One's Undoing (Formalist Approach) The Story of Macbeth is set in a society where loyalty to one's superior is most absolute. Macbeth's breaking of this vow leads to his own demise and highlights the story's motif of kingship and natural order. All of the relationships in Macbeth are perverted. Banquo and Macbeth as comrades in war. Duncan and Macbeth as a king and his subject as well as a host and guest. Not to mention Lady Macbeth’s domination over Macbeth. The central theme in Macbeth is betrayal. Betrayal to one's king, friend and oneself. All of these go against the natural order of things. Shakespeare also highlights a man's own free will with the weird sisters' prediction of Macbeth being told he will become a King, yet how and when …show more content…
This has awakened Macbeth’s conscious. Here he begins to feel a powerful sense of guilt that will follow him throughout the play. The idea that there is enough blood on his hands that even “ all of great Neptune’s oceans” can’t wash will haunt him until his death. Blood will serve as a symbol of guilt for Macbeth especially the idea that there is enough to turn the entire sea red, symbolizing how great his guilt is. The person knocking is Macduff who eventually destroys Macbeth, as he is not born of a woman, but threw C-section as said by the weird …show more content…
I agree with her and say Shakespeare uses his hands to symbolize how his life wasn’t just one track. Macbeth didn’t have to commit all the acts he did and could have used the same tools he used for evil to redeem himself and make things go back to the natural order. She addresses his unableness to exhort control over his hands as deformed and “a sign of the willful smallness and sterility of his existence.” As Macbeth is unable to fix his wrongdoings, his guilt elevates to another level. After his killing of Banquo, he begins to hallucinate his gory ghost and spirals into even greater darkness. Macbeth seeks out the weird sisters again and asks for more of his fortune, as he is paranoid about the stability of his position. It is here where he has decided he needs to kill Macduff and his family. This is a far greater crime than the rest because he has actually lost his humanity and has ordered Macduff's children to be