Psychology of the Murderers in Shakespeares Work - Essay Example

Psychology of the murderers in Shakespeare’s work This paper will analyze the psychology of murderers in the Shakespeare stories of Macbeth and Hamlet. We will look at the two characters and the psychological traits that they show in the plays as they commit their actions. Then later the paper will compare their psychologies at that time. We will compare how their murder actions affect both of them psychologically. Hamlet, who is an actor in the Shakespeare plays, a teenager who is always moody and has suicidal tendencies. Hamlet’s father died recently, and since then he sees his father’s ghost telling him to avenge his death. He later decides to do in order for his soul to be at peace, but, unfortunately, this seemingly turns out to be the beginning of problems in his life. He expresses different psychological responses to death, life, his mothers’ sexuality. The consequences that he experiences after avenging the murder of his father result in the beginning of his psychological problems. The move by Hamlet’s mother to get married to Claudius barely two months after his father’s death makes him angry at the mother sex life. Here is what he says in his soliloquy. “That it should come to this! However, two months dead: nay, not so much, not two, So excellent a King; that was to this, Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember why she, she would hang on him As if, the increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on; and yet, within a month- let me not think on ‘(- Frailty, thy name is a woman! (1.2.5)” From this words that Hamlet speaks, it is evident that he feels very bad about his mother’s action of marrying another man soon after his father’s death. From his statements, throughout he says that there is one thing that he hardly stands to remember, and that is how his mother used to be with his father. According to Hamlet, the mother used to hang to the father with a high sexual appetite, which apparently she has transferred to the new husband. The attitude of Hamlet towards his mother has greatly affected his sexuality because according to him women are “frail” meaning they are morally weak. This affects even his relationship with his girlfriend Ophelia. Hamlet shows signs of paranoia, but in actual sense, we cannot say that he is suffering from paranoia, because, at one point, Hamlet is mad at his girlfriend and another point, he is in love with her. Hamlet’s behavior towards his girlfriend Ophelia is psychologically referred as misplaced aggressiveness. Ophelia is suffering for the mistakes committed by Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother just because she is a woman. From this incidence, we can describe Hamlet as, one who is as virtuous and sometimes heartless. Even though, Hamlet mistreats his girlfriend he still has love for her. His real love to his girlfriend shows when Hamlet discovers that his girlfriend is dead. After discovering the death of Ophelia, Hamlet says, “I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.” In the incidence where Hamlet is prompted to avenge his father’s murder, he is seen as an introspective scholar. He was bitter about his father’s death, and he wanted Claudius to pay for the murder, but he did not want to murder Claudius were it, not for his father’s ghost that kept on telling him to avenge his murder. The introspective aspect in Hamlet manifests itself in the play, when Hamlet delays killing the king with an excuse that the timing was not perfect. Instead, he takes that time to pray and clear his conscience. The reasons for Hamlet not killing Claudius are logical and subtle –too subtle, considering Claudius enormity deeds and Hamlet’s virtual certainty since he possesses guilt. His heart does not seem to convince him. Hamlet is finally able to overcome his anxiety through perpetual introspection. In Act V, he comes back from exile a changed man; rational, calm and death is the least of his worries and leaves everything to destiny. In Macbeth’s play, Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger and this vision is always interpreted as a symptom of a psychological disorder in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth considers both the Banquo’s ghost and the daggers as just as the paintings of Macbeth’s fear, by invoking the psychological causes of Macbeth’s visions, such readings tell the reader that, through the vision, it is easy to tell a person’s state of mind. Furthermore, indeterminacy and complexity of Macbeth’s vision become apparent when he begins to understand how sensory perceptions are able to intersect with supernatural interpretations. Although the dagger is not in a tangible form, it is perceived to be there, and that shows a slippage between perception and reality. The episode of the dagger is just a duplicate of the scene, in which Macbeth was able to see Banquo’s ghost. The appearance of the ghost functions as the cause of reification and reification of Macbeths’ worsening psychological state. The dagger speech is among those scenes that people celebrate in Shakespeare as if it really happened. The act in scene 7 Act1 is a soliloquy of a fascinating piece that shows stage psychology, and this can tell how Macbeth is suffering psychologically. In Shakespeare’s plays, both Hamlet and Macbeth takes the plot that looks like one that comes from an established source. Shakespeare deletes, effectively alters or amends the scenes and dialogues to show characters having internal psychological turmoil. In the plot, Shakespeare is concerned with motive and characterization compared to the historical accuracy. He structures his story in a way that he portrays Hamlet and Macbeth as people who finally succumb to overwhelming guilt. Hamlet in Hamlet and Macbeth in Macbeth contemplate on killing a king, but after serious introspection both decide on what to do next. Hamlet failed to please his father’s ghost and Macbeth murdered Banquo and Duncan. These were their obsessions in the rest of the story. They later on start seeing ghosts and these ghosts represent individuals with whom Hamlet and Macbeth have wronged. Each tragedy in act 1 in the plays establishes the supernatural order that Shakespeare uses in the plays to show Hamlet and Macbeth’s fear and guilt externally. In the scene where both Macbeth and Hamlet see ghosts, Shakespeare integrates public superstition and theological opinions to create the revenge ghost. In each play, he establishes that there is a supernatural force that later makes Hamlet and Macbeth