The Impact of the Elizabethan World Picture on the Destruction of Macbeth

The impact of the Elizabethan world picture on the destruction of Macbeth

The Elizabethan world picture describes the period, when Queen Elizabeth 1st had the crown. To this time, the most important thought in this system was that the macrocosm was reflected in the microcosm. Everything had a certain order in this cosmos. That means, the king stands in front of the state, like god in front of the creation. Also each human carried the order of the society in itself. In relation to this, the state as a complex building of a strict hierarchy had a tremendous impact on writers who lived in the Elizabethan period. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth includes these frameworks. If the natural order gets messed up, the system in the society gets messed up as well. As well in story as in the Elizabethan world picture, there is a strong relationship between the order of the nature and the order of the society. In the story, King Duncan is on top of the hierarchy. He holds the order alive. As soon as he gets killed, the destruction starts to obtain. The death of the king represents the chaos in the story and in the nature. The dilemma starts, when he meets the witches. They predict him that Duncan would no longer be the king. And they greet to him as “Thane of Cawdor” (pg.17, line 52) and as “king hereafter” (act 1/3 pg.17, line 53). He was confused about this prediction and he wonders if this prediction could be the truth. He thought about being the king and decides that, if the prophecies come true, he will get involved or not: “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.”(act 1/4 pg.25, line157-159). In his head, he thinks about being the king and he doesn’t pay attention to his environment. But the biggest impact has his wife, who is only seeking for power. She causes the destruction in the tragedy, as she offered him a plan to kill Duncan. “But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail. When is asleep, his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbeck only….Th’unguarded Duncan? What not put upon his spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt of our great quell?”(act 1/7 pg. 43, line 70-82) After he killed the king, he has to deal with the guilt. Macbeth is horrified by what he has done; he can’t handle it and wants to clean his hands of the blood.

“What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”(act 3/1 pg. 91, line 150-155) After he gets crowned, he wants to kill Banquo because he knows too much. Macbeths plans the murder really quick and by his own. “It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight.”(act 3/1 pg. 91, line 161-162) By murdering Banquo, he destroys the order of the society a bit more. The destruction of the Macbeth and his society goes on. His wife Lady Macbeth helps him to come down and stay calm every time, but after