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Pathetic Fallacy In Macbeth Essay

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The play “Macbeth” is a Shakespearean tragedy that explores the dark and immoral side of humanity.And reminds us of the importance of moral integrity, as we consider that this play was written in the Jacobean era, meaning we can suggest the audience's awareness of King James’ paranoia surrounding witchcraft, Having published a novel named ‘daemonology’ in order to educate and reinforce how witchcraft was a heinous crime against God and humankind, King James’ skepticality originated from his suspicion of witchcraft causing his mothers death. The relevance of the witches portrayed in act 1 scene 1 to start the play is major as we consider that the generally evil nature witches, combined with the use of pathetic fallacy in this scene could be …show more content…

The word “serpent” suggests malice and emphasises lady macbeth’s desire for Macbeth to be king, we are also able to analyse the biblical reference as we consider that the Jacobean audience of this era was a majority christian population, and the serpent is most commonly identified by the story of Adam and Eve, where satan enters the body of a serpent to deceive adam and Eve, their action subsequently broke their relationship with God, which resulted in them being expelled from the garden of Eden where they experienced harmony, peace, and perfection, this action would affect mankind negatively forever, and is the reason humans suffer to this day.We are strongly able to suggest that the serpent represented in this quotation portrays the worst possible example of evil, foreshadowing the betrayal and murder of king Duncan, which further conveys Lady Macbeth’s twisted morality and her desire for power, despite knowing hell would await her. In this quotation we can also analyse the use of “be the serpent under’t”, the verb “be” can be inferred to be a command, in order to further portray Lady Macbeth’s position of power, and could possibly suggest that …show more content…

Throughout the play, we are shown the negative consequences of deception to Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth’s relationship. The most prominent and recurring consequence is guilt, and the haunting consequences of conscience, which are salient themes in ‘Macbeth’. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both possessed with feelings of guilt after committing treason, and disrupting the great chain of being, subsequently leading to their emotional and mental destruction. An example of Lady Macbeth's guilt is in Act 5 Scene 1 while sleepwalking when she notes how “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” when referring to the metaphorical blood on her hands from her act of regicide. to consider that Arabian perfumes are often considered the most exotic and luxurious fragrances at the time .We are further shown the consequences of deception and its negative effects.
This quotation also outlines how deeply Lady Macbeth is affected by her internal guilt. The use of “perfumes of Arabia” is made to emphasise the severity of Lady Macbeth’s sinful actions, and how her nothing can remove the psychological and moral stain of her part in Macbeth’s actions,we can refer back to act 1 Scene 5, when Lady Macbeth requests the to be overtaken by evil “spirits” that “ tend on mortal thoughts”. This is evidence perhaps of being human and unable to escape to the consequences of our actions. Even if you get away with your actions through hiding it, psychologically you are unable to escape

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Additionally, Lady Macbeth’s participation in the murder of King Duncan drives her insane,”Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!”(V.i.37). Lady Macbeth's call to demons to fill her soul with evil did not protect her from the from the consequences of her actions. The decay of Lady Macbeth’s sanity is Shakespeare's warning to the audience not to act out of selfishness for one cannot see the consequences in store when one acts rashly for self

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These quotes are seen in a soliloquy to show the independent moral and mental destruction of Lady Macbeth and describe how she is perhaps overly obsessed with Macbeth becoming king. Lady Macbeth is once again seen as supernatural as she encourages Macbeth to "'look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. " This arguably refers to the book of Genesis to emphasise the duplicity of Lady Macbeth as well as show her as evil. In the Jacobean era, a serpent was seen as an instrument of Satan, further reinforcing her connection to the

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Pathetic fallacy is a dominant element in Act 2 of Macbeth. One example of nature seeming to respond to man’s deeds is shown before the murder. When Banquo is speaking with Fleance he says, “There’s husbandry in heaven, / Their candles are all out” (2.1.4-5). Banquo mentions how no stars are visible in the sky similar to how Macbeth begs that the stars hide their fires in the previous act.

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Shakespeare writes ‘Macbeth’ to denounce transgressing the status quo and the Divine Right Of Kings within the Jacobean era. He presents Macbeth as a violent character who goes onto destabilizing the status quo. At the start of the play, the witches start off with a paradoxical chant, “fair is foul, and foul is fair”. In other words, Shakespeare shows how good is bad, and bad is good. Furthermore, the witches are foreshadowing the malleability of the characters and how they are transgressing the status quo, and, by proxy, God.

