Category: Writing

Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is centered around the exploration of the main character of Macbeth. It presents many different views of Macbeth and his character can be interpreted in many different ways by modern standards. The main focus, however, is clearly on Macbeth’s state of mind and its continued downward slope leading to him from being a healthy, well-minded individual into a paranoid tyrant who is unable to feel remorse. This idea of Macbeth’s state of mind deteriorating over the course of the play will be explored throughout the course of this essay.

Macbeth over the course of the play goes through significant physiological changes. Macbeth starts with being a loyal subject to the King of Scotland, Duncan and at the climax of the play, with considerable pressure from Lady Macbeth, his wife, killing Duncan to finally becoming a tyrant at the end until his own doings are what made for his downfall. A very important thing to take into account to Macbeth’s deteriorating state of mind is that the deterioration did not necessarily begin when he had met the witches even though they had told him that he would become King of Scotland after Duncan as Macbeth was under the impression that it would come naturally to him. The moment when Macbeth’s mind began to deteriorate is arguably Lady Macbeth telling Macbeth that his place on the throne would not come naturally but only via effort. This is the point when Macbeth begins to equivocate, telling Duncan that he is his loyal subject whilst acknowledging his desires. At this point it is very important to mention the witches, where some interpretations say that they are but a fragmentation of Macbeth’s mind however this is very much not true considering when the play was written (1600s) as this time was when the belief in witches was very widespread and there would be no doubt to the audience listening to the play that the witches were real. Macbeth even knows that his deeds are bad which can be seen from the passage, ‘[s]tars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desire,’ which clearly shows that he knows that his deed which he will carry out is malicious and evil by the key word ‘black,’ a word preconceived to be related to evil. This is all important to Shakespeare’s message because he may be presenting the idea of imminent power corrupts people into thinking and doing things which goes against their values. This idea of mental corruption links back to the idea of Macbeth’s deteriorating mind because Macbeth will later cease to be able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Therefore, Shakespeare’s message throughout the play is how imminent power and power can corrupt normally moral people and this idea was very well known which dates back to Roman times as can be seen via a quote stating, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ These ideas and discussions which are explored ties well into the rest of the play and the idea of how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s deteriorating state of mind.

One of the first times when Macbeth starts to show his mind deteriorating is in Act II Scene I, where there is a very famous quote which holds very deep and important meaning which reads, ‘[i]s this a dagger I see before me, the handle towards my hand?’ This quotation shows Macbeth being unsure if the dagger is in reality in front of him and this is a also a quote which expresses a very important view of metaphysics which is a theme throughout the play. Metaphysics is the abstract knowledge of something without hard or any evidence and it is also the ‘understanding’ of abstract concepts, in this case, the imaginary dagger. This idea is fundamental to understanding Macbeth’s state of mind and him at the end of the play. The metaphysics of the dagger and Macbeth not being able to differentiate between reality and the imaginary shows that Macbeth is clearly in a mental state which is not sound. Another important device to take note of is foreshadowing which is something which is also incredibly important to understanding Macbeth. In the quote it says that the daggers handle is faced towards him, almost as if though it is saying that he will be killing Duncan, which he does do later on. If it intended that Macbeth would fail the dagger would perhaps have the knife part facing towards him but as the handle is it makes a very convincing argument that this foreshadows Macbeth’s success in his deed.These sorts of events bring into the question if Macbeth was in control of his own actions and if his fate was already predetermined .This draws into contrast to life in the 1600s where people were deeply religious and where people thought that lives and fates were already determined; perpetuated by the class society. Another very important part in the beliefs of people who lived in the 1600s was that it was believed was that people committed ill deeds from being corrupted from evil, usually the devil. Therefore, the witches and the entire play, for that matter, may be an allegory for fate and what evil and/or power does to you and your mental state.

Another important moment when Macbeth’s mind is seen to be deteriorating is when he shows his first signs of equivocation. The prominent moment is when Macbeth is showing two different views in regard to killing Duncan. This is very clearly supported in Act I, scene VII when he says, ‘false face must hide what the false heart doth know.’ This is not only a sign of equivocation but this is also analytically important as this is also an example of antithesis as the passage shows two conflicting ideas being used in order to draw contrast. This is clearly seen through the use of ‘hide’ and ‘know’ being used in contrast because he is saying that he must show a depiction of himself which is contradictory to his own true ambitions: to kill Duncan. The use of antithesis is done to emphasise the two conflicting ideas and morals of Macbeth, one of which is two serve Duncan loyally but at the same time having another part of him wishing to murder him in order to claim power for himself and this is seen at play within the passage as the word ‘hide’ by definition means to conceal something, and in this case, his ambitions from others but another idea of the knowledge of things is also at play which is shown through the use of the word ‘know,’ and this is critical as Macbeth is expressing that it is vital that he portray a façade to hide his inner ambitions which only his heart has knowledge to, which, again, the ideas of hiding and knowing are conflicting thus antithesis being present. This passage also gives us an insight to Macbeth’s deteriorating mind from the equivocation as equivocatory behaviour is not something someone of a sound mindset is prone to exhibit due to the fact that they are able to clearly portray themselves for what they really are.

The extract provides a very different view of Macbeth; a view that almost shows Macbeth having gone full circle going from sane and being able to distinguish between reality and the metaphysical, going to being in doubt of his own mental state and what is real and not to finally coming back into knowing what is real. This is proven when Macbeth says, ‘[t]o the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle.’ Here Macbeth is seen brooding upon life and its insignificance which can be seen when he makes the statement  that time works only to bring people closer to their deaths. Notably, Macbeth and to an extent Shakespeare, as he is the one who is conveying his words through Macbeth, is leaving out the good things in life such as marriage to wealth. This may have been intentional as all of these things happen by chance and are not guaranteed and Macbeth is seen brooding upon life and the very real nature of it: you live, you die, you disappear, you’re forgotten. This shows a very different Macbeth than to the mentally unstable one and the optimistic one as here Macbeth is stating the very simple facts of life. Considering this, here Shakespeare is portraying Macbeth as a realist which is almost the complete opposite to the Macbeth a few scenes ago which shows that Macbeth has gone from being unable to recognize the real and the metaphysical to being able to and going further to recognize the simple facts of life. This is plays significantly due to the fact that during the course of the play Shakespeare has been portraying Macbeth’s mind to be in a deteriorating state, something which is quite evident, but here with the realism which Shakespeare portrays Macbeth to be expressing shows that no matter how high up you reach, no matter what status you obtained, no matter what you carved yourself out to be, you will always diminished into the only facts of life; be you peasant, bourgeois or King (like Macbeth, in this case), you will always end your life with death. Therefore, Shakespeare is showing that no matter how much your mind may deteriorate due to the actions which you committed for power or what has been done to you, two important aspects of the character of Macbeth, you will always come to the realisation of your demise and won’t deny it and instead accept it and accept life for what it is which is what Macbeth can be seen to be doing in the quote, discussing how every single day you have lived brings you closer and closer to ‘dusty death.’

In summary, Macbeth’s mental state is seen throughout the play can be best described as being deteriorating but at the very end, moments before he is killed, he is released from this fabricated world which he had created through his frankly damaged mind into a sense of realism. Therefore, Shakespeare throughout the play has shown what the effects of imminent power has done to a man and what it ends in when gotten via unorthodox means and going against fate, which is another theme of the play Macbeth. Shakespeare clearly portrayed a message that Macbeth’s mind was deteriorating due to the position of power coming to him via unsavoury means which he brought upon himself and that when fate is disturbed it may have detrimental effects on you as a person and your mental health. This is how Shakespeare has portrayed Macbeth’s deteriorating mind.

By Daian and Yusuf

Why is the Middle East influential?

Our topic is about the Middle East and why it is influential. Our four sub-questions explore how oil and religion plays a big part in the Middle East’s power. ISIS manipulates religion as their main source of power.

