In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, malicious characters are portrayed as obviously evil and influential. Macbeth, however, is one character that is not represented in this way, in fact he is quite the opposite. The new king is seen as a victim of his foul wife’s influences and the witches prophecies but is really only supported by them and these ideas, leading him to make decisions based on evil ambition and a wicked desire for power. Readers are pushed to believe that Macbeth deserves sympathy, but as all humans do, Macbeth has free will allowing him to make his own decisions which means that if he were a victim, he would only be this due to his depraved actions. For the most part, rise to power was always a secret desire Macbeth had. Once named …show more content…
Great evil is demonstrated in Macbeth’s character due to his vicious ambition and ruthless attitude. Macbeth was able to murder such a generous person, especially someone that gave you many blessings so it can be inferred that he is capable of much worse. In fact, he later exclaims “That I did kill them” claiming to have killed the men who “killed” Duncan (2.3.104). Macbeth blames two innocent men for his immoral actions, yet it is once again seen as a decision made by his wife or as a way to protect her. The fact that Macbeth easily shrugs off his actions and pretends he has no knowledge of the event depicts an evil side of him that is coming out into the light. Murdering Duncan was the only true action enticed by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s desire to get rid of Banquo demonstrates that he truly is malevolent. Macbeth demands that “his death were perfect” when hiring murderers to remove Banquo and his son from his path (3.1.108). The king's determination to be the only one in power has caused him to lose the ethical characteristic that is seen in the first act. Banquo was the only person to ever secretly doubt and aside from this, the prophecies created panic for Macbeth. While speaking to the hired murderers, Macbeth agrees with them by saying “So is he mine” claiming that Banquo is an enemy to all, including the king (3.2.116). The slander spoken by Macbeth ruins the image of loyalty and
In the third scene of the first act, Banquo** asks, "...have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?" in response to the witches' prophecies. Banquo is partly right in the assumption that Macbeth's mind is not pure. When Macbeth says "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" (Act 1, Scene 4, 48-49), we see that Macbeth may have already the idea of killing Duncan. Macbeth's ultimate goal is to become king; he does this with a certain amount of ease, but the process somehow awakens his tragic flaw, the ruthlessness with which he destroys his own reign. After he kills the dead king's servents, his targets are Banquo and Fleance, who have heard or are involved in the third prophecy. Macbeth sends the three murderers who stab the famous dying words out of Banquo's mouth: "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! (Act 3, Scene 3, 17). Macbeth must crush dissent he kills Macduff's wife and children. Macbeth's reign of non-stop killing erodes Scotland's confidence in him and he has no chance
of King Duncan's army. His personal powers and strength as a general won him the
An important character in ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare was Macbeth. Macbeth is shown as the protagonist of the play and is the person who drives the plot of the drama. Macbeth changes dramatically throughout the play as in the start he is portrayed as the tragic hero who would do anything for his King and country. As the plays continue he becomes ambitious and, encouraged by a prophecy. After that, he ends up killing a lot of people/becoming a tyrant.
“Macbeth” a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, portrays, how the main character Macbeth, transforms from a war hero, to a murdering villain. Macbeth starts out as the thane of Glamis and steadily rises to become King of Scotland. The higher Macbeth rose on his road of power the more corrupt and evil he became. The character change of Macbeth ignites the whole theme of the play.
In William Shakespeare's play, "Macbeth" a man named Macbeth, who holds the title Thane of Glamis, stumbled upon three witches. The three witches tell Macbeth " All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!" (1.3.49-50) At first Macbeth just brushes it off as nonsense, but then shortly after Macbeth is given a new title which happens to be, Thane of Cawdor, which was the title the witches had called him. After hearing this it makes him jump head first in believing that what the witches had told him was a prophecy, and that he would soon become the next king of Scotland, (the country where Macbeth lives.) Macbeth then sends a letter to Lady Macbeth to tell her the news about the prophecy, which
William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth shows the gradual descent of the character Macbeth into the moral abyss. Macbeth's yearning for power draws him to the murder of King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff's family. It is difficult to understand how a courageous, gentle man such as Macbeth, could be involved in such villainous activities. In truth, it was the witches and Lady Macbeth that transformed into evil Macbeth's natural desire for control and authority. The play, Macbeth clearly illustrates that wicked intention must, in the end, produce wicked action.
