Shakespeare's "Macbeth" - Analysis of the influence of evil on the mainprotagonist Macbeth

Jessica Hecht

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Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: very good, Ruhr-Unive...

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Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: very good, Ruhr-University of Bochum (FB Anglistics), language: English, abstract: In this paper I am going to analyse the influence of evil on the mainprotagonist ofShakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth". In order to do this it is necessary to point out theway of analysis I prefer. First I will present some needed background information aboutthe author himself and the Elizabethan World Picture. The next part introduces thereader to the play "Macbeth" and its actions. This is in order to lead over to the properanalysis where I will try to identify the play's spirit of evil with its personifications innature and other protagonists and special regard to its influence on Macbeth until he isfinally destroyed by it. This analysis will be supported by further focus on the imageryand the language which Shakespeare has used. To understand and to be able to interpret Shakespeare it is necessary to know someimportant facts about the way of life and thoughts at Shakespeare's lifetime.The Elizabethan Era was characterised by hierarchy and thoughts of extreme order.People thought that everything in the universe had got its own specific position in theirstrict order. You can find this world of ideas in the assemblage of the universe as well.This cosmological constellation hasn't told only about the order and the position of thehuman being in this cosmos but also about the relations of the interconnected creationand the relation between cosmos and God (cf. picture 1 on p. 15)The ideas of this world picture can already be found in the antiquity but it was improvedin all its details by the scholastic philosophy.In this chapter of my paper I am going to introduce you to one of the three main formsof the Elizabethan World Pictures: the chain of being.The whole universe is divided into a ladder. At its ground there are the non-livingelements and at its top there is God. At first you can find the elements, liquids, metals,then vegetation and the animals. The human beings stand over the animals becauseof their reason. The angels follow the human beings as non-materialistic and spiritualcreatures. God is at the top as the creator of this chain. [...]