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Paradox In Macbeth Analysis

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In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare introduces us to a man on a mission to assassinate the reigning king of Scotland, King Duncan. Through King Duncan, Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s crude and unfiltered nature while capturing every second of Macbeth’s sadistic plan. With the use of paradox, internal character struggles, and the idea of fate, Shakespeare provides insight on what madness Macbeth created and the effect his madness has on other characters. Through the use of paradox in the play, minor details guide the path of the story to the very end. Without the use of paradox throughout the play, the play would not make any sense at all. Near the beginning of the play, there are three witches who tell Macbeth of a prophesy to become King of Scotland, in which the witches chant, “fair is foul and foul is fair” to foreshadow the entirety of what lies ahead (I, i, 10-11). The phrase signifies that what lies ahead is fair and foul, however good is bad and bad is good. This truly gets its meaning when Macbeth kills King Duncan. He kills Duncan, and completes a foul act. However, it is all according to the prophecy, so it holds as fair. What would be a fair act to bring in the heir to the throne transitions from a positive connotation to one that is foul, and therefore a paradox blooms with these events. Malcolm, son of King Duncan, later reveals that he wants to kill Macbeth because of the many that he has killed in his path to claim the throne.
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When they meet Macbeth, they make predictions for his future which cause him to lose sight of where he was originally. As a result of these predictions, Macbeth’s actions begin to change and we see the first effects of the paradox “foul is

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Passage 1 The context of this scene is after Macbeth received his promotion to Thane of Cawdor and he sent a letter to his wife Lady Macbeth, who was at Macbeth’s castle. A messenger gave Lady Macbeth a letter written by Macbeth which described his promotion to Thane of Cawdor. This promotion is ultimately what this excerpt of passage is referring to along with Lady Macbeth’s desire for her husband to further advance up the ranks and seize the crown, which King Duncan currently holds. In this passage, which contains Lady Macbeth’s famous, “Unsex me speech,” Lady Macbeth shakes off her femininity in order to do the dirty work require to overthrow Duncan and install Macbeth as King.

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implied that Macbeth was glorify violence and how hard he tried to against the fate, the outcome will efficiency internecine. In Act 1, scene 7, Lady Macbeth was trying to engage Macbeth ‘ to be a man’ and then to kill Duncan get the throne, Macbeth was hesitant however he said ‘I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. ’ This demonstrates that Macbeth were obsessed with the power and to trust the weird witches, the fate. The line ‘If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.

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In Macbeth, Shakespeare writes about a man named Macbeth, who has a very strong ambition to be the the king of Scotland. His credulousness led him into believing the prophecy from the three witches without thinking rigorously. Because of this prophecy, Macbeth is willing to do everything he can to gain the throne, even to the extreme of murdering someone. Shakespeare uses syntax, similes, and personification to convey the evolution of Macbeth’s insanity.

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The play, Macbeth, shows the among between sanity and insanity and the struggle between reason and delusion. Throughout this whole play, Macbeth slips into a state of lunacy slowing turning into a psychopath. The basis of understanding the play is through the first murder, King Duncan. Macbeth’s other two assassinations are just used as efforts to secure his throne. He begins accepting the evil inside him and succumbing to the temptation to murder and insanity.

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In William Shakespear’s “Macbeth” Fate is a being of unpredictability and a twisted mind. She is responsible for the slaughter of King Duncan and his guards. The fair and foul lady decides a path that is laid out for every person. The witches’ have the ability to give a people Fate’s path. They spoke “All hail, Macbeth!

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Speak, I charge you” (1.3.71-79). As time progresses and Macbeth finds the first prophecy has come true, he invests his future in the idea of being king. Initially he presumed fate would make it so, but when Malcolm is announced to be the next king, his mindset shifts into the new possibility that he himself will have to make it so. This is the first insight into Macbeth’s mind that shows corruption

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Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (Act I, Scene I) Nothing is, but what is not. (Act I, Scene III) These two quotes mean it’s a world where nothing is as it seems.

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Macbeth had another chance to change his outcome. his wife was consumed with the idea that he would become king, so much so that she pushed him to kill the current King. She said she couldn 't do it because King Duncan looked too much like her own father. Macbeth could have easily dismissed this and not listened to his mentally dwindling wife, “Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, to cry ‘hold, hold!’” He followed the instructions of his wife and killed the king.

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“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires”. (Act 1 scene 4) This quote means when Macbeth decided whether or not to kill the king so he can become king himself. In this essay I will be talking about how I believe Macbeth is a tragedy of character, how Macbeth launches an element of fantasy from the witches and how the witches played a giant role.

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Macbeth’s ambition is one of the most prominent things that drive Macbeth in the play and truly becomes evident when he hears of the Witches prophecies. When the witches stop talking, he demands to know more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (I, III, 73-74). This portrays his excessive curiosity on the subject as well as his craving for more desirable prophecies. This ambitious nature and craving for power is also demonstrated only moments after hearing the witches, when he starts formulating a plan to kill Duncan in order to make the third prophecy come true.

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