As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt. After killing the king, Macbeth starts to plot other evil undertakings as he becomes nervous that someone will take away his power. At one point he goes from wanting to needing the sovereignty, which makes him loose sight of his integrity. As Macbeth begins to immorally act in order to achieve what he hungers, the line between good and evil starts to fade. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him.
This makes us readers to believe that Fleance will revenge the death of his father in the future. Moreover, Ross begins to become suspicious of Macbeth because he begins to lose his cool and ramble with unusual things. Again we see Shakespeare foreshadowing significant acts about to unravel. This leads us to think Ross will start to question the actions of Macbeth and begin second guess his commands. Drama
As we progress through his soliloquys in the play we see changes in Hamlet’s emotions and feelings towards what he eventually wants to do. By the third soliloquy we have found out about Hamlet’s fathers ghost and that Claudius was the one who killed him. Hamlet is angered by this and assures that he will only think of getting revenge on Claudius. Later he realizes that he should stop procrastinating and hurry up and avenge his father, but he doesn’t have the courage to do it. Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil.
He then comes up with a plan to have the actors put on a play that is similar to the Murder of King Hamlet. Hamlet assumes that if Claudius has a reaction towards the play, he is guilty. This soliloquy is important because it reveals that Hamlet believes that he is dull spirited, it also points out that Hamlet is frustrated at himself for not having killed Claudius yet. All Hamlet is thinking about for the duration of this soliloquy is Claudius, and how he killed King Hamlet. Toward the end, Hamlet comes up with an idea to know if Claudius is guilty.
Many scholars have read this line, and taken the meaning as a rhetorical question, which shows that everything seen may not be true, and the actual character of the main players may not appear to be obvious. Shakespeare uses the final words, and lines leading up to the death of some of the main players, to show their true character, and to reveal themselves to the audience. This can be seen, when Hamlet shows that he reveals that he truly wants himself to die a noble prince, Claudius reveals his true self to the audience as the murderous villain that he is, Laertes also shows his true character in his final moments by making things right and tries to retain his honor and nobility. In the case of Laertes, as he dies he shows regret for what he did. In the events leading up to his demise, Laertes is corrupted by Claudius and his evil motives.
Shakespeare incorporated the theme of madness to serve a motive for Hamlet in order to deceive others. Hamlet planned everything from what he was doing to what he was going to do. Hamlet did in fact pretend to be mad, just so he could follow through on his plan to avenge his father’s death. He acted like he was mad because he did not want to directly kill Claudius, because he wanted to make him suffer. Hamlet also knew that he could not tell anyone that Claudius has murdered his father or that he had seen the ghost of his father because no one would believe him.
Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude all put up a facade in an attempt to get what they want, and these characters play their roles behind a veil of duplicity. The theme of appearance versus reality gives shape to Hamlet’s, Claudius’, and Gertrude’s characters, as they all try to conceal their true emotions that stem from King Hamlet’s death. Hamlet has been interpreted as a tragic figure due to the poisonous misfortune that is inflicted upon him. It is abnormal that Hamlet cannot find the will to avenge his father’s death immediately. The full conflict of which he feels and keeps concealed within himself is not explained.
Madness is a vital plot element in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both young Hamlet and his love Ophelia appear mad throughout the play’s duration, but only Ophelia has a genuine affliction of insanity. Although stricken with grief by his father’s death and the clamorous events that follow, Hamlet does not become truly mad because he is still able to distinguish right form wrong and maneuver logically in his plan to avenge his murdered father. Shakespeare surreptitiously places revelations of Hamlet’s sanity throughout the play. Though his planned maneuver to murder his uncle Claudius, the contrast between his feigned madness and Ophelia’s true madness, and his ability change behavior around different characters that possess his trust, Hamlet’s true, rational condition emerges from beneath his veil of insanity.
The play’s main protagonist Hamlet lets his grief over his father’s murder fuel his thirst for revenge, Ophelia lets the grief over the murder of her father Polonius drive her to apparent suicide, and Ophelia’s brother Laertes is pushed to conspire with Claudius to kill Hamlet as a result of his grief. Grief might as well be its own character in Hamlet because if it was it would always be center stage. The grief present in Hamlet comes in many different shapes and forms. Even for life today, until people learn how to deal with grief it will become an inherent part of a person’s character. It is interesting to note how Shakespeare portrays his male and female characters ability to handle grief.
Macbeth Essay Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a play, which highlights individual’s thirst for power and the unethical paths many take to achieve their goals. The final scenes draw the dramatic tale to a close and cease the constant stream of murders. The audience observes the re-establishment of themes within the final scenes such as guilt, restoration of harmony, and good defeating evil. These along with significant events change the mood of the play consequently altering responders’ overall interpretation. Guilt is constantly seen throughout the play Macbeth driving the characters to question their morals.