Macbeth Essay
The need for power and the consequences it has on the mind are detrimental to a person's being. Evil doings reveal the sinful soul and impurities that lie beneath. Throughout Macbeth, the characters’ morality decline as they struggle to maintain sanity. The most important theme in Macbeth is guilt and conscience because Shakespeare uses it to show the effect impurity can have on mankind.
Impurity means one’s nature has been spoiled in some way by sin or crime. Whether it takes the form of ambition or greed, an impure mind results in conflicting emotions and drives a person to madness. On the night of Duncan’s death, Macbeth hallucinates the weapon he used to murder him and asks, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee” (2.1.34-35). The event haunts Macbeth’s head and makes him feel distressed. Later, Macbeth discusses the deed with Lady Macbeth and questions why he “could not pronounce 'Amen'” (2.2.30). He continues to share he “had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' stuck in [his] throat” (2.2.31-32). Prayer is a sign of a clear and pure mind. Macbeth’s sins against humanity such as killing Duncan prevent him from pronouncing “amen” because he is no
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At the banquet Macbeth hosts for his guests, he cries, “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou has no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.97-100). Macbeth feels guilty for being the cause of Banquo’s death, even though Macbeth hired murderers to get rid of him. Macbeth’s cruel thoughts cause him to hallucinate Banquo’s ghost, showing signs of mental derangement to his guests. Omens such as blood and disturbance in natural order plague his mind. Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth’s hallucinations “fake,” which is ironic because she begins having hallucinations as well in Act