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Insanity In Macbeth

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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 …show more content…

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

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Macbeth And His Schizophrenia Picture this: a world full of witches, prophecies, and bloodshed. Welcome to William Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Macbeth. Some may argue that Macbeth's erratic behavior and hallucinations throughout the play are signs of schizophrenia. However, a closer examination reveals that Macbeth's actions and psychological state are better understood within the framework of guilt, ambition, and moral deterioration. This essay will argue that Macbeth has schizophrenia and show how his character represents the tragic consequences of a flawed individual driven by his ambitions and inner demons.

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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

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Macbeth soon presents himself as a sane person by screaming at something that clearly wasn’t there. Lady Macbeth excuses the incident as a childhood habit however they both knew the deaths were doing harm to Macbeths

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(Macbeth, Act II Scene II) Voices within his mind is the first symptom of schizophrenia that Macbeth presents in the play. However, the evidence of schizophrenia within the mind of Lord Macbeth does not end after the murder of Duncan, in fact it gets seemingly worse. Soon after the murder

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The presence of Banquo's ghost is a clear representation of Macbeth's superego, reminding him of the ethical norms he has violated in his pursuit of power. When Banquo’s ghost returns Macbeth states “Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide/thee!” (Shakespeare 3.4 94) As soon as he saw Banquo again he screams out of anger deflecting his guilt with madness.

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In his soliloquy, "Is this a dagger that I see before me…" (Shakespeare 2.1.43), Macbeth speaks of his ambition and willingness to defy the laws of morality to gain power. Macbeth's ambitions are presented in a sympathetic light as we can see his struggle between his ambition and his conscience. Some people can sympathize with Macbeth's current struggle for more, his lust for more from his life, and the guilt that he struggles with, even thinking about his potential actions. Within Macbeth's soliloquies, we can see his consciousness. He is constantly questioning his actions and weighing the moral consequences of his choices.

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Then he begins to hallucinate the dagger being in the room which drives his mind to a deeper state of anguish. Macbeth mind played games on him so much he committed treason then proceeded to turn on himself and feel regret and guilt towards his past actions.

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After each of these events, Macbeth’s sanity takes a hit and he begins to hallucinate

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A Guilty Conscience: How Guilt Drives the Powerful to Insanity Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.

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Macbeth shall sleep no more.” ” It seems that Macbeth just hears things that aren’t actually there. This implies, Macbeth is undergoing a mental state from his guilt. It is clear by his actions that he is starting to become very crazy.

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If thou canst nod, speak too./ If charnel-houses and our graves must send/ those that we bury back to our monuments”, (III.iv.70-74) Banquo’s ghost showed up to the dinner and Macbeth was the only one who could see him. He threw a fit and was creating chaos yelling foul things at the thin air. Macbeth's mind is so corrupted that he's imagining the ghost of the man he had killed. He is losing his sanity and giving in to the foulness of murder and evil.

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That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them: but they did say their prayers and address’d them again to sleep” (Shakespeare, 2.2.28-31). He then further explains how he thought he heard a voice saying, “Sleep no more! Macbeth doth Murder sleep” (Shakespeare, 2.2.43-44). Although in reality there were no voices that came from the house, it was all a figment of Macbeth’s imagination. Plus, as Macbeth is panicking that someone is coming, Lady Macbeth “tries to bring him back to a sense of reality, warns him against losing his strength and purpose and then urges him to take the dagger back” and wipe the blood on the King’s guards (Bali, 87).

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Macbeth exhibits anagnorisis while reconciling over both his murders. After killing King Duncan, Macbeth expresses his inner thoughts while Lady Macbeth hides the dagger when he says, (2.2.74-80). Evidently, Macbeth understands that what he has done as a wrong doing and expresses that no amount of cleaning will rid him of the blood on his hands because of what he has become, a murderer. But, despite this newfound moral compass, Macbeth truly believes that the crown belongs to him and only him and is worth risking everything worth. Due to his understanding that he won’t be able to move past his own image of himself as a killer and want for royalty, he reasons that, (3.4.160-171).

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Similarly, Macbeth 's own mental state initiates a rivalry within itself. The thought of killing Duncan brings Macbeth 's brain into turmoil, causing him to hallucinate. He then questions his own sanity by asking if the imaginary dagger is physical " Or art thou but // A dagger of the mind, a false creation // Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?"

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