Women may not be treated differently to men, but all women in the play are represented as evil. Shakespeare portrays the women of “Macbeth” in a way to make the audience believe they are not equal to men, and that they are all bad. The witches and Lady Macbeth are re-occurring characters in the play that represent sexism used by Shakespeare. Psychoanalytically analysing Shakespeare’s writing in “Macbeth” leads us to his thoughts, which make us believe Shakespeare was sexist. The witches, who throughout “Macbeth” make prophecies to “help” Macbeth himself, are particular female roles represented as evil.
The third witch says, ‘There to meet Macbeth’, this intertwining of Macbeth reflects the relationship which will be made between him and the witches, and the evil which is going to be involved in Macbeth’s life. The arrangement of meeting place shows their target for the forces of evil, and their thorough planning of making an appointment to lure Macbeth to destruction. This scene symbolises the witches as a representation for temptation, therefore foreshadowing Macbeth’s potential human weakness to be susceptible to temptation, before we are even introduced to Macbeth himself. Shakespeare presents Macbeths character as brave and fearless in Scene 2; without Macbeth being present. “Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’chaps and fixed his head upon our battlements”, this quotation is said by the captain, who is commending Macbeth for defeating the leader of the rebel army.
Structure Intro Paragraph 1 – Macbeth’s desire/ambition for power (triggered by witches) Paragraph 2 – Jack’s desire/ambition for power Paragraph 3 – Macbeth, once power is achieved (corruption) Paragraph 4 – Jack, once power is achieved Paragraph 5 – Summary/Comparision Intro: Power and the desire for power are key themes in both Macbeth and Lord of the Flies. In the beginning of both texts, Macbeth and Jack are introduced by images of darkness and ill omens. In Macbeth in Act I scene i, darkness is presented through the witches and the thunder and lightning. It is as if the natural order is being disrupted by unnatural elements. Macbeth is associated with the witches as they are waiting for him and their riddles mirror his opening remark to Banquo.
Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare shocks audiences with violent language, the supernatural witches and evilness. The nature of evil, in the context of this question, means ‘profoundly immoral and wicked’ which is true to most of the play especially after King Duncan’s murder. The nature of ambition in this context portends ‘a strong desire to achieve successes’. Based on these definitions, I agree with said view of this play to some extent. Evil is first inferred in Macbeth when we first meet the Weyward Sisters (witches) and they cantillate something: ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair.’ This juxtaposition of words indicates an unnatural feel which creates the feel of imminent evil from a possibly supernatural perpetrator.
“The Witches are the most evil in the entire play. They are what spark Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into doing the most unspeakable , to kill a King.” (Enotes, ardie) The plan she started to put in action and started to convince Macbeth about was killing Duncan. When Macbeth was questioning whether to kill Duncan or not, Lady Macbeth started to question his moon hood and no man likes when that happens so he did it. If Lady Macbeth would not have gotten involved, Macbeth probably would not have done anything about what the witches had said, he probably just would have forgotten about it and not listened to the witches, and listened to Banquo when he said the witches were evil. In the novella Animal Farm propaganda is used a lot to influence the animals.
The Three Witches recklessly deal with their supernatural charms, spells and prophecies which make them seem ridiculous. But they do succeed in confusing and toying with Macbeth. They mislead Macbeth and make him doubt his bravery of courage and loyalty for King Duncan. We can see the witches succeed in provoking dark thoughts and evil temptations on Macbeth as Macbeth later expresses in his soliloquy, ‘Let not light see my black and deep desires.’ Although he is ashamed of the thoughts of killing King Duncan, he can’t stop his flaming ambition for the seat on the throne. Shakespeare doesn’t just use the three witches to expose female dominance over men, but also uses Lady Macbeth, the ambitious wife of Macbeth.
In the early 17th Century Shakespeare wrote a play named Macbeth, in this era men are described as Powerful and women are described as week. Macbeth is presented as strong and masculine but is controlled by his wife, Lady Macbeth. She is seen to subvert female gender stereotypes as she convinces Macbeth to murder the king and famously rids herself of her femininity. Lady MacBeth is evil, tempting and witch-like, through out the play. However, during the play we see her in two different ways.
And finally, Macbeth’s own ambition was to blame. Blinded by his greed he became an evil monster that could not be controlled. Why should anyone else be held responsible when really Macbeth was the one who should be accountable of his own actions? The witches set up the fire that was soon to become the undoing of Macbeth. They told him a self-fulfilling prophecy and by doing so, his ambition kicked into play.
This illusion is one of the witches, sowing the seeds of murder in Macbeth, and ultimately, immediately after he murders Duncan. Further, Macbeth again visits the witches, this time in a plead for further knowledge and is met with additional illusions. Before though, Hecate meets with the witches and states, “Shall raise such artificial sprites / As by the strength of their illusion / Shall draw him on to his confusion: / He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear”(Shakespeare 3.6.26-29). The witches use apparitions to further influence Macbeth this time leading him down a false path. By doing this, Macbeth becomes arrogant and feels invincible.
"Explore how disturbed mental states are presented in the texts you have studied" Shakespeare presents many disturbed qualities in the play Macbeth. Most of these qualities are in the characteristics of Lady Macbeth and the main character Macbeth himself. William Shakespeare also uses them in the three witches. One of the main disturbed qualities Shakespeare uses is obsessiveness - for example Macbeth is very obsessed about killing Duncan and is feeling guilty. We know this because in act 2 scene 2 line 63 Macbeth says 'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood' which means he's being very paranoid about the blood on his hands and he's being obsessed about getting them "clean"-he wants to be free of the guilt.