Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare 

In this blog I'm going to discuss the most famous play by William Shakespeare and that is Macbeth. This blog is based on a thinking activity assigned by Dilip sir barad. Macbeth is the tragedy of William Shakespeare. This tragedy is also considered a renaissance text because in this tragedy we can easily find the main themes like ambition, power and corruption and so on. The supernatural elements like witches, prophecies and hallucinations. Tragic flaws like ambition and moral deterioration.

The main theme of Macbeth —the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play, he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare’s most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder’s aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth’s repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one’s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them. Also we find The Difference Between Kingship and Tyranny as well as The Relationship Between Cruelty and Masculinity in this tragedy.

Ambition

Although he is encouraged by the Witches, Macbeth’s true downfall is his own ambition. Lady Macbeth is as ambitious as her husband, encouraging him to commit murder to achieve their goals. Both Macbeth's fail to see how their ambition makes them cross moral lines and will lead to their downfall. Once Macbeth kills Duncan, his ambition to hold on to his title as king becomes intertwined with his paranoia. Rather than being able to enjoy the fruits of his ambition, he becomes obsessed with maintaining the power he’s won. Macbeth’s blind pursuit of power can be contrasted with other ambitious characters in the play like Banquo. Banquo also hears the Witches’ prophecies, and similarly has ambition for his sons. But unlike Macbeth, Banquo’s morality prevents him from pursuing his goal at any cost. At the end of the play, Macbeth has achieved all he wanted but has nothing. With his wife gone and no hope of producing a prince, Macbeth sees what his unchecked ambition has cost him: the loss of all he holds dear.

Lady Macbeth encouraging Macbeth for his ambition 

They become king and queen fullfill their ambition

Guilt

Macbeth’s guilt about murdering his king, Duncan, and ordering the murder of his friend, Banquo, causes him to have guilty hallucinations. Lady Macbeth also hallucinates and eventually goes insane from guilt over her role in Duncan’s death. The fact that both characters suffer torment as a result of their actions suggests neither Macbeth nor his wife is entirely cold-blooded. Although they commit terrible crimes, they know, on some level, that what they’ve done is wrong. Their guilt prevents them from fully enjoying the power they craved. Lady Macbeth says “What’s done/ cannot be undone” in Act Five scene one, but her guilt continues to torment her. While Macbeth’s guilt causes him to commit further murders in an attempt to cover up his initial crimes, Lady Macbeth’s guilt drives her to insanity, and, finally, suicide.

Lady Macbeth feels guilt and fear in the darkness of night hear darkness shows her mind's darkness,her emotional instability and darkness of the night.

Tears in his eyes are because of guiltiness 

Because of the constant feelings of sorrow and guiltiness Macbeth behaviour has been changed.....

This shows the mantle health of Macbeth.

Hallucinations

Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s joint culpability for the growing body count. When he is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air. Covered with blood and pointed toward the king’s chamber,t  the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark. Later, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely reminding him that he murdered his former friend. The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of water. In each case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory; but, in both cases, the Macbeth read them uniformly as supernatural signs of their guilt.

There are witches too, who play a very significant role in this tragedy. In the beginning of the play they are giving hints to the viewers that how this tragedy is supposed to go and during the play witches are a source for justice.

Blood 

Blood is everywhere in Macbeth, beginning with the opening battle between the Scots and the Norwegian invaders, which is described in harrowing terms by the wounded captain in Act 1, scene 2. Once Macbeth and Lady Macbeth embark upon their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolise their guilt, and they begin to feel that their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be washed clean. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little water will do the job.Later, though, she comes to share his horrified sense of being stained: “Out, damned spot; out, I say . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” she asks as she wanders through the halls of their castle near the close of the play . Blood symbolises the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds t

hem to their graves.

Here we can see the hands of Macbeth, full of blood.

Conclusion:

To sum up ,Macbeth approaches the witches to learn how to make his kingship secure. In response they summon for him three apparitions: an armed head, a bloody child, and finally a child crowned, with a tree in his hand. These apparitions instruct Macbeth to beware Macduff but reassure him that no man born of woman can harm him and that he will not be overthrown until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth is greatly reassured, but his confidence in the future is shaken when the witches show him a line of kings all in the image of Banquo. After the witches disappear, Macbeth discovers that Macduff has fled to England and decides to kill Macduff’s family immediately.the guiltiness of Macbeth and lady Macbeth, the mantle situation of both this characters and so on .

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