Macbeth.

MACBETH

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford, England. His father worked selling leather and grains, and was a town official. He was the third child out of eight children. His mother, Mary, came from a family of prosperous farmers and landowners. On November 28, 1582, he married Anne Hathaway. She was the daughter of a farmer near Stratford. He had three children with her, two of them being twins. Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616.

This famous story (Macbeth) is one of the most successful of all time written by William Shakespeare in 1603. This story has been translated in many languages. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known play writer of all time. During Shakespeare's time, most people were very superstitious believing in witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. This is reflected in much of the literature from that time, and especially in Macbeth.

When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1603, the king of England was James 1, the play was probably performed at Hampton Court and James was most probably in the audience. James will most likely have enjoyed this play because James had an attempt on his own life, this is known as the "Gunpowder Plot." In 1605 Guy Fawkes and a group of catholic men tried to kill James by blowing up the Houses of Parliament but Guy was caught and executed. This showing that James would have enjoyed watching Macbeth die for killing his own king. James the 1 very much interested in witchcraft (supernatural).

Macbeth is written in the third person objective. The characters do not speak directly to the audience but often give soliloquies. Through the dialogues of the characters, Shakespeare’s ideas of fate and free will can be seen. Focus generally follows Macbeth and sometimes other characters that affect Macbeth. The witches occasionally enter the play as a means of foreshadow.

The two main characters in the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are well rounded and well developed. Shakespeare stresses the emotional sides of these two people, which gives them dimension. The audience sees them and human beings and not simple murderers. While the other characters are not as fully developed, they are not cardboard and they are still believable. The personalities of the characters are revealed through their dialogues, and for the main characters, especially through their soliloquies.

Shakespeare writes in a formal manner. While the play was meant to be performed and spoken, Shakespeare writes the dialogue in a poetic manner. He often includes metaphors and imagery in his dialogues. However, the poetic speech often seems forced and difficult to understand. While not being as flowery as poems, it is much too flowery for everyday speech and often difficult to understand. His words and subject matter are sometimes lewd and intended for an audience of commoners. The vocabulary and writing style suggests and Shakespeare was highly educated in the English language. The words are carefully placed to fit an iambic pentameter rhythm.

Shakespeare is often considered one of the world’s greatest playwrights, and has a style to back it up. He writes with poetic diction using eloquent words and phrases. He uses irony and drama to create and sustain suspense through the play. Shakespeare uses much figurative language and imagery.

Shakespeare uses a lot of imagery in this play to develop atmosphere, mood, and characters. The images are clearly thought out and give and make a certain impression on the mind of the audience. Often, the images foreshadow something in the future. For example, the image of the bloody knife before Macbeth in the second passage foreshadows the brutal cold-hearted murder that immediately follows. Blood is a recurring image in this play to denote guilt. Lady Macbeth frets in her sleep of not being able to wash the blood off of her hands since she feels so guilty about the ...

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Shakespeare is known for his great use of figurative language, and this play is no exception.
Shakespeare continually uses metaphors throughout the play comparing something to other things. Examples occur when lady refers to “the milk of human kindness,” and Macbeth refers to life as “a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”
Although Shakespeare does not use similes as often as metaphors; they are a regular feature in the play. An example of a simile is when Macbeth refers to pity “like a naked newborn babe.”
Shakespeare occasionally uses personification in this play. It is most often used to emphasize an inanimate symbol. An example of this point is when Macbeth says that “sleep ... knits up the ravelled sleeve of care... chief nourished in life’s feast.”

Atmosphere may be created in several ways. A tense atmosphere may be produced by staccato (quick-fire) dialogue as in Act II, Scene 2, when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show their tension by the rapid, almost monosyllabic exchange of question and answer. It may also be shown by the confrontation of two antagonists - e.g. when Macbeth and MacDuff finally come face to face in Act V, Scene.7. The stage setting also contributes to atmosphere. The thunder and lightning that accompany the appearance of the Witches and the Apparitions create an air of excited nervousness. The Sleepwalking scene also induces a feeling of pity. Tension may be relaxed by humour. The classic example of this is the Porter’s bawdy humour in the Knocking-at-the-Gate scene, which follows directly after the murder of Duncan.

In Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, the characters and the roles they play are critical to its plot and theme, and therefore many of Shakespeare's characters are well developed and complex

I have given three of the options and I have to choose one of the options. For my this essay I decide to choose the second option which is “ how does Macbeth changes during the course of the play”. Two of these characters are the protagonist, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth. They play interesting roles in the tragedy, and over the course of the play, their relationship changes and their roles are essentially switched. At the beginning of the play, they treat each other as equals. They have great concern for each other, as illustrated when Macbeth races to tell Lady Macbeth the news about the witches and she immediately begins plotting how to gain for her husband his desire to be king. At this point, Lady Macbeth is the resolute, strong woman, while Macbeth is portrayed as her indecisive, cowardly husband. He does have ambition, but at this point, his conscience is stronger than that ambition. Lady Macbeth explains this characteristic of her husband in Act I, Scene 5, when she says, ‘Yet do I fear thy nature it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way’. Macbeth prepared for murder. He knows this is a great sin, but his wife force him to do the deed. He quickly changes his mind and tells his wife that he is not going to kill the king. He says he is my king and I should protect him and also he is my houseguest. I should be proud to have him as a guest and I do not want to throw it away. But finally he changes his mind again and kill the king.

The next stage of change developing in the characters of Macbeth in Act 2 scene 2 is when Macbeth has no way to communicate with God. He cannot pray anymore he also cannot sleep. He thinks earth is shaking and he is scared. Macbeth hears a prayer but cannot pronounce 'Amen', and he himself thinks of this deeply. He knows himself that what he has done was wrong, and he acknowledges this by refusing to return to the scene of the murder. Shakespeare uses blood to almost 'stain' Macbeth's mind, marking him permanently as a murderer. Macbeth knows that water can never get rid of the guilt.

Very soon he begins to admit a ‘suggestion’ some horrible imagination’, and then he says to himself the word murder. At the end of Act 1 he is wrestling with his conscience. He is acutely aware of the duty, which he owes to Duncan. Before lady Macbeth comes on to the scene Macbeth has won a great victory over himself, and he is almost triumphant when he tells her, we will processed no further in this business. But lady Macbeth has no such conscience as her husband has. At this moment she is stronger of the two, and Macbeth cannot stand up to her accusations that he is a coward, lacking in manliness, and a traitor to his word. He yields to her and in order to prove himself a man in her eyes, submits to a woman’s guidance.

In act 2 scene 3 Shakespeare used a very good technique. He has a style to back it up. Ross says Macbeth will be the king and MacDuff says he is already named king. The witches gave Macbeth a crown and sceptre, but without the promise would inherit them. Macbeth dressed king first time and he is happy.

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is horrified to think of what he has done. Again Shakespeare contrasts Macbeth and his wife in their attitudes to murder. Lady Macbeth is bold and confident, because she does not understand that the deed is normally wrong: her only concern is to destroy the evidence. Macbeth however, awakes to a conscious of guilt that will remain with him until his death.

Macbeth's character change is apparent because it is obvious that he has given in to his ambition and has murdered the king. He is not entirely changed, though, because he is almost delirious after he has committed the crime He exclaims, Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. He believes that instead of the ocean cleaning his hands, his hands would turn the ocean red. Macbeth's role has changed somewhat but not entirely, since he has committed the crime but his conscience is still apparent after the murder.

Lady Macbeth's role similarly changes somewhat in Act II. The reader sees a crack in her strong character when she tells Macbeth in Scene ii of Act II that she would have murdered Duncan herself if he had not resembled her father as he slept. Her boldness is still evident, though, when she calms Macbeth after the murder and believes a little water clears us of this deed.

Unlike the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, their relationship remains unchanged from Act I to II. Their relationship is still very close as seen through Duncan's murder - a product of teamwork. At the end of Act III, both the roles and the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have reached the final stage of their change. Now that Duncan is dead and Macbeth is hopelessly headed toward a life of immorality, Lady Macbeth fades into the background. Macbeth takes it upon himself in Act III to plot Banquo's murder without consulting his wife because he wants to protect her from the corruption that he has involved himself with. His role is now completely changed and there is no turning back for him. As Macbeth goes off on his own course during this time, Lady Macbeth's guilt is overwhelming and, cut off from him, she descends into madness. Her guilt emerges in Act 3, Scene 2when she says she would rather be dead, and it grows from then on until her death.

