As king James 1 was the king of Scotland and England he has based the play with him in mind and in Scotland. Shakespeare needed to please the king as he needed sponsorship to play his plays. We know this as in the play Shakespeare has used witchcraft and supernatural forces of evil. This is what really interested James as he wrote his own book on demonology. Also he believed in the divine rights of kings.
William Shakespeare through one of his most well known plays portrays a tragic downfall of a king through his ambition and human weakness. Shakespeare develops the play Macbeth by showing the changes in the protagonist and the effects others have on him. Shakspeare's use of detail helps to show the changes in Macbeth through a gradual process. Before actually completing his horrendous act of killing the much loved King Duncan, Macbeth suffers mental conflict "having no spurs to prick the side of my intent" between the "vaulting ambition which leaps over itself and falls on the other" and the "deep damnation of his (Duncan's) taking off." At this point in time, scene 7 of the first act, Macbeth exposes sensitivity
His very existence is for the destruction of the truly innocent. In religious terms the devil is the ruler of the underworld and can see into everyone’s thoughts and manipulate them into temptation. A Shakespearean audience would be fully aware of this due to the fact that they were considerably religious during the period the play was written and performed in. We see that Iago has devilish qualities about his character in the way he manipulates other into essentially doing his dirty work for him. The clever technique Shakespeare uses allows al the characters to perceive Iago as ‘honest’ and quite pure and heavenly like.
Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a heroic figure, proudly serving his country through his courageous actions. However, after an encounter among three witches concerning his fortunes, Macbeth evolves into an obsessive character with a goal to obtain more power. In the beginning of the play, the King of Scotland, King Duncan encounters a bleeding sergeant that his noblemen, Macbeth and Banquo, had attacked. Duncan had exclaimed “What bloody man is that? He can report,/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.1-3), to which blood indicates the open wounds Macbeth had caused to him.
James was a patron of Shakespeare acting company and he wrote under James reign. Macbeth focuses on a figure from Scottish history. The larger sense in a theme of bad versus of Macbeth and Duncan would have resonated at the royal court where James would have been busy developing his English version of the theory of divine right. Macbeth has shocked and fascinated the audience for nearly 400 hundred years. Shakespeare crafts the main roles characters Shylock and Macbeth and how their tone of voice changes as they approach towards their deed.
Hamlet ICTW In conveying the contempt the Ghost and Hamlet embrace towards the Queen and Claudius, Shakespeare, in his tragedy Hamlet, integrates Claudius’s need for power in order to irradiate the notion of Claudius’s selfishness and human betrayal. In the passage, the damning diction employed by the Ghost reveals biblical undertones and apprises the reader of the conniving ways of Claudius and the Queen. The ghost describes Claudius through the metaphor of a serpent- evoking a biblical reference Adam and Eve. The Ghost reveals that Claudius murdered him by saying: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” By employing the wording “serpent,” it highlights Claudius’ sneaky ways: slithering about to take over the throne. Claudius purposefully set out to murder his own flesh and blood, which proves his selfishness, similar to the biblical reference of the serpent.
Evil in Beowulf, to illustrate the obvious contrast between good and evil and puts a spin on it by telling the story from Grendel’s point of view, ultimately connecting to the theme of Grendel’s need for community in Gardner’s work. In Beowulf, the author emphasizes the differences between Good and Evil by portraying the monsters as unstoppable forces, while most humans are depicted at the monsters’ mercy. An example of the theme Good vs. Evil in Beowulf is “So Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fie, Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild Marshes, and made his home in hell…” (Beowulf, Canto 1 Lines 101-104). This quote from Beowulf shows how the men in Herot are at peace until the monster, Grendel, ruins the serenity of the hall.
He asks the darkness to come and hide his evil deeds so no one would see the terrible thing he was about to do. He says “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 I, scene iv, ll.50-53). This is demonstrated again after the murder of Banquo when Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth “Come, sealing night, scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond which keeps me pale”(Act III, scene ii, ll.46-50). This quote from the play also shows the importance of night and darkness to Macbeth’s plot of killing Banquo. He is asking the night to come and hides and cover up the things he has done to Banquo.
We must tell him, it will cause more damage if we don’t tell him soon. Come Stylistic Techniques Shakespeare uses personification in line 78 with “his doublet all unbraced”, though unbraced is referring to his shirt it can also be directed to Hamlet himself unbracing reality. A strong image is used in line 83 when Ophelia refers Hamlet to being “ loosed out of hell” this leads us to believe that not only is Hamlet insane but now angered. Syntax is used in line 84 when again Ophelia says that Hamlet “is to speak of horrors”, this again is trying to show Hamlets hostel intentions.
The idea of the witches representing manifestation of human desires is a key element as they can be seen as the “alcohol” that “hinders performance”; they stimulate Macbeths desire to be king to such an extent that his own “black” desires cause his ultimate demise. His drive to be King is to some extent ironic as the medieval ages perceived the King to be a representative of God. This creates a sense of irony due to the fact that Macbeth befriends the representatives of the Devil, believes their predictions and commits great sins in order to gain power as a representative of God. To some extent it can also be said that