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How Does Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

Decent Essays

Snake in the Grass Throughout the Novel Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth evolves from being initially driven by fear and ambition for power to ultimately through his own choices reaching a state where he is ambitionless and without. Claim 1:In the beginning of the book, prior to Duncan's murder it is revealed that although the act of regicide deeply scares Macbeth, it also intrigues the ambitious Macbeth, showing his qualities of betrayal and deceit. Macbeth's contemplation of regicide not only reflects his fear and inner turmoil, but also reveals a deep-seated ambition and desire for power that drives his actions throughout the play. Upon thinking about committing regicide, Macbeth describes his feelings saying that this thought, “Makes my …show more content…

When Macbeth says this, he is already coming from a place of high respect and dignity. The etymology of the word “seat” stems from a place of dignity or honor that a person holds. Additionally it is said that a heart is a window into the soul of a human, so it affects Macbeth to his soul the thought of leaving his place of dignity. However, when someone is pounding on the walls of a cage, it conveys not only that they feel trapped, but also a sense of urgency and deep desire to escape their cell. This urgency exemplifies his ambition to escape this seated position of dignity and that deep down to his soul he yearns for something more, like the position of King. Farther into his speech Macbeth continues to emphasize the duality that although this action scares him, it also excites him by describing saying, “My thought, whose murder is but fantastical/Shakes so my single state of man/That function is smothered in surmise.”The literal meaning of the text expresses Macbeth's inherent fear showing that these thoughts are overwhelming to the point of lack of function. However, the repetition of the first letter of words being “S” gives an auditory image of a hissing sound which illustrates that from the beginning Macbeth

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