Macbeth LRJ act 3

1. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth start to change drastically in scene 2, Act 3. Macbeth begins to become paranoid and cautious about everything after killing Duncan. He starts to regret killing Duncan even more. This is shown on page 83. “Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep/In affliction of these terrible dreams/that shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,/ Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,/Than on the torture of the mind to lie/In restless ecstasy.” The relationship between the two is only getting worse. They are keeping secrets from one another and it is weakening. Lady Macbeth is just feeling awful and depressed even though she is queen. She acts like she has nothing to live for and seems insecure. It appears all of her happiness is missing as shown on page 81-82. Naught’s had, all’s spent,/where our desire is got without content./’Tis safer to be that which we destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.”

2. An image pattern that is shown throughout act 3 is the description of blood. This shows graphic images and makes the play seem more realistic. It puts emphasis on events that happen to show the importance of what has happened. This is shown on page 89 when Macbeth says, “There’s/blood Upon thy face.” It is also shown on page 95. “Blood hath been shed here ere now.” This shows how Macbeth is escalating in violence and is becoming more ruthless and insane. He is slaying people more violently and is basically losing his mind in power.

3. Ambition seems to be the greatest theme in this story, for Macbeth is on a murder spree and nothing can stop him except for his own death. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth just need to think things through but they don’t and they continue to rush into things with great ambition. They are too hungry for power and don’t realize that they are only digging a bigger whole for them to climb out of.