to perceive their psychological fabrications as actual ghosts. Hamlet opens the guard relating to the appearance of his ghost and speculating on the reason for the ghosts’ visit. Marcellus, Comments on Horatios’ doubt, about the existence of the ghost. ”tis but our fantasy.” Horatio says, from that quote, it is evident that the initial discovery of the ghost is not Hamlet, and by simple reasoning the appearance, of his father‘s ghost in act 1 should not be seen as a psychological hallucination on his conscience. In fact, it is through Horatio that Hamlet learns of the old Hamlets’ ghosts. Similarly, in the case of Macbeth both Banquo and Macbeth are initially surprised at the witches’ “prophetic greetings.” In Macbeth’s, supernatural world the witches sense a good opportunity for them to create mischief, they say “foul is fair and fair is foul”. This expression shows the dual nature of a person’s mind especially Macbeth. The first words that she speaks on stage echo the contradiction that the witches cause to her mind.” So foul and fair a day I have seen”(1. iii. 38).Just like in Hamlets story it is through Banquo, Macbeth’s friend that she came to acknowledge that the witches were not just an imagination. Banquo suspects the intentions and prophesies of the witches: “….. My noble partner You greet with the present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope That seems royal hope. (1. iii. 54-57)” In an explanation about what the meaning of the witches prophecy, Banquo describes Macbeths “rath” according to the witches prophesy to be the possibility that Macbeth will succumb to the temptations. Macbeth finally becomes rapt with the, even though he was trying to repress the fantasies that she had on the same matter. Hamlet also represses thoughts that are ignoble, although the spirit of, his father confirms his suspicion.” Oh, my prophetic soul! /My uncle“, however, with Horatios’ guidance Hamlet questions about the ghosts motive and decides to act only after verifying the ghost’s assertions. On the contrary, Macbeth takes the simple predictions that the witches made about the future and made them suit his needs. Macbeth goes on with his intention to kill Duncan, and this was the beginning of his problems. The act makes him suffer from guilt, tyranny, paranoia and psychological disturbances. He is taken over by a strong desire to rule and in return, he decides to kill a person that he considers a threat to his ambitions. As we continue to look at the psychology of the murderers in the stories of Macbeth and Hamlet, it is proper to say that Shakespeare presents Hamlet and Macbeth as confused human souls of powerful men who are overwhelmed by their own internal conflicts. Although, Hamlet and Macbeth are prodded into the action, they take by old Hamlets’ ghost and Lady Macbeth, each of them maintains that they had their own personal motives for the course of action each of them decided to take. The force of the drive in Hamlets’ action was Revenge while Macbeth it was personal ambition. Macbeth’s guilt is manifests itself in the form of psychological apparitions that he bases on the knowledge that he previously acknowledges (Dutton & Jean 96). “His throat is cut” (111.iv.51) Macbeth shows that he is aware of how the death of Banquo happened.” thou are the best o ‘the’ cut-throats” even though Macbeth is talking about the ghost, nobody saw the ghost apart from Macbeth himself, and this is an indication that the ghost was in his imaginations. Another instance of a psychological issue manifests itself when Macbeths’ wife dies. Macbeth is in a state of despair he feels that all that he was doing in his life is vanity (Dutton & Jean 111). He feels that he has lost his entire cause of the purpose in which she was fighting. In Macbeth’s words in Act 111, scene 4, he literary accepts that he is stuck. “Returning were just as tedious as to go o’ er.” In military level and psychological terms, Macbeth is trying to say that he can neither advance nor retreat, and he cannot move forward or backward he had reached a dead end. Another murderer in this play is Macduff the murderer of Macbeth. Macduff killed Macbeth with a purpose of revenging. His purpose to kill was good and holy. He did it because of emotions. The action of the tyrannical Macbeth affected Macduff, and he wanted to kill him just for revenge of what he had done to the other people. Macbeth is the one who arranged for the death of Macduff’s wife and son, and he killed Duncan. In Act IV scene 3, the news about the murder of his children and wife is the one that spurs Macduff to have the desire of taking a personal revenge on Macbeth. Lady Macbeth in In Act five scene one is seen rubbing her hand in a way, like someone washing her hand, and this leads on to recall a line” A little water clears us this deed.” From this action, one can tell that Lady Macbeth is really suffering and from her action, one can tell the reason for her suffering (Dutton & Jean 132). From her actions, it is proper to say that Lady Macbeth is going insane. Just like Macbeth, the Lady cannot find the peace; she is restless, and this is a sign of psychological disorders. The speech of Lady Macbeth has become broken due to enormous emotional pressure. Her mind is devastated, and whenever she talks, you cannot find any logical connection between her sentences and her memories. The devastation in her mind is making her find it difficult to remember events in the order in which they happened. For example, “out damn spot” and then “the Thane of Fife had a wife,” this statement refers to Macduff’s a wife. It shows how confused she is until; she cannot organize her statements. Macbeth and Hamlet experience psychological turmoil because there is a contradiction in their moral code. Prompted to assassinate an autocrat each of them decides to take action, but later they regret the action they take. This is seen in the constant hallucinations that Macbeth and Hamlet experience. Shakespeare structures the scenes and dialogue carefully to define a ghost in two ways. One, Shakespeare tries to show a ghost as something that is genuine and secondly, he shows a ghost as a psychological manifestation of guilt in a character. Although in the case of real ghosts, they select their audience. In Macbeth’s story, he seems to be the only one who saw the ghost. Work cited Dutton, Richard, and Jean E. Howard. A Companion to Shakespeares Works. Malden, Mass: Blackwell, 2003. Print. Shakespeare, William. Four Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. , 2005. Internet resource Read More