Macbeth

Chaos is another way of saying everything is thrown out of wack. In the play Macbeth the theme of chaos is explored through nature, Scotland, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth. In nature chaos was shown through the winds, water, and skies, and how the killing on Duncan through it all out of wack. In Scotland, chaos was shown through Scotland condition being at war and its armies, As Scotland’s condition worsens more people die. Lady Macbeth shows chaos through her actions and how she helps bring out the demons in Macbeth. She even goes as far as asking all the demons of hell to possess her. She eventually shows chaos when she loses her mind and can no longer deal with reality Macbeth expresses chaos by losing his sanity. His thoughts have turned to evil and he was no longer able to feel anything.

In the play Macbeth chaos is explored through nature in many ways. Nature explains its feelings through the action of wind, water, skie. When Macbeth killed Duncan,” Gods, representative on earth”, nature was thrown out of wack. Three main ‘strange’ things happened; one Duncan’s well-trained horses acted up and turned wild, two an eclipse occurred, and three a falcon was killed by a mousing owl. Lennox says “The night was been unruly. Where we lay,/Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,/ Lamentings heard i’th’air, strange screams of death,/ And prophesying, with accents terrible,/Of dire combustion and confused events/ New hatched to th’ woeful time. The obscure bird/ clamoured the livelong night. Some say the earth/ was feverous and did shake.” (II,III, 61-69) Here Lennox is explaining what happened during the night of Duncan’s death. He talks of the wind blowing down their chimneys, the wind seemed to be ‘screaming’ and earthquakes were occurring

. Another example of nature being thrown out of wack is when an old man says “A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place,/ Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.” (II, IV, 15-16) This statement is an example of how things were disturbed because of Duncan’s death. Owls usually eat mice that run around on the ground but yet the owl flew up high and ate the falcon. Macbeth represents the owl, and Duncan the falcon that got killed by the owl, its not suppose to happen in nature. Once Macbeth killed Duncan, Ross said “Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,/ Contending ‘gainst obedience as they would/ Make war with mankind. Ross was talking about Duncan’s horses here. Duncan’s horses were of the best breeding lines, and had the best training, and manners of all. But then Duncan’s horses broke out of their stalls and began eating each other “Tis said they eat, each/ other” (II, IV, 23-24), and they were not obedient. Like the horses being Duncan’s favourite, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth were one of Duncan’s most trusted friends as he gave them countless gifts. Yet they turned wild and careless like the horses, and made war against their master. The horses eating each other symbolizes the way Macbeth was being ate up inside from the guilt of killing his king, Duncan. Lady Macbeth also goes mad because of Duncan’s death, as she continues thinking about Duncan’s blood. There is a lot of nature imagery in the play. For example,there is a almost constant use of plant images. Banquo asks the Witches to "look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not."Then, Duncan tells Macbeth, "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing". The planting is a failure, Lennox refers to Macbeth and his followers as 'weeds'. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't". Banquo,as he thought on the Witches' predictions, considers that he may be the "root and father Of many kings". Malcolm orders every soldier to "hew him down the bough and bear't down before him". The branches from Birnam Wood explain the prophecy of the ghosts and perhaps symbolise nature's victory over the unnatural such as the murders of Duncan, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her family,and the servants. Lennox tells of the 'unruly' night and the dreadful storm on the night of Duncan's murder. Perhaps these incidents symbolise Nature's protest at the murder of a lawful King.

Another way in which chaos showed its presence was through the country Scotland. When Duncan was in power, Scotland was in peace, and prospering. One of the examples of this would be the way the lords and king, delt with the traitor. King Duncan says, “No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest. go pronounce his present death.” It shows that Scotland was not corrupt, it was a fair and good country. King Duncan went through with the punishment of the Thane of Cawdor, which is death. He restores some order to