Discuss how Shakespeare presents different kinds of madness in King Lear. Mitchell Wassink Madness is a common motif in Shakespeare’s King Lear, and makes itself known in various different ways throughout the play. Lear’s madness and the seeming madness of Edgar meld with the madness displayed by the evil acts of Edmund and the Fool’s controlled foolishness to create a rich, varied text. Shakespeare manipulates dramatic and literary elements to communicate the idea of madness effectively to his audience, and uses it to enhance and enrich the more important themes in the play. The books Aspects of King Lear by Kenneth Muir and Law and Love: The Trials of King Lear by Paul W. Kahn discuss Shakespeare’s implementation of madness in his work, as does Norman Maclean in his essay, The Madness of Lear, and Jessica Dunckel in hers, The Necessity of Reasonable Madness in King Lear.
The devices make a suspenseful, shocking, spine-chilling play. This book is nothing short of ironic; Shakespeare uses the rhetorical device irony all threw Macbeth. For example the thane of Cawdor is killed over committing treason and treachery against the king, only to give the title to Macbeth who plans to commit worst things to the king. The king even goes on to state after killing the thane of Cawdor that “There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust” (I.IV.15). To then put his trust in Macbeth only to be betrayed by him.
Guilt is constantly seen throughout the play Macbeth driving the characters to question their morals. To the responder it appears that Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind the initial killing of King Duncan influencing her husband Macbeth to commit the evil deeds by threatening him with his man hood by saying “when you do it, then you are a man”. Her tone portrays her dominant nature and her hunger for authority and demonstrates to the responder her strength as a character. However her over confident traits and clear and concise thinking is diminished once the guilt of the crime poisons her conscience. This is demonstrated by her imagining her hands stained by blood and her constantly trying to clean the “damned spot” away and rid her sole of the guilt.
Shakespeare further cultivates Macbeths quickly changing character through soliloquy and dramatic irony. His success in doing so is disclosed as the once ‘noble’ Macbeth goes against all odds to convey his idea of fulfilling the witches’ prophecies: to kill King Duncan. Macbeth also notifies us that to even anticipate slaughtering the sacred King is an act of treachery and betrayal nonetheless he delivers himself as quite motivated and determined to do so. The “horrid image”, “doth unfix” his hair and make his “seated heart knock”; his lust for ultimate power poisons his loyalty and decays at his integrity. As the play moves on, the audience observe the hasty crumbling of his devotion to God and the King.
This statement, supported with ambitious desires and a thirst for power, the Scottish thane planned to kill the king to become one. Shakespeare uses a variety of soliloquies to show the changing thoughts of Macbeth. The “dagger” soliloquy centralises the change in his rational thinking and changes his perspective towards the king. Macbeth is a man who logically thinks of everything that he does. In this speech however, we see an insight in Macbeth’s mind which is confused and distorted as he gathers his thoughts on whether to kill the king.
This is right before Macbeth will kill Duncan. On his way to murder King Duncan, Macbeth sees the vision of the bloody dagger leading the way. Significance: It is clear that Macbeth is insane. Macbeth has been convinced into the action not by his own reasoning, but by his personal insecurities, played upon by his wife, the witches, and his own ambition. By the time Macbeth’s mind conjures up a dagger for him, he can see the murder as a conclusion, not a question for his consideration.
The other interpretation is that something supernatural and scary is at work, that the dagger is a sign from the witches Macbeth spoke to. This part of his soliloquy uses a rhetorical question, as if he is questioning his own sanity, especially when he realises that it is his own blade, ‘such an instrument I was to use’, covered in ‘gouts of blood’. This shows the reader that Macbeth is already seeing the horror of Duncan’s murder and it creates tension for the reader. It then moves onto the dagger and how it ‘marshall’st’ Macbeth towards Duncan’s chamber, suggesting that the witches are beckoning him to kill the king. This in turn makes the reader feel apprehensive and afraid of the supernatural beings corrupting Macbeth, as it gives a feeling that they are always watching, and also highlights the mystical powers they seem to have.
The authors, Caroline B. Cooney, Harper Lee and William Shakespeare wrote violence in their novels and games. Enter three witches, writes the author that people who do not like them and is angry perhaps meets a violent end. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee wrote that people who are racist are dishonest and possibly will also meet a violent end. Shakespeare also argues that people who do not, except that others will gather the tragedy. Cooney MacBeth uses to prove his thesis; then Bob Ewell Lee uses the character to prove its case, and Tybalt Shakespeare to prove his point.
How does Shakespeare establish Iago as the antagonist in Act 1 Scene 1? In the first couple of exchanges within the opening dialogue, Shakespeare starts to unveil the scheming character of Iago. He does this by setting the context, beginning with an argument, in fact, the very first words spoken by Iago are “’Sblood, but you’ll not hear me! If I ever did dream of such a matter abhor me.” Here Shakespeare uses strong lexis such as “’Sblood”, a swearword, and “abhor me”, a curse. His language is full of anger and hatred and the audience would quickly catch on to Iago’s bitter character.
Another example of blood portraying honor takes place later in the play during the death scene of Macbeth. Right before Macduff kills Macbeth, he tells the ill-fated title character, “My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier than terms can give thee out.” With this line, the audience knows that Macbeth’s pleas to have his life spared will not be answered by Macduff. In turn, this is a display of courage on Macduff’s part. Where betrayal is concerned, blood also symbolizes acts of murder and treason. One such allusion is mentioned in act 2, scene 1, during Macbeth‘s soliloquy.