Examples Of The Saddest Person In Macbeth

Who is the saddest person in the play Macbeth?

The play macbeth was written in 1906 by William Shakespeare, not only to impress the new king James of Scotland by focusing on kingship and the successful health of a nation, but to showcase the mentality of a man who could not control his own mindf. Throughout the play it is seen that macbeth cannot make his own decisions based on his subjective nature, one of the biggest influences of his actions is lady macbeth, his love who is as manipulative as she is cruel. Even the smallest incident can have a long term effect on a persons life, this is current throughout the play as shakespeare documents the moments that macbeth slowly looses his mind to greed and selfishness, but is he the saddest person

in the play? Shakespeare writes macbeth character through the eyes of an innocent man pushed into insanity. Perhaps the, so written, manipulative lady macbeth who could not even live alongside the memories of her actions is the saddest character. Both characters experience moments of extreme power, pain and weakness, but does the pure memory of ones past shift a characters mental state and allow one to be sadder than the other?

The character of macbeth is first portrayed as a loyal, simple man who lusts to be kind but only when pushed by his wife will resort to murder to raise his status in the monarchy. In the beginning the character of macbeth is noble and honourable, praised by the king and seen as a person deserving of the respect others have for him.
‘I have no spur,
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th’other.’
This quote from act 1 scene 7 of the play, refers to macbeth killing king Duncan and trying to explain ho himself the motivational rationality for his actions, before realising that there is no true punishment to justify such a crime. Macbeth truly knows that Duncan was a fair and just king, therefore he expresses that he has no ‘spur to prick the sides of my intent’, no motivation to inspire the murder of his relative. the statement ‘vaulting ambition’ is referring to his deepest desire for power that volts over his moral limits ‘which overlaps itself’ and falls on the other side of his moral code ‘and falls on th’other’. Shakespeare is referring to macbeth as a noble steed who is being prodded into despair.

Throughout the play macbeth is seen as a victim of ‘vaulting ambition’ and lust, these being the largest themes in the play, although he is not seen as a villain throughout the play. At first macbeth is seen as a noble man,king Duncan calling him “a worthy gentleman”, and “a noble kinsman’ and various other names honouring his heroic and noble nature. As the play progresses macbeth first kills king dunk an under the persuasion of lady macbeth lusting to be queen and to increase her monarchic stature. this has an extremely negative effect on macbeth, causing him to lapse into paranoia, jumping to conclusions about conspirators trying to assassinate him and close relatives and friends plotting his downfall.

Lady macbeth, from the beginning has been seen as a cruel, cold hearted woman who will twist and rule or moral code of conduct to make her way to the top, in this case, queen hood.

Macbeth's mentality is described through Shakespeare’s writing as a struggle between the forces of good and evil, in believing that his fate in controlled by witches and other sinister forces. His character is perceived by many as ambitious and in some parts even but is revealed as a deeply sensitive person.