Month: December 2016

How does Shakespeare present Macbeth’s deteriorating state of mind?

December 6, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s deteriorating state of mind using a variety of language devices and techniques.

MACBETH

Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!

Macbeth’s manhood gets questioned a lot by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth plays a big role as an evil influence to Macbeth. From the instant that he told his wife about his ‘black and deep desires’ of being a king. Shakespeare tries to use Lady Macbeth as a device to start the deterioration siding with the short evil way, persuading him to abandon his morals as a brave courage man. This is Dire Ambition.
Macbeth’s mental status is like a train that stops in different stations for a small amount of time and then moves to another station until the end of the journey. Observing the play from the beginning of the play to the end of it. We explore major shifts on Macbeth’s life that, not just change his way of thinking about life. The witches changed his attitude towards the people surrounding him. This does not mean that the killing he has done and the isolation he did put him self in eventually is because of the witches. That is the idea that Shakespeare is trying to enforce. If you are willing to do bad things, be ready and have the courage to face the consequences.
Shakespeare uses a variety of language techniques such as metaphor to present Macbeth’s deteriorating state of mind. Just when he killed King Duncan, Macbeth hears a voice telling him that he will not sleep again. Shakespeare uses a lot of metaphors to describe the feeling that he has towards sleeping since Macbeth thinks he is not going to sleep again. When he says,

MACBETH
—the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.

He is saying that sleeping removes all the worries that a human being has. Sleeping is a comfort for tired people and it heals damaged minds. Shakespeare uses all of those metaphors to strengthen the idea of despair.

When Macbeth killed Banquo, Macbeth started seeing a ghost that resembles Banquo with 20 stabs on the head. Macbeth gets frustrated and says,

MACBETH
Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me

This is called the use of metaphysics. Because you cannot provide evidence of the existence of the ghost of Banquo and you cannot provide evidence against it. Shakespeare uses that to prove that Macbeth’s brain is deteriorating.
Macbeth shows the guilt that he feels after the death of Duncan when he says, Shakespeare uses language to prove how guilty Macbeth feels after the killing of Duncan by over exaggerating the water it would take to  clean Macbeth’s hands from blood. Hence the blood of Duncan is not just on his hands, however, it it is on his heart.

Macbeth
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Shakespeare uses rhythm to show the deterioration that characters are having.Normally high status characters will talk in iambic pentameter. Whilst low status characters will talk in different type of rhythm or in no rhythmical pattern at all. Macbeth, the king of Scotland, is supposed to talk in iambic pentameter, and Shakespeare does use iamb for the speeches of Macbeth. However when his wife dies. The woman that he loved for very long. The woman that persuaded him to do whatever she wants. Macbeth’s mental status worsens a lot. This is seen in the way Shakespeare makes him speak.

MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

 This is a great soliloquy because it proves the mental break down that Macbeth has. The broken rhythm shows how the character is thinking about what he wants to say. Broken rhythm is used to show the emotions that Macbeth has. Having a king talk in broken rhythm shows how much deterioration that, not to just the king, but the whole nation. In other words, broken rhythm means broken mentality.
Shakespeare also uses paradox to show Macbeth’s deterioration. In the planing of Duncan’s killing, Macbeth starts getting frustrated. These are the first changes that Macbeth is forcing him self to. After persuading him self. Macbeth says something interesting.
MACBETH
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
This paradox means, do not show what you have in your heart by the expressions of your face. This is the point where all the hiding of emotions starts. And in this point Isolation starts.
Shakespeare uses Dramatic Irony to prove how Macbeth is a big snake that can not be trusted in the beginning when he says
MACBETH

(aside) The prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
The (aside) marks that it is dramatic Irony. This is suggesting that has his eyes on the prince of Cumberland because of his ‘black and deep desires’. This proves the witches’ interruption in Macbeth’s morals.
Suspension of disbelief is a powerful tool that Shakespeare uses to enforce the idea of him communicating something to the audience. This magical device is used throughout the play to prove that the writer is the one who is talking. There is a remarkable moment where Shakespeare use the suspension of disbelief technique. When Macbeth’s wife dies, Shakespeare finally makes it clear why he used all of these techniques and language devices.
Macbeth
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Shakespeare created this character ‘Macbeth’ with all the twists in his morality and the consequences that he had to serve with no choice. The Dire Ambition ideology that shows how some people will do anything to get to their dreams, even if by doing that you are hurting others. Shakespeare
Shakespeare is saying that being rich and owning everything does not mean you will be happy. Depending on the way you get to richness, you’ll seek either happiness or loneliness.

Act 5 Scene 2 to Scene 9 (Macbeth)

December 4, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Scene 2 starts with lords discussing Scotland and Macbeth, as the English army and the rebels approach with the lead of Malcom. This is when we are introduced to the meeting of the English and the Scottish rebel army’s meeting in near Birnam Wood. We know, from this scene that Macbeth is preparing his army in Dunsinane Castle. The lords show us that Macbeth’s army is fighting not for their king, but because they are forced to fight.

LENNOX

     Or so much as it needs,
To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds.
Make we our march towards Birnam.

In scene 3, Macbeth’s keeps making a fuss, next to the doctor, about how he is undefeatable and that he cannot be scared because no one can kill him since everyone is born from a women. Plus that he will be king until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Seyton, Macbeth’s servant says that an army of ten thousand men are approaching. The doctor then tells Macbeth about Lady Macbeth’s delusions and Macbeth orders him to cure her from them.

MACBETH

I’ll put it on.
Send out more horses. Skirr the country round.
Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armor.
In scene 4, the meeting in Birnam Wood starts, and the army leaders decide to cut off trees from Birnam Wood and carry them as they approach Dunsinane Castle so that they disguise their armies number.
MALCOLM

Let every soldier hew him down a bough
And bear ’t before him. Thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host and make discovery
Err in report of us.
In scene 5, we are introduced to the death of Lady Macbeth, then Macbeth says one of the most famous Shakespearean soliloquies.
MACBETH

     She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
This soliloquy shows the sadness of Macbeth, if those news did not scare him, the next news were about Birnam Wood approaching Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth starts panicking because of the news, he tries to make him self confident by saying that at least he will die fighting.
In scene 6 Malcom gives the order to start the attack.
In scene 7 Macbeth keeps killing any one next to him and showing a lack of respect because no one can kill him.
In scene 8, Macbeth has a long chat with Macduff whilst sword fighting and Macduff tells him that he was not born from a women’s vagina however he was surgically removed from his mother, Macbeth then refuses to continue fighting. However Macduff tells him to kneel then and admit that he is not the king any more. Macbeth refuses to kneel and says
MACBETH

     I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
In scene 9 Dunsinane Castle is captured by the English and rebel Scottish armies. Ross tells Siward that his son died when facing Macbeth. Macduff entres with Macbeth’s head and Malcom is crowned King of Scotland.