Examples Of Motifs In Macbeth

Savannah Williamson Brandie Trent Ap Literature March 14, 2023 Macbeth’s Growth Through Allusions The play Macbeth, written by William Shakespere, tells the tragic story of how a well-loved war hero met his untimely death. Throughout the play, Shakespere uses multiple allusions to better help the readers follow along this journey. He also uses them to explain human nature and how humanity is quick to fall when over-ran with greed and corruption.

In this essay I am going to be exploring how Shakespeare shows that the key characters are disturbed. The key scenes I am going to be looking at are ‘Macbeth’ Act 2 scene 2 and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Act 3 scene 5. Firstly, I am going to look at how the use of questions in ‘Macbeth’ shows that he is disturbed. Macbeth has just killed King Duncan; he has blood on his hands and is terribly shocked by the murder.

Macbeth Act 2 Motif In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the sleep and dream motif is associated with anxiousness and the feeling of insanity which show a dark and tense mood. The motif sleep/dream can also link to the feeling of insanity which show a dark, tense, and frightening mood. When Macbeth is talking to himself in his chamber and is thinking about killing Duncan, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand?

Many elements can further a story and add more depth. Allusions are a great way to do so. In WIlliam Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses a decent amount of Allusions to impact his story and the audience. He takes allusions from the Bible, such as Adam and Eve, and Greek Mythology, the three Fate Sisters.

In Act 2 of Macbeth, Macbeth sees a bloody dagger pointing toward King Duncan's chamber. He becomes frightened by the dagger and begins to pray that no one would hear him as he kills Duncan. Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth manhood when he worries how he would get away with killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth gives the signal for Macbeth to go towards Duncan room.

Trevor Reznik from The Machinist hasn't slept in over a year. He suffers from severe insomnia from guilt after killing a young girl on accident with his car. He begins to lose weight drastically, hanging around the wrong crowd, takes the blame for a fellow coworker who lost his arm after Trevor starts up a machine on accident, and even begins to hallucinate committing murders and much worse. The guilt we feel can take over our lives and lead us to our own moral demise. Many characters in Macbeth understand guilt whether its Macbeth seeing the ghost of a murdered friend or unable to scrub off blood that may or not be there.

“I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters. “To you they have showed some truth”. (2.1 24-26) Macbeth sees a floating dagger.s this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee./ I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Having the knowledge of the weird sister’s vision of the future, leads to Macbeth becoming a killer and a psychopath, who is impulsive and does not fear the consequence of killing, because he thinks his actions are part of

We hear how women are affected by archetypes set up for them, but have you ever heard about a masculine archetype? The archetype of a man constructs a view on how males should behave, and any male that doesn’t behave or follow the archetype is subject to emasculation. The pro-feminist take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth expresses that having masculine archetypes are harmful to men. Macbeth, a character who struggles to prove his masculinity, highlights how the masculine archetype is overall damaging to his life.

In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many motifs and symbols to help develop the theme. The most effective symbols and motifs that Shakespeare uses are the birds, blood, and sleep. In Macbeth, birds are mentioned many times. "The raven himself is hoarse /

“Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many”. This quote was written by a Roman poet, named Phaedrus around 370 BCE, long before Shakespeare’s time. Thousands of years later, Shakespeare incorporates many deceiving motifs in Macbeth that put the words of Phaedrus into action. The use of ill-fitting clothes, sleep, and bloodshed is all examples of imagery used to illustrate that not everything that looks genuine is so. Just as clothes appear to fit well, they can be very uncomfortable at the same time.

Macbeth would envision a dagger before him asking himself “is (that) a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand”(act.2 scene.i). The dagger was a metaphor for his ambitions and motivation to make himself king with the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth. After King Duncan was killed, Macbeth felt he was evil at that point where he “belief(ed) he (was) to evil to blessed by god”(act.2 scene.ii). The guilt he felt would drive him to the point of madness and brought into question if he was human after that or something that could not be redeemed.

This conveys Macbeth’s character at the beginning to be a misrepresentation because for him to have killed Duncan who was his king and cousin as well as Banquo a friend and man who he fought alongside in the war is not the actions of a noble man. However, he first acts on his ambition in (2.1) when Macbeth makes his “is this dagger before me” speech; he acknowledges that what he sees is not real, but through this vaulting ambition he visualizes the dagger as sign that he should kill Duncan. After he kills Duncan it is apparent that his

“More evidence of the witches control over the play is a hesitant Macbeth on his way to kill Duncan and an image of a floating dagger

Macbeth continues to ponder over this vision and questions, “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but/A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?”(2.1.37-40). When Macbeth was moments before his attempt to murder the king he had a vision of a