Massacres In Macbeth

Whenever, we find ourselves stuck in a pickle, we turn to our loved ones for help. Although we may believe that we are the captain of our own destiny, family members and friends are the true benefactors of what we become. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare addresses this same idea through chronicling the massacres and assassinations performed by Macbeth, the former brave Scottish general. Throughout this play, Shakespeare suggests that although people’s actions are driven by personal ambition, outside influences and the people around them play a key role in amplifying and shaping what they turn out to be.

Throughout this play, Macbeth massacres kings, authorizes the assassination of families, and becomes a crazed dictator,

Shakespeare justifies this notion by including “bell,” a hollow body of cast metal, formed to ring, or emit a clear musical sound. Especially during the medieval era, bells functioned as cheerful melodies during a ceremony or an inauguration. It is as if the author advertently depicts “bells” to signify Macbeth’s imagination of his own inauguration of becoming the next King of Scotland. From this, Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth’s lust for power drives him to assassinate his former virtuous king. Shakespeare further suggests that that Macbeth’s lust for power causes him to assassinate his former king: “I have no other spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition.” Here Macbeth directly states that he has no other reasons to murder King Duncan, but his ambition to be king. After Macbeth murders his former king, he arranges and authoritizes the assassination of his next adversary: Banquo, the brave and noble general of Scotland. Macbeth hires murders to do the disastrous deed, and says to them “Both of you Know Banquo was your enemy….. So he is mine and in such bloody distance that every

For example, Lady Macbeth says this to Macbeth: “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet I do fear thy nature: It is too full of th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great. Thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. (Act 1, Scene 5, 15-20). In this scene, the of wife of Macbeth questions and insults her husbands manliness in order to persuade him to fatally massacre King Duncan and instruct him of his opportunity for power. For example, she names his the “milk of human kindness,” a phrase depicting a weak and cowardly woman. She also claims “Thou wouldst be great,” to convince him that he can be the next powerful king. From this, Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth’s actions and ambitions are largely defined and persuaded by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth also remarks “Sit worthy friends. My lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth…… He will be well again,” when Macbeth remarks he has seen a ghost of Banquo, whom he previously assassinated. (Act 3, Scene 4, 50-55). In this scene Lady Macbeth explains to her dinner guests that her husbands obnoxious remarks and distracting hallucinations have been a normal occurrence with him, in order to reduce suspicion about the murders of Banquo and King Duncan. In