Matthew Orsi, Matt Houghton, Evan Horvath, Nevin Baillargeon

MACBETH

Macbeth continues his descent into darkness, even though he knows that what he is doing is

wrong because of a… Self-fulfilling prophecy

-He is supposed to be king and no one is going to stop him.

-Prophecy has turned him into someone who needs the power.

-The easiest way out of this is by going forward.

WHY DID HE DO IT?

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me

clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other

senses,

Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There's no such

thing:

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,

Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his

stealthy pace.

With Tarquin's ravishing strides,

towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set

earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk,

for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he

lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath

gives.

[A bell rings]

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell. (Act II, Scene I, line 33-64)

--- Macbeth

HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE KING AND NO ONE IS GOING TO STOP HIM.

Macbeth views the dagger and it speaks to him as a sign that he must kill the king, in order to

ascend to the throne. The dagger also gives him a safeguard by telling him that he will not fail in his task. Thus, Macbeth has the motivation to begin fulfilling the prophecy, which he feels the dagger

represents.

ANALYSIS

We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it: She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice 

Remains in danger of her former tooth. But let the frame of things disjoint, both the 

worlds suffer, Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep In the affliction of these terrible dreams 

That shake us nightly: better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 

Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave; 

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well; Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, 

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further. (Act III, Scene II, line 13-26)

--- Macbeth

PROPHECY HAS TURNED HIM INTO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS THE POWER.

Macbeth needs the power because he is afraid of the consequences of not having it. He feels as though he needs to consolidate his power by

eliminating threats to this power. If he loses this power, he will lose his life.

ANALYSIS

I hear it by the way; but I will send: There's not a one of them but in his house 

I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, And betimes I will, to the weird sisters: 

More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, 

All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, 

Returning were as tedious as go o'er: Strange things I have in head, that will to hand; 

Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd. (Act III, Scene IV, line 131-141)

--- Macbeth

THE EASIEST WAY OUT IS BY GOING FORWARD.

By going forward, he might conceivably come out on top, or at least destroy some of his enemies.

Turning back will result only in his own downfall. He has already damned himself, and cannot be

saved, therefore he will go forward.

ANALYSIS

Macbeth continues to ascend into darkness because he is fulfilling his own prophecy, which

he feels has become his own being. Without fulfilling the prophecy, Macbeth feels that

his life is incomplete and he will always live in regret of what could have been.

CONCLUSION