Shakespeare: Macbeth Development Of The Main Themes

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Introduction
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, conflict is central to the development of the main themes that include guilt, power, ambition, fate versus personal choice, and illusion versus reality. The gradual decline of the protagonists through different conflicts greatly influences the direction and development of the play. Consequently, conflict within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are some of the internal conflicts while Macbeth versus Lady Macbeth and Macbeth versus Banguo and Macduffy represent external conflicts. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze how internal and external conflicts develop central themes in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Macbeth is an admirable war hero who wants the throne, but feels guilty about killing King  HYPERLINK "/topics/macbeth/characters/duncan-character-analysis?en_action=hh_answer_body_click&en_label=%2Fhomework-help%2Fwho-three-characters-macbeth-that-have-internal-146509%23answer-183207&en_category=internal_campaign" \o "Duncan" Duncan. Hence, he worries about his eternal salvation and how his reputation will be damaged. He therefore notes that his ambitious thoughts “are less than horrible imaginings” As a result of his hesitation to murder Duncan, Macbeth gets into conflict with his wife. Lady Macbeth accuses him of being weak and unable to do what must be done. Consequently, she pushes him to fulfill the witches’ prophecy and commit the unthinkable. It is at this point in Act I, Scene III that Macbeth says that” Against the use of nature? Present fears” The conflict within Macbeth demonstrates how people desire power while Lady Macbeth’s manipulative prowess illustrates how far people can go to attain power.
Additionally, Macbeth experiences an inner conflict after he murders Duncan which causes him considerable mental distress. Consumed by guilt and remorse, Macbeth hears voices in which he is accused of "killing sleep." In addition, he wishes that the knocking he hears would wake up Duncan from his sleep: “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst” On the other hand, Lady Macbeth feels embarrassed by how his husband can not control himself. She therefore destroys murder evidence by noting that” My hands are of your color but I would shame to wear a heart so white” However, Macbeth wallows in guilt as paranoia sets in. Consequently, Macbeth the war hero is barely recognizable as internal and external conflict demonstrates how evil’s repercussions are endless.
Furthermore, although Macbeth w...