Evil is caused by many things but in Macbeth it is clear
that the Evil is caused by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's need for power.
Lady Macbeth uses her persuasion and Macbeth's attraction to her as a
means of getting Macbeth to take the first step down the path of evil. In
the Epic Lady Macbeth constantly states "Are you a Man?", she states
this because she is attempting to cause internal struggle for Macbeth.
This internal struggle as well as his craze for power causes Macbeth to
take his first step down the path of evil. Along with motivation
for becoming evil, every person needs to have some event or action that
signifies them becoming evil. For Macbeth it was his murdering Duncan.
Him killing Duncan as well as the two guards shows that Macbeth is evil
because he killed one of his best friends as well as two other men whom trusted
him.
After this murder Macbeth is wracked with guilt, he states "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No". These lines are used to to show that Macbeth's conscious is filled with guilt of murdering King Duncan, yet when he causes the death of Banquo Macbeth doesn't speak of guilt. He instead sees the ghost of Banquo and he cries out and denies affiliation with the murder. This internal struggle after these murders slowly drives Macbeth insane and causes him even more problems in the real world.
I think this was a great analysis of what causes people to take the first step towards being evil. In Macbeth's case, it seems pressure from Lady Macbeth was the root cause of Macbeth's problems. This ulitmately leads to his downfall (lost his mental state) in the text. But nice blog post though!
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great analysis of what causes people to take the first step towards being evil. In Macbeth's case, it seems pressure from Lady Macbeth was the root cause of Macbeth's problems. This ulitmately leads to his downfall (lost his mental state) in the text. But nice blog post though!
ReplyDeleteDear Nick,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog post! I really enjoy the picture you used to preface, it is very relate-able! I definitely agree that the event of murdering Duncan was the action that signified Macbeth's first step into becoming evil. Although women do appear to be the root of all evil, I think Macbeth's main reasoning for murdering Duncan was his inner desire for power. I wished you had stressed that a little more! Great job Nick!!
I chose the same prompt to respond to and our ideas about it are almost identical! Something else that I mentioned in my response is the fact that Macbeth constantly seeks to impress others and always wants to come across as extremely powerful and in-control, despite what he feels and believes internally in his thoughts. I think this fact is another aspect that leads to his transformation into an "evil" character, as well as to his eventual downfall. I really like what you said about the consequences, particularly internally, that result from Macbeth's immoral behavior - feelings of guilt. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and thought you did a great job with your analysis!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the fact that Macbeth's strong desire for power lead to him taking the first step into evil. However I disagree with you on the fact that Lady Macbeth lead to Macbeth taking the first step into evil. Every person makes choices in their life. They have to be accountable for these decisions. Macbeth never had to conform to the persuasion of Lady Macbeth. I believe the factor that drove him to evil was his desire for power. Overall and enjoyable post to read. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete