Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, demonstrates the corrupt and consuming nature of power. In Macbeth, the struggle for power is prompted by a supernatural event–the Weird Sisters give a prophecy to Macbeth in the passive voice by telling him that he “shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.53), with no instruction or specific time frame. The prophecy creates an ambiguous space of interpretation that is filled with Lady Macbeth’s grinding ambition and Macbeth’s proleptic imagination–an imagination that foreshadows the play’s tragic events, that is beyond rationality or reality, and that escalates over time. The time between thinking and doing something quickens to the point where Macbeth “go[es] and it is done” (2.1.75) and where characters cannot distinguish …show more content…
While the horses represent Scotland, the dagger of the mind represents Macbeth’s proleptic imagination. As the play progresses, the time between Macbeth’s seeing the dagger and drawing it, between thinking and acting, continually shortens to the point where, for Macbeth, “The very firstlings of my heart shall be/The very firstlings of my hand” (4.1.161-162). The dagger represents his inability to distinguish between what is and what is not, between perception and reality, and, ultimately, between good and evil. After Macbeth kills Banquo, his friend and comrade, Macbeth’s feelings of paranoia and guilt escalate to the point where he sees Banquo’s ghost, a physical representation of his misdeeds. Lady Macbeth calls the ghost “the very painting of [Macbeth’s] fear” (3.4.74) and compares it to “the air-drawn dagger” (3.4.42) that led him to Duncan. As the ghost arrives and sits in Macbeth’s seat, Macbeth says “Sweet remembrancer!” (3.4.42), presumably to Lady Macbeth, but the phrase has a double meaning and the subject is