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Regicide In Macbeth

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Murder, the worst crime a man can commit. Regicide, taking murder a step further by killing a king, God’s anointed. In 1606, William Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Macbeth to reinforce the idea of the Divine Right of Kings by showing the consequences of a regicide. Macbeth, the leader of the Scottish army, kills King Duncan to make himself King. He commits the greatest evil imaginable by going against God’s judgement and killing the rightful ruler of Scotland. By using both elemental and physical symbols, Shakespeare shows his audience that even though appearance can easily hide reality, the truth will shine through in the end.
Shakespeare’s adaptation of water and dramatic irony presents water something that hides the exterior, but not …show more content…

From Macbeth’s coronation at Scone to the final scene of the tragedy, the crown is in the hands of an unrightful owner. When Banquo tells Macbeth that Duncan “might yet enkindle [Macbeth] unto the crown,” (1.3.120), the audience sees the first signs of the crown changing owners. Macbeth presently gets the crown, but because he has won the crown through a regicide, he cannot enjoy the power he has received. He admits that “to be thus is nothing, / but to be safely thus” (3.1.49-50), stating that it is nothing to have the title of king unless he is a worthy king. This use of dramatic irony shows that though the crown should show authority, when Macbeth wears the crown it displays deception. Malcolm, however, is someone who will not hide behind the crown and who deserves to hear the call of his people saying “hail, King of Scotland” (5.9.27). By killing Macbeth, Macduff brings the crown back to the royal bloodline, and the crown again means authority and respect. Though the crown makes Macbeth appear to be the rightful king, the reality of his guilt hinders him from enjoying the power and leads to his …show more content…

Under these masks, however, are guilt and weakness. They can hide behind a clean hands, they can hide behind a crown, and they can hide behind a strong reputation, but they can only hide for so long. Though their appearance looked good, they were caught in the end and they suffered greatly for their evil. As the weird sisters announced at the opening scene, “fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.12), Macbeth seemed fair and a worthy king, but his heart was foul and his guilt could not be

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This leads him to raise an army,and go fight Macbeth. Malcolm may have committed treason and abandoned the throne in a time of need, many people may view this as treason, and yes it was, but, this does not make him a bad person. He chose life over death at the expense that he would have to leave the throne so that he could be safe. This is treason against the throne because he fled to England but, if you were Malcolm and knew whatever he knew at the time would you have stayed. Malcolm showed courage returning to Scotland even though he could be potentially killed at any time with the intentions to retake what was formerly supposed to be his.

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Malcolm, son of Duncan and soon to be king, shows detailed character development from his actions and speeches for his country Scotland. These actions and speeches foreshadows how Malcolm’s leadership will benefit the country but were overlooked by many because of Macbeth’s influence on Scotland. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, shows the actions of Macbeth and how his presence diminishes the royalty of Scotland. Macbeth also shows the actions of Malcolm and how he will deal with Macbeth and what he is doing. Macbeth’s influence as king forced many to believe that the Scotland’s future will fall.

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However, since Macbeth is king of all the land opposing him would be treason. Yet Malcolm continues with his plan and forms an army that goes to attack Macbeth. Macduff ends up killing Macbeth himself. Moreover, Malcolm takes the throne for himself. Power and authority shifts once again.

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(Shakespeare 1.3.52-55). Macbeth is influenced by his greed for power to use ruthless actions, in this case to kill Duncan to receive the crown he thinks he needs to earn that power. Overwhelmed by his greed, he is already thinking about the “murder” as he

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Macbeth’s pride allowed his wife to use his ambition as leverage calling him a ‘coward’, ‘lesser than a man’. Macbeth was unable to withstand the belittlement and his masculinity mocked. Previously, Macbeths desire to obtain the

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Describing his kingship as a “fruitless crown” and “barren scepter”, Shakespeare further develops Macbeth’s understanding of the idea that

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Literature Essay (Stuart Judge): In the literary works that we studied this year: The Book Thief, Purple Hibiscus, Macbeth, Sonnet 101,Sonnet 154 , Kevin Pietersen The Autobiography and Dead Poets Society- all the works have the same central theme :”Words have had the power to transform, for better or worse”. The character’s lives have all been affected and transformed by the power of words that has a great effect on their development rather than other external factors that the characters face in their daily lives. This will be shown by analysing how words lead these characters to achieve success and as well as to their demise.

