ipl-logo

Theme Of Disturbed Emotions In Macbeth

1043 Words5 Pages

The play, ‘Macbeth’, is centered around the theme of ‘disturbed emotions’ which is usually caused by seeing or causing something traumatic and leaving an emotional scar on oneself. Some symptoms of disturbed emotions include hallucinations related to traumatising events, severe paranoia, extreme sensitivity to things relating to traumatising events and spacing out at odd times.
‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, often shortened to ‘Macbeth’, was written by Shakespeare for James I, who has succeeded the throne after Queen Elizabeth had died in 1603. The play was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This is relevant to the play as they are both about betrayal towards the king and getting someone else onto the throne. This also links to the theme of disturbed emotions as Guy Fawkes is seen today as a symbol of modern day anarchism, which can stem from anger and hatred.

During the beginning of the play, Macbeth is called “Worthy Macbeth” by Banquo in Act 1.3, yet nearing the end of the play Young Siward comments on Macbeth’s name stating “The devil himself …show more content…

Macbeth questions“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?... I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”. This could potentially represent the severed connection between Macbeth’s mind and reality. Shakespeare’s use of rhetorical questions implies Macbeth might be having second thoughts on killing King Duncan as he tries to grab the fake dagger, but fails in doing so probably representing his conscience and his reluctance to kill King Duncan. This links to the theme of disturbed emotions as hallucinations are one of the side effects of suffering from disturbed emotions, however Jacobean audiences didn’t understand mental illnesses so they wouldn’t have seen this scene the same way a Modern audience would. Instead they would have seen this as something caused by the

Show More
Related

  • Quotes Moulding Macbeth

    694 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” This quote meaning that Macbeth is seeing a floating dagger to kill King Duncan with, leading towards his room. In the Folger play, the knife appears in a mirror in front of him, and not a dagger leading to Duncan's bedroom about to be executed with. Macbeth’s mentality is slowly fading at this point, beginning to see fake illusions. Macbeth facing these challenges also lead him to become a narcissist, meaning he is full of himself.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Chaos In Macbeth

    778 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Scottish tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare chaos and disorder are a driving factor in the plot of the play. It is caused by the Weïrd Sisters who trick Macbeth into believing the illusion of their predictions. Macbeth, armed with a dangerous ambition, goes and creates more disorder throughout the play. A motif that can be traced through the play that adds disorder is weather.

    Read More

  • The Dagger Soliloquy Analysis

    1099 Words  | 5 Pages

    At the beginning of the soliloquy, Macbeth is characterized as a thinker, not quite sure if his choice of action is correct. Shakespeare demonstrates this trait in the first third of his soliloquy, up until he draws his dagger. This third consists of a collection of questions to the dagger that appears in front of him. While being rhetorical, these questions create the sense that Macbeth is not sure of himself or what he wants to do. He is not yet convinced thoroughly that he is going to commit the murder, as he has moments of respite in between seeing the dagger and questioning its reality.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

    691 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Act 2, Scene 1 Macbeth sees a vision of a bloody dagger pointed toward Duncan. This signals the entrance of dark and twisted ambition into Macbeth’s mind, showing that his greed led him to believe that killing Duncan was reasonable. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” (Shakespeare 15)

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth Disturbed Character Analysis

    1503 Words  | 7 Pages

    Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Anxiety In Macbeth

    911 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anxiety, a state of nervousness in response to uncertainty, can disclose information that would previously be unknown in a calmer condition. With his tragedy Macbeth, playwright William Shakespeare explores the interaction between anxiety versus ambition in a balance of power. At the beginning of the play, title character, war general, and Thane of Glamis Macbeth is told by three witch sisters of fate that he will also become the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. He murders the previous king Duncan from persuasion by his wife and his own ambition, and from this begins to experience a sense of regret about the situation, one that will frequently appear in his future endeavors to secure his crown. In his Act III soliloquy, Macbeth expresses anxiety about Banquo, his lack of a successor, and his personal safety, revealing

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In Shakespeare's Macbeth

    767 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bryanna E. McCool Mrs. Dean British Literature 25 January 2018 Mental Illness in Shakespeare’s Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a play wrought with prophecies, deception, guilt, and death, brings light to the symptoms of mental illnesses and their effects on the human brain’s ability to reason, trust, and act in times of pressure. Both Macbeth and his lady are plagued by mental illness, and the effects of their illness only grow as the play evolves. Macbeth’s symptoms of schizophrenia and anxiety, as well as Lady Macbeth’s anxiety as well as hallucinations that eventually push her to suicide prove that not only can mental illness alter the way a person sees a situation, but it can also drive them to harm others and themselves.

