With the predictions of the witches, there is an immediate shift of Macbeth’s character. Macbeth, soon after discovering the second prediction of the witches is correct, he begins contemplating the last prediction, his murder of Duncan. Macbeth while contemplating states, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, / Shakes so my single state of man that function / Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is / But what is not”(Shakespeare 1.3.159-162). Macbeth’s aside begins his downfall, already starting to shift his character from a loyal nobleman to the ambitious tyrant, with this very acceptance of his “fate”. Additionally, soon after Macbeth’s return , Lady Macbeth, aware of the witches’ prediction, begins pressing Macbeth to murder
We see Macbeth aligning himself with evil. “. Light thickens, and the crow /Makes wing to th' rooky wood. /Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; /Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.” Macbeth is praying to evil so that he would find the courage to kill Banquo. Macbeth also comments on the fact that good is being overwhelmed by evil in Macbeth himself and even in what is happening around him.
Shakespeare presents the flaws in Macbeth’s character using prophecies from the witches, juxtaposition in his soliloquys, and Lady Macbeth slowly manipulating him to do deeds that in the end lead to his demise. In Act 1 Scene 2 Shakespeare uses 2 characters talking about Macbeth to portray the idea that Macbeth is a loyal, brave and tenacious character and he uses imagery to show this. The sergeant tells us that Macbeth “with smok’d with bloody execution, like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage.” The imagery of “valour’s minion” is used to suggest that Macbeth is Valour’s favourite person and that he is the bravest person other than Valour himself. The imagery used to suggest that he is also a very violent person, able to commit acts that were perhaps disturbed is “smok’d with bloody execution.” This quote tells us that Macbeth is perhaps considered a violent person, but it is acceptable because it is for the King, therefore it is the right reason. In Act 2 Scene 1, just before Macbeth kills the King, we see signs of his psychological destruction when he hallucinates about the dagger.
Effects of guilt in the play Macbeth The effects of guilt tie into Macbeth with the theme of night and darkness. Guilt causes the main characters’ consciences to overcome them mentally and physically causing their downfalls. In the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the recurring theme of night and darkness is used to symbolize guilt and conscience such as when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want the darkness to conceal their evil deeds and in the end, when Lady Macbeth is afraid of the darkness and nighttime. In Act I, after King Duncan names Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth is already planning to kill Duncan. He asks the darkness to come and hide his evil deeds so no one would see the terrible thing he was about to do.
The usual punishment for murder at that time was death, but Romeo was only banished from the Verona walls. To Romeo being banished was just as bad as death if he could no longer see his Juliet. Romeo says
49). Macbeth knows the ethics behind the murder of the King, and he knows that not only is his conscience going to suffer, but should he get caught he would lose everything. His family’s honor, his title as thane, everything he had worked so hard to accomplish gone blank at the instant his hand in the crime would be revealed. “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (I. iv. 57-58).
The play “Macbeth” by Shakespeare shows that in extract one Macbeth reacts to death with regret because of his loyalties to the lifeless Duncan. He faces danger in this extract in a fearful and indecisive manner when he felt being found out as the killer of Duncan was too much. Extract two shows that Macbeth becomes distant when the death becomes more personal, such as the death of his wife. Macbeth faces danger of the approaching army with acceptance and eagerness. Macbeth’s character begins to change after the murder of Duncan, and in the early term of his rein.
He knows that what he is about to do is horrifying, which is why he implies all those evil images in the passage. Macbeth’s guilt is also apparent when he recites the line “nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.” This is the one of many references to sleep in this act, but also one of the most powerful. Nature is normally seen as alive, beautiful, pure, and the quintessence of peace and harmony. When Macbeth says that the world seems dead, it reminds us of the Witches in Act I saying “fair is foul and foul is fair”. This use of chiasmus and
Macbeth hallucinates and says to himself “Is this a dagger which I see before me” which conveys how nervous and reluctant he is about killing King Duncan. It also symbolizes how the murder is only “a false creation” (ll, I, 34-39). Macbeth’s monologue “I go and it is done. The bell” which is rang by Lady Macbeth “urges me to do it” shows how he is urged by Lady Macbeth to arise and slay Duncan (II, i, 62-4). Whilst Macbeth is having his predicament, Lady Macbeth gets [“drugs their possets] notably to the point “That death and nature do contend about them, whether they live or die” (II, ii, 6-8) however in the process she [“Is made bold”] and becomes slightly inebriated by “that which hath made them drunk” (II, ii, 1). ]
The witches thunder and lightning, the reference to the “hurlyburly”, the calling out to Graymalkin and Paddock, create a sinister atmosphere. Macbeth’s name is mentioned as they soon wish to tell him the prophecy of him becoming King which leads to the murder of Duncan “There to meet with Macbeth.” Act 1 Scene 3 connects the witches’ power of evil with Macbeth and the