Ambition is good, but too much ambition without consideration can be fatal.
“My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother’d in surmise.” Ambition to be king was stirred in Macbeth by the witches prophecies in the beginning of the play. Although he liked the idea, it took Lady Macbeth‘s ambition to push him to murder, to achieve his goal. In this essay I will explain how Shakespeare has used symbolism, soliloquy and metaphors dramatically to help emphasise the actions of Macbeth and those around him. He uses these techniques to make his plays more exciting and more understandable for his audience.
Shakespeare used symbolism throughout his play Macbeth. Symbolism helps the reader create a visual picture in their head that helps and later reminds them of a theme. This allows him to convey, through the choice of his words and devices, the character with a deeper meaning to the story. This symbolism encourages the audience to think in more depth about what the character is thinking and saying. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather clean from my hand? The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.” This quote is an example of symbolism. It illustrates how Shakespeare uses blood as a symbol of guilt. Macbeth is saying that not even all of the ocean’s water could wash the blood off his hands, the blood would turn the water red, meaning he will always feel the blood on his hands as he will never be able to rid himself of the guilt of killing Duncan.
Soliloquies are used in Macbeth to give insight into what a character is thinking. Without any other characters on stage, it paints a picture for the audience of what the character is thinking. It is spoken words about a character’s thoughts and what will make them act. In the following quote, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to enlighten the audience of events that will soon take place soon in the play. “Is 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 the still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight?” Macbeth hallucinates a dagger with its handle pointing towards him. This is suggesting he is going to stab someone .
“Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses, Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still”. The dagger is directing Macbeth towards Duncan, he plans to use this same dagger as he saw in his vision, to murder Duncan, the king of scotland. Whilst Macbeth’s gut feeling tells him that this action is most likely unjustifiable and wrong, he chooses to ignore that sense and go with what the hallucination demonstrates for him to do. Macbeth feels overpowered by this vision in the way that there is no other choice for him but to go ahead with the murder.
Shakespeare uses metaphors to increase dramatic effect in his plays and this makes the reader think in a deeper context. By using a metaphor he compares or implies something without actually saying it. Macbeth expressed his feelings on Lady Macbeth’s death in the quote. “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” Macbeth is saying that in his life from now the days will be empty and meaningless, and leading to an inevitable end. Further on in this same quote he goes on to say “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Lady Macbeth takes her own life because she is overwhelmed with guilt. Macbeth’s response to the news of her death makes him feel his life is now an empty shadow of his former self. He has lost all ambition to remain King and his hope’s are adrift for his future. He feels life is absurd and pointless. The metaphor of a candle burning briefly, represents how short life really is, and loses significance towards the end as it burns out completely if there is nothing too keep it alight. Macbeth has lost his sense of purpose. He had commented in the beginning of the play “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other“. Lady Macbeth was his drive to achieve his ambition.
Macbeth had ambition but that on it’s own would not have allowed him to become King of Scotland. He had good morals originally but then he let his wife, Lady Macbeth take advantage of his weak personality, and push him around. In all aspects of life, there are pushy Lady Macbeths who use other people to get what they want. People need to stand up for themselves and stick to their own morals and beliefs. Macbeth could have chosen a different path but instead he was weak and became a puppet to Lady Macbeth. He was guilty of murder and he had to live with the consequences. Ambition needs action but your intentions should be your own and not influenced by other people and what they think or tell you to do.
Recent Comments