Madness In Macbeth

Macbeth is the story of a Thane who makes himself king by killing Duncan, who was the king. He did this out of a desire to fulfill the prophecy told to him by three witches who declared that he would become king. The three witches also told Macbeth’s best friends that his children would also be kings. Macbeth goes on to kill his best friend, he goes mad, his wife, Lady Macbeth, goes mad, and then she dies. In the end, Macbeth is killed by someone who, as foretold, is “not of woman born,” but born by Caesarian Section. Thus, Malcolm, Duncan’s eldest son, becomes the rightful king. Throughout the play, certain themes recur: the madness of power, blood, sleeplessness, curses, prophecy, witches, night, hands, and death. The themes of power-hungry madness, sleeplessness, death, and blood were especially strong in Act 2, Scene 2, which was the …show more content…
I have drugged their possets.” Lady Macbeth finds that poisoning the guards excites her passions. She is the perfect example of the theme “mad with power.” Taking a life seems to give more of an edge to her own life. In contrast, we played Macbeth as nervous and shocked by his own actions. When Macbeth says, “I am afraid to think what I have done,” we know he is reacting to his crime like any normal, sane person would. The interaction between Macbeth and his wife is a sharp contrast between doing what is right, and doing what one must do to achieve power at any cost. The script was cut down to show only what was necessary and relevant about the play. We cut out all the repetition, and only used the lines that seemed to show Lady Macbeth in one extreme, and Macbeth in the other. This made it easier to perform in the short amount of time we had. While Lady Macbeth is portrayed as manic in her madness, Macbeth sinks into a depressed