Time And Time Distortion In Macbeth

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If time could stop, what horrendous deed would your merciless mind compel your hand to complete? For Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, all they can think of is their own prophesized future. In William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy of Macbeth, characters unfold as time continues or untimely stops. Through Shakespeare’s use of time the reader encounters several allusions. Even though knowing that time will never cease, several characters feel as though it has after Duncan’s murder. Wrapped in the need to know their own future, the reader encounters Macbeth and Banquo talking to the three witches. Banquo wants them to “look into the seeds of time” (I, iii, 58), to tell him his future since Macbeth is foretold to be a king. The witches then proceed to tell him that he will beget kings though he will never be one. It becomes apparent to the reader that the witches are a part of the present and the future. Hearing of his prophesized nobility, Macbeth is all too excited to get a jump start on his future. To do so, he must get rid of the present king though. It becomes known to the reader that this foreshadowing advances the plot of Duncan’s death. Upon reading her husbands letter, Lady Macbeth is too very ecstatic about their future. She tells Macbeth that “thy letters have transported me beyond/This ignorant present, and I feel now/The future in an instant” (I, v, 54-56). It’s revealed to the reader from the delicately chosen word, “transported,” that time, in an instant was stopped and Lady Macbeth was looking into their future. The reader can also glimpse a part of Lady Macbeth’s selfish character here. With just the mention of Macbeth being king, Lady Macbeth can see their future instantly, and is contemplating committing murder to get it. Macbeth is skeptical about taking it into his own hands, at first. However, “come what come may/Time and the hour runs through
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