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Macbeth character analysis
Character Analysis Of Macbeth Essay
Character Analysis Of Macbeth Essay
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English essay (commentary)
The particular scene I have chosen to commentate about in the play of Macbeth by William Shakespeare is Act 2, Scene 2. "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.
What hath quenched them hath given me fire" Lady Macbeth starts off the scene by blaming his evil deeds on the overload of Alcohol. She predicts her husband's actions right when he began, the owl shrieks with a scary "good night". She exclaims her emotions by stating the importance of the snoring guards outside Duncan's Chamber, in a sarcastic manner. Macbeth soon returns with bloody daggers and asks "I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?". Lady Macbeth explains about the owl scream and the sound of crickets crying. Shakespeare builds up the peak in this play and forces the audience to be unsure of Macbeth's next move, a
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Macbeth, being as easily influenced as he can be, also gets convinced by his wife to precisely plan and execute a murder. This murder was not just of any peasant or soldier, it was the murder of the country's King. Reasoning behind the murder is the greed to obtain Kingship quicker than naturally timed.
Personally this scene describes Macbeth's behaviour, traits, weaknesses and what he is capable of, all in the one scene. Weaknesses consists of his lack of ability to interpret what is right and wrong, believing 3 creatures or being convinced by your life partner to force you to perform evil deeds. This scene is the description of Macbeth. This part of the play was the most appealing as Macbeth, the protagonist was described like an open book within this scene. A book which is readable by most other characters in the play, mainly Lady Macbeth and the "weird
Scene 2 act 2 is one of the most important scenes in the play. This is
Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse after he has killed the king. He understands that he has committed a sin and will be punished. He is so terrified that he hears voices telling him:“ Macbeth does murder sleep, … , Macbeth shall sleep no more”(Act 2, Sc.2 p. 57). Macbeth is very upset with himself and wishes that he never killed Duncan. “To know my deed it were best not know myself.” When he hears strange knocking at the gate he wishes that it wakes up Duncan, “wake Duncan with thy knocking”, however it is too late (Act 2, Sc.3 p. 61).
We get a peek at Lady Macbeth’s soft side. She says that she would have killed Duncan herself, but the old man looked too much like her father. This small reminder of Lady Macbeth’s humanity will be important to our understanding of what happens to her at the end of the play. As she waits she decides that she heard a screech owl, and she takes that as a good omen, because the screech owl is nature’s own ‘fatal bellman’. A ‘fatal bellman’ would emphasize the idea of death/ execution in the audience’s minds, which makes it all the more eerie, ‘He’s at it’.
“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir?” Macbeth ponders after three witches foresee that he will become king in the tragic play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare (349). Macbeth is wondering how he could become king of Scotland without him intervening as he is not in line for the throne. He believes that he will have to take action to gain this position. Macbeth was right to doubt fate, because his choices led to his ascension to the throne and, later in the play, to his downfall.
When the play first opens we hear 3 strange witches standing in a field while it is thunder and lightening. They begin to chant spells and talk about their meeting with Macbeth as they vanish into thin air.
Macbeth’s provocative or violent actions on the challenges placed before him cause him to build an effect of downfall and dismay throughout the play. Originally, Macbeth handles his challenges in different ways and manners and is constantly changing his procedure. From handling situations carefully to not caring, Macbeth and his violence resulted in guilt and selfishness which he had to overcome. By the end of the play, Macbeth had become a selfish, greedy king and the challenges as well as experiences he encountered shaped him into who he is. He was shaped by the guilt of killing Banquo and Duncan, just to become powerful and a king. For example, in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth faces adversity when his mind creates a ghost of Banquo, who he just found out was killed. In Macbeth, the uprising of adversity was often handled in various manners. By dealing with his own challenges, Macbeth transforms his handling of adversity from being cautious to thoughtless, which reflected his character and the transformation he portrayed throughout the
Lady Macbeth is a vicious and overly ambitious woman, her desire of having something over rules all the moral behaviors that one should follow. On the beginning of the novel, Macbeth receives the news that if Duncan, the current king, passed away he would be the next one to the throne. So, Lady Macbeth induces Macbeth into killing Duncan by filling his mind with ambition and planting cruel seeds into his head. After accomplishing his deed of killing the king, he brings out the daggers that were used during the murder, and says, “I’ll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done; look on’t again I dare not.” This is his first crime and Macbeth is already filled with guilt and regret. He shows the reader to be the weak one of the duo. Lady Macbeth as the cruel partner still has some sentiment and somewhat a weakness in her heart and mind. When talking about Duncan she says, “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.” Weakness is still present and will always be there throughout the novel but this one change the fact that Lady Macbeth is still the stronger and cruel one.