    Read More

  • Symbolic Symbols In Macbeth

    1661 Words  | 7 Pages

    Macbeth is one of the tragedy plays written by William Shakespeare. It is about the tragedy of greed, ambition, and wish of power. Macbeth is a complex play and filled with symbols that progress the plot and theme. Symbolical motifs play an important role in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth throughout the play. Shakespeare uses symbolisms so that the reader may gain a deeper understanding and aware of this tragedy.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Close Reading Analysis

    1724 Words  | 7 Pages

    The voices he hears that threaten: “Macbeth shall sleep no more” indicate a relationship between guilt and madness. Therefore, the manifestation of the dagger suggests that he feels guilty because of his attempt to murder Duncan. There are three major transitions of thought. First, he contemplates about the dagger’s existence; the second is the invocations of dark images; finally, there is the bell that cuts off Macbeth’s contemplations. The transitions between topics indicate that while Macbeth feels guilty for the murder, his determination makes him ignore

    Read More

  • Macbeth Motivation Analysis

    521 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth would envision a dagger before him asking himself “is (that) a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand”(act.2 scene.i). The dagger was a metaphor for his ambitions and motivation to make himself king with the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth. After King Duncan was killed, Macbeth felt he was evil at that point where he “belief(ed) he (was) to evil to blessed by god”(act.2 scene.ii). The guilt he felt would drive him to the point of madness and brought into question if he was human after that or something that could not be redeemed.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1 Soliloquy Analysis

    965 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is an example of a paradox from the text. The purpose of this paradox is to stress how Macbeth is when he was committing the murder. The hallucination of the dagger feared him making him confused of himself. Besides paradox, Shakespeare also uses metaphor as comparison between two unlike object to create a more intense figure in the reader’s mind such as “A dagger of the mind, a false creation” (2.1.46) and “Nature seems dead” (2.1.58). “Nature seems dead” (2.1.58) is also a hyperbole found in the text with the purpose to emphasize on how nature has become still and that it seems to be dead.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Insanity In Macbeth

    1134 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mental Stability in Macbeth As Erma Bombeck once said, “Guilt: is the gift that keeps on giving” (“A Quote by Erma Bombeck”). In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, guilt plays an enormous role in the development of Macbeth’s descent into madness. Macbeth is about Macbeth being persuaded by Lady Macbeth into committing heinous crimes, and it all started when Macbeth tells her about premonitions three witches gave him. In pursuit of making those premonitions come true, Macbeth kills King Duncan, which scares his children, Malcolm and Donalbain out of the country, allowing Macbeth to become King.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Death In Macbeth

    743 Words  | 3 Pages

    The personality of Macbeth changes over the course of the play as Macbeth murders many innocent people like, Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's family. The death of these characters symbolizes the death and birth of something inside Macbeth and the beginning of his downfall. Macbeth, at the beginning or the play, a brave soldier only protecting his people and his king, to Macbeth a murderous tyrant only looking out for the greater good of himself. The death of Duncan symbolized the death of Macbeth's before anxious and confused self and birthed a Macbeth full of guilt and anxiety. After being led to Duncan by a floating dagger and murdering him, Macbeth returns to his wife crying, "One cried "God Bless us!"

    Read More

  • Macbeth Sanity And Insanity Analysis

    115 Words  | 1 Pages

    The play, Macbeth, shows the among between sanity and insanity and the struggle between reason and delusion. Throughout this whole play, Macbeth slips into a state of lunacy slowing turning into a psychopath. The basis of understanding the play is through the first murder, King Duncan. Macbeth’s other two assassinations are just used as efforts to secure his throne. He begins accepting the evil inside him and succumbing to the temptation to murder and insanity.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Strengths And Weaknesses

    824 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Disturbed Emotions In Macbeth

Open Document