Macbeth A Story Of Our Time

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

is a story of a man who's ambitions have brought him to commit treason and murder. Visions of power grew within his head until his thirst for power causes him to lose that very source of his ambition to the blade of Macduff's sword. It is the ironic and symbolic elements such as this in the play which contribute to much of the acceptance the work has enjoyed for centuries.
Three forms of irony may be found in the play, Macbeth: Dramatic irony, being the difference between what the audience knows and what a character knows to be true; Verbal Irony, being a difference between what is said and what is meant; and Situational Irony, a difference between what happens and what is expected to happen. I will attempt to show examples of each of these forms of irony and explain their relevance to the characters and the plot.
There are many examples of dramatic irony in the play which we might discuss. A major example is where Lennox asks Macbeth whether the king is to leave Macbeth's ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

it no further..."
After the king's murder is discovered, it is almost comedic the way Lady Macbeth responds to the announcement of King Duncan's murder. First she enters in mock confusion questioning,
Lady Macbeth: "What's the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? speak, speak!" (II,iii,84-86)
One can imagine the actor portraying Lady Macbeth embellishing her performance almost to be point at which it might be called over-acting. Then with Macduff's reply refusing to tell her what has happened for "The repetition in a woman's ear Would murder as it fell," one can not help but ignore the serious tone of the scene to laugh at the irony of his ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: