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Mental Disorder In Macbeth

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Macbeth is the main character in William Shakespeare’s drama, Macbeth. Macbeth was still in shock from the killing of King Duncan, this was the turning point in his sanity. He experiences from a lifelong illness called paranoid schizophrenia, which is the presence of auditory hallucinations or prominent delusional thoughts about persecution or conspiracy. In the play he shows himself suffering from this disorder when he he has hallucinations becomes convinced of things that aren’t necessarily true, and by his patronizing behavior.
Hallucinations can be quite frightening experiences. In Act 2 Scene 1 Macbeth sees a dagger before the death of Duncan. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which now I draw.” (p.363) The night Duncan was murdered; Macbeth starts to hear voices. “I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” (p.366) “Sleep no more!” to all the house. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more.” Macbeth shall sleep no more.” (p.366) While struggling to hid his guilty conscious, In Act 3 scene 4 …show more content…

As the readers we know the things they say aren’t definite, at the beginning of Act 1 they say together “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”.(p.342) At first Macbeth was doubtful regarding the three witches’ prophecies. After hearing the prediction of him becoming King with Lady Macbeth being a huge influence on him, he starts to believe it all. “MACBETH. Speak, if you can. What are

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One of the many symptoms he shows is insomnia it is first seen after the murder of king Duncan. An example of this symptom is “ Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more”(2,2,41-42). Macbeth has killed king Duncan and the reality of what he has done is setting in he says he will not be able to sleep knowing what he has done. The next symptom Macbeth experience is hallucinations it is seen when he is debating whether or not he should kill King Duncan. “ Is this dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my

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I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” This quote meaning that Macbeth is seeing a floating dagger to kill King Duncan with, leading towards his room. In the Folger play, the knife appears in a mirror in front of him, and not a dagger leading to Duncan's bedroom about to be executed with. Macbeth’s mentality is slowly fading at this point, beginning to see fake illusions. Macbeth facing these challenges also lead him to become a narcissist, meaning he is full of himself.

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Rather than have to think about my crime. I’d prefer to be completely unconscious” (ll.ii.75). This is an example of Macbeth panicking after murdering Duncan because he realizes his action and starts to hallucinate. With the witches and his wife's sway of the idea of becoming king, Macbeth loses it and acts upon the potential of the title.

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The voices he hears that threaten: “Macbeth shall sleep no more” indicate a relationship between guilt and madness. Therefore, the manifestation of the dagger suggests that he feels guilty because of his attempt to murder Duncan. There are three major transitions of thought. First, he contemplates about the dagger’s existence; the second is the invocations of dark images; finally, there is the bell that cuts off Macbeth’s contemplations. The transitions between topics indicate that while Macbeth feels guilty for the murder, his determination makes him ignore

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At the beginning of the play Marson stated that Macbeth is portrayed as “valiant, dutiful to his sovereign, mild, gentle, and ambitious” (68). However, soon Macbeth is welcomed by the three witches and they speak their prophecy and declare him Thane of Cawdor. Still, Macbeth’s mental state is not shaken up, however, he is in a delusional state of mind. Macbeth rejoices and sends a letter to Lady Macbeth knowing that the witches’ prophecies come true. At the time, Macbeth has no interest in killing King Duncan, but Lady Macbeth does.

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(Macbeth, Act II Scene II) Voices within his mind is the first symptom of schizophrenia that Macbeth presents in the play. However, the evidence of schizophrenia within the mind of Lord Macbeth does not end after the murder of Duncan, in fact it gets seemingly worse. Soon after the murder

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The dagger points to Duncan 's room and appears to be covered in blood. This encourages Macbeth to commit the crime of killing the king. Shakespeare is showing the audience that what Macbeth is about to do is evil and catastrophic which will change the whole course of the play. Moreover, his hallucination of the floating dagger signifies Macbeth’s confusion and he can no longer distinguish between his imagination and reality, which is why he firmly believes that the dagger is a sign to commit the

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