A+ Macbeth Essay

Things in Threes

In the dramatic play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare many things come in groups of three. The number three is very common throughout the play and it had a huge role in Macbeth’s insanity. The three murders are the most obvious group of three in the play. The next group of three is the three witches that convince Macbeth to do all of the bad things. The final group of three is all of Macbeth’s titles.

The three murders are the easiest group of three things in the play that lead to Macbeth’s insanity. The first person that Macbeth murdered in the play was King Duncan. “A dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (II, I, 50). Macbeth is now seeing a floating dagger because he is about to murder the King and he is extremely nervous and he is extremely paranoid. This is the first sign of Macbeth’s insanity. When Macbeth orders the killing of Banquo you can tell that Macbeth has gone insane. “And with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces the bond which keeps me pale” (III,ii,54). Macbeth has gone completely insane by this point in the play because he was able to tell the three murderers to kill Banquo with ease and no regrets. The final murder in the play was the murder of Macduff’s family. “seize upon Fife, give to th’edge o’th’sword his wife, his babes and all unfortunate souls (IV,I,172). At this point Macbeth is not only insane but he is also paranoid because a messenger told him that Maduff went to England to gather an army to turn on him so he murdered Macduff’s family to try and show Macduff what he is capable of. All three of those murders were the main reason that Macbeth went insane.

In the play there are three witches that tell Macbeth to kill the king and that tell Macbeth about the three advisaries. (I,iii,53). The witches tell Macbeth that he will evenyually be king. This is where Macbeth first gets the idea to kill the King. (IV,I,90). One of the witches tells Macbeth that no man born of a woman can kill him so that boosts Macbeths confidence and is not afraid of Macduffs army because of what the witch said. (IV,I,103). The witches also tell Macbeth that he will not be over taken until he sees trees moving up Dunsinane hill which sounds impossible to Macbeth so his confidence only grows more and more. Macbeths biggest influence were the three witches because they convinced him of so many things and in the end it all fell apart.

In the play Macbeth is known by three different titles. The first title that he is known as is Thane of Glamis. (I,iii,51). When the witches say “hail Macbeth” they are feeding the fire because Macbeth already knows that he is Thane of Glamis but the witches are making him seem bigger than he really is. Macbeths second title is Thane of Cawdor. (I,ii,78). Macbeth has just been pronounced Thane of Cawdor and the King is telling everyone to go congratulate him on his new title. Now on top of being Thane of Glamis he is also Thane of Cawdor so now he has more power and Macbeth loves the power that he has so why would he stop there. Macbeths final title is King of Scotland. (II,iv,43). Macduff has just told ross that Macbeth has just be pronounced Kin of Scotland. This was the biggest contributing factor to Macbeths insanity because he let all of his power go to his head and it eventually got him killed.

In the dramatic play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare there are many things that come in groups of threes that contribute to Macbeths insanity. The three murders are the main thing that caused Macbeths insanity. The three witches are what made Macbeth do all of the murders. And the three titles that Macbeth has gave him the power to follow through with all of the murders.

Daniel Antonopoulos