Analytical Essay: The Analysis of William Shakespeare's Macbeth

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The Analysis of William Shakespeare's Macbeth
Introduction
The British playwright, William Shakespeare, is famous for many of his successful tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. These are often the subject of analysis and performances because of their great plots and perfect depiction of love, revenge, grief, death, jealousy, mystery, and even magic. In this paper, William Shakespeare's Macbeth will be explored, including its timelessness, which proves that an individual's great ambition does not ensure success. It is further demonstrated through the irony of Macbeth's character and the influences of those around him.
Theme
The central theme of Macbeth is the destruction of man when ambition leads to immoral acts. At the start of the story, Macbeth is portrayed as brave, noble, and loyal to his king. He is comparable to a hero, especially on the battlefield, for the good of his people. His promotion further supports this from being the Thane of Glamis to the powerful Thane of Cawdor, and yet, even this power is not enough for him after he stumbles upon witches, who predicts that he will become king of Scotland. This further fuels his ambition to gain power, which his wife, Lady Macbeth, support. Together, their immoral and murderous thoughts are put into action, bringing an end to many lives because of their greed for power and to remain in force. Even with Macbeth's good relations with King Duncan, it still was not enough for him not to do the heinous act. Macbeth experienced moments of hesitation. The audience can see a glimmer of conscience, but this is stomped by Lady Macbeth, promoting the idea of murdering the king and putting it into action. Lady Macbeth even resorted to belittling and challenging the manhood of Macbeth because of his doubts and hesitation about murdering King Duncan (Shakespeare).
The unchecked ambition of the Macbeths did not stop with the promotion to the Thane of Cawdor or with becoming the king of Scotland by killing King Duncan. Macbeth made sure to remove any possible problems and issues along the way, which means murdering more people he finds threatening to his position as king of Scotland. This very ambition is also what drives them to madness and despair. Lady Macbeth ends up taking her own life due to the guilt brought about by the numerous murders that took place to have and retain Macbeth's position as king of Scotland. Macbeth's anxiety even led to him consulting the witches again, and he is told that he will only be killed by someone "not of women born." Due to his great self-importance, he misinterprets the prophecy that no man can ever harm him since everyone is born from a woman. However, he did not consider those born using cesarean sections, which were uncommon during those times. Macbeth ends up dead as well, in the hands of Macduff (Shakespeare).
Structure of Macbeth
The game fits in the five stages that a tragedy/drama follows. These are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and catastrophe. The events in Macbeth follow a chronological sequence, and not all of the events happen on stage, such as Duncan's murder. Some of the events are revealed through dialogues and descriptions. The play is in poetic form with four and five-beat rhythm, with also instances demonstrating prose use. The sequence of events allows the audience to see Macbeth rise to achieve his goal of becoming the king of Scotland and his spiral to madness because of this very reason.
The exposition in the story is when the witches made their predictions, which planted a seed on the mind of Macbeth, later on resulting in greed and murderous thoughts. In the rising action, Macbeths' true nature is shown, and during the unstable decision-making of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth takes charge for their plan to murder King Duncan to ensue. The turning point of the story is when Macbeth becomes the king and Banquo is killed. This is also the part where Macduff and Malcolm are united in England. The falling action is when Macbeth speaks to the witches because of his anxiety, fear, and greed. During these times, the invasion is also being planned against Macbeth. Lastly, the catastrophe is when Macbeth is killed, and the prophecy comes true about his killer (Shakespeare).
Shakespeare's use of language
William Shakespeare used figurative language to arouse the senses and the imagination of his audience. The formation and delivery of words are essential to depict the scenery as accurately to the events and settings. In Macbeth, he used com...