What Lead to Macbeth's (Mac)death?
By: Katie Clewell
Literary Devices
Paradox
Definition- A contradictory/ absurd statement
"Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped" ( Act 5 Scene 8 ).When Macduff tells Macbeth that he was a C-section baby, it was a major loop in the plot. Macbeth had been told that he wouldn't be killed by anyone born of a woman, so he felt invincible. He boasts about it in the final battle against Macduff, where he finds out that Macduff wasn't born from a woman. Macduff then proceeds to kill Macbeth.
Soliloquy
"Is this a knife I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee! I have thee not, and yet I see thee still"(Act 2 Scene 1).
When Macbeth sees the floating dagger in front of him, he goes into a dramatic monologue, discussing his internal conflict. Macbeth in this situation is faced with a difficult choice, for he can kill Duncan and satisfy his wife, or he could chicken out and have his wife forever see him as a coward. As he goes on about this difficult scenario, he reveals his inner feelings, and asks that he would be like a ghost; he didn't want to be seen. At the end of the monologue he decides to go and kill Duncan, which is only the start to Macbeth's murderous tendencies.
Symbolism
Definition- Something being used, to represent something else
" On Tuesday last a falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed" (Act 2 Scene 4).After Duncan's murder, weird things began happening. These weird things were absurd, like horses eating each other and an owl killing a hawk. While strange, the owl killing the hawk has another meaning. First, it displays that nature is off kilter, because an owl would regularly not kill a hawk. Secondly, a hawk generally flies higher, and is generally higher on the food chain than a mousing owl. This represents that Duncan's killer was someone of a lower class. ( Macbeth was a Thane, Duncan was King).
Connection #1: Sonnet
His wife rings the kneel, his hands drenched in blood,
Oh who could this murderous person be?
His hands are stained, can't be cleansed by a flood
His soul is now drenched in treacherous guilt
For he killed the king, an innocent man
His realization of when the blood spilt
though he thought he was acting on fates plan
Now, he was a king, oh marvelous him
It was a kingdom ran by a killer,
As people were dying, it all looked dim
as his wife went insane, her mind killed her
He thought he was ruler, king of it all,
and that is what lead to Macbeth's downfall.