Macbeth †Discuss the ways in which the play presents to us the picture Essay

Discuss the ways in which the play presents to us the picture of a earth caught between the promptings of his worldly ambition and an acute cognizance of adjusteous and religious values.The tragedy of Macbeth is that we watch the slashf in every last(predicate) of a bulky human beings beca accustom of a flaw in his character. The play begins with the description of the battle between the Scottish forces led by Macbeth and Banquo, and the rebels led by Macdonald and the traitor Cawdor, and the Norwegian forces. The captain says, brave Macbeth well he deserves that name, and describes how he unmercifully beat of the rebels and the Norwegians once morest the odds. He is a hoagy among the kings court, and as he later says, he hath brought golden opinions from all sorts of people.How constantly, scour at this early stage, we see an undesirable side of the character, as expound by the bloody captain he says that Macbeth and Banquo fought so viciously that they meant to bath in reeking wounds, or memorise a nonher Golgotha. This credit entry to Golgotha would have had a much greater impact on the deeply Christian audience of the early 17th Century, when e actuallyone would have cognise that this was the name of the hill on which Jesus was crucified. Therefore, with this credit rating Shakespeare must be aiming to show that Macbeth is non all dear(p), and that although he is a brilliant general, and the hero of Scotland, he is overly ruthless, and bloody.However, this is not the main flaw that is what brings ab disclose Macbeths destruction, his greatest flaw is vaulting ambition which oerleaps itself, and issue forths on thother, and Shakespeare introduces this in Act 1, prospect 3. The witches have already stated in scene 1, that they will near come unneuroticUpon the Heath.There, to satiate Macbeth.so when they appear in thunder (rather therefore whitening or rain), on the heath we do that they are there to meet Macbeth. We also go through from their conversation that precedes Macbeths entrance that they are rattling malicious the first witch has vowed to sail to out to a mail called the Tiger to stop its captain from sleeping, and to keep the ship almost bust up for 567 days, all because the captains wife wouldnt give her a chestnut, while the second witch has been go throughing swine, presumably for fun. This gives a sniff out of dramatic irony when the witches tell Macbeth of his future, and he assumes that these predictions are going to be to his benefit, barely we know that the witches are malicious, and are out to destroy Macbeth.He does not realise this until Act 5 scene 5, when he begin(s) to motion thequivocation of the fiend, that lies like truth. The ambition that I was talking about is introduced when the witches greet Macbeth first with a title that ein truthone knows he has, then(prenominal) with a title that the audience knows he has, exactly he does not, and in the long run with the greatest t itle of all. To this, Macbeth start(s), and seem(s) to fear, and so shows us that he had a guilty conscience, and suggests that he had long been harbouring a deep desire to go away king, even before he met the witches. This means that the predictions have a big effect on him, and begin to take over his mind.Therefore, over the next few scenes, we see the conflict in himself between his ambition, and his conscience. His soulfulnessality becomes divided, and becomes very confused. He is spurred on by his wife, but then he didnt have to tell her about the witchs predictions, as he must have known that she would encourage him to do something rash. And the fact that he did shows that much of him wants her to encourage him towards a terrible deed,Whose horrid image doth unfix (his) bullAnd make (his) seated heart knock at his ribsAgainst the use of characterbut yet he is too full othmilk of human kindness to be able to decide for himself whether or not to kill Dun nates.You whitethorn note that he says that this image is against the use of nature this refers to the belief of there being a natural revise of things, which would be totally upset, and turned on its head by regicide.The off in Act 1 scene 3 shows how his knowings are in turmoil, and how he has become confused each line of thought ends with a paradox, such as nothing is, but what is not. He then moves on to hope that chance may crown him without (his) stir, and concludes that he will let whatever happens happen. However, nevertheless a scene aft(prenominal)(prenominal) this, moments after declaring his allegiance to Duncan, he hears that Malcolm is to be the heir to the throne, and says that this is a trample on which (he) must fall down, or else oerleap.However he is partly so horrified at his own thoughts, that he asks the stars not to let light see his black and deep desires, but he also wants this because he wants to get away with the deed that is lurking at the backrest of his mind. He o bviously realises that his ideas about regicide are very wrong, and he decide himself severely.However, the next scene involves Macbeth and his wife, and in it, we see how with very little persuasion, only a few hints and double meanings, she is able to quickly persuade him to kill Duncan. She tells him to look like thinnocent f low-pitcheder, but be the serpent undert, as if he needed tips in how to rat and equivocate. I say this because in scene 4, he publicly declared his loyalty to Duncan, and then a few lines later (in an aside) begins to show signs that the idea of finish off is building up inside his head. Shakespeare deliberately puts these lines close unitedly to mark the contrast between his outward appearance, and his inner feelings. It is ironic that Macbeths appearance, and feelings should be so different, and so treacherous, when Duncan is on stage, and in the same scene as he claimed theres no art to gamble the minds construction in the face.However, his inner c onflict is shown in scene 7, when he debates with himself, and identifies what is stopping him, and what is driving him on. This soliloquy has a great dramatic importance, because it shows just how tormented Macbeth is by the predictions of the witches and his ambition, in contrast to the sentience of how wrong the murder would be. He begins by saying that he would slew the afterlife if only it meant that he could succeed in becoming king. This is a measure of just how ambitious he is he is a man who is always aware of the afterlife, he mentions it so often, yet says here that he would rather be successful in this one act, than live for ever at Gods side.He then begins to state the arguments against murder, seed with the knowledge that the murderer will have justice eventually. He says that he shouldnt kill him because he is his relation, king and host. He then uses