How Does Shakespeare explore the growth of evil in Macbeth?
From the start Shakespeare introduces evil into the play. The first scene opens with thunder and lightning in a desolate setting. These features are stereotypical devices, because they are closely linked with evil. Enter the three witches. Again, witches are associated with darkness and evil. They are also perceived as un-natural or supernatural beings, which once again brings back the theme of evil. The play is always referring to the opposing forces. As shown in Scene 1, act 1, line 4: “When the battle’s lost and won.” This quote suggests opposition in forces because a battle can’t be lost AND won. Also in this scene, the quote; “Fair is foul and foul is fair”. This seems to suggest good against evil, the ‘fair’ or good side, and the ‘foul’ or bad side. I think Shakespeare wanted to open the play with this scene to almost subconsciously set the evil theme for the audience. In this scene Macbeth’s name is mentioned, so the audience assume that Macbeth is linked with the witches in some way. However, when the audience first sees Macbeth he appears to be brave and heroic in battle, and loyal to King Duncan. This is reflected when the king announces that Macbeth will be made ‘Thane of Cawdor’ due to
Sheer uncertainty of man overthrowing his crown. He realises before battle that he has lost all dignity from others, but he still has some for himself. He fears his end is nigh, but he promises himself he will struggle right through to the end: After committing the crime, Macbeth looses all he had with the outside world. He becomes wary and paranoid of everyone around him. After this, he never thinks twice before telling a lie. The thought of murdering Duncan in order to become king himself has crossed his mind, and at first he almost seems scared of this thought. This thought basically sets the evil rolling in his mind. This could be her conscience showing out while she is sleeping. She also begins washing the blood from her hands as if to clear them of the evil. Macbeth does not seem to care for his wife and leaves her with a maid and a doctor. Also when he hears her blood-curdling scream he does not come to her side to see what has happened. He still has some feelings for her, as shown just before they go to battle; Macbeth is obviously a nervous wreck when he returns, he seems dazed and stunned. He is holding the murder weapon in his hand. Lady Macbeth almost panics, and orders him to take the daggers back. When he refuses she relents, and does it herself. When she returns she seems to have gathered her censes, and she tries to bully Macbeth into acting normal: Shakespeare uses the device of an aside to reveal Macbeth’s feelings. This speech shows the beginning of evil in Macbeth. He reveals that
Some topics in this essay:
Lady Macbeth,
Banquo Macbeth,
Macbeth Macduff,
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Lady Macduff,
King Duncan,
Macbeth Shakespeare,
Thane Cawdor”,
Macbeth Banquo,
Macduff England,
lady macbeth,
evil macbeth,
kill king,
audience macbeth,
macbeth evil,
“all hail macbeth,
macbeth's head,
hail macbeth,
macbeth’s feelings,
reveal macbeth’s,
person person,
lady macbeth evil,
kill king lady,
king lady macbeth,
macbeth evil macbeth,
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Approximate Word count = 1781
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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