I think pride, anger and greed for power prompted Lear to make the decision of giving up the kingdom to his malicious, hateful and ungrateful daughters, Regan and Cordelia. After that, Lear banishes the earl of Kent, a faithful courtier who disapproves his punishment for Cordelia. The untimely abdication of his throne, his blindness to Cordelia’s authentic love and Kent’s faithfulness triggers and results in a chain reaction of events that send him through a tragic journey. The cruelty and ingratitude of Goneril and Regan is indubitable; and Lear himself is obsessed by the way that his
Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage. Her talent for persuasiveness and deception starts a chain of destructive events and she definitely contributed to the conversion of Macbeth from well respected soldier to a repugnant, bloody tyrant. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a woman “of direst cruelty” and had largely a negative impact on Macbeth. At the start of the play Macbeth had the potential for greatness but because of Lady Macbeth influence this potential remained unfulfilled. If he continued on the ethical path he was on he very well may have rose in rank importance without his stir.
This is demonstrated by her imagining her hands stained by blood and her constantly trying to clean the “damned spot” away and rid her sole of the guilt. The subconscious actions of Lady Macbeth illustrate how the guilt tears apart at her integrity and ultimately destroys her with the taking “off her life”. Guilt engulfs and destroys the lives of the characters within Macbeth which showcases to the responder the true extent of guilt and impacts the audiences understanding of the play. The closing scenes of Macbeth illustrate to the responder that harmony can be restored following doom. Throughout the play the character of Macbeth selects unethical ways of climbing the social and royal hierarchy and ultimately causes chaos.
To begin with, ambition is the driving force of the play. It has a corrupting power over Macbeth, causing the downfall of both himself and Lady Macbeth as well as initiating a series of deaths. Today, ambition is highly regarded. Job applications often ask for ambitious candidates, entrepreneurs are admired for their ambition and energy and dynamic countries and cities have ambitious plans for growth. In Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth says, “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other” In this soliloquy, Macbeth admits that his only reason for committing murder is ambition.
Lady Macbeth says, "What's done is done", which is a famous line round the world. She says this to get Macbeth to act normal and forget his past, live in the present, and be ready for the future, as he was acting erratically due to his guilt and paranoia over murdering Duncan. The word "nothing" is used to entertain and give a lasting effect to the audience. When Macbeth says, "I have a strange infirmity which is nothing," he is actually trying to cover up his guilt and his past to the people around him. The audience realizes that his 'infirmity' is actually because of something important and would cause pandemonium to the people around him.
Macbeth hatches the plan, as he is in conversation with Lady Macbeth, he states, “When we have marked with blood those sleepy two”. Sleepy contains connotations of vulnerability and no use of self-defence, therefore meaning that the guards are helpless moreover Macbeth planning to frame them whilst at this vulnerable stage, infers the tyranny within. Aristotle’s theory on a Tragic Hero states that persuasion soon follows the self-indulgent of greatness. In this instance, his own wife, Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth to kill his best friend, Duncan. She insults his masculinity greatly, by calling him a coward.
Macbeth Draft Essay – Andrew Davies Macbeth is a play about ambition and little else. Discuss with close reference to the text. Theatre often reflects on major issues of the time based on human emotion and conflict along with internal struggle of worldviews. Shakespeare’s play of Macbeth focuses on many themes that revolve around the concept of ambition but offer important values associated with the time. The composer William Shakespeare, born on the 23rd of April, 1564 wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict.
People do not want to admit when they are defeated, just like Macbeth in this scene. The subject matter in Macbeth seems to be the desire to be great at any expense, and the panicky world that one can create for them when they try to achieve greatness at all costs. Denial is present as well as a lack of regard for anyone but Macbeth and his desires. Wives and sons are killed just to avoid something that is not certain. Only at the end do the witches’ predictions come true with the defeat of Macbeth.
In both Act One and Two, Lady Macbeth was portrayed as the dominant partner in the relationship and a driving force behind Macbeth’s corrupt actions to take the throne. However, in Act Three Scene Two, Macbeth now as king and possessing the power he longs to protect, takes on the role of the dominant partner in the relationship and no longer needs Lady Macbeth to convince him to carry out his eventual evil deeds. Macbeth even goes as far as to keep Lady Macbeth out of his plans to kill Banquo and Fleance by telling her to “be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck/Till thou applaud the deed” (III.ii.45-46) showing that he is not only capable of conceiving and carrying out his own sinister deeds but no longer needs Lady Macbeth’s help or approval of
Oedipus Rex is still relevant to current society mostly based on the themes of the play, because we as a society still struggle to find answers and struggle with the same themes that were present hundreds of years ago in Oedipus Rex. One of the most common questions regarding society is do us as humans act on fate or free will, are our lives planned out, or do we make our own paths. This was one of the reoccurring themes in the play, and still seems to be in modern society; due to this connection between the days of the play Oedipus Rex and current times the play is still socially relevant. Based on the theme of guilt and shame in Oedipus Rex which is also socially relevant, the play addresses issues that were around in the time of the play, and still play a role in society today. Guilt and shame are two feelings that everyone in modern times feels at one point in their life as did Oedipus in the play.