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Importance Of Motifs In Macbeth

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Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare, a renowned English poet and playwright of the 16th century. Like most great works of literature, Macbeth contains a number of motifs, which are reoccurring themes or elements that can found in a story. Motifs are mainly used by the author to emphasize a certain idea or theme in the plot. According to the online article, The Role and Importance of Motifs in Macbeth by Tom Wiig, “Shakespeare employs the use of motifs to emphasize certain ideas as he aims to point out key elements for us, the audience, to decipher and explore.” Some of the motifs that appear in Macbeth is irony and paradox.
In order to understand why irony is a motif in Macbeth, it is important to know the meaning of irony. Irony is a figure of speech in which there is a contradiction between what is expected and what actually happens. Furthermore, Shakespeare intentionally used irony in Macbeth to create and maintain suspense, while …show more content…

The three witches prophesize that Macbeth is destined to become king. Although this prophecy is true, it is ironic because Macbeth’s idea of being king contradicts what really happens in the story. Macbeth most likely believed that once he kills Duncan that he would enjoy the wealth and power that comes with the throne. He believed that he would be happy. However, after he murders Duncan, Macbeth ultimately experiences the guilt of his actions. As the story progresses, Macbeth goes on this killing spree that includes the deaths of Banquo and Macduff’s family. These deaths were a result of Macbeth’s insecurities that he would lose his power. Macbeth’s actual reign as King of Scotland contradicts what he expected. Therefore, Macbeth’s belief that he would enjoy his time as King of Scotland is ironic because in actuality he was not happy as the

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The reason why Macbeth killed Duncan was because the three witches foretold him that he was going to be king and was enhanced to a further situation

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Macbeth on the other hand, seems to have been attracted to the power he could have if their prophecy were true. Macbeth shows that he’s a greedy, gullible, and foolish man when it comes to power. After their return, the prophecy becomes reality and Macbeth will be king Duncan’s successor. With Macbeth’s confusion came uncertainty, and so he seeks solace from his wife lady Macbeth, and tells her of what has happened.

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Themes in Macbeth Macbeth is play about craving power, contemplating your gender, and being defeated by your own ambition. These three themes in Macbeth have one general word in common its, Macbeth. Not only was Macbeth a power-hungry man defeated by his own ambitions, but also got look down upon especially by his wife for his unmanliness. He had one main goal in mind, to be king, and he wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in his way, even if that meant killing everyone in his path.

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of appearance vs. reality to emphasize how a limited perspective of something or someone will most likely lead to the destructive nature of deception. This is shown in the first act of the play where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hold false appearances to keep their plans a secret and later in the play when Macbeth is king and dealing with the guilt of killing the king and Banquo’s death. In the first act at the start of the play the motif is introduced by three witches chanting “fair is foul, and foul is fair”(1.1.12). This sets up one of the main themes of the play.

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The witches' predictions just urge this desire to be above all else. The witches who symbolize Macbeth's shrewd desire put his contemplations into real words. The thought of homicide jumps out at him,"My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical," (I, i). Macbeth himself recognizes his "vaulting ambition" that drives him to murder after Duncan

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In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many motifs and symbols to help develop the theme. The most effective symbols and motifs that Shakespeare uses are the birds, blood, and sleep. In Macbeth, birds are mentioned many times. "The raven himself is hoarse /

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Throughout all of the history of literature, themes have been the backbone of every story ever written. From ancient epic poems, to modern day stories, authors have always had a reason for writing or telling. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses multiple themes to to teach a lesson. They include Macbeth’s ambition to become king to his downfall, to fate and free will, as well as the transformation of guilt and conscience. Shakespeare uses these to subtly give a hidden meaning and is able to do it very effectively.

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“Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house”(2.2.39). The successful murder of the king sends people into a state of panic, “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!”(2.3.57-58). Throughout the act, people start to calm down, or the theme changes, after they piece together the murder, the guards would’ve never been expected to be the murderers, which confuses them.

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At the start of the play, Macbeth visits the witches with Banquo at the closing of the battle. The witches speak to Macbeth and Banquo and get the idea of a prophecy in Macbeth’s mind. “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis./ All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor./ All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.46-48). When the witches get the prophecy in Macbeth’s mind, he believes it will come true and misunderstands the prophecy of the witches. Although the witches make Macbeth believe in the prophecy of becoming the King, Macbeth is responsible for his downfall because they do not recommend Macbeth to kill Duncan.

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Today, many modern movies, dramas, and books include themes from and portions of The Tragedy of Macbeth written by Shakespeare. Besides influencing American entertainment, elements of the play are used in other countries, especially in the Korean drama, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. It is about a warrior during the Goryeo dynasty who was executed by a malignant king, but the soldier was resurrected as a goblin, known as dokkaebi in Korea. The goblin has a sword stuck to his chest and can only die when the goblin’s bride is found to pull out the blade. Guardian: The Lonely and Great God includes parts of The Tragedy of Macbeth like the motif of prophecies and Macbeth’s vantage about life.

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The most used type of irony in the play was situational irony because the characters in the play did not play for any of the outcomes that will happen as the play progresses. In the play, Lady Macbeth is shown that she does not think about the consequences that may come with one’s action. She was blinded by her own greed at first when she says “A little water clears us of this deed; How easy is it, then!” (II, ii, 68-69), but at the end she regrets the decisions she has made when she says “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?-No more o’ ; That, my lord, no more o’that.

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The audience can now see his desires as well as his ambition. At this point, Macbeth is still hesitant of revealing his true nature, but the audience gets a peek of what he yearns for. In addition, the witches’ predictions are known to be paradoxical, their predictions are never straightforward; they tend to have different interpretations. Macbeth kills King Duncan to obtain the power he was told he’d get. Despite that, the witches never said to kill King Duncan; they told him he would become king.

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The witches played a colossal role in Macbeth’s downfall and ultimately, his death. Since the first part of the prophecy stated Macbeth as being the new Thane of Cawdor, he believed he could continue to become king as well. In knowing his prediction, Macbeth also realized that since the king was in good health, so he would have to kill the king himself. For the rest of his prophecy to come true he would have to kill the king for himself. “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!”

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The first theme in Macbeth that has a very relevant fundamental today is corruption of power. Corruption of power is when someone comes into power, and the feeling takes over them. The power gets to their head, they try and get

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The Play Macbeth, By William Shakespeare, tells the story of Macbeth, a commander in the Scottish army under the rule of King Duncan. Throughout the play, Macbeth rises in the ranks of the Scottish hierarchy, relying on the treason of others, the guidance of the three witches, and his own treason and betrayal. Macbeth eventually becomes the king of Scotland, throwing the country into disarray. In the play, Macbeth is constantly being influenced by the three witches which leads to his transition into a murderer and traitor. While Macbeth may have committed the wrong deeds, it was the witches that influenced him to do so, making them the antagonists of the play.

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