The passage in Act I Scene III is an important passage in the beginning of the play. It takes place after Macbeth and Banquo meet with the witches. This passage takes place after they meet with the witches for the second time and the first predictions have come true for Macbeth. Now he is considering even killing the king and wondering why he thinks that. Shakespeare uses literary features, internal struggles, and motifs to set up the hamartia of the tragic hero Macbeth in the novel. This passage is a soliloquy meaning that it is spoken to the audience and the other characters in the play do not hear what he is saying. Using this feature allows Shakespeare to point out internal struggles in the character. In this passage Macbeth is struggling
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One of the motifs is the motif of duplicity. It is used throughout the passage in the beginning with the fact that the predictions cannot be good or bad and in the end of the passage with the paradox. The first mention of it sets up this message of duplicity or how everything has two meanings to it. Nothing can be how it seems. Macbeth is always pretending to be something he is not and in this passage he is pretending to be happy with the recent developments but in his mind he wants more and considering murdering the king. This motif references to that because everything is double or has a double meaning and he also has this secret intention, building inside him, to kill Duncan. This sets up to the hamartia because there is always another meaning or another path to things and in Macbeth’s case there is always another thing he needs to achieve. There is a sort of duplicity to Macbeth’s goals because he always wants one more thing. The other motif in this passage is things not being in line with nature. It is mentioned when Macbeth says his heart is beating against his ribs and “Against the use of nature”. It is also mentioned when he says that his thought to kill Duncan “Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother 'd in surmise” (III, 141-142) meaning that this thought prevents his function is being smothered by it. This relates to his tragic flaw because he is able to work against nature to obtain his goal of becoming king. This is such an extreme thought to him but he is willing to do this because he is so unsatisfied and will never gain satisfaction but he is willing to use any means to obtain his next goal in
One of the motifs is the motif of duplicity. It is used throughout the passage in the beginning with the fact that the predictions cannot be good or bad and in the end of the passage with the paradox. The first mention of it sets up this message of duplicity or how everything has two meanings to it. Nothing can be how it seems. Macbeth is always pretending to be something he is not and in this passage he is pretending to be happy with the recent developments but in his mind he wants more and considering murdering the king. This motif references to that because everything is double or has a double meaning and he also has this secret intention, building inside him, to kill Duncan. This sets up to the hamartia because there is always another meaning or another path to things and in Macbeth’s case there is always another thing he needs to achieve. There is a sort of duplicity to Macbeth’s goals because he always wants one more thing. The other motif in this passage is things not being in line with nature. It is mentioned when Macbeth says his heart is beating against his ribs and “Against the use of nature”. It is also mentioned when he says that his thought to kill Duncan “Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother 'd in surmise” (III, 141-142) meaning that this thought prevents his function is being smothered by it. This relates to his tragic flaw because he is able to work against nature to obtain his goal of becoming king. This is such an extreme thought to him but he is willing to do this because he is so unsatisfied and will never gain satisfaction but he is willing to use any means to obtain his next goal in