Preview

Examples Of Euphemism In Macbeth

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1093 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Euphemism In Macbeth
The tragedy “Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a man who was once a great hero, that falls victim of his ambition for power. This ambition is induced by factors including Lady Macbeth, the witches prophecies and the guilt and remorse felt by Macbeth in regards to the deed he was to commit. These are the factors that contribute to the downfall of Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth is characterized as an ambitious woman who can manipulate Macbeth easily. This is shown in (Act 1 Scene 5 line 25) when she says "That I may pour my spirits in thine ear". She manipulates his self esteem by playing with his masculinity and his bravery. Lady Macbeth feels she does not have the strength to commit the deed herself and therefore becomes
…show more content…
An example of this is the text is referring to the murder of King Duncan as ‘the 'deed'. Lady Macbeth describes the action of murdering King Duncan through the words 'to catch the nearest way'. The use of this euphemism to describe the action of killing Duncan can be seen as though she is trying to hide the harsh imagery of blood and violence in the action of murder. This is an example of Lady Macbeth’s diminishing sense of conscientiousness. The composer also uses vulgar language to express Lady Macbeths character. She says 'Screw your courage to the sticking place' in order to further manipulate …show more content…
Macbeth wonders if this vision of the dagger comes from his feverish mind. He also decides that he is imagining things. He is not able to distinguish reality from imagination. It is obvious that Macbeth would like to think that the dagger is imaginary, but the guilt he feels at the thought of committing the evil deed is enough to make him think the dagger is real. Although the murder has not yet taken place, Macbeth starts to feel guilt and remorse and is concerned of the consequences that may occur if he does murder King Duncan. His weakness is 'valuating ambition' meaning that following the deed, Macbeth will suffer the consequences. The appearance of blood on both the hands on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is an image that represents the guilt and fear of their brutal crime.In the use of personification, Macbeth imagines that the stones of the castle are alive and talking. His fearful imagination makes him afraid that the stones on which he walks will speak out and give him away, following the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    a)Why does Macbeth refer to the dagger as a fatal vision?Macbeth refers to the dagger as a fatal vision (II.i.36) because it foreshadows his deadly intent to kill King Duncan. Macbeth is obviously under great mental torment, which is the cause of his hallucination of the imaginary dagger. He imagines the dagger, covered with gouts of blood (II.i.46), leading him to Duncans room. This image shows Macbeths fatal ambition as he follows his desire (the dagger) to kill King Duncan with a dagger which will eventually be covered with King Duncans own blood.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shakespeare’s masterpiece of a play, ‘Macbeth’, carefully depicts that Macbeth’s character was not ruined by fate but rather by damaging errors in his personality. Macbeth’s dangerous quality of ambition brings about his downfall as well as his treachery against his king, his tyranny and also his imaginativeness that eventually lures him into the murder. Although Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth’s decisions were greatly influenced by other characters in his text, it was Macbeth that ultimately decided to listen to these influences due to the many faults in his character.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, many tragic heroic figures have encountered a downfall. Not because they are malevolent or villainous, but because of a character flaw. In William Shakespeare's’ tragedy, Macbeth the main character Macbeth embodies the tragic hero persona. Though he is believed to be of nobility, he is blinded by greed, ambition and power to a gruesome end by those very traits which bring him fortune. Macbeth’s tragedy of his heroism occurs through battling his self conscience, secondly by pride and ego, finally by fear to protect his ambition.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lady Macbeth is more evil than Macbeth, as illustrated through her speech and mischievous temperament. The first appearance of her attitude was after Macbeth’s soliloquy about his intentions of killing Duncan or not. Lady Macbeth states to Macbeth that if he does not kill Duncan, then he will “live a coward [in his own self-esteem]” (1.7.47). The connotation of the word “coward” said by Lady Macbeth emphasizes the cruel tone of Lady Macbeth. Her criticizing is unnecessary as Macbeth is deciding between a life changing inhuman action of assassinating his own king. The cruel tone indirectly characterizes Lady Macbeth to have a mischievous temperament and overall to be more evil than Macbeth, because Macbeth is emotional suffering about killing Duncan or not, while Lady Macbeth does not portray any grief over an action so relentless. Later during the same conversation after Macbeth’s soliloquy, Macbeth says “if we should fail,” and Lady Macbeth’s response to his question is “screw your courage to the sticking place/ And we’ll not fail” (1.7.68, 70-71). The dialect by Lady Macbeth in “screw your courage to the sticking place” means for Macbeth to not be hesitant in the kill. This indirectly characterizes Macbeth to be kinder than he appears, because Lady Macbeth is doubting that he will not kill Duncan, making her emphasize the murder by stating it directly to Macbeth.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While Macbeth is awaiting the signal that King Duncan is sleeping, which will summon him to commit the murder, Macbeth is struck by a vision of a dagger. This “dagger of the mind” symbolizes Macbeth’s last minute doubt and the choice of committing the murder that he is still facing (2.1.38). Even within his vision, Macbeth does not have hold of the transient knife; he has not reconciled himself to the inevitability of his treachery even at this late point. The illusionary dagger is in stark contrast to the physical dagger Macbeth pulls from his side.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth hallucinates before killing Duncan in which he says, “ is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. (shakespeare II.I 44-45) Macbeth feels so guilty about killing Duncan that he starts to hallucinate about the weapon he used to kill Duncan but he did not kill him because he was feeling guilty, Macbeth killed Duncan purely out of ambition to be king. By macbeth wanting to “clutch thee” shows that he has made a huge decision to follow his ambition to be king by any means necessary.Lady Macbeth finds out about what Macbeth’s encounter with the witches and what he was told by them and she says, “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.” (Shakespeare I.5 19-20) This shows that Lady Macbeth, who is shown to be a heartless, and a power hungry woman believes that Macbeth is capable of being able to obtain the rank of king if he wants to, but is too kind to carry out the necessary actions. Even though some may say that Macbeth’s downfall is caused by his guilt, it is actually his ambitions that lead him to commit horrible crimes which later leads to Macbeth feeling…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Renowned play, “Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare in 1606, is one of the most prestigious dramas to date. Valiant and truthful soldier, Macbeth experiences dire changes of evil, in order to gain his thriftless ambition for king. His immoral change might have been influenced by Lady Macbeth and the witches’ prophecies suggesting Macbeth is a tragic hero who had no intent of abhorrent deeds. Once honourable Macbeth pledges glory to his king and gained honour through valiant accomplishments. Fear strikes him as his mind starts to deteriorate into utter chaos by his treacherous actions. His self-conscious mind transforms him into a superstitious villain who suffers in despair as he implicates regret.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy, written between the years of 1599 and 1606. It tells the story of a Scottish general, known as Macbeth who receives a prophecy from three witches claiming that he will, someday, become king of Scotland. The play demonstrates two main themes through the desires of kingship and power Lady Macbeth has for Macbeth and the numerous murders committed by Macbeth in order to fulfill these and his own want for power. The two main themes of Macbeth include ‘the corrupting nature of unchecked ambition’ and ‘the relationship between cruelty and masculinity.’ The first and most common theme, ‘the corrupting nature of unchecked ambition,’ initially arises when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth of his new title and how he is…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lady Macbeth’s ambition and ruthlessness is evident when she asks for the spirits to “unsex [her]” so her “manliness” will give her strength to be cruel and perform murder of Duncan without remorse and compassion. Her strength of purpose is in contrast to Macbeth’s “nature” as he is “is too full ‘o the milk of human kindness”1.4 p45” to commit murder. This is confirmed later by Macbeth’s admission that his only motive for the murder of Duncan is his…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth's Choices Analysis

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    She exploits Macbeth by influencing him to do immoral decision to kill King Duncan. These decisions lead to his downfall. As Macbeth is thinking why Duncan is a good King, Lady Macbeth enters and says “Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine own esteem.” (1.7.40-45).She calls Macbeth a coward for not wanting to kill Duncan. She intends to manipulate Macbeth by humiliating his manhood. She uses her knowledge on Macbeth’s lack of bravery to her advantage. The influence of Lady Macbeth helps Macbeth come to the conclusion that he must kill Duncan. The murder is the error of Macbeth that makes him a tragic hero. In a tragedy, a tragic hero dies because of the error they make. Later in the play Macbeth fears that his throne is in danger, Lady Macbeth response is, “But in them nature’s copy’s not eterne” (3.3.43). This is Lady Macbeth telling Macbeth that the ones he fears will soon die. However, she only says this to distort Macbeth’s instinct, preventing him from following his beliefs. Macbeth’s lack of understanding that Lady Macbeth controls their relationship blinds him from seeing her manipulative approach. . She will do anything to get what she wants, even deconstruct gender roles .In the 16th century this is uncommon since men usually control the actions of a women since that is part the social construction in that period of…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fatal Influence On Macbeth

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Everyone as a human being has both good and bad characters, and they will also change as they grow old and some people also learn from their mistakes. In the play, “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the character of Lady Macbeth depicts both good and evil tendencies, particularly her evil tendencies can be seen at the beginning of the play. Over the course of time, Lady Macbeth changes adequately from the lust of power to more of an anguished person. The consolidation of the fatal influence by the witches and Lady Macbeth on Macbeth is what mustered for a disaster.…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    3) Macbeth sees a dagger floating above him in the air and its tip aiming towards Duncan. Macbeth tries to grasp the dagger but fails. He thinks it is a real dagger, which is a false creation. This is to show that Macbeth is ready to kill Duncan, but is afraid of the consequences and the guilt which comes along with it as a result, “Is this a dagger before me, the handle toward my hand, come let me clutch thee. “Art thou vision or sensible” p51…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While Macbeth awaits Lady Macbeth's signal, he sees a bloodied dagger before him. Alarmed, Macbeth exclaims "I have thee not, and yet I see thee," revealing to the audience that the dagger is merely an apparition (II. i. 35). It can be inferred that the dagger appears as a result of Macbeth's obsession with the impending murder. However, it remains unclear whether or not the dagger is a hallucination or a supernatural phantasm. Shakespeare leaves this up to the audience's interpretation to allow them to experience Macbeth's feelings of confusion and unease for…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Initially, Lady Macbeth is just ambitious, but when she reads the letter from Macbeth about the prophecies she contemplates murder. She only cares about ‘the future in the instant’. This means that she doesn’t care how she achieves greatness, but uses her cleverness to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Even as she loves him, she calls him ‘my dearest partner of greatness’, which shows that she is very aware of her position. She is calculating and knows exactly what her plans are to kill Duncan; she also tells her husband to look ‘innocent’ but to be a ‘serpent’. She manipulates her husband by calling him a coward and using emotional blackmail to get her own way.…

    • 507 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is why when Macbeth starts feeling the regret for what he is trying to do. Even Though he goes to end duncan's life. He starts to hallucinate by seeing the daggers pointing towards Duncan as if Macbeth wasn’t sure about what he was going to do. He then kills duncan and ends up still feeling the regret and forgets to clean up the mess which Lady Macbeth for him. The next part of the plan was to deceive everyone else into thinking the servants killed Duncan which later led macbeth having to execute both of…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics