Chaos_and_Order

Chaos and Order Everything in nature has its own place and order, which maintains a worldly balance. A tree only blooms, when it is the right time for it. If it blooms earlier or later, it will die and thus affecting the life of other creatures which are depending on it to survive. Life in nature should not be disrupted because the consequences could be devastating. During the Renaissance it was believed that the universe was built on certain order with God being on the top, followed by angels, King and then man. The King was considered to be God's representative on earth and any act of violence against him was an act against God and the order of the universe. The murder of King Duncan is a crime which has devastating consequences not only for the killer but for the whole kingdom. By losing the rightful King, Scotland can only became a place of chaos and eternal damnation. The disruption of the balance of hierarchy, brought upon by the devastating crime of regicide, is evident through Macbeths' soliloquies, assiduous imagery, and the ultimate destruction of Macbeth's character. The disruption of the balance of hierarchy is eloquently presented through Macbeth's soliloquies. In his second soliloquy, Macbeth expresses his haunting thoughts as he approaches Duncan's quarters, “Nature seems dead…witchcraft celebrates…wicked dreams”. The powerful language of his soliloquy shows the potential catastrophe that will ensue if Macbeth commits regicide. It shows that king's death will affect the natural order of the universe; opening the door to chaos and violence. The visions of "the flying dagger" build further the suspense and horror in the play, showing how the murdering thoughts are spinning in Macbeth's mind – “a false creation…from the heat-oppressed brain” (L.36). Macbeth calls on darkness to become his ally in gaining the crown. (Find quote). Macbeth realizes that what he is about to do is pure evil, yet he does nothing to stop himself. Shakespeare instrumentally uses the assiduous imagery to further build on the vast dimensions of the devastating crime. Right after the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth is haunted with the reality of his actions. The king's blood cannot be removed from his hands. The sin leaves permanent mark not only on his soul but on his body as well. Macbeth refers to his hands as “hangman’s hands” because he acted as an executioner. No power on Earth can clean sin so horrible even "the great Neptune’s ocean ". The allusion to Neptune, the god of the seas, is a image which furthermore suggests that the murder of the rightful king is the worse crime on earth because it would disturb the order of the universe and turn the world upside down. The unthinkable becomes a reality. Horses starts eating each other and instead of the falcon catching the owl, the owl is catching the falcon,“Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d” – Act 2, Scene 4, Line 15. The old man describes the events he saw after King Duncan’s death a mouse attacked an owl and killed it, but the opposite was supposed to happen. The mouse attacking the owl shows that there is chaos and evil rules Scotland, since Macbeth killed the rightful king to usurp the power. These powerful images of chaos deeply disturb the audience and shape its opinion that order is what makes this world function and order must be restored. At this point, Macbeth's faith is already sealed. He must die to undo the chaos and restore the universal order. Shakespeare emphasizes the heinous nature of regicide through the complete destruction of Macbeth's character and his kingdom. Under Macbeth, Scotland had become a realm of murder and fear – “Poor country; It cannot be call’d our mother, but our grave” (Act four, scene three, line 164). The murder of the king is followed by numerous other killings of innocent people, and Macbeth reaches the lowest point of his fall when he orders to have Macduff’s family killed. Scotland's hierarchy is under severe turmoil and the nation lost a great deal of its prosperity under Macbeth's disastrous rule. A metaphor for this change is during the banquet, which was supposed to be a fun event, which eventually turns into a complete calamity, once Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, his murdered friend. When the guests prematurely leave the table, they do not leave in an orderly way. Lady Macbeth tells the guests to “Stand not upon the order of your going” (L.119). She is telling them to leave without order, but in disorder. This end to the banquet is a metaphor for what Scotland has become under Macbeth – chaos. His soliloquy during the banquet is a metaphor for his murders, and how they have disrupted the good order of the realm. Lady Macbeth sums up the situation in lines 108-110: “You have displac’d the mirth, broke the good meeting, with most admir’d disorder”. Scotland has lost its formality due to Macbeth, and it has become chaos. Macbeth had destroyed the natural order in Scotland by ruling with brutality and fear.