In the next article we will read of the theme of the supernatural in Macbeth in relation to Lady Macbeth soliciting the forces of evil, to ‘unsex’ her, the ghost of Banquo and other things. The themes crime and punishment are parallel to the themes action and consequence, or they could even be seen as a subtitle of action and consequence (whereas crime is the action that is done and the punishment is the consequence of that action). Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment and Shakespeares Macbeth explore the depths of irrationality in both Raskolnikov and Macbeth. The most pressing punishment of Raskolnikov is the disintegration of his mind and character, (Dostoevsky 8) which accounts for the existential concept involving the deterioration of mans existence. Macbeths biggest punishment was guilt. He cleared out that he was prepared to suffer eternity if only this crime would go unpunished. Betrayal always comes with a punishment. Macbeth opens with Thane of Cawdor being accused of treason and sentenced to death without trial. Examples of Elizabethan crime and punishment in Shakespeare's writings. He recognized certain obstacles in killing the King, the first and most important being was that the King was his guest. The process is complete in detail from the first yielding to temptation until the nature of its victim becomes wholly perverted, and the punishment which he has invited descends upon him. (Act 1:Scene 7:ln 1) This verse stressed Macbeth’s fears of punishment. In his soliloquies, Macbeth represents himself as “a divided and increasingly Act I, scene ii, of Macbeth takes place near a battlefield. Macbeth should be taught and studied as the most powerful chapter in literature upon the birth and development of evil in the human heart. Macbeth killed so many people and the guilt just kept building each time he took another life. Macbeth’s soliloquies embody the themes of death, destruction, moral disintegration of the personality of the ... Macbeth is a tragedy of crime and punishment in which the character carries out crimes as if contrary to his nature. King Duncan is hearing reports about what has happened, and mostly hearing about the great success of his general, Macbeth.. The first hallucination is the floating dagger Macbeth sees right before he kills Duncan. Useful vocabulary for … Women are portrayed as initiators of crimes and are viewed as devious.So, throughout the play, gender roles provide a means for murders and viciousness. One of Shakespeare's most famous and fearsome tragedies, "Macbeth" tells the story of the Thane of Glamis, a Scottish general who hears a prophecy from three witches that he will one day be king.He and his wife, Lady Macbeth, murder King Duncan and several others in order to fulfill the prophecy, but Macbeth is wracked with guilt and panic over his evil deeds. Punishment could include whipping, starvation, burning at the stake, dismemberment, hanging, the pillory, and branding. He killed King Duncan, the guards, Young Siward, Macduff's son, Lady Macduff, Banquo, the three men he hired to murder, and caused the suicide of Lady Macbeth. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth appeal to the role of “manhood” as violent and aggressive in order to accomplish the murders of King Duncan and Banquo. Give examples – Duncan has the old Thane of Cawdor executed for betraying him and rewards Macbeth’s loyalty by giving him the title – Macbeth betrays his own sense of right and wrong. (Shakespeare, Act V, Scene VIII, line 5-6) Yet who would have thought the old / man to have had so much blood in him Act IV No Remorse in Macbeth Overview He has kill’d me, mother: (Shakespeare, Crime and Punishment Act V my soul is too much charg’d / With blood of thine already. The hallucinations seen by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout Shakespeare's tragedy are symbolic of the duo's guilt for engaging in bloodshed to further their personal ambitions, according to SparkNotes.