THEMES IN MACBETH Essay Example For Students

THEMES IN MACBETH Essay THEMES IN MACBETH Macbeth was written while when Scotland lacked a good Leader to defendit from a Norwasian invasion. During this dangerous situation, Macbethstood out as the most commanding figure by defeating the rebel army. Histhrill towards the witches prophecies all confirmed his hopes of becomingthe King and replacing King Duncan, who lacked the power and courage tosave his country from this invasion. In this essay, I will discuss Macbeth during the many experiences thathe had faced and come across and I will show how these experiences andpressures that he faced helped with the conclusion and theme of the playwhich yet has to be understood. The first signs that tell us of Macbeths thoughts of becoming King werefound when the King proclaimed his son, Malcolm, the heir to the Scottishthrone, and Macbeth considered murder to overcome this obstacle that wouldprevent him from becoming the King. The prince of Cumberland! That is a stepOn which I must fall down, or else oerleap,For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. (Act 1:Scene 4:ln.55) When Lady Macbeth heard of her husbands success and read the letter, wealmost immediately feel that a new source of power had appared in thedrama. Her words reflected a great knowledge of her husband and herpractical approach to problems as seen in the following two verses. Glacis thou art, and Cowdor, and shalt beWhat thou are promised. Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o the milk of human kindnessTo catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great;Art not without ambition, but withoutThe illness should attend it. What though wouldst highly,That wouldst though holily;wouldst not play falseAnd yet wouldst wrongly win. Thouldst have, great GlacisThat which criesThus though must do,if though have it;And that which rather thou dost fear to doThan wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,That I may pour my spirits in thine earAnd chastise with the valor of my tongueAll that impedes thee from the golden roundWhich fate and metaphysical aid doth seemTo have thee crowned withal. (Act 1:Scene 5:ln.14O, never Shall sun that morrow see!Your face, my thane, is a book where menMay read strange matters. To beguile the time,Look like the time;bear welcome in your eye,Your hand, your tongue, look like the innocent flower,But be the serpent undert. He thats comingMust he provide for; and you shall putThis nights great business into my dispatches,Which sh all to all our nights and days to come,Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (Act 1:Scene 6:ln.68) Driven to murder King Duncan, Macbeths conscience first appeared whenhe was not present to greet the King upon his arrival at the castle. Thisshowed the lack of courage that Macbeth had to face his victim. If it were done when tis done, then twere wellIt were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,With his surcease, success, that but this blowMight be the be-all and the end-all here,But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,Weld jump the life to come. But in these casesWe still have judgment here, that we but teachBloody instructions, which being taught, returnTo plague the inventor.. (Act 1:Scene 7:ln 1) This verse stressed Macbeths fears of punishment. He cleared out thathe was prepared to suffer eternity if only this crime would go unpunished. He recognized certain obstacles in killing the King, the first and mostimportant being was that the King was his guest. He also saw some dangersof committing the crime and understood it consequences well. When Macbeth tried to resist the temptation, his wife was the one thatinsisted on him to consent the murder. What beast wast then that made you brake this enterprise to me?When you drust do it, then you were a man;And to be more than what you were, you wouldBe so much more than man. Nor time nor placeDid then adhere, and yet you would make both. Elsa Schiaprelle Essay(Act 3:Scene 4:Ln.162)Come, well to sleep. My strange and self-abuseIs the initiate fear that wants hard use. We are yet but young indeed. (Act 3:Scene 4:Ln.174)These two verses all reflected the suspense that Macbeth had forhisnoblemen and the suggestion of still worse crimes that would follow. When Macduff defied Macbeth and went to England, Macbeths fears drovehim to give up himself to the forces of evil and demandedto know,by theworst means,the worst. He knew that he had nothing to loose since everyonewas suspicious of him. For this reason, when the armed head warned Macbethof Macduff, he went and killed his family and servants one by one. Thefirst two crimes were all carried out at night. In the third one, Macbethmade no effort to conceal it but boldly carried it out during the daylight. Macbeths honest and heroic character had been replaced by a man whosmoods always changed, one who feared the hidden truth and one who hardlyknew his mind. We pity this man for the situation he had brought onhimself. What makes a true man is a theme that runs throughout Macbeth (Coles Notes.) According to his wife life, a true man is one who sets great goals forhimself and will do anything to achieve them. The true man towers aboveordinary men, says Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is full of ambition but has toomucho the milk of human kindness. that makes up the ordinary man. Helikes to achieve his goals holily like a saint unacquainted withpractical affairs. It is by this appeal that Macbeth is driven to commit the murders andconvince the murderers to kill Bunquo. A true man will respond to injuriesby taking a bloody revenge! says Macbeth. The irony is that by doing what he had done, Macbeths guilt followedhim where ever he went and made him loose all his feelings. By the end ofthe play, Macbeth lost all his feelings . He reached the point where he hadno taste of fear and the death of his wife did not bother him which hedismisses by saying that she had to die someday and somehow. The time has been, my senses would have cooledTo hear a night shriek, and my fell of hairWould at a dismal treatise rouse and stirAs life were int. I have supped full with horrors. Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,Cannot once start me. (Act 5:Scene 5:Ln.11)She could have died hereafter;There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowCreeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player. That struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (Act 5:Scene 5:Ln.19) All in all, I think that by using the characteristics of Macbeth,Shakespeare succeeded in relating him to many people today because hisqualities are naturally part of human nature. Macbeth had lived a life fullof ups and downs, just like many of us, but in his opinion, he had notaccomplished anything. Seyton-I am sick at heart,When I behold-Seyton, I say!-This pushWill cheer me ever, or disseat me know. I have lived long enough. My way of lifeIs fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf;And that which should accompany old age,As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,I must not look to have;but, in their stead,Curses not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. Seyton! (Act 5: Scene 4:Ln.48)All men are born good but just like Macbeth, people have the power tobecome evil, only when they become aware of it.It was and is always noteasy to see a great man turn from good to evil. We admire Macbethscourage, as he, with his wife dead and world collapsing, resolved to fightto the end and die with harness on his back. Not all men are as heroic, after all !Category: Shakespeare