Role Of Honor In Macbeth

Throughout the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses diction to convey a change in not only his characters but their environments and other character’s points of view. The varying uses of honor allow Shakespeare to introduce motifs about Macbeth’s changing character throughout the play. In the start of the play, Macbeth is an innocent thane, yet by the end, he is a merciless king who becomes obsessed with his possible power. The honor represents his valiancy at first even though by the end, honor becomes worthless because Macbeth has abused it and has lost any trust from his people.
In the onset of the play, Macbeth enjoys the honor of being a thane and understands that it is a unique position because there are a limited amount of them. When Ross comes to tell Macbeth that he has gained a new title, he says “And for an earnest of a greater honor, / He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor, / In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,” (1.3.104-106). Honor is used as something valuable which is understood because Ross
Before the attack on his palace is confirmed, Macbeth tells his servant, “As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have, but in their stead / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath” (5.3.25-27). After killing too many people, Macbeth finds no purpose in honor or having love like a king normally has because he has survived so long without them, so by now he has adapted to these emptinesses. He has come to the conclusion that friends are no longer necessary because they just create more issues and more curses. They give him a false hope of honor, but honor will not help him now. Macbeth yearns for the honor which he abandoned once he decided to follow Lady Macbeth’s