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483 Words | 2 Pages

In the first act of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, the recurring motifs of fate prophecy and concealed truth are use to display and contrast appearance versus reality. Right from the opening scene of the play, the audience quickly realizes that not everything is as it seems. In this scene, the Three Witches briefly discuss their plans and set the moods for the rest of the play. However, the Witches’ intentionally state their words in a manner that is meant to confuse and mislead the audience. The Witches’ describe a paradox in their statement that “fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.12).

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Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief. 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!", this quote tell us about how lady Macbeth want to be the man that her husband can’t be, this reflects how every now

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452 Words | 2 Pages

Macbeth's guilty conscience affects his thoughts, emotions, and actions throughout the play. After killing Duncan, Macbeth starts to regret his actions, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (2:1 50-51). When Macbeth is about to kill Duncan, he sees a floating bloody dagger pointing at Duncan's chamber.

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1358 Words | 6 Pages

The word “still” suggests that the smell of the blood lingers although some time has passed since Duncan’s murder. Perfumes have a strong scent that can overcome any smell the person has at first. The fact that even the strong scents of perfume cannot “sweeten this little hand” tells us that the smell of blood cannot be overpowered, which will haunt Lady Macbeth forever and remind her of the sin she committed. Her

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In Act one scene five, Lady Macbeth is positively provoked at the thought of her husband becoming King and she, herself, becoming. Lady Macbeth tells her husband to ‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’. Shakespearean audiences would have been recognised this quote as a reference to ‘Genesis’. In the third chapter of Genesis there are lines which say ‘now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made’. This cross referencing between the bible and Lady Macbeths lines assists our understanding of her character as it shows us the extent which she is prepared to embrace evil just as she later calls on the spirits directly to fill her with evil.

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(Act 2, Scene II). However, as the story progresses, Lady Macbeth is the one who takes over the guilt of the two. In Act V, her guilt comes back to haunt her. “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh,

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1514 Words | 7 Pages

Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, focuses on the tumultuous events that surround a regicide. Despite being the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays, in his critical study of the play A. C. Bradley concludes that due to its vehement nature the audience is left with an impression “not of brevity but of speed” . The principal female character of Lady Macbeth is arguably one of his most contentious. Consumed with intense passion, ambition and greed she challenges the subservient role of the traditional Elizabethan woman. She has disturbed, horrified and intrigued both contemporary and modern audiences alike through her powerful diction.

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This signifies that by the witches telling Macbeth his prophecy in their meeting, and Macbeth therefore killing Duncan, the human world and the natural world were linked to his guilt. They were now associated through the darkness seen in nature, or the witches magical involvement. Some examples of nature revolting due to the unanticipated power shift is that after King Duncan is murdered, nature outside of the castle specifically begins to act “unnatural”. The sky is dark in the middle of the day which represents the way the king's life has been darkened, he has died, and his power taken by Macbeth in a dark manner, murder. When Macbeth’s mind is unnaturally altered because of the witches prophecy, it causes a disruption to the order of all those involved.

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1054 Words | 5 Pages

Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (Act 5, Scene 1) Though she continuously rubs her hands to get rid of the blood, Lady Macbeth can not washed away the guilt that stains her hands.

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2486 Words | 10 Pages

Explore the ways that Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a character that disrupts the Great Chain of Being. ‘Macbeth’ by Shakespeare was performed in 1606, during King James’ reign. When Shakespeare wrote ‘Macbeth’, witchcraft was a topic of considerable interest and fear, even reaching as high as the new king of England, James I, who had written a book, Demonology, about witches. Elizabethan society may have thought that James I was a weak link in the Great Chain of Being, as he wasn’t directly related to the previous Queen. ‘Macbeth’, was written for the court partly in the response to the Gun Powder Plot of 1605 in order to reinforce the Divine Right of Kings and James I legitimacy to the throne.

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647 Words | 3 Pages

Unlike the idea of personification, pathetic fallacy is the expression of humans/societies condition through natural disaster. In the case of Macbeth, nature turns to chaos in order to express the state of ongoing affairs. Though nature can sometimes behave in violent ways normally, in this case, it is ‘lashing out’ as a result of Macbeth, who kills Duncan and dishonestly claims the throne. Obviously, the environment and its inhabitants are not supposed to be acting the way they do in the play, and therefore the affairs are of the supernatural sort. The Scottish nobleman, Lennox, is one of the first to notice nature's strange reaction to the discourse.

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