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Mental Decline In Macbeth

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Macbeth At the beginning, Macbeth glorifies as a victorious soldier and crowns as The Thane of Glamis. But after hearing the three witches ' prophecies, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail thee, Thane of Glamis!, Thane of Cawdor!, that shalt be king hereafter”(Shakespeare I.iii.11), Macbeth 's ambition rises and transforms him into an evil character. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth 's quest for power causes him to become greedy, commit murders and experience guilt, which ultimately leads to his mental decline. Firstly, Macbeth 's desire for power leads to greed which causes his mental decline. When the witches’ initial prophecy becomes true as King Duncan titles Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth ponders whether “chance will …show more content…

Finally, Macbeth 's greediness and committing murder drives him to experience guilt and causes his mental decline. To begin, when he decides to kill Duncan, Macbeth hallucinates and questions “is this a dagger I see before me” (Shakespeare II.i.33). Even before this murderous act, Macbeth is shown to be affected mentally at the thought of killing. After stabbing King Duncan, he starts hearing strange voices in his mind “[he] hears a crying voice, sleep no more”(Shakespeare II.ii.32-33) suggesting that already regrets the murder. Macbeth considers himself a sinner,“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash...”(II.ii.58-59) and the inability to say “ Amen...”(Shakespeare II.II.24). Moreover, following Banquo’s murder, Macbeth’s guilt is revealed through visual hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost. Furthermore, when Macbeth hears of his wife’s death, Macbeth believes life is meaningless and is nothing “but a walking shadow...” (Shakespeare V.v.24-28). To summarize, the desire for power and murderous deeds leads to Macbeth’s immense guilt, ultimately leading to his mental decline. In conclusion, Macbeth desire for power leads him to the wrong path and brings him to the mental deterioration stages. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a courageous soldier who fights for his country but his ambition makes him an evil person. Good deeds have good accomplishment but evil deeds have bad consequences. However,Macbeth 's mental decline triggers are greediness, and paranoia caused by murders and guilt. However, Macbeth 's ambition causes

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“All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”

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