Paranoia In Macbeth

In the tragic play of Shakespeare, the protagonist, Macbeth is characterized as a malevolent ruler whose mixed emotion gets in the way of his power and develops hallucination of rival which causes him to lose sanity. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth’s bitter character using metaphor, diction, imagery, and personification to show Macbeth’s thrive for power influence his mind negatively and grows greed, ambition, and selfishness that later develops insecurity and anger within himself. These uneasy feeling leads Macbeth to hallucinate rivals and provokes him to lose sanity to keep his power. Therefore, Shakespeare describes Macbeth as a malevolent character whose evil traits creates a mixed emotions within himself and develops a serious case of paranoia

After Macbeth’s achievement on stealing the kingship from Duncan, he develops a fear of getting exposed for his sin and grows paranoia by thinking about Banquo’s prophecy of being the father of the king. In the beginning of the soliloquy, Macbeth mentions, “[Banquo] hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour to act in safety [..] and under him My genius is rebuked” (3.1.57-60). In this quotation, Shakespeare uses an admiring tone to show Macbeth admires the fact that Banquo always lets his intelligence guide his spirit and make beneficial yet safe choice for himself. Therefore he states, “under him my genius is rebuked” which metaphorically indicates that Macbeth lowkey feels insecure and jealous of Banquo’s quality of being brave and intelligent; which he lacks. Macbeth sees this quality of Banquo as a threat because he can expose Macbeth’s sin with his powerful “wisdom”. Also, by phrasing “guide his valour to act safety”, Shakespeare sets a concern imagery for Macbeth because Banquo is too smart to be deluded. Therefore, not only Macbeth feels insecure with Banquo but also sees him as his great enemy. This threat and insecurity eventually develops fear within Macbeth and leads him to say,, “Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns

Macbeth starts to develop a rage toward Banquo and loses his sanity when the witches foretells Banquo that he shall be the father of the future king. This prophecy causes Macbeth to burst out in anger and comment, “Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown And put a barren sceptre in my gripe” (3.1.65-66), therefore “No son of mine succeeding” (3.1.68). In this quotation, Shakespeare uses a blaming tone to display Macbeth’s rage toward Banquo for snatching the power away from his hand. He shows that Macbeth’s plan with the power is to pass it on to his heirs. But with Banquo’s prophecy interfering, Macbeth’s crown is “fruitless” and his sceptre is “barren”. Shakespeare here uses garden metaphor to compare Macbeth’s “fruitless crown” to a tree that cannot bear fruit and “barren” to the infertile soil that is too poor to produce foods. This indicates that Macbeth’s temporary power is useless and too weak to pass it on to his heirs. Therefore, no son of Macbeth will have the opportunity to rule. This thought of power overages Macbeth and causes him to blame Banquo for every cruel deed Macbeth have committed to steal this kinship. He accuses, “Only for them, mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man” (3.1.72-73). In this line, Shakespeare uses a mocking tone to display Macbeth’s insanity for thinking