Theme Of Schizophrenia In Macbeth

Paranoia with a Side of Hallucinations

Picture living in a world where it was impossible to separate imagination from reality; Where seeing did not always mean believing. It would be living in an inconceivable hell, incapable to remember what was real and what was dreams. This is what it is like everyday to live with paranoid schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia is a subset of schizophrenia, in which victims suffer from hallucinations that others are plotting against them. Schizophrenia typically originates from biological factors; however, environmental factors can manipulate someone into falling victim to this horrendous disease. This exact disease is what lead to the downfall of the noble warrior, Macbeth, in the Shakespearian play. There

The last act of the play shows the final consequences of Macbeth’s actions. Macbeth does not care if the world has to suffer for him to thrive. The witches in the play are able to manipulate Macbeth’s greed to make him spiral out in a self destructing fury. Throughout the play Macbeth loses his mortality in order to gain power outside his realm of possibility. Macbeth becomes a blood thirsty monster because he forgets how to be a human. Macbeth’s mind has become so “familiar with slaughterous thoughts” that he “forgot the taste of fears” (5.5.9,14). Macbeth’s greed made his mind so dark that he can no longer fear the real world. This shows that Macbeth’s paranoia and hallucinations are so awful, that the real world does not seem threatening. Even with enemies wanting to kill him, Macbeth becomes more frightened by his own mind. When Macbeth’s wife dies, he does not even feel remorse because he can no longer feel human emotions. When told the news of his wife’s death, Macbeth’s only response is that it was bound to happen eventually. Macbeth’s final outlook on the life he did so much to get, is that “Life’s but a walking shadow / … signifying nothing” (5.5.24,28). Macbeth cannot live with the fact that he did horrible deeds to achieve power, and in the end it was not even worth it. Macbeth feels like his life has no meaning, and he wasted his time on Earth with greedy, selfish desires. This idea is supported by the belief that “Macbeth finds not the release and fulfillment he had hoped for, but spiritual desolation” (Halio 251). Macbeth thought once he had enough power, everything would be perfect. However, Macbeth was never able to settle and kept wanting more, which left him unfulfilled and dissatisfied. Since Macbeth was never able to find this release, the stress and guilt of his past actions destroyed him. Macbeth’s schizophrenia darkened his thoughts