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Lady Macbeth: Insanity In Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Insanity in MacBeth Insanity is seen everywhere. It is seen in life and even books and plays like MacBeth. MacBeth is play written by William Shakespeare based in Scotland about a man named MacBeth who wants to become King and will do anything to become it. His wife Lady MacBeth and himself become so obsessed with they go insane in their own ways about it. Although they both go insane they differ in that MacBeth goes insane over his desire of being and what he does as King while Lady MacBeth goes mentally insane and how much she wants her husband to be king. MacBeth desire and greed to become king is what makes him go insane. With his wife telling him things about being king and becoming, it makes him think that he has do anything possible …show more content…

She shows her first bit of insanity when she says, “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2.2.13). Lady MacBeth was so willing to kill Duncan for her husband to become king. Her insanity continues affects her so bad that she says, “...all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (5.1.39). She has so much bad and kept it in that nothing can fix her causing her to go mentally insane. After the killing of Duncan is when Lady MacBeth mental insanity starts. We first see it when the gentle woman says, “Why, it stood by her. She has light by her continually. ’Tis hercommand” (5.1.17). She has to have a light next to her all the time because all of the things her husband and her have done. She also starts to wash her hands all the time because of all the killings she and her husband have done. Lady MacBeth’s mental insanity gets so bad that it kills her. Although MacBeth and Lady MacBeth’s insanities aren't the same it still affected them in some ways. Without the insanity in the characters, the play wouldn't have been completed. Their insanity helped make the play interesting and enjoyable to read what would happen next. Insanity is in everyone and will always will be. It can be anything from something small to something big. MacBeth and Lady MacBeth are to examples of what can happen if you deal with it the wrong

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Additionally, Lady Macbeth’s participation in the murder of King Duncan drives her insane,”Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!”(V.i.37). Lady Macbeth's call to demons to fill her soul with evil did not protect her from the from the consequences of her actions. The decay of Lady Macbeth’s sanity is Shakespeare's warning to the audience not to act out of selfishness for one cannot see the consequences in store when one acts rashly for self

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In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth wanted to gain power and leadership over the country of Scotland and become king. He wanted these authorities so desperately, Macbeth would do whatever it took to get it, even going as far as murdering not just one but multiple people. He wanted nothing more other than to be king as well as his wife. Throughout the play, Macbeth showed different varieties of many mental disorders but mainly Paranoia and Schizophrenia. Paranoia is described as ¨a delusional belief that one is being harassed, or betrayed by others¨, while Schizophrenia is described as ¨a serious long-term mental illness that affects how a person thinks, feels, and

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Madness, and power leads Macbeth into a dangerous mind-set. Becoming so delusional that he starts to think the

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She first began to reveal her sociopathic tendencies in Act I, Scene VI when she lied, without remorse, to King Duncan -- flattering him as she plotted to end his life. This scene exposes two key indications of antisocial personality disorder in the character: pathological lying and disregard for the effect her actions have on others. As the act continues, Lady Macbeth further justifies her ASPD when she states (in Scene VII) that she would willingly kill her own child -- “I would, while [the child] was smiling in my face, have plucked my

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Bryanna E. McCool Mrs. Dean British Literature 25 January 2018 Mental Illness in Shakespeare’s Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a play wrought with prophecies, deception, guilt, and death, brings light to the symptoms of mental illnesses and their effects on the human brain’s ability to reason, trust, and act in times of pressure. Both Macbeth and his lady are plagued by mental illness, and the effects of their illness only grow as the play evolves. Macbeth’s symptoms of schizophrenia and anxiety, as well as Lady Macbeth’s anxiety as well as hallucinations that eventually push her to suicide prove that not only can mental illness alter the way a person sees a situation, but it can also drive them to harm others and themselves.

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare writes about a man named Macbeth, who has a very strong ambition to be the the king of Scotland. His credulousness led him into believing the prophecy from the three witches without thinking rigorously. Because of this prophecy, Macbeth is willing to do everything he can to gain the throne, even to the extreme of murdering someone. Shakespeare uses syntax, similes, and personification to convey the evolution of Macbeth’s insanity.

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The play, Macbeth, shows the among between sanity and insanity and the struggle between reason and delusion. Throughout this whole play, Macbeth slips into a state of lunacy slowing turning into a psychopath. The basis of understanding the play is through the first murder, King Duncan. Macbeth’s other two assassinations are just used as efforts to secure his throne. He begins accepting the evil inside him and succumbing to the temptation to murder and insanity.

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Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a play that mainly focuses on one common theme of insanity. Macbeth gradually becomes plagued by intense guilt as his desire for power drives him to attain his goals by any means necessary, including committing murder. He kills Duncan in cold blood in order to become King, has Banquo killed by three murderers because he wishes to maintain his position as King, and finally, he has Macduff’s family slaughtered. Each of these occurrences takes place because of Macbeth’s will to be King, or they are a result of his guilt. Nonetheless, they are all completed of his free will, which is what causes him to deteriorate mentally.

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There are many people in the world that experience mental problems and therefore affecting their personality. Not everyone though is as bad as Macbeth when it comes to mental deterioration. Macbeth is a very self-centered man and it leads him to change the person he once was. Although it is not seen much in the beginning of Shakespeare's play “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Macbeth’s mental state deteriorates as the play progresses, which can be seen when he is guilty of murdering King Duncan, being taunted by the ghost of Banquo, and his speech to the witches.

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Shakespeare engineered a most impressionable character in Macbeth who easily succumbs to the extensive magnitude of opposing constraints. This character is Macbeth, who is the protagonist in the play and husband to a conniving wife, who in the end is the sole cause for Macbeth 's undoing. Conflicting forces in the play compel internal conflicts within Macbeth to thrive on his contentment and sanity as he his torn asunder between devotion, aspiration, morality and his very own being. He has developed a great sense of loyalty from being a brave soldier; however, his ambition soon challenges this allegiance. As his sincerity begins to deteriorate, his own sanity starts to disintegrate until the point where he cannot differentiate between reality

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Her feelings of shame and weakness have made her crazy to the point where she has herself doing these things. Not only was she sleepwalking after realizing her mistakes of pushing Macbeth about his manliness too far, she “appears to be washing imagined blood from her hands. Her actions and confused speech greatly concern the doctor.” (5.1.Exposition). After manipulating Macbeth to kill King Duncan and to solve his guilt by washing his hands, she is found compulsively “washing” the “blood” off her hands to rid her own guilt.

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“Looks like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”(Shakespeare 1.7) this truly defines Lady Macbeth and describes her being someone that acts one way in certain situations and then in a contrary manner in others and also shows her manipulative personality and exploits her victims. Lady Macbeth is sharp at convincing and uses people for her need which she does throughout the play. In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is ultimately responsible for Macbeth’s undoing because her ambition supported his greed and provoked his downfall. Lady Macbeth with her demanding and forceful comments triggered Macbeth 's weakness which leads Macbeth to agree on the murder.

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