He did not desire a position somebody was already occupying. Macbeth was aware that someone else was already Thane of Cawdor. When Rose and Angus gave him the news of new titles, Macbeth responded that he should not be dressed in “borrowed robes” (Act 1, scene 3.) He felt that he did not deserve the titles even though the three witches had addressed him, Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and future king (Act 1, scene 1). His political desperation was slowly ignited by the witches and his wife. He had the ambition to be king but he did not have the will to make it a do or die project. He was a victim of ambition because his means to source for royalty contradicted his true conscience and nobility. Shakespeare presented Macbeth as a good and valiant man who was not prone to evil. Ambition is one of the principles of motivation to self-awareness and transformation but killing a human being to attain power and high positions is a tragic road to self-destruction. Banquo’s descendants became kings through James I in 1603.In the Scriptural narratives, the love of money is presented as the root of evil (Ecclesiastes 5:10 1 Timothy 6) whereas William Shakespeare in the tragedy of Macbeth presented vaulting ambition as a very a dangerous quality. Macduff kills Macbeth and cuts off his head. In his final battle with Macduff, Macbeth discovers that Macduff was cut from his mother’s womb, not “born”, and he realizes the witches were right again. Macduff joins forces with Duncan’s son Malcolm, and cutting down the trees from Birnam Wood and using them as camouflage, their forces descend on Macbeth, fulfilling the witches’ prophecy. Lady Macbeth begins manifesting her guilt through nightly sleepwalking and hallucinations of blood on her hands which never washes off. Macbeth kills everyone in Macduff’s castle, but Macduff himself is not there. Macbeth takes comfort in the fact that every man is born of a woman, and woods cannot travel. He seeks out the help of the witches from the heath, and receives three prophecies: beware of Macduff no man born of a woman can harm him and his safety will be held until Great Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Banquo is murdered, but Fleance escapes, and Macbeth begins to see the ghost of Banquo. He hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son Fleance in order to prevent his prophecy of fathering a line of kings from coming true. While Macbeth ascends to the throne, he is consumed by his guilt and becomes suspicious and tyrannical. Because Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country in fear for their own lives, Macbeth, as kin of the king, is crowned. Lady Macbeth plants bloody daggers on them. He stabs King Duncan in his sleep and frames his two guards, who are so drunk that they are passed out and have no memory of the night’s events. Macbeth is so frightened and guilt-ridden by the idea of killing the king that he experiences hallucinations and doubts, but he is pushed on by his wife. Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious than Macbeth, and through manipulation, mockery, and persuasion, she eventually convinces him that he should kill King Duncan when he comes to stay at their castle that night. He is initially skeptical, but he soon begins to entertain aspirations of becoming king. His friend Banquo also receives a prophecy that he will father a line of kings. Macbeth, a victorious general, receives a prophecy from three witches that he will eventually become king.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |