2. "Much madness is divinest Sense—
To a discerning Eye—"
Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or play covered this semster in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole.
In literature, madness is often used to represent the idea of self-destruction in a character as well as to suggest the chaos of the events experienced by these characters. In Macbeth, insanity is an important tool to reveal to readers the development of the characters primarily Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Madness functions as a support for the theme of the play, which is betrayal and guilt, as it places emphasis on the idea of disturbed mental state after the commitment of a sinful act. In this great piece of literature, Shakespeare expresses madness in two forms; troubled sleep and hallucination. Both of these representations of madness was strategically incorporated by Shakespeare to illustrate the irony of the destruction of the characters, Macbeth as well as Lady Macbeth, who were first introduced as powerful, courageous, and confident.
Throughout the play Macbeth, the theme of madness is ever-present due to its importance as a contributor to the readers’ understanding of the development of the characters and the main moral lesson embedded in the play. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was depicted as a noble, courageous, and loyal knight. However, his character eventually developed and this is emphasized through the visual imagery of madness. This can be seen when Macbeth hallucinated about a dagger right before he murdered Duncan: “Is this a dagger that I see before me with its handle turned to my hand? Come, let me grasp you”. This line portrays Macbeth to see a non-existent dagger in front of him. Here, the idea of hallucination and madness is significant as it adds to the emphasis of Macbeth crossing over to the dark side and is able to have evil thoughts, which he later on performs in action. In other words, the incorporation of madness in this context has helped to further illustrate the shift in Macbeth’s character from noble to evil. The importance of madness in the development of Macbeth’s character does not stop there for his character then evolved from being evil to being filled with fear and guilt. This is presented to readers through his hallucination of Banquo’s ghost during a banquet right after he received confirmation from the murderers of Banquo’s death: “Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold”. Notice Macbeth’s fearful tone in these lines as suggested by the use of exclamation marks. This shows that Macbeth -after hearing the Banquo has been murdered- is overwhelmed with guilt and fears being taken revenged upon. Madness is a vital way used by Shakespeare to convey to readers the development Macbeth as he changes from a noble man to a sinful murderer who only becomes fearful and guilty from his deeds after committing the act.
