Analysis of Major Characters in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Analysis of Major Characters in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Macbeth

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Because we first hear of Macbeth in the wounded captain's account of

his battlefield valor, our initial impression is of a brave and

capable warrior. This perspective is complicated, however, once we see

Macbeth interact with the three witches. We realize that his physical

courage is joined by a consuming ambition and a tendency to

self-doubt-the prediction that he will be king brings him joy, but it

also creates inner turmoil. These three attributes-bravery, ambition,

and self-doubt-struggle for mastery of Macbeth throughout the play.

Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition

and guilt can have on a man who lacks strength of character. We may

classify Macbeth as irrevocably evil, but his weak character separates

him from Shakespeare's great villains-Iago in Othello, Richard III in

Richard III, Edmund in King Lear-who are all strong enough to conquer

guilt and self-doubt. Macbeth, great warrior though he is, is ill

equipped for the psychic consequences of crime.

Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts

the crime. It takes Lady Macbeth's steely sense of purpose to push him

into the deed. After the murder, however, her powerful personality

begins to disintegrate, leaving Macbeth increasingly alone. He

fluctuates between fits of fevered action, in which he plots a series

of murders to secure his throne, and moments of terrible guilt (as

when Banquo's ghost appears) and absolute pessimism (after his wife's

death, when he seems to succumb to despair). These fluctuations

reflect the tragic ten...

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toying with human lives, or agents of fate, whose prophecies are only

reports of the inevitable. The witches bear a striking and obviously

intentional resemblance to the Fates, female characters in both Norse

and Greek mythology who weave the fabric of human lives and then cut

the threads to end them. Some of their prophecies seem

self-fulfilling. For example, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have

murdered his king without the push given by the witches' predictions.

In other cases, though, their prophecies are just remarkably accurate

readings of the future-it is hard to see Birnam Wood coming to

Dunsinane as being self-fulfilling in any way. The play offers no easy

answers. Instead, Shakespeare keeps the witches well outside the

limits of human comprehension. They embody an unreasoning, instinctive

evil.