Macbeth Motifs Essays - Characters In Macbeth,

Macbeth Motifs Macbeth Motif Essay William Shakespeare, in his tragic play Macbeth, written in 1606, dramatizes the unrelenting power of deception, insanity, and greed which ultimately results in the demise of Macbeth. Macbeth allowed his desire to become king overrule his judgement which consummately terminated his existence. The play is full of pestilence and set in Scotland during the eleventh century. In Macbeth, sleeplessness is an important motif that permeates the dramatic structure. Shakespeare uses this fatigue to substantiate the guilt of Macbeth, to represent subconscious insanity, and to show a foreshadowing of bad things to come. The motif serves to dramatize the true overview of how the characters are handling the various tragedies that occur. Initially, the motif of sleeplessness is used as a model of foreshadowing. For example, in Act II, scene i, Banquo finds it hard to sleep the night Macbeth is supposed to kill King Duncan. This is evidence that evil things will occur throughout the play. Furthermore, in Act II, scene ii, while Macbeth was killing Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain arose in their sleep. One laughed and the other ?cried murder.? This is their sleeplessness foreshadowing because Duncan was dead, even though the brothers did not know it yet. Shakespeare's use of the sleeplessness motif as foreshadowing allows the reader to get a concept of what evil will come in the future. Not only does Shakespeare use sleeplessness for foreshadowing he also uses it as a mode of guilt. For example, in Act II, scene ii, Macbeth thinks he hears a voice say, ?Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!? This is Macbeth imagining voices, telling him not to sleep because he is feeling immoral and liable for Duncan's murder. Next, Macbeth is afraid to sleep peacefully because he knows that Duncan is ?in restless ecstasy?(Act III, scene ii). Apparently, Macbeth is aware of his wrongdoing and feels culpable that he is king and alive, but only at the sacrifice of Duncan. By using guilt to show sleeplessness, Shakespeare shows that a corrupt crime can only leave the mind unsure and unable to rest. The most significant aspect of this motif, however, is how it is used to demonstrate the insanity of Macbeth and his wife. For instance, in Act II, scene iv, Macbeth is at dinner with Lennox, Ross, and other lords. He sees ghosts and is apparently insane. This proves that all the sleep in the world could never clear Macbeth of his crime, he is already destroyed. In addition, Lady Macbeth sleep walks and hallucinates a spot of blood on her hands in Act V, scene i. This proves that she has gone crazy as well. She cannot sleep because she is trying to remove the spot, which represents guilt. The strong use of insanity as a moving force in the play causes the reader to understand that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth cannot rid themselves of their evil deeds. The play demonstrates that the subconscious can allow evil things to occur. The sleeplessness motif is significant because it shows how the characters in the play deal with their stresses. The eerie use of sleeplessness added to the guilt of the characters, the foreshadowing of evil supplied a dark sensation, and the irony of insanity showed that the character's souls could not handle the calamitous situations. Macbeth could not sleep because he was too guilt-ridden, which eventually drove him to the breaking point. Macbeth's fate, foretold by the witches, finally caught up to him and after his frighteningly sleepless nights, he was now engrossed by the eternal sleep called death. Shakespeare Essays

Style Periods essays

Style Periods essays Throughout its history, music has developed into cycle. This cycle is a return of fundamental and traditional ideas of an earlier time transposed into the present. It represents a style revolution in which a simple structure further develops to become a more complex system. At this point a revolution begins and a return to the simple, the more traditional form flourishes again. As a chain of events, the cycle is extremely prominent during the change of time periods between the Renaissance and Baroque. In 1581, a group of philosophers, musicians, artists, intellectuals, and scientists all met in Florence to discuss where society was headed. Resulting from what became known as the Florentine Camerata, a shift from the current complex system of the renaissance to that of a simple structure, which imitated ancient Greek society. Those such as Girolamo Mei, Giovanni Bardi, Vincenzo Galilei, Jacopo Peri, and Giulio Caccini, all discussed what would become new practices and experimentation in music (Florence 647). The Baroque Era began at the end of the 16th century and lasted to about 1750. It reflects a period of time when great changes occurred in music and culture, and bridges the gap between the music of the renaissance and the music of the classical era. The music of the early baroque was composed in a style that was very similar that of the renaissance era. The term Baroque has only recently become a means to determine the period of time. It is derived from the French baroque, which comes from the Portuguese baroco, meaning a pearl of irregular or bulbous shape (Baroque 172). The word Baroque was initially used to imply strangeness and abnormality. During this period, most music was written as ordered and requested by aristocratic courts, churches, and opera houses in which all patrons and musicians demanded new music. Composers were an integral part of the baroque society and ev...