very vivid and apocalyptic imagery to describe how Duncans virtues will state like angels against his own lesser v irtues, in heaven, because Duncan is such a cherubic king. This implies that Macbeth does not think that highly of himself, because he recognises that Duncan is a far divulge king than he ever could be, and is a far unwrap person than he.The image of the naked newborn babe striding the blast is another suit of how vivid Macbeths imagination is, while giving another causa not to carry out the murder the pity that he should feel for the old man. This is the most powerful reason for me, because of the way it is explained, and because I know how the murder will torment Macbeth and his wife for the rest of their lives. Therefore, Macbeth undergoes the c refere from a larger-than-life general, who is the hero of Scotland, to the guiltily ambitious thane, to the morally self-critical host, and then finally, in the rest of this scene, he turns into a poodle of his wife, and lets all his good sentience be knocked down a combination of their ambition, and decides to kill Duncan.Act 2 se es Macbeth carrying out the murder of Duncan (offstage). This alienates him from the audience, so that whereas in Act 1 we apothegm everything about him, including all of his inner conflict, he is now distanced from the audience. This idea is also present scene when the murderers come on he mentions that they have already spoken on the subject of Banquos murder, and so that what the audience may have thought was just another dark thought in the back of his mind, suddenly is a reality. Thus, Shakespeare creates a sort of tension between the audience and Macbeth, because they no longer respect him.This process of alienation continues, and worsens as the play continues, and reaches its peak in Act 4, scene 2, in which Macduffs castle is surprised, his wife and babes savagely slaughtered. This happens on stage, and the horror of infanticide would shock every audience, and so make them hate and recoil from Macbeth. I think that to a modern day audience, this murder condemns Macbeth, bec ause child killings for their parents crimes is a terrible thing, and in modern society there is little worse. However, in the early 17th Century, there had been no Civil War, or French Revolution, so people remedy believed that kings were sacred, and had been put there by God. This meant that regicide was not only murder, but also treason, and an act against God, and the natural order, so was a deeply sacrilegious thing to do.The relationship between Macbeth and his wife deteriorates in a similar way to the relationship between him and the audience in Act 1, they were partners in greatness, with her spurring him on to further achievements, but by Act 3, scene 2, she asks, why do you keep but? but it is too late, and they continue to drift apart, and do not say to each other after Act 3, scene 4.This deterioration of all of Macbeths relationships characterises his descent form the most worthy thane that we see at the beginning of the play, into the abhorred tyrant at the end. He cuts himself off from everything worthwhile in life because of his selfishness. In Act 4, scene 1, he seeks out the witches because he longs know what more lies in store for him. Now that all terzetto of their original predictions have come true, he has nothing left to hang on to, and his ambition is restless. We already know how great his ambition is, so this may explain why he is so desperate to know more. However, when he goes to the witches this time, their predictions are not about his future successes, but sooner are about his downfall. The speech in which he begs them for answers shows just how low he has sunkHis first words are I call this shows that he is using the language of witchcraft, and so is evil. There was another reference of this sort, when he said, so yucky and fair a day I have not seen, as opposed to the witches, who said fair is foul, and foul is fair, but he wasnt dabbling in witchcraft then, and possibly that speech was only intended to reinforce the id ea that throughout this play, all is not as it seems. He then says that if he gets his way, he is watchful for corn and trees to be blown down, so that there would be dearth and destruction in nature. For castles, which were then the definition of stability, and strength, especially for kings, to fall down killing their warders, and for palaces and pyramids, which were more splendid side of being a monarch, to fall down.Finally, he says that the seeds of all life can cease to live, and destruction can continue until it grows tired of destroying, if it means he can find out about his future. This shows that he has completely anomic his earlier sense of right and wrong and of his importance in the world, because of his terrible solipsism. In Act 1, he was able to realise that he shouldnt kill Duncan, because Duncan was a better person than him, and a better king. But by this stage, he has lost all sense of proportion, and is just desperate. He says, for mine own good all causes sha ll give way, and seems to be so much cloaked in solipsism, that he refuses to acknowledge that other people exist.Soon after this, he revisits the witches, and then goes on to murder all Macduffs children. This is a good example of how he changes through the play, and how his ambition has got the better of his awareness of right and wrong. However, this does not meant that his awareness of moral and spiritual values is d.o.a. we can see that his imagination is still very active, and that is why his murder of Duncan affects him so deeply. In Act 1 Lady Macbeth told him to consider it not so deeply after he was terrified by his inability to say amen, but yet this is the type of thing that haunts him to the end of his life, and drives him to separate himself from everything that he holds dear. Once he knows that he has forsaken the life to come, he cuts himself off from all moral and spiritual values, and though he is still very aware of these values, he just ignores them. As Macbe th himself said,I am in bloodStepped in so far that should I walk no more,Returning were as tedious as going oer.In this horrific and apocalyptic imagery, he conveys that he might as well continue to be bad, rather than admit his mistakes, and try to be forgiven. This idea is repeated, when the doctor says that the patient must help itself to be heal from a disease of the mind, and he basically says that he cant be bothered with this. He has a deeply troubled mind, but yet his pride stops him from admitting that he ever made a mistake.By Act 5, scene 3, he knows that it is over, and begins to mourn himself. He says, again with imaginative imagery, that his way of life is slowly dying,And that which should accompany old age,As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,I must not look to have.