picked up the dagger, HE is the one that summed the murders, HE is the one that killed a little boy and his own best friend not the witches nor Lady Macbeth. Macbeth was a flawed leader whose mind was consumed about the thought of falling from the throne as proven when he says “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus.” This lead him to the conclusion that he had to kill anyone that treated this spot on the throne. A far cry from the beginning of the play. His downfall is not only through his death but the essence of the man he was, he has now become desensitised and immune to the feeling of lose and pain including the suicide of his OWN wife due to his deeds, which doesn’t bother him or eat away at him at all. In Macbeth’s mind there is no meaning or purpose in life anymore and that everything we do means nothing. This is supported in this heart ranching use of personification in Macbeths last soliloquy “life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player.” Further proving his decline mentally and physically compared to the start of the play due to HIS actions, HIS chooses and ultimately resulting in HIS downfall.

In the end Lady Macbeth and the witches had no direct control over Macbeth’s actions but simply pointed out different paths for him to follow and he freely chose too. Therefore, I strongly believe that it was ultimately Macbeth who chose the path of darkness, murder and deceit. So just remember to not end up like that, with your head on the chopping board in the first place, Macbeth said “blood will have blood.”

Macbeth and The Kite Runner has a lot of similarities between the characters in both of their work. One of which is the problem and challenges that Amir and Lady Macbeth both face. Their stories are similar but has a different ending. Macbeth features the story of a well respected general and his wife who betrayed their friends and the kingdom. Meanwhile The Kite Runner is about a man who betrayed his childhood friend and seeks redemption. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare and the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the theme Betrayal will punish one with immeasurable guilt is presented through uses of character and tropology. These ECDs are chosen by both authors as they best convey the subject of Guilt and Betrayal with the context of the surrounding paragraphs.

Firstly, Character played a big role in convincing and portraying the theme. Lady Macbeth’s actions, thoughts and interactions constantly remind her of the guilt that keeps building. She said, “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands ne’er be clean?—No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting” (5. 1. 30-33). She talks to herself while sleepwalking about the cleanliness of her hands as she knew that her actions were immoral and played a big part in the betraying King Duncan. This caused her to suffer from the guilt of it all. Her washing her hands to rid the dirtiness of her actions and pretending to be clean kept the guilt building till the point where she cannot contain it anymore. Hence the sleep walking to ventilate some of it. Lady Macbeth has shown that her character has been influenced by guilt and betrayal. Her actions, thoughts and interactions are all done out of guiltiness or trying to prevent the guilt. Now as for Amir, he also reacts by trying to forget his actions and uses the same reasons as Lady Macbeth when faced with the situation of mounting guilt. Hassan replied to Baba’s question with “a single word, delivered in a thin raspy voice: ‘yes’. I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth” (Hosseini 111). Amir chose to bury the guilt at the back of his mind and rid himself of Hassan, who constantly reminds him of his guilt. After he had betrayed Hassan, Amir is overwhelmed by the amount of guilt that has burdened him and let that influence his decisions. This guilt also almost caused him to blurt out the truth that he is trying to forget. His actions are not normal when reminded of his betrayal as if guilt had possessed him to control him. This allows him to create poor decisions that would keep haunting him later. At this point, it is clear that the authors used this ECD in a similar way. Both showed that they have done a disloyal and immoral action which can be inferred as a betrayal to one that is innocent. Both showed their actions are influenced by guilt as they have been punished due to betrayal and it dictates how they will interact with each other. Such that they would rather forget all the memories relating to that person they betrayed than to apologize for what they have done. Lady Macbeth and Amir both perceive themselves in a negative way as they know they are in the wrong. Thus, it can be concluded that their character is a crucial part in developing guilt and betrayal.

Secondly, the author used tropology to allow the audience to understand what the characters feel. In the first example, tropology is used to show that Lady Macbeth’s hands play an important part in her guiltiness and shows how guilty she is. She tried cleaning the smell of blood off but “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” (5. 1. 35). Lady Macbeth tries to clean her hand of the dirty smell but fails at doing so. Her hands symbolize the guilt that she is trying to clean due to her actions of betraying the kingdom. The dirtiness of her hand is unable to be ridden due to her being a big motivation for the protagonist to do what he did. It is also described that her hands reeked very very terribly causing the audience to trigger an olfactory sense. That is done to give a sense of how dirty it is, comparing it to possible the best smelling perfume of Arabia. This is similar in The Kite Runner for Amir. Such that he compares his guilt towards Hassan to various objects to show how he is impacted by guilt and betrayal using tropology. Amir said “When was the last time I had spoken his name? Those thorny old barbs of guilt bore into me once more, as if speaking his name had broken a spell, set them free to torment me anew” (Hosseini 212). Amir’s guilt popped up again when he was reminded of his betrayal towards Hassan. The guilt is comparable to the feeling of stepping in barbed wire and a very undesirable spell that has been broken. That creates a mental image for the reader of the novel to imagine what it feels like. This means that Hassan is a symbol of betrayal and guilt for Amir and Amir’s guilt for Rahim Khan, who knows what Amir is feeling. From these proofs, both authors used tropology to express a symbol for guilt and whenever that symbol is brought up, it recalls what the character thought about that guilt. Although in Macbeth, imagery is not used to convey a specific feeling towards the symbol as in Kite Runner. It is used to how guilty Lady Macbeth actually is and still retain the effectiveness. Metaphors and similes were also used to compare the feeling to an undesirable object in both works. All of that means that tropology is an effective way to let the reader have a deeper insight into the character’s emotions and thoughts.