The one person that pushed Macbeth into killing the king was his wife. She filled his head with thoughts of becoming king and that this little task was all that was needed. He knew that it was the wrong thing to do yet, the thought of becoming king overwhelmed him to do it. If it wasn't for his selfish thoughts he could have spared the King's life. He ignored the thought of right and wrong and just started doing what was in his best interest. His best friend Banquo knew about this crime that was committed but, went along with it because of his own ambitions. Banquo on the other hand was a good man and stayed loyal to the king. He stated to Macbeth, "Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird ... women promised, and I fear Thou play'dst most foully for't;" -(Banquo, Act III, Scene I) Macbeth started to worry that Banquo would say something to someone about his crime. So he hired men to kill his best friend. Macbeth sinks deeper and deeper into the hole he's digging himself. He knows that it's too late to turn back
In Macbeth the witches are the ones that fill Macbeth’s head with the information that he will be king of Scotland but it was Macbeth’s responsibility to decide what he should do with this information and to make the right choices. The witches should not be held responsible for his actions even though they did tempt him with the information but Macbeth was in no way, shape, or form forced by the witches to do anything. It was completely Macbeth’s fault for what happened to him in the end.
Lady Macbeth can be said to be one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening female characters. She fulfills her role among the nobility and is well respected, like Macbeth. She is loving, yet very determined that her husband will be king. At the beginning of the play, when she is first seen, she is already plotting the murder of Duncan, showing more strength, ruthlessness, and ambition than Macbeth. She lusts after power and position and then pressures her husband into killing Duncan. Upon receiving the letter with the witches' prophecies from her husband, she begins to think and knowing that Macbeth lacks the courage for something like this, she calls upon the forces of evil to help her do what must be
The Shakespearian tragedy, Macbeth has been said to be one of Shakespeare’s most profound and mature visions of evil. In Macbeth we find not gloom but blackness, a man who finds himself encased in evil. Macbeth believes that his predicaments and the evils that he commits are worth everything he will have to endure. In spite of this towards the end of the play he realizes that everything he went through, was not worth the crown, or the high price he had to pay of losing his wife, and finding himself alone. Macbeth is shown as a kind and righteous man in the beginning of the play. He is the Thane of Glamis, and a brave warrior among men and is highly regarded by the king of Scotland. All these traits make Macbeth great. Conversely, several
What has happened to mine own dearest partner? He has the visage of mine own husband but when he lay next to me, it is as though a stranger lie there. This morning he travels to seeth those dreaded weird sisters once again. Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, greater than both by the all hail hereafter, those gents had said. That day still lives vivid in my mind, the memories still running rampantly.( Stands staring at the letter that Macbeth send her and holds it close.) I myself made my dearest a perfidious man, a man that committed perjury of the highest degree, a fallen angel upon God’s eyes. ’Tis now the devil’s images depicted upon him, that white face now stained with scarlet sin. It was I that made him badge the silver in golden gore. My
Macbeth starts out in the story as a great, highly appreciated, pure and noble man. Throughout the story though his actions and the way he starts to perceive what’s around him starts to change and as his mind grows more into insanity, his emotions also begin to dull. Another quote by Shaley J. Lyndon is, “As he tries to extricate himself from evil, only to be pulled deeper into its depths”. Macbeth is seen as a tragic hero due to him being noticed as a noble and loyal man, but by the end of the story he dies as a wicked, fallacious man, and this is because of how madness was able to take him over and he was actually being destroyed from the inside by his mind. Many factors made the protagonist Macbeth fall into the path of madness. The first aspect to consider is the fact that he committed a guilty crime which was killing King Duncan so he could become next in line for king. After doing this, Macbeth gets a guilty conscious which starts tricking his mind into seeing the world in a more deranged perspective. After killing the King, Macbeth is easily deciphered as a dynamic character because he then changed drastically in a short period
In the tragedy Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, many character traits are portrayed through the various characters throughout the play. Macbeth was one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. It was completed in 1606 and was most likely first performed before King James I and his royal family at Hampton Court. King James I is believed to be a direct descendent of the character Banquo. Probably the most potent character trait expressed in Macbeth would be integrity or the lack there of. Integrity could be defined as doing the right thing at all costs no matter what the consequences or what would be in the persons best interest. In this play the person that displays the most
Throughout the course of the play, we see both good and evil portrayed in many of the characters. For example, in the beginning of the play, Macbeth comes off as a good and noble man, but he changes for the worse throughout the play. On the outside he may look, like a good man, but on the inside, he is very power-hungry and selfish. This is proved throughout the course of the play on Macbeth’s rise to power. In the first two scenes of the play, we see how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to be good people, but in Act 1, scene 7, they are planning to kill the king.
Macbeth is a very complex character whom reflects man's thirst for power through the drastic changes of his personality; thus being one of the slightest reasons in which make this intriguing character, greatest of all Shakespearean’s well-known works.