Macbeth Sanity Essay

The story of Macbeth tells of a man who presses his way to become ruler of a kingdom and ensure security of his throne. Along the way he is lead astray, which consequently, causes destruction, failure, and tarnishes him with an image of insanity. This paper argues that despite all of Macbeth's apparent flaws, he is still a sane individual.

Macbeth's overwhelming guilty conscience shows that he is able to decipher between what is right and what is wrong. If Macbeth was completely blinded by evil intent and not concerned of the outcome of rational decision making, he would not have any remorse for his doings. After his heinous actions against the King, he was able to reconcile that what he just committed was wrong and selfish. The quote, "I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not" shows that his guilt is so robust that he can not mentally look back on the situation because it hurts his conscience to a staggering extent. This demonstrates that even after Macbeth does something negative to benefit his own well-being, he is still able to reflect on his actions and conclude whether they were the morally correct ones. In the quote, "O yet I do repent me of my fury. That I did kill them," Macbeth tries to repent for his actions. Repentance is when an individual feels regret for an action that they have committed and try to change their mind in regard to the past action they committed. One of the definitions of insanity is when an individual completes the same action and expects a different result. Macbeth displays sanity in knowing what he did was wrong and utilizes repentance which tries to change his whole mind set to avoid future occurrences.

Macbeth's insanity is being misconstrued for his weak character and strong desire to satisfy his wife and her ambitions. Because he is able to consistently commit acts to appease her desires and ambitions, he can't be deemed as insane. Many consider Macbeth to be insane because he commits callous acts of murder throughout the story. It can be argued that he only commits these acts because he does not have enough esteem to go against the wishes of his wife. Chivalry, honor, and status were highly regarded throughout this time period, and Macbeth did not want to lose these virtues in the sight of his wife. The quote, "You do unbend your noble strength, to think So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, And wash this filthy witness from your hand," displays how Lady Macbeth is telling her husband to rid himself of such petty guilt and continue to degrade himself in order to achieve a diluted dream. Macbeth's weak character opens him up to succumb to his wife's every whim. Ironically, she should be deemed insane, for Macbeth is nearly acting as the vehicle by which Lady Macbeth is carrying out her outlandish ambitions. The quote, "Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon" is another prime example of how Lady Macbeth takes advantage of Macbeth's need to be regarded highly. She attacks his pride and esteem in order to coerce him into doing what she wants. Essentially, Macbeth is not acting on his own ambitions and he should be deemed as having an inferior image, instead of the insane one that is so commonly attributed to him.

Macbeth's ability to feel and comprehend human emotions shows that he has a rational mentality instead of a diluted one. An individual who has the ability to show emotion doesn't have a completely distorted mind. Showing emotion is one of the few qualities that make humans unique. Being insane is very similar to departing from humanity. If an individual is not capable of displaying emotion they are either insane (mentally disabled) or of a lesser species. Macbeth's display of emotion can be seen