Conflicting Situation With Lady Macbeth example essay topic

Throughout the play Macbeth, Macbeth comes into conflicting situations with many of the different characters. His conflicts are verbal as well as physical, and they build on each other; as he gets deeper in his evil acts, his conflicts get worse. As a result of Macbeth's conflict, his mind becomes tormented with thoughts and visions of his past deeds. These thoughts and visions are directly linked to the type of conflict Macbeth has. When his conflicts are minor, or verbal, his torment is weaker than when he has a direct physical conflict. In that situation, Macbeth's torment is much more serious and at times, unbearable for him.

Macbeth comes into many conflicting situations in his desire to be king, and these conflicts lead his mind into a state of torment. Macbeth comes into conflict with many people because of his hunger for power. This need he has begins with one conflicting situation with Lady Macbeth. This one act then leads to many other conflicting situations, all originating from his encounter with Lady Macbeth.

The majority of Macbeth's conflicts are with other people; however, he also experiences inner conflicts. At the beginning of the play, his conflicts begin between him and his wife. This conflict is, and stays, verbal throughout the play. This particular conflict begins with Lady Macbeth's idea to murder Duncan. She tries to persuade him to go along with her idea, however Macbeth does not agree. After she has brought up the idea and reveals to him her plan, he replies with, "We will proceed no further in this business". (I. vii.

31) Here, Macbeth is telling Lady Macbeth that he does not want to carry through with Duncan's murder. This situation creates conflict because the couple has different views on fulfilling the witches' prophesy of Macbeth being king. This conflict eventually leads to Duncan's murder, because Macbeth gives into Lady Macbeth. Because Macbeth could not stand up for himself in this conflicting situation, his chance of being able to stand up for himself in later situations is unlikely. Apart from verbal conflicts with Lady Macbeth, Macbeth also experiences physical conflicts because of his need for power. His most vicious physical act is when he stabs King Duncan at the beginning of the play.

This is his second major conflict, and it is more serious than the first. The situation with Duncan begins because Macbeth has given in to Lady Macbeth's persuasion; His conflict with Lady Macbeth was therefore resolved. Macbeth's conflict with Duncan was purely physical, because he did not have an argument with Duncan prior to the murder. We see that there has been a conflict with Duncan when Macbeth approaches Lady Macbeth and says, "I have done the deed". (II. ii.

15) Macbeth has just stabbed Duncan, which shows the intensity of this particular conflict. This conflict with Duncan is the beginning of a series of physical conflicts that Macbeth will be directly or indirectly involved in. It is because of these two conflicts that we see the beginning stages of Macbeth's tormented mind. As a result of Macbeth's verbal and physical conflicts, Macbeth's mind becomes tormented by thoughts and visions. They begin to overpower his mind, and he lets them take him over. These thoughts and visions that he has mirror his conflicts.

After his situation with Lady Macbeth, which is minor in the sense that it was purely verbal, he suffers minor torment in the form of a hallucination. He has a vision of the dagger he will use. When he is alone, he recognizes the dagger in front of him and says, "Is this a dagger which I see before me... come, let me clutch thee... I have thee not, and yet I see thee still". (II. i. 33-35) In this quotation, we see that Macbeth is hallucinating because of Duncan's murder.

He is a mixture of nervous and excited because the experience is dangerous but new. The part of the quotation that tells us that Macbeth is nervous is, "I have thee not". This tells us that Macbeth does not have his dagger out, which means he is nervous about using it. If he were comfortable with the idea of murdering Duncan, he would have his dagger prepared to use. The part of the quotation that tells us Macbeth is excited is, "Come, let me clutch thee". We see here that Macbeth is willing to take the dagger.

The word clutch is important because it is a more descriptive act of handling a dagger than words such as "take, hold, touch". The word clutch makes the impression that Macbeth wants to seize the dagger and hold it tightly. Also, the idea that Macbeth wants to hold the dagger shows that his mind is settled, and he is not letting go of the idea, just as he does not want to let go of the dagger. Another sign that Macbeth's mind is tormented is after Macbeth has murdered Duncan.

He begins too have sleeping troubles. He is speaking to Lady Macbeth about them and he says to her, "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep... Macbeth shall sleep no more!" (II. ii.

35-36, 43) Because of these voices in Macbeth's head, he is beginning to have problems to do with the same situation as the murder. Macbeth murdered Duncan in his sleep, and now Macbeth is paying for by it losing sleep. Macbeth is having sleeping troubles because he was never comfortable with his wife's idea. If he were comfortable, he would not be having his sleep interrupted with nightmares and thoughts of Duncan's murder. Therefore, Macbeth is tormented by thoughts of his evil deeds, and these cause him to hallucinate and lose sleep. In conclusion, Macbeth suffers many conflicts in his desire to be king.

These conflicts are verbal, as with Lady Macbeth, and also physical, as with King Duncan. As a result of these conflicts, he suffers through thoughts and visions of his deeds. His torment builds with every conflict he has. The verbal conflicts result in minimal torment, but the intense physical conflicts result in great torment to his mind.