Is Macbeth Mentally Crazy

Macbeth is a tragedy written by Shakespeare. It is filled with traitorous activity, including backstabbing between family members and close friends, and the killing of innocents. When the main character, Macbeth, is first spoke of in the play, he is said to be a valiant and worthy soldier who has defeated many enemies, and has many more victories in his future. However, as the story progresses, he starts to become mentally unstable. The beginning of Macbeth's madness all starts when he kills King Duncan, and his mental health gets progressively worse as he fights to keep his spot as king. The first inkling that Macbeth could be going crazy is when the witches tell him his future. The witches appear to Macbeth and Banquo and tell them …show more content…
The first one takes place when they have made a plan to kill king Duncan, and he is about to go through with it. He sees a dagger, dripping with blood, floating in the air. The handle is turned towards him, but when he tries to grab it, his hand passes through it. He hasn't even committed the heinous crime of killing the king, and he is already hallucinating from the guilt. The second time he hallucinates is right after he kills King Duncan. He hears voices telling him that he won't sleep again. Later on, he decides to dispatch Banquo, and his son Fleance, in order to help secure his place as king. He hires murderers, and they only get the opportunity to kill Banquo. Macbeth hallucinates Banquo's ghost at a dinner party celebrating his coronation as king. He sees it three times, as it disappears and reappears through the dinner. This shows solid evidence that he is mentally …show more content…
This shows that his mental deterioration is growing. A ll he worries about is keeping his spot as king. An example of this is when his wife starts to hallucinate, and then commits suicide. He doesn't seem to care. All he says is insert quote here. He stays holed up in his castle all day, and trying to figure out how the future will turn out . He’s worried about the future of the crown, and decides to seek out the witches instead of conferring with his wife. He desires to know if he will be defeated, and if so, by who. His romantic life is slipping away as well as his social life. He's obviously worried about Fleance, and that helps to drive him mad. Because he spends so much time worrying, he forces himself to let go of the things a man would normally care about. With all the doubts in his head, his madness is