1
McKenna Forry
12­1­14
AP English III
Mrs Edwards Macbeth During the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare there are many references to sickness and disease. A variety of metaphors are used to express key themes in this play.
However I would argue that the metaphor of sickness and healing is one of the most prevalent metaphors that is present in this play. Shakespeare addressed sickness and healing not only through the characters of this play but also through the country as a whole.Macbeth’s “sickness” affects both himself and the whole country of Scotland. From the beginning it is shown that Macbeth possessed of a violent nature that borders on psychological sickness. When the witches are telling Macbeth that he will be king, Macbeth is speechless by the fact that he has already thought about being king. It is almost instant when
Macbeth comes up with the idea that in order to become king he will have to kill the present
King Duncan. Sometimes when one is sick they believe that nothing is wrong and they will just let it pass its way through. Macbeth decides "One way or another what's going to happen is going to happen"(154­155). This tells us that even though he has these dark thoughts of killing King
Duncan he decides he will not deny the thoughts instead just let them take their course. Sickness is when one is not at a stable state of health. It is shown that Macbeth is not in a stable state

2 mentally when he says "Let not light see my black and deep desires"(53). Macbeth is aware that he is having these dark thoughts but tries to hid them away in hopes that they might just go away, but anyone who is sick knows that they need to be treated in order to gain stability in their health. Thinking about killing Duncan makes Macbeth only get sicker and sicker. He starts seeing hallucinations of a dagger. "...as this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going, and such an instrument I was to use"(42­44). At this point Macbeth decides that killing
Duncan is the only way that he will be come King. No one is going to change his mind and when he says, "'twas a rough night"(37), we know that his sickness was to the point where he mentally could not compare right from wrong or Duke of Cawdor from murderer. Malcolm's sickness is only getting worse when he decides that in order to be able to keep his position as King he must kill Banquo as well. Macbeth's rage and craziness comes to surface again when he kills Banquo, but even more when he sees the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth starts talking to the ghost saying,
"Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy glory locks at me"(55­56). As Macbeth is saying this everyone is listening to him and thinks he has gone crazy. Macbeth's sickness is now getting worse where everyone is now aware of it and are looking at him differently because of it. Lady
Macbeth explains Macbeth's reaction to Banquo by saying that he is plagued by a common infirmity that causes him to hallucinate. This is ironic as it suggests as it suggests that Macbeth is ill with the disease of corruption and evil. As Malcolm refers to Scotland in act IV he says it weeps,