Macbeth Motifs
William Shakespeare, in his tragic play Macbeth, written in 1606, dramatizes the unrelenting power of deception, insanity, and greed which ultimately results in the demise of Macbeth. Macbeth allowed his desire to become king overrule his judgement which consummately terminated his existence. The play is full of pestilence and set in Scotland during the eleventh century. In Macbeth, sleeplessness is an important motif that permeates the dramatic structure. Shakespeare uses this fatigue to substantiate the guilt of Macbeth, to represent subconscious insanity, and to show a foreshadowing of bad things to come. The motif serves to dramatize the true overview of how the characters are handling the various tragedies that occur. Initially, the motif of sleeplessness is used as a model of foreshadowing. For example, in Act II, scene i, Banquo finds it hard to sleep the night Macbeth i
instance, in Act II, scene iv, Macbeth is at dinner with Lennox, Ross, and other lords. He sees ghosts and is apparently insane. This proves that all the sleep in the world could never clear Macbeth of his crime, he is already destroyed. In addition, Lady Macbeth sleep walks and hallucinates a spot of blood on her hands in Act V, scene i. This proves that she has gone crazy as well. She cannot sleep because she is trying to remove the spot, which represents guilt. The strong use of insanity as a moving force in the play causes the reader to understand that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth cannot rid themselves of their evil deeds. The play demonstrates that the subconscious can allow evil things to occur. The sleeplessness motif is significant because it shows how the characters in the play deal with their stresses. The eerie use of sleeplessness added to the guilt of the characters, the foreshadowing of evil s
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Approximate Word count = 618
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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