Now that more is known, character and tropology is an important pair to understanding and convincing the theme of one who has betrayed will be punished with guilt. Presented in Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, both of the authors used character to show the reasoning behind their actions, thoughts and opinions of himself and others. The way it was presented was very similar with almost all of the specific aspects of character used. While there were some differences in the way tropology was used, both were effective at giving the impression it wanted to give. Khaled Hosseini used almost all of the aspects to show the readers the emotions and feelings that Amir was dealing with. William Shakespeare used some of the aspects to show a qualitative description of the guilt on top of him using it to convey emotion. Ultimately, a good novel or text of any sort that would show the subject of guilt and betrayal should use character and tropology in tandem to convey the theme effectively.

Works Cited

1. Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Anchor Canada, 2004.
2. Roy, Ken, and William Shakespeare. Macbeth, Second Edition. Harcourt Canada, 2001.

Shakespeare uses ambition in ‘Macbeth’ as a destructive trait, that follows the religious beliefs of the Elizabethan era; that god gave you your place on earth, and an attempt to desire or upstage this status was a direct act against him (Divine Order, 2011). Therefore, Shakespeare uses ambition as a tragic flaw of the main protagonists (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth), it is the source of their, and over 12 characters deaths in the play (eNotes, 2019).

Macbeth monologues his desire to “jump the life to come” (Act 1, Scene 7, No Fear Shakespeare). The verb “jump” suggests an overwhelming desire to leap forth, unrestricted, into the supposed power and good times that await for him. The irony of this is shown in the following scenes of the play, as Macbeth’s ambition becomes the cause of his eventual downfall; the audience responds to the end of Macbeth’s tyrannical rule with relief, as the noble Malcolm restores order to Scotland. The notion of a “jump” also suggests to Macbeth’s intention to cheat his way through the hierarchy, not only by killing the king but by deception: framing Duncan’s sons to ensure his own coronation – as historically in Scotland, the heir was chosen and not automatically the oldest son of the current Monarch. However, Macbeth is not historically accurate as the play was based off Holinshed’s Chronicles (Shakespeare Nowheres, 2002).

Shakespeare uses imagery relating to the bible or Christ to warn the audience of how dangerous Macbeth’s ambition will become. The metaphor of the “poison’d chalice” (Act 1, Scene 7, No Fear Shakespeare) renders the audience horrified as they realise the magnitude of disrespecting a sacred object. This calls attention to the widespread belief in the Late Renaissance era in divine order, and hence killing the king would not only be a high treason, but a betrayal of God (Divine Order, 2011). This image effectively demonstrates the potentially large scale violence that the impossible to satisfy Ambition can bring, foreshadowing the other brutal murders Macbeth organises in the following scenes.

Macbeth ends his monologue with a warning to himself not to allow the ambition to overwhelm him, by describing an image of a horseman attempting to mount his horse, but is too eager and falls regardless: “o’erleaps itself” (Act 1, Scene 7, No Fear Shakespeare) strongly foreshadows the tragic hero’s own demise in the play. Macbeth fails to pay attention to his own warning, instead becoming excessively proud, and self admiring. However, o’erleap could be interpreted as a comedic act of misjudgement, very similar to Mcbeth’s almost laughable ignorance of his approaching death in Act 5.

Lady Macbeth is portrayed as an ambitious woman with immoral intentions. She calls upon the spirits to fill her “toe-top full of direst cruelty” (Act 1, Scene 5, No Fear Shakespeare), connecting the separation between the human and paranormal realms in the play. Her impossible to satisfy lust for power is evident in her use of “toe-top” (Act 1, Scene 5), she speaks iambic pentameter in her speech as well, suggesting to the audience that she feels the cruelty inside her almost overflowing – to the point where a change of the smallest proportions could be motivation enough for her to act on her desires, sending her “cruelty” (Act 1, Scene 5) spilling over into the world around her and demonstrating itself in the murder of Duncan. This comes on the messenger informing Lady Macbeth that she will play hostess to Duncan that very night, creating great tension as the audience realises her intention to kill the King.

In contrast, ambition begins to appear as a negative theme for the tragic couple as their paranoia sets in. Lady Macbeth’s helpless cries of “out, out, damned spot!” (Act 5, Scene 1, No Fear Shakespeare) reflect her overwhelming regret – she feels as though the “blood on her hands” (Act 5, Scene 1, No Fear Shakespeare) is noticeable to those around her, and she spends her days scrubbing her hands anxiously, signalling to the audience that she is in a state of hallucination.

