A wise man once said “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one will not exist without the other.” However for some, the evil tends to germinate while the other comes to a screeching halt. Though some are fortunate enough to escape the grasp of evil, Macbeth was not as lucky. Did Macbeth kill for power alone or was he a cold blooded serial killer? In many cases a serial killer has a distinct pattern in which they follow, this pattern often times breaks the killer down into one of two categories: organized or disorganized. From that classification, detectives and other members of the FBI further break those down into subcategories. However, before being able to compare Macbeth to such a thing, what exactly is a serial killer? According to the definition posted by www.fbi.gov, “a serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a …show more content…
Over the years, researchers have found that many killers have faced some sort of abuse whether it be physical, emotional or verbal. A real life example of abuse leading one to kill is evident with John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois into an middle class family with a drunken abusive father. Gacy suffered further alienation at school after realizing that he was attracted to men. In 1968, Gacy was convicted of sexual assault on two teenage boys and was given a 10 year sentence but was released on parole in 1970. Later his killings began to start happening. Gacy, however, is not the only documented case of abuse being a factor in mass killings. Throughout Macbeth, Lady Macbeth can been seen as verbally and emotionally abusive. She uses her own thirst for power to sweet talk Macbeth into thinking killing Duncan is the right thing to do. She also utilized emotional abuse by tapping into Macbeth’s sensitive side by referring to him as a
Macbeth is a very power greedy person. It is not necessarily his own doing that he is such a ruthless person. It all started (Macbeth being power greedy) with the Three Witches predictions: "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/ All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of/ Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth!
“This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest…” (77). This quote represents the change of Macbeth throughout the play. The use of blood imagery is used to represent the character development of Macbeth from a noble thane to a murdering tyrant. We first see blood imagery characterizing Macbeth when he is called noble for defeating Norway. Then, the idea of un-washable blood shows that Macbeth’s character will change. When Macbeth begins to experience the blood of others on his own hands, it leads him to ultimately become the “villain” or antagonist of the play. Finally, before the death of Macbeth, blood imagery has been used to characterize Macbeth so much that he is now over confident and seems to be fueled by the idea of it. By examining the use of blood imagery, one can determine that blood represents Macbeth’s character development from an honorable thane to a disrespected tyrant.
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes. They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades. However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go. Macbeth cannot let go. Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement. Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice. What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder. The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected. Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature. Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan. However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him. Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid. Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare examines the significance of time in the form of one’s present and future through the unfortunate character of Macbeth. Macbeth is an ordinary soldier, loyal to the king as the Thane of Glamis, prior to his meeting with the three witches. The three witches reveal to Macbeth his future “All, hail Macbeth! Hail to three, Thane of Cawdor! All, hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3. 49-50). For the most part one does not know his or her own future. Our futures are uncertain and predictions like these do not always come true, yet Shakespeare has set Macbeth up in a way that he knows these predictions will come true. Not long after the witches state their claims
Throughout the play Macbeth allows his pride to interfere with his judgment and succumbs to the witches’ prophecy, leading to his tragic downfall. “Macbeth orders a slaughter of innocents in a vain and futile attempt to preserve kingships threatened by prophecies” (Hassel). He murders King Duncan, his good friend, in order to secure his fate as king. Although Macbeth knows the difference between right and wrong, he is a victim of his tragic flaw: his ambition. His tragic flaw repeatedly leads him to deceit and murder.
He also denied that he was the murderer after he killed King Duncan. Macbeth was a sadistic bully and Lady Macbeth was an impulsive bully as well as the witches. As a bully, there are a lot of things that are done out of anger or emotions. As the story progressed, more and more ways of bullying popped up, mainly in the characters who were the bad guys.
Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth was a brave, noble warrior. “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name… Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chop and fixed his head upon our battlements” (Act I, Scene 2, lines 2). He was one of the last people anyone would expect to kill King Duncan. Shakespeare chooses a noble character such as Macbeth, to emphasize how greed and power can alter a person’s good morals. In Act one we start to see Macbeth’s desire for more power rise. “Stars, hide your fires; Let no light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hond yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see” (Act I, Scene 4, lines 52- 55). His desire for power is at war with his good morals. He wants to become king but does not want to kill Duncan.
