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Macbeth Critical Essay
Shakespeare's thrilling tragedy is about Macbeth's rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden cause of evil deeds generating still more evil actions. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural realm of witchcraft, insomnia and derangement. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. There are many interesting and unique themes in the play, and also scenes of contrast between characters and key turning points. These are some of few things that I will be discussing.
In Macbeth, ambition conspires with unholy forces to commit evil deeds which, in their turn, generate fear, guilt and still more horrible crimes. Macbeth is a character study in where there’s not one, but two main characters respond individually and to the psychological bother of their crime. In the course of the play, Macbeth repeatedly misinterprets the guilt that he suffers as being a matter of fear. His way of dealing with his guilt is to face it directly by committing still more offences, and this produces more madness. By contrast, Lady Macbeth is fully aware of the difference between fear and guilt, and she attempts to prevent feelings of guilt by first denying her own sense of conscience and by focusing her attention on Macbeth's guilt.
The theme of guilt first appears in Act 1 Scene 3, when Banquo shows his surprise at Macbeth's reaction to the witches' promises: "Why do you start and seem to fear, Things that do sound so fair?" The word 'start', meaning to jump with shock, is always associated with a guilty reaction. Later, Macbeth's guilt takes visual form when he hallucinates that a blood-covered dagger is leading him to murder Duncan.
In the scene which occurs immediately after Duncan's death, Lady Macbeth orders her husband to get some
Shakespeare's thrilling tragedy is about Macbeth's rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden cause of evil deeds generating still more evil actions. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural realm of witchcraft, insomnia and derangement. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. There are many interesting and unique themes in the play, and also scenes of contrast between characters and key turning points. These are some of few things that I will be discussing.
In Macbeth, ambition conspires with unholy forces to commit evil deeds which, in their turn, generate fear, guilt and still more horrible crimes. Macbeth is a character study in where there’s not one, but two main characters respond individually and to the psychological bother of their crime. In the course of the play, Macbeth repeatedly misinterprets the guilt that he suffers as being a matter of fear. His way of dealing with his guilt is to face it directly by committing still more offences, and this produces more madness. By contrast, Lady Macbeth is fully aware of the difference between fear and guilt, and she attempts to prevent feelings of guilt by first denying her own sense of conscience and by focusing her attention on Macbeth's guilt.
The theme of guilt first appears in Act 1 Scene 3, when Banquo shows his surprise at Macbeth's reaction to the witches' promises: "Why do you start and seem to fear, Things that do sound so fair?" The word 'start', meaning to jump with shock, is always associated with a guilty reaction. Later, Macbeth's guilt takes visual form when he hallucinates that a blood-covered dagger is leading him to murder Duncan.
In the scene which occurs immediately after Duncan's death, Lady Macbeth orders her husband to get some