Macbeth’s sending of a third murderer to ensure the homicide of Banquo and Fleance has been carried out suggests that Macbeth is brutal in his demands, and wants to rest in the knowledge that there is no threat to his throne. Alternatively, it could imply that he could not fully trust the first two assassins – which shows deep irony, as Macbeth himself is the one who shouldn’t be trusted.

Overall, ambition in the case of these two tragic protagonists eventually presents upon them the opposite way of what they had hoped; instead of becoming King and Queen of Scotland, both are dead and the audience is left to reflect on Macbeth’s moral message: that selfish ambition ultimately leads to destruction.

Macbeth” is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy and one of his most popular works. It is a dark and powerful work. The story is set in Scotland, a royal supremacy that explains, through psychological and political warfare, the evils of a perfidious pursuit of power.

The main storyline revolves around four characters, Duncan, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Macduff. Duncan was the king of Scotland, a simple and innocent man. His blind trust never occurred to him that Macbeth would murder him. At the same time, he was an example of a virtuous, benevolent and farsighted ruler. His death also foreshadowed the breakdown of social order in Scotland. Macbeth was an ambitious Scottish general. The witch’s, prophecy stirred the thirst for power in his heart. The article mainly describes how the evil desire swallowed up his heart. Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth. She is also a person who longs for power and status, but her heart is fragile. Lady Macbeth most scheming person in this article, through her induction Macbeth won the throne. Lady Macbeth, though cruel and sinister seemingly, appears not to care about murdering Duncan. But her mental state and her performance after sleepwalking gave her away. It was the anguish of guilt and fear that drove her to suicide. And finally, Macduff was a Scottish Lord. Everything he did was in Scotland’s interests. He was hostile to Macbeth’s kingship always. He was also the natural enemy of Macbeth.

The first prophecy is Macbeth will be named Lord Grahams. Macbeth’s army defeated McDonald’s rebels and the Irish army, who tried to invade England. So, Macbeth got his honor. The king sent messengers to honor him. The previous Lord court had been executed for treason, and Macbeth had become the new Lord court. So, the witch’s first prediction was confirmed. Since then, Macbeth has gradually developed trust in the witch.

The second prophecy is that Macbeth said he will definitely become king. Macbeth was aware of the second prophecy the witch had made about him. He had great confidence in himself to be king. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is also unsatisfied with the status quo. She wants absolute power. So, she starts to get Macbeth to murder Duncan to get her way. Macbeth and lady, Macbeth brutally murdered Duncan. Which means he’ll never have another chance. Macbeth so became king. But he became more and more cruel and became a tyrant.

The third prophecy no one born of a woman could harm Macbeth. When Macbeth visited the three witches and learned about the prophecy, he became unscrupulous, more savage and more crazy. He felt that he had no natural enemies and that no one could defeat him. So, he was no longer worried that someone might threaten his throne. But Macbeth was not, yet a fool, and he wanted to purge himself of uneasiness. So, he sent his men to kill at McDuff’s house.

The fourth prophecy was that no one would defeat Macbeth until great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him. After Macbeth has cleared all obstacles, he asks the witch again, what else could threaten his status. The witch tells him the prophecy. This event did not alarm him, but made him more comfortable with his throne. Because it sounds so ridiculous. How could the woods movie? He felt quite safe.

The fifth prophecy is The children of Banquo will rule the country. Macbeth regarded Banquo’s existence as a great threat to him, and Banquo might influence his political rule. So, he devised a cruel plan to kill Banquo and his son. He invited Banquo and his son to the party. Ready to kill them during the party. Banquo was killed, but his son fled. Just as Macbeth reassuringly returned to the banquet, he was horrified to find that Banquo’s soul was sitting in his seat. He felt guilty and afraid. And he was the only one who could see the ghost, so he did a lot of strange things. Finally, Lady Macbeth had to end the party.

In this work, the witch’s prophecy is carried out throughout. Basically, every decision and every turn Macbeth makes stems from the witch’s prophecy. It made me think with horror that the witch was weaving the threads of the people’s destiny. Always, Duncan’s death was a witch’s play. And we can’t fully identify them. Banquo is the opposite of Macbeth. He was also a general, and he Shared Macbeth’s ambitions. But he chose a different path. The ghost of Banquo is like a rebuke to Macbeth’s heart. Macbeth chose rebellion after a difficult choice, while Banquo chose loyalty. That’s why Macbeth can see the soul of Banquo but can’t see the soul of Duncan.

Chiefly, Macbeth’s work is rich and full in describing characters’ characteristics and characters. Particularlyparticular Macbeth’s description of the transformation from a righteous general to a cruel tyrant is vivid and even changes in tone. The article describes the most essential human desire dripping exquisite. The article exudes a tragic atmosphere of despair. Basically, everyone didn’t end up very well. So I must learn to withstand the temptation of others, to find a reasonable way, this event is the right path to success.