ipl-logo

Dialectical Journal For Macbeth

684 Words3 Pages

Passage 1
The context of this scene is after Macbeth received his promotion to Thane of Cawdor and he sent a letter to his wife Lady Macbeth, who was at Macbeth’s castle. A messenger gave Lady Macbeth a letter written by Macbeth which described his promotion to Thane of Cawdor. This promotion is ultimately what this excerpt of passage is referring to along with Lady Macbeth’s desire for her husband to further advance up the ranks and seize the crown, which King Duncan currently holds. In this passage, which contains Lady Macbeth’s famous, “Unsex me speech,” Lady Macbeth shakes off her femininity in order to do the dirty work require to overthrow Duncan and install Macbeth as King. Lady Macbeth’s determination to reach this end for her husband is …show more content…

Macbeth is thinking about the implications of assassinating the King and potential consequences of such an act. Lady Macbeth planted the idea into Macbeth in order for Macbeth to ponder such things implied in the idea of assassination of the King. In the beginning of Macbeth’s soliloquy, Macbeth turns over the idea of punishment for such an act in his mind and brings up the point of having punishment in “the life to come.” (Shakespeare 288) even if he gets away with the act on Earth. He then tries to find reason to kill Duncan besides his own ambitions for power and cannot find any reason as he says that he is Duncan’s kinsman and should “shut the door [on the murderer], / Not bear the knife myself.” (Shakespeare 288). He also brings up the point that Duncan is a benevolent king ant that “tears shall drown the wind.” (Shakespeare 288) if King Duncan dies. This passage shows Macbeth’s ego as id and superego, which, in this case, are ambition for power and civility respectively, is at play and influencing his upcoming actions, along with Lady Macbeth’s

Show More
Related
463 Words | 2 Pages

1. I think that Shakespeare wrote in blank verse because sometimes when I am reading something that rhymes and is super long I eventually don't even understand what I am reading, I think it aids the drama even if it is confusing. I'm just thinking about all the words rhymes and kinda give myself a beat to go off of. So I'm not actually focusing on the sentence just the words that are rhyming. Shakespeare seemed to smart, and plus that is how a lot of things were written back then.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Looking up at the cauldron-black sky pouring with rain, scars of flashing light ripping through clouds. Macbeth's screams ran through the muddy patches of the battle field. Staring at the enemy lines his thirst for blood became stronger, With his bloodshot eyes and his screams for victory as he charged with his men right by his side. Storms of arrows attacked the sky blending into the darkness of the clouds, As the running men collided the sounds of the heavy metal armour smashing into each other deafened the sounds of the shouts and screams of the wounded from the front lines, Macbeth who was the most fearless among all strided head high on his horse slashing down at the enemy soldiers. The black stripes painted down his face with excess mud

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

What Macbeth essentially says here is that his only motivation for killing King Duncan is his ambition. Many would argue that it was not Macbeth’s ambition that caused him to kill King Duncan but instead was his wife using her femininity in order to charm Macbeth into doing as she says . However, Macbeth’s hunger for power was already seen when King Duncan gives Malcolm the title of Prince of Cumberland. Macbeth tells himself that he must not reveal his true intentions: “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.”

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth was loyal to king Duncan and loved him; he would not have even thought of killing him otherwise. All throughout the first act Macbeth is trying to talk himself out of even thinking about harming the king. Macbeth,

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

“Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye that wink at the hand; yet let that be which the eye fears,when it is done, to see” (Shakespeare 1.4 58-60). Macbeth is admitting that he has his own hidden desires and wants to become king because of his own passion and drive. He is trying to justify what he knows he will have to do in order to make himself king. He knows that he has to kill to become king and to keep his throne, and is trying to convince himself that this will all be worth it in the end when he becomes king. Some would argue that Lady Macbeth made him king, but his own desires were truly what fuelled his ambition to do whatever it took to make himself king.

