Analyzing Central Issues to Macbeth
Analyzing Central Issues to Macbeth
Macbeth, a tragic-drama of Shakespeare, explores the concept of natural and unnatural factors in society. By doing so, the playwright raises central issues, which are successfully resolved in the culmination of the plays plot. Two such central issues, both evident in the extract and the play throughout, are power and morality. The thoughts, actions and continual reference throughout the play of that which is natural and unnatural exemplify the two central issues chosen for discussion. The central issues raised in the extract continue throughout the play into a resolution whereby the natural or good, conquers the unnatural or evil.
Beyond the selected extract, Shakespeare successfully introduces the issues of power (and the desire of) and morality. Shakespeare maintains the presence of these issues and resolves them in the plot of the play. The plot cumulates with Macbeth’s tragic death, where the desire for his power and abandonment of morale fibres, remain as central issues as they appear in the selected extract. This is illustrated clearly, as in the selected text; Macbeth is torn morally for his plan to take power, which he and his wife desire. Beyond Act1. Scene 5, Macbeth resolves all concern for morality by disbanding it altogether through his desire for power. It is a deliberate choice that accentuates the plays ethical values and denounces his desire as unnatural due to the actions Macbeth is willing to undertake. Macbeth is aware of Morality and social judgement for his actions. In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth delivers a speech:
We still have judgement here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return
To Plague th’ inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips (1.7.8-12).
Despite social and moral constraints, Macbeth indicates he has a deep “vaulting ambition” which surpasses fear of recrimination from society or from god (1.7.27).
Power, and the desire to achieve an absolute power, is a central issue in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s strong ambition to be Queen spurs the faltering ambition of Macbeth to an all- consuming quest where Macbeth's character ultimately undergoes a transformation. Lady Macbeth has an instant desire to take “what greatness is promised to Macbeth” (Macbeth 1.5). The power Lady Macbeth desires requires a sacrifice of her natural being, hence her dramatic address to the spirits which govern mortal thoughts: “unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the...