Macbeth's Transformation Analysis
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth undergoes a profound and gradual evolution throughout the play. He regresses from a logical, compassionate, caring, and conscientious man, to an entirely apathetic, moral less model of cynical numbness. Macbeth's transformation from logical to irrational, from compassionate to indifferent, progresses slowly but definitively. We first hear of Macbeth in the wounded captain’s account of his battlefield valor, and our initial impression is of a brave and capable warrior. The captain, having returned with the latest news from the revolt, describes the battle in which Macbeth killed Macdonwald, a traitor. He recounts that Macbeth laughed at Luck before splitting Macdonwald open from his navel to his jawbone. He
…show more content…
The things that bothered Macbeth at the beginning of the play, no one effect him. He has become desensitize to death. He is no longer fearful. “The time has been my senses would have cooled / To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair / Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir / As life were in ’t. I have supped full with horrors.” (5.1.13-16). There was a time when he would have been terrified by a shriek in the night, and the hair on his skin would have stood up when he heard a ghost story. But now he has had his fill of real horrors. Horrible things are so familiar that they no longer bother him. We further see he desensitization when he finds out his wife, Lady Macbeth, is dead. He says that she has bound to die any way, but that she should have died at a later, more convent time. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,” he say, “Creeps in this petty pace from day to day / To the last syllable of recorded time” (5.1.24-26). He is saying that everyday marches slowly by until the end of time. He continues his pessimistic speech by saying, “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death.” (5.1.27-28). This means that every day that’s already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. He then compares life to a candle, slowly but surely running out. He ends his soliloquy by stating that life “is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” (5.1.31-33). He no longer sees any joy in life. He regards life as a story told by an idiot. It is nothing more then an illusion full of noise but devoid of
The things that bothered Macbeth at the beginning of the play, no one effect him. He has become desensitize to death. He is no longer fearful. “The time has been my senses would have cooled / To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair / Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir / As life were in ’t. I have supped full with horrors.” (5.1.13-16). There was a time when he would have been terrified by a shriek in the night, and the hair on his skin would have stood up when he heard a ghost story. But now he has had his fill of real horrors. Horrible things are so familiar that they no longer bother him. We further see he desensitization when he finds out his wife, Lady Macbeth, is dead. He says that she has bound to die any way, but that she should have died at a later, more convent time. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,” he say, “Creeps in this petty pace from day to day / To the last syllable of recorded time” (5.1.24-26). He is saying that everyday marches slowly by until the end of time. He continues his pessimistic speech by saying, “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death.” (5.1.27-28). This means that every day that’s already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. He then compares life to a candle, slowly but surely running out. He ends his soliloquy by stating that life “is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” (5.1.31-33). He no longer sees any joy in life. He regards life as a story told by an idiot. It is nothing more then an illusion full of noise but devoid of