Read More
396 Words | 2 Pages

She uses multiple methods to convince him, including questioning his masculinity, using her power as his equal, and exploiting her trifecta of feminine qualities. By use of degradation, she prompts Macbeth to question his masculinity and respond defensively by assuring her that he “[dares] do all that may become a man” and that those “who [dare] do more [are] none” (1.7.51-51) When Lady Macbeth utilizes her status as his equal, she knows she possesses a direct channel into his decision-making process and uses this to fill him with an “appetite for personal success”, as it is referred to by

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

(Shakespeare 1.3.52-55). Macbeth is influenced by his greed for power to use ruthless actions, in this case to kill Duncan to receive the crown he thinks he needs to earn that power. Overwhelmed by his greed, he is already thinking about the “murder” as he

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

What is this place? Filled with this foggy, filthy air; am I alive? What are these weird creatures that flow around like naked innocent children with pair of wings? I should be dead, as I remembered that Fife--a non women born child, cuts down my crown and left me with full betrayal. Not loyal, Macduff is not loyal, he cannot act as a brave man as he betrayed me just like I did to Duncan.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

The scene Act 3 scene 2, conveys the theme that killing someone isn't the most proficient way in dealing with problems nor does it make life simpler, instead it creates more complications. Ironically, In this scene Lady Macbeth and Macbeth discuss the death of Banquo; both of them begin to show signs of fear & guilt. Both of them realize the troubles that come with killing Banquo, and recognize that troubles follow; his son Fleance can still cease the prophecy. This is demonstrated in the metaphorical quote “We have scorched the snake, not killed it.” Macbeth refers to Banquo as a snake, who has not yet been killed and is still able to “attack” them.

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

With this in mind, if a man couldn’t do something a woman can, he was a disgrace; Lady Macbeth is taunting Macbeth with the gender gap, which makes him want to prove he’s more masculine and can keep it together. Even though, Lady Macbeth is viewed as a manipulative character, towards the end, she changes and shows signs of remorse/regret, which is not like her character. Lady Macbeth begins to feel remorseful because she has made an outright killing machine out of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts to ask herself “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?

Read More
1959 Words | 8 Pages

Her ambition is not only for herself but also for Macbeth. Nevertheless, with all her fervor, she wants him to be as strong as her. “Make thick my blood./Stop up the access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose/Come to my woman’s breasts,/And take my milk for gall” (1.5.44-49). Lady Macbeth never wavers in her goal.

Read More
1163 Words | 5 Pages

This was when Lady Macbeth received Macbeth’s letter, notifying her of the witches’ prophesy as well as his new title, ‘Thane of Cawdor’. ‘Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here’, is a quote extracted from Lady Macbeth’s first soliloquy. In this quote, Lady Macbeth is indirectly asking for her femininity to be stripped off from her due to the fact that the crimes she wants to commit would be stereotypically considered as manly. The womanly façade that she bears acts like an obstacle in her ambitious path that would prevent her from executing the crime, thus imposing it on Macbeth. This could be considered as a cunning or fiend-like act, which in this case is a fairly accurate description of Lady

Read More
1241 Words | 5 Pages

“If good, why do I yield to that suggestion[killing Duncan]/Whose horrid image doth unify my hair” (I, III, 144-145). This quote indicates that the force of ambition is so strong within Macbeth that even he himself cannot understand why it is making him think of killing Duncan. Likewise, Macbeth’s ambition to become king is further emphasized after Duncan names his son Malcolm as his successor. Here, Macbeth says that he will have to “oerleap,/For in my way it [Malcolm] it lies” (I, III, 55-57).

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

She is a loyal though misguided wife, not without tenderness and not without conscience. Lady Macbeth’s willingness to sacrifice her femininity exposes her loyalty towards Macbeth. After reading the letter regarding the witch’s prophecies, she decides she must do whatever it take to make Macbeth King: Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.

Read More

More about Dialectical Journal For Macbeth

Related Topics

Open Document