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Juxtaposition In Macbeth

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The first Act of Macbeth focuses on Macbeth finding his true identity through the actions of everyone around him. This first starts with the three witches. They make three prophecies for Macbeth: his current status as Thane of Glamis, that he will become Thane of Cawdor, and that he will be king after that. This stays with Macbeth long after the witches are gone. At first he tries to ignore the prophecy but as time goes by he believes in the prophecy more and more, and for this reason, when King Duncan tells him hat he has decided to pass the throne to his own son, Malcolm, Macbeth becomes furious. Feeling betrayed, he goes to a corner and gives his famous speech which includes many examples of juxtaposition between light and dark, and good and evil. Duncan has not made Macbeth King, but he is still thankful for what Macbeth has done for him, and in return he decides to sleep in his house for a day. Macbeth discusses this and the prophecy with lady Macbeth, who then convinces Macbeth to murder the King while he is sleeping and become King. Macbeth agrees to this which then in turn completes his transformation to the man he really is from what he used to be disguised as. …show more content…

The first acts touches upon this theme many times such as in the first act when the witches say: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”, which is an example of a paradox and a great example of how appearances can be deceiving. This happens again in a line by Macbeth which reads: “Let not light see my black and deep desires”, which again ties back to appearance vs reality because Macbeth is a loyal soldier in appearance but in reality, he is thirsty for the throne. There are many more examples of this throughout but I will mention one more, said by Lady Macbeth, which reads: “Look like h’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. This line perfectly summarizees the theme of

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Macbeth was an honorable and loyal soldier to King Duncan. As he stumbled upon the three witches and hearing their predictions. He began to question his future when King Duncan had given a higher rank to his son Malcolm. As if Malcolm was to become king Macbeth’s second prophecy of him becoming king wouldn’t come true or at least it would take a longer time for him to be king. His ambitions toward the crown grew and it slowly but surely began to corrupt his mind.

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As a personality trait, ambition refers to an individual’s desire and determination to achieve success and power. Generally, ambition is necessary to rise professionally, socially, or personally. Despite being a necessity, ambition is a delicate ideal that rarely exists in a steady, healthy balance between dull indifference and destructive eagerness. William Shakespeare depicts the potency of ambition from the very beginning of Macbeth. Macbeth fears ambition, expressing his hopes to “Let not light see [his] black and deep desires.

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The first significant event to be accounted for is the murder of King Duncan. This idea was originally brought about by the witches, more specifically the third witch, who said ‘All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter’. This plants the seed of pending nobility in Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth is considered to have been naïve by allowing the witches to gain his trust with small truths and can then be responsible for the evil to come.

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Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to kill Duncan, being more heartless than Macbeth. Macbeth kills Duncan to become king and is consumed with guilt. Shortly after the killing, he claims that he heard a voice tell him to "sleep no more” and that he "[murders]" "innocent sleep" (2.2.47-48). Macbeth is having internal struggles, not being able to sleep because of the guilty voices that engulf his mind. The innocence that he once had is gone, making him unable to sleep.

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