Butcher and His Fiend Like Queen in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Butcher and His Fiend Like Queen in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

I do agree with this judgement of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, but only

in some aspects of the play by William Shakespeare. There are many

arguments for this judgement; these will be discussed in this essay.

In act one scene two Macbeth is portrayed as a heartless, merciless

and brutal warrior. We get this impression of Macbeth from the report

that is given to King Duncan by the captain; "For brave Macbeth (well

he deserves that name) Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

which smok'd with bloody execution" this quote explains how Macbeth is

a brave warrior in the face of battle and is not scared of any man.

Throughout this play Macbeth has a wild ambition for power. Macbeth

craves the power so much he will kill for the title of the king.

Killing the king in the time of William Shakespeare is regarded as the

worst crime possible. Macbeths craving for power is surfaced after he

meets three evil witches in Act one scene three; who prophesise he is

to be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and to be king there after.

"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis. All hail Macbeth,

hail to thee Thane of Cawdor. All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king

hereafter." After hearing this Macbeth is shocked to hear this news as

being Thane of Cawdor is a huge title to his ears, let alone being

King. As the witches quickly move away Macbeth is curious to know more

and what these creatures are speaking of: "Stay you imperfect

speakers, tell me more" Macbeth wants their statements to be true and

therefore tries to find out more information about what he could be in

the future....

... middle of paper ...

... greedy temperaments cost them their lives, they both are never happy

again because they committed the worst possible crime in Scotland,

just to be king and queen for a short period of time.

Therefore the description of Macbeth as a butcher is false. Butchers

are heartless mean men who kill with no regret. Macbeth regrets his

actions and therefore he suffers for the rest of his life. Lady

Macbeth is even weaker than Macbeth in the final acts; she commits

suicide whereas Macbeth faces his fate. Lady Macbeth makes out she is

a strong figure and makes Macbeth look up to her with her harsh words

and persuasive techniques, she is "fiend like" as she manages slyly to

persuade Macbeth to commit the murder. Although Lady Macbeth does not

kill Duncan she cannot handle the pressure like Macbeth and they are

never happy again.

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