When anything in life first begins to grow, it begins as a seed. The seed of a plant, or of a thought, or of an idea. Once created, the seed can do one of two things. It can grow, or it can die. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth tells the story of an innocent man who is turned evil from the seeds planted by those around him, allowing readers to explore the repetition of growth and how it is implied through characters. Throughout the play, growth is used to display Macbeth and Banquo as foil characters, show Banquo’s “goodness” through positive imagery, and to show Macbeth’s “evilness” through negative growth imagery. By analyzing Shakespeare’s use of growth imagery, critical readers recognize that growth enforces the idea that growth triumphs evil, embodied in the actions and consequences of Macbeth and Banquo as they make one of two crucial choices? Good, or evil?
Macbeth was not evil he was just a man struggling with his identity and trying to be something he was not. He new nothing other than how to be a soldier and he was good at it. In the end he realised it was the only way he could win his battle. “I’ll fight till from me bones me flesh be hacked. Give me my armour.” 5:3:33. Even though Macbeth had become hated and thought of as a tyrant to others he had won his own battle. This becomes clear when at the end of the play Macbeth feels proud to say “My name’s Macbeth.” 5:8:6.
Throughout the American history of many heroic leaders an excessive want for the power, leadership, and territory is what led to defeat, downfall, and even death. In the beginning of the play Macbeth was a good man ,but influenced by Lady Macbeth and her question of his manhood and the witches manipulative accusations of becoming King of Scotland forced Macbeth to murder his way to leadership and his death. Macbeth was valiant and brave ,but was influenced by the witches, Lady Macbeth, and ultimately himself.
When Macbeth is trying to gain power, one would notice that he uses violence to get what he wants. Though he felt guilt leading up to the decision of killing King Duncan, he was able to overcome his fear with a bit of encouragement from his gluttonous wife Lady Macbeth. From than on Macbeth realized what he was capable of and no longer needed the guidance from his wife. He took the power into his own hands and went over the deep end. The reader could see this as a prime example of when the influence of others (Lady Macbeth) and power change Macbeth for the worse. “There is no peace in the play. Lurking behind every scene, every dialogue, every fantastic appearance or event, is the spectre of violence with death following.” (Cohen 56). Cohen makes a point that William Shakespeare constantly mentions the subject of violence throughout the play, it begins to be an ongoing theme in almost every event and conversation. The reader begins to notice the use of violence turns into a normal routine for Macbeth, in any case Cohen stated violence was a part of most dialogue and events in...
... lost conscience. Soon deteriorated to nothing, and his killings are numerous. We know that at the beginning he saw three witches but we do not know if that could be Macbeth hallucinating, that he has been seeing things since then because he was that ambitious of a man. We may not know if it was real therefore I will name Macbeth charged for First degree murder because Macbeth's change from human to killer is his own doing. He allowed the evil that is within everyone to overwhelm him. His ambition and need for power put him through a transformation from hero to killer.
Shakespeare is known for writing plays with intricate plots and very well developed characters. In Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s final plays, Shakespeare did just that and he did it well. One major topic of discussion about Macbeth is was Macbeth good or evil. However, Macbeth is most definitely evil, he let ambition take control over him, he threw away his morals for power and he killed innocent people to further himself as king.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth is guilty of committing treason against his king and country. He is purely and deliberately driven by dark desire, ambition, and murderous thoughts. As the play continues, it gets easier and easier for Macbeth to commit his heinous crimes. He not only kills the king, but continues to kill various people in order to secure his wrongfully obtained position. Macbeth also has many interactions with witches, who at the time are the definition of evil. One could say that Macbeth and depravity are two sides of the same coin. Macbeth is far more evil than any other character in the play, including Lady Macbeth.