macbeth essay

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Macbeth

in this assignment I will look at the aspects of what made Macbeth kill King Duncan.

 Macbeth is presented to us as a brave man as the sergeant says “Brave Macbeth” when talking about him. He also says “Till he unseemed him from the nave to the chops”  this shows that macbeth is ambitious as he will not leave the battle field until he had killed everyone.  He is also said to be brave by Ross ‘Bellona’s bridegroom’ Bellona is the goddess of war and so if he is her bridegroom then he is fit to be God of war. When the character of Duncan talks about Macbeth, he describes him as “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” which shows us that Macbeth is respected and trustful.

 In the 16th century and the 17th most of the population believed in witchcraft.  The witches in Macbeth had many powers.  They could transform into animals and they could also affect the weather, for example the witch causes a storm to punish the husband, a sailor, of a wife who would not give her chestnut ‘ a sailors wife had chestnuts in her lap’ ‘give me quoth I’ ‘ aroint thee witch the rump-fed runnion cries. This shows that she would not give her chestnuts to the witches.  

  The witches are ugly and seem even barely human. The way that they speak is in chants and rhymes, some of which sound like spells. When they appear, it is in a storm on  thunder and lightening. They also talk about “fog and filthy air” which makes them seem as though they live in a world of darkness and hidden evil. They use paradoxes, such as “fair is foul” and these are two words which mean opposite kinds of things which suggests confusion of the natural order so that things which look good may turn out to be evil.

The witches predict that Macbeth will be ‘thane of Cawdor’ and then be a ‘king’  Macbeth gets startled and afraid of this prospect ‘good sir why do you start and seem to things that do sound so fair’ it is as though the witches have struck a chord in Macbeths guilty mind. Banquo’s reaction is much more suspicious of the witches than Macbeth ‘ if you can look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not’  this shows that Macbeth notices Macbeth is scared and that he thinks they are lying.

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  The impact of Macbeth being Thane of Cawdor is a surprise ‘but how of Cawdor? Thane of Cawdor lives a prosperous gentleman’  this shows that Macbeth know knows that in order to become thane of cawdor he will have to do something to the current thane of cawdor as he is alive.  

 

In act 1 scene 5 Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth telling her about the witches prophecies she reacts by encouraging Macbeth to be king ‘Glamis thou art and Cawdor and shall be what thou art promised’ this shows that she wants him ...

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