Many aspects of life influence mental stability, such as a family history of mental illness, a sudden psychotic break, or even a gradual development of symptoms. Mental illness is common in our society, and literature often uses it as the focus of stories. A famous example of mental illness is found in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The play tells the story of a hero who falls from grace when he becomes greedy for power. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth seems completely healthy in his psyche, but he soon transforms into a man whose shame causes him to hallucinate and become hysterical. By the end of the play, the witches, hallucinations, and his hunger for power have caused Macbeth to descend into madness. There are various aspects of life that can impact a person's mental stability. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The show opens with the introduction of supernatural characters, which is a major key. The witches stimulate Macbeth's mental deterioration because, without their prophecy, Macbeth would probably never have tried to kill Duncan. First Witch: "Hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Lord of Cawdor!" Second Witch: “Hail, all, Macbeth, that henceforth thou shalt be king!” Almost immediately after Macbeth's encounter with the strange sisters, he hallucinates a knife. This becomes the first of many hallucinations he has after meeting the witches. Later in the play, Macbeth visits the witches again and they give him more prophecies about his sentence. Second Witch: "With the prick of my thumbs, something evil comes this way." The second witch indicates that something evil is approaching, Macbeth continues to approach the witches regarding the prophecies. If fate is not a sure thing, then it is not fate, however, Macbeth will kill Macduff to ensure that fate keeps its promises. The witches warn Macbeth that it is in his best interest if he doesn't ask any more questions, but he flies into a rage and demands they answer. Macbeth doesn't want to look, but he can't help himself. It seems that every time Macbeth sees the sisters, his mental stability becomes significantly worse because these predictions further distort his thinking, and he begins to think that he is invincible. Macbeth's hallucinations get progressively worse throughout the play, and show the amount of guilt he affects. him. Macbeth's first hallucination occurs at the beginning of the play; he sees a bloody dagger and believes it is real until he realizes it doesn't exist: “Is that a dagger I see before me, The hilt towards my hand? Come, let me hold you. I don't have you, yet I still see you." The dagger is only seen by Macbeth, and when he told Lady Macbeth what he had just encountered, she rejected him and thought he was foolish. “'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood from my hand? No, this hand of mine will prefer The countless seas incarnate.'” Paranoia has clearly come to Macbeth's head after he kills Duncan, in this scene he utters these lines when he meets his wife just after taking care of his business. When he talks about the blood he is referring both to the literal blood on his hand but also to the burden placed on him due to his enormous guilt. This is a hyperbolic statement, implying that blood would stain the entire ocean red. His conversation with his wife implies that the consequences of his actions cannot be easily hidden, even though his wife tells him they can simply be washed away. He will be a forever changed man as a result of what he has done. There,.