Discuss the role of insanity and paranoia in the unfolding events of Macbeth.

The power-hungry Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan in his sleep. The first instance of insanity occurs with Macbeth’s monologue as he asks “is this a dagger which I see before me?”. This symbolizes the beginnings of the way power will drive him mad. After killing Duncan, Macbeth returns with blood on his hands and Lady Macbeth goes to hide the murder weapons. As they look at the blood on their hands, she tries to console him as he realizes what he’s done. Macbeth later kills Banquo and then sees Banquo’s ghost appear before him at a dinner party he throws after becoming King of Scotland (no one else can see the ghost. It’s Macbeth going insane). Macbeth also kills the wife and children of MacDuff, a man who turned against him. Later, Lady Macbeth goes insane from the guilt of taking part in and encouraging murder and cries “out out black spot” while scrubbing at the spot on her hand where Duncan’s blood had been. Lady Macbeth later kills herself to escape her own mind/the guilt that drove her insane. Macbeth’s power-driven murders were caused by a curse that three witches set on him, which explained that he would be King (which is why he killed King Duncan), but no child born of a woman would kill him. But, MacDuff was born by C-Section and would be the one to kill him. This curse frightened Macbeth and was the soul reason he killed Duncan, Banquo, and MacDuff’s family. Macbeth’s paranoia over losing power drove him to insanity, which sparked his terrible actions. At the end, MacDuff came to fight Macbeth after hearing that he killed his family and, after a long fight, he eventually kills Macbeth.

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