“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead” (Sigmund Freud). In a riveting play entitled Macbeth, the use of illusion and perception enables several characters to believe in and maintain a sense of false hope for the future. This fantastic notion depicted in literature often leads to tragedies in one's life, as one becomes too carried away in false hope and this idea is overtly evident in the play, Macbeth. Through the use of prophetic witches, and deceptive characters such as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself, Shakespeare carves a story in which fake prospects for the future will leave many characters at their weakest breaking points. The idea of false hope and illusion clearly permeates
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The witches are three illusionary figures that incite evil throughout Scotland by dictating enticing prophecies that in particular entrigue Macbeth. For example, when the witches and Macbeth first come in contact, the witches dictate, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, the future king!” (Act 1 Scene 3 Page 3). In this moment, the witches are praising Macbeth as the “future king” and “future thane of Cawdor”. All of the prophecies excite Macbeth like one would expect and lead him to feel an empowering sense of ambition. This is because at this moment in the play, he is simply the thane of Glamis, and although that is a noble position for one to acquire, he takes this mental forecast as a true opportunity to strive and acquire more wealth and power. However, this over ambition turns out to be incredibly detrimental in Macbeth’s life, because it leads him to do unimaginable and horrifying things, such as commit murder. The reason why Macbeth commits …show more content…
Macbeth begins to play a mind game with himself in which he begins to deem everyone around him harmful to either him or his plan. However, this over ambition and mental awareness is his major flaw and this is seen because it ultimately leads him to his downfall or homicide committed by Macduff, as Macbeth puts himself in a vulnerable mental position in which it is easy to murder him. Another overt example of false hope and illusion being detrimental is when the witches convince Macbeth that he is safe from murder. The witches primarily tell Macbeth not to be afraid of any man that is born by woman and to not panic until the birnam woods begin to move. It is clear that Macbeth holds hope in their words and truly does believe them as he says, “Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all. Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane/I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman?
The witches are three illusionary figures that incite evil throughout Scotland by dictating enticing prophecies that in particular entrigue Macbeth. For example, when the witches and Macbeth first come in contact, the witches dictate, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, the future king!” (Act 1 Scene 3 Page 3). In this moment, the witches are praising Macbeth as the “future king” and “future thane of Cawdor”. All of the prophecies excite Macbeth like one would expect and lead him to feel an empowering sense of ambition. This is because at this moment in the play, he is simply the thane of Glamis, and although that is a noble position for one to acquire, he takes this mental forecast as a true opportunity to strive and acquire more wealth and power. However, this over ambition turns out to be incredibly detrimental in Macbeth’s life, because it leads him to do unimaginable and horrifying things, such as commit murder. The reason why Macbeth commits …show more content…
Macbeth begins to play a mind game with himself in which he begins to deem everyone around him harmful to either him or his plan. However, this over ambition and mental awareness is his major flaw and this is seen because it ultimately leads him to his downfall or homicide committed by Macduff, as Macbeth puts himself in a vulnerable mental position in which it is easy to murder him. Another overt example of false hope and illusion being detrimental is when the witches convince Macbeth that he is safe from murder. The witches primarily tell Macbeth not to be afraid of any man that is born by woman and to not panic until the birnam woods begin to move. It is clear that Macbeth holds hope in their words and truly does believe them as he says, “Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all. Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane/I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman?