One of the most exciting techniques used by narrative authors is the careful weaving of central elements throughout their stories, also known as motifs. By definition, a motif is a a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition. From centuries ago to today, motifs have maintained a prominent role in giving a story depth and making it interesting. Through prophecy, hallucinations, and violence, Shakespeare delivered a gruesome and eerie story that we know as the tragedy of Macbeth.
Right at the beginning of Macbeth, the plot is set in motion by the three witches’ prophecies. They tell Macbeth first that he will be Thane of Cawdor, then Thane of Glamis, and King thereafter. This prophecy intensified the ambition between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to become king and queen, serving as the force driving the couple to plot the death of Duncan and many others in their lives as royals. Just as the witches’ prophecies pave a future for Macbeth, Banquo receives knowledge from the future-seers that excites him in a completely different way. He learns that he will be happy and successful, and though he himself will not be King, his sons will. Although Macbeth and Banquo do not believe these prophecies at first, their belief grows with time eventually driving them against each other. These prophecies ended up being so accurate that Macbeth had to meet with the witches a second time to find out more about what was to come in his life. By this point, Macbeth already had several people mercilessly killed to get anyone he needed out of his way. This included Duncan, his guards, his slaves, and Banquo, and Fleance. Upon receiving his second prophecy, Macbeth learns that he could not be killed by anyone born of woman meaning that unbeknownst to him, Macduff “untimely ripped from his mother’s womb,” would be the one to defeat him.
Amid the numerous murders that occur throughout the story, Macbeth and his Lady experience strange hallucinations most likely triggered by their guilt. The first time the audience sees this is the night that Macbeth sought to kill Duncan. He sees a floating knife, covered in blood, glowing in the night and pointing towards Duncan’s room. This floating knife was a symbol of the bloody journey Macbeth was to embark upon. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth was overwhelmed with voices warning him of sleepless nights ahead crying, “Sleep no more! Gloms hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more,” only driving him more insane. Macbeth’s guilty conscious was most publicly exposed at his post-coronation banquet when he is asked to take a seat and sees Banquo’s ghost completely covered in blood. He addresses this hallucination in a frantic manner, “Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which though dost glare with!” Throughout all of his troubled visions, Macbeth lacks the comfort of his wife who at first calls him weak and says that he is not a man for being so paranoid. This is until all of their wrongdoings start to haunt her and she begins to experience hallucinations of her own. We find Lady Macbeth sobbing and telling the stories of the murders to her servants as she tries to scrub this metaphorical blood off of her hands that to her will never go away. She sobs, “Hell is murky!–Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?–Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.” Lady Macbeth’s paranoia and wild hallucinations drove her to the point of no return, and she committed suicide shortly after. In this play, hallucinations and visions certainly contributed to the development of the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. After all, a man was driven to murder his King and his companions after receiving an ambiguous prophecy told by three witches.
Most importantly and most obviously, there is the ever present violence in this story that makes it its own breed of tragedy. There is blood in almost, if not every single scene in the play. It begins with a bloody battle and throughout the story we witness the murder of numerous men and women, children, and the suicide of Lady Macbeth. With elements like assassinations, wars, murders and Macbeth becoming blood-thirsty over ambition, violence becomes the essence of Macbeth and the linking element in plot development. Macbeth sees violence as his way to achieve the prophecy the witches gave him, but his abundance of ambition is quickly put to an end as he is overthrown and killed by Macduff—the only man not born of woman. Karma plays an important role here as Macbeth had ordered the death of Macduff and his whole family and Macduff was fortunate enough to get away and get his revenge on the undeserving ruler. From the beginning to the end, violence never rests as the power hungry characters fulfill their prophecies. Not only are there countless murders, but each one occurs in its own aggressive manner each for its own reason. The way that Macbeth resorts to killing people as soon as they pose a threat to him reveals his lack of patience for the life that he was destined to have.
After reading this story and watching the film, it came to my attention what an important role motifs play in the development of not only the plot but the characters as well. Macbeth without his prophecy would likely be a more patient and down to earth man, but but with them he became a power hungry, blood thirsty, ambitious murderer. Perhaps if Macbeth had waited for his prophecy to come true naturally he would have lived a fruitful life as King rather than spending it killing his closes comrades. However, Shakespeare’s use of proper motifs really emphasize his purpose in creating a tragic play. The three motifs I chose to discuss were ones that I believed to work really well together to create a series of unfortunate events.
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