One of our sub-questions is ‘How does Isis manipulate religion in their favour?’. It is common knowledge that they follow an extreme version of Islam, which they may use to control naive Muslims. This is a problem because they can bomb countries and wait for them to fight back. Then when there are Syrian casualties, they will use them to their advantage and gather them for revenge on the warring countries. A factor of ISIS’ power is how they attack countries, which have people from all sorts of different religions. This stirs up racist minds to attack innocent Muslims, which gives an unjust reason for extremists to fight back in the form of ISIS.

Islam plays a large role in the influence of the Middle East. For example, one prominent Middle Eastern country, Saudi Arabia, holds the two holiest cities in Islam, Makkah and Medina. The rest of the Middle East also holds a certain connection to Islam as all of the countries in the Middle East and most in North Africa were once part of the Islamic Caliphates. However, Saudi Arabia plays the largest role, not only to the rest of the Middle East but to most of the world considering how sparse the Islamic populations are. For example, Muslims from Europe, to name one continent, flock to Saudi Arabia annually for Hajj. This means that Saudi Arabia has large influence over a lot of Muslims. Furthermore, the King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman of the House of Saud holds the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques which suggests that the Royal Family and the King holds the power to repair and expand the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Medina. This is related to Saudi Arabia’s influence because the Royal Family is directly connected to politics as Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. This links back to the sub-question of how Islam plays a big part in the influence of the Middle East because as Saudi Arabia holds the two holiest cities in Islam, they wield a lot of influence over a lot of Muslims so this is how the Middle East is influential explained by our sub-question.

Oil has always had an important part in our industrialised world and the Middle East is like a bountiful bowl of fruit when it comes to the amount of oil it has. Oil is, however, heavily contested so some wars have erupted concerning oil which has come to be known as ‘oil wars.’ This leads onto another one of our sub-questions, ‘How may oil be used as a reason for war?’ Oil has damaging as well as empowering elements, for example, an oil rig can be bombed which would severely damage a country’s economy and the oil can also be used to improve an economy. One example of this is the Gulf Wars, where the US bombed oil rigs in order to weaken Iraq. However, this oil spill also severely damaged the climate. Also, another prominent example of an oil war is the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. One side-goal of the Iraq’s was to capture Iranian oil fields for their own benefit. These wars shows how valuable oil is and what a position the Middle East is in. However, this shows that if an oil-rich, Middle Eastern country were to lose stability it’s likely that a Western Power would intervene and take the oil. However, the Middle East has been and will most likely continue to pursue diplomatic relations as an alternative to war to spread their oil. This all links back to our sub-question of how oil may be used for war and how Middle Eastern countries use diplomacy in order to avoid it.

Another point on oil, oil has increased the influence of the Middle East, which brings us into our sub-question, “How has oil increased the influence of the Middle East?” Countries which have vast quantities of oil, especially in the Middle East. One prominent example of the power and influence that the Middle East’s oil contains is the severe consequences of what happens when one of these countries boycott another country of oil. The example we were talking about is when Saudi Arabia boycotted all countries supporting Israel in a war. A barrel which cost $50 rose to be around $560 per barrel. This shows the shear influence and power of countries in the Middle East who have large quantities of oil within their belt. In the future, the Middle East might be able to manipulate other nations on the basis of oil. For example, in the current Saudi-Houthi conflict the Saudi’s can easily buy more arms to use against the Houthi’s in Yemen by selling more oil. Also, countries with human rights abuses could make nations overlook them by selling oil, like what Saudi Arabia is doing. This is how The Middle East is able to use oil in order to levy influence and power.

In conclusion, linking back to our main question, “Why is the Middle East influential?” our sub-questions have answered this sufficiently. To herald back to one of our sub-questions, “How does the Middle East use Islam to maintain power,” we proved that the Middle East wields huge amounts of influence on over a billion Muslims because Saudi Arabia holds the two Holiest Cities in Islam; Makkah and Medina. Summarising our main question, the Middle East uses oil, religion and controversially terrorist groups in order to maintain power in the region and world wide. The Middle East greatly benefits our economies as well as having our economies to the neck as one decision to boycott the West would result in definite financial collapse. This means that the Middle East not only has huge influence in the Middle East but also around the world. This is why the Middle East is influential and how they are able to maintain their power.