Regicide In Macbeth

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William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth was written at a time where it’s success or failure and that of its messages was crucial to Shakespeare’s continued livelihood. Hence he wrote a play with messages that helped to secure the position of his new benefactor. There are many messages in this play, perhaps the major ones are: “Misfortune follows regicide” “Don’t consort with magic.” and “Don’t trust or act on those prophesying about fate as it will happen no matter what you do.” These themes were useful to the king at the time of writing and hence were prominent. The first theme of “Misfortune follows regicide” is present throughout the play, shown primarily by the undesirable events that follow Macbeth’s rash movement for the throne.…show more content…
In the time this was written England's populace was a mix of Catholic and Protestant. This was another of Shakespeare's messages. He communicates this through different means; they all use the witches but are shown differently. The first means is through the language of the witches. They often rhyme and act like what most people would consider to be something worthy of an asylum. For example, in Act I, Scene III, the first witch says "A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, | And munched, and munched, and munched: | Give me, quoth I: |Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyon cries." Aside from the Shakespearean language, the three witches' language is used to bring an aspect of strangeness about them. People tend to distrust that which is strange and hence, the witches. This is useful to the governing bodies (including Shakespeare's new employer) as they repress the practice of witchcraft among the populace. The second means by which the witches are used to communicate Shakespeare's message of 'don't consort with magic' is their actions; they fill Macbeth's mind with the prospect that he could become king. They tricked him in a 'deal with the devil' fashioned such that if he agreed it would end badly for him even though the prospect appears attractive on the surface. This leads to all the tragic events of the play. It shows the audience that following the practitioners of magic leads to unfavourable events. This…show more content…
This is shown again with the witches. They prophesy that Macbeth will become king. He believes them because they first called him by his title, then his soon-to-be title, and finally their prophecy of what may be to come. The following quote gives the dialogue for this event "MACBETH - Speak, if you can. What are you? | FIRST WITCH - All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! | SECOND WITCH - All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! | THIRD WITCH - All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!..." As Macbeth was already the Thane of Glamis, when he soon after this encounter heard that he was the Thane of Cawdor, it made him wonder if he would indeed become king, which set ablaze his ambitious desire and discontent. He decided to commit both regicide and high treason and upon his success claimed his crown. Following this Macbeth faces adversity until his inevitable death. It is disputable whether or not Macbeth would have become king without the regicide, if not, the witches were only prophesying about what may become, not fate, but if so he could have waited patiently before becoming king through the natural course of events and not incurred the wrath of God. Hence, Macbeth should have not trusted those prophesying about fate, as the message

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