In act 3 scene 4 the ghost of Banquo appears, but only Macbeth can see it. Lady Macbeth and other guest are startled by Macbeth’s behaviour. Lady Macbeth says to guest he is not feeling well. At the first Macbeth was accepted to be king but not any more. People think Macbeth is tyrant. Act 4 scene 1 line 79-80 ‘be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth. Shakespeare used equivocation. The new Macbeth confronts the witches and demand to be answered: the answer gives him feeling of confidence which we the audience, know to be unfounded. But Macbeth trusts no one. He has no faith in the loyalty of the thanes, and set spies on each of them. It seems then that he will not trust even the witches and their masters for he is determined to make assurance double sure by slaughtering Mac Duff’s entire family. He says to himself he is not going to think he is just going to kill them. If Macbeth is entirely responsible for his own fate, then the witches are not. During the play, Macbeth's attitude toward the witches changes. His language and behaviour alters towards them. At the beginning of the play, when he and Banquo first see the witches, he is worried and scared. Banquo is a lot calmer and asks Macbeth why he appears scared of such good predictions. "Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear, things that do seem so fair?" Later in the play, Macbeth seems a lot more confident and less scared. Macbeth has become cruel tyrant.

In act 4 scene 3 line 39-40 ‘I think our country sinks beneath the yoke: it weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wound. Shakespeare used personification. I think this is an emotional response to the audience. In act 5 scene 2 a section of the army marches towards Dunsinane. The leaders discuss their enemy, Macbeth who is showing sign of panic.

He is indeed madly self-confident, believing that he is invincible. Macbeth is neither mad nor furious. He feels old and lonely.

My way of life

Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf:

And that, which should accompany old age,

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,

I must not look to have.

Macbeth tries to comfort himself by recalling the witches’ prophecies as he is told of the approaching armies. The battle is at its height when Seyton bring news to Macbeth that his wife has just died. Macbeth dies not grieve, because he feels that life is

Meaningless, and he sees himself as an actor. He has lost every thing, and when he hears of the ‘moving grove’ he knows that he is defeated. Macbeth chooses to die in the battle. At last he is challenged by MacDuff, and he is reluctant to fight.

At the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth was the hesitant character with a strong conscience, while Lady Macbeth was powerful and firm. However, by the time these two characters were completely changed, Macbeth ended up being decisive and greedy, as Lady Macbeth turned out to be weak since her guilty conscience drove her insane. Shakespeare's exchange of roles in Macbeth is clever yet unusual, but after all, things aren't always what they seem. His personality changes and develops through the play. In the beginning he is a warrior to serve the king and cannot consider the idea of killing Duncan to get the throne. As the play progresses, he grows cold, hard and more ambitious. After the murder, his personality further develops to guilt and near madness. This anxiety causes him to commit more murders and further dig himself into his grave. He says to Banquo, “Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir, and I’ll request your presence.” He said this in order to kill Banquo that night showing his cold and callous heart.

In my opinion Macbeth is greedy, ambitious, and rash. Macbeth towards a life of evil and Lady Macbeth towards insanity and grief. As Shakespeare developed the characters of Macbeth and his wife, their changing roles ironically ended up resembling the other one's role.

Macbeth thinks a great deal about murdering the king and reasons for it and in his soliloquies the audience would see his thoughts and begin to feel sorry for him because his ambition is so strong that it is having a psychological effect on him. Nevertheless, in the end, despite the many doubts ultimately decides himself to kill Duncan. The audience can no longer feel sympathy for his actions because the decision to kill the king is his own; they would feel horror and dissatisfaction because of what he has done. The first place in the play where I begin to doubt Macbeth innocence is the beginning of Act 2, Scene 1.Banquo and he have always been best friends and incredibly close, but in this scene we see Macbeth deceive his friend and deny that he has thought about the witches prediction.

We can see the moral struggle within him when Duncan nominates Malcolm as his successor.