Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents the struggle between good and evil in Macbeth

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Pre 1900 Drama Shakespeare

English Unit 3 and English Literature Coursework

Task Title: "Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents the struggle between good and evil in Macbeth." Consider the importance of:

Characterisation, plot and theme

Language and imagery

The effect upon the reader and the audience

You may focus your discussion on one or two scenes if you wish. Where it is relevant to your argument you should refer to the historical and social background to the play or to literary tradition.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare presents the reader with a struggle between good and evil. He represents this evil through an atmosphere of menace and the presence of the supernatural. In the very first scene, short as it is, there is the storm, which the reader can infer as a sense of darkness and as evil. There is also the definite paradox, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair", which tells us right at the beginning that in Macbeth not everything is as it seems and that good can be evil and evil can be good.

The struggle between good and evil in the play can be seen in the characters as each one tries to overcome its evil desires. We can see that those who are ultimately good are always quick to condemn the acts of evil. For example when Banquo and Macbeth are told about their fate, Banquo does not hesitate to confront the witches about what they said, whereas Macbeth does, which is because he had thought about becoming evil before.
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Act 1 scene 3 is one of the major scenes that signify the divide between the good and the evil in Macbeth. There is the obvious evil, which is the witches, but also the evil that Macbeth thinks about when the witches tell him his fate. "Upon her skinny lips; you should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so". We can see the evil that the witches have by what they do and say, "a drum, a drum; Macbeth doth come." The witches can foresee the future and bring a supernatural ...

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