British Literature
Cameron
3 March 2015
Macbeth’s Real Life Predicament Essay
REAL LIFE PREDICAMENT
In the play, “Macbeth” by Shakespeare, Macbeth has great trouble trusting his fellow peers which alternately turn him into a corrupt and bloodthirsty king. Macbeth becomes king by murdering the original king Duncan whom granted him the honor of being a thane of his. Before doing so, Macbeth talked to three witches and these witches put this plot into his head by telling him that he will be king one day. Lady Macbeth and her spouse figured that they had to make this happen instead of waiting for it so they began to take action. Afterwards, Macbeth began to feel extreme remorse and guilt. This lead to his lack of trust and corruption that he suffers with throughout the rest of the story.
RESULTS AND OUTCOME
Throughout the play, Macbeth is troubled by his own thoughts and phobias about his fellow comrades betraying him. The killing of Duncan was brought on by the advice given to Macbeth by Lady Macbeth. She states, “Coward! Give me the daggers. Dead and sleeping people can’t hurt you anymore than pictures can” (Shakespeare 2, 2, 52). Macbeth tends to trust the people who seem to lead him in the wrong directions. After the killing of Duncan, Macbeth feels remorse and guilt. He dealt with this situation not very well because he never thought into his own conscious. He let the opinions of others get in his way which he seems to do many time throughout the play.
Macbeth’s corruption began as soon as King Duncan took his last breath. Prior to killing Duncan, Macbeth felt guilt in his heart which too brought on anxiety and further troubled his trust issues. Macbeth states, “rather than have to think about my crime, I’d prefer to be completely unconscious” (Shakespeare 2, 2, 71). The outcome of Macbeth’s extreme guilt takes a toll on him which led to more bad decisions. He begins to overreact on many topics and his trust issues with his fellow peers worsen.
One of Macbeth’s main advisors and best friends is Banquo. Banquo is the kind of person who is extremely loyal and would never do something against Macbeth’s best interests. Due to his extreme anxiety and trust issues, Macbeth thought that Banquo was plotting against him and needed to be killed. He also thought that his son should be killed as well because the three witches had told him that Banquo’s decedents would be kings. Macbeth explains to the murderers that Banquo needs to be killed, “For the plan to work perfectly, you must kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, who keeps him company” (Shakespeare 3, 1, 133). Fleance escapes from the attack on his father and him but Macbeth is not too troubled of the news. He is first pleased but then starts seeing visions of Banquo’s ghost. This is another flaw after the fact that Macbeth’s guilt starts to pile up. He begins to become delusional.
A result to the fact of the matter that Macbeth becomes corrupt is when he begins to deliberately become a terrible leader and thinks his killings are the only way to reach his peace. His last and final advisor is a man who goes by the name of Seyton. Everyone has left Macbeth by this point and an army is approaching his castle. Macbeth states, “It would be as hard to go back to being good as it is to keep killing people” (Shakespeare 3, 4, 138). This quote alone shows how Macbeth is extremely