Macbeth is a true Shakespearian tragedy, in which mast murders take place, in order for one man and women to take the throne and become king and queen. It starts with Duncan’s murder, which is done because Macbeth did not want to see Duncan’s son next in line for the throne and the only way to prevent that was by eliminating Duncan. The nest murder was that of Banquo. Banquo is a friend of Macbeth and his murder is un-predictable. Macbeth may have feared that if he did not kill Banquo, Banquo would kill him in order to gain a position power seeing that the witch’s just informed both Macbeth and Banquo that Macbeth will be the next King of Scotland and Banquo will never have the chance to hold the throne. Once Banquo is out of the way, Macbeth turns his attention to his real target, King MaCduff. Although at first hesitant about killing MaCduff, Macbeth chooses to murder MaCduff, a man who Macbeth himself said was a good man and a fine leader. The last murder is of MaCduff’s family. Macbeth can not take any chances and must kill any associated with the former king (King MaCduff). The murder of MaCduff’s wife and son is the most vicious crime of them all because for one we see the killing on stage and number two a child is murdered, the most vicious and horrific thing one can show. Macbeth murders for personal gain and has no regrets or else he would not have continued his mass slaughtering. Macbeth is responsible for these murders because he commits them himself, without any assistance, he kills everyone out of necessity, and because all these acts were done out of free will.
In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a strong theme of power. Macbeth is a king who is given three predictions from three witches, one of which is that he will become king. The one problem is he doesn’t know what he has to do in order to become king. His wife then decides that in order for him to become king, he must kill the current king. This one murder then leads to others in order to cover the original murder up. Once Macbeth becomes king, he doesn’t want anything to change, he wants to stay king until he dies. He then begins to kill again, but instead of killing to cover something, he is killing anyone who stands in his way of staying king. Macbeth’s fate is affected by the personality trait of bravery, his ability to be manipulated, and his determination.
In a world where murder is seen as a way to check if the prophecies of the witches are real, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth get caught by greed, the only escape seems to be a murder that will stop the nightmare of the killings. Once the murder has been committed, the revolt against it becomes very absurd and very illegitimate, making Macbeth a tragedy of the dark that develops in the night. In Act II scene II, Shakespeare uses tension and dramatic interest along with stage effects and language techniques to illustrate how Macbeth, with the help of Lady Macbeth influencing him to do so, commit the dreadful murder of King Duncan, and the after effects of this deed.
In this soliloquy, Macbeth mentions how becoming the king is pointless if he cannot pass down the crown to his son (Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1, 65-67). The weird witches foretold that Macbeth would become King, which he now believes, but they also told them how Banquo descendents will become Kings as well. This stirs anger in his heart because he killed Duncan to become king, and if his descendents will not become kings there is no reason to take the helm (Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1, 68). Now Macbeth feels horrible, and his animosity towards Banquo worsens. Macbeth mentions how this, “put rancours in the vessel of my peace”, and immediate distress on the killing of his dear friend Duncan for the future descendents of Banquo (Shakespeare,
Splendid Productions adaptation of ‘Macbeth’ was performed on the 13th of December 2016, at the RADA studios, London, and was performed by Scott Smith, Genevieve Say and Mark Bernie. The original version of Macbeth was written in 1606 during the Jacobean era, and the adaptation created in the 21st century. I would agree with the statement as the interpretation by Splendid was created to be enjoyed, engaged and relevant to the audience of the 21st century.
The scene I chose was act 2 scene 2 of Macbeth written by Shakespeare. It was between two characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. I played the role of Macbeth. In the scene, Lady Macbeth celebrates her plan being a success. Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to come with news that he has killed Duncan. Macbeth announces that he has committed the murder but he is so afraid that he brings the bloody daggers with him and Lady Macbeth takes them from him, to place them with the sleeping guards. Macbeth hears knocking sounds which frightens him so his wife comes to lead him away, they then wash the blood from their hands before they get caught. My character was challenging because I had to understand his emotions and find ways of interpreting that on stage. I chose to perform this act because Shakespeare was able to create tension, build the right atmosphere to show them Macbeth’s reaction to Duncan’s murder but also show the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Shakespeare’s use of imagery, dramatic irony, rhetorical questions helped emphasise the guilt Macbeth felt after the murder.
Macbeth's excessive pride is now his prevailing character attribute. This feature of his personality is well depicted in Act IV, Scene 1, when he revisits the Witches, without any coercion. His confidence and impression of subjective impregnability are the main cause for his tragic downfall.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's problem plays which have puzzled the critics all over the years. It is compact and full of significant scenes, and it has two important characters, Macbeth and his wife. It is a clear study of human nature, which I personally think Shakespeare had mastered. The final act opens with the sleepwalking scene and this scene is of great significance because it reveals the true nature of lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the enigmatic characters. Once she is a woman made out of steel and suddenly she collapses; she returns to be a gentle wife. The sleepwalking scene also shows lady Macbeth as a complementary character to her husband.