Diction In Macbeth

Throughout the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses diction to convey a change in not only his characters, but their environments and other character’s points of view. The varying uses of honor allow Shakespeare to introduce motifs about Macbeth’s changing character throughout the play. At the start of the play, Macbeth is an innocent thane, yet by the end, he is a merciless king who becomes obsessed with his possible power. The honor represents his valiancy at first even though by the end, honor becomes worthless because Macbeth has abused it and has lost any trust from his people. At the onset of the play, Macbeth enjoys the honor of being a thane and understands that it is a unique position because there are a limited amount of them.

Before the attack on his home is confirmed, Macbeth tells his servant, “As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have, but in their stead / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath” (5.3.25-27). After killing too many people, Macbeth finds no purpose in honor or having love like a king normally has because he has survived so long without them, so by now he has adapted to these emptinesses. He has come to the conclusion that friends are no longer necessary because they just create more issues and more curses. They give him a false hope of honor, but the honor will not help him now. Macbeth yearns for the honor which he abandons once he decides to follow Lady Macbeth’s advice. Finally, in the final scene when Malcolm gives his closing monologue, he says, “In such an honor named. What’s more to do, / Which would be planted newly with the time, / As calling home our exiled friends abroad” (5.9.30-32). In Malcolm’s speech, he references Macbeth’s abuse of his power and the honor that he loses as he continues abusing it. He knows that his reign will be honorable, and that it will not be tyrannical. He comprehends Macbeth’s failures and plans on regaining honor and to make it valuable under his rule. Malcolm notes that when people are said to be honorable, it is going to mean something, and that Scotland will not have another Macbeth who abuses power and becomes dishonorable. In conclusion, by the end of the play, the word honor loses its value because Macbeth misused it too