The Destruction of Macbeth’s Character in William Shakespeare's Play

The Destruction of Macbeth’s Character in William Shakespeare's Play

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed by Shakespeare as a

noble soldier who is brave enough to fight for his country and slay

King Duncan’s opponents. He is spirited and obedient, like a dog to

its master.

Shakespeare introduces Macbeth in a victorious scene, where he is

shown as a “valiant” hero and that becomes a platform for Shakespeare

to delineate the disintegration of Macbeth’s character, contrasting

the start of the play with his satanic attitude at the end of the

play. The structure of the plot is organised in this way to make a

formidable impact on the audience, as “brave Macbeth” turns completely

evil right in front of their eyes.

In Act 1 Scene 1, Shakespeare uses visual evil symbolism to create a

wicked, malicious atmosphere. The play commences with three beastly

witches, dressed in black, hooded cloaks and with gruesome faces to

disturb and horrify the audience. The audience in Shakespearean times

would have been greatly influenced by them because they strongly

believed in the supernatural world and the sight of these witches

would have been chilling. This scene creates a corrupt atmosphere; a

perfect atmosphere to accompany the tragic hero. This scene also uses

lots of foul imagery, for example, the stage directions are thunder

and lightning. This suggests chaos, suspense, horror and even death

are approaching, and would alarm the Shakespearean audience as well as

a modern audience.

In Act 1 Scene 2, Macbeth appears to be the boldest man on Earth, as

the Sergeant describes how he, “like ...

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...e cheering wildly at the end of this

“hell-hound’s” life and would be glad to see this tragic, but deeply

satisfying ending.

In conclusion, Macbeth changes from an ambitious man of strong moral

sense to a monstrous man who will stop at nothing to get what he

wants. By the play’s end, Macbeth has lost all emotion and has turned

from a fine natured person to an incredibly evil person. His ambition

to be king and strong belief in the witches’ prophecies had brought

him to a tragic end of his own life, and also caused the deaths of

many others.

Shakespeare has used several techniques, including language and

dramatic contrast to re-enforce various different themes into the

scenes. Both regicides are the climaxes of the play and the audience

would be horrified to see a heroic figure degenerate in the way he

does.