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When Macduff arrives in England to ask Malcolm for assistance on war with Macbeth, Malcolm explains, “What [he] believe, [he’ll] wail; What know, believe, and what [he] can redress, As [he] shall find the time to friend [he] will” (Shakespeare 4.3.10-12). Malcolm expressed his passion for his country and his ability to stay true to what he believes in. This conducts the first sign of courage established by Malcolm in the entire play; testing Macduff’s loyalty to gain knowledge on his true intentions. Malcolm does not follow in his father’s footsteps to prevent the same fate upon him, revealing a new virtuous side of the character. This quote proves he will do anything to right what is wrong in the kingdom, which indicates not only character development but bravery as well, especially when he joins his army to fight against Macbeth in war.

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Macbeth is also a power hungry man who would do just about anything to achieve his goal of becoming King. When Macbeth first hears the prophecies from the three witches he instantly became invested with the journey to become king. Similar to Lady Macbeth, nothing was going to come between him and his potential power, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man. That function is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.52-55). This quote exemplifies how Macbeth’s initial solution to becoming king was murder.

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Macbeth was influenced by the witches and the constant berating and bullying by his wife. He allowed himself to be corrupted and coerced and finally disrupted the Great Chain of Being himself by killing the God-chosen king and replacing him with himself. Shakespeare uses this plot to demonstrate how the great chain of being was disrupted by false ambition dominating over human nature. Macduff was born of caesarian meaning the whole play of Macbeth is ironic as it takes someone who is unnaturally born to destroy Macbeth. Ultimately, Macduff restores the Great Chain of Being by killing Macbeth and presenting the “usurpers cursed head” to Malcolm, who takes his rightful place as King as the true heir to the throne.

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The motivation for Malcolm to become king is proven when he leaves to save his life and gain the support of the king of England, which will bring him closer to overthrowing Macbeth, and gaining the throne. Likewise, Malcolm`s ambition to become king is seen when he convinces Macduff to get revenge in Macbeth for killing his family. Malcolm is so overcome by his desire and goal, that he encourages Macduff to take ``great revenge/ [and t]o cure the deadly grief`(4.iii.253-254) of losing his family. One can clearly interpret that although Macbeth and Macduff are just recently informed of the killing of Macduff`s family, Malcolm is once again filled with motivation to overthrow Macbeth, instead of grieve for theA man`s ambition and desire influence his decisions in life. This is seen when Malcolm’s motivation in the play Macbeth by Shakespeare is his desire to be crowned king to get back his father’s throne.

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Power is always coveted in any society and the world of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. In the play, Macbeth, a noble lord, shows his hunger for power with thoughts to remove an heir to the throne from power. Macbeth’s impatience to be king leads him to stain his honor by using murder. Macbeth travels further down the path of evil by arranging the assassination of a friend.

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As human beings, there are occasions where we choose between right or wrong. Certainly, It can materialize into effect on how other people judge you based on their glimpse of moral senses. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare displayed a dark and erroneous side of humankind. The three preeminent characters accordingly demonstrate identical attributes of greediness. For instance, Banquo who appears to be noble fails to resist his desires, and in relation to Lady Macbeth, she overrules herself with greed to a fate of anguish, and thus, Macbeth becomes engulfed with greed that leads to horrendous deeds.

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Macduff and Malcolm go to war against Macbeth eager for revenge. Macduff, vengeful for his family’s death cuts off Macbeths head, and Malcom takes his rightful place as king. Macbeth’s Ambition and Greed resulted in his downfall. Constantly wanting more, Macbeth allowed his blind ambition to dictate what actions he took to obtain being king and staying king.

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In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, guilt can punish people even if they are not caught, which is illustrated with the downfall of the Macbeths. Shortly after killing Banquo, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and says “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence”(3.4.128-129). This quote shows that Macbeth feels guilt while he is imagining Banquo’s ghost.

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