Destruction In Macbeth

William Shakespeare wrote “The Tragedy of Macbeth” to show that an individual’s lust and desire for power can not only lead to their own destruction, but the misery and downfall of others as well. Shakespeare accomplishes this task by using literary elements such as imagery, tone, and characters to show the pain brought upon society by the desires of a single individual. Shakespeare uses these elements in ways to provide the readers with a sense of paranoia for the future of the play, and fear for the outcome of Macbeth’s actions. He portrays that the veil of power conceals the consequences of one’s actions and shows how these consequences can cause ultimate pain to everyone. The Tragedy of Macbeth includes characters of all purposes and personalities which shows how broad the acts of one person can affect so many. Shakespeare sets up Macbeth as a character of loyalty, however, Macbeth quickly turns into a person so hungry to be powerful, that he is blind to his own

Shakespeare creates these images so that the reader will understand the true fear and devastation brought to pass by the actions of an individual doing anything possible in order to obtain more and more power. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth begins to see things before he kills Duncan. He sees a knife with “gouts of blood” (page 370, line 45) upon it, which foreshadows that soon death and destruction will reign in the land rather than peace and prosperity. Shakespeare also uses the imagery to show how Macbeth begins to see people that he believes may overthrow him as something that must be killed. When Macbeth speaks to a murderer, he tells him that “the grown serpent lies” (page 391, line 29) as he is speaking of Banquo. Shakespeare uses this imagery of Banquo as a snake to show how Macbeth has become blind to the truth, and is now doing anything necessary to obtain