Dead Butcher in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Dead Butcher in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

The term 'dead butcher' suggests that Macbeth is a killer with no

feelings and no remorse or guilt, so that he could freely kill 100

people with no worry on his mind at all. The term suggests that he has

never loved or lost and is a sick human being, this is not Macbeth.

Macbeth justifies this when he feels immediate remorse and guilt after

killing Duncan. He can't even get over the fact that he had Duncan's

blood on his hands. Also the fact that he didn't even make that good a

job of it as he left trails behind him, showing that he was nervous

about what he was doing and was not focused like a 'dead butcher'

would be.

Macbeth at the start of the play has a very good reputation; he is

looked on by the others as a very brave, very strong leader. At the

start of the play this is what his reputation is, by the end his

reputation has crumbled. He is brave by the amount of people he has

killed in battle. Others view him as a very powerful figure in

Scotland.

Macbeth does indeed have a fatal flaw and yes, I think it is ambition.

I think that his very strong willed wife builds up the majority of his

ambition. The way she persuades him makes out as if he is a puppet and

she is pulling the strings. In the end his doubts and awareness of the

evil killing and its consequences are weaker than the persuasion of

his wife.

Macbeth, after he has killed Duncan is in depth with remorse. Once he

has committed the murder he cannot think at all for himself and if it

had not been for his overpowering, domineering wife then he would

probably end up confessing to the murder or being found out. He is

certainly not a dead butcher as the way he acts is totally

inappropriate for a cold-blooded killer. His nervousness is just one

of the signs.

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