Commentary on Macbeth Essay

Macbeth coursework

Macbeth written in 1606 by William Shakespeare is a historical thriller and a fast moving action packed story. Its about the portrayal of the fall of a great man because of a fatal flow in his character. It is a play of illusions emphasizing the effects on human beings of mysterious and supernatural forces. Shakespeare was born in Stratford, England in the 16th century Shakespeare went to a grammar school but did not continue on to going to university. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had 3 children to her. He left his family at the age of 27 to go to London to peruse his career in acting and playwright. Shakespeare became part owner of the Globe and was thought highly of King James 1558-1625. At the time of his death literary luminaries such as Ben Johnstone described Shakespeares work as timeless. Macbeth has been around for over 400 years.

In the time of Jacobean era the natural order of society was expected that people would live, work and marry within their own strata of society. Kings were Gods agents, Jacobeans that kings were sent my God and action against a king was a crime against God.

Shakespeare uses several devices in Macbeth. One method he used was to join words up with a hyphen. be-all and the end-all-here Macbeth is full of such hyphenated words, some so familiar that we do not recognise them as Shakespeares creation.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeares most famous and disturbing tragedies. Shakespeare wrote this play to flatter the kings interest in superstition and witchcraft. A Jacobean audience would have found this very enjoyable and fascinating as they believed in superstition and themes set upon Good/Evil and Magic/Morality. The belief in witches was widespread and the execution of witches did not increase until the end of the 17th century. The play reveals the impact of a manipulative wife who is deeply ambitious and lust power and position and a husband with a vaulting ambition. Equivocation is a major theme of the play, and Macbeth is frequently troubled by it, fearing that the witches may have lied to him. Macbeth was most likely written in 1606, early in the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. James was a patron of Shakespeares acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote under Jamess reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwrights close relationship with the sovereign. In focusing on Macbeth, a figure from Scottish history, Shakespeare paid homage to his kings Scottish lineage. Additionally, the witches prophecy that Banquo will found a line of kings is a clear nod to Jamess familys claim to have descended from the historical Banquo. In a larger sense, the theme of bad versus good kinship embodied by Macbeth and Duncan, respectively, would have resonated at the royal court, where James was busy developing his English version of the theory of divine right. For this assignment I intend to discuss the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; specifically in Act 1:5 and Act 1:7.

Antithesis expressed conflict and is especially powerful in Macbeth, where good is set against evil, character against character, and where deception and false appearance are major themes. A soliloquy is a monologue, a kind of internal debate spoken by a character that is alone on stage. It gives the audience direct access to the characters mind, revealing their inner thoughts and motives. Macbeth often thinks aloud In Act 1:5, Lady Macbeth makes an impassioned appeal for demonic spirits to posses her. Come you spirits. Unsex me here Come into my womans breast Come thick night;

Macbeth is to set it in the context of its time: the world that Shakespeare knew. His dramatic imagination was influenced by many features of that world. As he wrote Macbeth, Shakespeare had at his side a book published in 1587: Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland by Raphael Holinshed. Shakespeare selected, altered and added to achieve maximum dramatic effect. He makes Macbeth a tyrant immediately after he becomes king, ignoring Holinsheds account of Macbeths ten years of good rule.

When Shakespeares first began to write plays, a strong influence was the popularity of the plays of the Roman playwright Seneca (4BD-AD 65). Senecas tragedies included soliloquies, ghosts, witches and magic, violent events, wrongs avenged, and moral statements. All those features can be found in Macbeth. Persuasion and ambition are the fundamental concepts of which the play is written.

King Jamess interest in witchcraft was well known. He attended at least one of he witchcraft trial, read widely about the subject and published a book on it. In every era audiences can relate to the universal themes which are the fundamental basis of this tragedy.

The Macbeths marriage, like the two themselves, is atypical particularly by the standards of their time as it is normally the man who is domineering in the relationship. Yet despite their odd power dynamic, the two seem surprisingly attached to one another. Macbeth and his wife are partners in the truest sense of word my dearest partner of greatness. Of course, the irony of their happy marriage is clear they are united by their crimes, their mutual madness and their increasing isolation from the rest of humanity.

Though Macbeth is a brave general and powerful Thane, his wife is far from subordinate to his will. Indeed, she seems to control him, either by her crafty manipulation or her direct order. And it is Lady Macbeths deep-rooted ambition rather than her husbands vaulting ambition, the ultimately propels the plot of the play by goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. Macbeth does not need any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, spurred on by the witches prophecy, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wifes powerful nagging and persuasion.

An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power, particularly Shakespeares exploration of the values that make up the idea of masculinity. Shakespeare challenges his characters perception of gender roles by making Lady Macbeth the more domineering personas in the relationship. Shakespeare has made Lady Macbeth one of the most famous and frightening female protagonists ever. Her soliloquies are violent, blistering and the gruesome image lingers in the mind of the audience. An example of this would be,

I have given suck, and how/ How tender tis to love the babe that milks me-/ I would while it was smiling in my face/ Have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums, / and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/ Have done to this. Shakespeares effective use of imagery here is powerful. The imaginary child at her breast falls victim to her ruthless ambition as she expresses her demand that Macbeth carry out his promise of killing Duncan.

Manhood, for most of the characters in Macbeth, is tied to ideals of strength, power, physical courage, and force of will; it is rarely tied to ideals of intelligence or goodness. At several points in the play, the characters push each other into action by questioning each others manhood. In Act1:7 Lady Macbeth is a very deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and ambition. She would be described as the more ruthless between her and Macbeth and manipulates Macbeth with remarkable effects. She chastises, patronises and mocks Macbeth by saying things such as, was the hope drunk/ wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? most importantly, Lady Macbeth emasculates her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove has manliness he will carry out the actions she wishes him to perform.

In a play that is abundant in evil occurrences,Lady Macbeth is the overriding source of evil inthe first act. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan;

Hie thee hither,/ That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,/ And chastise with the valour of my tongue/ All that impedes thee from the golden round,/ Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem/ To have thee crowned withal.

Here the alliterative quality gives a dramatic effect. By Lady Macbeth saying this in her soliloquy she is showing that she is eager for her husband to come home so that she can coax and encourage him even more to commit the crime. Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth, who decided strongly against murdering Duncan, to go ahead with their plan to murder Duncan. O never/ shall sun that morrow see. This is very ominous and suggestive of Duncans death. Lady Macbeth is very successful at persuading him to do things that he knows are wrong. She analyses his nature and knows that he is, It is too full o th milk of human kindness by Lady Macbeth using the work milk it makes you think of the imagery of children and their innocence. Macbeth is not an evil person, but when he is allowed to be influenced by Lady Macbeth, he is vulnerable to committing deeds he knows are wrong. Lady Macbeth entirely breaks the stereotype of women, a Jacobean audience would have assumed that she would have been a loving, kind and benevolent wife (as women were expected to be in this era) and not the possessed, domineering spouse that she is And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty...

After Macbeth writes home telling of his murderous plans, Lady Macbeth begins talking to evil spirits. Because women often lack the ruthlessness to kill someone, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to make her male. One of the most vivid descriptions of Lady Macbeth's wickedness is directly after Macbeth announces to her he does not want to kill Duncan. We will proceed no further in this business. This is very pivotal as this is where Macbeth is showing his cowardliness and lack of manliness. By using the word business Shakespeares use of euphemistic language here is very effective as it doesnt make their plan sound so gruesome. This speech epitomizes Lady Macbeth's evilness. She is ruthless, and her evil accounts for the chain of events that unfold throughout the entire play.

Lady Macbeth is far more savage and ambitious than her husband, yet she convinces Macbeth to commit the murders that will make them king and queen. Macbeth is without his wife's cruel and uncompassionate attitude towards life; I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent,

Lady Macbeth is aware that her husband is genuinely a gentle person. However, she is able to manipulate Macbeth into committingevil deeds in order to achieve her desires. Lady Macbeth fears that Macbeth lacks enough courage and killer instinct to murder Duncan yet do I fear thy nature. In her soliloquy Lady Macbeth again analyses her husbands nature, fearing that he is too decent and squeamish to murder the king for the crown.