Macbeth Essay :: essays research papers

Macbeth Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in the 1600th Century, when England was under the rule of King James. Shakespeare was born and lived in Stafford upon Avon. Macbeth was one of his famous works, and it is about a man, Macbeth who kills the king, so he can rule England. The plot is complicated and the play develops a character profile of Macbeth showing how his mind and morals change and develop. The play can be analysed from three different perspectives: Prose, Theatre, and Poetry and I will, in all three. I will however only analyse two sections. Act One Scene Seven, and Act Five Scene Five Over View Alone after dinner, Macbeth has the first opportunity to think about the murder of his king. At first this was only a dream, but now it is a real moral problem for him. He knows that the crime must be punished; divine justice in a â€Å"life to come† does not worry him so mush as judgement in this earthly life. Then he considers the duties he owes to Duncan as his kinsman, of a subject to his king, and a host to his guest. Finally he thinks of the character of Duncan, a king of almost divine excellence. Macbeth has a vision of the heavenly powers horrified by this murder; he sees Pity personified as a â€Å"naked new born babe† which is nevertheless â€Å"striding the blast† while â€Å"heaven’s cherubin† are mounted on the winds. The speech builds to a mighty climax then suddenly the power is lost, when Macbeth turns to his own wretched motive for committing such a crime. He can find nothing except Vaulting Ambition. His mind is made up, and tells his wife â€Å"We will proceed no further in this business†. He is not prepared for her rage and abuse. She calls him a coward, insults his virility and declares that she would rather have murdered her child while it was feeding at her breast rather than break such a promise as Macbeth has done. Defeated Macbeth agrees to murder his king. Act One Scene Seven This is the first main soliloquy. It is also the longest. At a glance one notices that most of the ideas are repeated, accented, reinstated. This is because Shakespeare has realised that in theatre the audience will generally only pick up about half of what is said. This section is where Macbeth is pondering over whether or not to kill King Duncan.