Commentary on Macbeth Essay

Macbeth, the shortest surviving tragedy play, and the known writer William Shakespeare, alerts the audience to the quandary of knowing ones destiny and wanting to control the future. Through the setting, plot, and characterization, Shakespeare displays the theme of foul is fair and fair is foul. Insinuate that things are not always as they appear (all that glitters is not gold); this implies on the characters of the play, they are not as they seem to be.

The three witches are the ones who initiated the inconsistency that is showed through out the play .the theme affects these characters because, they boast of the future, but they seem to follow the opposite path of their own words. The witches only speak of the truth of what will happen. Macbeth refers to the Witches as the Weird Sisters. The word "Weird" comes from an old English word "wyrd," which means "fate." In Macbeth's case, the prophecies serve only to suggest the future, and not to affect it. They do not predict that he will commit murder to be king but only that he will become king. For instance, they all hail Macbeth as the king by saying, All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter! Even if the witches were extant, Macbeth would have somehow become king because of his fate. Where as Banquo

Has a contrary case with the witches because he did not actively act upon their prediction that he will be the father of kings. Regardless of his in action the prophecy

Becomes to be true. The Witches themselves are corporally a paradox because of their ambiguous, vague and confusing appearance. Banquo gives a description of the Witches appearance to Macbeth by saying, So withered, and so wild in their attire, that look not like th inhabitants o th earth And yet are on t?... You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so. Macbeth interprets that they seemd corporal and yet they vanish like bubbles into the air.

The inconsistent theme affects Macbeth by turning his life upside down. Macbeth is not the person he seems to be .his impressing introduction is as a warrior hero, whose fame in the battlefield wins him the honor and credit from King Duncan. However, his ambitions are made clear when he reveals his inner emotions and thoughts. For instance , when Macbeth says, I am settle and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat, Away, and mock the time with fairest show, False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Macbeth knows that to kill Duncan is ethically wrong and even vacillates over the idea of killing someone who loves him as much as Duncan does, yet he decides that he will do it anyway. Macbeth does not agree with the fact that Duncan has set his mind to pass the crown to his son Malcolm. The blindness of the Duncan shows when he says, To find the minds construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust, he greets Macbeth as his worthiest cousin. The effect the paradox has on Macbeth is ultimately his death. When the Witches prophesize that no man born from a womans womb can defeat him, he feels invincible. However, Macbeth does not realize that Macduff was born unnaturally. Paradoxically, the more power as King Macbeth had, the more iniquitous he became.

Lady Macbeth was also affected by the theme, her notion was that becoming queen would award her happiness but then later feels that life is not worth living. she says, Naughts had, alls spent, Where our desire is got without content. Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. After murdering Duncan and having been given the honor of a queen Queen, she wants to have her old life back or die than to be where she is. Because of her burning aim to be Queen, her life is ruined. Lady Macbeth relentlessly taunts her husband for his lack of courage and that he is too full o th milk. But in public, she is able to act nicely as a skilled and superior person. She soon after is unable to bear the events and has become a victim of nightmares and hallucinations. The guilt that she has makes her become insane. When Lady Macbeth expected to have a fair life after killing Duncan, her foul soul went to hell.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have both been affected by the inconsistent theme brought by the Witches. The theme of things not being as they seem to be are true has applied to both of these characters. The Witches are only able to tell the future and not amend it, Macbeth acted upon it, and Lady Macbeth became insane from her ambitions of being fair.