Essay Three

INTRODUCTION

As one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Macbeth holds a great deal of commentary and insight into notions of violence and guilt. These concerns are at the forefront of the text, as audiences watch the eponymous protagonist and those around him grapple with violent desires and the psychological consequences of pursuing them.¹ By analysing the literary form of the text and chronology of events, we can gain a greater understanding of the ways in which Shakespeare warns audiences of the dangerous capacity for mankind to commit evil acts, and the toll these acts take on both the guilty and the innocent.

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An important part of Macbeth’s literary form is the Aristotelian model of the tragic hero and the tragic genre.² The first and second acts of the play effectively establish the play’s plot, and foreshadow much of the violence that is to come. Furthermore, rather than making it incredibly clear who our relatable and sympathetic hero will be, Shakespeare cleverly undermines Macbeth, as both he and the audience’s perception of who is guilty undergo substantial change over the course of the play. Shakespeare also introduces hints of the psychological struggles of guilt with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s plot to murder Duncan being an example of this as initially the audience are given a sense of what is to come when Macbeth discusses his fear of not being able to sleep in the second scene of the second act after his murder. He warns that “Macbeth does murder sleep” and the initially dismissive Lady Macbeth simply brushes it aside, and in a case of heavy foreshadowing, remarks “a little water clears of this deed”. This foreshadowing of Lady Macbeth’s insanity introduces the motif of blood. Because lots of these examples support similar points, this essay groups quotes together in order to talk about them collectively, thus making the analysis more efficient and effective³ and idea of the struggle of simply washing off her guilt. Thus, the play establishes a foundation of violence or guilt from the outset, encouraging audiences to observe as these themes and the characters shift over the course of the text.

2. Right from the start, this paragraph jumps into linking the structural features of the play with the overarching authorial intent. Literary context is just as important as historical context and is necessary for writing and understanding an essay at a high level.

3. Because lots of these examples support similar points, this essay groups quotes together in order to talk about them collectively, thus making the analysis more efficient and effective!

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Similarly, the structure of the play also contributes to Shakespeare’s explorations of the ramifications of violence. Macbeth’s rapid escalation to murder, in particular his attempts on the lives of boys like Fleance and Young Siward,⁴ serve to familiarise the audience not only with the evil of his crimes but establish he downfall well in advance of its occurrence. Beginning with Banquo’s murder, two important aspects of Macbeth’s relationship with violence are established in the incredibly action-heavy third act. The first is Macbeth using murderers, committing his violence through others, and the second is his willingness to kill those who threaten his position as king. Both foreshadow the brutal slaughter of Lady Macduff and her entire family within the fourth act. This also heralds the inception of the cyclical nature of violence, as by committing theses murders, especially his massacre of the Macduff family, Macbeth incites those to commit violence against him. In this instance, Macbeth’s actions are intended to provoke the rage of Macduff, and the structure of the play amplifies his sense of grief, making Macduff’s trajectory all the more poignant as in the same establishing fashion and in the same act as Lady Macduff’s murder does Macbeth receive the prophecy to “Beware Macduff.” Once again, Shakespeare foreshadows to the audience Macbeth’s violent end, and uses Macduff’s sympathetic sense of guilt⁵ for the role his inaction played in his family’s demise to subvert our expectations about who the true hero of the play is.

4. Don’t forget that minor characters can be useful supplementary evidence to help you analyse the more important characters like Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Macduff.

5. When discussing the theme of guilt, Macduff is an ideal character to use as a counterpoint, as Macduff feels more guilty for the deaths of his family than Macbeth does, even though Macbeth was the one who ordered the murders.

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Other than the act structure, the themes of violence and guilt are also displayed in the play’s form with Shakespeare’s use of the tragic hero model⁶ established by Aristotle. Macbeth struggles with his guilt to the point where he struggles with his own sanity, thinking he can never wash the guilt off. Thus, Shakespeare establishes that Macbeth is troubled, a feature of a tragic hero and that guilt may be part of his eventual undoing. By establishing these aspects, the audience is prepared and waiting for what is to come, and when it does during his “tomorrow” soliloquy⁷ is it much more impactful that having it simply occur. Macbeth’s speech on the futility of life is a powerful character moment and the seeming thematic heart of the text, yet by displaying Macbeth as the central tragic figure at the beginning of the play, his line of “life is but a walking shadow... a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing” wouldn’t carry the same weight. The same can be said about the theme of violence, as by establishing the destructive and almost addictive effect violence seems to have on Macbeth, his one eventual end and the completion of the cycle wouldn’t have the same poignancy especially as he is killed by Macduff, the man whose family he had murdered.

6. Weaving in literary techniques and structural features is ideal in helping you write a stand-out essay!

7. When, analysing Shakespeare, soliloquies must be referenced when necessary as they are an integral part of the text and offer deep character and thematic insight

CONCLUSION

In essence, the literary form of Macbeth does a lot more than just keep the pace and drama of the play in check, as it reveals much about its central themes of violence and guilt. By using the structure of the acts and establishing Macbeth as a tragic hero, Shakespeare succeeds in not only offering deep insight into these notions, but also makes them all the more impactful by foregrounding them in his text.⁸